Berlin 2016: Back to Basics

Pronator

TRR wrote: »

. Confidence is the major concern but that shouldn't be a problem once the gun goes. Looking forward to the race and the weekend now.

Clear the mechanism and then nail it:)

ultraman1

well done dave...........mcmillian gives u a 3:11 50km time;),

cwgatling

Great running Dave, you nailed it. Sub-75 you know how to call 'em!

TRR

ultraman1 wrote: »

well done dave...........mcmillian gives u a 3:11 50km time;),

Thanks Anto. Also gives me a 13.7 100 metres. Have a guess which in more likely to run in the next 12 months

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Thought i seen you pass, moving very well.

ultraman1

TRR wrote: »

Thanks Anto. Also gives me a 13.7 100 metres. Have a guess which in more likely to run in the next 12 months

ill give mr digits a shout ,he can coach u for that....

Krusty_Clown

Cracking result TRR. Don't think our paths will be crossing for many years to come.

TRR

43 Days to DCM

Saturday: 17 miles total with half marathon in 74.55 (74.57 gun time). New PB.
Delighted with how the race went. Wasn't feeling great all week and had missed the 2 important sessions I wanted to get done after the 10 miler. Confidence was obviously low (see last 5 training posts) but I did feel a definite improvement by Friday so decided I'd definitely try to race. Was honestly considering not doing it early in the week.

Then Friday night was a disaster as TRR jnr was sick and had to sleep with him in the back bedroom. Pretty poor night sleep wise and woke up with a tingle in my throat and nose so thought I had caught his snot bug but luckily I hadn't. Was a mad rush to get into the park on time and started to think I should just use it as a MP run as I wasn't feeling the love and hadn't thought about a race plan etc properly. I wanted to break 75 minutes as my marathon time suggests I should do that with ease but I haven't raced many halfs so have never had the opportunity.

Race wise the main issue I had beforehand was a mental one, I know I missed some key sessions but the 10 miler took a lot out of me. In hindsight I had some sort of bowel bug on the morning which then persisted for a week. It took a lot out of me, I wasn't eating properly. Standing on the start line of a race you need to know you may have to hurt to get through a race, the London marathon back in April was a case in point. I was in a bit of trouble at 6 miles but was determined to get through it and did. The pain of the 10 miler was still a bit fresh in my mind though and mentally I wasn't prepared to go through the pain of the last 3 miles of the 10 miler again.

After all the grief I had Saturday morning (including initially forgetting my stopwatch and racing flats) I decided to forget about times and concentrate on trying to beat some of the ninjas from the group who destroyed me in the 10 miler. I spotted a couple of them on the start line and decided I'd stick with them as long as I could. I won't go through all mile splits individually but they were

1) 5.27
2) 6.08
3) 5.43
4) 5.49
5) 5.42
6) 5.45
7) 5.26
8) 5.38
9) 5.35
10) 5.32
11) 6.02
12) 5.40
13) 5.42
14) final .15 : 48 seconds

