The Captain's Slog

Runonewon

After a chastening experence DCM'09 (3.30.33, a full 7 minutes down on 2008).I've decided to give myself a year to get to 3.15.I felt i trained much better this year than last,Lost 7kg and thought i was ready for a solid attempt at 3.15,alas it was not to be I struggled from 22 to yhe end.My recovery after the marathon was much quicker this year.and i hope to return to full training the week after next.Ive already talked to a coach,and he has suggested more speedwork,farthlek and tempo runs.My current times are
5k 18.42 June 2009
8k 31.00 Sept 2009
10k 39.12 Aug 2009
Half 1.28.32 Sept 2009
I seem to struggle when go beyond 20 miles in the marathon.Should i try a few 24 milers training?
Hope you can join me on my 12 month adventure we might even achive 3.15.I will have more detail when i replace my Garmin!!!!.
Any Advice is welcome

My run today - 7 Miles easy at 8.25 pace (plus a basic core workout Abs, Obliques.)

Krusty_Clown

Hi Runonewon, have you considered following a program like Pfitzinger and Douglas' Advanced Marathoning program? Helped me to get from 3:22 to 3:00. A great program for people looking to make progress.

Best of luck!

misty floyd

Runonewon,
Best of luck with it all. My times and goals are similar to your own.

Runonewon

misty floyd wrote: »

Runonewon,
Best of luck with it all. My times and goals are similar to your own.

Thanks Misty,keep in touch and we will have right at this 3.15

Runonewon

Easy run today while getting battered by th wind and rain

5 miles at 7.15 pace.

Legs still feel a little tired after Dublin.Going to try 10 on Thursday.
I'm trying to source a good circut/conditioning type work our for the winter.
I need to loose the "second row look" now i've decided to give this marathon running a go,95kg is a little on the large side for me to achieve my goals.If a person can run 3.30 at 95kg is there any formula to predict what he might achive at 75kg

Runonewon

recovery from marathon is coming along at quite a pace,i felt great on my last few runs
THURSDAY 10 miles at 7.25 pace in cold blustery conditions.

FRIDAY Tempo 2 mile warm up 4 miles hard running 1 mile cool down.

SATURDAY 6 miles easy legs tired.

SUNDAY 5 miles in 34 mins grea run in the conditions

ONLY 50 WEEKS TO MARATHON

Runonewon

As i peered out at the grey wet evening i wondered if today should be an unplanned rest day.Without thinking i was stretching in the rain. My neighbour is in his late 70s and at least 3 times a week i meet him on my run,today he asked me why i was running in this terrible weather,i couldnt answer him.I thought about his comment and realised i'm running on autopilot at the moment,it's well time to focus on my running not just rumble along each day aimlessly.The same man asked me if i was wearing a magic hat,he looked at me in shorts ,t-shirt and a "magic hat" of course he was right i felt miserable during my run.

MONDAY 9 miles at 7.45 pace
wind and rain made run tough
I braved the weighing scales and was delighted to see my weight has plummeted to a waiflike 93.5 kg!!!!!!!!!!! just 19.5 kg to go

Runonewon

Today is a typical November day.I decided for some reason to run a few miles "on the country"i'm not sure where this came from,it may well be the latest installment of my well rounded Mid-Life Crisis!!!!,this is my first venture in the mud since the Connacht cross country at the Sligo racecourse in November 1993 I think i came 7th.I didn't enjoy it that and to be honest it was no bag of laughs today either.

