Wings For Life

I said on Wednesday that I would dial back the mileage slightly for the rest of the week, but family life dictated that I could not run in the evenings at all, so this ended up a much bigger reduction than I had planned. No problem, these things are inevitable and it left me fresher for Sunday's Wings for Life run.

The format was strange with no fixed finish line but runners being chased down by a car. It led to some anomalies, e.g. the faster you run the longer you are out there, completely the opposite of a normal race. It's also mentally challenging as there is no finish to focus on.

The morning was a bit stressful, trying to get the kids ready and drop them off to be minded for the day, but I got to Killarney in good time. The start area was divided into several zones and the runners were very disciplined lining up correctly but it was quite lonely up front where me and John O'Regan were on our own until we were joined just before the start by another couple of runners.

My target was to run the marathon, which had to be done in 3:08 or faster, otherwise the car would catch you too early and you were out. I knew I was perfectly capable of running 3:08 but it would certainly require a good effort. I also wanted to keep a few minutes spare, just in case, and to give me to option to add a few miles, so I decided to run 7:00 pace for as long as I could.

I managed to resist temptation to trip up Bernard Brogan at the start - it would have been hard to make it look like an accident in front of the cameras. It took a bit to settle into my pace and if I counted correctly there were 15 runners ahead of me after the first mile. The first half marathon would be very flat and potentially fast with a slight net downhill and as long as you kept the effort easy you were set for a good run. The early kilometers just flew by. I caught a few runners but was passed by some runners myself and if I counted correctly there were still 15 runners ahead of me after 10 miles.

Km 20. Passing Puck and waving to friends.
 Photo by Susanne Foley

At the 15k feed station I accidentally grabbed a cup of red bull rather than water. I don't rate it as an energy drink because it doesn't contain any calories and has messed up my stomach the one time I tried it, but the caffeine gave me a real kick and I started accelerating. By the time I reached Killorglin at 20k I had overtaken 4 runners and was in 12th place, assuming that I had counted correctly.

It was great to be running a marathon/ultra through my own home town, something I never realistically expected to happen and the main reason why I ran this race today rather than the Limerick marathon. However, the topography of the route completely changed here. It started with a short but nasty climb into Killorglin itself and as we turned southwestwards we were now heading straight into the wind coming from the Atlantic. It was very blustery and definitely stronger than I would have liked and it made the effort feel a lot harder from here on.

The rough conditions seemed to work in my favour as I kept catching runner after runner. It's quite normal to catch a runner or 2 in the later stages of a marathon if you're having a good race, but I was moving through the field at a very surprising rate. 5 miles after Killorglin the road dropped down to Caragh Bridge, almost passing our driveway, and then a nasty and much longer climb toward Glenbeigh followed, climbing about 140 feet in a mile. The road drops steadily through Glenbeigh at about 34k, and then slowly rises again for the next 1.5 miles. I caught another 2 runners on that stretch and figured I must be in about 6th position at that point.

Km  28. Almost at home. Photo by Rosemary Browne

I tried to work out roughly where the catcher car was and was almost scared when I realised that it was definitely less than a mile away. Having a car chase you down and knowing that it is getting close is a surprisingly stressful situation. I tried to get that image out of my head again and just concentrated on keeping the pace as it was. I knew I was well under 3:08 marathon pace, so there was no real reason to worry about the car.

And that's where I hit that mountain. I had known all along that it was coming obviously, being local, but that did not help all that much. It is a tougher climb than the Hell of the West in Connemara or the Big One in Dingle and it comes even later in the race, which makes it the worst hill I've ever climbed in a marathon. From the moment we crossed a little bridge (and that's after already climbing steadily out of Glenbeigh) the road rises more than 250 feet over 2 miles with 2 very nasty steep sections. Unlike Connemara or Dingle you can only ever see a small section of the road ahead of you but I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Invariably my pace dropped. I had averaged 6:58 miles until that point and by the time I finally reached the aid station at Mountain Stage, right at the 40k mark, it was down to 7:02. Luckily that was still comfortably ahead of 3:08 marathon pace, but I sure was glad that I had built up a cushion.

It was comparably easy cruising after that. The road dropped down again, losing about a third of the elevation until the 41k mark and then came the stunningly scenic route along Drung Hill, one of the classic parts of the Ring of Kerry. Unfortunately the vicious headwind made this much tougher and less enjoyable that it could have been, and the low cloud took away the views, though most likely I would not have enjoyed them at that point anyway.

On two occasions I could hear some loud noises from behind that sounded a bit like an ice cream van to me and I reckoned it was the chasing car catching the runners immediately behind me. Once I passed the marathon mark in about 3:05 the pressure was definitely off and anything else was a bonus. I kept the effort honest and the pace on the Garmin remained steady. The motor camera came and stuck with me, obviously waiting for the moment I got caught.

