24hrs

Ed......

OOnegative wrote: »

Ah 1.5 bottles ain’t bad, 11.5 litres is my current weekly total for beer!!

Ha! Yeah but you've raced already. Well done by the way you've really come on well. You're on track for your next goal.

Ed......

Espoo Finland Indoor 24hr week 4/16

Mon
9 mile @7:13

Tue
11.5 @8:09 w/8x20 sec. strides
loops of the racecourse with company

Wed
9 @6:58
supposed to be 10 but struggled to get this done , probably why i ran it faster than planned.

Thurs
19.5 @6:57
plan was 12x1 @6:40 off 1 min. with every 4th mile faster

3 w/u @7:20

6:35 6:34 6:27 6:19
6:34 6:31 6:27 6:07
6:27 6:38 6:31 5:58

3 c/d 7:07

felt controlled throughout

Fri
10 mile @8:01 1100ft. elev.

was a cracking day so headed for some hills through forest, trail and fire road.

Sat
12 @7:01 progression
started around 7:30 down to 6:50. was holding back throughout.

Sun
9 @ 7:31
All good, handy around the racecourse.

Total 80 mile for the week

Ed......

Espoo Finland Indoor 24hr week 5/16

Mon
7 mile @7:10

Tue
planned rest day

Wed
50 miles @7:45 6hrs 28min.

Plan was to race "50 miles on a schoolday" race in Donadea put on by Gun Time Events but my plans changed and I had to collect the kids after school. So I ran "50 miles before schoolsout" instead. Started at 6:15am doing loops of the racecourse. First 12 miles where torture, felt tired, weather was miserable. Managed to snap out of it though, weather picked up and ran a very steady last 20 mile. Took on about 1500cal tailwind. Switched to water on a couple of laps started to get a stitch and switched back. Might have been coincidence but stitch went away.

Thurs
7 miles @8:00

Legs a little heavy and breathing a bit laboured but generally all good.

Fri
8 @7:15

Basically back to normal.

Sat
15 mile @6:54

progression run from about 7:15-6:45
legs good

Sun
9 mile @7:28

Total 95 mile for the week

Sleep diet and alcohol intake slipping a bit so need to refocus these areas.

Ed......

Espoo Finland Indoor 24hr week 6/16

Mon
9 mile @7:43
In company

Tue
10 miles @7:13 incl: 8x20sec strides

Wed
10 miles @7:15

Thurs
Plan was 10 mile but never got out.

Fri
17 mile @7:11

3 mile w/u

4 sets of 4,3,2,1 min.off 90sec. w/4min. between sets
Aim was 6:10s for these but was hitting 5:50 and quicker for most

3 mile c/d

training the legs to snap out of slumps during the 24hr

Sat
12 @7:30
My first 5am training run in years, only time I could fit it in.

Sun
22 mile @6:58
Progressiion run starting at 7:20 down to 6:40
Holding back throughout, felt great.

Total 80 mile for the week with 1 missed run.
Weight 11st. 2lb
All going well, struggled mentally focusing over the last 2 weeks but back on track now.

Ed......

Espoo Finland Indoor 24hr week 7/16

Mon
9 @6:59

Tue
10 @7:41

Could feel a cold coming on so started medicating.

Wed
12 miles @6:43
Tempo Run

3 w/u

15 min. @6:35
5 min. @6:05
10 min. @6:31
5 min.@6:04
15 min. @6:31

1.5 c/d

This went really well but I felt really unwell during it, head cold had kicked in.

Thurs
10 mile @7:16

Still felt rubbish but was trying to push through it.

Fri
5 mile @7:15

Planned a long run session but had to pack it in. Felt totally drained and the legs where really heavy.

Sat//Sun
Rest and try and get over the sickness.

Total 46 miles
Should have known better than to keep running while sick but did a run today and seem to have gotten away with it. Nothing major now til the weekend so all good.

Ed......

Espoo Finland Indoor 24hr week 8/16

Mon
10 mile @7:07

Tue
9 mile @7:46

Wed
off

Thurs
10 mile @6:58

Fri
7.65 mile @7:34
bout of heartburn and had to pack it in. supposed to be 10.

Sat
13.6 @6:43

3 w/u

3x2 mile off 5min.

6:19/6:13
6:04/6:16
6:07/5:48

3c/d

Sun
24 mile @7:19

Total 74.5 miles for the week
Weight 11st.2lb

All good, nice to get this sort of milage done after getting over sickness and the week that was in it.

