I thought it was a half they had in Connemara?

RayCun

Good luck Sunday. Twice as long as usual means you'll enjoy it twice as much!

brownian

Thanks, Ray!

Gonna be good

I hope!!:D

brownian

Feelin' good, looking...more or less the same as usual.

For this, my second-last taper run, the plan was 10km at an easy pace. 5:00 per km was the target. None of yer "accidental tempo" this time.

Struggled all the time to keep the pace slower than 4:20. Even though I "knew" my target pace, I'd still look at my watch and some inner voice would say "don't slip to slower than 4:30!". At least I never went faster than 4:00, though clearly an average pace of 4:30 wasn't the plan. Nice feeling, though, that it's hard to run as slow as 4:30

Still no marathon plan. Running the first 21 at 4:30 would be handy enough (1:34:30), but would torpedo any realistic hopes for a 3:00 to 3:10 finish. So maybe I should just turn off the brain and run at "body pace", like I've done on all my training runs, with concomitant (gotta love that word) slow-downs on the hills. That's what I've been advising others to do, after all. I might blow up, but then again I might actually run a good time. Jesus, does he never stop going round in circles on that one?

First run in my new Ron Hill athletic shorts (as opposed to lycra). Can't decide if that mesh insert is an underwear replacement or not. Assumed not today and wore the usual boxers underneath. That was fine, certainly cooler than lycra shorts.

Heading West tomorrow - hurray!

cwgatling

Just my opinion, but I think you can hit sub 3:10 no bother. I know you're not shooting for a PB, but a race is a race. Don't sell yourself short. Maybe go out at 7:05 miles and if you're still feeling good after the big hills, put the foot down?

Enjoy the day!

Krusty_Clown

brownian wrote: »

That said, I definitely feel a bit twitchy...maybe I'll go for a quick slow run...:D

Fixed your post.
Best of luck on Sunday. Hope it goes exactly to plan, and the weather is suitably aligned. I love that downhill stretch into Leenane overlooking the fjord. That slightly pointy hill will feel like a blip in comparison to some of those pointy hills you leisure ran up, during our 'recce of the Wicklow Way! Have a cracker!

brownian

@cwg::I don't think a PB's on the cards over that course. I'd be pretty happy with a decent AgeGroup placing. But thank you for the vote of confidence - there's a strong inclination to do as you suggest

@KC:: thanks a lot. And for the steady supply of good advice. Much appreciated.

claralara

Are you going to go intricate race/pace plan or loose cannon so? I think I’ll stick with what I know best…Loose cannon all the way!:D

brownian

Given your carefully paced Mallow performance, I'm expecting similar discipline on the longer run. :cool:Pick your best realistic pace, and stick to it. I expect there'll be more mental discipline for all of us, as it's not exactly a massive-crowd experience after the first few miles, so there'll be less picking someone and sticking to them than we might get in DCM, say.

My own current plans are made of cobwebs and may change radically before or during the run. But right now my plan is about 1:25 or 1:30 for the first half, and as close as possible to that for the second half, bearing the hills in mind. This relies on my feeling pretty perky when I get to Leenane, but I don't think that's infeasible. If I catch myself panting or working hard on the flat in the first half, I'll throttle back. If in the second half, I'll see how much of it I can sustain.

Oh, and I'll be trying to enjoy myself:pac:

liamo123

brownian wrote: »

My own current plans are made of cobwebs and may change radically before or during the run. But right now my plan is about 1:25 or 1:30 for the first half, and as close as possible to that for the second half, bearing the hills in mind. This relies on my feeling pretty perky when I get to Leenane, but I don't think that's infeasible. If I catch myself panting or working hard on the flat in the first half, I'll throttle back. If in the second half, I'll see how much of it I can sustain.

Oh, and I'll be trying to enjoy myself:pac:

Best of luck with that....Like myself alot will depend on the conditions on the day...Mild dry and no wind would b perfect but I doubt if we'l b that lucky :rolleyes:

As 4 trying 2 enjoy urself; that can wait til the post race pints :pac:

tHE vAGGABOND

Good luck!

Wish I was heading down that direction tomorrow too, damn work

Sure we may bump into each other and have a pint down there

ElectraX

brownian wrote: »

Struggled all the time to keep the pace slower than 4:20.

