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Berlin Q or Bust: Road to sub 2:45
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Wed: AM 8.5k: 41:15 @4:51/km
PM 8.25k: 41:43 @5:04/km
In and out of work, No car. No ill effects from previous night's run, but was warned to take the rest of the week easy enough.
Thu: 17.54k split over three runs. In and out of work (tbe shorter 7k route) and then one with the dog late on. Pace in or around 5:10 For the three runs.
Fri: 18k: 1:32:18 @5:08/km
Ran this with a mate who I hadn't ran with in a while. Run flew by, he's going for sub 3 in Dublin, so we had a great chat about training and racing. Made plans to run LR on Sunday together.
Sat: 16k: 1:20:15 @5:01/km
Tipping away around the town.
Sun: 20miles
: 2:39:25 @4:57/km
Met my mate and one his running mates down in Monasterevin for this. 20 miles flew by, after running all my other Long Runs solo and over the same route more or less, this was great. Have never felt better during a run. Last long run of the training block. Have got in 3x30k, 2x32k & 1x36k, with a few more around 26/28k.
Weekly Total: 132.2k0 -
Berlin Marathon 2017: Week 14 of 16
Mon: The taper is upon us. Not as big a taper as previous marathons which is fair enough given where I am in comparison.
12.3K Recovery: 1:09:10 @5:37/km
Ambled around the plains on the Curragh. Legs felt good after previous day's 20miler but the ground was softer than I thought. A little tired afterwards.
Tue: 16k Easy: 1:24:21 @5:16/km
Was meant to split this up as a double, 10 & 6, but that just didnt happen. Ran around Kildare town and back to the Curragh. Nice run on a route I hadn't ran in ages.
Wed: 6x1mile repeats. 2 mins recovery.
Plan was to not go too crazy, but the target was 6:10 miles, not worrying if I was a few seconds out and definitely not going much faster than 6:10. Felt better as the session went on. I don't know if it's just a bit of paranoia settling in, but I'm feeling niggles. Little things here and there. My glutes were a little tight today, left leg a little sore during this session. Nothing major but I'm having second thoughts about a 10k this weekend. Maybe the memory of Enniscorthy 10k is fresh in my mind....
Splits: 6:18, 6:15, 6:13, 6:06, 6:06, 6:08
Tired after this....
Thu:
Thought about taking today off but was up in town so got in early for 10k in the PP. : 54:49 @5:29/km
So yeah, not sure about the weekend....0 -
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Berlin Marathon 2017: Week 14 of 16
Mon: The taper is upon us. Not as big a taper as previous marathons which is fair enough given where I am in comparison.
12.3K Recovery: 1:09:10 @5:37/km
Ambled around the plains on the Curragh. Legs felt good after previous day's 20miler but the ground was softer than I thought. A little tired afterwards.
Tue: 16k Easy: 1:24:21 @5:16/km
Was meant to split this up as a double, 10 & 6, but that just didnt happen. Ran around Kildare town and back to the Curragh. Nice run on a route I hadn't ran in ages.
Wed: 6x1mile repeats. 2 mins recovery.
Plan was to not go too crazy, but the target was 6:10 miles, not worrying if I was a few seconds out and definitely not going much faster than 6:10. Felt better as the session went on. I don't know if it's just a bit of paranoia settling in, but I'm feeling niggles. Little things here and there. My glutes were a little tight today, left leg a little sore during this session. Nothing major but I'm having second thoughts about a 10k this weekend. Maybe the memory of Enniscorthy 10k is fresh in my mind....
Splits: 6:18, 6:15, 6:13, 6:06, 6:06, 6:08
Tired after this....
Thu:
Thought about taking today off but was up in town so got in early for 10k in the PP. : 54:49 @5:29/km
So yeah, not sure about the weekend....
You're a monster mate. I did a similar 6 mile tempo session (6:10 pacing) 2 weeks out from longford and ran 2:50.
I saw your post in the Sub 3 thread. I'm not experienced enough to give an opinion on goal time, only my own experiences. If you're torn over a 5 minute time difference here's my view :
You will hit the sub 3. You will hit well faster than it too. Maybe Berlin, maybe not. But there is no need to force it. Running is a long term journey I would hope for all of us here.
I was happy to slip back from 2:45 to 2:50 for longford, and on reflection not only am I proud of the decision but I am excited for the improvement to come.
