Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
An 18 Week Sabbatical
Options
Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
Monday 2nd April
71.9kg
Recovery Run - 10km10.01km in 50:05, 5:01/kmThis was just an easy jog on a quiet country road in North Tipperary. I wanted to keep the pace nice and slow and while 5:01/km is certainly slow, I got less slow as the run progressed. After 17 weeks of what for me is a high mileage plan, I would have hoped that my perceived easy effort would have yielded something faster than 5 minute kilometres, but then I guess that's not the purpose of these recovery runs.
Totals;
Time: 0:50 - Distance: 10.01km
Tuesday 3rd April
71.8kg
General Aerobic Run - 11km11.03km in 48:20, 4:23/kmToday was day two of my attempt to rid my body of its glycogen stores and it really told on this run. I started to feel sick from about 20 minutes in and I consciously backed off the pace from then on. I don't think it was the no carbs that was the problem, rather all the nuts I ate in place of the porridge oats I'd usually for breakfast, and again for lunch, today. Lesson learned though and I won't be eating similar before my dress rehearsal run tomorrow. (I didn't eat anything at all as it turned out.)
Totals;
Time: 0:48 - Distance: 11.03km
Wednesday 4th April
71.7kg
Dress Rehearsal - 13km w. 3km at MP13.02km in 52:36, 4:02/kmThis was my last testing run before Rotterdam and I was slightly trepidatious taking it on. Which is a bit ridiculous, considering it was for only 3km I had to hold marathon pace. The fact it was causing any sort of worry is probably not the best of signs. I was halfway through the third day of a carb and caffeine fast though, and that wasn't doing anything to allay my worry. The temptation to break the fast with a caffeinated gel, right before the 3km at MP started, was huge. In the end, I resisted the temptation and felt proud of myself because of this. If only I could have shown such resolve with all things dieting since Christmas.
Splits; 1) 2.50km in 10:53, 4:21/km, 2) 2.50km in 10:36, 4:14/km, 3) 2.50km in 10:21, 4:08/km, 4) 2.50km in 10:03, 4:01/km 5) 2.50km in 8:57, 3:35/km, 6) 520m in 1:45, 3:21/km
Cool down: 930m in 4:53, 5:15/km
My approach to the run was to steadily increase my pace over the opening 10km. I'd set my watch to auto lap every 2.5km, which was the signal to slightly up the pace, before finishing out the fourth quarter of the warm up at MP +10%. I comfortably hit my target paces for the first four splits. It felt easy to increase the pace each time, and although it took a bit more effort to start running at
:40/km pace once the MP section started, I was still very much within my comfort zone. That was until I turned right onto Chesterfield Avenue and began to run into a strongish headwind. It required much more of an effort to keep the pace below 3:40/km and all I could think is I wouldn't have been able to maintain this effort for 42km. When I turned out of the wind, I was ale to get back to running at what felt like a more sustainable marathon pace. Although the splits might give the impression I was trying to finish with a bit of a kick, I was actually holding the same effort throughout the entire 3km segment. I hadn't changed the auto lap function on my watch and carried and when the fifth split flashed on my watch, I carried on running at the intensity I had been holding up until then. With the wind now at my back, the speed for the final 500 metres turned out to be much, much quicker than what I'll need to hold on Sunday. It's a bit of relief after the feelings of despair I was going through running into the wind. It shows how overly reliant I am on my Garmin though and it's probably not something an experienced runner would have stressed about.
Totals;
Time: 0:57 - Distance: 13.95km
Thursday 5th April
71.7kg
Same weight as yesterday; which I'm taking to mean my glycogen stores are as low as I'm going to to get them. I'll continue with the carb free food until supper time, then all bets are off on what my weight will be tomorrow.
