Over, around and through

Oisin11178

20 miles with a mate today. My mate ken is training for the paris marathon so ive told him i would do all of his long runs with him.
20 miles in 2.59 last week with a minor blip coming up the kyber after 19 miles and a little walkie.
This week was a lot better and 20 miles in 2.54 with an average pace of 8.47 and he ran all of it.
Must say its amazing the progress someone can make in a short timeframe. He is ok for 3.45 if he keeps this up:)
From my own point of view i was as comfortable at the end as i was at the start. Need to do some faster long runs:D
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25139238

Oisin11178

Nothing on Sunday and monday due to a combination of the 20 miler saturday and work on both nights.
Went out tonight with the intention of doing a comfortable 10 miles. Not easy but fairly comfortable and well within myself. I brought the garmin with me but turned it around because as i said i wanted to run at a comfortable pace and see how i was feeling.
I ran well within myself and i was plesently surprised by the last few miles.
7.56
7.58
7.58
7.56
7.46
7.39
7.47
7.28
7.23
7.21

Oisin11178

Easy 6 miles before football training.
7.58
7.52
7.49
7.49
7.48
7.38
1 hour of football with the mates and 2 miles afterwards to get home
7.39
7.38
Cruising pace seems to have come down, happy with that. More pace runs now me thinks. Ill be running 7.27 in my sleep by time im finished:D

Oisin11178

Had a 15 mile session planned tonight. Was hoping to do it at 7.5x a mile and the way things have been going i expected to find this easyish.
Woke up this afternoon after a nap feeling ****. Had something to eat and felt a little better. Looked outside and the weather was ****. Slight rain and a headwind in the direction i would be doing most of my run. Last nights session was still in my legs. I was thinking of all sorts of excuses not to do it but eventually i ventured out.
first mile into the wind feeling bad. the next 4 were flat or downhill so even though i was feeling bad i got no worse. I turned into the wind then and ran for about 4-5 miles into the breeze and feeling progrssively worse. I turned back to have the wind at my back and it disappeared, nice:)
A few mile back and i had what was effectivly the last mile of the raheny 5 as my 12th mile. I was feeling terrible even at this pace and i contemplated running as far as sutton on the flat and getting a taxi home. i decided to tackle the incline and it shattered me haha. I kept it going through raheny until about 13 miles and got this uncontrollable urge to stop. I was 2 miles from home and i started picking of landmarks to run to. I eventually got home without stopping but god knows how.
7.58
7.51
7.53
7.55
7.59
7.59
7.58
7.56
7.56
7.54
7.56
7.56
7.54
7.56
7.56
7.57
7.56
7.50
If you were to show me those stats before i ran id have said it was fairly easy. nope:(

Oisin11178

7 miles on the treadmill this morning. 55 mins so i think around 7.50 mile pace so not bad as i had just finished a 12 hour night shift.

Oisin11178

Was surprised how bad i felt on thursday doing the 15 miles at 7.5x pace so i set out to do the same session tonight.
Felt great all the way through. Did the exact same course and breezed through it. Couldnt control the pace and kept having to slow down. Managed it for the first 13 miles but did the last 2 a little bit quicker.
7.57
7.50
7.56
7.57
7.59
7.56
7.57
7.54
7.57
7.56
7.56
7.51
7.49
7.42
7.11
Im going to continue this 15 mile run for the next few weeks lowering the pace every time.

Oisin11178

10 miles on the treadmill today. 12.km/h. Took it handy. Last km at 16km/h.
1h18m and very hot in the gym.

Oisin11178

Thursday 10 miles on the treadmill after a 12 hour night shift. 7.53 average.

Friday. 12 hour night shift last night again so i had to do session after work this morning. I wanted to do a 10 mile run about 20 secs above mp but was fairly tired but i gave it a go.
I didnt wanna do it at a completely steady pace so i mixed it up a little bit.
1xkm warm up at 11.5kph
15.1km at 12.1kph with 1 min out of every 5 at 14.5kph. Last 3 mins of session at 14.5kph. Felt very easy even though i was tired starting.
16.1km in 1h17m32s
Average pace 7.45 min miles.

