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

How Not To Run A Training Run

Running long ultras requires marathon-length training runs, and since running for so long on your own just sucks, running official marathons at training effort is just perfect. I had it all worked out. I had trained right through, in fact this week had been reasonably tough. I did not bring any gels and did not drink any sports drink. I did not wear my racing shoes and, most importantly, I had a plan: run the first half with the 3:15 pacer (Grellan, in that case), which would ensure that I would never be tempted to race this, and which would make it easier to hold back, because even if I got impatient I would always be able to tell myself that I would allow the brakes to come off later on.

It was an idiot-proof plan. However, the universe responded by making a better idiot: I lasted exactly 0.8 miles. Then I looked ahead, saw that Vasiliy would invariably win but I did fancy my chances against everyone else. The temptation was too much, even as I was chiding myself for being so stupid I dropped down to 6:30 pace and chased after the lads. Grellan even shouted after me "Thomas come back", but I defied that order.

Yes, this was early in the race!

I moved up a few places very quickly but then found myself a good bit behind a bigger group. At one point, maybe 3 or 4 miles in, I counted that I was 60 steps behind, about 20 seconds. I repeated the same exercise shortly after 6 miles and came up with more or less the same number. I decided this was ridiculous - if I ran the same pace as the lads then I should run with the lads, as running in a group is easier. I surged ahead, maybe a bit too hard because at one point I looked at the Garmin and saw sub-6 pace, so I dialled back the effort marginally, but within a mile I had caught up. There were 6 of us - Vasiliy was way ahead, but we made up places 2-7. You could have called this the chasing pack, except we were not chasing after him.

Photo by Joe Murphy

Apart from the first mile, the course was entirely within the demesne of Killarney National Park, and on a few occasions I did allow myself the luxury to look around and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. The demesne isn't big enough for 26 miles, so we had to run 3 laps of slightly more than 8 miles. I hate running laps in training, it just does my head in and I can hardly count the laps if it's more than two, but in a race I am in a completely different mindset and I don't mind at all.

The pace of the group wasn't entirely even, there was always someone pushing the pace. A gap appeared at the start of lap 2 as we were running up Knockreer hill and I resolved not to kill myself running up a hill, but I comfortably caught up again on the downhill. During that second lap, one by one some guys were spat out the back of our group until there were only three left, Stephen, Jason and me. Jason was breathing hard and I sure expected him to drop back sooner rather than later. Stephen, on the other hand, was obviously feeling good and kept pushing the pace; I remarked to Jason that he was making it look easy.

The mining trail behind Ross Castle was very undulating, a constant up and down, and the climbs were getting bigger with each lap, but I was still holding on and feeling reasonably good. The other parts were okay. It's not the easiest of marathon courses but definitely not particularly hard, easier than Tralee. As we were nearing the end of the second lap, about 18 miles into it, I finally started feeling the effort. Keeping up with Stephen was tough enough but when Jason started putting the hammer down at the start of the third lap I was no longer able to match yet another surge and let them go, especially as we were going up Knockreer hill for the final time. I had lost contact by the time I reached the top but "Thank God I don't have to climb that f***** again".

Photo by Joe Murphy

At that point I was in fourth place and facing the prospect that I had messed up my training by running at race effort, but would not have anything to show for it. However, to my surprise Stephen did not pull any further ahead; in fact I caught up with him again. He had hit the wall, and rather hard. He asked if I would mind if he hung on for a while, which of course I did not, but as soon as we reached the next climb his footsteps faded very quickly.

I was counting down the miles myself. I cursed myself for not bringing any gels because I was quickly running out of energy and was worried about hitting the wall myself. The mining trail had turned into a roller coaster since our last visit and it was not going to get any easier. At least I did not have to deal with cramping today, unlike in Tralee, but I was hurting just as badly over the last few miles.

My pace suffered. Twice I looked at the Garmin and it was showing 7:20 pace, but I did manage to pick it up again, though that was at the risk of blowing up soon. I got completely paranoid about being caught from behind and started looking behind me - something I never ever do, and definitely a bad thing. However, there was nobody there. I could have done with a bit more rationality, but I wasn't functioning properly any more.

