Confessions of a never has been.....

Mrs Mc

OOnegative wrote: »

Mrs Mc wrote: »

You accusing my hubby of being a bit of chatter box ???

If he was one of the Mr Men, he’d be Mr Whodoesn’t Shutup!!!

ha ha I’m straight tellin !!!

Duanington

Mrs Mc wrote: »

ha ha I’m straight tellin !!!

You won't get a word in, A :pac:

Duanington

26.08.2018

Friday

4 miles easy after work

Saturday

Tullamore half

Originally this was to be the half in the lead up to Berlin but over the course of the last couple of months, that plan changed – I still felt that I needed to get out and run a half marathon as training for Valencia approaches.
I feel that there is a sub 80 half in me at the moment, I’m in good shape, training well and while the last few races haven’t been the best, everything is still pointing in the right direction. I’d need the right race and a bit of luck of course to click and run under 80 minutes, I wasn’t confident that Tullamore would provide that but I did want to test the body and kick on into full marathon training.
Got myself down to Tullamore good and early and was immediately impressed with the organisation, car parking, number collection, information points...all spot on. Met up with by younger bro and a couple of his mates who were running this one too.

Weather wise, it was just about perfect – maybe just a little warm out of the breeze but it was a pleasant morning for it. Warmup done and dusted, I made myself over to the starting area and lined up a few rows from the front.
Without any delay, we were off, heading out away from the town, initially slightly downhill but then into a substantial drag which came and went in the blink of an eye. I glanced at the watch .5 mile in to make sure I wasn’t overcooking anything, I wasn’t – all good. Spotted a bit of a legend from Mullingar just ahead and pulled up alongside him to see if we could get a bit of a group going, I suspected he may have been struggling though and indeed he confirmed as much as I pulled alongside him.

A right turn at a roundabout and I could see the lead group stretching away in the distance, I was feeling good at this stage, the pace felt very comfortable, we’d moved into a headwind but it wasn’t causing any real discomfort just yet. Something I didn’t pay any attention to at the time though was that I had already left myself isolated between groups, I was sitting about 30 metres behind a group and without looking back, I couldn’t be sure where the next group was but it sounded like there were only a handful of runners behind. I should have sat really, mistake number one.

A left turn brought us off the main road into a smaller country road that was totally closed to traffic for a good stretch, lots of shade from the sun here and lots of rolling hills that you expect from running through the countryside. I’d got the beginnings of a stitch before the turn but shortly after turning, it really started to make its presence known. I’ve had plenty of stitches over the years so knew it was probably from breathing too quickly while working into the breeze and worked on settling down the breathing a little.

Miles 1-3: 6.08, 6.09, 6.19

The nature of the next 3 miles didn’t really lend itself to my cause, I’d paired up with a lad from Celbridge though and was determined to work through the increasing discomfort, I’d chase him for 400m, he’d ease up at a water station and I’d kick on a little while he chased. This worked very well for a good bit but I was really starting to have doubts about whether I could hold on to this for the rest of the race. The nature of the route was a long overall drag for these few miles though, up and down but gradually climbing and the stitch just would not shift, each time I pressed on, it bit harder into my side and when I eased off, it eased off. I reasoned with myself to get to 5 miles and regroup a little, when I got there, I ignored my own plan and slipped a little deeper into that self-sympathy thing that can happen in races.

The 6th mile was telling, I was working harder than I should have been and while the legs felt ok, everything else felt bad. I knew this was probably the toughest part of the course but even still, it seemed like there was no light at the end of this particular tunnel, Celbridge was still there, he was working, I was working but the stitch and subsequent doubts gradually started to win out from this point on really.

Miles 4,5,6: 6.17, 6.24, 6.14

I think I actually moved on past Celbridge somewhere around the 7th or 8th mile, trying to settle myself in at a very slightly quicker pace, it wasn’t working though and I knew it. Any thoughts of a PB were gone now and the race started to feel a little pointless to me, more self pity !
Passed lots of support around the relay changeover spot and shortly after that, I caved in. The pace dropped a little, the stitch started to ease, Celbridge cruised on by with some words of support and I knew my race was done.

