Where The Magic Is

I had actually been planning on cranking up the mileage again this week but Real World stuff is still happening and it was definitely better to play it safe and hold back a little bit. I'm in the first week of a new job with some intensive learning taking me totally out of my comfort zone (make no mistake, I like it that way), which leaves only so much room for running and other things.

I haven't got a locker yet and that will take another week to sort out, so running to work is out of the question at the moment but I'll probably start cycling there next week. A few of my equally new colleagues do, though most of them got issued with  considerably lighter laptops, which sure makes a difference. Still, let's give it a go.

I didn't quite do the miles but I figured I should do something about those slow legs of mine. My heart rate figures are excellent, aerobically I'm close to the best I've ever been. But as soon as I try to run a bit faster things start falling apart quickly. Maybe it's a sign of getting older; maybe my legs have gotten used to the slow pace; maybe it's even a good thing for an ultra runner. I've never been in such a situation before but I do think a bit more pep in the legs might be beneficial.

I did an evaluation on Thursday, which confirmed the above. The pace was a little bit slower but the consistency over 4 miles was probably better than ever before. Evaluation workouts measure a few things; actual pace was actually the one variable MC was showing the least interest in, consistent pace across the workout was far more important. A short recovery afterwards would have been good as well, though I think that's the 50k still in there - not a big surprise, only about 10 days later. I'll do another evaluation in a fortnight and see if that variable is improving. If not, I might have to take a step back.

I was back in Kerry for the weekend, this time thankfully without a 4.5 hours delay on the train. On Saturday I added a couple of 2-mile pickups, mostly to test how that would go. The first one was too fast. The average HR wasn't that high but in reality it was steadily climbing, from the high 140s at the beginning to the high 160s at the end (not helped by an uphill finish) and me gasping for breath (my asthma was acting up once more). I held back a bit for the second one and that was much more sustainable, and I could have held that for longer. Interestingly, it turned out to be 6:52 pace; I guess I'm actually not that far off sub-3 marathon shape, though I'd definitely need to get the legs used to that pace first.

We got away from the kids for a night in the swanky Europe hotel, which was very nice, which made the choice for Sunday's run an easy one. I headed up the Gap of Dunloe. It's an absolutely magic place, populated by Leprechauns and the views there are the best in the world. I don't know why it's not world-famous but it's definitely better that way, mass tourism wouldn't do it any good. The wind was rather brutal, especially since the valley itself forms a funnel, and it made for a challenging few miles but it was worth every step. I ran a little bit further, down into Black Valley, once I reached the top, mostly to enjoy the view, but had to turn around soon enough. Never leave the lady waiting for too long.

Back to the grind now. That's where the real magic is happening, day after day after day.

21 Feb

10 miles, 1:20:35, 8:03 pace, HR 136

22 Feb

9.5 miles, 1:14:46, 7:52 pace, HR 141

   4 mile eval in 6:44, 6:44, 6:47, 6:43, 41 sec recovery

23 Feb

10.25 miles, 1:20:51, 7:53 pace, HR 138

24 Feb

12.65 miles, 1:34:08, 7:26 pace, HR 143

   incl 2 x 2 miles @ 6:25, 6:52

25 Feb

17 miles, 2:17:19, 8:04 pace, HR 142

Outside Influences

The last few days have been very hectic and a bit stressful, nothing due to running and all due to real life intruding once again. Ah yes, the joys of being an amateur runner.

We took the same train we usually take on Friday evening, trying to make it to Kerry as always. I cut it a bit fine, saying good bye to my colleagues because I was finishing a short-term contract, being a bit sad to leave as everyone had been really nice. I made the Kerry train by 2 minutes after the Luas had been halted by an Ambulance blocking the line. Obviously you cannot criticise the ambulance crew for that during an emergency call out but boy, did they time it badly for me. I ended up running to Heuston with a heavy backpack and only just made it.

That should have been the end of the drama, but it was only just the beginning. 10 k outside Charleville our train stopped. And waited. And waited. And nothing. Eventually we managed to get from Irish Rail's twitter feed that the train in front of us had broken down. It took them 2 hours to get a replacement engine up from Cork, another 2 hours to attach it to the train (!) and after a delay of more than 4.5 hours we were finally moving again, having long run out of food and water, arriving in Killarney close to 1 am and getting to bed closer to 2.

I felt jet lagged for the entire weekend after that ordeal, and it took another couple of days to feel fully recovered again. It didn't help that I had caught some upper respiratory tract infection after Donadea, very common after a race, probably related to the fact that it had taken close to 2 hours in the freezing cold after that race before we headed for home. Then again, as far as infections go that one was an exceptionally mild one. I had a sore throat on Wednesday, didn't feel great with a head cold on Thursday but 90% recovered already by Friday, though the last 10% took a bit longer to shift.

And then, on Monday morning, I started my new job. Exciting times indeed. I think I'm doing this job switching thingy wrong as I tend to stop one job and immediately start the new one instead of taking a week or two of extra holidays, but I'd rather get paid and anyway, I hate sitting around idly. Sadly it will apparently take 2 weeks before I get my own locker, so running to work is out of the question at the moment; the joys of being a corporate drone in a huge multi-national organisation. It means an early wake-up call for some miles before starting the commute. No big deal, I tend to wake up early anyway.

By Saturday I could no longer feel the effects of the 50k in the legs, so it looks like recovery has been going rather nicely. The added stress over the weekend meant I still had to take it a bit easy and I skipped my long run but I think I'm ready to get going again now.

16 Feb

10.3 miles, 1:21:37, 7:55 pace, HR 133

17 Feb

10 miles, 1:16:12, 7:37 pace, HR 138

18 Feb

12 miles, 1:34:25, 7:52 pace, HR 136

19 Feb

9 miles, 1:13:06, 8:06 pace, HR 132

20 Feb

10.25 miles, 1:20:09, 7:49 pace, HR 136

After The Races

Donadea was marathon/ultra number 96, so you could say I’ve been there before. My recovery protocol is pretty much the same every time, it has been thoroughly tried and tested, works very well and gets me back into shape in good time.

I don’t know when I first noticed that a few miles of very easy running leads to a faster recovery than full rest. It might be counter-intuitive and most running publications would have you believe differently but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever that my method works better. I do at least 3 days of 5 miles each morning, very very easy. The day immediately after the race it is always a struggle to get yourself out of the door and there is always that little devil on your shoulder that will whisper into your ear to go home, you deserve a rest, but just ignore it. After a mile or two you will feel so much better and each subsequent step will show further improvement. The following days will feel easier already and will most likely be a little bit faster, though you should pay no attention to pace whatsoever, just jog at whatever effort feels really comfortable.

After 3 days you assess; if the legs are still tired you keep doing 5 mile runs, otherwise you can increase the mileage. I find that usually I can crank up the mileage without much issue, but keep the effort easy at all times. There should be no workouts in the week after the race and no races / hard workouts for at least another week. That’s it. You will soon feel recovered, and most likely in better shape than before the race.

On a side note, assuming the HRM was working correctly my HR for Monday was my lowest ever on record at 121. I know the pace was very easy, but still. However, I have noticed that a low HR / high VDOT not necessarily translates into being in race shape. My cardio-vascular system is in damn good conditions but my legs aren’t quite playing ball.

My weight also follows a set pattern. Again it might be counter-intuitive but I always put on about 3 pounds when I run a marathon or ultra. I’m think it’s fluid that was leaking from damaged muscle fibres and ends up pooling in your leg muscles, though I am no expert in physiology. That additional weight stays with me for a few days and then goes away just like that. I have just seen the exact same  pattern once more, my weight went up from 143lbs/65kg before Donadea to about 146lbs/66+kg, and on Wednesday it suddenly was back to just over 143.

I tend to eat healthily most of the time but have an undeniable sweet tooth. I guess clean eating would improve recovery but there comes the point where self-denial reaches its limits. I still eat healthily with plenty of fruits and vegetables; salads for lunch work very well in that regard. But I certainly don’t deny myself a bit of chocolate or sweet, especially since this week coincided with pancake Tuesday (always a big thing in our house) and Valentine’s Day.

