Bad Start

The kids were an absolute nightmare in the morning. Lola woke at 5:30 and demanded a hot water bottle, because she was cold. Once that was delivered, Cian woke up, and demanded a bottle. He doesn’t usually get one in the morning, but I was in no mood to argue. When he finished it off, Shea wanted breakfast. Then Cian wanted breakfast. Then they wanted to watch telly. Then they argued about what to watch. Then Lola wanted breakfast. Then they argued some more. Then they broke a lamp. Then …. I can’t remember what else, but I was up and about until 9 am, when Niamh got up, and I went back to bed for some more much needed sleep, and dozed for another 2 hours.

After such a bad start to the day, I was tempted to call it an off day, but eventually gathered enough resolve to head out of the door. I had planned a 10 miles tempo run. Initially I felt really slow, and then tried to gradually up the pace until I was at or about 8 minutes per mile. After 5 miles I felt much better, but at 6 miles I felt a sharp pain just above my left knee. I decided to keep going, but turn back home if it re-occurred, but it didn’t trouble me any further. I finished the run at some good pace, and was quite happy with it. I’m a bit sore now, which I presume is because I have been running on 4 consecutive days, which I’m no longer used to after my cut-back due to injury. I’m sure I will recover sufficiently tomorrow to have a good go at Tuesday’s 17 miles, 14 of which should be at marathon pace. I’m still unsure about what pace I might be able to sustain for a whole marathon, but I guess Tuesday’s run will give some clues.

I did 49 miles this week, which means I’m back on schedule.

12 Feb: 10 miles, 1:18, 7:48 pace

Back to Schedule

It’s only six weeks until the marathon, and, with the taper, it means there are only three more weeks of full training. I’ve decided that I’m finally fully mended – the achilles hasn’t troubled me unduly lately (it hurt towards the end of Tuesday’s long run, but not too badly) and the pain in my left quad is better as well, so I’ve decided to return to the full schedule of five runs a week rather than the four I’ve been doing for the last 4 or 5 weeks.

I did 11 miles on Friday, which went pretty well, apart from the fact that it was quite windy. I wanted to run along Caragh Lake because that route is much hillier than the alternative ones, and as the marathon will be on a very hilly road, I don’t want to lose my strength on those climbs. I didn’t have to worry, I felt very well on all sections, and completed the run without feeling tired.

Today was supposed to be a relaxed 5-mile recovery run. I ran a bit too fast for it to be a recovery run, but it was still easy pace. But despite the fact that I ran shorter, slower and over flatter course than the day before, my average heart rate was higher – go figure!

I’ve got a 10 mile tempo run planned for tomorrow, and Monday will a day off – let’s not overdo it.

10 Feb: 11 miles, 1:34, 8:32 pace
11 Feb: 5 easy miles, 44:23, 8:52 pace

Up and Running Again

I seem to have gotten over the crash - I seem to be sleeping very soundly again. So much so, that it is getting difficult to get up in the morning for the run.
Yesterday, I decided that I wouldn’t set the alarm, but if I woke up in time I’d head out for an easy recovery run, otherwise I wouldn’t have missed much. Well, I did indeed wake up at 6:30, but felt too tired to get up and just turned around to get some more sleep (which wasn’t really happening, as the kids started to wake up around the same time, too). So much for my resolve. Today, I did set the alarm, and when it went off, I got up and headed out of the door, tempted as I was to sleep in again. It just goes to show that I really have to have my mind firmly set on running; otherwise I don’t have the discipline to get up.

I did another set of 5x600 intervals, again somewhat improvised and irregular, namely running 2:30 hard (trying to get the heart rate up between 176 and 184), and 90 seconds of easy jogging in-between. I ran too hard on the first interval. The heart rate didn’t seem to get up quickly enough, so I kept pushing more and more. I paid for that in the later intervals, which were definitely slower, despite the fact that the heart rate was at least as high as on the first hard run. I guess you learn from your mistakes, and I’ll take it a bit easier at the beginning in my future workouts.

I certainly worked hard: after the last interval I felt nauseous, but managed to keep my breakfast in. The good thing about intervals is that they don’t last very long. It’s the only key workout that’s over in less than an hour, which means I can do them in the morning, and still get enough sleep without having to go to bed ridiculously early.

There is a 5-mile race near Cork, about 2 hours drive from here, on the 18th of February. Unfortunately, it looks like my car won’t be back from the mechanic by then, which means I won’t be able to make it. Damn, it would have fitted in well with my build-up.

9 Feb: 6 miles, 53:31, 8:55 avg. pace, including 5x600 (approx) intervals

Crash

I’ve re-read my last post, and I thought it sounded a bit negative towards the comments I have received. Let me assure you that I value every single comment (well, except spam of course), and even if I might disagree with someone else’s opinion, I still want to hear about it.

I’ve just found the worst possible way to start the week, namely crashing the car on the way to work on Monday morning. I was coming down a ramp towards the N70, when another car was there just around a blind corner. The road is ridiculously narrow (it is impossible for two cars to pass each other), and I hit the brakes. Unfortunately the road was also covered in gravel, and my car just seemed to slide and slither along, rather than slowing down, and I hit the other car. It wasn’t too bad an impact (my airbags didn’t inflate), and, most importantly, nobody got hurt. It was my fault, and I had no hesitation admitting it. The road is in a really bad condition, but I should have taken that into account and taken the corner that bit more slowly. My insurance is in good order, and we’ll see how much the damage is.

Oh yes, this is still a running blog. I went to bed early last night, but couldn’t sleep. I was awake at 10, at 11, at 12, at 1, and still at 2. I slept for a bit after that, though not very well, and at 5am the alarm went and I got up for this week’s long run. I was so glad to get out of the door I can’t describe it. That was the most I’ve ever needed to run, just to clear my head and try and get the scene of the crash out of my head. I can only hope I will never be involved in a serious crash, if a small one without injuries is shaking me up so badly. Anyway, the run went fine, 17 miles, 3 loops along the Devil’s Elbow and towards Ard-na-Sidhe, and my head feels all the better for it. My achilles disagrees and started hurting again after 14 miles, but not too badly, and certainly less than in the past few weeks. I might do a recovery run tomorrow, and then definitely a few intervals on Thursday.

17 miles, 2:29, 8:45 pace

I have to answer this

I think I’ll respond to some of the comments I have been getting recently. Stefano, why would I give away the address of a referee who is obviously a keen Ireland supporter ;-), though I agree, from a neutral viewpoint he made some truly atrocious decisions – all in Ireland’s favour, of course.
Secondly, Yvonne, thank you very much, but I’m definitely not some kind of super human. On the opposite, getting up early and heading straight out of the door is by far the best way to ensure I do get my run in. Every weekend it is a struggle to get out of the door, because there is always an excuse to do some other task first. Looking after three children is something you get used to (it’s not as if you have a choice, once they’re born, is it?), and as for doing a full day of work after the run: well, again, what choice do I have? That mortgage needs to be paid, and the new car is expensive, and the supermarkets expect to be paid at the checkout, too.
Lastly, what is all that about me doing ultras? Are you guys and gals trying to kill me? Half a year ago I did indeed have plans to do an ultra at some stage. The one thing that cured me was my last marathon. I was totally and utterly spent after 26 miles, and the mere idea of doing another 5, 10 or even 20 miles after that was completely out of the question. In fact, when I was at mile 18, I felt really crap, but the knowledge that it was only 8 more miles to the end kept me going. If that had been an ultra with another, say, 20 miles to go, I would have DNF’ed there and then.

Maybe I should also mention my running since the last entry. I did some slow 6 miles on Friday. I had played football on Thursday, and got a nasty kick to the inside of my right knee – which, by the way, is still painful three days later, and for which the perpetrator didn’t even apologise. Friday was therefore a rather pathetic stumble on two hurting legs – the left quad and the right knee being rather painful. It got better after two miles, but kept hurting all the way.

Today I did a 12-mile tempo run, that is 3 miles warm-up, 7 miles tempo, and 2 miles cool-down. I surprised myself on how well it went. I should have started more conservatively, taking into account the heart-rate drift, but instead did the first 3 miles a bit too fast and slowed down slightly over the last two, but I was still pleased on how well the legs felt all the way. This has been a tough week, with the 20-miler on Tuesday and two 12-milers, and I’m now moving onto the speed phase. As mentioned before, I haven’t got access to a track, so I usually calculate the amount of time I should be running hard in advance, and then do those intervals on a reasonably flat piece of road – usually the road alongside the Devil’s Elbow. This is probably not the ideal way of doing things, because I can’t really tell the pace I’m running at, but I believe the pure effort is more important than any numbers on time or pace.

3 Feb: 6 easy miles, 56:07. 9:21 pace
5 Feb: 12 miles, 1:33, 7:45 pace, 7 of those at 7:08 pace

Rest? What Rest?

I had initially toyed with the idea of doing a short recovery run yesterday to get rid of the stiffness in my legs after Tuesday’s 20 miler, but decided to sleep in instead. Considering the fact that I had only gotten about 5 hours of sleep before that long run, it was almost certainly the best way to recover.

Today, on the other hand, I was due another early morning rise, to get in 12 miles (hey, I’m just following the schedule which was written by a guy who knows a lot more about running than I do). I set the alarm for 5:45, but of course it wasn’t needed, thanks to Shea being a right pain from about 5:15 on. I eventually got up and fixed him some breakfast as well as getting ready myself. I put him back to bed before I left, but Niamh told me afterwards that he was up again the second I was out of the door, and kept her from sleeping instead.

The run went very well. The temperatures have risen significantly over the last two days; unfortunately this was accompanied by a lot of clouds bringing rain. I got lucky and it didn’t rain during my run though. It was so warm that I didn’t even notice that I had left my gloves behind until after I had arrived back home. I wore my new shoes for the second time, and this time they already felt a lot more comfortable. Maybe they will turn out to be a good choice after all.

We drove to Limerick today to have a look at a car, a 7 seater, which should make those journeys to visit Nana and Gaga in Dublin a lot more agreeable. We did indeed buy it (well, I haven’t picked it up yet), but driving there and back again meant 4 hours in the car, and my legs are stiff again. No, it’s not the 12 miles that I’m suffering from, it’s definitely the car journey!

2 Feb: 12 miles, 1:42, 8:30 pace

Long and Rewarding

To be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to today’s run. 20 miles seems an awfully long way to run, and if you have to get up at 4:30 in the morning, it's even worse.

