Gone With The Wind

Ah yes, the best laid plans. I had it all worked out, got a rental car Friday after work, carefully prepared all the stuff that was needed, and on Saturday very early in the morning headed up north for my first race in the East Antrim Marathon Series, something I had been looking forward to for a very long time. The race was the Paddy's Day 6-hours challenge and was going to be one of the key workouts for my goal race in June. Ah yes, the best laid plans.

I had not slept well, something that happens quite a lot before a race, but that didn't overly bother me, I'm well used to that. The weather forecast wasn't great, with temperatures plummeting back to about 0, but I can cope with that as well. One look at the wind forecast had me going "oh shi*t", but I still expected to manage. This is Ireland, I have been running in high winds on plenty of occasions.

Lap 1

As soon as I got close to Newtownabbey I did not like the look of the waves on Belfast Lough, they looked rather rough. And as soon as I got out of the car I almost got blown over. This was going to be interesting. I had to re-park my car after getting my number because apparently it would be too busy down here, which meant I barely had enough time to get ready but I made it just in time.

The course was from Loughshore Park towards Gideon's Green a tad over 2 miles further south, all along the sea front, and back again. A bit over 6 laps would be a marathon (there was a sign where you had to turn around on lap 7 for a full marathon) and my plan was for about 10 laps, making 42 miles, but to take it as it goes, this was a training run after all.

The first 2 miles were easy with the wind at our back. The next 2 were considerably more challenging, especially the last half mile back towards Loughshore Park where the wind was so strong that you kept running at big effort but barely kept moving forward. What worried me the most was the fact that the forecast had predicted steadily increasing winds. This seemed hardly possible at the time, but as it turned out, it was correct.

Lap 2 with Dino

I spent most of lap 2 chatting to Dino, which was nice, but the wind was so strong that you basically had to shout really loudly to get heard and after a while that simply was too much effort while running at the same time. I picked up a drink after lap 2 and kept going.

Lap 3. It still got worse after that

By now the wind had increased to such an extend that it kept pushing big waves right over the path. That proved to be a problem. A big one. Running on wet paths was not the problem. Getting soaked from wave after wave after wave, with the icy cold wind blowing a full tilt, was. Getting sufficient electrolytes was not an issue today. Every few minutes you were guaranteed to get a wave right in your face, with a mouthful of salt water. For once I didn't even think of taking a salt tablet today.

From as soon as lap 3 I started the internal dialog for how long I was going to endure this. I did not want to pull out lightly. I had spent plenty of money to get here in the first place, and I did not want to miss out on one of my key workouts, so I postponed the decision for a while. I kept flip-flopping on the issue. Once, just as I had decided to quit soon, the sun came out and it became significantly more tolerable, but that didn't last (though it did come out again later).

One area of the course was so exposed to the waves that everyone started running up on the grassy slope of a hill instead, which was hard going as well as slippery, with me taking one full plunge in the mud, but still better than the flooded path. Another section was re-routed through the car park. Nothing could protect us from the wind, though, and one section close to Gideons Green was still pretty bad with big waves coming over the wall all the time.

I had long started to question how save this was. After lap 4 I picked up another drink and for the first few minutes simply could not drink it, my face and lips had become totally numb and I could not sip from the spout until I had warmed up a bit once I had the wind on my back. Also, the field had thinned out considerably already, I guessed that at least half of the runners had already called it a day.

I still hadn't decided either way but resolved to make it to the marathon. Up to then I had paid no attention to the turn-around sign, having planned on keeping doing full laps until the end, but now I did start to notice it. I wasn't even tired. In fact, I was really pleased with how well the legs responded to running for several hours, even with the big effort required every lap when we had to fight the monster headwind. There was no sign of cramp either (maybe due to the constant load of unexpected electrolytes, hehe), and from that point of view it was going really well. However, when the sun disappeared again I eventually decided to end it with the full marathon. Finn seemed to sense something and told me it was warming up, but at that point my mind was finally made up and I told her I'd call it a day.

After completing 6 full loops I headed back out to the full marathon turn and back towards the finish. My watch said 26.38 miles and 3:46:50. The mileage wasn't what I had wanted but that was that. Due to this being a timed race you had an official finish after even one single lap, so this still counts as a result, not a DNF. Would I have continued if I required the full 6 hours for an official finish? I don't think so, but you never know for sure.

As soon as I stopped I actually started to feel worse, physically. I took a can of coke and could not open it, my fingers being too numb. Once a helpful angel (those organisers and marshalls REALLY deserve a medal!) had come to my help, I could barely drink it because my hand was starting to shake badly. I left very quickly, I really had to make it to my car straight away (thanks for the lift!). Once in there I was unable to get changed at first, shaking uncontrollably, and had to just sit there for several minutes with the heating on full blast before I could finally take off my wet gear.

As a race, this was a brilliant community effort with everyone being really supportive towards each other and all enduring the pain as a group. It was also the worst conditions I had ever run in. I have run marathons in over 30 degrees and I have run in rain with the wind blowing it sideways but today the combination of stormy wind and the icy cold sea water washing over us non-stop was utterly brutal. A handful of runners went on past the marathon, boys and girls you have my full respect! And congratulations to Finn for winning!

The one photo that gives you a sense of the wind

Me, I am definitely ok with my decision to pull out when I did. Even a day after finishing a large area of skin of my lower right arm feels somewhat numb and uncomfortably tingly, a bit like pins and needles, when I touch it. Slight nerve damage? I'm not sure. It felt better after a good night's sleep, so I'm sure it's only temporary but it definitely makes me glad I decided to call it a day when I did.

I'm sure I'll be back for more EAMS love sooner rather than later. I won't be expecting sunshine all day, but I sure hope the weather will be a bit more accommodating in future.

I saw on one website that the wind speed had been up to 32 knots (60+ kph). To be honest, I think it may well have been even more.

Also, there were plenty of friends at the race but I barely, or even not at all, recognised half of them because most runners were completely wrapped up, even with bandanas covering their faces. I put up a lot of photos because they are describing the conditions much better than any words could. Keep in mind that this wasn't even the worst section! Credit for all photos goes to Elma McAvoy.