Oisin11178

Been doing a regular 15 mile run lately and ive been enjoying it. Ive been doing it at ~7.50 min miles and intended to do it about 10 secs a mile lower today. Thing is all this was leading to Edinburgh in late may and the plan was to get it down to 15 miles at pace. Ive been toying with the idea of going for 3h15m in Blackpool in 4 weeks and went out today to see where i stood over the 15 miles. Id start of on pmp of 7.27 a mile and if i felt bad id back off to about 7.40 a mile.
Here is how it went mile wise.
7.32
7.21
7.24
7.17
7.14
7.14
7.13
7.13
7.13
7.18
7.20
7.15
7.08
7.12
7.10
Finished in great condition and could have gone on at that pace. Went through 13.1 miles 3 mins faster than my current half pb.
Blackpool April the 11th here we come:D

misty floyd

fair play to you Oisin. I was thinking you'd hit 3:15 no bother for Edinburgh. You love the marathons. That'll be two this year by early April right?

Oisin11178

Yeah was meant to do 1 a couple of weeks ago but it was cancelled, 35 mile ultra in the uk. Blackpool April 11, Limerick may 2nd, Edinburgh 23rd may and cork on june 7th. Thanks for the support misty, its nice when training feels easy:)

Oisin11178

Kind of backwards week this week in the old training. Ive got work on friday and Saturday so ill be resting on those days. I have that 5k in town on sunday so not much milage that day. That leaves me Monday,tuesday,wednesday and thursday do do 99% of my training this week.
I normally do my longish run on the weekend but decided to do it today.
Last week my long run was a 15 mile below pace run. this week it is the same but i decided to approach it slighty differently
I wanted to push it a little bit on the last few miles to see how i felt.
Here is how it went.
7.27
7.23
7.23
7.26
7.22
7.21
7.19
7.20
7.19
7.18
7.16
7.16
6.57
6.48
6.37
pleased to say the least. Felt absolutly fine all the way through and fine at the end.

theboyblunder

great run oisin.....nice last mile considering all the others were geting quicker too! gotta be happy with that. when is your next marathon?

Oisin11178

April 11th in Blackpool. Looking forward to it now to be honest. Going to give 3h15m a good stab.
I felt comfortable today so with taper soon and i dont use fluids or gels in training so a boost from those mid race to i hope. Fingers crossed.

theboyblunder

good stuff. Your last run is the kind of one (without the 6'37 last mile - dont think I could have done that) I was doing last year when I was in 3'10 shape. Look forward to the race report.

Oisin11178

theboyblunder wrote: »

good stuff. Your last run is the kind of one (without the 6'37 last mile - dont think I could have done that) I was doing last year when I was in 3'10 shape. Look forward to the race report.

Ill probably go out at 7.15 and see how it goes. 3.15 is my goal, 3.10 would be nicer. Lets not be greedy though:)

Oisin11178

10 miles easy with my mate ken on the coast down near malihide. Weather was beautiful and it was handy.
8.36
8.35
8.38
8.41
8.46
8.42
8.37
8.24
8.35
8.17
The m8 was feeling a bit worse for wear due to over consumption of alcohol over the last few days so i set of to do another 5 miles on my own.
7.33
7.15
6.58
6.52
6.19
Another good session i think. Easy run tomorrow now:D

Krusty_Clown

Oisin11178 wrote: »

Krusty you seem to be like an oracle at the moment so ill ask for some advise while the going is good:)
Ive got 2 weeks of training left before taper. What do you suggest as regards long runs and pace runs ect in this time period. Was advised not to go above 15 miles at pace so have done two 15 mile runs below pace in the last 2 weeks. Well done again on your time in barcelona. You will have to get your name changed to teragt #2:)

I'm Afraid that my experience is from the perspective of someone with just two years of running under my belt, so you'll get much better advice by posting on the main forum where your questions will be viewed and digested by the humungous brain and the much experienced boards collective. Now if you were to ask me about beer? Different story. I could give you pie charts, histograms, stories of personal bests, and even a few technical t-shirts.

To get back to your question though:
How many marathons have you run to date? What's your PB?
What's your training been like so far? Is it a two week or three week taper?

