Weekend Weather

It was fairly miserable outside on Saturday. I had known that in advance but it just looked worse than anticipated. I sat there on the sofa, wasting time on the computer, trying to gather enough resolve to head out, but eventually I realised that I have grown old and soft and the treadmill right there beside me was beckoning instead.

Running on a treadmill is similar to banging yourself over the head with a hammer, except a lot less fun, I imagine. After about 2 minutes I was already staring at the clock, willing it to go forward. I managed to survive with the help of a podcast, but once that was over so was my run.

When I stepped off the treadmill I felt somewhat disorientated and almost dizzy, which was weird. I wouldn't think that running on a treadmill would affect your balance like that but thankfully I managed to get into the shower without keeling over. Because it had been such a short run I had vague ideas of doing a second one later in the day but then I felt really tired, not helped by the Christmas shopping, so I left it at that.

Sunday was much better. The storm had abated and it looked positively inviting. I suppose the easy Saturday helped to have the legs in a fresher state than usual, and I headed out for a long run. I had done a 19 miler before Dublin from Bray via Kilternan and gotten the idea of adding a loop around Leopardstown racecourse, which is exactly what I did today. Spookily it worked out as exactly 20 miles on the dot right at our gate, so I guess I now have a proper long run loop. It's rather hilly, which is exactly what a long run route should be, and of course there are still plenty of options to tweak it a bit if I ever feel the need to add some extra distance.

When the hamstrings started to feel tired after about 12 miles I expected a bit of a slog on the way home but in actual fact they held up really well and I was still in pretty good shape when I got back home, pleasantly tired as they would say. That's good, it looks like my endurance is starting to come back, even if the pace is still maybe 30 seconds per mile slower than what my mind still thinks it should be at.

12 Dec

10.23 miles, 1:27:16, 8:31 pace, HR 146

13 Dec

10.23 miles, 1:26:22, 8:26 pace, HR 144

14 Dec

7.22 miles, 1:02:00, 8:35 pace, HR 135

15 Dec

5.5 miles, 50:00, 9:05 pace, HR 131

   treadmill

16 Dec

20 miles, 2:51:40, 8:34 pace, HR 141

Look Up At The Stars

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.
It matters that you don't just give up.”

RIP Stephen Hawking. 

Running.

It's going really well. It just struck me the other day how I differ from most people. I started training for my race last July, almost an entire year out. Most would have dropped out at some stage, bored to death by the repetitive nature of training with the goal being so far away. I, on the other had, am really enjoying this. I am slowly getting better, first getting over the remnants of overtraining and then still keeping improving. My VDOT values have returned into the 60s, and while they are still not where they used to be 4, 5 years ago, I had been convinced I'd never see those figures again.

Sunday's 20 miler went really well. I got over those big climbs in the first 6 miles really well, my legs are definitely getting stronger even if I'm still not running as many hills as I'd like. Then I just kept going and the miles ticked by with surprising ease. I did eventually start to notice the effort around mile 16, until then I was floating along effortlessly. By then I was close enough to the finish to know I'd still be in good shape at the end.

Tuesday was a new one. There is a running group at the office and they do Tuesday lunch runs, so I joined them. We jogged to Clonmore Park, which is right where I used to live for 3 months almost a year ago, and I wondered if I'd run into my in-laws. The workout was 300 m easy / 300 m hard / 100 m walking, and we did 5 laps of that. To be honest, I'm not sure it's the best workout there is, the intervals are too short (and the recoveries too long) for a VO2max workout but too long for a neuromuscular workout, but it's a group activity and it's nice to be social for a change. Also, I was always the second guy in the intervals and it's so much easier to push yourself in an interval when you've got someone to chase / set the pace.

On Wednesday I finally started running into work, after close to 4 weeks there. It took that long for me to acquire a locker (and I still need another one downstairs at the changing facilities) and I had managed to check out the changing and shower rooms, so off I went. It was an interesting day to start running into work with heavy rain in the morning and fairly brutal conditions in the evening, but I've run in worse.  The route I took is a bit over 5 miles each way, not the most direct route but mostly away from traffic, still going through the same parks as usual. I'll see how that goes. Running 5 miles at a time is not a lot, but doing it twice a day adds up, and there are plenty of options to add a few more miles, should I feel the need.

10 Mar

10 miles, 1:16:12, 7:37 pace, HR 144

11 Mar

20 miles, 2:35:49, 7:47 pace, HR 142

12 Mar

9.2 miles, 1:14:16, 8:04 pace, HR 132

13 Mar

am: 10.25 miles, 1:20:59, 7:54 pace, HR 133

pm: 5 miles, 41:02, 8:12 pace, HR 142

   300 / 300 / 100

14 Mar

am: 5.4 miles, 44:01, 8:09 pace, HR 135

pm: 5.38 miles, 42:58, 7:59 pace, HR 135

Seriously?

It's 10 days into January already? Did I blink and miss half of it?

They say if time flies you're obviously having fun. They also say it's a sign of getting old, and since both apply to me I should not be surprised, I guess.

My HR had been elevated for a few days after New Year's Day. My running HR was slightly elevated but my resting HR was far more affected, at least 10 beats higher than normal. I blame that on my brother-in-law who dragged himself and his family to the big family gathering at New Year's Day despite them all complaining about being sick, with the result that half the clan subsequently suffered from some nasty virus. Thanks, Michael! I strongly suspect the higher HR readings were from the time when my body was fighting off the same infection but it seems to have succeeded, I never got sick and by Sunday I noticed the resting HR gradually starting to come down again. By Wednesday morning it was back to 38, which is just about as low as it gets (I won't say "good" because a low HR isn't necessarily a sign of top fitness).

Anyway, introducing some speedwork hasn't borne fruit just yet. My normal runs have gotten significantly slower, which makes sense as the legs are bound to be tired after workouts and I automatically respond by running slower. My legs aren't used to running fast, so I'll definitely need to give them a bit of time.

I ran 20 miles on Sunday, which I expected to be just another long run but the legs had other ideas. They never felt great but were somewhat okay for the first 15 miles. However, the route I chose had some tailwind for the first half, which I didn't even notice, which meant a 10 mile fight against the wind to get back home. After 15 miles it started telling and the last few miles were a bit of a struggle. After that run I was pretty much wiped out and just vegged away on the sofa for the rest of the day. Ah the luxuries of the rest of the family being on the other end of the country!

Having to fit running into real life is bound to lead to compromises at times, and the only time I could squeeze my next workout into my schedule was on Monday, which is not ideal the day after a tiring long run. I did a few hill sprints, which doesn't tire me out as much as other workouts. The body seems to be handling those better as well, though if that translates into better running performance in general is yet to be revealed.

6 Jan

10.6 miles, 1:23:44, 7:53 pace, HR 145

7 Jan

20 miles, 2:43:46, 8:11 pace, HR 140

8 Jan

7.5 miles, 1:08:52, 9:10 pace, HR 130

   incl 9 x 10 sec hill sprints, 2 mins walk/jog recovery

9 Jan

10 miles, 1:23:19, 8:19 pace, HR 138

10 Jan

9.75 miles, 1:19:33, 8:09 pace, HR 138

Cortisol High

I am actually surprised I'm still standing, never mind being able to run tough long workouts. As of now I have been without proper sleep for two nights. I am feeling sick with stress and worry and whenever I try closing my eyes, no matter how exhausted, the thoughts keep spinning in my head and I am unable to sleep. On both recent nights I have been wide awake but exhausted until about 4 o'clock, and then I manage to drift off for a few minutes at a time but never for long and never into a proper sleep. The story around all this may well be worth telling, but not here and not now.

The world was still standing on Friday morning and I did 5 easy miles for recovery after Thursday's workout. The legs were a little bit heavy but reasonably fine and I did a few fast strides over the last mile or two, which probably explains much of the yet-again-elevated heart rate. Things started to unravel over Friday afternoon and when I got up on Saturday morning, no longer being able to cope with the bed any longer, I got dressed and ready to go. Except then I just could not get myself to open the door and go running. It wasn't the physical exhaustion from lack of sleep, it was the fact that I was emotionally drained and just could not face the freezing cold rain outside. I knew the weather was going to improve later and I would have time for a run around lunchtime, otherwise I guess I would have managed to go out regardless.

When I did go out on my second attempt several hours later the weather had turned really nice, cold but crispy clear. I decided to do 6 easy miles. By the 3 mile point I did not want to turn around and ran for another mile before finally executing that u-turn. At some point I caught a glimpse of the watch and saw a HR in the 150s when I would have expected it to be in the 130s at the time. I guessed the stress levels were playing havoc because the effort was completely easy, or so I thought. It wasn't until I came back home that I realised that what had felt like a slow recovery jog was in fact 7:21 pace. I had messed up my Sunday run last week by running too hard on Saturday, so I was definitely worried about tomorrow's long run. At least that long run was a plain old long run with no faster segment, which made it feel much more do-able, even with the pace too high on Saturday.

