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140.6 deep breaths...
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I am struggling to adapt myself with the extra time just focusing on running - I cant get used to just the one daily session and the weight has gone over 80 kilos again for the first time in months. I am sticking to the training plan but I feel like I am dossing. I am even contemplating going up and cleaning my bike tonight out of boredom
Taper madness seems to be coming on strong this time for you, my ramblings should be getting going soon, at least you have a set target from months ago, I still haven't a clue what I will go for.
Good luck this weekend, hope the sub 3 comes easy and you get to enjoy the occasion, would love to do Berlin myself someday!0 -
I headed out for an easy 45 minutes last night and apart from a mysterious 15 minutes in the middle where my energy hit the floor and I sweated profusely it was grand. Conditions were gnarly though. I was more interested in checking out the renders and arches in front of houses for ideas than any running data :rolleyes: The run thus passed by in a blink. I did a couple of quick exercises to keep me in touch with T Runners winter strength challenge and then spent forever checking train schedules to and from Berlin airport. I'm staying at the Holiday Inn beside the airport and must make sure I catch one of 2 possible regional trains on Sunday morning. If I can manage that I'll arrive in Alexanderplatz in about 25 minutes with lots of time to wander to the start. If not it will be a 2 hour scramble with buses and a run to the start. I fly out to Berlin on Saturday so I haven't exactly got oodles of time to get my bearings. I should get in a couple of beers after the Marathon before I fly home on Sunday evening though, hopefully celebratory ones
Apart from a gentle Jog on Saturday evening, the last run is today. A short one with a few stabs at PMP. I'm feeling decidedly giddy about this event. I've wanted to do Berlin for a while and to bag a sub3 there will be uber satisfying...0 -
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shotgunmcos wrote: »I was more interested in checking out the renders and arches in front of houses for ideas than any running data :rolleyes:
I remember obsessing about chimney caps for a while during my build. Never noticed them prior to that but all of a sudden, I was a chimney cap expert. Once the decision was made, I've never noticed another chimney cap since. Same goes for the slates, that was another one where every roof within 50 square miles got the once-over :rolleyes:
Best of luck in Berlin. It's a great run, with a great atmosphere, and it's flat as a pancake. Sure, things have changed since you almost nailed sub 3 in Connemara by accident (!), but there's a world of difference between the two courses in terms of speed, and I bet you're in much better condition than your brain is letting you think you are
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So, last run done today. 7.64km at 4:25 pace. It was actually a gentle pace but with 3*5mins at PMP thrown in. The pace felt ok. 1 rep was into a wind, another up a hill and as such the RPE felt higher than I'd like. Calves were a little stiff and hammers are not as good as I'd like but hey ho whats new. I've checked into my 7:30am Flight on Saturday morning. It will be a 3:30 alarm to get up for it
Whats this **** with Aer Lingus charging you to pick you seat, did your fare not get you a seat ?! punks :mad: Anyway, Just had a delicious bacon, ricotta, mushroom and pea risotto and I'll hit the sack after Masterchef. I'd love to have a good fast 5 or 10k or better still a nippy 10 mile behind me but I don't. As such I'm not travelling over with any sign of form. This will be achieved on the hard winter I put down. Tomorrow is planned off but I just feel like a gentle swim to loosen up and generally to wake me up and put me in good form. Thanks for the good well wishes folks hopefully I'll get this one! 0 -
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Hey dude, best of luck this weekend. Keep calm and relaxed, I find laughing a great way of doing this - even if it's forced, no messin Stay off your feet as much as you can too. Let's hope you touch back down to Irish soil as a sub 3er, I've every confidence you will. 0
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An epic Failure. Well thats what I texted to my family and mates afterwards. As expected from the ones I love and trust, they put my season as a whole in perspective and unanimously warned me to take a break. Right then, the result. 3:19, eh? That wasn't the plan. What happened? In short, my quads. They blew up after 2 hours and I found myself reliving the pain I felt at Roth. It had been coming since the hour mark and I knew it.
