A Short Viking

Waterford is a very long way from Kerry. I only realised just how long a way when Google maps told me the drive was well over 3 hours from home, and at that realisation I ditched the original plan of making it there on Saturday morning, booked a B&B instead and drove there Friday after work.

Unlike the B&B in Portumna this one worked out well and I managed to get a reasonable amount of sleep. For once I arrived at a start line well rested. Maybe that was a factor why I felt better than expected.

When asked of my plans I had no real idea and would have been happy with anything between 3:15 and 3:30. I only had started feeling okay again a few days ago following the 100k in Portumna and hadn't done a lot of running in the meantime, at least by my standards. I therefore positioned myself a good bit behind the 3:15 pacers and then we set off.

I took it very easy during the first mile and then gradually, almost imperceptibly, accelerated a bit. Before I knew it I was alongside the 3:15 pacers and had a little chat with Alan before heading off, hoping that his call of "see you later" would come true after I had crossed the finish line, not several miles beforehand.

The course criss-crossed the city of Waterford for the first 8 miles in a seemingly random fashion, taking in a few hills, but nothing major, or at least certainly nothing that would have felt like a major hill so early in the game. I noticed that I kept storming past dozens of runners, especially on the uphills, and quietly wondered if I was running a bit too fast.

This was not a goal race of mine but the last long training run before Belfast. The idea was to run it at 95% effort, injecting a good workout into the leg muscles without destroying them. When I checked the HR I was a bit surprised to see the numbers in the high 150s, even low 160s on some climbs. That wouldn't be alarming, but in the last few months, since I started doing all those long runs, I have never really managed to get the HR up into those levels, except when climbing really steep mountain trails. I dialled the effort back a smidgen but still kept moving up the field.

The half marathon and full marathon runners had started together, which is why there were plenty of runners around me and catching them one by one was great fun and kept my spirits high during those early miles. We finally turned away from Waterford heading into the countryside after 8 miles, and the support from the sidelines reduced to virtually zero. But I kept seeing enough runners ahead of me to keep the chase and the fun going. I just managed to catch up to a reasonably big group at mile 10 when the half-marathon runners finally split off and every single runner near me went the other way. I went from being surrounded by a dozen runners to being completely on my own in an instant. The next marathon runner was at least a minute ahead of me and I only saw him on a long stretch of straight road, apart from that I might as well have been on a training run, albeit one with regular water stations.

At the 10-mile marker my Garmin showed 10.1 miles, a fairly normal reading in a marathon. However, the 12-mile marker came into view much too early and I passed it with only 11.67 miles on the Garmin. I wasn't particularly bothered, I have seen a lot of misplaced mile markers over the years. However, it did not correct itself by mile 13 or at the timing mats at halfway. Indeed, when one of the 3-hour pacers who had finished his job and handed over duties at that point, asked me what the mileage was on my Garmin (12.9), it confirmed to me that I wasn't the only one who had noticed that something was amiss here.

Nevermind, I still had my race to run and made it into Tramore, which eventually appeared another mile later. It was good to have some support again from the sidelines. I still felt mostly good and fresh, but my right hamstrings and glutes were a bit tight, which was a bit of a pain in the arse. It did not affect my running pace and not my enjoyment either. Somewhere around the 15 mile mark I saw race leader and serial marathon winner Gary O'Hanlon come the other way looking good and with a respectable lead on his pursuers as I headed towards the promenade.

This was probably the stretch I enjoyed the most, the place was buzzing with loads of spectators giving generous applause, the weather was nice without being too hot (just about) and I enjoyed running along the seaside. I had never been to Tramore but it sure is a very nice place in a lovely setting.

We did a little loop through the town, avoiding the one steep climb that had people moaning and bitching like mad last year and eventually headed back towards Waterford, seeing the runners behind us come the other way. I managed to pass one runner, my first one since mile 10. I saw the 3:30, 3:45 and 4:00 pacing groups come the other way, Grellan and John Desmond especially telling me I was running way too fast, the jokers.

And still all the mile markers kept coming too early, generally 0.2 miles ahead of the Garmin, and by now I was seriously wondering if the course was going to be short.

The climb out of Tramore turned out to be a real drag. It was one of those climbs that would have felt fine after 5 miles, but with 18 miles in the legs it was a different story, and the fact that there was a stiff breeze against us didn't help either. I started wondering if I had overcooked myself rather that taking it a touch easy, as had been planned. One runner passed me, local man Michael O'Mahony, who I had traded places with a couple of times earlier on, and he was moving very well indeed.

I noticed one curious thing. All mile signs were placed where someone had painted a little red number on the tarmac.It was the same at mile 20, the big white sign right beside a little red painted 20, except that it had come with only 19.8 miles on the Garmin, just like all the other recent mile markers. However, when my Garmin said about 20.1 miles there was another little "20" painted on the pavement, in the same writing and exactly the same colour but crossed out. For crying out loud, that one would have most likely been spot on!

We finally crested that hill soon afterwards. I had passed an ambulance with one runners sitting inside, so I guessed I had gained another place (he didn't look too bad. No idea if he finished, though). Another runner came into view and it was the familiar face of Barry Casserly. He asked if he could tag along when I caught up with him, which I obviously had no objections to. Barry is a quickly improving runner and had hoped for a sub-3 today but had blown up at mile 18 and that hill had given him a good beating, which is of course a rather familiar story, my own first sub-3 attempt had been an exact carbon copy of that. I told him I wasn't exactly feeling too hot either, but we shared the next couple of miles together. In fact, I think my pace increased a tiny bit with his presence, but maybe that was just a false subjective feeling with the growing fatigue. He had also noticed the wrong mile markers and we both agreed that the course was most likely going to be short. Somewhere between miles 23 and 24 he dropped off again, having struggled for a while, but he would still finish right behind me in the final results.

Closer to mile 25 we turned off the road into some "Eco Park", which wasn't what I would have liked at the time as it took us away from any potential support from the sidelines and back into loneliness. I did pass a few half-marathoners, so at least I wasn't entirely on my own. The legs were rather tired at that point and wanted this to be over. However, the end came very quickly, just after we left the Eco Park we turned into a stadium, ran three quarters of the lap (the soft bouncy surface felt weird after almost 26 miles on tarmac) and finished in front of the grandstand.

My time was 3:05:26, but the Garmin had recorded 26.04 miles and I guess this was about a quarter of a mile short, so on a correctly measured marathon this would have been a 3:07 time. Indeed, a few minutes after I had finished I saw one lad receiving his medal and without breaking stride he ran another stadium lap before finally stopping. He may well have been the only runner to have run a full marathon today.

I chatted to a lot of other runners, including the pacers from 3:00 all the way to 4:00, and every single one of them confirmed the short course. It was worse for the pacers because the never knew if the course was going to be short or if there would be a long mile towards the end to make up for it, and they all came in 2-3 minutes early, despite all of them running a very slow stadium lap (I have seen faster laps in the 24 hours race!). It was worse still for guys running for a time, a friend of mine (hi Pat!) was going for his first sub-3 and had finished in 2:57, which would still have been sub-3 on a correct course but it left a slightly bitter taste with him.

It is a real shame. Everything else about the race was good, I liked the course, the water stations were just right and enthusiastically manned, Tramore was particularly good and the overall organisation of a high standard. But providing a correctly measured course (the half was correct, btw. Only the full was out) is an absolutely fundamental requirement and relegates all the positives into minor territory. It did not really affect me as I got my desired training run, but I do feel sorry for some of the other runners.