The original plan was to be in bed by 9. Unfortunately, I had troubles with my computer, and instead of leaving it until another day, I spent all evening fixing things. By the time I finally stopped and went to bed it as 10:30, and I had only 6 hours of sleep until I had to get up again. This is not taking into account my 2 sons who have an unerring knack of being difficult sleepers on the most inconvenient nights. Cian had fallen asleep at 7pm, and by 3:30 he was wide awake and demanding attention. Shea had got cold in his bed (no wonder, he keeps kicking off his blanket), and joined us, too. I tried a lot of things, but the unchangeable fact is that I didn’t manage a single second of sleep after that. When I got up, apart from getting ready myself, I had to get Shea some cereal, convince him to go back into his own bed, do it again 2 minutes later when he said he’d had a bad dream, make a bottle for Cian and find Lola’s teddy who had fallen out of bed.

It was well after 5am by the time I finally left. The sky was spectacular though. There was not a cloud in sight, and a million stars were visible above. It was very cold, but I could manage that – two layers at the top and running pants made for ideal running apparel. The night was totally quiet, and I really loved it. I ran slower than usual. Mindful of the niggling injuries I’m still nursing and aware of the awfully long road ahead of me, I ran at a very conservative tempo. I usually run my long runs at a slightly faster pace than recommended by most coaches. That may well be a contributing factor to my ever-growing injury list. Therefore I kept on the brakes and tried to run the entire distance at 9:00 pace. This worked a treat, my times for each 5 mile segment were 44-45-46-45, a nearly perfectly balanced pace. I had a gel after 10 miles, and another at 15, and felt fine all along. The left quad hurt a bit, but got better as the run went on, the right achilles was much better, though still not entirely recovered.

It may sound preposterous, but I really enjoyed the run. Niamh didn’t believe me (“how can anyone enjoy getting up at 4:30 and running 20 miles in the cold and dark!”), but I swear it was great. To be honest, I’m also proud of the fact that I’m capable of running 20 miles before breakfast, and still put in a normal work day afterwards.

I’ll catch up on some sleep tonight. I might do a short recovery run tomorrow, I’ll decide in the morning.

31 Jan; 20 miles, 3:00, 9:00 pace

New Shoes make Hard Work

I finally had the chance to try out my new pair of runners. At first I thought they were too big. After half a mile I thought they were too small. Then the right one seemed to fit, but the left one felt totally wrong. Then the toes on my left foot went numb (well, it was a very cold day). Then the toes on my right foot followed suit. Eventually, I felt better, but the shoes were never comfortable. I’m sure they will feel better after a while, but I guess my quest for the perfect pair of shoes has not yet come to an end.

I did 8 miles, and initially I felt I was crawling along at snail’s pace. When I reach the turnaround point and checked my time I realised that I was nearly doing 8-minute miles. Funny, I have no idea why I felt I was so slow. Maybe it was the shoes, who knows.

The achilles didn’t bother me, but I have a new pain, this time in my left quads. It’s definitely not the same problem I had a few weeks ago with my hamstring. It is a nagging pain in the front of my left upper leg, about 5 inches above the knee. It is quite painful when I start my run, but seems to get better after a while. I’ve felt some pain in that area for two weeks or so, and it seems to be getting worse rather than better. I can still feel it now, 10 hours after the run. I seem to collect running injuries at a rather alarming rate. This one is definitely not going to stop me from running. Injuries like that disappear after a while. Right? Right?

Anyway, this week I’ll have another go at 20 miles, most likely on Tuesday because the weather forecast for the second part of the week is pretty bad, and I have already covered more miles in rain than I care to even think about.

29 Jan: 8 miles, 1:05, 8:07 pace

Birthday

I’m 36 today, and what better way to celebrate your birthday than to get up at 5:15am and run 15 miles? Actually, I was woken up at 4:45 by Lola. She’d had a “bad dream” and wanted to sleep in our bed. For the next 30 minutes she was tossing and turning, kicking and hugging me, shoving Teddy into my face, telling me about the toys her friend Molly had in her room, and generally making it absolutely impossible for me to get back to sleep. I was actually relieved when the clock showed 5:15, because it meant I had a reason to get up rather than fruitlessly trying to get some more sleep. I had gone to bed at 9:15 in the evening, so I was well rested by that time anyway.

The rest of Europe is shaken by a very nasty cold snap at the moment, but in Ireland we’re getting off lightly. It is a good bit colder than usual, alright, but no worse than –3C/26F or so. Still, I was glad for the long sleeves and gloves. I was in my shorts, but long pants might have been acceptable today. When I stopped at our driveway after 10 miles for a drink and a gel, I was steaming like an old steam engine - it looked quite funny in my headlamp. Never mind, the 15 miles went by fine. I was a bit more tired than I should have been, whether I was still tired from the intervals two days ago or from the fact that I have cut down my mileage over the last two weeks, I can’t tell. The achilles tendon is not as well recovered as I had hoped, because it is quite sore again. I’m still convinced that I’m on the mend, just not as well recovered as I had thought I am. There is yet another 20 miler on next week’s schedule, which sounds a bit taunting at the moment, but I’m sure I will be fine by the time it comes by (Tuesday or Thursday, I’m not yet sure).

I’ve just realised that it is less than two months to the marathon, and I’m starting to get those butterflies in my stomach whenever I think about it. I haven’t decided what time to aim for. It is a tough course, much more demanding than the 3-country-marathon I did in October, and a PR would be a great achievement. I guess I will have to wait and see how the training goes. If I can stay relatively injury free from now until March, I should be in good shape. Otherwise, well, I’ll still run it and hope for the best.

Jan 27: 15 miles, 2:07, 8:28 pace

Healing Powers

I thought I did something very stupid on Monday. Not only did I go out for a 5 mile run in the morning, I also played soccer for an hour in the evening. I wanted to know if my Achilles would be able to withstand the twist and turns of an indoor soccer game. The answer was: yes, but it hurt! To add to the pain, I got a nasty whack on my right ankle, and now have a gash on my leg to prove it, and on Tuesday I found it impossible to tell where one pain ended and the next one started. Then, in the evening, I suddenly felt much better. Not only did the ankle feel better, my Achilles was basically pain free as well. I can’t tell what brought on that improvement: time, the strengthening exercises I found on this website, or the magical healing powers of soccer.

To celebrate my new fit state, I went out for a speed session this morning (well, it was in the schedule anyway). The plan was 5x600 intervals with 90 seconds of recovery in-between. Since I don’t have access to a track, I had to improvise. My 5k-time is 21:22, so it should take me about 2:30 mins to cover 600 meters at that pace. I ran along a reasonable flat piece of road, along the Devil’s elbow, and did 2:30 minutes of hard running interlaced with 90 seconds of jogging. The temperatures have plummeted again and it was about –3C/26F in the morning, and I stupidly left my gloves behind. Despite this, the workout went well, and my Achilles stood up to it just fine. I could feel it, but it didn’t actually hurt. More importantly, it’s still not hurting 2 hours later, because in the last two or three weeks I could usually do a workout but would feel the pain later.

I’m now convinced that I’m on the mend, but will still take it easy for a week or so. I will do my key workouts, but have a full rest day after each one, which means I’ll only do 3 or 4 days of running per week, until I feel completely healed.

23 Jan: 5 easy miles, 45:23, 9:04 pace, and an hour of soccer for my sins
25 Jan: 6 miles, 51:03, with 5x600 intervals

What to do?

I’m still struggling with my achilles tendon at the moment. It doesn’t actually hurt, but I can certainly feel that something is not quite right, and I’m really unsure on the best way to proceed. I have only run 27 miles this week, which isn’t enough as far as marathon preparation goes, but of course I don’t want to risk a ruptured tendon – that might put me out for the rest of the year, and might never heal completely. I’m icing it a lot these days, and I’m stretching after each run (then again, there are people who advice against those things), and if the pain returns, I will rest again. It is still a bit swollen.

It’s only the right achilles that’s causing me troubles. That doesn’t come as a surprise to me. When I had shin splints last year, they were on my right leg. I got some mild heel spurs (plantar fasciitis) a few months ago, on my right foot. When my legs started cramping during my first marathon, Dublin 2004, it was in the right calf. Several years ago a doctor found some imbalance in my spine, and I had some bone-crunching session with a chiropractor to deal with them. Either those problems are back, or there is something wrong with my running form, or a bit of both. A good doctor might even find a solution to my ongoing troubles, but that’s one of the problems of living in remote Kerry far away from any city centre. Such specialists are very hard to come by – I for one don’t know any, and driving to Dublin on a regular basis is not a realistic option.

This week and the next are cutback weeks in the schedule anyway, so I don’t feel I’ll miss out on much if I drop a few miles of those, as long as I can still get in my key workouts. Thursday’s run was a special one, 15 miles with 12 miles at marathon pace. I’m not sure what my marathon pace should be, and anyway, I couldn’t read the figures on my HR monitor in the dark, so I just went by effort, and tried to keep the pace steady. I was quite pleased at the end to have run the 15 miles in exactly 2 hours, and that includes a drink stop after 9 miles and three time re-tying my shoes in the first 2 miles (I should have paid more attention on how to tie your laces in kindergarten 32 years ago). The fact that I had rested for 3 days before that run probably helped my pace. I still think it’s preposterous to assume that I might be able to keep an 8:00 pace for a whole marathon though, and I still don’t know what time I should be aiming for. 3:30 is 27 minutes off my PR, and definitely looks out of my reach for the time being. Anyway, the achilles didn’t trouble me unduly during the run, but was sore for the rest of the day, which is why I took Saturday off and only ran 6 miles on Sunday.

That on-off schedule will stay with me for at least one more week, I expect.

20 Jan: 15 miles, 2:00, 8:00 pace
22 Jan: 6 miles, 48:53, 8:08 pace

Back on Track

I’ve not written a blog entry for the week because I haven’t been running. I decided to give my achilles a bit of a break, because I don’t want to aggravate it, and a ruptured tendon is just too nasty to risk.

I had three days without running. Unfortunately this didn’t translate into more sleep, as the boys were up at 6 am every single morning, and with fixing them breakfast, turning on the telly or putting on a video, changing a nappy or just generally looking after them, I didn’t get an ounce of sleep after that. Unfortunately, mummy is not a morning person, and the kids have learnt that lesson very early in their lives – they always come straight to daddy.

