Setback

Photo by Peter Murphy

When I finished Sunday's long run I thought I had gotten through the most brutal set of training I had ever done completely unscathed. I knew there were still a few tough workouts left but I felt the back of it was broken and the taper was getting close.

Just then, during Sunday evening, my right knee started to stiffen up. It did not hurt, and since Monday was a rest day I just hoped that things would clear up over the next 36 hours. Well, unfortunately they did not. If anything, the knee got worse during Monday. I think sitting in the office chair did not do it any favours (I sure have experienced that before). Any time I got up from my chair my knee felt very stiff, but it did loosen up somewhat after a minute of walking around.

It did not hurt as such. It just felt very stiff. But I find any issues related to the knee scary, so I was freaked out about it. I have certainly run through much worse pain and gotten away with it (expect for the one time when I did not get away with it), but with 4 weeks to go until the Euros I certainly wanted to err on the side of caution.

Probably my favourite photo from Tralee
Photo by Peter Murphy

When I got home I put on a knee strap. It immediately felt better, which made me question how much of it was psychological. I had a Yoga class that evening, and after consulting with my Yoga teacher I went ahead and got through it just fine.

I could not tell if it was any better on Tuesday morning but I binned the run. I did my usual dynamic stretching exercises (usual since I got the coach that is) and when doing lunges there was a tiny bit of discomfort when the right leg was bent, maybe 1 or 2 out of 10. Single leg squats on the right leg hurt more (3 or 4 out of 10) so I stopped immediately, not because the pain was bad but because I did not want to take any risks.

Googling symptoms can be a bad idea but it seems to match patellofemoral pain syndrome, though that is a bit of an umbrella term for various knee issues and not overly helpful (apart from the advice to rest or at least cut back, which is pretty much universal).

The coach advised me to go for a test run on Wednesday morning because full rest can often be counterproductive to healing (something I have found to be true on many occasions, even if it is counter-intuitive). As soon as I woke on Wednesday morning I noticed that the knee felt better, which pretty much made my day already. I did the same dynamic stretching exercises again and this time got through the entire set without discomfort.

Photo by Peter Murphy

However, running wasn't quite so straightforward. While the knee did not hurt as such, it was definitely not quite right. But things did get better as the run went on and there was no discomfort afterwards, which I take as a very positive result - I sure would gladly have accepted such an outcome before the run. In general I felt really stiff, awkward and unfit in this run, which is a bit weird after only 2 days of no running.

It looks like I'm in for an extended taper after all. The last few hard-ish workouts that had been planned for this week are off the table and there won't be time to do them, which basically means that the hard training is over and done with. Now it is a question of getting to the start line uninjured but after today I am feeling rather optimistic about that - a lot more so that I would have been yesterday.

Apart from that, I want to wish all the best to Anto, Rolando, Billy, Keith, Vilnis, Eoin, Bob, Pam, Harald, Andreas, Sung and every other runner in this year's Spartathlon. I really wish I would be there with you, guys!

26 Sep

0 (planned rest day)

27 Sep

0 (knee issues)

28 Sep

3+ miles, 30:23, 9:46 pace, HR 131

Back-To-Back

I've been quite lucky this time round with races a just the right time when I needed them. Last week the coach wanted me to run 40 miles and the Glen of Aherlow ultra saved me from having to trot on my own for hours and hours on end, and this Saturday the Kerry 24 hrs Endurance run saved me from a familiar situation. In fact, I had been quite disappointed that I would not be able to take part in this race; a 24 hours race here in Kerry seemed to be too good to miss but the European Championships do beat that and 4 weeks would not nearly have been enough to recover. I am therefore very grateful for the RD, Marcus Howlett, to offer me an entry. I made sure he would not mind if I stepped off after a marathon (the last thing I would have wanted was for him to think I disrespected this race) and was nominally put into the 6-hour race.

There were many familiar faces in Tralee town park, many local runner who would otherwise never have contemplated running a 24 hrs race took the opportunity to take part - it was very much a case of build it and they'll come. It all started with very little fuss and at 12 o'clock we all set off - at a rather leisurely pace.

My plan was to test out as much as I could in realistic race conditions. Therefore I was wearing the same gear I am planning to use in Albi, I was having the same nutrition and following a nutrition plan for a 24 hrs race and I ran at the same effort level I am planning to use in Albi. Basically, I was running the first 4 hours of a 24 hours race. That is, admittedly, very much the easy part.

I set off at basically 4-hour marathon pace because that's a pace I am very comfortable with and can hold for a lot of hours (not 24 though!). I also wore a HR that settled in around the 135 mark, and after that I paid no more attention to either HR or pace and just ran by feel and tried to keep the effort as even as possible. A lap was 0.75 miles, so that makes 4 laps for 3 miles, and 35 laps for the marathon. The distance seemed to match very closely what was displayed on my GPS, so there was no need for me to keep count; just run.

I felt a bit like an impostor. I knew I was going to stroll away happily a few hours later, while the real runner would be close to having to be carried off the track. I tried to ignore that and just, well, run. I ran a few miles with Terence at the start, had a chat with Alex O'Shea (I still can't understand why he's not on the Irish team for Albi even though he has run the standard), also with Mike, David, Fozzy and a few more, and I also made sure to have a few encouraging words with anyone I passed (that didn't entirely work for 4 hours but I did give out plenty of encouragement). My hamstrings felt a bit tight after only a few miles, but coming into this race on the back of probably the toughest few days of training I have ever done that didn't come as a complete surprise and the legs settled nicely as the miles ticked by.

The nutrition plan consisted of taking something every 2 laps, either a drink (tailwind or watered down flat coke) or a small bite (potato or flap jack), which should add up to about 180 calories per hour, just about the maximum you can digest while running. To be honest, even though I have run 4 24 hours races (and a few other very long runs) I have never paid much attention to my race nutrition, always ate whatever I felt like, but that approach seemed to backfire in Belfast in June and I wanted to try and put that on more solid foundations this time with a nutrition spreadsheet and planned calories intake (which will undoubtedly go out of the window after a few hours, I know that). The nutrition bit worked very well, and I am very grateful for John, who was crewing for Aoife, to re-fill my coke bottle when it was empty. The flap jack seemed to sit heavily in my stomach, even though I only ate about  third of it, so I have to be careful with that.

This would have been ground for disqualification in Albi

Keeping track of nutrition was the one thing that kept my mind occupied, apart from that it was just running. My iPod's battery was flat when I put it on (next time maybe bother to check before the start?), but that had the advantage of having to remain a bit more social. I kept very close to 4-hours marathon pace for 18 miles before drifting into slightly faster pace for the last third. The last hour was definitely a bit faster than I would have run in a 24 hours race but I guess I wanted this to be over, especially as the weather got a bit worse with a few rain showers and dropping temperatures.

To be honest, I was a bit worried for the likes of Fozzy and Vinny, who definitely ran a good bit faster than I would have advised (in fact, I did advise them when they had asked) but eventually decided not to say anything as I did not want to put any negativity, or perceived negativity, into their minds. A positive mindset is so important in those long races, I know that better than most.

Anyway, I actually felt better towards the end than I did at the start. With just one lap to go I sped up, partially to have a bit of fun, partially to make sure I did indeed have plenty left in the tank, so I ran the last lap at sub-7 pace, which felt good after almost 4 hours of shuffling. After crossing the line I made sure they had all 35 laps in the computer and then said my good byes to all the runners on the track.

My GPS said 26.74 miles but the official distance for 35 laps is only 26.25; I have no idea where the discrepancy comes from, especially since the laps seemed to track very closely at the start. Either way, this is without a doubt the shortest ultra I'll ever run, and of course I am at the very bottom of the results list - which is fine by me, my race is still 4 weeks away.

I did pay one price for the race. Ever since Belfast, my left big toenail has been very dark and did not look good but it stayed on - last night it finally came off. There was a new one growing underneath the old one but it's still only a third of the way of being a full toe nail, so right now I have a mismatched number of toes and nails (which, incidentally, is a sign of a real runner, as I have been told numerous times).