Miles 7,8,9 – 6.14, 6.22, 6.42

The next couple of miles got gradually slower, the stitch had eased, runners were starting to move past and I felt very odd running at a pace which really wasn’t causing a whole lot of discomfort while people passed me, in the zone and right in the thick of that race hurt. A couple of clubmates cruised by, both gave a word of encouragement but I had totally checked out of the race by this stage and I just kept on at the more comfortable pace, pity gone, mortification setting in !
Something along the course of the last mile put a little life back into me and I picked it up a little, no sign of the stitch at all but it didn’t matter at this stage anyway. Great support coming back to the stadium, onto the track, no sprint finish, just a flat run to the finish line but I did get a pang in the side again about 100m from the end.

Miles 10-13: 6.56, 7.29, 7.00, 6.36

Over the line for 1.25.19

Ran a couple of easy miles ( 1 with Ray and another solo) and ate my weight in goodies at the incredible spread in the clubhouse. A really fantastic event by Tullamore, up there with Waterford in terms of organisation and probably better in terms of grub !

16.5 miles for the day, a disappointing one to be honest but there isn’t a lot you can do when these days come along, I’ve said to others all year that sometimes races fall on the good days and sometimes they don’t – this one fell on a bad day so it was really just a case of getting around, chalking it down and moving on. Work\life has been a bit stressful of late and I’m almost certain that played a part when it came to trying to dig in against the stitch, the mental reservoir just didn’t have it and I gave in.

Can’t really think of a positive other than I finished, it wasn’t an enjoyable experience but that’s how it goes sometimes, time to knuckle down and carry on with the hard work.


Sunday
Out to St Anne’s for a recovery run\post mortem on yesterday’s run, by mile 3 I was putting it behind me...that happened again at miles 4,5 and 6....by the end of the run though, it was well and truly put behind me!

7.3 easy miles

A solid week on paper, there'll be other races

Swashbuckler

Tough day at the office man. Nothing much to say apart from you know you're in better shape than that and it was just one of those days.

When you get the stitch have you tried big deep breaths. I mean seriously big breaths from the belly and focusing on expanding out that ribcage and stretching the diaphragm. It's worked for me a few times although not necessarily at HM pace.

OOnegative

Knew something was up when I seen your time yesterday, did you give up a little bit easy? Normally your an animal on a route like that, either way you have the right attitude, we all have $hite races. Let them go & move on.

healy1835

You're not injured & it wasn't the Half of a marathon block. It's another decent effort in addition to Mullingar, where you knew you had more to give. Sets you up nicely for Valencia training......

Duanington

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Tough day at the office man. Nothing much to say apart from you know you're in better shape than that and it was just one of those days.

When you get the stitch have you tried big deep breaths. I mean seriously big breaths from the belly and focusing on expanding out that ribcage and stretching the diaphragm. It's worked for me a few times although not necessarily at HM pace.

That's my go to routine alright, P - its always shifted it in the past too but not yesterday. In fact, I've gotten into the habit of doing it during warmups too ( not yesterday though!)

Duanington

OOnegative wrote: »

Knew something was up when I seen your time yesterday, did you give up a little bit easy? Normally your an animal on a route like that, either way you have the right attitude, we all have $hite races. Let them go & move on.

Yeah, I think that just about sums it up, B - definitely gave in a little easily, the stitch had me tortured but I've run through that kind of thing before - realistically, I think the fight left me when I knew the PB was off the cards which is silly thinking back

Duanington

healy1835 wrote: »

You're not injured & it wasn't the Half of a marathon block. It's another decent effort in addition to Mullingar, where you knew you had more to give. Sets you up nicely for Valencia training......

Cheers, J - yeah, a different race to Mullingar really but I'd have expected to run well in a competitive race like that yesterday. The half PB will just have to wait another while yet

AuldManKing

Bad luck DD - as you say, it happens to us all.
Very disheartening and you question things etc - but its a good week - its a decent session and you'll run a great marathon.

Tomwaits (previously Statts) from this parish had a lot of issues with stitches - thats why I asked you on Strava - might be worth seeing how he combated them as I know they impacted him a lot.

Duanington

AuldManKing wrote: »

Bad luck DD - as you say, it happens to us all.
Very disheartening and you question things etc - but its a good week - its a decent session and you'll run a great marathon.

Tomwaits (previously Statts) from this parish had a lot of issues with stitches - thats why I asked you on Strava - might be worth seeing how he combated them as I know they impacted him a lot.