I iced my achilles tendon on Monday, and it seemed to swell up like a balloon – I could hardly make out my ankle any more. That said, the pain has gone away, and I decided to test the waters this morning and ran 6 miles at a relaxed tempo. It was a bit too fast to be called a recovery run, but it was at a relaxed and easy pace. The achilles was fine (I felt it, but it didn’t actually hurt), but at mile 5.5 I felt a sharp pain in my right knee. I had to stop running and walked for a minute, then it was gone and I could continue all the way back home without trouble. I don't know what it was, but I sure hope it’s not the first sign of yet another injury.

I had another Yoga class on Wednesday, and that was when I was sure my achilles was better. Last week it was very sore on some of the stretches, but yesterday I was fine all the way through. That said, I will be careful and might cut back on some of the runs if I think there’s something wrong with me.

I will also apply my usual cure for niggling injuries: a new pair of runners. My two active pairs have 260 and 360 miles on them. That’s not excessive, but it’s time for a new pair. In the past, this has usually cured any small problems I might have had with my legs.

19 Jan: 6 easy miles, 53:27, 8:54 pace

Wounded Knee

First of all, I’ll try and keep my running report short. I’ve noticed that recently I’ve been rambling on in far too much detail about my training runs.

I have been contemplating one thing since my 5k race two weeks ago. If I enter my 5k-race time into one of those race predictor calculators, my marathon time should be between 3:24 and 3:27, depending on which calculator you’re using. That is more than 30 minutes better than my actual marathon PR. I certainly cannot imagine running faster than 8:00 pace for a whole marathon. I guess I’ll have to work more on my endurance.

I had planned an 11 miler with 6 miles at LT tempo for Saturday, but on Friday evening I happened to feel both my achilles heels and noticed that the right one was much thicker than the left one. I didn’t feel any pain, but the swelling was obvious, so I decided to swap Saturday and Sunday around and do the tempo run on Sunday instead. I did follow that revised plan, and ran the 11 miles at good pace, though somehow I felt really slow at times. The strong headwind for the first 5.5 miles didn’t help – and when I had the wind in my back for the back section of the run, I started to feel really cold. I was shivering when I got home, and even a long hot shower didn’t quite revive me. I was worried about coming down with a cold, but I didn’t develop a temperature, just a headache that doesn’t want to go away.

Just to gross you out, this is a cut I received on mile 2, from some plant at the side of the road. I didn’t even notice it until I got home. Don't worry, it's only superficial.

This has been a very long week, 54 miles, which means I’ve equalled my previous highest mileage (not quite coincidentally, as I’m following the same plan as last time round). I got caught by wind and rain on every single run, which probably didn’t help.

I had planned a 6 miles recovery run for tomorrow, but as my achilles is swollen again (it hurt after the run, but gradually got better as the day wore on) and the head ache is not going away, I’ll pass and have a rest day instead. If I feel better later this week, I’ll make up for it, if I don’t, I won’t.



15 Jan: 11 miles, 1:27, 7:54 pace

Blowing in the Wind

Thanks for all your comments, folks. The majority seems to think that I’m not completely bonkers but about as sane as the rest of you. Hmm. Ok.

I keep having issues with my legs. My left hamstring seems to have finally recovered, but now my right achilles is acting up. I spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday worrying about it, because it was really sore, I could hardly walk. I didn’t know if I should have some rest, because tendonitis is just about the last thing I want to get. Luckily, when I got up this morning I immediately noticed a big improvement. Running today made it slightly worse again, but the pain is much less then yesterday, and I’m coming round to the idea that it was only a passing problem.

I’m not having much luck with the weather at the moment. Tuesday’s 20-miler was run in rather wet and windy conditions, yesterday’s rest day was a beautifully sunny day, and for today’s 12 miler the gale force winds predicted for Tuesday finally arrived. I ran most of it at the foot of a hill called the Devil’s elbow, as well as in the wood towards Ard na Sidhe, where it was somewhat sheltered, but it was still bad enough. To make things worse, the blister that I thought I had avoided on Tuesday came back with a vengeance. I already felt it after one mile, and at the end of the run it was huge. I can’t really complain too much about my feet. This is only my second blister in a year, and I have covered a lot of miles with soggy feet.

All in all, today’s run went fine, considering the conditions and the fact that I’m still a bit fatigued from Tuesday. The heart rate was a bit higher than normal, which I presume is because I’m still recovering. The calves and hamstrings felt fine.

I’ve also got another Caragh Lake photo for you. This is me with the twins in the garden of the plush Ard na Sidhe hotel. We never stayed there (couldn’t afford to), but they don’t mind us strolling around in their vast and stunningly beautiful garden along the lake. Unfortunately, it didn’t look quite as inviting today at 6am in the morning.

12 Jan: 12 miles, 1:41, 8:25 pace

Why do I do it?

It’s on days like this that I have to question my sanity. I got up at 4:30 am (that wasn’t too difficult, I went to bed shortly after 9 and therefore still managed over 7 hours of sleep). The weather forecast had predicted rain and, starting early morning, gale force winds. Luckily, they wind wasn’t quite as bad as predicted, but it didn’t exactly make for ideal conditions. My left hamstring was still a bit sore, but it is definitely getting better. As soon as I started out, my right Achilles was rather painful. I hoped it would be just one of those niggly things that go away after 10 minutes, but that turned out not to be the case.
The strong wind made the Caragh Lake road a no-go area, so I settled on four 5-mile loops to Ard na Sidhe and back. I hoped the elves might help me if I broke down on the run (Ard na Sidhe is Gaelic for “Circle of Elves”). I left out 2 gels at the end of our driveway, together with some water and an energy bar, should I need it. My feet got totally wet, especially as I managed to step right into a puddle early on. At 8 miles I thought I felt a blister developing on my right foot, so I went back home after the second loop to change into dry socks, and also put on a new t-shirt, because the other one was already soaked through, despite me wearing a wind jacket, which, by the way, made me uncomfortably hot. I took the second gel after 15 miles, and headed out again for my last loop. To be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I sure was glad when I finally made it back home.
As I lay on the kitchen floor, Niamh went by and started “well, …” I went “don’t say it!”. “Ok”.
To recapitulate: I got up in the middle of the night; ran 20 miles in complete darkness; two days after a tempo run; five days after an 18-miler; in the rain; in the wind; feeling too hot under the wind jacket; with a dodgy hamstring; with a painful Achilles, that hurt more and more as the run went on; with what could have been a blister.

Yes, it’s on days like this that I have to question my sanity.

9 Jan: 5 miles recovery run, 46:41, 9:20 pace
10 Jan: 20 miles, 2:56, 8:42 pace

No Show

I had intended to run a 10-mile race in Mallow today. However, when I got up in the morning, all kinds of doubts came into my head. I didn’t want to abandon Niamh for half the day with three unruly children; I had run a 5k race only 7 days ago; my hamstring was still hurting and I didn’t want to aggravate it; I didn’t fancy the drive; I intended not to run all-out, but didn’t trust myself to stick to that. In short, I decided not to go, but do a proper tempo run along Caragh Lake instead.

It was quite late when I finally managed to get out of the door. First I waited until Niamh got up (and cleaned the kitchen in the meantime), then she wanted to take a long bath (I did the washing in the meantime), then the kids needed my attention … by then it was 11:30, and I knew if I wouldn’t leave right away, I wouldn’t go at all, so out I went. I ran 2 easy warm-up miles, and then did a 5-mile run at LT pace. It was hard going at first, but as always became a bit easier once I got into it. I had to push it again in the last mile, but managed to hold on. My 5 mile time was 36:30, which is almost definitely the fastest I have ever run over that distance, but as I have never raced 5 miles, I won’t call it a PR. At that stage I was 5 miles away from our house and decided to do the last 5 miles home at a more relaxed pace.

I’m glad I didn’t run the race now, because if I had tried to keep my 5 miles pace for another 5 miles, I would definitely have been extremely knackered, and seeing as I have a 54 miles week ahead of me, with a 20 miler on Tuesday, it probably is better that way.

8 Jan, 12 miles, 1:36, 8:00 pace, with 5 miles tempo run at 7:18 pace

Spark in the Dark

I did the 18 miler that I had originally scheduled for Tuesday, and it went pretty well. My hamstring felt a lot better, though I still had the odd twinge, and the feeling that “something” wasn’t 100% right was always there, but it didn’t really trouble me. I take that as confirmation that the pains I felt on Tuesday were indeed caused by sitting in the car for 5 hours on Monday.
Getting up was easy, because Shea woke me at 4:38 because he was scared in his bed. That’s the same issue at the same time of night every single morning since we have come back from Dublin.

I originally intended to run 11 miles along Caragh Lake and then a 7 mile loop towards Killorglin, but it was very windy, and to make things worse, the wind came in from the East, which means that I, on the exposed western shore of the lake, felt the full force. After struggling against the elements for 4 miles I gave up and turned back. After I passed my driveway, I did two 5-mile loops from our house to Ard na Sidhe and back, which is running through a little wood and therefore much more sheltered from the wind. It was indeed much more pleasant to run there than along the lake, but the fact that by now it had stopped raining certainly helped. It was very tranquil, apart from an animal making some sudden noises as I ran past on a few occasions, but I presume they got more of a fright than I did. It can be quite spooky to run in a forest in the middle of the night with just a little bit of light from a headlamp. It looks a bit like those scenes in a horror movie when a doomed character is running away from the monster, just before they are caught. (not that I want to scare you ;-) )

The hamstring is a little sore now, and I will take it easy over the next days. There is a 10 mile race in Mallow on Sunday, about an hours drive from here. I’ve been uncertain if I should run it, so close after the 5k last week, but I think I might do it. I will not race but will treat it as a 10 mile tempo run.

5 Jan: 18 miles, 2:33, 8:30 pace

Back Home

The most important thing first: Shea is absolutely fine. He now proudly tells everyone how he fell down the stairs, and Lola points out every time that it was she who saved him. I guess the story alone will keep them happy for a while.

