Virus

I spent the weekend in Kerry, as I do most weekends. Of course I want to spend time with my family. However, there is a drawback, apart from the head-wrecking long drive.

Schools have started again, and with that goes the fact that the kids are picking up viruses and bringing them home. They were all a bit under the weather and by the time I got back to Dublin I started feeling it as well. I had a sore throat on Monday morning and a splitting headache a few hours later. I slept really badly on Tuesday but made up for it on Wednesday (I can't remember when I last slept for 8 hours solid).

The next fee days all followed a similar pattern. I felt perfectly okay first thing in the morning, developed a splitting headache a few hours later, felt completely devoid of energy and ready to drop after lunch only to gradually recover and start feeling fine again by 4 or 5 o'clock. That describes Monday to Wednesday, but today, Thursday, I seem to be pretty much over it, in contrast to the kids back in Kerry who are still suffering from it.

All the while I kept passing the neck test, i.e. no symptoms below the neck, so I kept on running every day. That was a mixed bag; the legs felt really tired on Monday, most likely from the increased weekend mileage rather than the virus, so I kept it really slow and easy. They felt miraculously recovered by Tuesday, despite the lack of sleep preceding that run.

Wednesday's run was very tough initially. I felt a triple whammy of the cold, the asthma and what I thought was low blood sugar, and really suffered through the first few miles. I would have cut the run short except that it was my commute back home and I had no real alternative than to keep going. Then, 4 miles into a real sufferfest, a miracle happened and I transformed Lazarus-like into a proper runner. In fact, I felt really good, so good that I added a victory lap at home to make it a 10 mile run. And I could hardly believe the watch when I saw that I had averaged faster than 8-minute miles - after the first few miles I thought I'd be lucky to break 9!

For some reason my HRM seems to have gone on strike after 4 miles on Wednesday as well as Thursday. On both occasions it started out perfectly fine only to start measuring a heart rate of over 180 from halfway on. I know perfectly well that it was still in the 140s on both occasions. I took the HR from the first half to make an educated guess of the final value. Not a biggy - but a bit annoying for a numbers geek like me all the same.

11 Sep

8 miles, 1:08:08, 8:31 pace, HR 143

   feeling the cold

12 Sep

8.15 miles, 1:03:43, 7:49 pace, HR 147

   not feeling the cold

13 Sep

10 miles, 1:19:04, 7:54 pace, HR 145

   feeling the cold until half way

14 Sep

10 miles, 1:21:44, 8:10 pace, HR 141

In Sickness And In Health

So, I took 5 days off entirely. The only time I felt rotten was Monday evening, and that was most likely because I was exhausted from the long journey back to Kerry. Following that I felt better with each day but I had a pretty bad cough and there was some pressure in the middle of my chest, so that violated the "neck rule" and I did not run.

I was back on the road on the 24th, but that was just a 2 mile test run to see how that would go. The answer was that the legs and lungs felt perfectly fine but the HR was very high, though then again that would always be high after 5 days of no running. I didn't run on Christmas Day because it was Christmas Day and because the weather was lousy and because you don't have to force yourself outside when the weather is lousy and you are still nursing a cold and you would rather spend some time with your wife and kids.

Thankfully the weather had improved significantly by St. Stephen's Day, though obviously I skipped the race in Farranfore as well as the Goal Mile. Instead I jogged for 4 miles; the legs felt good once more but the HR was alarmingly high, though that was in no way a reflection of the easy effort. I tried the same again on Tuesday, giving myself the option of 5 miles but with the HR again so high I kept it at 4 miles.

It was groundhog day on Wednesday because, you guessed it, the effort was easy but the HR was really high. I decided to completely ignore the HR and just run at whatever effort seemed right and natural.

I have been told by someone who knows this a lot better then than I do that the way you recover from a workout tells you a lot more about your fitness than the workout itself. That's how I look at the last few runs, I have no problems recovering. I don't feel tired at all and the legs don't even notice that I have just been out for a run, and if I had to do the same run again straight away I wouldn't even bat an eyelid at the thought.

The cold is still with me, still getting better a bit every day but still with a cough and with some restriction in my chest, though that isn't really noticeable any more during the day, By this stage is merely an annoyance than a hindrance. Then again, who knows - the fact that it kept me off my feet a bit longer might be a benefit regarding my overtraining.

24 Dec

2 miles, 17:28. 8:39 pace, HR 147

26 Dec

4 miles, 34:50. 8:42 pace, HR 153

27 Dec

4 miles, 34:14. 8:33 pace, HR 156

28 Dec

4 miles, 33:39. 8:22 pace, HR 157

Tentative Comeback

The reason I haven't written anything the last 5 days was obviously that I haven't run anything, and this is very much a running blog. I did try to aid recovery by getting more sleep, which worked as far as sleep time was concerned but I have no way of telling if it made any difference with regards to recovery. I also went to the local pharmacy and bought some Vitamin C and Zinc supplements. If you google the effectiveness of supplements you get very mixed results but I reasoned that even if they would not help they were very unlikely to make things worse, so why not.

By Saturday I started getting rather fed up, not with the "no running" but the fact that the bug was still in my system after 2 weeks. I resolved to go to the Doctor on Monday but then I felt a bit better on Sunday and a bit better again on Monday, so decided to wait a little bit longer. I did 5 very, very easy miles on the treadmill on Monday morning, more to test the system than anything related to training, and the 5 miles spooled off without any bother - at least I can still do a bit of exercise without overextending myself. I did the same again on Tuesday but wasn't feeling 100% so I was still unsure if I'm okay to venture out again.

I felt about 90% throughout last week, 95% on Monday and 98% on Tuesday evening. This time I'm pretty sure I'm just about recovered.

I sure missed some interesting running conditions with not just one but two orange warnings in just a few days. The treadmill came in handy the last 2 days for that reason alone. In fact, it was while watching the havoc caused by storm Desmond 2 months ago when I decided to purchase a treadmill.

I'm not even sure if complete rest is better than easy running in this case. I know from experience that a day of easy running is better for recovery from a minor injury than full rest but if the same holds true for an infection is a different thing altogether. The main reason why I took a clean break is because I still remember getting pneumonia 8 years ago after stubbornly running with a chest infection until one morning I could not even get out of bed.

I got this bug while in hospital and would resolve to stay away from that place but I had that resolve already and it wasn't exactly a case of wanting to go there in the first place, so who knows.

I had hoped to start the next training phase this week but obviously that plan did not include getting sick. I'll wait and see how tomorrow goes.