The weekend wasn't quite over yet. For Sunday the coach had put 18 miles into the program. I did feel a bit tired after my marathon the day before and the legs grumbled a fair amount at the mere thought but I kept thinking of the warriors in Tralee town park who had kept going all through the night while I was snuck up in bed. My right knee hurt a bit but nowhere near enough to serve as an excuse to stay at home, so off I went. The first half mile sucked as badly as expected but the legs settled down surprisingly quickly and then it was just a matter of putting down the head and keep going, ticking off mile after mile until I was done. I had actually expected this run to be the worst run of the entire training cycle but despite the weary legs, that never got any worse, it passed surprisingly quickly.

The only thing that failed was my HRM; the battery had been acting up a few times already, so it did not come as a complete surprise and I already had a replacement battery - at home, so that had to wait until after my return, and I just ran by feel - slowly that is. I got home before 12 o'clock, so I even managed to catch the finish of the 24 hours run on facebook (isn't modern technology amazing!).

Congratulations to the real runners!

22 Sep

6 miles, 54:49, 9:08 pace, HR 134

   with strides

23 Sep

3 miles, 28:28, 9:09 pace, HR 130

24 Sep

26+ miles, 3:57:59, 8:53 pace, HR 146

25 Sep

18 miles, 2:50:43, 9:26 pace

No Rest For The Weary

This is without a shadow of a doubt the toughest period of training I have ever been subjected to. Usually I would make sure I go into an ultra, including one run for training purposes, on well rested legs and would make even more sure to take plenty of recovery days thereafter.

My coach works differently. First she made sure I was going into Aherlow on already slightly tired legs by making me do a speed workout 3 days before the race and 12 miles the day before (and indeed, when I got up on Saturday the first thing I noticed were tired legs - before I ran 40 miles!) and then she kept the pressure on. At first I did have 2 recovery days. I wasn't really planning on running on Sunday, especially with the lousy weather in the morning, but when it turned into a lovely afternoon Niamh and Maia decided to go to Rosbeigh beach and so I joined them and ran for half an hour on the sand in my bare feet.

Monday was a rare off day but the heat was back on Tuesday in the form of yet another speed workout, albeit in reduced form of 5 x 600 repeats. She did give me the option to move it if I did not feel up to it but I guess she knew I usually press on regardless. I did wonder how big the chances of acquiring an injury were, but in situations like that you either trust your coach or you don't, in which case you shouldn't have that person coaching you. Anyway, the paces were a bit more uneven compared to last week, though I ran them all by feel and the effort felt pretty much the same each time. After the fourth repeat I started to suspect that the coach was trying to kill me, and I was pretty sure that one more repeat would violate the rule of always stopping one repeat before you're completely spent but concentrating on running with good form rather than pushing hard got me through that while possibly even keeping to that rule. Which was good, because then I still had to run several miles on tired legs.

After that torture session surely I deserved a break? Nope. A very early morning with 14 miles was on the program for Wednesday, and I'm not sure if I got through it because my internal regulation system has packed up and left in a huff or because my endurance levels are indeed sufficient.

I get two easy days now before another big double header. If I get through that there will be some light at the end of the tunnel.

Oh, and even with the less than ideal timing, I did pass my exam on Monday. :)

18 Sep

3.4 miles, 30:13, 8:53 pace, HR 132

   barefoot

19 Sep

0

20 Sep

9 miles, 1:15:49, 8:25 pace, HR 147

    5 x 600 @ 6:33, 6:15, 6:16, 6:03, 6:16 pace, 70 seconds rest

21 Sep

14 miles, 1:58:00, 8:26 pace, HR 144

It's A Long Way To Tipperary

When the coach put a 40 mile training run onto my schedule, I had nightmare visions of stumbling around the local countryside on my own for hours and hours. Thankfully, I spotted the Glen of Aherlow Ultra race on some calendar, by some miracle on the same weekend that my coach had targeted. Even the coach agreed this was perfect. The race was 39.3 miles over 3 loops, though half and full marathon races were on as well, with a later start.

However, the timing around real-life issues was less than perfect. I'm in the middle of a training course at work that I found much more mentally demanding than expected and I was drained of energy every evening, The exam is on Monday - crikey! Add to that a bout of teenage drama at home and my mind wasn't exactly in the base place.

Getting up at 4am had Niamh worried but for once I decided to follow my own ideas. The drive to Tipperary was fairly uneventful, apart from finding out that the road between Mallow and Mitchelstown was closed and required a detour but thankfully I had a few minutes spare and still arrived on time.

Apart from the long miles ahead of me, I was pretty much out of my comfort zone because this was a trail race and I am very much a road runner! However, the IMRA have a reputation for being open and friendly, though they could do with making information a bit easier to come by. I only found out on Friday night that a rain jacket is required gear no matter what the weather forecast says and in general I found it very hard to get any info about that race.

Never mind, I was there. I had less time than anticipated and jogged half of the mile from the race HQ to the actual start so as not to be late, which was the first time ever I did a warm-up before an ultra.

I was under strict instructions to take it easy, REALLY easy, on the first loop. The race starts straight away with 3 miles of steep climbing. The fast guys took 5 minutes to disappear out of view, after which my competitive instincts realised they were unwelcome today and disappeared entirely (not that I would have had a hope to compete at the front anyway). A couple of looks at the HRM told me unfailingly that I was working much harder than it felt, even when I was genuinely trying to run as slowly as I could, and eventually I joined into everyone else's spirit and walked the steeper parts, though that still had the HR at a higher level than I would have preferred,

On top of the ridge I was in a group of 4. The footing was very tricky for well over 2 miles, which is the part that bad been described as "the awkward section", and yes, it really was awkward. I was glad I was in my trail runners, I don't know if I would have made it through in slippery road runners. After a long while, when we were already wondering why we had not seen any markers for quite some time, we came out to the first aid station at the road crossing and the second part of the loop was much more runnable. I (inadvertently) dropped my companions over the next few rolling miles, passing another aid station and then dropping for a few miles over various different surfaces back towards the finish area. I ran together with Gabhain and Stephen, though the latter pulled away before we go back to the start area.

Photo by the MMRA

We all picked a different strategy for the big climb of the second loop and straight away walked most of it, though my HR was still way over 150! The sun came out and it got actually rather hot, so I was glad I now carried a bottle with me, in contrast to the first loop. I also took on a few extra calories and after a while they must have kicked in because running eventually became much easier and I definitely started to enjoy it a lot more. There was a turn-off towards the right about 4 miles in which I did not remember from the first loop, but wavered between spotting places that looked familiar and thinking that I had not been along this route before. I was pretty sure that things were different this time round when I got to a jeep road that was very runnable, because in the first loop the miles towards the first aid station had been a horrible scramble through muck. This was confirmed when I reached the aid station from the jeep road; I could see the trail where I had emerged from the first time round. I talked to the  guys manning the aid station who thought that I must have take the long way round in the first loop but looking at my GPS I didn't think so. Anyway, they told me to go on and not to worry about it.

The next few miles seemed strangely unfamiliar again, except that this time I was pretty sure I must have run along here before as the markers were so obvious. The legs felt surprisingly good but I still took it very easy, there was no point killing myself in a training run and messing up the training for the Euros. However, I was cruising along at a decent enough pace, even if the HR was still much higher than I would have thought. I eventually caught up with Stephen, a lot later than I would have expected. I told him the same story about that missed turn in the first loop, though dismissed his suggestion that keeping quiet was an option. So when we got to the start area once more, I talked to the officials there. I estimated I had cut off about half a mile, maybe a tad more, though with the awful footing on that section the time difference was probably not that great. I did offer to run an extra out-and-back bit but they eventually told me to just carry on on my third loop and not do anything about it for now, so go onto the third loop I did.

This kept playing on my mind, though I tried to put it away and just get on with the race and actually enjoy it. I'm used to pushing as hard as I can on races, even very scenic ones, which leaves very little scope to actually look around and take in the views, so this made a nice difference (however, the views were not as good as in Kerry - sorry!). The sun was still shining, which would have been an issue had I been racing as it would have provided much scope for suffering, but at my much lower effort today this was much more manageable. It also provided the benefits of somewhat drying out the mucky trail and footing actually became slightly better. The legs did feel the effort of over 30 miles on unaccustomed territory but overall I was feeling better than expected, really. I started passing a lot of runners, though I think they were all marathon runners on their second loop. At the aid station the marshall asked if I was an ultra runner (they kept notes to make sure nobody was missing), while calling the other runner "ordinary", which was a bit harsh - he was still doing a rather tough trail marathon!

