DCM 2013-5 Time Marathoner,1st Time Dad

Cartman78

meh....not a great few days in running terms...have been very stiff and lethargic since the middle of last week...no va-va-voom whatsoever

Was tempted just to force myself out and run through it but decided to listen to my body for a change. Did plenty of walking and stretching so hopefully normal service will be restored in the coming days

Cartman78

Wed 5th - 7.15k - 33:28 mins

Battled through the blazing evening heat to complete my first run in nearly a week. Felt fine but kept it slow and steady to ease myself back into it.

Cartman78

Fri 7th - 8.25k - 37:39 mins

Sun 9th - 10.00k - 44:24 mins

Happy with both of these runs; feeling good again and deffo got my running mojo back after a dodgy few days.

Still no long runs but had a jam packed weekend with various things on so getting out at all was a bonus.

Only 5 days til Bilboa :eek: Would estimate a 41 -> 42 min result . Based on previous years I'll probably go out like a bullet, be in the low 19's for the first 5k and then die a death on the hills between there and 8k

Cartman78

Mon 10th - 8.25k - 36:37 min

A solid if unspectacular run - gave my ankle a bad jarring in the first 800m but no damage done it seems

Debating whether to go out for a quick stretch of the legs tonight - might do 15 x 400m intervals or something like that just to keep fresh for tmrw night.

Also debating whether to attempt to pace myself sensibly tmrw night (at somewhere around 42min pace) or just go balls out and see when/if the wheels come off

Cartman78

Didn't make it out for a run last night - decided to do some stretching/lunging/foam rolling instead.

Feeling strangely anxious ahead of the 10k tonight - I haven't entered a race since this event last year so not really sure how it's going to go

Cartman78

Fri 14th - Bilboa 10k - 41:38mins

Pretty much as expected - it's my 7th year in a row doing it and the hills between 5 and 8k seem to get longer every year :pac:

Didn't have enough time banked in the first half and paid the price in the closing stage. Was hoping to come in <41mins but in the circumstances (no long run over 10k and no speed work) I guess it's not a bad time...splits below (plus 24 secs for the mystery extra few hundred yards )

1 3:44.3
2 4:02.0
3 4:01.9
4 4:10.0
5 4:08.2
6 4:17.5
7 4:23.2
8 4:24.7
9 4:18.3
10 3:44.1

Cartman78

Mon 17th - 10k - 47:10 mins

Ugghhh...one of those mega meh runs....was a bit of a recovery after the race I guess. Weather was hot and sticky, was out at 9am and felt half asleep etc.

Onwards and upwards

Cartman78

Quick update - haven't ran since last Monday

Was 'off' last week so spent most of it chasing around after a very active 8 mth old to give the missus a bit of a break.

Felt under the weather for most of the week too tbh...very stiff and lethargic and then developed a diiiiiiirty head cold over the weekend which is festering along at the moment. Had expected it to develop into a chest infection but seem to be holding it at bay for the moment...don't want to go to a GP and the inevitable dose of antibiotics unless absolutely necessary.

Pretty p1ssed off....haven't been sick at all in the last 5 yrs or so but then got really bad flu in February and now struggling again. Miss running for so many reasons...as mentioned in my OP I really couldn't give too much of a sh1t about times, PBs, races etc but really missing the headspace that being out on the road gives me

Cartman78

Further update -
Still not running :mad: Thought this head cold/man flu/hayfever/sinusitis had cleared up late last week but it's still lingering on.

Am wrecked by the time I get home from work and fit for feck all after putting the little fella to bed. Not sleeping great either so it's the perfect storm really

Anyway, should be cleared up in the coming days, so hopefully will have actual training updates on here again rather than whinging on about colds etc.

Cartman78

Wed 5th - 7.15k - 33:30 mins

Finally made it out for a plod last night - went fine, sinuses are now 98% clear so fingers crossed normal service is now restored.

