Still trying to figure it all out.

El Caballo

All the best HBS, have a gud un!:)

snailsong

Best of luck, keep her lit.

hot buttered scones

El Caballo wrote: »

All the best HBS, have a gud un!:)

snailsong wrote: »

Best of luck, keep her lit.

Cheers lads. Time to rock n roll!!

hot buttered scones

Sunday 04/06

Cork City Marathon 2017

Well - that didn't exactly go to plan. Not plan A,B or C!!

Pre Race prep: I'd set the alarm for 6:15, but had inadvertently set the time on the look itself forward by an hour too, so I woke at 5:15 and it was 10 minutes before I realised it. Went back to bed, but didn't sleep and got up at the right time. Then the usual - porridge, coffee, a bit of intercepting to kill time, then dressed and off into town for about 8:30 or so. I did a few squats and dynamic lunges just top warm up a small bit. Conditions seemed ideal - cool enough, but a bit warmer in the direct sun alright. I said hello to few people and then took my place in around the 3:15 pacers. A side note before I forget - these guys were like metronomes - unbelievable. My watch was out by 0.1 of a mile by 5k, but these guys were hitting the mile marker splits bang on to the second (according to my pace band anyway). It's a great pity I couldn't stick with them.


Nutrition plan: Salt Stick chew every 3 miles (this worked well in DCM 2106 for me), High 5 isogel mile 6 and then every 4 miles, Water at every stop bar the first one at mile 2.

Miles 1-6 Splits: 7:24; 7:24; 7:16; 7:22; 7:22; 7:23

I basically just followed the pacers around town, up through Blackpool and out the Tivoli dual carriageway. It was about 5k before I felt I'd settled in. It got warm heading out towards the tunnel and I felt like I was working bit too hard - not by much, and I put this down to the heat. I wasn't looking at the HR on the watch but looking back on the data it did climb to around 170 around mile 4 - too high and should have been around 163 here. Was this the undoing of me?

Miles 7-12 Splits: 7:08; 7:26; 7:27; 7:15; 7:22

The mile 7 split looks outrageous, but this is the mile that goes through the tunnel and creates all sorts of havoc with the GPS. Time for a TMI moment. I needed a pee from about mile 5 on, but chose to ignore it to see if it would go away. crazily enough I was still thirsty at the water stops, but was drinking half and throwing the rest over my head - which should have set off warning bells having to do that this early in the race. I decided to take advantage of the downhill into the tunnel to run ahead of the pace group into the tunnel and take care of business as it were (I just couldn't wait for the toilets at 10 miles - sorry!). I was able to jump back into the pace group and continue on. The drag out of the tunnel was a bit of work and the South Ring too. As we approached the ramp to come off the dual carriageway the urge to pee returned, badly, so I had to go for round too. I mad a big mistake here. There's sharp rise up into Mahon, and then a slight drag up to the CSO offices. I had plenty of road left to make up the lost time, but I was worried about being exposed on the Mahon walkway. I decided to work to catch up with the pace group as soon as we passed the CSO when I should have just maintained the distance or at least tried to reel them in slowly over 3 or 4 miles. Anyway, I caught them and settled back into race pace. As soon as turned onto the Mahon walkway I knew I was in trouble. The wind was quite strong (I thought so anyway). The negative thoughts creeped in my race was done.

Miles 13-17 Splits: 7:49; 8:05; 7:39; 7:47; 7:55

Mile 13 was just horrible. It was hot and I felt like the wind was literally talking my breath away. I stuck with the pace group until about half way through this mile, but as we turned the corner at the bottom of the walkway I fell off the back of the group. Coming up was the footbridge which is short, but steep and narrow, so i took a pace break crossing this. I could still see the group ahead, so I though I'd just try and keep them in sight. We passed the halfway point and yet again I had to stop for a "comfort break". It's not as if I'd been drinking gallons of water all morning before the race or guzzling down water in the course (I'd say I took 100ml in each of 3 water stops). I wondered was it due to the salt tabs so I stopped taking them. My head was totally gone at this stage and I was debating just jogging back into town. It was here I walked for he first time for about 50m before I was able to pick up the pace a bit again and decided to just try and run 7:40 - 7:45 which should still net me a PB. The last mile out the South Link put paid to that notion. The drag just killed me. I'd lost all momentum and my head was completely out go the game. There were half marathoners streaming past me (I got passed by the leaders around Albert Road, which was nice to see to be fair), and I resorted to walking again on the the South Link. I just felt wretched. I threw up a small bit here as well, which I would do a few more times over the rest of the race.