Anyway, it’s now been 5 days since Donadea. I can definitely still feel the race in my legs but overall I’m happy with how recovery is going. I’ll still take it easy for a few more days and see how it goes.

Btw, it was snowing this morning during my run as well as during the cycle commute. Winter is definitely holding on for longer than usual this year.

12 Feb

5 miles, 44:32; 8:54 pace, HR 121

13 Feb

5 miles, 42:47; 8:33 pace, HR 127

14 Feb

6.3 miles, 53:01; 8:24 pace, HR 134

15 Feb

10.3 miles, 1:23:03; 8:03 pace, HR 137

Irish National 50k Championships, Donadea

Race instruction, summed up

The annual 50k in Donadea has firmly established itself as one of the fixtures in the Irish running calendar. It offers a great opportunity for marathon runners to tip their toes into the ultra world and it works as a great training run for the ones with an eye on longer goal races. More than anything though, it's a brilliantly organised event and great fun, with RD Anto managing the fine balance of combining a well organised event with taking things not too seriously (the PC brigade might want to give this one a miss).

Anyway, as always I arrived at the event not exactly in peak shape. It was a the end of yet another reasonably high mileage week and I had even skipped the usual 1-3 days mini-taper, still doing about 10 miles even on Friday, and quite possibly overcooking myself on Thursday.

Anyway, I was looking forward to it nevertheless. I had packed both road and trail runners and a quick chat with Gary Reinhardt shortly before the start convinced me to go for the trail shoes, which should help with the muddy conditions.

We set off pretty much on time, after receiving some some brief, light-hearted final instructions. It's a 5k loop, run 10 times, with all junctions signposted and marshalled. Don't litter. What else needs to be said?

Start, photo by Teresa Bradley Taaffe

I lined up well back from the start, which ensured I would not be sucked into some stupid fast early pace. Instead I eased into the effort and ran the first mile in about 8 minutes, before getting some clear road ahead and adding a tiny bit more effort. The first lap just flew by and felt oh so easy. When I saw 7:10 and 7:05 pace on the watch I initially assumed a wonky GPS signal because surely such an easy effort would yield a slower pace but eventually realised that the watch was most likely correct and dialled it back a bit. Still, one single 7:13 mile on a slight net downhill isn't too disastrous pacing.

After that I very quickly found a very comfortable rhythm just a tad faster than 7:40 pace. The field had thinned out and settled quickly and I was running on my own for a while before Tim Brownlie caught up and we chatted for a mile or two before he headed off at his own training pace, his aimed-for 100k race pace being faster than my comfortable 50k training-run pace.

Lap 4 or 5, with Brian. Photo by Des Walsh

At lap 4 another runner appeared on my shoulder, Brian Scanlan, and we chatted for the next 2 laps, which made them fly by in no time at all and before we knew it we had reached the halfway point. Brian took this as the signal to head off and went ahead, though he always remained within view. I took my time taking some caffeine and a salt tablet, and a gel to wash them down. I was still moving well at that point but was starting to feel the effort but managed to remain on pace even without putting too much into it.

Before the race I had set the target/expectation of finishing somewhere between 3:50 and 4 hours, without killing myself and without having to dig too deep. It seemed perfectly doable. Up to now I was running comfortably at a projected 3:58 time, give or take a little. I managed two more laps at that effort but as I got closer to the marathon point I was definitely starting to feel the effort and once things started to go downhill they went downhill rather quickly.

I guess the miles caught up with me. Not today's miles, the ones I had run during this and previous weeks. I was still capable of doing basic maths. For 4 hours every lap should take 24 minutes, so that's 2:48 after 7 laps, 3:12 after 8 and 3:36 after 9. Easy enough. I was about 90 seconds ahead of that after 7 laps / 35k but at that point things started to fall apart. I clearly wasn't the only one starting to feel the effort as I caught up to Brian rather quickly and a few of the other runners I passed must have been on the same lap as me (though it can be tricky to determine if you overtake or lap a runner at that point).

Having said that, others very clearly managed to make the best of the conditions. Serial 50k winner as well as reigning Irish marathon champion Gary O'Hanlon put on a great display. He had lapped me for the first time well before I had even finished my 3rd lap and a second time before lap 6 had finished. In fact, by the time he had finished he had lapped the entire field (!!!) before setting yet another new Irish record in 2:54:39. Mind-boggling! Also, Irish Olympian Caitriona Jennings lapped me at some point on the way to her own win, making it look very easy indeed. Very impressive to watch, and a definite advantage of a looped course.

Me, though, I was now in trouble. The 8th lap was definitely a hard one, and everyone in my vicinity could hear my ragged breathing. How much that was due to my exercised-induced asthma or me just having to crank up the effort to such an extend I'm not entirely sure. I also started to slow down, despite my best efforts. Going through the start/finish area I managed to snag a bottle of Lucozade ("you're a life saver!"), though it took me the entire lap to drink it in small sips. Lap 9 was slower again, tougher again, and I didn't even waste the energy to check my time at the marathon point, though it must have been around 3:21. Plenty of effort for a 3:21 - a few months ago 3:10 in Dublin had felt a lot easier. Anyway, the marathon time is utterly meaningless in a 50k and I still had 5 miles left, and that was the only thing I was focusing on.

Going through the finish once more Anto gave me a high 5 for the last lap, but I realised I had bled a lot of time and started to doubt if I would make it under 4, especially with the legs starting to cramp on the uphills, and the pace slowing as a direct consequence. Strictly speaking I should have eased off at that point and remembered that this was first and foremost a training run but that had gone completely out of my mind and all I could think of was trying to get under 4; easing up would have felt like giving up without a fight.

The last 2.5 laps I had pushed ever harder, now I started to concentrate on trying to relax instead, which seemed to work, and the effort seemed to ease without affecting the pace, and the legs stopped going into spasm. I should have tried that approach a lot earlier, I suppose. To be honest, I was pretty sure I had missed sub-4, and when John Griffin blew past me like I was standing still I guessed I must be moving a lot slower than it felt like. But I kept going, pushed up the last hill, turned the final corner and for some reason, despite being really short-sighted and not wearing my glasses, managed to read the race clock very clearly in the distance, showing 3:59:40. I better give it some wellie, I thought, and went into a sprint finish, blowing past a couple of runners, and made it by 3 seconds, which had me crossing the line laughing out loud at the exquisite timing, though the guy right behind me cut it even finer, by a mere 0.4 seconds (as long as they don't round it up, that is).

So, strictly speaking it was mission accomplished and I was happy enough. It was definitely a lot harder than I had it expected it to be, but that may be down to me not remembering the previous attempts properly (come to think of it, the last few laps were always tough). In retrospect I think wearing the heavier trail shoes was a mistake. While they provided great grip through even the muddiest parts I never saw anyone slip and I'm pretty sure I would have been a little bit faster in my lighter road shoes, maybe even comfier. The muscles felt fine, no soreness at all, just general weariness for the rest of the day as well as for my customary 5-mile recovery run the following morning (for which I had a little devil sitting on my shoulder incessantly whispering into my ear to go home instead).

I have run the Donadea 50k 4 times now, each time getting a little bit slower (older?) but still always finishing under 4 hours. One of those sequences is bound to break next time. Anyway, I can't wait for the next installment.

Special thanks must go to Don for the lift from and to Dublin and Karina for keeping us company, Olwyn, thanks for the cakes even though I wasn't a volunteer. And of course to Anto and his crew of helpers, we wouldn't have run a single step without you guys!

8 Feb

9.75 miles, 1:11:33, 7:20 pace, HR 147

9 Feb

9.65 miles, 1:17:37, 8:02 pace, HR 134

10 Feb

Donadea 50k, 3:59:57, 7:43 pace, HR 149

   Irish 50k champs, 29th place overall, 12th M40

11 Feb

5 miles, 45:42, 9:08 pace, HR 128

Kerry At Its Best

I almost always run on my own. It’s not necessarily due to me being anti-social but more due to me running at funny times. Nevertheless, I do enjoy running with company, and on the weekend I had plenty.