I reached the iconic Gleensk viaduct where the road makes a very tight turn, and as I headed up the other side right at the 45k mark I could see the chasing car for the first time. It did not take long for it to reel me in after that and my race was finally over after 45.59k/28.33 miles.

I finished in fourth place, a little bit further ahead than I thought. Congratulations to winner John O'Regan who managed 4 km more than me and club mate Alison Kirwan who won the ladies race, what a brilliant result!

1 May

8 miles, 1:04:34, 8:04 pace, HR 129

2 May

8 miles, 1:02:25, 7:48 pace, HR 136

3 May

6 miles, 44:42, 7:27 pace, HR 139

4 May

Wings For Life, Ireland run. 4th place

28.33 miles, 3:20:54, 7:04 pace, HR 161

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Dedicated to Liam Heffernan. Please give a donation to Liam's Lodge. Thank you.

That's Why

If you were wondering why I was running the 10 marathons for Liam's Lodge, watch this video where the Meehan family explains what Liam's Lodge would mean to them.



(This is the point where you get out your credit card out and click on this link)

We're down to 4 days to go now, and I am not entirely sure if I should rest and taper or just keep training normally. This isn't going to be a marathon race, so maybe tapering is unnecessary, but on the other hand I don't want to show up tired and hobbling for the first marathon either.

But in the end I decided to go with the theory that it is always better to be slightly undertrained than overtrained and therefore I am taking it easy, which is why I didn't do a long run this weekend.

Basically, this week has seen a succession of 10 mile runs, enough to keep me ticking over without building up extra stress, hopefully. Tuesday's mountain run was the one workout where I broke that sequence. I was pleasantly surprised by the complete absence of sore quads in the days following that, but very unpleasantly surprised by the state of my left Achilles.

It wasn't that bad, on a scale of 1-10 it was maybe a 2 for a few days and down to 1 on Saturday; in fact, I wasn't even sure if I was just imagining the discomfort yesterday. If that were an isolated incident I would not even think about it, but it is a recurring one, and just about the last thing I would want to acquire is a chronically inflamed Achilles. Actually I think it's not the tendon itself but the sheath that surrounds it, but that's only because the last time I went to a doctor about it (3 years ago), that was the problem and now it feels similar. Back then I got some ointment and the advice to take it easy. I have long run out of the medicine and as for taking it easy ... well, 10 marathons in 10 days probably don't quite satisfy that description.

I had originally planned on doing one more mountain run this weekend in place of a long run, but since it is the mountain runs that keep inflaming the Achilles I had to bin that idea and just stayed on the road instead, which had the pleasant side effect that the Achilles felt better every day; I might even get away with it for Sixmilebridge, you never know.

Friday was like the good old days, getting up at silly o'clock in order to run 10 miles before dropping off the rest of the family in Killarney for the early train to Dublin. I'm pretty sure the slower pace was down to the ridiculously early hour.

I tried running a few faster miles on Saturday but quickly found that my legs were not responding. I ran a marathon at close to 6:40 pace only 5 weeks ago, so it was a bit disconcerting that I was only barely able to keep that pace for 8 miles. I did notice that the HR just was not coming up, as if the brain were limiting the maximum output (which is of course exactly what the Central Governor theory claims). I'm not worried, I have been there before; if I were looking for pace it would come back within a few weeks with the appropriate workouts, but since pace isn't what will be required over the next few weeks there won't be any need for that.

4 days to go before the 10in10. And don't forget to click on this link, like I said.

Weekly Mileage: 74.2

27 Jun

10 miles, 1:13:48, 7:22 pace, HR 142

28 Jun

10 miles, 1:15:24, 7:32 pace, HR 138

29 Jun

10 miles, 1:07:35, 6:45 pace, HR 156
   incl. 8 miles @ 6:38 (HR 161)

30 Jun

12 miles, 1:28:39, 7:23 pace, HR 143

We Are Go

I did a couple of tests the last few days to give me a clearer picture of where I stand and if I would be able to do Cork at all. After a set of excessively easy 5-mile runs I eventually got itchy feet, not entirely surprising, and one mile into Thursday's run I decided to keep the distance at 5 miles but run at a faster clip. I averaged about 7:10 pace, much faster than what I would have expected, and all of a sudden the prospect of running Cork seemed a lot less daunting.