Miles 18-26.2 Splits: 8:29; 8:47; 8:46; 8:07; 8:38; 8:36; 8:45; 9:06; 9:08; 3:29 for the bit (watch has it as 0.4 miles@8:10 pace)

Ugh. Disaster. Ran as far as Musgrave Park, and then the running stopped and became a staccato effort of running for a few minutes and walking for a few seconds. My chest muscles were getting tighter and tighter and I felt like I could get no air in. I was simultaneously hot and getting blown out of it by the wind. My upper back was sore, my foot was killing me and my left shoulder started to seize up. I did not want to be there. I got a bit of relief on the downhill section at Magazine Road and College Road and gave myself a kick in the hole to just get on with. It was a struggle though and all my goals just slipped away one by one, until the goal became to finish. I still walked in the last mile (on the tree covered walkway where no on could see) and resolved I would't stop running until I reached the finish line. That is until my hamstring cramped about halfway up North Main Street (it had pinched a couple of times over the last couple of miles) so I stopped and stretched it out. I looked at my watch and saw a sub 3:30 was on the cards so I dug deep and put the foot down for the glory leg. As I ran up Patrick Street I could hear shouts of support and heard my family - although I had severe tunnel vision and could only see what was straight in front of me. I saw the clock ticking down and legged it and managed to muster up sub 7/mile pace for this bit (was this the Central Governor letting me take the handbrake off?).

Clock time: 3:29:30 Chip Time: 3:29:24. Halfway split: 1:37:45. 2nd Half: 1:51:39 (14 minute postive split - ouch)

Placings: Overall 208/1151 Male: 193/881 M40: 51/192. I was in 177th place overall at halfway so lost 30 places in the 2nd half.

Analysis:

This was not a fuelling issue - I don't think I "hit the wall" - I know what that feels like an this wasn't it. Plus I fuelled properly before enduring the race. I struggled with the heat and the wind. I didn't really put the effort in over the 2nd half on the inclines because I felt it was pointless to break myself if I wasn't feeling right. I was having a bad day breathing wise, which can happen. I never really felt "settled in". I just didn't feel like I was cruising along at MP at the start of the race - not like it did in the MP sessions I ran anyway. I didn't adjust my goals for the conditions, but I didn't feel like I had too because I had trained in similar conditions - except maybe the wind was a bit stronger than I expected I suppose - it was a bit like Ballycotton all over again for me

What about my training - I done a lot of mileage and it got to the stage where I ran 27 days in a row where I should have taken a couple of rest days in that period. I was left fairly tired after that, but felt I'd pulled it back enough and was feeling good by the day of the race. I ran more miles than the plan suggested - except for the taper where I ran the suggested miles, took 2 rest days a week and I have to admit I did feel a bit tired and sluggish earlier in the week. I'd also been having some hay fever issues earlier in the week which didn't help.

If I didn't have DCM 17 in the back of my mind would I have pushed it a bit more - maybe. I don't know. I definitely gave up race wise around mile 17 and could have tried a bit harder, but I'm not sure I could have done much more over the last 3 miles.

Overall - I'm disappointed in the result and in the performance. I definitely have a sub 3:15 marathon in me, but not yesterday and not on that course. I had my suspicions around 5 miles that I was working too hard but just stuck with the pacers when I should have backed off and just ran by effort until 20 miles or so before pushing home which might have bagged me a small PB. I also made a decision at some point that I wasn't feeling great and that I should back right off or I could be in trouble. I think this was the right decision at the end of the day, and now I have a nice long recovery to look forward too.

Finally - my upper back and shoulder are very sore today. The ball of my left foot under my big toe is really sore and tender too, right around the joint - this need more investigating. I iced it last night, but I think I've done some damage there so it's trip to the physic later on in the week for me I think.

adrian522

Sorry to hear it didn't go well. Probably a bit too soon for a full analysis at this stage.

