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.

Berlin Marathon 2019

He only beat me by 74 minutes!

Getting the entry to Berlin Marathon via the lottery was a welcome surprise, but very unexpected. It didn't really fit with the plans I had for the year. Having run the 2:58 at Dublin in October 2018, I undertook to concentrate on my return to education, which I did, and thoroughly enjoyed, but I knew that there was no way I could work a very demanding full time job, study, and train for a 'good' marathon. So the marathon training had to take a back seat. I did keep ticking over with some running throughout the year, but very sporadic, and nothing of any consistency.

Things did pick up a bit towards the end of the summer, with the holidays from college and the longer evenings, but still disjointed, so going to into Berlin I felt very unprepared. Getting ill in the days before really just topped off my total abandonment of any expectation of salvaging anything reasonable in terms of time, but even though right up to the final day I was uncertain if I would run, I went to enjoy myself and make the best of it.

The trip over went well, and the visit to the expo wasn't too stressful at all. The threatened long queues never really materialised, and the expo was pretty much like any other major marathon expo. It was a bit of a disappointment that you had to pay to get a finishers t-shirt in addition to your entry fee, and high cost was a feature of everything associated with this event, which kind of took some of the shine off it. I had started to feel slightly better on Saturday, and knew I would run regardless.

As the hotel was quite close to the starting area, being a short journey by train, after a reasonably good nights sleep, myself and Brian headed to the start just after 7:30, which turned out to be a comfortable time. It was a beautiful morning, perfect conditions for marathon running, the breaking of the world record later being testament to that. The start venue area is huge, and with over 40 thousand runners, it was a busy spot, but still pretty comfortable, as well as quite scenic. Signage could have been slightly better, and while toilets were in good supply, everyone was queuing for the first set, when there were many others down further less busy. we dropped our clothing bags and I downed two nurofen with about 30 minutes to go. Not ideal I know, but it was the only way I was going to get started, never mind finished. They did the trick, and the headache subsided and I felt much improved by the time we got to the starting point.

The starting point was again huge, and both myself and Brian were in block D, which was quite close to the start line. We lined up together, and I wished him well with his target time, and no more was said. The atmosphere was good at the start line, but slightly subdued. It didn't take very long to get across the start line, and we were off. And so started the dance of what I call the ballerinas. The ones who just have to jump right across your path to get to the other side of you for no apparent reason, with a lovely graceful skip which if the person behind is not quick enough to react to, would probably bring both parties crashing down. It's a marathon! Chill out, you will get there!

I had set the watch to a 7:26 mile pace, which at the time I felt could be a bit optimistic, but it didn't really matter as I wasn't chasing a time. My expectations were that I was out for a 20 'ish' mile run with a 6 mile walk at the end, and that was okay. I had done no single long run of over 16 miles since the Dublin marathon last year, never mind the multiple 20 mile runs that are normally required for a marathon. The first few miles I didn't even look at my watch, and just enjoyed the start, in equal measure, loving the atmosphere of the event, and thinking about the pain ahead. What I did notice was how heavily I was sweating, my singlet stuck to my body very quickly and water dripping quite readily from my head, obviously a symptom of my cold, and subsequently the snots running from my nose, which thankfully cleared up later with the dehydration!

As I did start to consider the watch, I became aware that I was going far too fast, even for a marathon pace which would have been optimistic. Mile 1, 7:19, mile 2, 6:58. What! Slow this shit down, 6:58 would see me walking at 15 miles. Mile 3, 7:13, mile 4, 7:16. Better but still too fast. The problem was that the pace felt so comfortable, and it actually was more effort to try and run slower. The inexperienced me might have believed it was sustainable, but the experienced me knew better.
Mile 5, 7:07, crap, slow down! Mile 6, 7:21, well done, much better.

From the very first station I took on as much water as I could while continuing to run at a reasonable pace, and also half a clif Blok which are the gels I use, the plan being to do so every three miles. The sports drink offered was not one I had taken before, and it is never a good idea to try something new on race day. The strategy was working well, although the water stations were chaos with runners crashing into each other, pushing shoving and tripping trying to grab cups of water. Again, some inexperience on the part of some of the runners, with everyone trying to stop at the start of the station: TIP, run down the line and pick up from towards the end, nobody there.

Mile 7, 6:59, race horse mode again, mile 8, 7:07. I was kind of getting to the point where, because I was running some comfortably, I thought, 'sure to hell with it, just run the comfortable pace and whatever happens happens, I will end up walking anyway'. So that's pretty much what I did from there on, just ran whatever was comfortable. Berlin as a course is renowned as a flat PB course, which it largely is. It is not a track however, and there are of course some small undulations, but nothing like Boston or Dublin. The surface is good, a good width, and well shaded from the direct sunlight for the most part if you want to be.

Mile 9, 7:16, mile 10 7:22, mile 11, 7:03, mile 12, 7:21. At mile 12 I could start to feel the fatigue set in. This was the first sign of a wobble, and the doubts started to creep in. Would I even make it to 20 before the walk? I was definitely starting to feel it now, and I had missed taking my gel at mile 9 as I didn't think I needed it. Mile 13, 7:16, mile 14, 7:12. I had a recovery of sorts over these miles, the going was good and I always take stock at the half way point. I believed I was pretty much still at a reasonably comfortable pace, I have often felt much worse at half way. Mile 15 7:19, mile 16, 7:21. The effort definitely getting much tougher now, and mentally I was aware that this was as far as I had run in training, and at nowhere near this pace. Still, I just had to keep running comfortably and not even worry about the pace, let it worry about itself, even though I knew this was a very risky strategy for a marathon.

Mile 17, 7:20, consistent, mile 18 7:20. Okay, expecting to hit the wall shortly and begin the 'walking dread'. I met the first walker at 12.5 miles, which is quite early, but none then until about 17. A steady trickle from 18 miles, heads down, the wall getting the better of them, overly optimistic with their times and paying the price. I have been that runner many times!

Mile 19, 7:15. A slight over compensation for the expectation of the wall. Mile 20, 7:07. Surprisingly, no wall yet, strange alright. Mile 21, 7:11. So, 5 miles left, what would 9 minute miles give me from here? The calculations starting to see what time I could salvage. At Dublin last year, going through 21 miles and no wall gave me a huge boost, and I was really motivated from there to keep going, where as on this event, I never believed I would make it all the way, and that's probably a big part of the reason I didn't. Mile 22, 7:08, the last gasp before the impending fall, and the arrival of the self fulfilling prophesy. Mile 23, 7:48. And so it began. The head dropped, the brain started to tell me I needed to stop, I can't do it, I can't keep going, and to an extent it was absolutely correct. What the hell did I expect with so little training? The only reason I got to here was a latent fitness and the experience of running 11 other marathons, combined with one of the flattest marathon's in the world on the perfect weather day.

