Diary of a Rubbish Marathon Runner

How Not To Run A Training Run

2013-05-18T23:22:00.003+01:00

Running long ultras requires marathon-length training runs, and since running for so long on your own just sucks, running official marathons at training effort is just perfect. I had it all worked out. I had trained right through, in fact this week had been reasonably tough. I did not bring any gels and did not drink any sports drink. I did not wear my racing shoes and, most importantly, I had a plan: run the first half with the 3:15 pacer (Grellan, in that case), which would ensure that I would never be tempted to race this, and which would make it easier to hold back, because even if I got impatient I would always be able to tell myself that I would allow the brakes to come off later on.

It was an idiot-proof plan. However, the universe responded by making a better idiot: I lasted exactly 0.8 miles. Then I looked ahead, saw that Vasiliy would invariably win but I did fancy my chances against everyone else. The temptation was too much, even as I was chiding myself for being so stupid I dropped down to 6:30 pace and chased after the lads. Grellan even shouted after me "Thomas come back", but I defied that order.

Yes, this was early in the race!

I moved up a few places very quickly but then found myself a good bit behind a bigger group. At one point, maybe 3 or 4 miles in, I counted that I was 60 steps behind, about 20 seconds. I repeated the same exercise shortly after 6 miles and came up with more or less the same number. I decided this was ridiculous - if I ran the same pace as the lads then I should run with the lads, as running in a group is easier. I surged ahead, maybe a bit too hard because at one point I looked at the Garmin and saw sub-6 pace, so I dialled back the effort marginally, but within a mile I had caught up. There were 6 of us - Vasiliy was way ahead, but we made up places 2-7. You could have called this the chasing pack, except we were not chasing after him.

Photo by Joe Murphy

Apart from the first mile, the course was entirely within the demesne of Killarney National Park, and on a few occasions I did allow myself the luxury to look around and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. The demesne isn't big enough for 26 miles, so we had to run 3 laps of slightly more than 8 miles. I hate running laps in training, it just does my head in and I can hardly count the laps if it's more than two, but in a race I am in a completely different mindset and I don't mind at all.

The pace of the group wasn't entirely even, there was always someone pushing the pace. A gap appeared at the start of lap 2 as we were running up Knockreer hill and I resolved not to kill myself running up a hill, but I comfortably caught up again on the downhill. During that second lap, one by one some guys were spat out the back of our group until there were only three left, Stephen, Jason and me. Jason was breathing hard and I sure expected him to drop back sooner rather than later. Stephen, on the other hand, was obviously feeling good and kept pushing the pace; I remarked to Jason that he was making it look easy.

The mining trail behind Ross Castle was very undulating, a constant up and down, and the climbs were getting bigger with each lap, but I was still holding on and feeling reasonably good. The other parts were okay. It's not the easiest of marathon courses but definitely not particularly hard, easier than Tralee. As we were nearing the end of the second lap, about 18 miles into it, I finally started feeling the effort. Keeping up with Stephen was tough enough but when Jason started putting the hammer down at the start of the third lap I was no longer able to match yet another surge and let them go, especially as we were going up Knockreer hill for the final time. I had lost contact by the time I reached the top but "Thank God I don't have to climb that f***** again".

Photo by Joe Murphy

At that point I was in fourth place and facing the prospect that I had messed up my training by running at race effort, but would not have anything to show for it. However, to my surprise Stephen did not pull any further ahead; in fact I caught up with him again. He had hit the wall, and rather hard. He asked if I would mind if he hung on for a while, which of course I did not, but as soon as we reached the next climb his footsteps faded very quickly.

I was counting down the miles myself. I cursed myself for not bringing any gels because I was quickly running out of energy and was worried about hitting the wall myself. The mining trail had turned into a roller coaster since our last visit and it was not going to get any easier. At least I did not have to deal with cramping today, unlike in Tralee, but I was hurting just as badly over the last few miles.

My pace suffered. Twice I looked at the Garmin and it was showing 7:20 pace, but I did manage to pick it up again, though that was at the risk of blowing up soon. I got completely paranoid about being caught from behind and started looking behind me - something I never ever do, and definitely a bad thing. However, there was nobody there. I could have done with a bit more rationality, but I wasn't functioning properly any more.

Thankfully the miles melted away, and with about a mile to go I very unexpectedly caught a glimpse of Jason ahead. I actually wasn't too pleased - it meant I would have to push through the pain barrier in an effort to catch second place instead of cruising to the finish. I did put the hammer down and the distance between us did indeed shrink. It did hurt, I assure you, I could not have given any more. But, as Jason told me afterwards, my footsteps gave me away, he heard me coming and responded in kind, and from that moment on the outcome was secured. We raced to the finish at a good clip, him taking second place and me five seconds behind, but absolutely delighted all the same - I have never finished on the podium of a marathon before, what more could you possibly ask for?

Photo by Marek Hajdasz

The weather was very good, the course was absolutely lovely and the setting in the National Park was spectacular. The organisation was very good, especially for a first effort, apart from the fact that the water stations were overwhelmed at times when runners came from two directions. However, my Garmin only showed 26.12 miles at the end. Now, I have run in the demesne plenty of times and the Garmin has been all over the place at times, so I cannot make any definite statements. I spoke to the lady who had measured it with a Jones counter and she was confident the distance was correct. In the end, it doesn't matter much - it was not a PB and I will definitely count it in my list of marathons.

Young Stephen and four old codgers - photo by Jackie Murphy

However, I know there will be a price to pay - my training schedule is completely messed up, it will take ages to recover from this effort and if I have left my Connemara performance here in Killarney I only have myself to blame. Mais je ne regrette rien.

Late Update: Looks like the RD got quite a few questions regarding the distance. He assures us that both the half and the full have been measured twice via Jones counter to absolutely ensure accuracy. That's good enough for me.

18 May: Killarney Marathon Of The Lakes
2:56:16, 6:43 pace, HR 165. Third place!

Well I Never

2013-05-15T19:28:00.000+01:00

My tired legs on Saturday have really messed with my head. Even though I have felt good every day since, it left my wondering if I was overdoing my training and what would be the best way forward. In light of that, it was almost certainly a good thing that I had an evaluation workout on the cards anyway.

After the great numbers last time round I was unsure what to expect. I certainly feared that this week's figures would be worse, especially as I really wasn't feeling all that great while doing the evaluation itself. I did get quite some surprise when I checked the new numbers, though. As always, the numbers in brackets are adjusted pace, 7 seconds for every 2 heart beats off the 161 target:

       
        Mile 1    6:21   HR 160    (6:18)
        Mile 2    6:21   HR 161    (6:21)
        Mile 3    6:24   HR 162    (6:27)
        Mile 4    6:21   HR 161    (6:21)
        Recovery to HR 130: 33 seconds

That's very similar to last time round, with the same slight slowdown on mile 3 but subsequent pickup at mile 4, and the one second difference in recovery time is within the margin of measurement error, so basically that's the same pattern again, expect that each mile was about 5 seconds faster.

Wow!

Of course I have already gotten a load of "what a shame that you're wasting this form on a 100 miler", but I got the same last year and Bangor sure did not feel like a waste to me.

I followed that up with a mountain run on Wednesday morning but scaled it back again to a mere two crossings of Windy Gap because 1) the 3 crossings might have caused the fatigued legs last week due to overwork and 2) I do have a marathon on Saturday; even if it's only a training run and I'll train right through it, I sure don't want to feel like last week for 26 miles.

By the way, as mentioned a few weeks ago, I have been considering adding another marathon to my schedule this summer ever since having to cancel Connemara. I have now signed up to another one, though it's a 50k rather than a marathon, in Portumna. I have been wanting to run that race for years after hearing so many good things about it and I have a long standing promise to the RD that I was going to do it and this year I'll finally come good on that.

13 May: 10 miles, 1:15:38, 7:34 pace, HR 138
14 May: 11.75 miles, 1:22:10, 7:00 pace, HR 147
4 mile eval: 6:21, 6:21, 6:24, 6:21, 33 sec recovery
15 May: 12.25 miles, 1:47:27, 8:46 pace, HR 142
mountain run, Windy Gap x 2

Not Quite Smooth Sailing

2013-05-12T12:38:00.001+01:00

I thought I had settled into a nice, sustainable training rhythm, doing a longer run at the weekend and a mountain run in midweek with 2 easy days following each, but maybe I need to rethink my strategy. I know I did a longer mountain run on Wednesday, but I would have expected to be recovered from that by Saturday, especially since I had taken it really easy on Thursday and Friday, but it didn't work out like that.

I definitely had one problem, namely my big left toe. On Friday it became increasingly uncomfortable during the office hours and when I got back home I inspected the damage. It was swollen, bright red, very warm, and one area was very, very sore to the touch. Taking off the shoes made a big difference in the comfort levels because the sore area was longer being compressed, but the toe sure did not look good. The next morning, before running, I had another look. The overall swelling had gone down except at the one area that had been sore the day before, and some pus had leaked out onto the toe nail (lovely image, I know. At that point I should probably point out that you should definitely not do an image search on Google for "Big Toe" during lunch time. You're welcome). I was worried that it might be too sore for running, but actually it was perfectly fine; maybe my habit of wearing running shoes a full size bigger than my office shoe helped me out here.