15 Mar

am: 5.5 miles, 43:48, 7:57 pace, HR 139

pm: 6 miles, 45:28, 7:34 pace, HR 137

16 Mar

5 miles, 42:23, 8:28 pace, HR 128

17 Mar

EAMS 6-hrs challenge, marathon in 3:46:50, 8:37 pace, HR 134

18 Mar

am: 6.3 miles, 52:31, 8:19 pace, HR 129

pm: 3.8 miles, 32:27, 8:32 pace, HR 122

Evaluation Time

It’s Friday yet again. Usually people are desperately looking forward to that day, and under normal circumstances I’m no exception to that. But it also means I have only two weeks left at my present job and I haven’t been here long enough to be looking forward to ending it all, it never had the chance to reach the point where I’m desperate to be getting out of here. As much as I am excited about my soon-to-be new job, I am really sorry to be leaving this one behind. I would have liked to remain a bit longer but the other opportunity was just way too good to be missed, some sort of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Anyway, you didn’t come here to read my life story, at least not the side away from running (and if you did you will be leaving disappointed). For the most part I took it easy enough this week. I was a bit tired on Monday, partially because of Sunday’s long run but mostly because I had gotten to Dublin late on Sunday evening and simply didn’t get enough sleep, especially after that long journey. I do wonder if I would have been better off staying in bed and getting some more sleep but that’s just not the way I roll. If in doubt I always go for a run.

Having said that, I recovered soon enough. On Wednesday I did another double to and from work, which adds up to almost 20 miles for the day. I can tell that my legs are getting much stronger, those 2 runs seemed to take very little out of me when a few weeks ago the home run was always a bit of a struggle. Also, it was the last day of one of my colleagues, so they had 3 boxes of donuts for celebrations. Why is that relevant?

I am very disciplined in almost any part of life but my sweet tooth is a definite weakness that I can’t seem to shift. Leave me in a room with a box full of donuts and only one of us will emerge intact. The subsequent sugar rush fuelled my run home. Maybe that’s why I was a good bit faster than my usual pace which is when I’m running more or less on empty, though I’m sure the swirling wind was mostly on my back and helped as well.

The legs were okay the next morning but I still opted for a very, very, very easy pace, which must have helped because for Friday’s evaluation I was back in fighting form. My biggest issue was getting the HR up to 160, which was really hard work. However, once it got there it remained remarkably constant and I basically didn’t need the watch’s alarm at all. The figures came out as:

   6:37, 6:35, 6:45, 6:42 / 42 sec recovery to HR 130

which are very solid numbers and slightly better than last month. The recovery is a bit longer but it may be down entirely to a more precise measurement – I’m finally starting to get the hang of the watch again and all its buttons, even when out of breath after a sustained effort and the accompanying brain fog.

On the way home I went via the parcel motel and picked up 2 parcels and carried them home. One was much heavier than anticipated. Not sure how much that impacted on the HR or the pace but it was bound to have an effect – I sure was glad to be home from that particular run.

It’s gotten really cold again with temperatures very close to freezing point but a biting cold wind that makes it feel much colder. I don’t mind the cold at all – compared to where I grew up this doesn’t even qualify as winter but getting older sucks and my skin isn’t able to cope properly. It gets very dry and then develops little cuts, a few mm long, bleeding at times, which can be rather uncomfortable. My feet are particularly affected, they look like I had been walking on glass, barefoot. Yes, cream helps. No, as a bloke I keep forgetting to put it on.

29 Jan

10.25 miles, 1:24:27, 8:14 pace, HR 130

30 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:16:03, 7:50 pace, HR 137

31 Jan

am: 9.7 miles, 1:17:23, 7:58 pace, HR 139

pm: 9.67 miles, 1:13:15, 7:34 pace, HR 142

1 Feb

10.55 miles, 1:28:48, 8:25 pace, HR 131

2 Feb

9.75 miles, 1:16:11, 7:48 pace, HR 142

   incl. 4 miles eval @ HR 160 in 6:37, 6:35, 6:45, 6:42; 42 sec recovery to HR 130

That Time Of The Year

I've reached the point where I wish winter would just pack it in and fuck off. It's been freezing for way too bloody long and constantly running in the dark is getting old as well. We've had one storm after the other, and I'm actually perfectly aware that I'm getting away lightly here in Dublin; those weather systems are a lot worse on the Atlantic coast.

This is definitely the coldest winter since the two Big Freezes in a row several years ago. I don't think I even used my running tights last year at all, this year they are the only thing I would even consider wearing. And I did see that picture of a lot of my mates in shorts in the snow up the mountains on facebook the other day - though I merely regard it as proof, if ever one was needed, that machismo is fucking stupid.

Enough of the swearing.

My mileage, which I deliberately reduced when I introduced faster weekly workouts, is starting to creep up again but that's mostly down to the fact that I re-started running twice a day on occasions (ok, only one occasion so far, but there will be more to come). I am slowly coming to the conclusion that I seem to increase fitness much better on higher mileage than by doing a few workouts. However, I'll still try and get some faster miles into the legs and that parkrun idea for the weekend is still valid.

I did one workout so far this week, which was a new kind of workout in this training cycle, namely long hill repeats. There is that tasty little road towards Puck's Castle, about 1 km long, with the additional evil feature of getting steeper the higher you get. Running there from my apartment and doing 4 repeats would add up to exactly 10 miles, which seems far too round a number to pass up the opportunity.

Wednesday morning actually was the worst day of the week I could have picked due to the snow on Tuesday evening and the freezing temperatures the following night which made for tricky road conditions the next morning, especially on higher grounds. However, the frozen snow provided just enough traction to keep the workout a possibility and I got through it without slipping once, so I got away with that one.

The workout itself was interesting enough. I was sure the first repeat would be the slowest because for me that is usually still part of the warm up. Running the repeats I could have sworn the second and third ones were the fastest while I started to feel the effort during the fourth one and was tempted to pull the plug, but got a surprise when looking at the numbers afterwards and the fourth had actually been the fastest and the third the slowest! I'll probably do that workout again in the coming weeks, I like what hill repeats do to my legs.

