Irish 3/4 2018

Recovery after Berlin was reasonable in so far as it took about two weeks for the soreness in the legs to totally dissipate while running.

The first run was on the Friday after, with a false start on the day before where I went all the way out the front door all geared up to run, and I just turned around when I saw the wind and rain, went in put my feet up with a cup of tea.

After that, reasonable distances, 8 miles @ 7:44, next day a short 5 mile recovery @ 7:26, 8 @ 7:52.
A rest day, and the first real test of speed and recovery, 2 mile warmup and then 6 miles @ 6:44. The first few miles were easy, but I was shattered by 6, two mile recovery , but a good 10 mile workout 9 days after a marathon.

I was away to Seattle for a few days after that, and managed an 11 mile run while there. I found that one extremely tough, doubting at one point I would even finish, with quite a bit of soreness in my feet. A rest day flying back, a short 5 mile, and then another 'long run' at 14 miles. Starting off very conservatively at 7:40, I found I could gradually pick up the pace as the distance went on, finishing on 7:15 mile with 7:26 average. I was quite pleased with that one, although again my feet hurt a bit.

This week, I got two speed sessions in of 8 miles each at 6:50 and 6:45 pace respectively. Work forced a taper which I would have done anyway for today's 3/4 marathon distance race at Longwood.
It was very cold, a sharp change in the weather. The plan was to try and run 7:10 pace, which is a 3:10 marathon, to try and gauge the likelihood of maintaining that pace for Dublin.

The going was tough right from the off, and I never really settled into a comfortable pace. The early miles were all around 7:05, a bit too fast, but not dramatically so. The course has a lot of small drags, and it was quite breezy. I kept just ahead of the 3 hour pace group, who were also running a 7:10 pace , so as not to encounter congestion at the water stations. I needn't have worried too much, there weren't very many stations!

The first half was tough, the second half tougher. From 10 miles my feet really started to hurt, and then my knees. It wasn't too bad on the flat, or even the inclines, but the descents were agony and I was running slower on the down sections. From 13 miles the pace slipped towards 7:18 but I was confident I could run to 20 through the pain, after all, it's not like it's a full marathon, it's 'only' 20 miles.

I was glad to see the finish. The 3 hour group, or what was left, passed me about a mile before the finish, but I kept them in sight, and actually caught them, finishing exactly at 2:22:00, average 7:11. So, 20 seconds slower than planned, happy with that. But it does make me realise that 3:10 might be a tad optimistic for Dublin in three weeks. Last year I ran the 3/4 at 6:50, the target for Dublin, and finished reasonably comfortable, this year not so much. I will concentrate on the faster stuff up to 13 mile sessions from here on out, hoping that if I get to half way comfortably, the fitness will carry me the rest of the way. My right foot is very sore after today's run, more than I have ever experienced before which does worry me a bit. I will rest tomorrow and evaluate Tuesday.