Thankfully the miles melted away, and with about a mile to go I very unexpectedly caught a glimpse of Jason ahead. I actually wasn't too pleased - it meant I would have to push through the pain barrier in an effort to catch second place instead of cruising to the finish. I did put the hammer down and the distance between us did indeed shrink. It did hurt, I assure you, I could not have given any more. But, as Jason told me afterwards, my footsteps gave me away, he heard me coming and responded in kind, and from that moment on the outcome was secured. We raced to the finish at a good clip, him taking second place and me five seconds behind, but absolutely delighted all the same - I have never finished on the podium of a marathon before, what more could you possibly ask for?

Photo by Marek Hajdasz

The weather was very good, the course was absolutely lovely and the setting in the National Park was spectacular. The organisation was very good, especially for a first effort, apart from the fact that the water stations were overwhelmed at times when runners came from two directions. However, my Garmin only showed 26.12 miles at the end. Now, I have run in the demesne plenty of times and the Garmin has been all over the place at times, so I cannot make any definite statements. I spoke to the lady who had measured it with a Jones counter and she was confident the distance was correct. In the end, it doesn't matter much - it was not a PB and I will definitely count it in my list of marathons.

Young Stephen and four old codgers - photo by Jackie Murphy

However, I know there will be a price to pay - my training schedule is completely messed up, it will take ages to recover from this effort and if I have left my Connemara performance here in Killarney I only have myself to blame. Mais je ne regrette rien.

Late Update: Looks like the RD got quite a few questions regarding the distance. He assures us that both the half and the full have been measured twice via Jones counter to absolutely ensure accuracy. That's good enough for me.

18 May

Killarney Marathon Of The Lakes
   2:56:16, 6:43 pace, HR 165. Third place!

Well I Never

My tired legs on Saturday have really messed with my head. Even though I have felt good every day since, it left my wondering if I was overdoing my training and what would be the best way forward. In light of that, it was almost certainly a good thing that I had an evaluation workout on the cards anyway.

After the great numbers last time round I was unsure what to expect. I certainly feared that this week's figures would be worse, especially as I really wasn't feeling all that great while doing the evaluation itself. I did get quite some surprise when I checked the new numbers, though. As always, the numbers in brackets are adjusted pace, 7 seconds for every 2 heart beats off the 161 target:

       
        Mile 1    6:21   HR 160    (6:18)
        Mile 2    6:21   HR 161    (6:21)
        Mile 3    6:24   HR 162    (6:27)
        Mile 4    6:21   HR 161    (6:21)
        Recovery to HR 130: 33 seconds

That's very similar to last time round, with the same slight slowdown on mile 3 but subsequent pickup at mile 4, and the one second difference in recovery time is within the margin of measurement error, so basically that's the same pattern again, expect that each mile was about 5 seconds faster.

Wow!

Of course I have already gotten a load of "what a shame that you're wasting this form on a 100 miler", but I got the same last year and Bangor sure did not feel like a waste to me.

I followed that up with a mountain run on Wednesday morning but scaled it back again to a mere two crossings of Windy Gap because 1) the 3 crossings might have caused the fatigued legs last week due to overwork and 2) I do have a marathon on Saturday; even if it's only a training run and I'll train right through it, I sure don't want to feel like last week for 26 miles.

By the way, as mentioned a few weeks ago, I have been considering adding another marathon to my schedule this summer ever since having to cancel Connemara. I have now signed up to another one, though it's a 50k rather than a marathon, in Portumna. I have been wanting to run that race for years after hearing so many good things about it and I have a long standing promise to the RD that I was going to do it and this year I'll finally come good on that.

13 May

10 miles, 1:15:38, 7:34 pace, HR 138

14 May

11.75 miles, 1:22:10, 7:00 pace, HR 147
   4 mile eval: 6:21, 6:21, 6:24, 6:21, 33 sec recovery

15 May

12.25 miles, 1:47:27, 8:46 pace, HR 142
   mountain run, Windy Gap x 2

Not Quite Smooth Sailing

I thought I had settled into a nice, sustainable training rhythm, doing a longer run at the weekend and a mountain run in midweek with 2 easy days following each, but maybe I need to rethink my strategy. I know I did a longer mountain run on Wednesday, but I would have expected to be recovered from that by Saturday, especially since I had taken it really easy on Thursday and Friday, but it didn't work out like that.