Another sleepless night later I got up early again but actually had a bowl of cereal and a banana before going out. I have not eaten before a training run in years but last week's horror show was too much on my mind and I preferred taking some extra calories onboard instead of running for miles on empty again, fat adaptation be damned. The weather was beautiful again, which undoubtedly helped my clouded mind, and I opted for the very hilly loop around Caragh lake, followed by a loop to Ard-na-Sidhe to add up to 22 miles. It all went very well. I started feeling tired after 17 miles and fought side stitches for a mile at 18 but even then preferred to be out running rather than sitting at home with my demons. The fatigue and the stitch faded away again and I was still running well at the end. A marathon wouldn't have taken much out of me today either. At least my endurance is still good.

26 Feb

5 miles, 40:50, 8:10 pace, HR 144, with strides

27 Feb

8 miles, 58:49, 7:21 pace, HR 150

28 Feb

22 miles, 2:50:57, 7:46 pace, HR 149

Weekly Mileage: 70

Hail To The Chairman!

First and foremost, congratulations to Pat O'Keeffe for running his 100th marathon today in Limerick. That's a fantastic achievement and not something a lot of other people have managed. Well done, Pat!

Me, I'm nowhere near that figure, but I do hope to get there one day myself. The next marathon will be in a fortnight in Killarney, though of course to me this will be a training run, but since it's an official event it will count all the same. As you know, training is going well so far. I felt a bit tired after the mountain run on Wednesday, as always, and took it easy for the next 2 days, both of which saw a nice, easy, relaxed 10 mile stroll in the morning.

Niamh has taken Maia and the twins to Dublin on Friday, mostly so that the twins would get the chance to meet their favourite author, Michael Grant, which left me all alone with Cian. It made training a bit tricky, but as long as there is a will there is always a way. In my case it meant getting up at 5 am on Friday so that I could run before driving them to the station in Killarney. It meant getting a neighbour to look after Cian for an hour on Saturday, and it meant getting a babysitter on Sunday.

Training-wise, things got a bit more serious on Saturday. In fact, I got way too serious. Last week I got that workout just right, running reasonably fast but perfectly relaxed. This week I ran too fast, the effort was too high and the heart rate was much too high. I found it very hard to relax and pushed too hard, especially when running into a rather breezy headwind. I only really realised my mistake when I looked at the watch afterwards, but of course I should have caught on sooner.

I can get away with this every now and then, but in the grand scheme of things I'd be much better off showing a bit more restraint. In the end, there was no real harm done. The legs felt fine on Sunday and I even enjoyed the rare glimpses of sunshine. In fact I felt good enough to tack another mile to the end of my long run. What I noticed was that the pace during the second half was dropping below 7-minute pace at times while the effort was still low enough for the HR to remain in the 140s. I don't think I have ever been in that kind of shape before, and I do hope I can build on that even further.

 The temperatures have risen considerably recently and for the first time this year I was actually running in a singlet this weekend. Let's hope that will continue for a while; the last three summers have been desperate and nobody here wants a fourth one of the same kind. A bit more sunshine and Kerry is the best place in the world to live in.

2 May

10 miles, 1:17:07, 7:42 pace, HR 141

3 May

10 miles, 1:16:27, 7:38 pace, HR 141

4 May

10 miles, 1:06:53, 6:41 pace, HR 164
   incl. 8 miles @ 6:29 pace

5 May

21.1 miles, 2:35:55, 7:23 pace, HR 149

Weekly Mileage: 85+ miles

Train and Recover, Recover and Train

When Tuesday's evaluation workout indicated that I am in need of some recovery, I dialled down the rest of the week's runs. I didn't do any major workouts, just short and east recovery runs on Wednesday and Friday sandwiching a set of hill drills on Thursday. I find that those drills can feel rather uncomfortable when I'm doing them but I'm perfectly fine again soon afterwards, which made them a good choice for a recovery week.

Saturday came and it was time to see if the recovery had been sufficient. The plan was 4x3k repeats at 6:20 mile pace, with half a mile of recovery. Michael joined me again, though he voiced his doubts how long he would be able to stay on pace. Last week's workout had not been great as we never managed to hit the right effort. I think I had a tendency to slow down whenever Michael slipped behind a little bit to help him catch up. This time I just tried to hit the pace myself, acting as somewhat of a pacemaker, and as it turn out Michael was perfectly capable of staying with me. We didn't make things easier for us by running the first and third on a slightly uphill road (well, you try and find a flat 3 km stretch!) but the pace was good. Michael then cut the second and third repeat short, dropping out soon after the 2k mark, but we caught up again on the recovery section. The fourth was bang on pace again. I was quite impressed with Michael who managed to run about 11k at pretty much his 10k race pace, but I was just as pleased at nailing the workout myself; feeling challenged but always keeping plenty in reserve and always managing to run controlled and relaxed.

Sunday would show how much I had really recovered by doing a long run. You can't fake those back-to-back workouts, if you're not in shape it is going to show up. The legs were a bit sluggish during the early miles but I settled into 7:30 pace quickly enough. With these kind of workouts I usually have to slow myself down considerably during the first half, but this time that was not an issue, the legs did not feel like going faster anyway, at least not at first. I must have accelerated at some point after the halfway mark because the next time I checked the Garmin I was doing close to 7-minute pace and the average had dropped to 7:23, though that was still perfectly acceptable. Initially, with the sluggish legs, I decided to just run 20 miles at an easy effort but when I started to feel better I decided to run a few faster miles at the end after all, and I pushed the effort from the 15 mile point onwards. The effort now became rather challenging but it felt sustainable enough and I averaged 6:30 pace until I got home. That's a bit faster than planned marathon pace, and indeed the effort felt tougher than marathon effort, but I got home just fine.

I take from that that a few easier days managed to get me back on a even keel. Now it's time to recover again from that weekend and then build on that once more.

Tralee is nine week away. I am feeling really positive about it.

10 Jan

10.7 miles, 1:32:48, 8:40 pace, HR 141
   Hill Drills: strides, thigh drive, downhill strides, high knees

11 Jan

8 miles, 59:46, 7:28 pace, HR 137

12 Jan

12.5 miles, 1:26:43, 6:56 pace, HR 151
   4x3k at 6:22, 6:15, 6:18, 6:21, 6:20 pace

13 Jan

20 miles, 2:23:07, 7:09 pace, HR 146
   15 miles @ 7:23 (HR 141), 5 miles @ 6:30 pace (HR 162)

Weekly Mileage: 79+

A Different Outlook

One thing that differentiates Canova'a approach to the standard one is that pace is more important than distance. I read one interview with the man where he states that a westerner would run 20 miles, no matter what, but a Kenyan would target a certain pace (effort, actually), and once he can't hold it any longer the workout is over, no matter how far he had gone. He also states that one approach isn't necessarily superior to the other, it's just how they act differently (cultural differences, maybe)?

I can't say I have followed that particular Canova principle so far, despite my attempts to base my training on the things I have read about and from the man, but I gave it a go on Saturday. The idea was to hit tempo pace, 6:15 - 6:20, which should more or less coincide with my present half-marathon pace (I haven't run a half in well over a year, which makes this a bit tricky), and not worry about the distance. As soon as I wasn't able to hit the pace any longer, or once it started feeling too hard, I would ease up. At the same time I did not want to give myself a license to pull out prematurely just because it felt tough; it was a fine line to be tread.

Last week's attempt at hitting that sort of pace was a bit of a disaster and I was ever so slightly apprehensive, but this new way of looking at things made it easier. The pace felt comfortable enough initially, but after 2 miles I started breathing harder. A few ups and downs in effort followed, at times I lost concentration for a bit, and once I was past 4 miles it definitely became harder. The pace had already started suffering when I finally pulled the plug on the effort after about 4.7 miles. After about 10 minutes of easy running I felt sufficiently recovered to give it another go and did a bit over a mile, albeit at a slightly slower pace. I think I got that workout right. I hung in there for as long as it seemed sensible but pulled the plug when I got into anaerobic territory. The hope is that next time it will feel that little bit easier and I can keep the same pace for longer, rather than try to hit a faster pace.

There's no rest for the wicked, and out I went again on Sunday morning. I waited out one rain shower, but that was of limited use on a day like today. I had sun, rain, hail, rain, sun, rain, sun, and a few other bits thrown in as well, the only constant being the wind, with a few very bright rainbows as a nice bonus. After about 15 miles I ran into Mark and we shared a mile or two, which was nice and those miles flew by particularly quickly. I did not even have to slow down for these, instead Mark increased his own pace to match mine, which makes me suspect that he is able to run faster than he presently knows himself. I didn't run any heroic sub-7 miles this time, just held a very steady effort over very hilly territory. These long runs are fine, but I am looking forward to some faster long ones as well (I might regret those words).

