Chasing numbers

racheljev

Good luck on Monday J, hope it all goes to plan for you

sunflowerRo

The very best of luck j. Hope to see you down there at some point.

DigiJem

Thanks for the good wishes folks, this week has really dragged on, I can’t wait for the race now

30th - 4 x 400m intervals, with a mile either side for warm-up/cool-down.

31st – 3 miles easy, out into the misty rain. Felt great, nice to run in the rain for a change. Pace 9:34, no hr.

1st – Last run in the plan, another easy 3 miles. Pace 9:41, hr 141. That’s the training done & dusted, roll on Monday!

shazkea

Good luck J, hope it all goes to plan. See you afterwards I'm sure.

Nules10

Best of luck j. You will run a cracking race. See you afterwards

DigiJem

Cork marathon

After a few days of rain, it was nice to see the sun out on race morning. Dropped off the bag and headed to the start line. Lined up about 10 yards ahead of the 3:45 pacers, my plan was to stay ahead of them and aim for a pace of 8:30 min/miles.

Not too congested for the first mile, and soon the pacers went past me. Stayed with them for the first couple of miles but I was finding it difficult to run in such a big group, so I eased ahead of them. From there, I was just focusing on staying in front of them, and any time I slow a little, I could hear the stampede of feet gaining behind me so that kept me honest.

Past the first relay changeover, and a nice bit of support. As we came to the downhill stretch before the tunnel, I picked up the pace as I knew there was an uphill drag on the far side of the tunnel. It wasn’t too bad in the end and we continued onto the 2nd relay changeover.

Turned off before Blackrock castle and grabbed some water. At this stage I needed to chuck water over my head as well, I was starting to feel very hot and bothered. Miles 12 to 14 were very rough, mile 12 was 8:46, my slowest mile of the race. I’m not sure what the cause was, but it didn’t last long thankfully. By mile 15 I was feeling fine again and was back on pace.

About here the half marathon leaders flew by, followed by groups of much faster runners. I don’t remember too much about the next 5 miles other than there’s was lots of uphill drags, none of them too bad and I was surprised that my pace had picked up a little here. In my last 2 marathons I was a wreck by mile 20 so I happy I was still feeling ok, I knew there was one last climb, then it was flat until the end.

When the watch beeped for 22 miles, I remember thinking the worst is over, just bang out another 4 miles at 8:30 pace and you’ll be fine. That proved to be easier said than done; the wind really knocked the stuffing out of me once I came onto Carrigrohane road. I’m sure it was just a breeze, but I found it difficult. Kept the pace at 8:30 for mile 23 but it was very tough now, and the pace slowed to 8:37 for the next 2 miles.

Running across Mardyke Bridge and thru the wooded path, I could hear the voices of the 3:45 pacers gaining on me. I knew I started ahead of them, so I figured I needed to finish in front of them to get under 3:45. This was the worst moment, I was desperately trying to stay ahead but I was losing the battle. They went by me on the North Mall with a group of about 15 runners. My watched beeped for mile 26 along here, and I reckoned I had just under a half mile to go. I checked my watch and my avg pace was 8:30, so that reassured me and perked me up. I chased after the pacers, they were about 20 meters ahead, and as I came around the corner onto Patrick’s Bridge I could see they were easing off completely and I went past them. Just a few hundred meters to go, the crowd and the cheering helped me with a final push to the line. In bits at the end, but very happy. Chip time 3:43:38.

Marthastew

Congrats J, I'm thrilled for you. Fantastic time and very, very well deserved.

RubyK

Fantastic result DigiJem, and truely deserved!! I am delighted for you! Enjoy the recovery and roll on Berlin

Emer911

Wow, great time DigiJem. You must be chuffed with that! Congrats!

brownian

Well done you!!

liamo123

Great running DJ...well done

Nules10

Well done again J. Must have been that cocktail you sneaked off to have after dinner that helped you Great to catch up with you

sunflowerRo

Well done J. I'm really thrilled for you. Well deserved. Hope you did go back to that cocktail bar...well deserved after your performance :-)

The_Boy_Wonder

Great run DJ. Congrats on the PB. Sounds like it was rarely in doubt! Hope you're still basking in the glory of it!

DigiJem

Nules10 wrote: »

Must have been that cocktail you sneaked off to have after dinner that helped you

sunflowerRo wrote: »

Hope you did go back to that cocktail bar.

Drove past it again this morning, very sad to never have encountered its delights ...maybe next time

jcsmum

Great to catch up with you over the weekend. Delighted you went sub 3'45 even if I'm just the tiniest bit jealous
So well deserved and you're always so modest about your PBs.

shazkea

Congrats on the PB there DJ, brilliant running. Hope the medicinal black stuff helped with the recovery
BTW you're right, cracking cheerleaders on the finishing straight

pistol_75

Well done DJ.

racheljev

Congrats! Delighted you hit your goal, well deserved

DigiJem

After 2 rest days, it was time for a recovery run. Never nice starting out in the lashing rain, and the sore legs didn’t help. Thankfully, it was just a short run. 6k, 6:15 min/k pace, hr 143. Making the dreaded switch to kilometers as prep for Berlin training.

sunflowerRo

Nooooo, not km's!
Fair play, getting out after not much of a rest. I'd say you are still on a high after the great performance on Monday :)

DigiJem

That bloody rain tonight dampened any last remnants of my high :pac:

claralara

Well done on hitting your goal J! And with such a cushion too - excellent stuff.

Didn't realise you were on the Berlin wagon too. It'll be some craic. What plan are you going to follow?

Any shorter races planned to test the recovering marathon legs?

DigiJem

Thanks CL, I'm going to do the P&D 12 week plan for Berlin. I've entered the Dunshauglin 10k and maybe will do a 5k somewhere in June.

DigiJem

9th: 6k recovery run. Still got slight aches in my right quad and left knee, nothing major though - pace 6:07, hr 150

10th: 10k easy, nice and sunny, ran by feel today and the legs felt a lot better - pace 5:59 , hr 151

DigiJem

11th: Rest day

12th: 8k recovery run, pace 5:58, hr 146. Getting bored now of all this recovery malarkey, there’s a local 5k on tomorrow evening, might give it a go if I can get out of work on time.

DigiJem

The Downs 5k

Normally I dread 5ks but I was looking forward to this one. I had no idea what the route was like, I didn’t mind for once, I was just looking to have a decent fast run. A quick spin over to the Downs GAA club, registered, paid my tenner, and was soon running down to the start line which was about 1k away, so a nice warmup.

The start was a bit chaotic, a narrow country road, runners, walkers, kids, even a woman with a jack russell. Off we went and as usual I got carried away and went a little fast. First k done in 4:32. I soon slowed after that, and the next 3k were pretty non eventful. We did a 4k loop which brought us back by the start line, leaving 1k into the village for the finish. I was spent by now and glad to see the finish line. Finished in 22:47, well pleased as that would have been a pb, but when i checked my garmin it had the distance as 4.86k so not this time.

Not too bothered, it went a lot better than my last 5k in March, and a nice midweek race for a change. Think this is the first year they’ve ran this event, it’s a very flat route, just one stretch of really rough road which was tough to run on.

Avg pace 4:41, hr 150

Younganne

Well done on a great time in Cork..and back racing already...fantastic:D

jcsmum

Well done J. Grrrr don't you just hate when the route is short. You've obviously recovered well from Cork.

DigiJem

15th: 10k easy this evening, out into the rain but it soon eased off. Pace 5:39, hr 153