Obviously missed Dundrum 10k (again) this year; might have a go at Newport 10k on the 21st. Did that course a couple of years ago and it's reasonably quick iirc

Cartman78

Sun 7th - 8.25k - 39:00 mins

Another estimated time due to flat Garmin battery - based on listening to the last 20 mins of an a "This American Life" epidsode and the first 19 min of the /Filmcast podcast :P

Went out around 7.30pm so temps were still quite high - took it easy, just wanted to get a few miles into my legs

Cartman78

Tues 9th - 8.25k - 38:29 mins
Left it as late as possible last night to get a few miles in....headed off around 9:20pm so probably the latest I've ever run in my almost 10 year 'career'.

Went grand, although it was still quite muggy. Haven't ran in heat like that since Portugal a couple of summers ago. Feeling in ok shape despite the recent inactivity - a marathon plan still seems very daunting though tbh. Need to sort out my LSR situation and get things moving on that front before it's too late.

Current plan (in my head) - get in 2/3 10k ish runs during the week and start LSR's (initially 10 miles) asap. There's a couple of 10k's coming up soon as well (Newport 21/07 and Pallasgreen 16/08) that I'll prob do as well.

Had recently written off the idea of doing a marathon this year but might give it a last anyway...if I can get in shape and keep up the LSR's, I should be able to run c. 3:30 handy enough

Cartman78

Thurs 11th - 8.25k - 39:29 mins

A PB run (Post Beer) - would not recommend. Was about a mile into the run when I remembered that I'd had a bottle of Corona with dinner - would normally never ever run after drinking alcohol (only drink very very rarely anyway).

Felt ok-ish during the run itself but got a bit gassy and hot & bothered towards the end...was in the horrors then for about an hour afterwards :mad: but recovered ok and actually slept ok. Felt like I burped every individual beer bubble back up :eek:

Anyway, got a few miles into the legs and no long term damage done

Cartman78

Sat 13th - 7.15k - 33:30 mins

Another jaunt in the sun - dunno when I'm going to start doing LSR's :eek:

Anyway, feeling pretty good at the mo so hopefully in ok shape to start upping the distance a bit

Cartman78

Mon 15th - 8.25k - 37:38 mins

Gorgeous cool evening for a run...not a midge/midget in sight as well which was a help.

Still feeling a bit sluggish & heavy legged....had been putting my recent slowish times down to the heat but that wasn't really a factor last night.

Anyhoo, weighed myself earlier on...bang on 76kg so happy enough with that for the moment.

Newport 10k is on Sunday....start at 2pm which will be tricky if the hot weather returns

Cartman78

Weds 17th - 7.15k - 31:58 mins

Fastest time on this route in a while I think. Decided to give my new Asics Cumulus a debut last night and felt great in them (as one always does in new shoes )

Right ankle feeling a bit dodge this morning - just stiff I think...must do some stretching later on

Cartman78

Right...haven't logged runs in a while so here's a quick summary:

Sat 20th - 7.15k - 31:49 mins

Mon 22nd - 12.45k - 61:30 mins

Thurs 25th - 10k - 45:20 mins

Sat 27th - 7.15 - 31:24 mins

Thurs 1st - 10k - 45:54 mins

Sun 4th - 18k - 89:21 mins

Weds 7th - 10k - 44:29 mins

Main highlight is the first run that I can call a long run without feeling too embarassed - felt fine on the 18k and really good on the 10k last night.

Have also bitten the bullet and signed up for Dublin. Planning to do Pallasgreen 10k on Friday week too.

Cartman78

Fri 9th - 7.15k - 31:27 mins

Sun 11th - 21k - 103 mins

Happy enough with the LSR, set out to run at ~ 5min km so was pretty much bang on. Onwards and upwards

Cartman78

Did a couple of shorter runs early last week, 10k and 8k iirc....nothing special time wise, just the basic junk miles.

