There is ever so slightly contradicting feedback this week. The numbers aren’t particularly great, my HR is far higher for any given run than I would like and higher than I would estimate from pure effort. On the other hand, I’m starting to feel really good again; at least on most days. My Achilles troubles have finally gone away and the knee is barely noticeable anymore, so I’m definitely back in business. There is nothing I can do about the lost training. At least I was still able to run every day but a few workouts had to be binned.

I’m starting to settle into a routine. I somehow managed to squeeze my bike into my tiny car when driving back from Kerry on Sunday, so now I have an extra option for the commute. What I ended up doing was to cycle in on Monday morning with a big backpack containing office clothes for the whole week and run most of the other times.

Tuesday morning went particularly well, I felt really good but still took it easy and was flabbergasted when I looked at the numbers afterwards and saw 7:35 pace. It was the downhill part of the commute but even so I would have thought the effort was closer to 8-minute pace.

I had an extra run on Tuesday evening when Anto, he of Donadea fame, invited me to a run in the Wicklow mountains, He brought me towards Lough Dan where we proceeded to run through some rather rough territory – it wasn’t even trail running half the time, just plain bushwhacking, and I still have the scratches form the gorse to prove it. That had been my second run that day after the  morning commute and I was suitably tired afterwards. Therefore I cut Wednesday’s mid-week long run down by a couple of miles to a mere 13, taking the scenic route back home from work. That will work in future for the times I need a bit more than 5.5 miles at a time.

It didn’t come as much of a surprise that the legs were a bit heavy on Thursday morning, so I took it rather easy on the commute to work – and on the way home again, though the headwind and the uphill miles made that a bit of a struggle

I’m racking up the miles again, not as much as I used to in the past, but a lot more than earlier in the year when I was still recovering from my overtraining. I can tell a massive difference between what I was like before Albi and now. The move to Dublin and the added stress that came with it did some damage but I’m over the worst now.

22 May

5.5 miles, 43:24, 7:53 pace, HR 145

23 May

am: 5.5 miles, 41:44, 7:35 pace, HR 146

pm: 7.6 miles, 1:39:18, 13:02 pace, off-road

24 May

13 miles, 1:44:41, 8:03 pace, HR 147

25 May

am: 5.5 miles, 44:03, 8:00 pace, HR 144

pm: 5.5 miles, 46:23, 8:26 pace, HR 145

My Achilles Heel

I might not be a Greek demigod but I do share a weakness with one of Old Homer's finest. My right Achilles has a tendency to act up every now and again.

To be fair, it's been 4 years since the latest flare up, so I certainly can't complain too loudly. But complain I did, eventually, whining to my coach. He identified the problem not as tendinitis but an issue at the point where the tendon connects with the calf muscle. Most interestingly, the prescribed cure was not rest but to keep on training; exercise being more beneficial than idleness - something that I have learned time and time again to be true (with one exception in the last 10 years).

Anyway, my normal runs were manageable. The Achilles did hurt a little bit but it was definitely manageable. What it did hamper was my workout on Friday when I tried my usual few miles at a faster effort. The Achilles started to hurt as soon as I got above a certain threshold and I very quickly learned that forcing the issue was not on the cards, so I just kept the effort at a level where it all was still somewhat okay. Interestingly, looking at the data afterwards showed that I managed to go slightly faster as the run went on, from 7:30 pace initially to 7:13 on the 7th miles, with an average of 7:22. That was significantly slower than last week but what can you do.

Saturday was more telling, though. Following the advice that the long run was still on the cards, I combined the run with a tour through my new South Dublin neighbourhood, but never straying too far away from home in case the Achilles started acting up. What I found was that the Achilles was much better already, thank Goodness, that South Dublin is very hilly and that I cannot afford a house in the immediate vicinity (a lottery win being my only hope). I still have a bit of an issue with my right knee, which has felt a bit stiff ever since Longford, but as far as I can tell that seems to be on the mend as well.

After 5 days in Dublin I can state a couple of things. First, commuting by bus sucks. I actually live pretty much the same distance from work as I did in Kerry but instead of 10 minutes it's taking me an hour. I'm trying to get my bike to Dublin and I'm playing with the idea of running to work but I need to get organised first and a lot of the things I need for that are still in Kerry.

Secondly, running on Dublin roads is far less enjoyable than running on the quiet country roads near Caragh Lake. One glaringly obvious thing is my much higher HR the last few days compared to previous weeks, and I'm pretty sure the fact that my brain can't switch off in these new surrounding while I'm pounding the roads is a very real factor. It may improve as I get used to it but at the moment it's either sharing the road with far more cars than I'd like or running circles in a park, which does get mind numbing very quickly. Oh, and if you have some secret tips on how best to run here (I'm not driving to Phoenix Park for my runs - or anywhere else for that matter), I'd appreciate your input.

There are definite upside to living here as well, though. Last night's Iron Maiden concert was a 20 minute drive away rather than a 4 hour trip as it would have been otherwise. I certainly did appreciate that. And it did remind me of my last Maiden concert - in Vienna, 1993. Great stuff.

4 May

am: 7 miles, 1:01:10, 8:44 pace, HR 134

pm: 5 miles, 38:52, 7:46 pace, HR 145

5 May

10 miles, 1:17:43, 7:46 pace, HR 149

   incl. 7 @ 7:22 pace (HR 154)

6 May

18 miles, 2:23:50, 7:59 pace, HR 147

7 May

am: 8+ miles, 1:04:24, 8:00 pace, HR 144

pm: 5 miles, 37:53, 7:34 pace, HR 145

Autumn Blues

It is 6:40 am Friday morning, it is cold, dark, windy and raining heavily. My left Achilles is feeling rather stiff, as is my right knee. I can only move slowly and everything feels awkward. I am feeling distinctly uncomfortable and would definitely prefer a warm cosy bed to this. Heck, even a cold, hard bed would be better than this.

Half a mile later I am warmed up, feeling much better and running smoothly now. Another half mile later and the rain has stopped. Perfect. Just keep running. The next 7 miles pass by mostly on autopilot.

