Speed or distance?

I'd recommend. It's very flat really with an ever so slight downhill gradient for the last couple of miles. The last couple of runs have been in nice, late summer sun with good turnout and good atmosphere. No medals but the top is nice for winter training.

Just remember to factor in that ramp and bridge at 7.5 miles 😄

Hanson's Marathon Method - Week 8 of 18

Sep 19th - 25th

Mon 19th

6mi Easy - Did this on a reasonably flat local route. At times a little too fast so knocked it back a bit. Maybe there would be more advantage to keeping it to the slower end of slow pace? Not sure. Avg pace came in at 8.48/mi so still a touch hot with avg HR of 140.

Tue 20th

Interval day so 3x 1600 with 600 recovery was the order of the day. Decided to do this on the track for a change and joined in with the club session albeit doing my own thing.

I think my 5k pace right now would be about 21.15 so the pace target for this was 6.55 per 1600m.

Splits: 6:59, 6:57, 6:48. Tbh I'm not particularly concerned about nailing the speed sessions. I'd have a much better chance of hitting the paces with a training partner to bring out the competitive edge that I need to push for speed. That said the effort felt slightly easier than usual especially for the latter reps. I think just having the other club members there running their workouts on the inner lanes was a benefit.

Wed 21st

Rest Day.

Thu 22nd

7mi Tempo - Did this on a flat section of road (very much relatively speaking) and started with a two mile warmup. I'd planned to monitor pace on each mile using the lap feature on the watch but the constant watch checking became annoying so I abandoned that and ran by feel. Unfortunately it quickly became evident that I couldn't run marathon pace by feel.

Target pace was 7.49/mi

Actual: 7:54, 7:43, 7:33, 7:45, 7:43, 7:37, 7:45

Avg HR for the tempo miles was 157 which is higher than I'd like it to be for marathon effort. It was low 150 avg when I ran DCM last. Perhaps if I can figure out how to keep the tempo runs closer to target pace then it will drop down. The main takeaway I took from this run is "this is really not how I want to feel in mile 6". Anyway still plenty of tempo runs to iron this out.

Fri 23rd

6mi Easy - Again joined the club training for this. The advantage is the softer surface of the track and getting in the drills and core work. The disadvantage is that it's necessary to split the run and then continue it after doing the cooldown exercises. Avg pace - 9:18/mi with avg HR of 135

Sat 24th

10mi Easy - the plan was to do 7 early and finish off with the parkrun. The intention was to run the parkrun easy also but that after about 3 or 4 hundred metres that plan went to pot. That was a bad idea as I had a XC race the following day. So did the first 7 (actually turned out to be 8) miles at approx 8.50/mi with 135 avg HR and the final 3 miles at approx 6.50/mi and avg HR of 165.

Sun 25th

10mi Easy was on the plan again today but I'd let myself be talked into doing cross country with the club. The thinking was if we could field a full team then there would be a good chance of a medal. Hey, it had worked before. I got sight of the team sheet a couple of days before and saw we had more than enough with 6 team members. I recognised 4 of the names who were all faster than me and chances are the other guy would be as well. Good, no pressure then. This would be my first XC race. I've been meaning to have a go for a couple of seasons but didn't for various reasons (injured, untrained, too lazy!). I lined up for the 6k race still leggy from the previous day's hard effort - not ideal preparation! It didn't matter anyway as many of the runners were comfortably sub 20 5K runners with several sub 18 runners. On my best day I wouldn't have got near them.

I had to settle for my own race within a race as I targeted R. He had shot ahead in the first of the 6 and a half laps but the gap was narrowing, slightly at first and then more obviously, with each lap. I had caught up with him halfway through the last lap and was pondering when to overtake. I decided to settle in behind and recover a bit and then pounce pretty close to the line. However he was slowing and I was nearly running into the back of him so I overtook with more than a quarter of a lap remaining. R says "well done" and I reply that "it's not over yet". He says "oh, it is for me". 

That might have been it except some of R's team are lining the finish chute and start roaring encouragement. "C'mon R, you can take him, c'mon R, you can do it". Without coming across all Meghan Markle I'm wondering where my support is. R gets a second wind and sprints for the line. It takes me a nanosecond to decide "nah, not today". And so I finish second last instead of third last. At least our team has placed second and, thanks to club policy, all team members get a medal.

Just over 45 miles for the week.

Hanson's Marathon Method - Week 9 of 18

Sep 26th - Oct 2nd

Mon 26th

8mi Easy - I got out of the car and faced into a blustery headwind that I knew would last about a quarter of a mile at least. I felt like just getting back in but told myself that these days make the difference between a good and bad marathon. That's probably nonsense but gotta get the motivation somewhere. Actually it turned out to be a pleasant run and I had the wind behind me for the quarter mile home. Avg pace of 9.12/mi with over 800 feet of elevation for an avg HR of 137bpm.

