Running Updates

First of all, thank you very much to everyone who has donated money to my charity fundraiser so far. We have collected more than €500 already but that's still well short of my goal, and of course the more the better. There is still time to donate, the link is https://give.everydayhero.com/ie/for-sara. I cannot overstate how you all are helping. Sara's partner Brian called us the other day to tell us how much of a boost this has given to her and her condition had visibly improved.

I haven't posted any running-related updates since Donadea. There isn't an awful lot to report, really, Obviously I've been trying to recover as much as possible the last few days. Since I am a strong believer in active recovery I didn't sit around idly waiting for things to happen by themselves. Instead I dragged myself out onto to road on Sunday for 3 miles, which weren't the most fun 3 miles I've ever had. It took about 2 miles for the legs to loosen up a bit but by the time I had done 3 miles I really felt like I'd done more than enough.

The next few days were better and I did 5 miles, each day feeling better than the day before. There was never any acute soreness in the legs, which surprised me. I was even able to walk down staircases without any discomfort. Apart form going into the run very fit already, I think that could have something to do with me wearing the Hokas in Donadea. I think that they make me run a little bit slower because the cushioning might take away some efficiency but the muscles feel a lot better afterwards. It does leave me in a bit of a conundrum for Belfast; if I wear the Hokas I might require more energy but might be able to run better late in the race because the muscles aren't as damaged. There are a lot of "mights" in that sentence, I know. I will have to make a decision at some point but it's very much guesswork.

By Friday the legs felt well enough to increase the distance to 8 miles and I picked up the effort a few times on Saturday to get them spinning a bit faster than the usual recovery run shuffle. I went up to the Windy Gap on Sunday, though that didn't feel particularly great, so I turned around at the top rather than run towards Glenbeigh for a second climb as had been the original intend.

A few weeks ago I hurt my knee from doing the S&C training a bit too enthusiastically. That has gone away since, the knee is perfectly fine again. Unfortunately now it's my lower back that's giving out, and once more I'm pretty sure it's the kettlebells. That's the problem when you're new to something and don't entirely know the ins and outs. My lower back has always been a bit of a weak area and has been hurting several times in the past. I was really uncomfortable on Wednesday but it has thankfully improved since then, though it's still there. I will have to re-think my strength workouts.

6 Jun

5 miles, 43:15, 8:39, HR 130

7 Jun

5 miles, 43:35, 8:43, HR 130

8 Jun

5 miles, 41:41, 8:20, HR 130

9 Jun

5 miles, 41:07, 8:13, HR 135

10 Jun

8 miles, 1:05:33, 8:11, HR 136

11 Jun

8 miles, 1:01:32, 7:41, HR 146

12 Jun

10.7 miles, 1:35:03, 8:52, HR 142, Windy Gap

One Week Closer

I've run 100 mile weeks before. They entail a lot of running; not only is that perfectly obvious, it's also the entire point. I don't quite remember them being quite so tiring, though. I've felt fatigued all week; it seemed to get better by Friday and Saturday, so much so that I was actually looking forward to a good long run on the Kerry Way but as soon as I took the first step this morning I knew it would be a bit of a struggle.

I spent most of today's run thinking up reasons why it's better to cut it short; being too tired, not wanting to overtrain, Belfast only being 4 weeks away and so on. Perfectly good reasons to cut the planned 4 climbs of the Windy Gap down to 3 or maybe even 2. However, as tired as I was at the top of the hill, by the time I reached the bottom I was feeling well recovered (well, duh!) and up for just one more climb. And again and again, until I was actually doing the fourth one and all was left to head towards home.

In fact, I didn't feel much worse as the run went on as I had felt at the beginning. Running on heavy legs is good ultra training, until you reach the point where it's no longer good for you of course, but so far I've never managed to find out where that point is. Mentally it's definitely good to get through such a training run, it gives you tons of confidence that you will be able to keep going when the going gets tough - as it invariably will.

There would have been a great run in the Burren on Saturday, an off-road marathon. Not only have I heard nothing but wonderful reports about the race, both about the course as well as the organisation, it would have been perfectly timed, 4 weeks before Belfast. However, today was Niamh's birthday and that's that. Maybe they can move that race by a week some year; I don't think Niamh will be moving her birthday.

I've managed to get through this week unscathed. I'll take it much easier next week. It's not tapering time yet because there's still one rather long run left next Saturday, which will be absolutely crucial. So, just one workout on Wednesday if I feel up to it, and easy running otherwise. That will hopefully get some life back into the old legs.

27 May

am: 10 miles, 1:19:52, 7:59 pace, HR 141

pm: 4 miles, 35:05, 8:46 pace HR 132, treadmill

28 May

am: 10 miles, 1:17:10, 7:43 pace, HR 145

pm: 4 miles, 34:45, 8:41 pace HR 133, treadmill

29 May

14.5 miles, 2:27:44, 10:09 pace, HR 143, Kerry Way

Weekly Mileage: 103.5

Recovery

People keep congratulating me on my time in Manchester and I keep feeling like an ungrateful sod because I don't really want to be congratulated on a race where I missed my target. I know it wasn't a bad race, just not as good as I had hoped.

Ah well, I guess I'm still a bit in the "what if" post-race scenario.

Recovery is clearly taking its time. I can still feel the marathon in the legs, though it is definitely getting better. As always, my weight went up by several pounds and only started to come down on Saturday, 6 full days after the marathon, and it's still elevated compared to my pre-race weight (and no, it's not down to me overeating).

I tried to take it easy most days, which worked until Saturday when the HR was 10 beats higher all of a sudden. The pace had been a tad faster but the effort had been the same all along, so I'm really not quite sure what exactly happened that day. I never check the watch during my easy runs and only noticed the high numbers when I looked at it afterwards.

Despite that I headed up to the Windy Gap on Sunday. That route is unlikely to match anyone's description of a recovery run but I felt a change of scenery would do me good, and whatever pounding your legs get on a mountain trail is very different to the one you get during a road marathon so it wouldn't produce a setback in recovery (or at least that's my theory). Anyway, the HR levels were back down on Monday morning - in fact the pace/HR figures are very good, just looking at them in isolation I might think I'm in good shape.