However, while my toe felt fine my quads did not. From the very first step I noticed that something was off and the idea of a tempo run did not feel too appealing. In the end I went ahead but at a significantly lower HR than last week. In fact, my max HR yesterday was lower than last week's average for a similar run! On the plus side, it meant that this time I remained within the parameters that Mystery Coach had set me all those years ago.

I need to stay ahead of my recovery and therefore decided to cut Sunday's long run down by a few miles, depending on how I would feel. As it turns out, I felt great. I cannot explain it, I do not know how that works. I still left it at 18 miles, over 3 miles less than last week, just to be sure. Wearing a singlet in the hope of catching a few rays of sunshine proofed hopelessly optimistic as it kept raining throughout, but I was fine.

Initially I thought I'd take an easy week next week, but maybe that won't be necessary. I'll cut the mountain run back to 2 Windy Gap crossing, though. I will take an easy week following the marathon in Killarney on Saturday, but otherwise the idea is to train through as long as I feel I can recover from it.

9 May: 10 miles, 1:16:26, 7:38 pace, HR 139
10 May: 10 miles, 1:17:10, 7:43 pace, HR 139
11 May: 10 miles, 1:09:41, 6:58 pace, HR 150
incl. 8 miles @ 6:47 pace, HR 153
12 May: 18 miles, 2:13:34, 7:25 pace, HR 145

Weekly Mileage: 81+

Short Update

2013-05-08T20:16:00.000+01:00

Things are definitely getting back to normal - Niamh and the kids are back home, it is raining and my weekly mileage has settled in the 80s.

I definitely felt the effects of Sunday's 21 hilly miles in the legs on Monday. They weren't sore as such, but there was definitely some sluggishness in my early morning run, though the nice sunny weather coupled with some warmer temperatures more than made up for that.

The weird thing happened on Tuesday, despite the legs feeling better than the day before the pace was much slower. I ran the same effort level as for all of my easy runs, but somehow I only barely crept under 8-minute miles pace. While it would be obvious to blame Sunday's run, I suspect the hours of working in the garden on Monday were much more to blame. That usually does a number on my legs - unlike running, I am not used to it. On the plus side, the HR was really low.

The nice weather just wasn't going to last, sadly missed as it is. Actually, so far it has not been quite as bad as the forecast had made us believe; when I saw the warnings of wind and heavy rain I initially considered binning my mountain run, but now I'm glad that I went ahead with it. A couple of hours at dawn in wind and rain can be much more fun than it may sound. I had planned on going over Windy Gap 4 times but had left the house too late (or ran too slowly) and had to settle for 3 climbs, twice from the Caragh Lake and once from the Glenbeigh side. It's quite a cool sight to be running right along the wisps of clouds as they are twirling around the mountain tops. There is definitely an eerie feeling to that place. The legs felt fine, I was surprised to find that the calves had absolutely no problems doing that very steep climb three times in quick succession.

I haven't said much about my achilles recently; it has mostly settled down; I can feel a little twinge from time to time, usually during the first mile or so, but that's all that's left of it. I don't think this will bother me any more for the foreseeable future.

6 May: 10 miles, 1:17:55, 7:46 pace, HR 142
7 May: 10 miles, 1:19:28, 7:56 pace, HR 133
8 May: 13+ miles, 2:06:18, 9:32 pace, HR 136
mountain run, Windy Gap x 3

Hail To The Chairman!

2013-05-05T18:47:00.001+01:00

First and foremost, congratulations to Pat O'Keeffe for running his 100th marathon today in Limerick. That's a fantastic achievement and not something a lot of other people have managed. Well done, Pat!

Me, I'm nowhere near that figure, but I do hope to get there one day myself. The next marathon will be in a fortnight in Killarney, though of course to me this will be a training run, but since it's an official event it will count all the same. As you know, training is going well so far. I felt a bit tired after the mountain run on Wednesday, as always, and took it easy for the next 2 days, both of which saw a nice, easy, relaxed 10 mile stroll in the morning.

Niamh has taken Maia and the twins to Dublin on Friday, mostly so that the twins would get the chance to meet their favourite author, Michael Grant, which left me all alone with Cian. It made training a bit tricky, but as long as there is a will there is always a way. In my case it meant getting up at 5 am on Friday so that I could run before driving them to the station in Killarney. It meant getting a neighbour to look after Cian for an hour on Saturday, and it meant getting a babysitter on Sunday.

Training-wise, things got a bit more serious on Saturday. In fact, I got way too serious. Last week I got that workout just right, running reasonably fast but perfectly relaxed. This week I ran too fast, the effort was too high and the heart rate was much too high. I found it very hard to relax and pushed too hard, especially when running into a rather breezy headwind. I only really realised my mistake when I looked at the watch afterwards, but of course I should have caught on sooner.

I can get away with this every now and then, but in the grand scheme of things I'd be much better off showing a bit more restraint. In the end, there was no real harm done. The legs felt fine on Sunday and I even enjoyed the rare glimpses of sunshine. In fact I felt good enough to tack another mile to the end of my long run. What I noticed was that the pace during the second half was dropping below 7-minute pace at times while the effort was still low enough for the HR to remain in the 140s. I don't think I have ever been in that kind of shape before, and I do hope I can build on that even further.

The temperatures have risen considerably recently and for the first time this year I was actually running in a singlet this weekend. Let's hope that will continue for a while; the last three summers have been desperate and nobody here wants a fourth one of the same kind. A bit more sunshine and Kerry is the best place in the world to live in.

2 May: 10 miles, 1:17:07, 7:42 pace, HR 141
3 May: 10 miles, 1:16:27, 7:38 pace, HR 141
4 May: 10 miles, 1:06:53, 6:41 pace, HR 164
incl. 8 miles @ 6:29 pace
5 May: 21.1 miles, 2:35:55, 7:23 pace, HR 149

Weekly Mileage: 85+ miles

Getting older

2013-05-01T22:12:00.001+01:00

Perfect for my two bookworms!

The twins just celebrated their 12th birthday. I think this is supposed to make me feel old, but since I started bringing home trophies the moment I hit 40 I don't mind being old; age definitely has its privileges. Niamh once again surpassed herself with her cake-baking skills. In many ways, baking is to Niamh what running is to me and luckily these two fields are perfectly compatible; she bakes, I eat and then run off the calories. It's the perfect match.

Back to running. The legs were a bit heavy on Monday morning, Sunday's 20 miles had clearly left their mark. I ran on autopilot, but what blew me away was the low heart rate which basically brought me into Maffetone territory. I got used to seeing low HRs for decent enough paces when training for Tralee, but did not expect to see those figures again so early in the new training cycle.

With my training settling down now that I have reached a decent weekly mileage and it so far basically being marathon training, I felt it was time for another evaluation workout. With this being the first evaluation in this training cycle and the legs probably not entirely recovered from Sunday I did not expect much from the numbers, apart from giving me a baseline with plenty of room for improvement.

This is what I got instead: (the numbers in brackets are adjusted pace, 7 seconds for every 2 heart beats off the 161 target):

       
        Mile 1    6:28   HR 161    (6:28)
        Mile 2    6:25   HR 162    (6:28)
        Mile 3    6:32   HR 161    (6:32)
        Mile 4    6:26   HR 161    (6:26)
        Recovery to HR 130: 32 seconds

I found these numbers nothing short of astounding. These are just about the best numbers I have ever seen (regarding my own evaluations, that is), but I did get an email from MC saying that they ARE the best figures I have ever produced. He did not seem surprised, but I was, little over 6 weeks since the Tralee marathon and my training has only just started! (MC also said that a sub-2:50 marathon has my name on it [though that will probably have to wait until next year]).

Something is clearly working, though if it's the best preparation for a 100 mile run is still as open to discussion as ever. The one workout I value most as far as ultras are concerned is my by now routine and weekly mountain run on the Kerry Way over Windy Gap, and that's what I did this morning. I followed the same route on the trail towards Glenbeigh and back, which gives me 2 crossings of Windy Gap and a combined elevation gain of about 2000 feet, most of it on the very steep climb up to the Gap itself. I'll never be a great mountain runner, I just cannot let go on the downhill, but I do enjoy these outings a lot and I also enjoy what they're doing to my fitness.

My achilles has improved a lot since I started doing the exercises mentioned in the last post. It was just about noticeable this morning, but definitely improved. I just have to keep doing those eccentric calf raises - actually remembering it is the hardest part.

29 Apr: 10 miles, 1:14:49, 7:29 pace, HR 141
30 Apr: 11.8 miles, 1:21:53, 6:56 pace, HR 153
4 mile eval: 6:28, 6:25, 6:32, 6:26, 32 sec recovery
1 May: 12.25 miles, 1:47:01, 8:44 pace, HR 145
mountain run, Windy Gap x 2

Achilles Heel

2013-04-28T15:04:00.000+01:00

I am quite fond of saying that I have not been injured in years, especially when someone tries to take me to task over my training regime, usually criticising the mileage I tend to run on roads. I just remembered the last time when I had what I would classify as an injury, it was Achilles tenosynovitis after the Dingle marathon in 2010. The reason why I remembered is the fact that my Achilles has been acting up again recently, though I can't remember if it was the same leg or not. It's just a niggle and as long as it doesn't get any worse I won't call it an injury, and it does remind me that I'm certainly not bullet proof and that my Achilles tendon tends to be my metaphorical Achilles heel [sorry...].