Ed......

Espoo Finland Indoor 24hr week 9/16

Mon
9 @7:10

Tue
10 @7:30 w/strides

Wed
10 @7:02

Thurs
12 @6:34

Fri
26 @7:47

Sat
9 @8:05
Did this before work, was fairly tired

Sun
10 @6:50

3 w/u

12 x1min hard 1min easy

3c/d

the warm up and cool down where supossed to be at more steady pace but i actually forgot this. The hard minutes where at sub 5 which I was very happy to see.

Slowed down for the long run this week found it very handy. Tried to take on 500ml of tailwind per hour but was struggling to get it in.
Total 86 miles

Ed......

Espoo Finland indoor 24hr week 10/16

Mon
9 miles @7:30

Tue
16 miles @6:46

2x1 off 3 mins.
6:22, 6:24

10 mile alternating
6:51, 6:43
6:52, 6:35
6:56, 6:38
6:52, 6:29
6:54, 6:32

2x1 off 3mins
6:21, 6:32

.5 c/d

Really tough session done during very windy conditions.

Wed
10 mile @6:46
Conditions much better for this run. Pace was quicker than planned but without the pressure of pushing against the wind it came fairly handy.

Thurs
9 miles @7:49

Fri
20 miles @6:47
Steady Pace, felt good throughout, not too taxing.

Sat
9 miles @7:07

Sun
10 miles @7:15

Week went well.
84 miles
Getting harder to stay focused on the diet, sleep and alcohol but just need to get through a few more weeks and should be in good shape.

shotgunmcos

No easy runs? High volume of pacey stuff there
What is your recovery strategy?

Ed......

shotgunmcos wrote: »

No easy runs? High volume of pacey stuff there
What is your recovery strategy?

Yeah it's all a bit quick innit. I ran mon thurs sat Sun all by feel, felt easy at the time.

Ed......

Espoo Finland indoor 24hr week 11/16

Mon
9@7:37

Breaking some new runners in, feeling very hard underfoot compared to the old ones.

Tue
9.5 @7:26

A niggling in my shin became a bit more than that on this run so decided to get some physio done the next day.Put off session til next day.

Wed
10 @7:25

Got work done on the peroneus muscle in the shin. Physio putting it down to the new runners and coach coupling it with the elevation included in my training. Felt much better after and my leg just felt a little worked on during this run but altogether much better. put session of for next day again


Thurs
13 @6:53 incl.6x1mile off 3min.

Plan was to tackle session but pull the plug if the shin felt in anyway uncomfortable. Thankfully it went well.

6:06, 6:01, 6:03, 6:10, 6:08, 6:05

Fri
10 @7:18

St
12 @7:27

Sun
24 @7:22

100g of carb/ in the form of tailwind mixed into 500ml water. Fairly heavy so needed to drink from a well/spring to further dilute it in my stomache apart from that went in well.

87 miles for the week
Shaky start but came good in the end
Felt I was slipping on the lifestyle last few weeks so put lots more focus on it this week. Sleep diet and hydration on point and definately found some structure again.

Ed......

Espoo Finland indoor 24hr week 12/16

Mon
9 @7:14
Used the new nimbus, still hard underfoot.

Tue
13 @6:46 incld:7x1 mile off 3min. reducing by 30sec. each rep
Old asics nimbus for this, didnt want any problems.
W/U

6:06
5:54
5:48
5:51
5:58
5:53

C/D
faster than planned but the pace just happened naturally and went with it.

Wed
10 @7:25
wore new hoka clifton felt great. Plan on wearing these for the race so all good.

Thurs
9 @6:59

Fri
24 @7:01
Progression from 7:30-6:40

Went well, felt strong throughout. Ran in the hokas and all good except the tongue on one shoe kept slipping. 80g of carb in 750ml of water.

Sat
9 @7:31

Sun
10 @7:06
incld 8x20 sec. strides

Total 84 miles
weight 11st 1lb
Sleep diet and hydration spot on.
I got selected to represent Ireland at the Anglo Celtic Plate 100km in May. A great motivator right at the peak of my training and also something to focus on after Finland.

OOnegative

Super Ed, well done on the Irish vest!! Think ultrapercy of these parts is joining you.

Ed......

