Marato de Barcelona 2011

Oisin11178

dare2be wrote: »

Saturday 05.02.11

2 miles Easy
3 x 5min Tempo (meant to be 4 x 5min but f*?ked up setting on Garmin)
10 miles Easy
3 x 5min Tempo (meant to be 4 x 5min but f*?ked up setting on Garmin)
2 miles Easy
1 mile cool down

Total mileage 19.6
Time 2:32:38

Nuff said!!!

That average pace is below 8 min miles mate. What pace were you doing the easy miles at?

dare2be

Oisin11178 wrote: »

That average pace is below 8 min miles mate. What pace were you doing the easy miles at?

Easy pace done at 7.5 min miles. My Easy pace should of been 8.3min miles but i felt good and kept it steady.

dare2be

Sunday 06.02.11

Recovery Run

6.57km/4 miles
38:21 mins
5:50km/9.23 min miles

Wanted to do a 5 miler but thats how far the route took me so happy enough to get out a give the legs another turn-over after Saturdays run.

Rest today - need another sports massage this week.

Oisin11178

dare2be wrote: »

Easy pace done at 7.5 min miles. My Easy pace should of been 8.3min miles but i felt good and kept it steady.

I reckon you deffo odds on for 3.15 after that run. Might run with you for the first few miles in barca if that ok. Wanna ease into the start.

dare2be

Oisin11178 wrote: »

I reckon you deffo odds on for 3.15 after that run. Might run with you for the first few miles in barca if that ok. Wanna ease into the start.

Dunno Oisin. Some days you feel better than others. This weekend i have a 22 miler so i'll see how that goes. After that it's down to Daniels... I have every faith in him btw

Anyways, i was gonna ask you to guide me around

theboyblunder

dare2be wrote: »

Dunno Oisin. Some days you feel better than others. This weekend i have a 22 miler so i'll see how that goes. After that it's down to Daniels... I have every faith in him btw

Anyways, i was gonna ask you to guide me around

quick post, in a hurry

I think you might be a week behind on the schedule. As far as I can make out this weekends run should be a 19 with 15 @ MP. It confused me at the start too, he starts the 18 weeks with a Q1, where you ended that week with the Q1, so you are a week behind.

This isnt important at any other time, but the runs you do in the taper are important, if you do 22 miles this weekend (I did this last weekend) then you would be doing the 19 with 15 MP with just two weeks to go - prob not the best idea as you should be tapering.

Have a look at the plan and you'll see what I mean, if you do 22 this sunday you will have one Q1 too many left.

Might be an idea to do the scheduled MP run, if you feel good at the end you could tag on another mile or two. I think this is a nore beneficial run than a straight slow 22 miler.

dare2be

theboyblunder wrote: »

quick post, in a hurry

I think you might be a week behind on the schedule. As far as I can make out this weekends run should be a 19 with 15 @ MP. It confused me at the start too, he starts the 18 weeks with a Q1, where you ended that week with the Q1, so you are a week behind.

This isnt important at any other time, but the runs you do in the taper are important, if you do 22 miles this weekend (I did this last weekend) then you would be doing the 19 with 15 MP with just two weeks to go - prob not the best idea as you should be tapering.

Have a look at the plan and you'll see what I mean, if you do 22 this sunday you will have one Q1 too many left.

Might be an idea to do the scheduled MP run, if you feel good at the end you could tag on another mile or two. I think this is a nore beneficial run than a straight slow 22 miler.

Thanks for the heads up tbb.

Always thought i was a week behind when i was seeing what you were at.

I'll take your advice and plan it for the weekend.

dare2be

Monday 07.02.11

Sports massage and rest

Tuesday 08.02.11

Rest day

Wednesday 09.02.11

2x35min Easy
1x20min Tempo
5 miles Easy

2:12.39
16.65 miles

Good session. Real teeth grinding stuff for the tempo!!

Happy enough with that

dare2be

Thursday 10.02.11

Up at 4am for a flight to Jersey for work. Back in London at 9.30pm and off to bed. My legs were feeling Wed night session.

Friday 11.02.11

Rest day. Wrecked from Thursdays travel

Saturday 12.02.12

2 miles Easy pace
15 miles Marathon pace
3 miles Easy pace

20 miles in 2:30:47
Had more miles in me I but was running on empty on the fuel front and I just couldn't pass the car when I seen it parked up.

Slight headwind on the return leg which slowed the marathon pace but generally happy with the workout.

