Kona Can Wait!

catweazle

Those pesky Kenyans

Best of luck zico

zico10

Thanks Guys,

Kenyans or not, I'm sure there's likely to be one or two guys better than me. It'd be nice to podium, but finishing time is more important to me. That's the only thing I have control over.

@Krusty, good luck to you too. You'll likely get to the finishing line before I do. I'll have a pint bottle of Bulmer's, I've been looking forward to it for the last four months.

zico10

Monday 31st March
Recovery Run;
10.00km in 52.56
5.18/km

Tuesday 1st April
General Aerobic Run;
11.07km in 50.34
4.34/km

It was very nice out, so I went out in just a T-shirt. I'd love it if I get a similar day in Connemara, but today's 10 day forecast is not so promising.

Wednesday 2nd April
Dress Rehearsal;
13km w. 3km @ PMP

10.01km in 40.22 (4.02/km)

3.01km in 11.13 (3.44/km)

I've revised my PMP and now hope to run .50/km pace for the marathon. I approached this session with this pace in mind and ran the first 10km at a quickish pace, so as it wouldn't be a big increase in effort to hit race pace. The weather had deteriorated since yesterday. It was wet and I wore a base layer and gilet for the first 10km. I stripped down to just a singlet for the 3km portion at PMP and went at it. The first kilometre was a few seconds quicker than it needed to be. I reeled it back in after this and ran the remaining two kilometres without killing myself. I was running on a flat loop around the Visitor's Centre in The Park. It was the exact opposite of a hilly course like Connemara's going to be, but 3.44/km is roughly what I reckon I'll have to be running on the flatter sections on Sunday, and I hope the overall effort is one I'll be able to maintain on Sunday.

Thursday 3rd April
Recovery Run;
10.01km in 56.17
5.37/km

Friday 4th April
Recovery Run w. Speed;
8.01km w. 6 x 100m strides in 43.16
5.24/km

Saturday 5th April
Recovery Run;
6km approximately

I went out at 10.30 a.m., same time as I'll be starting tomorrow. I left my Garmin at home for this one final run before the big day tomorrow. As usual I ran to The Park and ran the same 3km loop around the Vistors' Centre that I have ran countless times before. I could nearly run it blindfolded at this stage, but I didn't want to take any risks with the marathon tomorrow and kept my eyes open.


Weekly Totals;
58.11km
4 hours 48 minutes approximately

zico10

D-day tomorrow and nerves are starting to set in. They'd be a lot worse if I hadn't done some races in the build up. My recent 10k races went well and I posted times in both I wouldn't have thought possible 5 months ago. The program I've been following wasn't targetting these distances, so I am pretty confident it's going to pay off with a good result tomorrow. My original hope was sub 2.50, I've now revised that down to sub 2.45. The wind is supposed to be against us for the final 13km tomorrow, which will make the second half that bit more difficult. But I've put in the miles, I've trained hard, I've done practically 99% of everything I planned to do when I started this log 18 weeks ago, and I think I've every reason to expect to run well.

Ryath

peter kern wrote: »

saw your name in the paper today .33.54 for 10 k is not a bad time since the course was not that fast, looks like you are approx 2.35is h for a fast marathon course with the milage you are doing.

Think the kern runmeter is broken just over with estimate but that was not a fast course certainly not with that wind today.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Well, time & position along with number of pint bottles consumed

Dory Dory

The suspense is killing me! Time and place????? And heck, number of pints consumed???

RacoonQueen

Conn usually use redtagtiming who are usually quite good at getting times up quickly. With the ultra as well though it may be a bit delayed.
He was second at best though as Philip Harty won I think!

zico10

2nd yeah, always the bridesmaid, never the bride. I got 2.35.51 on my watch, but I'm absolutely certain the time on the clock was 2.34.5?.

I don't know what Krusty looks like, the plan was he would pass me before the finish line and introduce himself, but either he was too slow or I was too quick, and this never happened. I had to get indoors after finishing, so didn't wait to see him cross the line. Without his company, and nobody approaching me at the bar, I only had the one pint bottle.

But happy to report I'm staying in Galway City tonight and I'm off to meet a friend for a few more pint bottles.

Dory Dory

Holy crap!!! :D:D Serious, serious congratulations. Well done and well deserved.