Julio is a friend from Paraguay via Canada and has spent a few weeks in Ireland already for work purposes. He always wanted to see Kerry and finally the weather forecast made last weekend a promising one, all previous ones had been washouts. And boy, did the weather deliver.

I took him out on my usual Caragh Lake route on Saturday and he marvelled at the scenery, enough to insist we run there again, and next time with camera. I didn’t tell him that at the time but the really good stuff was yet to come. So, on Sunday we ran a loop around the lake. It meant he had to divert from his training schedule because there was no way he would be able to run marathon or half-marathon pace on those hills but it was well worth the potential wrath of his coach. The weather was nothing short of spectacular and the views suitably impressive. He even went back that afternoon by car to take some additional pictures.

For me it meant a few hours of running a good bit slower than usual, which for an ultrarunner can’t be that bad a thing. I do often wonder what the most appropriate pace for my training runs would be; after all, 24 hours race pace is significantly slower than even an exceptionally easy training run. I have tried running lots of miles at slow pace, twice, and both times it merely resulted in me not gaining proper fitness. So I need to run faster, and I only slow down right at the end of training to get used to the slower pace, once the fitness has been built up already. However, the occasional slow long run may well be beneficial. It sure made for an easy recovery – I have never felt as fresh after well over 2 hours of running as I did on Sunday.

On Monday, now back in Dublin, we got hit by yet another cold snap. I’m sure it didn’t impress our Canadian visitors but for the residents here it was the coldest we’ve felt in a while. Again, that’s fine, I can handle it and in fact I like the cold as long as it's dry. It's freezing cold rain and wind that I hate. The slippery footpaths can be an issue but so far I have gotten away with it.

The numbers have jumped up again to a new level. I am getting into territory that I haven’t seen in years, with the VDOT above 60 at times and I think there is still room for further improvement. I’m about to start racing again, not 5ks but long races like marathons or shorter ultras, and I’ll monitor how my legs will handle the load. I think they will do very well but let’s keep an eye on it.

All photos courtesy of Julio Castillo

3 Feb

9.45 miles, 1:22:18, 8:42 pace, HR 125

4 Feb

15 miles, 2:16:44, 9:06 pace, HR 126

5 Feb

10.6 miles, 1:25:23, 8:03 pace, HR 130

6 Feb

9.65 miles, 1:17:13, 8:00 pace, HR 139

7 Feb

9.7 miles, 1:14:26, 7:40 pace, HR 137

Evaluation Time

It’s Friday yet again. Usually people are desperately looking forward to that day, and under normal circumstances I’m no exception to that. But it also means I have only two weeks left at my present job and I haven’t been here long enough to be looking forward to ending it all, it never had the chance to reach the point where I’m desperate to be getting out of here. As much as I am excited about my soon-to-be new job, I am really sorry to be leaving this one behind. I would have liked to remain a bit longer but the other opportunity was just way too good to be missed, some sort of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Anyway, you didn’t come here to read my life story, at least not the side away from running (and if you did you will be leaving disappointed). For the most part I took it easy enough this week. I was a bit tired on Monday, partially because of Sunday’s long run but mostly because I had gotten to Dublin late on Sunday evening and simply didn’t get enough sleep, especially after that long journey. I do wonder if I would have been better off staying in bed and getting some more sleep but that’s just not the way I roll. If in doubt I always go for a run.

Having said that, I recovered soon enough. On Wednesday I did another double to and from work, which adds up to almost 20 miles for the day. I can tell that my legs are getting much stronger, those 2 runs seemed to take very little out of me when a few weeks ago the home run was always a bit of a struggle. Also, it was the last day of one of my colleagues, so they had 3 boxes of donuts for celebrations. Why is that relevant?

I am very disciplined in almost any part of life but my sweet tooth is a definite weakness that I can’t seem to shift. Leave me in a room with a box full of donuts and only one of us will emerge intact. The subsequent sugar rush fuelled my run home. Maybe that’s why I was a good bit faster than my usual pace which is when I’m running more or less on empty, though I’m sure the swirling wind was mostly on my back and helped as well.

The legs were okay the next morning but I still opted for a very, very, very easy pace, which must have helped because for Friday’s evaluation I was back in fighting form. My biggest issue was getting the HR up to 160, which was really hard work. However, once it got there it remained remarkably constant and I basically didn’t need the watch’s alarm at all. The figures came out as:

   6:37, 6:35, 6:45, 6:42 / 42 sec recovery to HR 130

which are very solid numbers and slightly better than last month. The recovery is a bit longer but it may be down entirely to a more precise measurement – I’m finally starting to get the hang of the watch again and all its buttons, even when out of breath after a sustained effort and the accompanying brain fog.

On the way home I went via the parcel motel and picked up 2 parcels and carried them home. One was much heavier than anticipated. Not sure how much that impacted on the HR or the pace but it was bound to have an effect – I sure was glad to be home from that particular run.

It’s gotten really cold again with temperatures very close to freezing point but a biting cold wind that makes it feel much colder. I don’t mind the cold at all – compared to where I grew up this doesn’t even qualify as winter but getting older sucks and my skin isn’t able to cope properly. It gets very dry and then develops little cuts, a few mm long, bleeding at times, which can be rather uncomfortable. My feet are particularly affected, they look like I had been walking on glass, barefoot. Yes, cream helps. No, as a bloke I keep forgetting to put it on.

29 Jan

10.25 miles, 1:24:27, 8:14 pace, HR 130

30 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:16:03, 7:50 pace, HR 137

31 Jan

am: 9.7 miles, 1:17:23, 7:58 pace, HR 139

pm: 9.67 miles, 1:13:15, 7:34 pace, HR 142

1 Feb

10.55 miles, 1:28:48, 8:25 pace, HR 131

2 Feb

9.75 miles, 1:16:11, 7:48 pace, HR 142

   incl. 4 miles eval @ HR 160 in 6:37, 6:35, 6:45, 6:42; 42 sec recovery to HR 130

One Year Older - Again!

The age is in the photo!

When you're 16 years old and look about 4 years younger, that really sucks. Take it from me. However, once you reach an older age, there are some benefits to that genetic disposition. I've long reached the point where I appreciate looking younger than my age, and the surprised look at people's faces when I tell people I'm almost 50 isn't getting old either, excuse the pun.

Obviously, having kids means there are some who won't let me get away so easily. My youngest, 10 herself, never misses an opportunity to let me know how ancient I am. Mind, my wife does the same and she has much less of an excuse. Never mind, being a competitive runner actually means I'm looking forward to a new age group, where bling comes a bit easier to achieve. Still a bit to go, though.

Training is going very well. I think I've given up trying to run faster and increased the mileage again, and this time I fully intend to crank thing up to serious levels. I'm in the 90s at the moment and feeling good, and with 1 or 2 additional doubles a week I'll easily go into 3 digits. I can already feel the legs getting stronger and there are other signs that the body is adapting: yesterday morning the weighing scales stopped at 142 pounds (10 stone 2, 64.4 kg) and the resting HR at 37, both the lowest values in years. I'm aware that neither number automatically means a high level of fitness but since they are coming together with feeling ready good I am reading them as meaning exactly that: I'm getting really fit.

Not that things are going smoothly all the time. On Friday I stumbled over some invisible obstacle on the Carrickmines M50 bridge in the dark and did a full body flop, scratching my right leg quite badly on the concrete. I didn't even notice at first but the stinging sensations from my right side soon became impossible to ignore.

I'm also running into troubles when running into town as part of my commute. My glasses have started rubbing against my nose, so much so that it can bleed quite a bit, definitely not a look I favour when getting into work. So I run without glasses, which means I'm running half-blind as I'm very short sighted. That's not a problem running through the parks near home but in the city centre with all those people, very uneven sidewalks and heavy traffic it can be downright dangerous. On several occasions I have almost stumbled onto the street because I did not see where the sidewalk ended, I once crossed a road just a couple of seconds before a bus because I simply had not seen it and last week I once inadvertently crossed a road on red because I mistakenly thought that green light ahead of me was meant for pedestrians. Not good. But if I survive 3 more weeks of that commute I'm good because I'm changing jobs yet again, and my new one is in Sandyford and I no longer have to head into Dublin centre.