It rounded off another good week, with plenty of decent pace, and good mileage as well.

14 Dec

10 miles, 1:18:13, 7:49 pace, HR 139

15 Dec

10 miles, 1:07:22, 6:44 pace, HR 158
   4.7 miles @ 6:15, 1.3 miles @ 6:20

16 Dec

20 miles, 2:30:35, 7:31 pace, HR 145

Weekly Mileage: 85+

Definite Progress!

On Thursday morning I knew that I was pushing the boundaries. After hill repeats on Tuesday and 15 hilly miles on Wednesday I was in definite need of a little bit of recovery. 8 miles at a very easy effort did me a lot of good, and in actual fact I was quite heartened that even such an easy effort on tired legs now gives me 7:40 pace. That's a good place to be.

I assessed the situation again on Friday morning. A couple of weeks ago I had made the mistake of stubbornly going ahead with a harder effort even though the legs had not felt like it. However, they felt genuinely good that morning and I could go ahead in good conscience. I ended up with my fastest 10 mile time this training cycle (though I am not racing these workouts - the effort is strictly limited) and felt good all the way through. The one fly in the ointment was the fairly high HR of 162 - all other similar workouts had been in the high 150s, though the perceived effort was still pretty much the same.

Saturday is always a relaxed day because of the group run. I boost my mileage by running to and from the meeting point, accepting the fact that some people take it as proof that I'm slightly deranged, and since it was rather cold I did a few strides on the gravel road beside the GAA pitch instead of waiting around and freezing my bits off.

Strides are definitely an element missing in my training. In almost every training cycle I reach the point where I promise to add 2-3 sets of strides per week to my training, and so far I have alway failed to keep that going for any length of time. I just forget about them. I'll put a note somewhere to keep reminding me. Maybe that will solve that problem.

I managed to keep a good effort going for Sunday's long run. I have generally tried to run my runs at a faster pace this time round, while still keeping an eye on the all-important recovery. I think this is starting to pay off. I used to think of runs at almost 7:15 pace as tempo runs - to be able to run long, hilly runs at that pace and still feel reasonably comfortable is great.

I measured my resting HR on Sunday morning. Even though the measurement might have been compromised by the 3 children running around me at the time, the resting HR has gone down to 44, which is actually lower than before Dublin. I found that rather amazing. I might indeed have managed to get away with running the Dublin marathon as a training effort and subsequently continue training without the need for any time off.

Now let's turn the dial up by another notch and try that again.

8 Nov

8 miles, 1:01:39, 7:42 pace, HR 142

9 Nov

10 miles, 1:07:49, 6:47 pace, HR 162

10 Nov

14 miles, 1:44:37, 7:28 pace, HR 144
   7:03 pace - 5 x 100 strides - 7:59 pace - 7:20 pace

11 Nov

18 miles, 2:10:56, 7:16 pace, HR 153

Weekly Mileage: 81

Recovery Lessons

The last thing I said in my previous post was that I would assess on Friday morning if I should do an easy or a faster effort that day, depending on how the legs felt. The problem with that approach is that you need to be absolutely honest with yourself; once you start arguing with yourself "ah sure it's not THAT bad, I'll be fine" it should set the alarm bells ringing straight away. Well, I didn't heed my own advice, stubbornly went ahead with a faster effort and knew pretty much straight away that I had been stupid.

The most important lesson Mystery Coach had hammered into me was that the base phase is all about recovery, both long term from your previous race as well as day-to-day recovery from training session to training session. Just one look at Friday's numbers shows what happens when you ignore that. The pace was slower than last week, though I can swear that the effort was at least the same. What's quite revealing is the low heart rate: I just was not able to raise the HR, it was about 5 bpm lower than last week, though, as I said, the perceived effort was the same. It would have been better to take it easy on Friday and leave the faster stuff for another morning. The way I did it I ended up with some mediocre pace and a lot of fatigue.

I was late for Saturday's group run. My thinking was that someone who gets up at 6 am every morning during the week won't need an alarm to get up at 8 on Saturday. That has been true every week up to now, but yesterday I overslept. Thankfully it wasn't too bad, I only missed the start by a minute and quickly caught up with the group.

For whatever reason, the pace for the group run was much sharper than usual, but that suited me just fine. Maybe it was because we had the ladies that had come 3th and 4th in the recent Valentia half marathon amongst us, or maybe they are all getting much fitter already. As always I added the runs to and from the meeting point, which gives me a decent mileage for the day, but towards the end I was definitely feeling the miles, another sign that I was behind in my recovery.

I wasn't exactly looking forward to today's long run, but felt that I had to do it. I was prepared to take it really easy, no matter how slow, and just get it done. The 20 miles were made tougher by the hills and the rather windy conditions, and with my legs feeling so fatigued the day before this had the potential to get very ugly.

Instead I was moving well from the word go, cruised over the hills on autopilot, pushed the effort a bit more on the flats and was back home in about 2 hours 30, feeling pretty damn good. I felt I could have done the same loop a second time, though I wasn't THAT tempted to test that theory. So, all of a sudden and without knowing why, I went from feeling like toast the one day to indefatigable the next. There clearly are still a few things about running that I have not figured out yet.

And to finish the post with something completely different, Shea spent the weekend creating a trailer to a movie and editing the pieces together. I don't think there are any actual plans to film the whole thing, but what he did already looks rather awesome, though I freely admit to being biased.

19 Oct

10 miles, 1:09:25, 6:57 pace, HR 153

20 Oct

16 miles, 2:02:47, 7:40 pace, HR 145

21 Oct

20 miles, 2:30:45, 7:32 pace, HR 151

Weekly Mileage: 84.8

Bonked. Hard.

Stop sniggering at the back, I’m strictly talking about the American, running related meaning of that word rather than the decidedly more fun British interpretation. Today’s run was not pretty.

Actually, the last few days had been fairly good. The HR showed a bit of a wobble on Thursday when it was several beats higher than expected for the slowest training run in ages. It may have been the shoes. I always used to swap between two pairs of shoes, one reasonably light (e.g. Nike Lunar Elite) and one heavier and cushioning (e.g. Asics Stratus), always worn on alternate days. After my knee troubles, which started in April, I exiled the heavier shoes (Saucony ProGrid Ride), which meant that I was now swapping between two lighter pairs (Nike Lunar Elite and Saucony Kinvara). On Thursday I wanted to save the Kinvaras for Friday, and in order to avoid wearing the same pair twice in succession, I dug out the Rides again.

It felt like having two bricks strapped to the feet. I still don’t think it entirely explains the relatively high HR, but it goes some way. I have gotten so used to the lighter shoes, I never want to go back to the cushioning ones again.

I resurrected Fast Friday, which was my one day of fun under Mystery Coach’s base training, which means running 10 miles a bit faster than the rest of the week but still very much within limits, with a HR of no higher than 155. That’s still a very limited effort, but when you try and stay in the lower 140s for the rest of the week it is something to look forward to. As it happens, I ran a bit too hard but the 7-minute pace was much better than expected, a bit of payback for Thursday I suppose.

Niamh took the kids to Dublin on Saturday to gawk at her newest Nephew, which is why I delayed my run until the afternoon, after they had left. I run 98% of my runs in the early morning and running in the afternoon had the effect that my RPE was completely out. It did not come as a surprise, it happens every time when I run in the afternoon, but I found it impossible to correct. I felt like I was crawling along virtually at walking pace even though the pace and HR fields of the Garmin told a very different story. I found it impossible to slow down even further, I already felt awkward. Of course I ended up with a HR that was way higher than planned.

Which brings me to today. After the highest weekly mileage in months and some way-faster-than-planned runs on the preceding days, running the steep hills around Caragh Lake for my long run was quite possibly never the brightest idea. I was a bit worried about my knee, but that never became a factor. I could tell early on that my legs were totally unused to the effort of climbing 600-feet hills; the HR went past 170 even though I tried to keep the effort as low as possible. I guess I then should not have tried to stride out on the downhill, going the next 2 or 3 downhill miles at 6:30 pace wasn’t that great an idea either. By mile 10 I could tell I was faltering and within 2 or 3 miles I had hit the wall, hard. It was ugly from here on. I kept telling myself that it’s those runs where you really have to push yourself where you gain the biggest fitness from, but did not believe myself. I just wanted to lie down beside the road and die in peace. The sun had come out, which did not help as I was getting dehydrated and did not carry any water with me.

4 miles of being hungry, thirsty, knackered and then starving, parched and completely exhausted turned into a death trot. I could almost imagine myself in the final miles of the Western States 100, which was held at exactly the same time, a good few miles away in California (ok, not really). Despite crawling along at 8-minute pace, my HR was in the high 160 (!!!) and I could not get home soon enough. As soon as the Garmin hit 17 miles I stopped running and very, very slowly walked up our driveway. A drink and some liquid carbs revived me sufficiently, but there is a lesson to be learnt somewhere I guess.

