Often becomes easy when the easy is often..
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This must be the de facto Hanson thread for the summer! I generally run the intervals at 10k pace as it's enough to get me in the right HR zone without having to bury myself to hit the pace. I'd struggle to complete the sessions if I was targeting 5k pace. I'm in week 6 now and had the pyramid session yesterday. A tough one!
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put in your goal time, and it'll give you the paces. For these sessions it's the 'speed' times
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I did that before, mixing up the 6 X 800 for 8 X 600.
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Yep, I like this.
For my DCM block last year (Bob Williams plan) all speed work was 10k pace. Felt I got a lot from it.
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I suppose what I meant is, how do you decide where on the 5k-10k pace range to do the workout? Personally I always found myself closer to the 10k end of things, although I did hit the marathon target in the end.
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For me that's easy - If 10k pace is the slower end of things I always run them at 11 or 12k pace.
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Injured. Gluteal tendinopathy.
Had been feeling a little niggly in the hip over the last couple of weeks, in and out. The Thurs tempo last Thurs week was a bit of a disaster. Was hurting quite a bit after it on the cool down.
Decided to rest up and book a physio. Went to him on Mon last where he diagnosed the injury. He gave me some rehab exercises to do and a plan for the week. Very easy running, day on day off with a tempo run on Saturday and a 16 mile easy run on Sunday. I was to report back to him today (Sunday) with how things went. Idea being that all going well I could jump straight back into the block.
Tue and Thurs easy runs went quite well, felt improvement. Felt amazing yesterday setting out on the tempo, warm up was 100%. Felt niggly though a mile into the tempo. The cool down then was quite limpy. Felt discomfort then all night, and woke up sore this morn.
It eased a little during the day but I skipped the 10 mile easy.
Can't get back on the horse just yet.
A goal of 3:05 is likely gone I think. Let's play it by ear.
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Is it not a little too premature to be writing off anything?
I know the extent of the injury is a bit up in the air at this moment in time but we're still 12 weeks out from the marathon. Fingers crossed for you!!
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Ah I think the A goal is slipping away K, I've already missed a week of the program and am going to miss at least another.
I'm not overly concerned about the 3:05 though, I'd happily run day on day off super easy for the next three weeks if it meant recovering and getting beyond it. We'll see what Lee says.
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Sorry to read this C, hopefully another week of rehab will do the trick! Best of luck back at the physio🤗
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Very sorry to see this update C. Hopefully the injury settles and you can return to a level of training that you're happy with for Amsterdam.
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Thanks guys, resting until Thurs as per physio's advice, then will run easy until Sunday. Visiting him then on Monday to see what's what.
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That's, quite literally, a bummer. The one bright spot being that the physio seemed to think initially that a week might be enough to sort you out. Hopefully this time off will help. In terms of abandoning the main goal, I wouldn't write it off just yet, my one other experience with Hanson's is that I was able to miss a good few sessions and yet still got my time. You'll know best how to play it though.
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Well overdue an update here, and am promising myself I will do so regularly.
What's what was he gave me the green light to pretty much crack on, albeit with another week of gentle easy running. Music to my ears obv. Said it's the type of injury that responds well to activity. Am still feeling it but it's improved, and most importantly the anxiety around it has gone.
Missed a chunk of the plan though, but barring a 4 day spell of rest I kept running albeit easy peasy. Picked things back up Hansonwise Tue Aug 1st. So will log from that point.
Tue Aug 1st - 3x 1m, 10k target pace. Fell short of target pace but felt real good to be back on track sessioning. Ran this at 6:40am, more on this below.
Thurs Aug 3rd - 7m Tempo (MP). Original pre setback target was 3:05. I felt that a little too spicy now so adjusted and targetted 3:10 (4:30km pace). Wore the new Endorphin Elites to test, the Amsterdam race shoe. Absolutely loved them, felt they greatly improved how I land, feels like they encourage landing on the mid/forefoot. Pace felt fairly effortless, although I did average 3:12 by the end of it. Good session though and felt bulletproof all day after it.