15 Jan

10.65 miles, 1:25:39, 8:02 pace, HR 134

16 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:17:11, 7:57 pace, HR 136

17 Jan

10 miles, 1:23:20, 8:19 pace, HR 141

   4 x 1k hill repeat

18 Jan

am: 9.7 miles, 1:17:31, 7:59 pace, HR 139

pm: 9.75 miles, 1:17:07, 7:54 pace, HR 141

19 Jan

10.3 miles, 1:23:47, 8:08 pace, HR 135

Man In Tights

Winter is here. We even have the fields covered in white, though in Dublin at least that's frost at the moment, not snow. We did have snow as well but it didn't stick. Now we just have the freezing cold temperatures and the icy road conditions (I like the former, not the latter). Nevertheless I get amused by Met Eireann's description of the present conditions as "bitterly cold". Not where I come from, guys. Bitterly cold to me is -20 degrees (ok, -15 qualifies as well) and temperatures around the freezing point are just  - Winter. Suck it up.

Anyway, after taking a good look at my numbers and my training in the past few months I have come to the conclusion that while the base training is getting me into pretty good shape (as witnessed by running a surprisingly easy 3:10 Dublin marathon) this is just about as good as it gets and for further improvement I have to introduce a new stimulus. None of that comes as a surprise, I had been waiting for that point ever since I started training. If anything, I am surprised base training got me as far as that. Also, I didn't want to do any faster running until I was completely sure I had recovered from Dublin/Sixmilebridge, which seems to be the case now. My numbers are good. My resting HR has dropped as low as 36, which equals the lowest number I have ever seen, and that was while taking recordings in a seated position, not lying down. A low HR doesn't automatically translate into being in good shape and well rested but the other numbers, and most importantly the way I feel, supports the same conclusion.

As an introduction into faster stuff I did a set of hill sprints last Saturday, back home in Kerry, which enabled me to do them on the same hill I used to do them on in previous years. Then again, in my memory it had been much steeper and I was surprised how "easy" it felt. I still had the familiar tightness in my chest 20-30 seconds after each sprint, which I now attribute to my exercise-induced asthma, plus a wave of nausea, but I'm used to that by now. What wasn't quite so great was that my right calf started to feel tight; maybe I should have called it a day after 6 repeats rather than 8. The tightness stayed with me over the next few days when running (not noticeable at all otherwise) but it has gotten better. By Tuesday morning I could just about feel it during the first mile but after that it was gone.

The "long" run on Sunday was made interesting by some rather inclement weather, which prevented me from following my initial plan of running around the lake. I didn't want to be caught out on high grounds in a storm, so I remained reasonably close to home but still got one big hill in. I had to be home in time for Cian's birthday party and cut it short at mile 15, though in marked contrast to last week I was still moving well at that time.

Back in Dublin I did one more workout on Tuesday morning. I resurrected the Evaluation workout, which consist of running 4 miles at HR 160 (used to be 161 but I made a small concession to old age) while taking splits at each mile and basically measuring how much you slow down well you can hold the pace while running at the same HR. In this case I was less interested in the actual numbers but more interested in the fitness gains from a moderate workout. Actually, when I say moderate, it didn't exactly feel particularly moderate at the time. I paid the price for not having run at that effort level for many, many months and was breathing rather hard, and my asthma was noticeable as well but all was fine in the end. Then again, once I had finished the workout I very quickly felt fully recovered and rather good, so it can't have been that hard. Oh and the numbers - well, I'm having troubles getting them off my damn watch and Suunto's movescount website insists on rounding them to the nearest 5, so all I can say it was about 6:30, 6:30, 6:40, 6:40, with 40-45 seconds of full recovery for the HR to come down to 130. I need to bring my old Garmin 310 to Dublin with me, it works better for such a workout (the evaluation workout is the one reason why I kept it after replacing it 3 years ago with my Suunto, which is a better watch in all other aspects). Anyway, while I don't have the exact numbers that will do as a baseline. In fact, that's a pretty good baseline, I had not expected to be under 7-minute miles, certainly not for the 3rd and 4th miles.

7 Dec

9.35 miles, 1:13:26, 7:51 pace, HR 139

8 Dec

8.35 miles, 1:06:22, 7:56 pace, HR 141

9 Dec

8.75 miles, 1:17:08, 8:48 pace, HR 131

   incl. 8 x 8-10 sec hill sprints, 2 minutes recovery

10 Dec

15+ miles, 2:01:39, 8:04 pace, HR 138

11 Dec

8.35 miles, 1:06:18, 7:56 pace, HR 139

12 Dec

9.2 miles, 1:07:27, 7:19 pace, HR 145

   incl. 4 miles @ 6:36, HR 160, 40-45 sec recovery to HR 130

On The Road Again

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

Healthy Training

Last week, Maia was fighting off a cold all week. It was just one of the many bugs that a 5-year old brings home from school all the time. On Sunday, both Niamh and me felt a touch of the cold ourselves, but that's where our respective paths diverged. While a good night's sleep did wonders for me and I felt right as rain again, Niamh got it full on. She felt rotten for a couple of days and was only getting better by Wednesday, though she is still coughing quite severely today. This kind of thing isn't exactly unusual. Four school kids in the house mean they bring a lot of germs back home and usually some other family members catch it too, except me. My immune system must be exceptionally strong, and I sure attribute this to my running. It's because of these repeated occurrences that I do not pay any heed to the repeated scare stories about running that get printed in the press on a regular basis, one of them quite recently. While I know that a strong immune system is not an indicator that you won't get a heart attack, I simply cannot believe that an activity that demonstrably keeps me so healthy would be - well, unhealthy.

The training keeps going exceptionally well. After an exceptionally easy 10-miler on Monday it was time again for an evaluation. The last one had produced an excellent set of figures and I was quite curious what this week would bring. The conditions were not quite as ideal as 2 weeks ago, it was a little bit windy and I wondered if that would have an effect. I found it quite hard to get the heart rate up to 160 initially, I felt I had to work unusually hard for it. But as it turns out, once I got going I was flying.