Mile 24, 8:29. Walking was involved in this mile, although to be fair, combined walking and running is a proven and effective method of getting there. If you keep putting the feet forward, you will get there eventually, and the walking breaks did actually help me. A slow run however, is always faster than a walk, and with this in mind, I picked myself up again to a slow jog. Mile 25, 8:21, slightly better with the anticipation of the finish not too far. Mile 26, 8:00, again nearly there, just pull whatever you have left together and keep moving. I didn't really notice the crowds, I knew they were there alright, but they made their presence a lot less felt than that of at other marathons. The finish at Dublin and Boston are on a par, both being excellent for crowd support. London not far behind, but probably a stand out in it's own right for the setting of the finish coming around the mall and Buckingham palace to the huge iconic gantry. Berlin, even though you pass under the Brandenburg gate, I didn't feel the 'lift' of the crowd that I had experienced at the others.

And so over the line at 3:15:34 for the official time, and 7:22 average, which was in fact better than my most optimistic expectation of the watch at 7:26, and I was very pleased with that. A long way from my sub 3 of last year, but you get out what you put in, and I probably got way more than I deserved for what I put in. Recovering the gear, and non-alcoholic beer, some photo shots, and back to the hotel for a lovely bath.

Overall a good experience. I would like to do Berlin again if I was in 'good shape' although I know it is all relative.

Flying back Monday, the legs were of course quite stiff. Recovery however seems quite quick, and I will shortly be minus one toenail - as always. Tomorrow Thursday will be run one after Berlin, Dublin training starts then.

Man Flu

Yep, man flu. FFS! Could anything else go wrong at this point?

Started Tuesday evening while flying, sore throat. Headache by bedtime, barely able to speak yesterday morning. No energy, hot and cold sweats, headache so bad I could barely function.

Nose started to run today with phlegm pouring down the back of my throat. To be fair, not any worse headache, so that is positive. Got home from work and fell asleep in my clothes. Much nose blowing, hot drinks, vitamin C (careful with the volume, 'may cause a laxative effect').

Flying out tomorrow, I will still go and see how I feel Saturday at the expo. Sunday is still almost three days away so there is hope, although I know my body and the cycle it goes through when ill, I generally spend a week with a chesty cough after the headaches and runny nose.

Now that there is a possibility I 'can't' run it, it makes me realise how much I actually do want to run it, bad time or not.

Too Little Too Late

The last two weeks of training have gone quite well, sort of.

After the 10 mile race, I recovered well, and did two more runs last week of 8 miles each at the same pace, and the second one I was running easily enough at 6:35 pace. I think my body adapts well to the tempo runs and that is always where I see most results from training effort.

A few easy runs at 8 miles also. Today I did yesterday's postponed run, which normally the Sunday before a marathon is around 12 miles at 10 seconds slower than target pace. However as Berlin target pace is likely to be very slow, I figured I'd run a tempo of sorts. So a two mile warmup at almost 8 minute mile pace, and then a 10 mile segment at 7:00 minute mile.

The tempo segment went quite well, although I did struggle on the last two miles a bit, the slowest mile was 6:58 and the average for the 10 was 6:51 pace. One mile cooldown gave 13 for the session, that being the highest single mileage run in over a month. My feet were quite sore afterwards.

While it was a good session and I was happy enough, it really is a case of too little too late. I should have been pushing out sessions like that about 6 weeks ago and building from there to here. Absolutely no long runs in weeks is going to be the cruicial missing element. I have gained back a moderate level of fitness, and would be confident of a sub 1:30 half easily enough at this point, the time on the feet and legs is what will do me in on the day. My body just won't be used to anywhere near three hours on the feet and legs. I honestly don't think I have been this unprepared for a marathon distance ever.

If I pulled out now and deferred my entry to next year I would lose nothing. My flights are staff travel, the hotel is not prepaid with free cancellation. But I would be letting others down by pulling out, so off I go for possibly 3:30 to 4:00 hours of pain! But this one will be for the event, the atmosphere and the enjoyment of participation. On that basis I am determined to enjoy the weekend and look forward to one or two cold beers in Berlin to ease my pain on Sunday evening. Some 'fun' running 😳

A Win is a Win?

Expectations, time, and change. Work and reward, balance.

A well deserved break, if I do say so myself, saw ten days of my favourite activities. Time with the kids, great food, nice wine, cake, and some gym sessions with a bit, but not a lot, of running.

On one stop in the Bahamas, the cruise company organises a 5k run. More along the lines of a park run than a full race, no chip time, and in the spirit of fun. 33 degrees celceius is not quite what I would be used to at 9am. My first 'race' since sub three at Dublin last year, still a bit nervous at the line. 'GO' and we were off. Difficult to judge the other runners gathered around, second place for the first half mile behind an overly exuberant teenager, finding myself leading to the finish after that, in an extremely modest 19:20. But 'a win is a win', kind of.

Back to the more familiar climate of home, with three weekends left to Berlin. Despite getting off an overnight flight on Sunday, I managed a 10 mile run. It went well enough, although I definitely noticed the extra found from unlimited food of holidays.

I had signed up for the Dublin race series 10 mile a few weeks ago. Knowing how far away from last years fitness I am, I planned a 'conservative' 6:50 pace for the 10 miles. The familiar crowd at the start line were like old friends I had missed for many months, with a few notable missing comrades.
Positioning too far forward, smiling to myself that I would be one of those I would often complain about in races gone by, who caused an obstruction and should have know their place.

At the off, the first two miles were too fast, but perceived to be comfortable at 6:30 exactly. The brain knew it was too fast, mile three 6:36, and I knew I would not last and got some sense finally and slowed towards a more comfortable pace of 6:45. From 5 miles the effort was tough and at times I wondered if I would have to stop, but I persevered until I couldn't, which thankfully never came.
As always I had no sprint finish and when I was on the final stretch I was satisfied with the clock just ticking over the 1:07 to finish at 1:07:04. But I was spent. The tought crossed my mind as I looked at the 6:42 average pace, how the hell did I managed just a few seconds slower for 26.2 miles just a year ago?

The calculators say that I should be capable of a 3:06 with that 10 mile benchmark time, but this is where the experience of the human knows better. With no run longer than 16 miles, and no particularly high mileage, I am still thinking anything under 3:30 would be optimistic. But like today, that would be a 'good result'. It's great to want to improve, compete, do well, but if those are not options, then feck it, I might as well just enjoy it!

Definitely Not Going to Plan

Its been quite a while since I wrote anything down, well about running that is. Most of the first six months of the year was spent writing for college, and not so much of the running, which is why I find myself where I am now.

Getting the entry for Berlin was an unexpected surprise, but to be honest a poisoned challace. If it had been last year, or the year after next, I might have been able to give it a descent shot, but as things stand, I will struggle at best.

While I was doing some running, many weeks was only mileage in the 20's, and of poor quality, just ticking over. No real speed work , no hills, no tempos and no long runs of any substance. Quite a few 8 mile runs at 7:40 to 8:00 miles. When I did finish college I had hoped to have time to get some good training done, but then work took over. I basically spent five weeks travelling around Europe, eating at lots of nice restaurants as part of it in the evenings, which was great, but not very good for training.