27 Jun

5 miles, 40:25, 8:04 pace, HR 134

28 Jun

26 miles, 3:05:26, 7:07 pace, HR 157

   Waterford Viking marathon, 19th place, 5th M40

29 Jun

5 miles, 42:59, 8:35 pace, HR 131

Weekly Mileage: 78

Fatigue And Recovery

I guess I can't complain.

When I started on my present training cycle, I knew there was a decent chance of me getting injured. The mileage was unprecedented and the long runs even more so. I heard the words "you are mental" on several occasions, including from guys who have run very long races themselves and I always knew I was pushing my boundaries.

Well, I never got injured. Just tired.

Magic happens only when you go outside your comfort zone, and that was very much what I was trying to do.

The last few runs the legs have felt reasonably okay (apart from Monday morning), but goodness gracious me, the pace had slowed down to such an extent that a snail on Prozac might be tempted to charge past me.

A few things since Portumna have been a bit confusing; I have mentioned my weight already in a previous post, which has now almost returned to pre-Portumna level (maybe still half a pound heavier). The HR data is even stranger, initially my HR bounced back quickly, just like after all the other long races I have done recently, only to all of a sudden slump again. I'm not sure why that would be the case. Overtraining could obviously be a factor, but I can't rule out my hayfever either, which right now is very bad but hopefully the worst of that will soon be behind me, partially because it always recedes around that time of year, partially because the weather is about to worsen again. One thing of note is that the values were improving as long as I did only 5 miles each day but dropped as soon as I ran a bit longer, though correlation does not imply causation and I'm not convinced that running 8 or 10 easy miles would cause such a slump.

Anyway, this morning (Thursday) all seems to have changed and running felt so much easier, it's hardly believable that we are talking about the same runner here. The legs felt fine, the effort was easier, the pace faster, you name it. Maybe it's because it was raining - it certainly helps the hayfever.

I'm running the Waterford marathon on Saturday, which will be my last long run before Belfast. As I'm not pacing, there is no pressure whatsoever. I have no idea how it will go, until yesterday I thought even 3:30 might be ambitious, today this is looking a lot better already.

23 Jun

am:10 miles, 1:20:29, 8:03 pace, HR 135

pm: 5 miles, 38:41, 7:44 pace, HR 141

24 Jun

10.8 miles, 1:38:12, 9:06 pace; trail run up to Windy Gap

25 Jun

8 miles, 1:04:38, 8:05 pace, HR 134

26 Jun

8 miles, 1:01:44, 7:43 pace, HR 138

Lonely Boy

To be honest, I haven't got a lot to say, just too much time on my hand.

Niamh and the kids packed up and left for Dublin for 2 weeks, leaving me alone to look after the cat (at least I think that's what I'm supposed to be doing). As much as I'm going to miss them, this arrangement has 3 major benefits:

1. I can run when I want to
2. I can use the car for Saturday's trip to Waterford
3. I get to watch the World Cup in peace

The timing couldn't be better, then :)

Last week was an exceptionally easy one (I know, I've mentioned that before) with only 43 miles, the second lowest mileage of the year (the lowest was the week after Connemara). The legs sure took their time to recover but got a little bit faster every day. They are still not back to normal, but normal is a very relative term. It took a while for the mind to recover as well, it wasn't until the weekend that I actually felt like running a bit more than 5 miles at recovery pace.

My weight has been a bit strange, I kept adding on weight every day after Portumna until about Wednesday and then it gradually started to come down again, though I'm still up a bit. I'm used to seeing an additional 2 or 3 pounds for a few days after an ultra, it's mostly water retention where the fluid keeps seeping from damaged muscle fibres. After a few days that gets fixed and I spend a day visiting the toilet every few minutes. This time it wasn't like that at all, the weight kept creeping up gradually and is now disappearing just as slowly.

One more thing. I had the sad news that the 50-mile Dingle Ultra is going to be held for the last time this year, it will be replaced with a 39-miler in future, which somehow doesn't attract me at all - who wants to do a fun run if you're used to be doing the real thing! That's a real shame as the 50 miler could have become a real classic. Anyway, it would be great to see the race bow out on a high and if you want to do it (I know you do!), this is your last chance, so off you go and sign up. I just did.

20 Jun

5 miles, 40:42, 8:08 pace, HR 129

21 Jun

8 miles, 1:03:19, 7:54 pace, HR 136

22 Jun

10 miles, 1:17:55, 7:47 pace, HR 140

Weekly Mileage: 43

Post Portumna

I had a closer look at my 5k splits from Portumna:

00 -  25k: 25:13 25:09 25:12 25:04 25:00
25 -  50k: 24:23 24:23 24:38 25:12 25:22
50 -  75k: 25:34 25:37 25:21 25:07 25:55
75 - 100k: 26:53 26:53 27:19 27:41 28:06

The first 70k are pretty impressive, if you don't mind me saying so. The pace did slow down after that but never in a disastrous fashion. The last two laps were slower but more because I conciously decided not to push as hard and risk a cramp; had I been in a close fight for a place I'd have taken that risk, obviously with uncertain outcome.

Overall I'm pretty happy with this. In Doneadea, back in February, I started strugging after the marathon mark. In Staplestown I got to 50k before seriously feeling the effort, and in Portumna I got to 70k, which is very nice progress. I'm far better conditioned for a long ultra race than I've ever been.

That's another point that I still have to get my head round properly: training is more or less done. Belfast is only 4 weeks away. Yikes! This week is an exceptionally easy recovery week, next week will see some higher mileage, though I don't know how high yet. I'll play it by ear. It will also see the Waterford marathon, and again I don't know what I'll do there and will play it by ear (I won't be setting any records, that much is certain).

I am still undecided on what shoes I will wear in Belfast; I recently started breaking in my final (sniff!) pair of Brooks Green Silence; my pair of Saucony Kinvara, which I used in Portumna, has now over 700 miles on them, which should make the decision to opt for the Brooks a no-brainer, except that I find the Kinvaras wonderfully comfortable at the moment. The temptation is definitely there to use them in Belfast, but it seems rather unwise to use such an old pair for a 24 hours race. I'll definitely bring 2 pairs, but I have never switched shoes in a race before and don't really plan on doing so in Belfast either, so in all likelihood whatever pair I am wearing at the start will still be on my feet 24 hours later.

This week has been exceptionally easy, and will remain so for a bit longer. My tried and tested recovery strategy is to run 5 miles each day, which leads to faster recovery than full rest. Sunday's run started with a truly pathetic hobble at 14-minute mile pace but thankfully got better soon. I have been getting a little bit quicker every day, but I'm only running once a day - I think doing 2 runs a day prolonged my recovery after Staplestown. I'll see and compare next week to find out which works better.

17 Jun

5 miles, 43:48, 8:46 pace, HR 123

18 Jun

5 miles, 42:13, 8:27 pace, HR 127

19 Jun

5 miles, 41:48, 8:22 pace, HR 126

I Ran 100 Kilometres ...

and all I got was this lousy medal!

or

I Ran 100 Kilometres ... and gained 2 bloody pounds!

or

I Ran 100 Kilometres ... and had the best time ever!

Ok, I like the last one best. Let's stick with that.