OOnegative wrote: »

Super Ed, well done on the Irish vest!! Think ultrapercy of these parts is joining you.

Thanks lad, appreciate it.

shotgunmcos

Congrats on the vest!

Ed......

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Congrats on the vest!

Cheers, appreciate it.

Ed......

Espoo Finland Indoor 24hr week 13/16

Mon
9 @7:22

Tue
9 @7:42

Slight niggle in my left knee. I cover between 4,000-5000ft elev. per week . So coach suggested to keep to the flat as much as I could to give it a chance to rest. Hard to do about Donegal tbh but did my best to be more conscious of the terrain.

Wed
11 @6:43 w/3x2 off 5min.

2up

5:55,6:01
5:55,6:01
5:55,5:54

2down

Felt great throughout, i only look at the watch every mile and figured by the first one I was around 6:15 so was happy to see sub 6 and just aimed to keep that pace throughout.

Thurs
9 @7:30 w/8x20sec strides

did this before work as I was having physio on my right rotator cuff muscles and neck. a work related overuse injury, doesnt greatly effect my running just gives me some arm pain from time to time but wanted to get it sorted before the race as it was getting fairly sore to work with.

Fri
10 miles @7:32

Sat
12 miles @7:27

Sun
22 miles @7:03

last 4 prescribed @6:40
6:15,6:52,6:15,6:14

Started using magnesium oil for the first time the night before. had a bad reaction to it, think i applied too much. have seen it used during races and might use it in finland.
First mile of this run felt groggy and slow but warmed into it and by mile 3 or 4 was cruising.
applied more oil after and although there was still a reaction it was less than before. im still on the fence about it but will continue using it for a few days yet and make my mind up about it.

82 miles for the week
everything going well
Ran in the hokas for most of it and am now considering a pair of carbon x aswell for the race.
weight 11st 1lb

martyboy48

Well Ed, congrats again.....

Any chance of a few words on the build up and race???

Be grand if you dont want to, just here in hope

Singer

Amazing result Ed! Hope you're happy with how things went.

AuldManKing

I seen that on fastrunning and was thinking, theres a Boardsie on fastrunning with an Irish record.!!

loved the line about "perfectly coiffured hair"

https://www.fastrunning.com/running-athletics-news/ireland/seaward-runs-210-marathon-in-spain-irish-round-up/29136

Ed......

martyboy48 wrote: »

Well Ed, congrats again.....

Any chance of a few words on the build up and race???

Be grand if you dont want to, just here in hope

Thanks Marty,
I might put something together, thanks for the interest. Hope your trainings going well

Ed......

Singer wrote: »

Amazing result Ed! Hope you're happy with how things went.

Thanks, the race went absolutely perfectly which is extremely rare for 24hrs. Bar trying to make up 300metres somewhere I wouldn't change a thing. But that just give me the next goal nowðŸ˜

Ed......

AuldManKing wrote: »

I seen that on fastrunning and was thinking, theres a Boardsie on fastrunning with an Irish record.!!

loved the line about "perfectly coiffured hair"

https://www.fastrunning.com/running-athletics-news/ireland/seaward-runs-210-marathon-in-spain-irish-round-up/29136

I was using a water soaked buff throughout the entire race to keep my head temp down but Robbie Britton said it was only an excuse to keep fixing my hair 😂

KSU

Ed...... wrote: »

I was using a water soaked buff throughout the entire race to keep my head temp down but Robbie Britton said it was only an excuse to keep fixing my hair ��

Crew Dialogue throughout the race

6 hrs
Crew "your on pace, sitting in 10th"
Ed "Yeah but how does my hair look?!"

10 hrs
Crew "Need anything? Water? Gels?"
Ed "A comb"

12 hrs
Crew "half way mark, still well on for record"
Ed "Yeah but how does my hair look?!"

18 hrs
Crew "That's it your leading, 2k gap on second"
Ed "Yeah but how does his hair look compared to mine?"

23hrs
Crew "Last hr, the record is in sight"
Ed "Should I stop to fix my hair for the photos?"

Ed......

Every time the leader passed me in the last 3 hrs I thought "when is this lad ever gonna stop....and fix his hair😂.

Murph_D

Many congrats, Ed.

Ed......