And you know what? The time was almost completely irrelevant at the finish and now. Those numbers will drop with consistency and hunger. But the experience of the day at one of the worlds biggest marathons? That won't happen too often 0 -
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Fri: 5k Easy with 4x100m strides: 24:12 @ 4:50/km
Stretch of the legs at lunchtime. Feeling a few little niggles but decided that they weren't actually anything worth worrying about.
Sat: Moone 10k
Signed up late in the day for this. Ran it last year and enjoyed it, so it makes it the first race I've returned to and know the course outside of the Race Series
My advice was to go out easy, 4:05's, even a couple of 4:10's, start to pick it up a bit and put in a good effort for the last 3km's. This was decided after Wednesday's session where I felt a bit ****e afterwards
Well today I got to Moone relatively late, got a out for a couple of km's warm up, a few strides. Chatted to one of my best mates who lives down that neck of the woods and before I know it we're away......
Result: 38:56 @ 3:54/km
So yeah, felt like a million dollars out there today. Decided to run @90% effort, and pick it up towards the end. Decided that I'd go out at around 4min km's and see where those took me. Race started, 3:50, 3:54 first couple of km's. I knew the start was a bit of a downhill so these didn't alarm me and effort levels were on point.
Still, with my misgivings rattling around I said I'd reign things in and stick to the plan. Ended up on my own from about 2km to 7km. Wasn't passed by anyone, and I managed to pick off a couple of runners who were ahead of me for those km's. The difference it makes when you know a course is a bit mad, and the undulating nature of the course didn't bother me as opposed to a couple of races this year when I didn't know what the course was like. I felt really comfortable and debated just hammering the second 5k, but again I held back.
4:03, 3:56, 4:03, 3:56, 4:01....so got to 7k and got back level with a Rathfarnham runner who I'd been trailing the whole race. Ran with him for a km, had a bit of chat, started to pick things up and with 2k to go I tried to put the hammer down and finish strong. Quick look at the watch told me that 39mins was a possibility. So yeah, powered on for home, finished with my two fastest kilometres, the last of which included the nasty up hill finish....3:52, 3:46, 3:36
Finish Time: 38:56 PB
Feeling great after that. In my almost 3 years of running 40mins for a 10k has always been a number I've looked at. I never thought I'd break it running within myself!! Feeling great after this. The encouragement I've gotten on here has been great as well. I'm very conscious that there will be days when things don't go my way, so days like today are to be appreciated.....Berlin is calling 0 -
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Swashbuckler wrote: »Great running and a pretty spectacular last km!
Yeah i just went for it! It's up hill but the finishing line is in sight which is a great motivator 0 -
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Swashbuckler wrote: »Well done. That was some training block. Fantastic running. What's the target for Berlin? I remember you had an initial target of 3:05. Has that changed? Did you formulate the training plan yourself?
Cheers yeah 3:05 is still the target, although I have gotten to this point after a lot of procrastinating! I think I'm pretty close to sub 3 shape, but it can keep for this one. If I go under 3:05 then a sub 3 will take care of itself the next time out!
Didn't formulate the plan no. I'm lucky enough to have a mate who'd be an elite marathon runner so I've been blessed to have him look after my training since I started a couple of years ago 0 -
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3:15.....slipped on a plastic cup after 30k, did something nasty to my right hamstring....was moving well until then, on for 3:03ish....
keeping the show on the road until the finish was the hardest thing I've ever done! Bit disappointed but super proud of gutting it out and posting a half decent time. 0 -
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So Yeah, Berlin done and dusted. It was a brilliant experience I have to say, from start to (very ropey) finish.
Expo was an experience, went on the Friday morning straight off the plane, it had just opened and queue was a bit nuts, but it moved along nice and quickly. Some nice Adidas gear knocking about so picked up a couple of bits and pieces. I found it mad that anyone could just rock up and buy a finisher t shirt, some things should be sacrosanct....
Did a bit of sightseeing, Potsdamer Platz, Brandenburg Gate, checked out the finish line. Great buzz around that Friday afternoon and the weather was gorgeous too. Nipped out for a 20min run in the evening and had my second pasta meal of the day did a bus tour of the city on the sat morning after a 20 min run, got out at a couple of spots but no major walking. Found a spot to watch United game and headed back to the apartment.
