Sorry, I thought you said get faster before the 100th Marathon

Mr Slow

Aimman wrote: »

Well, the plan to just take things a bit easier over here just went our the window.

After a long day in the training centre, the sun was still out in force, so back into the skimpies. The legs felt like two wound up elastic bands. After the first 0.2M I looked at the watch and realised I was doind a sub 6min mile. I was feeling fresh and would have loved to have a crack at a full sub 6 mile, but the route I was on included steps down, a tunnel under railway tracks and then steps up again, so I'll have to save that moment for another time (soon hopefully) so pulled back to keep the miles consistant

kept the pace up though. wasn't exactly comfortable, but wasn't exerting myself either. Ran a 10k distance

7:50, 7:55, 7:48, 7:45, 7:48, 8:02, 7:30 for last 0.22M

10k in 48:45 (7:51 pace, Avg HR 91% Max, but peaks of 110% again)

There's a bit of pep in the legs chief, any thoughts of skipping the 10 in 10 and going for sub 3:30 again?

Aimman

Mr Slow wrote: »

There's a bit of pep in the legs chief, any thoughts of skipping the 10 in 10 and going for sub 3:30 again?

Tempting, but I think I'll get the 10in10 outof the way first

Oisin11178

Mr Slow wrote: »

There's a bit of pep in the legs chief, any thoughts of skipping the 10 in 10 and going for sub 3:30 again?

People have been burned at the stake for less :-)

Aimman

Wedsnesday - Handy 5M in 46:33 (9:18 pace, No HR cos dumdum forgot to put it on):o

Aimman

Friday - 3M leg stretch before breakfast. After the training finished up at lunchtime, I had a long trip to the airport and then a long wait to get the flight. Got back by 10:30 and then eventually got to sleep.

Saturday - Portumna Marathon. Probably the last chance I'll get this year to try something with a bit of speed. Met a big contingency of boards, MCI and other club runners there. It was like a social gathering of everybody that knew everybody else. (too many to mention, I'd end up listing the results page)

As the starting horn blew we were already drenched from the massive downpour of rain. The plan was to head off at 8 min miles and see how long I'd keep it up and then fall back to 8:30 and try to sustain that. Plan B was to just get in under 4 hours and enjoy the day. Held the 8 min pace for the first 5 miles and the sun had some out and everything was getting warmer. Coming out of the forest sections, my pace was around 8:30 and I was cursing the trees for messing up the GPS, however I soon realised that although I felt like I was still running 8:00 pace, my legs were doing something different. It was like watching a child's toy run frantically around the room but then gradually get slower and slower as the battery wore down. The events of the last week were already starting to catch up and kick in.

Career_Move was handing out bottles at the start/finish line and ended up doing a great job for what looked like a five hour shift. Ally brought lots of cakes for people to devour (and a sneaky bottle of home made wine) and also ended up getting roped into marshelling duties opening hundreds of bottles of water giving her more blisters and cuts on her hands than the 100k guys had on their feet.

By the time the 3:45 pacers went past me, I realised the plasters had come off the nipples and I could feel the sting with every step. When I got back to the food station tent, I went to get fresh plasters but the damage was done and resembled one of the more bloody scenes from Reservoir Dogs. There was no point using a plaster, nothing was going to stick now. To use an appropriate term ' rubbing salt into the wounds' I went into shock mode when Career_move started throwing water over my bloody nipples :eek: Maybe that was her sadistic way of telling me to HTFU! :P Regardless, she did offer some words of encouragement as I was going past on the loops.

Halfway around one of the loops, I took a pit stop and realised I was not taking near enough water. That put me in a difficult position. I couldn't find the salt tablets I brought to Germany, so had to do without. If I start taking on large amounts of water now in this heat, my salt levels are likely to drop and there was nothing on the food stalls with salt.

To cut the rest of the story short, I was starting to get a bit tired regardless of how much Coke and fruit I was eating. I wouldn't have minded a snooze under a tree for a while. I think the previous 85 mile week along with my 'How not to taper' week just gone, the mind and body were not firing on all cylinders today. Nevertheless, the Hollywood finish of knocking out a great time just before the main event was gone, so just kicked back and enjoyed the rest of the race, sometimes walking with some of the 100k and 50k runners to have a bit of a chat with them and a few words of encouragement.

Saved a bit of ommph for the traditional (yet to be fully trademarked and copyrighted) leap of faith over the finish line (Called such because you need to have faith in your legs holding out when you hit the ground thus avoiding becoming a YouTube Fail as you crumple into the tarmac )

4:12 for the day. Happy out overall as making a good time was a long shot after this week, but I had to give it a try before the 10in10. Next stop is the two marathons this Saturday.