1 Feb

5 miles, 42:55, 8:35 pace, HR 140, treadmill

2 Feb

5 miles, 41:35, 8:19 pace, HR 143, treadmill

46

I'm supposed to celebrate today I suppose, though I don't really feel much like celebrating. If I were Grellan I'd go for a really long run or 3, but I'm not. So, as my 21st birthday repeats itself for the 26th time, I'm instead sipping green tea and generally feeling a bit sorry for myself.

As I've mentioned already, I keep underestimating the effect a workout will have on my body. Sunday's run had repercussions. As soon as I headed out on Monday morning the hamstrings felt like they had been cast in concrete. The plan had been for 10 miles but I turned around after 4. Last Saturday I had felt slow and the same happened again - only this time I really was dead slow. I got a bit of a shock when I saw the pace on the watch afterwards, basically 9-minute miles. I haven't run that slowly since, well, reaching Sparta. It's a good thing I did turn around early - I would have been late for work otherwise.

Tuesday saw the unwelcome visit of yet another major winter storm, Jonas, the same storm that had shut down the eastern united states for a while this weekend. It had lost much of its destructive power by the time it touched land in Kerry but it was still sufficient to keep me awake half the night. I tried reading once the ceiling had been studied in sufficient detail but eventually got up at 5 am and spent an hour on the treadmill, inadvertently doing my longest treadmill run ever - yet. It was during storm Desmond in December that I decided the get a treadmill - I'm daft enough to keep running no matter what and indoors is definitely safer at times. Thankfully the hamstrings felt much better - they had already felt better during Yoga Monday evening.

I had contracted a cold in hospital last week and had definitely started to feel better by the start of this week but on Wednesday morning just felt like crap again. Of course I still went running. That's my default action. I had already decided to do 10 instead of the originally planned 12 but when I still felt like crap after 3 or 4 miles I decided to go home instead and ended up with 5; slow ones at that.

I guess a bit of rest might be in store. I'll take a few days off, until I feel better. This is mostly to get rid of that cold but it should also serve to get me out of this little overtraining hole that I once again managed to dig myself into.

25 Jan

8 miles, 1:11:52, 8:59 pace, HR 128

26 Jan

8 miles, 1:04:51, 8:06 pace, HR 143, treadmill

27 Jan

5 miles, 42:21, 8:28 pace, HR 138

28 Jan

0

Flu Fighters

We got a letter from the kids' primary school, warning parents to keep their children at home if they're feeling unwell because of a massive outbreak of influenza b. At the end of last week they had half of the children missing from school, including ours, as well as a couple of teachers and they have cancelled the Christmas performances, much to Cian's dismay. Anyway, I'm sure the bug I have been dealing with over the last week is the same pathogen because the symptoms are identical as well as a few oddities like feeling perfectly recovered one day (me on Saturday) and sick again the next. I thought I was suffering from man-flu, turns out it's the real flu after all. Thankfully it's a mild one, though that did not stop Niamh from ordering me to stop running and stay at home. Luckily she tends to be asleep at 6 am so I'm literally out of the house already by the time she notices me missing, and so far I have been able to deal with the subsequent inequitable scolding.

The reason I'm so intent on keeping running is that this is the most consistent spell of training I have been able to put together since April/June 2014! Something clicks in my body when I manage to put together several weeks of reasonably high mileage, about 80 in my case, in a row. I can feel the effects happening and I am loath to stop that. I've had a ton of minor complaints, plus on major one, in the last year, and now a bit of flu that I feel I can manage easily enough isn't enough to make me bring all those lovely adaptations to a sudden halt.

The one thing I'm missing is sleep. The flu may well have something to do with it but it's mostly the wind that keeps howling outside the window that keeps me awake. This is going to catch up with me sooner rather than later if it doesn't improve soon but I'm not sure what I can do about the weather. I have run through some pretty awful conditions in the last couple of weeks and the next storm front is only a couple of days away, oh joy.

Anyway, I did 10 miles on Monday, 12 on Tuesday and 15 this morning. I've also started to run a little bit faster, obviously hoping that the accumulated effort is still below my recovery threshold, though the way I'm feeling at the moment I'd say that is indeed the case. I do monitor my HR to keep a lid on things but a side-effect of the flu is that the HR is elevated by a few beats.

One other side effect of that flu (at least I presume it's caused by that) is a lower appetite, which had me lose a few pounds from an already rather low level over the last week or two. I presently weigh in at 141 lbs / 10 st 1 / 64 kg, which is the lowest weight I've had in 8 years. With a height of 5'10 / 178 cm the BMI is 20.3, which is great. Oh, and my waist is under 29 inches, though I only mention that to make Niamh jealous. :-)

I wouldn't mind if those extra pounds kept off until the spring races come round but we'll have to wait and see, especially with Christmas around the corner. I sure do not intend to starve myself in order to keep the weight off as I regard that as counterproductive to quality training.

30 Nov

10 miles, 1:20:25, 8:02 pace, HR 142

1 Dec

12 miles, 1:32:16, 7:41 pace, HR 150

2 Dec

15 miles, 1:55:04, 7:40 pace, HR 150

Blown Away

I almost called this entry "Sick and Tired" which would have been somewhat accurate but deemed it too negative.

Training for a marathon or an ultra isn't exactly glamorous, especially so in the winter. It often boils down to putting in the miles, one after the other, often on tired legs and almost always on your own, in the dark, away from everyone and everything.

This week was rather challenging as I was always struggling to recover. I needed recovery from the race last Saturday and recovery from whatever bug affected me as well as half of the family. I know some people think I'm an idiot for always trying to run, never mind the circumstances. Feeling sick? Go for a run. Pain in the leg? Go for a run. Having to drive someone to an airport or train station a 6 am? Get up at 4 am and run. Tired or hungover? Definitely go for a run, that's not even an excuse. Storm blowing outside? Try to find a lull in the storm and find a somewhat sheltered piece of road and run.

I freely admit I got it badly wrong on two occasions. 8 years ago I stubbornly ran through a cold with a cough that got worse and worse until I developed pneumonia and was bedridden for 3 weeks (boy that hurt!). And this summer I ran for two weeks through a hip pain that just did not get any better until I finally had to admit defeat and subsequently missed 6 weeks of what should have been a crucial training period.

On all other occasions I was right to keep on running. The way I see it I'm still way ahead of where I would be training-wise than if I accepted excuses for not running, despite those 2 setbacks. I would not have gotten to the World Championship if my mindset wasn't to go for a run under virtually any circumstances.

I didn't feel great on Thursday, though I was already better than the day before. I took it reasonably easy because the legs were tired from the long run on Wednesday, otherwise there isn't much to report. I ran the same road again but a little bit quicker on Friday. On both days I was a little bit slower that I would have thought effort-wise. I'm pretty sure that's the cold knocking my system slightly out of whack. I can see in my HR graphs that the numbers dipped badly on Wednesday and then gradually recovered until they were more or less back to where I would have expected them on Saturday.