Up at 6am, porridge breakfast, headed into start area sans any Vaseline. Got some off a very kind English guy, and went into the start block. Having sort of geared up for a dry & hot day, the weather came as a nice surprise, cool and pretty wet, no wind but very humid. Serious buzz being so close to the 3 boys at the start line, I was really amped up in the starting area. So away we go down the big avenue and I'm just trying to get my pace going. No hold ups in traffic, and it's straight down to business.....or not. Got a rattle off some guy from behind who claimed I ran in front of him, I started to argue with him saying I was following the blue line but got cut off when some other dude shouts lace open.....****. so pulled into side of a roundabout tied it back up and caught back up with adversary after about 20 secs. Offered him the hand and we were friends again 2km in and I realise that the advice about the GPS being out of sync was correct. I was a little disconcerted but I got on pace quite quickly. The plan was for 3:04, went through 5k about 21:55, ten seconds out, by 10k I was one second under, 43:29. This really gave me a lot of confidence that I able to judge the pace easily. Felt great, took water on at every stop, had first gel at 10k. Crowds really were amazing, some energy off them. I'm feeling great now, nailing the splits, managing the water stations and the art of plastic cup drinking went through half way about 30 seconds under target although I'd have to double check that split. Think it was about 1:31:20ish.....im feeling strong, only question was whether to push the pace a bit but I quickly stopped that crazy line of thought. 25k, 30k bang on target. I'm really buzzing now, i know im racing and the body knew it was in a race but everything is holding together. And then the fateful plasticcupgate incident....which will be detailed at a later date as I'm about to board a plane home 0 -
Might get this finished before take off so yeah my splits, half was 1:31:24, 30k was 2:10:17...it was going too well wasn't it. So I'd planned my 3rd and final gel at about 30k. I'd picked one up in the Gelzone at 28k. So at the next waterstop I took some water to take the gel and then made my fateful decision to move back in towards the station and grab another cup, didn't look where I was going and my leg went straight from under me and I went as close as I've ever done to the splits. Immediately I feel the hamstring. I thought I'd actually pulled it properly but I didn't than I god. I'm swearing badly now, trying to get going again but it's under pressure. Stopped and stretched for a while, got going again but 4:30 for a couple of km's was the best i could manage. Had to stop and stretch a couple more times and the calves are screaming now, the slower pace is doing for them. I went from hoping to get under 3:10 to just hoping to finish now. I'm in bad enough shape but once I got Potsdam Platz I said there's no way I'm not running the rest of this. Managed to get home with about 3 km's under 5 mins. Finish through the gate was a bit special......3:15:26 a PB for what that's worth. Taking off now. Thanks to everyone who's been following the log. Looking forward to keep my improvements going and getting fitter and faster. 0
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So the dust is still settling on Sunday's efforts and I'm still to-ing and fro-ing on how to feel after it. There's a mixture of pride, frustration, annoyance, impatience and self doubt all floating around in my head.
Part of me, a large part, just wants to out it down to pure dumb luck, I could run 50 more marathons and not slip on a plastic cup. Then I start chastising myself for not being careful enough; it's been mentioned in these parts enough about the plastic cup debris in Berlin. This added to the wet conditions really should have honed my instincts.....except it sort of did. All through each of the various stations i slowed a step or two, got the liquids on board in a non-spluttery fashion, and stepped out away from the ****e on the road. Looking back at my splits it was the station just after 32k that it happened at. My immediate memory was coming up to the station thinking "there's 10k left and this is there for the taking".....pride and falls and that sort of thing.
I suppose it's not knowing if I would have closed the deal. The next time out I will be going for sub 3, absolutely no doubt about that, but I won't be going for it safe in the knowledge that i have a 3:03/3:04 marathon under my belt. I'm the sort of runner who typically needs these steps along the way to a big goal.
I do keep coming back to how good i felt out there. It was a new experience for me to run a marathon without worrying about the course. And it worked out great for the most part! I found a rhythm early on and was able to maintain it. Loads of people to work off helped too; I'm still amazed by people who run fast marathons in smaller scale races. I'm not sure if I'd ever be able to do that to be honest, a half maybe, but a full is a step too far for me right now anyway!
I was also pleasantly surprised at how I was able to keep pace with the GPS being not at it's most reliable. I was surprised my racers didn't have blue paint on the soles by the end, so close did I stick to the line, so the 43.2km was a big deviation. At least my Garmin is giving me a 3:10 Marathon PB
So just eager to get back at it now. Had a long walk yesterday and will go for a few light runs before the end of the week. No real plans as of yet. 3rd baby due in December might put a stop to any extravagant plans, but I'd like to have a rattle at sub 30 in Raheny in January, and take it from there. Will do DCM next year, maybe have another rattle at Berlin in 2019 now London isn't happening 0
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