However, on Sunday evening my left knee started to hurt. I'm pretty sure it's not caused by running, not even mountain running, but by sitting too many hours in the car driving. Niamh and me have spent a ridiculous amount of time in the car the last few weeks. Early last week I drove the road from Kerry to Dublin (or back) no less than 3 times in less than 48 hours, and all that sitting in cramped conditions is taking its toll. The good news is that running does not hurt at all, so I won't be taking any time off, and the stupid amount of driving should stop next weekend.

There isn't much time before Limerick, and since I won't be back in proper shape I won't be racing it. At least that's the plan, though I'm known not to stick to the plan occasionally when I pin a race number onto my chest. There are a few more long runs to come after Limerick as well - the only sure way to stop me from racing marathons I have found so far is to carry a pacer's balloon. It won't happen in Limerick but I did put my name down for the Lakes of Killarney marathon 2 weeks later. Let's hope I still enjoy running as a pacer more than I do running with a pacer.

15 Apr

8 miles, 1:02:42, 7:50 pace, HR 140

16 Apr

8 miles, 1:01:20, 7:40 pace, HR 150

17 Apr

10.65 miles, 1:31:39, 8:36 pace, HR 151, Kerry Way

18 Apr

8 miles, 1:03:09, 7:53 pace, HR 140

Half A Workout

Tapering for a marathon is as much an art as it is science and there are plenty of different basic strategies. Most, but not all, show a stepwise and significant reduction in weekly mileage. Some include a reduction in intensity as well, but others actually see that increase. My present marathon plan is of the later kind. The mileage has been reduced significantly but the fast miles have actually increased recently. Whichever strategy works best is the subject of much disagreement. It probably depends on the individual runner, and even then things change as the runners gets more experienced.

Anyway, after a short and easy run on Friday I headed up on the Kerry Way trail on Saturday, for the first time in a long time as I wasn't convinced the trail was in a safe state during the winter. To my delight,the bit that had been affected by a small landslide last summer has been repaired so you no longer have to precariously pick your way through a stream over slick boulders. The legs felt rather tired initially, clearly remembering Thursday's mile repeats, but felt better with almost every step and by the time I hit the really steep climb up to the gap I was actually feeling pretty good and posted one of my faster times there without even trying.

I have run several good marathons a week after a run on exactly that route. I think it's an excellent way to increase leg strength, especially in the calves, and one week seems easily enough to recover fully. Let's hope for another notch in that tally next Sunday.

The major downside was that I awoke with some discomfort in my left hamstring,

This Sunday was different, just another short easy recovery run. At least that was the plan but reading an abusive post on a social media site aimed at me was not exactly conducive to a slow pace; under the circumstances I think I did well to show enough restraint to keep the pace to 7:46. It sure could have been worse. The same abuse kept gnawing at me for the rest of the day when I had to drive all the way from Kerry to a Dublin hospital and then back again, making an already stressful and shitty day considerably more so. The fact that I slept really badly that night did not come as much of a surprise. And sitting for so many hours in the car did nothing for my hamstring.

However, mentally I somehow felt a lot better on Monday morning. The fact that I had some more mile repeats to hammer out was probably excellent timing, if entirely accidental. As stated in my previous post, the real workouts are already behind me and today I just did 2 miles at 10k pace, though they weren't much faster than Thursday's. I checked the watch halfway though the first mile and was doing just under 6-minute pace so I backed off, probably a bit too much. The second mile was smoother and better, and that was the "workout" already over and done with. It was even too short to feel tired. Of course I had been a bit worried about my hamstring but regarded it as a test. The hamstring didn't bother me, though the level of discomfort seems more or less unchanged. I'm fairly optimistic it won't be a factor in Manchester.

The race is getting close - there aren't even any more mile repeats left. Just easy pace and a few strides - and of course a marathon!

1 Apr

5 miles, 40:00, 8:00 pace, HR 140

2 Apr

10.75 miles, 1:30:17, 8:24 pace, HR 152

   Kerry Way

3 Apr

5 miles, 38:50, 7:46 pace, HR 141

4 Apr

6 miles, 45:13, 7:32 pace, HR 152

   2 x 1 mile @ 6:16, 6:12

Gone With The Wind

It was always going to happen, of course, and now the unexpectedly nice spell of weather we had at the beginning of November is well and truly over. The last few days, with the exception of Saturday, have all been marked by gale force winds and varying degrees of rain. On Monday a colleague asked me "you didn't go running in this weather, did you?", to which I could only reply "I've seen a lot worse". That pretty much says it all - it wasn't particularly bad and worse is undoubtedly yet to come, but it was the first hint of the winter storms.

I changed my weekend training in an attempt to avoid feeling like a ton on bricks for the first half of the week. Instead of doing a faster run on Saturday and then dragging myself over the mountain on heavy feet on Sunday I ventured into the mountain on Saturday. Following several days of rain the Kerry Way was waterlogged in many places but perfectly runnable (apart from the one spot where there had been some minor earth slide a couple of months ago) and I gave it a good, honest effort - but was VERY surprised to see a segment PB popping up for one climb when I uploaded the data into the computer afterwards. Make no mistake, this is still a soft segment, I am nowhere near top fitness and I ran nowhere near top effort. Running this on fresh legs for a change must have made quite some difference.

The legs did feel the effort on Sunday, of course, but it was the lousy weather that made me change my mind about running around the lake because I really did not fancy facing the high winds on higher ground. I chose the most boring option, namely running to Ard-na-Sidhe and back three times in a row, which is the only piece of road I know in the vicinity where the trees provide some sort of shelter against the worst of the winds. The time passed surprisingly quickly and the legs were okay - a little bit heave but it never got any worse, despite this being the longest run since Sparta by 3 miles.
Entirely by accident I reached a figure of 77.7 miles for the week. Neat!

The legs felt a lot better this Monday than on previous Mondays so I call the change in my training a success. Remember, this is still about recovery at the moment, not building fitness. The numbers on Monday were definitely encouraging, the best ones so far since Sparta, which is good. Tuesday's weren't quite as good but with the gale force winds I had to battle that's not overly surprising. But at least I do get the distinct impression that things are going into the right direction. Finally!

