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Festina lente
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Is platelet donation similar to blood donation, and if so would you not do it before an easy day?
It has less of an effect, as I understand it.
They don't take the red blood cells, so oxygen-carrying capacity is unchanged, the only real effect is on blood volume.
I think
I don't have a lot of flexibility in my schedule anyway - session goes before long run, and I can't do long run on Thursdays because that's when juvenile training is on and I have to be home on time, and Friday is too close to the weekend sessions, so it have to do the session on Tuesday to run long on Wednesday to get home on Thursday.
Then I end up working late on Thursday :rolleyes:0 -
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Monday - day off work, so two recovery runs. 6k in the morning and 5k in the evening, both very slow
Tuesday - day off yesterday meant I wasn't running in to work, so intervals at lunchtime in Irishtown instead (park not track). 6 x 800 off 2:30 again, 3 in one direction, 3 in the other. Not very fast - 2:53, 2:51, 2:55, 2:52, 2:57, 2:53. A couple of k warmup and cooldown.
Then very easy 8k home
Wednesday - very easy 8k into work
In the evening, brought the kid over to UCD for a maths grind and had an hour to run myself. 2k warmup brought me to the bridge over the Dodder on the marathon route, 9k at marathon pace around the route as far as the flyover, through UCD, back onto the route at the same place, back up Roebuck, then into UCD from Fosters avenue, and finally a 2k cooldown.
Legs were pretty tired starting this and full of little twinges. Found the pace okay (though I was one second slow per k on average :eek::() but the twinges were getting twingier on the second lap, which is why I turned into UCD there instead of continuing around to the flyover again, and gave myself a couple of minutes for stretches (!) at the end.
Hills are a bit hillier at marathon pace
but you also notice how many flat and even slightly downhill bits there are on that stretch. 0 -
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Thursday - easy run home again
Friday - 8k easy into work
got a lend of my brother's 630 for a couple of weeks. I knew he wouldn't need it for the marathon, but he's going through a watchless phase anyway so he dropped it over Thursday evening
Saturday - 3 x 5k marathon pace, 1k steady recovery
PD couldn't do a long run on Sunday so wanted to do this Saturday, I said I'd join him instead of doing the tempo. (Well, he wanted to do 4 intervals, but I talked him down) Stuck to the tempo lap anyway, so there were a load of us running around at different paces.
Intervals went well. We took it in turns to lead on each lap, so it was nice to switch off a bit every few minutes. All were a bit fast, 4:00 for the first set, 3:58 for the second and third, but felt fine afterwards, less work than the 10k tempos had been.
Sunday - a real taper type run. No real plan so I ended up getting up late. I knew there was a gang meeting up so ran over to them, and between running in a group and running to the front of the group to steer our way around Tymon, ended up going a bit faster than I should. After about 40 minutes with them decided to peel off for home , so only 18k in the end. Still, just under 120k for the week. Will start pulling that back more this week.0 -
more taper running...
Monday - very easy run home from work. Not a lot on the weekend to recover from, but stuck to very easy
Tuesday - 4 x 800 off 2:30 on the way into work - 2:51, 2:43, 2:51, 2:47
aches and niggles everywhere
Wednesday - no time for a long run today, so
5k marathon pace at lunch, all a bit fast, just under 4:00/km
and an easy run home
then a massage in the evening, first one in years. No real problems, but a few areas to work on myself
Thursday - easy run into work. So slow and easy that I wanted to stop :rolleyes: 0 -
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The short report -
Took it fairly handy through the first half as planned, 1.27.30 for halfway? Felt reasonably good and controlled
Pushed on after Walkinstown roundabout, and felt okay, except for quads getting a bit sore
Last 10k was a horror show, quads got worse, calves joined in, could barely run at all, or so it felt. Everything after the flyover was just not stopping. Trying to go faster, failing completely, but not stopping. The last couple of miles lasted for years, the last 800 was an eternity, even at that stage, with the finish line in sight I just wanted to stop. But I didn't! So I'm actually reasonably happy.