After running very well in last year's 50k and enjoying every single step along the way, I decided that the following year I'd be back for the Big Boys' race. I did waver a few times but finally got the courage to sign up for it - only to find out that it had been sold out! Luckily, they re-opened registration for a limited number of extra entrants and I got it.

The immediate race preparation wasn't all plain sailing either. I had booked a B&B in Portumna for the night before the race so that I would be able to get a good night's sleep and wouldn't have to get up at three o'clock in the morning, but unfortunately my room turned out to be above the bar where they played music until well after midnight and the bed was the most uncomfortable one I have ever slept in, so that effort backfired and I arrived at the start line feeling distinctly sleep-deprived. Having said that, I rarely sleep well the night before a race and it never seems to have any effect on the eventual outcome.

The lesson in Staplestown 4 week ago had been to pace myself a little bit better and I formulated a very simple race plan. I resolved to head out at 8-minute-mile pace (5 mins per km) and hold that for as long as I could, and then somehow make my way to the finish, however long that would take. I had entered my Staplestown race time into some calculators and got an expected 100k time of approximately 8:55, which seemed rather slow, as my initial hunch had been a 8:30-ish finish. However, 50 miles and 100k seem rather closely related distances and my expectations at the start were closer to 9 hours.

Nevermind, 8-minute-miles it was and it sure felt exceedingly easy at the start, easy enough that anything slower would probably have felt awkward. Gerry Duffy ran alongside me right at the start but must have decided to back off a little bit, the painful memories from Staplestown obviously still etched into his mind. At the out-and-back section the 2 Polish runners, Thomas Klimas and Maciej "Magic" Sawicki, were a bit ahead of me and Magic told me to catch up and run with them, but the pace felt a little bit too hard and I decided against it. Thomas had run with me for 7 laps in last year's 50k here before falling slightly behind and finishing a couple of minutes behind me, but had since proven his fine form by finishing second in the 127k Wicklow Way race, giving eventual winner Don Hannon an almighty fright and a real battle. Magic has nothing left to prove either as a serial finisher of the Connemara 100 (miles, that is). I very much expected the eventual winner to be Vasiliy Neumerzhitskiy, the defending champion as well as course record holder, which saved me from fretting about a potential victory and ensuring I could relax and just enjoy my own race.

Two runners joined me, Vilnis Pleite, a fellow sufferer in Bangor's dreadful conditions two years ago, and Andrew Greaney, who I had paced in last year's DCM and who had shared most of the laps in Donadea back in February with me. The three of us were chatting along happily as we made our way around the early laps of the course. The race is held in Portumna Forest Park, a lovely setting, and passed the Marina as well as the remains of Portumna castle on its 5k loop, which we would have to complete 20 times. Because just over 2k is on an out-and-back stretch, you invariably meet all other runners plenty of times, no matter if they are running faster or slower than you. I guess it also makes it easy to see where your rivals are, but that was of no concern to me today.

The 50k started with us, so it was busy right from the go and all the faster runners were doing the other distance - with one notable exception. I had told Billy Holden before the start that if he took off at 7-minute pace once more I was going to kill him; he seemed to read that in a slightly different way and figured that 6:20 pace would therefore be okay. He was well ahead of everyone else and at one point, much too early, (25k? 30k?) lapped our little group and was soon gone again. I was left shaking my head at his pacing tactics.

Vilnis was completely surprised at 25k, marvelling that a quarter of the race had already passed. We all felt as fresh as daisies, though I'm sure nobody was under any illusions that things would remain like that. In fact, it was only about a lap later that I noticed that my hamstrings were getting tight. This was still a bit early to be getting into trouble, barely a third into the race. But for the time being it was still easy enough to remain on pace, even if it meant I had to start working for it. In fact, the pace must have increased slightly as the average pace figure on my Garmin eventually went from 8:00 to 7:57. Having said that, I paced myself by feel, not by watch.

This race doubled as my last really long training run for Belfast and I had one more thing to experiment with. In Connemara as well as in Staplestown my stomach had started revolting at some point and I think it was down to sugar overload from gels and sports drink. I had since done a bit of research on the internet and settled for some new sports nutrition, Hammer Perpetuem. It sounded pretty good with all natural ingredients, plenty of protein and no simple sugars, and I was sold. I got a big tub of Caffe Latte flavour, though Vilnis told me that Strawberry tasted much better. In fact, I was rather disappointed by my first bottle, which tasted somewhat like an incredibly watery coffee and took me 7k to finish, but further bottles went down much easier and I was spared the sickly sweet feeling in my stomach that had bothered me in those previous two races (not that it had stopped me from having a great race in Connemara).

There was some slight confusion at km 40 when Vilnis thought we had covered 45, but no such luck. The other man in trouble was Billy, who clearly started to pay the price for his early pace. He would have run a great marathon in about 3:05, but unfortunately he had signed up for the 100k. By that point we had unlapped ourselves and kept gaining about 1k per lap. I told the other guys that I feared for the worst and doubted that Billy would be able to finish.

Mind, I no longer felt all that great myself. I actually got plenty of compliments from many of the other runners out on the course how relaxed I was looking, but I certainly did not feel overly relaxed. The pace was still holding steady but it was no longer easy and the legs felt rather heavy. I thought I still had Staplestown in my legs, plus the Cork marathon and all the other long races I have done this year and the accumulated fatigue might have been telling. However, a certain amount of suffering is inevitable in a 100k and was very much part of the plan, and no amount of whining would help.

We passed the marathon in about 3:30 and kept going through 50k in about 4:10 (give or take a minute) and then we were in the second half already. The course had been rather busy since the half-marathon start at 9 and was getting very quiet again, but all that changed when the marathon commenced at 12 o'clock, by which time we had already accumulated 5 hours of running each. We were still doing 8-minute pace and I figured that maybe at some point late in the race I might be able to tag along with the 3:45 pacer (my friend Chris) for a while, hoping that that would be roughly my pace closer to the finish.

As I grew tired, I noticed that my gait was changing and I started running more on my toes. This seems counter-intuitive, I'd usually expect a runner to go more on his heels as fatigue grows. However, striking with your forefoot when tired doesn't strike me as the worst thing that could happen and I was quite happy to leave the legs and feet to whatever gait they came up with naturally.

Vilnis had started complaining at some point and I gave him one of my s-caps (sodium and electrolyte tablets, highly recommended) to help him out, but as we went through the finish for the 12th time at 60k, he announced that he would be dropping back now and our group was down to Andrew and me. Andrew had his own stomach troubles that got worse and worse, and neither an s-cap nor a bottle of Perpetuem seemed to sort him out and by 65k he wanted to drop back as well. I managed to goad him along until the next aid station at 68k, but at that point he dropped back as well and from here on I was on my own, though still surrounded by all the other racers in the 50k, 100k and marathon.

For all of the first half the 3 of us had been in 8th, 9th and 10th place. By now we had caught one runner and I was quickly making up grounds on two or three others. Thomas Klimas was looking very strong and quickly decimating the leader's advantage. Magic and Vasilij were running together and looking good, until all of a sudden Vasilij was gone - he had dropped, very much to my surprise. I never made up any ground on Magic, we must have been running the same pace for most of the race and always passed each other on the same spot at the out-and-back section between the Marina and the castle. To be honest, I did expect him to falter at some stage. Thomas Klimas, on the other hand, looked like a dead-cert for the win, even when he was still minutes behind the leader. It also started dawning on me that Billy was looking much better and moving a lot faster again than he had a couple of hours ago. I did draw level with him eventually, but that had taken much longer than I would have expected. He clearly had recovered very well.