Fri Aug 4th - 6m easy - Ran 10.3km, 5:29km, 125bpm. Reassuring looking back at last year's block and seeing the big improvements in this type of run.
Sat Aug 5th - 10m easy - 5:39km, 129bpm
Sun Aug 6th - 10m easy - 5:36km, 131bpm
Mon Aug 7th - 8m easy - 5:35km, 126bpm
Tue Aug 8th - 6x 800, target 10k pace, 400 recs, WU/CD - Alarm went off at 5:50am for this one and I've learnt something. I had the option of doing this one after work, which is rare enough. When an alarm goes off at 5:50am and you have options, you take them. I need to not have options. Brought the gear to work thinking I would rock up to some available public track after work and session the hell out of it. Turned out I ended up working late unexpectedly and got home at 9:50pm. I had made a promise to myself that no matter what happened I would get this week done, no excuses. So with that in mind I set out at 10pm to the local industrial estate to get the session done.
It was glorious. Felt like running during lockdown. Not a soul or sound around. I was running the middle of the road, could have ran naked.
The most interesting thing happened. I nailed the pace. I don't nail paces on sessions. I don't worry about it though as I tend to do alright on raceday. Target was 3:12 per rep (time, not pace lol). Ran 3:12, 3:13, 3:10, 3:11, 3:13, 3:08.
I rarely if ever run speed sessions at night time, always at the crack of dawn. The last session I ran at night was my 5x 1k build up to Leixlip, and I nailed that too. Am thinking there might be something there, and that maybe I should calibrate my morning sessions to suit. Particularly the MP ones. Would love to hear people's opinions on that. Edit - reading over and it's maybe unclear what I mean. Should I accept that I'm a few seconds slower early morning, and factor that in to my target?
Thurs Aug 10th - 8m Tempo (MP). Again I targeted 3:10 pace. Wore the Endorphin Pro 3s for this. Was bang on 4:30km pace for it, so slight improvement on previous week. Felt like hard work though towards the end. Draggy finish to my route but it should be feeling hard anyway.
Fri Aug 11th - 7m easy - 5:36km, 127bpm
Sat Aug 12th - 8m easy. Met my buddy @tunguska at Marlay parkrun. I ran a few miles easy beforehand and finished with parkrun. Ran parkrun itself mostly easy although I did pick things up a little in the second half and couldn't help myself putting a bit of boot down for the last km. Great park, fantastic to see the amount of runners milling about there at 8:30am. Picked up some great nuggets of advice from tunguska as usual. Superb athlete and all around awesome guy.
Sun Aug 13th - 15m Long - For the uninitiated, Hanson alternates Sunday long runs between 'Easy' and 'Long'. Long is 30 - 40 secs slower than MP. So I set out this morning targeting 5:00km pace. Went really well, averaged 5:03km. Did feel the hip niggle more strongly than previous days, and had to stop at about 6 miles to stretch it out. Not too concerned though, discomfort came and went.
Target for now is between 3:08 to 3:12. I'll reassess that though in the coming couple of weeks. 3:05 may well be back on, we'll see.
Onwards.
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I said on my last entry that I was going to make an effort to update more regularly. Truth is I've tried a few times but each time I've planned to, the bed or the slumpy couch called out to me.
I was worried for a little while as I wasn't feeling this all important cumulative fatigue, was I working hard enough. It's here now though. Which is great.
I feel things are going really well, feeling the strongest and fittest I've ever felt.
At the start of this the one thing I feared was the Thursday tempo (goal MP) session, everything else looked difficult but very doable.
Have previously found MP sessions to be a bit of a mindf*ck, mentally challenging almost more than physically. The idea that the effort was soon to be maintained for 26.2 miles was always daunting. Drawing on experience helps with that, remembering the fact that it feels way easier on the day. Still dreaded them though at the start.
Am loving them now though. Thursdays are my favourite day of the week. It's a critical session, the feedback I'm getting from it every week is building the confidence nicely.