As for my running, we are back in Kerry, and I’ve managed to run every day of the New Year so far – no, that’s not really impressive on 3 Jan, I know. I did 8 miles yesterday in Dublin before we left. I expected to be a bit sore from the race, but no, I didn’t feel any soreness at all. The problem started later during the day, when my left hamstring started hurting while sitting in the car. 5 people in one car make for cramped conditions, and I could feel the hamstring getting more and more uncomfortable. I had toyed with the idea of running 18 miles this morning, but decided against it. I regretted this decision early today, because the boys woke me at 4:45, the time I would have gotten up for that run, and kept me from falling asleep for the next hour (our boys are impossible to sleep beside, they constantly wriggle around), and putting them back into their own beds didn’t work either. I eventually got up at 5:50 and went for an 11-mile run, finally back alongside Caragh Lake. My hamstring hurt all the way, never enough to stop me from running, but there was a pain there for the whole way. I’m sure it’s the car journey that made it worse, and I hope it will get better over the next days and weeks again. Anyway, I was glad that I hadn’t gone for the 18-miler, because I certainly would not have fancied another 7 miles on my dodgy hamstring.

Oh, and I found a decent photo of Caragh Lake on the internet. The road you can see on the right hand side is the one I was running on this morning, though it was a lot darker at 6 am, obviously. That part is about 2.5 miles away from our house. The photo is taken from a helicopter over the northern side looking southwards, on what must have been a quite windy day.

2 Jan: 8 miles, 1:07, 8:22 pace
3 Jan: 11 miles, 1:33, 8:27 pace

Race and Accident Report

I had an eventful morning when preparing for the race. I had to stop Cian, our 2 year old, from playing with his toothpaste in the downstairs bathroom, then with the adult toothpaste upstairs, the I just about managed to stop him from raiding Nana’s jam jars, and when he nearly fell off a table, I asked Niamh to get up and help me with that unruly toddler. All that happened between 9 and 10 am, which was when I tried to eat my breakfast and gather all the things I needed for the race. As a result of this I left the house a little bit later than planned, but still in good time. I managed to find the start in Phoenix Park, which wasn’t entirely straightforward, because I am quite unfamiliar with that part of Dublin.

The conditions for the race weren’t too bad, but a bit windy. The course is nearly totally flat, and we had to run 2 laps, the second lap being a bit shorter than the first one. There was one final insult at the registration: at the obviously well advanced age of 35, I am no longer classed as a Senior, but a Veteran. Who would have thought.

I started out at what I guessed was my 5k speed, and immediately noticed that it was faster than everyone around me. I guess that means that I should have started further ahead, but it wasn’t crowded and I didn’t have to weave in and out of the crowds to overtake. At the 1-mile marker I checked my time and heart rate, 6:53 and 179 respectively. I was pleased with both. On the second mile I started to feel tired, but I tried to keep going at the same speed, and I was still overtaking quite a few of the other runners. There was an older runner, maybe in his 50s or early 60s, lets call him Pop, which I managed to pass at that stage. I definitely thought I slowed down towards the end of that mile, but when the 2-mile marker came, my time was now 13:30, or a 6:37 split for the second mile. I cannot rule out that the mile markers were a bit off, of course. At that stage, a group of 4 runners which I had passed half a mile earlier, overtook me, but I did manage to keep right behind them. I was definitely knackered by now, my heart rate was 186 which is my max HR, and I knew I had to fight to keep up the speed for a decent finish. Then, with what I thought was a quarter mile before the finish, I started a surge (Bob Glover would have been proud of me), overtook that group again, and put a fairly big gap between them and myself. I got a surprise when I checked my heart rate, 187. In all my big training efforts on the hills I never managed to go over 186, so I really must have given everything I had. I also realised that I had badly underestimated the distance to the finish when I started my surge, because it must have been at least half a mile before the end. Then I heard footsteps behind me coming closer, turned around and was surprised to see Pop coming closer and closer and actually trying to overtake me. Well, I was about to find out if I had one more push in me and accelerated again. My heart rate was now 188, which I really had not thought possible. I was breathing so loudly that some people on the side were giving me funny looks, not that I cared. I just gave it all I got and passed the finishing line in 21:22, which is a personal best by 38 seconds, but then I had never run an all-out 5k race before, so a new PR was always on the cards. When I was able to breath again, I turned to Pop and told him, “that was your fault, you made me run so fast”, to which he replied, “well, you dragged me along”, and we shook hands.

I was quite pleased with myself and my effort, I couldn’t possibly have run any faster. My average heart rate on the race was 181. I hadn’t done any real speedwork in the last few months and I had always assumed my max HR was 186, which I now know was wrong.

However, when I rang home to tell Niamh about everything, she told me that Shea, our 4-year old son, had tumbled head over heels all the way down the stairs, and had only been prevented from smacking into the wall by the fact that Lola, his twin sister, just happened to stand right there. He smashed into her instead, which broke his fall, and which may have prevented any serious injury, though Lola was extremely offended by the fact that everyone fussed over Shea and nearly ignored her.

Now, six hours later, Shea seems to be ok again. We are keeping a close eye on him, if he starts vomiting or gets dizzy, we have to bring him straight into A&E, but he is enjoying all his latest videos, had lunch, and seems to be in good form.

Thank Goodness for that, and it certainly puts the race into perspective.

29 Dec: 8 miles, very hilly
1 Jan: 6 miles, including 5k race at 21:22, 6:53 pace

I hear you

Ok, ok, guys and girls, I get the hint. You want photos. You will get photos, I promise. But I’m in Dublin at the moment, and haven’t got access to my photo albums at the moment. I’ll try and scan some as soon as I get home in the New Year. Let that be my New Year resolution.
Now, the running. I did 4 easy miles yesterday, and a long run today. Well, when I said Long Run, I really meant Medium Run. It was supposed to be 12 miles, but, to be honest, it was probably less than that, so let’s call it 11 miles, and it will make up for the fact that Monday’s 8 miler was probably more like 7.5. I don’t really care about the exact distance, because this is a recovery week anyway, and I’ll try and do the prescribed 37 miles, and if it ends up as 36 miles, that won’t kill my chances of a decent marathon in March. I’ll try and do the 5k race on Sunday, but I won’t run full steam because I have an 18 mile run planned for Tuesday, and don’t forget, we have to drive all the way back from Dublin to Kerry on Monday, and that will take about 5 hours. (It’s 4 hours if I drive on my own, 4.5 with Niamh beside me nagging me to slow down ;-), and 5 with the kids).
The run today felt much easier than Monday’s 8 miler. I seem to have these off days followed by better days a lot recently. I’m not sure why. Running last summer felt much more, well, even. The temperature has dropped again, and the sidewalks were very treacherously covered with a thin sheet of ice – very tricky to run on, but I managed to do it without losing my footing. Tomorrow is supposed to be even colder, but I guess we’ll see. I’ll do roughly 8 miles again tomorrow, and then I’ll rest for two days for the race. That should be sufficient, I won’t try and brake any records (apart from my own).

27 Dec: 4 miles recovery run
28 Dec: 11 miles, very hilly

Christmas Run

Christmas seems to be a very quiet place in blog-land. Nobody is updating their blogs, and I’m not sure how good everyone is when it comes to running.

We had a long drive to Dublin (which is made longer by 3 kids in the car), and a succession of Christmas parties – one every evening so far. I have mostly managed to withstand the temptations throws my way, and just had a glass of wine or two per party. Niamh’s family probably think I am the most boring person in history.

I finished off last week with a 5 mile recovery run on Sunday, and managed 8 miles today. A look at the map revealed a park called Cabinteely about 2.5 miles from here, maybe a little bit further. A round in the park is just over one mile, and that’s where I am going to spend my running week. The run is very hilly, there’s one bigish hill between here and the park, and the park itself as quite hilly as well. There were plenty of other runners in the park today, which is a completely new experience for me. Unfortunately it looked like most people are able to run faster than me. Either that, or I was very slow today – which is a possibility, because I felt quite sluggish.

I don’t know the exact distances of the runs here, so I am running by time only, and don’t know my pace. I’ll just try and run by time and effort for this week.

25 Dec: 5 miles recovery run
26 Dec: 8 miles

A Marathon Day

Wednesday turned out to be a bit of a marathon day, though it was the wrong kind of marathon. After getting up at 4:45 and running 17 miles, I was bound to be a bit tired for the rest of the day. What I hadn’t really factored in was that I was invited to a children’s Christmas party after work and then a card night at a friend’s house. I expected the cards to be finished by midnight (which would have been very late anyway), but for various reasons it didn’t stop until 3:30 in the morning. Well, we had to finish the game, didn’t we? I felt like going home at midnight, but didn’t want to be a spoilsport, though if I had known just how long it would take, I definitely would have left there and then. I finally got to bed at 3:45, which made it a 23 hours day.

No, I didn’t do any running yesterday morning ;-). Thursday is a rest day anyway. I went to bed early (ish) last night and as soon as the head hit the pillow, I was zonked. When the alarm went off at 6, I originally thought I had set it by mistake, until it dawned on me that I was due another 10 miler. Getting up was a challenge, but I rose to it.

The 10 miler was very pleasant though, under a slightly cloudy sky with plenty of moon light, which looked very romantic. My hamstring produced just a tiny little twinge, not really a pain, just a reminder to be careful. For once I didn’t get hit by the rain, it was just a bit windy along the exposed parts of Caragh Lake, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The temperature has climbed as well. At 9 o’clock it was 10C/50F, and it didn’t feel much colder when I did my run. Maybe winter is already over here?

We will drive to Dublin today to spend Christmas with Niamh’s family. The kids are very excited to see Nana and Gaga and all the Aunties and Uncles again. I don’t like running in Dublin, because last year all I could find was concrete sidewalks (there aren’t any parks suitable for running close enough to Stillorgan that I know about). I’ll have another look, because I’m sure the week of running on concrete substantially contributed to my shin splints, and I don’t want to get injured again, especially since my hamstring is dodgy already. Whatever, it will be a cutback week. The schedule calls for just 37 miles, with a long run of no more 12 miles. I’m sure I’ll manage that. There is also a 5k race on New Year’s Day in Phoenix Park, which sounds nice as long as I don’t celebrate New Year too enthusiastically.

