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Cheers Macanri
The canal was awful, with canal weeds catching wrists and ankles as you were swimming through them, put out your hand for a stroke and find it landing on top of a lilly pad - not nice
The bike course was dead flat and very fast. I was surprised at my time on it but maybe the course was a bit short?
Bike course was 18.85km according to my garmin. Canal was okay, not ideal but it'll make you appreciate a lake swim more
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Bike course was 18.85km according to my garmin. Canal was okay, not ideal but it'll make you appreciate a lake swim more
Thanks for bursting my bubble there mloc:p
On a closed road with 2 laps and cones marking the turnaround at either end there is little excuse for the distance to be inaccurate. Maybe they were restricted by junctions shortly after the turnaround points? - I don't know0 -
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Wednesday 26th May - am
OW swim
dnf
Went down to the beach with the club, big turnout, but bigger waves! Had been fair windy the night before and the sea was pretty rough. We all got in and started out towards our target but I wussed out and turned back for shore. Was fairly annoyed as I think it was more a confidence thing than anything else, like I reckon now I would have been able for it, I just didn't believe it at the time. Hopefully will be a bit calmer next week.
Wednesday 26th May - pm
Run
5.5k - very easy pace
Have been slowly going bonkers over this taper business, not helped by an overuse injury wiping out all run training for last week. I keep imaging that my calf / ankles / achilles / ITB / knee are all at me :rolleyes: I've been rubbing in anti-inflammatory gel and applying compression bandages like there's no tomorrow - and I realise that most of it is unnecessary but as I said - I think I'm going bonkers!!
Was planning 10k or so but decided to just leave it at this instead and not risk infamming any of the multitude of imaginary injuries listed above.
Thursday 27th May - am
Bike
22k - very easy pace
Didn't really have my heart in this one, just went out the main road and back, stopped to adjust the saddle halfway out because I was getting bored and wantedto kill a bit of time - my head is all over the place!!
Thursday 27th May - pm
Run
7.7k including a 1 mile tt
Tri club held a 1 mile tt as part of the summer league. Went early and got about a 3.6k warmup done on the track beforehand. Had no intention of going flat out as it's too close to the marathon and that would just be silly. Marks, set, go and suddenly I'm in 2nd place :rolleyes: Kept going and after half a lap I hear a guy on my shoulder and of course I start to fight him off (not racing it my eye). We push each other on over the next 2 laps or so and then he passes me out, I won't lie, he got me good and I was fighting until he went by. Soon after he passed me though I had a look around and there was maybe 150m back to the next guy so I eased off and coasted throught the rest of the mile coming in a shade under 6mins.
Feel much better about the marathon now today, and whilst I've missed most of the running in my taper I suppose I've been biking and swimming so not too bad. Will hope to get a good bike and a good run in this weekend, and then just easy running and the odd swim for next week. Feeling good and rearing to go, and the imaginary injuries seem to have cleared up again :cool:
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Friday 28th May - pm
Run
11.2k easy hills incl 8 x 100m strides
56:37 = 5:03 /k pace
140 avg hr
Nice easy run, finished off with some strides. Everything felt good after, and had a nice long stretch.
Saturday 29th May - am
Cycle
51k
Out the main road, took it handy and only pushed the pace when the going was easy. A nothing of a cycle really, just getting the time in the saddle. Took pace into some hills, not into others. If the going started getting too tough I just let the gears do the work and spun away up the hills. Plenty of time to be pushing these longer cycles in the weeks after the marathon.