(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    6:26   HR 160    (6:23)
        Mile 3    6:23   HR 161    (6:23)
        Mile 4    6:30   HR 162    (6:33)
        Recovery to HR 130: 30 seconds

I think I was still in the process of stabilising the heart rate during the first mile, which is why is was so fast - the HR basically took a bit to catch up. After that it felt smoother and it's another step up from 2 weeks ago. The short recovery time especially is a great sign; never mind that the average pace for these is just getting faster and faster.

Since the evaluation is such a mellow workout that does not require a recovery day I felt it safe to follow it up with a fartlek, which followed the usual formula of 1 minute hard / 1 minute easy. This used to feel quite hard a couple of weeks ago, but after 20 repeats I still felt quite good this time. Time to add more repeats, I guess.

Another fast run would definitely have been a bad idea after that, but I did a medium long run on Thursday, getting up very early like in the Good Old Times to run around the lake. It really was pitch dark, without the head lamp I would have run off the road on a couple of occasions. It was also fairly cold, at least judging by Kerry standards (which is not really cold, I know, I know).

I'm definitely in far better shape at this point in time than any previous year. My main worry at the moment is not to peak too early. Tralee is still 13 weeks away. The specific marathon training has not even started yet.

10 Dec

10 miles, 1:15:59, 7:35 pace, HR 135

11 Dec

12 miles, 1:23:32, 6:57 pace, HR 148
   4 mile eval: 6:18, 6:23, 6:23, 6:33 (adjusted), 30 sec recovery

12 Dec

8 miles, 56:43, 7:05 pace, HR 153
   20 x 1 min hard / 1 min easy

13 Dec

15+ miles, 1:45:14, 7:33 pace, HR 142

Not A Kenyan

I was reading this book recently and I have to admit I am deeply envious of the author. Living in Kenya for a few months, concentrating on nothing but running (well, and writing a book, I suppose), would be just great. Unfortunately, I don't think Niamh's reaction would be the same as the author's wife if I suggested dropping everything and moving to Africa (admittedly, I never asked), so my chances of doing the same are probably rather slim.

So, instead of getting some high-altitude training with the world's best distance runners, I am stuck at sea-level, running on my own in the dark in temperatures only just above freezing (mind, that's still almost 20 degrees warmer than this time 2 years ago). The one Kenyan-like thing I'm doing is a fartlek workout that is also mentioned in that book, consisting of 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy, in my case repeated 20 times.

This was sandwiched between 2 easy runs. The legs felt distinctly heavy on Monday, which was probably caused not only by Sunday's 20-miler but also the increased pace of last week in general. Luckily, 10 easy miles seemed exactly what was required to get them back by Tuesday. The fartlek workout was challenging again, just like last week, but this kind of speedwork is mentally easier than, say, quarter-mile repeats where you are trying to hit a certain pace, which is why I find it much more agreeable. I was concerned when I saw the high heart rate reading afterwards, but a look at the graph later indicated that it was more a glitch of the HRM, which was not picking up the signal properly over the first mile and recorded readings around the 200 mark, than an actually  raised HR. That's something that tends to happen with Garmin HRMs, especially in cold conditions.

By the way, there is still time for you to click on this link and give a vital donation to a very worthwhile charity. Thank you so much to the ones amongst you who have already donated (or pledged to do so).

3 Dec

10 miles, 1:16:21, 7:38 pace, HR 137

4 Dec

8 miles, 57:52, 7:12 pace, HR 160 (not!)
   20 x 1 min hard / 1 min easy

5 Dec

10 miles, 1:16:19, 7:37 pace, HR 140

So Near And Yet So Far

I went into this race with unclear targets. It was not a goal race, not even close. I don't run goal races 3 weeks after a marathon. I did not taper for it, just took it easy for two days, otherwise I was training right through it. Nevertheless I was very much looking forward to it. Tom Enright and his crew always put on a fantastic event.

And yet, last year I had somehow managed to win this race, and a repeat would be nice. The plan was to run it as a training run, and if there was a chance of winning (which obviously depended more on who would turn up rather than my own performance) then push that little bit harder and see what happens.

I arrived in Sixmilebridge in good time and all we talked about were the freezing conditions, but we were sure we would be fine once we started moving. Time passed quickly and before I knew it we were at the start line. There were many familiar faces around, but no fast guys that I would have recognised.

Right at the start I took off together with Deirdre Finn, running 7:30 pace, exactly like last year. The main difference was that one other runner in a yellow top and red shorts was doing 7:00 miles and quickly opened a gap. I was undecided if I should go with him, but decided to wait and see, which would save me from putting out an effort that would unduly set back my training for Tralee, because Tralee was and still is my actual goal race and I did not want to compromise my preparations for that race.

There were 4 races going on today, the double-marathon runners had already been out for 3 hours by the time we started and the marathon and half-marathon runners would join us later on. The race course was very unusual, a 1-mile loop through Sixmilebridge, and included a hill that climbs by 17 or 18 meters. Over 30 miles that adds up to over 500 meters of elevation change, a rather significant number. I find 30 small hills much easier than a long, sustained climb, but opinion amongst runners remained firmly divided on that matter.

Photo by Jason Fahy

I got a bit of feedback from the double-marathon runners as I passed them, some telling me that the "other guy" was huffing and puffing up the hill and would blow up eventually, but I mostly kept an eye out for him myself, seeing that he gained 10-20 seconds per mile, while I spent the first 3 miles mostly chatting with Dee. Eventfully, going up the hill the fourth time, I decided to push a bit harder to make sure the gap to the leader would not grow too big. I wasn't worried about blowing up myself - after all, at that point there was only  one marathon left.

I initially gained back some distance, but on the fifth lap (or was it the sixth) I spent a minute chatting to Ray, the leader and eventual winner of the double-marathon, and when I took up the chase up again the guy in front had dropped from sight. I was confused, I couldn't understand how he had opened up such a gap all of a sudden, but decided to just keep a steady pace; if he blew up I would catch him later, if he was able to genuinely keep at 7:00 minute pace for 30 miles then all kudos to him.

According to the weather forecast the rain was supposed to hold off until after midday. We had started at 10 o'clock and I hoped I would have done most of the race by the time the rain arrived. Unfortunately it started drizzling about 45 minutes into the race, and by the time the marathon started at 11 it was already getting seriously wet. For the rest of the day there was to be no respite, the conditions got progressively worse. With the rain came the wind and the cold, eventually big puddles formed and by the end parts of the course were basically flooded. But hey, living in Kerry means I'm used to that.