At 70k I went through the finish looking and feeling good and soaking up the applause once more. By 71k I had hit the wall. It really happened that quickly. I struggled badly through the next lap. Every step hurt, every breath hurt, everything hurt. I remembered that the last 30k in Staplestown, 4 weeks ago, had been rather ugly (I won't forget them in a hurry), and reckoned I was in for a repeat. 4 very painful kilometres later I went through the finish once more, now feeling utterly spent and completely empty. I even felt like the applause from the spectators was hesitant. I must have looked like crap.

Then I saw one of the helpers with a banana slice in her hand. I don't think I have ever eaten banana in a race before, but somehow it felt right so I grabbed it and ate it in one go.

The effect was magic. Within a couple of minutes I was running happily again, bouncing along the forest road and up the little hill. The quick turnaround seemed nothing short of magic. It didn't quite last, the last k before the finish kept growing longer and longer again, but I kept taking one slice of banana after each lap and it would pretty much get me around one more lap.

Somewhere around 80k I lapped a couple of friends once more, and one of them made a comment along the lines of "great to see that you are getting tired as well", which I found funny though it probably isn't exactly the most encouraging thing I'd heard that day. And believe it or not, he was right.

I went through the 80k mark with 6:44 on the clock, so I must have run pretty much the same pace as in Staplestown for the same distance, but thankfully I was feeling a lot better. Some of that was certainly attributable to the better pacing, but I'm sure the weather had something to do with it as well. The weather forecast had been very hot but luckily for us runners it was a fairly cloudy day. The temperatures may just about have touched 20 degrees but with the lack of direct sunlight it was much more manageable.

The 3:15 pacer went past me at some stage, moving so fast that I was startled. In fact, the pace difference was so great that I first thought they must be the 3:00 group, even though there was no such thing that day. Even so, I was still moving reasonably well, catching another struggling 100k runner, and I noticed that the guy who had taken over the lead from Billy had pulled out himself, though he very sportingly stayed on at the finish and kept encouraging the other runners.

I still thought the marathon runners had been on the course for only a short time when I caught a glimpse of the race clock at what must have been 90k and realised that they had been going for 2:38. Wow, doesn't time fly when you're having so much fun!

With 90k on the clock I had to deal with one more problem, namely the calves started cramping. This did not come as a complete surprise after so many hours of running, especially with the forefoot striking taking a greater toll on my calves. I took one more s-cap tablet, which may or may not have helped, but the real response was to slow down a little bit. There was nothing much to gain, I was several minutes behind Magic and several minutes ahead of Billy, so third place was assured, and a minute more or less really didn't mean much at the time. Going slightly slower caused less of a risk - if the legs had gone into full cramping mode, it certainly would have cost a lot more time, never mind the pain that would have accompanied that, so I was content to just jog my way round the last 2 laps.

The stomach felt full from the bananas and I didn't take one for the last lap, but at that point I could smell the finish and did my best to enjoy the glory stretch. Coming round the final corner I saw 8:33 on the clock and stretched out my arms as I crossed the line, more to signal to the spectators and marshalls that I was done rather than a means of celebration, though I was rather glad that I could finally stop running.

I had come third behind Thomas Klimas and Magic, a strong Central European showing, with Billy as the first Irishman in fourth place after his Lazarus-like resurrection halfway through the race. Thomas K's performance was incredibly impressive, last year he had not been able to stay with me and just one year later I wouldn't have had a hope of beating him. He has only been running for 3 years - it's scary to think how good he might become in another couple of years. Magic had impressed me just as much, I think this was the first time he had beaten me, and my expectations of him faltering and me catching up were clearly wrong. I was delighted that my other prediction had been even more wrong though, and Billy had not only finished but finished very well, and if he keeps improving and learns how to pace himself better I'll be left in the dust by yet another up-and-coming runner.

I had beaten the calculators' predictions by a massive amount, which felt rather good. I was pleased with the time, the performance and the podium finish. Most of all, I had a great time. I'll be back again.

All race photos by Iain Shaw. Thank you for the sterling work, Iain, and the consistently high quality photos!

11 Jun

8 miles, 1:03:36, 7:57 pace, HR 131

12 Jun

5 miles, 40:38, 8:07 pace, HR 129

13 Jun

5 miles, 39:12, 7:50 pace, HR 131

14 Jun

Portumna 100k

8:34:02, 8:15 pace, HR 144, Third place

15 Jun

5 miles, 48:18, 9:39 pace, HR 124

16 Jun

5 miles, 46:23, 9:16 pace, HR 121

Ups And Downs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7 Jun

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

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

8 Jun

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

9 Jun

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

10 Jun

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

Post-Marathon

With the Cork marathon run at a relatively pedestrian pace, I was hoping I would not be in need of much recovery and might even get a week of "real" training under the belt.

I probably should have known better. The legs, while not sore, were quite stiff and I had the usual post-marathon concrete pillars effect. It meant I had to follow my usual recovery routine af nothing but 5 mile runs, though I could not help but notice that a couple of those afternoon runs this week were a lot faster than what I would normally call recovery pace. It's not as if I had pushed the pace - I just switched on the autopilot as soon as I started running and 5 miles later noticed that I had been a lot quicker than expected.

The HR has once again rebounded immediately after the marathon, which is always reassuring.

It's still only 4 days since the marathon, so I guess I can't complain. Since I have been going through the same routine a few times already this year, I pretty much know what to expect. In a few days the heavy feeling will lift one morning and I can run for joy again. But with a 100k to follow next weekend there won't be an opportunity to go mad (well, unless I really want to punish myself next Saturday), so easy running is pretty much all that's on the menu, with one mountain run thrown in for good measure.

The weather has mostly been lovely this week and I'm developing quite a nice tan, so much so that I keep getting asked where I had been on holiday. Sadly, this sunny weather seems to have ended now, today was rather miserable and the forecast for the weekend isn't great either. I was a little bit sad I'm not doing the Dingle Adventure Race this year, but looking at the weather I'm rather relieved I don't have to climb Mount Brandon over slippery stones. Good luck to all the competitors.

3 Jun

am: 5+ miles, 42:03, 8:19 pace, HR 126

pm: 5+ miles, 39:05, 7:54 pace, HR 128

4 Jun

am: 5 miles, 40:05, 8:01 pace, HR 132

pm: 5 miles, 37:30, 7:30 pace, HR 139

5 Jun

am: 5 miles, 40:30, 8:05 pace, HR 129

pm: 5 miles, 38:04, 7:36 pace, HR 137

6 Jun

am: 8 miles, 1:03:34, 7:56 pace, HR 132

pm: 5 miles, 38:52, 7:46 pace, HR 130

The Easy Shift

I had plenty of guilty feelings as I stood at the start of the Cork City marathon. I have been pacing it for the last 3 years, always doing the 3:15 pace group. In fact, back in 2011 Jo had given me my first ever 3:15 pacing gig when I was still nervous about doing that pace band and her confidence in me had been very re-assuring. However, 2 weeks ago, somewhere around mile 35 in Staplestown, it dawned on me that I would not have the legs to run that pace so soon after a 50 miler and I sent her an email. As a result, the one 3:15 pacer was entirely on his own while the 3:30 group was oversubscribed with 3 guys, and it was clearly my fault.