I ran a bit faster on Saturday, though the conditions weren't exactly ideal. The blustery wind on its own was bad enough but when it blew the rain straight into my face it was less than pleasant and not exactly conducive to a great run. I was still pleased with how it went, though.

On Sunday I awoke to the sound of the storm raging outside. Actually, I did that on several occasions as the wind kept waking me until I finally got up at around 7 o'clock. Storm Clodagh is the third storm of the season worthy of its own name, though once more it was the North that took the brunt of it and we got away relatively lightly. I checked the Met Eireann website but failed to notice the orange alert being issued (orange for wind, yellow for rain) - having said that, in retrospect they were being overcautious. I could not fail to notice the wind and the debris on the road and wondered where to run. I reluctantly settled on running back-and forwards on the Ard-na-Sidhe road but was stopped dead in my tracks less than two miles into my run by a fallen tree blocking the entire road. After a bit of hesitation I climbed through the branches and continued on. There were no other major bits of debris around (plenty of minor ones, though) and I decided to run between that tree and where the road starts to climb in earnest towards the Devil's Elbow, a stretch of just under a mile. To be honest, the prospect of running back-and-forwards on that road no less than 9 times each way didn't exactly fill me with anticipation and I somewhat doubted I would last the distance but in the end I just got on with it and ran. The legs were tired straight away due to yesterday's run and started to hurt properly after 8 miles, the conditions got pretty bad at times and running on the same stretch of road so many times was really stretching it but somehow I got through it all, climbed through the tree once more, joked with a couple walking their dog what a nice morning it was for a stroll and headed for home.

There has to be some bonus for getting through that kind of stuff!

26 Nov

10 miles, 1:21:16, 8:07 pace, HR 145

27 Nov

10 miles, 1:20:19, 8:02 pace, HR 143

28 Nov

12 miles, 1:30:07, 7:30 pace, HR 152

29 Nov

20 miles, 2:43:06, 8:09 pace, HR 147

Weekly Mileage: 85

Toil And Reward

On Monday morning my first impression was that the legs felt much better than expected after a fairly tough weekend (which seems to be something I am saying after every weekend). I still took it reasonably easy on my run, though the pace was definitely slower than what I would have expected.  A couple of miles before the finish I somehow manage to trip over nothing but the flat road surface and took a tumble. Nothing was hurt but my pride and I have no idea how that happened. I have always been a bit clumsy, which is one of the main reasons why I prefer road running to trail or mountain running, but stumbling over nothing at all?

Later that day my legs felt really achy - I think it was a very delayed reaction to the tough weekend.

I could of course claim that I therefore decided to take it a bit easier on Tuesday by only running 8 miles but truth is that I overslept and only had time for 8, and if the cat had not woken me shortly after 6 o'clock it would have been even less. It was cold and windy and then it started raining as well - we're definitely heading towards my least favourite weather conditions, icy cold rain and wind, horrible. We're not quite there yet though, thankfully.

The "Run The Kingdom" group had an awards night in Tralee on Tuesday and I was very honoured to receive an achievement award for my races in 2015, specifically the World Championship and the Spartathlon. Funnily enough I'm not entirely happy with my performance in either race as I think I could have done better in both but I accepted the award nevertheless - it was a great honour, thank you very much!

What I am distinctly less grateful for is the fact that we have now firmly moved into the colds and flu season, and with 4 kids at school age we are assured a constant stream of new infections. Maia was very snuffly at the weekend but is already feeling much better. Cian, on the other hand, is at home at the moment, recovering, as are half of his classmates. I'm not sure whose bug I caught but I've got a sore throat and am generally feeling achy and not 100% myself. I didn't sleep too well and wondered if going for a run was a good idea but my default setting is to always go for a run and see how it goes. As it turns out I felt perfectly fine while running, better then when not running in fact. However, I'm sure the very high HR this morning is a direct result of my body having to fight off an infection. The facts that I ran over a very hilly course and had to deal with a blustery wind only added to that. I also managed to take a wrong turn at a junction early on but  luckily noticed it after a minute or so. It would have taken me on a longer route around the lake, which is the road I had used last Sunday. I must have still been half asleep.

23 Nov

10 miles, 1:23:51, 8:23 pace, HR 137

24 Nov

8 miles, 1:06:34, 8:19 pace, HR 137

25 Nov

15.3 miles, 2:07:58, 8:20 pace, HR 147

Badly Needed Recovery

The legs really did not feel like running on Sunday morning. That was no great surprise, the day after a tough 50k was always going to a bit of a struggle. I am used to this, but I know my usual recovery strategy works exceedingly well and I went out for a slow 5-mile run despite really not looking forward to it.

The legs were just as stiff and heavy as expected, but when the HR alarm started beeping at me despite crawling at snail's pace I thought that thing had to be kidding me. I eventually decided to cut the run short and was home after only 5k, which was almost certainly a good idea. I was so tired that I went straight back to bed and slept for most of the day. I also had no appetite at all, despite skipping/sleeping through lunch and declining ice cream later on I barely ate one portion at dinner. I was worried about not being able to sleep at night after spending almost the entire day in bed, but there was no need to. I slept like a log. I must have spent close to 20 hours asleep or at least dozing that day!

Physical recovery from the 50k was one factor but the cold clearly had a greater effect on me than I would have thought and I needed to get healthy first before I could even think of training again. I skipped running on Monday and Tuesday (Niamh did not even notice!). I felt a bit better on Monday, a fair bit better on Tuesday and almost recovered on Wednesday so I did head out that morning for a little 5 mile run, which went a lot better and I am definitely on the up again.

Every night I slept a lot more than usual, which undoubtedly helped. I knew I was in dire need of recovery - I said as much on Sunday - and I feel an awful lot better now. I sincerely hope I can put that all behind me now, I really need to get some training done or I will not be able to do myself justice in Turin.

I cannot help but notice that in previous years I have always had a great immune system. I have 4 children who constantly bring home all kinds of infections from school. It never used to affect me. I may have gotten slightly sick about once per winter, but that was it. This year was very different, I picked up every bug that got into the house and spent far too much time feeling sick and tired.

Maybe it's all very simple; I stopped taking Vitamin C supplements this year, partially because of all those articles saying that there is no scientific reasoning behind this but mainly because the IAAF state that athletes should not take any supplements because contamination with banned substances cannot be guaranteed. I do not expect to be tested in Turin, but I do not want to take any risks. Besides, even if I do not get tested, I still want to be a clean athlete, for long term health reasons as much as ethical ones.

However, I suspect there is more to it. Maybe it is related to me being older. I am 45 now, not exactly what people would call the prime of an athlete's years, and may well becoming more susceptible to things.