Recovery Run - 10km10.02km in 52:02, 5:12/kmAn easy jog to finish off another 16 hour fast
Totals;
Time: 0:52 - Distance: 10.02km
Friday 6th April
72.7kg
Recovery Run + speed - 8km w. 6 x 100m strides8.00km in 40:11, 5:01/kmI flew to Rotterdam this morning and did this run there. My legs felt okay. I'm not sure how they'd have managed thirty-four more kilometres and 1:22/km faster though. It's really starting to hit home how hard the challenge I've set myself is. Hopefully I'll find a bit more confidence between now and 10 o'clock on Sunday morning.
Totals;
Time: 0:40 - Distance: 8.00km
Saturday 7th April
No weigh-in
Recovery Run - 6km6.01km in 32:41, 5:26/kmThis was just an easy trot before I did my best not to stuff myself at the complimentary breakfast in the hostel.
Totals;
Time: 0:33 - Distance: 6.01km
Weekly Totals;
Running: 4:40 - 59.02km
Cross training : 0:30 I'm not 100% sure about this, but I'm pretty sure I got on my stationery bike trainer at least once. With no work to go to and not being able to swim on account of the recent tattooing, it was done as much out of boredom as anything else.
S & C: 0:00
I'd usually wait until after the full week's running is over, before posting my weekly training, but given it's race day tomorrow, I feel it's timely I update now. It's D-day tomorrow and although I've been building up to it for 18 weeks, it's only really in the last few days that I've started to feel nervous about the race. It's getting worse and worse by the hour, so I don't anticipate a great night's sleep.
I could rabbit on and on, listing a hundred reasons I could do well and an equal number of reasons as to why I could do badly. At the end of the day though, I'd have taken the position I'm in now, had it been offered to me when I began the training back in December. I substituted several recovery runs with cross training, but apart from that, I did every single run exactly as the plan prescribed. After achieving my marathon PB 4 years ago on the back of Pfitzinger and Douglas's program, I was an avid believer in the fact that the work laid out in 'Advanced Marathoning' worked. Let's hope I've no reason to doubt that in 24 hours.0 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
AuldManKing wrote: »Now its been more than a week. Wheres the report?
I'm working on it, I'm just experiencing a bit of writer's block at the minute. It'll be done by the bye though, don't worry.
It was a bizarre race for me in ways and some of the finer details are a bit sketchy. I was hoping to see DR's Strava activity to make a bit more sense of it, but he must have lost his watch since.:)0 -
Out of My Depth - Still leading DR 27km in
After 10 minutes frantically pushing my way through throngs of people, I finally made it to my assigned starting pen. Once I'd successfully gained entry, it took a little more elbowing my way forward to get as close as possible to the tape separating Pen B and Pen A. When I'd advanced as far as bad manners would allow, there were only two rows of runners between me and the dividing tape. I was happy with this, especially so when I thought back to where I had been 20 minutes prior. With a huge sense of relief flooding over me, I took some deep controlled breaths and with the falling stress levels, I began to concentrate on the task at hand.
I spotted Krusty and dublin runner up ahead in Pen A. Without either of them knowing it, a large part of my strategy today was predicated upon how those two ran. So I'm going to refer to them a lot throughout the report. In a nutshell my strategy was 'Run hard, but if you pass either of them, then you're running too hard.' Should we all run to our potential, I shouldn't have been any closer to either of them over the upcoming 42km, than I was right now.
The tension was starting to mount and the tape separating me from the faster pen in front was raised unexpectedly. This meant runners from Pen B could flood into the area in which runners from Pen A had been standing and mix with these supposed faster runners. Looking at the cut of some of them though, I'm not sure how strict NN Marathon Rotterdam's organisers could have been in screening people who applied for inclusion in this pen.
I was much closer to both Krusty and DR now and after greeting the former and taking a few more deep inhales, the starting starting cannon was fired and my dubious quest to break 2 hours 35 minutes began.
I found it difficult to settle into the correct pace in the opening kilometre. It wasn't as chaotic a start for me as it had been last year, but there was still some zig zagging and jostling for position before some sort of sensible order was established. I didn't let any of this unwanted contact bother me though. Both DR and Krusty were still in my sights and I figured the time they had put into me up until now was about what anyone would have reasonably predicted.