The warm up jog the previous evening wasn't great and only added to my doubts. The Coach and I settled on 2:56 as a marker. I had the 5k splits written on the back of my wrist and knocked the first 5 of them off running wthin my target 160-165 heart rate zone. The Berlin Marathon is enourmous. Busy aint the word. I lined up just in front of the 3:00 pacers at the front of Pen C in the thick of determined faces. I was expecting a gun start so had a kind of delayed reaction to the start when that didn't occur. By the time I crossed the start mat the 3:00 balloons were 150m up the road in front of me. What the hell?! I spent the first km avoiding curbs and ducking elbows to get back in line with the balloons. I ran beside them for another km and then pushed on ever so slightly to my target pace. I ran the next 25km at a fairly steady 4:05-4:10 kms, skipping over the halfway mat in 1:27:48. The route was a flat as you could wish for and the support rapturous. The course was not a thing of beauty by any stretch of the imagination. Its one for running a fast time and thats it really. I had been feeling a bit rougher than usual from about 16km but I aimed to get to the 2 hour mark as steady as possible and then hang on. By 27km though my pace had dropped to 4:15-4:17 and I knew I was in trouble....
It wasn't a hydration or fuelling issue or a case of going out too hard. I knew that on the day I'd have to feel as fresh as I did in Connemara to hit my mark. I wasn't. It was laboured from the start. By 29km I was down to 4:30 pace and my quads had been seizing for a while. I tried to walk and shake them out but no joy. At the next water stop I stopped to wash down 2 diaphene hoping they would take the edge off. I stopped as I was sick of getting water up my nose. "Mental note: practice drinking from cups at running pace!" It was at this point that the 3:00 pacers steamed passed. I tried in vain to grab onto their coat tails but my quads were having none of it. That was the very moment that my quest went up in flames.
My motivation deserted me and I simply had no desire to crucify myself for a consolation prize of some meaningless time. I knew I could run a 3 hour marathon. I did that in April. My goal was sub 3 hours and it wasn't going to happen. What followed for the next 75 minutes was some jogging, some cramping, some walking, some dancing, some tears, some laughter, some high fives, some hands on the knees and some singing!! I basically did whatever I could to stay in the game. The noise on the course was deafening, truly amazing support. The bands were great too dishing out all the cheesey 80s hits the Germans love so much. If you were to do this Marathon I'd also recommend lining up on Brandenburg Tor on the Saturday too to watch the finish of the inline skating. Very cool. I had run the fist 2 hours with blinkers on so with expectations out the window I lapped up the atmosphere to salvage something from the experience.
I knew in my heart and soul that that nothing could have avoided this catastrophe. I could have had a huge tailwind and it wouldn't have helped. It wasn't the pace. I know I'm good for a 2:56 with fresh legs and the sub3 doesn't scare me like it used to. It wasn't a case of HTFU either. I spent a few kms running through the pain trying to keep the 3:00 balloons off my back. I had doubts about my legs before the start and had made a deal with myself to push through whatever pain came my way as long as the sub3 was on. When the Brandenburg Gate came into view I picked my jog up to a run simply because everyone else around me seeed to go for it. I felt a bit guilty passing people who were probably pouring themselves into pb finishes. As I did so my calves joined my quads in delivering further unpleasantness as my punishment. I just figured a time in the teens would not read as bad as a 3:20+ when I eventually resurrect a memory of this experience. I only had to endure the cramps for a few more minutes. It had been a long warm day and I was glad to finish.
I was gutted. I knew it was a case of not being recovered enough though. I just didn't get my legs back over the last 2 months. I was able to train away as my level of fitness was so high. However Roth had left some deep wounds that hadn't fully healed. I was tired at the end. Really tired. Not just the typical physical fatigue you feel after a marathon effort. Apart from the aching in the belly of my quads I felt ok physically. I was mentally exhausted. I had played every mind game in my book to see me home in the last hour. I just wanted to go home. To add insult to injury my Oakleys were stolen in the shower tent. I'm glad I did it as I've wanted to do Berlin for a while. After a currywurst and a beer I plonked myself outside of a Starbucks on Freidrichstrase watching the ebb and flow of Berlin life. I pondered my failure to hit my 2 A targets this year. Its been a season of ups and downs thats for sure and I've learned a lot about myself. One thing was certain, I needed to rest the body for a while. I reckon Caz will confiscate my runners and bike if I don't! I thought about closing off the log as per usual at the end of season. However there is some unfinished business here and this log will remain open as quest for the sub10 and sub3 0 -
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