I don't think my immune system is affected by overtraining as such. My training is not that intense and I do not suffer from stress. In fact, my training this winter has probably been less stressful than in most other years because I did step back in December and did a lot of MAF running. There is, however, the possibility that my training and racing last summer brought on some longer lasting issues. I know I pushed myself to my absolute limits in Belfast and the training beforehand had been rather hard core, so who knows.

I know that right now I am feeling a lot better, though still not 100% recovered from the cold and the legs will need some tlc to bring them back. If I could avoid getting sick before Turin, that would undoubtedly help. There are still a few weeks left where I could get some good training done.

16 Feb

0

17 Feb

0

18 Feb

5 miles, 41:53, 8:22 pace, HR 142

The One That (Probably) Should Not have Been

I awoke on Friday morning at around 3:30 and immediately regretted it. My head hurt, my heart was racing, I was sweating bucket loads and I just generally felt awful. For the fourth or maybe fifth time this winter I obviously had picked up some bug that the kids had brought home; Cian and Lola had already had it and now it was my turn.

I almost panicked. The Donadea 50k on Saturday was one of the key workouts in my training and I would not be able to make it up. This was having a really serious impact on my preparations for Turin. In addition to that, I had promised Tom Enright a lift to the race. How was he going to get an alternative in 24 hours?

Eventually I managed to fall back asleep and when I woke a few hours later I felt so much better I could hardly believe it. I did not go running that morning (yes, that's how awful I had felt!) and the thundery rain did nothing to persuade me otherwise.

I felt okay throughout the day and, with a fair amount of doubt in my head, I decided to risk it and go ahead. I got up Saturday morning at 5 o'clock, got ready and pointed the car northeastwards. It was the same scenario as last week ("let's try this again"), and this time I made it past the 2-mile mark without a crash. I picked up Tom in Limerick and we got to Donadea pretty much at 9 o'clock, perfect.

Billy and me, still smiling before the start.
Photo by James Shelley

It took a while to pick up my number because I kept bumping into so many friendly face, all of whom enquired about my car and my own well being. Seems like word had spread rather quickly.

The race started pretty much on time and from the word go I felt very good. I tried to keep the pace at about 7:30 but the guys running right in front of me kept telling me to go ahead ("if I'm ahead of you I know I'm doing this wrong"), so eventually I gave into their wishes and pulled ahead. I should have left it at that but I kept going at a faster pace, at first without even realising. I did pull myself back when I saw 6:45 pace on the watch but 7:10 pace felt utterly comfortable. This immediately should have set off some internal alarm bells but I have run 50ks at that pace (and faster) in the past and my alarm settings were a bit off.

Feeling good early on. This would not last.
Photo by James Shelley

The course consists of 10 laps of almost 5k with a bit of extra at the beginning. For the first 2 laps I felt the most comfortable I had felt in a long time. The road surface had been redone since last year and we were running much of it on crushed gravel, which felt nice and soft and just perfect, much better than last year's mudbath. However, predictably, this did not last. As early as the third lap I noticed my energy levels dropping, and rapidly at that. Barely 7 miles into a 50k is a bit early to get into trouble! I reduced the pace to about 7:30, which lead to a few runners going past me over the next few miles, including the eventual ladies' winner. Past champions Orna and Olwyn were marshalling at one junction and cheering on the runners, and when they enquired about my pace I told them 7:25 - that was my present pace, the average at that point was still 7:10.

Lap 4 and I was starting to have serious doubts if I would finish the race. In fact, finishing the race may well have been a bad idea, it's just not a good idea to push your body to its limits when you are already sick; that kind of nonsense can have serious repercussions. On the other hand, a bit of suffering is not a bad thing to experience in training when you are preparing for a 24 hours race - no matter how badly today would hurt, it would still be nothing compared to what's in store in 8 weeks' time. I kept going. Vasilij and Vilnis overtook me at one point and I wasn't sure if they were overtaking or lapping me. In turn, we all caught up to Billy, who once again had started a bit too fast and was paying the price as well.

We let the boys go and Billy and me spent about a lap running together. It felt so much easier to run in company and I did seem to recover a fair bit. However, looking at the results now I can see that the times were still going the wrong way, each lap was slightly slower than the previous one, even if I felt a bit more comfortable. Brian Ankers went past us, looking exceptionally comfortable and very, very happy. He was realising one of his stated dream goals, namely beating me in a race!

Billy dropped back at the start of the next lap and I pushed on alone. Ideally you should still be feeling comfortable at halfway but today was definitely not an ideal day. I did wonder once more how far I should be running and if pushing on was a good idea, but for the time being things did not look too badly and I kept going.

Vasilij and Vilnis caught up once more "where the f*ck are you coming from!?!" They could not possibly have lapped me so quickly (even Gary O'Hanlon took three laps for that), turns out they had a bit of a toilet break. I hung on to their coat tails for a while and the pace felt a lot quicker straight away though with company it felt manageable. We talked about the good old times and the lap passed quickly; despite feeling a lot faster it was only 3 seconds faster than my previous one, and still the second slowest so far. I lost a few seconds picking up a drink bottle and immediately the boys were gone. For about a mile I tried to catch up with them but the legs were not cooperating any more, the best I could do was to keep the distance roughly the same, and eventually I gave up and fell back into my own pace again, resigned to be seeing out the rest of the race on my own.

The drop in pace at that point was dramatic. Lap 8 was more than 90 seconds slower than even the slowest of all the previous laps, and that over a mere 5k loop! I was suffering quite badly at that point and was counting down every single kilometre, going from marker to marker. At least I could sense the finish line by now, the majority of the running was already done and the outstanding number of miles was down to single figures. To make matters worse the legs started to experience spasms and I was worried about getting a cramp. Usually I would take an electrolyte tablet at that point which generally seems to help but I was entirely out of them and had not ordered any new ones yet.

I took some caffeine after lap 8 and within a couple of minutes started feeling a lot better. It made a big difference to my mood, even if the pace did not really change. I guess I should have taken it a bit earlier, but what can you do. From here on things were not looking anywhere near as bleak any more, the worst of the suffering was behind me and even though I was very much looking forward to finishing I knew this would be over in a reasonable amount of time.

I had crossed halfway in 1:55:3x, so a sub-4 finish seemed safe with such a safety margin. However, a look at the watch eventually told me how much the pace had dropped and all of a sudden I wasn't so sure any more. I definitely was not racing this because it was a training run for Turin and nothing more but I still had some pride left and an above 4 hours finishing time would have stung. As I got to the end of lap 9 I tried to read the time on the clock but that little kid was standing right in front of the timer and I could not make it out until I was right beside it (for some reason it did not come to me to check my own watch!). Anyway, I had 25 minutes and 8 seconds left - pretty much 8-minute miles, and to my horror I realised that the last few laps had been slower than that so I better get going!