I was a bit worried about my shoes - I wasn't 100% sure if they'd fall apart before the finish.

I think my shoes have had it

Catching up with and passing about a dozen runners made for a fun game for the last few miles which passed the time. I was still feeling good, though I started to stumble over rocks with increased frequency, every time just about managing to avoid a fall, close as it was a few times. When that happened after about 35 miles a spasm shot through my calves - I was heading towards cramping territory again, though I only had a few miles left, most of them downhill, so I never had to deal with actual cramps. In fact, when we left the trail for about half a mile on the road I could feel the muscles relax and managed to do some actual running at a decent clip - smelling the barn undoubtedly helped. Then I got to the end, reminded them once more about my missed turn on loop 1 but they told me to just finish and leave it at that.

I just managed to sneak under 7 hours - my slowest 39 mile race by over an hour, though with all the others having been road races that doesn't mean much. The winner, Barry Hartnett, had only taken just over 5 hours - that is just mind boggling, an absolutely outstanding performance!

Yes, I think my shoes have had it

Actually, partially to make up for the lost distance, and partially because the coach had originally written down 40 miles, I jogged the extra mile back from the race finish to the village, which means I got a cool down as well, a first for an ultra. I got a much harsher second cool down as well because the showers only had freezing cold water! They more than made up for that with the delicious post-race beef casserole (I had a second helping) followed by some cheesecake. It's a shame I had to decline the free beer as I was driving straight back home.

Obviously I would have preferred not to have taken a shortcut, accidentally as it was. I find it amazing that all 4 of us in that group missed the markers - of course it meant the first runner missed it and everyone else just followed blindly. The organiser were a lot more relaxed about it than me - I guess because I was not in the running for any prizes it did not matter all that much and I think the IMRA are a more relaxed organisation anyway. Anyway, if you fancy a few hours on lovely trails and excellent organisation, and don't mind getting dirty, this race is well worth checking out.

17 Sep

Glen of Aherlow Ultra

39.3 miles, 6:58:53, 5th place, avg HR 144

Colour Code White

I find it hard to believe but the Euros are only 5 weeks away. That also means that right now I am in the middle of the hardest training weeks, and the schedule certainly reflects that.

Recovery from Dingle marathon went well even if the marathon itself didn't really, and I handled the back-to-back runs last weekend very well, so my basic endurance levels are very good. I had been feeling batter for the last few weeks and recently I noticed some objective numbers finally showing those signs as well. I do maintain a spreadsheet where I log pace and HR and compare that with an expected HR. There are three different colours to visualise the overall level. Ideally you want to be green when building base, white later on and red the weeks before the race. The months since Belfast have provided a consistent block of green - Tuesday's run was the first one since June in white! It certainly is a lot later than I would have expected or hoped, but at least some data points are finally catching up.

Training with the new coach was certainly very different to what I had been doing up to before. That was the intention, of course. I felt I had reached a plateau and was eager to try something new to see if my body would react to a different stimulus. There is a risk involved in that, of course, and positive effects might take longer to be achieved than one would hope for (i.e. it may well take more than one training cycle).

Things aren't just different on an overall level, there are things I would not have done on my own on a more detailed level. Left on my own, I certainly would not have put a 14 miler 4 days after a marathon. Left on my own, I also would not have run a speed workout 3 days before a tough 39 mile trail race, but that's exactly what the coach prescribed.

The speed workout itself provided a dilemma. Putting my 3:30 marathon into a calculator it gave me a 5k pace of 7-minute miles. Surely not! I decided to run the 5x1000 at 5k pace purely by feel, and that's exactly what I ended up doing. Tuning into 5k effort was tough, not having raced a 5k in quite some time. During the second repeat I thought I wasn't going to be able to finish but of course I did.

The paces for the repeats ended up being 6:09, 6:16, 6:19, 6:19, 6:17 with about 1:50 recovery, which I think is surprisingly consistent for a workout done entirely by feel, even if the first one was a bit quick (highly unusual, btw. Normally the first repeat would be the slowest).

Thursday was exceptionally easy, just three miles at recovery effort. Friday will be longer - it's basically part of  a back-to-back with the ultra on Saturday being the second part.

I expect to suffer on Saturday in Aherlow, from the distance, the unaccustomed hills, the fact that I go into it with tired legs already. I guess that's the whole idea! I won't be winning any prizes, that's for sure!

12 Sep

0

13 Sep

6 miles, 55:19, 9:13 pace, HR 129

14 Sep

9 miles, 1:14:57, 8:19 pace, HR 150

   5 x 1000 at 6:09, 6:16, 6:19, 6:19, 6:17 pace (1:50 recovery)

15 Sep

3+ miles, 29:18, 9:27 pace, HR 130

Mental

I was quite surprised to see the legs feeling pretty good on Thursday morning; I would have expected a 14 mile run just 4 days after a marathon to leave its mark but it looks like recovery is going remarkably well, even if the marathon did not.

Nevertheless, the next 2 days were easy recovery days, though as it turns out that wasn't just to get over the previous runs, they were there to get me ready for a bit more work over the weekend.

The weather forecast had been nice for Saturday, the only half-decent day of the week really, though it wasn't quite as nice as hoped early on (it did improve for the afternoon, which was good as the Flavour of Killorglin festival was on that day) but it was manageable all the same. The idea was to run 7 miles at easy pace and 6 at marathon effort. The easy miles passed quickly enough and before I knew it I had to speed up. I realised very quickly that my choice of route had not been ideal as most of the marathon effort miles were right into the headwind, not strong but definitely noticeable. What bothered me more, however, was that my left knee started hurting again at times. I had a few twinges a couple of weeks ago but they went away again, though only temporarily by the looks of it. The knee hurts when running downhill, though tensing the quads before foot strike does solve the problem - however, I do not want to alter my gait for a twinge, that only leads to secondary problems.

Anyway, with about 2 miles to go a group of cyclists went by, then another one, then another one, and I soon realised that I inadvertently had gotten into some cycling event. Not a race, thankfully, so there was no problem. However, for some reason all those cyclist passing me made me forget that I was to remain at marathon effort and those last 2 miles were definitely a bit too quick. I wondered if I would have to pay for that on Sunday.

Afterwards I wondered why I had not taken up the option of running this workout on the Kerry Way trail, when the coach had given me the option (MP pace would have been MP effort instead in that case). I still have no idea why I didn't!

I had been groaning as soon as I saw the workout for Sunday on the training spreadsheet. 18 miles, keep the HR under 136. That kind of mileage at such a slow pace was new territory for me, and I really was not looking forward to hours of slow paced shuffling. However, I did dawn on me that this time round is really my first ever "proper" ultra training cycle. Up to now I have been a marathon runner that also ran ultras. This time round I am definitely an ultra runner. It does explain why faster paced running feels so much more challenging. The hope, obviously, is that slow running will feel easier.

The knee did bother me again at times, though at the moment it is more of a nuisance rather than a real problem but obviously it's a bit of a worry that it might turn into something more serious. The run itself was much more of a mental challenge than a physical one. It was really windy, which is why I ran back-and-forwards to Ard-na-Sidhe a few times where it's a bit more sheltered, though thankfully, and unexpectedly, the rain held off until after my run, which made things a lot more comfortable. The effort felt very easy, even with my indiscretion yesterday. I started getting thirsty at mile 14 and tired at mile 16, which I attributed to low glycogen levels due to running without breakfast and no sustenance during the run either, but by then I was homeward bound anyway.

The first back-to-back weekend went well. There will be more to come.

8 Sep

6 miles, 54:39, 9:06 pace, HR 134

   with strides

9 Sep

5+ miles, 46:35, 9:13 pace, HR 132

10 Sep

13 miles, 1:44:16, 8:01 pace, HR 152

   with 6 miles @ 77:47 (HR 160)

11 Sep

18 miles, 2:49:56, 9:26 pace, HR 134

Time To Get Serious

It sure has taken a while!