Kurt Godel

Savage time with those hills, well done! Your discipline has been so impressive leading up to this race. You surely have a great Tri season ahead of you.

peter kern

Ryath wrote: »

Think the kern runmeter is broken:)just over with estimate but that was not a fast course certainly not with that wind today.

thats all the swimming zico is doing which wasnt included in the kerno meter as on boards this is not allowed to say swimming fitness improves overall endurace ;-)

Seriously great time Zico !!!

maybe its time to become a marathon runner now ....

griffin100

Huge respect for a great performance and result.

Chartsengrafs

Well done Alan, that's a really fantastic time. Great to see all the hard work paying off. Enjoy the beverages in Galway.

shotgunmcos

Wow, well done!

Abhainn

Firstly two words....FCUKING IMPRESSIVE. Especially in today's conditions. And then on that course profile. Youd better post Garmin file for us data nuts
Huge congrats. Performance of 2014 and wont be bettered

RacoonQueen

Not sure how you could miss this in Connemara

Solobally8

Amazing time. Well done!

pgibbo

Cracking result! :cool: It's great to see people getting a return on their dedication and hard work. Congrats!

Looking forward to the race report. Tough day out there by all accounts which makes that time all the more impressive. Chalk and cheese when you see the beautiful day in Galway today.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Holy sh1t that is some impressive running. Just putting it out there but a fast course and another 6-9 months run focus and you could be knocking on the door of 2:2x:xx. That time, on that course, in those conditions must be worth 2mins alone i would have thought.

zico10

peter kern wrote: »

thats all the swimming zico is doing which wasnt included in the kerno meter as on boards this is not allowed to say swimming fitness improves overall endurace ;-)

Seriously great time Zico !!!

maybe its time to become a marathon runner now ....

Thanks Peter, not sure why you're using the pink text though. I'd probably cycle more if I was to become a full time marathoner, so you might be onto something.

Abhainn wrote: »

Firstly two words....FCUKING IMPRESSIVE. Especially in today's conditions. And then on that course profile. Youd better post Garmin file for us data nuts
Huge congrats. Performance of 2014 and wont be bettered

Firstly two words....Ironman Mallorca

Thanks Joe. Being serious now, I'm going to have to put in some hard work to get my biking up to scratch. But thankfully I'm not afraid of that, and I've two months off in July and August in which to do it. So I'm hoping I'll be alright in September.

I'll get a Garmin file posted in a day or two. I think you'll see it as kamikaze racing, but it worked.

Dax Colossal Body wrote: »

Holy sh1t that is some impressive running. Just putting it out there but a fast course and another 6-9 months run focus and you could be knocking on the door of 2:2x:xx. That time, on that course, in those conditions must be worth 2mins alone i would have thought.

Maybe in my late 30s/early 40s I'll give marathon a few years focus, and yes after yesterday I'd certainly like to think I have a 2:2x:xx in me, but right now the focus switches to IM Mallorca. So it's back on the bike ASAP to cram in as many miles as possible before that training cycle starts at the end of May.

RacoonQueen

Dax Colossal Body wrote: »

Holy sh1t that is some impressive running. Just putting it out there but a fast course and another 6-9 months run focus and you could be knocking on the door of 2:2x:xx. That time, on that course, in those conditions must be worth 2mins alone i would have thought.

I would put him at that now to be honest. Compare to Harty (not knowing whether he just did what he needed to win etc) who ran just under 2:22 in Berlin last year and just under 2:30 in Conn you could assume that a 2:2x would be fairly achievable now on a fairer course.

Some of you lot are totally wasted splashing about in pools and whatnot.

zico10

RQ it's flattering you think so highly of me as a pure runner. The next time I do a marathon I'll make sure it's a fast one, but doubt I'll be devoting so much time again to marathon training for a few years yet. So I think this new PB will stand for a while.
I won't make any predictions for the coming tri season just yet, but I hope it's good enough to force you to retract your closing statement about me wasting my time 'splashing about in a pools and whatnot'.:)

RacoonQueen

zico10 wrote: »

I won't make any predictions for the coming tri season just yet, but I hope it's good enough to force you to retract your closing statement about me wasting my time 'splashing about in a pools and whatnot'.:)

Open statement, technically didn't say it was you. Tehcnically. :cool:

Ryath

zico10 wrote: »

RQ it's flattering you think so highly of me as a pure runner. The next time I do a marathon I'll make sure it's a fast one, but doubt I'll be devoting so much time again to marathon training for a few years yet. So I think this new PB will stand for a while.
I won't make any predictions for the coming tri season just yet, but I hope it's good enough to force you to retract your closing statement about me wasting my time 'splashing about in a pools and whatnot'.:)

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Open statement, technically didn't say it was you. Tehcnically. :cool:

I think she's implying you're too fat to be a runner:P

How's the hangover?