Photo by Paul Daly

Into the pain cave once more. I knew I could deal with the discomfort but the legs were experiencing spasms at a much-too-frequent rate and I was very close to cramping on several occasions, and I knew that if a cramp took hold properly any ideas of time went right out of the window. Right at the halfway mark, almost at the top of the "hill", the right hamstring did indeed start cramping but walking half a dozen steps brought immediate relief and then I was over the top of the hill and running downhill felt easier straight away and the pace dropped to about 7-minute miles, for the first time in hours!

Looking at the results now I can see that I overtook 3 runners on the last lap and I ran this 2 minutes faster than the previous ones, so obviously I did have more left in me than I was prepared to give on the day. The last stretch before the finish is uphill and I knew a sub-4 finish was in the bag. The legs threatened to cramp again, no matter how much I promised them that the finish was imminent. I unwisely decided to finish with a Dargan jump, which was pathetic as I barely was able to clear the ground and I paid for it straight away with a rather painful cramp. Ah well.

If you try and finish in style ...
(Photo by Jumping The Gun)

I finished in 3:58:27, 29th overall and 3rd M45, but most of all I was happy to be finished at all. It doesn't take a genius to work out that I am in dire need of recovery, from the cold as much (or more) as from the 50k so that's what's in store now.

... don't ruin it all by starting to cramp!
You might end up looking like a right muppet.
(Photo by Jumping The Gun)

P.S. Congratulations to Gary O'Hanlon for not only defending his title as national champion but also breaking the Irish record while doing so! Unreal performance!

13 Feb

0

14 Feb

Donadea 50k, Irish National 50k champs

3:58:27, 7:41 pace, HR 155

   29th place, 3rd M45

15 Feb

3.1 miles, 29:59, 9:36 pace, HR 135

Alive

I got some tests done on Tuesday at the hospital and will see a specialist next Tuesday once he's had the chance to look at the data. In the meantime I'm still allowed to go running, in fact they very much encouraged me to go running on Wednesday morning wearing their own HRM so that they would be able to see what's happening to my heart under those conditions.

After feeling pretty damn awful on Friday morning I seem to have mostly recovered but I don't know if that very slight discomfort in my chest is a figment of my overworked imagination or real, and if it's real if it's significant.

I went out for a very, very easy 5 mile run on Monday morning, did not run on Tuesday because I knew I would be on a treadmill doing a stress test just a couple of hours later in the hospital and did another easy run on Wednesday, this time wearing both the HRM from the hospital (with awkward cables sticking out) as well as my own HR strap.

Apparently I broke their record for the longest time on the stress test treadmill, but since they asked me to stop BEFORE I was going all-out I'd guess they just never had a runner on that thing, so that's not much to boast about,

Assuming that I get to go running properly again I will fall back to a Maffetone-style program. I wrote yet another quick app for the Suunto to give me a HR alarm (btw, any other GPS watch I've ever seen has this built into it from the start - the lack of such basic features is definitely the Ambit's biggest drawback) which I tested out this morning and which seems to work very well. I fully intend to stick with this protocol for several weeks. It's definitely not the most exciting form of training. In fact, I unsuccessfully tried to talk myself out of it but lost the argument with my more logical self because I know that it can achieve spectacular results for long endurance athletes of the very patient kind.

I've been feeling a little bit better every day since Friday and 5 days later I'm pretty much back to normal, assuming that the HR monitor that's still attached to me hasn't picked up anything abnormal. Since they never told me to stop running I'll keep doing just that; probably a bit paranoid at the beginning but hopefully a little bit more confident every time.

One lesson I learned is having your heart acting up is pretty scary.

8 Dec

5 miles, 42:07, 8:25 pace, HR 130

9 Dec

Stress test on treadmill (Bruce protocol, I think) for 19:10

10 Dec

5 miles, 40:48, 8:10 pace, HR 134

We Are Go

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

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

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

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

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

30 May

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

31 May

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

1 Jun

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

Healthnote

I admit it, I'm not very good at being sick. This is slightly weird because as a child I used to be sick all the time, every year in school I would easily amass the highest number of absences, well ahead of even the most dedicated skiver. Things improved somewhat as I got older, but the real change only happened when I started running, not quite 10 years ago, and since then I must have gotten used to feeling super fit as well as super healthy.

I have been running a little bit the last few days. Normally I wouldn't have, feeling as I did, but as mentioned previously I've had plenty of time to read Phil Maffetone's book while being bed-bound, and his recommendation is that gentle aerobic exercise can greatly enhance recovery, and we're not just talking about recovery from injury. Actually, it does make sense to me, I have long ago discovered that any niggles I have go away much quicker when I keep running rather that rest completely, but obviously you have to make sure you do not aggravate things. Things may be well the same when recovering from sickness, but again, you need to make sure you do not aggravate things.

The legs had turned into two concrete pillars after 5 days of not running at all, so when I went out for a gentle 5 mile run on Monday morning I quickly changed my mind and cut it down to 4, even though after a mile or two there was some serious improvement already. Things felt easier on Tuesday but I was a bit alarmed by the HR readings for such a slow pace. There were mixed results this morning, the legs felt awful again for the first mile but the HR improved, albeit only slightly.

I always keep track of my pace, HR and their ratio in a very simple spreadsheet. When I'm in top shape I tend to see number above 60 (55 for races), and it's been a long time since I've had to look at figures in the low 50s for a training run. That spreadsheet is a very good thing to have in situations like this, I can easily convince myself that I'm feeling better, but cold hard figures from a HR monitor transferred into a spreadsheet can't be fooled.

At the moment, my participation as pacer in Monday's Cork City marathon is definitely under threat. There is no way running a 3:15 marathon can be described as gentle aerobic exercise, so I won't try and pull that particular excuse. I still have 5 days and right now I won't rule anything out. It is still possible that I will be standing on the start line wondering if I'm about to do the most stupid thing I have ever done in my life, but then again that would be a very familiar feeling, as experienced here and here and here and on a couple more occasions as well ( I tend to do idiotic things very well, apparently).

27 May

4 miles, 32:36, 8:09 pace, HR 141

28 May

5+ miles, 40:27, 8:01 pace, HR 145

29 May

5 miles, 40:32, 8:05 pace, HR 141

Sicknote

I really am not used to being sick. Usually my immune system takes care of anything natures throws at it; no matter what kind of bugs the kids bring home from school, it's not unusual for me to be the only one of the family to remain unaffected. As a result, I am a lousy patient when I finally do get struck down, like I did this week.