I have had quite a few niggles in that area before, and my go-to cure, which has worked every time except on that one occasion back in 2010, is to do eccentric calf raises (described here, and criticised here), which gives it a great success rate and I'm more than happy to do it once more.

I'm pretty sure it was the mountain running that brought this on, the load on the back of the legs on these steep trails is far greater than it would be on roads with their much gentler gradients, though those extra load are of course the very reason why I am seeking out those trails. Right now the discomfort is definitely manageable (let's say 3 out of 10, worst I've felt last week was 5 / 10), and so far it hasn't had any impact on my training - which is why I call it a niggle and not an injury.

Training wise I'm still building up the mileage, I followed up last week's 74 miles with just over 80 and as long as everything goes to plan I'll do a few more in the next week. The effort has been easy, I never once checked the Garmin when I was out running, the pace always came naturally, though I did raise an eyebrow on more than one occasion when the pace was a good bit faster than would I would have expected.

The one exception to the "natural" pace was on Friday when I did a few faster miles. I was still fairly relaxed doing 6:34 pace over 8 miles, though I did find it quite astonishing that I managed to run an entire marathon at pretty much the same pace last month.

Today's 20 miles went by smoothly, though I did start to tire after 15 miles, which turned the fact that I was going past our driveway after 16.5 miles into a bit of a character test, though I managed to come through that one.

Right now this is identical to a marathon base training phase. As I get closer to race day it will become more ultra specific, though I'm still unsure what the effort will look like. I can't see myself doing 8-hour training runs at 10-minute-pace, and I know that elite ultra runners like Keith Whyte tend to do a fairly fast pace during most of their training. Obviously, and there's no need for reminders, I am not an elite ultra runner and training like an elite runner generally isn't a good idea for the rest of us, and that's exactly where I'm struggling right now. At the moment the plan is to keep doing what I'm doing, run the Killarney marathon at a decent enough pace (not at race pace, of course) and the Cork marathon as a pacer, add maybe another marathon to the list (maybe, maybe not) and then re-assess where I'm standing, how I'm feeling and how quickly I am recovering from these efforts, which will help in deciding how I'm going to approach the 10in10. If that sounds like I'm winging it, maybe I am, but I like to think it's educated guessing, not just pure guessing.

25 Apr: 10 miles, 1:15:09, 7:31 pace, HR 143
26 Apr: 10 miles, 1:07:30, 6:45 pace, HR 155
incl. 8 miles @ 6:34 pace
27 Apr: 10 miles, 1:10:48, 7:05 pace, HR 147
28 Apr: 20 miles, 2:27:17, 7:21 pace, HR 147

Weekly Mileage: 80+

Ultra Training

2013-04-24T18:28:00.003+01:00

I do get asked fairly regularly how I manage to get up early every single morning to go running. For a start, running in the evening is simply not an option for me, with 4 small (or not so small any more) children at home it's all hands on deck, so early morning it has to be. I have been doing this for so long by now that it really has become second nature. I don't even need the alarm clock any more. Point in case, the last 3 days I got up at 3 different times yet I was awake 5 minutes before the alarm would have gone off on each occasions. I have no idea how that works, but it does. Once I get up I follow a set routine that I can do entirely on autopilot while still being half asleep; that way I can get out of the door in about 15 minutes. On weekends, when I have time to faff around, it can take me much longer. That routine has become so ingrained that usually I am already half a mile down the road before my first conscious thought of the day (and sometimes that even has to wait until after my return back home).

As for my training, I'm trying to find a way to build myself up for 100 miles on the road. Following last year's lessons from Bangor I definitely want to incorporate steep mountain trails like the one up to Windy Gap on a regular basis. There is no better way to bullet-proof your quads. At the same time I need to get my long runs done on tarmac to get the legs used to the pounding, therefore long runs on the Kerry Way are not the way to go. Right now I'm thinking I can do the mountain run as my mid-week medium-long effort and my long run every weekend on the roads around Caragh Lake. This is exactly what I have been doing the last few days.

The legs felt rather stiff during the early miles on Sunday, no doubt because of the faster pace of the preceding days, but they came round soon enough and I was cruising on autopilot for most of the rest. The pace came down gradually and naturally as well, just the way it should be.

I took it a bit easier on Monday, but on Tuesday I was up on the Kerry Way, crossing Windy Gap on my way to Glenbeigh before turning around and doing the same thing in reverse, which gave me about 2000 feet of accumulated elevation gain. The last time I had done that run, 9 days earlier, I could clearly feel it in the legs for the following two days. This time round recovery was already much improved; there was definitely some fatigue in the legs but not much - though of course it could still be a lot worse tomorrow.

What I'm most unsure about right now is the pace I should be running at. 7:30 pace is very easy at the moment and I have always subscribed to the theory your pace for the easy runs should be whatever pace comes naturally, and the Garmin's input should not be used, neither to slow down nor to speed up. That has served me very well up to now. At the same time I can't help but realise that a 100-mile race is run at a much slower pace (7:30 pace would get me close to world record!). Right now I'm thinking that I should keep doing what I'm doing for the time being and the 10in10 will slow me down to get me used to ultra-race pace. It is the equivalent of marathon training where you start at your generic speed and gradually run more and more faster miles until you are used to race pace, except that in this case I'd be slowing down to race pace instead. Since nobody seems to have figured out training for long ultras for good I suppose we're all guessing here.

21 Apr: 18 miles, 2:12:08, 7:20 pace, HR 150
22 Apr: 8 miles, 58:35, 7:19 pace, HR 143
23 Apr: 12.25 miles, 1:48:41, 8:55 pace, HR 145
mountain run, Windy Gap x 2
24 Apr: 10 miles, 1:15:54, 7:35 pace, HR 145

Heuristics

2013-04-20T16:01:00.000+01:00

The general rule of thumb is that it takes a day for every mile raced to recover. I was thinking back over my last two goal races, the 24 hours championship in Bangor last July and the Tralee marathon back in March and the rule holds surprisingly true. After Bangor I was even joking once that according to that rule I'd be recovered by November, but whether by coincidence or not, that indeed turned out to be the time when the legs finally started feeling good again. I know I ran the Dingle Ultra and paced the Dublin marathon in that time period, which wouldn't be on most people's list of recommendations for recovery, but neither was run at race effort. And wouldn't you believe it, last week was the time when I felt a spring back in the legs, just 4 weeks after Tralee, once again more or less confirming that rule. It may hold true after all, even for completely different distances raced.

The weather this week has been completely manic; even by Kerry standards, April has been mad. On Wednesday it was raining so hard that the animals stated queuing in pairs looking for a guy with a big boat. The road was waterlogged on at least a dozen occasions during my 8 mile run, every incline had turned into a miniature waterfall. Epic stuff. Thursday, by contrast, was a stunningly beautiful day with bright blue sunshine, though the water levels of both the lake and the river were just about as high as I have ever seen them.

Friday saw another beautiful sunrise; in fact, my run that day went very, very well after a strange start. I had to try and fix the oven at 6 o'clock in the morning for Niamh (don't ask), leading to me leaving late and then running faster than planned. I kept telling myself to relax and slow down as coming home 5 minutes later would not be a problem but to no avail, my subconscious kept pushing the pace just that little bit higher than I would have had I felt more relaxed and at ease. Having said that, my main issue was that I should have brought my shades. The sunrise was spectacular but I was left staring straight at the sun for half an hour after that, which isn't ideal and surprisingly painful after a while.

Today, Saturday, I was determined to take it easier again and started out at a more relaxed effort but something must have gotten hold of me and by the time I had finished I had averaged almost the same pace as the day before. But I keep feeling good, the legs are fine and I guess I can just go along with it. A longer run tomorrow will show how much fatigue those last two days have left behind in the legs.

17 Apr: 8 miles, 59:14, 7:24 pace, HR 147
18 Apr: 10 miles, 1:13:46, 7:22 pace, HR 148
19 Apr: 12 miles, 1:25:19, 7:06 pace, HR 151
20 Apr: 8 miles, 57:07. 7:08 pace, HR 147

Numb

2013-04-16T18:27:00.000+01:00

I was too numb with shock last night to write an entry. I ran the Boston marathon 4 years ago and I know at least a dozen people who ran it yesterday, so there is a very personal connection to those events. Indeed, I did get a worried phone call from my Dad this morning making sure that I had not been there myself. In light of these happenings my own little problems are of course utterly irrelevant.

But since this a kind of diary, I decided to do a write-up anyway, even if it's clearly not at the forefront of my mind right now. Maia spent last week at home with a stomach bug, which did cause a few scenes and at least one rough night, though between her bouts of ---censored--- she was as chirpy and energetic as ever. The rest of the family seemed unaffected until yesterday when both me and Cian complained of stomach pains. Neither of us has had to spend any unpleasant times on the toilet yet, and judging by his appetite he seems to be alright. I felt decidedly off-key last evening (and that was before the news from Boston came through) and still not quite there this morning, but I don't think I will be too badly affected.