Oh I really really wish I had that problem:D

shazkea

+1 on all the good wishes. Best of luck and hope all goes to plan

brownian

@vagga - that'd be good. I'll be the sweaty tired-looking old geezer

@electraX - self control isn't a strong point

@shaz - thanks v. much. All the support at taper madness time is great!

shotgunmcos

Just skimmed over your log there brownian. You seem to be in great shape from your staple diet of 65min 10 milers :eek: Best of luck on Sunday, you will be one of those skipping off down the road ahead of me. I'd say you will place well if you put it together. Looking forward to your report. I'll be chatting with 2 good looking but nervous women at the start maybe in a white cap...

menoscemo

Best of luck on sunday. You should be finished about 3 hours before me, but maybe see you about galway?

brownian

Thanks lads.

Sadly won't be in Galway - always make a long weekend of it and get a house outside Louisburgh, so while I'll (hopefully!) be at the finish for a while waiting on a couple of housemates, I'll be skiting off back to Mayo post-race.

Best of luck to you both!

claralara

Safe journey today!

brownian

Stoked. Settled into the house in Mayo.
Fantastic weather, the challenge is to get sleep and stay off the beer.

Went to bed a bit late last night (1!!) but just had the one pint.
Got a good load if rice spuds and prawns down me.

Easy 5km planned for today, just to keep the legs alive.
Two years pulled a calf muscle on the same pre- race run.
Will try to avoid that today.

Other than that it's try to relax and eat plenty.

Hope to bump into a few boardsies tomorrow. My blue and White singlet has
Brownian on the back

digger2d2

Good luck and enjoy!

rainbow kirby

Best of luck!

BrokenMan

Best of luck, I will say hello at the start if I see you

ronnie085

Good luck tomorrow, looking forward to the report

Micilin Muc

Enjoy your day and good luck!

brownian

Good day. Had a great run. Delighted if somewhat surprised to run a pb.

Full details on Tuesday, when the results are online.

rainbow kirby

Congrats, savage time!

pgmcpq

A Connemara sub3 - well done indeed!

Slogger Jogger

Incredible time. Very well done.

Krusty_Clown

brownian wrote: »

Good day. Had a great run. Delighted if somewhat surprised to run a pb.

Full details on Tuesday, when the results are online.

Superb running, particularly in Connemara on a hot day. Not entirely surprised though! Congrats.

cwgatling

Great stuff brownian. Serious running.

BrokenMan

Well done, thats fantastic. PB's in Connemara are something to be proud of.

tHE vAGGABOND

thats brilliant - well done

liamo123

brownian wrote: »

Good day. Had a great run. Delighted if somewhat surprised to run a pb.

Full details on Tuesday, when the results are online.

Thats absoulely brillant running on a course like that brownian... That must give u serious confidence.... Where 2 next

shazkea

Well done on a brill run and PB

jeffontour

Great stuff, looks like the logical next step is the ultra.....

RacoonQueen

Brilliant stuff. Well done.

donothoponpop

Great run! I'm with Krusty though, you showed your cards a little when you bounded up Prince Willie's Seat towards the end of that recce!;)

Well done!

menoscemo

Brownian. stop sanbagging and tell us what you ran? I told you sub 3 was a formality :rolleyes:

brownian

Yet another race report. Stop me if you've heard this already.

You've probably seen all the taper madness earlier in this thread, so I won't mention it again. But sure enough, Saturday came around and I ran a gentle 6km as a "loosener", ending with a new twinge in the left calf. The usual conflict of stretch versus massage versus don't-annoy-it and the usual solution of a bit of all three.

Didn't feel too bad on Sunday - unlike some of the unfortunates who've posted their reports I didn't have an all-night party over my head, nor lots of race scenarios inside it. I had a single beer and a plate of rice and got a decent night's kip. Two small bowls of muesli and a banana, and I was all set.

Mrs B dropped me off in the Inagh valley about 10:00 -did a few easy stretches and jogged about ten yards, clapped the ultras through (thinking of SJ and his following Mick Rice last year) and before you know it the run was on. Had been hoping to meet one or two more of the boards people at the start, but in 500-600 bodies it's not easy, so an opportunity was missed there.