Tue 27th

6x800 intervals. Went back to the track again for these. Took a shorter warmup this week of 1 mile and launched into the repeats.

Target Time: 3.25

Actual: 3:26, 3:25, 3:25, 3:25, 3:22, 3:26

I was very pleased with the pacing on these with having 5 of the 6 repeats within a second of target. I made an effort of trying to watch how the legs move when at the correct pace and then try to keep that consistent. Pace was also at the higher end of my 21:00 - 21:30 guestimate of my current 5K time but felt comfortable for a change. Rain was lashing for the whole session and the cool down afterwards but you can only get so wet and it's still relatively warm so not so bad.

Wed 28th

This should have been a rest day but I brought forward one of the weekend easy runs to free up a day for the XC at the weekend.

8mi Easy - Got saturated with rain again on this as I got caught in a heavy shower about half way through. Other than that nothing much to report. Avg 8.58/mile and 136bpm on fairly flat terrain.

Thu 29th

8mi Tempo - The MP paced tempo went up a notch this week to 8 miles.

Target pace was 7.49/mi

Actual: 7:50, 7:46, 7:45, 7:47, 7:42, 7:46, 7:45, 7:52

The majority of those miles were still slightly hot in terms of pace but not as far off as last week. Avg HR was only a couple of bpm lower than last week but that still felt quite a bit more comfortable. Still some work to do on nailing the pace for PMP. 12 mi in total with avg pace of 8.05/mi and avg HR of 151bpm.

Fri 30th

7mi Easy - Another plodding easy run with not much of note to report. It was nice to get a dry run for a change. Avg pace - 9:17/mi with avg HR of 135 with elevation of almost 500 feet.

Sat 1st

15mi Long (Actual 12mi) - The target pace for this was 8.29/mi and it took a fair bit of concentration to get close to that pace. Any lapse of concentration and the pace would creep up. I was mostly unsuccessful in keeping to that pace as the miles came in at 8:29, 8:26, 8:27, 8:25, 8:24, 8:20, 8:24, 8:16, 8:20, 8:27, 8:23, and 8:22. So the pacing aspect of the run was disappointing but I also started experiencing a pain under the arch of my foot. This got a little more pronounced as the run went on and although I probably could have finished out the 15 I pulled the plug at 12 miles. I had a race the following day and just figured why risk it further for another three miles?

Sun 2nd

County Cross Country Masters

Back to the scene of last week's race for more XC. This time for the Masters event and this time we only had the 4 in the team so my score would be counted. There seemed to be a lot more lined up for this race than last week's novices race and the distance was 1k longer at 7k. The ground was also slightly softer after a week of rain but not by much. I was feeling an extra 20 miles of training in the legs this week and the hip flexors were feeling a bit sore. I knew on the first lap that my pace was slower than last week (about 12s/mi slower as it turned out). On the second lap a young child said a bit too loudly to her friend "My daddy's last but that's ok" which I found very funny but also told me I wasn't last. The marathon endurance training paid off somewhat as I caught 3 runners in the last couple of laps and finished in good shape so at least it felt like a better race than last week. It looked like we were going away empty handed for our efforts but after a re-check we were placed third for bronze. Still good craic and a good atmosphere about the place. Next week is the seniors race and that will be the XC done I think!

Just shy of 64.5 miles for the week. I think I did a slightly longer week during lockdown #1 but that's probably my second highest weekly mileage ever.

Thanks D. I think we'll have some of our faster runners back for the senior race with probably a good chance of a medal. Then I can just tap around at my own pace when the lads have all the hard work done and collect a medal too. Gotta think of the long game 😉😄

Hanson's Marathon Method - Week 10 of 18

Oct 3rd - Oct 9th

Mon 3rd

6mi Easy - I'm in a bit of a paranoid phase at the moment where I've suspected any slight twinge or irritation is going to flame up into a showstopper after a long week last week so I opted to do this run on grass circuits of the local sports ground. It's boring and monotonous and has a hill that repeats every 800 metres but, in theory, should be easier on the legs. Wore my trail runners which I've had for years and brought their mileage up to a grand total of 32 miles. I really must do more trail. 

Avg pace of 9:28/mi, avg GAP of 9:13/mi and avg HR of 140bpm. No after effects from the previous week flared up so happy with that. 

Tue 4th

3x1600 intervals. The track is as also easier on the legs so I stuck to that for the final of the speed sessions. Hallelujah!!