Saturday was a bit nicer. There was a shower while I got ready but I could see the blue skies in the west and did not dally. The last drop fell just after I had started my run and half an hour later even the sun came out to join me. Lovely. What surprised me even more was the pace on the Garmin when I gave it a quick peek. I'm not sure if I should be annoyed with myself for running a bit too fast on an easy day or if I should be delighted that 7:34 pace felt so remarkably easy.

It was downright miserable again on Sunday and this time I could see no break in the clouds, so out in the rain I went. And come to think of it, Met Eireann had promised us a dry morning; shows what they know. Anyway, it was a rather lousy day for being outside and somewhere around mile 7 or 8 I wished to be anywhere else, but felt better again after a while.

There is no such thing as bad weather. Just bad excuses. And it did occur to me that training in those kind of conditions was exactly what made me come second last year in Bangor amongst a group of amazing runners that I would not have a business competing against in normal circumstances.

The other thing I remembered was that last year it was at the middle of November that I finally started to feel good again after several months of recovery from running 126 miles. This year I "only" ran 100 miles five weeks later in the year, but I seem to be coming round exactly the same time again. Things are definitely looking good on the running front.

8 Nov

8 miles, 1:01:54, 7:44 pace, HR 139

9 Nov

8 miles, 1:00:34, 7:34 pace, HR 144

10 Nov

13 miles, 1:41:13, 7:47 pace, HR 139

Pick Up the Pieces

I cannot believe how much better I am feeling right now than 2 weeks ago. The transformation is just magic. Those 2 weeks of nothing but short and easy runs were obviously exactly what I needed, and the difference this has made is enormous.

I got the green light to pick it up again on Friday but for once decided to err on the side of caution and did yet another easy 8 miler. I still don't have full confidence in my body. But I did put it up a notch over the weekend, doing 10 miles on Saturday and 12 on Sunday, all at the same easy effort. I did several months of that kind of running 3 years ago, and I was very surprised how much my pace increased for the same effort when it felt like I did not do any real training at all. On the downside, these were not exactly the most exciting months of my life and I did get frustrated and bored after a while. Back then MC held me on a short leash, but I never managed to show the same restraint when training under my own tuition. We'll see what this year will bring. Considering that the end goal of the present training cycle is a long ultra with a goal pace of 10:30, fast running will not exactly be a requirement.

Saturday was a gorgeous autumn morning with the sun shining so brightly that my only regret was not bringing my shades (it never even occurred to me that they might be required). What a contrast to today when the wind was driving the rain horizontally across Dingle Bay and the Cromane road was decidedly uncomfortable to run on with the water splashing right into the face. That's running in Kerry for you - and it does have its advantages, like it did in Bangor when everyone else was complaining about the conditions and the race had been in danger of being cancelled for health and safety reasons, and I just spooled off lap after lap with my head down, being well used to running in this.

My achilles has been very good and basically unnoticeable until it suddenly hurt quite a bit on the last mile today, a sharp pain out of nowhere and without notice. That's a bummer, but I'm hopeful that this was just a short episode and not a sign of a real setback.

4 Oct

8 miles, 1:02:22, 7:48 pace, HR 140

5 Oct

10 miles, 1:17:15, 7:43 pace, HR 143

6 Oct

12 miles, 1:33:53, 7:49 pace, HR 141

Down In A Hole

Oops, is it really four days already since my last update? Problem is the same as usual, I’m running out of things to say, at least things that I haven’t said plenty of times before.

The good news is that after a lot of slow easy short runs I can finally feel that I’m starting to climb out of that hole that I managed to dig myself into. The legs had not felt the same ever since that 17 mile run death march 11 days ago, but today, finally, I started to feel good again during a run, hallelujah.

Looking back at the data for the past three days I can see that my HR has been higher than I would have expected. I was not sure where that was coming from, even compared to last week this is elevated and I’m not fighting off any infection as far as I can tell and I am not unduly stressed. But MC seems to take this as a very good sign and managed to alleviate my worries. Funnily enough the data for Tuesday and Thursday is virtually identical, and yet I felt fairly crap on Tuesday and great this morning, which goes to show that HRM data alone only tells you part of the story.

The one thing that was particularly noticeable on Tuesday was the number of midges out there, it was just unreal. There must have been millions of the little tormentors beside the lake, for a while I was running with my mouth closed to stop inhaling the beasts and I still ended up with a few of them down my throat, never mind being covered in a few dozen of them when I got home. Yuck.

So, with the legs finally feeling better, I am actually looking forward to running again, something that was not always true over the last couple of weeks. I still told Niamh that I would skip the Valentia half marathon. As much as I’d love to run it, I just know I would start racing as soon as the gun went off and fall right back into that overtraining hole I’m presently trying to climb out of. Maybe next year.

Ohm and the Achilles feels much, much better. The discomfort is completely gone, and the stiffness first thing in the morning is almost gone. I'm pretty pretty hopeful that this might resolve itself completely sooner rather than later.

30 Sep

8 miles, 1:04:24, 8:03 pace, HR 138

1 Oct

8 miles, 1:02:32, 7:49 pace, HR 143

2 Oct

8 miles, 1:03:22, 7:55 pace, HR 141

3 Oct

8 miles, 1:02:35, 7:49 pace, HR 143

Climbing

There was no soreness on Sunday after Saturday’s swift 9.75 km, but the legs had definitely lost their spring. I did not feel bad as I started out on my long run, but I had absolutely no zip in my legs and was content to slog along at a rather sedate pace. Admittedly, the fact that I was running straight into the gale force wind had something to do with it as well, it just was not the day for breaking records. I did speed up for the last 5 or 6 miles, because that’s what I always do, and also because the wind was finally at my back.

There still is not much zip in the old legs, but I think that’s still mostly down to Connemara rather than that faster pace on Saturday. I keep reminding myself that I ran 100 miles only 5 weeks ago. However, the HRM gave a couple of nice surprises on Monday and Tuesday. It has been a while since I have seen figures in the 130s, so progress is being made even if I'm not really able to tell from subjective feelings alone.