Let's hope they'll be as tolerant of my running lifestyle as my last 2 employers!

24 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:15:03, 7:44 pace, HR 141

25 Jan

12+ miles, 1:40:08, 8:18 pace, HR 140

   incl 2+ miles of sprint the straights and jog the curves

26 Jan

10 miles, 1:22:45, 8:16 pace, HR 132

27 Jan

10 miles, 1:16:06, 7:36 pace, HR 144

28 Jan

18 miles, 2:24:29, 8:02 pace, HR 138

Must Try Harder

just imagine what I would have looked like had I tried hard enough ...

A bit of rain doesn't bother me, after living in Kerry for nearly 14 years there's nothing Dublin can throw at me that I haven't experienced to a greater extend our Wesht. So I jogged towards Cabinteely on Saturday morning through some puddles and got there in time for the parkrun, already thoroughly wet. The idea was to push myself for 5k but not race it all out, maybe 90% effort. I was in around 10th place right after the start but caught a few runners after a mile, though was caught by the female winner myself. The parkrun course is very hilly for a 5k, and you have to climb that hill no less that 3 times. I tried not to kill myself going up the hill by turning the intensity down a notch, and I also tried not to kill myself on the downhill by taking care on the slippery, extremely wet path. I was breathing pretty damn hard, and sure thought I was running pretty damn hard, but when I checked my time after finishing I did a double-take in disbelief as the watch displayed 20:39, when I had been sure I had definitely run at sub-20 effort. Not even close, how wrong can you be!

My first theory was that what few fast-twitch fibres I'd had in my legs had given up and died at some stage in the last 2 years, but when I got home and had another look at the numbers I got a second shock when the average HR for what was supposed to be almost a race came back at 160!

You gotta be kidding me! I ran a race and barely even matched the intensity of an evaluation, which is a very moderate workout to start with! I have a higher HR whenever I race a marathon!!!

So, on one level, a complete failure. I had intended to (almost) race it. I clearly didn't. I have completely forgotten how to race a 5k.

On a different level, not bad. HR 160 for 6:33 pace on a hilly course is pretty damn solid.

Poolbeg

Also, not racing on Saturday meant I didn't have to recover on Sunday. The legs were perfectly fine. I had agreed to meet a friend and run 18k with him, at his pace. The rain was supposed to stop any time soon but it was still pouring down buckets as I ran the 5 miles to Blackrock DART station, and the paths were basically flooded, so I just ran through all the puddles, there was no point whatsoever in prancing around them. I met up with Julio and we proceeded to run towards Poolbeg, chatting along. We slightly changed the planned route by running out all the way to the lighthouse, which meant 20k for him but nobody complained. At some point halfway through our run the rain finally started to ease but of course we were already soaked to the bones and the paths were still flooded. Once we were back in Blackrock we had a coffee before going our separate ways and I ran the last 5 miles home again for a total of 22.5 miles today, albeit with a break.

it stopped raining!

It was slower than usual, and the difference that made was astounding. I had been rather exhausted after my last 20 mile run; today I was what Lydiard would have called "pleasantly tired", almost ready to go out again and run some more. Interesting. Maybe I should slow down on my long runs.

Anyway, the mileage itself sure didn't tax me as I felt great on Monday's run home from work, though I suspect some tailwind had provided assistance, because I sure felt the headwind when going the other way on Tuesday morning. Still, the legs are definitely in good shape and seem to like the mileage picking up again.

20 Jan

10+ miles, 1:20:56, 7:52 pace

   incl. Cabinteely parkrun 20:39, 6:33 pace, HR 160, 7th place

21 Jan

22+ miles, 3:13:31, 8:34 pace, HR 133

22 Jan

9.75 miles, 1:15:15, 7:43 pace, HR 138

23 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:18:11, 8:03 pace, HR 140

That Time Of The Year

I've reached the point where I wish winter would just pack it in and fuck off. It's been freezing for way too bloody long and constantly running in the dark is getting old as well. We've had one storm after the other, and I'm actually perfectly aware that I'm getting away lightly here in Dublin; those weather systems are a lot worse on the Atlantic coast.

This is definitely the coldest winter since the two Big Freezes in a row several years ago. I don't think I even used my running tights last year at all, this year they are the only thing I would even consider wearing. And I did see that picture of a lot of my mates in shorts in the snow up the mountains on facebook the other day - though I merely regard it as proof, if ever one was needed, that machismo is fucking stupid.

Enough of the swearing.

My mileage, which I deliberately reduced when I introduced faster weekly workouts, is starting to creep up again but that's mostly down to the fact that I re-started running twice a day on occasions (ok, only one occasion so far, but there will be more to come). I am slowly coming to the conclusion that I seem to increase fitness much better on higher mileage than by doing a few workouts. However, I'll still try and get some faster miles into the legs and that parkrun idea for the weekend is still valid.

I did one workout so far this week, which was a new kind of workout in this training cycle, namely long hill repeats. There is that tasty little road towards Puck's Castle, about 1 km long, with the additional evil feature of getting steeper the higher you get. Running there from my apartment and doing 4 repeats would add up to exactly 10 miles, which seems far too round a number to pass up the opportunity.

Wednesday morning actually was the worst day of the week I could have picked due to the snow on Tuesday evening and the freezing temperatures the following night which made for tricky road conditions the next morning, especially on higher grounds. However, the frozen snow provided just enough traction to keep the workout a possibility and I got through it without slipping once, so I got away with that one.

The workout itself was interesting enough. I was sure the first repeat would be the slowest because for me that is usually still part of the warm up. Running the repeats I could have sworn the second and third ones were the fastest while I started to feel the effort during the fourth one and was tempted to pull the plug, but got a surprise when looking at the numbers afterwards and the fourth had actually been the fastest and the third the slowest! I'll probably do that workout again in the coming weeks, I like what hill repeats do to my legs.

15 Jan

10.65 miles, 1:25:39, 8:02 pace, HR 134

16 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:17:11, 7:57 pace, HR 136

17 Jan

10 miles, 1:23:20, 8:19 pace, HR 141

   4 x 1k hill repeat

18 Jan

am: 9.7 miles, 1:17:31, 7:59 pace, HR 139

pm: 9.75 miles, 1:17:07, 7:54 pace, HR 141

19 Jan

10.3 miles, 1:23:47, 8:08 pace, HR 135

Evaluation

I'm trying to do 2 workouts a week at the moment, covering 2 different aspects of speed. One workout is hill sprints, the other one is a more sustained effort. The second kind of workout seems to take quite some toll on my body; a few years ago I could recover relatively quickly; these days even 2 easy days seem to be insufficient at times. I do wonder if I should make changes - I don't ever want to dig myself into an overtraining hole again, and doing speed workouts that I could not recover from is exactly what caused me to fall into that hole 2/3 years ago.

For this week I decided to do another evaluation workout. This serves 2 purposes: it is a reasonably moderate workout that I should recover quickly from, better than from a set of quarter-mile repeats, and it also provides great feedback to where my form is right now (that's why it's called an evaluation workout, obviously).

It was still pitch black on Thursday morning, and I decided against the track but did it on a loop in Kilbogget Park that happens to be almost exactly 1 mile long and very flat. A few dog walkers were about but nothing that would have caused a problem with the workout. The recent rain had left a few puddles behind but again, nothing that would have interfered with the workout, apart from slightly wet feet.

Anyway, every time I run at HR 160 I find it much harder work than I can remember, and every time I feel like I will be struggling to even complete the workout, never mind trying to hold an even effort. However, every time it turns out that it's completely manageable and in fact, doesn't leave me anywhere near as tired as other speed workouts. The same happened again on Thursday morning, but I do wonder if it does indeed start getting a bit harder.