Target Time: 6.50

Actual: 6:57, 6:46, 6:46

Happy enough with that and happy to see the back of the speed sessions for the moment.

Wed 5th

Rest Day. 

Thu 6th

8mi Tempo - This was the plan but I thought of the XC racing at the weekend and the little warning niggles from last week and felt it a better idea to just run the 8 miler easy. Avg pace 9:21/mi, Avg GAP 8:50/mi, Avg HR 139bpm

Fri 7th

6mi Easy - I'd planned to swap around the 6 miler and 10 miler so that I wouldn't have the 10 mile the day before the XC racing. However I left it until very late to get out and only really had time to do the 6 before it got really dark. The clocks will be rolling back in a few weeks and then we'll really feel the short evenings. It's going to make midweek runs a lot trickier. Avg pace on this was 9:11/mi, Avg GAP of 8:36/mi and avg HR of 137.

Sat 8th

10mi Easy - Got out in the afternoon for this after parkrun volunteering and took what's becoming a regular loop around Muckross lake. I went the opposite direction to what I normally do to get the most of the elevation out of the way early. The route remains relatively undulating all the same. The left hip flexor started squeaking slightly towards the end. Pace avg was 8:52/mi, Avg GAP was 8:18/mi and avg HR was 137.

Sun 9th

County Cross Country Seniors

After the Novices and the Masters this week it was the turn of the Seniors Race for the County XC. It was a day of unrelenting rain and while it varied in intensity it never actually stopped. I thought we were up early so I went for a 2 mile warmup but it was almost a further hour and a half before the senior men's race started. We also got the news early on that the two strongest runners in our team were out sick. Indeed there was far less runners for this race than had been in the previous two. 

Conditions were quite a bit slippier and muckier than the previous two weeks. Once again I was towards the tail end of the field but I did catch one of the other team's lads on the second last lap and lapped the last finisher. The others were about a minute a mile stronger. We thought were in with a good shout for team silver but as one runner had run with the wrong number bib it took until later that night before the results could be issued and we found out we had indeed secured team silver. 3 XC races and 3 medals secured. This team thing is great!! :) The race was supposed to be 10K. For me it worked out at 6.01 miles at avg pace of 7:27/mi and avg HR of 157bpm.

Just over 50 miles for the week.

Hanson's Marathon Method - Week 12 of 18

Oct 17th - Oct 23rd

Mon 17th

6mi Easy was on the plan but it was a really nice afternoon and six miles looping some football fields was less appealing than taking the bike out for a spin. Was surprised to pick up a few strava segment prs despite not being out in weeks. Must have been favourable wind directions.

Tue 18th

4x 1.5mi Strength Intervals - I got quite squeezed for time and it was after dark before I got out to do these. I tried my best to handicap myself - first by only programming half the recovery time into the watch by accident, then by going out in the dark, in the rain and within an hour of eating a full dinner. I managed to spot the timing error but it was the last thing that done in this run. 

Target time per rep: 11:30

Actual: 11:30, 11:36, 11:49, ??:??

Even though I'd taken out the Vaporflies for this they couldn't overcome the feeling of running on a full stomach. I just about made the pace on the first rep, things had started to slip on the second rep and by the third rep the wheels were off. Lashing rain and running with a headtorch didn't help. I won't be doing speed sessions with a headtorch in future. Just a bit too risky as hard to judge the ground for puddles or hidden dips and I almost tripped over a fallen branch I didn't see. I called it after the third rep as it was really miserable and I didn't think anything was going to be gained by running another rep in the rain at slower than PMP.

Wed 19th

Rest Day. 

Thu 20th

8mi Tempo was on the plan but instead I ran an easy 10 mile after my last visit to the physio in this block (well, hopefully last!). The last stretch of the Tralee to Fenit greenway had only just been opened so I tried it out. It will be a handy facility for runners from the Tralee area and around looking for safe, off road options. AVG pace of 8:49/mi, avg GAP - 8:29/mi and avg HR of 136.

Fri 21st

10mi Easy - Another easy plod around. With the weather being pretty miserable I was fully expecting to get drenched on this run but somehow I managed to find 90 minutes where no rain fell. Happy days! I took this one quite leisurely with an avg pace of 9:27/mi, avg GAP of 9:06/mi and avg HR of 133. Made a conscious effort to keep the effort on the easy side of easy.

Sat 22nd

10mi Easy - Yet another easy 10 miler although I stretched out this one to 11.5 miles to round up the weekly mileage. That's a little OCD. This run was back on the faster side of easy with avg pace of 8:53/mi, avg GAP of 8:29/mi and an avg HR of 137. Tbh I think the three 10 milers were starting to catch up on me. Felt a bit wrecked that evening.

