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Dilbert75

Monday
First club swim of the winter. Coach was absent but left her instructions. In the novice lane again but the standard is higher/more even so I reckon I'll be a bit more pushed. Gonna miss next week due to work travel but am trying to get a hotel with pool and gym to keep the momentum up.

Neady83

You know you're supposed to be in bed before 12 every night in the weeks coming up to a marathon?

Dilbert75

Neady83 wrote: »

You know you're supposed to be in bed before 12 every night in the weeks coming up to a marathon?

Prob not a good idea to be only eating dinner at 11pm either then?

Neady83

Dilbert75 wrote: »

Prob not a good idea to be only eating dinner at 11pm either then?

Oh barf, reminds me of me when I was in the final stages of writing up my thesis, body clock all over the shop - mind yourself and make sure you get enough rest.

Dilbert75

Yes Mammy :P

Dilbert75

Can't delete a duplicate post for some reason

Dilbert75

Tuesday: track session

Plan was 10-20min wu, 10x(400m@1:29 + 400RI), 10min cd.

Late starting because a friend had asked me to help her become a runner (I helped her become a cyclist last year). So we spent 25mins walk/running around the track and she went home happy that she not only ran but further and faster than I'd planned for her. Good for her.

On to my own warm-up - just some strides after the easy jogging. Then into the repeats. They were pretty consistent:
1:28.7, 1:28.99, 1:28.16, 1:28.56, 1:28.44, 1:29.07, 1:29.23, 1:29.51, 1:30.17, 1:29.37. After the cd the total was just over 14km incl the early, easy stuff.

Back, sides, shoulders and chest are all aching after swimming last night. Sign of a good session and the absence of same for too long.

Dilbert75

Thursday: Tempo run

Plan said 13km @4:42/km. Set out from work, bandana, head torch & visi vest on. 1km to warm up (4:46). Then into the tempo stuff. Predictably, I suppose, I was faster (4:39/km) than target (4:42 ±0:02/km) on the way out. Slowed it down a bit on the way back in but my right calf was also twinging at me, reminding me that I've left a gap since the last foam roller session.:eek: The return trip was 16s slower than the outbound trip. Total time was 1:01 - average pace 4:41/km.

Home for dinner then, because (in line with recent training) I did this on an almost fully-empty stomach. Couldn't run after a dinner and I don't think it'd do me any good. Running hungry will hopefully lead to me not depending so much on burning sugar to keep going. It may also be material to the fact that I've dipped below 68kg for the first time in decades. Or maybe it's just the fact that I'm running regularly...???

Dilbert75

Saturday: long run

Plan: 32km @4:52/km

Actual: EOI Marathons Lusk 20m. Love these events - very informal and friendly. Did their Howth half around Christmas last year myself and Mrs D has run a good few of their events. Watch was programmed for target pace +/- 2s/km. There's a short loop at the start then 3 laps (2 for half, 4 for full). Ran with Mrs D for a while but her practise is to go out fast and slow down where I aim for even pacing, so I let her go ahead of me after a few km. Constant battle to slow down for the first lap. Stopped into a field to pee at the start of the 2nd lap and that brought me back on target. Caught and ran with Mrs D about half way around the 2nd lap (when we were held up by an artic lorry barging past us on the narrow rural roads). She was slowing though so I stuck to target pace and moved ahead. Took a scap around 19 or 20km and a gel at 21km. Still on target. Took a couple of glucose sweets and another scap around 27km and, although I was getting a bit achy, was feeling ok. Passed 32km in 2:36 and got to the end (32.67km) in 2:39:03. Actual pace 4:52/km. Happy days. Tired and hungry now though.

Gonna have to take better care of the sleep routine (yes you were right Neady!). A week working in Germany next week may not help much, though at least I chose a hotel with pool and gym. Back to Germany again for 2 days in 3 weeks time. Hardly great race prep but it is what it is.

career move

Good work

What's time are you aiming for in Dublin?

Dilbert75

No clue tbh. Should be fit enough for 3:30 but a lot will hinge on how well rested I can be. Also Mrs D is running her 25th so it'd be nice to trot around with her. TBD.