23 Dec: 10 miles, 1:22, 8:12 pace

A Long Run at Long Last

According to Pete Pfitzinger, long runs are at least 17 miles. Therefore I did my first long run of the marathon training today. I had to get up at a ridiculously early hour. I set the alarm for 5am, but at 4:45 Lola cried that her bed covers had come off. That’s the third night in a row, and it’s the same issue at exactly the same time of night. I tried to tell her that at 4-and-a-half she is big enough to pull up the covers herself, but no luck so far. Anyway, against better judgment I did go back to bed, but only dozed there for 5 minutes and got up again. Mindful of the long run ahead of me, I had half a banana as well as my usual wheat cereal, and left out a gel with some water on the driveway for later on.
Last night had been very stormy, in fact the wind kept me from falling asleep for an hour (which isn’t good, when you’re only hoping for less than 7-and-a-half hours anyway), and I was worried if I would be able to do my run in those conditions. Luckily, by 5 o’clock the storm had calmed down, though it was still quite windy. I decided to do some laps in the woods, where the road is more sheltered from the elements. I planned on a 6 mile loop along a hill called the Devil’s elbow, then a 5 mile loop to Ard na Sidhe, and another 6 mile loop to make it 17 altogether. It turns out that the 5 mile loop is a tad longer than 5 miles (either that, or I ran the middle loop a good bit slower than the other two, but I don’t think so), so I called it 17.2 miles all in all. It doesn’t really matter if it’s a bit more or less – it’s only a training run.
My left hamstring started acting up at mile 6 and was hurting for 3 or 4 miles after that. I’m still not sure what it is. It’s not a cramp, and it gets better if I shorten my stride. It’s just a little bit worrying, but not enough to stop me from running. At mile 16 I got a coughing fit – not nice at all, and for the next 2 or 3 minutes after that I felt like my chest was restricted. That went away as well though, and I finished the run still feeling very strong.
All in all, I’m pleased with today’s workout.

21 Dec: 17.2 miles, 2:30, 8:43 pace

Weekend Drama

My department’s Christmas party was on Friday – the main difference to the company’s do being that there are no partners invited. In other words, it is generally a very heavy drinking session. I also had to attend out twins’ Christmas play in their school (which turned out to be much more entertaining that I had expected), so I was a bit rushed to get to the dinner in time. I didn’t feel like drinking much, and left at half past twelve – one of the first to leave. Because I was on water during dinner I was even sober – which will probably make me a pariah amongst my colleagues in days to come ;-).
Saturday was a day of drama. Cian had coughed during the night again and we struggled for 10 minutes to get a little spoon of medicine down his throat. Niamh, my wife, left the bottle on her bedside table. So what do I discover the next morning after breakfast? Only Cian with the open bottle in his hand, a big portion spilled on the floor and we have no idea how much he had himself. Niamh brought him to the hospital, where he was being seen by two nurses and three doctors in succession. None of them could find anything wrong with him, but all wanted yet another opinion. Eventually they sent them back home. Cian is absolutely fine – though, of course, he is still coughing, and by now has passed it on to me as well.
Oh yes, the running. I did 4 easy recovery miles on Sunday to conclude the week on a mileage of 42. Today I did a 9 mile tempo run, the first in ages with plenty of moon light. Unfortunately, the weather changed towards the end and I was caught by the wind, the cold and my old buddy, the rain, again. I also lost my concentration towards the last 3 or so miles because I slowed down from a tempo run to a “normal” pace run. I didn’t feel tired or unable to keep up the speed effort. I just lost my concentration and slowed down a bit. Ah well, it’s still 14 weeks until the marathon, and a slightly slower than optimal tempo run won’t have any real effect.

18 Dec: 4 miles recovery run, 36:42, 9:10 pace
19 Dec: 9 miles, 1:12m 8:00 pace

Wind, Rain and ... Tags Again

I went to bed too late and did not fall asleep until 11pm, so getting up at 6 was never that easy. To add to the troubles, Cian came into our bed around 2:30 and kept us awake with some heavy coughing. We struggled to get some medicine down his throat, and eventually succeeded, but it was probably nearly 3:30 by the time I got back to sleep.

I got up at 6:00, feeling less than refreshed. I had also played an hour of football 12 hours previously, which didn’t help my legs. It was Full Moon, and last night was fantastic with hardly any clouds, and I was looking forward to a great run in the moonlight. I felt cheated when I saw that it was totally cloudy. It was even worse when I stepped out of the house and realised that it was actually raining, with the wind blowing to compound the misery. I decided to change my route. Rather than do 10 miles along Caragh Lake, which can be wind-swept, I did 2 laps of 5 miles from our house to Ard-na-Sidhe and back. That run is through the woods, and therefore more sheltered from the wind. The run was ok-ish, but I felt a bit sluggish. I noticed that my pace increased with each 2.5 mile section though, which is good.

There is yet another game of tag going on, and Jack tagged me. There’s the rules:
”Write 5 random facts about yourself, and then list the names of 5 people whom you in turn infect. Also, leave a post to these people letting them know they have been infected”. I won’t write them any comments, because that reminds me too much of spam, if they read my blog they will know.

So, 5 facts:

1. I once spent 2 years in Vienna while my girl friend was in Dublin. We wrote each other a letter every single day. After that we knew we were meant to be together.
2. Even more astounding, we had only been together for 2 months before that. I never really expected it to last the 2 years, but it did.
3. We have been married for 8 happy years now, with 3 kids
4. The oldest two are twins, a girl called Lola and a boy called Shea.
5. I am a soccer nut; my favourite team are Manchester City. As a result of this, I hate Manchester United with a passion.

There it goes. My five victims are DGC, psbowe, Cliff, Marc and NYFlyGirl.


16 Dec: 10 miles, 1:24, 8:24 pace

Early Morning

For some perverse reason that only runners can understand, I was looking forward to today’s 15 miler. Now that my miles are slowly reaching the proper long-run stage, they somehow seem more worthwhile.

Getting up for that run was easy. I set my alarm for 5:20am, but by 5am I was up anyway, changing the baby and re-arranging the bed covers for my daughter, because “the blanket has come off the dollies and the teddy” (obviously, a grave concern!). After that there was no point in going back to bed, but I felt wide awake anyway.

Yesterday had been rather cold, -3C/26F, and the short sleeves had not been the ideal choice, so I went for the long sleeves today. Alas, today was a lot warmer, 3C/37F, and initially I felt quite overdressed and actually pulled up my long sleeves. It was very cloudy, but very tranquil initially. Then, by mile 5.5, the wind started blowing strongly, and by mile 6.5 I was running in the rain again. At that stage I was grateful for the long sleeves and pulled them down again. It finally stopped raining by mile 11, and the rest of the run was more pleasant.

I felt a sharp-ish pain in my left hamstring with half a mile to go, the same hamstring that has given my troubles before. So late in the run it was no problem to get home, and a few hundred yards on the pain seemed to have gone anyway, but I am a bit worried about this. So far I have no idea what’s causing the pain, but it is re-occurring fairly frequently.

Last week I got quite hungry around mile 11, so this time I left out a gel at our driveway, went on a 10 mile loop along Caragh Lake, came back, had the gel and some water, and then finished the run with a 5 mile loop through the wood. I had developed that routine when training for my last marathon, and it worked very well. The only drawback is a slight temptation to go home after the first loop rather than go out again, but so far I have always managed to resist.

13 Dec: 5 miles recovery run, 48:08, 9:37 pace
14 Dec: 15 miles, 2:12, 8:48 pace

Socials and Changes

I managed to get through the weekend without any mishaps. Friday’s social was ice-skating, which I enjoyed from the sidelines. Saturday’s was a mum’s outing, which meant that the daddies stayed at home baby-sitting while the mummies got drunk (how times have changed, eh) and Sunday was a trip for the kids to nearby Crag Cave to visit Santa, which they enjoyed immensely.

I got my 4 miles recovery done to conclude my 40 miles week, and decided to make some small changes to my schedule. Long runs on Monday weren’t ideal because it meant cutting short Sunday evening, one of the few evenings my wife and me get to spend together these days (times are busy), and I wasn’t sure how long I would manage to run long in the morning and then play an hour of soccer in the evening. Therefore I decided to switch the long runs to Wednesday, which should fit easier into the rest of my life. This week’s plan calls for a modest increase of the mileage to 42 miles. I started with a brisk (for me) 8 miler this morning under a starry sky and a spectacular display of the Belt of Venus towards the end of it. It got a bit chilly again, but I finally got through a run without any rain. The left hamstring was fine, and my right foot, which had some aches and pains occasionally over the last few weeks, wasn’t acting up either. Woo-hoo, my luck is changing!

11 Dec: 4 miles recovery run, 8:54 pace
12 Dec: 8 miles, 1:04, 8:00 pace

Slow Coach

After the 10 miles this morning, this week’s mileage stands at 36 – a short run on Sunday will bring it up to 40. That might not impress some of you, but the way I’ve been feeling lately I’m pleased. Something I have noted is a distinct loss of pace. Today’s run was by far the slowest run I’ve had in ages (apart from recovery runs of course). I’m not bothered about that though. It’s always better to slow down when you’re increasing your mileage. Plus, last night’s soccer was rather strenuous, and running 10 miles 12 hours later is asking for stiff legs. It’s a lot warmer now, it was about 6C/43F in the morning, and originally I hoped to go through a whole run without rain, but my hopes were drowned by mile 3.5. Ah well.

The stomach seems to be nearly back to normal, and the kids have stopped vomiting – hurray! Our youngest son, Cian (I’ve decided not to be so coy about my family’s names from now on), celebrated his second birthday yesterday, and he really enjoyed being at the centre of attention. He also adores his new tricycle. I might post some photos if we get them developed any time soon.

The weekend is going to be strenuous – there are three Christmas parties, two for the parents and one for the kids. I’ll abstain from alcohol – I think.

8 Dec: 4 miles recovery run, 36:36, 9:09 pace
9 Dec: 10 miles, 1:29, 8:54 pace

After a Good Run comes a ... yes, you guessed it

Some of you guys and gals might be getting a kick out of running in adverse weather conditions, but I can tell you I am getting thoroughly sick of the Irish winter weather. Today was probably a little bit warmer than on previous mornings, but you couldn’t really tell because it was lashing, and to compound the misery the wind was blowing really strong in places – just what you need when you’re not feeling too well anyway.

The kids all had a stomach bug over the last week. It could have been worse, because between throwing up violently they were totally chirpy. For the last two days I could feel it myself, I haven’t thrown up (yet), but there is a certain uneasy feeling around my stomach area. Additionally, due to late work commitments I didn’t get to bed until 0:40 last night. I got up at 6:20, and that’s not even nearly enough sleep. The schedule called for an 8-mile tempo run, but somehow I wasn’t quite up for it. I certainly put in the effort, but the pace wasn’t forthcoming, and I hardly ran faster than on Monday, when I seemed to glide along effortlessly. My left hamstring made itself known again as well. It’s just a little twinge at the moment, not enough to stop me from running, but enough to have me a little bit worried.