The wild weather on Sunday did not stop me from running on the Kerry Way up to Windy Gap, which sure lived up to its name that day. On the way there I was basically running on the spot at times while on the way back I was doing the easiest 5:50 miles in history, though that pace does come with its own problems on a stony, uneven trail. I did the climb twice, once from Caragh Lake and once from the Glenbeigh side and was surprised to be able to do it without any major problems; I do remember how tough that climb had felt last year when I started that kind of training. I did pay for it though, with sore legs on Monday and Tuesday, but then again that's more or less the point of those mountain runs, put pressure on the leg muscles until they adapt. I definitely attribute by performance in Bangor last year to those tough mountain runs. I also noticed the difference between doing that run in road shoes (as I did 5 weeks ago) and mountain running shoes. Needless to say I'll be using my Inov-8s in future, even if the first and last 2.5 miles, from home to the trail head, are on the road..

It was still very windy on Monday and Tuesday, but not quite as bad and certainly not as noticeable on road level. The legs were a bit sore yesterday and more so today, though the main issue were definitely the images from Boston going round and round in my head in a non-stop loop, which had already stopped me from sleeping last night. Thank Goodness all my friends in Boston escaped the blasts as they had all finished at that time, though my thoughts are with the dead and injured, and especially their families.

Who on Earth could possibly think they can gain any advantage whatsoever from planting bombs at such an event, where the only victims would ever be members of the public, including completely innocent little children! This is so sickening, and I just cannot make head or tail of it.

13 Apr: 8 miles, 59:06, 7:23 pace, HR 145
14 Apr: 12.25 miles, 1:45:39, 8:37 pace, HR 157
mountain run, Windy Gap x 2
15 Apr: 10 miles, 1:12:33, 7:15 pace, HR 152
16 Apr: 8 miles, 1:00:41, 7:35 pace, HR 147

And Miles To Go

2013-04-12T20:53:00.001+01:00

Rebuilding your conditioning after the racing season is not everyone's favourite time of the season, but I'm not complaining. I believe that a structured training plan with periodisation is highly beneficial; I certainly attribute my continuous improvements over the last few years to that kind of training. The immediate recovery from Tralee is over, now it's time to put in mile after mile after mile, don't try to go too fast and let the aerobic system build yet another layer on top of all the other ones already there.

Tralee was almost 4 weeks ago, and I think I can finally feel the legs coming round. Running has felt a little bit like a struggle at times recently but this morning I finally ran 10 miles entirely on autopilot, and I do take that as a positive sign.

Unfortunately I have pretty much lost faith in my HRM; I don't use it to pace myself but I do use it to roughly monitor my progress over the weeks, and inconsistent readings are no good. For years it's been the case that Polar do good HRM but their GPS sucks and Garmin do good GPS but their HRM sucks, and it looks like nothing has changed.

March was the coldest one in recorded history, but I was perfectly happy with the conditions. I prefer cold dry days to "mild" wet ones any time. This morning was a case in point; the temperatures have risen sufficiently for me to run in a short-sleeved t-shirt for the first time in ages, and while that felt borderline okay at the start I did not exactly feel comfortable once the rain started. The weather forecast for the weekend and the following days isn't exactly promising. I don't think we'll be organising any outdoor BBQs any time soon.

From a training point of view, missing Connemara was almost certainly a good thing, now that my legs are well on their way to recovery I can start putting on some decent amount of mileage, which will then hopefully see me through those long races I have planned for the summer. I am really looking forward to those - the pleasant anticipation makes those long training miles in the cold rain bearable.

9 Apr: 8 miles, 59:23, 7:25 pace
10 Apr: 10 miles, 1:15:53, 7:35 pace, HR 147
11 Apr: 8 miles, 59:15, 7:24 pace, HR 149
12 Apr: 10 miles, 1:14:11, 7:25 pace, HR 148

Back On My Feet

2013-04-08T23:19:00.001+01:00

It was a long and draining weekend and I'm totally exhausted and rather emotional, but I won't go into any details. It's something we all have to go through at some stage I suppose, and there will be even more where that came from in future years, though I do hope it won't happen again for a very long time.

Of course I brought my running shoes with me, something had to keep me sane, at least for my low level of sanity. Bad Aussee is a beautiful spot and certainly not the worst place to get a few runs in, even if it could not make up for missing Connemara.

The elevation of that place is slightly over 2000 feet and while that's not all that high I'm pretty sure I could feel the difference. Jogging along was fine but as soon as the effort level rose a bit I could feel something missing, as if the oxygen were unable to flow fast enough. With all those hills in Austria that was a bit of a challenge, but I guess it does provide an extra training boost - not that 3 days of running at those elevation levels will make any noticeable difference.

I ran three times while over there, on the first day I ran all the way up to Lake Toplitz, though I did not manage to find any fabled Nazi treasures. I could see how a secluded spot like that would appeal to anyone trying to hide something, though. My main problem wasn't the connection to the dark past however, but the fact that it was further than I thought, which came to bite me on the way back home. By mile 12 I'd had enough, by mile 14 I was suffering and an extremely steep climb at mile 16 had me reduced first to a walk and then I had to stop altogether to catch my breath, something I never had to do before. Boy was I glad when I finally made it home.

I took it considerably easier the second day with a loop around the Altaussee Lake, with a mile or two on a trail that was still covered in snow, which also caused me to face plant once, though the only thing hurt was my pride.

On the third day I ran up a local mountain pass, though it was no substitute for Connemara's Hell of the West where I would have preferred to be that day. The main problem was not running uphill but the pounding on the way down. It did not help that it was the third run in a row in the same worn-out pair of shoes; usually I always rotate my runners but I had only brought one pair. My shin hurt for the rest of the day and I subsequently took a rest day today, which was almost certainly a good idea anyway due to exhaustion, both from the emotional trauma as well as the long journey back home.

So now I'm back home and hopefully ready to get on with the rest of my life as well as my training. There is yet another marathon in three weeks, but that will be a training run, not a race effort. And I keep hoping that running will provide an outlet, much needed at the moment.

Apologies for a rather subdued entry. I'm sure usual service will be restored soon.

4 Apr: 8 miles, 59:02, 7:22 pace, HR 150
5 Apr: 17.5 miles, 2:16:14, 7:47 pace, HR 158
Lake Toplitz, incl a few miles on trail
6 Apr: 8.2 miles, 1:06:47, 8:08 pace, HR 148
Lake Altaussee, incl a mile on slippery trail
7 Apr: 12.6 miles, 1:38:46, 7:50 pace, HR 148
up and down Pötschen Pass

Perspective

2013-04-03T20:11:00.001+01:00

I guess I should not have said that I would not miss the Connemara for anything. Turns out there are things that are more important.

My step dad died yesterday. The funeral will be on Saturday; I'm flying out tomorrow and will come back on Sunday. Obviously it means there will be no race.

While I am a little bit disappointed at missing my favourite race, it pales into insignificance.

Purely on the running front, there was one development. After doubting the data from my HR monitor for quite some time now, I finally changed the battery on the HR strap. Lo and behold, today's HR data is 10 beats lower than the previous days. So, forget the HR values from the last few weeks. It's a good thing I ran by feel rather than let the watch dictate my pace, and there definitely is a valuable lesson in that.

1 Apr

8 miles, 58:16, 7:17 pace
2 Apr: 10 miles, 1:53:43, 7:22 pace
3 Apr: 7 miles, 51:16, 7:19 pace, HR 145

And So It Starts Again

2013-03-31T19:45:00.001+01:00

I have been there quite a few times by now, when you're back in training after a marathon everything is a bit out and it takes a while to get in sync again.

My calf healed amazingly quickly. After 10 days of rest had achieved nothing I expected to be sore for a bit longer but after only 2 days of easy running the discomfort was 95% gone, there was just a trace left on Thursday and by now I cannot feel a thing. That's always a relief of course, but I certainly did expect it to go away, but maybe not quite so quickly.

What's mostly out of whack right now is not my body but my mind (no smart comments, please. That's Niamh's job). My pacing gauge seems to be completely misaligned at the moment, I had plenty of moments in the last few days where I could have sworn that I was running relaxed and easy 7:30 pace and then a look at the Garmin gave me everything down to 6:45 pace instead. I kept slowing down dozens of times, basically each time after glancing at the watch, but today I finally tired of this and let the body dictate its own natural pace. It's definitely faster than what I would advice a runner in the same situation to run, but then again I reckon that running entirely on feel cannot be all that bad.

The weather has been reasonably okay, it was freezing cold but dry until yesterday, and now it's rather windy but so far I haven't had to run in the rain yet. Obviously that's going to change sooner rather than later but right now I'm happy enough with the conditions.

Connemara is only a week away and I try not to think too much about it. It's not a race but a training run and I can slow down as much as I need without sacrificing a time goal. Of course I haven't done a lot of miles since Tralee, but I have been doing this ultra running before and I think I'll be ok.

The Easter egg hunt was a great success, we were down in Valentia and had 4 content children of our won plus two happy nieces. The Easter bunny has done his job for another year.