Well done for toughing it out, a lot of us would have dropped out under similar circumstances.

As you say there is a very good marathon in you, just need to tie it all together on the day.

denis b

Also sorry to hear that the race did not turn out to plan. Would not be surprised to hear if there if there was a medical explanation for this M. Your report certainly signals difficulties far too early in the race for your ability. Take care for now.

On the plus side.....the downstairs of the house had a taper spring clean so rest up and regroup.

Ososlo

Sounds like you had it tough alright . I didn't realize you had suffered so much. To be honest, you did pretty damn well considering all of that. You could have been just having a bad day and sometimes there seems to be no particular reason for this happening, but it just wasn't your day for whatever reason.
I think you did the right thing to back off the effort before you did too much damage and to save yourself for Dublin.
You'll have learned loads from it so well done for completing and we all know you're well capable of a lot better and it will come - hopefully in Dublin. Best of luck with the next training block and enjoy the down time before getting stuck in again

hot buttered scones

adrian522 wrote: »

Sorry to hear it didn't go well. Probably a bit too soon for a full analysis at this stage.

Well done for toughing it out, a lot of us would have dropped out under similar circumstances.

As you say there is a very good marathon in you, just need to tie it all together on the day.

Cheers. In the CCM thread someone posted about me having mental toughness, but I think I'm just a stubborn b0ll0x and also a bit tight - I was getting my money's worth one way or another

denis b wrote: »

Also sorry to hear that the race did not turn out to plan. Would not be surprised to hear if there if there was a medical explanation for this M. Your report certainly signals difficulties far too early in the race for your ability. Take care for now.

On the plus side.....the downstairs of the house had a taper spring clean so rest up and regroup.

Yeah, I do tend to suffer from allergies but I'd been ok more or less for the last few years, until the last two weeks that is. The usual hay fever symptoms which seemed to have cleared by Saturday. The raised heart rate could be due to the heat, but that's unlikely to have been the sole cause early on. My breathing is still a bit ropey today - not full blown asthma or anything, just a bit shallow, with a bit of a scratchy throat and itchy ears. Usually, when I'm bit hayfevery the bodies own natural antihistamines kick in when running(I seem to remember read about that somewhere) and I end up clearing out the system and breathing better. I had no blocked nose or anything yesterday - I was just a bit borderline but enough to push me over the edge when a greater effort was required. My upper body strength is also lacking and this didn't help in the latter stages.The getting sick thing wasn't a full blown thing - just a bit of reflux a few times and that was solely down to the heat I think.

Ososlo wrote: »

Sounds like you had it tough alright . I didn't realize you had suffered so much. To be honest, you did pretty damn well considering all of that. You could have been just having a bad day and sometimes there seems to be no particular reason for this happening, but it just wasn't your day for whatever reason.
I think you did the right thing to back off the effort before you did too much damage and to save yourself for Dublin.
You'll have learned loads from it so well done for completing and we all know you're well capable of a lot better and it will come - hopefully in Dublin. Best of luck with the next training block and enjoy the down time before getting stuck in again

Cheers. I was definitely having a bad day and it was mentally tough for a good few miles in the middle. I felt defeated and deflated, but then I just gave in and went with the flow. I know I've learned loads, but my confidence has taken a bit of a knock, so now I'm questioning that learning. I thought I was ready to move up to the next level, so to speak, but maybe I was wrong. With regards to backing off - that's what happened originally, but by the end I'm not sure if was backing off or just running as fast as I could at that time. There's too many variables at play here to ever know for sure, so I guess there no point in guessing. Also, it's possible I was being a bit of a drama queen at times - it was only one race and there will be other days. I'll still benefit from the training I did and I'm sure I'll have better days going forward. I only decided to do this marathon 16 weeks ago - it was never on the plan for this year.

So enough wallowing in the past, it's time to look forward and move on. I suppose that main thing for this year was always going to be an autumn marathon, and sure that can only be one thing this year - DCM 17. Ok, I'll have to have bit of think about my prep for Cork and try to see if I made mistakes there (running my long runs too fast!?) and probably go back to what worked before - good old P+D.