Target for them is 4:30km and the last few are as follows,
Aug 3 - 7m - 4:34km
Aug 10 - 8m - 4:30
Aug 24 -8m - 4:30 (17th skipped to race FD10)
Aug 31 - 9m - 4:30
Sep 7 - 9m - 4:29
So I'm doing well with them I feel. The effort feels bang on. A sub 3:10 seems very achievable at this point.
I do have greedy thoughts but I'm so scared stiff of cramping at the latter stages. @Sandwell's post recently in the Hanson thread about always being a few seconds off goal pace on these runs fuelled that I have to say. Everyone's different though, and look, a 3:09:x would be massive for me.
Finding the strength sessions to be absolute dogs, gruelfests. On paper they look to be a relief from the speed sessions being 20secs or so slower but they're beasts I think. Great workouts though.
This week's was a 3x 2m with 800 recs. Nailed pace on the first rep, slipped a little on the second and slipped a fair few on the third, begging for it to finish I was 😃. Was hilly though so no concern. I'm never concerned about hitting target pace on these things anyway*. Once I'm hitting target on the Thursday session I don't care. Plus, the Tuesday sessions are bound to be tough coming where they do in the cycle, the sixth of six consecutive days.
People always focus on Sunday long runs when talking about Hanson, they miss the real talking point imo. The Thursday tempo is what this plan is about, and what everything revolves around. So happy to be performing well in them.
*edit, I mean I'm never concerned afterwards. I'm gunning for target pace while out there.
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Monday Sep 4 - 8m easy - 5:34km, 116bpm. Out at 6:20am for this one, an achievement for me for a Monday.
Tuesday Sep 5 - Strength session, 3x 2 mile, 800 recs. Set out just after 6am. As mentioned above, I'm finding these sessions as tough as they're supposed to be. First rep was bang on pace at 4:20km. Second rep averaged 4:22, third rep 4:26. Bit of a climb on that third one so the GAP probably evened it out. Couldn't wait for it to finish though. Felt the session did it's job.
Thursday Sep 7 - 9m Tempo. Again, just after 6am. With a little bit of time pressure I shortened the WU and CD to 2k each, back to school is a bit of a pain in that regard. Tempo went amazingly well, the conditions were absolutely perfect, a stunning morning, warm but not hot. Miles just flew by and I nailed target pace (4:30km) bang on. Definitely one of my best ever sessions, brimming with confidence after it.
Friday Sep 8 - 7m easy - 5:42km, 118bpm
Saturday Sep 9 - 8m easy - 5:40km, 124bpm. This was a bit of a slog tbh. Had a few beers Friday night and was feeling them. Ran at lunchtime in the hot sun which added to it. Brought a 250ml soft flask with me, don't think I've ever done that before for anything other than a long run but I needed it. Demon drink 😊
Sunday Sep 10 - 16m Long Run (steady). Met up with @Laineyfrecks and @Sandwell in the PP for this one, Lainey was doing an hour steady (plus more that didn't overlap), which is the same pace as me (5:00km) and Sandwell had a 10m easy on his plate. Was excited to meet Sandwell, he ran Amsterdam last year, or should I say smashed Amsterdam last year, following the Hanson method. He's following Hanson again this year for Berlin so it was great to be able to bend his ear about it. Such a cool guy, the miles ticked by real quick with all the interesting conversation between the three of us. Had a slight bit of dread yesterday about this one, given the 8m easy felt rough, but it went by in a breeze. I did have a little wobble at about 12 miles with a stiff right leg, stopped for about 20 secs and shook it loose and managed to continue on strong. I get that often enough so nothing to be concerned about. Felt really amazing all day after it.
60.5m for the week, for my longest week ever.
Onwards.
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Nice week C, you are nailing it! Cheers for the company, always makes the miles fly by😊
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Likewise E, was such an enjoyable run, and coffee after 🙂
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Another full week. Feel the consistency is really good. There were a couple of runs this week that I would have much rather skipped but I feel it's so important right now, at this stage, to chalk them all off. Lot of rainy miserableness this week.
