I.M.R.A. to the rescue

Monday, 17th June 2013 - Rest Day
Tuesday, 18th June, 2013 - 48.5km Cycle
Unsurprisingly I wasn't in the mood for much on Sunday or Monday but by the time Tuesday came round I fiigured a planned cycle with two mates was the perfect way back to exercise. The cycle was very relaxed for the last 20km so it was a nice reintroduction to the legs.

Wednesday, 19th June 2013 - 9.6km IMRA Sorrell Hill
A lovely evening up around the Blessington lakes was the setting for my 6th IMRA Leinster League race. I started quite a bit back as the plan was not to go out too fast but rather ease into it. The first 1.5km was along a fireroad with a decent incline and then it flattened out. I passed about 20-30 people along here so things were going well, however I was still probably only in 80th position or so.

Nearing the top

We soon departed the fireroad and cut through some trees on a steepish section where the surface was boggy but very dry. After about 500m we were atop Lugnagun and out onto open mountainside where we had a 500m section of a drop and then another 1,000m of flat before we began the climb to Sorrell Hill itself. By this time I had passed about another 10-15 people but once the climb got steep I was quick enough to ease back to a hike. Soon after we met the leaders on their descent so I knew we were close enough to the top.

By the turnaround point on top of Sorrell Hill itself I counted out that I was in approximately 60th position which I was very happy with (65th being my season's best). On the way down I found the new shoes really earned their crust and the grip on the boggy/grassy slopes was much better than I would have been used to with the old shoes. 
(Edit: Eventually when the results were uploaded I discovered that I actually finished in 54th position - Very happy with that!)

Having said that one or two people did go by me but I managed to maintain position by passing a few people myself. Things remained like this til we got back out onto the fireroad coming off Lugnagun. There was only about 1,500m remaining at this point. My legs were turning over as quickly as I could manage yet on the finishing 250m straight I was passed by a couple of other runners. Disappointing but I guess my botched marathon had an effect on my speed this evening.

Final few metres...

Sprint to the line

I really enjoyed this race. I think a lot of this was down to the new pair of Innov8 X-Talon 212s which I bought just two hours beforehand. They are remarkably light with amazing grip on the boggier sections and much better than my old half worn Salomon Speedcross 2s. Unfortunately there was an issue with the results laptop and I'm still awaiting confirmation of my finishing position in what I hope was my best performance of the League so far. At least this race managed to get me back on track with the running and Saturday is now long forgotten!

Thursday 20th June, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:27/km)
My legs were quite tender from last nights IMRA run so a nice slow run was required to get them ticking over again. I even flirted with the foam roller as well but figured the soreness is DOMS as opposed to strained/knotty muscles. Not quite sure how the two are related but I figured I ran the risk of further bruising tender muscles with the roller so I stopped before long.

I also debuted my second running purchase of the week this evening – A Garmin 310XT. After playing around with it a bit, some of the improvements on my old 305 included: 

• a more comfortable strap
• quicker to register satellites
• audio sounds available (My 305 used to have this but it disappeared with age!)
• vibratory/pulse alerts
• extra screen for data fields
• extra data fields themselves

Very happy with the new watch overall. Apparently the battery life is significantly longer also so will be taking advantage of that over the next month or so.

Week 25 Summary (so far):
RTW: 2 from 4 days
DTW: 17.0km
DTY: 1908.0km

My bad habit continues...

Saturday, 15th June 2013 – 27.4km Portumna Forest Marathon DNF

Sunday, 16th June 2013 – Rest Day

"I guess I got a bad habit 

Of blowin' away 
Yeah I got a bad habit 
And it ain't goin' away Yeah"

Well, that didn’t go to plan! Almost a week has passed since the race and I’m still trying to fathom why my second goal marathon of the year resulted in a DNF once again.

The lead-in…

I really dislike taper time as my discipline & diet often fall apart. I end up getting lazy which results in eating crappy foods, feeling sluggish on easy runs and generally feeling guilty that I haven’t done enough. The day before the race though I managed to have two medium sized pasta dinners to maximise the carb intake. I also decided not to run in order to be as fresh as possible for the Midday start. 