Kennyg71

Sorry to hear didn't go to plan, but you finished it out which definitely shows mental toughness. Rest and recover well for DCM. take care of the back, remember over using my back muscles last year when my leg seized up, and it took about a month to settle, think I may have torn something.

Mrs Mc

Wow didn't realise you had such a horrible day that takes some mental strength to keep going well done on touching it out and finishing In still a great time

ThebitterLemon

Been there plenty of times so I can empathise.

Well done on finishing and the sub 3.30.

I think Cork is a deceptively tough marathon.

You've a great training cycle in the bank, recover well, dust yourself down and build on it.

Chin up

TbL

Singer

Bloody marathons. Your race report sounds eerily familiar, except you actually bothered to finish the race

You got through it, and despite detonating you stuck with it and finished in a very respectable time. Kudos. However given the training you did, you more than have the right to be disappointed. That's the magic of the marathon, there's so many things that have to go right and can go wrong. Yaboya does a better speil on this than I can do

Take a break and get back to enjoying running. It'll take a while, but you'll come back raring in time for DCM training.

diego_b

Tough day at the office that there HBS, sorry to hear it didn't go well. You've certainly done the mileage over the last number of months but it was a real red flag there that you started to feel the effort at early in the race. It might be a case you just need to look at your training as maybe your fitness possibly peaked a few weeks back, can't recall how long a taper you had but I do recall you've been doing a good few races in the last 4-6 weeks that maybe it might have been better that you didn't to ensure you were in better nick on the day. Hard to prep for if weather conditions don't suit you and you just have to start focusing on the other goals on the day. Getting it done always being one and fair play for sticking it out.

Might just be a case you need to tweak things around a bit in prep, ease back in some cases to get there. I am nowhere near the pace you're at to be given advice really but just looking at the perspective of things that caught my eye in your training. Recover well and hope you're in good nick for DCM training.

hot buttered scones

diego_b wrote: »

Tough day at the office that there HBS, sorry to hear it didn't go well. You've certainly done the mileage over the last number of months but it was a real red flag there that you started to feel the effort at early in the race. It might be a case you just need to look at your training as maybe your fitness possibly peaked a few weeks back, can't recall how long a taper you had but I do recall you've been doing a good few races in the last 4-6 weeks that maybe it might have been better that you didn't to ensure you were in better nick on the day. Hard to prep for if weather conditions don't suit you and you just have to start focusing on the other goals on the day. Getting it done always being one and fair play for sticking it out.

Might just be a case you need to tweak things around a bit in prep, ease back in some cases to get there. I am nowhere near the pace you're at to be given advice really but just looking at the perspective of things that caught my eye in your training. Recover well and hope you're in good nick for DCM training.

I did a 6 mile race 3 weeks ago and a 10k at the start of April, so it wasn't that. I entered a 5k on Tuesday night but ran it a marathon pace.
However, I think your right about peaking too early. That 6 miler was probably my best performance ever. I followed that up with a 21 mile progression run 2 days later, and a 16 miler with 14@MP 6 days after that. I got a great psychological boost from that race and those sessions and I even did the sessions in what I thought was similar weather to yesterday and the conditions didn't effect me that much. I didn't think I was getting cocky, but perhaps I was. Perhaps I left my marathon in the two sessions above. Another warning sign was I struggled with the LSRs, but I seemed to get on better with the long runs with stuff. However I also struggled with LSRs towards the end for DCM 2015 and I had a poor finish to that race too. On the contrary, I think most of my long runs for DCM 16 from P+D went pretty well and I had a good day at the races - because I ran them at the correct pace, whereas I was consistently running my long runs a bit too fast during this training block. My taper was more or less three weeks - but the mileage had dropped for 4 weeks, because of time constraints, so maybe I was overtapered. I'm actually thinking now that I should have run a bit more during the taper.
Here's how the last few weeks went:
59.2 miles(6 days); 64.6 miles (7days), 67.7 miles (7 days), 60.4 miles (7 days including a race); 49.2 miles (6 days); 36.1 miles (5 days), 15.6 + Marathon (41.8 - 5 days)

I reckon I peaked after that 49.2 mile week, so much so that I couldn't wait for the marathon to come around.