It has taken a very long time for my body to shake off the worst of the effects from Belfast, certainly a lot longer than I had hoped. I'm still not 100% recovered but I can feel a big difference, even if that is not yet reflected in the numbers displayed on the watch. However, I know my body very well and I can tell the difference.

While Dingle didn't go quite as well as hoped for, at least recovery is going very well. I did the usual short, slow recovery runs the first 2 days after the marathon but then the mileage took off. A 9 miler 3 days after a marathon was a first for me but with the HR limit at the usual low level it did not pose any problems. I had felt a tiny bit of DOMS on Monday but that was gone again on Tuesday and while the legs certainly weren't particularly sprightly, the distance did not pose any challenges.

It got even more serious on Wednesday with a whopping 14 miles on the program. I guess the coach doesn't intend to let me hang around the last few weeks before the Euros. The very first thing I noticed was how dark it was! It was still pitch black outside when I got up and not much brighter when I started down our driveway, so that felt like being plunged straight into darkest Winter. However, the next thing I could not fail but notice were the fairly high temperatures coupled with sky high humidity, which made for unexpectedly challenging conditions, even at 6 o'clock in the morning,

The plan had been to run 30-45 seconds slower than marathon pace. Even though I had just completed a marathon at 8-minute pace that had felt challenging enough over the last few miles, I was still under the impression that my actual present marathon pace was a bit faster than that, at least on a flatter course, so 8:20-8:30 was the training pace I had in mind. Obviously, that was before taking the conditions into account. Then the legs obviously tried to remind me that said marathon had only been 4 days earlier, all of which added a few extra seconds to the pace. In reality, I never once checked the pace on the watch and ran entirely by feel but I did raise an eyebrow or two when I saw the numbers afterwards. On the plus side, running for 2 hours did not feel particularly challenging, so I'll gladly take that.

There will be more to come.

5 Sep

4 miles, 38:36, 9:39 pace, HR 132

6 Sep

9 miles, 1:24:48, 9:25 pace, HR 132

7 Sep

14 miles, 2:03:26, 8:49 pace, HR 140

A Strange One

I had plenty of time to think about running while driving to Dingle in the Saturday early morning rain. I did rue the fact that yesterday had been such a nice day and marathon day was going to be miserable but that was not my main concern. I knew that with all the changes in my training this was uncharted territory. I had not run a long run at any sort of pace and really did not know what to expect. Then again, the task of sticking with the 3:30 pacers didn't exactly sound overwhelming.

I met Donna before the start, having to apologise for not managing to get to Achill Island the previous weekend, and Aidan, who complained about not featuring prominently enough in the Belfast race report (for the record, he was a super star).

Shiny Happy People at mile 2 - photo by Chris Grayson

We got thoroughly soaked before the start but soon after setting off the rain actually eased and then stopped completely, and eventually even the sun came out. That was an unexpected turn of events, the weather forecast had been miserable, but a welcome one. The scenery in Dingle is absolutely spectacular and it would have been a shame had it remained hidden behind the clouds.

The first few miles just flew by. Chris and Fozzy were the pacers and we chatted pretty much relentlessly, and Chris even had enough spare time to take a few photos along the way. The effort felt ridiculously easy. I know the course very well by now but it made a nice change to be able to enjoy the scenery while jogging along at such a leisurely pace and being able to take it all in. Having run the now sadly defunct ultra 3 times I still associate the road from Dingle with being knackered after running 30 miles including a major mountain pass, and today this was much more enjoyable.

Easy at mile 8 - photo by Chris Grayson

Before I even knew it we were at the halfway point. Invariably, it got a lot more lonely from here on as the majority of runners are finishing here by turning left at Dunquin for the half, and only maybe 1 in 10 keep going straight and up the first proper climb of the day (the preceding ones all being classified as drags - that's my opinion and I stick to it). I had gotten a bit ahead of the pacers here but took it very easy on the uphill until they caught up with me again.

We did notice the wind on the second half. Usually the wind comes from the west and you feel it during the first half but today was one of those rare days when it came from the east, though it was no more than a bit of a breeze. We also kept catching runners that started to feel the miles, as it's bound to happen. I still felt exceptionally comfortable and had to reign myself in on several occasion, often drifting ahead of the pacers without even noticing it.

This got us as all the way to about 19 miles when I was a few seconds ahead of them again, and with the coach having given permission to push on from mile 20 I just kept going, though still not exactly pushing very hard. I did pass a lot of runners on that stretch though, but that was mainly down to them slowing down rather than me speeding up.

Some scenery at mile 14 - photo by Chris Grayson

I still felt comfortable at mile 21 when we turned from the out-and-back section onto the mountain but as soon as I hit the steep climb my calves all of a sudden, and to my utter dismay, started cramping in unison. That's an old problem of mine and I have a lot of practise dealing with it but I had not expected having to deal with it today when the effort and pace had clearly been well below race effort.

I just about managed to nurse the legs along while keeping running uphill and I still passed a few runners here. Only 2 runners passed me - unfortunately those 2 were the 3:30 pacers, the feckers. With the calves setting a clear limit to how fast I was able to go they kept pulling away from me and by the time I finally made it to the top at mile 23 they were far further ahead than I would have liked.

I had hoped that the calves would start playing ball again once I hit the downhill section but unfortunately that did not turn out to be the case. I still had to keep a lid on things and every time I tried pushing just a tiny bit harder a painful spasm told me that I was playing a dangerous game. At least the pacers stopped pulling further ahead but I barely seemed to manage to put a dent into my deficit. Coming down that last pass we have to run down a dead straight road for about 2 miles which can be utterly soul destroying because the end just does not seem to come closer. I checked my watch against the mile markers and tried to work out if I would still make it under 3:30 but started to doubt it, the calves still playing wrecking ball in a synchronised performance.

Thankfully they eventually seemed to be getting the message that I was about to finish and released the clamps, so I even managed to duke it out with another runner for the last quarter mile (I lost - I was never good at sprinting) but was mightily relieved to see the clock still at 3:29 and just a few seconds behind the pacers, who had done a sterling job on a very awkward to pace race course.

Still, having to strain to stay under 3:30 had definitely not been on my script for the day and I wasn't happy. I did not even bother to hang around but went straight for the car and drove home.

I had plenty of time to think about running while driving from Dingle in the Saturday early afternoon rain. I had serious concerns about my level of fitness and what that would mean for the European championships, now only 7 (!!!) weeks away. I did fire off a slightly panicked email to the coach, though she did her best to reassure me, pointing out that neither running at 8-minute miles nor hill work had been on the training program and I would be fine for Albi.

I can only trust her and hope that she's right!

3 Sep

Dingle Marathon

   3:29:46, 8:00 pace, HR 160

4 Sep

4 miles, 38:57, 9:44 pace, HR 133

Maybe

Maybe I should whine more often! It might annoy everyone else but as soon as I got into some serious whinge-and-whine, things suddenly improved!

Ok, so that's a case of counting your chickens before they hatch but right now I;m more hopeful and optimistic than I've been since Belfast.

On Tuesday morning I laced up my shoes and went for a run, like I do virtually every morning. But compared to any run over the last 2 months, this one felt different. Right from the off, the hamstrings felt different. On Sunday the first step felt like I had run 20 miles already. On Tuesday I suddenly felt - well, fresh.

The run was nothing to write home about, 5 easy miles and 2 at marathon pace. That was a bit of an issue as going into the run I wasn't even sure if I would be able to run a marathon at 8-minute pace, having been knocked back quite a few times in training recently. So I ran that segment just be feel and without looking at the watch. Well, what I got was 7:32 pace. 10 days earlier I had tried to run 12 miles at marathon pace and after 2 miles of pretty much the same pace as I did on Tuesday I was already in big trouble. On Tuesday I ran the same pace but could have held it for much longer (if I could have held it for an entire marathon is a different question altogether, of course).

Just looking at the HR data you wouldn't notice a difference from my other training runs - the difference was entirely with how I felt subjectively.