Basically I sat in for most of the race and shared in taking my place at the front of the group when we hit the wind. The second mile really stands out as being too slow and this was due to nobody willing to lead the group into the wind and hills. I was nearly happy to see the slow mile as I was in the top 20, running with my target group and time was no longer an issue, I thought the 75 minute target was dead and buried. Next 8 miles were a dream, had to work in some sections but the course was very fair in my opinion and managed to take in some really fast sections. Definitely one of the faster courses I've ran in the park. Was starting to motor and a quick mental calculation told me if I was around 57 minutes at 10 miles I could have a chance at the 75 minute target. Hit 10 in 56.45, the exact same time as I ran in the 10 miler. Obviously I hadn't run the S-bends yet but I was happy with how I was feeling. Looking back now I'm taking some real encouragement from the last 3 miles, a slow 11th mile due to military hill and also slowing to take on water. In the 10 miler there was no oomph in the legs, this time was different, I still had an extra gear and I started to push and tried to catch a few lads ahead. Didn't realise 12th mile was a 5.40, actually thought it was slower because when I looked at the watch I thought the 75 minute target was gone again :rolleyes: based on my overall time. I was trying to up the ante but felt like I was going nowhere, the best way to describe it was nightmare like, you are running your hardest but going nowhere. This same stretch in the 10 miler (around 9 mile mark in that race) killed me and I had to dig deep to run a 6 minute plus mile so I wasn't expecting much on this last mile. Put the head down and just focused on catching a lad ahead of me, caught him and just gave it socks over the last couple of 100 metres. Crossed the line in a very satisfying 74.57. If I'm honest for some reason I thought I was on for 74.30 at the 10 mile mark and have had to check and recheck my garmin today as I can't get my head around how I nearly made such a cock up of the calculations. In fairness I couldn't have ran the last 3 miles any better/faster. I probably was too cautious early on and could have picked up time on faster parts of the course but hadn't the confidence to go for it. The most satisfying thing about the race was the fact I beat the majority of the lads who ninjaed me in the 10 miler. A couple of them put a minute on me over the last 3 miles, 3 weeks ago so to turn that around and finish a minute ahead of most of them which is very satisfying. I've said it before and I'll say it again, to run your best times sometimes you need to take your focus off the watch and hitting splits and just concentrate on the bastard who beat you in your last race

Sunday: 5 miles @ 7.30 pace just a gentle run to shake out the legs.

Next 3 weeks are incredibly important. I need to hit all my long runs and have some sessions planned also. Fingers crossed.

tunguska

Good stuff Dave. Thats what its all about, the bounce-back-ability.
20mile race on sunday 30th if you're interested. Be a good prep run for the marathon.

TRR

TRR wrote: »

Thanks Anto. Also gives me a 13.7 100 metres. Have a guess which in more likely to run in the next 12 months

tunguska wrote: »

Good stuff Dave. Thats what its all about, the bounce-back-ability.
20mile race on sunday 30th if you're interested. Be a good prep run for the marathon.

Cheers Eoin. Great stuff from yourself. Yeah I seen that race all right. It's perfect really. However I think i might run the kilomarathon in kilcock instead. It's on the same day and a few of us in work are doing it. Great to have some longer races before the main event. Hope to do it at marathon pace and get an idea where im at.

TRR

40 Days to DCM

Monday: am 6.5@7.27 handy one along the canal. Legs tired but no injuries thankfully
pm: 4.5 @ 7.54 recovery run with my dog.

Tuesday: am 7 @ 6.53 legs feeling good although a little stiff.
pm 5@7.14 WTF, that was supposed to be recovery but the legs are buzzing and couldn't slow down. Such a nice evening when I got out, we'll blame that.

Wednesday: 22 @ 6.50, nice early morning run into work. Perfect running conditions. Had initially planned on throwing PM miles in and would have been well able for them but I'm being uber cautious, still a little tiredness in quads so not going to push it unnecessarily. Will do PM miles later in the week as stand alone miles.

myflipflops

Catching up with some logs after hiding for the last while. Great running in the half. You are flying along for Dublin.

TRR

38 Days to DCM

Thursday: handy 8 miles @ 7.22 pace along canal and trails. Was planning a double recovery but realised chances of an evening run were slim so was feeling good so upped run from planned 6 to 8. Legs felt good.

Friday: Early morning 13 miles with 6 @ 5.48. Plan was for 8 @ 6 but pacing was all over the shop and was feeling a bit rough so cut it short. I took a risk with this run, the back of my throat feels very rough and I had a bit of a temperature last night. The four of us in the house have a bit of a head cold but I'm a day or two behind the rest so based on their progression (human guinea pigs ) I decided to chance this session although not feeling up for it. Went OK legs feeling good, I had an awful cold sweat so hopefully this has helped get rid of some of the fever. Alternatively it could feck me up :rolleyes: Easy running the next two days, next week is a big one so need to be 100% for it. Things starting to bubble nicely now

Krusty_Clown

That's some very solid running, particularly if you're under the weather. I guess you have no interest in an easy 22 miles this weekend then?!