28 Mar: 8 miles, 59:48, 7:29 pace, HR 149
29 Mar: 8 miles, 58:39, 7:20 pace, HR 156
30 Mar: 5 miles, 36:35, 7:17 pace, HR 149
31 Mar: 10 miles, 1:11:18, 7:08 pace, HR 157

On The Road Again

2013-03-27T20:56:00.001Z

10 days after the Tralee marathon I was finally back on the road on Tuesday morning. I'm not sure what amount of time off would be the ideal one, but I was definitely itching to get out and get my daily fix again, and it was mostly with a feeling of relief that I took my first step.

It wasn't all plain sailing; within 2 miles my left calf was hurting again, the same one that had started cramping during the marathon and I'm sure there is a direct connection. It is interesting that 10 days of relative idleness did nothing to alleviate the problem, even though the main purpose of time off is supposed to be for healing. I did not rest entirely, I was still cycling to and from work during the week, and there was nothing coming from the calf. It took the pounding of running to restart that discomfort.

Going by similar past experiences this will work itself out within a few days of easy running. I don't quite know how this works, but easy running promotes healing of leg muscles much better than not running at all. It may have something to do with getting the blood flowing, though personally I think it's more a question of the body responding to a special need and adapting accordingly.

Anyway, apart from the perfectly bearable discomfort from my calf the runs yesterday and today went perfectly well. I ran at a relaxed and easy effort and was quite surprised to see the pace close to 7:30, but maybe that's still my easy pace, even after the marathon. The heart rate was a bit high, but that will work itself out over the next few days as well. I have been there often enough to know what to expect.

I did a dumb thing by wearing my shorts this morning. The bright sunshine had fooled me into thinking that it was much warmer than it really was and it wasn't until after coming home that I realised that the temperatures were a chilly -3C/26F, and my legs displayed some big bright red blotches in the shower. Thankfully a run of little more than half an hour does not cause any lasting damage. I still prefer icy cold but dry mornings to the freezing cold rain that we might otherwise, so there won't be any complaints coming from here.

26 Mar: 5 miles, 37:28, 7:30 pace, HR 147
27 Mar: 5 miles, 37:48, 7:34 pace, HR 146

Fun Run

2013-03-25T11:41:00.004Z

There was a 5k/10k fun run organised locally just down the road from here; had I run it my warm-up would have been to run to the start from my doorstep, and I would probably have had to do a little bit more to be properly warmed up. However, since Niamh is away this weekend I was left in charge of the entire unruly brood (what was she thinking!) and could not have run anyway, and since I am still in recovery from Tralee I had two reasons not to race. But they also had another option, a 1k fun run for children and mine all took part, with enthusiasm levels ranging from "ok, I'll do it" to "fantastic, I'm so excited and can't wait". I did the loop with Maia, the others were well able to look after themselves, and at the end they were all very proud of themselves, and Daddy was, too.

I'm gonna be just like Dad!

I got some slight stick from some fellow club members who enjoyed the fact that their weekly mileage was higher than mine. Keep that going, guys, and you'll do well!

Luckily Niamh is back today and tomorrow I'll start running again, 10 days after Tralee. I started getting antsy by about Friday, but since I could see the end of the idle period in the foreseeable future, I could manage. I find it's much easier to set a fixed date for re-starting running after a break. If I decide to play it by ear entirely, I'm out of the door again after 5 days because I can't stand the idleness and need my fix.

And so training for the Connemara 100 (miles, that is) is about to commence. By coincidence, my training will start for real in - Connemara, where I'll do the 39 mile ultra as a fun run in 2 weeks' time. I could claim that I'm going to scout out the route (the 39 mile loop is part of the 100, except it goes the other way round) but in reality I know the route like the back of my hand already and simply don't want to miss the race as it's my favourite race of them all. I did the Dingle 50 as a fun run last year, enjoyed it and never regretted it, so I'll try and do the same once more. I have no idea what pace I will be doing; obviously all logic says that I should take it easy, but I have to admit I'm tempted to give it a good go, despite being well aware that it could be a really stupid thing to do, especially with my plans for the rest of the year. (Then again, I tend to do stupid things very well).

We shall see. Let the training commence.

From 4:36 to 2:55

2013-03-22T21:10:00.001Z

A history lesson.

2004 was a very long time ago. I was "only" 34 but might have been heading towards an early midlife crisis. You'd think that the father of barely 3-year old twins and a newborn baby should not have been bored, but for some reason I was looking for a new challenge. I may have muttered the word "marathon" to Niamh before, and one day early summer 2004 she basically told me to get out and train for the DCM later that year, so I did.

Unlike today there was very little information available on the internet and I basically had to make up my own training schedule despite not having a clue. I thought I was doing a lot but actually nowadays I am amazed that I was able to go round at all, 4 months after getting off the couch for the first time, and after a maximum weekly mileage of 15. In light of that a time of 4:06 was actually quite good, certainly better than I thought at the time.

I wasn't happy though and determined to break 4 hours at my next attempt. I increased the training load to almost 20 miles per week, whoop-de-do. The result was sobering, after cramping at mile 12 and somehow, stubbornly toughing it out to the end despite passing the finishing area at mile 15 I had achieved a still-standing personal worst of 4:36. After the initial disgust at myself had worn off I decided that running marathons is a serious challenge and if you're doing it you might as well do it properly. I bought Advanced Marathoning (I was absolutely shocked by the fact that even the easiest plan went up to 55 miles per week and thought those guys were completely mental) and I also started writing a blog - this very one, hence the title which seemed more than apt at the time (it's all relative of course).

It took another year to start progressing properly, but then it went very quickly for a while. 3:55 in 2005, 3:28 in 2006, 3:12 in 2007 and 3:05 in 2008. Right then I became obsessed with the sub-3 marathon but that's also when progress started stalling for 2 years. It needed divine intervention, or at least a coach, to get me back on track, and I still cannot believe I was fortunate enough to acquire the use of a fantastic coach for half a year completely for free. Despite being generally utterly opposed to any form of authority (teachers, doctors, police, managers, ...) I surprised myself by doing exactly as I was told and never ever questioned his approach, trying to soak up as much knowledge and understanding as I could, being rewarded with a 2:59 in 2011.

However, preparation for that goal had taken its toll, mentally especially, and it took 2 years to get me excited about the marathon again. I used the time to do some serious Ultra racing, culminating in the 24 hours race in Bangor, but eventually regained the appetite for some faster running which led me to the start line in Tralee and the subsequent 2:55 and the M40 winner's trophy.

As for going forward, I'm back to my true love, the long ultra (it's ok, Niamh's not jealous), and my next goal race is the Connemara 100 in August, as some people have already guessed/heard. I'll do a few marathons as training - I'm already signed up for 14 before the end of July. As for the comments that I would be completely mad not to go for a 2:50 in Dublin, I thought that the question of me being mad was put to bed for good when I signed up for Bangor last year. That's not to say that I don't want to have a go at breaking 2:50, I just haven't decided quite when yet. Right now, I am focusing on Connemara and nothing else.

Post Marathon Ramblings

2013-03-19T13:30:00.000Z

I haven't run since Tralee, so all I have on offer are various, unstructured thoughts on the marathon.
---
Looking at the Garmin data, my paces for the 5 mile splits in Tralee were:
6:30, 6:41, 6:31, 6:44, 6:51, (6:45)
which in isolation doesn't tell you all that much because of the hilly nature of the course. It is clear that I did slow down after mile 15, though I already knew that before I even looked at the numbers.
---
Before the start there was plenty of banter on the front row, but I do remember one exchange rather clearly:
"John (meaning John Griffin), what time will the winner come in today?"
"2:55"
"Ooooh! I feel a surge of adrenaline coming on" (Joe O'Connor, to general laughter)
"I'll watch the winner come home the winner in 2:55" (John Griffin again, under his breath).
I did not pay much heed to the remark at the time, but I wonder if John already knew that he wasn't going to finish the race.
---
I saw the leaders on both out-and-back sections, and the leader, Julio Castro (who I had spoken with very briefly in Sixmilebridge last November when he won the marathon there) looked very comfortable. I was stunned when I heard he had not won and wondered if something strange had happened. That was, until I saw the name of the winner. Peter Mooney (who I had the privilege of talking to before the race) is a marathon runner of savage ability.
---
After the race I went shopping before going home. As I passed the sweets aisle I almost started gagging at the mere thought of eating chocolate, which is utterly alien to me. Usually I would expect to be craving sweets after a marathon, but all I could think of was salty food. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I wonder if there was some electrolyte imbalance, and if my cramping issues were related to all that.
---
My second half of the marathon was about 4 minutes slower than the first. Following the rule that every minute too fast in the first half costs you 2 in the second, had I run 90 seconds slower to the halfway point I would have gotten a 2:53:xx time.
---
At the start I had noticed a runner, Derek Griffin, because he looked fast and because his top was partly orange (and don't I know that an orange top stands out). He took off with John Griffin but I passed him at mile 16. I spoke to him for a while at the prize ceremony. It was his first marathon and he should have been able to run about 3:00. Instead he ran the first half at about 2:45 pace, and ended up with 3:16 (ouch!). He very closely matched the 2-minutes-for-every-one-too-fast mention in the above paragraph.
---
I keep looking at the M40 winner's trophies on the mantelpiece and I have to keep pinching myself. I still can't quite believe I walked home with those trophies.