I was content with how things were going. I felt like the effort I had held up until now was one I'd be able to sustain all the way to the finish line. I began to relax simply letting the group I was in carry me along. Anthony was amongst them, but I was satisfied the effort it took to stay with the group wasn't going to push me over the edge. 'Just don't get notions and try pass him,' I told myself.
Almost as soon as this thought had germinated, the group split and I was left leading a line of runners trailing in the wake of Anthony's group. With a line of runners strung out behind me and a nice compact group just ahead, I was forced into a decision. The gap on the group in front was 5m and growing. The elastic was about to snap and should that happen, I'd be left on my own battling the wind. I had the choice of either pushing a little bit harder to latch back on, or stay with the runners behind me and hope they would share the workload as the race unfolded. I chose the former and although it caused me to push a little beyond my hoped for level of exertion, upon making contact, I settled back in with the group quickly enough. Although I was at the rear of the group, I felt good and didn't think I was going to be dropped any time soon.
I felt almost too good really and despite my avowed intentions not to, I took the regrettable decision to move in front of Anthony not long after. I kept glancing over my shoulder and noticed that I was pulling away from him. I estimated that I had put over 10 seconds into him at one point and the overriding feeling I had was that I was after making a mistake. I wondered might it have been prudent to slow down and wait until he repassed. This would have put me back in my rightful position, and I'd have gotten a small bit of recovery into the bargain. I didn't act upon this instinct though and it was one of several decisions I paid for in the end.
When he inevitably did regain the lead, I tried to stick with him for as long as possible. He was steadily pulling away from me though, but from having followed him on Strava for the last few months, I wasn't one bit surprised by this. He was still close enough to keep any eye on for the next few kilometres. Krusty was starting to come back to us and it wasn't long before Anthony passed him.
I had the distinction of doing the same about 24km into the race. I already knew the answer, but just as a way of acknowledging him, I asked Gary if he was still on track. His reply was a simple no and he said he was only jogging home at this stage. He wished me well and I kept on moving, hoping a similar fate wouldn't befall me.
Judging my pace off Anthony's though, it seemed as being reduced to a jog was going to be a hard thing to prevent. He was clearly pulling away and it was becoming harder and harder to keep him in my sights. Either I slowing or he was speeding up. The readings on my Garmin made a strong case for the fact I was decelerating. It wasn't long before Anthony did disappear, only to suddenly reappear on my left hand side after he had taken a pitstop. At least that's what I assumed had happened, because at the pace he passed, it didn't seem likely he was after crashing. He gave me some words of encouragement, but it didn't do any good. Had the pass happened earlier, I might have been able to go with him, but for the first time in the race, I wasn't able to react and he disappeared up the road even quicker than he had disappeared 10 minutes earlier.
I'd stuck to my fueling and hydration plan, such as it was, up until now. I planned to take a gel every 30 minutes, which I managed without issue after half an hour, and then again after an hour. Come 90 minutes, my stomach had already started to play up and I decided to hold off taking the next scheduled gel until I reached the aid station handing them out at 32km. It had been my intention to take one here to store in my fuel belt, for consumption 2 hours in. Having skipped the calorie intake on the hour and a half mark, my new plan of consuming the gel as soon as it was given to me, would see the next fix of calories come about 20 minutes later than originally planned. It might have been all in my head, but whatever the cause, I ran out of steam today and if I could go back, I would have stuck to my original nutrition strategy.
Incidentally, it probably wasn't a very well though out strategy. From being so used to frequent 5 hour + training days for ironman races, I think I've figured out what works for me for such days. The training for ironman never requires me to run as hard or as long as I do when racing a marathon. Digestion and absorption of calories is much easier when moving at slower speeds, so perhaps I shouldn't have been so lackadaisical about my approach to nutrition today. Hopefully it will be a lesson learned for the next marathon I do.