The Cork City marathon pacers

The least I could do was to at least do a good job at the 3:30 group. Pacing in Cork is always made trickier than expected by the funny Garmin readings. I don't know if it's because we are losing the satellite signal when we go through the tunnel but my Garmin always read at least 26.5 miles at the end. We had to keep a close eye on the official mile markers (thank God they are accurate!) and run a little bit faster on the Garmin than expected. Luckily, running 3:30 makes the maths trivial, 8-minute miles are all that's required and I was confident I would be able to work that out.

Still easy at 2.5 miles

I acquired a new friend because Aishling from Ennis was in a very chatty mood and we soon were BFFs. However after a few miles she must have decided that I wasn't a good enough friend (or maybe just not fast enough) and she moved a bit further ahead (she eventually finished in 3:27, well done)

The 3:30 pacers, and it's busy. Photo by Doug Minihane

Whatever you do when you talk about running, don't start whining to me. Distance running is a sport for people who get their head down and get things done rather than whinge and whine about it, and anyone complaining that the Cork course is tough will get short shrift, including the one runner who started whinging and whining to me at some point during the race. Sorry, the Agony Aunt was elsewhere today.

Water, water everywhere. Photo by Doug Minihane

Another runner who was with us that day was my friend Marty, who I had been in contact with for several years and who I first met in person here in Cork, at the start of the 2010 marathon. We happen to support the same football team. He promised to teach me some of the new songs (I haven't been to Manchester in a very long time) and I was looking forward to belting out "Who the f*ck are Man United" at mile 20, but around mile 17 or 18 he was gone. I was worried he might have run into trouble, but as it turns out he had felt too good to stay with us slow coaches and finished 5 minutes ahead of us.

"We're 30 seconds ahead!" Photo by Doug Minihane

At mile 15 the half marathon route merged with the full marathon and it got really busy for a while. Initially the half marathon runners around us were running a tad faster than our pace but that soon settled, and for the last few miles our group consisted of runners from both distances.

It was quite warm, though nowhere near as hot as some people claimed. It threatened to heat up on several occasions when the sun shone directly onto us but for the majority of time it was cloudy and much more manageable. The organisers were very well prepared and put on plenty of extra water stops, for most of the route we got water at almost every mile, which made a very big difference.

1.5 miles to go. Photo by Peter Mooney

As is inevitable we lost a lot of runners from our group on the hilly section between miles 17 and 20 but most runners who made it that far seemed to be able to stay with us. However, I noticed in the results that I moved from 282nd at halfway to 201st at the finish, which I found both very surprising and rather shocking.

At the end we urged everyone to move ahead and get the best possible time, which a few managed to do. We still had about eight marathon runners with us, plus a sizeable number of half runners. I checked behind me and decided that the gap to the next runner was too great for him to still break 3:30 and the pacers crossed the finish in one line (think Arsenal 1990 defensive line). Turns out I had underestimated one runner's determination and a strong sprint finish got him home just in time, though with chip time he actually had a much bigger cushion.

The plan had been to finish in 3:29:30 and we did it in 3:29:28, which is rather precise pacing, even if I say so myself.

3 pacers finished in unison

Splits. Note the positions!

The Garmin had measured a whopping 26.66 miles at the end; a good thing we did not have to rely on those measurements (and I am not even for a second claiming that the course is mis-measured). Unfortunately my HRM started misbehaving during the second half, which makes it hard to read any meaningful amounts of data, but I think the HR drift was minimal.

While I still felt guilty about not pacing 3:15, I got the bonus of still feeling very fresh at the finish. The legs felt like they could have gone around a second time without bother, not that I was about to test that theory. I was a lot stiffer after driving home to Kerry but a few hours of working in the garden actually improved things significantly and got some bonus points from Niamh.

I really enjoyed every minute of it. I can't wait to do it again. And hopefully next time I won't cry off at such a late stage.

2 Jun

Cork City Marathon, 3:30 pacer

3:29:28, 7:59 pace, HR ~141

No Taper

I'm in a bit of a rush because strictly speaking I should be hopping into the car and heading for Cork right now. I'm taking a rather relaxed approach to tomorrow's run ever since I got confirmation that I had been moved back to the 3:30 group, which will make this the easiest of the long runs in this training cycle. Accordingly there was no need to taper for tomorrow, though since I was still in recovery mode from Staplestown I wasn't going mad anyway.

The legs had the customary heavy feeling that always comes the day after a mountain run, no more and no less than that. The miles passed quickly enough. Friday was easier again, with the same runs coming just that little bit easier.

By now I had realised why my HR data seems to be up and down a bit, as mentioned in the last post. Turns out it wasn't my body but the HRM fluctuating; the graphs showed plenty of spikes that I knew for certain were not there in real life. I have been using this HR strap for half a year, so I got a new battery in the expectation that this will fix the problem. So far so good. I'm curious what 26 miles at 8-minute pace will do, and if there will be any HR drift.

Since I have spent most of teh last weeks constantly in recovery mode from the most recent marathon/ultra, I haven't been doing much running at faster pace. With the legs feeling much better already I did 8 miles at a higher effort level than usual on Saturday morning. I didn't quite manage to hold 7-minute pace; maybe if I pushed harder I might haven but that would have defeated the purpose of the training run. It's almost certainly a good thing I'm not pacing 3:15 tomorrow - if I can't hold 7-minute pace for 8 miles I'd almost certainly be in trouble going 7:20-ish for 26.

The legs made me pay for it, today (Sunday) I had to grind out every single mile. I called it a good training for tomorrow's marathon pacing effort, but it had not been planned that way.

I better head off now.

Funnily enough I still managed 100 miles this week, even without a long run. This high-mileage running lark is easy.

30 May

am: 10 miles, 1:19:05, 7:54 pace, HR ???

pm: 5+ miles, 39:13, 7:45 pace, HR 131

31 May

am: 10 miles, 1:13:23, 7:20 pace, HR 143, incl 8 miles @ 7:05

pm: 5+ miles, 38:57, 7:42 pace, HR 136

1 Jun

11.5 miles, 1:32:23, 8:02 pace, HR 130

Weekly Mileage: 100+

So Much Better

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

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

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

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

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

26 May

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

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

27 May

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

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

28 May

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

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

29 May

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

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

Oldies

Two weeks ago, after suffering through a week of heavy legs and plenty of fatigue, I started whining about how tired I was all the time, only to feel much better straight afterwards.

This week has been much harder but I'll spare you the whining. I ran 50 miles last Saturday and some extended recovery time is to be expected. Obviously, I wished my legs would have bounced back miraculously and I were bouncing up and down the mountains without trouble, but that was never going to happen.

I can take solace in the fact that the HR figures look very good and my VDOT (HR/pace ratio) has reached higher values than ever before, so once I get out of that fatigue I should be running better than ever, which is after all the entire point of this training cycle. If it will happen just in time for the race in Belfast still remains to be seen. I have never done training like this and it's all a bit of an experiment, but I do remain hopeful.

The legs are very, very stiff for the first mile or two of my early morning training runs. I usually hobble down the driveway at 10-minute pace and gradually manage to get things going, but that does take time. I always used my first miles as my warm up, but it's getting more and more pronounced. I'm not sure if this is down to me getting older or if it's a side effect of the heavy training.