I had to read back through my log to get some of the details, and I'm cringing a bit to say the least. It's a very thin line between thinking positivity and being unrealistic.

hot buttered scones

I really, really need to heed the advice given on here more. Especially from those who are waaaaaaay more experienced than me. The good thing about keeping a log is that I can read back over all this the next time I do a marathon and then give myself a good kick in the hole when I start to get cocky.

Edit: I had a load of posts quoted here, then I spotted I'd missed a word so I edited the post on the app. This appears to have deleted all the quotes and now this post looks a bit strange.

Kennyg71

I think you had every right to be confident off your training, it only takes minor things to go wrong on the day, I'm sure you'll be back stronger, no better training stimulus than a race, as your wife said how far you've come in a year for 3.30 to be a bad day at the office, onwards and upwards.

Itziger

Kennyg71 wrote: »

I think you had every right to be confident off your training, it only takes minor things to go wrong on the day, I'm sure you'll be back stronger, no better training stimulus than a race, as your wife said how far you've come in a year for 3.30 to be a bad day at the office, onwards and upwards.

Yep, I'd agree with this but I also agree with HBS when he mentions 'cockiness'. Train well, get yourself in good shape and be confident. But not cocky! It just doesn't suit us Irish.

Anyway, this fella is young and strong (I've seen a pic or two from Strava!), he'll improve massively yet once he does things properly.

hot buttered scones

Itziger wrote:

Anyway, this fella is young and strong (I've seen a pic or two from Strava!), he'll improve massively yet once he does things properly.

Ah jaysus, I'm not that young!! M40 for now anyway, M45 in a couple of years. "Young legs" though - I'm only running about 3 years at this stage. But thanks for the vote of confidence all the same. ðŸ˜

Itziger

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Ah jaysus, I'm not that young!! M40 for now anyway, M45 in a couple of years. "Young legs" though - I'm only running about 3 years at this stage. But thanks for the vote of confidence all the same. ðŸ˜

That's young on both counts, boy!

You're still raw in the running game so once you get battle hardened and up the training and paces and run more races, all with patience cos otherwise we all know what happens, then you'll see big improvements. I was chatting to a few Eagles lads after the race, man, they've made great progress these last 2 or 3 years. They have a fantastic training group going now. Could ya join a club or does work hinder that?

tailgunner

Well done, enjoyed the report. Don't know how you managed to grind it out when you were suffering so early on!

hot buttered scones

There were two reasons why I set up this log. The first was obviously to keep a log I could look back over. The second was so I could have somewhere to ramble on a bit that wouldn't take over another thread. This is a bit of a ramble.

So the dust has settled on another marathon. Yeah, I didn't go my way, but on the other hand I finished it out. I may have been a bit cocky, so maybe this wasn't such a bad result after all - a bit of humility does a fella no harm every now and them, and boy can a marathon knock a bit of humility into you. On the other hand, I lot of what I say and post can be a bit flippant, and what doesn't come across is that I maybe take things a bit to seriously at times. I was trying to go the other way this time and be a bit more relaxed about things. Doing this marathon was about a lot of things - the usual running stuff of course. But it was also a bit of pure escapism of the more healthy variety. We've had a lot of stress and a bit of upset round this way over the last few months. I threw myself into this as a means of dealing with that, I suppose, and so I benefited greatly from it in many more ways than just improving my running. I love this sport and am so glad I came to it even if it is later in life. I've achieved things that I never thought possible and I am proud of myself for that. I may come across as boastful perhaps, but in reality I sometimes can't believe what I'm doing and I'm more surprised than anyone when I get a good result. I've fretted over bad results too, but the last few months have thought me that life is too short and precious for that. You learn what you can and move on to the next goal. I'm really glad I found this forum too and I find the support and encouragement give to be invaluable, especially to a lone wolf like myself. So thanks everyone for the advice, support and encouragement.

This isn't a long goodbye, it's just me putting some thoughts down. I've said before I think it's important not just track your physical training, but also your frame of mind at the time. The two are deeply linked and both have a profound effect on the other. As this is my log, this is where I'll track it.