Did manage to hit 61.6 kph coming down one hill alright
A little under 2 hrs in the saddle
Sunday 30th May - am
Run
19.77k hills
1:40:28 = 5:05 /k pace
138 avg hr
Last run of any length before Cork. Long slow drags the whole way to 8k / 9k then some ups and downs with one nice long downhill thrown in. Coming through one of the local villages I literally nearly ran into another runner at a crossroads - both of us coming from different directions but going the same way. Real lean fast looking fella. I have a tendancy to pick up the pace going through towns and villages (vain I know) and chatting to this guy we were clipping along at sub 4 min / k pace :eek:. Turns out he's running Cork as well, but was out for a 20 miler vs my 20 K. Tells me he runs twice a day , 6 days a week, averaging 100 miles a week. Further chatting reveals the guy is a full time runner - it's what he does for a living!! Morrocan fella I think his name was Lesane or Lesaine or something similar. Another fork in the road, I was going right, him left so exchanged good lucks for Cork and off home.
Averaged 5:05 / k for the run, but looking through the Garmin I have a 3:54 k split recorded for the stretch of road I ran with Lesane.
It would be kind of cool if this guy manages to win the thing.0 -
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Cheers lads, it's all set to be a fairly busy weekend between Tri Athy, Crooked Lake Tri, Tri Burgh, Cork marathon & the Cork relay!
A/R/T will be fairly busy after that - a nice few reports to read through next week so:)
I appreciate the goodluck messages, thanks - I've just got to go run it now.
I've been thinking again recently about the training, and I've really done loads and loads of miles, lots of long runs and some pmp stuff (would have done more pmp if doing it again). So this is kinda giving me the confidence again to go attack the 3:15.
Specifically this run stands out as a real confidence booster, and it was during this run that I decided to go for the 3:15:Saturday 1st May - am
Run - long with pmp
31.37k
2:28:01 = 4:43/k average
148 avg hr
Plan said 29k with 23k @ pmp. Decided to reset my pmp and lower it to a more aggressive 4:35/k and see how I got on. Results were:
3k wu @ 4:58/k - 136 avg hr
23k @ 4:34/k - 151 avg hr
5.37k @ 5:09/k - 145 avg hr
Over the moon with this run, felt like I was gonna nail it throughout, and second half of 23k was stronger than first half.
Felt strong on the cool down as well, and very happy to get overall pace for that sort of distance down to 4:43/k - that's very close to 3:15 marathon pace
I'll find out soon enough just how hard it's gonna be :rolleyes:0 -
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tisnotover wrote: »Best of luck again Dusty...and I'll look out for the green singlet
and bib # 380
hopefully see you & the two lads there0 -
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Cork City Marathon - race report
Monday 7th June
First off, sorry this is so long but it was my first marathon after all
I had set off down the road of my first marathon back in October with no real target just a vague 4hr mark. Training went really well and I lowered this to sub 3:15 after a particularly good training run with miles at pmp. Everything was going great until the I hit my 3 week taper period where I lost the bones of the first 2 weeks of this to injury. Target time changed many different times during the taper and I really started to lose focus on the marathon and was only thinking of getting stuck into triathlons after it was all done. It was my wife that sorted my head out and got me back focused on the 3:15 target (she’s brilliant so she is).
Had been worried about feeling sluggish the week before, was concerned I was too tired and hadn’t got enough sleep/rest, and was a bit worried that I hadn’t been excited enough about the big day. Morning of the race and all the nerves I hadn’t acknowledged beforehand hit me together. Was a nervous fidgety mess when I bumped into elliwallach outside city hall, and things only got worse as I headed for the start line. Spotted the 3:15 pacer and slipped in behind him.
Race started and everyone started walking forward, then a shuffle, then a walk again until finally I had enough room to start running. Kept the balloon in sight and picked my way through the crowd as efficiently as I could. Despite all the signs at the start there were still a load of people starting up the front who should have been a lot further back – but no major harm.