I need to rest – I’ll go to bed early tonight and hope the kids will cooperate. Tomorrow is just a 4 mile recovery run, and if I manage 2 or 3 nights of 8 hours sleep, I’ll be fine again.

7 Dec: 8 miles, 1:06, 8:15 pace, faster during the middle 4 miles, quite slow warm-up and cool-down

A Bad Night and a Good Run

Sunday was a bad day. I didn’t feel hung over, but not entirely up to it either. The fact that I hadn’t slept an awful lot didn’t help. The kids were becoming progressively worse, and by bedtime they were complete nightmares. It was well after 9 o’clock when we finally managed to put them down, and then the troubles were not over. I can’t quite remember all incidences from the night, but it involved a succession of children climbing into our bed, a nappy change on a very uncooperative baby some time around maybe 2 or 3, and never more than an hour of uninterrupted sleep. I had set my alarm for 5:30, but at 5:20 I was filling up hot water bottles for the elder two, and there was no point in going back to bed.
Considering all that, it was a miracle how well the run went. I did 14 miles, about 4 or 5 of which were in rain, the wind was blowing for some time, too, and of course it was pitch dark, with temperatures around freezing point. However, I felt fine for the whole run, except at around mile 11 when I could clearly feel my hamstring tighten on a climb. I shortened my stride, which seemed to help. I also started to feel hungry around this point, so I guess my stomach was running out of wheat cereal by then. However, I made it home without problems, and with negative splits as well. I was very surprised when I looked at my heart rate monitor at the end of the run; the average heart rate had only been 151, which was less than on my so-called recovery run the day before. I know Chelle had some funny readings from her hr monitor, and maybe mine isn’t entirely accurate either, but my readings were always believable, so I tend to think that they are correct.

5 Dec: 14 miles, 1:56, 8:17 pace

Redemption Run

One of the problems of training during the winter is the Christmas season with all its parties and office functions. Last night was my company’s do, with about 200 people in attendance and enough alcohol to drown everyone in sight.
I did reasonably well, despite not sticking to my resolve not to drink anything apart from some wine during dinner. I went home after a couple of pints of beer and a few shots of tequila in a not-entirely-sober state.
Today’s 5 mile recovery run was for both recovery and redemption. I didn’t really have a hangover, just a little queasy feeling in my stomach that eventually subsided.
There will be more temptations thrown my way over the next few week.

4 Dec: 5 miles recovery run, 43:29, 8:41 pace

Dark, Cold and Wet

The cold snap seems to have ended, the forecast for today is a balmy 7C/45F, but it’s still quite cold at 6 o’clock in the morning. Unfortunately, the clear sky has gone too and has been replaced by a blanket cover of clouds bringing heavy rain.
I got up just before 6 this morning (managing the intellectual feat of setting the alarm for the correct time for once) and, after one look out of the door, decided to ditch the long sleeves and wear a t-shirt with a rain cover on top, plus shorts rather than long tracksuit bottoms. For once I got that right, I was neither too hot nor too cold, just too wet.
I managed the 10 miles that I didn’t do 2 days ago. After 3 miles the legs were very heavy, as always after an hour of draining soccer the night before, but they felt better as the run wore on. I was a bit anxious about my headlamp because the light seemed to get dimmer and dimmer, but I think it was just the fact that the rain got heavier, because towards the end, when the rain eased a little, the lamp seemed to become brighter again.
I finally realised why there are no running clubs here in the vicinity of Killorglin, and why I always have to run on my own. I’m clearly the only idiot around who is stupid enough to do 10 miles in conditions like this at 6 o’clock in the morning.

Fair enough.

2 Dec: 10 miles, 1:23, 8:18 pace

What's the Time?

I had planned another 10 miler in the morning. The timing is easy: get up at 6, out of the door at 6:20, and back around 7:40. You would think that shouldn’t be a problem, wouldn’t you? So why did I set my alarm clock for 6:20? Even more annoyingly, I was actually up at 6, fixing breakfast for my sons, who are early risers (regular readers know that). I ended up realising my mistake only when I was about to leave, and had to settle for 8 miles instead.
The run was fine, but I did miss my favourite light source, the Moon, and had to rely on my headlamp instead.
I’m really annoyed with myself now. It doesn’t really matter as far as my training is concerned, because I can do 10 miles tomorrow or on Friday, so I’m not dropping any miles, it’s just my sheer stupidity that’s buggering me.

30 Nov: 8 miles, 1:05, 8:07 pace

A Day in My Life

I got up at 5:40am and got ready for my run – 13 miles, basically a half-marathon before breakfast. I was looking forward to wearing my brand new pair of adidas Supernova Cushion for the first time. The morning seemed bitterly cold, but after 3 miles I felt overdressed, despite wearing only two layers. The air seemed to get chillier as the run went on though, and by the end of it I felt a tad cold. I didn’t run as fast as anticipated, therefore I ended up being a few minutes late by the time I got to the office. Work was quite stressful, and in the evening I played soccer for an hour (and got beaten heavily). When I got home I just had time to hastily eat my dinner, then I had to bath my eldest son (age 4). Then mummy had to leave and it was down to daddy to make sure all 3 kids did their teeth and wee wee, and then it took 3 bed time stories plus a bottle for the youngest one to finally get them all to bed. By this time it was after 9 o’clock. You think I’m tired? Too right I am.

Tomorrow is a rest day. And if it weren’t planned as a rest day, it still would be a rest day, because I’m ready to drop.

27 Nov: 4 miles recovery run, 35:12, 8:48 pace
28 Nov: 13 miles, 1:51. 8:32 pace

Sleet and Hailstones

It is really cold out there (though Zeke would probably disagree), and I’m glad today is an off day. Unfortunately, the present arctic conditions are apparently going to last for a few days, which means Monday’s 13 miles are most likely going to be a challenge.
I did 7 miles on Friday, as planned. I had another strained night due to those wonderful kids of mine. At some stage I had to get up and fetch some apple juice for the baby, and it was hail stoning outside. I thought if the weather would be like this at 6:20, I would just turn around and try and get some more sleep. Well, when the alarm went off the weather seemed fine and I got up. During my short breakfast, it started hail stoning again, so I decided to wear a wind jacket on top of the two layers I already wore. Dawn will probably find this very funny, but I was overdressed and got quite hot underneath all those layers. But when I got caught by a very hefty shower of sleet and hail stones, I was very glad for the extra protection. It was almost bearable, except when I went around a corner and had the wind blowing the hailstones directly into my face. Ouch!
I also felt very sluggish, my hamstrings felt not quite up to it. I presume it’s because I played soccer just 12 hours earlier. The plan actually called for 7 miles with 10x100 stride outs, but my legs were not up to the speed, so I just did 7 plain miles. I figured I had done more than enough sprints during the soccer anyway.

25 Nov: 7 miles, 58:12, 8:18 pace

Funny That

Isn’t it funny? Only last week the good lady wife called me completely mad for running 10 miles to deliver a letter, and what did she tell me yesterday? “Thomas, I’ve got this urgent letter, and this less urgent one too, would you like to run to Killorglin and post it in the morning?” How quickly attitudes change!
Well, I declined because the schedule called for only 7 miles today, and anyway, I’m not her personal delivery boy.
Unfortunately, the baby (well, he’s nearly 2) came to our bed at 3 am and kept kicking me awake for the rest of the night, then at 4:30 the 4 year old came, kept me awake, too, and at 5 am he actually demanded some breakfast. I went back to bed afterwards but try as I might, I could not get back to sleep, so, at 5:50 I gave up and decided to do the 10 mile post run after all.
I made two more concessions to the cold, namely long sleeves and gloves, and boy was I glad about that. It was cold. It was freezing. It was …. , well, really cold. (No, I’m not a poet). When I got back, I had little bits of ice sticking to my hair. But I got my workout done, and delivering the letters should make for some marital brownie points.

23 Nov: 10 miles, 1:20, 8:00 pace

A New Beginning

I went shopping to Tralee yesterday and bought myself some track-suit bottoms. I figured with the temperatures dropping below freezing point, I should review my dressing policy of shorts and t-shirt. I also had a look some new pairs of runners. There was a pair of adidas runners that looked very cushioning, but I decided not to buy a new pair of runners without first trying to read some reviews of them. I’m already kind of regretting that decision. I’ve covered nearly 300 miles in my only present pair of runners (the other one was retired after the marathon) and it is very much time to phase in a new one.

Today I’ve officially started training for the Connemarathon. I’ve provisionally decided to run the long ones on Monday morning rather than Sunday for two reasons. Firstly, it means my wife won’t be a running widow every Sunday morning, which should increase her acceptance of my hobby, and secondly it means I won’t have the daunting prospect of a long run ahead of me all week (I got that idea from Mike). Once my long runs go over 17 or 18 miles, I might review that decision again.

The alarm went off at 5:40am and by 6:00 I was out on the road. I had my headlight, but I actually switched it off once I got out of the wood because the moon was easily bright enough, and I just love running under the moon and the stars. Caragh Lake was covered by a blanket of fog into which I was dipping in and out as I was running over the rolling hills alongside the lake. Fantastic! As a plus I ran negative splits without even trying.

19 Nov: 6 miles, 48:28, 8:04 pace
21 Nov: 12 miles, 1:36, 8:00 pace

Combining a workout with something practical

The Yoga teacher last night made me work my abs muscles, I can really feel them today. It’s unbelievable how taxing a few funny postures can be.
I had planned a 9 mile run today, but when I was about to leave, I saw an urgent letter on the mantelpiece and thought I could combine the run with doing something useful, and took the envelope and ran the 5 miles into Killorglin to the post box, before doing another 5 miles on a different route on the way back.
The wife wasn’t quite as grateful as she could have been, and called me completely mad. Never mind.