2.56.3x in the end, which is like a ten second pb, not much of a return for the training on the other hand, race times this summer have been terrible, so from that perspective I probably over performed. Whatever, I got to the end without stopping, crawling, or diving in front of a car, all of which seemed like reasonable options in the last half hour, so I'll take it 0 -
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Great running, very well done.The short report -
Took it fairly handy through the first half as planned, 1.27.30 for halfway? Felt reasonably good and controlled
Pushed on after Walkinstown roundabout, and felt okay, except for quads getting a bit sore
Last 10k was a horror show, quads got worse, calves joined in, could barely run at all, or so it felt. Everything after the flyover was just not stopping. Trying to go faster, failing completely, but not stopping. The last couple of miles lasted for years, the last 800 was an eternity, even at that stage, with the finish line in sight I just wanted to stop. But I didn't! So I'm actually reasonably happy.
2.56.3x in the end, which is like a ten second pb, not much of a return for the training on the other hand, race times this summer have been terrible, so from that perspective I probably over performed. Whatever, I got to the end without stopping, crawling, or diving in front of a car, all of which seemed like reasonable options in the last half hour, so I'll take it 0 -
So, since I'm awake, a bit more detail
Training this year since Rotterdam has had good and bad points. Decent consistency, the group tempo runs have been good, and I enjoyed the group long runs over the last few months. Bad - my midweek training was less purposeful because I wasn't following a defined plan, and I think the lack of strength training this year is a real weakness. Even the bodyweight stuff in the morning was neglected over the summer. The last couple of months have felt solid, the summer not so much.
Races have been ****e. 62.28 for 10 miles. 1.23.23 for a half. 38 goddamned minutes for a 10k. But the tempo runs and long runs felt okay. So I decided to go for a 1.27 first half. That's so easy that 1.25 for a half marathon afterwards should be fine, right? And if not, well, if I wasn't in 2.52 shape and ran 1.26 in the first half, I'd be ****ed. If I ran 1.27 in the first half, maybe I could hold it for the second half.
So, LUAS in, bag dropped, hi to menoscemo and Chinguetti, and made my way up to the start line. Took a look at the queues for the toilets and decided I'd be grand. I'd had my usual breakfast - muesli, boiled eggs, oatcakes, cup of tea, and one of the Maurtens drinks on my way in on the LUAS. Had a small bottle of water/beetroot juice with me to wash down a caffeine tablet on the start line, left most of it undrank. Clothes thrown off a few minutes before the start - didn't even keep the hat or gloves - laces double-knotted, and shuffled up to the start...
First couple of kms, too fast, of course, but not by much, 3:58 and 4:00. Basically trying to relax into a rhythm. I must have been the furthest foward of my clubmates - didn't see any of them before the start - because they started passing me over the first couple of miles. (theboyblunder ran 2:38:04, Gary Crossan 2:43, and S O'S 2:44, after being hospitalised earlier in the year and barely able to walk for a few weeks in the spring) Down to the river where the club was stewarding and settled into 4:05 for the third k.
Across the river and up the first hill, eased off to 4:12 for 2k and gave HelenAnne a shout. Was there a water station on the north circular? I had a swig of water and poured some over my head. That had been a bit of a worry in the last few days actually - I'd had a bit of a head cold since Friday, temperature up, sneezing, runny nose. Wrapped up warm both days and felt okay when I woke up, but sometimes during the race, especially in those early miles, I felt I was still a bit feverish. My three clubmates who were also going for 2:52 passed me around here. I let them go, hoping to see them again before the finish.
6 and 7 into the park. 4.05 for each km, and although it was still very easy, long run effort, for those two k I was thinking about keeping the pace up to that mark rather than keeping it down. Passed the first casualty, one of the Kenyans dropped out at the zoo. Took the gel I'd been carrying in my hand.
8 was up Chesterfield, nice and slow, 4:17. Chatted briefly to a guy who ran Amsterdam last week, was planning to jog this one around in something under 3. 9, 10, 11 were a little too fast, 4:08, 4:09, 4:11 trying to keep a steady effort but overdoing it a little.
Turned at Castleknock at the 10k mark, and it looks like I've already managed to lose about 150m somewhere? Feck. Some nice relaxed downhill to follow, 3:59 and 3:52 to the entrance to the park again. It's around here that I notice a wheelchair athlete, I must have passed him in the park but he flew by me outside, we'd keep passing and repassing each other all the way to Fosters Avenue.