Thanks A - yeah I've had issues before but usually sort it out with the breathing technique that P mentioned above, it just wouldn't shift yesterday but when I think back now, I'm not sure I paid enough attention to doing that stuff during the race....anyway, I won't dwell on it, I'll just move on now to the next race.

hot buttered scones

There's plenty of races I've done that I could copy and paste that race report for (bar the paces of course). Your dead right of course, chalk it down to a bad day and move on. On the subject of stitches - I use the deep breathes technique as well, but have gotten some relief too from basically sticking my fingers into my side under the ribs. I think I read it on here once. I went through a period of getting them regularly and then they just disappeared, so I'm none the wiser really. One thing that definitely worked during DCM last year was just sipping water (handed to me by a friendly boardsie!) for a bit.

Duanington

30.08.2018

Lots of good advice re stitches, thanks folks - I'll be sipping water while taking humongous deep breaths and stabbing my fingers in under my ribs next time :pac:

Think I've tried just about all of the above over the years so we'll just see how I go next time.

Back to hard work this week;

Monday

12 miles on the plan, recovery is key and while I didn't run well on Saturday, a half marathon is still a half marathon so we cut the long run back this week.

Usual route, long way home from work, coast road ( met a pal for a bit) then ducked into St Anne's for the last bit. Felt good and got into a very nice stride for the second half of this

12.5 miles at just over 7.30 pace

Tuesday

Lunchtime run with a growing group from around the area where I work, nice trot in around Irishtown\Ringsend, good chats all the way for 7.5 miles

Wednesday

Crazy day at the office meant that I had to miss our lunchtime session, I had a backup plan though and got the session done later in the day on the track.

3x300 ( off 60 seconds)
1k ( 2 min rec)
3x300 ( 60 seconds)
1k ( 2 minutes)
4x200 (60 seconds)

Had the track to myself when I got there but knew I was under time pressure to get off the track ( group booking), a short warmup and I got stuck in.

Blowing a bit for the first couple of 300s, got going well for the first 1k but ran it slightly short ( about 90 metres) so cut back very slightly on the recoveries for the rest of the session.
WOrked hard, focused on form and rhythm and finished very strong

Reps
300s ( 56, 57, 56)
1k ( 910 metres - 3.02, about 5.25 pace)
300s (55, 55, 55)
1k ( 3.19)
200s ( 34, 37, 34, 32)

Got a good w\d done, it turned out I wasn't as stuck for time as I thought :rolleyes: - good session, focused the mind very well for the lot

7.2 miles all in

Thursday

Just over 9 miles around St Anne's - hamstrings and glutes were a tad tight to start with but enjoyed the run on the grass

Duanington

03.09.2018

Friday

Lunch time run around Ringsend\Irishtown...becoming a bit of a feature really, I always have the backup plan of running home from work if the lunchtime window doesn't stay open but its working well at the moment.

Just over 7 miles, stuck to the grass where I could and enjoyed this.


Saturday

Session day today but I nearly put it back a day on account of a late night work meeting that dragged on and on...and on.....and left the brain in overdrive for a few hours afterwards.
Woke up Saturday morning feeling tired and had little appetite to do anything other than go out and clear the head with an easy run.


The plan was for 15 minutes@6.30, 2 minutes easy, 10 minutes@6.10, 2minutes easy, 4x60 seconds hard ( off 90 seconds)



Made a deal with myself to see if I snapped out of it after a slightly longer than usual warmup....which I did, so I went ahead and ran the session anyway :rolleyes:


Used the coast road for this, nice and flat and the breeze wasn't too bad. The 6.30 stuff was just a little quick but the effort was nice and controlled.
2 minutes easy and then into the slightly quicker stuff, which felt fine for a bit but gradually got tougher as the minutes wore on, again, I found a good rhythm and worked on staying focused on that rather than the pace.

Have to admit, I felt a little jaded by the end of that section but the headwind wouldn't have helped there.

Into the 60 second efforts, ran them all hard, completely got the recoveries wrong though ( went off 60 seconds rather than 90) and ran a couple on the grass too in an effort to avoid traffic.