I definitely had one problem, namely my big left toe. On Friday it became increasingly uncomfortable during the office hours and when I got back home I inspected the damage. It was swollen, bright red, very warm, and one area was very, very sore to the touch. Taking off the shoes made a big difference in the comfort levels because the sore area was longer being compressed, but the toe sure did not look good. The next morning, before running, I had another look. The overall swelling had gone down except at the one area that had been sore the day before, and some pus had leaked out onto the toe nail (lovely image, I know. At that point I should probably point out that you should definitely not do an image search on Google for "Big Toe" during lunch time. You're welcome). I was worried that it might be too sore for running, but actually it was perfectly fine; maybe my habit of wearing running shoes a full size bigger than my office shoe helped me out here.

However, while my toe felt fine my quads did not. From the very first step I noticed that something was off and the idea of a tempo run did not feel too appealing. In the end I went ahead but at a significantly lower HR than last week. In fact, my max HR yesterday was lower than last week's average for a similar run! On the plus side, it meant that this time I remained within the parameters that Mystery Coach had set me all those years ago.

I need to stay ahead of my recovery and therefore decided to cut Sunday's long run down by a few miles, depending on how I would feel. As it turns out, I felt great. I cannot explain it, I do not know how that works. I still left it at 18 miles, over 3 miles less than last week, just to be sure. Wearing a singlet in the hope of catching a few rays of sunshine proofed hopelessly optimistic as it kept raining throughout, but I was fine.

Initially I thought I'd take an easy week next week, but maybe that won't be necessary. I'll cut the mountain run back to 2 Windy Gap crossing, though. I will take an easy week following the marathon in Killarney on Saturday, but otherwise the idea is to train through as long as I feel I can recover from it.

9 May

10 miles, 1:16:26, 7:38 pace, HR 139

10 May

10 miles, 1:17:10, 7:43 pace, HR 139

11 May

10 miles, 1:09:41, 6:58 pace, HR 150
   incl. 8 miles @ 6:47 pace, HR 153

12 May

18 miles, 2:13:34, 7:25 pace, HR 145

Weekly Mileage: 81+

Short Update

Things are definitely getting back to normal - Niamh and the kids are back home, it is raining and my weekly mileage has settled in the 80s.

I definitely felt the effects of Sunday's 21 hilly miles in the legs on Monday. They weren't sore as such, but there was definitely some sluggishness in my early morning run, though the nice sunny weather coupled with some warmer temperatures more than made up for that.

The weird thing happened on Tuesday, despite the legs feeling better than the day before the pace was much slower. I ran the same effort level as for all of my easy runs, but somehow I only barely crept under 8-minute miles pace. While it would be obvious to blame Sunday's run, I suspect the  hours of working in the garden on Monday were much more to blame. That usually does a number on my legs - unlike running, I am not used to it. On the plus side, the HR was really low.

The nice weather just wasn't going to last, sadly missed as it is. Actually, so far it has not been quite as bad as the forecast had made us believe; when I saw the warnings of wind and heavy rain I initially considered binning my mountain run, but now I'm glad that I went ahead with it. A couple of hours at dawn in wind and rain can be much more fun than it may sound. I had planned on going over Windy Gap 4 times but had left the house too late (or ran too slowly) and had to settle for 3 climbs, twice from the Caragh Lake and once from the Glenbeigh side. It's quite a cool sight to be running right along the wisps of clouds as they are twirling around the mountain tops. There is definitely an eerie feeling to that place. The legs felt fine, I was surprised to find that the calves had absolutely no problems doing that very steep climb three times in quick succession.

I haven't said much about my achilles recently; it has mostly settled down; I can feel a little twinge from time to time, usually during the first mile or so, but that's all that's left of it. I don't think this will bother me any more for the foreseeable future.

6 May

10 miles, 1:17:55, 7:46 pace, HR 142

7 May

10 miles, 1:19:28, 7:56 pace, HR 133

8 May

13+ miles, 2:06:18, 9:32 pace, HR 136
   mountain run, Windy Gap x 3

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

Getting older

Perfect for my two bookworms!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

29 Apr

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

30 Apr

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

1 May

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

Achilles Heel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

25 Apr

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

26 Apr

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

27 Apr

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

28 Apr

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

Weekly Mileage: 80+

Ultra Training

I do get asked fairly regularly how I manage to get up early every single morning to go running. For a start, running in the evening is simply not an option for me, with 4 small (or not so small any more) children at home it's all hands on deck, so early morning it has to be. I have been doing this for so long by now that it really has become second nature. I don't even need the alarm clock any more. Point in case, the last 3 days I got up at 3 different times yet I was awake 5 minutes before the alarm would have gone off on each occasions. I have no idea how that works, but it does. Once I get up I follow a set routine that I can do entirely on autopilot while still being half asleep; that way I can get out of the door in about 15 minutes. On weekends, when I have time to faff around, it can take me much longer. That routine has become so ingrained that usually I am already half a mile down the road before my first conscious thought of the day (and sometimes that even has to wait until after my return back home).