TUESDAY 7 miles without watch,just wanted a run to clear my head

WEDNESDAY 11 miles in total 6 Cross Country 8.10 miles very poor under foot conditions,5 miles on Forest Park trails 7.35

Entered The Fields Of Athenry on St Stephens Day somthing to focus on Can i break 39 mins - Stay tuned .Great value at 20 euro

Runonewon

Had i bad tumble last thursday night while running just before dark.Unfourtunely injured my ankle ligiments and hurt my achilles quiet badly as well as ripping up my knee.Missed a two days work and won't be running so it will be a good time to improve my swimmimg.This is the really annoying part of sport,hopefully i will cope with it,maybe i need a few weeks off pounding the trails................no i don't

Runonewon

Runonewon wrote: »

After a chastening experence DCM'09 (3.30.33, a full 7 minutes down on 2008).I've decided to give myself a year to get to 3.15.I felt i trained much better this year than last,Lost 7kg and thought i was ready for a solid attempt at 3.15,alas it was not to be I struggled from 22 to yhe end.My recovery after the marathon was much quicker this year.and i hope to return to full training the week after next.Ive already talked to a coach,and he has suggested more speedwork,farthlek and tempo runs.My current times are
5k 18.42 June 2009
8k 31.00 Sept 2009
10k 39.12 Aug 2009
Half 1.28.32 Sept 2009
I seem to struggle when go beyond 20 miles in the marathon.Should i try a few 24 milers training?
Hope you can join me on my 12 month adventure we might even achive 3.15.I will have more detail when i replace my Garmin!!!!.
Any Advice is welcome

My run today - 7 Miles easy at 8.25 pace (plus a basic core workout Abs, Obliques.)

Finally Back training with some regularity and reduced milage .The benifits of more Quality work are bearing fruit already,I decided to retun to my training log and use it as a motivational tool.I have my first 20 miler since the Dublin marathon 2009 on Friday evening so i'm going to need all the motivation i can get

Tuesday 8 miles at 7.55 felt fairly strong

Wednesday 10 miles 5 @ pmp 7.25 Finding this pace very tough but its reall helping the confidence.

Thursday 4 miles recovery run

opus

Chasing a similar goal myself so an interesting log for me. Best of luck with the long run this week. As you mentioned dropping a bit of weight, this calculator suggests that losing 4kg would gain you ~7 mins, god only knows what losing 20 kg would do :eek:

Runonewon

opus wrote: »

Chasing a similar goal myself so an interesting log for me. Best of luck with the long run this week. As you mentioned dropping a bit of weight, this calculator suggests that losing 4kg would gain you ~7 mins, god only knows what losing 20 kg would do :eek:

Thanks for the link opus,some interesting data there.

My 20 miler was pushed out to Saturday due to unexpected family stuff.
So ran 10 miles on Friday just in case Saturday did'nt happen.To say this weekend is a turning point in my training is an understatment.For some reason i really got going over the last few days. I was a bit cautious in the early stages of my 20 miler,but as the miles rolled by i felt a little braver and ran 7.35 per mile from mile 11 to 17,I was pretty much done at that stage but the last 3 miles were not too bad.Great confidance booster .Will be much more positive for my next 20.

Friday 10 Miles @ 7.40 pace - solid run

Saturday 20 miles 6 @ 7.35 - Very happy with run

Sunday 6.5 miles recovery - no watch easy run

Runonewon

opus wrote: »

Chasing a similar goal myself so an interesting log for me. Best of luck with the long run this week. As you mentioned dropping a bit of weight, this calculator suggests that losing 4kg would gain you ~7 mins, god only knows what losing 20 kg would do :eek:

Thanks for the link opus,some interesting data there.

My 20 miler was pushed out to Saturday due to unexpected family stuff.
So ran 10 miles on Friday just in case Saturday did'nt happen.To say this weekend is a turning point in my training is an understatment.For some reason i really got going over the last few days. I was a bit cautious in the early stages of my 20 miler,but as the miles rolled by i felt a little braver and ran 7.35 per mile from mile 11 to 17,I was pretty much done at that stage but the last 3 miles were not too bad.Great confidance booster .Will be much more positive for my next 20.

Friday 10 Miles @ 7.40 pace - solid run

Saturday 20 miles 6 @ 7.35 - Very happy with run

Sunday 6.5 miles recovery - no watch easy run

Runonewon

Monday 8 miles total 6 @ 7.40 pace(Thats all i had to give today!!!)-A tough day ay the office.