7 Nov

10.7 miles, 1:33:56, 8:47 pace, HR 152

   Windy Gap

8 Nov

15 miles, 2:02:19, 8:09 pace, HR 146

9 Nov

10 miles, 1:21:08, 8:07 pace, HR 143

10 Nov

10 miles, 1:21:04, 8:06 pace, HR 146

My Beating Heart

When I mention words like "I need to be patient" then that is usually a clear sign that I am starting to struggle with that very concept. I clearly noticed this a couple of years ago when MC pointed out in a way that only he can that I had mentioned the need for patience in one blog post and then proceeded to display anything but over the next couple of weeks. I have to avoid running too hard too often - what I need now is recovery.

The problem is of course that running at an easy effort day in day out is just not particularly exciting, not even for an ultra runner. So, from time to time, I do feel the need to push the effort a bit higher. That in itself is not a bad thing, you need to give the system a little of a kick from time to time, the problem is to find the right amount of pushing, balancing everything according to your recovery needs. It's something that I clearly do not get right all the time.

After the fartlek last week I did a faster run on Saturday, though I only did 8 miles in the hope that a somewhat lower mileage would stop me from pushing over the edge. It felt really good to put a bit of effort into a run for a change, so from that point of view I have no regrets. I did wistfully remember the times when I averaged a faster pace than that in my easy runs. However, if things go to plan, those days will return in not too far a future. There's that concept again, patience.

I did pay for that effort, of course, with a pair of heavy legs on Sunday. Instead of drudging along for an hour on the road I headed up to the Windy Gap, though I did take it rather easy. The HR was as high as it had been the day before but the run felt completely different. I struggled a bit early on but once I got into it it went much better than I could have expected - the really steep long climb to the Gap itself went entirely on autopilot, which I usually can only do if I'm in great shape - maybe I've gotten used to it? Maybe I need a bigger mountain - there are plenty of those around here, unfortunately most would require me to drive there instead of running straight from home. That's not going to happen this winter - maybe next year.

Today, Monday, I just ran 10 easy miles while thinking of all my friends running the Dublin marathon at the same time. Or so I thought. I did do a double take when I looked at the HR number afterwards - I swear it was an easy run, why the HR was at the same level as the last 2 runs I don't quite know. I guess it's a lack of recovery, with the system still being compromised after Sparta. However, I don't feel particularly bad, in fact today's run was perfectly enjoyable. Somewhere there is a clear disconnect and I'm starting to think I need some help re-connecting things.

I have therefore asked for help.

23 Oct

10 miles, 1:24:11, 8:25 pace, HR 146

24 Oct

8 miles, 1:01:15, 7:39 pace, HR 154

25 Oct

10.7 miles, 1:33:30, 8:44 pace, HR 154

   Windy Gap

26 Oct

10 miles, 1:20:34, 8:03 pace, HR 153

Taper Madness

On Monday my right ankle hurt.
On Tuesday my left knee hurt.
On Wednesday my left calf felt very tight
On Thursday my left hip hurt.
On Friday my right hip hurt.
On Saturday my left hip hurt.
On Sunday my calves are both tight, my right hip hurts and my hamstrings are feeling tight.

Goodness gracious me, I do hate tapering!

On Thursday I did yet another heat adaptation run. It was hard work but I could tell there was some progress being made, so I was pleased with it.

On Friday I intended to run 10 miles. I got up in time and got ready, only to decide at the very last minute to cut it down to 8. The Spartathlon was only a week away, which must have been on my mind I guess. That was when I mentally accepted that I was tapering, I guess but I had been taking it reasonably easy for a while already.

On Saturday I once again donned the 4 layers for my heat adaptation run. I can definitely tell that my body is adapting: my HR is lower, my pace is higher and the required effort level well down. Heat adaptation is supposed to last for about a week; I'll do one more just to keep it all topped up.

I went up to Windy Gap on Sunday morning. Ideally I would have swapped the weekend runs around
but I did not have time for a mountain run on Saturday, real life not taking a break just yet. The weather was pretty wild when I left home and on the first climb up to Treanmanagh I was wondering what it would be like once I approached the Gap but in actual fact it calmed down considerably over the next few miles and it was almost pleasant. I took it easy and ran most of it on autopilot. If I can run that brutal climb up to the Gap on autopilot I must be in good form, I guess. On the way back home my calves felt unreasonably tight but when I tried to work on them with The Stick afterwards I could not feel any sore points.

This was the last run resembling a workout, I suppose. In 3 days we're flying out to Athens and in 5 days ...

17 Sep

8 miles, 1:05:32, 8:11 pace, HR 155

   heat adaptation

18 Sep

8 miles, 1:05:05, 8:08 pace, HR 139

19 Sep

8 miles, 1:04:52, 8:06 pace, HR 150

   heat adaptation

20 Sep

10.7 miles, 1:39:46, 9:19 pace, HR 142

   Windy Gap

The 12 Days Of Sparta

The mileage this week was a rather modest 56 miles. Just looking at that number you might think I was recovering from Dingle and/or have started my taper, but in actual fact you'd be wrong.

Almost every run this week was a stressor, though I made sure to stress different elements on consecutive days. As for the taper, since I haven't done any training that would require tapering, this will be a rather short one. I've still got one week of training left, though I won't be doing any mad stuff. I'll then take it easy the last few days before the race but that's it.

The legs felt surprisingly fresh on Friday when I would have expected them to be stiff and tired after Thursday's intervals. I did another heat adaptation run, hoping that it would work despite the heavy rain. I wrapped myself into 4 layers once more but tried to take it a tad easier than on Tuesday when I felt I had gotten into slightly dangerous territory. This work is exhausting! The heart rate shows how hard I had to work despite the slow pace and I was definitely glad to be back home. Once I stopped running I had the same lightheaded feeling as on Tuesday, despite thinking I had taken it easier. Also, my HR was actually higher than on Tuesday, so something in my body did not agree with the easy effort. However, I recovered quickly and had none of the confused state that had scared me a bit two days earlier.

I did my standard 10 mile run on Saturday, the same run that would be the run-of-the-mill run in my training, except that I had not done one in months due to the time out with injury. Despite all the progress I have made over the last few weeks it did show that I am still a big bit off top shape - I could have sworn I was moving faster than 7:55 pace, pushing sub-8 still requires more effort than I would have thought. I'm really surprised that I managed to run Dingle at that pace last Saturday and how easy that had felt - race day adrenaline is powerful stuff!