23 Jun

10 miles, 1:20:05, 8:01 pace, HR 145

24 Jun

10 miles, 1:10:16, 7:02 pace, HR 156

25 Jun

10 miles, 1:15:36, 7:34 pace, HR 153

26 Jun

17 miles, 2:14:05, 7:54 pace, HR 160 (!!!)

Weekly Mileage: 77

Back to Back-to-Back

Following the glory of Sunday's race it was time to knuckle down and get serious about training again. Marathon running isn't all about glitz and glamour, you know, at times you have to do some work.

The coach had prescribed 5 full days of easy running after Ballycotton, almost certainly more than I would have done on my own accord but definitely needed, seeing as the last remnant of soreness did not disappear until Thursday. By Friday I felt good again and started itching for faster work. I did not have to wait long.

Five weeks before the marathon is a rather crucial time, the taper is not far away but some of the toughest training workouts are yet to be done. The coach had devised the next back-to-back session, the hardest one so far.

Saturday was 7 miles at 10 seconds per mile faster than marathon pace, but as always the coach gave me a window to aim for, 6:25-6:35, rather than a sharp time target, with clear instructions not to run any faster.

As it turned out, running faster was not on my mind anyway. I had done an identical Saturday run three weeks ago but had run just a tad too hard. I tried to avoid making the same mistake again and kept myself in check at all times. The weather was not great, it was icy cold and raining; higher grounds got snow, we just got freezing rain but if you're running at 6:30 pace keeping warm is not a problem. Luckily it was not windy, which actually made for decent conditions.

I was quite pleased to see that the pace matched the previous workout but the effort level was a good bit easier. I felt in full control at all times and even though I got rather tired towards the end I always knew I would finish with plenty spare.

Another ice bath followed in hope to revive the legs sufficiently for Sunday's run, but that did not work as well as hoped for. The legs were rather sore when I went to bed and I was not looking forward to Sunday.

Sunday surprised me with beautiful sunshine, very little wind and temperatures around 8 degrees, pretty much perfect. I would not be able to use the conditions as an excuse for a sub-par performance.

The plan was to run 10 easy miles at 7:35 pace, followed by 8-10 miles at marathon effort, 6:40 pace. The ominous bit was the coach's warming about the last few miles feeling like the last miles of a marathon. Normally he sets me a maximum heart rate, this time he told me not to be surprised if I needed to raise the HR up to 175 to stay on pace. This was going to be tough.

10 easy and 10 fast miles has been a key workout in previous marathon builds, but I always ran it well rested, not after a tough Saturday. I started out with already tired legs and rather worried about the second half.

Usually I do not even bother with bringing water on my long runs, but I went completely the other way today. Two gels in my pocket were complemented by a bottle of sports drink, which I stashed by the road side. I ran 3 loops through Killorglin, which enabled me to pick up the drink on my way.

The first 10 miles were a tad on the fast side, but not by much. I kept myself well in check and found a groove that brought me through 10 miles on autopilot. There are 3 little climbs on each loop and I was really questioning how I would feel like on these later on.

10 miles came and went, and as soon as I upped the effort I knew I was way out of my depth. There is no way I would want to feel like that on mile 16 of a marathon with 10 miles yet to come. I came up with a whole list of excuses, the best one being that Ballycotton was still in my legs. But before I had to use them, I had to at least try and get as far as I could.

I just ran step-by-step, minute-by-minute, not thinking too far ahead. I was bang on pace for the first 2 miles but then I turned into the wind and two of the aforementioned climbs followed and by the time I was going through town for the third and final time I was behind, 6:43 pace. Luckily I knew that the wind would be at my back for a couple of miles, but I tried not to look at the Garmin too much, run purely by feel and relax as much as possible.

I would have been perfectly content to keep the pace at that, after all that's still sub-3. But I rather surprised myself by slowly catching up again. I started to suffer at the last climb, doing my moaning with each breath and fully expecting to be falling off pace, but the hill passed by, I was back on pace and all of a sudden I realised that there were only three more miles to go and that I would be able to finish this after all and not need to use my excuses after all.

The HR never reached the high levels I had been warned about, barely touching 170 even when the going was tough.

Mind, I was rather glad to be done. Another ice bath followed. Niamh declined to join me but found the whole spectacle highly amusing as I was moaning my way through 10 minutes of being tortured and cursing the coach. She came up with a string of very helpful suggestions, from “you do not HAVE to do this, you know” to “are you sure this is going to help anyway?”. Thanks honey!

There is no way I would have gone through today's workout had the coach not shown confidence in me hitting the targets. I would have pulled out way early, bemoaning the fact that I'm unable to do the required work. It shows yet another advantage of being coached. Not only did he draw up a schedule, he is also able to actually make me do it.

10 Mar

10 miles, 1:16:58, 7:42 pace, HR 145

11 Mar

10 miles, 1:16:40, 7:40 pace, HR 147

12 Mar

10 miles, 1:06:27, 6:39 pace, HR 161
   incl. 7 miles @ 6:29 pace, HR 164

13 Mar

20 miles, 2:21:39, 7:05 pace, HR 154
   10 miles @ 7:31 pace, avg. HR 146,
   10 miles @ 6:38 pace, avg. HR 164

Weekly Mileage: 76

You Never Told Me This Was Not Waterproof!!

Shea just learnt a lesson about electronic equipment and water the hard way, but somehow he seems determined to blame it on his mum. A bit like his dad who had to learn several lessons about marathon training the hard way but has not found anyone to blame it on yet.

After the very tough back-to-back workouts last weekend, it took quite some time for the legs to feel recovered again, which probably was not helped by the hill workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday. I did 10 relaxed miles on Thursday and could finally feel some bounce returning, something that carried into yet another hill workout on Friday. Luckily there was no major storm to battle against this time and the downhill strides actually felt like downhill strides.

This set me up for another weekend, but thankfully not one featuring another back-to-back workout. This shows the value of introducing things gradually; another such training would have most likely pushed me over the edge. Instead, I managed to keep hanging on.

Saturday was actually very similar to last week, 7 miles at present marathon pace and the coach gave me 3 major points to keep in mind at all times: 1) run relaxed, 2) run relaxed and 3) run relaxed. There were also 2 minor points about HR and pace but the point was made, these were not to be my priorities. He also advised me to imagine those miles to be the ones from mile 8 to 15. Since I don’t know the Vienna course, I imagined myself running in Dublin.

As I started, I visualised myself leaving Phoenix Park, later on Dolphin’s Barn and then Crumlin Road, which was easy to imagine because I was running slightly uphill and against a headwind, exactly the conditions you experience year for year on that blasted stretch of road just before half way. Using those visualisations made it easier to run at a much more relaxed effort than last week, and in fact after a couple of miles I started running on autopilot but still keeping on pace. After going a little bit fast in the early miles, the headwind during the second half made sure the pace stayed realistic and I finished just over 7 miles in 47:09, 6:43 pace with an average HR of 162. While that’s slower than last week at the same average HR I can vouch for the fact that I stuck to the task like glue and ran relaxed at all times. The HR once again was under the threshold the coach had set (162-166) while the pace was inside the set parameters of 6:35-6:45, a bit on the slow side, but as he had stated that was the minor target. On my last miles, on the cool down, I still averaged a pace of 6:50. After 7 faster miles, this felt like jogging along slowly. I did not notice I was going that fast or I would have slowed down a lot more.

The weather forecast for Sunday made timing the run a bit tricky, trying to hit a window after the storm but before the next rain shower. It turned out to be a stunningly beautiful morning when I left at 8 o’clock, blue sky and hardly a breeze. Since there was no back-to-back this week, it was all about time on feet for 2-and-a-half hours. I ran my usual loop around the lake, across the hills, over Blackstones Bridge and back home, and then another out-and-back section past the school to make up the miles. I was flying early on and had to put the brakes on at times. I felt great until about 16 miles when things started dragging a bit, but I made it back home still feeling good, if happy to be done. Looking at the average HR of 150 I think I ran a bit harder than I should have, but, again, I found this pace very relaxing. I also managed to time it right - less than a hour after coming home, it was hail stoning I was glad to be snuck inside.

10 Feb

10 miles, 1:17:77, 7:47 pace, HR 141

11 Feb

9 miles, 1:13:07, 8:07 pace, HR 146
   4x30 sec; high knees; downhill strides

12 Feb

10 miles, 1:08:00, 6:48 pace, HR 159
   incl. 7+ miles @ 6:43, HR 162

13 Feb

20 miles, 2:31:13, 7:34 pace, HR 150

Weekly Mileage: 74

Christmas

I used to hate Christmas, from the awful songs on the radio to the enforced happiness all around, but since the children have become old enough to enjoy it I have come round and the sight of children's eyes glowing in delight is worth the baggage. The kids must have been really good this year. When I saw the heaps of presents I remarked to Niamh that something must have gone wrong somewhere. Santa clearly was overly generous.