TRR

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

That's some very solid running, particularly if you're under the weather. I guess you have no interest in an easy 22 miles this weekend then?!

Hey KC, would love to but probably not going to happen. I'll send you a PM in a bit

TRR

Saturday: 6 @ 7.35. Late run with the dog

Sunday: 8 @ 7.05 Late run on my own in the poxy rain and cold.

Aim for the weekend was to get 2 handy runs in. Preferably 2 * 1 hour runs but things didn't go my way. Both runs were late enough in the evening (after 9pm) and I found it hard to drag myself out on both occasions. Was grand once I was out though. Managed to get 14 miles in over the two runs so that gives me a nice round 80 for last week. Was actually back at the house after 7 miles last night but tagged on a lap of the housing estate to bring me up. OCD at it's finest.

Hoping to do a kilomarathon at MP this weekend. Info on the race itself seems to be a bit bare but will risk it anyway.

claralara

TRR wrote: »

Hoping to do a kilomarathon at MP this weekend. Info on the race itself seems to be a bit bare but will risk it anyway.

Excuse me... You mean you won't be glued to F2068 on the the Berlin marathon tracker?! Well. I. Never.

ecoli

claralara wrote: »

Excuse me... You mean you won't be glued to F2068 on the the Berlin marathon tracker?! Well. I. Never.

Dont they have a mobile app for that already? Berlin so behind the times:rolleyes:

TRR

claralara wrote: »

Excuse me... You mean you won't be glued to F2068 on the the Berlin marathon tracker?! Well. I. Never.

Race starts at 9am Berlin time right?, well that's an hour ahead of GMT so will be 8am here. You run 2.45 and will be finished by 10.45 GMT giving me 15 minutes to warm up and head into race

Seriously I need something to distract me I'll know by 10am whether you've fcuked it up or not anyway

TRR

35 Days to DCM

Monday: 18 miles @ 6.45 pace. Early morning run, legs felt absolutely super. First 8 miles were done in 6.30ish, was zipping along. Then met up with a colleague and we ran remaining 10 miles together. A combination of a slower pace and the poxy weather meant I felt really really cold. Had planned on doing 20 miles but decided to cut it short as I'm only over a head cold. This week is also a big week so I don't want to mess it up for the sake of 2 silly miles. Legs feeling super.

claralara

TRR wrote: »

Race starts at 9am Berlin time right?, well that's an hour ahead of GMT so will be 8am here. You run 2.45 and will be finished by 10.45 GMT giving me 15 minutes to warm up and head into race

Seriously I need something to distract me I'll know by 10am whether you've fcuked it up or not anyway

I can only hope your pre-race pep talk is as inspiring as this... looking forward to it already :rolleyes:

TRR

claralara wrote: »

I can only hope your pre-race pep talk is as inspiring as this... looking forward to it already :rolleyes:

It'll be Paul O'Connell in it's nature, you'll want to rip off you front door when you get home.

On a totally unrelated topic I put my compression gear on under my normal clothes today after showering as I was fecking freezing. Still haven't taken it off in fact. I find this helps a lot as my body temp always feels a little bit lower after a long run. Today's run was artic so it was a good call.

Anyway a couple of GAA footballers who were in the same changing room as me were ripping the piss out of me. In fairness they were right, the auld compression gear is a bit camp and I would have taken the piss if I were in their shoes. However these lads had no right to slag, if you had of seen the exercises they were performing in the free weights room 15 minutes beforehand ..... took camp to a whole new level. Don't know what they were at but it looked like a 69 type weight session, very odd. Bum to nose stuff :eek:

TRR

34 days to DCM

Tuesday: 10ish miles, time unknown. Left my watch and warm gear at home by accident today:rolleyes: Had to cobble together some gear that was lying around in the car and office. I was freezing again today. Original plan was for a double today but once I'd convinced myself to head out at lunch time (really didn't want to go, it was soooooo cold) I then decided there was no way I was going out again this evening, so I lengthened the run (and my lunch break) to 10 miles from original 6 I had planned. I've seldom got as wet as I did today. I was also delighted to get back to my comfy chair in my warm office. I'm not cut out for outdoor work, in Ireland anyway. I'm just too soft.

digger2d2

TRR wrote: »

. I'm just too soft.