Probably the 2nd best sight in the world! - Photo by Nick Papageorge

To cap off the week I ventured into the mountains once again, despite the heavy rain. There were no views to be had this morning (what a shame!) but that's not what I had come for. I needed to get some more strength into those calf muscles. The left calf has felt very tight all week but some work with The Stick three times a day seems to have gotten me over the worst. Anyway, I took it very easy on that mountain, I wasn't out to break any records. The heavy rain has left its marks, I actually came across a spot where a very recent landslide (maybe as recent as last night, it looked rather fresh) has redecorated the road - I did wonder if it was safe to continue but thankfully the rest of the way was unaffected by anything. The plan had been to spend 2 hours on that mountain. I expected that road to take a few minutes less but due to the slow pace I hit the time almost exactly. Yes, I can run faster than that but today was all about time on feet and getting some strength into the climbing legs.

Sparta is getting close.

11 Sep

8 miles, 1:06:49, 8:21 pace, HR 154

   heat adaptation run

12 Sep

10 miles, 1:19:18, 7:55 pace, HR 146

13 Sep

12.15 miles, 2:00:13, 9:53 pace, HR 145

   Windy Gap x 2

A New Horizon

Oh shit! What have I done!

Right now I'm barely able to run 10 miles. I'm not even sure how I'm going to pace Cork in 3 weeks. And now there is the formal confirmation that I am going to run 153 miles in one go, across a mountain, in the heat, against some tough cutoffs.

A friend of mine once told me "you are looking for the race you cannot finish!" I cannot help but wonder if this is it.

Ah well. I still have over 4 month to get those legs into shape!

The past week has been a bit up and down, Wednesday felt tough, Friday felt good, and I can never quite put the finger down what is causing those swings because I did the same run every morning, at the same easy effort. I can't even blame the weather because on the one day with the most miserable conditions I actually felt my best.

The form graph is pointing slightly upwards but at  much more gradual angle than I would like and with a few dips in there as well. In past years there usually was a day when I suddenly felt a lot better. I'm still waiting for that day to come. Having said that, I undoubtedly feel a lot better than 2 weeks ago, there's no denying that.

On Saturday morning I finally decided to do something else or a change and headed back into the mountains. I had originally been planning on doing that last week but chickened out at the last minute because the weather was so bad. It was probably a good decision because my legs most likely would not have been up to it anyway. It was still tough enough this morning, no matter how easy I went. The first thing I did was to turn off the HR alarm, this was not a run for the watch to beep at me relentlessly. I was surprised how high the HR climbed on that steep gradient up to Windy Gap. The legs actually felt okay. I gave myself a free pass to turn around and go home whenever I felt like but managed it up to the top without much of a struggle. Mind, I took 30 seconds rest at the top before turning around - it felt unsafe to attempt running down that slope with quivering quads. I didn't pay any attention to pace and expected this to be the slowest mountain run I had ever done. Surprisingly this was several minutes quicker than back in February.

Maybe the legs aren't as bad as I thought? Anyway, I know I will feel the effects of today's efforts for a few days. Time to take it easy - not that I anything else would have been on the menu anyway.

6 May

10 miles, 1:25:40, 8:34 pace, HR 144

7 May

10 miles, 1:24:33, 8:27 pace, HR 142

8 May

10 miles, 1:25:00, 8:30 pace, HR 140

9 May

10.7 miles, 1:34:37, 8:50 pace, HR 155

   Windy Gap

Would You Look At That!

It's time for another update, I guess. The legs had their usual post-race heaviness on Monday, though I could not help but notice that a 5k leaves a very different kind of heavy leg behind than a marathon or ultra. Also, when I added up the miles I had done the previous week I realised that I had done over 70 - not exactly a recovery week, and since we are now less than 3 weeks away from the championships I decided to ease up this week, which automatically implies I will be doing a 3-week taper. I have been experimenting a lot with different taper length and generally prefer a 2-week taper but after listening to my body decided to change things this time round. It's not as if I'm just sitting on my backside for 3 weeks; there is still a fair amount of training to be done, just not quite as much as in the preceding weeks,

On Tuesday the heavy legs had already disappeared and were replaced by wings that had my coasting along the road seemingly without any effort. I love it when that happens and would not really have expected it 2 days after a race effort. 7:40 pace was definitely faster than my usual easy training runs but I had not put in any real effort. There is definitely a sharpening effect going on.

The good feeling was not going to last forever, there was a noticeable feeling of heavy legs once
more on Wednesday, which had me scratching my head in confusion after everything had felt so easy just one day before. However, if you just looked at the numbers you would not have been able to tell: it was pretty much the same pace and HR as on Tuesday. Halfway through the run I suddenly remembered that I had been planning on running up to Windy Gap this week, making use of finally having some light in the early mornings, just before they turn teh clock forward this weekend. Obviously it was too late for that day but I decided to do it on Thursday instead, even though that would only give me one easy day before the final marathon of the training phase. On the plus side, going into a marathon with slightly heavy legs will ensure I will take it very easy - at least that's my present theory.

So, up to the mountains it was again on Thursday, and wouldn't you know it, the legs felt fantastic again. Even going up the steep 20% gradient of the final climb up to the gap was basically easy - I just did not feel any fatigue! The original plan had been to drop down to Glenbeigh after the first climb and do a second climb from that side but I had shattered a glass on teh kitchen floor when getting ready this morning and spent a good while cleaning up the mess, which meant less time for running. To be honest, I might still have been able to do the original run and still make it to work more or less in time, however I decided that it was a sign and one climb would be enough for the day (either that, or I simply chickened out).

As you can see from the photos, I received a parcel this morning. I usually don't get excited about new running gear, but this is different. Very different. I still can't quite believe this is actually happening but it's starting to feel rather real. I very much remember the days when I was running marathons in over 4 hours - who could possibly have predicted I was going to wear my country's colours one day!

23 Mar

5 miles, 41:10, 8:10 pace, HR 140

24 Mar

8 miles, 1:01:23, 7:40 pace, HR 141

25 Mar

10 miles, 1:16:58, 7:42 pace, HR 140

26 Mar

10.7 miles, 1:35:53, 8:52 pace, HR 142

   Windy Gap

Pleasantly Tired

With the back-to-back marathons still only a week ago I had a fairly low mileage weekend. I wasn't even remotely tempted by the 3-in-2 weekend in Ballina, but kudos to all who did that one. I opted for a couple of back-to-back workouts instead.