Sunday - 10.3M holding the HR in the recovery zone . Legs were not too bad today. Think I've woken up the niggle in my left leg, but some stretching and rolling should sort it out.
10.3M in 1:40 (9:44 pace Avg 73% Max HR)

career_move

I swear it was an accident - you had a red top on, how was I to know you had bloody nipples

I had 2 of Ally's wonderful cupcakes btw Yum No wonder you run so much

Aimman

career_move wrote: »

I swear it was an accident - you had a red top on, how was I to know you had bloody nipples

LOL, that's why I wear the dark tops, just in case. Nothing worse then running around looking like you've been hit by a sniper.

beeduybe

Aimman wrote: »

I realised the plasters had come off the nipples and I could feel the sting with every step.

Could you not wear the heart rate monitor over the nipples? I've had no chaffing issues ever since I had the brain wave to start doing this.


Serious mileage going on here. Fair play. You look well set up to take on the 10 in 10. Rather you than me though

Aimman

beeduybe wrote: »

Could you not wear the heart rate monitor over the nipples? I've had no chaffing issues ever since I had the brain wave to start doing this.


Serious mileage going on here. Fair play. You look well set up to take on the 10 in 10. Rather you than me though

Cheers beeduybe, I've done that before but find it keeps slipping down due to my moobs well defined pecks, and spend the rest of the race adjusting it (or getting funny looks from passer bys on a training run).

I'm looking forward to the 10in10 in a strange way. I dont think there is a proper training plan for this apart from the adage 'miles miles miles' so it's a one off learning curve for us all taking part. It's not like starting a race and persevering because there's some feasible finish in sight, it's going to be 'run, bed, recover, repeat' and I think it's the mental frame of mind that will keep us all going. I've been reading Gerry Duffy's Tick Tock Ten this week for hints and inspiration and the one thing I will definitely get out of it is that every day I will know that someone else did a hell of a lot more in the same time frame, so it is possible, I just have to make it my possible.

Aimman

Mad busy week both in work and evening, so been doing some brief running (not in my y-fronts) under the radar and neglecting my log which needs a bit of dusting and weeding now.

Without more of a do, I present the Readers Digest version of my running week to date (probably to make up for the bit*hin two race reports I'll inflect on the log tomorrow)

Monday Lunchtime 3.9M @ 9:11 pace Avg 75% Max HR
Monday Evening 6.5M @ 10:00 pace Avg 68% Max HR running with and nearly killing the dog. Dog now knows how I feel at the end of a marathon. First time I seen a dog walk like John Wayne.

Tuesday Lunchtime 3.2M @ 9:16 pace Avg 77% Max HR

Wednesday Lunchtime 3.5M @ 8:24 pace Avg 77% Max HR

Thursday Lunchtime 5M : 9:03 pace Avg 78% Max HR

Friday - Eating a Crunchie

Dress rehearsal tomorrow for the 10in10 with the Lexlip back to back marathons. Garmin and MP3 player now on charge. Plan is to just run both marathons in recovery zone with the notion that legs will be under minimal duress. There's only 13 hours between the start of each race, so it will be a big factor to see just how much recovery I can get in between.

ncmc

Best of luck this weekend! Can we have more information on the Crunchie? Did you dip it in tea? Nibble all the chocolate off before eating the honeycomb? This is important detail!

Aimman

ncmc wrote: »

Best of luck this weekend! Can we have more information on the Crunchie? Did you dip it in tea? Nibble all the chocolate off before eating the honeycomb? This is important detail!

Cheers. The worst part will be during the middle of the Midnight marathon and realising that the only other people up at this time of the night are in late bars and night clubs enjoying themselves. :rolleyes:

I started at one end and chomped my way through till I bit my own finger (that's the signal to stop) :pac:

---

**Goes off to buy a multi-pack of Crunchies to figure out how many ways they can be eaten....** :cool:

ncmc

Pah! That's a novice way to eat a Crunchie, you have to savour it by either dipping in tea til the honeycomb goes all soft, or if no tea available, nibble all the chocolate off til you've a sugar explosion of honeycomb left.

Damn you! Have to go get a Crunchie now... You're not helping my shrinking clothes problem!

kit3

ncmc wrote: »

you have to savour it by either dipping in tea til the honeycomb goes all soft,

:eek: That's no way to treat a cup of tea - it goes all greasy when chocolate hits it ! The chocolate needs to be along side rather than in the tea (Barry's gold blend only btw - there is no other tea)..........


Good luck with the 10 in 10 Aimman - looking forward to reading about how it goes.

blockic

kit3 wrote: »

(Barry's gold blend only btw - there is no other tea)..........