It started on Tuesday afternoon, and it came very quickly. In the morning I had run 8 miles, marvelling how well I was feeling and how little the marathon had taken out of me and a few hours later all of a sudden my energy levels plummeted towards zero and I got a splitting headache.

Not only did I not run on Wednesday, I took the day off work as well. I then tried to force the issue by telling myself that I was getting better and went to work on Thursday but very, very quickly realised how stupid that had been and went home again even before lunchtime. Friday was spent mostly in bed again, feeling utterly miserable and contemplating far too many things.

It was so bad that I seriously considered going to the doctor, and if you know me then you'd know that I must have felt really sick, because I do have some serious reservations regarding the "health" service, both in general and the substandard Irish one in particular.

However, as quickly as I had succumbed, just as quickly I seemed to recover. All of a sudden I started to feel much better on Friday evening and I knew I was on the mend. That's not to say that I have recovered. I am still somewhere between sick and healthy but feeling better every day. I will resume running tomorrow, though carefully and slowly, and with the proviso that I can turn back at any time. I won't have lost any real fitness after 5 days, in fact it might have helped with recovery from Killarney, at least from a muscular point of view.

I had plenty of time to ponder if that cold was a sign that I was overtraining, and while I will keep an open mind I honestly do not think so because none of the other symptoms apply to me, so I really put that one down to hanging around at the finish line in Killarney for too long and getting too cold.

Always try and turn and problem into an opportunity. The long hours at home enabled me to finally read the Maffetone book that had been lying on my shelf for far too long, and I think it is excellent. I was always sceptical about his approach and felt that his way of training was much more suited to very-long-endurance events like Ironmans or very long ultras, but last year I twigged that I was moving into that area myself and therefore his ideas might apply to me as well. Actually, I found the chapters about lifestyle and especially nutrition far more enlightening than his theories about training itself (plenty of which I had been implementing all along anyway), and I am trying to make some changes, which actually does have me quite excited. I have made some great progress in the last few years, much more than I would ever have dared to dream. Just get a tiny little bit faster and I'll be satisfied. *

* yeah, right ...

The Price To Pay

I was never under any illusions that I could just get away with running an unplanned 2:56 marathon without repercussions, but I did not expect payback to happen quite so quickly.

I didn't do myself any favours by hanging around at the finish for well over half an hour, dressed in my singlet and getting cold, before finally heading for the showers which were another 15 minutes walk away. I felt good on Sunday but had a headache on Monday evening, which I did not pay too much attention to, but during the course of Tuesday I got progressively worse. Initially I wasn't sure if it was a head cold or my usual, twice-annual hayfever (or maybe both), but eventually I was left in no doubt that, yes, I did indeed have that most lethal of illnesses, the dreaded man-flu.

It has to be bad when I don't even consider going for a run, and right now I'm much too busy feeling sorry for myself to worry how long recover will take. Since I am supposed to run another marathon 12 days from now, it better be quick. At least next time I'll be carrying a balloon with 3:15 written onto it around the course so there won't be any danger of repeating Saturday's shenanigans and racing away.

That brings me to my other point. I clearly need to rethink my marathon-as-training-runs strategy. It worked beautifully last year in Donadea when I ran the 50k at a decent clip but definitely at training effort. Thing is, Donadea was the national 50k championship so I let the elites up front do their own thing and the idea of racing never entered my mind. It was different in Killarney when I saw the runners ahead of me and knew I could keep up with them if I wanted to. Apart from races with elites up front, I guess the only way I can ensure that I will stick to the plan is by running as one of the official pacers. I've done that often enough by now, after all.

Up until I got sick, recovery had gone well, the legs had felt fine of Sunday and Monday, at least after the first couple of gingerly steps were out of the way, and the HR was low enough to suggest that my body was still in good shape. All I need right now is to shake of that cold, take it easy, and I'll be good again to go.

19 May

5 miles, 40:06, 8:01 pace, HR 137

20 May

5 miles, 39:59, 8:00 pace, HR 133

21 May

8 miles, 1:02:20, 7:47 pace, HR 137

22 May

0

Dodged Yet Another Bullet

I knew there was trouble brewing. I awoke several times on Tuesday night with a sore throat, something that was still with me when I finally got up at around 6:30 in the morning. It was uncomfortable but not too bad, so I went ahead with the workout.

My very first thought on speedwork days used to be “oh no, speedwork!” but I wasn’t too bothered this time round; maybe because the workout didn’t seem too hard, especially after running 18-minute 5ks several times this year already. The plan, which originally came from my previous coach, was to run 6 half miles around 2:50-3:00 with 2 minutes of recovery. Perfectly doable.

I felt awkward and slow during the warm up but once I got going I was fine and the sore throat was completely forgotten. The workout went very well, I hit all the paces and was always in full control and reasonably relaxed.

2:56 (HR 156), 2:57 (160), 2:53 (163), 2:54 (165), 2:52 (164), 2:51 (169)

The last one was tougher than the previous ones but still nowhere near all-out. I was very happy with it and that’s not something I tend to say after intervals.

However, I did not feel great for the rest of the day with some cold coming on, and Niamh chided me for not wrapping up the day before when it was cold. I thought that kind of talking-to had stopped about 35 years ago when my mum gave up, but apparently not.

The sore throat was worse on Wednesday, and this time I seriously contemplated binning the run. What is there to gain from an easy run if you’re on the verge of being sick? Then I decided that I had no symptoms below the neck, my usual cut-off point, and that yesterday’s intervals had gone exceedingly well despite the sore throat and went out after all, but only for 6 easy miles. The HR monitor supports my decision I suppose, the HR was not elevated. If something had been properly wrong I would have expected to see a different value.

I guess I got away with it. I still felt some very minor discomfort this morning but it’s definitely a lot better, and I’m feeling perfectly fine otherwise. I did another mellow workout, 8 miles at 7-ish pace with a surge towards 6-minute-pace every mile for 0.3 - 0.4 miles before falling back to 7-minute pace, which felt like jogging after surging. Due to the strong gale force winds I did not take much notice of the actual pace and went by feel only, which was about 5:50 pace with the wind at my back and closer to 6:30 against the wind, and I cut the very last surge short with an eye on Saturday’s final 5k of the race series.

I have basically decided that I am tapering for Tralee already, so there won’t be any more real long runs. Ballycotton will be the last big workout, and I’ll do a few more faster but shorter runs, in the hope that it will make running at 6:30 – 6:40 pace feel easier.

My biggest worry for Tralee is that we will have to deal with winds like today. It would blow away any chances of a decent time, and it’s a factor I cannot control (so why worry?). I’ll need to get my head around this before race day.