Thats the end of the big mile runs until race day

Oisin11178

I think the fastest 20 miler i did when i broke 3.15 was ~2.35 Thats a savage run. The overall pace works out at~7.31. So either a good portion of your pmp miles where lower than pmp or your easy miles where done at a decent pace. Naughty naughty:D

dare2be

Oisin11178 wrote: »

I think the fastest 20 miler i did when i broke 3.15 was ~2.35 Thats a savage run. The overall pace works out at~7.31. So either a good portion of your pmp miles where lower than pmp or your easy miles where done at a decent pace. Naughty naughty:D

No fooling you Oisin. Yep the easy miles were done at a decent pace. Probably about 10/20 seconds slower than pmp. I just can't seem to run these slowly and thus contributing to a good overall time. Anyway I'd rather train hard than easy, it's a flaw I'll have to work on!

Oisin11178

dare2be wrote: »

No fooling you Oisin. Yep the easy miles were done at a decent pace. Probably about 10/20 seconds slower than pmp. I just can't seem to run these slowly and thus contributing to a good overall time. Anyway I'd rather train hard than easy, it's a flaw I'll have to work on!

Yeah it was a great run. With taper id be looking lower than 3.15 if i was you. Ive always regretted not pushing on when i got 3.13 and going for 3.10.
7.31 for 20 with some juice left in the tank is savage.
Its coming together for everyone by the looks of things:D

dare2be

Sunday 13.02.11

Recovery run. Not much. Lasted 394m to be exact. Left leg absolutely shattered so i pulled up and headed back to the car. Never felt pain like it yet. Couldn't even manage a hobble

Monday 14.02.11

Feel like sh*te today. Head cold and just completely wrecked. I blame the trip over to Jersey on Thursday. If you ever want to catch something, hop on a plane and you will get it!!

Ah well, a good excuse for a valentine's night in with the missus.

Itziger

dare2be wrote: »

Thursday 10.02.11

Up at 4am for a flight to Jersey for work. Back in London at 9.30pm and off to bed. My legs were feeling Wed night session.

Friday 11.02.11

Rest day. Wrecked from Thursdays travel

Saturday 12.02.12

2 miles Easy pace
15 miles Marathon pace
3 miles Easy pace

20 miles in 2:30:47
Had more miles in me I but was running on empty on the fuel front and I just couldn't pass the car when I seen it parked up.

Slight headwind on the return leg which slowed the marathon pace but generally happy with the workout.

Thats the end of the big mile runs until race day

This run surely indicates sub 3.10 nevermind 3.15. I'm hoping for sub 3.10 myself in April but not sure I could do 32 k in 2.30. I do find training hard mostly and find I do better than that in the race. Just hoping it stays that way!!

dare2be

That's what I'm hoping for too Itziger. The race day adrenalin and running with company should help instead of running alone! Weather conditions will play a part too no doubt so it's all on the day I suppose

Good luck with your own goals

Itziger

dare2be wrote: »

That's what I'm hoping for too Itziger. The race day adrenalin and running with company should help instead of running alone! Weather conditions will play a part too no doubt so it's all on the day I suppose

Good luck with your own goals

Thanks man. I'm hoping to run the Rotter thing with a bloke who's done it already (3.14) and who was going quite well but has picked up a hamstring injury. I've never met him in Real Life but we've communicated a lot online. Our Half times are very similar and I'd say he'll go under 3.10 if he recovers.

Even without him, there's still the atmosphere and adrenalin as you say. Also the taper and so on. Will be nervous as it's my first but that's only to be expected.

Oisin11178

We should get a group together lads. I reckon we could get at least 5. 3.10 or bust:D

Itziger

Oisin11178 wrote: »

We should get a group together lads. I reckon we could get at least 5. 3.10 or bust:D

Remind me of your target Oisin. Quite a group for Barcelona, eh!

Oisin11178

3.10 mate:D

Itziger

Oisin11178 wrote: »

3.10 mate:D

Jesus, been reading your log! Didn't realise how crazy you were till then. Good luck with year's goals. I'll probably do 1 (confirm ONE) marathon this year.

Brianderunner

Oisin11178 wrote: »

We should get a group together lads. I reckon we could get at least 5. 3.10 or bust:D

+1 on this, would make it all a little bit easier.

Itziger

Brianderunner wrote: »

+1 on this, would make it all a little bit easier.

In the future, and now that I've "met" a few on here, I'd fancy that. Imagine the difference if you had a group of 5 or 6. You'd be at 30 k before you knew you were in a race. I don't really know where I'm going to be after this Summer, so I can't plan ahead.

Maybe Dublin '11 or Cork '12 or Barcelona '12.

dare2be

Tuesday 15.02.11 - Friday 18.02.11

Didn't do a bloody tap for these days as the cold had worked its way onto my chest leaving me coughing up all sorts of gunk. I just wasnt up to running and took these days to try and shake it off and hopefully once the weekend came i would be shot of it.