Of course I was immediately prepared to go crazy and aim for a 3:15 marathon this Saturday in Dingle after all but I do have a coach right now, and any coach's main job seems to be to stop me from doing the really stupid stuff. She immediately ordered me to put on the brakes. I am to run the first 20 miles at an easy pace and only if things are still looking bright then am I allowed to pick it up for the last few miles (which include a monster hill, so there won't be much acceleration anyway). And since I just wrote this down here I guess I can't change it now without looking like an idiot (then again, that never bothered me before ...)

Having said that, with Chris and Fozzy being the 3:30 pacers there is no way I can finish behind them. I'd never hear the end of it. I might pretend I'm there to supervise them.

30 Aug

7 miles, 59:02, 8:26 pace, HR 144

   incl 2 miles @ 7:32 pace (HR 157)

31 Aug

0

1 Sep

5 miles, 46:25, 9:17 pace, HR 137

   with strides

2 Sep

4 miles, 36:46, 9:11 pace, HR 133

Reason

I had a reasonably good run on Sunday.

However, the fact that managing 8-minute pace for less than a half marathon without feeling wiped out at the end constitutes a good run isn't a great state of affairs.

At least I managed to pinpoint the problem: it's my hamstrings. They felt off right from the start, everything else felt fine. And things didn't get any worse - be grateful for small mercies.

I have some graphs where I keep plotting pace and HR data. It doesn't make good reading for July and August. In fact, the figures right now are surprisingly similar to what they were like last year - expect that was after missing 6 weeks of training due to injury.

Small mercies? Well, the knee seems to be back in almost full working order. I can feel the occasional twinge but it is not hurting any more, and not at all when I'm running.

I'm whining too much these days - so let's end this on a high. Cian is now in secondary school, City are top of the Premier League and the kids say Mummy should go away more often as weekends are much more fun with just Daddy around (that might be due to the fact that I don't give them a list of things to do before they are allowed on screens, but don't tell Niamh)

26 Aug

5 miles, 45:38, 9:08 pace, HR 133

27 Aug

6+ miles, 50:40, 8:58 pace, HR 138

   incl strides

28 Aug

12 miles, 1:35:56, 8:00 pace, HR 154

29 Aug

6 miles, 54:45, 9:07 pace, HR 132

Reboot Once More

This is without a shadow of a doubt the most frustrating training cycle for a long time. When I started out running I used to get injured a lot but once my body got used to the load things have usually gone very smoothly, leading to a steady improvement up to a level that I would not even have dared to dream about 10 years ago. However, I felt I had reached a plateau and needed to change things. Change carries risk (I know that only too well, working in an IT department), and with me not being dialled into things as much as I am used to, things keep going wrong.

I have managed to avoid injury but something is clearly not working as it should. I know that it takes me several months to recover from a 24 hours race but I am not used to the legs still feeling so off 2 months later, and every time I think finally there is some real progress happening, something goes wrong again.

When I came home from my holidays I genuinely thought I was very much recovered after some thoroughly relaxing days. The first 2 runs back home seemed to confirm that, only for my illusions to be smashed once more with a nightmare run on Saturday.

We have now pulled the emergency cord once more. Two weeks of low mileage and almost entirely at slow pace are ahead of me. 5 days into that program I can still sense some heaviness in the legs, though that might just be in my head. So, basically every morning I head out keeping the HR below 136, something I would not even remotely have contemplated when I was making up the training schedule by myself.

There is a tiny bit of variety - I did some fast strides at the end on Monday and today (Thursday) was a test. 1 mile warm up, 5 miles at HR 135 (as close as possible), 1 mile at 90% effort, 1 mile cool down. Keeping the HR at 135 worked surprisingly well, I guess I'm tuned into that kind of effort by now. I then ran the fast mile entirely by feel, though I wasn't entirely sure how much effort 90% effort actually is. I'm sure I would have run faster had I checked the watch - 6:43 pace used to be my marathon pace, and that doesn't feel like 90 % effort.

There is more easy running to come. I know I'm an ultra runner, therefore running slowly should be second nature to me. Maybe I'll get used to it. That's bound to be a good thing when race day approaches!

On a side note, my left knee started hurting. A few years ago that would have set off all alarm bells but by now I've been through this a few times. It hurts when running downhills and, strangely, when I go to bed. Running on the flat or uphill is fine. It's a minor nuisance but nothing to lose sleep over.

22 Aug

7 miles, 1:05:17, 9:20 pace, HR 133

   with some fast strides at the end

23 Aug

6+ miles, 56:25, 9:20 pace, HR 131

24 Aug

4 miles, 37:54, 9:28 pace, HR 131

25 Aug

8+ miles, 1:10:17, 8:44 pace, HR 138

   8:46 / 9:01 / 8:54 / 9:11 / 8:57, then 1 mile @ 6:43 (HR 163)

And Back Again

Ah well. Holidays don't last forever, though I sure wish they did, especially this time round. On Wednesday we stepped into the plane in Vienna beneath a blue sky and 27 degrees. It was nice weather all over Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and England, and just as we got near Dublin the clouds appeared and as we stepped out of the plane it was 15 degrees and lashing rain. I did ask myself why I just had not stayed there, but by that time it was too late.

That was the only day this week I did not run. Actually I was tempted to run that day as well as we did not have to leave the house until 1 o'clock but eventually decided that a day's travel was enough stress on my ageing body.

On Monday, still back in eastern Austria, I did a run that should have been fairly easy, 10 miles at 30-50 seconds slower than marathon pace, basically an easy run. Well. I guessed my marathon time would be about 3:10-3:15, because that's what I usually run when I do a marathon for training and it never takes much out of me, so I tried to run about 8-minute pace, bread and butter really. That was the theory. In reality I struggled from the start and it never got any better. While it didn't get much worse either, at the end I was knackered and had to conclude that I could not have run a marathon at that pace, never mind 30-50 seconds per mile faster!

That minor disaster was followed by an easy day and the flight back home, and the first thing on the schedule here in Ireland was a speed workout! I guessed if that would not shake out the legs, nothing would. It was another ladder session and I was actually looking forward to it. This one went very well, the pace was significantly faster than last week for pretty much the same effort, and it left me feeling good! The good news kept on coming when the easy run on Friday was 15 seconds per mile faster than the ones in Austria had been and I figured the higher temperatures had been responsible for the slower pace, which made sense. It would also go a long way explaining the poor performance on Monday, so I thought maybe 7:20 was my present marathon pace after all, at least in Irish conditions.

I put that to the test on Saturday with a 16 mile run with 12 miles of them at marathon pace. I didn't force the pace when I got going and was content to leave it at the 7:28 pace I saw early on the watch. Well. Disaster struck quickly. With each mile I got slower and slower even though the effort remained roughly at marathon pace. I averaged 160 beats for those 12 miles, which would be a bit low for a marathon but seems about right for a training run, but I sure had not expected that towards the end I could not even hold 8-minute pace, even though I was working fairly hard.

That was bad! I am happy enough with my short, fast workouts and the 20 mile run last week went well enough, but my stamina is badly lacking right now. It's not that I hit the wall, things went downhill straight away and got progressively worse. I ran the workout on an empty stomach and without any carbs, so my blood sugar levels were probably low but I run virtually all my workouts on empty and it never tends to be a problem.

Things have definitely improved in the last few weeks but something is definitely still missing, I'll talk to my coach.

Update: The next 2 weeks will be very easy.

15 Aug

10 miles, 1:18:23, 7:50 pace, HR 153

16 Aug

6 miles, 56:51, 9:28 pace, HR 133

17 Aug

0

18 Aug

8 miles, 1:07:47, 8:28 pace, HR 149

   1600-1200-800-600-400-200 at 6:37/6:32/6:26/6:17/5:52/5:00

19 Aug

6 miles, 55:11, 9:11 pace, HR 132

20 Aug

16+ miles, 2:11:00, 8:09 pace, HR 153

   with 12 miles @ 7:53 pace, HR 160

21 Aug

4 miles, 37:29, 9:22 pace, HR 132

Training Camp Update

The internet connection is a bit sketchy here and once we get a connection I have to share it with 4 kids, so this is a rare chance to post a quick update.