Mon Sep 11 - 10k easy. 5:37km, 123bpm. No early rising for this one, left work a little early though to do a couple of rainy laps of the Corkagh parkrun route. I'm typing this at almost midnight Sunday, so expect no early rise tomorrow either 😉
Tue Sep 12 - Strength - 2x 3m, 1m rec. Jaysus. What a dog of a session. Those Hanson lads are pricks, if I meet them I'm gonna give them a dead leg each. Great workout though, holy hell. I feel these sessions are really doing to me what they're supposed to do to me. Pace was pretty much bang on for the first rep, slowed somewhat on the second. Second rep was draggy but I feel I would have faded anyway if it was flat. Tough but great.
Wed Sep 13 - Don't normally mention rest days. Although I've long understood the importance of rest and recovery in a general sense, this program has made me think deeply about it's importance, how vital it is. It's my first time truly experiencing cumulative fatigue. The way this plan is set up, with Thursday being the key session, the litmus test, the all important progress guide and target calibrator, it coming two days after a tough grueller of a session. That session coming at the end of six days of fatiguing running. Wednesday's rest is so so important, and needed. To get me ready for Thursday.
For the last few weeks I've been putting a lot of importance on what happens between Tuesday's and Thursday's sessions, with a focus on sleep. It seems to be working, I seem to be full of vitality on Thursday mornings, raring to go.
Thursday Sep 14 - 9m Tempo. 6:07am, exact same time as last week. Managed bang on average target pace again on this (4:30) but I did go out a touch too hot. Right leg stiffened up between mile 7 and 8 slowing me somewhat. I get this pretty regularly and I can always run it out. So not an absolutely perfect Thurs tempo but not bad either.
Friday Sep 15 - 10km easy. 5:42km, 122bpm. Middle daughter's birthday today so some cake and celebrations after I got in from work meant I didn't get out for this one until close to 9pm. Cursing myself for lying in. This is one of those runs that a previous me would have skipped.
Saturday Sep 16 - 10m easy. 5:40km, 120bpm. Another hectic day, another run that took all I had to get up and head out to.
Sunday Sep 17 - 10m easy. 5:37km, 125bpm. Easy like a Sunday afternoon. Again, a mental slog to get going, but once I did (as the others) I felt awesome. Was meant to meet E and D for a PP run at 8:30am but we had a play centre party for the little one at 11am that scuppered.
53.5m for the week.
Tired. In a great way.
Yawnwards.
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Consistent week again thankfully. It's all we can hope for in the final stages of a mara block, just to be able to keep going minus mishap.
Mon Sep 18 - 8m easy. 5:43km, 124bpm. An evening run, after getting kids to bed.
Tuesday Sep 19 - 3x 2m, 800 recs. A little after 6am for this one. Decided on the industrial estate for this one as my preferred route up Lyons (Country) road towards the canal was flooded the previous Sunday.
Woke up, looked out the window and gulped. Holy moly the weather was insane. Swirling rain, howling wind. Feck it, has to be done. The Industrial estate route is hilly too. I was actually laughing out loud at one point at how absurd it was. I was running uphill into a screaming gale with rain hopping off me. Needless to say I was way off pace. Target for these sessions is 10 secs faster than MP, so 4:20km. First rep was 4:30, second was 4:36, third was 4:38.
Weather aside, I don't think I've absolutely nailed any of these Tue sessions yet. An observation rather than a concern.
Wednesday Sep 20 - Rest day. Got almost 9 hours sleep Tue night which was fantastic. Bed early again Wed night in prep for the first of the 10 milers.
Thursday Sep 21 - 10m Tempo (MP) - A couple of months ago, looking forward at the plan I dreaded the days the tempos hit 10m. I knew by the time they came knocking I'd be well fatigued. Hadn't ran a 6m yet at that point, the thoughts of a 10miler! Had read so much about how tough Thursdays were anyway, and now we're at the business end of it.
Got up at 5:30am and got myself ready. Set off at 5:45am. I mentioned above that my usual route for these was flooded on Sunday. Well I only forgot this fact. 😃 I remembered as I turned up the country road out of the village, decided to crack on and see if it had cleared. It hadn't.