Obviously I was not able to go running early in the morning – family comes first and I would not have missed the opening of the presents for anything. The plan would have seen me running 20 miles but I simply did not have time for that, so I swapped Saturday and Sunday around. I know that 15/20 is not the same as 20/15, but sometimes Real Life just happens to interfere.

I left just after 10 o'clock and since I figured that the main road would be much busier than at 6 o'clock on my previous runs I decided to take my chances on the Caragh Lake road. My hopes that the recent sunshine would have softened the ice covering the road were dashed. It was about -10C, and ice does not soften in these temperatures. I managed to get into Killorglin without a fall but decided to stick to the main road after that and hope the traffic would not be too bad. I did 2 more miles towards Milltown before turning around. The Glenbeigh road was much busier than I would have hoped. Several cars were hooting as they went past. If that meant “hello Thomas, nice to see you” or “get off the road you moron” I could never tell. While running was definitely possible and I did not think the traffic was dangerous, I just could never relax and eventually I got fed up with it and took a shortcut home, cutting the run down by a mile.

Our outside water pipe froze that morning, leaving us with no water bar the water tank in the attic and we knew that would not last long. But we also knew that the thaw was predicted to come overnight; I reckoned we would easily manage until then, Niamh said she admired my optimism.

I did have one big worry though, my knee was swollen again by the evening. This time I'm pretty sure it was down to me kneeling on the floor for several hours, helping Lola building her new hospital (it's bigger than anything Mary Harney ever delivered). I slept with my knee wrapped in a bandage and of course I wore one on my run today.

The thaw came overnight, together with heavy rain and gale force wind. The children were not too happy to see their snowmen melting away and I was not too happy to see the water freezing on the road surface. Eventually I ventured out. The first 1.5 miles were just ridiculous, like running on a polished mirror but once I passed the school things improved and I decided to keep running. I had been running too fast on Saturday and I could feel the effect on my legs. After 6 miles I was already knackered and wondered how I would get through the run. The gale force winds did not help, each time I went against it it felt like climbing a mountain. At least it stopped raining after a few miles.

The idea was to run three loops around Killorglin, 5 miles each, and since it took me 2.5 miles to reach that loop this would add up to 20 miles. After the first loop (7.5 miles) I was sorely tempted to head back home but turned left after all for a second loop, but I really did not expect to be able to do another one. But somehow I found a few reserves of energy and when it came to decision time I turned left once more for more punishment. Eventually I remembered that I had brought an emergency gel and took that around mile 14, but to be honest it didn't do anything for me, the extra energy just seemed to burn up in empty fumes. I managed to drag myself through the final loop and on the way home found that the road surface had improved in the last 2 hours, it was almost runnable, though there were one or two hairy moments. There was plenty of discomfort from the knee but it did not get any worse throughout the run, and I hope plenty of icing afterwards will do the magic once more.

This was my first 20 mile training run in a very, very long time. I have not done 20 in training since before Dingle, back in August; that's a very long time ago. My overall mileage has been pretty decent in the last few weeks but there was a distinct lack of proper long runs. Let's hope I can add that on a consistent basis for the next few weeks.

25 Dec

14 miles, 1:45:45, 7:33 pace, HR 148

26 Dec

20 miles, 2:37:17, 7:52 pace, HR 148

Weekly Mileage: 84

Another Tasty Sandwich

Even though I had to switch my long runs to the weekend, I still try to minimize the impact on family life. It might mean getting up at 6 am on a Saturday like last week, or it might meant getting creative when it comes to a workout.

Niamh wanted to go to Valentia on Saturday to spend the day with her parents and sister (and baby niece!) but was worried about me running all day when she would have to mind the kids. My suggested solution was for me to run to Valentia as my workout, which was accepted, though I had to promise not to arrive in Valentia before 2 o’clock. This one was easy. One lie-in later, I left Caragh Lake at 9:30 in the morning, the unloved back-bag strapped on to my back because the next 5 hours would have to be self-supported.

I estimated it would take a bit less than 5 hours to get there, so I took the scenic route with an extra mountain pass crossing at Windy Gap. That’s the same route I ran 4 weeks ago on another long run, but then I had turned around to get back home; this time I would just carry on. The weather left room for improvement, it was a dull, drizzly day with low clouds and low visibility, but considering I had to carry all my water with me, a hot day would have been a problem, so I guess I had no reason to complain.

Having gotten comfortable with the slow Ultra runners’ shuffle over the last few weeks, I noticed straight away that I was much slower than 4 weeks ago, from the very start. Back then I had started with an 8-minute mile, this time I was already 90 seconds slower at that early point and that pattern would continue. Still, I was astounded to check my watch when I reached last month’s turnaround point. Back then it had taken me 2 hours 18 to get there, today I was a whopping 24 minutes slower, over a distance of less than 15 miles (most of it off-road with 2 mountain passes along the way). I continued on; that part happened to be the worst as far as footing was concerned. The muddy, boggy section made running impossible for about a mile, and of course my feet got thoroughly wet. Eventually the surface improved again, and I was sorry to come out of the woods and back on the road, which felt incredibly hard and unforgiving after all those miles on dirt roads.

At that point I made a major cock-up; I had neglected to study the map in detail beforehand, even though I knew how badly the Kerry Way is signposted at times. They basically assume that either you know the way already or that you have a map handy at all times, neither of which applied to me, and I promptly missed the next turn. I could see Caherciveen a few miles in the distance but became concerned when the road headed back into the mountains. Eventually it dawned on me that I had not seen a signpost for at least 2 miles and decided to find my own way. A right turn down a tiny boreen was a sign of desperation because they tend to end in the middle of nowhere and I was quite likely to get stuck. I came across a herd of cows and almost caused a stampede (how on earth can those massive creatures be afraid of one single puny human?), managed to cross a river by wading through the water and was more than relieved to stumble across a road that led into exactly the right direction. Following that road, I must have crossed the Kerry Way twice, once the main section and once more the Caherciveen spur, but I did not see one single signpost for the entire way. Eventually I ended up on the N70, the main Ring of Kerry road, which luckily was not too busy at the time. A massive bonus came along half an hour later in the form of Niamh and the kids, making their own way to Valentia. This enabled me to get rid of my now empty bag. As the water bladder had gotten emptier and emptier, the bag had started bouncing more and more and the shoulder strap was rubbing against my neck, which was getting rather sore. Now, well over 4 hours into the run, I was more than glad to continue with just a handheld water bottle.

I made my way into Caherciveen and on towards Reenard, where I caught the ferry to the island. After covering so much distance on foot it felt weird to use a mechanical vehicle for the passage, but as far a swimming to the island is concerned, for me that’s very much a case of been there, done that, no need to do it again.

I was still 15 minutes short of 5 hours (not counting the 5 minutes on the ferry of course) so I did an extra lap through Knightstown before making my way home. The kids intercepted me and raced me to the finish, where I came last of course. I was happy to be done, but when I took off my Garmin I realised that I had covered 29.9 miles, so I put my shoes back on again and did an extra minute (the in-laws were about to have me certified at that point), just to come up with a round number.

Believe it or not, I felt great with no soreness, neither in the muscles nor the previously troublesome achilles.

We were back in Caragh Lake for Sunday and the contrast to Saturday was extreme, with a very warm, sunny day. Niamh thought the universe was playing a trick on me with those conditions for my last long run, but I was glad to be running in sunshine for a change. I started with a loop around Caragh Lake and after topping up my water bottle added an out-and-back section, along the Kerry Way again. I got very tired after about 13 miles and was highly tempted to call it a day after the first loop, but really did not want to chicken out of my very last long run. That first loop had been considerably faster then yesterday, about 8:40 pace; not exactly lightning fast but considerably faster than most of the really long runs. I paid for this pace with very tired legs, but decided that a climb up to the Kerry Way would provide the best training effect. After all, running on tired legs is the entire point of these weekend runs.

At one stage on the trail I passed a group of 4 horse riders, and the lady at the end of the group shouted a warning to the rest of her friends “watch out, jogger coming through!” This made me laugh out loud, after running 50 miles in the last 24 hours I did not classify myself as a jogger at that point, but I don’t think arguing that point with the lady would have led anywhere.

I seemed to revive on that stretch and I came home after running slightly more than a marathon, 4 sunny hours later with a topped-up tan but quite dehydrated and gasping for water. Nevertheless, the main training for Dingle had been completed successfully, and now it’s tapering time. Monday was a rest day (now that’s tapering!), and the race is only 19 days away!

Nutrition:
Saturday: 3 gels, 1 granola bar, 1 Amino: ~530 calories
Sunday: 2 gels, 1 bar, 1 Amino: ~450 calories

Weekend Mileage: 56+
Weekly Mileage: ~85

14 Aug

30 miles, 5:01:27, 10:03 pace, HR 138

15 Aug

26.83 miles, 4:00:06, 8:57 pace, HR 141

Eating Up The Miles

I had been nervously anticipating this weekend ever since I pinned the training schedule onto my wardrobe. 9 hours of running over 2 days – now that, finally, is Ultra training!