Sun 23rd

Munster Cross Country Novices - This was held near Riverstick in Cork. The distance for Men's Novices was 6k which was 3 laps of the course. The course itself seemed to consist mainly of uphill with one sharp downhill section. We were expecting rain and showers on the day but thankfully that did not materialise and it was dry. The course itself was fairly cut up with quite a few sections being pretty much muck after the days racing and we were last to line up for the off. There were 106 competing in the Novices race plus another 13 U23 men. We lined up, got called to the start line and the gun went off. We tore across the field to the first turn about 150m away. I looked behind after taking the turn and there was no one there. FFS, I was last! Oh, well. I remained so for the first lap but passed one guy and then another early in the second lap. I had my eye on another who looked tantalisingly close but he, unfortunately was still moving at the same speed as me and pulled away again. On the last lap I caught up to a guy who had stopped to walk. When I reached him he started running again and pulled away. However again he stopped to catch his breath/rest and once again only got going when I reached him. This was starting to get annoying and I wish I had the energy to burn him off. Unfortunately it was he who had some matches left unburnt as he squished through the mud to finish with a 20 or 30 metre advantage. I ended up third last, 104th out of 106 finishers. I think that was my second toughest race this year after the Banna 10k. It was a case of 5k effort to reach a marathon pace finish but I guess that's what muddy, hilly XC courses do to you.

The plan had been to do a 2 mile cool down to get the day's mileage in but I had no inclination to run another step.

44 miles for the week - down on the 55 miles that was on the plan owing to Monday's bike ride, Tuesday's shortened run etc.

Hanson's Marathon Method - Week 13 of 18

Oct 24th - Oct 30th

Mon 24th

8mi Easy. I realised I'd left the watch at home as soon as I got out of the car. This was an opportunity to run naked, untethered to technology and just enjoy running by feel. I got about 50 metres away from the car and buckled when I remembered I could just record on the phone. One day I'll break the link. Not today though. Avg pace of 9.08/mi, avg GAP 8:46/mi and HR not recorded.

Tue 25th

3x2mi Strength Intervals - I was back in Tralee today and took the opportunity to do the intervals on the greenway. 

15:20 was the target time.

Actual: 15:12, 14:58, 15:07

There is a bit of rolling terrain on the greenway which facilitates some splits being easier and some a bit tougher. I notice a definite wind effect too and recall a speed interval session from a couple of months back on this block where a 5x1k interval session went awry. It's a bit easier to notice now that the first couple of reps back then were downhill with the wind which made the remaining reps much harder when I turned around. It's pretty tricky to get dead flat road in Kerry! Happy with this session though.

Wed 26th

Rest Day. 

Thu 27th

9mi Tempo was on the plan but it just lashed from the heavens as I was about to go out. I might still have gone but it was also a very blustery day to attempt a session and I thought better of it. First time I've baulked on a run in this block. So an extra rest day ensued.

Fri 28th

9mi Tempo - Drier today but still windy. In retrospect I could have changed directions on the route to get maximum benefit but ultimately was happier with how it transpired. Easily did faster than PMP with the wind at my back but when facing into the wind and/or elevation it was much more of a struggle.

PMP Target: 7:49

Tempo Miles: 7:59, 7:25, 7:47, 7:44, 7:26, 7:39, 8:06, 7:37, 7:41 (AVG 7:43)

I tried Maurten gels for the first time during this run. One caffeine gel before the start and another two on the move. Found them ok in terms of taste and texture - a bit jelly like. I wasn't carrying water but I'd prefer to be able the wash out the after taste. I did feel some discomfort after which I wasn't sure was due to the gels. Testing again later in the week had no negative effects so I'm putting the discomfort down to pushing a bit hard on the first MP mile which was uphill.

Sat 29th

8mi Easy - Apparently we've been getting 3 times the amount of average rainfall for this time of year. Which would explain why parts of my planned route were flooded over. Thus I was making changes on the fly. This was a damp but enjoyable run. Avg pace of 8:54/mi, avg GAP of 8:40 and avg HR of 138.

Sun 30th 

16mi LSR - This was the second of the 3 16-mile long runs on the plan. I procrastinated a bit and went volunteering at junior parkrun first and then followed the DCM tracker seeing how everyone was going. Eventually I got going to the start point wearing my DCM '19 top for the day that was in it. I wanted to test the Maurten gels again so took a caffeine gel at the start and set an alert on the watch for every 30 minutes. And for the first time I carried a bottle carrier strapped around my waist carrying a 500ml bottle. I must have spent at least 20 minutes in the car still glued to the tracker watching people finish or (inexplicably) not finishing at the predicted time. Some great runs there and some unfortunate injuries. 