19 Feb

7 miles, 50:14, 7:10 pace, HR 147
     6 half mile repeats: 2:56 (HR 156), 2:57 (160), 2:53 (163), 2:54 (165), 2:52 (164), 2:51 (169)

20 Feb

6 miles, 45:25, 7:34 pace, HR 138

21 Feb

8 miles, 54:57, 6:52 pace, HR 154

Man Flu

I can’t quite remember when it was that I started coughing, but I know that it was about 3 days after Niamh, which leaves me in no doubt on who is to blame. The children all got it as well and even though it’s a rather mild form of sickness it turns out to be a very persistent one because we all still have it. I also blame it for last week’s bad race, but that’s beside the point.

As much as I hate going to the doctor I still remember what happened the last time I kept running with a persistent cough, and I really do not fancy catching pneumonia again, so off to the doctor I went. She did not seem overly concerned but because of my history prescribed me some antibiotics.

Maybe it’s just in the head, but after one day of treatment I already felt better this morning. Mind, I ran much too fast as a result and the HR was even higher than on previous days. The cough is still there and I have to take care.

It might still be August, but summer is definitely coming to an end. It’s fairly dark when I get up and the last few mornings have all been really cold. The biting wind does not help in that regard. Today I wished I’d brought some gloves with me. Gloves in August! What’s the world coming to?

I'm still optimistic that all will be resolved in time for me to run Dingle without problems. I haven’t exactly done much training, but with my background I should be able to get through. I remember saying that before all of my previous “pacing” marathons.

Niamh went to Dublin (again!!!!), and this time she took all the kids with her. Unfortunately she also took the car, which leaves me rather confined at home. I might do the 10k in Milltown on Sunday but will make a late decision. No need to point out that I would not expect a spectacular result.

24 Aug

8 miles, 1:02:08, 7:46 pace, HR 150

25 Aug

7 miles, 54:24, 7:46 pace, HR 147

26 Aug

8 miles, 1:00:50, 7:36 pace, HR 151

Poison

I should have caught on when a set of only seven very short hill sprints left me in a state of near collapse on Tuesday but did not think too much of it, just reasoned that I had underestimated the severity of the workout.

When my stomach started doing somersaults a few hours later, I initially blamed it on the lousy coffee in the office (a reasonable enough thought) but it didn’t get any better, in fact it got a lot worse. The only reason why I did not leave work early was the fact that I could not face the drive home – something I had to do anyway once work was finished. Honestly, I felt seriously bad.

Since several members of Niamh’s extended family had gotten sick last week while staying in Valentia, it made sense to blame the water. The once clean water supply had been broken a couple of years ago when a cowboy builder dug through our water pipe and then “repaired” the damage, putting a slab of concrete on top of the pipe before anyone could inspect it. We’re now paying the price for that, because Niamh’s parents had the water tested 2 days ago and the result came back today with a level 2 e.coli contamination (whatever that means) and the label “not drinkable” (I know what that means, alright). Suing the bastard who caused all this is pointless, apparently, because he is a local and locals don’t get sued successfully in South Kerry.

Anyway, I didn’t know all that yesterday morning, but I woke at 6 o’clock, my usual time, feeling a lot better and decided a short 5 mile run wouldn’t do any harm and would serve as a test on my recovery. Well. Within half a mile I knew I wasn’t quite recovered yet, but the idiot that I am reasoned that since I'm out on the road anyway I might as well continue. There’s no logic in that, no need to point that out, just me being compulsive once again. At least I had enough sense to slow down. I managed to drag my sorry arse home after 5 miles, feeling not exactly on top of the world.

However, while I wasn’t entirely recovered yet, I felt much better than the day before, enough to take Niamh out in the evening, celebrating our 14th anniversary while the kids were under the grandparents’ supervision (or was it the other way round?), which at least made Niamh happy. Can you imagine anyone living with the likes of me for 14 years? Me neither. (Actually, she says it became a lot easier the day I started running, seven years ago).

Considering how serious an e.coli infection can be, I got away extremely lightly. Today’s run was perfectly fine again, even the weather was better and all of a sudden tomorrow’s race seems a real possibility again. I will only do it if I feel fully recovered as there is no point in racing if you’re still sick, as I found out once the hard way, but the way I have recovered I am actually quite optimistic.

27 Jul

5 miles, 41:47, 8:21 pace, HR 146

28 Jul

5 miles, 39:43, 7:57 pace, HR 141

Various Ailments

As you might know, I have four small children. The fact that they bring home a constant stream of germs from school/preschool comes with the territory. I had plenty of opportunity to test my immune system over the winter, but the usual outcome was that between 2 and 5 other family members became sick while I got away with a little bit of sore throat that went away after a day or two.

Therefore I was not particularly bothered by another sore throat on Sunday. Niamh and Lola had been coughing persistently for at least 10 days but no further symptoms. My throat felt worse than usual on Monday, but it was not until I started spitting blood on Tuesday morning that I took note. It may not have been much because a small amount of blood in a lot of mucus does look like a lot of blood, but it did freak me out. Trying hard not to panic, I decided that I still did not have any symptoms below the neck (my usual test) and went running.

The run went well, the HR was perfectly normal and this morning my throat was still sore but thankfully no further sign of blood. With less than 3 weeks to go to the marathon I was rather worried, but I think once more I managed to get away with it.

It was not the only ailment that has befallen me during this training cycle, but I kept most of them to myself. You know about the blown up knee at the start of December, but only the coach knew about my back pain a couple of months ago. I’ve had that before and I think it is not a running injury, but it can be very painful and it can affect my running as well as everyday life.

I also had a very sore left hip for a few weeks, it was either the gluteus medius or the gluteus minimus that was affected. It made the first half mile of each run rather awkward, but that too disappeared eventually, all by itself. The fact that it cleared up straight after I replaced my oldest pair of runners with a new one may or may not have been the solution.

Still, as the coach let me know in no uncertain terms, if in doubt always rest so today’s speed session was cancelled, to be replaced by yet another easy run. I did one thing though, I ran in extra layers with a jacket on top that had me steaming in my own sweat, to try and get some heat acclimatisation going. The temperature in Vienna at the moment is about 20C, and while that’s not very hot by any means it is about 15 degrees warmer than what I'm used to and I’d rather get prepared, just in case. It meant a very high heart rate today (I guess I should have run slower), my shirt was utterly soaked with sweat and I was over 2 pounds lighter than yesterday, but I felt fine. I would not have fancied running 26 miles like that, though.

With the throat returning back to normal and me calming down, we can get back to normal. Since I’m now in the taper phase there are no major workouts planned anyway.

28 Mar

8 miles, 1:01:48, 7:44 pace, HR 139

29 Mar

8 miles, 1:01:27, 7:41 pace, HR 141

30 Mar

8 miles, 1:01:37, 7:42 pace, HR 155
   Wrapped up in layers for heat acclimatisation

Sick. Again.