The paces for each mile were 6:36, 6:44, 6:49, 6:51, and the recovery to HR 130 took about 35 seconds. Those numbers are a bit worse than last month, for which I have 2 possible explanations. First, after some technical difficulties there is a slight questionmark over last month's numbers, though I still do believe them to be correct. Second, I am not entirely recovered from that infection I was fighting off after New Year. Also, it took me quite some time to feel recovered after last week's speed workout, so maybe recovery really is taking longer than expected, even though I'm trying hard not to overdo it.

Anyway, the numbers aren't bad, certainly better than a lot of times in the past, so I'll keep trying for a little bit longer before I make drastic changes,

I was back in Kerry for the weekend, which meant 2 more runs along/around the lake. There is just something about that route that never fails to provide a little extra spring to my legs, the lovely scenery apparently helping me along; I didn't even mind the rain and the wind, and the fact that the road was still waterlogged on Saturday and I had to run through ankle-deep puddles of almost frozen water. On Sunday the hamstrings were complaining of being overworked on every climb for the first 10 miles, until they finally gave up moaning and settled nicely in the second half of my run, I'm not sure how climbing hills can feel easier during the second half of a long run than during the first but that's exactly what happened.

Anyway, I'm back in Dublin now, and I will be here next weekend as well. I might brave another parkrun, hoping that it will work out better than my last attempt (I spent the night in hospital with chest pains). Let's see.

11 Jan

7.5 miles, 56:18, 7:27 pace, HR 148

   4 miles eval 6:36, 6:44, 6:49, 6:51, 35 sec recovery

12 Jan

10 miles, 1:20:44, 8:04 pace, HR 138

13 Jan

12 miles, 1:34:24, 7:52 pace, HR 140

14 Jan

18 miles, 2:23:45, 7:59 pace, HR 140

Seriously?

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

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

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

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

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

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

6 Jan

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

7 Jan

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

8 Jan

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

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

9 Jan

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

10 Jan

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

Running Fast, Slowly

The new year got off to a reasonably solid if entirely unspectacular start. I've re-started the run commute, but only one way at a time. The mileage will be slightly lower the next few weeks because speed work and long miles don't mix very well, and I want to get some speed into my legs now. There won't be the opportunity to do so later in the training cycle.

I need to be careful. After years and years of injury-free running I then acquired 2 injuries, both related to workouts. Plus, too much speedwork got me into an overtrained state that took a long time to get out of, and I sure don't want to repeat the same mistakes again.

Therefore, my speed workouts will not be spectacular, neither in length nor in pace. I'll try to run faster but not go to the well, and when I feel that the workout should be over, it will be over.

Case in point, I went to our local dirt track this morning. Since a track is 400 meters long, 400s were on the cards as it just makes things simple. There's no light available but it's an almost Full Moon and the night was clear, so a moonlit workout it was. Neither the early time nor the low temperatures were in my favour but you just get on with things. Since it was so dark that I couldn't see the numbers on the watch it was a workout entirely by feel. I also lost count early on and had no idea how many repeats I had done, but at some point realised I was tired because I had inadvertently jogged past the point where the next repeat should have started without realising, and a frazzled brain seemed to indicate that the workout should end soon. I finished with one last effort, a bit faster than the other ones, and went home.

To be honest I was a bit shocked to see such slow numbers. The first and second one don't mean much as I was taking my time to ease into the effort but then I still only ran at about 6:15-6:25 pace. Come to think about it, that is probably reasonably close to my present 5k race pace, which sounds like the right effort for 400s, but I used to run them closer to 5:30 pace, so that was a bit sad to see. But let me repeat what I said earlier, I'd much rather do an easier workout than dig myself into a hole again or get injured, and I think and feel I got the effort level right.

I just need to get used to being older, that's all.

1 Jan

10 miles, 1:18:02, 7:48 pace

2 Jan

7.5 miles, 1:06:10, 8:46 pace, HR 131

   hill sprints

3 Jan

9.7 miles, 1:15:21, 7:46 pace, HR 145

4 Jan

9.75 miles, 1:19:01, 8:06 pace, HR 141

5 Jan

6.7 miles, 57:14, 8:25 pace, HR 136

   9 x 400s, 200 rest

Happy New Year!

Dear Wind! You have been here since Christmas, making your presence felt continuously, at times in a rather forceful manner. Please fuck off. You've more than outstayed your welcome. I just want to have one single run without having to work like a trooper just to keep moving at times. Take that Storm Dylan with you as well on your way out and tell it to go elsewhere.

This might me our last Christmas in Kerry, which feels like the end of an era. We've been here since 2003, so I guess in some ways it is. To add to the feeling of moving on, our youngest daughter informed us that she no longer believes in Santa, which means that after all those years our house has now turned into a magic-free zone once more.

I used to hate Christmas for the shallow consumerism it promotes, but seeing little eyes light up at the mere thought of Santa is special and a much treasured memory. I'd like to hold onto that rather than concentrate on the superficial side of it.

On the running front, things are progressing nicely, a few hiccups notwithstanding. I always leave 2 relatively easy days after each speed session, including hill sprints, which is a nod to my ageing body and its reduced capacity for recovery, so Wednesday and Thursday were reasonably easy. The next session was on for Friday. My initial plans were another evaluation workout but the strong winds put me off, the numbers just don't make sense in those conditions, so I changed it to half-mile repeats, and since it was so windy I did them on the Ard-na-Sidhe road where it is a little bit sheltered. The plan was to run them at 6:30 - 6:20 - 6:10 pace and if I was still up for more at that point then do more at 6:10 pace. The odd numbered intervals were into the wind but net downhill (but with a nasty little steep climb) and the even numbered ones with the wind but net uphill, though the elevation change was not significant.

The first was fine, so was the second, though both could have done with a better sense of pace instead of starting out at 5:00 pace. The third was much more challenging, and it didn't help that the watch displayed slower numbers than later appeared on the web page after importing the data, which meant I inadvertently ran each repeat a few seconds faster than planned. Whether it was the pace or the wind or the asthma but I then spent the next 80 seconds trying to breath as if through a thin straw and knew that was the end of the speed session and made my way home. I also noticed afterwards that the second repeat was at a lower HR than the first despite being faster - the wind direction clearly being more significant than the modest elevation change.

Halfway through the way home I suddenly seemed to black out for a split second; I felt light headed and found myself stumbling into the middle of the road rather than running at its edge, feeling a little unsteady. However, it was over as soon as it began, and since I was on my way home anyway I  just continued on. I used to faint a few times when I was a teenager, which felt somewhat similar, and it was always related to low blood sugar, so maybe there's something in there as well. However, I sure was glad I had not attempted a fourth interval.

I was fine afterwards. I then made use of my last day in Kerry on Sunday to head for the local hills, in the freezing cold rain and the remnants of Storm Dylan still noticeable. It made for 2 character building hours.

And so ends another year. Race-wise it was disappointing with my one A-race a complete disaster, but things have picked up significantly since with an unexpectedly good performance in Dublin and some much coveted silverware in Monaghan and Sixmilebridge, and also coming first in the B2B in Howth. It leaves me with plenty of optimism for 2018.

2017 Yearly Mileage: 3062

27 Dec

10 miles, 1:17:31, 7:45 pace, HR 140

28 Dec

10 miles, 1:15:42, 7:34 pace, HR 143

29 Dec

6.7 miles, 53:28, 7:58 pace, HR 144

   3 x 800 @ 6:24 (163), 6:16 (161), 6:06 (167)

30 Dec

10 miles, 1:18:12, 7:49 pace, HR 146

31 Dec

16 miles, 2:08:59, 8:04 pace, HR 141

Ho Ho Ho

The weather Gods aren't entirely in the Christmas Spirit this year. The temperatures dropped close to 0 again but were accompanied by icy cold rain and some biting wind, which are just about the least favourite running conditions I can think of. Of course it didn't stop me from running. It might feel a bit uncomfortable for a few minutes but once you're warmed up you're fine. And if you feel warm at the start of your run, you're overdressed.