That's not what your therapist said :-)

ThePiedPiper

Fair play even getting out the door, you did better than I did.. Got myself all ready for heading out this morning and then just hopped up on the treadmill for intervals. Fecking miserable weather.

TRR

RunForestRun wrote: »

Fair play even getting out the door, you did better than I did.. Got myself all ready for heading out this morning and then just hopped up on the treadmill for intervals. Fecking miserable weather.

Oh god no, it would want to be snowing or very icey for me to hit the dreadmill. Fecking weather has me seriously down, last night myself and mrs TRR had a couple of brewskis to lift the mood.

33 days to DCM
Wednesday: 10 miles in 66 minutes included 2 * 3 miles at current HMP with 3 minutes jog recovery between each. This was tough but mildly enjoyable, I sometimes think I'm a masochist. Driving into work early this morning the rain was unreal and I started to consider putting this session off until tomorrow as I've another head cold coming on :rolleyes: We had originally planned on 3*2 miles at HMP but changed it to 2*3 miles so that if it was pissing rain we wouldn't be lounging around in the cold too long. First HMP section was done in (17.20) which is basically bang on, found it hard to initially get the legs turning over, more tiredness than anything else. After 3 minute recovery got stuck into final 3 HMP miles and finished these in 17.10. Was happy with this as we were running into the wind and I was working quite hard. Not flogging myself but not too far from it. Had company on this one and if I hadn't it probably wouldn't have got done so was delighted with that. Kilomarathon is still on the agenda this weekend and my running partner from today is also running. We plan on doing the first 10 miles at MP together and then making a judgement on what we'll do then.

Krusty_Clown

TRR wrote: »

We plan on doing the first 10 miles at MP together and then making a judgement on what we'll do then.

You mean then the race starts?

I spent the last couple of days running in the pi55ing freezing rain and then of course, I had a session scheduled today. What happens? The sun comes out in Clondalkin. There might still be sunshine in Kilcock this weekend!

TRR

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

You mean then the race starts?

I spent the last couple of days running in the pi55ing freezing rain and then of course, I had a session scheduled today. What happens? The sun comes out in Clondalkin. There might still be sunshine in Kilcock this weekend!

Ha yes, I don't wnat it to turn into a race though. No matter what I think I'm just going to stick to MP unless it's a mile of madness at the end. Don't want to mess up Dublin by overdoing it in a non-goal race. Gary the suns seems to follow you no matter where you go so I'm off to buy sunscreen for the weekend

32 Days to DCM
Thursday: 14.3 miles @ 6.40 pace. Ran into work from home this morning. Don't know what the fcuk is going on, this felt like 7.15 pace and legs were great, checked watch at 5 miles and I was averaging low 6.30s so I tried to put the breaks on but to no avail. Guess you just got to roll with it when you feel good. Two easyish days now. I don't want the legs to be completely fresh for Sundays 16 miles at PMP as I want to simulate the last 16 miles of the marathon but at the same time I don't to be so tired that I have to flog myself to get them done.

shels4ever

Bottle that feeling for 32 days if you can. Things seem to be coming together very well now, better stop sending beer texts....

tomorrow night ?

TRR

shels4ever wrote: »

Bottle that feeling for 32 days if you can. Things seem to be coming together very well now, better stop sending beer texts....

tomorrow night ?

Put it this way I reckon I'll be close to the fitness levels I had this time last year, if I can couple those fitness levels with the gritty determination I had in London this year I could be on for a decent PB. I'm an optimist when things are going well I like to verbalise it because when things go bad I really moan and groan

Ha tomorrow is out of the question maybe Sunday night, I'll let you know. Amazingly I find I train better when I have a few scoops, not binge drinking obviously but 5-6 pints a week have a net beneficial effect. It's probably mental but it helps me justify it.