As for my training, I'm trying to find a way to build myself up for 100 miles on the road. Following last year's lessons from Bangor I definitely want to incorporate steep mountain trails like the one up to Windy Gap on a regular basis. There is no better way to bullet-proof your quads. At the same time I need to get my long runs done on tarmac to get the legs used to the pounding, therefore long runs on the Kerry Way are not the way to go. Right now I'm thinking I can do the mountain run as my mid-week medium-long effort and my long run every weekend on the roads around Caragh Lake. This is exactly what I have been doing the last few days.

The legs felt rather stiff during the early miles on Sunday, no doubt because of the faster pace of the preceding days, but they came round soon enough and I was cruising on autopilot for most of the rest. The pace came down gradually and naturally as well, just the way it should be.

I took it a bit easier on Monday, but on Tuesday I was up on the Kerry Way, crossing Windy Gap on my way to Glenbeigh before turning around and doing the same thing in reverse, which gave me about 2000 feet of accumulated elevation gain. The last time I had done that run, 9 days earlier, I could clearly feel it in the legs for the following two days. This time round recovery was already much improved; there was definitely some fatigue in the legs but not much - though of course it could still be a lot worse tomorrow.

What I'm most unsure about right now is the pace I should be running at. 7:30 pace is very easy at the moment and I have always subscribed to the theory your pace for the easy runs should be whatever pace comes naturally, and the Garmin's input should not be used, neither to slow down nor to speed up. That has served me very well up to now. At the same time I can't help but realise that a 100-mile race is run at a much slower pace (7:30 pace would get me close to world record!). Right now I'm thinking that I should keep doing what I'm doing for the time being and the 10in10 will slow me down to get me used to ultra-race pace. It is the equivalent of marathon training where you start at your generic speed and gradually run more and more faster miles until you are used to race pace, except that in this case I'd be slowing down to race pace instead. Since nobody seems to have figured out training for long ultras for good I suppose we're all guessing here.

21 Apr

18 miles, 2:12:08, 7:20 pace, HR 150

22 Apr

8 miles, 58:35, 7:19 pace, HR 143

23 Apr

12.25 miles, 1:48:41, 8:55 pace, HR 145
   mountain run, Windy Gap x 2

24 Apr

10 miles, 1:15:54, 7:35 pace, HR 145

Heuristics

The general rule of thumb is that it takes a day for every mile raced to recover. I was thinking back over my last two goal races, the 24 hours championship in Bangor last July and the Tralee marathon back in March and the rule holds surprisingly true. After Bangor I was even joking once that according to that rule I'd be recovered by November, but whether by coincidence or not, that indeed turned out to be the time when the legs finally started feeling good again. I know I ran the Dingle Ultra and paced the Dublin marathon in that time period, which wouldn't be on most people's list of recommendations for recovery, but neither was run at race effort. And wouldn't you believe it, last week was the time when I felt a spring back in the legs, just 4 weeks after Tralee, once again more or less confirming that rule. It may hold true after all, even for completely different distances raced.

The weather this week has been completely manic; even by Kerry standards, April has been mad. On Wednesday it was raining so hard that the animals stated queuing in pairs looking for a guy with a big boat. The road was waterlogged on at least a dozen occasions during my 8 mile run, every incline had turned into a miniature waterfall. Epic stuff. Thursday, by contrast, was a stunningly beautiful day with bright blue sunshine, though the water levels of both the lake and the river were just about as high as I have ever seen them.

Friday saw another beautiful sunrise; in fact, my run that day went very, very well after a strange start. I had to try and fix the oven at 6 o'clock in the morning for Niamh (don't ask), leading to me leaving late and then running faster than planned. I kept telling myself to relax and slow down as coming home 5 minutes later would not be a problem but to no avail, my subconscious kept pushing the pace just that little bit higher than I would have had I felt more relaxed and at ease. Having said that, my main issue was that I should have brought my shades. The sunrise was spectacular but I was left staring straight at the sun for half an hour after that, which isn't ideal and surprisingly painful after a while.