After an easy Friday I was ready for a few faster miles on Saturday. Normally that would have meant a 10 mile loop through Killorglin with 8 miles at tempo pace, but we had a yellow wind warning and the strong gale force winds would have meant 5 miles where 6-minute miles would have felt reasonably easy and 5 miles home where 8-minute miles would have been a challenge, so I opted for a different workout.

The Ard-na-Sidhe road always provides a little bit of shelter, at the very least it takes the worst of the sting out of the wind. It is just over a mile long which makes it suitable for mile repeats but it's not particularly flat which makes it a bit more challenging. I ran 2 miles in each direction, with the odd numbered ones with the wind but slightly uphill and the even numbered ones against the wind but slightly downhill, though the wind was so strong that it definitely had a greater effect than the gradient that day.

6:13 (168), 6:19 (171), 6:17 (170), 6:18 (166)

I got the first two slightly wrong by running too hard, especially towards the end, but the last two felt just spot on, just the right intensity level I wanted to hit. I don't do a lot of speedwork, usually just 2 or 3 sessions closer to a race when I want to sharpen up, and I never try to give it my all. Running their speed workouts too hard is one of the most common mistakes runners make and I generally try to avoid falling into the same trap myself.

The legs definitely felt the effort for the rest of the day and I binned an eventual second run that day. Playing with the kids was a better way to spend the Saturday in every regard possible.

On Sunday I ran up to Windy Gap again. It was an unexpectedly beautiful day, even if it was still fairly cold and windy nearer the top of the mountain, as the name implies. Two weeks ago I had felt like dying on that climb so I decided to run up once and see how I would feel, and only if all systems were green would I descend into Glenbeigh and tackle the mountain once more from the other side. I was actually surprised by how well I felt (I was tired but nothing like last time), so I did indeed do the second climb, alright. I didn't particularly push the effort, there is no need to do so on such a prolonged and very steep climb, and once more felt okay when I reached the top, though I was not at all tempted to add a third repeat.

The mileage over the weekend was only just a touch over 20 miles, which I'm sure is a lot less than most or all of my fellow competitors have been doing, but I feel more tired than if I had done a long run today. I did 52 miles last weekend and I'll do another marathon next week, so the long runs are there as well; this time was more a "quality" based weekend, though I hate that term.

I was still recovering from Limerick this week. Next week will see bigger mileage again.

6 Mar

8 miles, 1:02:54, 7:59 pace, HR 143

7 Mar

8.25 miles, 1:01:32, 7:27 pace, HR 155

   incl 4 x 1 miles in 6:13 (168), 6:19 (171), 6:17 (170), 6:18 (166)

8 Mar

12.15 miles, 1:53:54, 9:22 pace, HR 147

   Windy Gap x 2

Weekly Mileage: 61+

Ups And Downs

I had a great little 10 mile run on Saturday morning and sure thought that the recovery from Cork was now well under way. Unfortunately I followed that up with an entire series of blah runs. Very unusually, I felt worse on my afternoon run that day than for my morning run, and that was followed by an 11 mile run on Sunday morning where I had to grind out every single mile out of the legs. I tried to tell myself that I had felt a lot better towards the end of the run than at the beginning, though in retrospect that was most likely just wishful thinking - or, maybe, I had felt truly awful at the beginning.

The legs felt bad enough for me not to run a second time on Sunday, even though I was very tempted, seeing as I had amassed 95 miles during the week and a short little recovery run would have pushed me into 3 digits once more. However, in the end I decided that would be running miles entirely for the miles sake and left it at that. It was almost certainly the right decision, the legs still felt like crap on Monday morning and not at all inclined to run faster.

With the Portumna 100k looming rather ominous in my very near future, that's not the best position to be in. I have obviously gotten myself well ahead of my recovery and need to step back a bit. I decided to ditch every evening run this week and just be content with running once a week. I also cut back today's (Tuesday's) mountain run and climbed up the Windy Gap just once rather than the planned double ascend. I considered binning the mountain altogether but reasoned that an entirely different stimulus to the road miles might do the legs some good (possibly wishful thinking, again).

The weather forecast was a bit ominous with thunderstorm warnings all day today and I was rather nervous looking out of the window at 6 am. I mean, I'm as daft as they come but not even I would consider running up a mountain in thunderstorms, but a blue sky and beautiful sunshine spoke an entirely different language and off I went, enjoying the view as well as the weather, and the legs felt surprisingly good. maybe I could have done the double crossing after all - no, let's not go there.

I'm now going to do 3 very easy days, which suits me very well as it works both as recovery as well as a mini-taper for Portumna. I have no idea what to expect; my vague notion was to run around 8:30 but my recent time in Staplestown would have me much closer to 9 hours. As a result, I don't even know what pace I should go out with - chances are, it will be too fast. Ah well.

I checked my body fat this morning, for the first time in ages. The scales give me 9.8%. usually I need to be under 144 pounds for the body fat to show below 10%, this time I'm still a pound or 2 heavier. I think I may have more legs muscles from all those mountain running, which is probably a good thing. (Note: the body fat scales might not be accurate but they are consistent, and if they give me a reading of under 10% for 146 pounds rather than 144 then I'm fairly confident that they indeed show a change in my body composition)

I'm getting old and senile. Twice this week I forgot to set the alarm clock. Both times I woke up on time anyway, but I better not keep pushing my luck.

7 Jun

am: 10 miles, 1:16:00, 7:36 pace, HR 130

pm: 5 miles, 39:49, 7:57 pace, HR 135

8 Jun

11 miles, 1:24:55, 7:43 pace, HR 134

9 Jun

10 miles, 1:18:34, 7:51 pace, HR 134

10 Jun

10.7 miles, 1:32:19, 8:37 pace, HR 137, Windy Gap

So Much Better

I knew whining about my tired legs wouldn't be too clever after a 50 mile race, so I didn't. I still didn't like the feeling of those two concrete pillars strapped to the lower half of my body, though. It's a good thing that these days I seem to recover amazingly quickly from long races.

The HR went straight back to normal levels after 2 or 3 days but kept going up and down a bit. However, the heavy feeling in my legs clearly told me that HR data isn't everything. It took until Tuesday evening of this week to have a run that felt good, but that's still only 10 days after Staplestown. I'm sure a closer examination of various body parts would clearly show that recovery is far from complete at this point, but that's beside the point. I've started to feel good again and that's what counts to me.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were all very straightforward, a run in the early morning and a short evening run to round things off. The weather has very unexpectedly turned, we are now able to enjoy a beautiful sunny sky all day long. You can see the smiles in everyone's faces, this is just great.