I had a sore throat on Tuesday first thing in the morning. I wasn’t sure if it was the same bug that had caused a few minor issues last week, but since the HR was unaffected that day I guess it’s a new one. It’s the time of the year for colds of course, half the office is coughing and it’s no surprise when I do pick up the odd sniffle.

Wednesday morning saw the return of a rare beast, namely a midweek long-ish run. It required an early rise and it was pitch dark outside when I left home, so I brought the reflective clothing as well as a headlamp along, for the first time this year. A couple of days later I would have had the moon for company but today it meant a dark run in the rain. I better get used to that, I suppose.

The legs were rather sluggish again, but more worryingly I felt my left Achilles again. This has never gone away completely over the summer, but it had gone down to “barely noticeable”, or 1/10. Today the last couple of miles felt rather uncomfortable. It was back to basically unnoticeable for the rest of the day, though. I'm pretty sure it’s the climbing that causes the Achilles to act up, and I have just run the very hilly loop around Caragh Lake three times in 10 days and twice in 4 days. That’s a bit of a problem because I firmly believe in strengthening the legs by running uphill. For now I have restarted my usual strengthening routine, namely eccentric calf raises, which has worked very well in the past, and hope for the best.

15 Sep

18+ miles, 2:24:00, 7:57 pace, HR 143

16 Sep

10 miles, 1:19:00, 7:54 pace, HR 136

17 Sep

10 miles, 1:16:39, 7:39 pace, HR 139

18 Sep

15+ miles, 1:58:55, 7:53 pace, HR 141

Last week’s mileage: 80+

Intermission (Still)

Niamh already enquired what I'm writing on my blog when I'm not running. I made a few suggestions but most of them were dismissed out of hand (what's new!). Luckily this state of affairs won't last much longer.

I had a funny encounter the other day. I was cycling to work when a car pulled up alongside me and the driver shouted "well done in Connemara!". That's a first one.

My self-imposed exile from running is nearing its end, I will be back on the road on Saturday. I have already been asked a couple of times if not running is making me cranky. I'm not sure if they are concerned about my mental health or if I'm starting to get obnoxious without noticing, but I think I will just about manage the next three days without any major incidents. But I am definitely looking forward to running again, which is a good sign.

There is one last thing about Connemara, if you allow me to indulge myself. I only noticed it now, but looking at the pace chart from the Garmin track, you can see that from  mile 93 onwards I did a lot more walking breaks than before. I was not aware of it at the time, but all of a sudden I must have switched from mostly running with the odd walking break to mostly walking with the odd running break. I don't know if that has any real meaning, but for someone who hopes to be able to transfer that sort of race from 100 miles to a 24 hours race this is slightly worrying. If I want to break 220k I need to keep the pace up.

I am very much aware that over the years I have read countless of blog entries stating "I will now push on to the next level" only for the runner in question to more or less disappear from the horizon, be it because of a lack of hunger (they obviously never really meant it, which happens all the time) or injuries. After stating in my last post that I want to push on to the next level, I hope I won't be joining that particular group. I'm pretty sure lack of desire won't apply. I have not been injured in years, but the state of my achilles does have me worried. I count injuries as things that stop me from running, anything else is just a niggle and usually gets ignored (a surprisingly effective treatment). I hope I can keep it that way - I've had achilles issues before and they always went away eventually, though I do not remember it ever taking quite so long.

Back To Life, Back To Reality

It did occur to me that for one week in Sixmilebridge I was basically living the life of a professional runner – all I did was either run or prepare for my next run. I think I could have gotten used to that. Sadly, this week it has been back to reality and back to office life, and it did take me a few days to readjust.

My weight has come down a little bit over the last few days and has basically returned to the level I had before the 10in10. I can therefore conclude that running 10 marathons in a row is not a fool proof way of losing weight, something that comes as a bit of a surprise to me, to be honest. Thankfully I did not run for weight loss.

The Killarney marathon will take place tomorrow, Saturday, and I have decided that I will definitely give it a miss. There is nothing to be gained from it. Sure, I could wobble my way to yet another 3:45-ish time, at the cost of setting my recover back significantly, and probably torpedoing my chances of a decent race in Connemara for good (if those chances are still alive, that is).

Every morning since returning home I have run the same 5 mile course. I have gotten a little bit faster every single day so far, but I still feel like an arthritic slug on Prozac (yes, I’m aware that slugs don’t get arthritis. They generally don’t take Prozac either), and running feels awkward, my gait just does not feel right. I can’t quite remember how I felt after the 24 hours race last year once I started running again, but I do remember that it took a few weeks and I’ll try and hang on. It’s starting to get frustrating, though.

For some reason my Achilles, which hasn't been bothering me at all once I stopped running daily marathons, has all of a sudden started hurting again this morning, just a bit of discomfort when I was running but it became really sore an hour later, only for the pain to mostly go away again after another hour or two. I'm not sure what’s going on there, but I do not like it. I have had troubles with that area before and a chronic inflammation is just about the last thing I’d like to take away from Sixmilebridge. On the plus side, the last time this area hurt like that it did eventually go away for a couple of years, so I won’t make plans for a forced retirement just yet.

The Kerry's Eye had a nice article about me and Jim, the other Kerry finisher of the 10in10. They even had a decent looking photo of me (a very rare thing, believe you me) and Niamh was particularly chuffed that she got a mention.

17 Jul

5 miles, 41:24, 8:16 pace

18 Jul

5 miles, 40:11, 8:02 pace, HR 131

19 Jul

5 miles, 39:41, 7:56 pace, HR 134

Post Ten Marathon Blues

What do you do when you have just taken part in an event as epic as the 10in10? It's taking me a while to adjust back to reality, I have yet to make it to work on time and with a full set of work equipment, so there's definitely room for improvement. Do I even want to get back to reality? I guess the bills still need to be paid and the children would go hungry if we ran out of food, so maybe I'll do as is expected from me for a change.