The Marathon Comeback

2013-03-17T04:28:00.000Z

Even though I see myself as an ultra runner rather than a marathon runner these days, I had spent a lot of time preparing for this race. Due to my last goal race being as early as July last year I had plenty of time to get ready for this one, and I had been focussing on today since September. After investing so much time and effort into one single race that's not even your preferred distance, the result better be good.

One of the main advantages of this being a local race was that I could sleep the night before in my own bed, and I regard that as a massive bonus. The car's thermometer displayed -2C (28F) when I left Caragh Lake, and on the drive over the mountain I regretted not packing a long sleeved top. But while it was undoubtedly cold, the sun was shining directly at us and I felt almost pleasantly warm. There was no wind, which had been my major worry weather-wise because of the exposed nature of the course, and conditions were absolutely perfect. There would be no excuses!

I lined up right in front, not quite my usual place, and enjoyed the bit of banter and trash-talk before the start. As we set off a handful of runners went ahead of me but it soon settled down. I found myself running right beside the master himself, John Griffin, a 2:14 runner back in the nineties. As much as I would have liked to run in his shadow, after a quarter mile I decided the pace was a little bit too hot for me and backed off. I found myself in 14th place (I think) as we turned left into the Ardfert road.

The leader is already out of the frame and Joe O'Connor in second place is moving away from the pack. Eventual winner Peter Mooney is in the pack, in a black/blue top. The orange spot in the background is me. Photo by Francis Foley

The first mile had passed in about 6:20, definitely too fast, and I tried to calm myself down. Unfortunately it meant that I was now running entirely on my own; I had hoped I would find a buddy or two to work together, at least for a while. Instead there was a gap ahead of me to a couple of runners, one in black and one in white, and I don't think anyone was right behind me, so I was already ploughing a lonely furrow.

The road rose gently but steadily and I did eventually draw closer to the pair in front when the runner in black started falling off the pace and fell behind quickly. We soon reached the highest point of the course, though that was in no way an indicator that it would be easier from here on. There was a good buzz in Ardfert, 6 miles into the race, and shortly before the 8-mile mark I caught up to the runner in white, when I finally recognised him as Vasiliy. He is a very solid runner and I wouldn't normally expect to be able to keep up with him, though that did not matter at that point. He didn't try to stay with me and his footsteps soon faded away and I found myself running entirely on my own again, well behind another pair of runners, one in green and one in blue.

I had driven the course last week and had a good feel for it. The real race did not start until mile 10, but from that point on it was going to be tough. In my mind I prepared myself for what I called the 4 stingers, steep hills at miles 10, 12, 18 and 22, but there were plenty of rollers in-between and not a lot of flat road. The steepest of them all hit us hard at mile 10 with a climb up to the golf course, and since it was part of an out-and-back part of the course it meant we had to run down the steep hill as well, something I hate. I was unsure how I should pace myself on either way, but in the end I just did the effort that came naturally. I enjoyed seeing the leaders passing the other way, and I definitely enjoyed the support and shouts of encouragement from the runners behind me when I was on my back. I had a solid cushion on the 3-hour pace group and I reached the end of the out-and-back section shortly after waving to Grellan and John who were on pacing duty at the 3:30 shift.

The next big climb up to Church Hill was tough again and definitely longer than the golf-course one. I could always see the blue and green pair about a minute ahead of me. We seemed to be doing pretty much the same pace, and while the gap seemed to shrink or expand by a small amount at times, it was always sizeable, certainly too wide to even think about catching up. There was no timing mat at the halfway point, but I must have averaged about 6:28 pace on the Garmin, which in real terms would probably mean 6:31 pace, or about 1:25:30. Since I was hoping for a 2:52 time that was not outrageously fast but in hindsight just a little bit too aggressive, and a little bit of patience would probably have paid off, but at that point I was not to know that. Instead I felt good and was looking forward to the second half of the course, where I knew that the real work would begin soon enough.

We ran into Fenit, where the course formed a second out-and-back part. We went all the way down the pier, close to St. Brendan, before turning around. Again I could see all the leaders, and from the sidelines I got a shout from Stazza that I was still in 12th place and that 2 of the runners ahead of me were dead on their feet. I could soon see one of them, a guy in an orange top, who I had noticed at the start because he had looked fast, but as I found out later when I talked to him it had been his first marathon and he was in for a painful lesson on how to pace yourself for 26 miles. I passed him halfway up the small hill going out of Fenit, around mile 16. Not even a mile later I saw that Stazza had been right, another runner, in a black top, had pulled out of the race entirely, but as I got closer I realised that it was no other than the master himself, John Griffin. I was totally shocked, I had expected him to run for the win, but apparently he was carrying an injury.

So, all of a sudden, I found myself in the top 10, not that I was too concerned about that right now. I enjoyed the rare luxury of almost 2 miles of reasonably flat road, and if I'd had some spare energy left I would have enjoyed the view in the unexpectedly good weather, but I was definitely feeling the strain, and there was still a lot of running left. My pace had started slowing, and I remember seeing an average pace of 6:32 on the Garmin. I tried to inject a little bit of extra effort but I knew that I didn't have a lot of reserves left. Earlier on during the race I had taken a gel and an isotonic drink, as well as water whenever I felt thirsty from one of the plentiful water stations, but from mile 12 onwards my stomach was no longer in the mood. Forcing down a gel at mile 15 might have been a bad idea, but it probably made little difference. From here on to the end I basically would have to rely on the fuel that was already on-board.

The potential disaster struck when I reached the third stinger at mile 18. I was not even three steps into it when my left calf went into spasms, and very painful ones at that. Luckily it didn't really turn into a full cramp but I was left with no other option than to take it a bit easier. I did not have to slow down by much, but I was walking a very fine line here and on a couple of occasions a painful spasm told me that I was very close to the edge.

I definitely hit a bit of a low point here. I soon reached the point where the half-marathon runners re-joined our route, and they had done 10 miles compared to our 20, but had started 20 minutes later. I guess there will be at least 100 half-marathon runners tonight telling stories about some marathon runner in an orange top making all kinds of strange noises, painfully moaning with each breath but refusing to slow down. I always used to moan and wheeze when I crossed a certain threshold. I have worked this year to better control my breathing, with good success as I noticed in my string of 5k races as well as in Ballycotton, but now I was beyond the point where I had any control and the noise returned, at least with every single uphill step.

Luckily there was not a lot of vehicle traffic on the road and I had plenty of room to cruise past the half-marathon runners, at least initially. When we reached Spa we turned off right into the much smaller road towards the Kerries, and it was at that point that I encountered a group of at least 6 half-marathon runners taking the entire width of the road.

"Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, ... oh for f*** sake!" Ok, I should not have sworn, all but one of the group had reacted and left a gap but I was annoyed that one lady, who happened to run right in my line, did not budge even by an inch. But there was enough of a gap for me to get through and I should just have thanked the ones who had moved aside, but I was in a bad place mentally at that point and annoyed at having to weave around her. She reacted rather indignantly, and in the unlikely case that she is reading this, I do apologise.

Car traffic - though it was nowhere near as bad as it may look in that picture

Let's move on. The last sting was waiting for us, and boy, did it hurt. It had not looked quite as bad from the car, but after over 21 miles of running hard it was a tough one. After every corner there seemed to be yet another piece of hill in front of us, and then another one, and then another one. It was endless. At least I did not waste time by looking at the Garmin and watching my pace slipping by, I just ran, trying to keep the left calf from cramping which was getting worse and worse. Eventually, finally, when my mood was hitting rock bottom I almost unexpectedly reached the top. And here, right beside another watering station, was Liz, handing me my sports drink that I had given her beforehand. Unfortunately my stomach was in absolutely no mood to break his strike. I forced down some drink, spat out plenty of it and eventually gave up and tossed the bottle away, still half full, probably.

Awful running form - I apologise!

At mile 18 I had started cramping on a big hill. At mile 22.5 it was so bad that my calf went into spasms every time I had to run over a speed bump! Luckily that was the end of the hills, but there was one more sting left, but one of a different kind. At this point we were back in Tralee, and at the end of the Spa road the half-marathon runners went straight towards the finish, maybe half a mile away. The marathon runners, on the other hand, turned right towards Lohercannon and Blennerville, almost 4 miles still left to run. The road went very quiet again, the support from the sidelines was sporadic, and after a mile or so we reached a crushed gravel surface.

That's supposed to be a great running surface but I hated it, I felt the pebbles against the soles of my feet and I felt like I did not get much traction, though I'm pretty sure that was all in my head. Fact is I was hurting badly and wanted this to be over. Stazza was there once more, assuring me that I was in the top 10 and there was nobody behind me. Unbeknownst to me a runner in front had pulled out, which is how I gained one more place. The green/blue pair in front of me was still there, still out of reach, but broke apart in the last mile. I did not have anything left to chase them down, though in the end I got within 13 seconds of one of them but that's still a sizeable gap.