Weather was perfect - gentle tail wind, cool enough, overcast. Dumped a penney's fleece at the start, wore a fleece hat for half a mile until properly warm, then it was singlet and shorts all the way.

Met ShotgunMCOS a short while in...he spun me some tale of a long training run at a handy pace...his results tell their own story. Respect.

I'm sorry to say that most of the rest of this race was uneventful. So skip the rest unless you're bothered!

In terms of chunks
- first few miles were flat and handy. Hit 10km at about 41 minutes, emerging from the valley onto the main road.
- uphills the church weren't too bad. Met an ultra from wexford, and focussed on not trying to catch the ten or so marathoners strung out ahead
- downhill to leenane was as lovely as expected. Ran with another marathoner for one or two of these miles, then left him to attack the hills
- first main hill was long and steep but was feeling good, well hyrated and strong. U2 a nice touch.
- very conscious of M13-M20 being the key to a good run - delighted to find them easier than ever I have on the half. Ground them out at about 4:10 to 4:20. Passed one more marathoner and was passed by one in an orange mesh top, looking very strong indeed. First few halfers came through, though the main big group never caught me. I'd been worried about congestion in Leenane, but in fact managed to pre-empt it, which was good.
- The Maam valley to Keanes has always been hard for me. Was handy. Took my gels, drank my drinks, moved the legs.
- The big hill was long, with the odd bit of headwind. But was mentally in a good place, with a feasible plan for sub-3.
- The last mile was as long as ever, but finished well enough.

Mental traffic, such as it was, was restricted to
- pace checking - for some reason I had this notion of 4:11 as my ideal pace, 4:30 as the slowest uphill pace unless things were getting really ugly, 4:00 as the fastest I wanted to see myself doing, unless steeply downhill, and 4:20 as an ok pace during the second half. Don't know where these numbers came from, but I was pretty religious about them and they suited me on the day.
- telling myself not to try to catch or keep up with other runners (especially half-ers) but to run my own race on my own terms, at my own pace. I do tend to try to catch people, but on Sunday this messed up the pace terribly, so I generally behaved and just let people stay 100m ahead.
- thinking how much easier this was than last year, when I had a poor half-marathon in which I overheated, under-trained and eventually walked in places.
- taking regular gels and drinking lots
- looking at the scenery. Connemara is a fantastic location, and a lovely place to run. The clouds hid the best of the hills, but they kept the temperature just where I wanted it.
- marvelling at the ultras - that's serious running. I met the same Mick Rice at his 30-mile mark, where he was clipping along at about 4:10 or so per km and looking pretty relaxed. I wouldn't say he finished much behind me!

A highlight for me were the general sense of being in control and on a pace, rather than just trying to go as fast as possible for as long as possible. This is something that I owe pretty much entirely to the boards community, so thank you again to all the many who have provided input and advice - I was listening, and it helped.

Mandatory hill thoughts - I thought both the big hills were pretty handy compared to doing them in the half. By the time you hit them, with 13 miles under the shoes, you have a pace, you're warm and in the zone. Spun up the first one at something like 5:00 pace (all figures per km, sorry), exchanging blown kisses with Bono. The music on both hills was great - something to repeat next year, imho. The second (how) hill was of course longer and a bit harder, but at the bottom I'd checked my time for the first time, and seen to my surprise that I had four miles to go at 2:27. So mentally I was cruising - so long as I kept the pace well about 6:00 per km, I'd get in under 3 hours, which would be a miracle.

Running down the hill was tough. I put a fair amount of work into the hill, trying to keep the pace up. There were two other full-marathon guys some distance ahead; I'd been seeing them all day, and had stopped myself from trying to catch them. I deliberately held myself to comfortable descent pace (4:00km), and normal (4:20) for the following half km or so. Then, with nothing left to lose, I put the boot down. Caught both of the lads (and a final ultra) over the last km, at a pace of about 4:00 on the flat. One more full runner was just too far ahead to catch; he finished 8 seconds ahead, and fair play.

Crossed the line in 2:57:38, a new PB. 7th overall and 3rd in the M40 age group. I was ecstatic, to be honest, tears in my eyes. To break 3 in Conn was something that I'd only really thought about dreaming of, as I hadn't thought it any way feasible. What I'm going to do to top it is a difficult question...giving up running now might be best.

