Running mad or mad to run?

donothoponpop

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

9.4k at 4:16 pace at lunchtime around Kill of the grange, towards Cherrywood and back via N11 / Cabinteely. Didn't mean to run this pace but what the hell.

There's a whole army of marathon first-timers on here, tapering like the program says, and jittery as hell, browsing in lieu of the run they want to do, "ah calm down, lets have a look at SJ's log, he's the voice of experience...F*** ME HE'S DOING NEARLY SUB40 10K PACE WITH THREE DAYS TO GO!?!?!"

Talk about putting the cat amongst the pigeons! Best of luck on Monday, you're in great shape, (wish I was doing it with you!), I think this is the one;)

Slogger Jogger

Thanks guys. Yep, numero 19. Getting carried away this week. 5k at MP tomorrow to make it an agregate sub 3 for the week. Probably the worse race taper ever, but hey, I'm nothing if not original. I might start a new type of taper!

Must be the thought of this being my last DCM. I'm going into this with no solid goal or expectation. I just know that my last marathon gave me confidence.. I never ran a non-stop 3:01 before.. but theres a big difference between a flat Edinburgh in summer and Dublin in late October. Whatever happens happens

BeepBeep67

See you at 21 miles, if your not there in 2:24, you're getting a swift kick in the ar$e, should get you back on track by the time you hit the N11 .

village runner

Stay away from the lasagne sunday................
Best of luck monday and hope you finally nail it.

racheljev

There's a whole army of marathon first-timers on here, tapering like the program says, and jittery as hell, browsing in lieu of the run they want to do, "ah calm down, lets have a look at SJ's log, he's the voice of experience...F*** ME HE'S DOING NEARLY SUB40 10K PACE WITH THREE DAYS TO GO!?!?!"

Yep I'm one of those jittery first timers, Jaysus Mick are you trying to kill us all! Best of luck on Monday, hope no.19 goes well.

Woddle

Hi SJ with so many new logs I've kind of neglected the likes of yourself so I didn't realise you were even doing the marathon, best of luck and I'll try make up for that neglect with a picture

Slogger Jogger

Keeping it low key Woddle

Last run this morning, on the treadmill in the gym before heading to the RDS. 5.1k at 4.11 pace.. Stupidly or not, as part of my version of a taper, I've run an agregate marathon over the last 6 days in just under 2:59.

Nice to bump into ultraman and ray o'connor at the RDS.

Now for the bit I like... eating all around me.

Bally8

Best of luck SJ, thanks for the support

rigal

Have a flyer tomorrow SJ.

I've enjoyed reading your log and am looking forward to hearing how all your hard work has paid off in your race report!

Dunebuggy

Good Luck out there tomorrow SJ , Enjoy. 19 is a great record

Slogger Jogger

3:01:55.
a full 13 mins faster than my best Dublin.. Dublin is a course I haven't really performed well on.. and only 33 secs off my PB set this year in Edinburgh, a route which is quite a bit flatter.
The sub 3 was tantalisingly close but wasn't to be. Still I'm happy with the days work. Thanks for the support out on the course. The Boards singlet got a lot of shouts.

Full report later.

Funnily enough, got a text from TDS (DCM time keeper) to say congrats on my 3:02:13 time. Wrong time guys! I was with a guy when he got his text which was way off too.

Woddle

Well done Slogger, you were excellent and one of the strongest looking finishers on the day, brilliant run, I'll have a look for the pic I got of you and send it to you.

beertons

Well done man, impressive time.

racheljev

Congrats Mick, brilliant time, fair play to you!

earlyevening

Well done SJ.

Foiled again though on the sub 3. I was sure today would be your day. If you had gone close in the heat, with the ideal conditions today I was sure you'd do it.
I saw you had said this would be your last marathon. You have to come back and get your sub 3.

Slogger Jogger

Last DCM for sure. Not rulling out others as of yet :rolleyes: As you say it was a good day, and good days give you a different perspective on things

BeepBeep67

Well done SJ, you looked strong and on for with 5 to go.
Time to reflect and give it all for NY.

Woddle

Apologies for it being so dark

Slogger Jogger

Not at all. Great pic.

Dunebuggy

Well Done SJ great run

donothoponpop

Great run there Mick. At 14 miles in, you were a few minutes behind the pace group, but they had gone off too fast. Thought you looked very strong at 21 miles, compared to a lot around you. You were in and ahead of some very good IMRA lads too, which is a great portent for next years races.

Slogger Jogger

My training for the DCM consisted of me ticking over nicely at avg. 70k a week. That running was a combination of the usual things: tempo, marathon pace, hills and LSRs. In my case the LSRs didn’t go beyond 30k so in that respect I was a wee bit deficient but otherwise I was in good shape. I’d already run 3:01 for the marathon in the summer and had run a PB for 10k in recent months.

My unconventional marathon taper consisted of me running an aggregate 42k over the 6 days before the marathon weekend in a net sub 3 hour time i.e. all sub 4:15 pace runs. I was certainly sharpened up.
My marathon checklist was completed by the kids making a card for me where they wrote, in the grand innocence of kids ‘I hope you win’ . Its funny.. but I was thinking of my kids support during the race and it helped big-time.

I had noticed in recent days that I had gone through the 3,000km total for running this year so this gave me some confidence.

Sleep wasn’t great last night. That’s typical of me pre-marathon. I was awake before the 6am alarm call. Porridge, tea and toast for breakfast was wolfed down. I’d arranged to meet my mate Aaron who is now a routine sub 3er. I figured I could run with him for as long as sustainable – that was plan A at least.

Conditions for running were perfect. Not cold, not raining, not windy. Thank the lord.

The start of the race threw me a bit as we headed in the opposite direction to normal. Mind you, it was good as it cut out the safety hazards which were the sharp turns in and around Holles St.

