Taper taper

9 days to go to London and I had an enforced taper this week due work.

Last week I did 53 miles which was a taper of sorts, as I did those miles of 5 days instead of the usual 6.

I think I may have hit peak fitness a week or two early, as the previous week I did my long 20 mile run at 7.10 average and it felt pretty easy going, with miles 17,18 and 19 the fastest all under 7 minutes. It may have been a bit too fast however, as the few days after were really tough going. I read, afterwards of course, that a training run too fast can be very counter productive, as the body needs a lot more recovery and you expose yourself to injury. Thankfully I still have gone through the entire marathon training cycle with not so much a sniff of injury, although there are 9 days to go!

This week will see about 36 miles run over 4 days, and next week will be obviously less again as I prepare for Sunday.

The excitement is building, and I absolutely love being able to tell people that I am running the London marathon next week.

Better

After last weeks meeting with the wall, I was not particularly inspired with the thoughts of the remaining training.
Monday was an easy 6 miles, Tuesday was to be tempo run day. With the usual 1 mile warmup, I set off with 7 planned at 6:35. The going felt pretty good, so I changed the plan to make it 9 at tempo pace. Finishing easily, I would have kept going to 11 but I had to head home to go to work. The 9 were at 6:31 avg.
Wednesday was rest day which usually ties in well with a long day in the office at the wife's Pilates.
Thursday was a glorious day of sunshine, and with no work for the day, I was under no time pressure with 10 miles planned. I headed out with the 'easy' pace planned of 7:20. At about mile 8 I decided to extend the run a bit as the day was so nice and the pace felt so easy. I figured 12 might be nicer. At 11 miles, I had the option to head for home or keep going for a few more, so keep going I did, all the way to 18 miles. No water, no sports drink, ending the run on a 7:16 avg.
I was really pleased with this, it gave me a bit of confidence back. Obviously I am better off  without the sports drink, up to a point I believe.
Friday was 6 easy, and Saturday was an unplanned rest day ( largely, but not confirmed, that I may have had been feeling some ill effects of one or two alcoholic beverages the night before ).
Again today was a beautiful day, and make miles while the sun smiles was again the order of the day.
I headed out for a long run planned, but at an easier pace. 7:30 was the target, the distance a bit uncertain,but hoping 20 miles might be achievable. I had put a drink of water at 6 miles, which would  also be 12 miles on the lap, and at 14 miles a bottle with water and a drop off cordial.
The pace felt very nice early on, a gentle amble, which I knew would be torturous by 18 miles. I met a clubmate out at 9 miles who joined me for 6 which was really great. I had forgotten how nice and how much easier it is to have some company. When he left me at 15, I feared I would find the pace hard going, but thankfully it would never arrive. Mile 17 and 18 were amongst the fastest, probably due to the cordial effect. Finishing the 20 strongly with an average of 7:28, I felt I could have easily kept going to finish another 6, which would have been somewhere around a 3:15 marathon, although I do realise that actually running another 6 miles might tell a very different story!
5 weeks today, another 4 weeks of  hard training ahead hopefully, the roller coaster continues.

A stupid place for a wall.

After the good run in Bohermeen, I had hoped to build on it.
Monday was a recovery day, heard somewhere that running an easy five miles usually works for a recovery run, so I did 6 on grass.
It worked well and I felt comfortable after with no soreness. Tuesday was rest day, Wednesday was 10 miles at what was to be an easy pace, and without paying attention to the watch averaged at exactly 7min miles. This was faster than expected, and if put it down to the legs still in faster mode from the Sunday run.
Work commitments meant I didn't get out for my planned 9 mile tempo, so I decided to bite the bullet and set out for 20 miles on Friday on what was a beautiful day. The plan was 7:25 miles, and the first 10 went very easy. I had positioned some drinks out on my route, water first, then some sports drink, with water towards the end. Owing to an enroute phonecall, i misplaced the sports drink bottle at 11 instead of 15 miles. The going got very tough after consuming the sports drink. I found it difficult to get a rhythm going, my breathing was slightly laboured and I felt the energy being sapped from me. At 16 miles I slammed into the wall and had to just stop and walk for a half mile. I got going again, did 1 mile at 8:10 and walked the last half mile home having cut the route short.
The 16 miles were exactly on pace. So was it the sports drink, or did I push too far too soon too hard after Bohermeen? Whatever it was, it has hit the confidence big time. Saturday was 6 easy, and today was 10 at 7:25 again, which felt decidedly slow and very easy to finish.
With not long left to London, it is a bit late to be establishing the formula for success! The next few weeks will be crucial. However it goes, I won't be pushing it for any PB's.