I stayed in Dublin until Saturday, which saved me from the usual traffic jam on Friday evening that turns the trip towards Naas into a 2.5 hours stop-start session. We left Saturday lunchtime and just breezed past those sections. Now I have a week in Kerry, which means I finally have a bit of a break. I hardly had any holidays this year as I had them pay me off both times I changed jobs and immediately started new employment on both occasions.

I'm getting into damn good shape now, at least damn good aerobic shape. I think the back-to-back marathons are really paying off. I didn't do a long run or a speed session the week after Howth in order to ensure I can recover fully, but now it's systems go again.

I did another session of hill sprints this morning, on the usual dirt road to the Caragh Lake Coillte area. It was freezing cold so I did a few miles just to warm up (7:50 pace, HR 135) before launching  myself up the hill, 8-10 seconds for each repeat, full tilt as fast as you can accelerate, with a long recovery of about 2 minutes, including walking back down the hill. A few things I noticed were that the HR dropped down to 110-120 during the recovery and was still in the 120s at the end of each sprint and only went into the 140s with delayed reaction. The pressure I always feel in my chest started appearing after 3 or 4 repeats but much less bothersome that usual. At the 7th sprint I felt I could no longer produce full power output and called it a day.

I can feel it and the numbers do tell the same story. I'm starting to get into damn good shape.

22 Dec

10.15 miles, 1:23:40, 8:14 pace, HR 139

23 Dec

10 miles, 1:18:58, 7:53 pace, HR 139

24 Dec

11 miles, 1:28:01, 8:00 pace, HR 142

25 Dec

10 miles, 1:16:06, 7:36 pace, HR 144

26 Dec

8.75 miles, 1:14:48, 8:32 pace, HR 133

   incl. 7 x 8 sec hill sprints

Happy Solstice

From tomorrow morning on it will get brighter again. Good thing too. As much as I like Winter (it's an Austrian thing), the lack of daylight does make things tricky, from SAD to the fact that running in the dark through Dublin City isn't entirely without risks. At the moment it's invariably pitch dark every time I run and cycling home from work can be a bit scary at times as well, mostly due to the appalling state of the cycle paths, especially around UCD.

Anyway, my running is entirely focused on recovery this week. For once this is going really well. It is quite astounding that running two exceptionally hilly marathons in around 3:40 is so much easier on the body than one single flattish marathon in 3:10; at least I find it rather surprising.

I never had any muscle pain, walking down the 3 flights in our apartment was never an issue (I didn't even remember that I was supposed to be sore) and running 5 miles a day, as I always do immediately after a marathon/short ultra, felt actually a bit too short. By Tuesday I was already tempted to run a bit more but didn't. Instead, I re-started my cycle commute (me being redundant sure didn't last long!), and the 20 miles of cycling seemed to tire the legs more than the back-to-back marathons had done.

Wednesday was the one day where the legs felt a bit heavy during the first mile, which I attribute entirely to the cycling, but even then they started to feel better very quickly and by the end of the run I felt so good I was sorry to be done.

My HR values have been staggeringly low. It's been a while since I last saw values in the 120s. The HRV measurements are giving me very good readings as well, the last few days have always shown a solid green light, indicating excellent recovery (still not 100% sure about the validity of the those numbers, though).

I'll take a bit of break from marathon-length training runs now, hoping to focus a little bit more on running faster rather than going through an endless cycle of marathon/recovery/marathon. I already started that the week before Howth with a set of hill sprints and one evaluation workout, as a kind of transition. However, I'll wait for at least one week after Howth before even thinking about another fast run. That phase will last until Donadea in February, at least if things go to plan, and I hope that a slightly different stimulus will help to push things up a bit more.

18 Dec

5+ miles, 43:16, 8:29 pace, HR 125

19 Dec

5+ miles, 42:01, 8:19 pace, HR 128

20 Dec

8+ miles, 1:05:03, 7:59 pace, HR 136

21 Dec

9.7 miles, 1:16:03, 7:50 pace, HR 138

EOI B2B marathons in Howth

The back-to-back marathons I ran 2 months ago in Monaghan had gone so well that when I saw that the EOI crowd was putting on a similar event in Howth in the middle of December I decided to do that as well.

I had never run any of the EOI marathons before, even though I'm good friends with all of the organisers. As long as I was living in Kerry it was always a bit too far away and once I had moved to Dublin I still spent most weekends in Kerry, so I had to wait until now. A bit surprisingly, the back-to-back marathons were scheduled for Friday and Saturday rather than over the weekend, but since I happened to be made redundant from work on Wednesday the schedule actually suited me very well.

It sure was a low-key event on Friday, just turn up shortly before nine am and then off we run. You'll be pointed into the right direction on a rather idiot-proof loop, just follow the main road until you're back in Howth. No road closures, so stay on the footpath, and certainly no chip timing or pacing teams, but a table at the end of each loop with drinks and encouragement.

We started pretty much on time. Howth itself was very quiet and there was very little traffic on the road. It was freezing cold, especially thanks to a biting wind, so I wore long sleeves as well as running tights, though at least half of the lads were clad in shorts nevertheless. The loop was to be run in reverse to the standard EOI Howth loop, which meant an insanely steep climb right from the off, about 1.2 miles and almost 400 feet / 115 meters of elevation gain, though those numbers don't give justice to the much steeper first half of that climb. Not only was that the start to a marathon, I would also have to keep my legs fresh for tomorrow, so I tried to take it easy but it's hard to take it easy on a hill like that and after the very first mile I was already knackered! There was some respite on the other side of the hill in form of a much more gradual downhill segment for close to three miles, where once again I tried to take it easy, though with the fastest mile coming through at about 7 minutes I'm not sure I was entirely successful in that. Once we got to the bottom we had about 2.5 miles of flat roads to get us back to Howth, only to do it all over again. The second loop was already more challenging but I held it together alright. It was during the third loop that the suffering started, and once you start feeling the pain on that climb you're unlikely to recover much. At least I had plenty of targets to catch on that third loop because that's where I gradually reeled in the early starters who'd set off an hour ahead of us, and every time I passed one of them and exchanged a few friendly words, the next one was usually in sight already. However, by the time I got back to Howth for the third time I was pretty much cooked and not looking forward to a fourth loop.

Totally wasted after day 1

This time that hill REALLY hurt, and the only reason I managed to survive was because I kept telling myself that this was the very last time I would ever have to put myself through that particular torture because tomorrow's loop would be run in reverse, though I wasn't particularly looking forward to bombing down that steep decline on tired legs either. After what felt like far too many minutes in hell and agony I got to the top, not that the downhill segment felt any easier. I just about held myself together and my pace had declined sufficiently to barely make 8-minute miles on the downhill. Once I was back on the flat bit I gradually managed to get into my head that I was almost done and eventually picked up the pace a little bit again for a reasonable finish. All the while I had not checked my pace even once, just used the watch from time to time to reassure myself of the distance covered but had literally no clue as to what time I was doing, until the moment I pressed the stop button at 3:38:54. I more or less collapsed on the bench, feeling wiped out and totally exhausted. I left soon after because I was getting cold very quickly and drove home, which was one of the most uncomfortable drives ever as my left leg, which had been fine while running, kept cramping every time I had to use the clutch, which was not great timing driving through a very busy Dublin. The cramps kept on coming all afternoon back home, until they finally subsided in the evening. In addition I tortured myself a bit more in form of an ice bath, which was probably the most torturous part of the day, despite everything else.

And as for never having to climb that hill again? As soon as I had finished Gary explained that they would have to change tomorrow's route due to a Christmas market in Howth, and instead of doing 4 loops we would instead run over the mountain and back again three times each, basically leaving out the flat bit and just keeping the hills in it. I looked at him wide-eyed, waiting for the punchline that never came. He was being serious!

My left calf still hurt from all the previous day's cramping when I got up on Saturday morning. It's fair to say I was not looking forward to it. I was nervous about my legs cramping, about running out of energy on the hills, about the pain that was in store.