Still seriously impressed with your effort rode it in reverse afterwards and the wind in parts where it was being funneled by the mountains was something else. No sign of your fuel belt at the last aid station. It may be have been at lost and found but everything was packed up by the time I got back to Mamm Cross.

Fazz

Wow.

Fantastic racing Alan brilliant stuff!

Killed your 'target time' which we now know we need to deduct a % for low balling going forward...

Begs the question.... Target Time for IM Mallorca?

I think we are in the same age group too are we? 30-34 as well as trinewbie?

Its going to be brilliant, epic and carnage all at once!!

Time to up the training hours as I'm gonna need a big lead off the bike to have any hope of not being chased down!!

On plus side, most of our prep work will hopefully be in sunnier weather ahead!

Excellent result. Very impressive congrats.

zico10

Ryath wrote: »

I think she's implying you're too fat to be a runner:P

I am too fat to be a runner. All the guys faster than me are skinnier than me. It's no coincidence.

Ryath wrote: »

IHow's the hangover?

Not too bad really. I went a lot easier than I thought I was going to.

Ryath wrote: »

Still seriously impressed with your effort rode it in reverse afterwards and the wind in parts where it was being funneled by the mountains was something else. No sign of your fuel belt at the last aid station. It may be have been at lost and found but everything was packed up by the time I got back to Mamm Cross.

Not to worry. It's a small price to pay. Thanks for the trying and thanks for the support.

zico10

Fazz wrote: »

Wow.

Fantastic racing Alan brilliant stuff!

Killed your 'target time' which we now know we need to deduct a % for low balling going forward...

I was very confident I'd run sun 2.45, I was hopeful I'd run sub 2.40, but I honestly never imagined 2.35. Very easy to end up with egg on your face, so I didn't want to be making too bold a prediction.

Begs the question.... Target Time for IM Mallorca?

I haven't researched the course at all, but just pulling very rough numbers out of thin air would be as close to 1 hour, as close to 5 hours, and lastly sub 3 for the three legs, for an overall time as close to 9 hours as possible.

I think we are in the same age group too are we? 30-34 as well as trinewbie?

Its going to be brilliant, epic and carnage all at once!!

I'm the same age group alright. Unfortunately this probably means two fewer Kona slots will be available.

Time to up the training hours as I'm gonna need a big lead off the bike to have any hope of not being chased down!!

I'd love to chase you down Fazz. Nothing personal, it would just mean I'd be having an excellent race. But, yes that will be my strategy.:)

On plus side, most of our prep work will hopefully be in sunnier weather ahead!

One of the advantages of doing an Ironman in September.
May as well say it now, but I was going to ask could I tag along for some of your bike rides. I've no specific training settled upon yet, but I'll try not to hold you up too much.

Fazz

Trust me you won't be holding me up I'm not in great shape and only starting the proper endurance rides now.
So yep let's meet up for some long rides - will pm you now.

It would be fantastic if the 3 of us had great races and were battling on the course alright. However 2 of us are IM newbies and in for some shock no doubt so won't get too excited just yet! Let's bank the training first off.

zico10

Fazz wrote: »

Trust me you won't be holding me up I'm not in great shape and only starting the proper endurance rides now.
So yep let's meet up for some long rides - will pm you now.

It would be fantastic if the 3 of us had great races and were battling on the course alright. However 2 of us are IM newbies and in for some shock no doubt so won't get too excited just yet! Let's bank the training first off.

Thanks, I'll reply to your PM tomorrow. I'm just getting a lot of fan mail these last few days and it's hard to stay on top of everything.

I can only imagine it's myself and yourself you think are the two 'IM newbies'. I have actually done one though. Challenge Copenhagen in 2010, a long time ago and my time was a long way off Kona qualifying standard, but hopefully it'll count for something.