Photo by Jason Fahy

The average pace on my Garmin dropped steadily, from 7:20 early on down to 7:03, 7:02 and 7:01 after a while. Obviously that means that I ran a few sub-7 miles, which I always felt was a bit fast for an ultra, but I was always quite comfortable, though I might indeed have blown up myself had I run any faster. Looking at the splits from the race results now, I can see that my adversary steadily ran a few seconds per lap faster, gaining about 10 seconds each time.

Unfortunately it was far from plain sailing, my stomach started acting up even before the 10 mile point. It was manageable at first, more like hunger pains, but it started cramping badly later on as the race progressed. I took 2 gels and a couple of sports drink, which I could stomach easily enough, but any more would have been pushing my luck.

I went going through the halfway point still feeling pretty good but as I was nearing the 20 mile mark I started slowing down, and my stomach took a turn for the worse. I considered going to the toilet each time I passed the GAA ground, but each time felt it might settle again and hoped that I would be able to finish before a pitstop became required.

Running laps and laps and laps of the same course means all events become jumbled in your memory, and it all blends into one. Early on I was chatty enough each time I passed another runner, later on I became quieter and quieter, and eventually I basically stopped talking altogether. That happens every time in similar circumstances, I can use my willingness to exchange a few words as a gauge of how fresh I am.

Getting close to the marathon  point I was really starting to suffer. The legs, while tired, were still holding up but the stomach was in knots. At one point Niall Campbell, who was stewarding, told me I was about 4 minutes behind the leader and he was slowing down, but I told him it didn't matter because I was f*cked myself (excuse my language). And still I kept running past the GAA ground without stopping.

Just as I about to finish the 26th mile I realised that I was slowing down so much that the runners I had just overtaken were going past me again. I basically admitted defeat in the race, and this time I stopped at the GAA ground for a pitstop. To be honest, it was very much needed, I would not have lasted another half hour.

I lost about 90 extra seconds in there, but as soon as I started running again I realised that I had my running legs back. Apparently my stomach cramps had sapped much of my energy, now with that problem out of the way I was able to speed up considerably, from 7:33 in lap 25 to 7:16 in lap 27 and 7:04 in 28. I passed the marathon in 3:09, despite the emergency stop, which actually makes this one of my faster marathons, despite the fact that I still had almost 4 miles to run at that point.

Chasing victory seemed futile, but I gave the race my best shot, more for my own satisfaction than a real conviction that I could actually win. The announcer at the finish line noticed it as well, he commented that I was looking strong again all of a sudden.

Going into the last lap I still could not see the leader, which means I was more than a minute behind him. Pointless. I still ran as fast as I could. Then, halfway through the lap, all of a sudden I could see him, for the first time in 25 miles, halfway up the hill just as I was at the bottom. I gave it my best shot, ran as fast as I could, but when he turned the corner at the top he still seemed too far ahead. When I reached that point myself he was much closer than I thought he would be and I gave chase with seemingly all that I had left.

I caught him with less than a quarter mile to go. For a couple of seconds the thought that I was going to win the race after all was filling my head, but then I heard him, cursing loudly and coming after me. I'm not sure if he was swearing directly at me (which would have been a bit severe, considering the kind of language he used), or at himself, or if it was just his way to pump himself up for the finish, but he caught me again, still cursing loudly. I was slow to react and let him go past instead of trying properly to hold him off and all of a sudden I found myself a couple of meters behind again, with next to nothing left in the race.

29.99 miles into it. Photos by Sean Power

Sprinting was never my forte, I have absolutely no natural speed, and despite giving it all I was up against it. I can't say I didn't try, and I might even have managed to close the gap a little bit at the end but it was futile and now I know what it feels like to be losing out by a whisker.

I lay on the ground, completely exhausted and in utter disbelief of what had just happened. Ultra races are not decided in a sprint finish! But here we were, him celebrating, me sucking oxygen into desperately empty lungs as if through a straw. Eventually he helped me up and we gave each other a (manly) hug, each acknowledging the other's effort.

Race over, friends again!

All finish line photos kindly provided by Sean Power.

It was only then that I could ask his name and found out that my conqueror was called Fergus McCarthy, up to then he had just been that nameless competitor up front.

Obviously I was disappointed to have missed out on a rare victory by the smallest of margins, but I could live with that. I had a warm shower but started shaking and shivering. As I went back towards the tent at the finish, Tom Enright took one look at me and immediately dragged me off to the ambulance where I spent the next 10 or 15 minuted recovering from mild hypothermia. Eventually the shivering stopped and a few minutes later I was feeling sufficiently recovered to leave. I didn't hang around much longer, though. The freezing cold, rain and wind were still there and I was better off making an exit with the car's heating turned up full blast.

I had plenty of time thinking about the race since. This was a race I definitely could have won. I'm not blaming my lack of speed - I could have avoided a sprint finish. It was a tactical mistake to let Fergus go at the start. I have learned last year that holding a commanding lead in a race gives you a big boost, and I handed that boost to him on a plate. When I started chasing him I should have done so with more conviction rather that keeping a steady pace and hoping that he would eventually blow up.

Most of all, I should have set a clear target. Either treat a race as a training run and leave it at that, or decide that you are going for the win, but do not mix the two. Trying to win without giving it your best shot is a stupid tactic, and just because I managed to win last year did not mean a repeat performance was on the cards. In light of that, I'm happy enough that I came second - I did not deserve first place. If the opportunity will come again I do not know, but should it ever do so then I will be better prepared, tactically as well as mentally.

Sixmilebridge has not seen the last of me.

18 Nov

Eddie Murphy memorial race, 30 miles
3:35:46, 7:11 pace, HR 158, second place

Broken Record

It did not feel all that cold on Thursday, not colder than the day before, really. I had not looked at the thermometer and sometimes ignorance is bliss. It was not until 2 hours later when I saw the car's thermometer that I realised just how cold it had become. It originally said -13C but had switched to -12 by the time I had the camera out. A colleague who passed me in his car while I was running had the same number on his thermometer at that time - apparently he felt rather snug and warm in his car when he saw me. Another colleague had photographic evidence of -14C in Tralee (we're having a competition in the office hence all the photos), so I did not have the record for myself.