(most of) the runners for day 2

There were a few more runners in it on Saturday compared to Friday but the vibe was still as friendly and the race was still low-key, with a minimum of fuss, absolutely perfect for a training run with friends. It was even colder than the day before but once we were off that immediately became much less of an issue than having to climb that hill yet again. I started at a measured effort with half the field streaming past me initially, though that included the half-marathon runners and of course plenty of runners who hadn't put themselves through the wringer the day before. Despite my fears, the legs actually felt pretty good without any muscle pain, and the longer the hill dragged on the more I grew in confidence and I started moving up through the field again, without apparently having to increase the effort. Due to the lower temperatures the footpaths were still partially covered by a slippery layer of frost and you had to be a bit careful, on the first loop at least, though thankfully there were no accidents as far as I can tell. I still felt surprisingly good on the first downhill, even going a bit faster than yesterday with a 6:50 mile, not that I was aware of it at the time. I just tried to keep everything under control. We got to the turn-around point after about 4.4 miles and now I would get to experience the hill in reverse for the first time. The one thing I noticed straight away was that it felt a lot steeper than the gradual gradient when running downhill, and this time we had close to 3 miles of climbing to do before we would get to the top (with a dip in the middle). The one bit I was dreading the most was actually the steep downhill into Howth on the other side, I didn't know what that would do to my quads. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how well that went. The footpath was very uneven and the road too busy to be running on it so you couldn't just release the breaks and go hell for leather, but a more measured descend worked very well. Ger asked how I was doing, I responded with "better than expected" to which he encouragingly responded "just wait for loops 2 and 3, then". Thanks, mate! I wasted some time here by drinking my bottle at the table instead of bringing it with me (because it was my son's bottle, not a throw-away, and I didn't want to carry it with me for the next 8.8 miles), but soon enough I was back on the road, climbing that hill yet again, and feeling better than expected yet again.

about to waste a lot of time!

Nevertheless this was starting to become challenging again and my breathing was a bit ragged, but as always I sounded worse than I felt. I still managed to keep going at a decent enough rate. On that loop I once again started to catch most of the early starters, and as always we exchanged a few friendly words along the way, with "looking good" almost always being an outright lie but nobody ever minds. I wasted even more time at the turnaround point when due to fatigue and clammy fingers in the cold I struggled to extract my little ziplock bag with caffeine pills and salt tablets from my pocket, promptly spilling the entire content on the road and picking it up again (not giving a damn about road dirt), which may have cost me as much as a minute. Ah well. I wasn't going for a time today anyway. The hill on the return leg was still steeper than it had been on the downward stretch but I got over it and the steep downhill on the other side was once again better than expected.

There was even more time wasted at the aid station when Ger offered me a Coke and I sure wasn't going to say no but had to walk a bit to drink it without spilling it all over me. I guess I really wasn't in race mode today, which is not a bad thing when you're doing a training run, of course. The hill definitely was a challenge now, alright, but I actually felt a lot better than yesterday. I got over it, again. I caught a runner on the downhill who then seemed to just disappear, not sure what exactly happened but I didn't see him on the return leg. For once I got through an aid station without wasting time and did the glory stretch all the way home.

Much better after day 2

I finished in 3:41:08, just 2 minutes slower than yesterday, which is probably the time I needlessly wasted at various aid stations, on an even tougher course and on pre-fatigued legs, so overall actually a much better run than the one on Friday. I might have exaggerated a little bit when I said I was feeling fresh as a daisy but the contrast to the day before was truly remarkable. Once again I could not hang around for too long because I was getting cold and made my way home, which also went a lot better than yesterday.

I was flabbergasted when I saw I had averaged 138 on the HR on Saturday. Even considering that I had taken it easy, that's an incredibly low reading for a marathon, hilly or not.

All in all it had been a very good set of races, thanks to Gary, Frank and Ger from the EOI crowd, all their helpers,  and all the runners who shared the road with me on those 2 days. I expect I'll be back for more soon enough, though maybe not in Howth.

13 Dec

7.6 miles, 1:00:55, 8:00 pace, HR 141

14 Dec

6.3 miles, 51:56, 8:14 pace, HR 136

15 Dec

EOI B2B marathon p1, Howth, 3:38:54, 8:20 pace, HR 144

16 Dec

EOI B2B marathon p2, Howth, 3:41:08, 8:26 pace, HR 138

17 Dec

5+ miles, 45:11, 8:56 pace, HR 125

All photos from the EOI FB page. Thanks, guys!

EOI B2B Howth Marathons, Part 1

This is not a race report. I'll wait for tomorrow's race before I start writing one.

There's a hill in Howth. Actually, Howth IS a hill. I can see it very clearly all the way back from my balcony in Cherrywood. It's just one single hill, thankfully. Except that we got to climb it 4 times on that loop course.

I survived the 4th loop only because I told myself that I'll never have to climb the ridiculously steep bit ever again because tomorrow's race would be held in reverse direction (though I was already dreading running downhill on that). Except that Gary told me, after I'd finished, that they will have to change the course because of tomorrow's Christmas market in Howth, so we'll just go over the hill and back several times, leaving out the flat bit. On already dead legs from day 1. That's going to be ... interesting.

Have you ever found yourself at a junction in central Dublin (actually, any very busy junction anywhere in the world will do), the light just turned green but you can't move off because your left calf is just about to cramp violently and you can't operate the clutch, and you're starting to panic because of all the cars behind you, except that due to your rising panic you forgot which way you have to move your foot to release the cramp, because if you move it the wrong way the cramp will get much, much worse and you're already screaming in pain? It's not a good place to be in.  Seriously.

Well, if you do find yourself in such a situation then the answer is to dorsiflex the foot, which I thankfully managed to remember before an irate driver behind me would have taken me out. The drive home was a rather uncomfortable one. Interestingly, it was only the left leg that gave me troubles, even though when running I almost always cramp in my right leg only. It's operating the clutch that was the problem. I'm tempted to hire an automatic for my next marathon.

Which is tomorrow. Oh F...!

My right knee hurt on loop 1's downhill section, the balls of my right foot REALLY hurt through laps 2 and 3 and my right calf was very painful on lap 4; not a cramp, some muscle pain. I need a new right leg!

Second place today in a very modest 3:38:54. I tried to take it easy, with tomorrow weighing very heavily on my mind.

Man In Tights

Winter is here. We even have the fields covered in white, though in Dublin at least that's frost at the moment, not snow. We did have snow as well but it didn't stick. Now we just have the freezing cold temperatures and the icy road conditions (I like the former, not the latter). Nevertheless I get amused by Met Eireann's description of the present conditions as "bitterly cold". Not where I come from, guys. Bitterly cold to me is -20 degrees (ok, -15 qualifies as well) and temperatures around the freezing point are just  - Winter. Suck it up.

Anyway, after taking a good look at my numbers and my training in the past few months I have come to the conclusion that while the base training is getting me into pretty good shape (as witnessed by running a surprisingly easy 3:10 Dublin marathon) this is just about as good as it gets and for further improvement I have to introduce a new stimulus. None of that comes as a surprise, I had been waiting for that point ever since I started training. If anything, I am surprised base training got me as far as that. Also, I didn't want to do any faster running until I was completely sure I had recovered from Dublin/Sixmilebridge, which seems to be the case now. My numbers are good. My resting HR has dropped as low as 36, which equals the lowest number I have ever seen, and that was while taking recordings in a seated position, not lying down. A low HR doesn't automatically translate into being in good shape and well rested but the other numbers, and most importantly the way I feel, supports the same conclusion.

As an introduction into faster stuff I did a set of hill sprints last Saturday, back home in Kerry, which enabled me to do them on the same hill I used to do them on in previous years. Then again, in my memory it had been much steeper and I was surprised how "easy" it felt. I still had the familiar tightness in my chest 20-30 seconds after each sprint, which I now attribute to my exercise-induced asthma, plus a wave of nausea, but I'm used to that by now. What wasn't quite so great was that my right calf started to feel tight; maybe I should have called it a day after 6 repeats rather than 8. The tightness stayed with me over the next few days when running (not noticeable at all otherwise) but it has gotten better. By Tuesday morning I could just about feel it during the first mile but after that it was gone.