For anyone who's still reading, and wants to know, I think there were two key elements in exceeding my expectations. One was training - I've never trained so consistently and for so long for a marathon before. The result is an entirely different marathon experience, where you feel as if you have some element of control. Thanks again to those on boards who gave me good advice on this front. The other was hydration. I died last year for lack of it, and this year I wasn't messing about. I drank at every water station. I took gels regularly - one at the start, and four over the course. I stashed a few bottles of torq on the course on the way down, Friday evening, and retrieved them en route - this cost a few seconds, but gave a useful boost of water and sugar. Over the course I drank easily 3-3.5 litres.

Sorry about the lack of drama. I enjoyed the race immensely, with little or no pain or anguish - sorry if this makes for dull reading.

brownian

jeffontour wrote: »

Great stuff, looks like the logical next step is the ultra.....

LOL. I was wondering how long that suggestion would take!! The next step is a short rest and then a crack at a faster run in Kildare. I was planning to run 3:10-3:30 in Conn, but due to circumstances beyond my control that didn't work out. I'll try to get the plan back on track by having a go at 2:55 in Kildare.

misty floyd

Brilliant stuff Brownian, excellent work.

menoscemo

menoscemo wrote: »

Brownian. stop sanbagging and tell us what you ran? I told you sub 3 was a formality :rolleyes:

repeating just for effect

digger2d2

That's a fantastic run and report....Well done!

ElectraX

Wow! Fantastic result!! A pb in Conn is surely a rarity! Excellent race report too. You must still be grinning ear to ear!

shotgunmcos

Super run Brownian and nice to meet you as you set off to murder it! I gave a small thought to going with you but glad I held off. Well done!

tHE vAGGABOND

Brilliant Report - what folks want to read [rather than my waffle!]

Good work, must feel brilliant to have hit your target like that :cool:

RubyK

Wow, fantastic running! Well done, you must be over the moon

claralara

Well done! Savage running. The stuff that dreams are made of!

brownian

Thanks to all for the positive feedback. I can confess to still being pretty happy with how the run went:)

Signed up for Kildare on 15 May, and my aim now is to get back to being mobile, and then work on running faster, rather than up and down hills. Target for Kildare would be something like 2:55 or 4:10 per km, every km. That's the same pace as I hit quite a lot in Conn, but without the hills-induced variations/rests. I'll do proper maths between now and then, but the dream time would be 2:54:xx. My (ahem) "training plan" is to work on stringing 4:00kms together over ten miles or so at a time, twice a week....plus a 15 miler, a 20 and a (tapering) 12 or so. Feedback on this plan is most welcome - I'm assuming I need to get a couple of long runs in, and that I can't just do fast ten-milers for a month.

So, out for the first spin post-marathon today. 5 miles at 5:00 km target pace. Went more or less according to plan. Feel stiff as a board, and only warmed up a bit, so still stiff now. Took a short break in the middle to stretch and walk, then ran the last bit. Suggestions on how to loosen up the legs most welcome! I've a session with cfitz booked, but till Weds of this week, and I'd hope to be back to ten miles by the weekend. The legs are stretching ok, but just feel hard and tight.

EdMoses

Respect! Superb running brownian. Fair play.

Krusty_Clown

brownian wrote: »

Thanks to all for the positive feedback. I can confess to still being pretty happy with how the run went:)

Signed up for Kildare on 15 May, and my aim now is to get back to being mobile, and then work on running faster, rather than up and down hills. Target for Kildare would be something like 2:55 or 4:10 per km, every km. That's the same pace as I hit quite a lot in Conn, but without the hills-induced variations/rests. I'll do proper maths between now and then, but the dream time would be 2:54:xx. My (ahem) "training plan" is to work on stringing 4:00kms together over ten miles or so at a time, twice a week....plus a 15 miler, a 20 and a (tapering) 12 or so. Feedback on this plan is most welcome - I'm assuming I need to get a couple of long runs in, and that I can't just do fast ten-milers for a month.

So, you want advice on a four week program that will take you from one marathon pb, recovery, speed-work, taper, then another marathon pb? There be dragons!