Race Report

Training had again been slightly disjointed recently with a trip to the USA with work thrown in. I brought the gear and did a 10k at 5am on the treadmill while there, but I hate the treadmill. I tend to sweat buckets, and not getting anywhere is a tad frustrating. The effort always seems far harder on the treadmill too.
Mileage for last week was only 30, but I did get a quality session of 8 miles at race pace for the half marathon, with 11 miles for the session.
The weather forecast was pretty much ideal today, and it didn't disappoint. It was a bit breezy, but compared to the last few day, and what it was at Bohermeen last year, it was quite acceptable.
The whole family came with me today, as Navan is only 30 minutes from the house.
Over 1000 participants ran today, and it was busy. I did only a relatively small warm up of 10 minutes easy enough, and got a place pretty close to the start with some fellow club mates whom I hadn't really seen in quite some time due to the solitary nature of my training of late.
At the off, as anticipated, the pace was too fast. I had set the garmin at. 6:29 pace for a target 1:25, and the first mile was 6:05, and even then I was making a conscious effort to hold back. Mile two was a bit more honest at 6:23. People seemed to find their place, and one thing I noted after the finish was how little passing was done. Only one or two passed me for the entire race and the same for me. That was a good indication that the people around me at least, paced it well.
At 4 miles a runner came along side and asked what my target was. His PB had been 1:29, so he said he would tag along with me. From there, all the miles were pretty accurate at about 6:25 pace, and the going felt good. I was running well within myself, holding back at times when the wind was on my back to conserve energy. In my mind the test would come from 10 miles, as that had been the longest tempo I had done. 10 came, and I still felt good, the temptation was to push the pace, but the last 3 were crucial, with the last almost two up a pretty long drag right into the wind.
As we turned into the wind, my fellow runner who had been with me all along decided to push on and I let him go. In my mind, with the hardest 1.5 miles left, I didn't want to screw it up now. I felt the effort really increase as I pushed into the wind, but I overtook 2 runners who had been ahead of me all race. The pace dropped to 6:35, but i had enough time banked I felt, to tolerate it. As I came around the final turn I could see the clock at 1:24 something ( no glasses on) and I quickly realised it might not make it. I pushed it out for a sprint finish, but ended up with 1:25:03 at the end.
I was pretty happy with this, the important thing for me on this race was to see where I was, and to pace it right. I probably should have programmed the garmin at 6:25 as it read 13.22 distance and I should have allowed for that.
Overall a good race, our club came fourth, and my club mates had some fantastic times. It gives me a good barometer for London. The year I ran 3:09, my half marathon time was 1:26 and a bit, so I am least there I hope.
The mileage will increase substantially from this week with only 7 weeks to go.

London training

The last two weeks training have been pretty positive.
Last week was over 60 miles, but the two key runs went very well. On Thursday I went out to do an 8 mile tempo. One mile warmup then 8 at 6.35. I hadn't run for the two days previous and it felt like a mini taper. The weather has been very good for running lately, not too cold or windy. The first few tempo miles went well, but I always seem to start to struggle around the 5 mile point. I pushed through and was at mile 7 very comfortably, with all miles faster slightly than target so I pushed on to 9 miles with an average 6:33 pace. One mile cool down, and I was quite pleased. The next day I felt pretty good too.
The long run was to be 16 miles and I was not looking forward to it. I have been running up to 13 or 14 pretty Consistently, but the push through those last few miles always was going to be a challenge.
The target was 7:30 pace, and the first 8 miles were easy and uneventful, probably due to the fact that my 'short' run is now a 9 mile lap.
I had a small bottle of barley cordial mixed with water strategically placed at 11 miles. It took about two miles to kick in, but when it did it was very noticeable.  The legs felt refreshed and I attacked each mile, having to pull myself back at times. I couldn't believe when I hit 16 and kept going towards home pushing out a total of 17.5 miles at 7:28 pace. More importantly I felt I could have easily kept going, but not if there were any more hills!
The key was the drink. All my runs up to 14 miles are done with no drink intake at all. I work on the 90 minute glycogen assumption. If I can train my body up to that point with no drinks, then on marathon day, taking in refreshments from early on should be a massive bonus to the stamina. I learned from Dublin 2013 that I cannot take gels, so I have to rely on water and sports drinks which served me very well. Gary O'Hanlon's advice on that occasion was to drink from the very first station and I intend to follow that again.
Yesterday was tempo run day again. I had done 10k the day before so the legs didn't feel quite so fresh heading out. After the mile warmup I set off again at the 6:35 pace. It didn't feel quite so easy this time, and from 6 miles the legs felt distinctly heavy and tired. It was much more of a struggle, but I pushed on for 10 miles at 6:33 again, with one mile cooldown gave me 12 for the session.
Bohermeen half is on 8th March, not sure if I will do it yet, but I would like to test myself in a race scenario, I have purposefully stayed away from races and will largely continue to do so until the marathon itself. I find that trying to run races, whether tapering or recovering, while focused on something else can interrupt and dilute the training for the main event.
A small reduction is planned this week and next, with 8 weeks to go, I am happy with where my training is so far.