Tuesday 13 miles at 8.05 pace,-oh if every training session could be like this,sun on my back and the breeze whistling through whats left of my hair!!These are the days that make me continue to run

Runonewon

Wednesday

AM 4 miles - almost asleep

PM 1.5 mile warm-up speed session 6 X 400 metres No watch First time speed work has felt good in a while,ran as hard as i could ,1 mile or so cool down.Went to the pool for a while to sooth my burning legs.Good kind of tired.
Easy run Tommorrow as 21 miler is on Friday this week rather than Saturday

Runonewon

Thursday
5 Miles @ 8.00 Easy run

Friday
21 Miles today felt relitively good thruout, last 8 Mile at 7.40(best i could do).Great to be getting comfortable on the long runs,they are becoming much less intimidating,i hope to max out at one run of 24 miles

I will be running Mount Snowdon in north Wales on Sunday should be interesting ,5 miles uphill/mountain.

Runonewon

Back after my sejourn in Llanberis,North Wales,what a great place to run.There was a nice flat course around the lake,and if you wanted a challange there was Mount Snowdon.I walked it on Sunday and ran it on monday,what a shock to the system.Somtimes we forget how easy we have it in our comfort zone.Personally i was way out of my comfort zone running Snowdon, I still got up in 66mins and down in 37.A truly great day in the sunshine in Gwynedd.I will be Back Again.
Hope To Race the 4miler in Nenagh on Friday,If i can get out of wok on time

Saturday - Rest/ Travel to Wales

Sunday - AM 5 miles easy
AM/PM Walked Mount Snowdon 10 miles - 1085 metres

Monday - Ran Mount Snowdon 10 miles

Tuesday - Rest / Travel Home.

Wednesday - Back to comfort zone.10 miles at 7.50 pace felt good starting to feel stronger with each run,weight loss is also begining to accelerate -10kg

Runonewon

Back after my sejourn in Llanberis,North Wales,what a great place to run.There was a nice flat course around the lake,and if you wanted a challange there was Mount Snowdon.I walked it on Sunday and ran it on monday,what a shock to the system.Somtimes we forget how easy we have it in our comfort zone.Personally i was way out of my comfort zone running Snowdon, I still got up in 66mins and down in 37.A truly great day in the sunshine in Gwynedd.I will be Back Again.
Hope To Race the 4miler in Nenagh on Friday,If i can get out of wok on time

Saturday - Rest/ Travel to Wales

Sunday - AM 5 miles easy
AM/PM Walked Mount Snowdon 10 miles - 1085 metres

Monday - Ran Mount Snowdon 10 miles

Tuesday - Rest / Travel Home.

Wednesday - Back to comfort zone.10 miles at 7.50 pace felt good starting to feel stronger with each run,weight loss is also begining to accelerate -10kg

Runonewon

Thursday - 5.72 miles at 8.50 pace.
Legs are very heavy after the hill running episode.Easy run today just in case i get to Nenagh in time for 4 mile race tommorrow.

Runonewon

Friday - Nenagh 4 Mile Road Race Time 25:55 6:28min/mile

Ran 6 miles afterwards incorporating cool down

Happy enough with run,Just about made race as i couldnt get out of work as early as planned.All the rushing was a little stressful.There was an obvious lack of sharpness in my racing as this was my first race since the Dublin Marathon 2009.
Great to be back racing,many thanks to all in Nenagh for organising a fine race

Runonewon

Saturday - 12 miles,10 at 7.35 pace.

Felt a little Stiff at the start of run but by the last few miles i was very fluid and relitively strong.Very motivated after race last evening,not that the time was great but just the whole vibe of racing again.Galway half marathon next Sunday is the next challange,from looking at the course map it looks fairly flat,so there may be a decent time to be had.