I had a pace band made out for 3:14 with mile splits, and my garmin on my wrist auto lapping every kilometre. After making our way through the crowds at the start we were after forming into our 3:15 group and hit the first mile marker slightly down on target The next few miles were pretty hectic and a fairly fierce pace was set, to be honest I thought that it was maybe too fast and started to back off a bit before deciding to trust the pacer and go with it. Once we hit the open section after the turnback at blackrock (about 11 miles) coming in by the estuary I knew now that he had been right to bank the time. Anyway, back to 5 miles and we were approaching the first relay change over point. Nice buzz about with plenty of cheering and encouragement. The pace slowed back a little coming towards the tunnel, but fairly clipped along through it. The splits to 12k were 4:39, 4:24, 4:30, 4:27, 4:32, 4:25, 4:28, 4:31, 4:37, 4:35, 4:37 & 4:22.
My bowels had started to get a bit wobbly at this stage and I was nearly due my first gel. I ran a bit ahead of the group stopping for a wee hoping that that would sort things out. Fell back in beside a guy I had been running with earlier and we spent the next 2 miles or so slowly catching back up with the group again – no panic, the other fella was great and was running his thirty sometenth marathon. Catch up we did and fell back into the rhythm again. This had taken us through the 2nd realy changeover where I spotted this bloke in a boards singlet waiting for his teammate. Running past at top speed I put my palm out to get his attention and roared ‘DustyBin!!’ and kept going. Turns out it was OI – good to meet you!! This took us up to the switch back at blackrock and into that desperate driving wind and rain. 13k to 18k went like so: 4:55 (pitstop), 4:49, 4:28, 4:17, 4:22 & 4:23.
We then had to face a wall of water - I was just thinking thank God I didn’t have to run it on my own!! 19k & 20k went by in a slower 4:45 & 4:54. But the bowels were back at me and having ran a couple of k trying to put it out of my head I had to bite the bullet just before the 13 mile mark. I obviously lost a lot of time here and was now out on one of the most exposed parts of the course on my own having fallen well behind the pace group once more. Again I tried to catch up slowly and not have to run too fast, but the pacer seemed to pick up the speed once we got into the trees and I really struggled to get to him. I knew that Mrs DB would be waiting for me shortly after the third relay changeover (about 16.5 miles) and I wanted to be back with the group by then so as she wouldn’t be getting worried.
After fairly bursting a gut and running at close to 10k race pace for periods I eventually caught up with the group again just before 16 miles. 21k to 27k went by like; 5:22 (pitstop again), 4:32, 4:15, 4:13, 4:06, 4:22 & 4:25. During this period I passed several people I recognised as having dropped out of our pace group and tried to coax them into joining me in hunting down the balloon but there were no takers, they all seemed to be fighting their own battles so left them at it. Asked a couple of spectators how far ahead the balloon was but could get no accurate feedback so just kept going.
Caught up with the group and then through the third relay changeover and now we were heading for what I had been warned was the toughest part of the course due to several hills and lots of turning. Mrs DB was there along with my Dad and his girlfriend and that was the last I’d see of them until the finish line which was hopefully going to be no longer than 1hr 15mins later.
Out the main road towards the airport and then a brutal switchback and up a desperately steep hill to cross over the flyover and head on towards Turner Cross direction. I found the period from 17.5 to 19 miles pretty tough going as I was starting to get tired both physically and mentally. What I found helped here was to talk it out with some fellow runners and joke about it all being in the head blah, blah, blah. It really helped to do this at the time. 28k to 31k were; 4:37, 4:33, 4:45 & 4:46. Somewhere around about 19.5miles I hit the zone, and I mean the good zone. Running started to feel pretty effortless and one of the lads I was running with commented something along the lines of; ‘Jaysus you look relaxed’. I felt really good and started to pull ahead of the group a little. I then had a slight rethink and dropped back to the pacer to check out what did the rest of the course look like. He told me there were two more hills but that once we got to the top of the hill on the Model Farm Road the wind was the only thing to worry about from then on in.