My run did not go well. Compared to the previous 16 miler a couple of weeks ago the avg HR was approx 10 beats higher and I was ready for it to be over from the halfway point. I picked the same 8mile loop for both LSRs and wore the same shoes. I ran out of energy on the last couple of miles and stopped for a short walk on the last mile and didn't get going again. I focused too much perhaps on testing the gels and didn't eat anything that morning before starting the run at noon. I don't know why the HR was higher though. At least the gels didn't appear to have a negative effect although I just took two in addition to the pre-run caffeine one. I'm going to be unpicking this run for a while and hopefully learn something useful to take into the race although I suspect the main issue here was just poor fueling the day before and day of the run. Avg pace 8:46/mi, avg GAP 8:29/mi, avg HR 149.

57.6 miles for the week - down slightly on the plan due to the missed run.

Thanks M. Could well have been a bit of both alright as I was drinking all around me after that run. The cumulative fatigue may well have finally been taking a bite out of me too. On the same run two weeks prior I'd contemplated extending it to 18 miles and could have done so. Perhaps even 20 but decided not to risk it. This time there was clearly no chance of either of those options.

Hanson's Marathon Method - Week 15 of 18

Nov 7th - Nov 13th

Mon 7th

8mi Easy. Lots of wind and rain today and for a while there I didn't think I'd get out at all but it cleared for a while and I grabbed my gear. I got almost to 4 mile before the steady rain returned. Got saturated but not as bad when you at least start dry. Felt a bit tired though. Don't think I'd have fancied having to pick up the pace. Avg pace of 9:25/mi, GAP 8:53/mi and avg HR of 137.

Tue 8th

Unintentional rest day. Couldn't get out so just took it a rest day and moved the interval session forward.

Wed 9th

Strength Intervals - 3x (2mi at PMP -10, with 0.5mi recovery)

Got out quite late to do these so headtorch running. Luckily the paths had been cleared of fallen leaves and other debris and it was dry and calm which made this a good bit more manageable than expected. Nobody else mad enough to be out in the dark so I had the paths to myself too. Happy days.

Target time was 15:20

Reps: 15:15, 15:05, 15:02

Reasonably ok with that although probably should have taken it a wee bit cooler.

Thu 10th

Moving the days forward necessitated moving an easy day between the two sessions so I brought forward the 8 miler. It was after dark getting out for this again and some of it was through town. Got a shout out of "Run, Forrest, Run!" from a passing car and was undecided if this was an insult or not. They promptly pulled into the shop/garage so I could have let the air out of their tyres if it was meant as a jibe. 😃 

Handy enough run although another damp one. Avg pace worked out as 8:37/mi, GAP 8:22/mi and avg HR 137. 

Fri 11th

10mi Tempo - Another after dark run yet again. I wasn't sure if it was possible to run a tempo session around town and turns out it was not a good idea. Also leaving it till 9pm is not to be recommended either. Other issues included stepping up/down from paths and getting jarred when you miss a downstep 'cos you're checking your watch, dealing with dark patches on the route and excessive elevation. The need for a loo stop then threw me and the session was over. What was meant to be a 14 mile run tapped out at 7.5 mile. Better than nothing but not great.

PMP Target: 7:49

Tempo Miles: 7:44, 7:40, 7:54, 8:27, 8:39..........

Sat 12th

7mi Easy - A pleasant enough run on flat terrain. Didn't try to catch up on any missing mileage from the previous day's shortened run. Kept it all relaxed an uneventful on a dry and mild run. Avg pace 8:50/mi, avg GAP 8:40/mi, avg HR 137

Sun 13th

16mi Long - The third and last of the 16 milers on the plan. The last 16 miler had turned into a bit of **** show two weeks ago so I made sure I was better fueled in advance of this one. I also took on 4 gels, one caffeine one to start and then one every 4 miles approx. The gels don't give me any noticeable boost after taking them and the fourth was pushed down. I'd say another couple of gels might be a struggle on race day. Still a relatively comfortable run (aside from the toenail bashing vaporflys)at a somewhat faster than prescribed pace. We're on the downhill slope of the plan now! Avg pace 8:13/mi, Avg GAP 7:57/mi, avg HR 143

Just over 59 miles for the week.

Less than 3 weeks to race day. It's starting to get real. 🙈

Hanson's Marathon Method - Week 17 of 18

Nov 21st - Nov 27th

Mon 21st 

8mi Easy. Got this done at lunchtime on the loop I've probably used the most on this marathon block. All grand, no drama. 8:51 avg, 8:38 GAP and avg HR of 137.