As ever the main road was the only possible running surface and I went down to Glenbeigh and then further on to Mountain Stage until I reached my turnaround point. I felt comfortable enough, as soon as you reach a certain effort level you feel snug and toasty, just the fingers are closer to frostbite than ideal. I ran at a reasonably easy pace, easier than the previous mornings.

The Deep Freeze did not let up and we had another bitterly cold night. I never thought I'd see temperatures like that in our Gulfstream-kissed little patch. One crank on the radio blamed BP's oil spill in the summer. Blaming the Brits is generally popular round here but to the best of my knowledge this is the first time ever they got blamed for our weather!

For once I had no excuses not to do a "Fast Friday" and I did a faster effort today. I paced myself by feel but set the HR alarm on the Garmin to help me in this. I thought it was my imagination when it got colder the closer I got to Killorglin, but later on the car's thermometer confirmed this, it was a comparably balmy -6C in Caragh Lake but a nippy -12C five miles further down in town, how extraordinary.The pace was 10 seconds per mile faster than what I would have expected. The coach may still give me a slap on the wrists for that, but I swear I ran well within myself and the HR never went beyond the set limits.

The thaw is supposed to come by Sunday, when the muppets on the radio will have to find something else to moan about. Personally I am loving these conditions, it's is so pretty outside and as long as our heating is working I'm fine with it. I don't want them to start moaning about the economy again, I prefer being cold to being broke.

Happy Christmas everyone!

23 Dec

12 miles, 1:32:38, 7:43 pace, HR 145

24 Dec

11.2 miles, 1:18:38, 7:01 pace, HR 152
   incl. 10 miles @ 6:57

Colder Than Ever

Your comments have been rather unanimous this time and believe it or not, on Saturday I had my mouse pointer hovering over the "Buy" button for a pair of Yaktrax, but then figured that the cold spell would be over by the time they arrived and they would just end up gathering dust in some corner.

Despite feeling a bit tired immediately after Sunday’s run, I soon forgot about it and went on with the rest of my day. Imagine my horror when I caught sight of my right knee in the evening and noticed that it was swollen again! I really had no desire to go through the same pain again as last time and immediately started treating it with ice, put on my compression sleeve and elevated it high on the sofa, which added rest to the equation because that’s where I remained for the rest of the day.

While I was absolutely dismayed with the state of my knee, it helped to understand it better, though it’s a bit early to detect a pattern after only two occurrences. Running on a slippery surface seems to add some extra stress that sends it over the edge. I never fell, I never twisted or bumped it, just the additional strain of slightly slipping at toe-off seems to be a bit too much.

Following plummeting temperatures the road was in rather desperate state on Monday and with the worried about my knee it seemed sensible to stay at home. However, after waking much too early and staring at the ceiling for far too long I decided to try something. I put on my rarely used off-road shoes to see if they made a difference. I followed the Caragh Lake road for one mile in one direction, decided that the surface was getting worse with each step, turned around, ran home, did the same for a mile into the other direction, decided it was not worth the risk and turned around for good. Just over 4 miles left me slightly wiser and still with an intact knee, but they had been enough for the heel of the left shoe to cut into my Achilles so much that it bled.

I kept applying the treatment and by Tuesday evening I could not make out any difference between the knees, briefly wondering if I had just imagined it all. I decided it was worth taking a risk as long as my knee was wrapped up tightly and set off towards Killorglin. The Caragh Lake roads was once more in a rather desperate state, so when I reached town I decided to change the route and ran back via the main road, which happens to be the only treated and therefore ice-free surface anywhere. At this time of the year and this time in the morning, traffic was very sparse, which made this less of a problem than it may sound – there were no more than 5 cars going the same direction I was taking, and it wasn’t exactly busy the other way either.

I had set off under a brilliant clear sky with a bright Full Moon and I was hoping to get a prime view of the eclipse. This started out well, by the time I was halfway through my run a quarter of the moon had slipped into the Earth’s shadow, but at that stage the big clouds appeared and that was the end of the spectacle, the rest was just a very dark morning. But the run went well, for the first time in almost a week I felt healthy and managed a good pace without pushing the effort. The surface of the main road was perfectly ice free and I thought I had finally cracked the conditions.

That believe lasted until about 10 o'clock that morning when a look outside the office window revealed that it was snowing, and hard at that. It kept going for about 6 hours and by then the roads were once more covered in a big blanket of snow, including the main road. My hope that the snow would provide some traction was dashed – if there was some traction it was neglible.

This morning I started running alongside the lake but soon changed my mind and took a junction that would leave me over a hill onto the main road towards Glenbeigh. As it turned out, not even the main road had been treated but the cars had carved out two channels per lane into the surface and there was sufficient traction in those to keep running uninhabited. The traffic was sparse again and I even had the almost full moon for company and light. Once I passed Glenbeigh it was apparent that there had been a lot less traffic and the road surface became trickier but that was quite close to my turnaround point anyway. On the way back home a colleague passed me on his way to the early shift and later told me that his car thermometer read -9C (15F) when he saw me running. That's my reputation as the office fool sealed for another year. The weather station confirms that temperature reading, though I was surprised, I did not feel that cold. But I seemed to find it hard to relax, the effort was always a notch higher than normal; maybe I was subconsciously running a bit harder just to keep warm. The pace/HR relationship has been all over the place the last few days, but I put that down to the conditions entirely. It's hard enough to keep the training going at the moment. If there is any justice in the universe, I just have to get a good marathon in return.

20 Dec

4.1 miles, 31:23, 7:39 pace, HR 152

21 Dec

12 miles, 1:29:29, 7:27 pace, HR 145

22 Dec

10.75 miles, 1:20:43, 7:30 pace, HR 150

Cold As Ice

Conditions have been challenging in the past, but we’ve entered a new level. The problem isn’t so much the weather, which is far from extreme, but the level of unpreparedness by the councils all across Ireland (which can definitely be called extreme). Niamh was so worried about the drive that she planned to send me back to Kerry on Sunday on my own and, should I survive the journey, follow later via public transport once the roads were better. But with the present cold snap supposed to last for at least another week, this wasn’t ideal either, and when there was a thaw in Dublin on Sunday morning I managed to persuade her to come with me after all.

