run run run

SUNGOD

today was my long run ,20 miles this morning at 9am. took it slow and steady and felt reasonably comfortable the whole way round, so very happy with the way everthing is going so far.i will be doing three 20 mile runs in total before connemara so 1 down 2 to go

zeppe

Hi I'm training for the Connemarathon in April. Its my first marathon at the age of 36! I'm on week 12 of Hal Higdon's Novice 1 program. Just completed my longest run so far, 16 miles around the hills of Portlaw, Waterford. Did it in 2:15 and stopped at least 5 times to stretch. Drank plenty of water and had 4 bottles with Gatorade powder in water so should have had plenty of energy. However I'm finding that if I run anything over 13 miles my quads really tense up and get tight and its really painful to keep running. My calves/knees and all other areas are fine. I stretch for at least 15 minutes beforehand correctly and as I said I was stretching on the course yesterday too an walked a bit. Is this pain just to be expected? Am I a big girls blouse? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Cormac

Racing Flat

zeppe,
I'd say it's just that you're not used to it. I would imagine that every time you do a long run you get a little further before the tightness/pain kicks in? That's the point of the long runs, gradually increasing the time/distance so that your body gradually adapts and can go further and further. So hopefully it will get easier week by week as you get fitter.

Other then that, is your diet okay? Do you eat enough the 2 days before the long run and on the morning of the run? I can just remember an occasion when training for my first marathon and I was away at the weekend so tried to get the long run in on A Wednesday evening after work, without probably eating enough and my legs completely tightened/cramped up after around 13miles. A valuable lesson as I had to walk/hobble 7 miles home, in pain and with rapidly decreasing sugar levels.

Hope it works out for you.

zeppe

Hi, thanks for the reply. You're probably right, maybe I just have to get used to the long runs. As regards diet, I eat well although maybe I should start eating pasta before a long run. Last sunday I just ate muesli and toast before I went running at 11.

Looking forward to the marathon:D

Cormac

Racing Flat

zeppe wrote: »

Last sunday I just ate muesli and toast before I went running at 11.

That would suffice for most people. I just have some porridge about half hour before my long run. F%^&d up 1 marathon partially because I have a load of rice and vegetables beforehand and it just sat in my stomach for the first hour and I got cramps so a depressing experience!

SUNGOD

hi zeppe thankfully i have'nt had any real injury problems(yet) so my expierance and ability to give advice are limited as you can see racing flat would be much more knowledgeable on these matters ,only thing i would say to you is to stretch but you are doing that , no harm to stop mid run and stretch if that helps. i run in portlaw as well most saturday mornings usually meeting by the football pitch and heading to the top by the wind turbines to a small but steep hill ( fella with me calls it calvary not sure if this is real name) and back down its a 10 mile course but i know you could easy lengthen or shorten it depending or which turn you take etc. best of luck with your training .roll on connemara

SUNGOD

today was first day back after long run sunday so it was a slow steady 5 mile felt a little stiff so had a good stretch before and after

SUNGOD

10 mile run today

zeppe

Thanks lads for the insights.

Hey Sungod, is that run offroad up to the wind turbines through the forest? I'd definitely be interested in meeting up sometime for a run after I've finished my marathon program. I do my long runs on sundays. My pace is 8:00 per mile under 10 miles and up to 8:45 per mile for the long runs. Cool, thanks again.

Cormac

SUNGOD

zeppe wrote: »

Thanks lads for the insights.

Hey Sungod, is that run offroad up to the wind turbines through the forest? I'd definitely be interested in meeting up sometime for a run after I've finished my marathon program. I do my long runs on sundays. My pace is 8:00 per mile under 10 miles and up to 8:45 per mile for the long runs. Cool, thanks again.

Cormac

thats it exactley , its tough enough is'nt it ,basically 5 mile uphill and 5 mile down but enjoyable good to get off the road as well. yeah no hassle about meeting up the long runs can be hard on your own all right.are you from portlaw? im from waterford city and just go to portlaw with a couple of friends for that run .i know some people from waterford AC and triathlon clubs who swear by this run as a key part of their training as the hills are great for the legs and without the hardness of the road.

SUNGOD

5 mile run yesterday , today is a rest day and i have a wedding later on so it worked out grand. supposed to be going to portlaw tommorrow . have really neglected the swimming lately , i got 6 lessons ,thought i had the stroke reasonably good and was just trying to build up endurance length by length and then i just stopped, dont know why just kept on putting it off till tommorrow and now i dont know when i swam last.