Things have improved somewhat over the last few weeks, but the long runs are proving very difficult as week after week I struggle badly in trying to keep any type of consistent pace for any distance. This week I ran 16 miles at 7:23 average, and almost walking the last 1.5 miles home, having to lie on the floor to recover when I got in the door! Admittedly the distance for the week was 57 miles, but  many times last year I would have routinely run that mileage and had no problem with a 20 mile run at the same pace, or even 10 seconds faster.

It seems I went from 8 to 15 too quickly for the long runs, not building consistently as I have done on other blocks. Also, the lack of tempos is really showing. There was one tempo this week, 1 mile warmup, 8 miles at 6:44 average, with a 2 mile cooldown. Last year than would have been 20 seconds faster.

So with some holidays planned, and only 5 weeks to Berlin, I have to start thinking about what I can 'get away with'. I would love to think 3:20 might be possible, but judging by my recent long runs alone, that looks overly optimistic. So it looks like I will be back to 3:30 territory , where I started 6 years ago. Not so bad I suppose, it's all relative, if I take it easy and try to run within myself, I am more likely to enjoy the event.

For The Record

Again, I am not great lately at keeping the training record up to date. It has been a few weeks, so for guidance I figure I better write something down.

Things have been improving really only in the last ten days or so. Up to then, I was still vey much in the leading to run again phase. But I can notice a little zip coming back again, relative as it is to a very poor base line, but encouraging nonetheless less. The weekly mileage is around 40 again, which is where I am happy with for this stage. Once I get comfortable there, I will start increasing the intensity with some speed and tempo sessions, and then gradually push out to 50 by probably end of March, but that is a while yet. Last post was 21st Jan so since then:

22/01 - 10 miles at 7:11 pace. Encouraged by that, felt solid by not overly hard, but I had no run the day previously.
23/01 - 6 miles recovery run, 8:01 pace. Felt really tough after the day before, mileage done but might have been better with a rest day, suffered all the way.
24/01 - 4 miles, easy again, pushed for time due real life, I would have liked 6 but still tough enough at 7:51 pace.
25/01 - 6 miles. Two easy warmup, 7:44, 7:43, then two mile tempo at a tough but comfortable feel pace: 6:30, 6:20. Two miles cool down, 7:49, 8:01. Very happy with how the two fast miles felt.
26/01 - 5 miles, two easy, one at 6:57, two easy again, 7:22 average.
27/01 - rest day
28/01 - 11 miles. 7:37 average (approximately) battery died for the last two miles. Again, a faster pace run which was comfortable given the rest day previously.
29/01 - rest day
30/01 - Speed training with Gary. Only six miles for the session, but a great workout. 1 mile warmup, then a mix of distances at various paces, with the fastest mile at 6:04, 6:41 average.
31/01 - 6 mile recovery run at 8:06 average.
01/02 - 6 miles, two easy warmup, two mile tempo at 6:41 avg, two mile easy cooldown.
02/02 - 6 miles easy at 7:38
03/02 - 8 miles easy at 7:39
04/02 - Gym session with the eldest, 3 miles treadmill, 7:10 avg.
05/02 - 8 miles easy 7:32
06/02 - speed training. One mile warmup then into a 35 minute tempo. 6:28, 6:21, 6:32, 6:26, 6:32, and a .2 to finish a 10k in 40:21. Very happy with that, if I had started with the faster pace for the warmup mile I would have a sub 40 10k, albeit on a track, but it is definitely the first time in avert long time I could hold a faster pace for more than 2 miles.
07/02 - rest day. Quite stiff after the hard effort the day before, so rest to recover.
08/01 - tempo day again. Two easy miles, then 3x1 mile repeats. 6:13, 6:12, 6:18. Two easy miles home, and a good quality session under the belt again.
09/01 - easy 8 miles at 8:00. I has thought I might run this session a bit faster, but I definitely felt the effort of the fast miles in the legs, and much of this one was a struggle.
10/02 - rest day, needed after the tire effort the day before.
11/02 - 11 miles at 7:25. I had forgotten that I had recently run this one harder just two weeks earlier, and probably was a bit conservative. A strong blustery wind on the way out,many a snow shower on the way back didn't help!

Slowly, slowly.

Weather has been crap, work has been busy, and the body is protesting!

While I am still working on getting to grips with my fancy new watch, there are some really nice features. I am enjoying the sleep monitor, which is mostly accurate but can be adjusted if not. The app is really useful and easy to keep track on what is going on.

All runs this week were fairy short for various reasons. Wind and cold were the main feature of the week. I didn't push the distance too far, still preferring to try and get the body used to running multiple days. However, my left hip firstly, then knee, then foot, then heel, all started to protest to varying degrees. As always, I just push through, and after a few miles it always seems to improve.

Monday 6.2 miles 8:07 avg
Tuesday 6.2 miles 7:13 avg
Wednesday rest
Thursday 6.15 miles 7:28avg
Friday 6:03 miles 7:34 avg
Saturday 6.2 miles 7:05 avg

Today should have been a long run, but it lashed rain and I though four days in a row might be a bit much, so with the weather forecast better for tomorrow, I will try for an 11 mile run then.

A Slow Start

Slowly I am starting to ramp up the distance, and it is not going as well as I had hoped.
The new watch is great for giving me all the information I never had before, such as heart rate, cadence, calories etc, everything most people have taken for granted from their watch for the last 5 years!

Monday I did an easy flat 6 mile loop, part of it on the track, average pace 7;32.

Tuesday I went to speed training for the first time in a long while. I thoroughly enjoyed the company as I normally tend to run on my own. I took the session very easy as I didn't want to push it too hard too soon, not that I would have much in the tank to push right now anyway! It was nice to kind of blow out some cobwebs for a change.

Wednesday was a rest day, and I really needed it after the speed training the night before, my legs were tired, but not quite sore. Thursday again was an easy 6 miles, same pace as Monday.

Friday I decided to re-introduce some hills into the training. At the off, my left hamstring was very tight, and within the first two miles I was almost heading home. I began to think that I was pushing too many miles too quickly, but I have found in the past that if I push on for a few miles the pain / injury / discomfort normally dissipates eventually. This is probably never a good idea, but seems to have worked so far. Anyway, 4 miles in and I had warmed up and the discomfort was a lot less, although the pace was very slow.  The only bonus was that the steep hills were no harder than the flat segments. 7.1 miles at 8:15 average.

Saturday I took as a rest day, the weather wasn't particularly good so I was happy to sit it out. On Sunday I wanted to test the pace a bit over a longer distance. With a potential half marathon in mid March, I needed to find out if it was worth even trying to train for it. So with a planned 11 miles, I set my watch (eventually) for a 7;25 pace. As I set out, I was a bit confused at the pace display which seemed to have me running a lot slower than I would have expected. After the first while I figured out I had set the pace at 7:25 per kilometer, and not mile! So I had to revert to a different screen and run average pace. Anyway, it took about two miles to settle into the pace which felt quite tough initially, but then I settled into a nice stride and it felt a lot easier. Finishing the 11.1 miles at 7:19 average, I was kind of glad it was finished, but pleased with the result. It's a long way off 26.2 at 6:47 I was doing just over two months ago, but as I know my body, I am confident that I can improve if I can get some consistency over a few weeks.