We managed to cross the island without incident, even though it turned out that the thaw was confined to Dublin only and the rest of the country’s roads in bad condition, only to find that the water pipe at home had frozen solid and we were without water. No baths or shower, no washing machine, no toilet, no nothing. It’s when you’re left without basic amenities that you realise how much you depend on them.




Btw, do you remember me complaining about the Lunar Trainers cutting into my achilles? I finally bothered to check the shoes. Not only is the back of the right shoe rubbed through, closer inspection revealed some soaked blood on the area. No wonder it hurt. After 608 miles, these once trusty companions got dumped rather unceremoniously.

Up to Monday I had managed to keep the daily morning run going despite the road conditions. Sunday in Dublin was awkward. The roads were clear but the sidewalk were deadly, and I jumped on and off the road each time a car approached. Luckily it wasn’t too bust at 8 o’clock on a Sunday, but after 6 miles I had enough of that. It left me with exactly 70 mile for the week.

Because my hamstrings tend to dislike long car journeys I didn’t do my long run on Monday morning, opting for 12 miles around Cromane instead. The roads were challenging again, but provided just enough grip to make a run feasible, as long as I stepped off the road one a couple of occasions when a car came along on a narrow country lane. The closer I got to Cromane the colder it became, and I was freezing despite wearing two layers. Later, when I got into the car to drive to work, the car’s thermometer displayed –6C/21F, the coldest I have seen so far in Ireland, and that did not include wind chill, which was significant. It seemed to be getting better again on the way back though. But after 12 miles my hands and feet were frozen stiff.

The adventures kept coming – the car’s handbrake was frozen solid when I tried to set off to work, was still frozen 20 minutes later and I ended up cycling to work, which resembled a balancing act but remarkably I got there without falling once.

I had the best intentions for this morning. I went to bed early in order to be ok for a very early start. I set the alarm for 4:30. I woke at midnight, partially dismayed by the sound of rain against the window, partially glad because it gave hopes to the water pipe returning to life. After a few hours of fitful sleep I got up, got dressed (into an unwashed running top – yuck!) and headed out. I had thought that the rain (which should have meant temperatures above freezing) would wash the remaining ice off the roads, but I was mistaken. The road surface must have been below freezing, because the rain water froze and provided a perfectly even and extremely slippery ice rink for miles each way. I tried running, but it was way too dangerous. At one stage I stopped running, and just kept on sliding off the camber until I ended up on the grass verge. No point. I turned around after less than a mile and since it was still before 5 o’clock in the morning and I was wide awake I set up the indoors bike trainer and spun on that for an hour. I would have done more, but Shea woke and that was the end of that. On the plus side, the water supply did indeed return – which was good because I needed the shower after sweating buckets on the bike.

The commute into town was ridiculously dangerous. Cars, including mine, were sliding all over the place.

I’m undecided what to do for tomorrow. I’d like to do a long run, but I don’t want to wake at 4:30 again and then be unable to run. That just sucks.

3 Jan

6 miles, 47:47, 7:58 pace, HR 149

4 Jan

12 miles, 1:33:15, 7:46 pace, HR 145

5 Jan

1.54 miles, 13:49, 8:56 pace, HR 134 – impossible!
60 minutes on bike, HR 119

Slip-Sliding Away

I've just read a discussion on the Ultra list about running in cold temperatures, and (according to some, at least) the worst conditions are “just above freezing with very high humidity - that combination seems to suck out the body heat”. Of course, these are the exact conditions that make up our Kerry winters. Though, in all fairness, until I can test running in very cold conditions myself one day, I cannot personally state which is worse.

But it’s the driving conditions that are more concerning me at the moment. The roads have been covered by a layer of ice for three days now, and there is no sign whatsoever of them being gritted or salted. What the hell is going on with the council? All they do is warning drivers of bad conditions, and at the same time the f*****s are doing nothing to improve the situation. According to the weather forecast, this is going to last for several more days. We might have a White Christmas, as long as we manage to survive that long.

I’d better get back to the usual running content before I really start venting what I think about services here. On Saturday we were scheduled to drive to Cork for Lola’s final class and accordingly I got up early for my run. I had hill repeats on the schedule and headed off towards my normal hill. Once again I left my headlamp at home, but this time it proved to be a mistake. On the first hill repeat I tried to go all-out, but the mind simply refused because I simply could not see the road in the darkness. I aborted the attempt and moved half a mile further down the road where there is another hill with better visibility, and that’s where I did 9 more sprints, which turned to quads into some kind of jelly.

We set off on the road to Cork, but had not even got into Killorglin when we passed the site of an accident involving no less than 3 vehicles. That was the final straw and we (ok, Niamh did) decided to turn around and stay at home. Driving 70 miles each way in those conditions simply was not on.

I finally managed some sort of a lie-in on Sunday, though that was cut short by no less than 3 children joining us in bed. I got up at 7:30 (yes, that’s a lie-in) to make them breakfast and Niamh got 90 more minutes of rest, lucky her. Eventually I headed out into the cold, dressed in black tights and black long sleeves, which I called my Ninja outfit. Niamh usually frowns upon me heading out dressed in tights when it’s bright enough to be seen, but I was gone before she could react. I decided on running at a steady pace and was pleasantly surprised how easy that felt. The pace kept dropping from 7:50 for the first mile to 7:20 for much of the run and below 7:00 pace for the last few miles without any apparent change in effort. I still felt great when I got home. The road was rather slippery at times at the beginning, but noticeably improved over the next hour, which was good because I had a busy afternoon ahead of me.

First on the cards was an hour swimming in Killarney, where the coach wore me out with several sets of drills, both for the legs and the arms. I did not know that swimming could be tougher on the legs than steady running, but that’s the lesson I took home on that occasion. There was still no rest for the weary, as I spent the entire rest of the day Christmas shopping, in sync with half the population of Kerry. The battle for parking spaces was vicious at times, and the shops were just as manic. To make matter worse, I didn’t get half the stuff I wanted in Killarney and had to go to Tralee as well, or we would have ended up with a very disappointed set of kids on Friday.