Fri 16th - 10k - 41:12 mins

Felt borderline sick all day Friday, was going to give this one a miss altogether but decided to give it a last anyway. Very very hilly course but kept a strong steady pace all the way through. Could have possibly gone a bit quicker if I'd known the course better


Tues 20th - 12.25k - 59mins
Bit of a slog tbh...no va-va-voom last night at all. Had planned to do 16k but fading light and general 'meh' feeling meant I had to cut it short.

Cartman78

Bizarrely as my running rate has increased my level of updating on here has decreased... probably some weird psychological reasoning behind but won't analyse it too much

Thurs 22nd - 8.25k - 35:56 mins

Sat 24th - 26.25k - 131:34 mins

Mon 26th - 8.25k - 38:25 mins

Weds 28th - 8.20k - 37:50 mins

Got on ok with the long run - kinda ran out of puff a bit due to lack of fuel..will need to look at getting some gels on board from now on I guess. Ran fairly comfortably throughout at ~ 3:30 marathon pace

The run last night was in the dark so was limited to the fairly limited lit area of my local rural town. Not as headwrecking as I thought and quite flat so gives a break from the hills.


Also signed up for the Galway Half at the end of September so should be on for a PB (sub 1:35) if everything goes to plan.

Injury watch: the achilles are definitely starting to whinge a bit but keeping on top of it with lots of stretching and foam rolling. My ridiculously tight calves are the root of most of my problems so will be aiming to keep them as loose as possible in the coming weeks.

Cartman78

Fri 30th - 10.05k - 42:39 mins

Felt like a million dollars during this run - I reckon this would have been a sub-40 style effort on a flat course during a race. Probably haven't felt that good since Dungarvan 10 mile last January

Sun 1st - 17.76k - 81:37 mins

Busy all day so no proper long run - happy enough with this though.

Tues 3rd - 8.25k - 37:05 mins

Can't remember this run now so must have been fairly humdrum :P

Fri 6th - 15k - 68:21 mins
Again, similar to last Friday, felt very strong and 15k seemed like a short run.

Sun 8th - 30k - 149:52 mins

Out at the crack of dawn (well around 9ish)...first morning trying my proposed marathon breakfast of weetabix, banana and natural yogurt and it worked a treat thankfully. Also first time in yonks having a gel which also did the business. Happy enough with the run and consistent pacing. Interestingly, both this and my last LSR both had avg.speed at 5min kmh exactly, so maybe after 10 years of running, I've finally figured out how to run at a steady pace.

My plan for DCM is to aim to run 4 x 10ks at sub 50 min pace - that gets me to 40k at ~ 3 hrs 20 mins (hopefully a few mins less) and then, if there's anything left in the tank, I push on for a PB/Course PB....foolproof eh??

Cartman78

Goals for 2013:

1) Make it to DCM Startline in one piece - Should be ok for this one hopefully; calves starting to tighten a bit though so might book in for some dry needling in the next week or two

2) Sub 3:45 would be nice - this is well within range; would take a bad niggle or bad blow up on the day to miss out

3) Sub 3:30 would be nicer - possible I think if I can get my pacing right on the day; tempted to go with the pacing group and see how it feels

4) PB (< 3:26) would be great - outside chance but not impossible; would need everything to go really well on the day but realistically, given the year I've had re: training, scraping in under 3:30 would be a major success.

5) Get under 40mins for 10k again - not sure if this is going to happen now; have done zero specific speed training this year and that's deffo whats missing. Tempted to do a 10k this Friday - would be happy with a sub-41 and would really need to bust a nut to get near 40 mins.