My right hip feels a bit weird. It has been slightly off for the last few months, but actually I can only feel it during the day, it seems perfectly fine when I am running. It is somewhat similar to the Achilles twinges I felt last year. They had stayed with me for several months, always just about noticeable but never enough to even consider a break in my training, and eventually faded away. Obviously I am hoping for a similar outcome with the hip. The discomfort is very mild., never more than 1 or 2 out of 10, but very persistent so far.

My back hurt again two days ago, but only for one day. Unlike the hip I'm pretty sure this is not running-related, and in fact running may well improve it.

I think I AM getting old, but I haven't fallen apart yet.

22 May

5+ miles, 40:44, 8:03 pace, HR 133

23 May

am: 8 miles, 1:03:57, 8:00 pace, HR 132

pm: 5+ miles, 38:26, 7:37 pace, HR 137

24 May

10 miles, 1:19:27, 7:57 pace, HR 137

25 May

10+ miles, 1:34:49, 8:47 pace, HR 141, Windy Gap

Weekly Mileage: 69

Recovery, Yet Again

In some ways I find it hard to believe that I just run 50 miles. I went shopping on Sunday and deliberately walked down the staircase to the parking lot instead of taking the lift, just to test my legs and they were perfectly fine. I also did some gardening work that afternoon and got through that just fine - in fact, I only stopped because our lawnmower died.

On the other hand, I was asked yesterday if I had run yet another marathon, and when I asked why I was told that I am dragging one leg behind when I'm walking, something I certainly had not been aware of and which caught me completely by surprise. My left hamstring and glutes are a little bit tight, just about the only thing I can notice from Saturday's race, which probably accounts for the leg-dragging.

I have been taking it very easy since and have followed my usual routine of running 5 easy miles at a time. The HR was off only for a day or 2 and has already bounced back to usual levels, which is quite remarkable. Staplestown might have been a training run but it still equalled the third-longest run I've ever done and I set a PB of well over 15 minutes, even if I think I have at least another 15 minutes of improvement in me, probably more.

The weekly mileage has been a bit up and down as I keep running very long runs every second weekend and subsequently need to recover. I have averaged just under 100 miles for the last few weeks. The last time I did that kind of mileage my weight kept dropping even as I ate as much as I could. I pretty much expected the same to happen again, but that's not the case. I have been at about 146 lbs / 10 st 6 / 66kg for the last few weeks and have remained there, probably the most stable weight level I've had in years.

As Saturday's memory fades away I am looking forward to the next runs. I asked to be moved back from my usual 3:15 slot to 3:30 as pacer for the Cork City marathon, which should give me a much more comfortable day, and hopefully one weekend I won't need so much recovery from. I did apologise to Jo for the inconvenience, I imagine the most frustrating thing for an organiser must be people who ask to be switched at such a late stage. Sorry about that, hopefully won't ever happen again.

19 May

am: 5 miles, 43:11, 8:38 pace, HR 122

pm: 5 miles, 40:09, 8:02 pace, HR 130

20 May

am: 5+ miles, 42:13, 8:21 pace, HR 125

pm: 5+ miles, 39:53, 7:54 pace, HR 131

21 May

am: 5+ miles, 40:59, 8:06 pace, HR 125

pm: 5+ miles, 37:51, 7:29 pace, HR 134

Flat Out

I had been a bit silly. There was a perfectly good marathon in Killarney, one that I had run last year and enjoyed very much and had every intention of running again this year. Instead I had gotten my dates mixed up, signed up for a 50 mile race at the other end of the country, not realising that the dates would clash. But since I am training for a much longer race and do require some longer-than-marathon training runs, I decided to leave it as it is and go ahead.

The 50 mile field

I had never even heard of Staplestown before. It turned out to be a pleasant little village in rural Kildare and the course consisted of 8 loops between Staplestown and Prosperous. Some local runners had confidently predicted that this course would put an end to the myth that Kildare is a flat county due to the formidable hill that had to be conquered once on each lap.

Mile 1

We started a few minutes after 7 o'clock. It was pleasantly cool with a tiny little breeze but everyone knew that it would heat up considerably during the day. We did a little out-and-back first, adding just over a mile before heading back out on the first of many loops to come. I fell into step with Gerry Duffy, just like in Connemara. We chatted for a good bit, watching the top two runners, Ger Copeland and John O'Regan, very quickly disappear beyond the horizon. I was a bit worried about Ger burning himself out trying to stay with John, but let's wait and see.

We ran about 7:35 pace, which felt incredibly easy as I was jogging along. My heart rate was a very low 140 and I was very confident about the miles ahead. In Connemara I had started at 7:10 pace and finished with an average of 7:20; today was just 11 miles longer and the pace, HR and effort level seemed perfectly appropriate.

Lap 2

I made a comment about the "not-much-of-a-hill", which got a wry smile out of Gerry. The first loop passed very quickly. The 50k had started just before we came through, we saw the entire field on their own initial out-and-back section before they would go onto their loops, but they only had to do 5 of them, of course.

The hill seemed more noticeable on the second attempt, but I still was not overly impressed. Halfway through that loop Gerry started pushing the pace. Initially I stuck with him but after 2 miles, about 11 miles into the race, I decided to back off and preserve my energy and let him go. He was still only a few seconds ahead of me at the end of that loop but then quickly pulled away on the hill, and I knew I would be running almost 40 miles entirely on my own.

Lap 3. Still good.

The marathon started around that time as well. Again, I saw the field on their initial out-and-back, but apart from that it pretty much passed me by, I hardly saw any of those runners afterwards.

I still felt very comfortable. The miles flew by quickly and effortlessly. I was pretty much on autopilot cruising along, holding the pace somewhere around 7:35-7:40 pace. I checked the HR on a few, rare occasions and it was always between 140 and 143, very easy effort. Around mile 17 I thought how funny it was to be running so easily when on a long run at home at that point I would be looking forward to finishing and definitely feeling the effort.

I cruised through the marathon in about 3:21, which felt almost effortlessly and was pretty much the same pace I had done in the Donadea 50k back in February, just around the corner from here. I was now in the second half of the race and still cruising along easily and the "hill" was still unimpressive. Apart from the top 3 of the 50k, nobody had ever passed me, which did surprise me as I sure expected the pointy end of the marathon field to go past me at some stage.

Lap 4. This is easy.

Things still kept ticking along at lap 4, though I did start noticing the rising temperature. It reached 22 degrees, which isn't much if you're used to mediterranean climate but for Ireland in May this is fairly hot. But I think direct sunshine has more of an effect on running than the actual temperature, and we were running right in the sun with very few shady spots on the course. I fell a bit behind on my hydration, and initially they only gave out drinks at the start/finish, 6 miles apart, which was not enough in those conditions. They did rectify it later on and started handing out bottles in Prosperous as well, which made a big difference and I felt I managed to catch up again.

Lap 5. Maybe not quite so easy ...

However, at that point the wheels started to come off. I still felt reasonably okay and I did get a few compliments on my relaxed form, but the effort started to get to me, the legs were aching, especially the hamstrings, and it all felt a lot harder than initially. I finished the fifth loop, just past the 50k mark which had passed under 4 hours, which would have been a perfectly acceptable 50k race.

In a marathon you'd say I hit the wall. It's usually not called like that in an ultra because you are invariably going through several rough patches. These can take a long time, and sometimes you reach the finish before recovering from your most recent low spell. It is inevitable in ultra running. Deal with it.