We got back into Tralee, passed the Brandon hotel and then there was the final straight. I hit a clear stretch of road and cruised towards the finish, all of a sudden able to run sub-6 pace again without any danger of the calf cramping. I don't know how that works. I did the "aeroplane" thing as I crossed the line, don't ask me why, I don't know, but it felt the right thing to do at the time.

I had slowed down just that little bit too much over the second half and missed my sub-2:55 target by a few seconds, but I was delighted nevertheless. I could not fault my effort, and it is very tricky to get the pacing spot on in a marathon. I had not been overtaken by anyone in the race once the field had settled down after the first quarter mile or so, and had moved up 5 positions throughout the race; my pacing might not have been optimal but still pretty good I like to think.

When I had picked up my race number on Thursday I had sized up the M40 winner's trophy, but had not thought that I had a realistic chance of taking it home, though I had hoped for a top-3 place in my age group. After the marathon I went home (after some shopping, that is) and enjoyed some time with the family before returning to Tralee more in hope than expectation for the prize ceremony. Due to some miscommunication I arrived late, and within 30 seconds of my arrival I heard my name being announced and I walked up to receive the winner's trophy for the M40 Kerry champion (the Tralee half and full marathons doubled up as the Kerry county championship). Later I picked up another prize as well, because I had been the overall winner of the M40 category as well, which came as a total surprise, and my assessment of the race went from being delighted to being over the moon.

I call this a very successful return to the marathon distance. After my last real marathon it had taken me two years to race one again. I don't think I'll leave it as long this time.

16 Mar: 2013Tralee marathon
2:55:07, 9th place overall, 1st M40

The Pain Of The Feet

2013-03-16T14:59:00.000Z

2:55:05, 9th place, I think.

Beautiful day for a marathon, could not have been any better, but boy it's a tough course if you're racing it. Went out a little bit too hard and paid for it by having to deal with cramping from mile 18 onwards, and subsequently missed out on a sub-2:55 by a few seconds.

Having said that, I am delighted, both with the race in general and my own performance.

It still felt easy at mile 1 - photo by Francis Foley

Update: I had not realised it, but I have won the M40 category, and by default that means I am also the Kerry County marathon champion for men over 40. My assessment of the race has gone from delighted to absolutely brilliant! I don't even mind that they bumped my time up to 2:55:07 in the official results. :-)

Almost There

2013-03-13T20:47:00.000Z

I always write a small summary of my training before a goal race, so I might as well to the same again.

Training (from 24 Sep, 3 weeks after Dingle)

24 weeks (25 if counting this one)
Miles per week:: 72, 75, 83, 84, 64, 76, 81, 84, 58, 83, 76, 85, 77, 68, 71, 79, 75, 67, 62, 59, 59, 50, 55, 49
Fairly high mileage in base training and a drop over the last few weeks
Average miles per week:: 70
# runs of 20 miles or more:: 6 (including DCM and SMB)
# of PBs:: 2 (5k and 10 miles), though I ran 4 5ks with a faster time than my previous PB, and in Ballycotton I passed the 4 miles, 5 miles and 10k mark faster than in my "official" PBs
Injuries/ailments:: none

Going by the races I ran during training, I had a spectacular training cycle with me clearly running at a higher level than ever before. The hope is now that I did not stoke the fire too much and am now left with the dying embers, but I feel good and I am confident. It's always a dangerous thing to say, especially in the marathon, but a new PB should be a given. In fact I have set my sights a bit higher than that. The golden goal is 2:53, anything below that would be a bonus. Breaking 2:55 is the fallback option, and considering that it's a hilly course it may well be an ambitious target on its own. A new PB the bare minimum target, anything less and I will be disappointed.

When the winter returned on Sunday I did break my habit of not checking the weather report so far out from race day, but the indications are good. It looks like we will have a cold but calm day, which would be perfect apart from the odd rain shower (well, we're still in Kerry). It's not as if you could do anything about the weather anyway, but I'd take the predicted conditions any time.

The course has plenty of hills between miles 10 and 22, which can easily cost a minute or two. I guess I'll find out.

While I can only influence my own performance, I am hoping for some podium place, be it in my age group or the Kerry championships or my age group in the championship, but that's not something I am directly aiming for; if I run well enough, the finishing position will look after itself.

If there is a runner, or better still a group of runners, settling into a pace very similar to mine I will of course try to work with them. We shall see.

Training this week was of course minimal, I only did 3 miles on Monday and even less on Tuesday, where I basically did a mock warm-up for a 5k race but instead of racing I was done.

Today (Wednesday) I did the coach's taper workout. I started at 6:50 pace, worked my way down to 6:30 pace at one mile and then did 6:30 pace for 3 more miles, though I was a tad faster than planned in 6:26; on the other hand that was the Garmin's pace, which would probably match 6:30 in reality. That was followed by 15 minutes of easy running and then I did 3 half-mile repeats in 2:58, 2:52, 2:51 with about 2 minutes rest. It is a fairly easy workout, but 3 days before the marathon you don't want to do any more. In fact, I wonder if I should have done it yesterday instead, but what's done is done. I probably should not run at all tomorrow and Friday; if I get too itchy I might shake out the legs but no more than 2 miles and all at a very easy effort.

There is just one little detail that could derail the whole train. Lola has been sick with a bad cold since Monday. She is coughing a lot, and not exactly careful to avoid coughing into someone else's direction. Nobody else in the family has been affected yet. I do live in hope/fear/paranoia.

11 Mar: 3 miles, 22:17, 7:26 pace
12 Mar: 2 miles, 14:37, 7:18 pace
13 Mar: 9 miles, 1:00:27, 6:43 pace
4 miles @ 6:33, 3 x 800 in 2:58, 2:52, 2:51

Playing In The Mud

2013-03-10T13:25:00.001Z

When I crossed the line in Ballycotton, my watch said 60:14. The provisional results said 60:15, which is fine because the rules say you have to round up to full seconds. Now they added another second to 60:16. Hmpf. Not that it makes a difference, it's just another reminder of my near miss there.

Recovery has taken a bit longer that I would have hoped for, or maybe I should say recovery is taking a bit longer. I took it easy all week but when the legs were still sore during Thursday's run I decided to step back again and cut the distance down to 5 miles each on both Friday and Saturday. Now I finally feel fully recovered again. If that's really the case will be revealed 6 days from now, I suppose.

I spiced up those easy 5 milers with a faster final mile. On Friday I had averaged about 7:50 during the first 4, definitely recovery pace, and accelerated up to 6:30 pace on the final mile, which is marathon pace. I did the same again on Saturday but I must have felt better because I inadvertently ran 7:17 miles for the first 4 and a 6:06 mile at the end; maybe I should have checked my Garmin but I only realised it after I had gotten home and looked at the numbers. Then again, if you can almost run a 6-minute mile without noticing, I don't suppose you should complain.

For a bit of fun on the last weekend before the marathon I did an excursion to the Kerry Way, climbing all the way to Windy Gap, about 1000 feet higher up. My original idea was to drop down to Glenbeigh and turn around there, but I had taken me 43 minutes to reach the top and I really did not want to exceed 90 minutes. To add to that, the trail was very slippery and muddy and the steep road was a bit dangerous. Of course I should have worn my off-road runners in conditions like that. The way down from the Gap was rather hairy, I slipped on three different occasions and the last time was quite severe, I was just about to crack my head open on some stones when I somehow miraculously managed to re-gain my balance and avoided disaster. The last week before a marathon is all about not doing anything stupid. I failed in that respect but it looks like I got away with it.

The run was great fun but I was almost screaming in pain in the bath afterwards when the warm water got the blood flowing again into the numb, frozen toes. They were striped bright red and white. Surely you don't get frost bite that quickly, do you? Anyway, they did manage to thaw eventually, but boy, that hurt!

Update: In the afternoon I drove the Tralee marathon course. It's not the same as running it but I think I got a pretty good feel for it. There are a few hills in there, alright!

7 Mar: 8 miles, 1:00:01, 7:30 pace, HR 142
8 Mar: 5 miles, 37:02, 7:24 pace, HR 139
9 Mar: 5 miles, 35:17, 7:03 pace, HR 147
10 Mar: 10.75 miles, 1:22:41, 7:40 pace, HR 151
Windy Gap, playing in the mud

Weekly Mileage: ~48

Post Race, Pre Race

2013-03-06T21:05:00.000Z

Sadly, the dry weather was never going to last forever. At least we got a couple of nice weeks out of it. Now the rainy season has returned. If it follows last year's pattern it will rain for a solid 11 months. We live in hope.

It's only 10 days to Tralee, so I am far busier looking forward to this than looking back to the near miss in Ballycotton. I try not to think about the fact that my time would have been good enough for a t-shirt last year, but then again in 1993 the 100th man ran 56:17, which puts today's general standard into stark perspective. It was still my best race ever, and by quite some margin too, and the WMA calculator gave me a rating of 79.03%, far higher than the 75% I can usually expect when I run well.

I had a chat with Keith during our cool down after the race, he thinks the Bangor race provided a shock to my system and it adapted accordingly; once I had recovered from that (which took most of the rest of the year) I was running at a higher level than ever before. I concur with this view. It certainly contrasts to some of the warnings I received a year ago that this kind of race would permanently slow me down.

