My first Marathon and first log log

Aerobic is easy, so no problem there.

Irish weather is perfect for year round running. It's gas the way people think we have bad winter conditions for running. As I always say, look at Newfoundland (same latitude).

Happy running.

Week 3 of 3-WEEK PREP PHASE

Monday, work, study, no run

Tuesday, Session - 2 miles WU, 6 x (0.2mile uphill at 5/10K pace, 30 seconds rest and 0.2mile downhill at MP, 90 seconds rest between sets), 2 miles warm down.

Wednesday - 6 miles at 8.40 per mile

Thursday - 2 miles WU, 2 x 2 Miles at Half Marathon pace with 3 minutes slow jog in between, 2 miles warm down

Friday - junk food and Wheel of time

Saturday - 6 miles at 8.30 per mile

Sunday - 8 miles easy(8.40), 10 x (1 minute 5/10km pace, then 1 minute at HMP), 2 miles warm down. what a lovely day out there.

Next week starts the 6-week building phase. some juicy sessions are on the way.

Week 2 of 6 - WEEK BUILDING PHASE

Monday, work, study, no run

Tuesday, Session - 2 miles WU, 8 x (0.2mile uphill at 5/10K pace, 30 seconds rest and 0.2mile downhill at MP, 90 seconds rest between sets), 2 miles warm down.

Wednesday - 6 miles at 8.45 per mile

Thursday - work, study, no run

Friday - 2 miles WU, 5 x 1 mile at half marathon pace with 2 minutes slow jog in between, 2 miles warm down

Saturday - 5.8 miles at 8.14 per mile

Sunday - 14.5 miles aerobic, another fantastic day for running. First time out with the vaporfly other than 5k parkrun or interval sessions. Really nice shoe for medium/long run.

Bought a new pair of Endorphin Pro last week as a backup for the vaporfly, will put them through their paces in the next few weeks.

Week 4 of 6 - WEEK BUILDING PHASE

Monday, work, study, no run

Tuesday, Session - 2 miles WU, 6 x (0.2mile uphill at 5/10K pace, 30 seconds rest and 0.2mile downhill at MP, 90 seconds rest between sets), 2 miles warm down.

Wednesday - 6.5 miles easy

Thursday - session - 6.5 miles MP

Friday - work, junk food,

Saturday - Session 4-mile warmup easy, 3 x 3 miles at MP with 3 min jog/walk between, 1 mile warm down easy

Sunday - 9 miles easy

It's near Christmas and I've already tried a good few brands of mince pies; The local boulangerie has been top of the list in years past but I haven't had a chance to try them yet so something to look forward to this week. It's the homemade turkey stuffing I look forward to the most.

Week 5 of 6 - WEEK BUILDING PHASE

Monday, eat drink, and be merry

Tuesday, Session - 2 miles WU, 4 x 1200m 10k pace with 2-minute recovery between sets. 4 x 400m at 5km pace with 1-minute recovery, 2 miles warm down

Wednesday - 6.2 miles aerobic

Thursday - session - 6.2 miles easy

Friday - Session - 2 miles warm-up, 4 miles at HMP, 3-minute recover, 1 mile at 10k pace, 2 miles warm down

Saturday - 5.3 mile easy

Sunday - Session - 7 miles easy, 8 x (2 minutes 10km/5km pace, then 2 minutes easy), 2 miles warm down

This week sucked balls(training wise), been on the usual chrimbo eating and drinking binge so between heartburn and lethargy most of the sessions were not enjoyable. Also my watch crashed and burned on Tuesday, I bought it during my 2019 novice marathon training so it owes me nothing.

Bought the Coros Pace 2 to replace the watch and have to say my initial thoughts are positive.

Happy new year guys, 13 weeks to Manchester.

Week 1 of 9 -MARATHON PHASE

Monday, took it easy

Tuesday, Session - 2 miles WU, 6 x 1200m at 5/10K pace, 2.30 jog recovery between, 2 miles warm down

Wednesday - 5.3 miles easy

Thursday - 7 miles Aerobic

Friday - 5.3 miles easy

Saturday - 2 miles warm-up, 3 x 4 mile at MP with 1 mile easy between, 2 miles warm down (19 Miles)

Sunday - 10 mile easy

Tough sessions in there but all in all, it is not a bad way to start the Marathon phase training.

RIP  Ashling Murphy,

Bare with me. Manchester plan fine details.

I know its a bit late with 10 weeks to go but I haven't fully decided on the Marathon target. Its somewhere between 3.15 and 3.30. Currently Im focusing more on training for closer to a 3.15 finish.