If it's a three week taper, you want to be doing one of your longest runs the weekend before the three week taper starts (20-22 miles) which means you would do a slightly shorter LSR the week before that (17 miles?). Pace should be significantly slower than marathon pace, but a good guideline is that it should be comfortable. Tergat has suggested that you can run the final miles of your LSR at PMP, which is similar to what I did (as long as the effort required isn't too great). Peckam's predator run was a good system that worked for me (as it forced me to regulate my pace early in some of the long runs).

For speed-work it really depends on what you've been doing up to this point. The speed-work I was doing was quite progressive, so it's not really something that you could launch into without having done the ground work. On the sub-3 thread Gringo and Tergat posted some great workouts, which could fit the bill for you, but with just two weeks before taper don't expect a significant change. The program I followed also had a 10k race/time trial two weeks before the race, which I found very effective (followed by an LSR the following day), but obviously is something you have do to cautiously given the proximity to the race. The focus of my taper was to cut back on mileage by 40% per week (59/47/36/22) with the emphasis on continuing the quality of the runs, while reducing the mileage.


Judging by the above training sessions, it looks like you're in good form, and don't need too much advice from anyone.

Oisin11178

Yeah next week will be last lsr, it will probably be 22 miles at about 8.30. Ive gott the pace(3h15m) runs upto 15 miles with last 5 faster than pace(7.14 avg for 15) to see where i stand reagrding stamina. Ive noticed over the last couple of weeks all my sessions have some down in pace and my resting heart rate is down about 6 bpm. I dont use heart rate when i train but runs that a while back where a bit taxing are easy now. As reagrds speed work i usually just do a 10 mile run most weeks a couple of mins above my 10 mile pb. Not really scientific i know but it is coming down to the point where my training best is better than my race best fo 10 miles and half.
4 marathons by the way, first last August in Longford. P.B is 3.24 on a fairly hard course, lots of hills/undulations. I reckon the course alone is worth 5 mins on a flat course. yeah its a 3 week taper with my 22 miler at the start of the third last week and long runs of 12,8,race.

Oisin11178

Busy day today.
12 mile run, was meant to be 10 easy but decided to stcik in a few faster miles at the end and increase it a little bit.
8.22
8.13
8.12
8.13
8.13
8.16
8.14
8.03
6.56
6.52
7.33
7.24
last 2 at pmp and the 2 before that i suppose my newish 10 mile pace.
Played football for an hour with the mates then, turned on my garmin for the crack to see how far id run in the hour. nearly 2.75 miles in a small hall. Was really surprised, thought it would be lower. Tired now:(

Oisin11178

Easy 10 today to finish off the weeks training.
8.14
8.17
8.12
8.09
8.07
8.06
8.08
7.55
7.49
7.25
Very comfortable

Oisin11178

Rest days friday and saturday.
Sunday the 5k in town starting at the mansion house. Got in there about 10 bells with my mate ken as he wanted to get something in town. We did a 5km warm up and waited a while for the start. Once again people were treating the start of this race as a with a bus queue mentality of i was here first so im starting at the front.

When it got going it took me about 500 metres to negociate some walkers and joggers ect...
First couple of km were fine. Ive never gone under 20 minutes for 5km so that was my goal. First km was 3.52 and second was 3.51. I started to sweat a good bit at this stage but it was ok. I recognised alot of people from previous races but seemed to be passing alot of people that were once faster than me. Hopefully this is a good sign:D third km was 3.56. I made a mental desision to slow down a small bit to finish as strong as i could so the next km was 3.58.
We were getting near the finish so i upped the pac but not all out. At a pace were i could sustain till the end. I gave what i could in the finish straight and gained a few seconds i think. Last km was 3.53. Was happy at the end as i knew i had gone under 20 mins and by a fair bit. 19.33 for the 5km.

I think i had maybe another 10 or 20 seconds in me but i was near my max. Im happy with the time and im happy with the pacing. That time puts me in line with a 3h15 min marathon so even better:D

7 miles all in all for the day so that 59 for the week also.

heffsarmy

Nice pb Frank, 3.15 will be a doddle for you with a good taper. How did Ken fair out in the race?

misty floyd

Nice one, congrats on the pb. Its a good race that one. Nice to run around Dublin city with no traffic.