I was so exhausted in the evening that I decided to bin Monday’s long run and set the alarm clock for 10 miles instead. I even chickened out of that and slept in for 15 extra minutes, which left me with enough time for 8 slow miles. Things were ok on the outbound leg, the crunch-crunch sound confirmed ice on the roads but provided plenty of traction. Things changed, and on the way home I was running over a blanket of fully frozen ice and had to be really careful.

Because of the ridiculous road conditions Niamh held off with the school run, and I just about made it into work on the bike, after only one fall and that didn’t hurt because I was almost standing still at the time. Right now it is actually snowing outside. At least the kids will be happy!

19 Dec

8 miles, 1:10:19, 8:47 pace, HR 148
incl. 10 hill sprints
pm: 30 mins drills on bike trainer

20 Dec

10.5 miles, 1:16:22, 7:16 pace, HT 158
pm: 1 hour swimming drills

21 Dec

8 miles, 1:05:30, 8:11 pace, HR 143

Weekly Mileage: 64.5

Winter, Definitely

Well, Wednesday’s evening workout on the bike did not happen, mostly due to laziness on my side. What I did do was half an hour of core strengthening; I never even check that Yoga channel (wrong gender and all), but when I spotted that a core workout was on I flicked over out of sheer curiosity. Well, how hard could it be when that girlie is demonstrating it? Turns out, pretty damn hard, and my core is in obvious need of strengthening. We’ll see if I can do something about that.

Running is more my kind of thing, obviously, and an early Thursday morning call enabled me to do 12 miles, with a set of 60 second accelerations thrown into the mix. The temperatures are below freezing at the moment and I had to dig out the tights from the depths of my wardrobe without waking Niamh. Then I had to be really careful at times because there were quite a few spots of pure ice on the road, but I managed to keep upright. I didn’t check the Garmin during the run, but when I did afterwards I was a bit surprised about the slow pace. I think the cold weather has something to do with it. I seem to remember the same thing happening last year – as soon as the temperatures drop below freezing the pace slows even though the level of exertion remains the same. Since I’m trying to do most of my runs at easy level (I’m training for an Ultra after all), it didn’t bother me.

Thursday evening called for another endurance session in form of the boys’ school Christmas plays. As always, the standard of acting was, well, let’s just say I’m sure all the parents were proud. I managed to pull through but spare a thought for our poor babysitter who was given a very rough ride by Maia. She really did not like being left behind.

I’m still fiddling with my training plans, and interestingly I am usually cutting miles rather than adding them at the moment, very much unlike my normal behaviour. When setting the alarm clock last night I decided to do only 8 miles rather than 10 this morning, and the additional 15 minutes of sleep were highly appreciated, so I guess I made the right call. It was even colder than on Thursday, -4C/25F is just about as cold as it gets around here, and this is supposed to last for a few more days. I definitely prefer the cold clear nights to the more usual dreary rain that took up most of previous winters, so I’m definitely not complaining. For the kids a bit of snow would be great for Christmas, but that’s unlikely to happen. As soon as the clouds turn up the temperatures rise just enough for the snow to turn into rain of the worst sort. I’m glad to leave things as they are.

There is a race in Killarney on Saturday which I can’t make because of Lola’s CTY classes in Cork and there is another one in Newmarket on Sunday, which I won’t make because over an hour of driving each way is a bit much when there is a race on the calendar every other weekend anyway. I used to complain about the lack of races around here. Now I can’t even attend half of them. Good days, really.

17 Dec

12 miles, 1:37:27, 8:07 pace, HR 150
incl. 9x60 sec pickups

18 Dec

8 miles, 1:05:01, 8:08 pace, HR 142

Bitterly Cold

were the words used by the weather forecast last night to describe the –6C degrees expected overnight. I did laugh at that, pointing out to Niamh that in countries where it actually does get cold, this would not qualify for the term bitterly. She agreed, but mentioned that it’s all relative, and for Ireland that’s a lot colder than usual.

The weather has been good recently, and I did not have to run in rain for weeks. Since this caused my pneumonia a year ago, I’m rather grateful for the break. We did have some overnight rain on Monday, but luckily, and against the forecast, it had already cleared by the time I started my run.

With yet another race on the calendar for Sunday I decided to train through again but take the edge of some of the workouts to leave a semblance of life in the old legs. Accordingly I cut my long run from the originally planned 20 miles down to 18. Last Friday my legs had become progressively heavier over the Caragh Lake loop, but on Monday they felt so much better. I took a few sips of water after completing the 15 miles loop and then added another 3 miles. The pace on those dropped to 7:24, and I could have run faster. After feeling rather flat since basically the Dublin marathon I slowly notice some fizz returning. I’m nowhere near where I want to be yet, but I do notice an improvement.

The temperatures didn’t quite reach –6C here in Kerry, that was reserved for the midlands, but it was about –2C/28F both today and yesterday morning, and if you’re not used to that it does indeed feel very cold. Maybe the weather forecast on the telly had been right after all. Yesterday I was really slow, but the day after a long run I do not take much notice of the pace. It would have been interesting to get some HR data because I can usually tell from the HR on those runs where my fitness is heading, but I won’t be wearing the HR strap until the chafing on my left side has abated (next week, I suppose).

I was supposed to go faster today, as a fartlek was on program. Since I had so much fun last Sunday I decided to do that again rather than try to run mile repeats at some set pace. This didn’t quite go as planned; each time I tried to dip below 7:00 pace I ran into troubles, and I wasn’t too happy with that performance. I have two explanations for this. Either the unaccustomed temperatures are affecting my legs, or the fact that a very nasty work situation is very heavy on my mind is playing havoc with me. I’m very grateful to be a runner as it is the only release I have at the moment. I have never felt as low and depressed as I did on Tuesday, and the knowledge that things won’t improve in the near future doesn’t help.

5 Jan

18.1 miles, 2:23:59, 7:57 pace

6 Jan

12 miles, 1:41:30, 8:28 pace

7 Jan

12 miles fartlek, 1:32:08, 7:41 pace