Training for a Cork '09 Sub 3

Gringo78

May 18th

10 miles this morning @7:10 pace, avg HR 164.

Hadn't done anything Fri/Sat/Sun so was itching to get out this morning, felt very rested after the 3 days break though so in one way, it showed me the importance of a taper, so i won't be doing anything crazy like a 20 miler next weekend.

So 2 weeks to go today....must come up with some sort of plan for the next 2 weeks. There are 2 races which I want to do...one is a 10k 8 days before marathon which is my hometown race so I want to 'race' that one. The other is a 5 miler 4 days before the marathon...i just want to jog that race at PMP to show support for the race, so its not really a race, just a 5 mile easy run.

Other than that, I will try to get out each morning this week and ran 6-10 miles and then next week maybe just 4-6 miles in the mornings. A lot of those miles at PMP to get comfortable with the feel of that pace.

Gringo78

May 19th

5 miles @ 6:48 pace, Avg HR 167

finally found the BOOST energy (in a centra, really seems to be the only place to get them). Took a bottle along with me on the run to see how it went down, no problems drinking it although wouldn't be gone on it, very like red bull. Not as gassy as I thought it would be though so I think I'll be able to stomach it on marathon day. Don't want to be carrying anything with me so glad i can drink it.

MCOS

Noted improvements in the training, good work!

Gringo78

May 21st

4 mile race in Fota. Ran 24:51 which was happy with. Didn't do any running the day before as it was my birthday so went drinking instead! Not the best prep for the race but didn't affect me too much.

Ran the first 2 miles far 2 fast, in under 12min and then slowed back to 6:30 a mile for the last 2 miles so wasn't a very well paced race at all. My intention had been to run 6:07 a mile for a time of 24:30 but after running the first mile in 5:52 I thought that I could hold sub 6 pace and go under the 24.....no chance.

christeb

^ decent spin, especially after a session! Well done

kennyb3

based on what you ve said in your post should the time be 24;51 and not 23:51???

Gringo78

kennyb3 wrote: »

based on what you ve said in your post should the time be 24;51 and not 23:51???

Correct. 24.51. Had it correct on best of 09 thread. 23.51...i wish!

Seres

not long now , how do you feel about monday week ? have you decided on a final time you will be aiming for ? whats the course like ?

--amadeus--

Did you hear that the organisers have pulled Boost as teh drink because of teh difficulty in getting it

Gringo78

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Did you hear that the organisers have pulled Boost as teh drink because of teh difficulty in getting it

Yeah, thank god for boards.ie or I wouldn't have known this. The latest is now Lucozade Sport foil packs so will have to go looking for those.....after all my trouble finding the BOOST...and forcing it down me!

Gringo78

Ran the Emer Casey 10k today...38:52...was very happy with that PB. Fast race though as it finishes at a lower elevation than it starts although since the extra downhill comes in the first mile and a half I'm not sure how much of an advantage that is...prob around 30sec. finished very strong though, last 3/4 mile has a good uphill section and I was really able to power up it so happy. Twas roasting today so hopefully won't be as hot for the marathon!

Gringo78

May 23rd

2.35 miles easy pace, 8min miles.

24th May

10k Race + 1.75 miles warmup/cooldown

Gringo78

Seres wrote: »

not long now , how do you feel about monday week ? have you decided on a final time you will be aiming for ? whats the course like ?

Feeling good about Monday week. Going to start out at 7:20 a mile and up it to 7:15 a mile by halfway, I'll maybe hold that till 15 and try to increase after that. If I can up it after 15 I could hit 3:10 otherwise I'll be trying to hang on for 3:15. Will depend on how I a on the day and how hot it is.

Only hill I'm worried about is the one around 20/21 miles which could me being round around the point where theres supposed to some sort of wall other than that I'm fairly familiar with the rest of the course having run the various parts of it at one time or another.

village runner

Gringo78 wrote: »

Ran the Emer Casey 10k today...38:52...was very happy with that PB. Fast race though as it finishes at a lower elevation than it starts although since the extra downhill comes in the first mile and a half I'm not sure how much of an advantage that is...prob around 30sec. finished very strong though, last 3/4 mile has a good uphill section and I was really able to power up it so happy. Twas roasting today so hopefully won't be as hot for the marathon!

Ran it myself. Based on that time your 3.10-3.15 is very realistic. You should be closer to 3.10.

heffsarmy

Gringo78 your hard work is paying off, thats a good 10k time which would suggest that sub 3.10 is on the cards, Good luck on your run.

Gringo78

heffsarmy wrote: »

Gringo78 your hard work is paying off, thats a good 10k time which would suggest that sub 3.10 is on the cards, Good luck on your run.

Thanks for that. Must remember to wear the sunscreen next Monday, had none on yesterday not thinking a 10k would be enough time in the sun to be worried about.....shiny red sore shoulders this morning!!