Up at 8:30am on race morning, I devoured a couple of scones and a cup of tea and was on the road by 9am. Arrived into Portumna for 11am, and after registering I hung around the finish area for a while chatting to a few fellow runners and helpers. 

Race

With 20mins to go we made our way to the race start and after a 5 min delay (which was just enough for us to get soaked by a thunder shower!) we were away. A mini group had formed in advance, all looking for about 3:15. Myself and Joe had been in Rotterdam where we both had very disappointing races and this was payback time! Dave was my co-pacer for 1:45 in Wexford. He wasn’t sure what time he was capable of on the day so his game plan was to hang with our pace for as long as he could. Anthony (or Plumber77) - a new guy to us all – completed the quartet and was looking to beat a PB of 3:16.

Photo courtesy of Peter Mooney

There was a nice bit of chat between us over the first few kms. At various times each of us took up the pacing duties. We were sticking to approximately the correct pace by the time we were passing through the finish area for the second time (7.2km point). This had consisted of a 2.2km run from Aldi to the finish area and then the first of 8 x 5km loops. The loop was pretty flat with just slight drags here and there. The surface was good with tarred paths combined with gravelly sections. Unfortunately there was just a couple of short potholed sections towards the turnaround point but these were nothing too drastic. There was a lot of tree cover also and this seemed to throw my GPS signal off quite often. This meant I wasn’t sure if I could really trust the data it was feeding back to me so I kept asking the other guys for confirmation that we were on target. Even though the inclines were minimal they were still slowing us down enough to make keeping a consistent average pace difficult. Eventually I gave up trying to run the right pace and ran by perceived effort instead. This was probably where I was lulled into running that bit too quick.

Lap two was more of the same only a little faster. Again there was a little confusion over what pace we were running (add in to the mix kms v miles to further complicate matters!) and we worked out that we had just slipped off the pace a little. So, lap two came in at 20 seconds quicker than lap one. Not a huge difference in pace (just four sec/km) but probably the straw that broke the camel's back.

Photo courtesy of Peter Mooney

Lap three and we appeared to be back on pace. I noticed though that the effort began to feel just a little tough. The rest of the guys seemed to be still going steady. Then just after the start of lap four at 18km it dawned on me for the first time to check my HR. it was showing a rate of 156-158bpm around now and I knew I had to ease back. My marathon HR ceiling is 150-152bpm so I was well above it now. The next couple of kms saw the rest of the gang break up ahead of me too. Joe pushed on as Anthony and Dave continued to run together. By the time I hit the turnaround point I was in serious blow-up mode. I stopped to get a bottle of water and throw in a salt tablet, and to help lower my HR in a bid to give myself a chance to return to a fully functioning level. This didn’t work though and by 500m later the HR was sky high again. That’s the problem once you overcook things early on in a marathon – it’s so difficult to recover from. The last 2km of that loop was a real effort and when I approached the finish area I had almost fully decided to stop and DNF. My pace for that 5km had dropped to 5:00/km and was only going to get slower. 

Goal time was well gone by now and any chance of PB was drifting away. Just after the finish area I was about to slow to a walk when I heard a shout from Anto who was doing the 100km. I wasn’t sure what he roared at me but the facts that the t-shirt I was wearing was from his 50km race and that I had ran barely a quarter of the distance of his race meant that shame prevented me from stopping here! I thought one more loop and see if I recover. A lot can happen in 5km! 

Photo courtesy of Peter Mooney

At this time my mind began to ponder turning this into a long slow run, and complete the marathon race, and forget about the inevitable slow time. As the kms slowly ticked by though I concluded that if I was just going to flog myself to get to the finish my recovery would take weeks rather than days and all for nothing really. Instead, I gave in to the Central Governor and reckoned that if I pull out at the end of the next loop then I could be back in training after a couple of days. The body was weak but the mind was weaker/more cunning! So, resigned to my fate I jogged the remaining 2km of the loop. Even at that pace though I had to stop and walk for 20m on the final straight. It seems that lots indeed can happen over 5km but in circumstances like today they are rarely good things. Eventually I made it round to the end of lap five and stepped off the course. First thing I did was remove my number before anyone could work out what had happened. Then I watched for a few minutes as the 50km finishers were arriving in to complete their distance (they had started 2hrs before us). A couple of minutes of that was all I could take though, and disappointedly, I faced into my 2.2km trek back to my car.