Holidays are great! Since I no longer have to spend several hours of the day sitting down, the pain in my left leg has completely disappeared; the only time I felt some discomfort was the day we drove for several hour to visit my mum, which was the only day I had to sit down for prolonged times. Any other day has been completely pain free.

It’s not quite as hot as last year, though we’re heading back into 30 degrees today after a few cooler days. I was a bit worried about my long run on Saturday but it was actually quite cool that morning and the sun did not come out until later, so that passed without a problem.

On Thursday morning I had a decision to make. The legs didn’t feel great and I was very close to binning speed work for a second week in a row but my head seemed to look forward to it, so I made a snap decision and went ahead. The coach had prescribed a ladder session, 1600-1200-800-600-400-200 with decreasing rest and increasing speed. I found it got easier as the session progressed. Having learned from the past I never tried to run ahead of myself and concentrated more on running relaxed rather than fast, apart from the last 200 which was close to as fast a sprint as I could handle on tired legs at the end of a session. Hey, I never claimed to be particularly fast – and I doubt that will change much!

However, immediately after that speed session I felt really good and I’ve felt pretty good ever since. Maybe my legs needed some kind of wakeup call, I don’t know, but now I’m glad that I went ahead with that session.

Saturday was a long run and for many miles I felt like I was just about to get tired but somehow I never really did and finished the run feeling almost the same as I had at the start. The pace had been very slow – that was deliberate. The one thing I am not happy about was the HR which rose gradually with each mile, from the 130s at the start to the 150s at the end, even though the effort was pretty much the same throughout. Having said that, during my 18 mile run 2 weeks ago the same had happened but the average HR had come out as 150, so the 144 from this week are actually a nice progression already.

Apart from that speed session and long run it was all easy running with the HR monitor. The pace is slower than I would have expected but the higher temperatures may have something to do with that, so I’ll wait and see how the numbers are once I’m back home in more familiar territory and conditions.

8 Aug

9 miles, 1:22:24, 9:09 pace, HR 133

9 Aug

9 miles, 1:24:34, 9:23 pace, HR 136

10 Aug

3.6 miles, 34:33, 9:32 pace, HR 131

11 Aug

10 miles, 1:24:44, 8:28 pace, HR 150

     1600-1200-800-600-400-200 at 6:42/6:27/6:27/6:22/6:09/5:29

12 Aug

3.55 miles, 33:35, 9:27 pace, HR 132

13 Aug

20 miles, 2:57:46, 8:53 pace, HR 144

14 Aug

3.65 miles, 34:36, 9:28 pace, HR 134

Toning It Down

Ok, at some point this week I admitted defeat and admitted to myself that the best way to get out of a hole is to stop digging. I reduced training from an already low level to a barely existing one and on Thursday I didn't do the speed workout the coach had put into the schedule and just ran easily instead. As an easy run this was a good one as my pace has improved for the same HR, so at some level there is actually some progress. I followed this up with a full rest day on Friday (still did strengthening and dynamic stretching and foam rolling) and then an easy long run on Saturday.

The weather this morning was really nice when I left the house but the sun soon disappeared behind some dark clouds and remained there for most of it. The plan said 18, the head said less but when some major chafing started to develop around mile 14 it was time to go home anyway before I did some serious damage. The legs pretty much agreed, it was around that time when they started getting tired so I jogged home from there, missing just over a mile from the plan but hey!

Now it's off to some hot weather training camp (at least that;s how I think of it) with plenty of opportunity to relax and cross train. I don't exactly spend my holidays sitting around and drinking beer (though that does come into it, in moderation) but I'm mostly looking forward to not having to sit in the office chair for a while. Richard might be on to something in his comment to my last post when he pinpointed the Sartorius muscle as the problem, except that I'm pretty sure running does not aggravate it (only sitting does), so I am actually rather optimistic that 2 weeks out of the office will clear that up completely - if it's still an issue when I come back home I'll go and see my physio.

4 Aug

7 miles, 1:03:31, 9:04 pace, HR 131

5 Aug

0

6 Aug

16.6 miles, 2:19:01, 8:22 pace, HR 149

Various

I don't think my heart burn issues are a general digestion problem; I only ever suffer from heart burn 30 seconds immediately after a hill sprint, that's it. Normal running or even a non-hill-sprint-workout does not cause the same discomfort, so I think the problem has a much more narrow focus. However, since there are no more hill sprints in the plan for now I'll just ignore this for the time being.

As for the question why my recovery is so slow this time round, there are several angles on that as well. First of all, recovery after a long ultra is always much slower than I want it to be, so maybe it's no worse than usual and I'm just being impatient. Another theory, not favoured, is that I'm getting old and recovery simply takes longer. I also won't rule out the possibility that running 24 hours on concrete has caused more damage than previous races on a track. My nutrition is pretty much the same as always and definitely on the healthy side (apart from a mild chocolate addiction that's not new and I'm trying to be good). After discussion all that with my coach we decided to cut back the training, even though I'm already doing a lot less that I would usually do, and aim for 2 full recovery days a week, at least for now.

I've had a really weird problem the last few weeks which I've mentioned already. Whenever I am sitting down, after about half an hour my quads start hurting. If I get up and walk around the discomfort disappears within half a minute. If I am unable to do so (say, because I'm in a meeting or doing a course), it gets worse and worse until I am in absolute agony. Until yesterday both legs were equally affected and it just did not seem to be getting any better. Today, however, all of a sudden my right leg feels fine but the left is still bad. I'm obviously hoping that the left one will improve as well (and that it's not simply the left one deteriorating faster all of a sudden). Thankfully I'll be heading into some sunshine next week, which means I won't have to spend half of my day sitting at a desk and hopefully that will clear up whatever is affecting me.

Since training has been reduced this week I've hardly done anything so far. 3 miles on Monday, 7 on Tuesday, all at recovery effort, and nothing on Wednesday. I'm pretty sure I'm not overtraining at the moment.

1 Aug

3+ miles, 30:08, 9:43 pace, HR 128

2 Aug

7 miles, 1:06:17, 9:28 pace, HR 130

3 Aug

0

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

Well, so I had a chat with my coach and we decided to make a change to the plan and see how it goes. For the first time in well over 10 years I am introducing a full rest day into my program in an effort to boost my recovery. It may well be that after all those thousands of training miles in my legs I don't need the high mileage any more but let's not jump ahead. We're introducing a change and we will assess how it goes and if it's not working then we will make another change.

There was a second workout on the program this week; after the fun session of Tuesday it was hill sprints again on Thursday, and just like on previous occasions I found the sprints themselves perfectly manageable but the heart burn after each sprint far more bothersome. It got gradually worse with each repeat, the first 5 were slightly uncomfortable but manageable but the last 2 or 3 especially were seriously bad. I've tried taking Gaviscon before the session but that seems to have rather limited effect. There aren't any hill sprints on the program next week but I might want to try something else for when they return,

Friday was a full rest day! Gasp!

The legs felt ok, actually, it wasn't a response to some immediate need but something I had decided beforehand, after consulting the coach. I wasn't completely idle, I still did my dynamic stretching and strengthening exercises but running was off the menu.

It was barely back on the menu on Saturday with only 3 miles, and those at mere recovery effort.

Sunday was an entirely different matter. The coach has ramped up the long run mileage very quickly, from 10 to 14 to 18 miles in successive weeks. It was always going to be a bit of a challenge, I knew that already. The first half went okay, though the legs were a little bit heavy, but the second half started dragging with each passing mile. However, running on tired legs is something I am very much used to so I got home still in reasonable shape, if rather tired. The biggest shock of the day came when I looked at the HR data afterwards - I really thought I had kept the effort very easy, and the pedestrian pace does bear that out, but an average HR of 150 doesn't sound like an easy effort to me, so there is a clear disparity between the subjective feeling and the objective data.

My fitness levels aren't anywhere near where I would want them to be. There clearly is still plenty of work to be done.