Today was just a recovery week of 6 miles which went well, but I was glad when it was over. It will shortly be time to re-introduce the tempo runs, and the mile repeats sessions, which usually provide the quickest improvement. That's if I can get this watch figured out!

A First in Five Years!

Today was a first for me in over five years, although in reality it was probably achieved a few days ago without me realising, such is the nature of the circumstance.

I knew I was getting close over the last week or two, solid progress towards the target evident with each passing day. Even the arrival of my shiny new Garmin, with all its fancy applications such as built in heart rate monitor, stairs counting, steps counting etc, couldn't stop the end result.

Yes, for the first time in over 5 years, I weigh more than 11 stones. 11 stone 1 pound to be exact.
An unrestricted diet of pretty much whatever I wanted got me to this point, coupled with a serious lack of training. Cake, any kind, but especially Christmas cake, chocolate, but particularly peanut M&M's and quality street, and biscuits, much mince pies and a fair few takeaways of mainly fried chicken, chips and Chinese resulted in every tightening jeans. And I enjoyed every single calorie!

The intention was to resume normal service yesterday, but wouldn't you know, I have caught an illness. A serious headache, coupled with a sore throat, and a slight temperature meant I decided that it would be unwise to further stress an already under pressure immune system. The fancy new watch showed a resting heart rate average of less than 40 go to over 50 in two days, coinciding with the onset of the adverse feelings. Not sure how that might play out in the future but it will be interesting to observe the correlation, if any.

So the new regime will begin tomorrow, refreshed and polar bear like in my new layer of natural thermal insulation, ready for winter training , although the days now are getting longer, and as we Irish like to say 'sure there's a grand stretch in the evening'. I know that I have lost a serious amount of fitness since Dublin, but in a way that motivates me afresh. Progress will be observable quite quickly, rather than if I had retained a similar level, and made little improvement, and I am hoping that it won't take too long.

Half marathon target in March, 10 mile target in April, Berlin training begins mid May. I don't expect to be over 11 stone for very long. It's quite amusing actually. Observing the weight on my body, I see it as 'something' rather than me. I know I am underneath it, I just need to shed it again. But I sure did enjoy putting it there!

December Update - I won the Lottery again

Even though I am doing very little training right now, I need to keep not of what is happening so when I look back next year, I can see what I was doing.

As per the title, I won the lottery, this time the Berlin marathon lottery. Hotel is already booked!
As I didn't get a place last year, I just bought all the options this year, logic being they might favour the higher revenue entrants. Whether that was a factor or not I will never know, but I was delighted with the place. I does put some shape on next year which is always a good thing, but it also puts some pressure on. Now that I have done the sub 3 in Dublin, it would be expected that Berlin should also be a sub 3. We will see.

As for training, pretty much not a lot right now. 2 to 3 runs per week, one long run of between 11 to 13 miles, slow pace. This week was a better week. Tuesday was 11 miles. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were all five miles. Mile 3 of the 5 mile sets was run at a tempo pace, which turned out to be 6:20 on all the 3 days. Today I went to the gym with the eldest, and as I have no hope of doing the weights session he does, I did a few light exercises, and a few miles treadmill.

My ankle was very sore after yesterday's run, to the point I had a bit of a limp in walking and trying to go up or down the stairs. I reckon it's due to going from 2 days running to 4, and it's a bit scary that my body reacted that way. The ankle was much better today on the treadmill so hopefully it was a passing thing.

The Christmas diet has started early, I have gained almost 7 pounds since Dublin. I will continue to eat what I want, which is lots of everything but mostly chocolate, biscuits and cake, and not feel guilty about it, and whatever weight I am on 2nd January, then so be it.
I have said many times before, I am a fat man in a thin body, but only because I run.

One Month on

So nothing in the way of an update for a month.

Normally in November, after the Dublin marathon, I tend to still run some fairly consistent mileage, albeit no neccisarly all that high. This time, I have been a little less focused.

The week after the marathon, my first run was an easy 6 miles on the Thursday, next run being an easy 10 miles on the Sunday. That was a good start, but it kind of fell away a bit then. I went to a speed session the next Tuesday, and we congratulated Gary on his win.

Since then nothing much really. A few easy runs is all. Last week, 26 miles, two easy 10 milers and a six mile, with a gym session and a swim thrown in. Having broken the three this year, I am not as I was other years, gunning for revenge and plotting the next opportunity for an attempt on the summit!

For 2018, I intend to take the 10 mile distance a bit more seriously. Until then, December will be as November, just getting out when the weather is good, enjoying the runs when able, and continuing most likely with the weight gains, as I do most Decembers. The wife says its nice to see some cheeks on the bones.

Having had some time to reflect on the sub 3 achievement, I am still quite proud of it, but once it has been achieved, I was left slightly wondering what the next obsession would be! Can I knock some further time off, and would that really matter, probably not. The training and effort required to lose two or three minutes, I'm not sure would be worthy of the gains, sub 3 is sub 3!

Anyway, the weather has gone cold, I'm busy at work, and Christmas is coming. Roll on 2018, and I have you in my sights mister hour!

DCM 2017

Everyone will have their own story of the Dublin Marathon 2017, some good, some maybe not so good.
The important thing that we all should remember, is how lucky each and every one of us were to be in the health to make it to the start line. I had promised myself a long time ago, no matter what the outcome of any race, I would not be disappointed as long as I kept that philosophy alive.

There is only one Dublin. No matter what other marathons are completed, Dublin will always be special. My training up to the race had been very start stop. I had some very good periods of progression, and the usual plateaus, where I felt I was going backwards. I went on holidays, I got sick, I had a very busy time at work, and I had a family, the same as every other year, and most other participants who run as a hobby.

Having run the Longford marathon two months ago, I had feared that I may have screwed up my chances of a good marathon at Dublin as it took me a longer time to recover than expected.
However, a reasonably good run at the Dublin half marathon, and a pretty solid 3/4 three weeks ago, and I was hopeful that I had some descent stamina built.

As I am sure many thousands of others were doing in the week before the event, I tapered, tried to carb load (I find Halloween brack is brilliant), and watched the weather with dread. Thankfully, on the day, the weather turned out to be pretty much perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, a light breeze, and while it was forecast to be slightly overcast, it turned out to be beautifully sunny.
As I like to be able to keep to my own schedule, I slightly anti-socially drove in on the morning with Brian, instead of getting the bus. I did miss the atmosphere of the bus though, the price to pay for the convenience of getting home slightly earlier at the end for the well earned hot bath.