SUNGOD

10 mile run through portlaw woods ,done more then i was supposed to (higdon programme said 6) and to be honest did feel very tired and lethargic probably a combination of wedding yesterday and longer than expected run today .i have a 12 mile run long tommorrow but will probably go for a shorter distance or may scrap it all together and just rest depending how i feel

SUNGOD

zeppe wrote: »

I'd definitely be interested in meeting up sometime for a run after I've finished my marathon program.

a few more runs of interest after the connemarathon are the 10 ger wyley summer series from april to august .

marine climb, dungarvan (6) fri april 18th 7:00pm
butlerstown (10k) sat april 26th 7:30pm
waterford-tramore (7.5) sat april 17th 7:30pm
touraneena(5k) mon jun 2nd 7:30pm
ras na rinne,ring(6) fri jun 13th 8:00pm


the other five are all 5 miles and are on in co waterford finishing in ardmore on fri 15th august

also waterford has gotten the AAI half marathon this september 6th or 7th i think

SUNGOD

meant to post this earlier there is a 5 mile race in the morning in kilmacthomas at eleven so i think i'll set the alarm and do it might be the motivation i need to actually run tommorrow and then take a rest on monday

SUNGOD

slight break from the hal higdon marathon programme , did a 5 mile race in killmacthomas this morning , went out very fast for me 5:40 for the first mile and absolutely died in the last mile but still finished in 29:28 so very happy with time but didnt actually enjoy the run as i struggled finishing rather than finishing strong

tallaght01

Hi Sungod. Interesting read.

I followed the hal higdon marathon plan a few years ago and got a time of just over 3hrs 30, and I was historically a very very weak runner.

One point (and I stress I'm no expert in running!) but you seem to be doing pretty mimimal training on your cross training days.

I remember training for the marathon with my flatmate at the time. He took the cross training pretty seriously, arguing that when you're running long distance you're using lots of muscle groups. I was so worried about being a poor runner that I completely left out cross training and ran those days instead.

My flatmate got about 20mins better time than me in the end, as he was stronger in the last few miles. I'd put that down to his cross training, as we did every other run together.

So, just my opninion. Try some harder cross training. Get those chest wall muscles working hard, and your shoulders, neck muscles etc as they're going to be taking a lot of strain in the actual marathon when you start using accessory muscles of respiration.

Remember glycogen loading before the race, too.

Hal Higdon FTW

SUNGOD

hi tallaght01 thanks for the advice , yeah had intended to swim as my cross training (got lessons to improve technique ) but that has fallen by the wayside . i would have to agree with you as ive read in a couple of books since starting the higdon programme about the importance of cross training .
and its not even as if im too tired or sore on the designated cross train days just a bit lazy and trying to convince myself complete rest is better. im a member in a local gym/leusure centre so could easily use exercise bike/pool for this.
now i really just have a choice either to follow the programme including CT days or do it my way and think after the marathon " i wonder would my time be better if i had..................."

thanks tallaght01 ,the more motivation the better

SUNGOD

today was cross training day (its gone twelve so its really yesterday) so decided to bite the bullet and actually do some , so did about 50 mins on exercise bike in gym followed by about 10 lengths in pool which is good for me as usually it would have been 4 lengths of pool and the rest spent lounging in the sauna/steam room and jacuzzi . id imagine when marathon training is over i will probabily try vary my training to include more cycling/swimming but at the moment, i cant help it.........i just love to run...........roll on tommorrow......( ok its today )

SUNGOD

back running today , did a bit more then was planned (7.5 miles) as im busy all day tommorrow and probably wont get a run in

SUNGOD

was busy today but managed to get a 6 mile run in ,as i dont really vary the pace too much during runs (race pace 5 -10 mile races, marathon pace 7 min miles ? and long slow runs) i am trying to run stages of my runs at different speeds so today i did the first and last mile about marathon pace and the middle 4 miles about race pace (6 min miles )

haille

As a marathon runner for last 25 years [completed 21st marathon last Oct.P.B 2 hours 42 mins back in 1995] My advice is do not be obsessed with time for 1st marathon enjoy it .As if you continue to run marathons you will always be comparing times.You have to take into account weather and terrain.I have nt done Connemara but terrain is hilly and wide open countryside. You definitely need a basic plan.Aim to do a min.of two 18 mile runs.Your times over the shorter distances are good and some people find that they can maintain same pace irrespective of distance.Have 3 goal times for marathon 1 acceptable/2 chaLLENGING/3 ULTIMATE.My advice wouild be to run very conservatively in Connemara as depending on weather ,if you have nice weather it will be lovely but if you get rain and cross winds one coul;d really suffer.I judge my marathon pace off half marathon times ,double time for half marathon and add min.of 10 min.Remember to start off 1st 6 miles slowly as its the problem with all runners [get carried away last 6 miles a different story] I would nt compete in Cork so soon after Connemara try Dublin instead[Nothing against Cork I ran 2 45and 2 43 there back in 1983 and 1984]
Remember marathon experience is meant to be reasonably enjoyable other wise you will nt compete again. Best of luck.P.S Next edition of Irish Runner should have 6 month training schedules for Dublin.