Road was pitch dark, was running under star light. Beautiful, but not ideal when you're trying to figure out whether you're about to run in a lake or a road. I ran in a lake. Just at the end of my warm up.
Stopped for a bit, took off my shoes and socks and dried my feet with some tissues. Socks and shoes were soaking though, so put them back on and squelched off on my 10 mile Tempo.
Went so so well. Felt so strong throughout. Nailed target pace again averaging bang on 4:30 km. I'm feeling so absolutely amazing on these Thursday sessions, and it's in no small part down to the focus on recovery on Wednesday. Bursting with confidence now because of that. I'm dying with fatigue come Tuesday, but am bouncing back real quick after a day's rest. With fresh legs after the taper I should be in good shape for this.
Fri Sep 22 - 7m easy - 5:33km, 122bpm
Sat Sep 23 - 8m easy - 5:31. 123bpm
Sun Sep 24 - 16m Long (steady). Target pace 4:50 - 5:05. Average pace 4:54, 137pbm.
Last of the long runs. Decided last minute to head to the PP for this one. Was planning on running the same route as two weeks previous. 6m in I bumped into @Laineyfrecks . She was out doing 25k steady, at the same pace as me. We joined up and ran her Furze rd loop. Was magic, the miles just ticked by. Had some really great chats, and we both got excited talking about Amsterdam. So so close now.
I feel ready, feel like I'm in good shape.
Man I love mara training. It's tough as hell but Jesus does it make you feel good.
61.59m for the week. Peak week, and my longest ever.
Onwards.
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A disappointingly incomplete week this week with a minor setback. More below.
Mon Sep 25 - 10k easy, 5:39km, 130bpm. Had to go to Sligo for work so brought the gear. The house I was working in was a couple of miles away from a beautiful Atlantic beach, Dunmoran Strand. So I headed there, ran up and down the beach then out the country roads. Fantastic run. HR a touch higher here than normal though, although I did feel a little stressed trying to fit it in and get on the road back home.
Tue Sep 26 - 4x 1.5m (target 4:20), 800 recs. The local industrial estate seems optimal for these sessions now with the later sunrise. It's lit up. I have a 2 mile loop that I regularly run so decided to just do laps of that. It's hilly though. I didn't plan this but I ended up doing pretty much all of the sessiony bits uphill and did the recoveries on the downs. Plus it got pretty wet and windy so I was off pace. Reps averaged 4:25, 4:27, 4:25 and 4:30. I'm happy with that given the terrain and conditions. Felt pretty strong throughout.
Felt some pain in the lower left leg throughout that day and evening. Felt a touch worse the next day and was a bit limpy. By Wed evening I decided to shelve Thursday's Tempo, although I figured I'd reassess on Thurs morn. Didn't feel good to go Thurs so rested. Decided to sit things out until Saturday.
Hard not to panic tbh. Got a couple of reassuring texts that settled the mind. Then I read @Sandwell 's race report in the Berlin thread and it was music to my ears (or should that be music to my eyes?). I knew he had a little injury wobble over the last week or so of prep but I didn't realise he took a complete week off. He only went and smashed it over there. Reading that wiped away any worry I had.
I felt fairly good to run on Friday after the two days rest but decided to be cautious. Ran 8m on Sat instead of the prescribed 10 and all felt good.
I did wake up this morning with some sensitivity and got a little concerned again. Felt like bad DOMS. It cleared up though. I brought the kids to the Aquacentre and used the opportunity to do a bit of rehab on it with the water jets.
Went out this afternoon for a little over 15k and things felt really good. A great run actually. Spent the whole time visualising Amsterdam, visualising hitting 5k splits bang on, the last few k feeling strong. Have to go into this thing confident, have to believe.
Sick to miss Thursday's penultimate 10m tempo, I'll hopefully not miss the last one. I'll play this leg thing by ear.
If it flares up again, feck it, I'll rest but I'll rest assured that the training is in the bag.
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Fingers crossed that's the end of it. You're at the very peak of your training block so it's to be expected that the body will start creaking. Hopefully the few days rest and the impending taper will be sufficient to allow the area to fully heal. You've the work done at this stage and you're not going to lose anything by missing a session or two.