The runs since Ballycotton have all been relatively short and easy. The legs still had some residue of soreness this morning and my heart rate is still a bit elevated, so taking it easy is an absolute no-brainer. The training for Tralee is done and dusted anyway. I might do a leisurely run on the Kerry Way at the weekend, depending on the weather, and one mellow workout next Wednesday (the coach's "taper workout") but certainly nothing strenuous.

10 days to go. It's getting close!

4 Mar: 6 miles, 46:06, 7:41 pace, HR 141
5 Mar: 6+ miles, 47:02, 7:46 pace, HR 136
6 Mar: 8 miles, 1:00:39, 7:34 pace, HR 140

Almost Always Never Nearly

2013-03-03T22:55:00.002Z

Tralee might be my target race this spring, but in my heart Ballycotton was a close second. I did (still do) wonder if it really is a good idea to race 10 miles only 13 days before a marathon, but I just was not going to miss this race. Any other one, maybe, but not this one.

So I found myself once more shivering in the cold before the start, which is pretty much part of the Ballycotton experience. I lined up reasonably close to the start, which is always a bit tricky, it can be hard to gauge where you should stand, certainly not amongst the elites, though of course there is always the usual contingent of idiots who don't get that.

The start came as a bit of a surprise, according to my watch it started a minute early, unheard of in Ireland! There was a small amount of weaving around some of the slower starters who had placed themselves inappropriately (my fear is that one day one of them will be causing a serious accident with 3000 runner following closely behind on such a narrow road), but all in all I got off very well. I found myself right next to Paul Moran, who I had paced Limerick with last year, but I knew I wouldn't be able to quite stay with him so wasn't too bothered when he slowly moved away.

I'm in that bright orange t-shirt a minute into the video

Before the race I wondered if I would be able to pace myself off Angela McCann, a previous winner of the race and usually just a little bit faster than me. After half a mile I managed to spot her, just about 10 steps ahead of me. Over the next mile I managed to close the gap and a group of about half a dozen runners formed and that pretty much defined the entire rest of the race for me.

Last year I had started a little bit too hard, started suffering after only 3 miles and had to drag my sorry backside home for a very, very long time, though I still set a new PB. This year it felt distinctively easier though the pace was very similar, maybe even a touch faster. Mile 3 came and went and I felt comfortable enough; well, it's what runners call comfortably hard, at the high end of what felt just about sustainable.

The cold temperature made for excellent running conditions but there was a little breeze that was a little bit stronger than I would have liked. It helped us during the first half of the race, and we passed the 5 mile mark still in one group well under the 30 minute mark; I think they called the time as 29:26, though I could have misheard that. At that point I was still feeling okay and was wondering if I was inside the top 100 places. The top 100 finishers in Ballycotton receive a highly coveted t-shirt and it is a long-standing dream of mine to bag my own one day. Before the race I had stated that I had an outside chance of one, but probably not. But maybe, just maybe, this year would be the one?

Photo by Gearoid O Laoi

I started suffering at the 6 mile mark. I took a gel, which is what I usually do at that point. I know you won't run out of glycogen in a 10-mile race, but even if it gives me just a psychological boost, purely by placebo, that would do me just fine. I learned from last year that you do overtake the odd runner who falls off the pace, but once you start falling off the pace yourself you get swallowed by packs on 5s or more at a time and you can very quickly lose a lot of places. So I hung on grimly to the end of our group, having to work harder and harder, but being determined to keep going for as long as humanly possible. The wind was now right into our faces and I reckoned the group would provide at least a minimum amount of shelter that would be gone immediately once I dropped off, so that was to be avoided at all costs.

I was really counting down the miles now. Mile 7 came and went and I still hung on. We passed mile 8, where Rene had overtaken me last year looking relaxed and fresh, but this time I was still going. Then the hill started with about 1.5 miles to go and I just could not quite keep up with Angela. What was left of our group pretty much splintered at that point anyway, Angela doing very well but the rest of us clearly struggling and suffering.

I did not lose much ground and I did not get caught from behind and I fought hard to keep my place. When I passed the 9 mile mark they called the time as 54:06, at which point I realised that I would most likely not break the hour mark but I would be very close. I did not have the energy to think, but a new PB was already in the bag, I would have gotten that even if I had jogged to the finish, but of course I pressed on even though I was running entirely on fumes and had been doing so for a considerable amount of time.

I struggled and suffered through the final mile, never giving up but not quite managing to catch the guys in front of me. When I started my finishing sprint with what little I had left they did so themselves, which put them just out of reach. I don't remember seeing the time on the gantry but my own Garmin had me at 60:14, which was basically a minute faster than last year (they correctly rounded that up to 60:15 in the results). I could see the runners in front of me collecting their t-shirts, Angela got hers, but 3 runners in front of me that stopped. I had missed out on a top-100 shirt by 3 places and 5 seconds! I want to keep this post reasonably clean so I won't repeat the next 2 dozen words I voiced; let's say I gave a good Father Jack impression. There were dozens of guys hanging around all wearing their new t-shirts. I looked at the ground in front of me and walked off.

Luckily I did calm down very quickly. Pat Quill had finished shortly behind me (unlike in the Dingle ultra) and we chatted for a bit, I met a few other guys on the way back down, including one runner who greeted me with the words "aren't you that crazy fella from Kerry", which I suppose I was, and I met Keith in the car park and we ran 2 miles together for our cool down. You can't be upset in Ballycotton on race day. There is such a fantastic buzz in town, you can almost feel the energy and it's a great place to be. The positives easily outweigh the negatives and I was left with one thought:

Two weeks ago I ran a disappointing time in a 5k and used that to pump me up for the next race and got a new PB for it. Today I just missed out on a dream in Ballycotton and will use that to push me to a better time in Tralee instead, and since I have improved both my time and my place in every single year since I started running Ballycotton 5 or 6 years ago I will collect my t-shirt next year instead.

Provisional results are here.

1 Mar: 8 miles, 58:42, 7:20 pace
2 Mar: 5 miles, 35:30, 7:05 pace, HR 144
3 Mar: 13 miles, including:
Ballycotton 10, 60:15, 103^rd place

Taper Week

2013-02-28T21:00:00.003Z

Even if I hadn't started the taper a bit earlier than planned, by now it would be upon me. The run on Monday was easy again, easier even than Sunday. The only remarkable thing was that I pressed the "stop" button exactly 1 hour after starting, on the dot and not by design. I guess if you do enough one hour runs you'll eventually end up with one that is exactly one hour.

I awoke Tuesday with a slightly sore throat, very similar to a couple of weeks ago and because back then I had continued running without any issues I saw no reason to change this time. Good call, when I was running I could not feel any soreness in the throat and completely forgot about it. The workout I did was a set of half-mile repeats, just like last week, and since last week had gone well I wasn't too apprehensive this time round either.

With my former coach's warnings ringing in my ears to be taking it easy in training in order to be able to race well I cut the number of repeats down by one to five, but the target (2:50-3:00) and the rest (2 minutes) all remained the same. Nature provided a spectacular background as I ran my repeats back- and forwards on the Caragh Lake road with the moonset in one direction and sunrise in the other, though I could only admire that during the rest intervals, certainly not during the fast segments. It went even better than last week with slightly faster pace feeling a little bit easier at a slightly lower heart rate - just the kind of progress you want to see.

2:54 (HR 150), 2:54 (152), 2:51 (158), 2:51 (166), 2:51 (163)

Unfortunately, my werewolf genes came to the fore again that night as I was unable to get to sleep. I get that fairly regularly, and always at or close to Full Moon. It has nothing to do with light in our bedroom as we have perfectly good blackout curtains, but something is stopping me from falling asleep those nights, and staring at the ceiling until 3 am really doesn't do it for me. Thankfully the lack of sleep does not seem to affect me. After the previous day's intervals it was an easy day again, and the sore throat had cleared already. It was one of those effortlessly-floating-along-the-road kind of runs where everything comes so easily. The former coach has this axiom that he likes to throw at me at regular intervals:

"When you get toward peak shape your brain ignores fatigue, this is good for racing but bad for training".

Up to now I had always denied that I was in that state - workouts had left me tired and sore often enough to conclude that my brain was not ignoring fatigue, but now I think I might have indeed reached that state. And with Tralee less than 3 weeks away, that's exactly where I want to be.

With an eye on Sunday's race in Ballycotton I did another little workout this morning, namely a set of hill sprints in an attempt to sharpen up the legs. I did a few of those earlier in my training cycle on the same hill. The main difference this time round was that it is now much brighter in the morning and I could actually see the road I was running on, which does indeed have its advantages. I stopped once the sprints started feeling a little bit tough, which was pretty soon to be honest, but it was never meant to be an exhausting workout.

There will be more easy days, then Ballycotton, then recovery from that, followed by maybe one or two mellow workouts and next thing I'll be at the Tralee startline.

25 Feb: 8 miles, 1:00:00, 7:30 pace, HR 135
26 Feb: 7 miles, 50:21, 7:11 pace, HR 151
5 x half mile in 2:54, 2:54, 2:51, 2:51, 2:51
27 Feb: 8 miles, 58:33, 7:19 pace, HR 138
28 Feb: 6+ miles, 47:48, 7:42 pace, HR 148
hill sprints