Today, Saturday, I was determined to take it easier again and started out at a more relaxed effort but something must have gotten hold of me and by the time I had finished I had averaged almost the same pace as the day before. But I keep feeling good, the legs are fine and I guess I can just go along with it. A longer run tomorrow will show how much fatigue those last two days have left behind in the legs.

17 Apr

8 miles, 59:14, 7:24 pace, HR 147

18 Apr

10 miles, 1:13:46, 7:22 pace, HR 148

19 Apr

12 miles, 1:25:19, 7:06 pace, HR 151

20 Apr

8 miles, 57:07. 7:08 pace, HR 147

Numb

I was too numb with shock last night to write an entry. I ran the Boston marathon 4 years ago and I know at least a dozen people who ran it yesterday, so there is a very personal connection to those events. Indeed, I did get a worried phone call from my Dad this morning making sure that I had not been there myself. In light of these happenings my own little problems are of course utterly irrelevant.

But since this a kind of diary, I decided to do a write-up anyway, even if it's clearly not at the forefront of my mind right now. Maia spent last week at home with a stomach bug, which did cause a few scenes and at least one rough night, though between her bouts of ---censored--- she was as chirpy and energetic as ever. The rest of the family seemed unaffected until yesterday when both me and Cian complained of stomach pains. Neither of us has had to spend any unpleasant times on the toilet yet, and judging by his appetite he seems to be alright. I felt decidedly off-key last evening (and that was before the news from Boston came through) and still not quite there this morning, but I don't think I will be too badly affected.

The wild weather on Sunday did not stop me from running on the Kerry Way up to Windy Gap, which sure lived up to its name that day. On the way there I was basically running on the spot at times while on the way back I was doing the easiest 5:50 miles in history, though that pace does come with its own problems on a stony, uneven trail. I did the climb twice, once from Caragh Lake and once from the Glenbeigh side and was surprised to be able to do it without any major problems; I do remember how tough that climb had felt last year when I started that kind of training. I did pay for it though, with sore legs on Monday and Tuesday, but then again that's more or less the point of those mountain runs, put pressure on the leg muscles until they adapt. I definitely attribute by performance in Bangor last year to those tough mountain runs. I also noticed the difference between doing that run in road shoes (as  I did 5 weeks ago) and mountain running shoes. Needless to say I'll be using my Inov-8s in future, even if the first and last 2.5 miles, from home to the trail head, are on the road..

It was still very windy on Monday and Tuesday, but not quite as bad and certainly not as noticeable on road level. The legs were a bit sore yesterday and more so today, though the main issue were definitely the images from Boston going round and round in my head in a non-stop loop, which had already stopped me from sleeping last night. Thank Goodness all my friends in Boston escaped the blasts as they had all finished at that time, though my thoughts are with the dead and injured, and especially their families.

Who on Earth could possibly think they can gain any advantage whatsoever from planting bombs at such an event, where the only victims would ever be members of the public, including completely innocent little children! This is so sickening, and I just cannot make head or tail of it.

13 Apr

8 miles, 59:06, 7:23 pace, HR 145

14 Apr

12.25 miles, 1:45:39, 8:37 pace, HR 157
   mountain run, Windy Gap x 2

15 Apr

10 miles, 1:12:33, 7:15 pace, HR 152

16 Apr

8 miles, 1:00:41, 7:35 pace, HR 147

And Miles To Go

Rebuilding your conditioning after the racing season is not everyone's favourite time of the season, but I'm not complaining. I believe that a structured training plan with periodisation is highly beneficial; I certainly attribute my continuous improvements over the last few years to that kind of training. The immediate recovery from Tralee is over, now it's time to put in mile after mile after mile, don't try to go too fast and let the aerobic system build yet another layer on top of all the other ones already there.

Tralee was almost 4 weeks ago, and I think I can finally feel the legs coming round. Running has felt a little bit like a struggle at times recently but this morning I finally ran 10 miles entirely on autopilot, and I do take that as a positive sign.

Unfortunately I have pretty much lost faith in my HRM; I don't use it to pace myself but I do use it to roughly monitor my progress over the weeks, and inconsistent readings are no good. For years it's been the case that Polar do good HRM but their GPS sucks and Garmin do good GPS but their HRM sucks, and it looks like nothing has changed.