Dilbert75

Sunday:
Nice easy 24km on the bikes with Mrs D, just to spin out the legs. Lower left calf/Achilles area was hurting before I went yesterday but a shot of foam rolling and some deep heat before cycling seems to have helped.

Dilbert75

Monday: club swim missed due to travel. Have the set though, to be attempted tomorrow evening hopefully.

Tuesday: normally track night but I'm in Germany for work. I picked a hotel with gym and pool but didn't fancy 800m repeats on a treadmill programmed in German. So, equipped with high vis and head torch, I went outside. Hotel room booklet mentioned an area suitable for jogging, though the Receptionist said she'd be terrified to go there in the dark. Running towards it the head torch gave a flicker but seemed ok. Thought little of it. Got on the path and it was, contrary to my expectations, completely unlit. Tall trees either side. Jogged up a couple of minutes then turned to go back to the start to begin the repeats. Torch flickered again - this time a definite series of 4 flashes which I interpreted as code for "hope you've a Plan B, Butty". Got out of the woods and back on the footpaths under street lights. Found that from that point to the hotel and back is about 800m so set into them. Target was 8x800m@3:01 with 90s RI. First two were hard; I normally warm up more. Next 2 were ok but the 3rd two were rough. My legs barely avoided buckling at one point so I read the signs and killed the session on the 7th rep. More to lose than gain. 10 min CD up and down the road. Must have been amusing for the people in the restaurant (as I am now - the sea bass was excellent, I should add) watching this loother in fluorescent yellow tearing up and down for the guts of an hour.

Dilbert75

Wednesday:
Slept pretty badly, then through the alarm so I woke up 90 mins late and then got caught in a traffic jam on the way to work,so an 11k journey took 90 mins incl trying to find parking. By the time I got back to the hotel I was barely fit to eat dinner and hit the hay.

Thursday:
Awake before the alarm, almost refreshed. In work by 7:30 and got out at a reasonable time. With my plan calling for tempo running (of 1.5km wu, 8km@4:25/km, 1.5km cd), I figured my usual practice of running in new places might not fit too well. So I hit the gym for the treadmill and a few lengths of the pool afterwards. Oh dear.

Fitness room was not much bigger than my front room. Got the treadmill, with its German instructions, and got going. It quickly became apparent that 11km on the dreadmill was going to be tough going. And I couldn't program in mins/km, so had to mentally calculate the speed at 13.7km/h. No idea if it was right but it wasn't far off. Temperature in the room must have been late 20s, aircon turned off and no control to switch it on. Anyway.

Little to say about the actual running except that it was a slog. Right from the start I was trying to find something to get me to the end - counting down, maths, whatever. Considered several times bailing out but told myself I'd regret it. And not just when I was updating this. So I got it done, stopping for water before the cd (clothes were wringing wet by then). The swimming pool was a waste of time - not for off the size of the kids' pool in the local sports centre here - so the swim got binned.

Friday:
In to work for 8. Fly home in the evening. Home at 1am.

Saturday:
Club had a nutrition talk and got body composition analysis done at it. Body fat:11%, hydration 64.5%, visceral fat 4 litres, bmi 22.4, BMR 1782 cal - all are apparently good - and metabolic age is 15 years<actual age. So I've to look at my balance of nutrition and my mineral/vitamin intake, as well as protein content in my diet.

Sunday:
Long run day...

Dilbert75

Sunday:
Long run - plan was 21km @4:42/km = 1:38:42

Had meant to get up early and do this but....didn't. Had some things on from 11:30-17:00 so it was a job for afterwards. Decided to do it before I left Wexford, so, after lots of attempts to map a 21km route around the town, I settled on an out-and-back along the N25. Two t-shirts, high-viz vest, head torch, drink belt, etc. Still bloody tired - storm woke me up last night (wind, rain, thunder and lightning, as opposed to Ronan Keating's wife). Confidence in my ability to run a <1:40 half was low. 1km warm up and then up to cruising speed. Except the usual problem of over speed for the first few km. Gradually gave back that time over the remainder of the first half.