Afterthoughts

Still not quite sure what went wrong but my main reckoning is a combination of my pace being slightly too quick too early and the heat oft the day. Perhaps also I was low on nutrition (I don’t take gels and the Midday start time wouldn’t have helped). The result was an unsustainably high HR – I checked the data on the walk back to my car and was surprised to see it was consistently above 152bpm for about 10km before the blow-up. I usually keep a keen eye on the HR data during the run but today that lapsed for some reason. Perhaps I got caught up with sticking with the other guys rather than running my own race. Had I been running without such a friendly bunch maybe I’d have eased back much earlier and stil nabbed a sub 3:20 (which I would have been very satisfied with even before the race). 

I will be running the Le Cheile Midnight marathon this Friday night in Leixlip so I think I will make the HR display my main data field and keep sub 150bpm all the way and simply discover my pace and time when I cross the line instead. It’s a low priority run and all I really want to do at this stage is finish it to get some confidence back. After all, these DNFs are just a bad habit that needs breaking.

Week 24 Summary:

RTW: 4 from 7 days
DTW: 50.9km
DTY: 1891.0km

Only hours to go...

Thursday, 13th June 2013 - 7.3km Recovery Run (5:22/km)

Forecast for Portumna tomorrow.
The marathon begins at 12pm and
hopefully I'll be finished by 3:15 or so.

Friday, 14th June 2013 - Rest Day

Just a quick update in advance of the big day. I went for a very easy recovery run on Thursday and even though it felt awkward I still wasn't able to slow down properly. I guess it may have been just nervous energy. 

Then today I decided not to run and instead to stay off my feet all day. Two medium sized dinners should have me well stocked for tomorrow. Injury free so can't use that as an excuse but the weather could be tricky. Hopefully I won't need to manufacture an excuse out of that either though! 

This is an overview of who's running what tomorrow:

Looking like there's at least three of us aiming for 3:15 so at least I won't be on my own anyways!

So now, bring it on! ...well, after a good nights sleep first :-)

Taper funk!

Wednesday, 5th June 2013 - Rest Day
Thursday, 6th June 2013 - 60.6km Cycle
Two days of non running...it must be taper time! I simply got lazy on Wednesday and took a rest day and then on Thursday I had arranged to go for a bike spin with a mate around North County Dublin. Not running but I'm sure it was every bit as useful as an easy run! Felt grand afterwards which was a little surprising.

Friday, 7th June 2013 - 12.1km Easy Run (5:00/km)
Saturday, 8th June 2013 - Rest Day
Sunday, 9th June 2013 - Rest Day
Pretty much the usual route for an easy run. Not a lot else to report. Went to the pub that night to watch the Ireland match and a few too many beers meant I was lazy and lethargic the next day and did nothing as a result. Disappointingly though this spread into Sunday also and I again failed to get myself out the door for a run. A real case of self-discipline slipping big time when in taper. I sometimes think I'd be better off just continuing as normal during taper rather than easing back as I invariably go to the opposite extreme!

Week 22 Summary:
RTW: 3 from 7 days(!).
DTW: 45.0km
DTY: 1840.1km

Monday, 10th June 2013 - 8.9km Easy Run with 4km @ MP (4:48/km)
Kept this run shorter than the usual loop but threw in a few MP kms just to ensure the legs understand what's required this Saturday. This left me surprisingly worried afterwards!

Tuesday, 11th June 2013 - Rest Day
Wednesday, 10th June 2013 - 7.3km Easy Run with 4km @ MP (4:37/km)
I had fully intended on going out for a run on Tuesday but had to go to Tesco in the evening and en route got caught in a traffic jam caused by an accident so that added 30mins to my journey and by the time I returned home it was too late.