28 Jul

7.1 miles, 1:10:37, avg HR 140

1 mile w/u, 2 miles progression, 10 x 20 seconds hill sprints with walking / full rest recovery, c/d

29 Jul

0

30 Jul

3.1 miles, 29:07, 9:23 pace, HR 132

31 Jul

18 miles, 2:33:58, 8:33 pace, HR 150

Back Down Again

I already knew I had to make changes, last Tuesday's disaster of a workout had shown that very clearly. My problem was, and maybe it was just a perceived problem, that I got an email from my previous coach, whose opinion I still very much respect and value, urging me to more or less stop training altogether for a bit, just so a slow lazy run occasionally when I feel like it and nothing else. One minor problem with that advice is that mentally I always feel like running no matter what the body says, though I get what he meant. The other problem was that my new coach prescribed a different solution. She also had identified the need to rest and recover but instead of a full stop she prescribed a week with much reduced mileage and reduced workouts. After a day of hesitation I decided to get with my coach's plan - after all, I got her onboard to help me with my training and if I go against her recommendations at the first sign of wavering, what on earth would I have a gotten a coach for!

Monday was a very easy day, but Tuesday was the workout day. I wasn't just worrying how my body would handle it, I was also actually worried how MC would take going against his recommendation. The workout was basically just half of last week's run, 4 times 1 minute at 5k pace and 1 minute at 10k/HM pace, and that's it. Just 8 minutes of work and only half of that at some sort of strenuous level. I guess it wasn't just a workout in itself, it was also a test if I could handle any faster running at all.

I got going, and this time completely ignored the paces on the watch, ran entirely by feel, hard for a minute, less hard for another, and repeat, only using the watch to time the minutes.

Well, wouldn't you believe it, this was actually fun! According to the watch my paces were all over the place, though I'm not entirely convinced that the numbers are accurate (6:41 pace followed by 5:32 pace???). I got through the entire workout feeling really good but could also tell that the fun would soon stop if it had been going on for much longer, so I guess the coach got this one just right. I'm actually really glad I went ahead with this, after feeling so good, and so different to last time it just felt - right!

Wednesday was a major recovery day again with a mere 3 miles, something that's hardly worth getting out of bed for. The coach clearly does value recovery just as much.

The sign of a goof coach: have the ability to change things. So far I'm happy.

25 Jul

5 miles, 47:41, 9:32 pace, HR 130

26 Jul

7 miles, 1:01:01, 8:43 pace, HR 141

   6:41/7:13 5:32/7:44 6:05/7:06 5:47/6:28

27 Jul

3 miles, 29:09, 9:24 pace, HR 130

Quads

I have been feeling a bit strange that last couple of weeks. Obviously it's not that unusual for a runner to have hurting quads but my quads are only hurting when I am sitting down for longer than about 30 minutes at a time. As long as I am able to get up and walk around they will be fine again within a minute but I was doing a course at work for 2 days last week and had to stay put - it was agony at times! They are perfectly fine when I'm running, which I find just baffling.

Anyway, after the disastrous attempt at a speed workout last Tuesday I have been trying to dial back. I stopped cycling to work, reasoning that this was the biggest contributor to the pain in the quads, though I'm not so sure now. I also stopped most of the strength training, which may have contributed to a general feeling of exhaustion. Obviously I know that the underlying reason is that I am not recovered from the 24 hrs race, still only 4 weeks ago, and that will take longer still . My basic muscle fibres are fine but my upper fibres take a lot longer to recover, which is why I blew up so badly when I tried to make use of them in a speed workout while running at a slower pace feels perfectly fine.

I did a hill repeat workout on Thursday, which actually felt perfectly good. Short use of those muscle fibres seems to be okay, only prolonged use causes problems.

On the plus side, my pace for the easy recovery runs has increased significantly while still remaining under the HR limit. My HRM crapped out on Friday and I ran entirely by feel, obviously erring on the side of caution. All was back in working order on Saturday when I basically managed to run at 4-hour marathon pace while comfortably remaining under the 136 threshold. I know that's not particularly fast - it's a lot faster than my 24 hour race pace, though!

The sun came out on occasions on Saturday and Sunday, which I used for some badly needed time to work in the garden. This should explain why the legs felt battered for my longer run on Sunday - that and the pretty heft headwind I had to fight for pretty much the entire 7 miles back home from the turnaround point. At least I was not trying to stay at some sort of pace despite the adverse conditions, which is a mistake I've made often enough in the past.

I do hope my quads will settle down soon. Due to being unable to remain seated I can't even write long blog posts any more (Ewen will be happy to know!).

21 Jul

6 miles, 1:00:23, 10:03 pace, HR 143

   10 x 20 sec hill sprints

22 Jul

5 miles, 51:51, 10:22 pace, no HRM

23 Jul

7 miles, 1:04:17, 9:11 pace, HR 132

24 Jul

14 miles, 1:56:22, 8:18 pace, HR 148

   7 miles @ 8:27, 7 miles @ 8:07

Weekly Mileage: 45

Too Much Too Soon

I've never had a problem with motivation, that's for sure. The problem was generally going too far the other way, and this time I really seem to have overdone it. In my attempt to make changes after that disappointing result in Belfast I got a coach, started strength training, did yoga, started cycling to work - and then it all became a bit too much.

Sunday's run should have been a warning. From the first step I felt lousy. The legs were stiff and heavy, the pace was exceptionally slow and nothing clicked. I've felt this way plenty of times but usually it settles after a mile or two and I eventually start enjoying the run. Not so this time, it pretty much sucked from start to finish and I was actually shocked when I realised just how slow I had run.

A recovery day on Monday was just what was needed and I felt much better, so I chalked Sunday off as one of those days.

It all came back to me on Tuesday. The speed workout was actually fairly mellow: alternating 2 minutes of 5k and 10k/HM effort, 4 times. That's just 16 minutes of work and obviously a lot less strain than, say, a 5k race.

I sure did get the effort wrong!

Part of the problem was that the watch was slow to catch on the pace and I kept seeing 6:40 or 6;45 pace, which surely is not 5k pace, not even right now. At least that happened on the first speed segment, I'm not even sure if I kept checking the watch after that. But the pattern was already set, I kept working very hard on the 5k segments and then the HR barely came down a couple of beats at the slower segments, providing no respite - after the third segment I just could not keep it going any longer, stopped running and went hands on knees for a while just to stop myself from toppling over. Obviously I should have cut my losses at that point and gone home but for some reason I decided to do the 4th segment after all, even though I was perfectly aware that the coach any coach worth that description would have frowned on that. It was even worse after the fourth segment, I actually ended up lying down in the middle of the road to catch my breath.

Ok, at that point I could not fail to see that I was digging myself into a hole at rapid rate. I stopped the extra training, including the cycling, which had the immediate side effect that my quads stopped hurting. My recovery run on Wednesday was actually perfectly fine, so I think I'm alright as long as the level doesn't get over a certain threshold. I guess I need a reality check on my present 5k pace - even now, looking at Tuesday's data it doesn't strike me as particularly fast, though it clearly was too fast on the day.

The coach will have her input. I didn't envisage the first crisis to come so soon!

17 Jul

10 miles, 1:28:36, 8:51 pace, HR 143

18 Jul

4 miles, 37:49, 9:27 pace, HR 129

19 Jul

5 miles, 40:57, 8:11 pace, HR 152

   6:23/6:57 6:31/7:16 6:10/HOK 6:04/XXX

20 Jul

4 miles, 37:11, 9:17 pace, HR 132

Upwards

When I tried my own Maffetone training 2 years ago, my initially high hopes were eventually dashed when I just would not get into proper peak shape. Afterwards I concluded that my base had been very solid but nothing had been done to build on that. The biggest drawback, however, had been that training had just been really uninspiring, The one thing that had kept me going and highly motivated was the fact that I was going to run in a World Championship. That was such an incredible privilege I would have gone through with anything, so I just stuck to it no matter what.

When my new coach filled the training plan with tons of Maffetone-style runs, at an even lower HR than my own training plan, I was a little bit disheartened at first. However, a second glance revealed a different picture. This isn't really Maffetone training, she is just using the MAF HR to ensure that my easy runs will remain easy - very, very easy in fact. I'm still only just at the beginning but I'm starting to sense that the easy days are being kept exceptionally easy because the hard days are going to become really tough in weeks to come.