+1,000,000 ...no other tea compares, gold blend is key too, i done a home taste test between the green label one and the gold one the other day.#

Green label is muck in comparison. But still better than Lyon's :cool:

RedRunner

blockic wrote: »

+1,000,000 ...no other tea compares, gold blend is key too, i done a home taste test between the green label one and the gold one the other day.#

Green label is muck in comparison. But still better than Lyon's :cool:

+1...the only decent thing to come out of cork! :-)

kit3

blockic wrote: »

+1,000,000 ...no other tea compares, gold blend is key too, i done a home taste test between the green label one and the gold one the other day.#

Green label is muck in comparison. But still better than Lyon's :cool:

Think you need the Cork connection to really get this though - my Oh is a Dub and doesn't really get this (even after 25 odd years of painstaking education :rolleyes:)

Aimman

Right, no need to get the Sunday Papers with al those supplements today, here’s a bit of reading to pass half the day.

Saturday - Marathon 63 – Le Cheile Midnight Marathon
Tried several times on the Friday to grab a snooze and charge the batteries for the long Saturday but failed.

At the track, there was a great turn out, a bigger field than last year. Because the new track was not ready, we were using the grass track and to make sure the marathon started and finished at the same point, we were running 95 laps on track 6 and a half. I felt like I was getting a train to Hogworths!

I decided against giving a lap by lap account of the race for the sake of reader sanity. The main things that happened are:
Because the water table was on the edge of the track and passed every couple of minutes, I took it for granted that it would always be there but as a result, I wasn’t taking enough water. At least when I hit a water station in a road marathon, I’ll either take a drink or else grab a take away just in case I need it in between stops. I didn’t end up de-hydrated last night, but I just wasn’t paying attention to taking fluids.

Just before halfway, I started to feel a niggle in the right hamstring which accelerated into a ‘WTF??!!!’ within half a lap. Pain was something else and put serious doubt on completing the run. Thankfully, Ultraman1’s Uncle had just set up the massage table so I nabbed the opportunity to be the first on the slab and Mick worked on the leg for about 5 minutes. One of the women at the club pointed out that I was dragging that leg from the start of the race. Perhaps when I got it into my head that I was taking the two marathon easy, I adopted a different posture for the run, something I thought in my head was more relaxed and less duress on the body, but ended up being too awkward. The constant running around anticlockwise might have had an impact too, putting more work on the right leg. It took a couple more laps after the massage until the pain fully subsided, but if I speeded up, I could feel it coming back. From here on, I went into survival mode to just finish without upsetting the hammer so just ticked along for the rest of the run.

Despite the ham acting up I felt good all the way around. Didn’t feel tired and didn’t think once about running in the middle of the night until the dawn started to creep through the trees, big improvement from last year where I ran a safe 5:07 before heading to Galway for the morning marathon.

Finished 26.6M in 4:39 (10:30 pace, Avg 74% Max HR) I was happy with the time considering the time lost on the table and then holding back for the last half. I did manage the jump at the end and got a great photo of it, but was hoping I didn’t hear the hamstring go ‘twang’ in mid flight.
After a feed of sambos, cakes and a recovery drink, there was just time to get 5 hours sleep before getting ready for the next one.


Saturday - Marathon 64 – Royal Canal Marathon, Le Cheile

After a feed of Porridge, myself and Frank headed back to the clubhouse for the next one. The bus brought us to the start line and after a massive downpour, we were off One More Time.

Got into a group straight away with Frank, Belcarra, John, Mark and Charlie. I originally planned to keep the HR in recovery zone and expected to be running alone for most of the run. Just after the initial out and back stretch to make up the miles, Belcarra gradually pulled away ahead and then we were five. I tanked up the camelback with twp Zero tablets, a Vitamin tablet and some blackcurrant squash. I doubt the vitamin tablet was really doing any benefit but it was more of a psychological thing, thinking all those A’s B’s C’s and D’s would give me a bit of a boost.
In December last, the trail was hazardous with all the slippery mud and tree roots. This time, the same sections were just as dangerous but because the same tree roots were now disguised with grass so we had to spread out single file on the narrow path so we could navigate the roots. John hit a root and went flying and limping. Thought he did some serious damage but fair play to him, got back into the running rhythm.

At the water stations, I’d guzzle the bottle and leave it to avoid carrying an empty bottle all the way to the next station and then sipped the vitamin/electrolyte cocktail as needed.

All the way, I was waiting for that usual moment when I realise I was slowing down and would have to let the group go ahead, but it never came. Regardless of the sometimes monotonous landscape and odd torrential downpour of rain, we all stuck together. In fairness, the other guys ran last night’s race at least half an hour faster than me, so they were happy sticking together at this pace in comfort.