SUNGOD

hi haille thanks for advice, appreciate it yeah i know what your saying about times some days i think forget the time and just enjoy the run but 10 mins later im thinking its a one off run give it your best , why train for so long and only jog around so even though i deff will try enjoy the marathon barring a disaster i know i will try do my best time . i suppose the balance has to be to do your best without suffering for 3-4 hours and completely getting turned off ever running a marathon again. as regards training i am following a programme (hal higdon intermediate 2) and i will be running three 20 mile runs before the marathon, the second of which is this sunday. so training is going according to plan but as it is my first marathon i really wont know how its going to go till i start to run the day of the marathon and its tempting fate to even speculate about my finishing(hopefully) time.

thanks again haille

SUNGOD

missed yesterdays run due to work and was tempted to go today to make up for it but thankfully i resisted as this weekend is my long weekend 10 miles tommorrow and 20 sunday so thankfully sense prevailed for once. next week is a light week which works out perfect as im doing ballycotton sunday week
i only have one 20 mile run left after this weekend

SUNGOD

missed yesterdays run as well due to other commitments but still went ahead with todays planned long run of 20 miles. today was my first run since wednesday and i thought i would be fresh but if anything i have been so busy since wednesday with hardly a minute to my self when i did get out today i was shattered from mile 12 onwards, ended up slowing right down and just getting through it.
i suppose its a combination of just straying from my programme,missing runs and trying to do a weeks work in 3 days
but what harm its done now so a couple of runs during the week and then ballycotton

zeppe

Hey Sungod, I feel your pain. I ran 18 miles today as per week 13 Hal higdon Novice 1. Hadnt ran in 8 days, was in Paris the last 5 and ate some amazing food there. Well today I paid for it. Did 18 miles in 2:50 and walked a good 4 miles of it. My legs were just in bits and could feel twinges in my hamstrings and just stopped so as to avoid injury.

Looking forward to resuming the program, hopefully it will get easier, today was rough:(

Cormac

SUNGOD

well cormac , yeah its tough at times allright i suppose it just shows that there is no short cuts, if ya want to be able to run the distances reasonabily comfortabily you have to put in the training /time and try not skip too many sessions, easier said than done.
but hey it can only get easier
wont be long now to the hell in the west!!!!
not feeling too bad now slightly stiff but nothing major thank god

today is cross training day , only home for bite to eat and busy again till later so im bringing my gear with me and hopefully make the last hour in gym

SUNGOD

didnt make gym tonight so no cross training, just have too much going on at the minute and to be honest im getting a bit frustated as it seems just as my marathon training programme is coming to a head circumstances beyond my control are disrupting my training. thankfully not to an extreme as im still getting my long runs but i can get annoyed when i have planned to run or use gym and the events of the day transpire to make that impossible.

but i suppose if thats the least of my problems then im not doing too bad



hopefully get a run tommorrow and fingers crossed everything else should be to some sort of normality by the end of the week

SUNGOD

went for a 6 mile run yesterday
just back from a 10 mile run today . wont do too much between now and ballycotton on sunday, thinking maybe a light run tommorrow rest friday and maybe 2/3 mile on saturday morning very slow but still not decided might just rest on fri and sat

SUNGOD

very slow 5 mile run
really not sure if i should be running or not so close to ballycotton
my main aim is connemara but still want to compete well in ballycotton
i still find it hard to do nothing or very little ,even today i wanted to run longer and faster.
reading other logs i realise how little i know especially about different kinds of runs ,tempo/lactate threshhold /sprint/speed work. but im quite happy the way things are going at the moment . as racing flat said all these different types of training are ideal if your times plateau and you need to inject some change in to your training

Racing Flat

SUNGOD wrote: »

very slow 5 mile run
really not sure if i should be running or not so close to ballycotton
my main aim is connemara but still want to compete well in ballycotton
i still find it hard to do nothing or very little ,even today i wanted to run longer and faster.
reading other logs i realise how little i know especially about different kinds of runs ,tempo/lactate threshhold /sprint/speed work. but im quite happy the way things are going at the moment . as racing flat said all these different types of training are ideal if your times plateau and you need to inject some change in to your training

Running this close shouldn't be a problem if you are going easy. I'll probably rest tomorrow and do easy 20mins or so Saturday. I know one of the top coaches in the country advocates doing 20mins easy but with 3 mins at race pace the day before. Some rest the day or 2 days before...experimenting will determine which is best for you.

You'll learn about the different type of sessions with time - once you get into it you'll start to enquire about different sessions and be expert in no time. A good website for different sessions is www.runningforfitness.org put in a race time and it will work out 15 different type of speed sessions for you. Going to a club will help as well as you learn from others. But if you're enjoying it no need to change I suppose. Good luck Sunday. Will be great for your marathon training.