4:02 for Knockmaroon road to the top of Upper Glen Road, and 4:00 down and around through Chapelizod. Probably a little too fast, the momentum from the downhill staying with me. Another sip of water and some over the head at the Donore water station, and took another gel. Asked one of the spectators in Chapelizod for a sausage but didn't get one
Slowed right down for St Laurence's Road, 4:24. My clubmates had been in sight all through the park, a handy yardstick for pace, but this was the last I saw of them. Next few k I don't remember much, 4:09, 4:04, 4:08, 4:07, all pretty much as planned, staying relaxed as much as possible.
Halfway was about 1:27:30, a little slower than planned but not far off, and felt comfortable. Another gel, and another slow km, 4:20, taking it easy up the Crumlin Road. 4:12 and 4:10 to get me around to the roundabout.
24k in about 1:39/1:40. This was where I wanted to start making up ground - nice flat and downhill roads, family support, lots of club support and my local roads that I know well. Maybe got a little carried away, but you have to give these things a go. 4:03 down Cromwellsfort Road, giving my family a wave. 4:00 down to the KCR, with a shout from the coach and some clubmates stewarding. 4:07 and 4:10 around to Bushy park, that uphill drag we all love so well from the Terenure 5 mile. 4:03 into Terenure and 4:06 through Rathgar. Another gel on the way. Energy levels were good, and I was enjoying running, but my quads were getting sore. Not changing my stride (I think, though looking back I don't seem to have thought much about how I was running in the first half of the race) but tightening up.
Kept pushing on, 4:00 and 4:05, although that 4:05 was not a good sign, since it included the downhill to the Dropping Well. 4:09 through Milltown and the 20 mile mark, and going through the arch I knew I was in trouble. Quads getting tighter, calves tightening up too. 4:19 over the Dodder, and that was not me taking it easy on an uphill.
4:27 by the mosque. Not pushing too hard, the remaining 8k didn't seem so short after all. Not too worried about getting past the uphill, but not confident that I'd be able to speed up again on the downhill.
4:26 to the top of Roebuck, and a welcome shout from Krusty.
4:08 down Fosters Avenue and onto the bypass, legs locking up with every stride.
4:16 across the bypass, and I spot a club singlet ahead of me. Someone is having a worse day, pull him in.
4:09 down Nutley avenue, catching M, who has stopped to try stretching out a cramp. Jesus it would be nice to stop. I don't think it would do me any good, nothing is in spasm just locked up and unresponsive, but stopping, stopping sounds good
Turn the corner onto Merrion Road, and someone shouts "last corner", ****, I think that actually makes it worse, 3k to go on a long, straight road. 4:28 and maths is too hard, how much extra have I run, how much more than 2k do I have left?
4:26 through Ballsbridge and it feels like ten minutes. People are streaming past me, I can't lift my heels, can't lift my knees, just trying to keep moving forward. Pins and needles in my hands?
4:28 for the last km. just keep moving forward keep moving forward keep moving forward.
Cross the bridge. This is the bit you're supposed to sprint! I manage a slightly faster hobble. I hear one of my clubmates, PD from the 2:52 crew, getting announced over the line. Hobble hobble. Blue carpet. Hobble hobble hobble. Hobble a bit more. And a bit more. And some more. And finally stop.
2:56:35 (:32 chip time)
449 overall, 429 male, 51 in age category
I met a couple of the guys at the end and shuffled through the chute ("this top is too small, I can't get it over my head", "maybe if you opened the zip?") and around to the west side of the square, before deciding that I needed to lie down and elevate my legs. Which meant getting a wheelchair called for me, and being brought all the way back to the finish line to sit in the medical tent for 10 minutes and eat jellies. 5 marathons, 3 tents
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So, 4 minutes slower than planned, an enormous 10 second PB over my last marathon (after how many thousand miles of training), but I'm still happy enough with the day. I think partly because I was in a good mood at the start of the day, really enjoyed the atmosphere (was so glad to finally get started after waiting through taper). Partly because the last few miles hurt so much I was delighted to finish :pac: Just stopping running has never felt so rewarding Not a great performance by any measure, but decent, and that'll do me. 0 -
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