Turned at 10.5km, took a salt capsule and a drink and headed for the car. Within a couple of mins though the rains came and got worse & worse steadily. Could see little except the head torch light reflecting white back at me as it struck the raindrops as they passed horizontally by. Whole right side was directly soaked while the traffic gradually took care of the left side. Counted down the distance and stayed on target. Got in with 1:38:36 on the watch. Soaked and hungry but counting that as successful. Right Achilles is being pulled a bit so might enlist Physio to do his thing again, if I can make it to an appointment this week.

Dilbert75

Tuesday was to be a speed session - 5x1000 - but my right calf is pulling on my Achilles a bit since Sunday and besides I'm up past my eyes in work so I decided to stay behind in the office and rest the leg. Have been busy every other night this week so, best case, I might get my tempo run in tomorrow afternoon but most likely I'll only do my long run this week. Missed my swimming too. :mad:

Neady83

Is it close to DCM for a tempo run? I'm sure there's nothing to gain from a tempo run at this stage. Have you time for some foam rolling and heel drops?

Dory Dory

A show of hands from those doing DCM!!!!!!

Dilbert75

Neady83 wrote: »

Is it close to DCM for a tempo run? I'm sure there's nothing to gain from a tempo run at this stage. Have you time for some foam rolling and heel drops?

Dunno - it's part of "de plan". It's not done now though and is not going to get any more done. So I'll just chalk it down - I've had more important things going on this week. On the other hand though I just have to roll foam and drop heels - there's no option. Too late for a proper massage now.:eek: It'll be grand...

Dory Dory wrote: »

A show of hands from those doing DCM!!!!!!

Ehhhhh......how about those who have an entry? <raises hand>

Dilbert75

As expected, I didn't get to run during this week. Although I wasn't running, I was on my feet a lot all week so I figured rest would benefit me more than a run. I possibly could have managed something yesterday but chose to relax, knowing I'd 16km to do today.

Sunday:
Plan said 16km @ 4:42/km. My former colleagues were running a 4m race for the Hope Foundation, so I promised I'd show up for that. It was to be 2 laps of the JFK Arboretum (I did 9 laps of it before for an LSR) - it's a lovely place but very undulating. First half of the lap is quite strongly downhill - the second half is obviously back up with a steep finish to the lap.

Got out with some time to spare, so got to chat a little to a few of them. Went to start running and my Garmin was having a brain fart. Ended up running the first lap with the watch stuck on the startup screen so I'd no idea what pace I was running - I suspect it was too fast though, because I was panting like a cornered fugitive by the time I got to the top of the hill. I was pretty annoyed at the watch and headed for the car to get my phone. No sooner had I started the Garmin Connect app to record my next laps than the watch started up. :mad:

I still had time at that stage and ran another lap - this took 15:50 (4:31/km). Waited for the race start and then took off at a reasonable pace. On the first downhill I caught up with a couple of lads who'd been telling me they were on the beer last night and hadn't really exercised much since I last worked with them - a year ago! The 1k split bleeped while I was running with them and that was after 4:34. I'm pretty sure they blew up shortly afterwards but I didn't hang around to make them face an audience when it happened.

By the time the uphill came, I was settled into a comfortable pace (even though it was quicker than plan). After a while I noticed that there was a guy in a fluoro green t-shirt and we were running pretty much toe-to-toe - as we'd go around a bend he'd go ahead and then going around the next it'd be me. It continued like this until somewhere around the 3m mark and I was having a bit of chat with a guy we were passing and suddenly yer man started going backwards. I just kept going at the same pace, passed another guy and made for the finish. Stopped the watch on 31:09 (7.06km) - 4:24/km.

After that I grabbed a bottle of water and went for a final lap to cool down. Managed to trim it back a bit this time - 16:06, 4:32/km. So the total was 17.5km in 1:03 + probably around 15 mins. Like I said, faster than planned but I justified that to myself by rationalising that it was like I was combining my tempo run into my long run.....it's amazing what we can tell ourselves when we want.