Saturday 19.02.11

The plan was to run an out and back route for 60 minutes; the 1st 30 was to be at an easy pace with the return leg at tempo with a few pmp's thrown in for the craic.

12.01km/7.5 miles
58:05mins
4.50km/7.46min miles

The fist 15mins or so saw me coughing a bit and not feeling great. Sweating more than normal but it was a warm day and maybe all the tablets and tonics were making me a bit hotter than usual. Anyway, the return leg of the run felt ok and was just happy to get back out running again

Sunday 20.02.11

LSR.

18.34km/11.4miles
1:38:08
5.07km/8.36min miles.

Tough eneough run. Blowing a gale at times which made a few steep hills interesting. Felt tired at different stages during this but picked up the pace near the end and finished strong enough. Was glad to get it over me all the same. Not really the way you want to be feeling 2 weeks out for a race but hopefully i've put the sickness behind me for the rest of the year and push on from whatever happens in Barcelona.

dare2be

Monday 21.02.11

Easy run last night.

7.65km/4.75miles
Done in 4x:xx
5.05km/8.30min miles roughly.

Forgot to record times off the Garmin to log here. Nothing of real interest so probably not that important.

In a faor bit of pain last night. Couldnt seem to run it off. I had been using deep heat to get the muscles in my left leg warmed up as well as a few pain killers but forgot both last night and it did hurt. When i stretch the pain sort of goes away whilst in the stretched position. I will book one more sports massage for early next week to help me along

I can guarantee that i will have my bag well stocked up with Neurofen's on the plane to Barca.

dare2be

Saturday 26.02.11

Out for an hour doing a mixture of slow running, stretches, pmp's and a few strides. Didn't take the garmin as i just wanted to mix it up a bit and no real need at this stage to be dictated by the watch.

Sunday 27.02.11

Pretty much as above although i did bring the garmin just to keep an eye on pace. Threw a few fast 1k's into Easy miles. At one stage i was posting 3.49/km; never had seen that pace much before so i continued on until the end of the lap. Followed these up with more Easy running.

The ITB is still at me. Moves about from place to place in my left leg. Sometimes in my knee, sometimes arounf the thigh area. Painkillers do ease the pain with foot strike but its still there and its holding me back.

Monday 28.02.11

Approx 5 miles in 40mins odd. Again, a few pmp's into mostly Easy running. Painkillers had wore off by the time i got out so it hurt a bit.

I have booked a final sports massage for Weds night to sort the legs out. Calf muscles starting to tighten up so i'd say i'm in for a good work over. Hope it helps.

Departing for Barcelona on Friday morning so ill get another few sessions in before Sunday, although they will be very easy ones.

Good luck to all competing and hope everybody achieves their goals...

dare2be

So the 18 week Daniels plan finished here. In the lead up to the race i was still nursing my well documented injury. I rested up, got a sports massage and done everything i could to get me to Placa Espanya in good shape.


Race Day

Bought some croissants on the Saturday night and had them in the room at 5.30 with a couple of cups of tea and a banana. Left hotel at 6.30am and dandered up the para lel (passing a lady of the night on the way). No thanks luv, i'm running a marathon later Up into the Expo Centre and got ready, bag dropped and headed for the 3.15 pen. No sign of any 3.15 pacers. Feck!! See them still in their warm up pens. I'm situtated just in front of the 3.30 pacers. Not ideal but it will do. Panic sets in all the same.

Gun goes off. I'm right on the money 4.38/km - 3.15 pace. Caught up in a bit of traffic early on. I make the mistake of trying to find the 3.15 pacers instead of running my own race. I'm through 5k in 24:05, 1 minute down. Still panic. Get my head together. Through 10k in 46:34, 22 secs down. Thats more like it!! Pass a few Irish singlets. Some guy from Donegal. Says he's going for 3.30 and he's 2 mins ahead. More panic. I leave him and continue on my route.

15km mark in 1:09:19 - Bang on target. Couldn't have asked any more from that. I was holding my pace. Felt good. I was on my own at this stage on a well strung out field.

Got my head showered. Headed for half way mark. It came soon enough, this race is flying by i thought. Heading towards half way is daunting. You see all the other faster competitors on the way back when you are still on route. Got a shout from Ciara (wife) and my sister and her boyfriend. Gave me a great lift. I stepped on the gas.

Through half-way in 1:37:37. A perfect paced half marathon so far. You are on for this i thought to myself. Passed my supporters again. I was to see them again at the finish line but i had a lot of hard work ahead of me. Took my 2nd of 4 gels here. Previous one was taken at 10km mark.