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Cheers man, as I mentioned it was great for the peace of mind seeing what you did.
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T minus 36 hours. Excitement is real now.
Had a roller coaster of a couple of weeks, battling a fair bit of negativity for a few days. Things definitely seem to be lining up now though, and am feeling a nice degree of confidence.
Monday Oct 2 - 8m easy, 5:36km, 125bpm. Nipped off a little early from work for a PP run. This felt pretty good, the niggle didn't feature that much, only a slight bit of sensitivity at the beginning which cleared quickly. I was using this run to decide on whether or not to do Tuesday's session. The Thurs tempo was on my mind also, I really didn't want to miss it, so Tue was getting shelved if this run wasn't comfortable.
Tue Oct 3 - 6x 1m @ 4:20 pace, 400 recs. Rep on the watch is 1.61km so the target for these was 6:58. I've been struggling all along to hit target pace on these sessions. Some were tough conditions, but a lot were fine and flat and I still struggled. Couldn't believe how amazing I felt on these ones though. I just felt an incredible sense of zen or something at the pace, like everything was working perfectly. Stride felt so fluid.
Reps were 6:58, 6:58, 6:58, 6:51, 6:55, 6:58. So so happy with this session, confidence through the roof after it.
Wed Oct 4 - Rest day. Kept a close eye on the lower left leg, ready to abort the Thurs tempo if need be, but really really wanting to do it. I felt good.
Thurs Oct 5 - 10m tempo, target pace 4:30km. Usual 2km warm up and set off. Big difference now to Tuesday, mentally. I had this weird negativity that I couldn't shake. I think I felt pressure to nail the pace here, for the sake of my confidence. Was dreading not hitting it and how that may make doubt creep in. This made the run feel tougher than it should. Had to work hard to get my head right. About 4 miles into it I managed to do that thankfully and the rest of it felt like it should. Hit 4:30 bang on average pace, but it was overall a tough enough jaunt.
Felt the niggle pretty bad then on Thurs evening/Fri morn, but wasn't getting too concerned. Tuesday's session helping there. Decided to sit out Friday and Saturday.
Sunday Oct 8 - 8m easy, 5:33km, 133bpm. Met up with S and E for this in the park. They were doing 10m so started a little earlier than me. Arranged to meet at the roundabout outside the visitors centre. I parked up and jogged towards there. It hurt pretty bad. Previously to this it would hurt for a couple of mins then warm up and I would be fine. This wasn't easing as quickly. Felt a little bit of doom I have to say. I met up with the guys then and jogged along with them. It started to ease but didn't fully clear until about 4km in. Felt totally fine from that point on. Worrying though.
Monday Oct 9 - Plan had 6m easy but I decided to do 5 v easy. Headed to the park again to run the Furze loop, a gorgeous little 2m loop that E introduced me to. Kept pace very very easy but again the sensitivity took a good 3 - 4k to fully clear. It seems from Dr. Google that it's an achillies thing, so at this point I'm thinking running gently on it is better than resting.
Tue Oct 10 - 8m v easy. Things improved a lot here. Sensitivity lasting only a few minutes.
Wed Oct 11 - Rest as per plan. I'm really battling demons the previous few days I have to say. Finding it hard to get the belief and confidence I need.
Thurs Oct 12 - 8m v easy. Every time I set out on these runs I'm nervous of the first stride, how is it going to feel, how long is it going to last. I've made plans in my head to do a couple of miles warm up on Sunday morn so I can go out at target pace.
Zero pain or sensitivity. Like a miracle. I actually can't believe it. So delighted. Confidence and belief back.
Fri Oct 13 - 4m v easy. Again, no issues. Happy out.
So, all go now then. About to go to bed to be up early for the trip to airport. Can't believe it's actually here. Gonna try fit in a shakeout tomorrow, but if I can't get it done I won't be too put out.
I'll be working off 5k splits and plan to ease into things. Target is 3:10.
I've hit target pace bang on on every single tempo session, so I'm feeling good about it.
Fingers crossed for a good day out in the Dam.