March was the coldest one in recorded history, but I was perfectly happy with the conditions. I prefer cold dry days to "mild" wet ones any time. This morning was a case in point; the temperatures have risen sufficiently for me to run in a short-sleeved t-shirt for the first time in ages, and while that felt borderline okay at the start I did not exactly feel comfortable once the rain started. The weather forecast for the weekend and the following days isn't exactly promising. I don't think we'll be organising any outdoor BBQs any time soon.

From a training point of view, missing Connemara was almost certainly a good thing, now that my legs are well on their way to recovery I can start putting on some decent amount of mileage, which will then hopefully see me through those long races I have planned for the summer. I am really looking forward to those - the pleasant anticipation makes those long training miles in the cold rain bearable.

9 Apr

8 miles, 59:23, 7:25 pace

10 Apr

10 miles, 1:15:53, 7:35 pace, HR 147

11 Apr

8 miles, 59:15, 7:24 pace, HR 149

12 Apr

10 miles, 1:14:11, 7:25 pace, HR 148

Back On My Feet

It was a long and draining weekend and I'm totally exhausted and rather emotional, but I won't go into any details. It's something we all have to go through at some stage I suppose, and there will be even more where that came from in future years, though I do hope it won't happen again for a very long time.

Of course I brought my running shoes with me, something had to keep me sane, at least for my low level of sanity. Bad Aussee is a beautiful spot and certainly not the worst place to get a few runs in, even if it could not make up for missing Connemara.

The elevation of that place is slightly over 2000 feet and while that's not all that high I'm pretty sure I could feel the difference. Jogging along was fine but as soon as the effort level rose a bit I could feel something missing, as if the oxygen were unable to flow fast enough. With all those hills in Austria that was a bit of a challenge, but I guess it does provide an extra training boost - not that 3 days of running at those elevation levels will make any noticeable difference.

I ran three times while over there, on the first day I ran all the way up to Lake Toplitz, though I did not manage to find any fabled Nazi treasures. I could see how a secluded spot like that would appeal to anyone trying to hide something, though. My main problem wasn't the connection to the dark past however, but the fact that it was further than I thought, which came to bite me on the way back home. By mile 12 I'd had enough, by mile 14 I was suffering and an extremely steep climb at mile 16 had me reduced first to a walk and then I had to stop altogether to catch my breath, something I never had to do before. Boy was I glad when I finally made it home.

I took it considerably easier the second day with a loop around the Altaussee Lake, with a mile or two on a trail that was still covered in snow, which also caused me to face plant once, though the only thing hurt was my pride.

On the third day I ran up a local mountain pass, though it was no substitute for Connemara's Hell of the West where I would have preferred to be that day. The main problem was not running uphill but the pounding on the way down. It did not help that it was the third run in a row in the same worn-out pair of shoes; usually I always rotate my runners but I had only brought one pair. My shin hurt for the rest of the day and I subsequently took a rest day today, which was almost certainly a good idea anyway due to exhaustion, both from the emotional trauma as well as the long journey back home.

So now I'm back home and hopefully ready to get on with the rest of my life as well as my training. There is yet another marathon in three weeks, but that will be a training run, not a race effort. And I keep hoping that running will provide an outlet, much needed at the moment.

Apologies for a rather subdued entry. I'm sure usual service will be restored soon.

4 Apr

8 miles, 59:02, 7:22 pace, HR 150

5 Apr

17.5 miles, 2:16:14, 7:47 pace, HR 158
   Lake Toplitz, incl a few miles on trail

6 Apr

8.2 miles, 1:06:47, 8:08 pace, HR 148
   Lake Altaussee, incl a mile on slippery trail

7 Apr

12.6 miles, 1:38:46, 7:50 pace, HR 148
   up and down Pötschen Pass

Perspective

I guess I should not have said that I would not miss the Connemara for anything. Turns out there are things that are more important.

My step dad died yesterday. The funeral will be on Saturday; I'm flying out tomorrow and will come back on Sunday. Obviously it means there will be no race.

While I am a little bit disappointed at missing my favourite race, it pales into insignificance.

Purely on the running front, there was one development. After doubting the data from my HR monitor for quite some time now, I finally changed the battery on the HR strap. Lo and behold, today's HR data is 10 beats lower than the previous days. So, forget the HR values from the last few weeks. It's a good thing I ran by feel rather than let the watch dictate my pace, and there definitely is a valuable lesson in that.