So I stuck with the group until we passed through the top of the hill which I think was about the 35k mark. Splits from 32k to 35k had been 4:37, 4:33, 4:53 & 4:44. Pulled ahead of the group at this stage shortly before the 4th & final relay changeover point. This was one of my favourite moments on the course, as I was feeling strong, nearly home, pulling ahead of the group and then I ran through the relay point. Fair play to each and everyone at this area, particularly one guy in a beany hat who spotted our group coming through and differentiated us from the relay runners. ‘Let’s hear it for the marathon runners!!’ he roared and the whole group started whistling and clapping as we passed through – the hairs are standing up on the back of my head now just remembering it. If I run a marathon again it will probably be in part to try and replicate this feeling once more – fantastic.
The number of runners that I was passing at this stage was unreal, lots of people just out on their feet. Again, I tried to encourage a few of them to start running again but mostly they weren’t interested, one guy pleaded ‘please just give me a breather’. Shortly thereafter one of the guys from the pace group appeared on my shoulder and asked me if I was ‘making break for it?’ I told him I sure was, and why not, I felt strong and there were only 4 miles left, the kind of run you would hardly bother doing before breakfast. Martin was his name and he had ran Cork the previous year so was able to warn me all about ‘de straight road’ before we hit it.
Coming down the hill after mile 22 with Martin and running onto the straight road before 23 miles I was thinking that we’d surely got over a minute in the bag at this stage considering the gap we were after opening up on the pace group. Facing a really strong head wind and 2 miles of pure straight road with little or no shelter I suggested to martin that we run together and take turns sheltering one another from the wind. We kept this up until about 23.5 miles, but after having gone through the 23 mile mark and checking my wristband I was very concerned that we seemed to have lost a load of time somewhere. We were well ahead of the pace group but we were about 45 seconds behind my 3:14 wristband. So about halfway up the road I made my mind up that despite the headwind, now was the time to embrace the pain if I was to have any chance of making sub 3:15, whilst still desperately trying to make sense of the whole reason why I was now in time trouble with the pace group so far behind me. I was confused, and convinced that I must have been reading my watch or my wristband wrong, but either way I wasn’t prepared to risk it so managed to dig deep and kick on for home. Went through the 24 mile mark and I was now around 50-60 seconds behind the time on my 3:14 band but knew that we’d be turning off this cursed straight road soon enough and hopefully into some little bit of shelter. All the time passing other runners which helped fuel my own pace and encourage me to pick off the next one, and the next one. I was on a hunt now and sub 3:15 was the prey.
Finally turned off that awful road around about 39k mark, a quick look over my shoulder and I was delighted to see Martin still with me. 36k to 39k went by with 4:37, 4:23, 4:43 & 4:46. My target was in serious danger now. As I turned to go into the park I passed who later turned out to be the 5th placed lady, I offered her some water as I went by but she was in a world of her own and didn’t want any distractions. At this stage I had taken to constantly checking my garmin thinking 42.2k minus what the watch says I’ve ran todate at a generous 5min per k should see me home ok, then I passed the 25 mile marker and realised that I still wasn’t safe. What’s happening? – I thought, first I thought I was ok ahead of the pace group. Now I think I’m ok with the distance remaining as per my watch – but I’m still under pressure – what’s going on? Soon enough I had the cop on to remember that there was no way I’d run a perfect 42.2k and that this was no way to be pacing myself to the finish.
Out of the park now and onto the quays. My posture was pretty poor at this stage and my lower back and my hips felt really tired. I’d run the last couple of miles basically on my own and at flat out speed so far as I was able at that stage of a marathon. I thought about Martin and hoped he was ok but I didn’t trust myself to look over my shoulder at this stage. Coming up the quays I decided to give her socks and leave everything I had in me out on the course, when ZAP, my two calf muscles simultaneously let me know that they were having none of it, and I had this awful thought of having to stop at this stage so close to the finish. I had to carefully judge the pace now to push as hard as I dared, yet not have anything explode on me – fairly tight balancing act after 25 odd fast miles.
Was looking ahead wondering where the hell did the 26 mile marker go? Ho much further down the quays before we turned off? Do we turn at this bridge or is it the next one? And on and on and on.