Gringo78

May 26th

3.5 miles @ 7:45 pace. Took things nice and easy and no niggles from the race on Sunday so all good.

Seres

how are feeling about monday ? did the race in youghal last week give you confidence ? you did it in a great time , well done

Gringo78

Seres wrote: »

how are feeling about monday ? did the race in youghal last week give you confidence ? you did it in a great time , well done

The time for the 10k was a little deceptive as it finsihed 200ft lower than it started and I took full advantage of the downhill but that said, what I was most happy with was how strong I was over the last mile. I passed a lot of people on the tough hill at the end so I felt my stamina was good. I ran miles 4 & 5 at aound 6:25 a mile and was very comfortable at that pace, I was deliberately not going all out with only 8 days to the marathon.

Really looking forward to Monday, only thing that has me apprehensive is its over 2 weeks since my last long run (22 mile) and that feels like an age ago...unfortunately I hadn't the time to do another one about 8 days ago which I had wanted to do but whats done is done (and not done, not done ). I'll have to trust that the 3 weeks taper will have me well rested for Monday.

Seres

Gringo78 wrote: »

The time for the 10k was a little deceptive as it finsihed 200ft lower than it started and I took full advantage of the downhill but that said, what I was most happy with was how strong I was over the last mile. I passed a lot of people on the tough hill at the end so I felt my stamina was good. I ran miles 4 & 5 at aound 6:25 a mile and was very comfortable at that pace, I was deliberately not going all out with only 8 days to the marathon.

Really looking forward to Monday, only thing that has me apprehensive is its over 2 weeks since my last long run (22 mile) and that feels like an age ago...unfortunately I hadn't the time to do another one about 8 days ago which I had wanted to do but whats done is done (and not done, not done ). I'll have to trust that the 3 weeks taper will have me well rested for Monday.

reading your log you seem to be well prepared , saying that i have never done a marathon . Its good that your going into the race focusing on the positives rather than the negatives , this happens me sometimes ( focusing on the negatives ) and it really stops you relaxing into the race and wastes so much energy . Best of luck , is under 3.10 your REAL target or just your outward expectation ?

Gringo78

Seres wrote: »

Best of luck , is under 3.10 your REAL target or just your outward expectation ?

3.10 is the REAL target.....as I am starting off at a pace which would end up at 3:12, 3:10 really is the best I can end up with on the day and I'll only know at the end if I could have aimed for something faster. However, the positive way of looking at it is if I can acheive 3:10 I'll be delighted as it gives me a Boston Qualification time, as would the 3:04 that McMillan calculator would suggest I should be capable of right now. But aiming for 3:04 would most likely result in missing 3:10 and having a bad experience which would negatively affect me in future marathons. So, I'll be delighted with 3:10 and it'll give me a platform for future marathons. 3:10 will be tough to acheive though, hence starting out at 3:12 pace meaning I will either be able to steadily increase it to acheive 3:10 or I will drift off the pace to 3:15 or slower, but hopefully not completely crash and burn.

Seres

3.10 would be a pretty good results for your first marathon , and more planned , no fear that will change after monday ?

Gringo78

Seres wrote: »

3.10 would be a pretty good results for your first marathon , and more planned , no fear that will change after monday ?

3 outcomes Monday - 1. I get 3:10 - delighted, will want to beat it next year. 2. 3:11-3:20 happy, will want to beat it next year, 3. >3:20, p**d off, will want to beat it next year.

I like the longer distance races so i'm sure I'll like the marathon. Next race I am looking forward to is Cork half marathon and Cork to Cobh 15miler in Autumn so I think I am predisposed towards longer distances.

Gringo78

28th May

3.5 very easy miles at 8:15 pace. had a few pints last night while watching the match so was a bit ropey and tired this morning but forced myself up n out.

eliwallach

Best of luck for Monday Gringo.
Hope everything goes according to plan.
If you are finishing for 3:10 have a look for out for our (WORE) relay team, we hope to be finishing in 2:59.xx but the best laid plans of mice and men ...........

Don't forget your vaseline.

Gringo78

eliwallach wrote: »

have a look for out for our (WORE) relay team

I might see a hungover woddle right up front on the startline otherwise i'd see ye can do a cooldown mile at the end and be back to the finish in time to see me crossing. My number is 735. Best of luck, ye'll have no trouble doing the sub 3.

Seres

best of luck tomorro , look forward to the race report

Gringo78

Chip time was 3:26:06. race report to follow but I'll post the splits for now (they tell the story!) Slowed to walk at the second lucosade sport handout (around 20mile marker) and walked while drinking the full bottle. Got going again though and gradually got better so I'd say I probably did hit the wall at 20! First Half Split 1:36, second half aroun 1:49!

