So, when I got ready a few hours later to run the Sandyford 5k, it struck me that I was doing something very, very similar to that very same stupidity, a 5K only 11 days after a marathon, on legs that had clearly not recovered yet.
What can I say? I’m an idiot, something I have proven on plenty of occasions in the past, and like most idiots I get away with my idiocy on many occasions, so I was hoping for some more good fortune. The race was very close to work, and work had paid for the entry fee, so why not accept the Danaergeschenk?
I wasn’t planning on racing all out, in fact with the combination of increasingly old age, tired legs and lack of competitive instinct I was contemplating the possibility of running my slowest 5K ever.
Just like the previous 5K it started to rain just before the start but unlike that one it stopped again and the conditions were pretty decent. Remembering the very painful 20 minutes from my last 5K I decided to start at a more measured effort in the hope of a less torturous event. In actual fact I was only 5 second slower on the first mile, though it was slightly downhill. The rest of the race was marked by me trying to remain at the same effort level, which I thought I did reasonably well, passing a few runner, being passed by others but overall moving slightly ahead in the field. I struggled on all uphills and kept drifting backwards but I was flying effortlessly on the downhills and always made up a fair few places (neither was steep though - it was a pretty decent course). All the while I kept the effort at no more than maybe 95%, fast enough to put some pain on the system but never too much. However, the watch claims that I slowed down to almost 7-minute pace on the last mile, which came as a bit of a surprise, to be honest.
I got to within 100 meters of the finish line when my right Achilles suddenly started to hurt, and by that I mean REALLY hurt. It was close enough to the finish to clench the teeth and keep going but I was really sore afterwards. Also, it started raining again, so eventually I decided not to go to the post-race tent afterwards but head home instead.
I pathetically hobbled for a mile back to the office with a seriously gampy right leg and the cycle back home wasn’t particularly comfortable either, so by now I was rather worried. The next day was different, I was no longer in real pain but both Achilles were incredibly stiff, and for the entire day I was reduced to hobble slowly through the office whenever I had to move, feeling every single one of my many years for a change. I didn’t run, even I can see that it would have been a daft idea, but with the pain subsiding overnight I’m reasonably optimistic I might actually have gotten away with yet another stupidity.
20:36 was not my slowest 5K by a long shot, but on the other hand it IS almost 3 minutes slower than my PB. Ah well.
- 26 Sep
- 4+ miles, 34:12, 8:21 pace, HR 146
- 27 Sep
- 5+ miles, including Sandyford 5K in 20:36, 6:37 pace, HR 174
- 28 Sep
- 0
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