Sunday - 5 miles early and easy,Didnt think i'd get a run in today - a nice bonus run!!, loads of family stuff today

Runonewon

Monday
10.02 miles steady run 7.45 pace Legs are tired today but was able to stick it out

Tuesday 11.79 Miles of planned easy 14 miler went over on ankle at 10.5 mile tried to run it off,not one of my better ideas.Iced it when i got home seems to be OK now.Hopfully just a little jolt.Prior to this incident I was running at about 7.45-7.50 pace

Runonewon

Wednesday 25th - 10.17 miles 8.00 min pace easy run as i hope to do some pace work tommorrow.Rain didn't help matters today,

Thursday 26th - 8 miles total 3 @ 6.50 Pace And[EMAIL="3@ 7.00"]3 @ 7.00[/EMAIL] Pace Delighted with run had more in the tank.

Friday 27th - 8 miles @ 8.20 min pace in Lough Key Forest Park,in Boyle,i'm camping here tonight,The last time i ran here was in the Connacht Schools in 1988,not great preparation for a Half Marathon on
Sunday.

Saturday 28th - 4 miles very early,Found it hard to sleep as it was very cold and wet at night in the tent.Had to head to galway to collect race pack.

Sunday 29th Galway Bay Half Marathon 13.1 miles in a time of 1.34.45.Had a fairly decent run,i was way too cautious in the early part of the race and when i did start to get going i couldn't make up the time.Still happy enough all told. Ran 6.12 miles afterwards this was tougher than the race.

Runonewon

Monday 30th - 8 miles at 7.42 pace.
Ment to be a recovery run but i felt great,i can recover tommorrow.Can somone explain this running lark to me,because i haven't got a clue whats going on.I felt as fresh as a daisy today after the half marathon in Galway,a feed of pasta and a good nights sleep helped.Todays run was as fluid as i have felt since returning to the sport in mid 2008.I did feel i left a few minutes on the course yesterday,But with no taper to speak of and a lot of miles racked up over the past 6 weeks,i felt it prudent not to blast off at the start in case i blew up at 9 miles.Another plus is my half time was reduced by 45 seconds on the offical results...cool!!!!Can't wait for my run tommorrow!!!!.

Runonewon

Tuesday 31th
10.16 miles at 8.10 pace.Easy Run today to give my calves a break after sunday,Great weather to run,really reinvigorates the motivation.

Wednesday 1st Sept
7 miles at 7.05 pace(10 seconds below half marathon pace) Found this hard going but do-able
Weight 91 Kg will hopfully go into the 80s in the next few weeks for the first time in 15 years!!!!!!!!

Runonewon

Thursday 02 Sept

AM - 5.21 miles at 8.00 min pace,great morning weather-wise so i decided to make the best of it.

PM - 9.02 miles 6 at 7.15 min pace.Good solid run.Starting to manage/recover from the hader sessions a little quicker.Should get just over 80 miles this week,all going well

Runonewon

Friday 3rd Sept
AM 6.5 Miles at 7.23 pace felt strong thruout run considering the milage i've done this week

PM 6.4 Miles easy 8.00 pace,didn't have a whole lot to give this evening,running on auto pilot.

Saturday 4th Sept
LSR - 20.37 miles at an average 7.55 pace last 5 at PMP.
Great run with my buddy who dragged me along at a good pace.I haven't ran a 90 mile week in 15 years,my total for the week was 91.79 miles,i'm over the moon with how my training is going,now if only could get a little faster!!!.

Summary of my Monster week.

Sunday - Galway Half Marathon 13.1 Miles.6,12 miles with some friends after race.
Monday 8.00 miles Easy Recovery.
Tuesday - 10.16 Miles
Wednesday - 7 .00miles
Thursday - AM 5,12 miles , PM 9.02 Miles.
Friday - AM 6.5 miles , PM 6.4 miles
Saturday - LSR 20.37 miles

Total Milage 91.79 .............WOW!!!!!

Runonewon

Sunday 4th - Rest day

Monday 5th - 9.89 miles easy no watch about 8.20 pace.This week will be much easier than last.Legs still a little tired.

racso1975

Really enjoy reading your log. Thought you might have given up after your fall last year. Training seems to be going really well for ya. Best of luck with running and weight loss. Are you still doing your intervals and speed work?