Thursday's run was a little bit different as I was heading up the Windy Gap again. On Sunday it was a bit of a struggle to climb all the way to the top, this morning I did it almost on autopilot, and twice. A mountain run at sunrise is just beautiful, there is nothing quite like it. I chatted to a friend yesterday who sometimes heads up the same way, we keep wondering why we never encounter anyone else on that route, it's almost as if it were a secret hideaway. I once met a couple of hikers, but this year I have never encountered anyone else on the Kerry Way, and I have been running there a lot.

Anyway, I'm pacing the Cork marathon on Monday, but with the easy 3:30 shift that should be the easiest long run of this training cycle. I should definitely be able to enjoy that one.

26 May

am: 8 miles, 1:02:02, 7:45 pace, HR 134

pm: 5+ miles, 38:57, 7:43 pace, HR 137

27 May

am: 8 miles, 1:02:09, 7:46 pace, HR 132

pm: 5+ miles, 38:50, 7:41 pace, HR 136

28 May

am: 10 miles, 1:16:43, 7:40 pace, HR 139

pm: 5+ miles, 38:13, 7:34 pace, HR 137

29 May

am: 12+ miles, 1:50:36, 9:00 pace, HR 137, Windy Gap

pm: 5+ miles, 39:24, 7:48 pace, HR 133

Recovery

Km 22. Photo by Sean Murphy.
Note the tailback, and the road is clearly not closed

Recovery from Sunday's race is going okay. It's a bit slower that I would have hoped, but I DID run over 28 miles at almost 7-minute pace, so a bit of relative downtime was always on the cards, I suppose. My legs never felt sore; walking down the staircase in the office building is always the acid test and I managed that without any pain. I was feeling quite stiff, however. I followed my usual recovery procedure of doing very easy 5 mile runs, though with the one twist that I ran twice a day. On Tuesday and Wednesday I noticed a huge difference between the morning and evening runs. I felt as stiff as a plank in the mornings but a day of loosening up the muscles made for a very different evening run; I ran close to a minute per mile faster, with the same RPE.

Of course I keep thinking back to Sunday's race. I am very pleased with how it went. I came 4th out of 367 in Ireland, but the global results sounds even better, coming 140th out of almost 37000 runners. Obviously it wasn't the most competitive event ever, but still. Even my kids almost admitted to being impressed.

The race was very well organised. You could tell that sponsor Red Bull had put plenty of thought and resources into the entire package, even if I'm not entirely convinced that them putting their own spin on something as simple as a running race was strictly necessary. But then again, it was exactly that spin that made it such a unique event. The local organisers did a very good job as well, which can't have been easy.

Admittedly, there were a few things that could be looked at for next year:

• The tracking website looked very impressive but did not work, at least not for Ireland
• The road was not closed after Killorglin, despite the road signs saying differently
• In contrast, I don't think the runners made themselves too popular with the closure of the road between Killorglin and Killarney, as well as the resulting long tailback through Killorglin (yes I know, can't have it both ways!)
• One runner took a wrong turn in Killorglin. I'm not sure how he managed that as the road markings should have been obvious, but in retrospective they probably should have put a marshall on that junction.
• The course we ran was different from the map; the change must have been done late as I could see the km markings from the original course as well as the real ones. Mind, the course we ended up running made much more sense, following the N70 rather than taking a few diversions along some tiny roads.
• The helpers at all the aid stations after km 20 did not hand out the drinks, we had to pick them off the table ourselves. It's a minor thing, but it did cost time and was a distraction. At one station I promptly knocked over a cup, which was probably inevitable.

All of which won't distract from the success of the race. Will I do it again next year? Maybe. It depends on my other plans for 2015.

After 3 days of nothing but short recovery runs, I ventured up into the mountains again this morning. I ran the entire run on autopilot. I reckon I must be in good shape if I can run up a mountain in auto mode. I didn't run in the evening as I was on parenting duty, but after the mountain run that was probably a good thing anyway.

5 May

am: 5 miles, 42:49, 8:34 pace, HR 132

pm: 5+ miles, 39:44, 7:52 pace, HR 142

6 May

am: 5+ miles, 42:42, 8:27 pace, HR 129

pm: 5 miles, 38:48, 7:46 pace, HR 135

7 May

am: 5 miles, 42:03, 8:25 pace, HR 130

pm: 5+ miles, 38:28, 7:37 pace, HR 139

8 May

am: 10+ miles, 1:34:52, 8:49 pace, HR 139, Windy Gap

Just A Blip?

I know I had described Sunday's long run as a bit of a sufferfest, but the numbers do deserve a closer look. All week my HR had been in the 130s or low 140s. Even for Saturday's tempo effort I averaged in the 140s, which I took as a sign that I'm in pretty damn good shape. But on Sunday the HR was way up to 154, even though the pace actually rather pedestrian. Some of it was down to the very hilly course, but that explains only a fraction of the rise. I do have a rather simple spreadsheet where I track my HR/pace ratio. For April the chart looks as follows:

Races, especially of marathon or greater distance, almost always have a lower ratio and the dip for Connemara is clearly visible, though you can also see how quickly I recovered. However, Sunday's run was nothing short of alarming, the dip is even greater than the one for the ultra. There are a couple of possible reasons:

1. I had a long week of high mileage behind me
2. It was fairly hot
3. I was quite dehydrated in the end (my weight was down by over 4 pounds)
4. I had not eaten for 15 hours before running

My best guess is that all these factor played their part. However, since the numbers picked up again the very next day I think I'm okay, but should probably be a bit more careful.

This week so far has been a carbon copy of last week with 10 miles in the morning and 5 in the evening, except Wednesday when I ran on the Kerry Way up to Windy Gap in the morning. The pace was generally a bit slower but that was on purpose as I tried not to overdo it.

I will ease off slightly over the next few days because I'm doing the Wings for Life run on Sunday. I want to do at least a marathon, which requires me to run 3:08 or faster, something I am perfectly capable of but it won't exactly be a walk in the park, especially with all those training miles in my legs.