The only way I know how to deal with it, really, is to put my head down and get on with it. Don't even think about how far it is until the end, that's how DNFs are made. Just put one foot in front of the other and repeat. I kept up with hydration, very important on a hot day like today. I tried taking gels and sports drink but that didn't seem to make any difference. I don't think the lack of glycogen was the problem, my legs were just not fully prepared for the miles. I had run 28+ pretty hard miles 2 weeks ago and then did a couple of mountain runs and a hilly 15 miler last Sunday on top of all that, so my guess is that my legs were a bit overworked.

I told myself that this was exactly what I was here for. I could have comfortably cruised through yet another marathon in Killarney but had deliberately chosen to come here and run almost twice as far instead. As much as it sucked at the time, this was the very reason why I had to do it. The human body is very capable of adaptation, but you need to give it a good reason to adapt in the first place. Running many, many miles is the best preparation for running even more miles.

Lap 6. Looking better than I feel!

There was plenty of suffering to be had on lap 6 and the sun was just relentless. I still didn't rate the hill, but the layout of the course meant that we kept looking at endless stretches of perfectly straight road for miles and miles, and it started to become soul-destroying.

I wished there had been more runners. Connemara creates a fantastic buzz as you make your way through the full and half-marathon fields. Here, in contrast, it was very lonely. I caught runners at a rate of not much more than one runner per mile, which meant I was running entirely on my own for many hours. Passing through the start/finish area was always great, but then it was back to almost an hour of being more or less on your own.

When I pressed the "lap" button after lap 6 I saw just how much I had slowed down and it wasn't pretty. However, lap 7 was even worse. I couldn't really run properly any more so I just shuffled instead, something very familiar to all ultra runners. The feet barely leave the ground any more. Your step size shrinks and your pace with it, but you are still making progress, and that's what counts.

Lap 7. Hard work.

Twice I was asked if I was on my last lap, which would have been a soul-destroying question at the time had I not been prepared for it. Dave Brady did it right. "How many laps have you left?" "Just one more" "Good man". Much better, good man yourself, Dave!

I lapped Anto and quipped that I should have signed up for the 50k instead. "Me too!"

I finally started the last lap. I was about a mile into it when I suddenly saw John O'Regan just ahead of me, which was entirely unexpected. A mile ago I'd had some vague worries that he might lap me, instead he was almost within touching distance.

How often do you have the chance to realistically chase a two-times national champion? I reasoned that since I had obviously managed to close the gap I was moving better than him, but he clearly had no intentions of being caught and increased his own pace. He never managed to put some telling distance between us but he did manage to inch away from me again, and with my destroyed legs I could not really give proper chase any more.

Lap 8. Don't make me do this again.
Photos by Gareth MacCauley

The temperatures dropped slightly as it became a bit hazy, which definitely helped, but the legs were gone and there was nothing I could do about that. As I reached the top of the "hill" for the last time I shouted out loud "Come on, is that all you've got!" at the top of my voice. Actually no, I didn't. The words had formed in my head but never made it out.

One last run on the endless stretch into Prosperous, get some encouragement from the marshalls, "only 3 miles and you're done!" One last run on the even more endless stretch out of Prosperous, for once made easier by the knowledge that I would never have to run it again. It dragged on but each step got me closer to the finish, and one step further was all I ever concentrated on.

Eventually I reached the last junction. The GAA ground seemed to have moved further and further away, but I caught up. Go round the last couple of bends, soak up the applause on the last meters before the finish, cross the line and revel in the fact that finally you can stop running!

I had managed to run every single step, never had to pause for even a second and kept on going until the end. It was hard work, harder than what I would have expected and probably harder than what I would have wanted, I guess. I finished in third place. Gerry had run into serious troubles and wanted to pull out but managed to get back on the course after a break. Ger, on the other hand, had finished in 6:11, an incredibly serious time, much respect and a very worthy winner. I finished just 2 minutes behind John, which is an achievement even on a day when John clearly had to deal with some issues himself.

And Kildare is still a flat county.

extra bit 9:27  7:50 pace
lap 1 46:24 7:36 pace
lap 2 46:44 7:39 pace
lap 3 47:08 7:43 pace
lap 4 47:40 7:49 pace
lap 5 48:35 7:59 pace
lap 6 51:37 8:30 pace
lap 7 54:08 8:53 pace
lap 8 53:21 8:47 pace

15 May

8 miles, 1:01:34, 7:41 pace, HR 134

16 May

5+ miles, 40:32, 8:01 pace, HR 130

17 May

50 miles, 6:45:08, 8:06 pace, HR 143

   Staplestown 50 mile race, 3rd place

18 May

5+ miles, 45:16, 8:58 pace, HR 126

Healing Powers

No sooner had I written a long, whining rant on how my recovery from running 28+ miles was taking too long than my body turned the corner. I have felt great at all runs this week, and the HR/pace ratio has reached new heights. Maybe I should investigate the healing powers of whining, you never know, I might be on to something.

As stated I have cut my mileage down ever so slightly at the beginning of the week, only running 8 miles instead of 10 in the morning, though I'm pretty sure that slight reduction did not make all that much of a difference.

I felt good enough to go back up on the Kerry Way this morning. The only disappointment was the weather, while I had been looking forward to a beautiful sunrise and some stunning views I got low-hanging clouds instead. Ah well, can't have everything. The legs felt good and I'll take a good run in cloudy weather over a miserable one in sunshine any time.

I'm all set for Saturday's 50 mile race in Staplestown, county Kildare. I'm quite looking forward to it, even if the mileage is ever so slightly daunting. I keep telling myself that it's only 10 miles more than Connemara and on an easier course. Plus, since I don't have any plans of going for a top finish I can run relaxed for the entire distance. The one downtime is that I'll be missing the Lakes of Killarney marathon, which would have been 30 minutes drive from home rather than 4 hours, and in a nicer setting to boot. I only realised the clash of dates after I had signed up for Staplestown. From a training point of view it's probably a good thing because I need some long training runs for Belfast, so I stuck with that race. There will be dozens of friends form the marathon club there, which always guarantees good fun.

I'll take it very easy for the rest of the week, basically doing a 2-day taper similar to what I have done before Connemara or the Wings for Life run. With 50 miles on Saturday the weekly mileage will still easily go over 100 - as long as everything goes to plan, of course.

12 May

am: 8 miles, 1:02:59, 7:52 pace, HR 131

pm: 5 miles, 37:55, 7:34 pace, HR 137

13 May

am: 8 miles, 1:01:23, 7:40 pace, HR 133

pm: 5 miles, 36:16, 7:15 pace, HR 137

14 May

12+ miles, 1:49:49, 8:57 pace, HR 141, Windy Gap x 2

Es Geht Um Die Wurst

Ah yes, reminds me of home

That was quite some weekend, won the Eurovison on Saturday and the Premier League on Sunday. I think I should buy a lottery ticket on Monday, I'm obviously on a roll.