Parking the car only a short walk from the start, we joined the enthusiastic crowds making their way to the baggage area, and the sense of excitement tinged with nervousness was palpable. There is no 'one size fits all' runner, we come in all shapes and sizes, and the old addage of never judge a book by its cover is certainly one which applies. When running a marathon, you will try anything which might ease your journey and help you that bit quicker towards the finish line, but it truly amazes me how many gels some people think they will need, most likely discarded somewhere as they fall out.

After losing Brian along the way to the start line, I dropped in my bag and made my way to the start for a little warmup, Nothing to much, just a few short strides to get the blood flowing and the heart rate slightly elevated, along with the last quick pee break. I tend not to drink very much on the morning of a race, other than a cup of tea and a few small sips of water. The hydration should be done over the three or four days previous.

I jumped in and positioned myself a few rows behind the 3 hour balloons. I saw a few friendly faces from the Balbriggan club, but couldn't spot any of my own club. The nervous and excited chatter between friends and acquaintances continued, and the one question I heard asked many times was, 'are you going for it?'. Never, was the 'it' articulated, as we all knew what 'it' was, and it was a question I heard repeated many times as far as 20 miles.

At the off, the usual congestion. I had read a tip to stay on the left side at the start, as the first turn is to the right, and that worked very well. Even at my relatively forward starting position, I was still amazed at the runners who were clearly running for a slower time, had started so far forward, and only served to slow the first mile down as we tried to pass. So even though the first mile was very stop start, the watched beeped at 6:53, perfect, 1 second slow.

Mile 2 was about trying to settle in and get the legs warming up properly, but the usual problem of getting dragged along by the exuberance of those around me meant a faster mile 2 at 6:40.
 The 3 hour balloons were slipping away nicely, my plan did not see me running in a large group, fighting for water at the aid stations, My training is usually pretty solitary, and I am just fine with that.
Mile 3 6:56, better, taking back some of the faster mile, very important not to go out too hard!
Mile 4 6:43, doh! A flatter section and I was getting carried away again.
Mile 5 6:50, some water and a gel taken on board. Very important to drink at every station to avoid the cramps and dehydration I had experienced in the past.
Going through the phoenix park, it was really great to see some cheering cub members, it really gave me a lift, and can be better than any sports gel!

Mile 6 6:48, steady enough, going through the 10k mark at 42:43, position 913. Mile 7, 6:59, that's ok, don't worry about a few slow miles this early on, its a long way! Keep drinking, keep steady, stay focused. Mile 8, 6:40, a downhill section, just let the legs turn over slightly faster, don't push the pace. Alot of runners passed me here, and I thought, so what?, I am running my own race. I could still see the sub 3 balloons ahead of me, though quite a bit now.

Mile 9, 6:44. I was getting a bit worried here, the pace was very comfortable, and I knew this would be the danger zone, I needed to keep things under control. Mile 10, 6:47, mile 11, 6:59. That was again a slow mile, but there was probably the steepest section of the race at this point, and I just let myself flow up the hill, not pushing the pace, keeping the head held up and the breathing steady. Plenty of water, and another gel, starting to take on the sports drink now too, although they tried to give me cups, I just grabbed the bottle anyway and carried it for a while as I drank, the only way I knew I would get enough into me.
 Mile 12, 6:43, a bit fast, but back on a flatter section of road with some great crowd support which really helps you along.

Mile 13, 6:48, and going through the half way mark in 1:30:05, position 893. That is a pretty good indication of how the marathon goes, I only passed 20 people in 10k, and all around me, still the talk of whether we were on for 'it'. The halfway point is always the first stock take for me. Comfortable or no? Today, reasonably comfortable, no great signs of trouble.. yet! The aim was for a slightly negative split, and I couldn't get much more accurate than that.

Mile 14, 6:59. That did throw me a bit. Was that a harder mile, was I starting to fade? The first doubts creep in, take a gel, keep drinking, keep running, shake it off, head up, concentrate on the breathing.
Mile 15, 6:47, better, but did I push that too hard?, am I going to regret that! Keep running, keep breathing, head up!
Mile 16, 6:43, okay, that was fast, but felt comfortable, the doubts start to ease, the rhythm is good, only 10 miles left. The talk of 'it' is less.
Mile 17, 6:42. Danger zone, running too fast, if I don't get back under control I will blow up!
Brian is in front of me. Wait! What!

Mile 18, 6:42, still fast, but comfortable. Comfortable be damned, I will be walking at 21 miles at this pace. Going through 30k 2:07:34, position 680, passed 213 runners. I start to come across the walkers now, where I have been many times, the first casualties of the war with the pace and distance, the distance winning.
Mile 19, 6:43, oh well, I guess I will just go with it! It is not as easy as it sounds just to slow down. The body has a rhythm, the stride is what it is, to slow would be to try and disrupt that, and at this point, anything that disrupts anything will be detrimental to my health!

Mile 20, 6:40. Now I am in the real danger zone. This is where I have  blown up on many a marathon, hit the wall, fallen apart, crashed and burned, whatever the term, I have walked quite a few marathons from this point, but today I was still running, and at 6:40. But for how long? It could all come to a sudden grinding halt very quickly. Stock take at 20. Comfortable or no. Well, no. Can you be comfortable at 20 miles? The best I could say was that I was still running, and running well.
A 43 minute 10k would get me home, focus on that.

Mile 21, 6:44, water, gel, breath, run.
Mile 22, 6:57. Okay, steady, that hill appeared they call heartbreak. It's not so much heartbreak, I call it the 'quite annoying' hill, as I would much rather it was not there. But it is, and to be fair, there is quite a nice downhill stretch immediately after.
Mile 23, 6:43. The downhill, and the support, again, a great lift from some clubmates, I even managed a smile and a bit more than a wave. It was like taking two gels at that point, and I knew I was on the finishing straight. 3 miles. Break it down, I can run three miles any day, thats all I need, three miles, keep running.

Mile 24, 6:39. The fastest mile of the race, the adrenaline pumping through my body was pushing me along, the finish within reach, and surely I could allow myself to push harder now, and I became even more nervous. What if I collapsed at the last mile? How slow could I run and still make 'it'? Two 7:30's would do it? No! Push, run, breath, repeat!

Mile 25, 6:40. Almost there! The crowds are cheering the atmosphere electric. Keep the head up, keep running. I want to stop! I feel as if I have made it, finished now, where's that fecking line, jesus these miles must be measured wrong, they are definitely longer than the other ones. No more water, no more gels, just me and the last mile. I catch the three hour pacers, and pass them, my heart racing, surely now! Surely I won't fall apart now, but I might! Shit, steady, steady, don't screw this up now.
I don't think I have much say in it now, my body has had enough, it wants to get off this sadistic joyride, but the brain just won't let it yet!

Mile 26, 6:44, there it is, in sight, that big beautiful gantry, and even though I have no glasses on, I can still see it says 2:xx:xx. Run! Last .2, can't trust the garmin. I have absolutely nothing left. No sprint, just keeping the same steady pace that I have done for the last 26 miles, over the line for a finish time of 2:58:54, position 462, arms raised up, running under that finish line with the clock showing a time I honestly never believed it would as I ran under it.

