Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Bad Dad, Thomas, Bad Dad!

I’m ashamed. I didn’t tell you that Cian is showing absolutely no signs of distress after Friday’s ordeal, that he’s right as rain, and that he doesn’t even seem to remember what happened. In fact, he was perfectly fine when I got back home after work on Friday. You sometimes think of your children as small and vulnerable, but they are amazingly resilient. I should have told you all that on Sunday. In the excitement of the race, I forgot.

Anyway. I’m still basking in the glow of Sunday’s performance, and long may it last. It feels great when a lot of hard work gets rewarded, and I’m also relieved that I’m really in as good a shape as I’d hoped (I’ve had moments of doubt).

I expected to be sore by Tuesday because of the long downhill stretch, and ran 11 miles on Monday, to get in some training miles before the legs got too sore. I didn’t run hard, just did the miles and cruised home again.

When I got up this morning I realised that my fears had been unfounded. The legs were still a bit tired from Sunday’s race, but not sore at all. I was quite stiff over the first half mile, but that improved, and I proceeded for an easy 8 miler. There’s not much to tell, except that the HR was very low. Could it be that Sunday’s race already has some effect on my system? I noticed the same thing after my last half marathon in May; within 2 days my HR was lower than previously for a given pace, and both times I was surprised that an effect would come through so quickly after the race.

Well, whatever. The original schedule called for an interval workout early this week, but I will be conservative instead and keep to an easy pace for the next two days. Then I’ll attempt a marathon pace 17-miler on Friday, but if I don’t feel recovered by then I’ll just make that a normal 17 miler. Up to Sunday I had assumed my marathon pace would be 8:00, which would just about get me under 3:30. After putting my time into a race predictor (yes, yes, I know. Don’t believe them!), and even more so after reading Mike’s and Mike’s comments, I think I might slightly revise that and declare 7:50 as my new marathon pace, which would be a 3:25 finish. Let’s hope I can pull it off, 7 weeks from now.

11 Sep: 11 miles, 1:33, 8:27 pace
12 Sep: 8.2 miles, 1:12, 8:46 pace

11 comments:

  1. awesome jobs on your run. you're improvement has been spectacular and fun for me to read about!

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  2. Thomas .. just catching up from my weekend in the country. You had a great race this weekend. I loved the negative splits ... what a strong finish after running up hill for the first half of the race. I'm also impressed that you came right back the next day and continued training. You are on track for a great marathon.

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  3. Glad to hear that Cian (how do you pronounce that ?)is showing no ill-effects. You must be feeling so happy at the moment and really looking forward to the marathon - I think you'll have to be changing your blog header to fantastic marathon runner!

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  4. Hey, great job with Sunday's race. Sounds like a good day for both of us.

    To answer your question ... hair clippers above the knee, razor below. NO waxing! And it's only during tri season.

    At least that's what I tell people.

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  5. Do you know a little more about Donald than you ever wanted to know now?

    I think you must be in peak form right now - not even sore?!? Good job - bask away, you deserve it!

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  6. Well Thomas, I believe you'll surprise yourself come Marathon day. It's fun to toy with the numbers and predictors but I think you'll dig even deeper to run 3:20. May it be so. Stay healthy.

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  7. If you are in peak form now - just try not to loose it!
    And you are not a bad Dad by any means. Often I think I include too much family stuff into a running blog. Where is a Golden Middle? (if there is such an expression in English) I am glad Cian is not allergic, thank God!

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  8. Do the math Thomas. You're running 11 miles at 8:27 pace right after a huge 1/2 marathon PR! That's within 10% of your new goal pace of 7:50. I truly think your new goal is well within your reach if you don't go out too fast.

    My only suggestion is to really listen to your "coach" now (Pfitzinger), especially the part about long runs starting at 20% over goal pace and progressing to 10% over (slower). If you're doing this without too much trouble, all signs should be pointing to "yes" for your goal.

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  9. I'm actually with Robb. 20s/mile added for doubling the distance is 7:38/mile, about 3:20. And remember, unlike this half, for the full you'll also have the benefit of a full taper.

    But really, no pressure from the peanut gallery. :) I do suspect you'll surprise yourself in the last 10K though.

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  10. Thomas - think big. You are doing extremely well and still have 7 weeks of training left. You will definitely get there. Exciting stuff indeed!

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  11. THomas, You are doing GREAT, I am so excited for you on your next Marathon!

    You go Man!
    Curtai

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