"It's what you do next that counts"

babacool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118624356#Comment_118624356

As I always said on my log “learn from my mistakes not from what I got right”. 😁

so yes, during taper maintain your weight but don’t sweat it if you add a little. You will need that extra energy.

re shoe… yep. At the end of the day I don’t get paid by hoka to wear those shoes so definitely open to try something different. It’s just that I don’t want to support Nike 😂.

oh and I hear ya re Swissroll. I’m the same. If I’m around cake, the cake won’t be around for too long 😉. Definitely a weakness same time life is too short to miss all the fun. 4 weeks I can manage without but wouldn’t get rid of it completely.

E.coli

It's kinda funny I am reading this at the exact same time I have the following video opened on separate screen only dawned on me half way through to share

Some very good common sense advice for race week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsXeOm34CEo

babacool

Fried alligator 😳.

Wottle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118624448#Comment_118624448

Couple of useful tips, the big take away for me is even pacing, don't bank early on or try to make time after a slow crowded first mile.

Good tip with the sleep the night before, don't force it.

Actually its helped me finalise race week, cheers.

Wottle

Feb 14th (Mon) - 3 mile recovery run, pace 8'51, AHR 134 (70% of MHR)

Feb 15th (Tue) - 3 miles easy with 3x20 second strides towards the end, pace 8'34, AHR 141

Travelling over on Thursday to Portugal, so won't run that day and still undecided about Saturday.

I was listening to Charlie Munger, one of the top investors in the world. He mentioned one of his strengths is to invert a problem. So instead of me thinking about running my best marathon, I'm now in a mindset of how not to fcuk it up :-)

I started writing down a few thoughts:

1. Training and Taper - The work is done, nothing to be gained by doing a last minute crazy session or trying STH new. I may feel a little undercooked but that's better than the opposite.

2. My Attitude - staying positive, looking back over some of my training runs for confidence. Happy in the fact that I've completed a consistent block of training and have learnt a few things for the next one. This ties in well with the win or learn.

3. Weather - out of my control, current outlook is ok but if hot, I'll definitely adjust my goals accordingly and I'll be ok with that.

4. Race Day Fueling - I have a plan, it actually starts Saturday morning, whereby I'll prepare my meals for the day before heading over to Spain in the afternoon, I'll just have to heat it up, no messing around eating hotel food or finding a restaurant.

I'll be taking 6 gels in total, all SIS apart from 1xkinetica cola with caffeine. I'm also going to carry one soft flask with a Hi5 mix. I had trained with 2 soft flasks but there appears to be ample water & fueling stations, every 3 to 4k. I tried Maurten and found I got nothing out of them.

5. Pacing - If the weather is perfect, what is the plan? This is still to be decided and will be governed by heart rate and good sense in the opening few miles. I'd love if this matched up with 7'35s (3'19) but I'll also happily take 7'59s (3'29), which was the original target.

@demfad in the thread on his time in Kenya talks about running relaxed and that's what I want to find myself doing for as long as possible in Seville.

Current marathon pb is 3'37 from DCM 2008.

ReeReeG

Best of luck on Sunday D! You've really solid training put in, and sounds like you're well prepared! Enjoy it now 😃

babacool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118633423#Comment_118633423

6 gels? At what point of the race are you planning to use them? overall it sounds like an overkill to me. Don’t think they are needed for the first 30k and if they are you are overdoing it (and let’s face it, it would be too late anyways as you are in much bigger trouble). And for the last 12k I would reckon 2 is enough. I remember my first few marathons where I took that many with me too and found it annoying. They bothered me throughout the races. I “forced” them in to me as I thought I had to as otherwise I will hit the wall. Only to realise I don’t need them. Water - yes. Plenty of water. But not gels or at least not that many. Then again, that’s just my personal opinion/feeling. Right now I wouldn’t take on more than 1 gel in a marathon. And only if a run is over 3hrs (racing) I would then take 2.

just make sure to eat enough (don’t overeat but eat enough) 😁 you don’t want to end up like a certain other person.

Wottle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118644796#Comment_118644796

Cheers @babacool and it's definitely STH I'll explore for the next one. I actually found I only needed two on my last 20 miler but intensity wasn't MP, 6 could certainly be overkill but I'd rather have them with me than not.

Plan is every 30 mins and aiming for 65g per hour, I have a sis 40g (2 sugars) and a sis iso 25g.

I actually don't eat the morning of any race, I can't. My last meal will be 7pm the night before and I've done same for all the long runs.