And back to running. The day after CCM - well I was physically and mentally tired as you would expect, but my body feels in pretty good shape, bar the issue with my foot (which is easing off). My legs don't feel like I've run a marathon. I've no problems going up and down stairs and only a small bit of tightness in my calves and quads. Usually I'm hobbling around like an auld(er) lad. I even went in and did a night shift and was only a small bit more tired than usual. I find this interesting because it points to the fact that I didn't give it my all on Sunday. So what prevented me from running my best race? Was it all in my head? Central Governor acting the mickey? Was it just something as daft as the fact that I didn't wear a hat? I nearly always wear a hat when training but never when racing. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll figure it out.

Apologies if this is all a bit deep, cheesy and self indulgent but long nights make you pensive. If you've made it this far down the post your a lot more patient than I. Thanks for reading.

hot buttered scones

Itziger wrote:

You're still raw in the running game so once you get battle hardened and up the training and paces and run more races, all with patience cos otherwise we all know what happens, then you'll see big improvements. I was chatting to a few Eagles lads after the race, man, they've made great progress these last 2 or 3 years. They have a fantastic training group going now. Could ya join a club or does work hinder that?

Work does get in the way. For example I'd probably only make it to 2 Tuesday night sessions out of every 8, and sometimes less. On the other hand I know Eagle email out their planned sessions for the week so that's one way around it. At this stage I'd know or know of people in every club in and around the city, so I've no excuse really. Deep down I know it's the way to go. I'd really benefit from having a group to train with and race with and I could definitely do with a coach!! I've just been slow about getting around to it. I might just pop out there one night and have a look at them training.

nop98

Thanks for the honest report, HBS - and sorry to read you had such a hard day. Still, you manage to knock out a time that a lot of us would be very proud of! Recover well and hopefully better days will come your way.

jake1970

Sorry to hear that you had a bad day on Sunday but fair play to you for toughing it out and finishing. You seemed to have put it behind you already which is a good thing. For DCM I think that you should go with a tried and tested plan(P&D). You are familiar with the plan and you have got a good result using it. Recover well and best of luck with the next training cycle.

hot buttered scones

I haven't much to write here, I'm just killing time while the dinner is on.

Sunday 04/06

Post Race: A few pints, some food and a quick change. I decided to walk the mile or so uphill home. It was slow, but grand - not at all painful. I felt fine and loose after it. Fell asleep on the sofa, then devoured a take away. Happy days.

Monday 05/06

Nada. A very tired night shift though.

Tuesday 06/06

4@9:48 before work on a sunny evening with the goal of keeping my HR <130. P+D says my recovery HR is 142 or less, so this as well within that. There's a short hill to climb at the end of the route for which the HR went brief >145, but the average for the run was 129. I actually felt ok doing this, just pottering about the ferry port. Niggles: A bit of a sharp tightness in my left quad which eased after 1/2 a mile - if it hadn't I would have stopped. My left foot around my big toe is still a bit tender though. Everything else seemed fine. It felt more like I'd done a really hard session rather than run a marathon the previous Sunday. YEs - it was a bit early to do this after Sunday, but it had great mental benefits.

Wednesday 07/06

House of Cards and beer.

Thursday 08/06

I'm more tired today than I was either Monday or Tuesday, but I didn't get a decent sleep either and I'm sneezing and snotting away mad due to hay fever. A trip to the physio was in order to see if there was anything serious wrong with my foot. In the end it was just tightness around the tendon causing some inflexibility and resulting tenderness, so she did some work to release it. I have plenty of golf ball work to do and a list of other exercises that I haven't been doing enough of - calf raises, squats, glute bridges and so on. The quad seem fine too - just a tender spot that needs more rolling. No running today - the weather's shocking and I'm on a recovery week so there's no panic. I might go out tomorrow if I feel like it and I might not.

After much deliberation and posts across several threads I think I've decided on a plan for Dublin. I don't have 18 weeks for the full P+D plan, but I'd like something a bit longer than the 12 week one. I think I'm able for a bit more mileage than in the up to 55 plan, but I have some doubts about the up to 70 plan, mostly about the length of some of the runs and will I fit it into my schedule. but also will I be able for the peak weeks, mileage wise.