The "long" run on Sunday was made interesting by some rather inclement weather, which prevented me from following my initial plan of running around the lake. I didn't want to be caught out on high grounds in a storm, so I remained reasonably close to home but still got one big hill in. I had to be home in time for Cian's birthday party and cut it short at mile 15, though in marked contrast to last week I was still moving well at that time.

Back in Dublin I did one more workout on Tuesday morning. I resurrected the Evaluation workout, which consist of running 4 miles at HR 160 (used to be 161 but I made a small concession to old age) while taking splits at each mile and basically measuring how much you slow down well you can hold the pace while running at the same HR. In this case I was less interested in the actual numbers but more interested in the fitness gains from a moderate workout. Actually, when I say moderate, it didn't exactly feel particularly moderate at the time. I paid the price for not having run at that effort level for many, many months and was breathing rather hard, and my asthma was noticeable as well but all was fine in the end. Then again, once I had finished the workout I very quickly felt fully recovered and rather good, so it can't have been that hard. Oh and the numbers - well, I'm having troubles getting them off my damn watch and Suunto's movescount website insists on rounding them to the nearest 5, so all I can say it was about 6:30, 6:30, 6:40, 6:40, with 40-45 seconds of full recovery for the HR to come down to 130. I need to bring my old Garmin 310 to Dublin with me, it works better for such a workout (the evaluation workout is the one reason why I kept it after replacing it 3 years ago with my Suunto, which is a better watch in all other aspects). Anyway, while I don't have the exact numbers that will do as a baseline. In fact, that's a pretty good baseline, I had not expected to be under 7-minute miles, certainly not for the 3rd and 4th miles.

7 Dec

9.35 miles, 1:13:26, 7:51 pace, HR 139

8 Dec

8.35 miles, 1:06:22, 7:56 pace, HR 141

9 Dec

8.75 miles, 1:17:08, 8:48 pace, HR 131

   incl. 8 x 8-10 sec hill sprints, 2 minutes recovery

10 Dec

15+ miles, 2:01:39, 8:04 pace, HR 138

11 Dec

8.35 miles, 1:06:18, 7:56 pace, HR 139

12 Dec

9.2 miles, 1:07:27, 7:19 pace, HR 145

   incl. 4 miles @ 6:36, HR 160, 40-45 sec recovery to HR 130

Missing Ingredient

One thing that has been slightly bugging me since moving here to Dublin is a distinct lack of hills on my running routes. Obviously I can see the mountains right behind my home but the problem is that most of my running here is my commute from and to work and there is no realistic way to incorporate those mountains into that.

However, last weekend was one of the rare ones where I stayed in Dublin, so I was keen to see some new places. Strava is great in that way, I just had a quick peek where others (Gary, Mick, Dom, ...) are running when in the vicinity and quickly came up with a a couple of viable options that would see plenty of verticals.

the scratches to prove it

On Saturday I headed towards King Puck's Castle, which had been taunting me for months because I can actually see it right from my window. Also, coming from Killorglin I just had to head up to a place named like that. Obviously. I got my route slightly wrong, however. First I followed the road until it turned into a dirt road and then I took the trail that seemed to head towards the top, only for it to end right in the middle of nowhere. I decided against turning round so I bushwhacked my way to the top through some gorse, which really was not my favourite part of the run. And, of course, just before I reached the top I came across the trail that I should have taken all along, which would have saved me from bushwhacking and the bleeding scratches that came with it. I'll know better next time.

I went for a longer loop on Sunday, but this time exclusively on the road. The plan was to be out for 15-18 miles, depending on how I felt. I did wonder if it was a good idea to head for the hills twice in a row when I had been confined mostly to relatively flat routes for the last few months, but weekends are two consecutive days after all, that's how it works. I made the mistake of running way too hard at the start when climbing the long winding road towards Kielternan, but didn't quite realise it at the time. The view from the Scalp Road was absolutely stunning, it's amazing to have such a place so close to Dublin. However, after crossing the Wicklow border and going through Enniskerry it gradually dawned on me that I had overcooked myself and I was starting to run on fumes. By the time I went through Bray, about 12 miles in, I'd had more than enough and would have loved to be done but I was still 3 miles from home. I dragged my sorry backside home at increasingly pedestrian pace which made this a 15 mile run, and absolutely no intentions of adding any more.

As nice as the view was, Gary warned me afterwards about running on the Scalp Road, where there is at least one mile without sidewalk and where you might encounter some less than accommodating drivers, so I might have to reconsider future options.

After exhausting myself like that over the weekend I very much expected Monday to be a tough run and wasn't particularly looking forward to it, only to be very pleasantly surprised to have a lovely set of seemingly fresh legs available to me. I took it easy and could have sworn I was running not a second faster per mile than 8-minute pace, but would have been wrong. The same happened again on Tuesday, I could have sworn I was going very slowly, only to be a good bit faster than 8-minute pace. My internal gauge seems to have gotten misaligned. The HR is actually in line with a slightly faster pace but the subjective RPE is a bit off and every step feels easier than I would expect it to.

Not that I'm complaining. I'm starting to experience that flow again when everything just feels effortless and easy. Running through Dublin isn't ideal for that sort of state, every traffic light or road crossing can get me out of The Zone, but I usually manage to get back into it straight away. Nice.

2 Dec

9+ miles, 1:21:29, 8:51 pace, HR 140

   partially off road

3 Dec

15+ miles, 2:01:57, 8:06 pace, HR 141

   rather hilly

4 Dec

9.3 miles, 1:12:33, 7:48 pace, HR 140

5 Dec

9.25 miles, 1:12:10, 7:48 pace, HR 141

6 Dec

am: 9.2 miles, 1:11:39, 7:47 pace, HR 141

pm: 9.3 miles, 1:15:30, 8:07 pace, HR 140

Parasympathetic

Thursday

As mentioned last week, I have a new toy. Accidentally, really. All I was looking for was a replacement for the HRM I somehow managed to lose, but once I had the new one in my hands it dawned on me that it supports HRV measurements and I started using that a few days ago. The early readings were encouraging and improving, until yesterday morning when it suddenly sounded a warning that my Parasympathetic Nervous System was overactive and I was in danger of overtraining.

Friday

That's a new one. I don't know very much about HRV readings and I certainly don't know all that much about the Central Nervous System but my understanding was that overtraining would be related to an overactive Sympathetic Nervous System, not the Parasympathetic one. And I'm pretty sure I didn't move into an overtrained state overnight on Wednesday, when the previous days' readings had been very good. There is still a learning curve here, either by me or the HRV app.

The legs are starting to feel better again but the Dublin/Sixmilebridge load is still there. I am consciously running easier now than I did after Dublin and I can tell an improvement in my recovery rate by RPE, though it's not really reflected in the numbers, which are quiet similar to the post-Dublin ones. I'll see. I tend to feel good if there are 1.5 days between running but a lot less good if the rest is only half a day, which isn't too surprising, obviously. Next week will tell me more
because the third week after DCM was when I started to feel significantly better again; let's hope for a repeat.

On the plus side, while the company I am presently working for is sadly closing down I already have a job offer from another place, before I even finished working here. That's great, I won't be starving after all. I was actually looking forward to having some time dedicated to running and training full time but it looks like that's not going to happen.

Onwards and Upwards.

26 Nov

10 miles, 1:20:01, 8:00 pace, HR 139

27 Nov

8.4 miles, 1:06:25, 7:54 pace, HR 140

28 Nov

9.25 miles, 1:13:18, 7:55 pace, HR 138

29 Nov

9.5 miles, 1:16:48, 8:05 pace, HR 139

30 Nov

9.3 miles, 1:13:40, 7:55 pace, HR 142

1 Dec

9.25 miles, 1:15:22, 8:08 pace, HR 139