Except when it comes to running. I have to face up to the fact that it is taking me longer to recover from the Wings for Life run than I thought. I would have thought that recovery would be quicker than after Connemara, but I guess the faster pace made a difference and I suppose the accumulated fatigue from all those weeks of high mileage is taking its toll as well. I knew my training would be tough, but now I'm worried about overtraining. I did try and check my resting heart rate this morning and was rather shocked when the HRM never dropped below 50, but a quick check on the usual overtraining symptoms reveals that I do not show any other ones, so I'm definitely not in that territory. This week had seen less mileage than previous ones as I tried to recover from Sunday's effort, but it was still rather high. A few weeks ago I was asked in a comment if I do cutback weeks every 3 or 4 weeks, and my answer had been no. I thought about it, and to some aspects the answer is still no as I certainly don't believe in cutting back mileage on a pre-planned regular basis, but on the other hand I do cut back after a tough run, like last Sunday's.

This should become an annual occurrence

It's not that I don't have a training plan and am making it up as I go along. Quite the opposite, I do have a very firm structure in mind, but I do adapt the actual training as I go along; I cut back the miles when the legs are heavy a few days in a row and I do cut back when recovery seems necessary.

I have yet another very long race next week. The original plan had been to train normally until at least Wednesday and then take it easy for a day or two, but instead I will dial it back slightly right from Monday.

This week has been a bit strange; the legs always felt really stiff for the morning run but much better in the evening and the numbers do reflect that. Today's 15 mile run was a mini-version of that, it took me half the run to get into it after a very slow start, but I felt pretty good during the second half and had no problem dropping the pace to 7-minute pace over the last 5 or 6 miles, feeling perfectly comfortable.

9 May

am: 8 miles, 1:01:16, 7:46 pace, HR 142

pm: 5 miles, 39:05, 7:49 pace, HR 137

10 May

am: 10 miles, 1:20:12, 8:01 pace, HR 138

pm: 5+ miles, 38:30, 7:37 pace, HR 140

11 May

15+ miles, 1:59:16, 7:53 pace, HR 141

Weekly Mileage: 84

Recovery

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5 May

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

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

6 May

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

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

7 May

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

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

8 May

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

Wings For Life

I said on Wednesday that I would dial back the mileage slightly for the rest of the week, but family life dictated that I could not run in the evenings at all, so this ended up a much bigger reduction than I had planned. No problem, these things are inevitable and it left me fresher for Sunday's Wings for Life run.

The format was strange with no fixed finish line but runners being chased down by a car. It led to some anomalies, e.g. the faster you run the longer you are out there, completely the opposite of a normal race. It's also mentally challenging as there is no finish to focus on.

The morning was a bit stressful, trying to get the kids ready and drop them off to be minded for the day, but I got to Killarney in good time. The start area was divided into several zones and the runners were very disciplined lining up correctly but it was quite lonely up front where me and John O'Regan were on our own until we were joined just before the start by another couple of runners.

My target was to run the marathon, which had to be done in 3:08 or faster, otherwise the car would catch you too early and you were out. I knew I was perfectly capable of running 3:08 but it would certainly require a good effort. I also wanted to keep a few minutes spare, just in case, and to give me to option to add a few miles, so I decided to run 7:00 pace for as long as I could.

I managed to resist temptation to trip up Bernard Brogan at the start - it would have been hard to make it look like an accident in front of the cameras. It took a bit to settle into my pace and if I counted correctly there were 15 runners ahead of me after the first mile. The first half marathon would be very flat and potentially fast with a slight net downhill and as long as you kept the effort easy you were set for a good run. The early kilometers just flew by. I caught a few runners but was passed by some runners myself and if I counted correctly there were still 15 runners ahead of me after 10 miles.

Km 20. Passing Puck and waving to friends.
 Photo by Susanne Foley

At the 15k feed station I accidentally grabbed a cup of red bull rather than water. I don't rate it as an energy drink because it doesn't contain any calories and has messed up my stomach the one time I tried it, but the caffeine gave me a real kick and I started accelerating. By the time I reached Killorglin at 20k I had overtaken 4 runners and was in 12th place, assuming that I had counted correctly.

It was great to be running a marathon/ultra through my own home town, something I never realistically expected to happen and the main reason why I ran this race today rather than the Limerick marathon. However, the topography of the route completely changed here. It started with a short but nasty climb into Killorglin itself and as we turned southwestwards we were now heading straight into the wind coming from the Atlantic. It was very blustery and definitely stronger than I would have liked and it made the effort feel a lot harder from here on.

The rough conditions seemed to work in my favour as I kept catching runner after runner. It's quite normal to catch a runner or 2 in the later stages of a marathon if you're having a good race, but I was moving through the field at a very surprising rate. 5 miles after Killorglin the road dropped down to Caragh Bridge, almost passing our driveway, and then a nasty and much longer climb toward Glenbeigh followed, climbing about 140 feet in a mile. The road drops steadily through Glenbeigh at about 34k, and then slowly rises again for the next 1.5 miles. I caught another 2 runners on that stretch and figured I must be in about 6th position at that point.

Km  28. Almost at home. Photo by Rosemary Browne

I tried to work out roughly where the catcher car was and was almost scared when I realised that it was definitely less than a mile away. Having a car chase you down and knowing that it is getting close is a surprisingly stressful situation. I tried to get that image out of my head again and just concentrated on keeping the pace as it was. I knew I was well under 3:08 marathon pace, so there was no real reason to worry about the car.

And that's where I hit that mountain. I had known all along that it was coming obviously, being local, but that did not help all that much. It is a tougher climb than the Hell of the West in Connemara or the Big One in Dingle and it comes even later in the race, which makes it the worst hill I've ever climbed in a marathon. From the moment we crossed a little bridge (and that's after already climbing steadily out of Glenbeigh) the road rises more than 250 feet over 2 miles with 2 very nasty steep sections. Unlike Connemara or Dingle you can only ever see a small section of the road ahead of you but I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Invariably my pace dropped. I had averaged 6:58 miles until that point and by the time I finally reached the aid station at Mountain Stage, right at the 40k mark, it was down to 7:02. Luckily that was still comfortably ahead of 3:08 marathon pace, but I sure was glad that I had built up a cushion.

It was comparably easy cruising after that. The road dropped down again, losing about a third of the elevation until the 41k mark and then came the stunningly scenic route along Drung Hill, one of the classic parts of the Ring of Kerry. Unfortunately the vicious headwind made this much tougher and less enjoyable that it could have been, and the low cloud took away the views, though most likely I would not have enjoyed them at that point anyway.

On two occasions I could hear some loud noises from behind that sounded a bit like an ice cream van to me and I reckoned it was the chasing car catching the runners immediately behind me. Once I passed the marathon mark in about 3:05 the pressure was definitely off and anything else was a bonus. I kept the effort honest and the pace on the Garmin remained steady. The motor camera came and stuck with me, obviously waiting for the moment I got caught.

I reached the iconic Gleensk viaduct where the road makes a very tight turn, and as I headed up the other side right at the 45k mark I could see the chasing car for the first time. It did not take long for it to reel me in after that and my race was finally over after 45.59k/28.33 miles.

I finished in fourth place, a little bit further ahead than I thought. Congratulations to winner John O'Regan who managed 4 km more than me and club mate Alison Kirwan who won the ladies race, what a brilliant result!

1 May

8 miles, 1:04:34, 8:04 pace, HR 129

2 May

8 miles, 1:02:25, 7:48 pace, HR 136

3 May

6 miles, 44:42, 7:27 pace, HR 139

4 May

Wings For Life, Ireland run. 4th place

28.33 miles, 3:20:54, 7:04 pace, HR 161

----------------------

Dedicated to Liam Heffernan. Please give a donation to Liam's Lodge. Thank you.