Oisin11178

heffsarmy wrote: »

Nice pb Frank, 3.15 will be a doddle for you with a good taper. How did Ken fair out in the race?

ken did 21.29 i think heff.
10 cans the night before as well. Hes an animal:D
Thanks also misty and yeah was a novelty running on those roads that are normally packed with traffic.
I had the flu during the raheny 5 so had to take it easy.

Oisin11178

10 miles Monday at 7.45 a mile on a treadmill. Gym was boiling hot and i sweated buckets.

Last night was my last big one.
21 miles with 10 either at or lower than marathon pace. First mile at easy pace and second at lower than pmp. Continued that until 21 miles. I ran every other mile at a comfortable pace which ranged from about 7.50 to 8.15.
The other miles were ran at pmp or lower and the times ranged from 7.10 to 7.22.
I dont have my garmin stats to had but the overall pace i think for the run was 7.42 a mile. Approx 1 minute faster than i went through 21 miles in my pb. I dont take any fluid or gels in training and the weather was absolutly brutal when i was running, worked 7 hours before the run also and was up since 6am. Taking all that into account and i boost i will recieve with all of those things in place on the day and plus my taper, things are looking good i think. Had a little pain in my ankle but nothing major. ran 10 miles into a very strong headwind to which was kinda hard. Very cold and hungry when i finished but its all good:D

theboyblunder

good stuff oisin, great for the confidence to get a good last long one in.

Dont know how you do 21 without fluids. I would fall over....

Oisin11178

theboyblunder wrote: »

good stuff oisin, great for the confidence to get a good last long one in.

Dont know how you do 21 without fluids. I would fall over....

yeaha few people have said that to me but i genuinely dont need them. In saying that i run better with them and i drink about 1.5 litres straight away after finishing. I like doing the training without any of the extras like lucozade and gels so i can maximise the boost from them on race day. Also i felt good at the end of the 21 so all is good fingers crossed.
Cant update this log daily anymore because i stood on my laptop the other night and its broke:D

Oisin11178

Found my garmin:D
Splits for Tuesdays run

8.03
7.21
7.58
7.22
8.04
7.22
7.53
7.18
8.03
7.21
8.15
7.19
8.07
7.21
8.07
7.22
8.05
7.20
8.12
7.10
7.40
21 miles in Average 7.42,

Today 10 miles on treadmill, First 14.1 km at 12.5 km/h and last 2km at 15.5 km/h. Around 1h17m. Easy enough although very hot in the gym:D

Oisin11178

11 miles tonight. Set out with a medium pace run in mind and decided to ignore my garmin and run on feel and not push it. 10 turned into 11.
8.17
7.45
7.41
7.38
7.44
7.43
7.37
7.30
7.16
7.12
7.16
Pleased with that. Average pace was 7.37 and it felt fairly easy.

Oisin11178

8 miles yesterday at 7.55 a mile on the treadmill.
60 miles for the week. Last 5 weeks 60, 52, 45, 59, 60. Taper time:-)

Oisin11178

8 mile pace run tuesday. Felt very easy. Cant wait for the marathon now.

Oisin11178

8 miles tonight.
7.38
7.35
7.17
7.10
7.16
7.19
7.17
7.16 7.20 average with a couple of easy miles to ease into things. Felt comfortable and would have liked to go on but taper has started:-) a couple of miles of climb from 5.5 to 7ish miles and kept the pace fairly handy. Played an hour of indoor football later on also.

misty floyd

Hey Oisin, when is Blackpool again?

Oisin11178

misty floyd wrote: »

Hey Oisin, when is Blackpool again?

Its april 11th Misty. Sorry for the late reply my laptop is broke and im relying on internet cafes to get on the net.

Rest day thursday.
Friday 15 miles on a treadmill at 12.1kph
Everything felt strong and i was fine finishing. Last run abovt 8 miles till the day now.

misty floyd

Ah same day as Connemara and Rotterdam. Lots of race reports that weekend.

How come you ran the LSR on a treadmill? Mentally tough going that.

Oisin11178

misty floyd wrote: »

Ah same day as Connemara and Rotterdam. Lots of race reports that weekend.

How come you ran the LSR on a treadmill? Mentally tough going that.