First km was slow, 4:34, such is the crowds. Unless you were a sub 3 pacer as they seemed to go off as if they had rockets up their backsides!
Got back on pace fairly quickly and we settled into a slightly too fast, but comfortable, 4:10 pace.

10k time was 42:33. Just ahead of schedule. Took a bit of a gel around this time, but I HATE gels, so I decided at that point that the other 2 gels in my pocket would go unused.

Things were reasonably uneventful til halfway where we went through in 1:29:44 All the while the 3 hour pacers were nowhere in sight! Not sure what time they went through half way. Lots of chat in the pack about the pacers pace…

I was running pretty comfortable after half-way, at least I thought. My mate Aaron was keen to go faster, as he had a sub 3 PB to chase, so we said our farewells and he headed off. I continued km by km to chip away with sub 4.16 splits until splits 32 through to 34 knocked me back a bit. I was running at this stage alongside a Mullingar runner who was also in the target 3 hour space. We kept each other paced without ever having a conversion apart from a ‘good pace’ remark at some point. I stretched away from him at some point, as I also did from other Wicklow and imra runners that I recognised, so I must have been doing something alright.

With 7k to go I was telling myself that ‘its there for you’ the sub 3, that is. At that point I went past one of the 3 hours pacers who was without balloon at that point? My splits for the last 7 weren’t up to scratch. The best was 4:20, the worst was 4:34. I couldn’t rack up the pace, I just plugged away at the comfortable pace I could manage. I felt that upping the pace might see me risk not finishing at all. I was very happy though to get through the marathon end to end without any stops or cramps – something I’ve struggled with in the past – and my finish time of 3:01:53 (chip time) is less than 30 secs behind my best marathon time set on a fast course in the summer in Edinburgh. I’m chuffed at that. Thanks Woddle for the fine finish line pic. My mate Aaron PBed in 2:56 or so. Well done mate.

I want to thank donothoponpop who managed to clone himself and appear on at least 5 occasions around the course to shout positive encouragement at me. Also to Beepbeep67 and Woddle for their encouragement around the course. My boards AC vest was recognised by many punters and got a few shouts of support. I also got supportive shouts from work colleagues and imra compatriots. Thanks all.

Once I finished, I was a wreck. The race caught up on me immediately and it was a struggle to get back to the baggage collection area. I duly cramped up whilst changing. Its funny to think back to it, but it wasn’t funny at the time as I lay prostrate across steps of the doorway across from the baggage collection, wracked in pain. I’m sure theres a reason why we do this. It took me an age to walk back to the car, parked near the Mespil. My walking pace being reduced to an absolute crawl. Fun and games. I only managed to regain some sense of body and soul a few hours later. Its amazing what a hot cup of tea can do. The few pints of Guinness and pizza later helped too!

The last DCM for me. Other marathons might beckon. Some will say I must be annoyed at missing out on the sub 3. In a way I am but moreso than that I’m thrilled at my best Dublin time and my 2nd best marathon time after 19 runs. This comes from a 41 year old who grew up as a kid with callipers on his left foot and could only walk with a pronounced limp, never mind run. A few mins either way of 3 hours is not going to worry me. My mum has advanced Alzheimers and only seldomly recognises the people around her. Those are the things in life that are really important. That and the family and friends that you have around you. C’est la vie.

BeepBeep67

Well done Slogger - you might need to edit, I think you have your 1's and 0's back to front, schoolboy error for someone in IT

Slogger Jogger

I blame the guinness

gerard65

Great report Slogger Jogger. Thanks.

Sosa

Well done slogger,great run again from you.

jlang

The last DCM for me.

Found this on another thread ...

You should know that most of us regular marathon runners have uttered the words 'never again' on a no. of occasions during or immediately after a race. Time heals

Well done. Great running and a great report.

Slogger Jogger

How you feel the day after a marathon is in proportion to how you did in the marathon whether you feel you've had a good day or a bad day. [donothoponpop - I'm sure theres a maths formula there somewhere beckoning]

Today I felt good. The only aches where from the under-arms - failure to vaseline causing red raw skin, and right calf muscle - which cramped up after the race whilst changing

Walking today was a pained affair though. Managed a trip to the gym, just to loll in the pool, jazucci, sauna. No effort expended whatsoever.

I was thinking back about the race yesterday. It passes quickly when its going well - thats probably obvious but the contrary is true too. When you're running a marathon you have the little devil in your head who contributes things like 'you'd love to stop... go on stop' and the angel who contributes good vibes like 'you're going well. keep it going. 1k more, etc'. Depending on how the day is going either the devil or the angel gets more vocal . For me yesterday the little devil was quiet.

Nice supplement in the Star today with pictures and results. Strange results listing though, 'cos you'd see yourself ordered after other people who had a finish time after you. The sortation needed work!

Great to spend time (off today) reviewing race reports and viewing race pictures. It brings it all back, nicely (linked to having good race) or badly (if you didn't)

Slogger Jogger

I was off work since the marathon so put my feet up for the most part. Got out on Thursday for a bit of a cycle. Legs in decent shape considering Monday's race.

Today marked my first run since Monday. In teeming rain I headed to Avondale House in Rathdrum early doors and hit the trails. Was joined by some other runners inc. coincidentally a runner who had finished c. 30 secs before me in Dublin. Was nice to run and chat and compare marathon experiences, which were pretty similar. It was quite invigorating running in the rain and doing so without much effort or any aches to speak of. Called it a day when I'd ran for an hour. Happy with that having covered nearly 13k in sloppy conditions.

Slogger Jogger

Half hour stint on treadmill before work this morning, 7.06k. Avg pace 4:15min/k. Certainly a good way to wake up and get the endorphins flowing for the day.