Back to the race; my pace was falling and although I didn't relish the thought of a gel, I forced myself to rip open the one I got at the aid station at 32km. I took one small mouthful, followed by an even smaller mouthful. I couldn't face anymore of the gunk and tossed it aside, having consumed less than half of it. I might have been running a calorie deficit at this stage, but I wasn't thinking straight and I didn't care. I'd only 10km to go and I told myself it will be a piece of p!ss. Although I was slowing, I felt I'd enough time banked to still be in with a realistic shot of breaking 2:35.
I was in Kralingse Park at this stage. Although I had never dwelt on them, all the horrible thoughts I'd heard pre-race about this stage of the marathon, came to mind. It seemed to take a lot longer, than I remember from last year, to get back to the straight stretch of road that would take us back to urbanity. I was flagging badly and low on energy, but I just couldn't bring myself to consume the final gel I had in my belt. For the first time in the race, my pace fell outside 3:50/km. Seeing such a slow kilometre split flash up on my watch, was a hammer blow and it was one from which I never really recovered. I tried to console myself with the fact that however bad this was, at least I wasn't faring as badly as 2017.
We got back to the city centre and although I knew I was nearly home, I couldn't muster anything. A lot of negative thoughts started to creep in and it was here I realised sub 2:35 was off the table. The fact I might still finish with a PB didn't occur to me and I remembered Gary's words earlier about how he was just going to jog home. 'Oh fnck it!' I thought, 'If he's content to jog, then there's no real shame in me doing it too.'
Kilometres 41 and 42 were completed in 4:06 and 4:05. I got back to the city centre and saw the clock change from 2:34:59 to 2:35:00. I was about 400m from the finishing line, but unless I was about to run 400m at world record pace, I wasn't going to finish with a PB. Needless to say this didn't happen. I was annoyed with myself for having thrown in the towel and this annoyance ignited some sort of instinctive fight response. I started pushing for the first time in a few kilometres and managed to pick up my pace to 3:43/km for the final 663m.
I crossed the line with a finishing time of 2:36:24, 1:25 away from my target, and 0:34 away from a PB. It would be very easy cite this and that, as the reason why things didn't work out for me on the day, but I think ultimately I failed because of mistakes I made in the 18 week build up. If I were to go into the mistakes here, God knows when this report would be ready. So I'll just leave it at that.
The late spurt I put in, once I saw the finishing clock, was too little too late. The fact I could do it, tells me that once things stopped going my way today, I gave in too easily. I'd found myself in no man's land almost as soon as I entered the park, but that was self inflicted really. I went out way too fast for my goal time and reaching halfway in the time I did, was foolish in the extreme. Starting a marathon all guns blazing doesn't work and I don't know why I thought it might be successful for me today.
There are some positives I can take from my training and the marathon, but a sense dissatisfaction with both is the overriding one. Where has left me? I'm not sure. In a funny way it's made me determined than ever to break 2:35 in 2018. DCM seems like a logical target, but that will be harder than Rotterdam and I also want to do some triathlons in the meantime. Whether I can successfully juggle the two sports, and still hit my marathon goal, is hard to know. I'm still in recovery mode right now and it will be a few weeks yet, before I decide on whether or not to extend this 18 week sabbatical.0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
For one reason or another, I've done very little of either in 2018. Anything I have done hasn't been very testing, but I'm guessing both have slipped quite a bit.
Surely the bike had a much greater slip?
Joking! But desire and enjoyment are important aspects of multisport (and unisport). If you are unfocused Tri-wise and looking to get a few swims in, the Leinster Open Sea races will start very soon, and several of them include the wetsuit-ed. They're an education in how to swim OW with panache- the fast guys in a Tri swim tend to disappear from the start, but the Leinster OW are handicapped. No greater education than watching how the faster guys manage to stroke by at a greater rate of knots.
You need two logs.0 -
-
-
Advertisement
-
Advertisement