Runonewon

Tuesday 7th Sept.
6.59 miles at 10K pace,my calves are not amused lasr 3 miles at 6.45 pace,Felt a little tired was hoping to sustain this pace for a littlelonger but 3 miles was all i had.

Wednesday 8th Sept
16.64 miles at 7.37 pace ran at a steady pace thruout run,Found the last 4 miles a bit of a struggle trying to maintain pace.

Thursday 9th Sept
AM 2.14 miles tried to do 6 easy miles but my shin was a little tender so decided to stop and ice.

PM 10.46 Miles at 8.00 pace on grass.My shin is a bit sore so i feel it is best to spend a few days on the grass,this should give it a chance to recover without having to stop training completely

Friday 10th Sept.
5.46 miles late on grass.Did'nt get out until 10.45pm due to work,not the ideal tim to train but it was then or not at all.It was my first real run of the fall as i dusted down my trusty headlight.Where has the year gone.

Satruday 11th Sept.
16.41 miles on grass again.Laps of GAA pitch for 16+ miles is not a cool place to be,at 12 miles i nearly gave in but decided to "thick it out" and was i did.The soft ground is a great help for mt sore shin,shame i have so little grassland trails available.This why an iPod is an essientail piece of running equipment.I would not have persisted without a little "Back In black" etc.

Sunday 12th Sept.
No Run today.Family stuff today

Runonewon

Monday 13th Sept - 8 miles 6@ 6.43 Average pace 1 mile warm up/cool down.Very strong run felt strong thruout,the only down side was my shin is still quite sore.Was hoping to do 24 on Saturday may have to reassess during the week

Tuesday 14 Sept - Biked for 2 hours with a view to reducing impact on my shin,got thru a great workout truly shattered afterwards.Finished up with a core workout not sure why!!!!.My Garmin died a horrible death today,the torrential rain seemed to get inside the case.........bummer.

Wednesday 15 Sept - 11 Miles on forest trails.A Garmin measured course. 1 hour 18 mins 56 secs.not a bad run.

Thursday 16 Sept - 11 Miles at an easy pace ,same course as yesterday no watch,not sure how long it took.My shin seems to be getting better .

Runonewon

Friday 17th Sept - 10.86 Miles at an easy 8.00 pace.

Saturday 18th Sept - 24.56 miles, what can i say the longest run of the year to date,struggled after 22 miles,ran out of fuel,i only brought 1 gel which was a bad plan.Very tired now so its crash and burn time for the rest of the evening.Weight after run is 87.6 kg finally under 90 kg.

Runonewon

Sunday 19th Sept - 25 minute recovery run.Had planned to just stretch my calves and hamstrings which were a little tight,

Monday 20th Sept - 11 miles steady 7.45 pace thruout,still a little tired from Saturday,going to track tommorrow for some 600 and 800 if i have time after work.

Runonewon

Tuesday 21st Sept - 3 miles warm up 6 X 600 with 90 sec recovery,3 x 800 with 2 min recovery.1 x 1000 1.5 mile cool down.This was the most difficult session all year.My legs were tired from the long run on saturday and today i thought they were going to give in on the 1000m.This is my weak area and i will have to address it in the coming months.Thank God it's over.

Wednesday 22nd Sept - 11 miles steady Last 5 @ 7.10 pace,my calves are very tired.Surprisingly the rest of me feels OK!!

Thursday 23rd Sept - 1 hour of hard running,not sure how far but reallT tore along today,felt strong thruout,shame i did'nt have my Garmin.I had to send it back to be repaired or replaced.I'm working 12 hour shiftsat the moment, plus 1 hour commute so training has to be of a higher quality while i'm on this shift pattern.Very happy with todays run.Just a 22 mile and a 19 mile left before the marathon,it's gettng close.

Runonewon

Friday 24th Sept - Biked for 90 mins,finding this to be a great recovery workout,i hope to use it more in the future.Need to get some better cycling gear.