The Boston Marathon plan I am using (freeby from tinterweb, level 3) gives the pacing strategy according to the target and as I'm undecided I'm using the 3.15 given pace with 3.30 pace as a drop back in case I feel I cant handle it.

This gives me the following times for intervals and targeted pace for 3.15 to 3.30

5km 6.25 to 6.55

10K 6.48 to 7.20

HMP 7.08 to 7.40

MP 7.30 to 8.03

Easy 8.30 to 9.00

Aerobic 8.00 t 8.40

I try to stick to the plan with hill sprints and intervals even though the plan itself more for a hilly marathon- Boston.

My A goal is 3.15, B is 3.18 and C is 3.30(this was my A until a month or so ago)My long term target is based on reaching a training peak in the next two to three years with an significant Ultra, a major marathon and a crack at sub three at the pinnacle. I'm 50 next year so I keep my fingers crossed for consistency and injury free momentum. A fine fellow I got speaking to at parkrun said I should get down to the local club as well. This is on the cards but not till later in the year or early next year.

Oh, got a Dublin entry today so pretty stoked about that.

My worst nightmare, there is a psychological toll to injury that is extraordinarily tough, the misses has an ongoing heel fracture stopping her run for a couple of months now and its hard to watch.🤞 Hope you get some good new soon and get back on the road. Personally I am just plowing ahead with the plan, blinkers on trying not to over think it. Just hoping for a clean shot at 3.15 but if I do sub 3.30 I know I will be over the moon.

The added bonus of getting a Dublin entry has given me something to chew on. I'm thinking of adjusting to train on intensity as opposed to the purely pace based strategy I use currently(always used). My training routes might be suited to this and no harm in putting in one block to see if the outcome is positive.

Thanks for the comment, sound

Sound, I suppose now that I've said it out loud I might as well give the 3.15 finish time a go. The long run this weekend should be telling, 8 mile easy, 8 mile at MP(7.30) and 2 mile easy on rolling hilly course. There may be some answers in there. In relation to the outcome of any plan I have a pretty pragmatic outlook, during the runs I dream about failing as much as success so either way I will be right. 3.15 - 3.30 - DNF

Thanks Murph, love your log by the way👌. I take on board your assesment and I understand the comment on being over optimistic,certainly from my runs prior to the training block.

In my defense I haven't really pushed myself at 10 mile or half distance. Might give one a blast on my down week early Feb.

I would be more than happy with a sub 3.30 at Manchester. 👍

Week 3 of 9 -MARATHON PHASE

Monday, always take this rest day

Tuesday, Session - precautionary cancel. I've had a recurring hip problem, long before running became a thing which flairs up now and again especially during long periods of training/strides a lot of the time, sometimes quite sore. Sunday evening it was a niggle but Monday morning was feeling worse. As Monday is my rest day I decided to just wait and see. Still annoying me through the day so I dropped the Tuesday session.

Wednesday - 5.1 miles to test the hip- sort of OK

Thursday - 5.9 miles easy - bit better

Friday - Session - 2 mile WU, 2 x 3 mile at HMP with 3 minute jog recovery and a 2 mile warm down. - hip slightly sore but less so

Saturday - 6.5 mile easy

Sunday - session - 7 miles warm up - 6 x 3 minutes at HMP/2 minutes MP - 2 mile warm down - hip fine 🤞✌️

The hip pain on Monday freaked me out, sometimes this old injury lasts weeks but thankfully it has receded to a slight niggle later in the week. On reflection three decisions may have contributed to this.

1- Had to much to drink last Friday evening after the session,

2 - Ran in the wrong shoes Saturday morning(a pair I bought on sales with smaller drop and a lot less give than my normal rotation)

3- Pushed too hard on the warmup hills during the Sunday long session.

Live and learn.

Week 2 of 2 - Wildcard weeks

I started the 20 week Marathon plan 22 weeks before the Marathon. This gave me an option on having a couple of down weeks in case I got the covid, had a niggle, or something came up. A long overdue night out with old friends was on the cards Friday and as haven't had much practice at the drink lately I knew this would leave me ropey at the weekend.

Monday, no run

Tuesday, Session - 2 miles WU, 4 x 1 mile at 10K pace, 2.30 jog recovery between, 4 x 400m at 5k pace with 1-minute recovery- 1 mile warm down

Wednesday - 6.5 miles aerobic

Thursday - 4 miles almost MP

Friday - loads of Guinness

Saturday - dying

Sunday - 15 miles - as I had two full days rest I decided to get a quick idea of my current fitness. Went out for a mile warmup then 13.1 at 7.00/mile. with a 1 mile warm down after. This breaks down to a 1.31.38 half and a 1.09.40 10 mile. Gives me a bit more to chew on when deciding on Manchester pacing.