17 Nov: 10 miles, 1:21, 8:06 pace

Concerned Father

I finally managed a decent recovery run. My main problem on those runs is that I haven’t got any flat sections of road, so the best I can do is “reasonably flat”. I usually get the heart rate up too high on the climbs, and then struggle to get it down again. Well, today I finally managed to consistently keep the heart rate down. I don’t know quite what was different, I didn’t run any slower than on previous recovery runs (even faster than on some), but I felt very relaxed all the way.
The only hitch was a U-turn after 3 minutes. When I leave the house in the morning, I always lock the door, because our youngest son (who will be 2 in 3 week’s time) has a habit of running outside, and I definitely don’t want that to happen on a chilly dark morning at 7am. 3 minutes into the run the doubts started. “Is the door locked?”. I couldn’t risk leaving it open, so I turned back. Of course it was locked, no need to worry. Why did the brain not register that when I get out of the house? No, you don’t have to answer that.
As a result of that, the distance (and therefore pace) of today’s run is just a rough guess.

14 Nov: 8.5 miles, very hilly, 1:11, 8:21 pace
15 Nov: 5 miles(?) recovery run, 43:59, 8:47(?) pace

Permission Granted

I did another hill run today (we're talking about 150m elevation here). When I was huffing and puffing up the hill in a slight drizzle at 7am in very cold temperatures, I was starting to wonder what the hell I was doing. Then I reached the crest, and on the downhill it suddenly hit me. I ran full out, and really enjoyed it. I felt absolutely fantastic. Is that what they mean when they’re talking about runner’s high?

Yesterday evening the good Lady wife suddenly asked out of the blue: “When’s the Connemara marathon?”
Me: On March 26th
Her: So, in about 4 months?
Me: 19 weeks from now, to the day
Her: Oh really? You’re training for this already, aren’t you?
Me: No, actually, training starts a week from now
Her: I think I’d quite like to see Connemara in March

That’s it folks. Looks like I have permission from the High Council. Wahey!

Spot the difference

I think I should explain some of the things I said in my last entry. Firstly, allright, 8:23 pace isn’t that bad, and maybe I shouldn’t have felt like I had completely stunk up the place. It was just that I had intended to do a brisk 5 miler, and as soon as I hit the first slight uphill section I had to slow down a lot and never managed to increase the pace afterwards. Secondly, the perceived effort for that pace was way too high. If I run 8:23, I should be comfortable with that for a long while. Instead I felt like I was breaking a new speed record, I was completely knackered and exhausted by the time I got back home. That’s why I thought of it as a bad day,
It’s funny how differently you can feel just two days later though. I did my planned 12 miles this morning, and ran them on cruise-control, neither speeding a lot nor running particularly slow, and when I got home, I checked my time and was very pleasantly surprised to see that only 1:35 hrs had passed. That’s really fast for me. Just half a year ago, a cruise-control run would have been at around 8:30 pace, and if I wanted to do 8:00 I would really have to push myself. Now apparently I can cruise along at sub 8:00 (at least when I’m not having on off day). Maybe it was the rest day yesterday that made the difference, or maybe it’s just one of those things that you can’t really control, some days are good and some days are bad. For what it’s worth, I feel quite stiff now, though.
The weather yesterday was brutal btw, they didn’t exaggerate when they announced gale force winds, and running would have been completely out of question. Today was much nicer, a bit chilly (5 degrees – that’s Celsius of course, about 41 Fahrenheit), but little wind and I nearly managed to squeeze my run between two bouts of rain. I got a bit wet after 2 miles, but the last 8 miles were run in glorious sunshine. Now it’s raining again – that’s Irish weather for you, I suppose.

12 Nov, 12 miles, 1:35, 7:55 pace

I stunk

The weather forecast predicts gale force winds and heavy rain for tomorrow, so, understandably, I decided to go running today and have a rest day tomorrow. I only did 5 miles, and boy, did I stink. I started at a relatively brisk pace, but not too fast. However, at the first gradient I slowed down and never recovered my pace from then. Maybe it was the Yoga from last night or maybe I was just having an off day, who knows. I’m planning to do a 12 miler at the weekend, weather permitting. I hope my legs will be more cooperative by then.

10 Nov: 5 miles, 41:59, 8:23 pace

You asked for it

A few people asked me about my headlamp, so here are some details: it’s called “Petzl Tikka Plus”. You can google for it, and amazon.com have some reviews of it (all 5 stars). I bought it in the cycling shop in Killarney for 49 Euros, but Amazon have it for only $38. Oh well.
They had other models for 20 Euros, but I decided on the more expensive for two reasons. Firstly, it’s lighter; it weighs only 79 grams including batteries. The cheap model was twice that. Secondly, the batteries apparently last up to 120 hours on the economy setting (80 on optimal, 60 on bright), while in the cheap model they only last for 9 hours. I don’t want to end up in the middle of the night 5 miles away from home with dead batteries, and that’s much less likely to happen with the Petzl.
I’ve worn it twice now, and so far I can recommend it. It still feels weird to have some weight strapped to your head though.

Today: 5 miles recovery run, 45:30, 9:06 pace

Let there be Light

I got the chance to try out my new headlamp for the first time this morning. It took a bit of getting used to. At first it felt weird to have a weight strapped to my head, and it was spooky to run in the rain in the darkness, but the main thing is it worked, I could see where I was going, and, even more importantly, any cars coming along could see me.
I did 8 miles, but for some reason I feel quite tired now. I did play soccer for an hour only 12 hours earlier, but I do that twice a week every week, and usually it doesn’t bother me. I’ll do a slow recovery run tomorrow, and maybe the day after that as well.

8 miles, 1:04, 8:00 pace

The hill bites back

Well, I was quite pleased with myself on how I had conquered the hilly loop on Thursday, and then on the following days the hills fought back. My quads were very sore, I didn’t run on Friday, and then did a slow recovery run on Saturday, but still felt some soreness, especially in my left quad, on Sunday. I ran a lot faster today (Sunday), just to see if my legs could get me around 10 miles in under 8 minutes per mile. I succeeded in that trial, but I realise that it’s silly to do a tempo run at this stage of the season, when I am about to start a new marathon training program in a fortnight.
I also finally managed to get a headlamp, I went for the super-luxurious model in the shop because it was the lightest one, and the package claims that the batteries can last for up to 120 hours. I’m a bit sceptical about that claim, I guess we shall find out.

5/11: 5 miles recovery run, 43:56, 8:47 pace
6/11: 10 miles, 1:18, 7:48 pace

Crash Boom Bang

You know those funny scenes in comedy films when someone walks in the attic and then breaks through the ceiling? Well, that was me last night, minus the fun factor. Our roof was leaking, and when Her-Indoors ordered me up to check it out, I banged my head against a beam, stumbled, and, before I had fully recovered, crashed with my right leg straight up to the hip through the ceiling. My leg is scratched, swollen and it hurts!

Did it stop my from running this morning? Of course not!

I left home at 6.35 and was surprised how dark it was, despite the fact that the clocks have just gone backwards. I’ll have to get that headlamp soon, but haven’t managed to get to Killarney yet. I did a very hilly 8.7 miles course, or at least I used to think it was 8.7 miles, but it might me shorter than that, because it only took me 70 minutes and I don’t think I ran particularly fast.

1/11: 5 miles recovery run, 48:17, 9:38 pace
3/11: 8.7 miles, very hilly, 1:10:00, 8:02 pace (distance [and therefore pace] could be wrong)

Weekend Warrior

I never have problems getting up early. From childhood on I was out of bed at first light, and, while I have kicked that particular habit (now unfortunately inherited by my two boys), I still have no problems getting out of bed early for a run, be it at 6.20, 6 or even, as I did twice, at 5.20 am.
Unless it’s the weekend. Somehow I always think, there’s still plenty of time left in the day and I can always go running later. As anyone who has been in the same situation knows, the longer you wait for your run, the more likely it is that something else will crop up and scupper your plans. So, for reasons too plentiful to mention here, I did not run on Sunday. Fortunately, Monday is a bank holiday, and I could make up for it today. Normally, Monday is a rest day for me, so I effectively just swapped the two days around and didn’t miss anything.
My timing was almost comically bad though. After a rainy night, the sun was shining in the morning, and I got ready for my run. As soon as I left home, the rain started. Just a drizzle at first, then more and more and all of a sudden a deluge started, and when the hailstones started to come down, I turned around and sprinted back home, as I had only covered half a mile by then. After a break of about 20 minutes the sun was out again, and I started off again, with a new shirt and slightly wet shoes. It all went ok at first, then, after about 2.5 miles, the same deluge came back and I got soaking wet. However, this time I kept going and completed a 10-mile run, my first double figures since the marathon 4 weeks ago. It somehow reminded me of the marathon, because I was soaking wet during that effort, too.

10 miles, 1h20mins, exactly 8:00 minutes per mile. I don’t count the first mile.

Moon child

My stomach still isn’t quite back to normal, but I decided to give it a try anyway. I got up at 6.20 and had a peek out of the window. It was raining, but that didn’t put me off. And a good thing too, because by the time I left the house the rain had stopped and I was running under the stars and the moon. The moonlight especially was stunning. Running in the wood wasn’t an option; it was much too dark, but even out in the open the wind wasn’t too bad, and running along the shore of Caragh Lake in such a light was great.
I ran 7 miles at 56:42, that’s 8:06 per mile. I had a weird experience, too. From half-way point until about half a mile from home I ran totally on auto-pilot, I can hardly remember anything about it. It was a kind of outer-body experience, except that my mind wasn’t floating along but was somewhere far away in La-La-Land. Weird.
When I got back, the wife gave me her you-did-something-wrong look (I know it well ;-) ), chiding me for going running when my stomach was still upset.

Her: And while you were out, there was a program about running on the radio. The woman spoke about the dark side of running.

Me: What dark side of running?

Her: It can be addictive

You don’t say!

Still no go

The stomach bug is slowly retreating from my body (and into the bodies of other bloggers it seems), and I’m slowly coming round to the idea of physical exercise again. I did Yoga again last night, which already felt easier than last week. I think I’m starting to understand a few of the poses.
I was also planning to start running again this morning, but the wind was howling all night and discouraged me from doing so. I have the option of either running in the woods where it is sheltered but nearly pitch dark at my time in the morning, or out in the open where the wind blows in straight from the Atlantic, and neither option was particularly appealing.

P.S.: It was so windy last night that a friend’s shed’s roof was blown off! Running in this weather might not just be unpleasant, but also a bit dangerous. I feel better now about not running.