Tue 22nd 

Strength Intervals. 6x 1mi with 0.25mi recovery.

Target time was 7:40

Reps: 7:37, 7:37, 7:37, 7:37, 7:35, 7:33

I was trying not to be too aggressive on the reps and the first 4 came in reasonably close to target with the last two a bit hotter. All in all a fairly comfortable run and one of the easier strength sessions to finish off on.

Wed 23rd

Rest Day.

Thu 24th

Today should have been the final 10 mile tempo but with wind and rain and hail showers seemingly every 20 minutes this was not going to work out. I subbed in the 7 mile easy on the treadmill instead and put the tempo off to the following day which had a much better forecast. Even on easy pace the treadmill is just not enjoyable. Avg pace of 8:41/mi (even you can believe the watch which measured the 7 miles as 7.60 miles) Avg HR of 138

Fri 25th

10 mile Tempo

Target PMP - 7:49

Reps: 8:02, 7:17, 7:34, 7:31, 7:48, 7:42, 7:45, 7:38, 8:01, 7:46 (Avg 7:43)

While the weather was much more favourable (drier) than the previous day it was still very breezy. I had the full benefit of the breeze on some of the miles and it was in my face for others. The first mile was uphill with the elevation reclaimed on the second mile. The course was a bit lumpy with some of the miles on the uphill gradient into the wind. Left the gels and supershoes at home for this one.

Sat 26th 

8mi Easy. So all easy runs left therefore this is the taper? I took a route that I knew might have a risk of being flooded. I just didn't realise how flooded it was. I decided to go through the first flooded section instead of turning back. If I'd known there was another 5 or 6 sections under water (about 2 feet deep) I might just have retraced my steps. The walking and the bit of heaviness in my legs from the previous day's tempo slowed me down. 10:04/mi, avg GAP 9:29/mi, Avg HR 135

Sun 27th

8mi Easy. Another easy 8 miler on a loop with a bit of elevation. Tried out my new Shokz Openrun headphones on this run (Black Friday!). The sound has improved but the safety seems to have disimproved as I was surprised by two cars that I didn't hear approaching. Guess I'd better lower the volume. Managed to avoid the worst of the showers to round out the week. 9:15/mi, avg GAP 8:44/mi, Avg HR of 141 (using wrist based sensor as my HRM seems to have gone awol)

Just shy of 58 miles for the week.

One week left to go!

Race Report - Valencia Marathon

Target: 3.24:59 or less 

Result: 3.31:48 

Pre-Race

I left my accommodation at about 7am for an 8:45am start. I'd checked the route the day before and it wasn't that long and took two metro lines with about 6 stops in total. However it seemed the metro was operating at a probably normal Sunday morning schedule with long waits for trains. Judging by the way staff were taking phone snaps of the large crowd waiting on the platform at the second metro they seemed surprised that there was loads of people using the most logical route to the start point. I wasn't too bothered as I figured it's chip timed so if I'm late it's not going to make a huge difference. Finding the lockers/bag drop and starting pen was a little confusing and could have benefited with more signage but the volunteers were helpful, friendly and calm so got there in the end with a bit to spare. 

Race start

There wasn't really that long to wait in the pen. I'd got some dynamic stretches in before joining the pen and was probably somewhere in the middle. Before too long the front rows were moving and not long after that we were over the mats and the race was on. I was in the sub 3:46 pen based on my previous marathon time of 3:48. I could have pushed for the sub 3:31 pen based on HM times but figured there was no need as I wasn't using the pacers anyway and the roads looked pretty wide. Unfortunately the roads were packed with runners and I could not get up to my planned pace. Anytime I tried to cut through and get up to pace I was just getting blocked by another group. I'd planned a slower pace for the first 3 miles but planned to hit the 3 mile mark at 24:29. Instead it came in at 25:15 and I was nearly a minute down already. Not the best start. 

After 3 miles I caught sight of pacers ahead. I thought briefly that they might be the 3:30 pacers but in fact they were the 3:45 pacers. I went past and tried not to think of the amount of time I needed to put in to them to hit my goal. At least now the road was opening up a bit and there was more space to get up to pace. The next two miles came in at 5 and 10 seconds slower than planned pace. I was feeling sluggish. I tried to push on slightly and got back on very slightly faster than pace in the next two miles. It was far too early to try to reclaim lost time by pushing hard but on mile 8 I had to stop for a pee. This seemed to take forever and cost me another 48 seconds. It was also the first time I'd ever had to stop like that in a race. This was not going to plan and I was leaving myself a lot to catch up on if I was going to get my goal time.