Jogging on the spot

I fell short of my target mileage this week at only 36, mostly because I didn't get my long run in today. I was scheduled to get 14 in, but time constraints ended up me just doing a quick 6. The plan is for the long run tomorrow.
Wednesday was interesting. It was the day storm Rachel arrived, and it was bright out so I figured I would head out. An easy 9 miles was on the cards. The first few went well with the wind on my back, but mile 7 was directly into wind. Jogging on the spot comes to mind, great for the ab's but not great for the time, or face!
Thursday I did some speed work. It was very difficult to get the legs turning over for the first two miles. I did one mile warmup, two one mile reps at 6.10, and then 3 sets of 800's at 6 minute pace with a  mile to cool down. It was nice to get the legs turning over again, although at the end of the session I was fairly spent, and the effort was pretty tough.
The next challenge is to start cleaning up the diet again. When I was running well I was constantly at 10 stone exactly, and I am now up to 10stone 8 lbs. I am enjoying too many potatoes with dinner, the trick I find is to reduce the carbs and up the protein. That tends to make the carbs more effective when you up the dosage before a target race. Funnily enough, for me, one of the best pre-race foods is chips! I like that one.
I am also trying from the start of this training cycle to do some core work every day after my run. 40 press ups and the same sit ups, with some stretching.
Although the weather is cold at the moment, it is pretty good running weather. The main challenge is slippery patches on the road. The last thing I need is to go over on the ankle or something.

Balance and PSB's

When I looked back on my blogs recently, it seems that 2013 was the year I went from, in my terms, zero to hero. I really put some work in, and came from a low base to all my PB's in the space of about  eight months.
In 2014, work life was prioritised, and my training and racing stagnated, if not started going in reverse. Overnight, my time off was pretty much halved, which limited my training capability. I managed to retain a bit of short distance fitness, but my stamina had decreased substantially. It was harder to find the time to get the long runs in, and I had to give up speed training with Gary.
The speed training was probably the biggest factor, as it really motivated me, and being able to run in a group also pushed me.
2015 is going to be a more balanced year hopefully. I am looking forward to the London marathon, and training started this week. December wasn't a great month for milage, although I am looking at that as a break before the next ramp up of a training cycle. I have written up a training schedule for myself, based on the three corner stones of any preparation for a target race of  a bit of a distance.
One day of speedwork, one tempo day, one long run day. Those three principles, combined with a gradual increase in milage should see me right for London. I have no target set yet for London, but at this point, I won't be pushing for a PB. I do have an ideal pace I would like to hope to feel comfortable at, and closer to the time I will finalise that.
This week for week one of proper marathon training went well, getting the three core runs done. The long run wasn't particularly long at 11 miles. I didn't really get it right either. With the Bohermeen half marathon at the beginning of March, after 3 miles I thought it might be interesting to see how I got on over 13 miles, and pushed the pace a bit to hard, with mile 5 at 6.55. That may have been easy five or six months ago, but not now for me, and by mile 9 I decided to cut it short and head for home.
That evening, I started to have a bit of pain in my right hip, and put it down to the increase in mileage for the week.
When I headed out today, the first mile was a big struggle, so much so that th pain in my hip almost made me turn back. I decided to push on, and thankfully by mile 3 it had warmed up and worked itself out. Again I got a bit carried away towards the end, and mile 7 which was the last, was the fastest at 7 minutes.
PSB's are personal steps backwards. I am guessing that I may face into some of those in the very near future, but this year I hope to find the balance between work and life a bit easier.