Finished up good and wrecked at the end

15 minutes@6.25 avg
10 minutes@6.01 avg
60 secs ( 5.08, 5.11, 4.59, 5.15 pace)


10.9 miles for the lot in the end, good session

Sunday - recovery miles with FBOT after the All Ireland, warm, rainy and on the grass. Nice run

8 miles all in

Just over 60 for the week, another solid one

Swashbuckler

Another XC hijack question. Sorry D. Haha.

Been taking a peek at the local XC fixtures in Limerick and Munster. I'll be chatting with L obviously but just curious, how many XC races did you run last season? Mix of Dublin, Leinster and National? And mix of Novice, Senior and Intermediate?

Duanington

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Another XC hijack question. Sorry D. Haha.

Been taking a peek at the local XC fixtures in Limerick and Munster. I'll be chatting with L obviously but just curious, how many XC races did you run last season? Mix of Dublin, Leinster and National? And mix of Novice, Senior and Intermediate?

Hey P - no probs at all.

I think I ran 6 XC races, I missed a few that I would have liked to get in (One senior, one BHAA and one Leinster intermediate), I wasn't back racing until late December\early January. I ran one Dublin Masters, one National\Intermediate and the rest were BHAA races from memory.

BHAA run some great XC races in Dublin ( and Cork I think) so that provides opportunity to get some in, I'll hope to get another 7\8 in this winter after Valencia.

I ran quite a few XC type sessions too though which was all part of the process

(Loving how you've done a total Uturn on XC by the way, you won't regret it)

Swashbuckler

Haha yeah to be honest as the year has gone on it just seems more and more like a great way of upping the toughness levels. Hopefully the ankles hold up.

Yeah the reason I asked was that I was fairly surprised at how thick and fast the races come and wasn't sure if people generally cover all grades or just pick and choose a couple of races here or there. Looking at the local stuff on the calendar it's pretty much full on from early October through into December. 6 races between Oct 6th and Dec 2nd. That's just limerick and Munster. Not counting Bhaa Cork or Nationals.

RayCun

In our club, we see who is available for which races, and then concentrate on the ones we can get teams together. Dublin intermediate is far enough away from the marathon that most of us can run it, for example, and it's local, so we always have a team there. Dublin novice is close to the marathon, so not always an option.

Duanington

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Haha yeah to be honest as the year has gone on it just seems more and more like a great way of upping the toughness levels. Hopefully the ankles hold up.

Yeah the reason I asked was that I was fairly surprised at how thick and fast the races come and wasn't sure if people generally cover all grades or just pick and choose a couple of races here or there. Looking at the local stuff on the calendar it's pretty much full on from early October through into December. 6 races between Oct 6th and Dec 2nd. That's just limerick and Munster. Not counting Bhaa Cork or Nationals.

The ankles will benefit if you ask me, I suffer from glass ankle syndrome like yourself and am convinced the xc stuff over the last year or so has strengthened the whole area up.
Up to yourself really, I was doing one a week there for a while and loved it. Great that you have plenty of options too

AuldManKing

Duanington wrote: »

The ankles will benefit if you ask me, I suffer from glass ankle syndrome like yourself and am convinced the xc stuff over the last year or so has strengthened the whole area up.
Up to yourself really, I was doing one a week there for a while and loved it. Great that you have plenty of options too

I'm even contemplating a XC season as well! - Heavens above.

Swashbuckler

AuldManKing wrote:

I'm even contemplating a XC season as well! - Heavens above.

It'll have you running sub 63min ten miles in the new year no bother

OOnegative

Great running last night DD.

Duanington

OOnegative wrote: »

Great running last night DD.

Cheers B

Duanington

06.09.2018

Monday – longish run, had instructions to chop a few miles off the end of this one because of a midweek work race I had lined up this week. Didn’t really want to sacrifice any marathon miles for another dreaded 5k but cop-on prevailed and I did just that.
Took the long way home from work, dropped off the backpack and headed into St Anne’s – picked up the pace over the last 2 miles or so and loved it, just one of those runs where I was tempted to go on and on but left it at just over 13 miles

Tuesday
Lunchtime running from the office, met the usual Tuesday crew and chatted\jogged our way around Irishtown and Ringsend. Loving these runs
7 miles all in

Wednesday

Grant Thornton 5k

Having a strong running group in work is both a blessing and a curse, I get to train\race with ambitious, driven runners, yay….but I also have to setup and organize those sessions and races, booo.