Race report Espoo Finland 24hr indoor event

(excuse my spelling and grammar)

The build up to this race was a long one. I had raced Belfast 24 in June 2019 falling short of a pb by a couple of kms. This was my first 24 race with my coach Luke Coleman but I think although we hadn’t pb’d, the endurance was there even though the approach was more quality over quantity. Something that was new to me having been self trained up til now.
The next goal was to race the Dublin Marathon in October 19. Training was going really well for this and there was lots of speed in the legs. I generally bounce back very quickly from races and recover very well. About 2 weeks out from Dublin I was contacted by John O’Regan asking if I would be a guide runner for Sinead Kane. Sinead had qualified for the world championship 24hr but wasn’t been allowed to compete due to her visual disability. Things where very up in the air but John had asked myself and Gillian Connolly to be on stand by in the hopes Sinead would win her courtcase.

So with my own race 2 weeks out I told luke(my coach) about the situation. I was very keen to help Sinead if I could even though I’d never met her and flattered John had asked me. Luke adjusted my training in a way that catered for both outcomes.
Sinead won her case and we travelled to France where she did exceptionally well scoring for the Irish womens team securing them a top 10 result.

So I now had a very good marathon training block in my legs and probably ran about 90km in total over the weekend (I didn’t wear a watch during the worlds).
Since I hadn’t raced I could almost immediately start back into taining. Up to this point I had been running about 65 miles a week . oct’19

The goal now was Finland feb’20. I’d raced there in 2017 but pulled out after 19.5 hours. My quads were screaming at me and I found even walking difficult. I put it down to the hard surface and lack of sufficient cushioning in my runners, asics nimbus. I was going well at the time running in 2nd place and on for a 240km finish although if I’d stayed in the race both of those would have slipped away anyway.

I really enjoy training and don’t mind if I don’t race at the end of it so mentally it didn’t phase me starting another block. But this block was going to be different. I discussed with my wife that with her support I was planning on putting everything into my training this time. I’d decided that if I didn’t get the return I believed I could, a 240km international A standard and hopefully an Irish team selection then I’d take a step back from racing. Theres a big sacrifice involved in my training and I wanted something to show for it.
The training ramped up to around 80-85 miles a week of solid consistent training. Week in and week out of 85 miles. One mid week session, some strides and a long run session. Lots of mixed paces. Long runs where between 18-22 miles but loads of quality. No back to backs and no long slow running.

But what was different about this block?

I had about 1 to 2 hours training a day and the rest of the day to mess it up. So I focused on training 24hrs a day instead. Almost all the food I was eating had a purpose beneficial to my training. I would get to bed early every night, a massive aid to recovery, and gave up alcohol almost entirely.

When taper came around I was 100% physically trained and in the very best shape of my life. I decided that if my physical training was now decreasing during taper I could still train my mental side. I set about reading self help books , mindfullnes and practicing techniques to overcome the many barriers we come up against in 24hr running.
I brought a crew with me to Finland consisting of my wife Louise and Angela McConnell. Both have been crewing me for a number of years and have become an excellent team and invaluable part of my races.

The logistics where very handy as we’d been here before and knew our way around. The race is indoors on a 390metre track across 4 lanes. My goal was 240km which works out as a 2:20 min lap. But I was willing to run a faster lap if it meant finding a more comfortable stride and pace as to begin with this would be a 10min mile. A pace I hadn’t practised in training.
The atmosphere was really friendly before hand and I got chatting to some of the other competitors, and we’re off.

I was running along in a small group and the pace was about spot on so I shut off mentally and just rode the wave for about 4hrs I’d say. The others were chatting away but I limited my replys to one or two words having learned early in my 24hr experience that you’re only wasting energy by talking. The pace would slip a little now and again so I picked it up and the guys followed. Eventually as happens people stop for the toilet or change something or stop to get some nutrition etc.

My plan was to only stop for the toilet and nothing else. So I found myself on my own and the pace picked up a little without any extra effort.

After 4hrs running non stop I was in 19th position and 40.564km

After about 6 hrs I remember feeling a little discomfort in my left quad. Luke was following through the online live stream and connected to my wife louise through whatsapp, part of the crew but from a distance. Patience and control where a big part of the strategy. I let louise know straight away and luke suggested a couple of strides to relieve the muscles and use a slightly different set for a while. Worked a treat and was back feeling 100%.