1 Apr

8 miles, 58:16, 7:17 pace

2 Apr

10 miles, 1:53:43, 7:22 pace

3 Apr

7 miles, 51:16, 7:19 pace, HR 145

And So It Starts Again

I have been there quite a few times by now, when you're back in training after a marathon everything is a bit out and it takes a while to get in sync again.

My calf healed amazingly quickly. After 10 days of rest had achieved nothing I expected to be sore for a bit longer but after only 2 days of easy running the discomfort was 95% gone, there was just a trace left on Thursday and by now I cannot feel a thing. That's always a relief of course, but I certainly did expect it to go away, but maybe not quite so quickly.

What's mostly out of whack right now is not my body but my mind (no smart comments, please. That's Niamh's job). My pacing gauge seems to be completely misaligned at the moment, I had plenty of moments in the last few days where I could have sworn that I was running relaxed and easy 7:30 pace and then a look at the Garmin gave me everything down to 6:45 pace instead. I kept slowing down dozens of times, basically each time after glancing at the watch, but today I finally tired of this and let the body dictate its own natural pace. It's definitely faster than what I would advice a runner in the same situation to run, but then again I reckon that running entirely on feel cannot be all that bad.

The weather has been reasonably okay, it was freezing cold but dry until yesterday, and now it's rather windy but so far I haven't had to run in the rain yet. Obviously that's going to change sooner rather than later but right now I'm happy enough with the conditions.

Connemara is only a week away and I try not to think too much about it. It's not a race but a training run and I can slow down as much as I need without sacrificing a time goal. Of course I haven't done a lot of miles since Tralee, but I have been doing this ultra running before and I think I'll be ok.

The Easter egg hunt was a great success, we were down in Valentia and had 4 content children of our won plus two happy nieces. The Easter bunny has done his job for another year.

28 Mar

8 miles, 59:48, 7:29 pace, HR 149

29 Mar

8 miles, 58:39, 7:20 pace, HR 156

30 Mar

5 miles, 36:35, 7:17 pace, HR 149

31 Mar

10 miles, 1:11:18, 7:08 pace, HR 157

On The Road Again

10 days after the Tralee marathon I was finally back on the road on Tuesday morning. I'm not sure what amount of time off would be the ideal one, but I was definitely itching to get out and get my daily fix again, and it was mostly with a feeling of relief that I took my first step.

It wasn't all plain sailing; within 2 miles my left calf was hurting again, the same one that had started cramping during the marathon and I'm sure there is a direct connection. It is interesting that 10 days of relative idleness did nothing to alleviate the problem, even though the main purpose of time off is supposed to be for healing. I did not rest entirely, I was still cycling to and from work during the week, and there was nothing coming from the calf. It took the pounding of running to restart that discomfort.

Going by similar past experiences this will work itself out within a few days of easy running. I don't quite know how this works, but easy running promotes healing of leg muscles much better than not running at all. It may have something to do with getting the blood flowing, though personally I think it's more a question of the body responding to a special need and adapting accordingly.

Anyway, apart from the perfectly bearable discomfort from my calf the runs yesterday and today went perfectly well. I ran at a relaxed and easy effort and was quite surprised to see the pace close to 7:30, but maybe that's still my easy pace, even after the marathon. The heart rate was a bit high, but that will work itself out over the next few days as well. I have been there often enough to know what to expect.

I did a dumb thing by wearing my shorts this morning. The bright sunshine had fooled me into thinking that it was much warmer than it really was and it wasn't until after coming home that I realised that the temperatures were a chilly -3C/26F, and my legs displayed some big bright red blotches in the shower. Thankfully a run of little more than half an hour does not cause any lasting damage. I still prefer icy cold but dry mornings to the freezing cold rain that we might otherwise, so there won't be any complaints coming from here.

26 Mar

5 miles, 37:28, 7:30 pace, HR 147

27 Mar

5 miles, 37:48, 7:34 pace, HR 146

Fun Run

There was a 5k/10k fun run organised locally just down the road from here; had I run it my warm-up would have been to run to the start from my doorstep, and I would probably have had to do a little bit more to be properly warmed up. However, since Niamh is away this weekend I was left in charge of the entire unruly brood (what was she thinking!) and could not have run anyway, and since I am still in recovery from Tralee I had two reasons not to race. But they also had another option, a 1k fun run for children and mine all took part, with enthusiasm levels ranging from "ok, I'll do it" to "fantastic, I'm so excited and can't wait". I did the loop with Maia, the others were well able to look after themselves, and at the end they were all very proud of themselves, and Daddy was, too.