We’d 12 teams of 4 signed up for this year’s GT5k, I think we had 2 last year ( before I got involved �� ) and my afternoon consisted of juggling meetings with handing out race numbers\tshirts. There was the usual messing around with team changes due to people pulling out and that to deal with too.
By the time 6.30 came around and it was time to get ready, I was honestly fit to just head off to the park for a few easy miles for myself but I also knew that these events are what builds a sense of community, they can be hugely rewarding for everyone involved and from a purely selfish standpoint, the team aspect always gets a solid run out of me regardless.

Got changed, met the gang at the front of the office (group photo) and off we went for a warmup, I’d picked all the teams so knew that there would be 8\9 of us heading off to run a good warmup while the rest would be content to head straight to the start area and take it from there. While our 1st team was minus our strongest runner, we were still strong enough to put in a solid showing – 2 of the lads in particular are flying in training and looked like they could surprise themselves with a bit of luck on the night.

Warmup done and dusted, we made our way over to the starting area just by the new Grant Thornton building on the quays. Conditions were just about perfect for running, maybe a little breezy but temperature-wise it was spot on. I couldn’t believe the numbers lining up for the race, when the announcer said 5,300 people had registered, it didn’t surprise me…I moved forward a row or two. Literally 60 seconds before the start of the race, the heavens opened up and down came the rain, drizzly at first but within a minute it was teaming down and the wind picked up considerably. 3,2,1 and we were off, splashing our way back towards the city centre.

As suspected, the start was a little manic and I found it hard to find any rhythm for the first .5 mile or so, we turned right over the liffey, then right up the North Quays towards the 3arena. I saw some of the lads just ahead but was reluctant to push on just yet as I was finding the surface water to be a bit of an issue, I wasn't actually slipping but I was working hard on not slipping.
Going by CHQ, I found a bit of space and moved into a better stride here, pulling up alongside 2 of the lads from the team and a clubmate of mine too.
The rain was coming from behind us now but it really was pummeling down, going by Samuel Beckett bridge, I had finally found a good rhythm and was holding it well.

Mile 1 came and went in a flash – 5.29

Up to the 3arena, a slippery U-turn around the cones and off we went back into the rain and wind, I had moved ahead of the lads now but was a good bit behind the next group, we had about .5 mile or so to go before the next turn and I was feeling very exposed to the rain here.
I also found myself waiving and giving thumbs up to other members of the work crew who were still coming up the quays on the other side of the road ( I should really have gotten the head down a bit better).
This stretch was awful though, exposed to the elements, running out in front of a group and a bit of a stitch coming on, I started to feel a little sorry for myself – I must have looked a sorry site with my singlet soaked in rainwater, eyes squinting to see ahead…..but sure we were all in the same boat really. Samuel Beckett bridge appeared ahead again and it couldn’t come soon enough.
A bit of work with the breathing sorted out the stitch ( I was reminded of Swashbuckler here) and we turned left over the bridge, I took the corner very wide though as I was convinced I was going to slip out on my arse.
Left again and we were on the Southside of the quays, out of the worst of the weather thankfully but heading towards a series of turns that I was dreading running through.

Mile 2 – 5.39, must do better

We were now on very familiar territory for our crew, a sharp right off the quays, another sharp right at the top of the road, another sharp right and we were back on the quays for a hundred metres or so, a sharp left brought us alongside our office – I was moving better than expected through these turns but was still slowing down to keep the footing secure.
We’d a good 200m or so before the next turn here so I started to push on a bit and target runners ahead. Moved past the group ahead on the next turn and kicked on towards the right hand turn ahead. Sharp right, push on again and I moved past another couple of runners.
Strong looking lady ahead with a group, they were the next target and I caught them on the next corner, another right towards Samuel Beckett, nearly lost my footing here on a manhole or something but skipped on, I knew the worst turn was just ahead but I also knew that we were into the last 600\700m so I kept the surge going. A horrible turn onto the bridge had runners clattering into each other ( I made a balls of this one) but everyone stayed upright and I ploughed on past the group into open space.

Left off the bridge and I was headed back into the wind\rain again, the finish line looked miles away up ahead so I just looked at the group of runners ahead and got to work on reeling them in, they were all moving well and I was feeling the hurt now, soaked to the bone with the singlet weighing me down - digging deep and forcing the turnover on the legs.