The coming week is going to be disrupted again. I've club swimming on Monday but am due to travel to Germany early on Tuesday, coming back on Thursday afternoon. So I might miss my Tuesday run (will probably be fulfilling some business obligations on that evening). We'll be travelling to Basel on Wednesday night so I might get a short run done there. I'd like to get a short run done on Friday, but I'm off next week so I can anticipate that I'll be flat to the mat to get stuff done. We'll see. Long run on Sunday then.

Dilbert75

Nearly forgot - went to the pool with Master D after I got home from the run. A quick jacuzzi and then in for 1050m - mostly fc, incl. a 300m set of 25m sprint/25m cruise - but overall fairly easy, just to stretch out and get ready(ish) for my 2nd club session (missed 2 out of 3 so far) tomorrow. By Wednesday I probably won't be able to lift my arms up to my shoulders.

Dilbert75

Monday
Club swim. Didn't push too hard because there were a good few kick drills and I wanted to preserve the legs. Seems I forgot to keep doing a lot of what Coach told me last season. She told me to consider myself reminded. . It's good to be back at this.

Tue-Thur travelling. Sick as a dog on Tue - could barely eat and had to go to bed early so unfortunately couldn't take advantage of the gorgeous surroundings. Got out this morning though.

Thursday:
Plan was 10-20 min wu, 6x (400m @1.29, 400m ri), 10 min cd. Did 15 min wu; 6x400m @ 1:28, 1:30, 1:30, 1:28, 1:28, 1:29; 10 min cd. Total 9.68km.

Bad news is that, after seeming OK this morning, my Garmin is hanging up on me again at startup. Hopefully it's not a bad sign.

Neady83

Only two more days Hope the Garmin isn't on it's last legs

Dilbert75

Neady83 wrote: »

Only two more days

Ehhhh three actually.... You tryin' to panic me or wha?

Hope the Garmin isn't on it's last legs

You and me both. Bloody pricey buggers if they only last a couple of years.

Dory Dory

Best of luck to you!! Have you got any targets???

Dilbert75

Dory Dory wrote: »

Best of luck to you!! Have you got any targets???

Thanks! Bit early to be committing to targets though Dory! Sheesh - the pressure!:D

It won't be a pb day anyway - many missed runs in the early part of training meant I had to pull back my aspirations from that. Hopefully set me up for a less unsuccessful 2017 by having a better base to start the year with. Other than that no particular time in mind.

Dilbert75

OK so here goes. Unless you're a complete masochist (which would explain you hanging around here), this will probably be too verbose for you. Don't say you weren't warned.

I don't think my recent log entries would have given the impression that I was really "up" for DCM this year. I'd originally entered when Mrs D entered, with the intention that we'd both train for nice PBs (my current PB is 3:24 and Mrs. D's is 3:28).

I selected a 3+2 training plan that Runners' World wrote about - the FIRST program. There's a big claim there - run your best marathon with 3 runs per week. Given that I've given up / missed out on a fair few things due to time constraints in the last year, this was appealing. However injury intervened for Mrs D and work did the same for me - too many missed early runs and I was starting to struggle with the sessions; legs getting sore & not being able to complete subsequent runs. So I called it for myself at that stage - pull back.

Pull back to what? No idea. No clue what I want. Instead of calculating my target time based on last November's half marathon PB (1:29), which would have had me aiming for 3:08 (too big a step anyway), I pushed out the the target time by 10 mins with a view to running more conservatively than that again. So I was hoping to run around with the 3:30 pacers, certainly no slower than 3:45. But tbh I wasn't really committed to a time and maybe that was my first mistake.

In fairness, the training runs I did do went pretty well - and pretty much all to plan. But I wasn't doing the twice-weekly cross-training as per plan - I was getting swims in most weeks but during the summer they were not to the required intensity & I did very little bike, no rower, etc. These are facts, btw, not excuses.

Picked my preferred shorts, my moderately-worn pair of trainers and the kids decided that I should wear the t-shirt I wore in Edinburgh for my first - with my name across my chest. Edinburgh hadn't gone well but that was because I wasn't adequately trained, not because of the t-shirt.