I'm gonna be just like Dad!

I got some slight stick from some fellow club members who enjoyed the fact that their weekly mileage was higher than mine. Keep that going, guys, and you'll do well!

Luckily Niamh is back today and tomorrow I'll start running again, 10 days after Tralee. I started getting antsy by about Friday, but since I could see the end of the idle period in the foreseeable future, I could manage. I find it's much easier to set a fixed date for re-starting running after a break. If I decide to play it by ear entirely, I'm out of the door again after 5 days because I can't stand the idleness and need my fix.

And so training for the Connemara 100 (miles, that is) is about to commence. By coincidence, my training will start for real in - Connemara, where I'll do the 39 mile ultra as a fun run in 2 weeks' time. I could claim that I'm going to scout out the route (the 39 mile loop is part of the 100, except it goes the other way round) but in reality I know the route like the back of my hand already and simply don't want to miss the race as it's my favourite race of them all. I did the Dingle 50 as a fun run last year, enjoyed it and never regretted it, so I'll try and do the same once more. I have no idea what pace I will be doing; obviously all logic says that I should take it easy, but I have to admit I'm tempted to give it a good go, despite being well aware that it could be a really stupid thing to do, especially with my plans for the rest of the year. (Then again, I tend to do stupid things very well).

We shall see. Let the training commence.

From 4:36 to 2:55

A history lesson.

2004 was a very long time ago. I was "only" 34 but might have been heading towards an early midlife crisis. You'd think that the father of barely 3-year old twins and a newborn baby should not have been bored, but for some reason I was looking for a new challenge. I may have muttered the word "marathon" to Niamh before, and one day early summer 2004 she basically told me to get out and train for the DCM later that year, so I did.

Unlike today there was very little information available on the internet and I basically had to make up my own training schedule despite not having a clue. I thought I was doing a lot but actually nowadays I am amazed that I was able to go round at all, 4 months after getting off the couch for the first time, and after a maximum weekly mileage of 15. In light of that a time of 4:06 was actually quite good, certainly better than I thought at the time.

I wasn't happy though and determined to break 4 hours at my next attempt. I increased the training load to almost 20 miles per week, whoop-de-do. The result was sobering, after cramping at mile 12 and somehow, stubbornly toughing it out to the end despite passing the finishing area at mile 15 I had achieved a still-standing personal worst of 4:36. After the initial disgust at myself had worn off I decided that running marathons is a serious challenge and if you're doing it you might as well do it properly. I bought Advanced Marathoning (I was absolutely shocked by the fact that even the easiest plan went up to 55 miles per week and thought those guys were completely mental) and I also started writing a blog - this very one, hence the title which seemed more than apt at the time (it's all relative of course).

It took another year to start progressing properly, but then it went very quickly for a while. 3:55 in 2005, 3:28 in 2006, 3:12 in 2007 and 3:05 in 2008. Right then I became obsessed with the sub-3 marathon but that's also when progress started stalling for 2 years. It needed divine intervention, or at least a coach, to get me back on track, and I still cannot believe I was fortunate enough to acquire the use of a fantastic coach for half a year completely for free. Despite being generally utterly opposed to any form of authority (teachers, doctors, police, managers, ...) I surprised myself by doing exactly as I was told and never ever questioned his approach, trying to soak up as much knowledge and understanding as I could, being rewarded with a 2:59 in 2011.

However, preparation for that goal had taken its toll, mentally especially, and it took 2 years to get me excited about the marathon again. I used the time to do some serious Ultra racing, culminating in the 24 hours race in Bangor, but eventually regained the appetite for some faster running which led me to the start line in Tralee and the subsequent 2:55 and the M40 winner's trophy.

As for going forward, I'm back to my true love, the long ultra (it's ok, Niamh's not jealous), and my next goal race is the Connemara 100 in August, as some people have already guessed/heard. I'll do a few marathons as training - I'm already signed up for 14 before the end of July. As for the comments that I would be completely mad not to go for a 2:50 in Dublin, I thought that the question of me being mad was put to bed for good when I signed up for Bangor last year. That's not to say that I don't want to have a go at breaking 2:50, I just haven't decided quite when yet. Right now, I am focusing on Connemara and nothing else.