Nutrition was going in well. We decided on about 30g of solid charbohydrate per hour along with around 300ml water. Mainly bars or some banana. I would say we got to about 6hrs in when I started to find it difficult to get the solid food in. I never take anything in during training and hadn’t practiced much for it so found it a little uncomfortable. I was suffering from a stich around 9hrs in and was using some breathing techniques and fist clenching to relieve the energy from that area. A technique relayed to me from Luke through whatsapp.
Added a few more strides during the first half to alleviate some muscle tension. I think I took a toilet break in the first half consisting of 1 minute.

After 12hrs and 1 minute off the track, the rest non stop running. 124.423km 4th place

Im now well on track for my 240km finish running comfortably and banked 4km.
The first half is all about the physical and to me the second half is all about the mental. The body was starting to feel a little fatigue so I had to focus on getting the nutrition in. As the solid food was now a bit of a problem I was mainly taking in gels, about 1 every hour and tailwind, about 250ml of around 25g carbohydrate. I was forgetting when Id taken them so had to rely on my crew to remind me to take them on.
Id been off caffeine for around 10 days prior to the race and started using it around 18hrs in. Definitely got a major boost from it and continued using it throughout the rest of the race. Mainly in the form of gels and coke.

After 18hrs 188.999km and 1st place.
Id moved into 1st around 17.5 hrs in and held it until I was overtaken at 22.5 hrs. it was a finnish runner who went on to run 254km and a new finnish national record.

At this stage id taken another 2 toilet breaks a further 2 minutes off the track.
Now a total of 3 mins off track and the rest non stop running.

At 21hrs 20 minutes I had beaten my old pb and we were now starting to aim for a list of goals I had written down for my crew along with all the corresponding splits id need to hit to achieve them.

Next goal was the indoor irish record set by Tony Mangan in 2007 of 223.779km. Tony had set this record as a split time during a 48hr race so it was an achieavable target for a mortal like myself, if he’d been running a 24hr that day the record would have been much higher. Less than 10 mins later at 21hrs 29 mins we had broken the indoor record.

Next stop was Eddie Gallens Donegal record of 230.136km. It wasn’t for the accolade I was aiming for these goals but a source of motivation and some mini type goals to aim for as the race progressed, looking at the next few km rather than the race as a whole. I went through Eddies record at 22hrs 10mins. Eddie is a friend of mine and guy I admire very much and it gave me no pleasure to break his record.

Next up the Irish international A standard of 240km. My goal in all of this and one I’d been aiming for for close to 3 years. I went through this goal at 23hrs and 8 mins. I can relax now goal achieved, just jog around, basking in my own glory, enjoy the moment, maybe walk a bit chat to the other runners check out the aid station take a long sit down toilet break without my crew waiting outside making sure I’m not messing around in there.

But my crew had very different ideas!

I had put one more goal on my list for the crew, almost as a joke really. I hadn’t worked out the splits for it or any timings just wrote it down as “furthest distance by an Irish runner 248.436 road.” I didn’t even write Eoins name next to it figuring it was untouchable. Well my crew had been working it out since around 20hrs into the race and they were already pushing me , telling me the splits I’d need to hit pumping in the nutrition. I thought to myself I wish I hadn’t written that down for them now, but luke would have been on the ball anyway seen as he had even a few more goals than I had written down(maybe next time).

I went through Eoins record at 23hrs 53 mins. I wasn’t even claiming it really as I’d run indoors and Eoins record was on road. Then I saw some tweets about breaking Eoins record and wondered would it be official. None of it really mattered to me though unless Eoin said it. And then he messaged me and congratulated me on breaking his record and said some other nice things and that for me made it official. Another guy I really admire and one who makes the sport a great place to be involved in.

I averaged 10.4km per hour for the race but ran about 11.4km average in the last 30mins. I ran a negative split of almost 1km finishing in 249.761km. I ran in Hoka Clifton 6. My average pace was 9:17 mile or 5:46km My crew were still pushing hard to get me to break the 250km barrier. But sure
I need a goal for next time.

shotgunmcos

Awesome! Just awesome. To beat Eoin at anything endurance/distance related puts you into a very special, very elite class for your discipline. Thanks for the report. Simply awesome!

Ed......

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Awesome! Just awesome. To beat Eoin at anything endurance/distance related puts you into a very special, very elite class for your discipline. Thanks for the report. Simply awesome!

Thanks appreciate it

OOnegative

That’s some performance Ed, truly brilliant. Fair play to you.