Anyway, on to the day. Slept well enough the two nights before, though I'd been drinking a lot of water with electrolytes so ended up waking a couple of times each night. Ate well on the morning, was relaxed getting parked & to the bag drop and got to use a loo when I needed it. No panic. But I knew myself that I wasn't feeling on form. Marathon numbers 1,2 & 4, when I'd been well trained, well rested and just well in the lead-up, I was bouncing with energy on the morning (I only decided to do no. 3 on the morning of it, having been injured for several weeks in the lead up). Instead I was standing waiting to start, yawning my head off (and not impressing Mrs. D with that).

The start happened and we were off. I'd the watch programmed to alert me if I went faster than 4:50/km for the first 21km (bear in mind the programme had me running 4:42/km throughout). The route in the city was very new since I did it last in 2014. It was kinda nice to run along a bit of the quays and the run up past the Kings' Inns was interesting. A lot of uphill in this part of the race, more than I remembered from the old route. Km paces were 4:53, 4:53, 5:04, 4:59, 5:11, 5:10, 4:30, 5:00, 5:00 & 5:00 for the first 10k (50:44 to that point). The crowds were great and I was loving the shout-outs from people - good choice of t-shirt, kids.

5:01, 4:52, 4:42, 4:43, 4:46, 4:46, 4:55, 5:02, 4:56, 4:53 & 4:50 brought me just about to halfway in 1:45:49. I was about 50m behind the 3:30 pacers at this point, roughly the distance I'd started behind them, so I was happy enough about that. I'd averaged 4:54/km for the first half, avg HR @150bpm. I'd taken one gel (the SIS lemon & lime ones I'd used in training) at 10k and the 2nd just after 20k, with a salt capsule in between. So I was happy with my refuelling and I was sipping on water regularly but wasn't needing to go to the loo. The crowd were still brilliant and calling my name every few metres. All well so far?

On paper yes but in practice not really. I was starting to struggle. It shouldn't be this hard so soon. I'd done the 20m in Lusk a few weeks ago and felt much fresher than this, even though I averaged 4:52/km (and had to slow down / stop a couple of times to get my average down to this speed) with HR @152bpm. I'd planned to start accelerating around now but that was the last thing I wanted to do.

The kids were going to be out to see us between 15 & 16m so I was making sure that they'd see us both together at that stage and we managed that. I was actually a little ahead of Mrs D as far as this but almost immediately afterwards I admitted I was in bother. Maybe this was my second mistake. She'd got a small bottle of flat cola and gave me a swig off it. TBH it didn't do me much good.

It wasn't that I was in pain in any way at that stage but I wasn't right. For a while I'd been feeling my left calf tightening and it was getting into my head. Then my right hip was tightening. I didn't know if it was related but I also had a pain brewing under my left bottom rib and it wasn't going away. (Images of that poor fecker who years ago shat himself during a race, and his photo is still doing the rounds, were going through my head).

I crossed 30k in 2:33-odd - after 5:13, 5:09, 5:03, 5:06, 5:12, 5:01, 5:17, 5:07 & 5:14 - still not too bad considering but mentally I was starting to crack and the wheels were about to come off. I'd originally planned to hit peak speed around 32k and hold it to the end. Nope. I tried to tell myself it was nothing major but it was affecting me increasingly so I reckoned if I took a break it might dissipate and I'd get back to doing what I was doing. Told Mrs. D to run on and I'd catch up. Genius eh? Well it worked.

Only briefly. Once I got back from a walk to a run, it came back. So I'd put up with it, it'd get more intense, I'd walk 30s or so and it'd go. Didn't think it was the intercostal muscles - it was definitely below the ribcage. Tried drinking, tried eating fruit, jellies, drinking a couple of mouthfuls of Lucozade (uck), etc. No good. It always came back & worse. At this stage with every person who called my name I felt more ashamed of what I wasn't doing - running as well as I know I should. I know they were picking random names from the crowd and shouting encouragement and I loved that they were doing that. But I very seriously contemplated turning my t-shirt inside-out so that I could fade into the background and nobody would notice me.