28 Apr

am: 10 miles, 1:18:29, 7:51 pace, HR 133

pm: 5+ miles, 37:37, 7:27 pace, HR 138

29 Apr

am: 10 miles, 1:16:47, 7:41 pace, HR 135

pm: 5 miles, 37:39, 7:31 pace, HR 138

30 Apr

am: 12+ miles, 1:50:51, 9:03 pace, HR 138, Windy Gap x 2

pm: 5+ miles, 37:53, 7:30 pace, HR 138

Sunrise, Sunset

Running twice a day means you are on your feet a lot. I'm starting to learn that. I have no issues with fatigue or overtraining (at least not yet), but the next run is never far away. Running in the evening also has the disadvantage that you have all day to come up with an excuse not to run. So far I have always managed to overcome any attacks of laziness. The only day I didn't run in the evening was Sunday and that had been planned all along because I had already done a long run in the morning.

I can see the sunrise every morning and I'm out again when it's getting close to sunset. In a way that's a neat symmetry.

There are other immediate benefits as well. My weight is coming down, and considering that we just had the Easter weekend makes that a minor miracle. I have 4 children but bought chocolate for 8, as always, and of course ended up eating most of the extra chocolate myself, as always. Despite that the weight is still falling off me. In fact, for someone with a sweet tooth this is basically a lottery win. I can eat what I want without feeling guilty, and after being fairly monk-like in my nutritional approach since New Year this is positively liberating (I'll clean up my act again in time, don't worry). I also sleep pretty well.

I measured my resting HR a few days ago. It was down to 38, about 5 beats lower than it had been for most of last year and the second-lowest reading I have ever seen. The lowest had been 5 years ago at 36, though interestingly enough that was followed by a disappointing marathon.

It's the season of gorse fires and I have run past 3 still smoldering fields in the last few days but so far have not had to adapt any running routes. God, I hate that stupid tradition.

I am going through a ton of running gear. I have more t-shirts than fit into my wardrobe but I'm chronically short on shorts and socks. Half the time I am putting them on straight off the washing line.

This is all just fluff, of course. The real question is, will running twice a day make me a better runner. For that I will have to find a way to keep that schedule going once school starts again, which is still an open issue.

So far the legs are feeling very good. Because I want to get used to the new stressors first, most of the runs are still easy runs, which helps with the adaptation. I made one exception this morning when I went into the mountains again for a double crossing of Windy Gap. The weather forecast had been lousy but instead I got treated to a beautiful sunrise to match the stunning scenery, which is a very nice, unexpected bonus. I do question, however, how I ever managed to run the Gap 4 times in one run last year. I must have been in good shape.

21 Apr

am: 10 miles, 1:15:35, 7:33 pace, HR 138

pm: 5 miles, 36:57, 7:23 pace, HR 142

22 Apr

am: 10 miles, 1:16:03, 7:36 pace, HR 137

pm: 5+ miles, 37:06, 7:20 pace, HR 138

23 Apr

am: 12+ miles, 1:47:58, 8:49 pace, HR 144, Windy Gap x 2

pm: 5 miles, 37:12, 7:26 pace, HR 139

Untapering

I used to very much believe in the taper before a race, and to some extend I still do. But I have come to the conclusion that there are exceptions to that rule. A taper does not guarantee a good race and you can have a very good race without being tapered. My 2:56 in Killarney after a heavy period of training last year was one such case in point, I really surprised myself that day. Since Connemara is not my goal race I decided not to disrupt my training for Belfast any more than necessary and because I've just had 2 easy weeks after Tralee I suspect I don't have a lot a fatigue in the legs left that would require tapering anyway.

Mind, I could certainly feel the two faster weekend runs in the legs on Monday and took it easy. I took it even easier on Tuesday when I ran only 8 miles instead of 10. I also seem to have recovered from that cold during those days, my chest feels perfectly clear again.

While you don't want to tire yourself out with a massive effort, four days before I race is usually a good day to perform one last decent workout. Like last week I went up into the clouds again, and with the drizzly rain you can take that literally. It was still dark when I left the house and I was unpleasantly surprised that light levels were still low when I reached the trail which required a rather cautious approach for the first couple of miles there. It was also the perfect opportunity to test the the Terraflies in tricky circumstances and was very happy to see them perform admirably, I never once slipped even on the steepest sections, be it on stone, grass or mud, neither uphill nor downhill. I did up the ante compared to last week by climbing up to Windy Gap twice but the overall effort was rather measured.

I have four days to recover from this before Connemara, which should hopefully do the trick, and even if it doesn't then I can find solace in the fact that it's not my main race. As you can tell I am going into the race with a rather relaxed mindset, which may well work in my favour, you never know. I'll find out, I guess.

31 Mar

10 miles, 1:18:06, 7:48 pace, HR 139

1 Apr

8 miles, 1:01:35, 7:41 pace, HR 137

2 Apr

12+ miles, 1:51:04, 9:04 pace, HR 141

   2 x Windy Gap

Good To be Alive

I had a strange feeling in my legs on Tuesday as the quads felt a bit sore when sitting in the office chair (they had done the same on Monday), but when I was running  8 miles that day they felt great, the best I've felt for weeks! I'm not sure how to reconcile these conflicting sensations but decided not to worry about them.

One thing I felt a bit strange about was my reaction to winning that 5k. The last time I was lucky enough to win a race I was on a total high for days, it gave me a massive rush that lasted for ages. This time I'm still happy and pleased to have won, but that's it, no high, no real emotions. I think we can rule out the possibility that I may have gotten used to that winning feeling, so that's definitely not it.

I think the universe twigged that it had been unreasonably cruel to place me 101st in Ballycotton and gave me the county championship and that 5k to tell me how sorry it was. Fine, but don't do that again. Btw, my original application arrived in Ballycotton the other day - 3 months after the post date! That one can be explained by incompetence rather than malice, though.

I have raced over the last 3 weekends and that's after running a 50k in February. There is a duathlon in Killorglin this Saturday but I'm afraid I will have to give it a miss. I have already overdone it as it is, my battered old bike is in no condition to race and racing Saturdays doesn't suit the family schedule at the moment (and I've used my free pass in Donadea last month). I need to at least pretend that I am tapering for Connemara. I've decided a few months ago that a race in July was too far away to be the sole focus of my entire training and picked Connemara as an intermediate goal. I'd like to do well there but I still was not going to train specifically for it. It's my "B" race for the year and ultimately still only a training run for Belfast, but it is one of my favourite events ever and I am very much looking forward to it.