Like so many others on the day, each with their own personal victories, I felt a sense of pride to have finished in a 'good' time, and relief that I had achieved what it has taken me 11 attempts to do!
I had done 'it', the sub 3.

Then I was shattered! The emotions came, and I felt a little teary as I often do, and a great sense of gratitude to life for allowing me be here on such a beautiful autumnal day, collecting my medal, and meeting my friend afterwards. Off I went to change, and a nice cup of tea in some great company as we exchanged stories of our adventures on the streets of Dublin.

I felt a little awkward with the congratulations of my sub 3, although I was very grateful and humbled, but in the same vein as I will never be too disappointed with a 'bad' race time, I can't be  overly proud of a good one either. It's all relative, and both within our club, and for thousands of others, there were some great victories. A massive congratulations to Danny on his sub 3 also, and to Karen for her national medal, and to Ciaran and others on completing their first marathon.

The legs were not too stiff today, as long as I kept moving. I mowed the grass, and as tempted as I was, while I went for a walk, there was no running! I will definitely loose at least one, and probably two toenails, but 'its' worth it!

Now what?

Updates

So it's a long time since I posted, for various reasons, but if I want to have any record of what training I have done this year I figure I need to put it down.

After the long 20 miler in the previous post, training didn't really get any more consistent. I was still finding the long stuff challenging, so I decided to try and step back a bit to hopefully progress.

I concentrated on trying to get some faster miles done, weekly mileage for the next week was only 40, but there were some quality sessions. The long run the following Sunday was only 12 miles, but ran at 6:45 pace. I also did 6 days of running subsequently. Some old reliable tempo's were reintroduced, starting with 5 miles at 6:30, then 6 at 6:30.

I started to get a head cold, and it progressed slightly to my chest. Never the less, I ran the Dublin race series half marathon. Enough has been said about the organisation of the event, and although the first half of the course was 'challenging', I managed a 1:25:09. This did surprise me somewhat, as I had started out very conservatively, and found I had lots left over the last few miles, the last mile being a 6:11!

Immeadiately after the race, the chest infection took hold in earnest, and I spent two days in bed. So back to a tentative running schedule, not really getting any high mileage weeks in. My speed sessions consist of 4x2 miles, at 6:20 pace, 3 minute intervals. These are good workouts I find.

I ran the Irish 3/4 marathon on Sunday. Again I went out conservatively, planning a 7:00 minute mile pace, and ended up finishing in 2:15 for a 6:52 average. This was faster, but felt like a natural pace, so I just went with it. Surprisingly, yesterday there was very little tiredness evident, but I just did an easy 5 miles to recover.

A speed session today with the club, which I haven't done in a very long time. A mile warmup , then 7x800 at 5k pace. I did feel the effort on the last 800, but overall a very solid session, with 4 easy miles to finish.

If I can get some good quality sessions in over the next two weeks, I might have a shot at a descent marathon at Dublin. Gary's plan as always a bit unconventional when it comes to the concept of a taper, with 60 miles each week for the next two weeks.

Holiday to 20

It turns out I didn't do very much running on holiday.

I just can't spend very long jogging on the spot, that, and the lack of air conditioning in the gym meant I got fed up by Wednesday. I didn't run Thursday as we went ashore to Cannes, which is very pretty, but there is a reason only wealthy people can afford to live there.

On Friday I utilised the running deck, and did a full 6 miles.

Saturday, we travelled back, and with a very early start, again no run.
On Sunday, I figured I'd test out the endurance with a planned 20 mile run.
Up to now, I had been running my long runs around about 15 to 20 seconds slower than planned pace, but today, concious that it had only been exactly two weeks to the day since Longford marathon, I decided a slower, run to feel, pace might be more appropriate, cover the distance, not worry about the time.
Sunday was a very blustery day, but I was well motivated for the run.
The standard long run route is an out and back, but of a west, then east, orientation. Given the strong winds, the first 10 would have been directly into it, and after a few miles, I changed course to get the effect as a crosswind. Without looking at the pace for pace, the first few miles were between 7:25 and 7:10. Just water and 3 gels, one every five miles for nutrition.
Things were going quite well up to 12 miles. The effort was ok, but after that, my knees really started to give me some pain. This was quite surprising, as I don't usually get a physical pain running, normally it's the wall, which is physiological. I pushed on, the pace dropped a little, most miles around 7:25 to 7:35 now. But things didn't really get any worse and quickly enough I was 18 miles. I knew the last two would be tough, and while not easy, I got through them and did the full 20 with an average of 7:28, 2:31 hours, which is probably one of the longest training runs,min terms of time on the legs, that I have every done.

Monday, rest day, and while stiff, I seriously contemplated a run to recover, but decided against.

Today, I had planned to try a 10 mile tempo. However, a short notice change at work meant I needed to go in earlier, so I had to cut the planned run very short. From the off, it was evident that the 10 miler would have been wishful thinking. The legs were very unsteady starting off, and only gained some comfort after two easy miles. I upped the pace in mile 3 to 6:18, but eased back then for only a four mile run.

I need to get some pace back, tempo's are required. However, starting back at college next week, I know the sub 3 is now gone. I intend to just try and keep some fitness to go out and enjoy the run at Dublin. There will be other years.

Update, and Longford Marathon

Not much training updates in the last few weeks, and this one comes from a sunny destination on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean.

After the last post, the following week was reasonable.
50 miles in total, which was a bit disappointing, but a good effort long run that week saw an 18 mile run, 7:05 average, with the last few miles at sub 3 pace.

The following week was taper week, and that was a bit of a disaster. It was so much of a taper, as a full stop, ally getting one 6 mile run in.

No matter, I headed off to Lonford on Sunday morning to line up for the marathon distance.
I wasn't really sure what the object of the exercise was, but it seemed like a good idea to sign up at the time, just in case I couldn't do Dublin.

 It was a good morning, no wind, but very humid, with temperatures forecast to 21 degrees.
Very convenient parking, almost right at the start/finish line. Collected the number, toilet break, warmed up. Longford is definitely the smallest marathon I have attended, with the field for the full only just short of 200 runners.
As I set off with the 3 hour pacers, I set a target of 20 miles with them, and ease back then if I felt overly taxed, and keep going for maybe a sub 3:10.
The pace at the off was very comfortable, there were two pacers, and a group of about 8 of us after 9 miles or so.
The first challenge was hydration. It was cups. I don't do cups. Trying to get sufficient liquid down from a cup while running at pace is difficult at best. Thankfully, after 9 miles, bottles of water replaced the cups. Unfortunately, sports drinks were also served in cups, and when I say sports drinks, the 'brand' was not identified, it being poured from 5 litre drums.
I was not convinced the sports drink provided the required contents, maybe I was too reliant on my own particular source of lucozade sport.