This week I'm going back into the plan at week 5 of 9 Marathon specific phase, lots of mile in the next block. 🤞 Here's to a few clean living weeks and shot at a PB

****Reporting from the isolation of my bedroom****

Caught the Covid, Felt pretty **** Sunday night and a gradual worsening since. My symptoms are like a bad flu, fever, muscle pain and now the cough. Only time will tell how this will effect the Marathon.

3 weeks of marathon training proper left before taper, obvioulsy this week is caput. I also had two 20 mile runs( one all aerobic and one with 10 mile mp in the middle) this week and next week, this week is out for sure next week in the balance and the following week might be too late for a solid 20. The taper is the taper, what's a man to do. I had my heart set on 3.15(boston qualifier) and was very confident I could make a go of it prior to this virus but the B option is more likely now- 3.30( be over the moon with this). This week and the creeping cough will decide matters.

Anyway, I got last weeks training in just before the rain came

Monday, took it easy

Tuesday, Session - 2 miles WU, 3 x (hill sprints 600m up(10k pacee), 45 seconds rest, 600m down, 2 minutes rest, 200m up 45 second 200m down 2 minutes), 2 mile cooldown

Wednesday - 9.5 miles easy

Thursday - 6 mile aerobic

Friday - took it easy

Saturday - 2 miles easy, 5 miles MP, 5 minutes easy, 5 miles MP, 2 miles easy

Sunday - 10 miles easy

Funnily im not annoyed by this turn of events, I almost expected it. Im just glad its not the week of the race :-)

Just running

Wednesday - 6.5 miles easy - chest still feeling glassy

Thursday - 6.5 miles with some 7.30min/m - Chest a bit better, still slightly fatigued

Saturday - 15 miles - 7.45min/mile - mostly fine but really tired last coupole of miles - Did a similiar session just before covid when I had a HR averaging 142. This session exactly two weeks later the HR was averaging 157.

Sunday - easy 6 mile - tired legs - the cough is lingering but stops being uncomfortable once i start the run and only returns when I stop.

My thoughts this week are on the manchester marathon. Its three weeks away now so I'm excited. Loosing the two big 20 miles on the plan is neither here nor there as the plan was just something I picked at random. I have sort of decided to ditch the specifics of the plan for this week and then revisit for the final two week taper.

Ive dropped my MP from 7.30 to 7.45mile/min to allow for the 10 days off with Covid. If I dont feel a whole lot better after this week going into the taper proper I will drop it to 8.00mile/min or worse case not bother. It is what it is.

New plan - the next three weeks

Monday - Off

Tuesday - 10 mile (2 warm up, 6 x MP(7.45) with 2 minute walk/jog recovery, 2 mile cooldown)

Wednesday - 6 mile easy (8.30-9.00)

Thursday - Off

Friday 20 mile - 5 mile easy - 10 mile MP - 5 mile easy (this is fluid, I will run this on feel)

Saturday - 3 mile recovery

Sunday - 6 mile gradual easy to tempo.

Two week Taper

Mon - Off

Tue - 8 mile session (2 mile warmup 5 x 1k at 10k pace with 2 minute recovery, 5 x 200m at 5k pace 30 second recovery, 2 mile warmup)

Wed - 4 mil easy

Thu - Off

Fri - 10 mile session 2 mile warmup , 2 x 3mile HM with 1 mile easy between, 2 mile warmdown

Sat - 4 mile - easy

Sunday 8 mile easy

Mon - Off

Tue - 7 mile session 3 x 1200 MP 2 min rest, 4 x 400 10k pace , 2 mile warmdown

Wed - 2 mile - easy

Thurs - 6 miles - 1 warmup, 2 mile MP, 5 minutes recovery, 1 x 10k pace, 2 miles cooldown

Frid - Off (flying out at lunchtime)

Saturday - 2 mile easy in manchester, pick up number - eat pizza

Sunday - Race

Agree on those final few sessions, the 10k bits could be replaced with a few strides. The 2x3HM looks spicy too, though they all are around a good deal of rest and pretty short runs.