As for a damage report, there isn't much to report. There is no soreness in the legs, though they are quite stiff and feel rather heavy. I did not suffer from any blisters or chafing. The Achilles had been sore over the last 2 marathons, so I guess it's good the event ended when it did as I was heading for trouble. I did not suffer from cramps, which is probably down to the slower pace of these marathons as well as the fact that I took plenty of electrolytes, in the form of Nuun (before the races) and s-caps (during the races). The heat did not affect me as much as I would have expected, obviously it did slow everyone down but I did not particularly suffer - and I did get a lovely tan. Niamh is dead jealous.

One thing she is not jealous about is the fact that not only did I not lose any weight, I gained 2 pounds! I could not believe it when I stepped on my scales back home, I expected to be at least half a stone lighter, maybe more. In these kind of events it is quite common for the body to retain water which will then get released a few days later, but it's already 3 days since the last marathon and my weight has not shifted.

As for running these kind of events, I had no real idea how I should pace myself or what I should do between the races. I started out about half an hour slower than my marathon times, but in hindsight that was a bit too fast, 10 more minutes in the first couple of races would have been better. On the other hand I'm glad I did not follow the advice of running an hour slower (I got that third-hand), that would have been excessively slow and my legs felt awkward during the first "slow" 16 miles as it was.

It took me 5 days to perfect my nutritional regime, initially I tried eating a decent sized lunch but that did not sit well with me and I did suffer from a lot of stomach discomfort during the first few races. Eventually I settled on eating a humongous breakfast every morning (a big bowl of muesli, a big bowl of porridge, a yoghurt and a big helping of scrambles eggs on toast) and very little for lunch (a piece or two of fruit and maybe a scone or similar). I never fancied much after the races; there was a pizza place right opposite my B&B but I could never stomach even the thought of pizza. Rik offered my some of his one evening and I could barely finish one thin slice. I did have two recovery protein drink after the races (one immediately afterwards, one a little bit later), which most likely helped with the calories when I could not stomach solid food. I don't know how many calories that adds up to, but I'm very surprised that it would be enough to keep my weight stable (and no, I haven'd pigged out since).

For recovery I had a massage after most races, some cold baths (though we ran out of cold water) and initially compression tights, though I gave up on those as it was much too hot for wearing tights. One thing I did was a walk around Sixmilebridge for half an hour or an hour (I did not time them) every morning, to get some blood flowing in the legs and I'm sure that made a real difference. Apart from that walk I took it very, very easy all day.

I never slept well during the event, I always woke at 5 o'clock, sometimes I managed to fall back asleep for a little bit longer, sometimes I did not.

Since then I did not take a break. I have read that coming to a full stop after doing something like that would come as a shock to the body and is not recommended, so I did 5 very slow recovery miles every morning. One noticeable thing is that it takes 3 miles for the legs to loosen up. During the marathons I usually felt good after a mile. I mostly blame the early mornings, and I think it vindicates my strategy of taking a walk each race morning, though it has to be said that today was already much better.

I am signed up for Saturday's marathon in Killarney, but I am 95% sure that I won't be running it. I only signed up because I wanted to support my local race but it was a silly thing to do, I have to recover from Sixmilebridge before tackling any other races.

14 Jul

5 miles, 45:37, 9:07 pace, HR 122

15 Jul

5 miles, 44:42, 8:56 pace, HR 128

16 Jul

5 miles, 41:26, 8:17 pace, HR 122

P.S. No idea if the HR values are correct, or even possible. I have finally ordered a Polar HR strap to see it that makes a difference. I'm fed up with Garmin's appallingly bad HR strap.

P.P.S. My weekly mileage last week (Monday to Sunday) was 162.32 miles. Yes, that's a new personal best and rather unlikely to be eclipsed any time soon.

Let's Get The Party Started

The countdown is almost at its end and tomorrow the fun begins.

Could you possibly imagine a better way to spend your holidays than running a marathon every day? Me neither!

I've been ticking along the last 3 days, taking it easy, especially this morning when I ran 7 miles relaxed and easy entirely on autopilot and at the same effort I'm planning for the first marathon tomorrow. After that, I'll play it by ear and decide at the time what effort might be appropriate. If it's 8 minute miles, great, if it's 12 minute miles, fine, if it's walking then not so fine but that's still better than stopping.

I guess at some stage this week and/or next there will be a higher possibility of a DNF than for any other race I've done ever before. I know I can toughen out a fair amount of discomfort but if I think I'm going to do myself some permanent damage then I will not continue. That reminds me of my Achilles, it has been getting better every day and by Monday I thought it was all healed for sure when I accidentally banged the back of my left leg against a chair and a rather sharp pain left me in no doubt that all is not right. Obviously that's not how you want to start a marathon, never mind the first one out of ten, but that's what I have to deal with and I will just have to try and nurse it along.

I'm not entirely sure if/what kind of internet access I'll have in Sixmilebridge, so if the stream of updates stops at some point then that's not necessarily a bad sign.

We're getting some publicity as well, the Indo has a write-up but I think I prefer the way the Clare Champion calls us all a group of elite athletes (unless elite athlete is a new euphemism for nutcase - entirely plausible, of course).

1 Jul

8 miles, 59:17, 7:25 pace, HR 143

2 Jul

8 miles, 1:01:45, 7:43 pace, HR 141

3 Jul

7 miles, 54:28, 7:47 pace, HR 137

That's Why

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weekly Mileage: 74.2

27 Jun

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

28 Jun

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

29 Jun

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

30 Jun

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

Getting older

Perfect for my two bookworms!

The twins just celebrated their 12th birthday. I think this is supposed to make me feel old, but since I started bringing home trophies the moment I hit 40 I don't mind being old; age definitely has its privileges. Niamh once again surpassed herself with her cake-baking skills. In many ways, baking is to Niamh what running is to me and luckily these two fields are perfectly compatible; she bakes, I eat and then run off the calories. It's the perfect match.