Spotted some cars coming across a bridge ahead of me and then realised that they were crossing the race line as I could see a runner on the far side of the cars – ‘I can’t afford to slow down, I’m just going to have to run straight through them’ was what my energy deprived little brain managed to come up with. Luckily enough there was a Garda there to stop the traffic before I got there and on I went ‘phew’.
There it is, there’s the 26 mile sign and that must be the bridge we’re crossing. Coming up to the turn I had the SPR in my head and had made my mind up that I was going across the corner of the footpath to shave off a valuable split second. Just as I mounted the footpath a spectator turned to corner towards me directly in my racing line ‘out of the way’ I roared, it was perhaps a bit rude but in my defence I was tired & emotional and you were directly in my way, and I was also touch and go with regard to sub 3:15. The way I felt at that stage I was as likely to run directly over you as fall over and never get up again. Thankfully you managed a little shimmy and a crisis was averted.
Across the bridge and a great view down Patrick St with all the crowds but where was the finish line gone? Down the street around a slight bend and there it was in all it’s glory tantalisingly close now. A quick look at the watch and I knew that I’d done it, just got to keep going. A roar of encouragement from my left that I knew was my wife but didn’t see her and couldn’t look around. Shoulders hunched up around my ears at this stage I managed to keep running. Two fists in the air might be a bit clichéd but it was done as I was crossing the line before I knew what was happening. 3:14:54 chip time. Medal around the neck and I see a strangers face that I think I recognise ‘Thomas?’ It was TFB and after a desperately tired & brief introduction and congratulations it was off to meet my wife who was nearly crying at the barrier. She had put almost as much into themarathon as I had, and I probably wouldn't have gone for the sub 3:15 without her encouragement. Whilst waiting for me at the finish line she had seen a few people in pretty bad shape coming over the line, including one guy who collapsed with 50 mneters to go. All this was going through her head whilst I was out there pushing it with everything I had and I think she was just so relieved and proud to see me make it in one piece.
As is now becoming increasingly and frustratingly more common I forgot to stop the garmin on the finish line, but got it 11 seconds later. That final stretch from 40k onwards was a painful 4:35, 4:35, 4:39 & then 4:11 pace for the final 700 meters. I had run 500 meters more than the official distance, which I reckon isn’t too bad considering the crowds at the start and running a lot of the race in a pace group and so naturally being pushed out going around corners.
Having checked the provisional results it looks like I was the only person from our pace group to achieve sub 3:15 which is a bit of a shame. One runner behind me also got it but I had passed him just before the 26 mile mark.
So, target achieved by 6 seconds. I’m still trying to comprehend how that happened, I mean like running 26.2miles with a particular time target and getting under it by 6 seconds – unbelievable stuff.
Tired, sore, unable to walk down stairs - but just so happy right now. I also managed to raise a fair bit of money for the Irish Cancer Society while I was doing it so happy days all round.
My first marathon, will there be another one? Probably at some stage, but it won’t be Dublin 2010. Maybe will do Connemara 2011 without any real time target (have already paid for it) but the next serious attempt at a marathon would have to be sub 3hrs, and may well be tempted to go back down to Cork to try it. So next proper marathon attempt may be Dublin 2011 or Cork 2012? We’ll see how it goes.
Summary of stats:
26.2 miles
3:14:54 = 7:26 / m pace
149 avg hr, 164 max hr
KM splits: 4:39, 4:24, 4:30, 4:27, 4:32, 4:25, 4:28, 4:31, 4:37, 4:35, 4:37, 4:22, 4:55, 4:49, 4:28, 4:17, 4:22, 4:23, 4:45, 4:54, 5:22, 4:32, 4:15, 4:13, 4:06, 4:22, 4:25, 4:37, 4:33, 4:45, 4:46, 4:37, 4:33, 4:53, 4:44, 4:37, 4:23, 4:43, 4:46, 4:35, 4:35, 4:39 & 4:11 pace for final 700 meters.0 -
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