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All the best on Sunday C, no bother to ya. Love the confidence oozing out of that post, you've got this!
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Best of luck tomorrow, can't wait to read the report and Hanson's summary, have fun with it!
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Amsterdam Marathon 2023 - Race Report
Ambivalence, Bittersweet, whatever the terminology, that's the emotion right now. Although mostly sweet, 80/20 sweet.
For the purpose of this log, and to help my development as a runner I'm going to focus a little on that 20%, in the hope of getting some knowledgeable, no holds barred feedback from you guys.
We flew over on Sat morn, myself, @skyblue46 and @Laineyfrecks. Such an exciting day, we parted for our hotels then met up a little later at the Expo.
Expo was great, a really fantastic buzz about the place and number collection was pretty seamless. We went for a bit of grub then parted ways again to bunker down in our hotels.
I got everything ready for the morning and settled down on the bed at about 7pm for the night. Watched the Rugby then went to sleep.
I felt a fair bit of unease I have to say on the Saturday night. I'm a big proponent of belief, and how powerful it can be if it's unwavering. I had to fight a little to instill it in myself on Saturday night. I think mostly though it was just pre race jitters, as I woke up Sunday morn feeling good, and feeling confident.
Went down at 6:30am for the hotel breakfast, had a muesli and coffee, then back to the room for a banana and began sipping on a Maurten 320. The hotel breakfast was packed with runners which was great.
The three of us had arranged to meet at 8:30am beside the bag drop. I got off the tram and made my way there, about 1200m away from the venue. I got caught up then in a disgusting hail storm and had to duck for cover. Panic a little as it was 8:30 and I was still about 800m away. The hail stopped after 6 mins or so and I jogged to the meet point. Chaotic there with everyone trying to get changed and ready in the sparse dry sheltered spots. Met the guys then and we dropped off the bags. We then struggled to find our entry point to the stadium. It was really poorly signposted I have to say, the event was really well organised except for this. Loads of people were milling around with panicked faces trying to find where to go.
We finally discovered our entry point and joined the melee of people. It resulted in us starting way way too far back in our corral. In hindsight we should have gotten there earlier but without experience of it who's to know. I found the whole start experience to be bit confusing and panicked, but again, a product of us getting delayed.
Somehow we're off and running.
My race plan was to spend the first 5k easing into goal pace. My 5k target split for 3:10 was 22:30 but I planned to go through there in about 23mins.
I ran a 5k shakeout on Saturday morn and spent the whole run visualising that. Hitting 5k 30 secs off goal, being 30-40 secs off each 5k split up until 30k then picking things up, ie, the dream mara.
Congestion was brutal though and I hit 5k 63 seconds behind, 23:33. I'm not too bothered by it though at this stage, it can still be pulled back. I managed to finally get to goal pace for km6 but hit frustrating traffic again in km 7.
This part of the course is a hairpin, I looked over to the left and saw the 3:10 pace group. I had planned pre race to position myself between them and the 3:20s. I noticed then that they were approaching the 9km marker and we hadn't hit 7 yet. Dawned on me then actually how far back we were starting off.
Around this point too I came upon the 3:30 pace group. The road was wide enough here for them not to be a problem and I eased by them without issue. As frustrating as the congestion was, I have to admit to it being a buzz overtaking so many people.
Second 5k split came in at 23:04, so we're now 97 seconds off target.
It's mad to think but I wasn't able to fully get into goal pace, relatively uninterrupted until 10 or 11km in.
Haven't mentioned fueling, but I was pretty good this time out. Had an alert on the watch every 30 mins and took a Maurten 100. Also had some electro chews that I munched on regularly, and took water at every station.
10 - 15k was pretty good pacewise, in and around goal pace for most of it, 22:47 for the split. Things had opened up a little.
15k - 20k - 23:01 split. Around the 16k mark, running along the beautiful stretch along the Amstel I got the expected seizing up of the right leg. I've mentioned this before, it's a weird thing that happens me very regularly where my right leg just, I dunno, goes funny. It's like I can't fully bend it or something and am dragging it. It always works itself out and I'm brand new again but it affects my stride and pace. It lasted a mile or so before clearing up.