Headed through 25km mark in 1:55:50. Delighted but the heat had started to rise and i felt my first niggle of cramp in both hamstrings. Bad news. Anytime i wanted to lengthen my stride, i got a warning sign. As i headed down by the beach there was no shelter from the sun. I see a lot of people stopping and stretching. Not for me.. The hamstrings were calling out and i started to slow. Not much support down that end of town and its tough. My running form started to slip. Looked for shelter from the sun. As i sped up, my hamstrings tightened. I was in trouble.

Through 30km in 2:20:30 - 2 mins down. Took another gel. Didn't work. Venga Venga!! 12km to go. I visualised that distance on a run at home, but it was never this hot. 35km in 2:48:04 - 6mins down. I tried to regroup, i knew 3.15 was gone. I was in a battle here and there was only one winner - the course. Final gel past 35km. Didn't get a real lift from the gels all day. Stomach was in bits at this stage.

40km 3:19:32 - 15 mins down. The 3.30 pacers passed me at the bottom of the Ramblas. I tried to stay with them but they were fresher than i was. Felt like sh~t!!

Final 2k was a real battle but i got there. Was never so glad to see the 2 Venetian towers. Got a shout from my supporters one last time. Final kick to the finish line. Crossed in 3:32:45. New pb. Slightly disappointed but totally drained.

Great race all the same. No regrets. But i'll be back there some other day and teach that course a lesson. I'll call it unfinished business!!

Itziger

Well done lad, good running. Slightly sobering reading for someone like me, a month to my first marathon and aiming for 3.10. Similar enough to yourself. I see you were on your own for a lot of the race. That must make a big difference as we were commenting above. I met my virtual running partner in Real Life and did a couple of spins with him - perfect pace and training is twice as easy.

Good luck for rest of year. Keep us posted on recovery and so on.

theboyblunder

well done d2b. A PB is a PB. From your report it sounds like while you reached half-way where you needed to be, but pace wise the first 13.1 were up and down a bit, which is difficult in the marathon. You'll crack it next time.

dare2be

Weekly numbers
7-13 March|# sessions|Time hh:mm|Distance kms
Total|1|4:16|119.56km
Swimming|0|0|0
Cycling|2|4:17|113.12
Running|1|0:28|6.44


So after a couple of weeks off after Barcelona i got back into it on Saturday. Picked up my new bike on St Patricks Day and was raring to give it a lash. For anyone thats interested i got myself a new Cube Agree GTC 2011 model. Full carbon, Shimano Ultegra, Fulcrum 5 race wheels. All that jazz. Have to say it's an amazing bike. I'm in no way an expert but this thing can move and is a whole world away from the Boardman Comp with Alu frame and its only carbon bits was the forks.

Anyway, headed out for a spin on Saturday morning. 66.2km in 2:38 with avg pace of 25.1kph. No problem getting up and over the 30kph on the flats and was reasonably happy until i came to the hills and long drags so a lot of work required here. Took a few stops along the way for some fuel and hop off the saddle as i hadn't been on the bike since a turbo in November.

I had planned to do the Sportsman Duathlon on Sunday so i headed home to relax and put the feet up for the rugby later that day. Overall i was happy with the spin out, got the legs going again and of course the new bike was a dream to drive.

Sunday - Sportsman Duathlon Dundalk

Didn't know what to expect at this altough i hoped to improve my previous time from last year. Think it was around 1:08:xx from memory but will have to check this out later. I cycled up to this from the house (approx 15km) in the morning as i thought it would help me warm up for the race and get a few more miles in. Got a soaking along the way which didn't help. Race was a 3.2k/17k/3.2k. I knew the course from last year so nothing unforseen in the race prep. Met with Jackback before the start and a few others i haven't seen since end of last season.

Race brefing over i lined up in the 4th row from the front. Had JB's orange hat in sight and it stayed that way for the 1st run (13.26mins/4:11km). Into T2, slow enough as i took my time here and out on the bike. The Cube performed well and with a bit of training on my part it should perform well for me. Had a guy sit on my wheel for a bit and the obvious drafting/group riding was clearly evident i didn't get too annoyed, or at least not let it show. 17km in 34:18, well of the pace at this stage but i rode conservatively enough in places so obvious room for improvement. I would hope to knock off 3/4 mins next month with decent training.

Out onto the 2nd run. Bit slower pace. Left leg still playing up so i eased myself around in 15:24/4.45km. Total time 1:05:10.

Happy enough. Think its a new pb, will confirm later.