It was that training session that made me switch my long runs from early mornings (very early mornings!) to the weekend. It’s just not feasible to run that much before work and still expect to function; the sleep deprivation alone would knock me out, never mind the miles.

Still, since my presence was required in the house from lunchtime, I got up as soon as I woke at 6 am, had some breakfast, waited a bit to let it settle and was out of the house by 7 o’clock. It was a miserable drizzly grey morning but by concentrating purely on running I managed to tune out the drab conditions.

I started by doing an extended 16.5 miles loop around Caragh Lake, which would enable me to resupply at that point. I don’t like running with a rucksack and a handheld bottle was all I needed. Tucked into my fancy new ultra runner shorts were a granola bar, 2 gels and a flask of water mixed with a teaspoon of chia seeds. The idea for those were obviously gleaned from that one ubiquitous book about ultra running that everybody seems to have read, though I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to resist the temptation of barefoot running. I have used those seeds before, but only pre-run to stock up on carbs before a long run, never on the run itself. As it turned out over the next couple of hours, not only are those seeds pretty awful to swallow (it’s what I expect swallowing a handful of tadpoles would be like), my stomach revolted and let me know how unhappy he was. That’s why you try out things during training runs, of course - one more thing I can chalk off the list for Dingle. Say, anyone want to take an unwanted bag of seeds off my hands?

The stomach eventually settled when I ate my bar; during my marathon days I would never even have contemplated eating solid food on the run, but the right food at the right time works very well at the slower ultra paces. After completing the first loop I did a smaller loop around the Devils’ Elbow, going the opposite direction of my first loop for a few miles and including a wickedly steep climb up to the ridge, where I was pleased to find that my legs were in very good shape. They had started sending worrisome signals between miles 13 and 16, but once my stomach had settled the legs seemed to follow suit and I recovered very well. At one stage the pace had dropped to about 9:15 or so, but I recovered and by the time 4 hours were up I had covered just over 26.5 miles, and the gels came back home, untouched.

I slept a bit longer on Sunday, but apart from that my morning started in the same fashion and I was out of the house at 7:40. In marked contrast to the day before the sun was shining and it looked like a marvellous day, which helped the spirit. I guessed I could do with every bit of support, because today would not be easy. The legs felt not exactly sprightly, but considering I had run more than a marathon the day before, they were in excellent condition.

I started with the same loop as on Saturday, but running a bit slower. As recently as four weeks ago it would have been unthinkable to run as slow as 9-minute miles but I got into that habit very quickly; you don’t have a choice once the back-to-back runs start in earnest. After crossing Blackstones Bridge about halfway through the loop and making my way along the lake shore towards home I started getting tired; especially the hips seemed to suffer, but at that point I concentrated purely on finishing that loop and didn’t think about even one step beyond that point. I had originally planned to just refill my water bottle, but I ended up going back home, changing my top, using the toilet and eating a banana. I thought it was a very short break but according to the Garmin it took almost 10 minutes, which surprised me. It shows how quickly time can pass and in a race situation you would not want to spend that much time idling around.

Anyway, as soon as I was ready I was out of the door again. The banana was another thing to try in training. I’ve heard that they will be offered at aid stations in Dingle and had to test it out in training. Thankfully it turned out to be much more agreeable than the seeds from yesterday.

I had planned to do a double loop around the lake for a long time, basically from the moment I signed up for the ultra. Since then I have done countless single loops, and each time I had shivered at the thought of doing it again on tired legs. Now it was time to do it for real. Since the first 16.5 miles had taken me 2:35, I ran a shorter version for my second go, only 15 miles but it included the wicked climb from yesterday. Then again, while exhaustion was slowly creeping into all systems, I knew I would be able to finish without much hassle. On the long downhill from the highest point both of my shins started to hurt quite badly and I was grimacing as I went along. A flatter loop would have been easier; on the uphills I was hurting from sheer exhaustion, on the downhills I was hurting from the shins, but on the flat parts I was moving along steadily, fairly slow but constantly making progress. I passed the marathon mark a few minutes after 4 hours and rewarded myself with a celebratory carbohydrate gel. Oh the joy!

I was exhausted, but as I ran along the lake I remembered that I had felt tired at the same location yesterday, then more so at the same point on my first loop, so of course I was knackered now. It was hard work to keep going on tired legs, but I was perfectly aware that this was pretty much the point of the entire weekend.

Actually, much of the run was done on autopilot as my conscious self switched off completely and the final miles passed almost by default. I made my way home fro a second time, did one loop around the house to make up the full 5 hoursin celebration, and stopped after well over 31 miles, about 51 km. My first ever back-to-back marathons (plus bonus miles) were done.

Surprisingly I was alive enough to do 90 minutes of gardening work later on, but called it a day before collapsing. I didn’t do any running on Monday morning and the legs, while stiff, are in reasonable condition. Cycling the 5 miles to work was surprisingly easy but after sitting at my desk for an hour or two my right achilles started acting up and was very sore for the rest of the day. I’ll have to see how this develops. Apart from that one twinge I feel perfectly fine, but somehow I don’t think the speed workouts are going to happen this week.

By the way, if you think of ultra running as a means to control your weight, think again. Both on Saturday and Sunday, for the rest of the day I kept eating anything in sight, and I was not picky. Carbs, proteins, fat, they all ended in my stomach. The only edible thing I managed to resist were the remains of Maia’s half-eaten apple from a few hours earlier, but only just.

Weekly Mileage: 92.3
Weekend Mileage: 58.27

Nutrition:
Saturday: 1 tsp chia seeds, 1 bar, 1 Amino: ~ 275 calories
Sunday: 2 gels, 1 banana, 2 Amino: ~ 550 calories

7 Aug

26.59 miles, 4:01:19, 9:05 pace, HR 136

8 Aug

31.68 miles, 5:00:04, 9:28 pace, HR 133

Race Review, Ultra Training

It certainly took a while, but on Tuesday I finally found some results from Saturday’s duathlon. I got a few surprises. I came 15th overall and 3rd M40, which is not the surprising bit. One thing that struck me is that I was just about the slowest person in both transitions. I already knew that I had left a lot of time in the second transition, but I had thought that the first transition had gone reasonably well. Apparently not. But what really blew my mind was the fact that I had the third fastest time in the second running leg! Only the overall winner and the fourth placed athlete had posted a faster second run time. What can I learn from it all?

1. Practise transitions. They really are worth it.
2. Buy some lock laces.
3. Run the first run harder.
4. Do some bike training.

Admittedly, none of that is too enlightening.

Moving on, the focus is very much back on Connemara. After three easy days following Saturday’s race, I was up early again on Wednesday. Niamh immediately knew what I was up to when she saw me prepare a sports drink on Tuesday evening.

Niamh: “Running long tomorrow?”
Thomas: “Yup”
Niamh: “It really must be long if even you admit to it being a long run”

Then I set the alarm for 3:45, got up after a few hours of sleep and ran a very hilly marathon.

Originally I had planned another 30 miler but decided to play it safe (well … different shades of safe) and “only” did a bit over 26 miles. But unlike the 30 miler from a fortnight ago and the 25 mile run before that, this time I ran around Caragh Lake, and I ran the loop counter-clockwise to get to the really big climb late in the run, to make it more specific to the Connemara topography. In fact, it was very specific, with 10 flat(-ish) miles at the start(just like Connemara) and more and bigger hills as the run went on (just like Connemara). I took a gel at mile 10 and then brought a bottle of sports drink with me. I had not tried that brand before, but an awful lot of American ultra runners are singing its praises, so a few weeks ago I ordered some (Shit! I paid how much for shipping???) and now it was time to try it out in the field. The good news is that my stomach seems to like it. The bad news is that my taste buds don’t. But I think I’ll use it for Connemara. It’s more trustworthy than my own concoction of slim-fast and rice milk, even though that seemed to work very well on my first Ultra, three years ago.

I also tested the Nike Lunar Elites on that run. They came through very well, and are now firm favourites to be used in Connemara. My feet were in excellent condition throughout. What amazed me was how fresh I felt after running over 26 miles in 3:39 on a ridiculously hilly course. I wasn’t even fatigued yet, even though I had lowered the pace to about 7:20 after 20 miles of 8:30. Niamh remarked that I did not look like someone who had just run long. I felt great, was full of energy for the rest of the day (no nodding off at work, Ewen), and one day later there is still no muscle soreness.