I volunteered for the IMRA race tonight rather than run it and boy was it a bad decision. We had to endure the worst case of midges I have ever witnessed. It was only on the way home I noticed the bites on my skin and now it looks like I have the measles!

Attacked by midges!

When I got home I managed to head out for a quick run. I threw a few MP kms in again and it felt alright. A short, easy run tomorrow evening and then a leg loosener on Friday afternoon, then it's PB time on Saturday! I've decided to aim for 3:15 instead of 3:10. If that comes off I'll be very happy indeed but if I go for closer to 3:10 then I fear it could get ugly towards the latter stages. I just want to get a decent PB and can aim for 3:10 later in the year.

Week 23 Summary (so far):
RTW: 2 from 3 days.
DTW: 16.2km
DTY: 1856.3km

Cork Half Marathon

Sunday 2nd June 2013 – 4.6km Easy run (4:55/km) 
I got the train down to Cork the evening before so after manning the pacer stand from 4-5pm and then watching the Ireland v Georgia game in the hotel, it was time to go out for a short leg loosener. I managed to run the last couple of kms of the race course in ideal weather conditions so all was nicely set up for running tomorrow.

Week 21 Summary:

RTW: 7 from 7 days

DTW: 89.9km

DTY: 1,795.1km

Monday 3rd June 2013 – 21.4km Cork Half Marathon (4:39/km)

I ran the one mile from the hotel to City Hall for the pacers meet-up but was there pretty early so went across to the marathon start at 9am. A quick chat with Tom and Eamonn (the 4:30 pacers) and the race was soon started. Great weather for it and I made my way back to city hall to get a bus to the HM start in Mahon. Unfortunately there were a few issues with bus availability meaning that when we eventually got to the race start it was delayed by almost 30 minutes. This allowed for a good chat with several of the pacees. My pacing partner Ben arrived at this time also and before too much of an inconvenience we were walked to the start line itself.

It was just then that I noticed there was no start mat for our chips. This was a big let down for many of the runners who had paid over €50 for this race and now they would only have official gun times and no proper chip times.

The race itself started well. There was some congestion in the early minutes but it was never too bad. Almost immediately the marathon field veered right and we continued along the road and into Blackrock. Not long later the marathon course rejoined our route again. For most of the time along the Marina there was lots of people around us and we were probably carrying about 40-50 pacees with us at this stage.

Throughout the first few kms we were keeping a close eye on the pace as we wanted to ensure the volume of runners didn’t distract us from the main job of keeping a steady pace. The pace bands at the expo stated a 4:44/km pace would complete the 21.1km in 1:40:00. However, these races usually end up being long for GPS devices so I was aiming to keep things closer to 4:42/km and thereby allowing a 50 second cushion for a long course.

I had described the course to pacees as split into one third flat, middle third undulating with the final third flat all the way to the finish. By the time we hit the South Link road we were beginning into the hilly middle third and it didn’t take long for some of our group to drift away around here. We eased off the pace when going uphill to give people a chance to stick with us and regained the time on the downhill and flats. The steepest part of the day came soon after with the corkscrew turn up onto Turners Cross. After this I noticed the beginning of heavy breathing in our group as one by one another bunch of people started to whittle away.

We did our best to coax the gang through the inclines and we were soon at the top of Model Farm Road but the group was now down to about 6 or 7. I was happy to confirm all the hills were done away with now and the run in to Cork should be very manageable. My mind soon changed though as we turned right at the end of Inchigaggin Lane and onto the Straight road only to be met with a strong breeze. This made the 2km stretch tougher than it should have been and around now we noticed our av pace of 4:42/km was going to be very tight for the finish. So, combined with the breeze we now had to push the pace into the late 4:30’s to ensure we finished inside our time. In fairness to the remaining group they kept it going most of the way and by the time we were in the park crossing the Lee we advised a few of the stronger runners to push on, which they did. A couple of other runners started to fade and we did our best to keep them going but it was just a tiny bit too fast for them and they fell away over the closing mile.