I should probably mention that I'd decided to use the Maurten 320 drink for this race. However I hadn't tested it in training. I had tested the gels and they seemed to work ok. At least they didn't seem to cause an issue. At the expo Maurten had a stand and a diagram for their suggested use of the product which involved taking one drink the day before and another 3 hours before the start of the race:

Each drink is 500ml. I'd also taken 200ml of dioralyte the morning of the race. This imo explained my need to stop at mile 8. However there was also another issue - my stomach wasn't happy. It wasn't in seriously bad shape - just uncomfortable. I'd been taken the gels every 4 miles. I took another at 8 miles just before the pit stop and miles 9 to 12 were about my best miles on the race very close to or under planned race pace. I was feeling better and the pace reflected that. At mile 12 I took another gel and my stomach let me know it didn't really like it. It was back to feeling uncomfortable again and I decided not to risk any more gels.

Miles 13-20

These more or less averaged out on pace - gaining a few seconds on some miles but losing a few on others. All through the race I just watched the lap screen and ran the current mile. On my lap screen I had lap distance, lap time, lap pace and number of laps completed. I mainly just looked at lap pace and noted the lap time at the end of each lap. While I wasn't doing mental maths I knew I hadn't made up anything near sufficient time to offset the time lost earlier on. My plan had been to stay steady until mile 23 and try to push on from there but now I was thinking I should try going earlier. Except I knew I couldn't as I was starting to tire and even holding on to current pace would be a challenge. At mile 20 a runner stopped to walk in front of me. His tshirt said Run '19 and this seemed appropriate. I fixated on another runner's tshirt which said "Don't think. Run!". That seemed like pretty sound advice.

Miles 21 to finish.

Instead of pushing harder after mile 20 I started going backwards losing 10 seconds off pace and then 20. Hitting mile 23 I knew I had to take another pit stop and again it seemed to take forever. Another minute down. Back into the race and I was into the last few miles. The legs didn't respond to any requests to pick up the pace except that I wasn't losing as many seconds as previously. The last 0.6 of a mile into the finish was back on pace. 

While I had displays set up on the watch for heart rate and overall distance and pace I never looked at them during the race so it was only at the end that I saw my time.

I knew I wouldn't get the goal time but was disappointed not to break 3:30 and was feeling very "meh" trotting through to collect the medal and post race goodies. It was that feeling of taking an exam you thought you'd prepared well for except to get questions that didn't suit you. These though were self-inflicted issues that could well have been avoided. 

When I got over my sulking 😄 and sat down a few days later to look through the race there was a lot of positives to pull from it. Take out the pit stops and I'm easily sub 3:30. Take out the stomach discomfort and there's probably another couple of minutes clawed back. The marathon beast has not been tamed yet and once again I've a result where I should have done better but there's a few more lessons learned on what to do and what not to do. And there's a lot that worked well on the day. In terms of running gear the vest top and club shorts both worked well, the decathlon flip belt was a disaster as I was spinning it around like a hula hoop trying to find an opening to take gels from, the 250ml decathlon flask worked well and the sunglasses were comfortable and did a good job. One thing that surprised me was how non-sweaty I was at the end. I'm usually a soggy mess after an hour running at home but running at the lower relative humidity in Spain was a different experience. In all the weather conditions were perfect. The only time I felt it warm was when we were tightly cramped at the start. The course was also really flat and ideal for consistent miles. It took until after half way for the HR to get out of zone 2 and it only got above the high 150s towards the end.

It's back to the drawing board with regards to nutrition though both in terms of what to use and how to properly test it. But that's for another day.

I enjoyed a few beers and some grub with @corcaigh07 and @Itziger and some others we got talking to. Good craic there. My stomach finally returned back to normal the following day while waiting for the plane home. 😶

Thanks D.

Regarding the stomach issues - the best analogy I can give is to compare it to car sickness. If you break car sickness down into three stages:

Stage 1 - your stomach starts giving you signals that it's feeling "off"

Stage 2 - those signals grow, get worse and you're at the pre-nausea stage

Stage 3 - you're throwing up

My issue was in the stage 1 phase - mild enough but a bit of anxiety that it might get worse. Thankfully it did not but I still think it has an impact on RPE and how much energy you have available to throw into the race.

The plan had been to use the Maurten but it had been developed late in the training cycle. I'd done almost all of my runs all year unfueled including the half marathon. I'd ordered the gels and tried them out but delayed on the drinks as I wasn't sure which were best - 320 or 160. I gambled a bit on the drinks and it didn't pay off. Tbh because the long runs are relatively short in Hansens I'm not entirely sure I would have caught the issue but there isn't an excuse really for not, at least, trying the stuff first before race day.