6) Half-Marathon PB (<1:35) if I can find a race that suits - all signed up for Galway Bay Half in a couple of weeks. Should be achievable I think but will be closer to 1:35 than 1:30

Cartman78

Tues 10th - 8k - 40:29 mins

Really had to drag myself out for this one but glad (as always) that I did in the end.
Treated it as a recovery type run from the LSR so hence the slow pace - also taking it easy in the dark and on badly worn paths. Would be spectacularly stupid to pick up an injury pushing myself to hard in the dark for the sake of a few seconds per km

Cartman78

Fri 13th - 10k - 42:53 mins

Went out a bit later than planned so this ended up being a race against darkness - felt really good and this was probably in my top 3 or 4 times for this particular route.


Weekend - was a write off - felt burned out and sick...achey all over :mad:

No long run so spent Sunday on the couch watching the Great North Run and the Triathlon final.

The slight niggle in my hip/glute/lower back flared up too quite badly - managed to get physio on Monday evening. Basically my hip flexors & glutes are on strike, therefore resuliting in back pain and probably overloading my calves/achilles as well.

Have a few exercises to do so hopefully they do the trick. Felt like shoite yesterday too but much better today so might try a gentle jog tonight if i get a chance

Cartman78

Thurs 19th - 6k - 28:45 mins

This was basically an am-I-still-injured-or-not run ; took it very very easy and was just glad to be out and about after what transpired to be a stressful week.

Have the usual raft of new exercises to do - there's a couple of Pilates style movements involved too.

Struck me eventually that I'd be give a couple of very similar exercises to do about 4 years ago by my previous physio but they obviously got dropped along the way. I guess if I was to try and do all the exercises/stretches I've been told to do over the years, I probably wouldn't have much time for anything (work etc.) let alone running

Cartman78

Sun 22nd - 32k - 163:45 mins

Drove out to UL early yesterday morning - couldn't face doing another long run in the punishing hills near where I live.

Went ok - fell off my goal pace a bit and no major injury concerns during the run itself. The breakfast worked a treat again, and the gel and Lucozade Sport did the biz too.

Left achilles was starting to ache yesterday evening and quite tender this morning (but glad to not that right hip/lower back a-ok) - might ice it later and stretch the shoyte out of it.

Looks like I'll be hobbling onto the start line yet again...I think a sub-3.30 is probably beyond me right now. Sub-3.40 is probably a more realistic target tbh.

Mayo losing yet again yesterday has filled me with confidence :rolleyes:

Cartman78

Tues 24th - 6k - ~28 mins

Gentle evening jog to test out the various niggles after the weekend run. Went ok.

Thurs 26th - 5k - 22:45 mins

Tight on time so ended up doing some sort of tune up run ahead of half marathon on Saturday. Slightly concerned about my lack of mileage but I think getting to the start line in Dublin in half-decent shape is probably my main goal now

Cartman78

Saturday 28th - Galway Bay Half Marathon - 96:35 mins

Gorgeous day in Galway; had a very broken night's sleep due to Cartman Jnr. teething but arrived at the start line feeling pretty ok.

My aim was to run 2 x 45 mins 10k and see how that felt. I think my official half marathon PB is around 1:35 from Bantry a good few years ago so thought there might be an outside chance of beating that if the day went well.

Started off grand and felt comfortable for first 5k (was eerily bang on target pace). Found it a bit harder heading back towards town with the headwind so lost a few secs off pace at 10k (45:10).

Had a gel at half-way and felt like a million dollars Picked up the pace a bit and ran very strongly from halfway thru to ~ 17k. Started to struggle a bit then and found the last few km's a bit tought tbh.

In hindsight, I should have probably gone with 2 gels at 5 and 10 miles. Might have avoided feeling so zonked at the end. Or maybe it was the heat? Or the crappy night's sleep

Who knows - as usual this year, I finished a race in a time that I would have been happy with at the start but feeling like I didn't do myself 100% justice on the road. Still though, it's a possible PB (can't find the results online or in my archives) and deffo my fastest half in 8 years or so.

All the online calculators extrapolate my time out to a 3:22 marathon which is both encouraging and ridiculous at the same time. I know my mileage is waaaay to low - I think a sub 3:40 is more realistic at this stage.