With about 1,000m to go myself and Ben were running alone for the first time today. We tried to grab a few people as we went past them on the run-in to the finish but we soon realised we’d need almost a sprint finish from Patrick’s Bridge just to get in on time ourselves! The last few hundred metres was ran closer to 4:00/km pace and as I crossed the line I stopped the watch on exactly 1:40:00! The distance read the course to be 270m long but the reality may well be somewhere in the middle. Thankfully anyone who was fit for sub 1:40 appeared to nail it and the first runners to miss out on the time did so by about 40-50 seconds so they would always have been just a little short of pace regardless.

Afterwards I jogged back to the hotel for a shower before returning to ‘Pana’ for a few pints with some familiar faces as well as some new. Everybody agreed it was a tough day with humidity high from the start but also the sun breaking out later on and making it especially difficult for the marathoners. 

Hopefully nothing clashes next year and I’ll be back in Cork once more.Total distance including jog to/from hotel = 24.0km

Tuesday 4th June 2013 – 8.9km Easy run (5:04/km)

Went out very late in the evening for this in order to avoid the sweltering heat. When I actually went outside I discovered the weather was perfect – it was just my apartment that was sweltering! An easy 8.9km followed. I shortened the route to allow for taper and by the time I returned home I barely knew I had been out at all!

Week 22 Summary (so far):

RTW: 2 from 2 days

DTW: 32.9km

DTY: 1,828.0km

Keeping it 'Easy'!

Monday 27th May 2013 – 11.8km Easy Run (5:10/km)
Another 'run of the mill' easy run on the regular figure of 8 route. Began to wane in the last few kms due to effects of the race yesterday.

Tuesday 28th May 2013 – 15.6km Easy Run (5:11/km)Lovely weather for being outside at long last! A little bit tired after Mondays run but nothing too bad. Today I woke before 6am and for some bizarre reason decided to get up and make the most of the nice morning by going for almost 10 miles! Very enjoyable and was surprised to see the roads evolve from being empty at the start to traffic queues by the end! Think I really should try and get out for more of these types of morning runs. 

Wednesday 29th May 2013 – 10.1km incl. 1x2 Miles + 1x1 Mile @ 4:05/kmOn the way home from work the car thermostat registered 20 degrees for the first time this year. Happy days although my plan for this evening was not exactly conducive to hot weather.

The aim for this run was the 3rd McMillan session of 2x2 miles followed by 2x1 miles @ 4:02/km. Kept to my local park for this but a number of things conspired against me this evening including the high temperatures, the strong breeze and all the people walking their dogs and kids in the park, all topped off with the few inclines that you really feel when running near max effort! All this meant that by the end of the first 2 mile split I was just about in touch with the target pace (4:05/km) but halfway through the second 2 mile split I was done. The clammy conditions and tired legs led to me quitting with a 4:08/km paced mile. I knew things were already on the downward slope and that it simply wasn't going to happen tonight. On the jog home I reckoned that the fast running from last week and then the big effort in Enniscorthy were probably still in my system. I will give this session another try in a weeks time to see if I fare any better.

Thursday 30th May 2013 – 11.8km Easy Run (4:55/km)
Another very warm and sunny evening. Legs were a bit dead after yesterday but still managed to maintain sub 5:00/km pace.

Friday 31st May 2013 – 20.0km Easy MLR (5:19/km)
Called to the Park after work for a Medium Long run. Parked up beside the Papal Cross and ran towards Ashtown and onto the banks of the Royal Canal. Turned at Castleknock rail station (Path changes from tarred to trail here) and went Eastwards to Phibsbrough before once again turning and returned to the car for a 20km run. Pace was kept at very easy which was a good thing as not sure I had the energy to go much faster!

Saturday 1st June 2013 – 16.0km Easy MLR (5:07/km) 
Met my Brother for a MLR in the Park this morning. Similar type route as yesterday but with pace a little quicker. Cooler this morning and I seemed to have a little more energy than the past few warm days. Didn't push it too hard though with one eye on pacing 1:40 in Cork HM on Monday.