Heres the compromise:
5 weeks P+D recovery plan.
Then a 16 week P+D plan. The first 4 weeks will be mesocycle 1 from the 12 week plan. Then I'll jump into the 18 week plan. This works better for Charleville and doesn't leave me messing about for 3 or 4 weeks with no plan. It fits in quite well with work - I think I might only have to move one long run.
And which plan? Well, if I do the up to 55 plan, but do a 5 mile recovery on the Rest/Cross training day midweek I get my 6 days a week and a peak mileage of 60. Yes I had bigger weeks in the lead up to Cork, but if I'm really honest with myself I probably shouldn't have. The majority of the runs seem to fit well with my schedule. If it proves to be too much early on then I can just drop the extra recovery run.
There are a couple of 5 mile races I want to do, but I think I can fit them in without too much disruption plus my 5 mile PB is really soft, so barring a complete disaster it'll be a guaranteed PB.
I've more or less got it figured out except for how I'm going to handle Charleville, but there's plenty of time for that.

hot buttered scones

Friday 09/06

5@9:04 - nice n easy - coloured in a football pitch!! Felt good enough. Average HR 135bpm

Saturday 10/06

6@9:26 - started at the top of a hill and worked my way down. Got progressively slower. Felt tired again. Average HR 135bpm

Sunday 11/06

Rest

Monday 12/06

5.2@8:36. Average HR 132bpm. Sleepy morning run where the HR was low due to fatigue/tiredness rather than effort. Tiredness was due to just not going to bed early enough rather than lingering fatigue from marathon. Felt good afterwards

Tuesday 13/06

HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (no running) :D:D

hot buttered scones

Tipping away here on the hols. I gather it's hot at home, but it's 32-35 degrees here, so taking it fairly easy. Very, very, very chilled out - so much so I don't really care if I get out at all for the next few days. May have to resort to the dreadmill because I can't get me lazy half hungover ass out of bed in the morning!! I'd say I've put on a far few kgs too. Best marathon recovery ever!!!

hot buttered scones

Holiday runs:
Venice: Very hot and very flat.
Day|Date|Distance|Average Pace|Notes
Wednesday|14/6|3.5|8:22|Hot - pace to fast
Friday|16/6|6|8:39|Hot - pace still to fast
Sunday|18/6|8.2|8:54|Out earlier, cooler temps, slower - very enjoyable. 23/week
Tuesday|20/6|5|8:56|Last 400m or so@ around 5k pace for no reason.
Wednesday|21/6|5|9:04|Nice and handy


Tuscany: Also hot, but very hilly. Tough going here.
Day|Date|Distance|Average Pace|Notes
Thursday|23/6|1|9:20|Got locked into someones garden!!
Thursday|23/6|6|9:14|8x100m strides at the end. It's very hilly here.
Saturday|24/6|5|8:50|
Sunday|25/6|7.6|9:12|Mistake - went out a 1pm. Hills and heat killed me. Cut it short. May have been a bit hungover. . 30/week
Tuesday|27/6|4|8:52|Just around the campsite
Wednesday|28/6|6|8:58|Another campsite tour
Friday|30/6|9|9:08|Getting too grips with how to pace the steeper hills. Did 8x100m "uphill strides". 120/month
Saturday|1/7|5|8:50| Feeling good
Sunday|2/7|11|8:38|Great run, felt fantastic, pace a bit up and down, like the terrain, but effort fairly even and in the right range. 35.1/week


Tuesday 04/07

5@8:14 - back home after a long days travelling, so this was a little leg loosener. Felt great. the pace was bit hot, but the effort felt right and the HR (average 139bpm) confirms that. I think I'm recovering well from Cork and ready to start my DCM training next week.

hot buttered scones

Wednesday 05/07

BHAA CPO/Garda 5k

I had pencilled this race into my training/recovery plan more as a reminder that it was on than anything else, with the intention of turning up if I felt like it. I had had a long day travelling the day before, a poor sleep and 11 hours done of a 12 hour shift so hopes weren’t high. I had brought my gear just in case, and decided about 6pm to definitely head across to Mahon at 7 to register. Anyway, got across and registered by 7:30, did a quick warm up to suss a bit of the course. I changed into my flats, did another half mile or so with a few strides, drills and a couple of lunges before taking my place on the start line. I was unsure as to how I was going to race this and in the end decided that this was a “free” race – I hadn’t trained for it and I was in between plans, so I just decided to go for it. I’d either crash and burn, but blow out the cobwebs or if I was really lucky I might get a PB of a couple of seconds. 6:23s all around would bag me an 8 second PB so I had a pace to work around at least.