Passing through half way in exactly 1:29:45, and the usual half way assessment I believed I was m pretty good shape. The pace still felt easy, my breathing was good, and I was pretty confident that I could make the 20 miles, if maybe not the full way.
14,15,16,17, all passed comfortably, with a 6:40 at mile 16.
Then the problems began. The course is very flat, with only really one frag at 17, and even then it is not too bad. However, just before that, you come through a village, over a narrow bridge, and as the road is not closed to cars, we had to negotiate cars and pedestrians, and navigate through the village. Our group at this point was only four, one of whom would be the eventual female winner, and one pacer, with one other runner. The other 3 hour pacer had been dropped at about 15 miles.

After the hill, and hitting 18 miles, I was still there, but now struggling. The wall approached.
I tried to stick with the lead lady, and when I looked around, we had pulled away from the three hour pacer. I was in no shape for that sort of pace, and very shortly after started suffering badly.
I managed to hang on to finish the 18 miles at 6:54, and after that, bid farewell to the lone pacer and fellow runner, and dropped back.
Surprisingly, I didn't drift too far back for the next mile, but after that, the walking came.
Suffice to say, I walked a fair bit over the next few miles. The only positive thing about a small marathon, is that if you do hit the wall and start walking, there are not a lot of runners passing you by. I was passed by second and eventually third lady, the 3 hour pacers who had fallen off earlier (he eventually finishing 3:08) and about 3 other runners.

One i got sufficient water and 'sports drink' into me, the glycogen levels restored somewhat, and I managed a slow jog for the last two miles, finishing 3:16:08.

A lovely shower and Jacuzzi afterwards at the hotel which was exactly at the finish line, and I was back in my car for the solo drive home.

Monday, the legs felt extraordinarily good for having run a full marathon the day before, with only small soreness. Tuesday I felt like a run, but didn't, not wanting to risk injury. By Wednesday , all,trace of the marathon seemed to be gone from the legs, and a small easy 5 miles revealed that was not exactly the case, as while the legs were not sore, the effort was high.

Thursday, 6 miles easy  pace again. Friday, 7 miles at 6:50 pace all the way felt pretty good.
Saturday I headed off on holidays, and there is a great gym on board which so far has been well utilised.

So, a good test of what needs to be done over the next 8 weeks. While disappointed to hit the wall, there is time to find that 7 miles of pace yet.

Strength Building

Thankfully the sore quads disappeared, the two consecutive rest days did the trick.

Tuesday I did a mini speed session. Two miles warmup, and then 4x1 mile on the track. 5:50, 5:56, 5:55, 5:58. All under 6 minute miles, but didn't feel as comfortable as they would have a few weeks ago. Two miles home for 8.

Wednesday, 8 miles easy, which turned out to be 7:10, and not pushing hard so happy with that.

Thursday tempo run. One mile warmup at 7:20, then into a 10 mile tempo session. As recently, I set the watch to 6:35 pace. The first few miles were honest enough, all at 6:32, 6:31 pace. And thankfully that continued. As I approached what I thought was 8 miles, I was getting pretty tired, but was reasonably pleased, and confident of finishing the last two miles strongly. The watch beeped, and turns out I had only 7 miles done at tempo pace. I did utter a few expletives! The last mile was pushing it, 10k effort, but I finished in 64:45 for the 10 miles, and another easy mile home for 12.

8 easy on Friday, which were actually easy, 7:30 pace average, but while I kept the pace easy, there was no soreness or obvious fatigue at the previous day's efforts.

Saturday was intended to be an easy 6 miles, but circumstances meant no run.

Sunday was a nice morning, and out I went for a planned 18 miles.
Plan was 10 @ 7:15, 4 @ 7:10, and last 4 @ 7:05.
It didn't really work out that way though. The wind was on my back on the out segment of the first 9 miles, and I just ran to a semi easy feel, which saw the first 9 miles at 7:06 average.
When I turned into wind, I realised why they had felt so easy. However, I had to adjust the plane, as there was no point in running the same pace all the way. So I kept the next 5 miles at the same pace, but because I was into a headwind, the effort has harder. The last 4 I decided to pick things up a bit to test myself. Mile 15, 7:01, 16, 6:51, 17, 6:53, 18, 6:58.

Finished well, and happy with the pace only a few days after the 10 mile tempo.

As always, Monday was a rest day, but looking back, I should have done an 8 mile easy run. My legs actually showed little sign of the previous day's run, and as it turns out, I didn't get out Tuesday, so that was two days with no run. The plus side of that, is that I believe I was a lot stronger in the legs after two days break last week, so maybe that will stand to me this week also.

I do however, feel exceedingly overweight today having not run for two whole days!

Two Halfs don't make a Whole

Continuing in the disjointed training pattern this week.

Long run Monday. 20 miles at 7:07. Avg.

Tuesday, rest day.

Wednesday, 10 miles. I had some serious soreness in my quads after Monday's long run. While I was delighted with the run, and how it had gone, I did push the pace faster than I had intended, and now I was paying the price. The 10 miles were easy, at 7:25 average

Thursday, again, I was still quite sore, so 8 miles, again at an easy pace, trying to give the legs a chance to heal, but they were still very sore.

Friday, although I was still sore, I knew I needed some kind of a quality session for the week.
Plan was 1 warmup, then 13 at 6:35. It was ambitious , and the first easy mile I was still feeling quite sore in my quads, but I decided to give it a go. I often find that the fast twitch muscles required for the harder pace runs will feel entirely different than the feel of a pace maybe a minute slower.
And so it proved to be the case. While the harder pace felt easier, the soreness was still evident, albeit a lot less. I dropped into a nice 6:30 pace after the first two were a bit fast at 6:23, 6:26.
Up to 8 miles I was going really well. At that point, the pain in the quads was getting more pronounced again, and the legs began to protest loudly. At 10 miles at the 6:30 pace I gave up. The last two miles were 8:05 to home in a babystep shuffle, and quite a lot of discomfort, to finish a 13 mile session.

Saturday, surprisingly, there was actually little sign of the previous day's effort, in that while the legs were still sore, they were no more so than they had been setting off yesterday.
My intention was for 8-10 easy miles. I set out to just run to feel, with the hope of a 7:20 - 7:30 pace, and I was able to achieve that quite easily. Again, I was sore, but running. As I approached 10 miles, I decided to extend it a bit, testing my stamina after the previous day's tempo.
All went well to 13 miles, then I started to get into difficulty. The legs, again, very tired, and my energy was sapped. I pushed on home with 15 miles at 7:21 average.

The difficulty with this is, that I am afraid I am telling my body that I am fine to half way, but then it can quit. I have been here before with half marathon training, thinking two consecutive 10k's will produce a good half. They don't, you just fade at about 11 miles.

I knew I needed to give my quads time to heal, so I binned Sunday and Monday's run.minhavent had two days off for a while. I have a lot of time pressures this week with family life and work, it will likely be shorter, harder sessions until the weekend.
Hopefully the quads will have recovered when I head out tomorrow, otherwise, it's damage limitation.