Good podcast on it this week with Ross Tucker on "the real science of sport"

Thanks @ReeReeG super excited :-)

marathon2022

Your preparation for this one looks spot on. Great training blocks and overall approach. Good luck.

Lambay island

Best of luck! You have given yourself a great chance with the prep.

Laineyfrecks

Best of luck! I'm sure you will smash your target, have enjoyed following your progress. Most of all enjoy it😊

Wottle

Thanks everyone for all the good wishes, means a lot.

Feb 16th (Wed) - 7 miles with 2 miles at marathon power. These came in at 7'37 & 7'30. HR was marginally higher but I'll blame the wind.

Feb 17th (Thu) - Rest day as travelling, can't wait, so giddy, which led to an awful sleep.

For anyone who wants to track me, my number is 4141

DeepBlue

Best of luck and hope you get a result that you are happy with.

Wottle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118646672#Comment_118646672

Thanks, really looking forward to it, finally tired, so bed in 15 mins.

Feb 18th (Fri) - 4 miles easy, down to the beach and back. This was at 10am Portugal time, so 11am in Seville. If things are going well, I'll still have an hour to go at that time, it was roasties.

Feb 19th (Sat) - 2 miles with a few strides in the middle. This was a bit earlier in the morning and not as warm. I wore my Vaporflies, felt great but still haven't got the lockdown perfected, the tongues keep moving to the outside. And although the run was only 2 miles, my Garmin bumped me up a VO2 point. Maybe that combined with the Spurs win is a good omen.

Soon after the run we made our way to Spain, we were getting worried as the roads out were being closed for some cycling TT comp.

Expo was only ok, not a lot of stalls but a great vibe around the place.

I'm really excited for it. I'm definitely racing but I also want to enjoy it. Is that a contradiction?

Wottle

Build up to Seville Marathon

This was supposed to be a trio of successful Spanish races. First up was the Sant Vicenc dels horts 10k in November. It was a disaster 46’52 (7’30 mile pace). Just chalked it down to a bad run.

Next up was the Malaga Half Marathon in mid December, another abysmal run, 1’48’37 (8’11 mile pace). So that was two terrible runs in a row. I examined them both closely and came up with three potential issues that needed rectifying.

First one was easy enough, fly out an extra day early, this means Thursday for a Sunday race.

Second was also a quick fix, my thyroid meds, take them after the race and not before. This could have been purely placebo but I started to feel stronger on long runs.

Third and the most difficult, shift the excess weight. My weight after Malaga was 83kg, I was 73kg starting Seville.

I attacked my diet by:

1 Cutting out all obvious sugars, sweets and fizzy drinks. I know I’m a sugar addict and moderation doesn’t work for me.

2 Only eating between noon and 8pm but still eating three full meals.

3 Increasing my protein intake.

4 Timing of carbs, on rest or easy days I kept them down but day before and day of sessions and long runs I increased my intake.

On Jan 8th I ran the Marlay parkrun in 20’33 (6’37 mile pace) and on January 27th I ran a solo 10 mile Time Trial in 69’17 (6’55 mile pace).

Both these runs were badly needed to show I was on the right path and with confidence building, I felt a PB was achievable. My current PB goes back to 2008 Dublin Marathon 3'37 (8'18 mile pace).

Wottle

Race Week

Flew out Thursday evening to Faro, Portugal and arrived at the apartment around 9pm. Friday morning’s run was a slog and confirmed I was right to fly out early. Saturday’s short run felt much better and then it was time to cook my pasta, chicken, peppers and sauce before travelling to the expo. Spain is an hour ahead of Portugal, so arrived at the expo just after 3pm and at the hotel by 4pm. I immediately had a massive cereal, just right with goji berries, brazil nut and blueberries. This was also prepared earlier that morning. Had my dinner heated in the hotel bar at 7pm and then went upstairs to watch City V Spurs.

Didn’t sleep well but didn’t really expect to. Got up at 5:30am just to properly wake the body and ready myself, lots of vaseline and kinesiology tape on the nipples. At the expo they gave us a lightweight airy peaked hat, at the last second I decided to bring it. This turned out to be a great call.

The only concern I had was that I accidentally had a four week taper instead of two. Only a few days after the 10 mile TT, I ran an 18 miler with 3x3 miles at half marathon pace, it was too much and the body needed recovery not sessions, so I felt a little undercooked.

Seville Marathon

My plan was to pay close attention to three data fields - Power, Lap pace and HR. I had an idea of how they’d all match up.

0-5km 23’24 (7’32 mile pace)

Wasn’t expecting that but HR was in a good place, took my first gel in the opening minutes, temps were perfect for the start, maybe 10/11C and the sun was still low and more importantly masked by the high rise buildings.