Mile 1 6:10

The gun went and we tore off down the road. I got a bit worried because I could still see the lead bike after about a minute. There was a number staring with 5 on the watch so I just slowed down a bit and settled in with a large group. The first 400m or so was flat, then a small pull (about 30ft over about 15om or so) which took a bit out of the legs – the pace dropped into the 6:30s here. I felt the group around me slowing down and was also getting boxed in so I moved out to the right and pulled away to catch up a smaller group ahead. I picked up the pace again and pulled away to the next group. There was another smaller pull before we hit the one mile marker for a 6:10 mile. Overall this mile was hard, but not as hard as it should have been so I decided to just hang on for along as possible as see what happened.

Mile 2 6:12

Mile 2 started with just over 800m of road falling away back down to the start – I lengthened my stride and tried to hang to the back of small, loose group – I definitely gained a few seconds here. Then it was onto the second loop, so 400m flattish again and then the bit of “hill” – which took a lot more out of the legs and lungs this time. Basically I passed a few, may have been passed and hung onto and followed a few more, but by this stage I was just focussed on not slowing down and a few t shirts of the guys in front.

Mile 3 6:16

Ran the final part if the “hill” and I was bate. I looked down at the watch and saw a number beginning with 7 My lungs were burning and I started to regret the sandwich I’d eaten a couple of hours ago. I wanted to stop and puke. I couldn’t wait to get to the last 800m. I think the lap pace was reading 6:2x to 6:3x for about half a mile – this was ok, I said to myself, it’ll still be a PB. I was just focussing on a couple of guys in front now and they were pulling away, so I thought I must have been slowing down a good bit even though the last half mile or so was a fall off of about 22ft (I was wrong though – I sped up, they just sped up more). I felt totally rinsed as if I had nothing left. Then with about 300m or so to go I was passed by the same guy who passed me in the 6 mile race a few weeks ago and I couldn’t go with him – I’m just going to follow him the next time. I could see the clock now – it had just passed 19 minutes. Jesus!! I got a burst of adrenaline from that and began to think a bit clearer, so I opened up my stride again and pushed on.

Mile 3.11 – 39s (5:42 pace)

I sensed someone on my shoulder as my watch beeped for 3 miles, and I was damned if I was going to be passed at the line. I just gritted my teeth and was determined not to slow down and give up. What I didn’t realise until I looked at the data later is that I actually sped up rather than just held my pace, although the slight downhill finish had a lot to do with that. HR maxed out at 188!!

I was wrecked at the end and had been hurting badly for the last mile and not really able to think since we climbed the small pull for the 2nd time. I did a slow mile back around to registration to cool down before having a celebratory donut and coffee!!

Official time: 19:17 (Gun time – no chips). A very unexpected PB of 41 seconds!

Placing: Overall: 38/326 / M40 8/27

Total miles for the day: 6.2

So it appears that the recipe for a 5k PB is to overtrain for a marathon, make a balls of the race and then eat pizza and drink beer for 3 weeks between slow jogs in the heat and hills. Maybe I’m just wringing the last drop out of marathon training – I’m glad to have gotten one more PB out of it. Another good result for the Takumi Sens – although my calves are paying for it today!!

My overall assessment is that I actually didn’t think that was in me, but I assessed how I felt after the first mile, and as I didn’t feel too bad I just held on. I’m glad I took this risk, but I know it doesn’t always work out like this. I’m not being self-critical when I say the following – I definitely left a few more seconds out there because although it may not sound like it, there were a few times when I was slightly cautious. Also a slightly flatter course and a cooler night may have meant a few more seconds could be eked out. Therefore I’m delighted with this result for 3 reasons:
1. It's massive PB
2. My assessment of the race is that there is more in me – I can go faster again with the right training
3. I needed a good race and I got one. I’m now excited about the months to come and can’t wait to see what comes next.

:D:D

Kennyg71

Great result, amazing what effect a good training block does, and being slightly more relaxed.