Back to running. The legs were a bit heavy on Monday morning, Sunday's 20 miles had clearly left their mark. I ran on autopilot, but what blew me away was the low heart rate which basically brought me into Maffetone territory. I got used to seeing low HRs for decent enough paces when training for Tralee, but did not expect to see those figures again so early in the new training cycle.

With my training settling down now that I have reached a decent weekly mileage and it so far basically being marathon training, I felt it was time for another evaluation workout. With this being the first evaluation in this training cycle and the legs probably not entirely recovered from Sunday I did not expect much from the numbers, apart from giving me a baseline with plenty of room for improvement.

This is what I got instead: (the numbers in brackets are adjusted pace, 7 seconds for every 2 heart beats off the 161 target):

       
        Mile 1    6:28   HR 161    (6:28)
        Mile 2    6:25   HR 162    (6:28)
        Mile 3    6:32   HR 161    (6:32)
        Mile 4    6:26   HR 161    (6:26)
        Recovery to HR 130: 32 seconds

I found these numbers nothing short of astounding. These are just about the best numbers I have ever seen (regarding my own evaluations, that is), but I did get an email from MC saying that they ARE the best figures I have ever produced. He did not seem surprised, but I was, little over 6 weeks since the Tralee marathon and my training has only just started! (MC also said that a sub-2:50 marathon has my name on it [though that will probably have to wait until next year]).

Something is clearly working, though if it's the best preparation for a 100 mile run is still as open to discussion as ever. The one workout I value most as far as ultras are concerned is my by now routine and weekly mountain run on the Kerry Way over Windy Gap, and that's what I did this morning. I followed the same route on the trail towards Glenbeigh and back, which gives me 2 crossings of Windy Gap and a combined elevation gain of about 2000 feet, most of it on the very steep climb up to the Gap itself. I'll never be a great mountain runner, I just cannot let go on the downhill, but I do enjoy these outings a lot and I also enjoy what they're doing to my fitness.

My achilles has improved a lot since I started doing the exercises mentioned in the last post. It was just about noticeable this morning, but definitely improved. I just have to keep doing those eccentric calf raises - actually remembering it is the hardest part.

29 Apr

10 miles, 1:14:49, 7:29 pace, HR 141

30 Apr

11.8 miles, 1:21:53, 6:56 pace, HR 153
   4 mile eval: 6:28, 6:25, 6:32, 6:26, 32 sec recovery

1 May

12.25 miles, 1:47:01, 8:44 pace, HR 145
   mountain run, Windy Gap x 2

Achilles Heel

I am quite fond of saying that I have not been injured in years, especially when someone tries to take me to task over my training regime, usually criticising the mileage I tend to run on roads. I just remembered the last time when I had what I would classify as an injury, it was Achilles tenosynovitis after the Dingle marathon in 2010. The reason why I remembered is the fact that my Achilles has been acting up again recently, though I can't remember if it was the same leg or not. It's just a niggle and as long as it doesn't get any worse I won't call it an injury, and it does remind me that I'm certainly not bullet proof and that my Achilles tendon tends to be my metaphorical Achilles heel [sorry...].

I have had quite a few niggles in that area before, and my go-to cure, which has worked every time except on that one occasion back in 2010, is to do eccentric calf raises (described here, and criticised here), which gives it a great success rate and I'm more than happy to do it once more.

I'm pretty sure it was the mountain running that brought this on, the load on the back of the legs on these steep trails is far greater than it would be on roads with their much gentler gradients, though those extra load are of course the very reason why I am seeking out those trails. Right now the discomfort is definitely manageable (let's say 3 out of 10, worst I've felt last week was 5 / 10), and so far it hasn't had any impact on my training - which is why I call it a niggle and not an injury.

Training wise I'm still building up the mileage, I followed up last week's 74 miles with just over 80 and as long as everything goes to plan I'll do a few more in the next week. The effort has been easy, I never once checked the Garmin when I was out running, the pace always came naturally, though I did raise an eyebrow on more than one occasion when the pace was a good bit faster than would I would have expected.

The one exception to the "natural" pace was on Friday when I did a few faster miles. I was still fairly relaxed doing 6:34 pace over 8 miles, though I did find it quite astonishing that I managed to run an entire marathon at pretty much the same pace last month.

Today's 20 miles went by smoothly, though I did start to tire after 15 miles, which turned the fact that I was going past our driveway after 16.5 miles into a bit of a character test, though I managed to come through that one.

Right now this is identical to a marathon base training phase. As I get closer to race day it will become more ultra specific, though I'm still unsure what the effort will look like. I can't see myself doing 8-hour training runs at 10-minute-pace, and I know that elite ultra runners like Keith Whyte tend to do a fairly fast pace during most of their training. Obviously, and there's no need for reminders, I am not an elite ultra runner and training like an elite runner generally isn't a good idea for the rest of us, and that's exactly where I'm struggling right now. At the moment the plan is to keep doing what I'm doing, run the Killarney marathon at a decent enough pace (not at race pace, of course) and the Cork marathon as a pacer, add maybe another marathon to the list (maybe, maybe not) and then re-assess where I'm standing, how I'm feeling and how quickly I am recovering from these efforts, which will help in deciding how I'm going to approach the 10in10. If that sounds like I'm winging it, maybe I am, but I like to think it's educated guessing, not just pure guessing.

25 Apr

10 miles, 1:15:09, 7:31 pace, HR 143

26 Apr

10 miles, 1:07:30, 6:45 pace, HR 155
   incl. 8 miles @ 6:34 pace

27 Apr

10 miles, 1:10:48, 7:05 pace, HR 147

28 Apr

20 miles, 2:27:17, 7:21 pace, HR 147

Weekly Mileage: 80+

Into The Unknown

The week of Dingle has arrived, much too soon for my liking. But I always knew that 8 weeks would not be enough between Bangor and Dingle, and I signed up for the Ultra anyway. I have absolutely no idea how this will go. I have read plenty of race reports where people ran immense races in similar circumstances and at least as many reports where the race was a complete disaster with a 20+ mile death march at the end. There's only one way to find out, and that's exactly what I'm going to do on Saturday.