Through 10km 46’51 (7’32 mile pace)

Heart rate still in control, lots of people passing me, including the 3’15 pacer. Took my second gel at mile 5. I was really enjoying the ride of the Vaporflies.

Through 21.1km 1’38’59 (7’33 mile pace)

Took my third gel at mile 9 and from mile 11 I took out the first of my 250ml soft flasks with hi5 caffeine and electrolytes. I avoided all the water stations to this point and I liked that, I could just stick to my own rhythm. It was at halfway where I started to notice the heat and it did scare me given how poorly I ran in Malaga. My heart rate was climbing but only slowly.

Through 30km 2’21’42 (7’36 pace)

Gels at mile 14 and 18, finished the first soft flask at mile 15 and threw it to the side. I was now using the race water stations, throwing the water over my head and down my back. I had been taking the hat off in the shade but now it was staying mostly on. It was also here where I noticed my left hamstring and made a decision to slow up a fraction. It was like there was an invisible line and I dare not go over it.

Through 35km 2’46’45 (7’40 mile pace)

At 20 miles I had to adjust my left shoe, it needed loosening and the tongue had slid all the way across to the outside.I thought this would be a 5 second fix but it wasn’t, I quickly realised how stiff I was and fumbled for longer than I wanted. I also had a blister forming on the same foot but I wasn’t addressing that. I really wanted to run every mile under 8 minutes but that ended on mile 23.

To the finish 3’25’07 (7’49 mile pace)

Took out my second soft flask, same mix as previous. Had my sixth gel at mile 22 and my seventh at mile 24. I didn’t know I had seven, swore I brought six but needed every bit of help I could get. The heat was getting to me, my blister was sore now and then BANG, sniper shot me early into the 25th mile. I had worked the maths out just beforehand and felt I’d be close to 3’23. According to my stryd footpod data, I lost a minute here trying to stretch it out and when I did get moving it was at a slower pace, I felt I could go quicker but the invisible line had moved.

Another quick calculation and I realised sub 3’25 was still on and at 200m to go I felt it was in the bag, with 150m to go, BANG, I was shot again. I tried to run backwards at first but that didn’t work, tried to run hunchbacked, that didn’t work so had to stretch it out, 30 seconds lost here, some choice words also blurted out. Managed to get back into a jog for the last 30/40 meters. Stopped my watch and knew I missed sub 3’25 but instantly I didn’t give a crap, I was chuffed.

A 12 minute PB, 14 years in the making, I completed a marathon program and learnt a load of stuff about myself in the process for the next one.

I got quite emotional on the walk back to the hotel, I guess it was a sense of pride. My wife, three daughters and running group were all following me on the tracker and the amount of messages waiting for me on my phone back at the room choked me up again, a super feeling of which I hope to remember for a long time to come.

Lambay island

Congrats on the big PB- you put in the work and deserved it.

Aggh, I know that hamstring cramping feeling oh so well(its never just once). I'd have liked to seen the running backwards attempt 😀

ariana`

Great race & report Wottle. Congrats on the big Pb. I love the emotion that the marathon brings out, it's some feeling making so many people proud and yourself more than anyone. Enjoy the aftermath, soak it up.

ReeReeG

Was so delighted for you when I saw you got a PB! You fought through so well, amazing running! Congrats!

Laineyfrecks

Well done on the PB, you worked hard for it! I really love the emotions & pride tgat come with running a marathon, of course the time is important to yourself but there's something extra special about the people that are there with you for the journey & all the support before & after the marathon makes it so special.

Wottle

Thank you all for the nice comments, also nice to know someone is reading :-)

Just a couple of thoughts to carry into the next cycle (Amsterdam in October)

1 - Slow easy runs down to<70% of MHR as opposed to<75%

2 - More long runs, including 1x22 miles

3 - Need to race a half marathon around seven weeks out (Sep 3rd or 4th)

4 - Bigger base needed as I was tapped out with four weeks to go rather than my planned two week taper

I'm sure there's more. I've signed up for Dunboyne 10k at the end of March just to assess fitness, rather than expecting a performance. I'll then just concentrate on 5k training for a while, love 5ks and I signed up for the Tallaght 5 mile in June.

Feb 21st (Mon) - Rest

Feb 22nd (Tue) - Rest

Feb 23rd (Wed) - 3 miles super easy, 9'22 mile pace, AHR 71%. Went well, no hidden niggles but glad it was only 3 miles.