On Friday I ran 8 miles at the same effort level that I would have run before I got sick. What I found was that the pace was marginally slower, the HR was at least 5 bpm elevated and hills seemed to feel a lot tougher. Still, all in all that was promising. By now I now longer felt sick. Were I not a runner I would have sworn I was fully recovered, and even if I were a runner without a HRM I probably would have thought I was almost entirely recovered. It's the readings of the HRM that give me some concern now, they are clearly well above what I would see had I not gotten sick last week, and I clearly am still recovering from that episode.

The most important test came this morning, Saturday. I ran 10 miles all at 3:15-marathon-pacing pace, which would be 7:25 in real terms and 7:20 on the Garmin (Cork always measures long on my Garmin). All went well, the pace is easy enough even if the HR is higher than usual. The hills feel harder, which shows me that I am running closer to my threshold than I would ideally like. If this were a race I would give it a miss, I am clearly in no condition to get the maximum out of my body right now, but this will be a marathon at a reasonably relaxed pace and I am confident everything will be just peachy. Cork is definitely back on and Alan, my co-pacer, can breathe a sigh of relief.

Not sure why they used that brutal picture - and Paul looks even worse

With that worry out of my way, I can start focusing on my next target. Last Sunday I did a photo shoot with a photographer in Tralee, together with another local endurance athlete, Paul Gosney. Paul is doing a double Ironman right now, as I am typing this he should be roughly halfway through the cycle. He is doing that in support of a great charity, Liam's Lodge, which is the sister charity of Bee for Battens, which has been making quite a splash the last few years. My involvement will come next month, when I do the 10 marathons in 10 days event in Sixmilebridge in support of the same charity. If you can find it in your heart to support some desperately needed help for very sick children and their families, click here (or the image on the side of my blog). I hope I can get a bit more media exposure over the next few weeks to raise a few more funds. Any donations, even if it were just a Euro, would be very gratefully received. Thank you.

30 May

5+ miles, 36:17, 7:11 pace, HR 155

31 May

8 miles, 1:00:28, 7:33 pace, HR 148

1 Jun

10 miles, 1:13:18, 7:19 pace, HR 152

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

Help!

I did a silly thing. I heard about the Concern Fast on the radio, and before I had a chance to think things through, I had signed up myself. To be honest, I do feel a bit uneasy about the whole idea. It smacks of a stunt, and comfortable Westerners playing hungry for a day, in the full knowledge that they can tuck in heartily the next day has absolutely nothing in common with people who are genuinely starving and suffering. Having said that, the underlying cause is a worthwhile one, and if you could find it in your heart to give a few quid to a deserving charity (and ignore what I just said), I would very much appreciate if you would follow this link and support me with a few quid.

The running has gone pretty well this week. My adductor felt a little bit better every day until I could feel no more discomfort yesterday. Things like that may be a sign of getting old, as I have been told by an authoritative source, but there isn't much I can do about that particular problem. The most important thing to me is that it did not hamper my training and went away again.

After a reasonably easy 10 miler on Thursday I followed the next step up on my Canova spreadsheet and introduced a tempo run. There are countless options, I settled on 2x2 miles and the pace I targeted was 6:20, giving myself the option to speed up a little if it felt too comfortable or to slow down if it felt too tough. In the end, 6:20 was just fine, my biggest problem was that I kept losing concentration and kept cruising at autopilot, but then again, being able to cruise at 6:20 pace isn't that bad a situation to be in. This isn't particularly fast. I am still in base training, and that is not the place for heroic workouts. But it is another stepping stone; I haven't been doing a lot of running at faster than planned marathon pace up to now. What I found remarkable was that I was taking it easy between the tempo segments, and when I checked my pace on my watch I was seemingly jogging at 7:00 pace; again, not a bad place to be in. All this bodes very well for Tralee.

Saturday's "group" run consisted only of Mark and me; I let him set the pace and it was a good bit faster than the usual group run. I probably won't be able to make a lot more group runs. As I am nearing the end of base training my runs will become much more specific and most Saturdays will probably see much faster pace; unfortunately right now there aren't any training partners for tempo pace runs at the club, though this may well change over time, you never know.

Sunday's long run was a little bit of a struggle. From the very first step it all felt a bit laboured, though the fact that I didn't feel any worse 20 miles later isn't such a bad sign either. The weather conditions were downright miserable, rainy and windy and cold. But I got the run done, and it always provides some satisfaction to jot down a run that starts with a "2" in your training log.

29 Nov

10 miles, 1:14:05, 7:24 pace, HR 152

30 Nov

10 miles, 1:08:45, 6:52 pace, HR 157
   2x2 miles @ 6:20 (HR 157), 6:21 (167)

1 Dec

13+ miles, 1:34:13, 7:07 pace, HR 148

2 Dec

20 miles, 2:29:17, 7:27 pace, HR 150

Ireland Runs For Charity

As a first for me, I recently received a query if I would allow a guest post on my blog. I thought, why not, and as a result Jackie wrote an article about running and raising charity money, especially for cancer charities. If you have any questions, she has provided her email address and would be delighted to answer any queries you might have. It is probably unnecessary to add, but all views are entirely her own, of course. Enjoy.