I started to feel a few little warning shots of cramp in the right calf at this point, around 18k or so. Not enough to slow me down, but enough to scare me and add a bit of dread. I figured it was related to the weird seizing thing though and settled the mind.
20 - 25k - 22:52 split. We're on the return stretch of the Amstel for most of this and the weirdest thing happened that had me scratching my head and doubting myself. So I told you I passed the 3:30 pace group at km 8 or so. This stretch is very narrow and I all of a sudden came upon a congested group of 'slow' runners. Looked ahead at the flags and saw 3:30 and nearly lost my mind. What the hell is going on here? I can't get passed them, try running the grass to the left and it's all uneven ground, try go through the middle and it's too chock full. I eventually get around them but was forced to run at 5:00 pace for a good 500m or so. I thought maybe I had read the previous flags wrong but no, Elaine said the same. Still can't get my head around it.
25 - 30k - 22:37 split. A good split, and am feeling really good right now. The odd warning shot of cramp in the left calf, but I'm still convinced it's fine.
In and around 30k I hear someone in the crowd shout 'C'mon Ireland' and I immediately know that it's Sean. I turn around to look and sure enough, he's on my tail. Just like Denis in our mile race, the crowd giving the game away for him 😁. I waved to let him know I saw him.
30 - 35k - 23:17 split. Cramp is real now. Right calf. Can't maintain goal pace because of it. It's not forcing me to stop, but it's forcing me to dial it back. I'm just sh1t scared of it locking up, I know if it does I'll have a really bad time of it. Mad thing is though, I have periods where it's not a problem and I run strong and fast, unaffected. Happened around the 20 mile mark. I all of a sudden felt zero cramping and ran strong for about a mile. Then bang, a warning shot telling me to cool the jets. Sean caught up with me around 31k or so and we had a check in chat, he looked so strong, and sounded well in command of things. He pulled away and stormed on.
35 - 40k - 24:09 split. Yeah. Pretty brutal. Plans of lighting it up on the last 5k have to be ripped up. Just trying to run at a pace that won't require me stopping. You stop you're fooked. Thankfully I never did.
I got another of those out of the blue bursts of feeling 100% and picked up the pace to goal for km 41, happy bleedin days I thought, felt awesome all of a sudden, ready to storm home for the closing mile, but then boom, the calf screamed at me, and the left quad and had to pull it back again.
Into Vondelpark for the closing kilometre and I can't quite believe I'm almost there. Agony but I'm running. Through the wall of crowd, past I AM AMSTERDAM, through the line of international flags and under the arch, on to the Stadium track and I still can't believe I'm here, the race is a blur, an epic, an instant, an emotional numb wreck of a human floating the last few metres, I look at my watch and see I can say I ran a 3:15 because nobody cares about seconds in a marathon.
Under in 3:15:47.
Embrace Sean straight away, him after running an absolutely amazing race, whacking his target with a glorious negative. Then we see Elaine come in after running the race of her life, a truly astounding heroic run. A massive negative and a target obliteration. So so happy for them.
I'm happy too. As I said, I'm 80/20 happy. It's a big PB, 11 minutes, and if you'd offered me a 3:15 marathon two years ago I'd have bitten your hands and feet off. If you'd offered me 3:30 I'd have bitten your hands off and here I am getting frustrated because a 3:30 pace group was in my way.
I get all of that, and I do realise I've come a long way, I'm delighted with how I've improved, but I can't help being a little bit (a teeny tiny bit) disappointed with the result.
I thought I was capable of 3:10 (or better) this time out, based on previous results but I obv wasn't. Maybe my mileage wasn't up to scratch in the early part of the year, I can improve on that. Who knows. The joys of this thing.
The 26.2.
It's a beast. A beautiful beast.
I'll be back for more.
Post edited by Lazare on37 -
I'll put up a summary of Hanson soon.
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Super and honest report, win or learn they say, you've done both. Enjoy and celebrate the PB before cracking on and obliterating the next one.
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