I'll take it easy for a couple of weeks and then I'm over in Portugal for a week, nice way to get back to it.

Murph_D

Congrats, D, huge PB and some turnaround from that recent disappointing HM. Like AMK you battled hard through the final miles, that's what it's all about really.

babacool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118687332#Comment_118687332

Best advice I’ve been given in 2018 was to fully rest for 2 weeks after the marathon. I know it tough and you feel like loosing your fitness but thinking long term this will do you good. Hence my advice would be: don’t run fit two weeks and then slowly build up again.

half in September: Ratoath is great and on the 10th I think! 🙂

skyblue46

Belated congratulations on your great run. It was tough at the end but to smash your old PB by so much is a brilliant achievement. Looking forward to you going from strength to strength.

Wottle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118692537#Comment_118692537

Ratoath would be perfect but its my wife's birthday, so that weekend is a big no :-)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118692818#Comment_118692818

I'm excited to push to a new level of fitness, fingers crossed of course.

Hope you get your knee sorted. I had a long term knee and hamstring issue. It took @Ceepo from these parts to sort me out, I'd highly recommend.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118688173#Comment_118688173

Thanks @Murph_D trying to follow in your steps of consistency.

Feb 24th (Thu) - Rest

Feb 25th (Fri) - 5 miles easy, pace 9'13, AHR 135 (70% of max)

Feb 26th (Sat) - 1 mile super easy with my youngest. I was delighted she asked, hopefully the start of sth.

There was a time all three of my daughters were running regularly. The eldest has decided to take the year off to concentrate on the leaving cert. She's still obsessed with the national and international scene, so I'm sure she'll be back.

My 16 yr old (middle) runs 3 times a week but on her own and with loads of s&c, hopefully we can sort her club situation out soon.

Feb 27th (Sun) - just over 5 miles, pace 9'04, AHR 144 (75% MHR)

Another easy run, HR a little higher than previous runs but I'm blaming afternoon running. I actually stayed in bed till 10am, haven't done that in awhile. Hate running in the afternoon but glad to get out.

Legs feel pretty good and I'll be sure to take next week handy too.

babacool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118702663#Comment_118702663

You never know. It may be the best birthday present you can give to her “honey Happy birthday. I’m off to a race. See ya in 6hrs (including driving, warm up/down and the time spent trying to find a nice bouquet of 💐) 😁

Wottle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118704170#Comment_118704170

😅 no chance, my running had taken over for Seville. She was amazing and very supportive but I could tell my early morning alarm was starting to get on her nerves.

Wottle

Feb 28th (Sun) - 5 miles easy, pace 9'03, AHR 136 (71%MHR). Legs feel fine.

Mar 1st (Mon) - A little over 7 miles, pace 8'43, AHR 138 (72%MHR). Woke at about 5:30am, couldn't get back to sleep, so just got up early and added an extra couple of miles. Cold one but really enjoyed it, listened to Philly Bowden on "A runner's life podcast", an easy listen as she recalled her 2'34 in Seville.

Legs itching for STH a little faster but resisting the urge, maybe Sunday.

Wottle

Mar 2nd (Wed) - Rest, although it did include 2 hours of after-school and playing capture the flag.

Mar 3rd (Thu) - 11 days after the marathon, which included 4 rest days and I had my first session. I'm all about 5k for the next couple of months and the odd 5 mile (Tallaght) and 10k (Dunboyne).

My legs have been itching for sth a bit faster, so just went with it. 3x1k off 60 seconds after a 1 mile warm up.

Stryd tells me my 5k race power is 353watts, so only looked at that and not pace. Reps went 3'52 (353w), 3'47 (357w), 3'44 (3'57). Quite pleased with that and definitely could have done another rep. I believe I'm in about 19'50 5k shape but that still needs to be proven. I won't get a chance though till March 19th.

2 mile cool down with 2x30 second strides to finish it off.

My watch has finally changed from detraining to maintaining :-)

Wottle

Mar 4th (Fri) - out at 6am for a very enjoyable 7 miles, pace 8'46, AHR 71% MHR

Mar 5th (Sat) - 6 miles, pace 8'36, AHR 75% MHR. Travelled over to Portugal early morning and wanted to loosen the legs out. Towards the end I felt a bit of shin pain.

Mar 6th (Sun) - 10 miles in total, 3 at the start and the end on my own. Bit of company in the middle and shin seems fine. In future after a flight, 5k easy.

Mar 7th (Mon) - 9 miles similar to the day before. The middle section with company included an out and back on the beach, about 17° and blue skies. I wore my adizero pro, still don't like them.