Time Distance
1 7:19 1.00
2 7:16 1.00
3 7:13 1.00
4 7:12 1.00
5 7:19 1.00
6 7:12 1.00
7 7:33 1.00
8 7:17 1.00
9 7:18 1.00
10 7:17 1.00
11 7:08 1.00
12 7:16 1.00
13 7:18 1.00
14 7:08 1.00
15 7:24 1.00
16 7:18 1.00
17 7:45 1.00
18 8:08 1.00
19 8:11 1.00
20 8:36 1.00
21 10:05 1.00
22 9:24 1.00
23 8:47 1.00
24 9:09 1.00
25 8:40 1.00
26 8:12 1.00
27 2:43 0.37

heffsarmy

Well done man, congratulations on your new pb...that was a tough day for running never mind doing a marathon. I done the Edinburgh marathon the day before myself, heat was a killer just like Cork.

Gringo78

Well, first Marathon...what an experience, learnt a few lessons, had a difficult patch in around 18/19/20 miles but recovered and so was happy with myself for not giving up when I could have, but most of all, I really enjoyed it and will definetly run one again.
I posted the splits above and they tell the story.

My pre-race strategy had been to aim for 3:10 with negative splits. I ran very consistently for the first 16 miles passing through the half marathon mark in 1:36 and feeling very good. I passed my wife around the 14 mile mark and she gave me a lucosade sport, I wasn't expecting to see her there nor was I expecting her to have a lucosade sport but I was very glad to get it. However, I only drank about 1/3 of the bottle and after offering it to other runners around me, I tossed it seeing as there was more lucosade coming up at 15 miles. In hindsight, I should have concentrated on getting that full bottle into me then as when I hit 20 I think it hadn't really gone through my system and I was lacking energy. I took the lucosade on offer at 15.5 miles and again only drank a 1/3 and tossed it. Again, I should have slowed down and drank this fully.

I had made up a band to wear which described the miles in 3 to 4 letters i.e 'ef' for easy and flat, ru for reasonable with an uphill and 'tud' which meant tough, uphill followed by downhill. I didn't have any paces written on this or anything, it was just to tell me that I could ease off on a particular mile if I had marked it tough i.e don't beat myself up if I couldn't stay on pace. I had marked 18 as reasonable and then 19/20/21/22 as tough so I knew I was hitting a tough patch and I started to fall off the pace losing almost a minute on 18, almost another minute on 19, 1min20 on 20. I knew I was in trouble and couldn't go on like that so when I got to the lucosade table at somehwere around the 20 mile marker (twas after the last relay changeover) I took a bottle and slowed to a walk. Definetly my lowest point in the race as I felt I might not be able to get going again. A steward told me to keep swinging my arms and legs while walking and I'd be able to get going again and that definetly helped. I finished the drink and started running again. I got to a hil then and walked up the steep section as I wasn't fully recovered at all and didn't think I could continue running till the end. However, I got running again and didn't stop again. Mile 21 was 10min, Mile 22 was 9min24. From there I started to get better and gradually started to stengthen up. I did a quick calc in my head and knew my average place would not slip enough that i should be comfortably under 3:30 so i was happy at that.

I think it was likely a combination of mental as well as fuel out that hit at 20/21, in hindsight, not drinking the lucosdae properly at 14/15 cost me. I also should have adjusted my pace earlier and taken an easy mile to recover and adjusted my target. I have to say though, while I knew it was hot, I thought it was just like any other year and so didn't think I should take that into account (you don't think straight in the middle of a marathon).

Once I hit the 25 mile marker I felt great, I knew I had enough in the tank to make it to the end looking like a runner. I strided out from the opera house bridge and put in a great sprint down Patricks street....what a feeling at the finish, the crowds clapping a cheering, your name being called out..really fantastic. The crowds along the way were fantastic and I think the relays are a great idea just for splitting up the marathon into manageable blocks...you can concentrate on getting from one realy point to the next.

I wore the heart rate monitor and it helped....I averaged 168HR for each mile 4 to mile 20 and backed off the pace when i started to push over 170 which i knew wasn't sustainable. I didn't do at all enough long runs in my training but next time I do marathon training I will do some long slow runs at 168HR. It won't be as fast as marathon pace but it will be the correct effort level and think thats important. You can't replicate the feeling of marathon pace on the day as its occurring post taper so I think going for the same HR is as close as you can get.

So Positives:

Finished!
Had the strength to get going again after walking
Learned a lot - race strategy, heart rate, better training required
Loved it! I would have been very dissappointed if I came away not enjoying the marathon as a race
Recovering fast today, no injuries and walking comfortably. Wouldn't be going for a run today but maybe tomorrow!
Carbo loading and hydration in days prior to marathon was good and worked I think

Negatives:

Well off target time
Didn't stay running the whole time