Had a bit of a fright around mile 17when I looked at my left hand and it was covered in blood. I thought I might have a nosebleed but realised the Garmin watch had cut through the skin at the wrist bone. Each time I cleaned it off, it was soon covered again. I had lots of recovery fluids for the end of the race but I did neglect to bring a pint of blood for a transfusion, silly me.

Within the last few miles I was still feeling strong, no fatigue from the previous run and absolutely no complaints from the Hamstring. at this point I was leading the group and didn’t realise I had significantly upped the pace and the group was starting to break apart. One of the guys was under a bit of pressure and another dropped back to stick with him. Frank gave me the heads up on the speed and I pulled back and let Mark take the lead so that I didn’t tear off again and the group was together again. (I didn’t have the pace displayed on the Garmin, just the time, HR and distance and I was ignoring the time)

As we passed Maynooth and Carton House, I was feeling in great form and felt I need to finish strong. I still had a good bit of oomph under the bonnet. While I wasn’t trying to ‘burn’ the rest of the lads in the last mile, I felt I’d get a good psychological benefit for the ten in ten if I was to make the last mile my fastest but still not too fast as to leave me wrecked at the finish line, so I just gradually pulled ahead the other guys and finished in 4:23. Legs felt great, head felt great and overall the back to back was a big success. Big thanks to the group for the support and craic along the way. Made a big difference to just plodding on my own.

Hats off to the Le Cheile Athletics Club who looked after us like royalty in the clubhouse, bringing us drinks, hot food and cakes (could get used to it);)

26.3M in 4:23 (10:00 pace, Avg 75% Max HR)

Delighted I ran the second one faster than the first and in much better condition, it’s definitively given the confidence a boost for next week,
Although contrary to Meno’s suggestions of doing a negative split each day until I break the WR on the last day, I think I’ll run to HR and take it easy.

That’s the height of the training done, now it’s just a cautious taper for the next 10 days before the main event.

ncmc

Wow, great running E! Your confidence must be sky high for the 10 in 10 now. That's really impressive stuff, running to HR seems to be the way to go.

Enjoy taper! Though go easy on the Crunchies - I speak from experience

Aimman

ncmc wrote: »

Wow, great running E! Your confidence must be sky high for the 10 in 10 now. That's really impressive stuff, running to HR seems to be the way to go.

Enjoy taper! Though go easy on the Crunchies - I speak from experience

Cheers N, duely noted.. No Crunchies for the next 20 days. :P

career_move

You're flippin crazy :eek::D

ncmc

career_move wrote: »

You're flippin crazy :eek::D

I concur.... No Crunchies for 20 days??? That's just madness

Oisin11178

Well done eamonn, nice and strong yesrerday.

runningcoach

Well Eammo who are you dressing up as on day 5 ? ....... I hear Frank will be in a mankini as Borat :P

Mr Slow

runningcoach wrote: »

Well Eammo who are you dressing up as on day 5 ? ....... I hear Frank will be in a mankini as Borat :P

Tom, that's not a pretty thought. :eek:

Aimman

runningcoach wrote: »

Well Eammo who are you dressing up as on day 5 ? ....... I hear Frank will be in a mankini as Borat :P

I'm putting the fear of God into every marathon runner and I'm dressing like this guy. :D:D:D



Sunday - Several hours Cross Training comprising of Stretches out along the Sofa, Button Crunches and Thumb Press Ups on the Game Controller.

Monday - Handy run out to wake the legs, 4.4M in 39mins (8:53 pace Avg 78% Max HR) Overstretched the stride a bit trying to cross a duel carrigeway in three strides before the lights turned green and woke the nasty hamstring hurting monster. Nothing too serious though, once I backed down the strides it was grand. Might just liberally beat the leg with a rolling pin to show it who's boss.

jonny99

Fine then...

I'll dress like the other guy.

Aimman

Ah, My mistake, Not Neil Horan,,,, I meant Niall Horan, Seeing as we'll all be in the One Direction for 10 days! :P

Aimman

Tuesday - Handy 5M lunchtime run. Muscle on right leg feels slightly inflamed but doesn't hurt when I'm running
5M in 45:00 (9min pace, Avg 77% Max HR)

Aimman

Wednseday - 4M Round trip to Aldi to buy lunch. Set watch to HR only but felt the pace was a little higher then ususal for recovery.

Taper madness kicking in already. Lock me up like a warewolf on the Friday evening or I'll head to Kilcock and Parkrun to do a couple of 5ks just to get it out of my system.

4M in 34:03 (8:32 pace, Avg 76% Max HR)

7 Sleeps Left >>>insert sleepy smiley here<<<