Ciara Mageean participated in a quick pre-Christmas 5km Parkrun competition in Victoria Park, Belfast, on December 23rd, as a warmup for the forthcoming Olympic event. To her contentment, she achieved a world-record time for a female in a parkrun, clocking in at 15 minutes and 13 seconds. Unfortunately, she suffered a hamstring strain during the run which hampered her training for several weeks.
In the meantime, the Parkrun organisers decided to eliminate records based on course, age-category, “world records”, and stats of most victories from their website, in an effort to shift the focus away from performance.
Despite this, and her injury setback, Mageean didn’t let it deter her aspiration of competing in another 5km run under more competitive conditions.
She recounts her decision to participate in the Parkrun as a spontaneous plan during her Christmas travels. She clarifies that despite the minor injury during the run, she initially didn’t feel any major impact on her running so she continued. However, after noticing her hamstring tightening later in the evening, she decided to ease off.
As Mageean recounts, in January, while at the Flagstaff training camp, she realised the injury was more serious than initially thought. Following a medical check-up and consultation with her sports doctor based in Manchester, she was advised to take some time off and adopt a more cautious approach towards her recovery.
Ongoing summer considerations ultimately resulted in Mageean, on the cusp of her 32nd birthday, Oscar the indoor season. While this was a letdown given her formidable condition, she is still open to the idea of participating in a 5k somewhere down the line. Despite having set new Irish 1,500m records twice last summer along with making her mark in the 800m and mile, this move signifies a slight hiccup in her plans for Paris.
Mageean found herself in a similar situation last year when she had to skip the indoor season due to a torn peroneal tendon in her foot in December. However, she maintains an optimistic outlook, citing her successful summer last year. Although she admits she isn’t as fit as she would like, she is content with her current training and especially pleased with her hamstring’s progress.
In Dublin, while announcing Flogas as Team Ireland’s energy partner for the Paris Games, Mageean shared her initial intention to compete in the previous weekend’s World Indoor Championships in Glasgow. This was due to its close proximity to her training base in Manchester.
According to Mageean, the World Indoors can be likened to a cauldron, a melting pot, and she wouldn’t have participated had the location been remote. Since it was in Glasgow, she was thinking about focusing on the 3k, which she enjoys during the indoor season.
Now, her complete focus is on the summer. Mageean reveals that she also plans to compete in the European Championships in Rome in June before the Paris Olympics at the end of July. Her goal is to surpass her fourth-place finish at the World Championships in Budapest last year.
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