Saturday 25th Sept - 22.24 Miles.Very strong run ran Last 10 miles at 7.20 pace had more but held back.This is by far and away my best quality long run this year.Will run Athlone 3/4 marathon next Sunday if i can rearrange work.

Sunday 26th Sept - 35 Minutes easy/recovery.Great day for a run.

Runonewon

Monday 27th Sept - 10 miles at 7.15 pace,miserable day for a run.The end is in sight so i have to plough on.

Tuesday 28 Sept - 10 miles slow- beginning a mini taper for Athlone 3/4 marathon on Sunday - looking foward to it,i will cut back a little this week to do it justice.

Wednesday 29 Sept - 8 miles at a brisk 7.20 pace.Felt fairly good considering i have a nasty head/chest cold.

Runonewon

Thursday 30th Sept - Rest day today,head cold has got in on me,still plan to do Athlone on sunday,Working 12 hour shifts again so running time is limited.

Friday 1st Oct - 4 Miles easy still Bunged up with cold.

Runonewon

Saturday 2nd Oct - 5 miles easy,still feeling a bit blocked up with a head cold,will use tommorrow's race as a long training run.

Sunday 3rd Oct - This was a great race,so well organised.The hills were tough particularly "Kilimanjaro" at 17/18 miles,i thought the midlands were ment to be flat!!! I ran 2:27:49 for the 19.7 miles working out at 7.30 min/mile,this was pretty much as planned in terms of pace,I didn't go flat out i'll leave that for the 25th.This is a great addition to the running calender.I had my Garmin relpaced on thursday so it was good to have it back for the race,great customer service from Garmin Europe .If your Garmin ever breaks down,phone them.

Monday 4th Oct - 6 miles easy/recovery.I nice mild breezy day just what the doctor ordered.My shins are paying the price for all those hills yesterday.

Runonewon

Tuesday 5th Oct - Rest-day

Wednesday 6th Oct - 10 miles 7 @ 7.25 pace,good strong run.My legs recovered fairly quickly from Sunday.

Thursday 7th Oct - 12.5 miles easy,did'nt go too hard just kept a relaxed pace.

Friday 8th Oct - 7.5 miles tempo run on forest trails,good strong run 4 miles at 7.00 min pace,found it tough going.

Saturday 9th Oct - 16 miles at 7.40 average pace.So thats it,the last LSR of this shortened marathon training programe.The weeks fly during marathon training.Hopefully i can get the qualifying time for Boston,Either way i'm going to enjoy this marathon as i'm not sure how many more i will do.

Runonewon

Sunday 10 Oct - Rest day

Monday 11 Oct - 7.12 miles 5 @ 7 05 pace this will be my last tempo run,with some speed work next week in terms of quality sessions.It's a funny time when you're tapering,restraint can be hard to achive this will have to be kept in check for the first half of the marathon to ensure i don't blow up at 21 miles!!!

Runonewon

Tuesday 12 Oct - 8 miles at 7.45 pace,Wanted to do more in the warm sunshine but had to pull back a bit,Only 12 days to go,can't wait.10 miles easy tommorrow will be a good tester to see if my shin is fully recovered,It has got alot of ice and anit-inflamatories over the last 3 weeks.It seems to be fine should be able to get over the line without any ill effects. i want to get ready for Kinnty Castle Half marathon in late november.I have a 20 week plan for Boston If i qualify,if not i'll be well prepared for Portumna in june and hopefully an attempt at 3.05/3.10.
I've been talking to a few friends who are running the marathon and they seem to be petrified of the race,I'm almost feeling i should be more agitated or somthing.Somtimes i feel people can over anylise their training and as a consequence loose out on the fun aspect of running.

Runonewon

Wednesday 13 Oct - Change of plan i forgot i'm doing 10 miles with my buddy tommorrow,so today i did 6 miles at a brisk 7.18 average,felt great had to ease up a bit towards the end as i was going to hard.All the remaining runs before the matathon will be ran at 8.00 min plus.