By: Jackie Clark (jclarkmca@gmail.com)

Wellbeing and happiness are important to any person, and proper nutrition and exercise are key factors in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. For centuries, people have engaged in the activity of running for a variety of reasons; whether to escape danger or for pure enjoyment, it has served a purpose in human nature. Competitive running has been recorded as a contest of endurance in the Tailteann Games of Ireland in 1829 BC. The tradition continues under the sponsorship of Athletics Association of Ireland (AAI), which governs all athletic events from recreational running to professional competitions. Additionally, many novice and skilled runners participate in local, regional and national races for charitable causes.

Every year, Ireland hosts a number of philanthropic events to raise awareness and financially fund research efforts in the advancement of cures for many disorders and illnesses, such as mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that affects the thin layer of tissue that covers a majority of the internal organs. This rare cancer is aggressive and deadly leaving many of its victims without successful treatment options. Mesothelioma life expectancy of patients receiving a late diagnosis is short because symptoms usually are not detected until decades after exposure. Though there is no cure, there are medicines and therapies to assist in extending the life of the patient burdened with this disease. Mesothelioma sufferers will be challenged physically and mentally; however, nutrition and activity are crucial in maintaining a healthy weight. Research is vital to the success of discovering new and effective treatments for mesothelioma, as well as other cancers. Donations and fundraising events are key contributors to support the medical community’s efforts in reaching the goal of a cure.

Run4Life is a charitable group that raises monies for the Irish Cancer Society, the largest, single-most charitable sponsor in Ireland. The Society participates in Mini-Marathons benefiting cancer research, as well as completes Marathons and other active events. The Dingle Marathon and Half Marathon, both of which take place September 1, 2012 benefits a number of different charities, including BlueSeptember, Share A Dream Foundation, Bee for Battens, and Aware.

Charitable fundraising events are beneficial for all involved. The average and experienced athletes can use this passion of running to do something worthwhile. They not only are able to enjoy a social group activity, but they can use their enthusiasm for health and exercise to potentially advance the health of others.

Asking for Help

I had planned to do a faster session on Monday but the legs were very stiff and sore, which I attribute mostly to the hours of gardening work rather than running. Still, during the first two miles of the run, when still warming up, I repeatedly tried to spin the legs and the pace never went faster than 6:30, so I decided to not even try a tempo session. Instead I thought I'd see if I could hold 6:50 pace for any real period of time, and was prepared to stop at any time. It started out reasonably well, but after less than 2 miles it became tough. I hung on for a bit longer – to the next bend, the next tree, the next house, until I eventually fell back into the groove. The same thing happened again after about 4 or 5 miles, and again I managed to keep going. After 6 miles my average pace was still about 6:48, but I did flag a little bit from there until I reached home and ended up with 6:50 over 8 miles and I don't think I could have kept it up for much longer. Thinking about it, that's not too surprising – a week ago I had not managed to run faster than 6:46 pace for a half marathon race. The strange thing was that today my legs kept complaining while at the same time I had real troubles elevating my heart rate, which was the complete opposite to what it had been like last week.

Sadly, the legs were really sore for the rest of the day, and I only did 5 miles today. On the plus side, I started out with really sore legs and returned home with perfectly fine ones. Endorphins are great stuff. Remarkably, the temperates were only around 2 degrees in the morning. No wonder it felt a bit chilly.

I have started another no-sugar diet. Since Easter my weight has ballooned from 144 to 153 pounds, which equals my heaviest reading for the last three years. Just like during lent, I'm cutting out sweets and chocolate. I decided not to be quite as strict this time. While things like sweets, chocolate and ice cream are banned, I do allow myself some more reasonable things like jam on my toast for breakfast. That way I hope it will be easier to maintain, but hopefully will still cause a few pounds to drop off my frame. On Sunday, when Niamh saw me in my wetsuit, she said “Thomas, how many pounds have you put on?” Thanks, honey! Of course we all know that if the roles had been reversed, she would have killed me.

But there is something much more important on my mind. You might remember that I'm running another marathon 5 weeks after Cork, this time for charity. I have created a donation page and would be thrilled if you could spare a few quid. The 32 marathon challenge is a really great way of raising funds and deserves support. Any donation, even the smallest one, will be gratefully received.

10 May

10 miles, 1:10:32, 7:03 pace, HR 159
incl. 8 miles @ 6:50 (HR 164)

11 May

5 miles, 41:03, 8:12 pace, HR 141