Actually, I got a bit of a shock when reading the race web site and realising that this year there would only be one drop-off instead of two like last time. How we are supposed to race an ultra with only one drop off, after 24 miles, is a bit of a mystery to me. Sure, there will be the usual marathon aid stations, but they do not stock gels or sports drink. The sweets and bananas they offered 2 years ago only gave me stomach cramps.

I can carry a certain amount of gels with me and I will do a test run tomorrow to see how much I can put into my shorts without them falling down. An alternative is to use a bum bag, but I'd definitely prefer not to. Let's just say that I'm not too pleased. I'm even considering driving the route on Friday evening dropping off some stuff, but even if I do that there is no guarantee my supplies will still be there when I try to pick them up. That's not a problem I had to deal with in Bangor.

Saturday's group run was of the short and speedy variety. Normally I run the 5 miles to the meeting point but since I am tapering I used the car instead and since we only did just over 4 miles, it was a rather short outing. Anne is training for Valentia and pushed the pace; I think she has a good chance of winning her age group, but obviously that depends on who will be turning up.

I was back on the Kerry Way on Sunday for one last outing. The trail is still as muddy as ever, all the rain during the summer has clearly left its mark. The legs are taking the climb up to Windy Gap very well by now. I firmly believe that that road was fundamental for my great result in Bangor and am obviously hoping for a  similar result this time round.

The weather forecast for the weekend is encouraging, though 5 days out that's still with a great amount of uncertainty. The Dingle marathon has always been blessed with great weather; great for the spectators that is, not necessarily for the runners, but if you're running in such a magnificent environment a sunny day is definitely a plus.

Late Update: there will be a second drop-off at mile 36 after all. That makes things a lot easier.

25 Aug

4.6 miles, 34:27, 7:28 pace

26 Aug

12.25 miles, 1:46:31, 8:41 pace, HR 150
   Kerry Way, Windy Gap x 2

27 Aug

5 miles, 39:17, 7:51 pace, HR 138

Number Crunching

Robert Osfield left a comment: (I hope you don't mind, Robert)

I'm curious, how does your pace/HR/Calories per mile match to what it was like before Connemara?
... I do wonder if you might have enough data to do a similar analysis, do you log your HR, Calories consume, mileage, elevation/descents for each run? It might be interesting to plot the trends and any correlations to race performance that might spring up.

I do have my data of the last few months available on Garmin Connect, so I guess the data would be there, at least for a few months. I have data going back years in a different format, but that's harder to access. To be honest, I wouldn't know where to start with a detailed analysis. I do keep a very simple spreadsheet where I track my pace/HR correlation. I deliberately kept it very simple, ignoring even things like elevation or distance. What I can see are some general trends and the fact that my numbers have never been as good as right now except for February/March this year when I was nearing peak fitness for Connemara. I have never seen figures like that in base training and that's why I think my numbers are very good at the moment, assuming my HRM was working ok (which may or may not be the case).

Talking about the HRM, I do believe most numbers are ok but the numbers of the last 3 days were definitely wrong. It might be just another dead battery, but since the thing is definitely reaching the end of its useful life (it has a crack in it), I have ordered a replacement. I'll see what the figures will be like when that turns up.

I went back on the Kerry Way on Wednesday. One thing I noticed is that I automatically run faster on the rough terrain when I am wearing my glasses, especially on the steep downhills. That's another lesson learned (maybe I'll eventually turn into a real trail runner [no, I don't think so either]). I can feel definitely feel the leg strength coming back. It stood me well in Bangor, hopefully it will go as well in Dingle.

I did my last real workout before Dingle this morning, a repeat of Sunday's 10 miles with 7 at tempo effort. During the week I thought I had gotten the better of the Achilles problem in my left leg by doing eccentric calf raises, but the discomfort returned when running in my Lunaracers. That obviously puts the use of those shoes for Dingle in severe doubt. I will give them one more go and if the result is the same then I'll wear the same pair of Green Silence that got me through Bangor instead. They are nice, comfortable and light as well and would do just fine.

The tempo run itself went a lot better than on Sunday. I was already doing a decent enough pace when I spotted two girls ahead of me in the distance and spent the next mile catching up, which gave me a significantly faster average pace. Funny that. Just don't tell Niamh.

22 Aug

12.25 miles, 1:51:30, 9:06 pace
   Kerry Way, Windy Gap x 2

23 Aug

5 miles, ~40:00, ~8:00 pace
   no Garmin (!)

24 Aug

10 miles, 1:08:53, 6:53 pace
   incl. 7 miles @ 6:38 pace

Too Fast

I never thought I'd have that particular problem, but I really wish I'd learn to run slower in my interval workouts. I should know better, the coach had explained how most runners do intervals too fast and do not get the optimal benefits out of this workout, but it's one thing to know that in theory and a different one to implement that in reality.

The idea was to run a small set of quarter mile repeats at 5K pace, 5:50, with short recoveries of 60 seconds. Daniel's running formula had them a little bit faster, but I think he's talking 400s and a quarter mile is a tad longer which may make up the odd second of difference, not that it actually matters as my lack of pacing ability won't let me run them at the exact right pace anyway.

Halfway through the first repeat I glanced at the Garmin and realised I was doing about 5:20 pace, so I relaxed for the second half. Halfway through the second repeat I realised I was doing 5:15 pace, so I relaxed even more during THAT second half. The third was better, if still a tad fast, and I thought I'd cracked it and therefore did not check the Garmin until late into the fourth repeat when I was back on 5:20 pace again. The next 2 repeats were too fast by a significant margin again and at that point I pulled the plug and called it a day (after recovering while leaning against the nearest fence post, trying not to topple over, that is). I need to safe those kind of efforts for race day.