1 week to go till Manchester, this time next week it will be done and dusted

Week 1 Taper

Mon - Off

Tue - 8-mile session (2-mile warmup 5 x 1k at 10k pace with 2-minute recovery, 5 x 200m at 5k pace 30-second recovery, warm-down)

Wed - 4 miles easy

Thu - Off

Fri - 10-mile session 2 mile warmup, 2 x 3mile HM with 1 mile easy between, 2-mile warm down

Sat - 4 mile - easy

Sunday 8.5 mile, 4E,3MP,1.5E

This week its more reduction in miles but keeping intensity - exciting times

Best of luck on Sunday! Hope it goes well for you and you enjoy it.

Very best of luck tomorrow, enjoy it😊

Best of luck tomorrow.

3.18.34

That was fun 😂

The report

This was a winter project so I will start at the beginning, way back in the November after a brief flirtation with parkrun and some shoe porn with Saucony and Nike carbon fast fast shoes I decided to take Murph_D s comment about having a crack at a Marathon pace that matched the short course gains I had made. With supernatural prescience he commented after a short parkrun report (I made on a 19.32pb) that I should be able to crack 3.20 at marathon distance. I may ramble during this ramble but one thing is sure as the day is long; small comments can seed big ambitions.

Being a bit cavan I went searching on t interweb for some free programs to help with my winter training and as normal I settling on the first one I found from the Boston Athletic Association- I proceded to start my Marathon plan.

The race was 22 weeks away with the paln scheduled for 20 weeks so I started anyway as christmas and covid was coming quickly down the tracks and I thought I might need a week or two spare for drinking or coughing. The BAA plan was fantastic, 5 days one week, 6 days the next, two or three good sessions, with long runs, hill sprints, intervals, and mini fartlet sessions built in. It was also clear on the pacing strategy for different potential finish times. As my enthusiasm was not waining at this stage I started out on the 3.15 pacing strategy with the 3.30 as a backup if I found it too hard. I didnt really.

Apart from not being able to pace faster intervals properly I was pretty happy with the plan, took a week of at christmas for eating and drinking and another week in February were I smashed my previous HM and 10 mile training times with a 1.31.38 and a 1.09. Feeling tip top at this stage and leading up to the last big two peak training even my Coros watch was telling me I was on for a sub 3.15.

As luck would have it the Covid was rampant during this period and four weeks out I contracted what was probably a moderate case- four days of bed with temperature, muscle pain etc then another week of slow recovery with a chasty cough and brain fog.

After the dose I started slow but ramped as quick as I could peaking with a 21 miler completed two weeks out to get at least one last long run into the legs. The taper was a taper. With the exception of a niggle last Wednesday I felt fine over the last week. Did my last run on Thursday and shut up shop.

The race(one or two of you might be say "about **** time")

Flew out Friday, train to the city centre, right beside a hotel I booked months ago only to be greeted with Fawlty towers twinned hotel, I could write a whole report on this place(Mitre hotel) but I have to get to the race. Didnt bother with the shake out on Saturday as I figured there is no gains to be had from running a two or three mile run the day before a race. Big overpriced plate of pasta the at 7pm, back in fawlty towers at 8.30pm and chilled.

My little brother was over mainly for a shakeout run during his Ironman prep so after breaking fast with a wholemeal bap and strawberry jam we got the tram to old trafford and did the usual bag drop(given number 42 at bag drop which made me smile), toilet drop, and reconoitter prior to heading up to the start in Pink A. The organisation was immaculate and if I was to order weather for the race I would have ordered what we got, bit nippy in the morning but the sun was out, no wind(except for ast the toilets) at the start and thousands of smiles with fidgety energy filling the air. I absolutely loved this, probably worth running the 26 miles just for this bit. Had my first gel 15 minutes before the race on the way up the road by old trafford and got into the Pink A start pen, great band banging drums as we stood waiting, a buddy of my brothers joined us and we stood there enjoying the moment.

The start

When the time came and I could see the front bunch moving away I whipped off the hooody and sleeves I had on case it was colder and threw them in the central medium with the rest of the ditched apparal, slowly moving toward the start line I was unusually calm, maybe having the brother beside yapping away with not a care in the world, enjoying the moment removed the nerves. Over the line we go, pottering along with the crowd, not bad, not so many headwreckers who should have been in later pens so the pace was generally good and as expected during the first mile, I was feeling good :-)

7.57min/Mile one, chating with the brother not taking any notice of the time, not even really thinking about the race ahead, probably taking the "take it easy at the start" advise too literally

7.25 Mile Two, after a quick shake of the head I put on the mantra..... In my case its "this is my pace-this is my pace-this is my pace" and so on and so forth"

7.32 Mile Three, just focusing on fixing any form abnormalities for my pace strategy

7.36 Mile Four, again just keeping focus on getting the body moving exactly how it should for 7.30-7.40 pace

7.48 Mile Five, took my second gel, drank some water and had my first twinge, the same place on my leg as the wednesday before the marathon, was a bit stressed as a couple of sharp twinges on my leg as I ran a flat piece of road but a slight hill seemed to knock it on the head- this seems to happen often during runs where niggles feck off when i hit a small incline or downhill. Also jumped behind a van for a piss as the toilets were full. More of a nervous piss than anything.