My turn

After reading in Susan’s and Yvonne’s blog about them feeling like poop, it was obviously my turn (you can’t catch an illness from reading someone else’s blog, can you?). I had stomach cramps and various unpleasant side-effects (I’ll spare you the details) over the weekend. I think it's a spell of gastroenteritis. Today I’m feeling better, but I’m staying home from work because I’m still far from ok. Needless to say, I didn’t do any running. I won’t be doing any over the next few days either until I feel up to it again.
Sorry about this entry devoid of any running activity in a running blog, sometime the Real World interferes, and it really sucks.

Darkness Falls

Tomorrow there is a 10k in Killarney, just 20 minutes drive from home. I was undecided if I should run, seeing as it is only 20 days after the marathon, and you’re supposed to recover for 4 weeks. I was just about to decide to run, when I realised that I would have to drive to Shannon airport that day because by mum is coming for a visit and I have to collect her. That settles that then.
I did a 7 mile run with 7x100m strides in the morning, and when I left the house it was so dark that I had to kind of guess where the road was, until I got out of the woods that surround our house. I really need to buy some kind of headlamp. I’ve seen one in a cyclist shop a few months ago, but wasn’t sure if it would be suitable for running. But I’ll have to find a solution soon, that’s for sure.

Cross Training

I started a new kind of cross training yesterday: Yoga. Yoga uses the weight of your own body in a very clever way to make the muscles work, and there is a lot of stretching involved. My wife has been an avid practitioner for years, and she finally managed to get me round to it. I think it will help me with my flexibility, which always tends to be low for long distance runners, and it does work some muscles that I usually don’t use.
It was surprisingly tough, and at one stage I got a cramp in my left calf! I haven’t had one of those since halfway through the Belfast marathon in May. It’s only once a week, so I’m supposed to do some practise at home as well. As I am really bad when it comes to stretching (i.e. I usually don’t do it), it might not be a bad idea at all.

Tagged

Jack tagged me, here are the rules:

Find your 23rd post.
Find and display the 5th sentence.
Tag five more unsuspecting bloggers.

My 5th sentence from 27 July 2005 was:

The run was not too bad, but I could definitely still feel the effects of Sunday in my legs, and the longer the run went on the more my hamstrings were hurting.

That was a 14 miles run, three days after a 20 miler. I remember it well, I had to get up at 5:20 in the morning for it!

And now I have to tag 5 more victims, and hope they haven't been tagged yet:
Yvonne, Zeke, Mike, Chelle and the other Thomas.

Decision Made!

Each time my wide gave birth to a baby, her first words were “never again”. Each time she had changed her mind within 24 hours (the present baby count is 3). It is similar with me and marathons. While I never said “never again”, I always said “not for a long while”, but fact is that I ran my 3 marathons to date all within 11 months. It’s no different this time: after the marathon 2 weeks ago, I decided to take a one year’s break from marathoning and run a few shorter races that don’t require such a long training. Well, I’ve changed my mind, I’ll train for the Connemara marathon on Mar 26th 2006. And now that I have published that decision on my blog for everyone to see, I can’t chicken out so easily.
The 18 weeks training starts on Nov 14 (if I've managed to count up to 18 correctly, that is :-) ), until then I'll take it easy to allow my body to recover from the last effort.

Magic!

I did indeed run 7 miles as planned this morning, and boy, was it rewarding! It was 6:45 when I left our house, it was still dark outside and I was running under the most stunningly beautiful starry sky you can imagine, Orion straight ahead of me. When I ran along the shores of Caragh Lake, the first light of day somehow managed to illuminate the surrounding hills in a light that was – pure magic. I’m half tempted to take a camera with me one morning to take a picture, but I know that a photo could never capture the magic of that scene.
Wow, I’m really lucky to live in such a gorgeous place!

When I started my blog back in May, I didn’t know about any other running blogs, and I didn’t know if anyone apart from myself was ever going to read it.
I’ve recently started looking at loads of other running blogs, and I find reading them really addictive (which means I shouldn’t really do it while at work!). There are blogs from people with all kinds of running abilities, from runners with marathon PRs of 2:45 or so to others with a PR twice that, and some who wouldn’t dream of attempting such a distance.
I’m awestruck by guys who can run under 3 hours, and their training routine is so far ahead from what I’m doing it’s like a different sport altogether. But I also find other blogs interesting, and you certainly don’t have to be an Olympic champion to write down interesting thoughts about running.
My own running is pretty low key at the moment, I did 5 miles yesterday, and an hour of soccer again tonight (which isn’t really running training, I know), and I’m planning 7 miles for tomorrow because I’m itching to up my distance a little bit. I’m not training for any run at the moment, I just want to keep in shape. If that’s good enough motivation to keep going, I’ll find out soon enough.

Competitive, me?

I’m taking it easy at the moment. I did a 5 mile run on Saturday, just 6 days after the marathon, and ended up running too fast. My quads hurt for several days after that, and I took it as a sign to rest more. I played a 5-a-side soccer game last night, which turned into 4 vs. 5 after one of my team mates got injured – and the amount of running I did afterwards was probably not good for me either. I might run an easy 5 miler tomorrow morning just to get back into recovery running, but only if it’s not raining. There’s no point in pushing yourself too hard at this time of the year.

A few weeks ago my wife asked me why I was so competitive when it comes to running. I didn’t agree with that statement at all. When running at my level, you’re not trying to beat anyone else, you’re just running against yourself. She still insisted that this was competitive. I’m not denying that I can be competitive (as anyone who came up against me at soccer can testify), I just don’t agree that trying to beat your own best time in a long-distance run is competitive.

3-Country Marathon, Lake Constance, 2 October 2005

I'm better prepared than ever before for a marathon, though that is not saying an awful lot. My preparation was hampered by shin splints about 2 months before the marathon, and I subsequently missed a significant amount of training because of that.

We fly to Zürich on Thursday, 3 days before the marathon. I check the weather forecast and they say 13 degrees, cloudy, with occasional showers. That’s a bit chilly maybe, but not too bad running weather. By Saturday they’ve changed their mind: 10 degrees, rain, lots of it. Unfortunately, the latter prognosis is the correct one.

The start is in Lindau, Germany, a place with limited parking facilities, so the organisers urge everyone to park in Bregenz, Austria, near the finishing line and catch a boat from there to the start. I follow that advice, but completely fail to anticipate that the majority of the 5000 other starters (just over 1300 for the marathon, the rest for the half-marathon) had the same idea, and the queue is enormous. I manage to scramble onto the last boat, and get changed there. I haven’t got a watch on me, which is good, because we get to Lindau only 10 minutes before the start, we just have time to put our clothes onto the lorry and go into the starting area. The Good Thing about this is that we don’t have to wait in the freezing rain. The Bad Thing is that we are right at the back of the field.

Start: It takes a bit to get going, and then the pace is slower than I have planned. I intended to run roughly 5 minutes per km (8 minutes per mile) for as long as I can hang on to, but the pace for the first 10 km is more like 5:20 per km, about 8:30 per mile. The race is not run on the Bundesstraße (main road) but on smaller pathways and dirt roads along the lake. That makes for nicer scenery, but considering the number of runners, it is not sufficient. The worst point comes at about km 6, where I overtake a very slow trio of middle-aged fat slow bitches [insults definitely intended] who complain about being overtaken by so many people, because if people want to run faster, why don’t they start ahead of them in the first place. I just about manage to avoid the temptation to kick all kinds of **** out of them and keep going.

I miss most of the early km signs due to the congestion, but with my heart rate monitor (and the included stop watch functionality) I can always tell exactly where I am. It is frustrating to be stuck in the crowds, but I tell myself that at least I am prevented from starting too fast, and that is definitely a Good Thing.

The congestion continues all the way until about km 16 (10 miles) when the marathon and half-marathon courses finally split. From then on it’s more like being lonely rather than too busy.

I feel fine, not tired at all at that stage, and the water stations are every 2.5 km, which is great because it is never far to the next one. I have three carbo-hydrate gels with me. I initially attached them to my shorts, but that doesn’t work properly, so I carry them in my hands for most of the run. It doesn’t really bother me, but maybe for the next marathon I’ll get a belt for that kind of thing.

At km 20 (mile 12.5) I start to feel really good, without a trace of fatigue. Maybe the second gel I had just taken had something to do with it. The high doesn’t last for too long though, and by km 25 (mile 16) I start to feel low. Really low. Totally tired, knackered and out-of-it-low. I feel the overwhelming urge to do anything but continue running, but I somehow manage to find the energy to keep going, step by step by step, and finally, by km 30 (mile 19) I start to feel better again. I also realise that this is the farthest I have ever run in a marathon without getting cramps (I’ve had longer training runs without cramps, but then I never get cramps in training, ever). My pace is slower now, I just can’t keep the original pace any more, and I just manage to keep running by concentrating on my breathing. Left – right – inhale – left – right – exhale, and again, and again, and again. It’s not as boring as it sounds though.

The km markers keep coming, and there are plenty of people along the course cheering on the runners despite the weather. Oh yes, the weather. When they said rain, they really meant it. It is lashing for all of the 42 kilometers. It’s not just raining, it’s pouring, and without any break whatsoever. I’m running in a sleeveless top (thank god I’m not wearing a cotton t-shirt, it would drag me to the ground my now), and I’m grateful that it’s not windy, or I would be freezing despite the running effort.

It seems to be easier to run 42 km rather than 26 miles, because it is less distance from one marker to the next one. It really does seem to make a difference.

I manage to keep going, and finally the beautiful number 42 does appear on a sweet orange background, and me and everyone around me manages a surprisingly fast sprint into the stadium, around the track and over the finishing line.

My finishing time is 3:55:57, which means of course that I have finally, finally managed to beat that blasted 4 hours barrier, but considering all the hard work I’ve put in over the last 4 months, I am a bit disappointed. The weather was dreadful, but then again a cold day is better than a hot day. The congestion over the first 10 miles was brutal, but if that hadn’t been the case I would probably have started too fast (again) and my finishing time might have been slower, who knows. I have also finally managed to run a marathon without any cramps, and I have actually managed to run the whole distance without walking break.

I have originally had an eye on the Connemara marathon in March for my next effort, but maybe I’ll take some time off marathon running, concentrate on a few shorter races (after all, in my life I have run exactly 4 distance races, 3 marathons and one 5km run that I didn’t take very seriously) that don’t take so much effort, and maybe do another autumn marathon in 2006, after my body has had some rest.