On Wednesday morning I ventured up into the hillside for the first time in absolute ages. I have been meaning to go up there but first had to wait until my Achilles was fully healed, then the weather played havoc and then I felt it was too close to those recent races. I did a lot of good hill runs last year which made by legs really strong and benefited me immensely but unfortunately they also hurt my Achilles, so this is very much a delicate balancing act. I am easing into it by climbing up the Windy Gap only once, which felt easier than expected but also took a few minutes longer than I thought it would. I have recently purchased some trail runners that are also suitable for roads, which are just perfect for that type of running as it is about 2.5 miles from my house to the start of the trail. It was a glorious morning with views to die for as the sun rose behind the misty Reeks and got reflected in Caragh Lake - wow, just wow! I didn't have a camera with me but the pictures would not have it done justice anyway. You simply had to be there.

My Achilles does not have any issues but my hip feels funny. Not painful, not even a discomfort, just ... different. I'll keep an eye on that.

24 Mar

7 miles, 56:50, 8:07 pace, HR 133

25 Mar

8 miles, 1:03:04, 7:53 pace, HR 132

26 Mar

10+ miles, 1:29:54, 8:22 pace, HR 143

   Kerry Way to Windy Gap

Clear Progress

A few days ago my daughter asked during family dinner, "if you suddenly had loads and loads of money, what would you do?", and I immediately responded with "fly to Death Valley and run the Badwater ultramarathon", which even my own family found bonkers. Maybe I'll settle for the Spartathlon next time, though I expect an identical response (but at least I do have a realistic chance of making that start line).

And while I'm on family business, the twins just finished primary school, even though it was only like about yesterday when the photo of their first day as junior infants made the local newspaper (with an even more adventurous spelling of their names than usual). Where has all the time gone?

Talking about time, as scary as the passage of time over the last 8 years, or the fact that half of the present year has already passed (how did that happen, did I blink or what?) might be, it is definitely crawling this week, which may just be related to the fact that the countdown for the 10in10 has reached single figures. I can't remember any of my other recent training runs slowing time as dramatically as this one (ok, these ones).

Training is going very well once more. I was surprised to find myself in possession of a pair of fresh legs on Monday because I certainly expected Sunday's run to have left some marks, but no. I had enough spare energy to drop the pace over the last few miles without feeling particularly pushed. If I wouldn't remember for sure that I had run a 50k not so long ago I would not believe myself because I am not able to tell from the pace, the HR numbers or the feeling in the legs.

Because everything felt so fresh I went up into the mountains again on Tuesday, though I happened to pick the one rainy day of the week. No matter, while it did spoil the otherwise breathtaking views, they were not the reason for me venturing up there anyway. The climb up to the Gap was mostly on autopilot, always an excellent sign, but I was still surprised at the end when I saw that I had just completed one of my faster mountain runs even though I really had not pushed the effort, as can be seen by the low HR.

These mountain runs do usually leave me with slightly sore legs, but not even that is happening right now (though it may still come tomorrow). I think aerobically my engine is just about as developed as it can be. I wouldn't be in top racing shape because I haven't done any fast paced running at all over the last few months, but I bet I could fairly comfortably break my marathon PR this summer if I switched focus. Now, that is clearly not going to happen, especially since they just announced the date of the Connemara 100, 10th August (I hope to be finished before the 11th starts), though I still have to organise a crew (anyone fancy spending one very, very long and exhausting day looking after an increasingly cranky runner, please join the queue).

Before that, I have the small matter of the 10in10 to attend.

Still 8 days to go. How can a week take so long when 8 years have just passed me by?

24 Jun

10 miles, 1:12:13, 7:13 pace, HR 146

25 Jun

12+ miles, 1:47:16, 8:48 pace, HR 141
   mountain run, Windy Gap x 2

26 Jun

10 miles, 1:14:33, 7:27 pace, HR 140

From Recovery Straight Into The Taper

The previous week was basically a recovery week for me following the Cork City marathon. In some ways it was the opposite of the aftermath of the Killarney marathon, instead of getting sick I was getting healthy again. I could see straight away that the HR values had returned to normal levels, exactly what I would expect to see so soon after a marathon basically. Great!

Since I ran a marathon that Monday and will be running a 50k on Saturday, I took it easy on the weekend, at least as far as running was concerned, and limited the “long” run to a mere 13 miles. What surprised me was the pace, I never intended to run faster than easy pace, maybe the bright sunshine inspired me. I kind of had to pay the price for that on Monday, though that may well have more to do with the fact that I spent the entire weekend working in the garden and was suitably knackered. It probably had more effect on me than the running.

Initially I had planned on doing another mountain run on Wednesday, but since Portumna will be on Saturday I moved it to Tuesday to give me an extra day of recovery. I think those mountain runs are the key workout of my week even though I take it reasonably easy on the trail, but if you’re running a 20% grade for over 10 minutes at a time, taking it easy is rather relative. I had not done a mountain run in 4 weeks and expected it to feel very tough but the legs must have remembered it and it felt much easier than anticipated.

Unfortunately the beautiful summer weather is a thing of the past, it was quite wet up there on the Gap and the wind is a given anyway (the name speaks for itself). On the plus side, it was quite nice out this morning, in marked contrast to the weather forecast, but I always forget that the weather forecast is for Dublin only, no matter that they pretend otherwise. The legs felt a bit heavy early on today but the spring returned within the first mile; I might still have to pay some dues to the mountain tomorrow. As long as the fatigue is gone by Saturday, that;s ok.

I will do a mini-taper for the next 2 days, maybe 8 tomorrow and 5 on Friday. With a 50k to come the weekly mileage will be decent enough anyway, no need to push things unnecessarily.

The 10in10 is getting scarily close! According to the munsterrunning blog, 20 participants have signed up for the full 10 marathons; apparently this is the biggest field anywhere in Europe to tackle this kind of challenge. Wow – history is being made!

9 Jun

13 miles, 1:34:55, 7:18 pace, HR 150

10 Jun

9 miles, 1:09:40, 7:44 pace, HR 137

11 Jun

12.3 miles, 1:50:30, 8:59 pace, HR 144
    mountain run, Windy Gap x 2

12 Jun

10 miles, 1:14:08, 7:25 pace, HR 144