Considering how appalling the weather has been the last few days, I have gotten away rather lightly. Thursday's 8 miles were the only ones in pouring rain and I can easily deal with gale force wind, I have experienced that often enough.

Puck Fair was affected by the weather as well, but I managed to spend Thursday's lunch time with the kids, sacrificing myself for a few rides at the fun fair, but it wasn't enough to stop the complaints about not being allowed on this ride or him getting more candy floss or her being unfair ... kids these days, eh? The Caragh Lake road was much busier than usual because it serves as Killorglin's bypass to those in the know, but I survived that as well despite some of the lorry drivers mistaking it for a destruction derby race track.

My left achilles was a bit sore last night, but feels better already. I always seem to get achilles problems right before Dingle. After I even got a mention in Dingle marathon's facebook page, I better not let that get in the way of my pacing duties. But hey, there's always Grellan to fall back on, right?

11 Aug

8 miles, 1:02:35, 7:49 pace, HR 146

12 Aug

6 miles, 44:32, 7:25 pace, HR 156
   6x400 (60 sec rec) @ 5:45, 5:43, 5:45, 5:34, 5:39, 5:38 pace

Imagine Appropriate Headline Here

It looks like replacing the battery in my HR strap has sent the gremlins on their way again, at least the recent HR data looks believable. That’s good because I’ve got my first training plan from MC and it includes quite a few evaluation runs where I’m supposed to run at a specific heart rate for 4 miles and measure my pace at each mile. An accurate HR monitor is rather vital in that respect. The coach’s training program starts next week, with the first evaluation planned for Tuesday.

Maia is much better, thanks everyone for your sympathies. She informed me on Monday evening that she found her smile at the bottom of an ice cream tub, and several more bowls of ice cream have followed since. Any more and she’ll bite her tongue deliberately next time. She was absolutely ravenous on Monday, but has returned to her usual state by now. Little kids are amazingly resilient.

On a completely different note, the Chilean miners seem to have caught the world’s attention big time now that they have gone mainstream after being underground for so long [groan]. Niamh seems to pay particular attention to the one guy who had both his wife and his mistress waiting for him. She reckons he would have been better off staying where he was. There is an implied threat in that, of course. She’s clearly telling me that if I should ever be found having a mistress, I better pray for 2000 feet of solid rock between her and myself. But since I have no plans for taking up mining or a mistress, this has no practical application at the moment. (Actually, the cheating bastard seemed rather happy not to see his wife swinging a meat cleaver as he stepped out of the rescue capsule.)

Anyway, with my achilles improving on a daily basis I got a bit more daring on Tuesday and added a (very short) set of strides at the end of my run. That’s a much gentler introduction of fast paces than on my last attempt which ended so badly. I thought I could feel my achilles afterwards, but I’m not entirely sure if that was real or psychological.

Another steady run followed on Wednesday, which felt easier than a similar run on Monday, despite running virtually the same pace. I returned back to the Caragh Lake road for that one. Up to now I stayed away from that undulating road in order to protect my achilles, but I felt no twinge yesterday and thus will be back there again.

Today was easy again, still following the pattern of alternating easy and steady runs. Not much to say about that, but I picked up the pace on the last half mile; finally running 6:30 pace again put a massive smile on my face. I think I’m on my way back.

12 Oct

5 miles, 41:53, 8:23 pace, HR 134
incl. 4x100 strides

13 Oct

8 miles, 57:46, 7:13 pace, HR 158

14 Oct

6.1 miles, 48:09, 7:54 pace, HR 146
incl. 4x100 strides and a faster final half mile

News!!!

Did I keep you in enough suspense? I know you have all been holding your collective breaths (well, maybe), and I can finally post the news the world has been waiting for. To say that I have been unsure on the training for my next marathon is an understatement, so I was thrilled when I got an email last week from someone offering to coach me.

If you have been around the blogging and running scene for several years you will remember the blog of one brilliant runner (and excellent writer) from Arizona, Mike, who kept churning out a string of sub-2:40 marathons following the Lydiard training schedule, first on his own and later under the guidance of an unnamed coach who kept his true identity under wraps.

Said Mystery Coach has now agreed to work with me, a development that has me seriously excited. It's not only the fact that he thinks I might be selling myself short by aiming for “only” 2:59:59, the mere fact that I'm going to work with someone with a vast knowledge of running and training is even better. Just think what I may learn!

The first priority is getting my achilles right. I have ditched my most worn-out shoes, the ones that I was wearing on Tuesday when it all went haywire, and also ordered a new pair to replace the next in line, which are also coming towards the end of their useful life. Personally, I think the main factor in my injury was running 50 miles for a hilly road race and since I'm not planning on repeating that in the next few weeks I'm reasonably optimistic that this will clear up without causing any further calamities.

I was back on the road on Thursday for 5 miles, trying to run 8-minute miles in order to get used to that pace for Dublin, which I'm still hopeful for. A very slow first mile meant I didn't quite make it, but the heel was fine. I did 8 miles on Friday, the first 4 of which against a nearly gale-force wind, the return leg under far easier conditions. However, there seemed to be some discomfort after about 6 miles, so I eased up considerably for the last 2. Today's 5 miles were ok again. The heart rate was rather high, most likely caused by a lingering cold that is otherwise hardly noticeable, but that has been improving as of today.

That's not really training, just barely enough running to get my daily fix to stop me from going bananas. I have been running through achilles pain in the past, including 20 mile long runs, and it always got better after a few weeks. In the meantime I'm trying to help things along with ice bags, ankle wraps and enough eccentric calf raises to turn my lower right leg into a complete oddball.

Family life meant a trip to the Dingle to revisit the sight of my greatest triumphs food and wine festival today. The food trail was great, but the value for money very uneven, ranging from a very reasonable bowl of mussels to some rather less attractively priced skewers that went for a Euro per prawn! But since a trip to Dingle inevitably includes a trip to Murphy's, we all left happy, even with a much lighter wallet.