Yeah your right i find it miles tougher than outdoor running. I was origonally meant to do 5 or 6 today and 12 sunday morning with a mate. Got down the gym and felt very strong so i just kept going and killed 2 birds with 1 stone kind of thing. No water either:-) nothing above 8 next week then just 3 five mile runs the last week. Misty paris is on the 11th as well, very popular weekend for marathons. My mate ken (kandikane) on here is running paris as his first:-)

Oisin11178

Was meant to do 12 miles with my mate ken this morning after work but it fell through.
Went out tonight with the intention of doing 12 miles handy. I set off and brought the garmin but turned it around and didnt look at it till i was finished. Found the run handy enough with 3 miles with nearly 300 foot rise at the end. Finished at the end in good nick and thought i had done about 7.50 to 8 min miles.
7.55
7.47
7.43
7.35
7.36
7.29
7.20
7.19
7.24
7.32
7.24
7.21
Average pace 7.32. Didnt expect that. Thats my pmp just about. 51 miles for the week. Handy 2 weeks now:-)

Oisin11178

Monday. 7.5 miles on treadmill at 12.5 kph
Tuesday. Rest day
Wednesday Rest day
Love the taper:D
Going to do 3, 7ish mile runs the next 3 days. The last 1 at pmp.

Oisin11178

8.5 miles on the treadmill at about 8 min mile pace. Dont feel weel, i think im coming down with something. Nice timing:mad:

Oisin11178

Went down the gym this morning at 8 only to find out it wasnt open till 9.
Was in work last night for 12 hours so when i got home after the gym mishap:-) i decided to go out for an outdoor run. The weather was attrocious. Rain, big wind and freezing. I intended to do 10 miles at 8 min miles pace. First 4 miles into the very strong breeze and slightly downhill. Next 4-5 miles flat with wind at my back last 4ish miles into the wind uphill.
7.45
7.49
7.47
7.42
7.37
7.32
7.17
7.12
7.40
7.39
7.38
7.25
7.19
0.40 for .1
13.1 miles in 1h39m.
7.34 average.

Oisin11178

7 miles slow down the gym. Next 2 days rest days now.

Oisin11178

Looks like my stab at 3h15m is off. Ive had a hernia in my stomach for years and its flared up the last few days. Makes running very hard as it effects my breathing. Ahh Well:(

misty floyd

ah man thats terrible. Sorry to hear that, hopefully things heal quickly.

Oisin11178

misty floyd wrote: »

ah man thats terrible. Sorry to hear that, hopefully things heal quickly.

Might clear up, fingers crossed. Thanks anyway bud.

theboyblunder

sorry to hear that oisin. hope it clears up in time. if not you'll get it later in the year.

Oisin11178

Yeah thanks bud. Did 8 miles last night at 8.22 pace and felt ok. Going to do 10 slow today and see how i feel. Im taking medication for it so honedtlly it will clear up.

Oisin11178

Went out today for my last run before the weekend. Was meant to do a handy 1 but because of the stomach i decided to do it faster and a bit longer to test it out.
7.35
7.09
7.13
7.13
7.23
7.26
7.28
7.28
7.44
7.41
Average pace 7.27. I felt to bad at the end to have gone on at that pace. Total rest now and take an antibiotic and ill decide on the morning what ill do. Im not afraid to put my body on the line but i want a sporting chance:-)

Oisin11178

Felt so paranoid about yesterdays run id decided to just coast around the marathon and take i easy or maybe pull out. I had one more thing to try and it was no eating for about 18 hours and doubling up on my medication and duplicate yesterdays run. 7.17
7.18
7.14
7.06
7.16
7.16
7.12
7.12
7.11
6.56
Felt one million times better than yesterday and wasnt in bad condition finishing. 20 secs a mile up on pace so i reckon i would have got to 20 miles today on 7.30 pace. Massage tomorrow and 3 days rest. Hope its enough.
Got carried away on my route rd had to jog home 4 miles. Actually enjoyed it.
8.22
8.21
8.18
8.12.
For those who say i should be resting i was on the verge of pulling out until todays run:-)

heffsarmy

Good luck Frank, doing a marathon is bad enough, but doing it with a hernia! Hope it all goes well