In case you’re interested, the coach thinks the faster pace on the previous evaluation was due to some sharpening effect from the 5k races in Killarney. But of course I do not want to have a sharpening effect right now, 4 months before the marathon, so the loss of pace over those two weeks is not really an issue. Instead I am working on my base fitness, and the fact that I was able to hold the pace so well for the 4 miles is very encouraging. There is definitely progress being made. I will skip all potential races for the next few weeks. Sadly, that means no Mallow date for me. A fast time in that race would be great but the only thing that counts is the marathon in April.

At the end of November I just about managed to avoid one of the bugs that did the rounds. I was the only family member not to get sick, just had a bit of a sore throat. This time round I was not quite so lucky. Lola picked up something and was off school for the first three days of the week and I was next in the line; by Wednesday my throat was sore and the following night was really bad. It did not help that Maia woke twice and took a long time to fall back asleep and that Cian had nightmares and ended up in our bed, in addition to me waking at least once every hour. Rest was not to be had and I decided to bin the run, but the ibuprofen I took around 4:30 must have been magic – when I got up at 6 o’clock I felt well enough to go running after all.

Now I fully admit that this might have been a very stupid thing to do (I know I’ve said that before). Three years ago I stubbornly went running through a gradually worsening cold until it had developed into a full-blown and very painful pneumonia that knocked me out for several weeks and kept affecting me for months. I certainly do not wish to repeat the experience, but my general mindset has not changed and if in doubt, I always end up running. I have not managed to string together a few weeks of uninterrupted high mileage recently and the lack of consistency is worrying me. So I went running.

I felt surprisingly good once I got going, but I made damn sure to run slowly and took it really easy. The first mile was no faster than about 8:30 and I only gradually accelerated as I warmed up. My one concession to sanity was to stay close to home and instead of running along Caragh Lake as I would have done otherwise I ran two shorter loops, to enable me to bail out in case I felt like collapsing. Luckily that was not required, but it was a forbiddingly dark morning. Without the headlamp I would not have been able to even make out the road. A cloudy, moonless night so close to Winter solstice does that, I suppose. All in all the run went surprisingly well, even though looking at the HR and pace numbers I guess the sickness added at least 5 beats.

In the office I had a hard time not to fall asleep at my desk at first but a few cups of coffee seemed to do the trick, but at the price of an unhappy stomach. I felt like crap all day and really did not expect to be able to run this morning, but 8+ hours of uninterrupted sleep were just the thing I needed. I was amazed at how well I felt when I got up.

Still, I decided to forget about “Fast Friday” and kept the effort easy. I'm pushing my luck enough as it is. The second cold spell arrived overnight, just as forecast, and the road were covered in fresh snow. It was pretty, and, most important to me, it was not slippery. I did not encounter a single icy patch, just left my footprints behind, something that looked nice on the way home, my own prints on otherwise untouched snow. The pace ended up being a good bit faster than expected, which really surprised me.

While Lola had been sick for three days, I think I got away lightly as I'm feeling much, much better already. At the very least it tells me that I did not prolong recovery by going running. Looking forward, the weather is still a factor. The roads may well be icy over the weekend and into next week. I won’t run on ice again, one blown knee is more than enough, thank you very much. I’ll assess on a day-to-day basis. I’d just like to string together a few weeks of consistent mileage, if that’s possible.

15 Dec

9 miles, 1:12:05, 8:01 pace, HR 140

16 Dec

11+ miles, 1:27:58, 7:59 pace, HR 145

17 Dec

10 miles, 1:16:52, 7:41 pace, HR 148

007

No, I’m not about to reveal my undercover secret service identity, that’s my mileage for the last 3 days I'm talking about. I had told you that I had been sick over the weekend, but since the symptoms were all above the neck, I initially decided to go ahead with my normal taper program, which is easy enough anyway. I was just about to go to bed on Sunday when I just happened to read this article by Private on how stupid he had been running with a throat infection. It served as a wake-up call; I put my running gear back into the cupboard and re-set my alarm clock.

Since I didn’t feel great on Monday I didn’t run on Tuesday either. Since I picked up the infection exactly 2 days after Shea, I could see all along how I was about to progress. It started with 2 days of sore throat (Shea Thursday/Friday, me Saturday/Sunday) followed by 2 days of feeling exhausted and achy (Shea Saturday/Sunday, me Monday/Tuesday) and a really annoying cough (Shea Sunday /Monday, me Tuesday/Wednesday). Shea is fine now and I guess I will feel fully restored by tomorrow. Niamh and Maia are following in our footsteps 2 days after me, which meant a couple of rough nights due to Maia crying regularly (5 times between 1 and 4 o’clock on Monday, and Niamh insists she genuinely slept through it Every Single Time).

As if being sick were not enough trouble on its own, I went to the dentist today. My last baby tooth had literally started falling apart (they are not meant to last for 40 years), but it had been in there long enough to fuse with my jaw bone and the dentist spent half an hour breaking it into smaller pieces and pulling out what he could bit by bit, leaving behind the roots and the rest that was too close to the bone. The procedure was as lovely as you can imagine, but I kept thinking I’d be hurting a lot more on Monday, so I could easily take this. But by now the anaesthetic has worn off and I'm in agony.

Anyway, I was back on the road this morning for a marathon dress rehearsal, 7 miles altogether with 3 at MP. I went by effort and heart rate to gauge where my marathon pace was. The result were 3 miles at 6:56 pace with an average HR of 164, which means I am in pretty good shape but just that little bit shy of sub-3 shape.

This is not taking the effects of my illness into account, of course. I felt well enough this morning, but 7 miles are not enough to bring out the effects that you feel after 15 or 20 miles at race effort. I have run marathons after getting sick before; the result was always an ugly, painful race and a disappointing time. I only have to look back at Dublin last year, which is still very much in my memory. Chances are this will happen again, but I’m stupid enough to give it a go anyway and go down in flames once more.

Still, in the morning right after my run I was perfectly content to aim for about 7:00 pace, which would leave me shy of 3 hours but still get me a new PR. Then I heard that Mick Rice, a class act in more than one way, will be pacing the 3-hour group in Cork (he was supposed to do 3:15 and I was hoping to keep him behind me). Now I’m thinking that running a few miles in his company might be worth the inevitable crash, but maybe that’s just the sickness affecting my brain or the after-effect of today’s local anaesthetic shutting down the more reasonable parts of my mind. I guess I might stand on the start line on Monday still not sure what to do.

5 days to go. I’m about to do something really stupid, am I not?

31 May

0

1 Jun

0

2 Jun

7.1 miles, 50:48, 7:09 pace, HR 156
incl. 3 miles at 6:56 pace, HR 164