Eventually before Clonskeagh I pulled into a portaloo to see if....y'know. No. All I did was waste time. When I re-emerged I got running again but soon I was back taking breaks. Kms 31-35 were 6:35, 5:27, 5:28, 5:53, 7:34. I must have taken 8 in total, including the toilet break - in fact after the toilet break they were more to take on food than to get a rest - I couldn't face another gel but oranges and jelly beans were fair game. At the time I could have sworn none was more than 30s but I see now that they were around 2m and I was moving forward for all except that one loo break. And when I was running, I was going ok - not great but not shamefully slow either.

I knew that the conditions could scarcely have been better and that this was happening because I wasn't well enough prepared. The self-pity continued for a good while - all up Roebuck hill and up the UCD flyover (the downhills and flats were less bad). Kms 36-40 were 5:23, 6:36, 6:36, 6:26, 5:14. When I got to St. Vincent's Hospital, for some reason I changed gear (maybe it was the guy shouting that the 3:40 pacers from the 2nd wave were only 100m behind). I got it into my head that I could run to the end. So I did. All the way in from there I was moving well. I wasn't comfortable but you shouldn't be at that point. But the closer I got the faster I felt. All the way from there I was accelerating and actually starting to feel good. 41 & 42 were 5:15 & 5:06 and 42.82 was 4:21/km. So I finished and walked away from the finish line after 3:44-odd (4 mins behind Mrs D), more relieved than satisfied, happy or proud. I don't like being mediocre and to me that's what this was.

Naturally I've spent a chunk of the last 35 hours thinking about it. It's not all bad but if I don't acknowledge the bad bits then they could happen again.
+ It was a Dublin PB for me (by c.10 mins).
+ I recovered reasonably well near the end.
+ I didn't either start or finish injured (apart from my ego).
+ I got out what I put in.
+ Given the 3 weeks I'd had before (2 trips abroad + a lot of other extra-curricular activities), the finishing time (if not the manner of it) was not awful.

- I let myself down with a lot of missed runs.
- I knew that my foam rolling / stretching routine was important but neglected it too often. This let the tightening calf & hip get inside my head, even though they'd most likely have taken whatever punishment I would have given them.
- I didn't follow the cross-training parts of the plan so I missed the benefits extra intensity there would have brought.
- I took more gels on the day than I did in training, starting earlier in the run, and wonder now that was the cause of my gut pain. (Mrs D took only jaffa cakes & salt capsules and had no such problems).
- I did the opposite of what I told other people to do - go out conservatively and speed up afterwards. Or I misjudged conservative for the day.
- I think I proved myself my biggest weakness was mental rather than physical - confidence maybe.
- I didn't give the training plan a fair go so I can't say whether or not it works for me.
- I think I paid in my result for not being committed to a target.

I'm sure others will come to me over the next couple of days but they're the big ones at present.

I'm off this week, so have mostly free time to recover (for that read "a list of stuff to do at home"). I just registered for a 15k night mountain run at the end of November, which should be fun (if I don't get lost). And I'm trying to confirm my next plans. I need to get back to consistent, focused, intense training - reacquaint myself with the turbo for a start. Unfortunately that goal interferes a little with the need to earn a living but a better balance is required there too. I think my non-sporting, non-work activities took their toll too but they're non-negotiable. My version of sane :eek: is dependent on them.

Oh and BTW, my brother stole my family PB by 12s.:eek:

career move

"I don't like being mediocre and to me that's what this was"

I love this line. It's good to have high standards and to know when you haven't done yourself justice.

I suspect what's bugging you more than the time, is the way you reacted when the wheels fell off. Learn from it and move on. Next time it happens you'll know what the disappointment feels like and you'll push harder

Neady83

Tough day at the office C, sorry it didn't go your way - I thought you had some fairly solid LSRs done. Great report though, very honest, it will serve you well in all your races in the future and fair f**cks for toughing it out.

Steroo

Don't be too hard on yourself! you went & did it, you've a good handle on why & the lessons.

it's hard to go out conservative when you have good times under your belt from the past.

at least you've a nice medal