Runonewon

Thursday 14th Oct - 10.5 miles very slowly 8.25 pace with a friend of mine,he kept me from going too hard,avaery wet and fairly cold,i was hoping to go a little faster but i didn't want to seem like a hero as my buddy was begining to overheat.

Friday 15th Oct - 7.5 miles 8.06 pace nice easy run on the trails,Just trying to keep the lrgs rolling for the next few days,

Saturday 16th Oct - 11.8 miles at 7.45 pace,last run of cosequence prior to marathon,i'm really buzzin now can't wait to get to the starting line.

Sunday 17th Oct - 4 miles, 32.10 mins running,hope marathon day is like today,it was glorious running today.It was a shame i was doing so little.

Runonewon

Monday 18th Oct - 6.3 miles at 8.10 pace,had to pull back a few times when i started daydreaming during run.I am scarily calm about next monday,due to the fact that i know i could'nt have done anymore training within the time constraints that i found myself indue to my foot surgery.On the first of june i had all but ruled out Dublin 2010,how things change.

Runonewon

Tuesday 19 Oct - A slow 1 hour cycle on bike trails as my shin was a little sore after my run yesterday and a light core workout,very relaxed.

Wednesday 20 Oct - 5 miles at 8.15 pace.I just ran along thinking how i will run my race on Monday still not sure,will prob start out with 3.15 group and work from there.

Thursday 21 Oct - 5 miles at 8.05 pace plus 5 x 200 stride outs,Very cold this morning winter is defininately here, but once i warmed up it wasn't too bad.

Runonewon

Friday 22nd Oct - 3.12 miles at 8.5 min/mile 5 x 100m strides.Ran at race time which ment braving some fairly nasty weather,very cold,wet and windy here in the west.I ran in the gear i'm wearing on monday just to give it one last whirl to insure the is no scraping etc.Decided not to use racing flats as i've done all my milage in my trainers.All the pre race throw-away gear is selected and the ipod is packed with high-octane rock.Usually i'm doing all this on sunday and in turn stressing myself out,i must be getting organised with age!!!

Runonewon

Saturday 23 Oct - 3 miles easy to keep focused,great morning to run.Nothing left to do now just double check gear and head for the start.Best wishes to everyone on monday,its finally time to get rollin.

Enjoy

Runonewon

What a day,Great atmosphere,Fantastic support,Felt great before race.Decided to keep the 3.15 balloon in sight for as long as i could,and off we went.The pace was comfortable,But my shins were starting to act up a little,I suspected this would happen at some point but i had hoped i would be further along before this happened.I eased up a little and ran 7.40s till 18 miles then i latched on to a group who were trying break 3'30 (not the pace group).This was a lucky move as we had a blast from there to the finish,great craic and banter took my mind off the tough going.I really enjoyed the last few miles,for the first time while running a marathon ,the interaction with the crowd was great fun and the support they gave us was inspirational.So i got home in 3.28 which seemed like a pipe dream when my shin flared up so early.Delighted with the end result and saw the marathon in a whole new light.A word of thanks to the medics/first aid at the finish for the quick and professional way they iced and copressed my shin after the race and got me up and giong again.Its sore today but i don,t care because i ran a marathon yesterday!!!!!!!!

Runonewon

Wednesday 27th Oct - 6.5 Miles @ 8.20 min/mile pace on trails/grass loads of stretching Shin freshly iced and wrapped up and off we go again,really could not wait to get out for a run.I got in just before the heavy rain,so all in all a nice recovery run.I will have to nurse the shin with loads of ice and some easy runs on grass for the next couple of weeks.I hope to do a halloween fun run on saturday and the concentrate on the half marathon in Kinnitty,Co.Offally in late Nov.So this is the end of this current training log,I found it a great motivational tool for this years marathon.Good luck to all Boardies in their athletic endevours/goals etc.I hope to see all of you next year when i start my marathon log again.

Later Dudes!!!