Week 21 Summary (so far):
RTW: 6 from 6 days
DTW: 85.3km
DTY: 1,790.5km

Enniscorthy Half Marathon

Friday 24th May 2013 – 17.2km Easy Run (5:13/km)
An easy run along the seafront in Clontarf. A little bit tired towards the end from the faster stuff earlier this week.

Saturday 25th May 2013 – Rest Day
Took a rest day this evening to allow me be a bit fresher for the Half Marathon tomorrow.

Sunday 26th May 2013 (morning) – 21.1km Enniscorthy Half Marathon (4:22/km)
I’d managed to get a free entry for this race from Alan & Orna (thanks again!) who were doing pacing duties. I had originally planned to go West and do the Moy HM but I figured this would be just as good, closer and cheaper. It was a lovely sunny morning which meant the chances were it was going to get hotter later which would mean a tough day on a hilly course. 

I ran into my two sponsors beforehand and with them were Johnny, Matt (both pacers also) and Barry (who was also aiming for 1:30).

We made our way to the start line and the race started just after 10:05am. Immediately there was almost a pile-up as a guy to my right tripped up on the starting mat and half fell to the ground. Luckily he was up and moving again before anyone else had fallen over him, but not a great beginning!

Race Start with Barry in blue (& me in grey!).

The first half of the race contained the majority of the hills and while most of them were a manageable gradient I was maxing out my effort trying to keep with the 4:17/km pace. This was confirmed with my av HR consistently being around 163bpm for the first half of the race. Given my LT HR lies around 158bpm I knew there’d be payback later on. By the 6km mark I was beginning to drift off the back of the pacing group and over the course of the next few miles I tried to limit the gap as much as I could. Unfortunately though, every time we went uphill they gained extra time on me and by the halfway point they were approximately 200m ahead of me.

Around this time I was going through a tough patch mentally, debating if I shouldn’t just ease off the pace altogether given it was plainly obvious this wasn’t a PB course. I stuck with the effort though and happily the next couple of kms were reasonably flat so I managed to exorcise the demons in time for the next hill.

I managed to close the gap and 
pass this guy over the next 100m!

There were only a couple of short hills in the final 6km but the one just before we emerged onto the N11 really slowed me down. I probably wouldn’t even notice it on an easy run but where it came and the fact that I was maxed out meant pure misery. Once on the N11 it was pretty flat for a mile and a half before we passed over the last drag and then it was downhill/flat to the finish. I had been passed by a couple of runners at the start of the N11 and they had created a gap of about 30m on me while I was struggling along. However, once we were over the last incline I was slowly catching the second guy again and made it my goal to reel him in over the final km. Eventually, with about 400m to go I managed to get by him as I was on the opposite bank of the river from the finish line. It was only then that I realised the lead guy was only another 40m ahead at this stage and fading. I kept up the pressure and by the time I rounded the final bridge and beginning the 200m run-in to the line he was still about 20m ahead. Yet I was getting faster and he was slowing so I went into overdrive once more to keep the legs turning over and managed to nab in front of him with about 15m remaining. I was hoping that he’d not have enough time to react and didn’t dare turn to see his reaction as I passed by. Simply kept the legs pumping and I was over the line in 1:33:31 – 42 seconds slower than my PB from Bohermeen but a much tougher course and conditions.

I think judging by my HR data it was definitely a PB effort if not quite a PB result. Disappointed not to grab the PB but I’ll put it down as a really good training session for the bigger picture of Portumna. Hopefully the sub 90 will come in the Athlone Flatline half marathon in September, if not before.

Sunday 26th May 2013 (afternoon) – 4.1km Recovery Run (5:19/km)
I called into the Phoenix Park on my way back home to go for a leg loosener after the race and the drive back up. I was pretty stiff starting off but after the 4km things were much better and the legs had loosened out nicely.

Week 20 Summary:

RTW: 6 from 7 days

DTW: 72.5km

DTY: 1,705.2km