I knew the time wouldn’t be great but I suspected that our team had a runner up ahead somewhere which could potentially put us in a strong position. Kept driving the legs, breathing hard, pumping the arms but focusing on keeping it all together, I caught the group with about 100m to go, I didn’t slow as I went by, just kept it up, turnover and form, turnover and form…

Mile 3 – 5.26
.1 – 4.57 pace

Over the line for 17.22 official,


Grabbed some water, waited for a couple of the lads to finish and did a bit of a warmdown to the office. 2nd scorer for the team and we placed 2nd overall male team. ( although I see it has changed on the results page today, don’t care -we have the trophy �� ), our 1st Female team finished 3rd too which is fantastic.
A really great even for the group with almost 40 finishers and 2 teams placing in the top 3 in their respective categories.

As for my own performance, it was solid enough…in the end:
Cons
- Probably didn’t have the right mental approach at the start line
- Switched off the gas in the middle third
- Slowest 5k this year
Pros
- This would have been a PB a few months ago
- I knew I’d struggle to run fast on this course ( see above, also a con !)
- I ran faster on the twisty part of the course than I thought I would
- The team, the team, the team
- Finished very strong and knew I had it in me
- This felt XC-like at times, with the flash flooding around the course and the driving rain.
A well organized race in fairness, I don’t like 5k courses with that many turns (15 I think?), it suits a certain type of runner but organizing a race of that scale, midweek in Dublin is no easy task.
Lots of talk of a long course but I don’t know about that, the GPS signal must go bonkers with the tall buildings and sharp turns.
We’ll be back next year with a stronger team again hopefully

6.5 miles for the evening

Thursday

Out in St Anne’s between meetings for some easy miles 9.8 or so , all on the lovely soft grass, breaking in the new runners.

Murph_D

Reallly does sound like a nightmare course. But at least you were well ahead of what must have been a very congested race. 5000 runners is an awful lot for those streets.

Great result!

AuldManKing

Its a good workout DD - not a goal race and you'd ran 20miles in the 2 days prior.





And its still faster than my PB. B'Stard.

ThebitterLemon

How to get rid of a stitch.

Think of Swashbuckler and start some heavy breathing!

Not sure I'm up for Glue Factory group sessions just yet

Nicely done Double D

TbL

Swashbuckler

ThebitterLemon wrote:

Think of Swashbuckler and start some heavy breathing!

Wait til he takes HBS advice and shoves two fingers in deep...................

Nice on D. Sounds like an unpleasant evening and course so it's an excellent result. And as AMK said it's also better than my pb. B*stard...

Duanington

Ye're a gas shower of f*ckers.....you'd want to see what I had written orignally about the breathing and stitch....I thought "f*ck that, TbL or AMK will slaughter me if I put that in"......so I reworded it and I get slaughtered anyway ha ha ha

Anyway, solid race, happy enough - some of the lads actually loved the course, shorter, nippy lads. It does break the distance up well to be fair but there are far too many turns for a lanky so and so like me ( you'd also hate it Murph).

Duanington

10.09.2018

Thursday

Got out at lunchtime to St Anne's, tipped around on the grass for just under 10 miles (9.8), legs felt ok, a little tired towards the end maybe.

Friday

Runmute home plus a bit in St Anne's, lovely run, lovely evening for it. Legs felt very good

7.5 miles all easy

Saturday


Woke up feeling pretty groggy and with the usual aches and pains that come with a flu\cold, low on energy etc...
I know from past experience that its counter productive to run sessions when feeling the effects of a cold so decided to put it off a day and said I'd run later on in the day if I felt any better.
I did feel a little better as the day went on, well enough to get out for an hour around Corkagh Park ( was up that way), didn't feel great during the run at all though to be honest.

7.4 miles all in


Sunday

Felt a little better ( after almost 10 hours sleep) but still groggy enough to resign myself to more easy running as opposed to dipping into any reserves for a session. Got out with FBOT in the evening for 8.3 easy miles around St Anne's.


60 odd miles for the week, no 2nd session but a solid race and some good work on the long run on Monday, with the cold lifting now I can hopefully get another solid week in this week.