Now, looking again at the instruction pic I posted in the report, it seems that the pre-race drink is more for sipping over the 3 hours pre race rather than forcing it down in one go like I did. 🙈

Live and learn.

The advantage of doing very little running is that it's pretty easy to update the log. 

I took almost two weeks off after Valencia and, perhaps naively, expected the legs to be back to normal by then. Not so.

December 5th - 11th

Off. No running. No of anything.

December 12th - 18th

Sat 17th

5.2mi 8.36/mi, HR 148 avg

First run back after the marathon. Had no particular plan other than to let the legs do what they felt like doing. Thus pace was a little faster than easy. I was surprised by how much fatigue was still in the legs - primarily in the quads. I rarely use the foam roller (mine is more of a rolling pin type thing) so gave them a going over after. Plenty of tender spots still there.

December 19th - 25th

Mon 19th

6.2 mi 8:25/mi, HR 151 avg

Another run where I wasn't running to pace or HR - just letting it settle on what felt comfortable. The legs felt a good bit better than the previous Friday. I was also starting to come down with some bug.

The bug mostly consisted of coughing, scratchy throat and copious nose-blowing but otherwise fine. It did put paid to running for the rest of the week and most of the following week.

December 26th - 31st

Fri 30th

3mi 8.18/mi, HR 155 avg

The bug has mostly cleared so I ventured out. Very breezy headwind for the first section of this run but it was then at my back for most of the middle section. I've left the HR monitor at home for the post marathon training runs so not sure how accurate the HR readings are. That went reasonably well so I reckon I'm ok to get back out.

Fri 31st

3.1mi 7:12/mi, HR 168 avg

I haven't run parkrun in a while. I went out far too fast in the first km and paid for it in the remaining 4k. I've got out of the habit of committing to a parkrun as it's "just a parkrun". I'd like to get back into the habit of attacking these on a more regular basis and start threatening the PB which is getting a bit long in the tooth at this stage. Well off that pace at the moment though.

May as well finish off the week even if it's technically a new year ...........

Sat 1st January 2023

3.1mi 8:07/mi, HR 157 avg

Inch Beach parkrun. I was going to be the VI guide for a local runner at a race later in the day and as he is stone mad for running I asked if he'd like to do the NYD parkrun also. He was up for it. The plan was to take the parkrun easy and save our effort for the race later on. That plan got shot to hell in the first half km. We had shot off a bit too fast but settled into 5 minute kms or thereabouts and mostly kept that going until near the end. Still ended with R knocking over 1 and a half minutes off his PB at Inch so first job done.

3.1mi 8:03/mi, HR 164 avg

Beaufort 5k. This race kicked off at 12 so we had a bit of time to recover. Both the 5k and 10k races started at the same time before diverging after 1.5k or so. We took off at a more sensible pace this time and managed to more or less maintain that throughout while again flagging slightly before the end. There was a bit more undulation on this course compared to the pan flat parkrun. We chipped a few seconds off our times from the parkrun and R got another new PB for this race and picked up his prize for visually impaired runner.

Some notes on the year just gone:

I finished the year with 1730 miles done, up from less than 650 the previous year and a substantial increase even on the 2020 and 2019 where I'd just trickled over the 1,000 mile each time.

The vast bulk of the 1730 miles was taken up with training blocks for the Cork Half Marathon (532 miles) and Valencia Marathon (967 miles) both using Hanson Plans.

In total I ran 18 races:

1 Marathon (Valencia - PB 3:31:48)

3 Half Marathons (Cork - 4 seconds slower than PB, Dingle x2 (not racing))

4 10 Milers (Dungarvan, Mallow (PB 1:13:16), Cobh 10, Cork City 10 Miler)

2 10k (Adare (PB), Banna (PB))

2 5k (Kerry Roads Championship, PWC BHAA 5k (2 seconds off PB)

4 Cross Country (County Novices, County Masters, County Senior, Munster Novices)

1 Trail Race - Torc IMRA 8k

1 Track Race - Kerry Masters 3000m

Overall I had PBs at 10k, 10 mile and marathon and was very close to PB times in the 5k and half marathon. After the latter half of 2021 being blighted by an Achilles tendon injury that showed no signs of improving I would not have predicted that kind of year. There were also a number of firsts for me this year - first time representing the club, first time doing a track race and first time doing Cross Country.

As for 2023 - I won't predict anything but I hope to run less and get back cycling more as that got sacrificed for marathon training. I may try experimenting to see if I can substitute some easy runs with cycling and see how that works out. The current plan though is to start the year with base building and then tackle a 5k block and see where we go from there. The next tentative plan for the marathon is a 2024 Spring attempt but I can see myself getting lured into returning to Valencia since a couple of friends have registered so who knows.