However, I did have some pains in my left shin. I noticed it first during some of the descents after mile 20, which I ran fairly hard, but it was still ok at the time. It became a lot worse during the day, and at one stage in the afternoon I was hobbling through the office. Cycling home seemed to do it some good and I played with the idea of adding a 15 mile run today, to make this a back-to-back workout. From an energy point of view I would have pulled it off easily, but in the end (in fact, in the middle of the night when my shin was still sore) I decided to play it safe and packed my swimming bag instead. With 4 weeks to go to Connemara I do not want to risk injury, and 45 minutes in the pool had to do instead. On the plus side, my shin seems to have recovered. I’m pain free already.

Niamh’s cold seems to have passed me by, my sore throat was gone yesterday morning and I feel perfectly fine. It’s really cool to be able to run a marathon and not even feel sore. I have never been in such ultra-running shape before, and I have to admit I like it.

10 Mar

26.3 miles, 3:39:17, 8:20 pace, HR 134

11 Mar

45 minutes swimming

The Ultra Before Breakfast

I just realised that I can receive the wireless Internet signal here in the doghouse where I have been sleeping ever since Niamh read my previous entry. Just kidding of course, one of the many benefits of being married to the best wife of all is that I can get away with stuff like that. Unless she’s really clever about it and tries to lull me into a false sense of security…

Anyway, unlike last time I have actually done some running that is worth mentioning. On Wednesday morning I was awake at 2:30, listening to the rain outside, having visions of a truly miserable slog through the forbidden darkness in the freezing rain for several hours. Luck was on my side, it stopped raining at about 3 o’clock, and at 3:14 I got up, a minute before the alarm would have sounded, and in the process broke my first record of the day, namely that for the earliest rise for the sake of a run.

When I wrote the outline of my training several weeks ago, I concentrated mostly on the long runs. When I pencilled in 30 for this week, I definitely thought I might move that to the weekend, because nobody in their right mind would get up in time for a run like this during the week before a normal 8-hour workday. As it turns out, a right mind doesn’t come into it when I’m around and just after 3:30 I opened the door and off I went.

I did not fear the distance, but I was definitely worried about my quads, which had not stopped sending signals since the Bantry race, 10 days ago. As a result, I started out very slowly. I first checked my Garmin when I reached the streetlights in Killorglin, over 4 miles later, and saw the average pace at 8:27. That would do nicely. I had expected to find a totally quiet town and was rather surprised when two cars slowly passed me on the main road. They then turned into the (empty) petrol station, and one of the drivers got out and started shouting and hollering after me. That wasn’t particularly pleasant, the fella sure did not sound particularly sober, and I was relieved when I turned off the main road on my way back to Caragh Lake and a minute later heard the cars continue straight on that junction, bringing peace and quite back into my little bubble once more.

Just before the 10 mile mark I was back home, took a gel and some water and headed out again on the same loop for a second time. It was still completely dark, and still before 5 o’clock. I increased the pace by a notch, and a check in Killorglin, now at the halfway point of both my run and that loop, revealed that the pace for that loop had gone down to 8:16. Again, I encountered a car on the main road, but thankfully without incident this time. There were also one or two cars on the Caragh Lake road on the way home. I took a muesli bar at mile 15 and another gel just as I got back home (gels during a long being explicitly allowed during my otherwise no-sugar pledge).

Almost 20 miles down I took stock. I felt ok, the quads were definitely behaving and my energy levels were good. The balls of my right foot sent out a few pain messages, but nothing severe. I was good to go out again.

The original plan was to do a third loop into Killorglin, but I changed my mind. A short loop meant I could return home sooner if I got into trouble. And today I really treasured being out there on my own; I knew I would encounter a few cars on the road to Killorglin if I ran that way again and I chose a different loop that would be quieter. Plus, the 3 miles out-and-back section was easier to handle mentally as the next turnaround point was never far away. As I was nearing 23 miles I realised that my pace had deteriorated again, I was merely trudging along at 8:30 pace and since I did not have to safe myself for anything and had found some confidence in my quads I increased the pace, dipping below 8:00 for the first time today. That loop went very well, and I did not hesitate in heading out for one final time. I passed the imaginary marathon distance marker in about 3:38, still feeling good, but over the next mile or two I did notice some fatigue; the sub-8 pace was definitely a lot tougher than jogging at 30 seconds per mile slower, but I kept it going until the end. The energy levels were still good and I decided not to eat the second bar that I had carried around me for several hours.

With a quarter mile to go, the balls of my right foot started burning like hell. It was really painful and I was very grateful to be almost done. My theory is that the pain signals had been there all along but my brain had filtered them out until it knew I was almost done.

I reached our driveway after 4 hours and 8 minutes, having completed my longest training run ever, feeling rather proud of myself, to be honest. Each loop had been faster than the previous one, which was very good. If it had not been for the pain in my foot, I would have felt perfectly ready to do 9 more miles, which is excellent news for Connemara.

Cycling to work was fine for the first 4.5 miles, but I had to stop for traffic before crossing the main road and when I stepped back onto the bike, my left calf started cramping. Not too severe, but it served as a reminder that you can’t run for 30 miles and think you can get away without repercussions.

After that excursion, Thursday was always going to be a rest day, which I used to visit the pool again for a 45 minutes swim session. For obvious reasons I chose not to do any kicking drills. Sorry, coach.

I was back out on the road again today, Friday, for 6 very easy miles. The legs are definitely stiff and tired, even though they had felt perfectly fine since the long run, apart form that one cramp. Unsurprisingly I don’t have high expectations for tomorrow’s race. Maybe the rational thing would be to skip it, but it’s the final race of the series and I need one more result to make it into the final standings. I have no intentions of missing out on that one. If I have to, I’ll jog around the course.

24 Feb

30 miles, 4:08:24, 8:17 pace, HR 138
(9.7 miles @ 8:30, 9.7 miles @ 8:17,
6 miles @ 8:12, 4.6 miles @7:56)

25 Feb

45 minutes swimming

26 Feb

6.1 miles, 51:35, 8:27 pace, HR 137

Lunacy

After Saturday’s race, Sunday was never going to be anything but an easy day. I did 5 slow recovery miles in the morning before heading for the pool for another lesson. What should have been a relaxing hour did cause major problems later on when I stubbed my big left toe quite badly. It hurt a lot at first but subsided quickly enough. It wasn’t until the evening that the pain really started. It got so bad that Niamh got me some pain killers, and if you know how much I avoid these things under normal circumstances then you know how much it hurt.

The originally planned long run for Monday had already been shelved at that stage because my quads were still a bit sore. But on Sunday evening I seriously doubted I’d be able to run at all. Things looked a lot brighter after a good night’s sleep; when I got out of bed on Monday I still felt something in the toe (and it was slightly swollen), but I could put my weight on it without problems and I repeated the same 5 mile recovery run from the day before, except that I could not find my Garmin despite searching frantically. And my toe started hurting again later that day. I was hobbling around the office, wondering how I had managed to run in the morning and if I had done some real damage doing that.

Luckily, the precious toy turned up again on Monday evening and the toe magically healed itself again overnight. Well, over half-night, because that’s all the sleep I got.

I can’t quite remember the word Niamh used to describe me when I told her about today’s run. It might have been lunatic or nutcase, I have forgotten already (old age and all, you know), but the meaning is pretty clear. She was glad to report that she had not heard me leave and only woke when I was already in the shower, 4 hours later.

I had been up at 4 o’clock in the morning. Yes, that’s early, even for me – I have never gotten up earlier than that. Having said that, I felt reasonably awake as I got ready and within less than 20 minutes I was out on the road. For some reason I felt a bit self-conscious about the fact that I was out running when every single person with even an ounce of sense would have been tucked away peacefully at the time, but then again, anyone who would have seen me at the time would have been just as mad for the very same reason.

I had pondered what route to take. Out of respect for the long distance I decided against the hilly Caragh Lake loop and opted for the road to Killorglin instead. It’s not entirely flat, just a bit undulating. In fact, it’s very similar to the first half of the Ultra course in Connemara. I deposited a bottle at our driveway and went on my way. I did not encounter anyone during my first loop. I first checked the Garmin as I got into Killorglin, about 4 miles into the run, and saw an average pace of 8:12, very much on target. I must have accelerated slightly on the way home because by the time I reached our driveway, almost 10 miles in, the pace had dropped to 8:07. I took one gel at that point and went out again. I expected the moon to make an appearance (moonrise 5:43 according to my notes) but that never happened. The clouds must have been too thick. Never mind, I was able to make out the road and that’s all I needed.

Cars started to make an occasional appearance, but it was still very peaceful. I ran most of that loop totally on autopilot. I didn’t feel tired and the miles seemed to melt away. Mindful of the hard time I’d had three weeks ago on a long run I took a granola bar at mile 15 and another gel at mile 20. At no time did I feel the need to add some fuel, but on my first training run of such length I felt it safer to add some fuel before I started bonking. I’ll probably take less fuel on board next time. Anyway, the second loop went a bit faster that the first one at 7:55 pace and I was very surprised about the complete lack of fatigue. I had expected to be tempted to call it a day at that point, instead I just took another swig from my bottle and headed out again for the last loop, not even considering quitting.