7.23 Mile 6, my form had straightened so now I started to take in the crowds and began to observe other runners. I seemed to be moving a little bit quicker than most with the odd person passing me so no worries

7.28 Mile 7, looking around at everyones kit, shoes, form and physic

7.24 Mile 8, feeling the twinge in my right leg again but not so bad

7.29 Mile 9, this was one of the easy miles with stride, pace and mind in perfect peace as I approached the 10 mile

7.33 Mile 10, took another gel and had a slight chest pain but nothing more. On the subject of Gels-- I use Decathlon brand gels generally and did so here, wasnt bothered with the SIS freebies on course as I never used them previous. I also carried a 250ml soft bottle of water even though there were bottles on the course every few miles. see mile 22

7.30 Mile 11, After 10 mile I had eyes only for the Half marathon distance

7.32 Mile 12, focused and feeling good

7.37 Mile 13, passed this by and got to the Half Distance sign, looked at my watch and seen 1.39.xx so the sub 3.20 was still on.

7.32 Mile 14, Feeling good here

7.32 Mile 15, take my 4th gel and plow on, was also a bit confused here, in my mind I was thinking there was 10 miles left

7.37 Mile 16, realised I was calculating wrong and had a good old laugh at myself, this coincided with the beginning of the main niggle- my hip. This is an old malody and has been dropping in and out of my running life for a while.

7.27 Mile 17, Had a chat with a randomer about loud shoes (I was wearing the alphafly, I reckon the tinitus from my SFX/Top hat anthrax/slayer days has gotten worse since I started wearing those noisy ba$tards)

7.37 Mile 18, I doubt anyone here remembers my log from my only other Marathon, DCM 2019. In that race I found some runners who looked like they know what they were doing and followed them for 10 miles :-) which was a great help for my sub 4 attempt -- well you wouldnt believe it but I pull in behind these two guys mozzying along at my pace and one of them seems to be pacing the other at exactly my pace so in good irish fashion I sneekily decide to blag a free pacer for a little slip stream action. The wind had picked up and was sideways or headways and the guys were just the right size to keep me safe

7.29 Mile 19, still following the two runners,

7.32 Mile 20, again still following the runners, took my fifth gel, a CAFFIENE gel, the big guns are out.

7.34 Mile 21, at this stage Im not sure if my following them is keeping them in pace or the other way around

7.34 Mile 22 , still following them but it looks like the pacer is having trouble keeing his buddy on target, the dynamic is awkward, my shoes are loud and the wind is picking up.

7.30 Mile 23, hip killing me- the water seemed to have dried up along the course, may have missed one stall but my handy soft bottle came to the rescue, cue second caffiene gel-

7.28 Mile 24, hip in flitters -this is were it got strange, the guy I thought was intentionally pacing for the other guy starts to move of as the paceeee(is this a word?) is really struggling

7.33 Mile 25, the pacer is gradually increasing the gap and we leave the pacee behind but I know it just bravado, or maybe his tinitus was playing up with my slipstream action.

7.26 Mile 26, This was hard, the Manchester course is a lovely for the most part but it has a sting in the tail. Not hills, not ground, CORNERS with no relief. The amount of times I went around a corner expecting to see the finsh and didnt was tough.

7.41 Bit at the end, seen the finish and low and behold every fecker in the race decides to sprint. I dont because I'm too cool for that nonesense(in fact I cant because im broken)

Tale of the tape- 3.18 finish time(sTRAVA 3.17)

7.35 per mile

40 minute PB

Negative split

Position- 2467 out of 14170

2270th out of 9790 men

310th out of 1245 in my age group

At 10km I was in 3548th position which means I passed over a 1000 runners in the last 32 km

Go me-

$$$most of the stuff I wrote above may not be true- its all relative

Wow. Hopefully that early advice included the words "if you train appropriately...", which you obviously did.

What a fantastic result. Hats off.

Many congrats. 👏👏👏

A 20 minute PB 👌, he loved it.

Although I haven't done many marathons it's hard to find any fault with this one. I would 💯 recommend Manchester for anyone wanting a fast time with no hassle. Great organisation and can't think of anything that I would have changed to make the day better.