30 Sep

5 miles, 40:22, 8:04 pace, HR 153

1 Oct

8 miles, 1:03:26, 7:56 pace HR 157

2 Oct

5 miles, 39:40, 7:56 pace, HR 150

Something, Finally

I had intended to take 2 weeks off. I lasted 11 days. Close.

The achilles is still an issue. On Wednesday I did not feel it at all any more, but as soon as I had taken 5 steps on Thursday morning, my first run since the ultra, I knew that this would bother me for quite some time. The conventional wisdom would probably have meant to rest more. However, there is method in my madness. I have run through niggles before, including achilles troubles, and they all went away eventually while running through it. The discomfort is easily manageable, so far. If it gets worse again, I will review the situation.

5 miles on Thursday were followed by 4 on Friday. I would have done more but I only woke at 7 o'clock. I did not set the alarm because I prefer to wake naturally. Once I get into the swing of things, this will become normal. I rarely need the alarm clock, even when I get up at 5 o'clock. Once I'm tuned in, I tend to waken just a couple of minutes before the alarm would have gone.

Sleeping in on Saturday would have been nice, but Maia got up at 7 o'clock, which brought an early end to my night. I gave her some breakfast and then parked her in front of the CBeebies while I went running. It might not be the ideal way of parenting but it the only chance for Niamh to give her an extra hour of sleep, and none of the kids have ever been complaining about one extra hour of kids' television.

Talking about the kids, they were very impressed to see Daddy's name mentioned in the Kerryman newspaper. The lower right corner of page 58 might not be the most prominent spot, but one eagle-eye friend of Niamh spotted it anyway. Fame at last! Well ... at least Lola thinks so.

It's definitely getting cold in the morning. I don't quite need the headlamp yet, but the time for singlets has passed and I even contemplated wearing gloves yesterday morning. Winter is approaching. This can be good and bad. I love running beneath the moon and the stars on clear winter nights, but sometime the rain can be relentless for weeks, which can be hard to handle. We'll see what's in store. I don't expect last year's Big Freeze to be repeated, though.

The heart rate was much too high for this morning's run, showing how much fitness I have lost over the last 2 weeks. It's amazing how quickly you lose it.

16 Sep

5 miles, 41:15, 8:15 pace, HR 145

17 Sep

4 miles, 32:45, 8:11 pace, HR 145

18 Sep

8 miles, 1:01:43, 7:42 pace, HR 159

Nibble, Nibble Little Mouse

Just to clarify a few things about my new diet, it's not entirely raw food. I mostly followed the recommendations in that book, where the author suggests getting 50-75% of your food in raw form, which suits me very well. It means we can still have the usual family dinner together, without me easting something else, or forcing the raw food on Niamh or the kids. And there is definitely no question about me having less energy. The way the 17-miler on Friday went I'd say the opposite is the case. However, I get the sneaking suspicion that Niamh must have thought I was getting too thin as well, because how else can you explain this:



I could not resist! And as if that wasn't adding sufficient calories, then last night's meal surely did the rest. We celebrated our 11th anniversary with a night out at Jack's Restaurant in Cromane. The food was spectacular, as was the bill. We both very much enjoyed our evening out, which made it totally worth it. We took a taxi home, and in the morning I ran back to the restaurant to collect the car. Niamh had to agree that from time to time it can be handy to have a runner in the house. Anyway, my weight is back up where it came from.

The running over the past few days has been very good. Normally I would feel like this when the marathon date is getting close, approaching my peak fitness. I surely hope that this doesn't mean that I'm peaking early, with 13 weeks to go. On the other hand, if I'm not peaking yet and there is yet more to come then it means that I have never even remotely approached my real peak. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Sunday was an easy run, and I duly ran the first mile in about 9 minutes with heavy legs, but then started to feel better and better, and by the time I came home I had pushed the average well below 8:00 pace, and I even added an extra loop to the run because I did not want it to end.

Monday was fairly similar; over the past few weeks I always felt beaten up on Monday, and the runs were slow enough to reflect the fact. Yesterday I somehow felt much better (maybe because I didn't race for a change?), and again I pushed the average pace below 8:00 pace, without straining at all. In fact the heart rate was so low that I initially though my HRM was malfunctioning.

I iced my achilles injury several times on Sunday, which seems to have done the trick. While the issue is not entirely resolved, it feels a lot better already. I have to admit I'm very relieved.

I've now moved into the second phase of the marathon training, and the hill repeats got replaced with 10x400 repeats, to be run at 3k pace with 3 minutes rest. This made it a very similar to last Thursday's fartlek workout, and I felt well prepared to do it. What could have caused a problem was the aforementioned night out, especially the fact that we had shared an entire bottle of wine between the 2 of us, which in reality meant that Niamh drunk a quarter of the bottle, and I the rest. However, it seems like the quality of the wine reflected the price tag, and I didn't have any hangover to speak of. The fact that I had only gotten about half my usual amount of sleep, and that it was raining heavily did weigh on my mind, but since I had to run to Cromane anyway to collect the car meant I didn't even have a choice.

400s at 5:41 pace means running them in about 85 or 86 seconds, and what I produced was this: 87,82,85,88,84,85,88,83,85,83, with an average of exactly 85. I still felt good after the last one and could have gone on further, but I was out of time. I'm not sure if less waterlogged roads would have produced a faster time, but with no wind to speak of the conditions were very favourable, really. I was happy enough with the run, but got a lift from Niamh into work, so as not to arrive at my desk drenched like a drowning rat. To safe Niamh from having to pack the entire family into the car to collect me, I ran home in the evening – which was excellent timing, because the schedule had prescribed a double for today, and circumstances just kind of fell into my lap.

27 Jul

11.2 miles, 1:26:10, 7:41 pace, HR 144

28 Jul

8 miles, 1:02:40, 7:50 pace, HR 138

29 Jul

am: 9.1 miles, 1:09:29, 7:38 pace, HR 152
incl. 10x400 in 87,82,85,88,84,85,88,83,85,83
pm: 5 miles, 37:46, 7:33 pace, HR 141

Weekly mileage: 68.5