I added 5+ miles out-and-back on the Ard-na-Sidhe road to make a total of 25 miles. I could not help but marvel at the feeling in my legs compared to the way they typically feel during the last few miles of a marathon. Just for the fun of it I speeded up a little over the last two miles to about 7:10 pace which brought the average pace of the last section down to 7:39. The whole run was only marginally slower than my Dublin marathon just over 3 months ago, for which I had gone through hell. This time I was so fresh that I felt I could easily do another loop. In fact, the only thing I regret is that I did not get up 10 minutes earlier, in which case I could have run an entire marathon before breakfast. Well, there’s always next time. I just have to convince Niamh not to call the men in the white coats.

7 Feb

5 miles, 41:38, 8:19 pace, HR 135

8 Feb

5 miles, 41:31, 8:18 pace

9 Feb

25 miles, 3:18:37, 7:56 pace, HR 141
10 miles @ 8:07, 10 miles @ 7:55, 5 miles @ 7:39

Big City Lights

I don’t really feel like writing a review of 2009 – from a running point of view it was a slightly disappointing year. It started so well, with a 63 minutes 10 miler in Mallow, but pretty much went downhill from then on. The other highlight was coming 12th in the Dingle marathon (Me! 12th!! In a marathon!!!), but I paid for that performance when I got sick shortly afterwards and subsequently felt down for the entire October and November. The Dublin marathon fell into that period and I had a rather hard time. Earlier that year, Boston was a great weekend but another slightly disappointing marathon. I do hope for a better 2010, old age notwithstanding.

After the first excitement of Christmas had worn off we bundled the kids into the car and set off towards Dublin. Our timing proved to be exceptionally good for a change – the ice had temporarily melted and we got to Dublin on Sunday before it re-appeared all over the country. At the moment we don’t know what it will be like for our return trip, but that’s something I’ll worry about when we get closer. At the moment we're just enjoying the days off.

Apparently, the Bubendorfer-less Christmas in Nana’s and Gaga’s house was quiet and civilised – or boring, depending on your point of view. But our absence sure made things easier for the older generation, and Christmas in Kerry might be on the program for future years. It’s weird, because I have spent 15 out of the last 16 Christmases here – even before Niamh and I were married.

I had managed to sneak out for a run on Sunday before our journey. After the last two 5Ks had left no soreness in my legs I expected another easy ride, and was subsequently really surprised by the weary legs. As a result I cut the planned 10 miles down to 8 and it almost became 7, but I managed to persuade myself to keep going for a little bit longer. After forcing myself through the first 5 miles I hit a groove, and the rest of the run felt much better. Maybe I just had to shake the legs for a while before the old spring returned.

However, 5 hours in the car left the hamstrings in a bit of a state and I decided to postpone my long run for a day. Thus I only covered 10 miles on Monday, but felt good enough to include a session of diagonals on a soccer pitch. The field was very bumpy and the pace of the runs not very fast as a result, but it made for a good workout. It was very cold, about –4C/25F, and I had stupidly left my tights in Kerry, but running in shorts was surprisingly comfortable. Luckily there was no wind, or I might have been in trouble.

There were no excuses this morning, and just before 7 o’clock I stepped out of the house into a very dark Dublin. Niamh had given me a new mp3 player for Christmas, which I wanted to try out; I thought it would be helpful during long, slow long runs, but to be honest I found it rather distracting. Maybe it’s just a matter of choosing the right playlist. The run went well initially, but I struggled a bit on the climb up Killiney Hill and up to the Obelisk, but I enjoyed the view from there for a few seconds, until the biting cold wind reminded me to keep moving. For the second half of the run I headed towards Cabinteely Park. Every time I go there I’m surprised how hilly it is. You might think I should have learnt that lesson by now. Having said that, I find running the loop in there very pleasant, and after 5 loop I headed homewards. I had underestimated the distance and ended up going well past the planned 20 miles. Since the legs had started struggling after 18 the end of the run was a bit of a struggle, but it was the first run over 20 miles since the Dublin marathon, and it was supposed to be tiring.

At lunchtime we headed towards a very posh fitness club where Nana had managed to get us some complimentary tickets. They are valid for the week and we don’t have to pay a cent. The pool is too hot for training really (30C!), but Niamh found it very relaxing. For me it was a good recovery session.

There is a race in Phoenix Park on New Year’s Day, provided that the roads remain ice-free, of course (just about every race over the holidays on the entire island had to be cancelled for that reason), and I’m looking forward to it. A flat, fast course should provide a good time, as long as I haven’t left my legs on the roads out today, that is.

27 Dec

8 miles, 1:02:27, 7:49 pace, HR 149

28 Dec

10 miles, 1:17:37, 7:46 pace, HR 156
incl. 15 minutes of diagonals

29 Dec

21 miles, 2:51:44, 8:11 pace, HR 149

Damn!

After a set of delays, the time of The One Workout had finally arrived. My old favourite of 10 miles at slower than marathon pace and 10 miles at marathon pace was waiting to be done. I had gotten plenty of sleep and was fully rested despite the early rising hour of 5 o’clock. I was surprised by how dark it was outside. The heavy cloud cover didn’t help in that regard, but it was not raining and the wind had lessened considerably. I would not be able to find better conditions.

As soon as I set off, I started having doubts. While I clicked into about 7:20 pace handily enough it felt harder than expected and I somehow doubted that I would be able to run 30 seconds per mile faster on tired legs. Anyway, I got down to business. I had done the same workout on the same course a few weeks before Boston, feeling really good and averaging 7:18 on the first 10-mile loop and 6:48 on the second. These figures were a bit of a millstone around my neck; I knew I would struggle to match them.

The Caragh Lake road was a bit busier than normal at this time (i.e. there actually were cars on it) because it is used to by-pass Killorglin in times of Puck Fair by people in the know. When I reached town halfway through my first loop (still before 6 o’clock) I was surprised by the number of people busying around. Usually I don’t see a soul. No bother, it didn’t interfere with my running. The return leg of the loop was uneventful, but I clearly noticed the headwind. I knew this might spell trouble for later.

After a very quick stop for a gel and water I headed out again and let go off the breaks. It became clear early on that I was not going to match my pre-Boston workout. The question was by how much I would miss it. I concentrated on running rather than looking at the Garmin, but the figures I got on the 3 occasions I did look tell their own story. After 3.5 miles, I was still within reach of a half-decent performance with a pace of 6:55. Two miles later, just past the halfway point of the second loop, it had deteriorated slightly to 6:57. But it was over the following stretch, which consisted mainly of a very long section of over 1.5 miles of completely straight road, slightly uphill and right against the wind, where I completely lost it. Every time I tried to inject some pace, the legs refused to comply. As much as I tried to ignore the fact that I had already covered over 17 miles, there was no denying that I was tired. After finally reaching the apex of that miserable piece of thoroughfare the average loop pace had slowed down all the way to 7:04. The last (not quite) 2 miles would be slightly downhill and I harboured hopes of at least getting below 7:00 pace. Sadly, this wasn’t forthcoming either. When I got home, the Garmin was still stuck on 7:04.

Numbers don’t lie. Last time round I ran 7:18 and 6:48. This time I only managed 7:24 and 7:04. While averaging 7:14 pace over 20 miles is not a bad workout, the implications are clear.

I’m not going to run under 3 hours.

It made me realise how little I know about training. I have no idea what might have caused such a poor show. The gardening work from the weekend? Too little rest? Too much rest over the weekend? Lack of speedy runs? Too many miles? Too few MP miles? Was it something fundamental in the training or a single issue, like not recovering after last week’s race? Basically, I have no idea.

In Dublin last year I had the pace for a sub-3 marathon but not the stamina to hold it beyond 20 miles. I subsequently tried to adjust my training to the effect that today I thought I could have kept that pace (7:04) for the entire marathon distance but felt unable to run any faster.

On the other hand, since I was basically only doing base training this time round I should not be surprised that my pace isn’t great. It was that last race that made me think I was fast enough. If you’re able to run 6:10 pace over a very hilly 10k, 6:50 over a marathon isn’t an outlandish target. Sadly, I still seem to slow by at least 5 minutes from my calculated marathon times. Unfortunately nobody told my leg muscles about McMillan.

I followed that run with 8 miles in the rain this morning. There’s not much to say about it, apart from the fact that I was surprised how hypnotic 8:20 pace can be. I started running stuck in one gear and hardly noticed the miles go by. After 5 miles I did some strides, more to get out of the ever-same pace than anything else. As soon as they were finished, I fell back into the old trot again. I guess it will do for a recovery run.

11 Aug

20 miles, 2:24:32, 7:14 pace, HR151
incl. 10 miles @ 7:24, 10 miles @ 7:04

12 Aug

8 miles, 1:06:19, 8:17 pace, HR 135