Out of Sync

The week started of well enough.

Tuesday was a 10 mile session. 1 mile warmup, then into 9 at a snappy pace. Not quite tempo, but all around he 6:40 mark.

Wednesday was 8 miles easy.
Thursday again, no speed session, but another tempo session of sorts but only 8 miles, a bit faster this time at 6:35 average.

Friday I ran at work. This was unusual for me, as I was doing my office day from our HQ building, which is fully equipped with some really swanky shower facilities.
I started off at an easy enough 7:30 pace, but found myself settling in at around 7:05. I pushed the last two under 7:00, and did exactly 10 miles, with a 7:13 average.

Saturday was 8 miles again, fairly easy, in between the heavy rain showers.
That gave me 44 miles for the 5 days. I was 'on call' on Sunday, which required me to be available to take phone calls at short notice throughout the day to trouble shoot any company problems which might arise. This meant a long run was not feasible, so I decided to defer it until Monday, and just took a rest day.

It was a long time where I had gone for a long run without having done a run the day before, and the legs felt really fresh heading out. The plan was for 20 miles, and the pace should have been 7:20, with the last 10 at 7:15. I have been considering the pace calculator prediction times, based on recent run times. They consistently put me well under 3 hours for a marathon distance, although I have learned to be sceptical of such predictions.
However, if I was to train towards a sub 3 or better, I decided to test the waters a bit with regards to pace. I set out at 7:10 pace, and to see how it would develope.

The first 10 were very comfortable, as they might be, on a long run, the first 10 are just travelling and that's where the real work starts. I was using just water and some gels for the later stage.
By 13, the pace was still flowing really well, and I felt I could go much faster, conciously holding back. At 15 miles, a natural flow produced a 6:51 mile. However, that's where I suffered a bit of a set back.

I had placed my water bottle by a gate, and as I was running a four mile loop, I would get some on each lap. At mile 16, the water was gone. So from just after 12 miles, I had no drink.
Whether it was real, or perceived, I began to really fixate on being very thirsty.
There was no big drop in performance however, although I was gasping. It started to rain and I was thankful for it for a change!

Finishing back at the house on 19:78 miles, I was so thirsty I couldn't be bothered rounding off the mile, and I drank water and a sports drink by the plenty when I got n the door. This brought me around quite quickly, and I was sure if I had some fluids along the way as planned, it would have felt easy over the last few miles. In the end, it was 7:07 average for the distance, and I was pleased with that. Even in training for Dublin last year, I would never have hit that pace over that distance. It actually felt easier to run faster. I think it might have something to do with stride length , and how long the foot is in contact with the road.

I was toying with an easy 8 miles today, but my quads were a bit sore, so I thought a rest and recovery day after the hard workout would be more appropriate , and so I did a light strength session instead. This does kind of put me out of sync though when considering weekly mileage, and I would consider tomorrow my start day, and Sunday my finish day, so not too sure whether to count the miles as for last week which would give me 64, or into this week.
It's not really important I suppose, the session is what's important, and how I recovery and progress from it.

Fingal 10k 2017

Luckily this weeks mini taper coincided with some fairly poor weather, and it was fortunate that I didn't have to drag myself out into the rain.

Monday was rest day. Tuesday was a nice day, so the planned 8 was stretched out to 10 miles.
It felt pretty easy, but the pace was fairly slow compared to the tempo Tuesday's, coming in at 7:25 average, with a 6:33 mile in there also.

Wednesday I'd didn't run, the weather was awful, so I used it as part of my taper.
On Wednesday evening however, I was full of the energy which would usually have been expended on my run, so I decided to do a strength and conditioning session, which I would normally do at least twice a week. This week however, I decided to add some squats. The first few sets went well, so I added some preacher squats too, and kept going until I could 'feel the burn'.

Thursday, the legs felt very tired for some reason. I headed out for a planned 6 mile, and chose a fairly hilly route which I would not normally take, but I figured as the distance was small, it would be not too taxing.

Friday my legs were physically sore. I struggled to get off the chair, walking the first few steps was stiff each time, and I started to get really worried. I had obviously thrown too much unfamiliar movements at the legs, and the soreness was the result.
In an effort to free things out, I did an easy 8 miles on Friday, and it did help somewhat.

Saturday was no run. I had planned a short fast 4 miles, but decided against as the legs were still a bit tender, but improved.

Sunday morning of the race was good, a little drizzle which cleared up nicely. Getting there in plenty of time for a 15 minute warmup, and saying hello to a few familiar faces. The legs were still a bit heavy, but I was confident the taper would show once we got going.

Lining up near the start, amongst some familiar faces, I felt I placed just right. At the off, the pace was where I wanted, not passing too many, and only being passed by a few.
Mile 1, 5:51. First half of the mile is a slight incline, and the second half back down again, so fairly neutral, and the pace felt OK. It was slightly harder, the planned was 6:00, but I wanted to try and bank a few seconds on the downhill.
Mile 2, 5:50, still on a ever so slight downhill gradient, still banking a few seconds, although I knew I was going a bit harder than ideal, and I was hoping not to pay too dearly later!
Mile 3, 6:07. Probably the second steepest part of the course, and a concious decision to slow and not push too hard up so as to conserve a bit of energy. Passing a few runners now, but still passed by some also.
Mile 4, 6:03. A better section. Still slightly off the pace, i had settled in with a small group, obviously running to a 6:00 pace.
Mile 5, 5:55. I knew the finish was gettin close, so I decided to push on a bit. The legs still felt very strong, but the breathing was suffering, and I felt less comfortable than I did at Dunsaughlin. The toughest climb was yet to come and I wondered if I had enough for it.
Mile 6, 6:15. Now that looks bad, like I faded, but I didn't. I was running really well, when I got a very bad stitch. It was so sharp, I nearly stopped, and it slowed me right back. I pushed through, knowing I could suffer the last half mile, and hoping a sub 40 was still a possibility. Thankfully, I started to recover after about 1 minute, and I was able to pick up the pace again, but the damage was done. The last .2 was at 5:34 pace, which shows I managed a bit of a pick up.
37:12 chip time, 5 seconds slower than Dunsaughlin , and were it not for the stitch, I would be confident I could have a new PB, and maybe even under the 37:00, but no point in maybes!

A few years ago, I got a stitch at this race also, and I was trying to figure out why.
My thoughts are, that at about 8k, there is a big fireman so hose spraying water over the runners, which is very cold. It is very difficult to avoid it as it stretches all the way across the road. I got the full force, and the jolt of the cold soaking is quite shocking. I believe that the jolt and sudden coldness upset the breathing rythmn just enough to cause the stitch. I may be way off, but it's all I could think of.

After the race, a quick drive home, I headed out for 10 easy miles. They felt good, with some flowing along at 7:10 pace, but some obviously a bit tougher. 7:26 average for the 10, which gave 17 or so for the day and 41 for the week.

Higher mileage and some longer tempos on the horizon.