The speed workout on Tuesday was still a fairly modest one and none that would have filled me with any sort of dread but I think once the dial gets cranked up a bit that might change. Even though the workout had been fairly easy it was followed up by 2 more easy MAF days. I got some sense of foreboding during Friday's hill repeats, though. In some ways they were similar to the hill repeats I did on my own accord, except that the repeats themselves were longer but fewer in numbers. I had no problems with the repeats themselves - 20 seconds of hard work at a time are over quickly, no matter what. My problem was that I got really bad pains in the centre of my chest about 20 seconds after each sprint. I'm reasonably sure it had nothing to do with my heart (I wouldn't have continued if I'd thought that was the case - I'm not fucking stupid. At least, I'm not that fucking stupid). I think it's basically heart burn. I ran the workout on an empty stomach, as I always do, but I' think if I had eaten anything beforehand it would have come up again. Anyone know a solution? Anyway, this happened after every single one of the 10 repeats and it was seriously uncomfortable. I managed to gut it out but unless I find a solution to the chest pains I'm not looking forward to the next one.

On the plus side, the pace for the easy runs is finally starting to increase which makes them easier to bear. This might be down to some early sharpening effect from the speed and hill workouts but I'm still glad to see the end of 10-minute miles for a while.

13 Jul

4 miles, 38:44, 9:41 pace, HR 131

14 Jul

4 miles, 38:45, 9:41 pace, HR 129

15 Jul

1 mile w/u, 2 miles progression, 10 x 20 seconds hill sprints with walking / full rest recovery, c/d; avg HR 146

16 Jul

4 miles, 37:38, 9:24 pace, HR 132

Kicking Into Gear

Slowly, very slowly, the training is revving up. The coach is following a different strategy compared to what I would have chosen on my own, but that's exactly why I got a coach - I felt I really needed help and had to change things. She sure has changed things already, and we're still only at the beginning.

Sunday's run pretty much sucked. The HR alarm was beeping before I had even left the driveway - already? You've gotta be kidding me! It didn't get much better, I had to slow down to a crawl and even then the alarm kept going off. The only time I managed to get into some sort of rhythm was when I could not hear the alarm because the wind was howling so loudly, but obviously that only ever lasted until I became aware of it.

Monday was better, thank goodness. For some reason I just managed to stay in the zone even though the effort felt the same as the day before - however, the pace was slower as the GPS data showed. That's definitely something that has me a bit worried: my pace/HR is still stuck at the same level as a week ago when I would have expected it to improve; after all, I have one extra week of recovery since the race by now. It's a bit early to start panicking, though.

Tuesday was a radical departure from the easy runs in the shape of the first speed workout! It wasn't particularly tough, neither by opace nor duration, but it was a lot faster than anything I have done in a while. After the warm up I did 4 sets of 1 minute at 5k effort and 3 minutes at 10k/half marathon effort, though it was a bit tricky to figure out into what pace that would translate, especially since I'm so far off peak fitness. Instead of trying to hit a certain pace I tried to run by feel, which seemed to work reasonably well except for the third slower segment when the legs (or was it the lungs?) were close to quitting and I slowed down a lot more than I should have. It provided enough extra recovery to get the rest of the workout done, though.

All in all I was happy enough. I had been looking forward to some pain during all those slow recovery runs in the past few days, so I can't complain that it hurt. Besides, it was a short workout and was over quickly (that's going to change!).

Now it's back to recovery runs again but I guess this time even my legs will admit that they need it!

10 Jul

4 miles, 38:44, 9:38 pace, HR 134

11 Jul

4 miles, 39:30, 9:52 pace, HR 130

12 Jul

5 miles, 40:04, 8:01 pace, HR 158

   4 x (1 min 5k effort / 3 min 10k or HM effort)

Slowly Does It

My new coach has certainly made a difference already - she has made me run a lot slower!

I did try to dabble into Maffetone training a couple of years ago (before Turin especially) and wasn't particularly convinced. She now has me run my recovery runs at an even lower heart rate, but while I was doing ALL my running at MAF effort, she has the training interspersed with some speed workouts throughout. So, even when I found it hard to get into any sort of rhythm for the first 1 or 2 miles yesterday, I can live in the knowledge that there are days to look forward to that will be very different.

For the time being I'm still very much in recovery mode and only running every second day, and that at an effort that feels more like crawling.

The other thing my coach added was supplementary exercises. Squats, dynamic stretching, balancing exercises, and, as she pointed out, they are on the program even on non-running days. I was already familiar with every single one of the exercises she prescribed - I just never had the conviction to keep all that stuff going.

Foam rolling is on the program as well. For the first couple of days I found some very sore spots along my quads but as I gradually eased into them they have gotten remarkably better already.

All that extra stuff takes some time - but she holds it in such high regard that she told me to cut a run short if I'm caught for time but always be sure to do those exercises! That is one thing I certainly would not have come up with by myself.

I went to a beach yoga class on Thursday morning. For 50 minutes it was all lovely and bliss and then the midges came out for the last 10 minutes! I was THAT close to running away but managed to keep somewhat calm. I had at least 2 dozen very itchy bites on my legs, though. If that happens again, beach yoga is off the program for good.

6 Jul

4 miles, 39:28, 9:52 pace, HR 130

8 Jul

6 miles, 58:47, 9:48 pace, HR 132

I'm Back

Let's have one final look at the data from Belfast. This is the pace analysis of my run.

The major crisis points are easily visible and you can clearly see just how bad the third one was. It's also very interesting to note just how much things improved towards the end; from mile 110 onwards I got faster and faster with almost every mile - the damage had already been done at that point, though.

Apart from my big left toe, recovery has been remarkably swift. That toe is still somewhat affected; the swelling is gone but it is still bruised and a bit tender to the touch. The toenail may still come off but it hasn't really changed since last week. I'll find out eventually.

After 8 days of no running at all I started getting twitchy again, so when I woke up early on Tuesday I put on my gear and went for 5 easy miles. Slow as it was, the HR was way too high and I need to get that down again. I'll slow down for a while - especially considering that even that very easy effort from that morning was still considerably faster than my 24 hrs race pace.

I've added some strengthening exercises and dynamic stretching to the program; some of them still from Barry Murray's weekend session a few months ago, and some from my new coach.

Yup, I've got a new coach.

5 Jul

5 miles, 44:51, 8:58 pace, HR 142

Photos And Some Notes

Notes

It's been 5 days since the race and recovery has been going rather well, with one notable exception. Obviously I felt rather destroyed on Sunday evening but on Monday I was already well enough to first go to W5 with the kids for 5 hours and then drive to Dublin.

Muscular recovery was swift. I guess having done this a few times before helped and I'm also reasonably sure that wearing those very cushioned shoes helped in that regard as well. By Wednesday I was walking down staircases without any discomfort.

I had a slight sunburn on my head. The unexpected sunshine on Saturday obviously being stronger than it felt. I did put on a bandana after a while but obviously a little too late. This caused one uncomfortable night on Monday as I just could not find a way to put my head onto the pillow with it pressing against my hurting skin but was suddenly gone by Tuesday.

My endocrine system took a hit and I have been feeling tired all week. I wasn't my usual self in the office. Today, Friday, I can feel a massive improvement, though, and am almost back to feeling human again.

I got a rash of small spots all over my forehead. I had the same thing happening after Turin and the Spartathlon. I have no idea what exactly is causing it (endocrine system?) but it seems to be happening after each extreme effort. That's gone away now as well.

The one area that is giving me by far the most grief is the big toe on my left foot. It is badly swollen with an angry red are close to teh nail. The nail itself is a bit dark which makes me suspect that I might have an uneven number of toenails in a few days. This is still very uncomfortable, 5 days after the race, and nothing I've ever had to deal with before. I'm blaming it on the Hokas. They might have saved my muscles from some damage but their toebox is notoriously narrow and sub-optimal. I might check out their latest shoe (Clayton), which apparently has some improvement in that area.

I haven't done any running yet. I might have been tempted by the quick recovery of the muscle damage but the toe will prevent that for a while. Most likely a good thing! I did an hour of yoga on the beach on Thursday morning, though.

Photos

from John Desmond (who was Grellan's crew):

from the race officials: