Runningblog 26point2

Stats, half-marathons & 'Natty Boh'

2012-02-04T15:27:00.001Z

Not alot to resport since my last post. I have been 'Hadding' away and have not seen much if any improvement in my steady state 80% runs (averaging out just south of 8:00 min/mi). However, this week I managed back to back one hour recovery runs at 74% MHR that exceeded seven miles, with respective average mile splits of 08:26 and 08:27. I am hoping this is a sign of a developing aerobic base and that while my 80% runs have not been getting faster I could maintain their pace for considerably longer.

I also signed up for a half-marathon, the 'Nippy Nor'easter', which takes place on the National Central Railroad trail. It's not a certified course and proceeds are in aid of the 'Back on my feet' charity. The registration fee of $28.50 is hard to beat and my ongoing unemployment means I am especially discriminating in what races I will do! I had planned on the B&A trail half marathon, which receives rave reviews; however, the race filled up quickly and at $50, while not expensive, was more than the 'Nippy'; maybe next year.

My wife received a new digital camera from her parents for Christmas. I took it with me on a run recently and below are some pictures from my usual running route.

Pagoda at Patterson park, just across the road from our house

A view of Brewer's hill from the Pagoda. The building in the distance is the old National Bohemian brewery and the famous 'Natty Boh' on the roof, a caricature synonymous with 'Balmer'.

First Mariner bank HQ at Canton and the start of the harbour boardwalk which constitutes the majority of my runs.

The Maryland Korean war memorial at Canton waterfront park

Domino sugar factory from the south east, frequently depicted in The Wire television series from the Harbour's opposite side.

Historic Fell's point. This is a social part of town with lots of pubs and restaurants. Most of the buildings are from the 18th and 19th centuries - old for America I suppose. The building on the left is a now abandoned police station famous for being the police station depicted on the TV series, Homicide: life on the streets.

Hadd update and second 2400 test

2012-01-19T18:54:00.000Z

I completed my second 2400 test this morning and below is how the results between the first and second compare.

19 January 2012
1.49m - 13:43(9:12/m) - 136bpm avge
1.49m - 12:30(8:23/m) - 145bpm avge
1.49m - 11:10(7:29/m) - 154bpm avge
1.49m - 10:07(6:47/m) - 163bpm avge
1.49m - 9:20(6:15/m) - 174bpm avge

2 December 2011
1.49m - 13:37(9:08/m) - 134bpm avge
1.49m - 12:39(8:29/m) - 144bpm avge
1.49m - 11:19(7:35/m) - 156bpm avge
1.49m - 10:23(6:58/m) - 165bpm avge
1.49m - 9:28(6:21/m) - 172bpm avge

A bit disappointed but not surprised. Interestingly and disappointingly the difference between the second and third intervals remains fifty-four seconds min/mi. The fourth interval provides some encouragement, being eleven seconds min/mi faster for two bpms less.

Not sure what to make of it but I will continue for another few weeks on the Hadd approach; I will abandon it if I do not see significant improvement in the pace of my sub LT runs in the next three weeks. Notwithstanding what I do in the future I think there's a benefit to keeping the pace of recovery and long runs below 75% MHR.

Not rockin' my world

2011-12-09T03:23:00.001Z

Regular readers of this blog will possibly know I am not keen on the 'Rock n' Roll' marathon concept. Disclaimer: I have never run one and so cannot comment authoritatively; their their prices mean I will never have the opportunity. However, I had always thought they were well organised events for what they were; well the Las Vegas marathon last week was a disaster of epic proportions: CEO and his wife win their age division group with implausible times; mass food poisoning; incorrect medals and people passing out from overcrowding. A news report outlines some of the problems and the Facebook page is alive with recriminations.

Max HR and 2400 test

2011-12-08T22:26:00.000Z

As Hadd training involves training by HR a max HR test is required before commencing training in earnest. A Hadd HR test involves a fifteen minute warm up, an 800 metre all out effort followed by a two minute rest and a 400 metre all out effort. This test gave me a max HR of 189. Interestingly this is four bpm than the last max HR effort that I did in September.
One of the benefits of Hadd training is the objective biofeedback it provides on each run that over time, I hope, will evidence a trend of increasing pace for the same effort. To help monitor and evaluate progress Hadd prescribes what he calls 2400 assessments every six weeks, with the first at the beginning of training. A 2400 test involves running five intervals of 2400 metres with ninety seconds of complete rest between each interval. Each interval, involves running at a steady HR, increasing by increments of ten bpm. The last and fastest interval should not exceed your potential martathon HR by five bpm; Hadd defines max marathon HR potential as max HR minus 15-20 bpm. It is also crucial that you conduct every 2400 test in similar conditions to prevent prejudicing or doubting the result of successive tests.
On 1 December I completed my first 2400 test and the results were as follows.

1.49m - 13:37(9:08/m) - 134bpm avge
1.49m - 12:39(8:29/m) - 144bpm avge
1.49m - 11:19(7:35/m) - 156bpm avge
1.49m - 10:23(6:58/m) - 165bpm avge
1.49m - 9:28(6:21/m) - 172bpm avge

The point of reference for these tests is the miles per minute pace rather than the time it takes to complete each interval. Hopefully, every six weeks your pace for each 2400 interval should increase for the same HR. The in pace between each interval are 39, 54, 37, and 36, respectively. Interestingly the gap between the second and third interval is significantly wider than the others; consulting with a number of Hadd acolytes this is quite common and indicates that the runner is indeed inefficient at this aerobic effort and should benefit from Hadd training. If the training is effective the gaps between the second and third interval in particular and all to a lesser degree should narrow and of course the pace should increase for the same HR effort. I suppose I'll find out in six weeks.

Hadd training

2011-12-06T19:54:00.001Z

This year has proven a tough one, redundancy and apparent long-term unemployment, (unless I accept the increasing plethora of money laundering middleman offers I receive from careerbuilder.com the longer I remain out of work), forced emigration, and two poor marathons. Whatever about everything else I have a definitive plan for getting my running career back on track in 2012.Some years ago a coach began offering advice on letsrun.com. He was very conscious of his privacy and did not want those with whom he shared his ideas to have the ability to individually identify him and let that prejudice their attitude to either him or his training approach - sensible man. This coach referred to himself as John Hadd. Hadd's approach is similar to that of Arthur Lydiard; lots of slow aerobic base building miles. His basic argument is that unless you have developed an excellent aerobic base you will compromise your ability to run at a progressively faster pace that does not cross your lactate threshold; eventually if you continue to ignore the aerobic base and train faster than your aerobic base allows for adaptation to appropriately occur you will experience burn out and an increasing dissonance between your shorter race times and your longer race times. To explain his ideas Hadd used the example of 'Joe', a talented athlete who had not runs for years but who wanted to get back into shape and run a personal best for the marathon. Hadd extols the virtues of slow running to allow the development of Mitochondria in the cells that convert glucose to energy. This aerobic capacity building allows you to run faster at all efforts, even where you might never or rarely run at those efforts. The analogy he uses to explain this approach is that of a toothpaste tube; to get all the paste you need to fully and progressively squeeze upwards. If you squeeze only near the top of the tube you will initially get some paste but the remainder will remain in the tube, no matter how hard you squeeze near the tube's top. Consequently in Hadd training there is little or no running of intervals, tempo runs or even marathon paced running. It's not quite as simple as that but generally a Hadd schedule looks something like this: run everyday for at least an hour, where recovery runs do not exceed 75% of max heart rate; two quality workouts each week, preferably on Tuesday and Friday, building up to ten miles at 80% max heart rate; and a long run on Sunday of between two and three hours at recovery pace. As your aerobic base develops you should slowly see your speed increase for all efforts. With time and when you are comfortable doing ten miles at 80% MHR without any cardiac drift or slowing, you can slowly edge the effort for these runs up towards 90% of MHR, which he reasons is the absolute max of HR that an exceptionally well trained runner could run a marathon. The discussion of this training approach in great detail is archived on the Let's run website. A summary of the web forum is also available. This is a summary of the online thread and so is not the best written piece, being somewhat disjointed and repetitive but is well worth the effort. Hadd's untimely death in September revealed his true identity as John Walsh, a Briton based in Malta and founder of the Malta marathon. He insisted on his anonymity and only those who he worked with as coach, gratis, knew his identity, and as a condition of his coaching services they never revealed knowledge of his true identity until after his death. Appropriately his none de plume of Hadd is Maltese for anonymous. Looking at photographs of him it is hard to imagine that the man who looked like the embodiment of Scottish martial prowess and someone whose image you could imagine on a Victorian recruitment poster for a Scottish or Irish regiment could die so suddenly of a heart condition. I am hoping I might do his legacy some homage by making a success of my running in 2012; success in other areas would be nice too, but alas Mr Hadd cannot help me with that.

Harrisburg marathon review

2011-11-23T23:42:00.001Z

A quick race review of Harrisburg. The race itself was excellent and has enormous PB potential. The volunteers were the best I have encountered anywhere, such that depending on plans for 2012 I would seriously consider volunteering at this race if I am not racing it myself. The course is relatively scenic, especially along the river's edge and the two portions on trail were a welcome change from hard surfaces, but with plenty of traction. The event being less than 1,000 marathon runners is logistically uncomplicated - comparatively, and I love being able to show up twenty minutes before a race to pick up a race number and walk the 200 metres to the start without any fuss or shoving or general air of panic that envelops many race starts. The number pick up is in a heated pavilion adjacent the start and allows you to stay warm minutes before the start. Free coffee was also available for runners and only 25 cents for others.
The post race bounty is phenomenal; fruit, yogurt, bagels, coffee, and other foodstuffs; only Cologne has come close to this. The medal and tech t-shirt this year were an improvement on what I had seen on the web in previous years and I have already worn the shirt on a slightly chilly day when doing a max HR test this morning. All the above for $60 is excellent value, especially so when you look at the $95 that some half-marathons in Maryland think they can charge. Being unemployed I simply cannot afford that and even were I in employment it would take something really special to get me to shell out that kind of coin, and by special I don't mean the gimmicks that come with 'Rock n' Roll' events; thank goodness for races like Harrisburg. I hope to race this again and significantly improve on my time and do the race and course justice this time.

Harrisburg Marathon 2011

2011-11-23T02:09:00.001Z

Me about to cross the bridge across the Susquehanna river and towards the finish line.

Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania; it is also one of the largest cities to file for bankruptcy, which it did recently, even making pages of The Economist in a commentary about city finance and the polarisation of US politics. My wife is from the small town of Mechanicsburg which is a few miles west of Harrisburg and so this race was a good way of combining a trip to her parents with a marathon and is only a ninety minute drive from Baltimore. The race has also received consistently excellent reviews from Marthon-guide.com. Since adopting a HR approach to my training and using Pfitzinger and Douglas's HR bands, rather than target paces, my training paces have slowed and I had felt better than I have in a while. I felt I had made good progress. A few weeks before the race I did seventeen miles with the final ten miles at 87% MHR; these miles averaged 06:42, this was considerably better than a similar effort a few weeks before that came out at closer to 07:00 min/mile and for an additional percentage point in effort. I had my doubts that I had the aerobic base to maintain 86/87% MHR for 26.2 but resolved to go out at sub three hour pace see how it felt. The race began at 0830hrs and conditions were perfect and I quickly settled into 06:4x pace. However, by mile eight I knew it was not going to be able to maintain the pace and decided that I would forget about sub three, which I always knew was going to be a big ask and backed off to 07:05 pace for the next few miles. During mile ten I had to duck into a port-a-loo and do both a number one and two; this is something I have never needed to do in a race but I did initially feel better for it. By halfway I was not feeling good and the slower pace that was initially comfortable was now increasingly uncomfortable. As we passed the halfway point we ascended up a short sharp climb and I slowed further. My pace was now in the 07:20s and my legs were turning to concrete. This was frustrating as while I thought a sub three pace might be tough to hold I did not think it was suicidal either and I had sensibly backed off after eight miles. By mile seventeen, as we entered the Harrisburg Area Communinity College campus, many runners were passing me. There was a turnaround at this point and the final nine miles would be a double back on much of the first half of the course and many of the runners passing against me, at least half a mile ahead, were previously in the same group that I ran with in the first eight miles; this was not a confidence booster. By now I was doing the maths to calculate at what pace I would need to avoid a personal worst and would have taken 03:15 without any hesitation. The final six miles were something of a death march and runners were going by me in groups of two or three now. By mile twenty-two I resigned myself to a personal worst. My pace was now north of nine minute milling. At mile twenty-five I was about to walk when I heard the shouts of encouragement from my wife, mother-in-law, and friend visiting from Ireland; this prevented me from walking. I tried to increase the pace but any injection of pace never lasted more than a fifth of a mile. I reached the finish mile in 03:23:22; a bit if a disaster. However, I refuse to be too discouraged and have decided upon a reasonable and informed, I hope, plan to rectify my very poor 2011 racing year. Discussion of that will follow in another post shortly.

Harrisburg marathon 2011 by westley1977 at Garmin Connect - Details

The Odyssey: Ragnar Pennsylvania

2011-11-22T16:00:00.002Z

Shortly after moving here my wife's cousin's husband invited me to participate in a 202 mile relay. The Ragnar relay involves twelve runners, six each in two vans running 202 miles from Lancaster PA to Jim Thorpe PA over thirty-six legs. The relay begins in the city of Lancaster and through the city of Reading, Amish country and a number of small towns. The six runners in each van run consecutively and hand over to the other van, and so each van leapfrogs the other until the thirty-six legs are complete. As the event's website pits it, 'run, drive, sleep?, repeat!'
The race began at 0630 in the dark and cold of Lancaster's Stauffer park. During the second leg we saw the bizarre sight of an Amish woman of at least seventy years talking and running alongside a Ragnar competitor! As 'runner three' in van one my first leg of 8.2 miles began in bright sunshine. I decided to run at sub three hour marathon pace and see how it felt. The first six miles were rolling hills heading east through the town of Strasburg along route 741. The weather was perfect - cool and bright. The first six miles fluctuated between 06:40 And 06:51; a heart rate in the 170s was definitely not ideal for so called marathon pace; it felt more like something between marathon and half-marathon pace. The last two miles were significantly uphill and my heart rate increased into the mid 170s and the pace declined. The average mile splits were 07:02 for 8.24 miles.
When we completed our initial six legs we handed over to the other van and had a number of hours to pass at a high school. Here we had lunch and relaxed for a while in the bright sunshine. My next run, leg fifteen, was through the city of Reading during rush hour, which is the poorest city in the United States; running through this town I could definitely believe it; it reminded me a little of Sheffield where I used to live, except only worse. This leg was 4.5 miles and I ran through some 'interesting' parts of town. It being after 1730hrs the race organisers required that I wear a high viz jacket and head lamp even though it was still quite bright; this did nothing to prevent curious glances and stares from the locals. The legs through Reading were quite confusing and some orienteering skills were definitely advantageous; my teammate Frank D, who completed the leg before me got lost and he and two other runners spent quite an amount of time before they found me at the checkpoint.

Me, ready for the off in America's poorest city.

The first two miles through downtown were tough, the paving here was worse than it is in Baltimore and it felt more like running on a single track trail than through a city centre. The final two miles were up Hill road; never was a road more aptly named! This was two miles of steep hills and my HR went above 90% MHR to maintain close to ten minute milling pace! I saw very few runners on this leg. I did see one ahead of me during the final mile but I could not close him down enough to pass him and I was just glad to hand over to Rick for a further 1.8 miles of climb to the top of the mountain. At the next checkpoint, to cheer Rick in and prepare Linda P to assume running duties from him, is where I first thought of Homer's Odyssey and Odysseus' journey to Ithaca and all the characters he encountered; here Frank D and I encountered an odd character sitting on a walll - half stoner/hippie, half hipster. It transpired he was drafted in at the last moment by a friend involved with the race organisation to manage the checkpoint. He did not have much of an idea of what to do so Frank and I accepted his request for help and gave our advice on how to manage things. He then told us his life story and how his friend knew which pub to find him in earlier that day because since his fiancé left him he's either in the pub getting smashed or in his tattoo parlor, whereupon he proceeded to showcase and explain his fiancé inspired tattoos! Thankfully we got called away to get back in the van so we could provide support for Linda P on her leg!

Soon we were at exchange twenty-four where we could sleep and await the arrival the other van who were running legs nineteen to twenty-four. The sleeping quarters was a school's basketball hall. Not much sleep was had, especially with the bright lights in the hall and the guy snoring who sounded like he was cutting logs with a chainsaw! At one point there must have been well over 150 lying on the floor in sleeping bags.

I am under the bag on the right with the yellow high viz jacket over my head to try and block out the light.

My final leg took place at a little before three in the morning. It began in a small town of McKeansburg. This was a nice little town and the local church was out in force with coffee, cakes and other food they were selling for the church's benefit. Best of all they had a large roaring fire. It was here that Odysseus encountered the last of his monsters blocking the path to Ithaca; a female member of the church struck up conversation with me and expressed with a sharp intake of breath her shock and surprise when she heard Ragnar would run night-time legs through her county; why I hear you gasp - well apparently Schuylkill County has the highest level of DUI in the nation! This is just what you want to hear when you are scheduled to run 3.7 miles in the dark! The final run was the best. I knocked out a hard effort and completed it with average mile splits of 06:28. This felt like 10k pace; last year this was a little slower then half-marathon pace! I did see a surprising number of drivers on this rural but thankfully wide road and none were swerving. For almost all of this I was completely on my own with only the stars above and off to my left the sound of the odd twig breaking; presumably a deer wandering about. Following me was Rick and then a couple of gutsy runs from Linda P, John P and Derrick, who was especially was feeling the affect of his excellent second leg performance.

Campfire where scary stories of DUI drivers were told!

When we completed our final set of runs we proceeded to the finish line and rested for a few hours before welcoming home the remainder of our team in the other van. We all crossed the finish line together in beautiful Autumn sunshine.
In short, a unique and fun experience that really just embraces the joy of running with other people in nice places; for most it is entirely about that rather than times or overt competition. I would certainly relish the honour of running with my eleven other teammates again and our two van drivers, the two Jeffs, who arguably had the harder job of driving, navigating, coaching, cajoling and coralling twelve runners over two days and 202 miles.

HR max test and fresh perspectives

2011-09-25T17:28:00.001+01:00

Of late I thought my training might benefit from the incorporation of heart rate training. I hope that brining this into my training will help me train at the correct intensity and complementarily develop both my aerobic and anaerobic systems. So first things first, I would need to determine my maximum heart rate. There are numerous ways of doing this, some involving scientists and a treadmill. I went for one I found on the Marius Bakken website. My HR max 'target' was 190. Following a fifteen minute warm up I embarked on the first of five one minute intervals. Every minute for the next three minutes I aimed to increase my HR by ten bpm, reaching 180 at the end of the fourth minute. It was getting really tough now. The final minute is an all out effort to get the HR as high as you can. I maxed at 185. This seemed a bit low, considering that last year I saw 190 at the end of 5k; so, I went out in the afternoon and did the 'Hadd' HR test. This involves a good warm up, followed by 800m all out, a two minute recovery and 400m all out. This elicited a max HR of 183. I am unsure how advisable it is to two HR max tests in a day and whether it affects the results of any subsequent effort. One thing is certain- I do not fancy doing one again any time soon. Running until you think you will black out is not pleasant. So, 185 it is. I subsequently read that as your aerobic fitness improves it is more difficult to reach your true max HR and that if your fitness declines you will reach a higher HR quicker, and of course be moving at a significantly slower pace. The first real workout with this approach rook place last Thursday, a twelve mile run, with seven at tempo effort. The average pace for these miles was 06:43 and average HR of 163 or 88% max HR. I was happy enough with this pace considering the >90% humidity and 24C/74F temperatures. Interestingly, before the summer I would have considered 163bpm as only slightly greater effort than marathon pace - if even. However, these tempo miles definitely felt like half Marathon pace. I am a little hopeful that if the environmental conditions were better my splits could be twenty to twenty-five seconds faster. If this is correct, a big if, then it suggests that either I was overtraining in the past, or I am in significantly better shape than I was before the summer. If it's incorrect, then I am in poor shape. In short, I have no idea what kind if shape I am in, but the point of the move to HR training is to receive more objective feedback on my training and prevent either under or overtraining. If nothing else it will bring fresh perspectives to training.

The clock is ticking

2011-09-17T22:46:00.003+01:00

Weekend commitments led me to switch my Sunday long run to Saturday, a fifteen miler. Normally I would begin a run like this at projected marathon pace plus 20 per cent and do the latter half at marathon pace plus 10 per cent. Today, I decided the good temperatures would be opportune to do an evaluation run to see what kind of shape I am in. The plan was, six miles easy, five miles at marathon pace plus 20 per cent, and the final four at marathon pace. The first five miles were north of 08:35 with a HR in the early to mid 130s, the next five miles averaged just south of eight minute milling with a HR in the early 140s - all good.
The final four miles at marathon pace began well; the first mile averaged 159 with a 06:36 split - little fast but it felt good. The second mile elapsed in 06:45, but it felt tougher than I would have liked with a 164 HR. Third mile in 06:47 and average HR of 166- not good, this almost felt like tempo effort. Final mile of 06:45 and HR of 159. Had I not been stuck waiting for a pedestrian light the HR would have been higher.
My legs have felt a bit heavy and tired since Wednesday, as a consequence of the first interval session of the training cycle, tearing up a floor on Thursday with a crowbar, and a not insignificant workout on Friday. However, I think I am clutching at straws to account for how tough this was; perhaps the five weeks of training between now and taper will pull things out of the fire? The clock is ticking...

The deluge

2011-09-11T02:17:00.001+01:00

Flooding close to downtown Harrisburg, September 2011

Well, things appear to come in threes here; first an earthquake, then a hurricane and finally...I hope finally, flood. it rained heavily much of last week and this. I got drenched on about five occasions during my run on Tuesday. The following day followed this up when the race director of the half marathon I was scheduled to race on Sunday, sent an email announcing that flooding in Harrisburg meant the race would be postponed until October. As luck would have it I cannot participate as the new date coincides with a relay race I am participating in. It now looks like I will be unable to do any races in advance of my marathon. This is the result of half marathons being either too far way, sold out, or ridiculously expensive; many appear to think $85-$95 is a reasonable entry fee! That's worthy of a post in itself!

Redemption - of a kind

2011-09-02T22:15:00.007+01:00

After the disaster of a tempo session two weeks ago I was not looking forward to today's session of eleven miles with seven at tempo pace. Consequently, I found my self procrastinating in getting out the door. In the intervening two weeks I had conducted some online research on the effects of heat and humidity on pace. I found nothing definitive but one site I found somewhat useful was Jeff Galloway's. He provided the following useful guide to how heat might slow a runner's performance.

Adjusting pace for heat: estimated temperature at finish - slower than goal pace - 8 min mile becomes:
55-60 degrees - 1% - 8:05
60-65 degrees - 3% - 8:15
65-70 degrees - 5% - 8:25
70-75 degrees - 7% - 8:35
75-80 degrees - 12% - 8:58
80-85 degrees - 20% - 9:35
Above 85 degrees - Forget it... run for fun
* Note: This chart is based upon Galloway's own experience in the heat and talking to other runners. It has no scientific verification.

Consequently I was quite happy with my tempo mile splits of 7:02, 7:03, 6:48, 6:49, 6:49, 6:58, in 75F/24C. The real test of my level of performance will be the upcoming Harrisburg half marathon. This is assuming of course that conditions are favourable.

Tempo fail

2011-08-27T23:19:00.012+01:00

Of late the temperatures and humidity had declined a little and I was looking forward to knocking out a nice tempo session at close to true tempo pace. Tempo sessions are always really tough and I am always a little apprehensive about them, especially so for this session as I considered it a good fitness barometer
I set off and the first two miles were the warm up. I entered the first tempo mile of five tempo miles not feeling the best. In short, this session was a fail. The respective splits were 06:58, 06:59, 07:16, 06:54 and 07:38. I bailed about two thirds through the last mile. I felt pretty bad throughout. There was no life in the legs and my heart rate rarely exceeded 164, which I consider marathon effort, never mind tempo. However, the splits were twenty to forty seconds slower than marathon pace.
Very ticked off. What I concluded from this debacle is that trying to reach tempo pace at even the comparatively lower temperatures of 70F/21 is a no go. Furthermore, I am now almost certain I have what Jeff Galloway describes as sustained heat fatigue, the consequence of going too fast in high heat and humidity. I had been taking forty-five to sixty seconds off my mile split times but will now increase this to ninety to 120 seconds. Hopefully this will have me feeling better in a week or so, and who knows, maybe I'll be able to train in reasonable temperatures and without the need for gills!

Death march

2011-08-15T18:15:00.008+01:00

My mishap on Thursday prompted me to switch two of my runs. I did my five mile recovery run, originally scheduled for Saturday, on Friday and on Saturday I did a twelve mile run, originally scheduled on Friday. With an eighteen miler with ten at projected marathon pace scheduled for Sunday I had decided to take the twelve miler on Saturday a little easier than scheduled. However, conditions were good on Saturday. Courtesy of heavy thunderstorms the temperatures came down to the low twenties celcius and I knocked out twelve miles in average mile splits of 07:43 with an average heart rate of 146. I feared I might suffer the consequences of this on Sunday but decided it was worth exploiting what were easily the best conditions of the summer. The run statistics also reflected the conditions and was the best set of numbers I have had all summer.
On Sunday, normal meteorological service was resumed and when I left for my run it was approaching 30C/90F, with high humidity. To keep HR for the first eight miles below 140 I was running mile splits greater than 09:10. On Saturday a HR of about 140 was spitting out splits just south of 08:00. Mercifully it cooled a little as I approached the marathon paced section of the run and I had decided that I would not let the HR go to far above 160 for this section and ideally keep it just below 160. This worked okay for the first two or three miles and I felt comfortable enough and confident I could do ten at that effort level. However four miles in and the legs began feeling very heavy, a combination of Saturday's effort and the heat and humidity was underming my performance.. I had at this point taken two GUs and at least a litre of electrolyte drink. During miles five and six of the projected marathon effort my legs felt increasingly like they were running through mud. About a quarter mile into the seventh mile I relented and decided I would do the final 3.7x miles at recovery pace and I took my third GU to help me on my way. Rather like the projected marathon pace miles this also did not go according to plan. I struggled to maintain eleven minute mile pace and was feeling pretty crappy. I managed to trudge through the last few miles and completed the eighteen miles in an average mile split of 09:02, making Sunday the slowest long run ever! Roll on September!

Inevitable

2011-08-12T00:21:00.007+01:00

Inevitable...that's the first word that went through my mind as the right side of my torso and right palm hit the ground...hard. The pavements here in Baltimore are not especially well maintained and the first week here I must have almost fallen at least a few times a day. My running form was such that I was actually less likely to trip when running. I still have had a few close calls though, especially on Key Highway.
I picked myself up fairly quickly and carried on with some pain but manageable. It was obviously the adrenaline. When I got home the pain manifested itself very forthrightly! Above is a picture of the clean up operation.

Shawnee

2011-08-09T02:23:00.018+01:00

Last weekend my wife and I went camping with her parents in Pennsylvania near the town of Bedford between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Perusal of google maps revealed a state park a few miles from the camp site that looked like a good place for an eighteen mile run on Sunday morning. One thing you learn very quickly about the landscape of central PA is the rolling hills. My run was no different and the first few miles certainly did nothing to disavow that. However, one hill...ahem...mountain was especially cruel. This particular sadist went by the name of Tull's hill.
A couple of miles later and I entered the park to my left. The park is about fifteen miles east of the Flight 93 crash site on 11 September 2001. The morning started cloudy and reasonably cool, about 70F/21C, but both the temperatures and humidity were rising. Following a diversion on a trail that took me back out near the park entrance, via a steep hill that almost forced me to walk, I returned to the park road and followed this largely downhill to the centre of the park and crossed the bridge that traversed lake Shawnee. By now I had ran 10.66 miles and decided I and better turn back or I would be doing considerably more than eighteen miles. I had consumed two GU energy gels at the five and ten mile points and felt pretty fresh. Doubling back proved pretty uneventful and I felt fresh enough to eschew taking my third GU.
The hills did take their toll on the pace and I increased the effort a little on the hills but did not see the point in thrashing myself on an increasingly hot and humid day; likewise I did not attempt to claw back the time on the downslope, deciding it would be better to save the quads for some squats or a tempo session. I covered 18.25 miles in 02:42:13, or 08:53 pace.

Kojo Nnamdi and barefoot running

2011-08-05T15:49:00.010+01:00

I was in the car yesterday returning from DC, where my wife had a job interview and we turned on the radio to listen to NPR. We are big fans of NPR! Anyway, the Kojo Nnamdi show was on and he had an interesting segment on barefoot running. His interviewees included Chris MacDougall, author of Born to Run. You can listen by clicking on the Kojo Namdi show link. The best tip I took from it was to imagine you are running on the spot. It is a good way to practice running in a barefoot manner and land on your mid to forefoot. The best quote came at the end, I think from MacDougall, 'the goal is not to run barefoot, the goal is to run efficiently and injury free and running barefoot is one of the best ways to achieve that.' Some have a certain fetishistic attitude to running barefoot, which I believe might have something to do with i's fashionability rather than its utility. Another good point from one of the other interviewees was that if someone approached him for advice on running barefoot who was already an efficient and injury free runner he would question why they wanted to run barefoot. In other words, barefoot is a means to and end, not an end in itself. However, the feeling of running barefoot on occasion does feel good!

Phew! Glad that's done.

2011-08-03T20:04:00.006+01:00

The heat and humidity continue unabated. However, I continue to log the miles and I have not had to bail on a run. Last week's schedule included a tempo session of nine miles with four at tempo pace. There is much debate on what tempo/lactate threshold pace is; for me it is whatever you consider half-marathon effort.
I got out the door reasonably early at a little after 7am to beat the worst of the conditions. The first two miles went okay and my first tempo effort mile elapsed in 06:44, mile two was a surprisingly fast 06:29. Now things got interesting. To prevent me from chasing numbers, that would be completely unattainable in the conditions I adopted the strategy of ignoring the Garmin until I heard the lap beep and run by feel.. This worked well and I felt 'comfortably uncomfortable' after the first two miles. The third mile was brutal and I began to feel awful pretty quickly and was glad to hear the lap beep go at 06:34. Mile four did not get much better and I was mighty pleased when the lap beep sounded and I managed a split of 06:57.
The average heart rate for the tempo section was 171. This is not especially high and I would consider it only marginally high if you wanted to sustain the effort for 13.1. How rotten I felt really emphasised how high humidity undermines the body's ability to dissipate heat through the evaporation of sweat. Before completing the cool down miles I had to sit down on a piece of decorative marble outside an office building and watch as a pool of sweat formed at my feet. Once I felt less nauseous I zipped up the man suit and did the cool down miles. Needless to say I am looking forward to September and I trawl Groupon daily for discounted temporary gym membership so I can bask in the glow of an air conditioned atmosphere. I never thought I would ever desire running on a treadmill!

Racing plans

2011-07-27T22:04:00.006+01:00

My last race was the Sportsworld five mile classic. There's been a few races here that look good but most were in the first two weeks of moving here and I had rather more pressing things on my mind like, finding a job and unpacking boxes. And spending as little money as possible. Since then I have had time to reflect on what races I might compete in for the remainder of 2011. A marathon is the highest priority and I would like to secure a PB. Thereafter anything else is to help realise the marathon goal.
To date I have decided the target Martathon will be the Harrisburg Marathon on 13 November. This is a relatively small race with less than 1,000 participants in 2010. It has received favourable reviews on Marathonguide.com and it is quite cheap at $55. Compare that to the Baltimore running festival expecting $85 for the half marathon! It is also a very fast course and appears almost completely flat. The Harrisburg half marathon takes place on 11 September and would be a good opportunity to gauge both my fitness and the course. At the moment I have no other plans to run other races but would like to do so. Unfortunately, prohibitive race fees, like that for Baltimore prevent that. It also seems many races are charity organised with high fees to cover both race race organisation and raise funds, which is fair enough, but I have serious reservations about their ability or willingness to cater for the serious runner, especially the unemployed serious runner. The local running club scene and accompanying races appears quite weak but I continue to explore; I suppose it is one of the exciting things about living in a new place.

Druid Hill Park

2011-07-25T02:09:00.013+01:00

The second Week of my Pfitzinger and Douglas up to seventy miles per week schedule went pretty well. However, Sunday morning's sixteen mile run with eight at projected marathon pace was changed to a long slow run. The build up to all this was a series of general runs at marathon pace plus 15 to 25 per cent and two short recovery runs.
I decided as Sunday's would be a long slow run in high temperatures I better introduce a new route. This would take me via the historic Mount Vernon district and into Druid Hill Park. The first two miles from Patterson Park to the inner harbour are primarily downhill, then the next two and a half miles though Mount Vernon are uphill to the park entrance. The hills do not end there. The park perimeter is entirely hills with very little flat sections; you are either going down or up steep hills. A benefit of the section of the park is the thick tree cover, especially on the west and north perimeter, very welcome when temperatures are over 90F/32C.

I had hoped to supply my own pictures of the run; however, losing the camera cable of my very old digital camera in the move, and continued unemployment preventing me buying a new camera means the two snaps below of Mount Vernon and Druid Hill Park, come respectively, courtesy of cityskyscrapers.com and wikipedia. The street in the centre of the first picture is North Eutaw steet runnng north to the Druid Hill Park entrance. It's a very nice street and reminds you of the European influence on America's older cities.

Mount Vernon

Druid Hill Park

Trigger Point Grid Foam Roller

2011-07-19T03:41:00.008+01:00

Moving continents and associated moving costs focusses the mind on what you really need and what can/should be thrown in the bin. Well, that's what happened to my foam roller. As it happens a foam roller is a crucial piece of my running kit and keeps me on the road. Foam rollers are cylinders or half cylinders of hard foam, over which you roll your muscles, allowing you to stretch muscles, stimulate Myofascial tissue release and encourage blood supply to the affected areas. I find this treatment especially effective at treating Iliotibial Band Syndrome and warding off the general effects of Delayed Onset of Muscular Soreness. As a bonus, any of the exercises you do using a foam roller are quite effective core exercises. A wide range of instructional videos are found on Youtube.

The roller I threw out was more than a year old and was not made of high density EVA and so was no longer providing the benefits once had.
Consequently I was five weeks without a foam roller and my running form was beginning to disintegrate. Additionally, my muscles were increasingly tightening and aches and pains were becoming more apparent. A few weeks ago I was standing in a queue for a considerable time and my quads had become so tight that bending at the knee to walk was a struggle for the first few steps.
Hence, the search for a new foam roller began. I settled on the Trigger Point Grid Foam Roller.

This roller differs from most other rollers in a number of respects.
1. It is hollow, which makes it good for travel, allowing you to fill the hollow tube with clothes.
2. The tube is made of high density plastic, rendering it much more durable.
3. As can be seen from the photo above the rubber surface covering the plastic tube has varying degrees of density to mimic a massage from fingertips, palms, and thumbs. The marketing guff refers to this as 'distrodensity'.

I consider this primarily marketing guff. However, the durability of this foam roller is very appealing and it has worked just as well as my previous roller.
One point of note however, it its relative shortness at 13 inches. If you're new to foam rolling you might find coordinating your body with the roller such that you don't fall off it is a little challenging at first but is something you should adapt to with time. Overall, I would give this a five star rating and while ten to fifteen dollars more expensive than other it will last much longer.

Pros and cons of running with Uncle Sam

2011-07-12T02:29:00.008+01:00

Since I have moved to the United States in search of work I have reflected on a few occasions on the pros and cons of running in my new hometown of Baltimore Maryland.

Pros

1. New town and potential routes to explore brining a much needed rejuvenation of motivation.
2. Lack of dogshit; yes, that's right, people here actually clean up after their animals and bring plastic bags with them to collect their beloved pet's deposits. Ireland and particularly Dubliners could learn from this!
3. Responsible dog owners. Dog owners here actually walk their dogs on a leash and will actually restrain the dog when it gets in your way or attempts to savage you! This was illustrated twice in the four weeks I have been here when a dog did indeed attempt to savage me! Meanwhile in Ireland dogs would roam free and the owner would barely acknowledge the consequences of not restraining their pet while it attempted to take a chunk from your calf!
4. Polite pedestrians. On many occasions in Dublin I would literally have to barge and push my way through pedestrians on footpaths who fail to acknowledge that maybe waking three or four abreast on a footpath and refusing to share the footpath is a little rude. Here however, they will momentarily slow down and step aside allowing you to pass, apologising for being in the way at all and let you pass.
5. Cyclists with brains. Rather like pedestrians, cyclists will observe the fundamentals of civilised behaviour and yield to pedestrians if they are on the footpath. Meanwhile in Dublin I at least once a week forced a cyclist off their bike on a footpath because I refused to tolerate their ignorance, eliciting more than a few verbal exchanges where I would tiresomely explain the etymological origin of FOOTpath and the differences between it and a cycle lane.
6. Drivers. Drivers here are certainly no angels and they seem especially fond of multi-tasking while they drive; their favourite extra-curricular activities while driving appear to be speaking on their phones and/or eating. However, I would say on the whole they are better than Dublin drivers; albeit not an especially challenging accomplishment. This however, is tempered by the knowledge that Maryland drivers were recently ranked amongst the worst drivers in the US.
7. Efficient washing machines. I am not expert on washing machines but they are far more economical here. To wash an entire load of stinky running gear I place the load in the washing machine for a ten minute cycle in cold/lukewarm water and hey presto it's done!

Cons
1. There is nothing even remotely approaching the Phoenix Park here in Baltimore. I was always conscious I was spoilt living within a mile of a park of the quality of Phoenix park and moving here has only confirmed that.
2. Baltimore is quite famous for its murder rate and crime, most famously depicted by The Wire and Homicide: life on the street. This became obvious to me when on one of my first runs I got a little lost at the end of the run and while I was only about a quarter of a mile from home was in a scene straight from The Wire! In short, there is little room for error when running in Baltimore and one wrong turn can take you somewhere a very white Irishman should never find himself; especially wearing clothes that make him look as intimidating as Napoleon Dynaminte!
3. The heat and humidity! Yesterday the temperature sensor topped at 104F/40C! What is even worse is the humidity and dewpoint. I now know more about the effects on humidity and dewpoint on running than I ever cared to know! The saturation of the air with moisture inhibiting sweat's ability to evaporate and maintain the body's temperature. This morning, even getting out before 7am, the four miles at half-marathon effort came out a little slower than marathon pace on the other side of the Atlantic.

On the whole I am enjoying running here and looking forward to getting back into full marathon training, which began with today's nine miles with four at half-marathon effort. I would have had some photos of the new hood to go with this post but I have not yet found my digital camera USB cord to transfer photos to the computer-one of the joys of moving, losing things in the packing/unpacking!

Saucony Kinvara review

2011-07-11T14:09:00.001+01:00

When I moved to the Nike Lunaglide from the Asics 2100 series I did so to experience running in a lighter shoe that provides only enough support that you require. I really like Nike Lunaglides and would say that most of the marketing guff is actually largely accurate.
However, for at least six months now I have been considering moving to a much more minimalist approach and I have read quite alot about minimalist and barefoot running. My own conclusion is that you should move to as minimal an approach as is sensible for your own biomechanics and running goals, which can be anything from very supportive footwear to none at all. I considered Newtons, Vibram five fingers, Inov-8 and other shoes. Since this spring there has been a considerable expansion in the plethora of minimalist shoes, and based on reading others' reviews I went with Saucony's offering - the Kinvara.
The Kinvara's at 7.7ozs are very light. The heel to toe drop, the primary indicator of a shoe's minimalist profile, is four millimetres; this compares to a more conventional twelve to fifteen millimetres in most shoes.

The Kinvara, while being relatively minimalist, does retain generous cushioning. This provides those who wish to undertake a moderate move to minimalist running with reassurance and also provides you with the confidence that long runs are possible, even up to marathon distance. This is something I have not tested completely yet as I am still in post marathon reduced training, but I have done up to sixteen miles in them with no trouble.
The upper is very light and comfortable and is a light soft fabric mesh covered with a very thin plastic like covering.

I have read some reviews' concerns about the durability of the upper, but approaching 200 miles my uppers remain completely intact and I am hoping they remain that way for at least another 300 miles.

One area where the Kinvara does let you down a little is the undersole. While the centre of the forefoot and the heel are well protected, in an effort to make the shoe as light as possible the sole is only covered in parts by hard plastic and the remainder is not very durable exposed eva foam. This can caused premature wear, especially on the outside of each mid and forefoot section where most mid to forefoot runners' feet will initially land. You will however note in the picture one or two puncture wounds and a small pebbled lodged in the undersole.

The Kinvara is an excellent lightweight shoe that can both be a racing shoe and general trainer for many runners. However, a word of caution, for those not accustomed to forefoot running it is wise to transition slowly into the shoe and it is likely they will initially suffer some sore calf muscles until they adapt.

Sportsworld Five Mile Classic

2011-05-16T19:57:00.000+01:00

My first race ever was the five mile race that constitutes part of the Adidas Race Series that annually build up to the Dublin Marathon; this was back in July 2007 and was the only five miles race I have done. Consequently, my five mile 'PB' was a tad soft and Sportsworld's Five Mile Classic in Terenure was a good opportunity to change this.
As it took place on Sunday at 10am I decided it was easier to run the 4.5 miles to the start as a warm up than to negotiate Dublin's Byzantine transport 'system'. I got to the start line with a little over five minutes to spare and we were off exactly at 10am. The course was a double loop of quiet roads of Terenure and begins with a gentle downhill gradient allowing a fairly comfortable 06:03 opening mile split. By now I was passing a considerable number of people who had set off too fast.
The second mile ended with the first climb up the loop's hill, which was a gentle enough but was into a very stiff headwind and resulted in a 06:10 split. The majority of the third mile took us to the top of the incline and ended on the flat stretch at the start, which combined with the stiff headwind slowed me to a 06:21 split; encouragingly I continued passing people. The fourth mile largely covered the same route as the first mile with a corresponding split of 06:03 and feeling strong. The fifth mile would be largely uphill against that stiff breeze and I began to suffer! Here I encountered a runner closing on me in a blue singlet and on about a dozen occasions he attempted to overtake me and I responded in kind; this continued for at least two thirds of a mile and we both passed about six others but the breeze's strength increased and eventually I buckled and he was gone, as were a number of those we has passed in the preceding half mile. Mercifully the end was in sight and the last mile split of 06:31 but a HR approaching 180 illustrated the difficulty of that last mile.
I crossed the line in 31:19, good enough for sixtieth place in a high quality field. Not what I had hoped for but with the windy conditions and considering I completed a marathon less than two weeks previously I could not be entirely disappointed.

The hills of Antrim - Belfast marathon 2011

2011-05-08T21:56:00.005+01:00

Somewhere near the end, evidenced by the single gel, empty bottle and general countenance of someone who's had a rough day!

The location of our hotel was ideal in relation to the marathon start on Donegall place outside the city hall. Following a five minute walk I was at the start line and near the front. Following a brief chat with a fellow Fetchie; see fetcheveryone.com for more on that, we were off on time.
My strategy was to go out at 06:40 mile split pace, and following completion of the hills just after halfway, to increase the pace and aim for sub 02:55 if I was still feeling strong.

The first six miles were largely according to plan with splits of 06:41, 06:38, 06:46, 06:40, 06:41, 06:43. We had headed east away from the city and then turned west back into the city past the airport and moved west away from the city centre whereupon the hills began. Miles seven, eight and nine elapsed in 06:41, 0649 and 06:45. By now we had passed the infamous Shankill and Falls road areas of west Belfast. The hills were also tougher than I had anticipated; none were especially steep but were relentless and did have the occasional steeper section.

Miles ten, eleven and twelve passed in 06:58, 06:42 and 06:59. I was now longing for the end of the hills and was struggling to make pace a little without the heart rate going into the 170s. Going up the Antrim road with Cavehill off to our left I could smell the end of the hills. Here I encountered what I do so often on my training runs; an idiotic cyclist. He was acting as support for a runner but he was not exactly the most deft of individuals when it came to handing materials to the runner and broke and swerved all over the place. He did this trick just as a runner tried to go past him, causing the runner to take evasive action and pull up, which halfway into a marathon is not ideal!

For another quarter mile I stayed behind him but slowly closed and had seen him get in people's way during this time. I resolved that I would not deal with this nonsense and so as I closed to within a couple of yards let out a bellow of 'get off the f*cking course!!' as loud as my lungs would allow. This had the desired effect as he radically veered off to the right. A mile later and we had passed the halfway mark in 01:29:10; not great but the hills ended in another mile.
As we turned right shortly after fourteen miles we had come to the top of the hills, seven miles of them! Here you saw how high we were when you looked east out across the entire city with Belfast lough to the left and Stangford lough and the Irish sea easily within view a little to my right.

Here you begin a steep descent, giving away all the elevation gain of the previous seven miles in less than two miles. At the bottom of I was not feeling at all confident about staying on sub three pace and my legs felt like they did at the beginning of the Newton hills in Boston last year. Accordingly the mile split went north, miles eighteen, nineteen and twenty in 07:03, 07:17, 07:22 respectively. Now I was done! We were now off to the left of the M2 motorway and then moved onto a rather nice cycle pathway but the wind was an additional obstacle now. By now I had slowed significantly towards eight minute miles. However, my heart, lungs and head felt good and the HR dropped into the 150s. Additionally, I was now talking away to other runners, including some who I had briefly chatted to earlier in the race. Talking is not something I can normally do at this stage in a marathon!

In the final three miles the legs continued to tighten and the pace slowed. Mile twenty-five involved a brief left hand turn into Ormeau park, where the race would ultimately end, then back onto Ormeau road, which was a hill I was not expecting. Finally the last mile down Ravenhill road took us back into the northside of Ormeau park and through the finishing suit in 03:11:06.

I was not exactly happy with this time to say the least but I was sanguine about the whole thing, knowing that I can and will do better. However, I knew exactly why I was not prepared in this race and will need to do consistent core and strengthening work to improve my running economy and enhance my endurance. To use a motoring analogy, I have a powerful engine but one of a 4X4 and not a Toyota Prius, and the chassis of a Cold War Lada.

Some brief comments on the race generally; it was very well organised, especially considering it had 16,000 relay participants. This was handled by primarily having the relay runners go off to the right down a changover chute thereby avoiding congestion with the marathon runners and it was also a nice way to include crowd support along the way. The medal was quite a nice one.

Ante Belfast

2011-04-30T12:34:00.005+01:00

Off to Belfast tomorrow morning. First stop will be to the city hall to collect the race number and check out the expo. I still have not settled on a definite race plan. Originally I had harboured thoughts of going for sub 02:55 but I think that I am just not quite at that level yet. Consequently, my current thinking is to aim for 06:40 splits to mile fourteen, which will take me to the end of a long gentle gradient from mile seven. Thereafter I will let the next two miles, which give away all the elevation gain in less than two miles, speed up to the low 06:30s and then assess how I feel about pushing on in the final ten miles and whether sub 02:55 is possible.
In short, if I go sub 02:55 I expect to run a healthy positive split; if not, I hope to run an even paced race and come away with a PB at worst. Some might consider this overly cautious but the marathon does not reward zealotry very often and you cannot compensate for an unrealistically ambitious race plan by going out and running another marathon in two weeks.

Training summary: In the fourteen weeks before my three week taper I averaged fifty-six mile weeks. Every week had a marathon paced run, beginning with runs of ten miles with six at projected marathon pace and peaking at fourteen mile runs with ten at marathon pace. The first seven weeks also had interval sessions of 5x1k at 10k to 5k pace and tempo runs of 2x3 miles at half marathon pace with a two mile warm up and cool down and one mile recovery between sets. The remainder of the week was a long slow run and three recover runs and one day of complete rest.

The weather for Monday looks pretty good so far, the blemish on this outlook being a stiff easterly breeze of 13-16 mph. Thankfully the majority of the course is a north-south loop and the longest we will be consistently travelling east is the first three to four miles, so I am hopeful the wind will not adversely affect strategy or pace.

The taper

2011-04-23T20:03:00.005+01:00

I have never had a very clear approach to tapering and generally reduce my mileage significantly in each of the three taper weeks on an ad hoc basis. The first taper week still registered fifty miles and I retained both tempo and marathon paced run.

12 April: nine miles with 2x2 at tempo pace of 06:12 minute/miles. Average HR for the tempo miles was 162.

15 April: ten miles with six at PMP with average mile splits of 06:31 with an average HR of 162.

The second week reduced to thirty miles and by the end of this week I felt significantly more energised. Notwithstanding the reduced mileage I aimed to maintain a similar proportion of intensity and quality sessions to that of a full week. Consequently, the following sessions took place

19 April: seven miles with three tempo miles at an average pace of 06:25 and average HR of 166.

21 April: Nine miles with five MP (marathon pace) miles at 06:41 and average HR of 161.

This was the last significant marathon paced session of this training cycle and I decided it would be good to reduce the pace a little to see what it felt like and I was a little disappointed; perhaps it was the early morning nature of the run or 'taper madness' but it felt a little more uncomfortable than I would have liked; maybe this was my 'crap' taper run. I don't have an answer for this, I think it is primarily a psychological thing, but almost everyone has a bad taper run, where they doubt their own training and ability to run race pace for 26.2. It is at this point that I am hoping the experience of running six previous marathons and experiencing similar doubts will allow me to largely dismiss them.

In other news the fastest run marathon ever took place in Boston, but does not qualify as a world record!

Watch more video of 2011 Boston Marathon on flotrack.org

Approach to taper

2011-04-11T21:18:00.004+01:00

Training of late has been very consistent and regular, such that I think for further adaptations to occur I would need to alter the workouts. However, it's now taper time, so that can wait for the next training cycle!

29 March : Ten miles with six at tempo pace. Tempo paced mile average splits of 06:21 with an average HR of 166.

1 April: Windy today! Thirteen miles with ten at projected marathon pace (PMP); PMP average mile splits of 06:46 with an average PMP miles HR of 164. A bit high - worked a little too hard against the wind.

5 April: Eleven miles with six at tempo pace. Average tempo pace mile split of 06:12 and average HR of 166.

8 April: Fourteen miles with ten at PMP. Average PMP mile splits of 06:35 and an average HR of 162. Quite a stiff breeze when moving east.

This week the taper begins, and not a day too soon; I am beginning to feel tired at the beginning of runs, nevermind at the end and think it's definitely time that the affect of recent weeks' training are fully absorbed, which I hope is what the taper will achieve.

Brief update

2011-03-27T20:21:00.004+01:00

A quick update on training progress as measured by the key quality sessions.

Thursday 17 March: Thirteen miles with nine marathon paced miles at an average mile split of 06:35 and average heart rate of 162bpm for the marathon paced miles.

Friday 25 March: Thirteeen and a half miles with ten marathon paced miles with average splits of 06:34 and an average HR of 162bpm for those miles.

Travel for work to Cyprus this week required me to can the scheduled tempo Tuesday run. However, a nice seven miles along Cyprus's southern Mediterranean coast in the sunshine was a nice alternative!

In other news, I eventually bit the bullet and registered for the Belfast marathon.

This morning's eighteen mile long slow run, incorporating a number of miles along the Royal Canal way was a nice change from the usual route. However, the local savages' impression that setting a cat on fire and leaving the poor creature's petrol stenched remains on the canal side is an appropriate Saturday night activity took a little from the experience; something that living in D7, D15 renders an unsurprising occurrence.

Tempo sessions commence

2011-03-16T21:21:00.004Z

Last week brought the first of the Tuesday morning tempo runs. The Hanson schedule places the speedwork intervals in the initial weeks of the training plan. I am unsure of the approach's rationale as most plans place the speedwork in the latter half of a plan.
This workout consisted of two a mile warm up, three miles at tempo pace, one mile warm up, followed by another three miles at tempo pace and a two mile cool down. My aim was to achieve an average heart rate greater than 165 for the tempo portions. I ran the six miles at an average heart rate of 166 producing average mile splits of 06:15.
This pace would have its price. I delayed my marathon paced session until Friday and it was a tough session. I ran twelve miles with nine at marathon pace, producing an average marathon mile pace of 06:39 and average heart rate of 164. I felt tired during this run and the perceived effort was higher than recent weeks. I am assuming this is to be expected, especially considering I am now at the training cycle peak. All things considered I remain happy with my training and hope things continue and I can avoid injury.

Marathon paced runs and heart rate

2011-03-09T13:10:00.004Z

The key training runs in the last three weeks have been the marathon paced session on Thursdays. These are the primary benchmark I use and the data emerging is encouraging.

17 February: 11.75 miles, with eight marathon pace miles averaging 06:40 and an average HR (heart rate) of 163 for the PMP (projected marathon pace)miles.

24 February: 11.8 miles, with eight marathon pace miles averaging 06:37 and an average HR of 161 for the PMP miles.

Friday 4 March, 12.56 miles, with nine marathon pace miles averaging 06:36 and an average HR (heart rate)of 162 for the PMP miles.

The plan for the next two weeks is to build the marathon pace runs to include ten miles at PMP, switch the Tuesday sessions from internal to tempo pace and complete a twenty mile long slow run in each of the next two weekends.

In each of these PMP sessions I effectively train by heart rate and anticipate that the average HR I can sustain for 26.2 is between 163 and 166. This is evidenced by my last three marathons, each of which recorded an average HR of 166. The HR is the objective feedback I now monitor in these sessions and which dictate the pace. I also ensure that any recovery runs' average HR does not exceed 140 and aim for closer to 130.
I also feel this approach can identify overtraining or sickness if you are recording slower times for an equal or higher HR than recent workout suggest should be the case. This method should* prevent any silly notions entering a runner's mind about pushing when it would be counterproductive.

* This is subject to the runner not allowing their constant need for self-validation from undermining their objectives - aka self-sabotage'.

Cupid's 10k-ish dash 13 February 2011

2011-02-21T19:23:00.007Z

The week commencing 6 February ended with a 10k road race, which I thought would be a good test of fitness. I did this race back in 2009 and was the first time I broke forty minutes for 10km.
I got to the start line area and began to fear for the competency of the race organisation when they told me they had ran out of timing chips. This immediately made me wonder if they had ordered a finite number of chips and when they 'sold out' decided, 'hey let's take people's money regardless of our ability to deliver the service sold, it's no big deal, "sure it's grand"'; that time honoured Irish phrase oftentimes deployed to trivialise and dismiss legitimate concerns. Furthermore distributing the goody bags at the start/registration made me wonder where they thought people were to store these during the race, which ended one mile away from the start line. Consequently, I decided that was a problem I did not need to handle and decided to forego the good bag, which in the main are simply receptacles for advertising.
Surprisingly the race began on time. However, there was no timing mat at the start, so even those with chips were only ever going to get a gun time rather than a nett time. Quite why they bothered with chips at all was now something of a mystery.
Anyway, I should provide some commentary on running and end the rant.
This year we started with a bit of a drag up Acres road and left onto Chesterfield road. I quickly settled into twelfth place, well off the back of the lead back of about eight. Before the second mile elapsed I moved up to tenth place. However, I think I simply gave the two I passed a bit of a 'gee' up as they slowed for me to pass them and they soon passed me again. I completed the first three miles in 06:16, 06:17 and 06:16 respectively; 'there will be no PB today!'
By now I was in thirteenth place again, and as things transpired it would be where I would finish, largely running on my own with a couple of runners 100 yards behind me and the two I earlier interchanged places with about 200 yards ahead.
From here on the course became especially tough, running up and down hills, but the worst was yet to come; the long hard slog up the Kyber pass. This was very tough and you ran up this hill for two-thirds of a mile before doubling back to the finish. This approach made for interesting 'logistics' when larger numbers were coming up and down the hill simultaneously; this combined with the necessity to weave in and out between pedestrians with baby buggies and dogs (some on leashes, some not) made the finishing stretch more like part obstacle course, part game of 'British bulldog'! I was not sure who I was more frustrated with; people's obvious lack of courtesy and respect for the fact that a sporting event was taking place, or the organisers' completely insouciant attitude to it all.
On reaching the finish line I immediately knew, without ever looking at a GPS, that the course was short by at least 100-200 metres when I saw that I came within three seconds of a PB at 38:45. I finished the second three of six mile in 06:19, 06:26 and 06:31. The short nature of the course provided a re-adjusted time of 39:15. Considering the course's difficulty I was reasonably happy with my performance, however, the same could not be said for the organisers'. All in all, a good excuse for a tough workout but I'll not be back.

Week six: complacency and the basics

2011-02-18T20:57:00.005Z

Not a great week this week - week commencing 6 February. The Tuesday interval session was very hard work and I did not hit what I consider 10k pace-06:05-06:10 min/mile pace. I put this down to a 'bad day the office' - they happen. I was confident the rest day on Wednesday would see me right for the marathon pace session on Thursday morning. I was wrong.
Thursday morning arrived and the high heart rate, into the 150s, on the warm up was the first bad sign. The first marathon pace mile elapsed in 06:55 with a HR of 163 and felt higher; ideally for this pace I would expect the HR not to exceed about 155. I struggled through the next two miles at less than marathon pace in the high 06:50s with an elevating HR. I decided I 'cannot do this for another four to five miles' and cut the run short and hauled my chastened ass home.
On reflection I concluded that the likely cause of my poor workouts was complacency in my approach to hydration. So, the next day I went out, as so many runners do after a confidence knocking workout, irrationally chasing self-validation. However, having properly hydrated with a 'High 5' electrolyte mix before setting off I felt alot better. I completed seven miles with four at marathon pace. This produced average mile splits in the mid 06:30s and an average HR of 161. Crisis of confidence averted but a salutatory lesson in not being complacent about the basics!

Fifth week of Hanson

2011-02-10T20:54:00.002Z

Fifty-five miles the week beginning 31 January with a nice consistency on previous weeks' efforts. Tuesday's intervals session produced five 1000m repeats at between 06:03 and 06:12 min/mile pace. If can maintain this sort of pace for a full 10k it will produce a new person best.
The wind significantly affected Thursday's marathon pace session. It was blowing a gale but I managed average mile splits of 06:53 and working in accordance with heart rate worked well.
All this training should have a focus but my situation makes it difficult to commit to any particular event. Recently, however, I took a peek at the Belfast marathon site and was attracted to both the comparatively cheap price and the ability to register quite late. I had also considered the inaugural Kildare marathon but despite its proximity to where I live it would actually be significantly cheaper to travel to Belfast. Additionally, Belfast is a well established race and is apparently well organised. So, I still have not registered for a spring marathon but if I do any Belfast will likely be it.

Fourth week of Hanson

2011-02-02T18:56:00.002Z

Fifty-six miles this week, so building up slowly and nicely. Nothing especially different to report. The 1000m repeat/intervals were a little slower this week, but that's probably a good thing and probably more accurately reflect my 10k pace. The Thursday projected marathon pace run went exceptionally well; eleven miles with eight at marathon pace. The marathon pace miles averaged 06:37 minute/mile and an average heart rate of 163 - these are especially heartening and encouraging statistics. The remainder of the week included a recovery run on Friday, eight miles pretty easy on Friday and fourteen miles on Sunday morning.

Third week of Hanson

2011-01-23T17:44:00.002Z

Up to fifty-four miles this week, which is not exactly enormous but does leave me nice and fresh and I feel I recover well from any quality sessions. Two quality sessions again this week beginning with the 5X1000m at 10K pace. For the first time ever I completed each of these intervals in under 06:00min/mi pace. What was especially pleasing about this was that I felt I could have pushed out another couple at the same pace.
Thursday's marathon paced run miles within eleven miles were 6:42, 6:45, 6:30, 6:39, 6:42, 6:37, 6:34; these were nice statistics but running at 06:30 rather than the previous week's run in the evening was definitely tougher, especially the first two miles and the average HR was consistently north of 162, still sustainable but not as good as the previous week's 159.

Second week of Hanson

2011-01-16T20:49:00.003Z

This week was the second week of the Hanson training schedule and included fifty-two miles. The marathon paced run on Thursday had seven miles scheduled at projected marathon pace and I bookended them with two miles warm up and two miles warm downs. This workout went really well and I dipped down into the 06:30s for what felt like a marathon paced run. That the average heart rate for these seven miles was 159 supported this. This weekly run will be the primary indicator of progress or otherwise and this week was the first time I have even run 06:3X mile splits and feel I was running at marathon pace.
The 1,000 metre intervals on the Tuesday were tough but I did manage to maintain 10K or faster pace for each of them and the heart rate never exceeded a 166 average for each of these, indicating that perhaps I could have pushed a little harder. All in all a good start to the new training cycle. The lunaglides are due to pass 600 miles early next week and perhaps I need to replace them. They continue to feel responsive but the not insignificant DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscular Soreness) I experienced on Friday, especially in the adductors, indicate that they might be okay for slower runs but not for quality sessions.

2010 review and look forward to 2011

2011-01-05T20:03:00.003Z

The year just elapsed was a good one. I achieved my primary goal of a sub three hour marathon, although it looked touch and go for a while, especially after the tough day at the Cologne marathon. Also satisfying was the knowledge that I could complete two relatively fast marathons within five weeks of one another. However, the Cologne experience was humbling and made clear that I do not perform in any degree of heat, even as comparatively low as 21-23 degrees Celsius/72-76 degrees Fahrenheit.
The year also saw personal bests at all other distances raced. After breaking three hours at Dublin the other highlight of the year was running the Boston marathon. The whole experience was excellent and I would like the opportunity to do Boston again. It is not only a great race in itself but the course difficulty and the history make it extra special. However the debacle surrounding this year's entry might make this a challenge in itself beyond achieving the necessary qualifying time.
This year I used the Pfitzinger and Douglas up to seventy miles per week schedule for Boston, which I can certainly recommend. However, I found that the dearth of marathon paced miles and the emphasis on very short intervals to be something of a shortcoming. For Cologne/Dublin I effectively made my schedule up as I went along but significantly increased the number of marathon paced runs and lengthened speed intervals to at least 1000m repeats at 10K pace rather than the 3k-5k pace I was hitherto doing. I also ensured that every week contained a long slow run/long marathon paced run and a tempo/interval session, with the odd midweek progressive run up to sixteen miles in duration. Shorter recovery runs buttressed these quality sessions.
So for 2011 the primary goals are to better my marathon time and complete an ultra-marathon. However, my uncertain employment prospects and exact residency make it hard to commit to either, certainly in the first half of 2011. Consequently, my two goals might well have to wait until the second half of 2011. In the meantime I will need to hunt down some local shorter races; wherever local will be.

Hanson training schedules

2010-12-31T18:07:00.003Z

Recent weeks have been difficult to say the least and most of my runs until very recently have been a minutes per mile slower than usual. While it was very beautiful at times, especially in the Phoenix park, I was glad of the thaw when it came.
The uncertainty concerning both my employment prospects and residency have rendered it very difficult to commit to any spring marathon. Consequently there might be no marathon this spring.
However, while this undermines motivation I remain determined to build on the progress achieved in 2010. Recently I stumbled upon a training approach outlined in a recent edition of Runner's World that I think largely reflects my approach to marathon training throughout last summer and autumn. More information is available from the January 2011 edition of Runner's World. The schedule on the final page does look rather short on miles but it does not include warm up and warm down miles during marathon paced workouts and interval sessions. It's primary premise is that too much emphasis is ascribed to the long slow run. I think that while the emphasis on the long run is sometimes too much I would be reticent to embark on a programme with that many short 'long' runs. Perhaps any adaption/adoption of this plan would be practicable provided there was an incorporation of more sixteen mile runs? I was somewhat reassured that the runner profiled averaged sixty-five to seventy miles per week. Adopting a definitive schedule would allow me to reincorporate 'periodisation' into my training and provide a framework to sour my training.

December

2010-12-19T21:30:00.005Z

Back from three weeks in the US today. The respective mileage for each week was twenty-nine, fifty-one and thirty-nine, with a tempo session in each week and a marathon pace session in the second week. I am reasonably happy with this considering the first week involved work and a sore left knee, which seems to have largely sorted itself out.
Similar to Ireland the weather was really cold but drier. Additionally, in America they have encountered the revelation that pre-treating roads with salt and taking the necessary modest steps to prevent ice build up on pavements ensures people can go about their daily business without fear of injury or worse.
Last Tuesday was especially brutal. The air temperature was -5 heading out the door and the strong wind chill must have taken it down to double digits. It was so cold I completed the last two miles of the scheduled ten at marathon pace so I could be done quicker and warm up a little in the meantime. Chastened by this experience, and following enquiries concerning my sanity, I elected to stay indoors the following day when less extreme but not entirely dissimilar conditions prevailed.
To prepare myself for the vagaries of Irish 'ah, sure it's grand' syndrome when water begins to freeze, I got the devices below from the in-laws as a Christmas present. I think I will be using them sooner rather than later.

In other news I have managed to put on nine pounds in three weeks in the US! This was quite a shock as I did not feel as though I had put any weight on and do not look as though I have. However, multiple weighing scales all tell the same story; and this all before Christmas!! I will have to watch my diet for a while to ensure I get back down towards the more usual 160-163lbs.

New Year and new (escape) plans

2010-11-19T10:40:00.003Z

Four weeks now since the Dublin marathon and I am slowly getting back to peak mileage. This week I should hit fifty miles - about fifteen to twenty short of peak marathon training mileage. December might prove a difficult month, being in the US for much of it for work and holidays. However, I would be disappointed not to squeeze in fifty miles per week for the three weeks I am there.
I am essentially trying to maintain base fitness and some sharpness but I have not entered into or devised any explicit marathon training schedule. I am unable to commit to any spring marathon just yet; my uncertain employment situation in the New Year and plans to emigrate from what is now a protectorate of the European Commission and International Monetary Fund mean I cannot commit to any, either here or overseas.
So, the New Year will see me concentrate on shorter distances I think; local 10ks perhaps that I can sign up to on the day or with only a few weeks' notice. It's difficult holding back on entering full training when you have no race you are committed to but might be a good time to experiment or perhaps follow a 10K training plan with a nominal race date in mind.

Dublin Marathon 2010

2010-10-28T11:27:00.009+01:00

The conditions could not have been more perfect. Cool, bright sunshine and practically no wind. I got to the start line with plenty of time to spare and got much closer to the front that I have traditionally. The race began a few minutes late and we were off down Fitzwilliam Street and over O'Connell bridge in no time. Congestion this near the front was relatively minimal. On North Circular road, about four miles in, I took my second gel; I took one fifteen minutes before gun time.
Shortly afterwards we were in the Phoenix park, which initially involves running up Chesterfield Avenue. This is a gentle uphill gradient. A left turn onto Furze road and I was soon past the 10k mark in a little over forty-two minutes and right on schedule.
Anticipating the hill towards Ballyfermot from Chapelizod it always pays to allow your pace to increase for the next two miles through the park down the Glen road and out the Chapelizod road. These two miles elapsed in 06:34 and 06:38.
By now I was also convinced the mile markers were not very accurate. While a 'Garmin mile' is never the same as a statute mile, the Garmin was bleeping ten to fifteen seconds before I actually passed the marker - either that or the Garmin was on the blink. I put this thought to the back of my mind and kept going.
By now the sub three hour pacers, who had gone out rather fast were just ahead of a group of us and as we approached the half-way point we passed them. At mile fifteen I took another gel, the fifth of the morning and encountered a little bad patch. I resolved to suppress any negative thoughts and knuckled down. The next few miles were very uneventful and I spent much of it concentrating on the sub three pacer sign appendaged to the signlet of the pacer and his little group that joined the few people running around me. This is probably the toughest part of the course and is quite undulating with a small hill and then a larger hill on Roebuck road on the south side of the University College Dublin campus. I negotiated this part of the course better than I have done before and ran an even effort, evidenced by 06:40, and 06:39 mile splits sandwiched between 06:49, 06:46 and 06:53 mile splits, taking me into the last 10K.
As we crossed the UCD flyover I began to dare to believe that my goal was achievable. At this point last year I had to stop and stretch out my cramping hamstrings and I felt pretty terrible. This year I felt strong and confident I could knock out another 06:3x mile if necessary. However, I elected to keep knocking out 06:4xs and hope the wheels didn't suddenly fall off.
Coming up Merrion road and beginning the final 5K, things got a little tougher but not significantly so and was what you would expect to experience in the last three miles of a marathon. I was pleased to knock out three consecutive 06:50 splits to take me towards the finish line.

Photo by racepix.com: Crossing the bridge at Upper Grand Canal street just short of the twenty-five mile mark. No. 2506

Barring a disaster, or my paranoia about the Garmin being correct, I knew I was on for achieving my goal. As we rounded the corner onto College Green I felt a couple of mild cramp spasms and was unable to increase my pace. However, otherwise the final 06:50 mile did not feel any more difficult than the previous identical splits.

Throughout the race I had my Garmin set to display current mile split projection and split average HR. I always display these two pieces of data, reasoning that if you look after the mile splits the overall time looks after itself and I never know exactly how long I have been on a course until I cross the line. Consequently, I was surprised and delighted to see 02:57:xx on the finish line clock as I approached. My Garmin paranoia was unfounded!

Photo by Kim Forsythe: Quarter of a mile remaining and delighted!

I crossed the line in 02:58:05. Absolutely delighted!

The test

2010-10-17T21:28:00.002+01:00

This week, the second week of the three weeks between Koln and Dublin, totalled fifty miles. The main test this week was the ten miles on Saturday with five miles at tempo pace.
I approached this workout with a little trepidation, but if you are not a little apprehensive about a tempo workout then you are not doing then fast enough. It went surprisingly well and the tempo splits were as follows 6:10, 6:23, 6:24, 6:25, 6:11. The first was a bit fast, especially as it was slightly uphill. Normally the first tempo mile is the toughest and slowest, which conditions my willingness to hurt a little more in the first mile as I settled into the pace. Usually this results in a 06:3X split. The later than normal start for this workout might explain the fast time; I usually do this session on Friday morning at 06:30, rather than 10:00am on Saturday.
So far so good, but five miles at tempo is one thing but sixteen miles into a marathon might be a little different!

Hail Mary

2010-10-10T18:23:00.002+01:00

Having registered for Dublin in another attempt to go sub three I needed to determine how I would approach the three weeks between Koln and Dublin. I have settle on the following.

Week 1 now complete
Thursday four miles easy, Saturday six miles easy and Sunday ten miles easy. This week went pretty well and feel good but I think anything south of eight minute miles might be a different story!

Week 2
Tuesday eight miles with 100m x 8. Wednesday twelve miles easy. Thursday 6 miles easy. Friday ten miles with five at tempo pace. I will feel my way through this workout and bail if needed. Sunday fourteen miles, giving a weekly total of fifty-two miles.

Week 3
Tuesday six miles easy. Wednesday six miles with two miles at marathon pace. Friday six miles easy.

I am unsure if this will provide the balance between recovery and maintenance of sharpness. Hoping to get under three at Dublin is a bit of a hail Mary pass but worth a shot.

Koln 2010...a tough day at the office

2010-10-06T19:20:00.023+01:00

We arrived into Dusselforf airport at midday, following an hour delay at Dublin airport. The same day we went to the expo to collect my number. This was an impressive expo on two large floors. It was not much smaller than Boston.
On Sunday, race day, the race began at 11.30. This is the latest I have ever started a marathon and the heat was beginning to build. The forecast said a high of 23C. A bit warm but I still felt confident. Waiting on the sidelines for the handle bike race to begin and enter the 'red zone' for those intending to run the race in under 03:30 I spotted an Irish running celebrity in the form of Johnny Donnelly of runjohnnyrun.com fame. I thought he had almost finished his objective of running a marathon a month for four years for the Seachange charity, which provides microloans for communities in developing countries.
Uncharacteristically the race began ten minutes late but it was not too crowded at the start; the Germnans actually police the pace pens - fancy that! Consequently there was no one flying off at two minutes per mile pace faster than they could sustain over 5km nevermind over a marathon. Within no time we were crossing the Rhine and the first few miles went pretty well and right on target. Things were pretty uneventful for the first ten miles and I was changing places with the same five or six runners. Approaching the halfway mark took us back into the heart of the city centre and the support was excellent with people lined along each side of the street. The street was only about three or four runners wide and it was like running through a tunnel of noise. During the thirteenth mile I looked at my Garmin that registered a split pace of 06:11 but the HR remained fine. However, I backed right off and this mile, the fastest of the race at 06:40 also felt the easiest. I passed halfway in about 01:29:35.
A significant challenge at this time in the race was trying to take on water. It was quite warm now and the race organisers were providing water in plastic cups that split when you try and make a spout so you can drink while moving forward and avoiding pouring the water all over your face and up your nose. Perhaps this problem was what caused what was to happen a few miles later as I felt a few spasms in my right hamstring and then my left. I maintained pace until the nineteenth mile but then the wheels came off and my legs turned to lead. I am unsure if the cramps were related to my legs feeling increasingly heavy over the course of half a mile during mile nineteen. It was amazing how quickly I went from marathon pace to toast.

Photo by K Forsythe: All went south from here.

Suffice to say I knew there and then before I reached mile twenty that sub three was no longer possible. The final seven miles were something of a death march and felt longer than the previous nineteen. The crowd came into its own here and they provided great encouragement.

Photo by marathon-photo.com. Approaching the end

Photo by K Forsythe: About a mile and a quarter to go.

Rather surreally, as we crossed the Rhine again to approach the finish a guy dressed in a Devil outfit, complete with novelty rubber hand beckoned me to high five him. What crossed my mind was how appropriate as I felt like Hell at this point. Over the crest of the bridge, across the Rhine, a left turn and I was done. I finished in 03:12:17. Not a happy camper and my second slowest marathon. However, Koln is an interesting city and the race is one I would recommend. Well organised, fast, reasonably aesthetic route and very good support from the locals. You cannot beat the post race food either; black pudding, bread, coke and non-alcoholic beer!

Photo by marathon-photo.com. Cannot say I remember posing for this. Obviously delirious after the finish.

I choked down some of the black pudding and bread, coke and beer and thought to myself I better stop if I don't want to blow chunks all over the pavement, whereupon I almost stepped in the mess that someone else made making that very mistake. Oh, and post race shower facilites, which was great, so a quick shower and off to get an ice-cream and take a cable car ride.

Photo by K Forsythe: Cable car view of Koln

Well, I was pretty disappointed with my time so actually signed up to do Dublin in three weeks to have another shot at sub three. A long shot and not one everyone would recommend but worth a go considering the start line is less than two miles from my door. Now off to consult with Tim Noakes and Pfitziner & Douglas on how to run two marathons in proximity.

1) - 1m - 6:45(6:45/m) - 167bpm avge
2) - 1m - 6:49(6:49/m) - 171bpm avge
3) - 1m - 6:48(6:48/m) - 166bpm avge
4) - 1m - 6:46(6:46/m) - 169bpm avge
5) - 1m - 6:45(6:45/m) - 171bpm avge
6) - 1m - 6:47(6:47/m) - 171bpm avge
7) - 1m - 6:48(6:48/m) - 171bpm avge
8) - 1m - 6:48(6:48/m) - 172bpm avge
9) - 1m - 6:44(6:44/m) - 170bpm avge
10) - 1m - 6:47(6:47/m) - 171bpm avge
11) - 1m - 6:44(6:44/m) - 171bpm avge
12) - 1m - 6:49(6:49/m) - 170bpm avge
13) - 1m - 6:40(6:40/m) - 169bpm avge
14) - 1m - 6:45(6:45/m) - 171bpm avge
15) - 1m - 6:47(6:47/m) - 170bpm avge
16) - 1m - 6:49(6:49/m) - 170bpm avge
17) - 1m - 6:53(6:53/m) - 170bpm avge
18) - 1m - 6:54(6:54/m) - 171bpm avge
19) - 1m - 7:19(7:19/m) - 169bpm avge
20) - 1m - 7:48(7:48/m) - 163bpm avge
21) - 1m - 8:15(8:15/m) - 160bpm avge
22) - 1m - 8:30(8:30/m) - 158bpm avge
23) - 1m - 8:19(8:19/m) - 159bpm avge
24) - 1m - 8:15(8:15/m) - 159bpm avge
25) - 1m - 8:51(8:51/m) - 158bpm avge
26) - 1m - 8:37(8:37/m) - 158bpm avge
27) - 0.5m - 4:16(8:32/m) - 158bpm avge

Dublin half marathon

2010-10-06T19:11:00.003+01:00

I had contemplated racing this race but sanity prevailed and I reverted to the original plan of running it at projected marathon race pace. It was a pretty horrid day and was wet and cool.
I planned to run this as a negative split and took the first eight miles quite comfortably. The second half of this race is somewhat uphill but I felt comfortable increasing the pace and it was a great feeling to overtake dozens of runners on the hills. For the last mile I decided to increase the pace to half marathon pace and I must have overtaken seventy or eighty runners over the last mile and a half. A great confidence booster and I crossed the line on 01:28:16.

Split Summary
====
1) - 1m - 6:42(6:42/m) - 164bpm avge
2) - 1m - 6:46(6:46/m) - 167bpm avge
3) - 1m - 6:48(6:48/m) - 166bpm avge
4) - 1m - 6:47(6:47/m) - 167bpm avge
5) - 1m - 6:44(6:44/m) - 163bpm avge
6) - 1m - 6:45(6:45/m) - 162bpm avge
7) - 1m - 6:40(6:40/m) - 163bpm avge
8) - 1m - 6:47(6:47/m) - 168bpm avge
9) - 1m - 6:34(6:34/m) - 169bpm avge
10) - 1m - 6:41(6:41/m) - 166bpm avge
11) - 1m - 6:43(6:43/m) - 168bpm avge
12) - 1m - 6:37(6:37/m) - 171bpm avge
13) - 1m - 6:25(6:25/m) - 173bpm avge
14) - 0.23m - 1:19(5:43/m) - 172bpm avge

Bristol half marathon 5 September

2010-09-28T17:30:00.000+01:00

This half was my target half for the Cologne marathon build up and would be the gauge of my progression in this training cycle. We also got to visit some friend in the Bath-Bristol area.
The morning of the race required me to book a taxi. This particular taxi driver was excellent and got us extremely close to the start area, much closer than we got when I did Bristol two years ago.
The weather was not good, cold, wet and not in considerably windy. Proceedings began a few minutes after 9am. The crowded nature of the first mile and a half made it quite challenging and definitely accounted for most of the overrun. After this things settled down and I was hitting my splits nicely. However, the weather was not great at all. The wind increased but as we moved along the Avon river the wind was at our backs. Through the Avon gorge and under the famous Brunel suspension bridge the field began to thin out and we began the gentle incline towards turnaround point. As I approached about a mile from the turnaround I saw British Olympian Liz Yelling pass me on the return. She was on for a seventy minute marathon but a trapped nerve in her foot resulted in a DNF.
As we reached the turn around point I began to feel crap; no particular reason just not feeling comfortable and as we made the turn around the increasingly strong wind was right in our faces. It was also at this point I realised that the gradient on the out section is steeper than you realise, steeper than travelling north-west up Chesterfield road in the Phoenix park. Miles seven and eight dropped into the early 06:30s and I hit a low point here. By now I was considering the possibility of missing out on my target of a sub eight-five minute half. I knuckled down and managed to knock my splits back into the high 06:20s.
The last 5K of this course is brutal. It a constant up and down short sharp hills. We encountered the first of these ascending past St Mary Redcliffe cathedral. Around the back of this and back down another steep hill and across the Avon again and onto cobbles - brutal. The wet conditions actually meant that I was losing traction on the cobbles! Then up another hill to Queen's Square, which is a nice Georgian square and onto a dirt trail that borders the square lawn. Then back onto more cobbles and up another short sharp up and down hill past Broadmead shopping centre. Here another runner turned to me and said 'I thought they said this was a flat fast race!' I responded with a harrumph.
Then back onto more cobbles and the end was in sight. My wife took the picture below but I never registered her presence, and while it looks like I am smiling I can assure you it is a grimace.

Yikes! Look at that heel strike. So much for Chi running. I need to make more of an effort to avoid heel striking so much. It definitely saps my strength in longer races. As I rounded the statue of my compatriot Edmund Burke, who was one time MP for Bristol I was within half a mile of home and manged to up the pace and crossed the line in 01:25:28. Not quite was I was after and felt I should be able to run a half-marathon 60-90 seconds quicker. However, you can never complain too much when you secure a three minute PB.

1) - 1m - 6:33(6:33/m) - 165bpm avge
2) - 1m - 6:19(6:19/m) - 176bpm avge
3) - 1m - 6:21(6:21/m) - 172bpm avge
4) - 1m - 6:28(6:28/m) - 170bpm avge
5) - 1m - 6:23(6:23/m) - 172bpm avge
6) - 1m - 6:25(6:25/m) - 172bpm avge
7) - 1m - 6:24(6:24/m) - 171bpm avge
8) - 1m - 6:32(6:32/m) - 171bpm avge
9) - 1m - 6:32(6:32/m) - 171bpm avge
10) - 1m - 6:26(6:26/m) - 170bpm avge
11) - 1m - 6:23(6:23/m) - 170bpm avge
12) - 1m - 6:29(6:29/m) - 169bpm avge
13) - 1m - 6:29(6:29/m) - 169bpm avge
14) - 0.3m - 1:45(5:51/m) - 173bpm avge

Frank Duffy 10 mile race

2010-09-18T22:59:00.004+01:00

It's been a while since I posted and I need to provide a few race updates. I will begin with the Frank Duffy 10 miler on 21 August. I was looking forward to setting a nice healthy new PB at this distance and the weather was close to ideal; no wind and sunny but it would get warmer during the morning. The race began right on time at 10am. The first mile elapsed in 06:20, a little fast perhaps but okay. The splits are below

1) - 1m - 6:20
2) - 1m - 6:22
3) - 1m - 6:24
4) - 1m - 6:22
5) - 1m - 6:18
6) - 1m - 6:16
7) - 1m - 6:33
8) - 1m - 6:35
9) - 1m - 6:40
10) - 1m - 6:16
11) - 0.07m - 23

Miles seven, eight and nine were along the Glen road and the pace dropped, although I felt I increased the effort level so these splits were a little disappointing. I was especially glad that the final mile was my fastest and according to racefitness.org I am on for a sub three hour marathon performance. As can be seen from the very low heart rate in the last few miles I was either in the final stages of a fatal heart attack or I needed to replace the battery; thankfully it was the latter!
I crossed the line in 01:04:30, with average mile splits of 06:26, twenty-three seconds per mile faster than last year.

Nailed it!

2010-08-12T21:11:00.004+01:00

Image courtesy of picsdigger.com

On occasion there is a run that goes entirely as planned and even better than you could have anticipated; these are often the runs you do not think too much about and just do. Last night I completed one of those. It might have been the novelty of doing an entirely new workout that motivated me. It was forty minutes at an easy recovery pace, forty minutes at marathon pace plus thirty seconds per mile and forty minutes at marathon pace. The first forty minutes passed uneventfully, the second forty minutes was where I began to really enjoy the session and was especially pleased by how easy it felt, which a low HR evidenced. By now the heavy showers of earlier had dispersed and it was a beautiful evening, which the surrounds of the Phoenix park will always enhance. The third forty minutes at marathon pace felt great and I struggled to hold myself from running it too fast and the pace during this final third was somewhere between marathon and half marathon pace.
The total run distance was 16.34 miles. If the training effect that some claim is a consequence of this workout has any veracity, and it remains as enjoyable but challenging an experience as last night's session, I shall make it a consistent part of future schedules.
The splits are as follows 07:55, 08:23, 8:24, 8:44, 8:21, 7:16, 7:15, 7:13, 7:18, 7:18, 6:49, 6:37, 6:38, 6:42, 6:36, 6:22, 2:20.

Dublin 10k

2010-08-08T21:17:00.004+01:00

On 25 July I made my way out to Cherry Orchard for the Dublin 10k. Those who organised the recent Clontarf half marathon also organised this inaugural edition of this race. Consequently, I was had some reservations about this event but to be fair it was one of the best organised events I have ever participated in.
The race began at noon and began at exactly noon. Following a speedy initial quarter mile I settled nicely into race pace and the first mile elapsed in 06:05, so on target for a PB. Many of the hares that flew off at great speed were now dropping back and by the second mile I had settled into a group of three. At this point a guy in a blue singlet who I had momentarily passed drew level and suggested we work together. I am not sure what this intimates but assume it means taking turns pushing the pace and acting as a windbreaker. However, I was the one in poll position at all times and even when I slowed a little to let him take the front position he also slowed. Miles two and three passed in 06:07 and 06:15. At this point I was beginning to conclude that I was not hurting enough and pushed a little harder. By now the field had considerably thinned out and the other runner and I were completely on our own with only two runners visible about a third of a mile ahead.
I completed mile four in 06:16 and was increasingly concerned that I would miss out on a PB on a pretty flat course. Consequently as I passed the seven KM marker I noticeably increased my pace and left my companion behind. I had no idea of the etiquette when doing this but had concluded whatever working together meant I was not benefiting from it. This part of the race was along the recently paved section of the Royal Canal and the next couple of kilometres were quite lonely and no runners around me to provide a competitive edge I think undermined my pace a little. Mile five elapsed in 06:10. The last kilometre was against a stiff headwind and here I struggled to maintain pace but did mile six in 06:17. I passed the finish line on 38:42 giving me a new PB by ten seconds. Considering the stiff winds on parts of the course and running almost half the race on my own I was pretty happy.

Hurricane Clontarf

2010-07-04T21:46:00.004+01:00

Photo credit: Racepix 365

It was a tough day at the 'Irish multi-marathon' half marathon and it began with registration! I got to the registration venue seventy minutes before the race time and it was rather farcical. Their was registration on the day, which is always inviting chaos if you're not prepared for it. It took thirty-five minutes to get through the process and those who arrived later had significantly longer than that to get trough it. Additionally, not registering in advance was much more beneficial as you could simply walk past the queue of pre-registered runners and walk up to a table to have your details put into a laptop and away you go; hardly fair.
Anyway, on to the race, which was delayed by twenty-five minutes - I was surprised it was not longer considering. The Lord Mayor was due to start the race but despite it being delayed by twenty-five minutes he managed to pull a no-show and we passed him with his starter horn ambling down the Clontarf promenade about half a mile into the race!
The conditions were exceptionally windy but it was to our backs for the first four miles. Part of this out and back course is on two and a half miles of the Dollymount strand and the wind here was whipping sand up into our faces. The first four miles splits were 06:24; 06:29; 06:28 and 06:20. Here we moved back onto the road and had the wind full blown against us and a deluge of horizontal rain accompanied. Unsurprisingly, the fifth mile split reduced to 07:01. We then turned north-east again and had the wind at our back again with miles six elapsing in 06:22. About half a mile before the turn around the leader passed me heading in the opposing direction against the full force of the wind. From here on in, six miles remaining, the wind would be against us all the way and it would be brutal! Mile seven, 06:39; mile nine; 06:55; mile nine, 06:32. This comparatively fast mile was a result of turning left back to Dollymount strand with the wind coming across us off our right shoulder. It was a bizarre sight to see runners running diagonally and still struggling to remain on course. Back on to Dollymount strand and a right hand turn took us into the teeth of the wind with sand blowing straight up against us. My pace here dropped towards ten minute mile pace, while my HR remained above 165. The next two and a half miles were torture and as we approached the end of the sand section the wind worsened and runners had to run with their heads down and turned left and their right hand raised to protect their eyes. Miles ten, eleven, twelve, back towards Clontarf were, 08:43; 08:22 and 07:55 respectively. Here, back on the promenade a ignorant clown of a cyclist decided he would be the bowling ball to our pins and cut a scythe through three runners including me, while my left elbow indicated our opinion of his antics.
Mile thirteen elapsed in 07: 32. Here, the questionable organisation manifested itself again; as I approached the finish line I could not see it, and then with about forty feet remaining saw in emerge almost eighty degree to my right as I passed a large bush, necessitating a sharp right turn to cross the finish line in 01:32:14. I was pretty pleased with this time, considering the conditions, and I am confident had the weather been different could have finished eight or nine minutes quicker.
I really don't care much for finisher's medals but if you are to get one it would be nice if it indicated for what race you got it, rather than a very flimsy looking piece with '10K' inscribed on it; yes, '10k', not half-marathon. At this point I was just relieved to be finished and that was a coup de grace that brought a chuckle and a smile to my face. All in all, no PB and very questionable organisation but was a good workout in very challenging conditions.

Races planned

2010-06-30T10:48:00.003+01:00

Last week I signed up for he Koln marathon in Germany; this is a flat fast race. Following the Newton hills I decided I should reward myself with a flat fast marathon to follow Boston. The Koln marathon takes place on 3 October and achieving a sub three hour time is the primary focus of my efforts between now and then.
However, this has not prevented me from signing up to quite a few races in between, including; the Irish Multi-Marathon half marathon (4 July),the Adidas race series five mile (July 17), the Dublin city of sport 10K (25 July), Frank Duffy ten mile (August 21), the Bristol half marathon (5 September) and potentially the Dublin half-marathon (September 18).
This approach should, I hope, keep me motivated, confident and allow the incorporation of some really useful workouts in preparation for a serious assault on a sub three time.
Training of late has progressed pretty well, and conditions willing, this Sunday's half marathon should be a good test of where I am. This month's mileage total will be 234, which represents a lifetime second highest monthly mileage.

The plan

2010-06-16T16:57:00.003+01:00

It's been an obscenely long time since my last post so felt compelled to provide an update - however brief. I am back into marathon training and have complete weekly mileage of fifty-six, forty-three and fifty in the last three weeks. I am following an amended Pfitzinger & Douglas up to seventy miles schedule. There will be a significantly increased emphasis on running many more marathon paced runs. This will involve more sessions with marathon or faster pace miles each week, while being careful that the recovery runs are truly that. Each week will involve either three or four marathon pace miles in the mid week 'medium long run' or between eight and twelve miles at marathon pace within the weekend 'long slow run'. In addition to this race specific workout I will include a tempo and a 5k pace interval workout. Short recovery runs will intersperse these 'quality sessions'. I will take a flexible approach to this number of quality sessions per week and convert one of them into a recovery session if I feel my body warrants it. So, that's the plan for my autumn marathon. I have not signed up to any yet but Koln is a likely candidate. In the meantime I have entered the Irish Multi-marathon on 4 July. I hope it will not be as baking hot as it was last year.

One family 5K

2010-05-10T21:15:00.004+01:00

Following the pretty positive experience of competing in the ARC 10K I signed up for the 'onefamily' 5k run. Also, I have never run a 5k race so thought it was time to put that right. Onefamily is a charity that supports single parent families. The race started fifteen minutes late with about sixty or seventy runners toeing the starting line. There didn't appear to be very many competitive runners present, which my presence in the top five runners in the first few hundred metres confirmed. A few hundred metres into the race and a look at the Garmin demonstrated I was running at the suicidal pace of almost five minute miles and I backed right off and fell back into about seventh place. By the first kilometre I had settled into six minute mile pace and had moved up to fourth place.
The first mile elapsed in 06:01. However, the guy in third place, a couple of paces in front seemed to be suffering and the pace was dropping towards 06:30. Consequently I pressed on into third place. About 2.5KMs in I was pretty much running on my own. The fourth place guy was now probably four hundred metres back and the first and second place guys were about the same ahead of me and I had settled for finishing third. The second mile split was 05:59.
The course consisted of two laps of the Furze road and Ordnance road. Soon after the beginning of the second and lap and just before the second mile split I realised the gap between me and the leaders had closed. I decided to maintain my six minute mile pace and see how close it took me to the leaders. Going back up Ordnance survey road the northerly breeze against us was noticeably stiff now and I continued to close the gap and could sense the leaders, especially the leader were slowing up. Both leaders were level with each other now and they looked over their shoulder to see me closing to about 100 metres.
Just before the right hand turn back onto Chesterfield road I drew level with them and decided to move onto the lead. I thought it was worth the risk as, if I blew up then so be it, as I have a poor finishing kick and unless I opened a gap now then it was pointless to stay level. Additionally, the worst case scenario would be I that I would blow up and finish in the same time I would by staying level and the best case would be finishing quicker and maybe even winning the race.
The third mile elapsed in 06:01 and I knew now the course was long by up to quarter of a mile. I quickly opened a gap of about thirty metres and just continued to maintain a pace of about 05:50 minute miles. However, the former leader put a burst in and I had to move well into the red zone. With about 200 metres to go the guy in second place put in another burst and I had to lay down another sprint over the last 200 metres. I passed through finish the line in 19:53 with second and third place following five or six seconds later.
The race was 5.4KMs, which according to MacMillan gave me an 18:22 5k finish. Not exactly the fastest 5k winning time in the world and I have to admit being a little embarrassed to win a '5k' race in such a comparatively slow time. However, there's a saying about a gift horse and looking it in the mouth. The very, perhaps overly so, generous winning prize of a one hour flying lesson voucher was greatly appreciated.

ARC 10k

2010-05-04T21:40:00.004+01:00

I entered this race with some trepidation considering the farce that was the Aware 10k. However, ARC is a very worthy charity so thought it worth the risk. As it transpired my worries were unfounded and it was a really well organised event. The course was also good, challenging but departing from the usual 10K route in the Phoenix park; perhaps the disaster of the Aware 10K prompted this?
The 403 competitors started shortly after 10am. For the first three kilometres I was still about sixty feet behind the leaders and was a little worried about the pace. However, I felt good and decided to keep going. The first three mile splits were 06:13, 06:12 and 06:01. The third one included the Khyber Pass downhill. The second five kilometres were included three hills up Military road, Upper Glen Road, and the Lower Glenn Road. While I slowed a bit my splits were 06:18, 06:22, and 06:22. Over the last two kilometres I sped up and picked off three places here and lost none. I had no idea where my placing was. Down military road I dropped two lads who had been with me for the first 5k. At the top of Knockmaroon road I passed two other runners and closed in on another two a couple hundred metres ahead. During the first 5k all the aforementioned runners were part of group. In the last 600 metres I passed another guy in black who looked like he was suffering pretty badly. I made an attempt to close the next runner in the Raheny AC singlet but could not make up the distance before the line. I crossed the line in 38:51, which meant a new PB. I was very happy with this and finished ninth. A PB and a top ten finish; I'll take that!
What also pleased me about this performance was the average HR of 180, the highest average HR I have ever recorded. I am not sure if this indicates residual fatigue from Boston or an increased ability to operate at a higher effort level.
I also have to compliment the organisers; it was one of the best organised races I can recall competing in and had a good unfussy atmosphere. Despite Frank Greally's, perhaps facetiously declared, ambition to rival the women's 'mini-marathon', I hope it remains the small, enjoyable and well run event it is.

Boston 2010 postscript

2010-05-03T18:51:00.007+01:00

I thought it might be worthwhile, for posterity, to write a brief postscript for Boston. Immediately below are the splits.

This is a photo of the lead runners at mile seventeen. (All photos should be credited to Kim Forsythe, aka the missus)

Ryan Hall flying through mile seventeen. He had fallen back some what at this point but rallied extremely well and closed down the leading pack during the Newton Hills.

This is me passing the famous Citgo sign, which indicates less than two miles remaining.

Reviewing the Pfitzinger & Douglas 55-70 schedule I followed and my training log I found that I had completed only three marathon paced runs in preparation for Boston. This really is not enough and my draft amended P&D programme for the next marathon has a marathon paced run every other weekend. This draft schedule has also dropped the short intervals and replaced them with Yasso 8oos. I will also aim to complete more races during this cycle; during the previous cycle I completed no races.

Boston 2010

2010-04-24T16:21:00.009+01:00

Well, following a successful negotiation of the volcanic ash I was hoping I would have similar luck with the race day weather and other variables, including potential last minute or course induced injuries. The local news channel was reporting that the volcano had resulted in at least six hundred European runners being stranded. In transpired that our Aer Lingus flight was within a window of about six to eight hours that allowed us to complete our journey; had we been on a North American carrier or had planned to travel later than Friday, the following report would not be.
On Saturday morning we headed to the Expo in the Hynes centre. I was eager to get there early before things got boisterous. The expo was pretty good but I was not all that keen to remain there for hours and there was nothing I really wanted or needed, apart from the Adidas Boston marathon rain jacket. Once I shelled out $90 for that I was pretty much done.
The jetlag made getting up at 04:30 on race day fairly easy and I was out the door at 05:40 to get the 06:00 bus to the Tremont street side of the Boston Common, where school buses would be there to take us to Hopkington. This is where the race really begins to demonstrate its extremely impressive logistical efficiency and organisation. It was like watching a military operation get underway.
On the bus I got chatting to a chap from near Toronto who, of all things, revealed himself as a very knowledgeable football supporter and was actually a Charlton supporter. Surprisingly, and despite our journey commencing twenty-six miles from the start, it took almost ninety minutes to get to Hopkinton.
Despite commencing my journey more than four hours before the race start time passes quite well and the three quarters of a mile walk to the start line is a nice warm up. The weather was great; about eight degrees Celsius with a north-north west breeze coming over our left shoulders. As I approached my corral I just missed the ladies elite start at 09:32. As 10:00 approached I nervously anticipated the race and the two F-15 Eagles passing overhead before the start was nice.
As expected the start was a pretty steep ascent. I completed the first mile on schedule at 06:55 was was concerned not to do the first sixteen miles too fast, which many people have warned me against and I have read plenty of accounts of how people get suckered into going out too fast and then paying for it.
The next few miles all went pretty much to plan with the mile splits in the low 06:40s. However, I was surprised at the undulating nature of the course, we were almost constantly either running uphill or downhill and I was concerned just how much this was mashing up my quads and hamstrings, but I still felt very fresh and comfortable but was increasing wondering about the affect of all this when I hit the Newton hills.
At mile eight, as we approached Natick, I was looking out for a friend of my wife, Liz, and her family. Well, they were certainly vocal and she was accompanied by her mother, aunt, sister and infant niece. It felt like the whole town was roaring me on! Many thanks to the Robbins family for their encouragement! I think some of the other runners wondered who this pseudo-celebrity was!
Approaching mile ten, the first surreal incident of the day. I heard a mobile phone ring to my left and saw this guy answer a phone and proceed to have a conversation, which seemed to primarily involve trying to figure out who was talking to each other. Following the initial confusion he concluded by announcing he was approaching the ten mile mark and would require his fuel pick-up. A bizarre approach to re-fuelling.
Shortly after this we approached the famous Wellesley College 'Tunnel'. This was pretty unique but not crazy as I was anticipating and I did not get carried away with my pace. I completed the first half in 01:28:54.
Soon, after this the day's second surreal event took place when a tambourine flew across the course, about six feet ahead of me. I thought it was too soon to hallucinate and did a double to take to my right to see that someone had indeed caught it on the other side.
At this point I knew my legs, especially my quads, had taken a hammering and were beginning to feel like mush. The next few miles to the Newton hills, at mile sixteen, went according to plan but deep down as we descended down the steep hill to the first of the Newton hills I knew my legs were toast.
By mile twenty and approaching Heartbreak hill I had abandoned a sub three time and concentrated on maintaining effort rather than time. It was new experience; my heart and lungs felt comparatively comfortable and felt could definitely maintained or even increased the effort of the previous sixteen miles, but my legs felt like they had completed more than a marathon, even with ten miles remaining.
As we approached the second of the four hills I spotted the missus and the in-laws who seemed to be enjoying the whole occasion and some familiar and encouraging faces was much appreciated.
After heartbreak hill, at mile twenty-one and we began another downhill section, I think I let out an audible moan of exasperation. At this stage I was unable to get my leg turnover going, even trying to shorten my stride. Strangely, physically, this was probably the most comfortable I have ever felt in a marathon and my HR dropping into the 150s demonstrated this but I just could not get my legs to turnover. My mile twenty-two I had resolved to give up trying to push it and just enjoy the crowds and the overall experience. I spotted the missus and the in-laws again at the twenty-five mile mark, shortly after the famous CITGO sign cam into view. Here, I began to actually purposely slow down as I was no longer concerned with the time and wanted to savour the experience, especially turning right onto Hereford street from Beacon street and then left onto Boylston street, with the finish line in sight. It's really here, with the thronged crowds, the noise and the tall buildings that you realise you are participating in a premier sporting event and it felt great. I passed the line in 03:06:30.
On almost immediate reflection I was not disappointed with this time. It is a murderous course and was even more difficult than I had anticipated. It has also bestowed a renewed for respect for Thomas's performance last year, especially considering his stomach problems. I reckon I was in sub three shape but I think that, using Dublin as a comparator, you would need to add six to ten minutes to what you could do in Dublin to get an accurate projected Boston performance. Or perhaps, I am just trying to provide myself with an ego boost.
If I do Boston again I will need to reflect how I would approach the race differently. What's great about the course is you need to think very carefully how you will approach and handle it. It's just one of the great things about the race and the city is pretty hard to beat too!

Volcanos

2010-04-15T23:16:00.003+01:00

Well, it seems, fingers crossed, the volcano will not stop me making the trip to Boston. As the final post before the race I thought I would do a brief outline of the training for Boston.

In the ninety days before Boston I completed 660.26 miles; the corresponding figure for Dublin was 511.25. The highest weekly mileage total was seventy-one.

I have completed three marathon paced runs of twelve, fourteen, and ten miles at MP respectively. I thought I had completed more and must have missed one or two in the schedule. In the next training cycle I will complete a MP run every other week and would aim to do at least twice this number. The dearth of MP runs is something that concerns me a little.

I have completed at least nine runs of 15.5 miles or more, topping out at twenty-two miles.

One significant difference between the Pfitzinger & Douglas up to fifty-five miles and the seventy miles programme is the length of the midweek runs and I am hoping this has very significantly increased my endurance.

Also, in this cycle I did strengthening work, concentrating on my quads and hamstrings, with simple weight bearing lunges and squats. Unfortunately I did not do this as regularly as I would have liked, but that I did any at all is a significant departure that I am hoping it will stand to me when I hit the Newton Hills.

If I can put in a similar performance to Thomas and Grellan in their recent Connemarathon Ultra I shall be very happy. Well done to them.

Remarkable!

2010-04-06T10:44:00.002+01:00

What's really remarkable about the woman, who is the subject of this story, is that she did not complete her first marathon until she was almost fifty! What's also remarkable is that the Irish Times had two running articles in such a 'short' space of time.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2010/0406/1224267739810.html

Let the taper begin.

2010-03-31T21:44:00.007+01:00

This week I begin the taper. The previous week ended with a sixteen mile run with ten miles at projected marathon pace. The splits of those ten miles averaged 06:44 with an average HR of 159. I was quite pleased with this, especially the HR. The Pfitzinger and Douglas schedule seems a little ambitious to me and I am considering shaving an additional ten per cent off each week, resulting in respective taper week mileage totals of fifty, thirty-eight and twenty-five miles.
I also received my number pick up card and welcome and instructions brochure this week, making it all seem much more real.

Mileage w/c 22 March: 56

Corkman in Kenya

2010-03-24T21:26:00.003Z

Interesting article about an Irish cleric who has trained some of Kenya's best runners. I wonder is his approach quite as unsophisticated as he says and if there something to be said for the Kalenjin lifestyle's influence on their success. Nurture over nature?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2010/0322/1224266807270.html

Anticipation

2010-03-21T20:54:00.003Z

I am now four weeks from Boston and feeling relatively good about things. I have not done any races in this training cycle, which is something new. I am unsure how this will affect me on the day. Hopefully it will make me more motivated and fresh.
My primary consideration at the moment is how to approach my taper. I miscalculated my Pfitzinger and Douglas programme and find myself with an additional week; I will use this as a chance to experiment and compose my own quasi initial taper week/additional training week. This week I completed sixty-five miles. Next week I will drop it to between fifty-five and sixty. The week after next is the beginning of the taper and mileage will reduce further. I am looking forward to the taper as my training is feeling a little flat and I feel a little tired. I am anticipating this is an ideal way to enter a taper, and that the taper will reap what I have sown over the last few bitterly cold months.

Mileage w/c 15 March: 65

Training update

2010-03-17T14:33:00.003Z

A brief update on training. Last week was a cutback week, which a weekend away and a cold and cough made more pronounced. The highlight of the week was a nineteen mile long slow run on Friday morning. The weather has been excellent in March.
The previous week included my longest marathon pace run; eighteen miles with fourteen miles at marathon pace, which translated as average splits of 06:43. I was tired at the end and wonder about maintaining this pace for an additional twelve miles but I am hoping a few more weeks of training and a taper will provide the required preparation.

Mileage w/c 8 March: 41
Mileage w/c 1 March: 70

LSRs

2010-02-28T23:12:00.001Z

This week was a comparatively easy week. However, it did end with my longest training run to date, a twenty-two mile long slow run. Reviewing my earlier training I see that I have neglected my LSRs. I red recently that in a marathon training cycle your five longest runs should total 100 miles. This means I will need to slightly alter the schedule for the next few weeks to accommodate a few slightly longer LSRs. Below is a link to this week's LSR.

Mileage w/c 22 February: 58

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Untitled

Small world

2010-02-22T22:38:00.003Z

Thought I should provide an update on the training. The last two weeks have gone very well. However the week commencing 1 February was something of a washout. The first two sessions of that week went as scheduled but the end of the week and weekend was spent visiting friends in Barcelona.
More recently, I found myself running up Middle Abbey street on my way home from work and was incorporating my commute from work into my twelve mile run with seven miles at HM pace and I encountered another runner who struck up conversation. After swapping pleasantries and what each other was training for I reckoned there cannot be to many people who run twenty-four hour races on a track or do 100k mountain runs in Australia. He also looked vaguely familiar. When I got home a quick click of a link from this blog revealed that it was indeed John O'Regan I bumped into. John has completed some of the most extreme events in the world and has represented Ireland in international competition.
Back to the run, it was a tough session but all bar one of the seven miles at HM pace were in the 06:30s. It would be good to test myself in a half-marathon race before Boston but the half I had intended doing in Liverpool is proving potentially very expensive as a consequence pricey flights and accommodation.

W/C 15 February:71 (New weekly high)
W/C 8 February: 60
W/C 1 February: 18

Interval recovery duration

2010-02-11T14:40:00.004Z

Last week brought another new weekly mileage high of sixty-six miles. It was important to register two solid weeks of training after two disrupted weeks. This week's training included a Yasso 800 x6 session. The first two repeats were uphill along Phoenix Park's Chesterfield road and felt brutal; I have not done this kind of session in a few months and it showed. The final four intervals felt better and I registered an average interval time of 02:56. I am not sure how much benefit I get from Yasso sessions and I perhaps need to revise the recovery time of 03:00 to reap more rewards.

Weekly mileage w/c 25 Jan: 66 (New weekly high)

A new departure?

2010-01-29T21:32:00.003Z

The last couple of weeks since my return from Malaysia have gone well. I am back up to sixty plus miles a week. However, I need to do something about strengthening my quadriceps and hamstrings. This is crucial if I am to handle the hills of Boston. My quads will be especially susceptible to damage and fatigue on the downhill sections. My hamstrings are prone to cramping in the last 10km of marathon, which I am sure is a consequence of muscle inflexibility and weakness rather than electrolyte imbalances.
In addition to helping deal with the hills, cramps and potential for injury, I am hoping the strength training and stretching will make me faster by respectively increasing the muscles' force generation and stride length. I have made a decent start to doing this in the last week. Eleven weeks to Boston should be enough time to see not inconsiderable progress if I am consistent.

Mileage w/c 18 January:65 (New weekly high)
Mileage w/c 11 January:15
Mileage w/c 4 January:36

Disruption

2010-01-17T12:37:00.005Z

The last two weeks' training have taken a battering from long distance travel and illness. I left for Malaysia on Friday 8 January arriving the following evening Kuala Lumpur time. The following morning I knocked out fourteen miles on the treadmill, bringing me a weekly total of thirty-six miles. The ice was partially to blame for not reaching the weekly schedule of fifty-five miles but does not excuse falling twenty miles short.
The week commencing 11 January started well with a ten mile run with five at tempo on Tuesday. This and the following day's run were on the hotel treadmill. I am sick of the treadmill. The last outdoor run was 3 January. Tuesday's workout felt really hard. I did not enjoy the food in Malaysia and found it difficult to find a meal with the requisite calories for my training. This, the significant number of miles walked around Kuala Lumpur that day, and the heat and humidity, made Tuesday's workout really draining and felt more like 5K or 10k effort than half-marathon.
Since my return to Ireland on Thursday morning I have had the inevitable jet-lag, but I also seem to have picked up a bug. Seems I might have contracted 'Delhi Belly'. Hopefully next week will see a return to the normal routine.

Ice ice baby!

2010-01-06T20:56:00.005Z

Yesterday the treacherous road conditions forced me indoors to a city council gym to register my mileage. Surprisingly the treadmill was not as excruciatingly boring as I thought it would be.
Today I had twelve miles at aerobic pace scheduled and the even worse state of the roads dictated that I would be hitting the treadmill again. However, the worsening conditions meant that many workplaces closed early to allow people to crawl home before the roads became impassable. Unfortunately this meant the gym was also closed when I got there, not there was any sign or other form of communication stating that this was a consequence of the weather. Between the weather, or rather Dublin City and other councils' complete unpreparedness to deal with not especially extreme weather, and travelling overseas at the weekend for work, I will be lucky to register twenty-five to thirty miles this week!

Mileage w/c 28 December: 64. A new weekly high.

Whoopsadaisy!

2009-12-29T21:50:00.005Z

I have not blogged in a while so I feel a short update is in order. Training has been going really well. Following the race that never was I logged fifty-five miles in my endurance base phase for Boston. Last week I completed fifty-seven miles, which is my highest weekly mileage total ever.
However, that week was a battle against the ice. I was down in Cork for Christmas and managed to log the necessary miles despite travel, other commitments and perhaps most of all ice. It was bitterly cold and the country's bankrupt state as a consequence of individuals' abdication of responsibility and political leadership that facilitated it for electoral reasons, mean the councils have no money to salt or grit roads. Consequently, on Sunday I slipped and landed on my arse. Yes, I am blaming the credit and property crash for my fall ;-)
Before coming a cropper I saw a car do a 360 degree turn in front of a bus coming in the other direction. Thankfully no collision occurred. When I took my fall, the ice was so thick on the pathway that I slid slowly across the pathway's entire width. I thought about packing in it then but decided to proceed with the remaining fourteen miles by going up and down the same one mile stretch of pathway that was largely ice free.

Mileage w/c 21 December: 57

Mileage w/c 14 December: 55

The race that wasn't!

2009-12-13T21:08:00.007Z

Yesterday I participated in the Aware 10km race. Last year's race took place on a bitterly cold day. The ice almost necessitated its cancellation. This year's race ended in a complete shambles. Just before the race began the race director announced that it the race would only be 9kms. No explanation, just a perfunctory statement that Aware announced it to everyone the previous evening. It subsequently transpired this statement was a line on their own website. Most people did not become aware of the truncated race until they came upon the finish at 9kms!
I completed the 'race' in 34:58, and fancy I would have secured a new PB of 38:?? if chaos has not ensued. Aware has issued no explanation for this nonsense. Rumours suggest that the organisers had positioned the original finish too close to the St. Mary's hospital ambulance entrance and alternative finishes had the same problem. Whatever the reason it is unacceptable. While I acknowledge is it a 'charity run' it does attract a not insignificant number of non 'funrunners' who are happy to raise and/or donate money to a worthy cause because it provides a good opportunity to compete. Henceforth I will no longer participate in this or any other charity organised event. Their attitude to the sport and organisation borders on the disrespectful.

Mileage w/c 7 December: 51

First week

2009-12-08T21:03:00.004Z

Last week I completed the first week of my Boston training schedule. It was a big jump to go from thirty-five miles for my last Dublin marathon recovery week to fifty for my first Boston training week. It is certainly more than the ten per cent weekly progression increase that most recommend. However, I did reduce it from fifty-four miles that the Fitzinger and Douglas schedule prescribes. The week went quite well and my efforts to get up early and complete most of my runs in the morning worked surprisingly well. It's certainly an interesting experience to run around the Phoenix park at 06:30am in the pitch black. Thankfully I bring good flashing lights so that the Ninja bicyclists that I cannot see until it is too late see me before it is too late.
The Tuesday morning session was the most challenging, which involved nine miles with four miles at half-marathon pace. I found those miles very tough and felt much more like 10k pace. The mile splits were only just what I would consider half-marathon pace but my HR was primarily in the high 170s. I wonder did Circadian cycles influence this high HR?

Mileage w/c 30 November : 50

Recovery complete?

2009-11-29T21:41:00.002Z

This was my last recovery week and constituted thirty-five miles. My 'long run' this Sunday was eleven miles at a pace of 08:26 and an average HR of 141. This seems a little high and I wonder if there is some recovery required. However, the weather was foul. The park rangers were actually out and had placed 'road flooded' signs on Wellington road. When parts of the Phoenix park are flooded then you know the rain has been biblical.

Penultimate week

2009-11-22T22:51:00.002Z

This week sees the completion of my penultimate recovery week before going into the up to seventy miles a week Pfitzinger & Douglas programme. The other two notable events of the week were completing a couple of runs in my new Nike Lunarglide shoes. So far so good. They definitely appear lighter than my Asics. I also signed up for the Aware 10k in December. I will incorporate this into my second week of spring marathon training. I should be in a good place for a new PB depending upon weather.

20018627

2009-11-09T19:59:00.004Z

The title of this post represents the 'submission number' associated with my application for the Boston Marathon next April. The announcement on the homepage that few places remained forced me to bite the bullet. I do this with some trepidation. Firstly is the cost; it is $175 to register, never mind the travel and accommodation costs. Additionally, I could very well be in the midst of a new job search and assuming there will be any jobs to search for I fear I might find myself having to withdraw from Boston to do an interview.
Hopefully things will work out that mean I both get to compete in Boston and have some career prospects too!

Cramps! But I prevail...just

2009-10-26T19:07:00.027Z

I'm the one in the blue shirt, with the awful form, trying to hang onto the coattails of the guy in the white singlet. This was taken just before the 26 mile mark

The weather today was ideal for marathon running, as was the start in contrast to last year's squeeze and shuffle down Holles street. Additionally, Leeson street, St. Stephen's Green and Dawson street are a bit more picturesque than the Lombard street area! However, I did have this guy who insisted in suddenly slowing and passing across my stride, which he managed to do three times in the first two miles. Anyway by the the time we reached the Phoenix park it had settled down nicely. There was certainly more spectators there this year. The temperature being thirteen degrees warmer probably helped.
The first half went really well and I passed it in 01:29:00; spot on. I was feeling really strong, despite my HR being 169 since the end of the first mile and it rarely went a bpm above or below for the whole marathon.
I was putting out very consistent miles and my heart, head and lungs felt good, my legs, not so much! I could feel both hamstrings and my calves beginning to cramp up. At mile nineteen I thought my marathon was over. I had to stop and stretch my hamstrings at the side of the road. Alot of other people were pulling up here also. I heard a girl to my right say 'Oh God!', the verbal expression of my thoughts were a little less civilised! I managed to get going again and after a quarter of a mile I was surprised to see my pace back in the 06:40s! The last seven miles were very tough and I was breathing very very heavy but managed 06:50s pace with my HR in the early 170s. I had no idea if I was still in sub three hour pace as I set the garmin to lap info only and refused to look at my overall time. On reflection, I am very happy with the consistent pace I managed over the last six miles, despite hurting bad and I have to admit I thought I was slower than I actually was.
I had to concentrate very hard to relax my hamstrings and calves and as I passed the twenty-six mile post I was sure I was home and dry. Then I felt a sharp pain in my right calf and was basically running on my right hip with my leg rigid. Thankfully it loosened and I managed a relatively dignified line crossing.
Anyway, I crossed the line in 03:00:26. Close to sub three but I am not overly disappointed. I would have been happy with anything sub 03:05 and to finish so close to sub three on no more than fifty-five miles per week augurs well if I increase my mileage by only a modest amount. On to the next marathon! Maybe Boston...

Time: 03:00:26
Average pace: 06:49/mile
Average HR: 169

92 per cent

2009-10-18T19:02:00.002+01:00

One week to go before the marathon. Reviewing my Pfitzinger & Douglas training plan demonstrates that I completed 92 per cent of the prescribed mileage. The completion of the programme's final week might push that towards 93 per cent. Overall I was very good about following the programme with interruptions in three weeks accounting for not completing 100 per cent. Two of these weeks were justified with illness accounting for one and a very heavy week of travel for work accounting for another. The third week had no excuse, it was my naughty week. Next week I will need to be dilligent about eating well and sleeping as much as I can and then hoping the conditions are good for a good performance on 26 October.

Bart Yasso 800s

2009-10-07T20:01:00.005+01:00

Yesterday evening I scheduled a Bart Yasso session. This involves running ten repeats of 800 metres. If you run ten of these 800m repeats at an average of three minutes ten seconds per interval it is an indication that you can complete a marathon in three hours and ten minutes. The recovery period between intervals should match the average time it takes to complete an interval. Hope that all makes sense!
I set out with the aim of completing the intervals in an average of three minutes, with three minutes recovery between intervals. Upon completion of the workout I found I had completed the intervals in an average of 02.55. According to the workout's premise I should be able to complete a marathon in approximately two hours and fifty-five minutes. I am very sceptical of this claim. Having trawled a forum threads and websites I found little or no consensus on Yasso 800s but most felt that a more accurate reflection of your marathon time would be to add five minutes to what a Yasso 800 session indicates. Additionally, many stated that they were reasonably accurate but only in the context of a holistic marathon programme that includes tempo runs, long slow runs and recovery runs. In short, no definitive answer but it seems prudent not to read too much into a Yasso session.

Split	Time	Distance	Max Speed	Avg HR
1	0:12:48	1.49	5:50	132
2	0:02:57	0.5	5:30	171
3	0:03:00	0.34	6:07	153
4	0:02:52	0.5	4:51	167
5	0:03:00	0.37	5:45	152
6	0:02:52	0.5	5:22	164
7	0:03:00	0.35	5:53	151
8	0:02:56	0.5	5:21	168
9	0:03:00	0.34	6:20	153
10	0:02:56	0.5	5:32	168
11	0:03:00	0.34	6:00	152
12	0:02:57	0.5	5:23	169
13	0:03:00	0.32	5:47	153
14	0:02:56	0.5	5:40	166
15	0:03:00	0.33	5:54	151
16	0:02:55	0.5	5:22	167
17	0:03:00	0.32	6:16	152
18	0:02:53	0.5	5:16	166
19	0:03:00	0.33	5:09	153
20	0:02:55	0.5	5:05	167
21	0:03:00	0.33	5:20	149
22	0:06:22	0.67	7:13	135
Summary	1:18:25	10.5	4:51	153

Chi Running workshop

2009-10-06T22:55:00.004+01:00

Last saturday I did a Chi Running workshop run by Catherine McKiernan. It took place in Castleknock hotel, which is in actual fact no where near Castleknock. I took the number thirty-nine bus to Clonsilla and had to run the last mile to get there in time. According to Mapmyrun the hotel is just over five mile from Smithfield. In short I should have ran there, it would have been at least twenty minutes quicker than getting the bus. The circutuitous and irrational route taken by the bus demonstrates yet again that CIE is a benevolent society run at taxpayers' expense for the benefit of its management and employees.
Okay, rant over. The workshop was very interesting and began with an overview of Chi Running principles. Then we went outside and were videod running. After lunch we went through more drills and viewed the running videos taken of each of the ten workshop participants. This was very interesting and while I am now striking midfoot rather than heel striking it was worthwhile to see what I was doing incorrectly, especially with my upper body.
Hopefully, the drills we went through and a better insight into and understanding of Chi Running will improve my running. It really is something that will take months to properly ingrain.
An additional bonus was to listen to and be instructed by a world class athlete like Catherina McKiernan.

Dublin Half marathon

2009-10-05T20:34:00.008+01:00

On 26 September the Dublin half marathon took place in the Phoenix park. It began ten minutes late and much to everyone's surprise the sun came out and the temperature noticeably increased just before it began. I went through the first mile in 06:44. The next few miles passed by in the mid 06:40s and mile six and most of mile seven were a nice gentle negative gradient down Chesterfield road. These miles elapsed in 06:39 and 06:36. Mile eight involved going up Kyber Pass. Going up this so often in my training meant I was not very intimidated by it but was worried ascending too quickly. On this hill I passed alot of other runners.
By mile ten, when we approached the Upper Glen Road I was feeling very good and new a PB was guaranteed unless disaster struck. Going up Glen road I passed a number of other runners who were beginning to struggle now. This was a great boost and I left behind the guy in a red and yellow singlet I had been swapping places with over the previous ten miles. His stride fascinated me though. It was a perfect midfoot strike and I think he was running well within himself with his sights set firmly on another race entirely.
Mile twelve did get a little tough with a fairly steep uphill section for about a third of a mile along Knockmaroon Road and I completed it in 07:00. The last mile was an opportunity to put the foot down a little and went through it in 06:34, the fastest mile of the race. My finish time was 01:28:24, besting my previous PB by one minute and twenty-one seconds. I was very happy with this race and still felt I had some left in the tank.

Split	Time	Avg HR
1	0:06:44	163
2	0:06:43	170
3	0:06:44	171
4	0:06:47	171
5	0:06:42	171
6	0:06:39	168
7	0:06:35	168
8	0:06:48	171
9	0:06:46	171
10	0:06:39	170
11	0:06:52	171
12	0:07:00	170
13	0:06:34	172
14	0:00:46	174
Summary	1:28:24	170

Quandary

2009-09-19T19:28:00.002+01:00

Today was my last long marathon pace run. Eighteen miles with fourteen at marathon pace. I had decided that I would knock marathon pace down to seven minute pace. I completed the fourteen miles in average mile splits of 06:55, with an average heart rate of 158. This would seem to indicate that I could go at least five or six seconds per mile faster and maintain it for a marathon, bringing me a sub three hour marathon! Somehow I have this nagging feeling that I would be setting myself up for a fall by interpreting this as a reasonable deduction of today's run.
I think that maybe a Yasso 800 session is required to give a clearer picture of what's possible next month. Next week's Dublin half marathon should help too.

Chi Running

2009-09-15T22:27:00.002+01:00

I have decided I am going to try and learn the chi running method. In short this uses the principles of Tai Chi to make you a quicker, more efficient and injury free runner. I have purchased the eponymous book authored by the chap who has developed this form of running, Danny Dreyer.
From what I have read so far Chi Running is a combination of proprioception, physics and psychology to ensure a more natural mid-foot strike, using gravity and your core to provide the forward momentum for fast more efficient running. I have signed up for participation in a Chi Running workshop being delivered by Catherina McKiernan. http://www.catherinamckiernan.com/ I hope this proves to be half what it is claimed to be.

The flu and marathon schedules do not like each other

2009-08-23T19:27:00.002+01:00

The flu put paid to much of this week's scheduled mileage. Thursday evening, Friday and most of Saturday saw me confined to my bed. I decided I would try and pull off my sixteen mile long run with twelve at MP. Well, one mile into my MP phase and I felt terrible. My heart, lungs and legs were saying it was fine but my stomach, GI tract and head were screaming whoa!! A mile and a half into the MP the way I felt indicated my HR was in the 170s; I looked at my watch, which revealed a HR of 148! Now I knew I was not going to finish this run. I struggled on a MP for another half mile and called it quits and hauled my sorry frame back at nine minute mile pace with a HR in the low 120s but felt like it was in the 150s. I should be thankful the flu did not incapacitate me for longer, next week should see normal service resumed.

Frank Duffy 10 miler

2009-08-15T19:20:00.005+01:00

Surprisingly the race today started only five minutes late; I think this was the most punctual adidas series race I have participated in. I started in the sub seventy minute corral and surprisingly there was no one in there who patently would struggle to do sub 120, never mind sub seventy. I had a few silent chuckles to myself when the compére kept referring to those in the sub seventy minute area as 'elite athletes'! If only...
The first mile went well and while many people passed, who were obviously running at an unsustainable pace, there was plenty of room. The two mile mark was near the base of Military road whereupon I passed many of those who passed me earlier. It's a very satisfying feeling to pass people on a hill who passed you at the base. On each hill today people passed me at the base who I invariably passed approaching the crest. Starting slow and working up to a neutral gradient pace as you approach the top always works for me; I normally gain a few places too.
The end of the first lap of the section of the park we were running coincided with the half-way point and we started back down Chesterfield road, where the race had begun. I passed the halfway point in 34:33. The next two miles were a slight negative gradient down Chesterfield before turning off towards the Kyber road for a shorter second lap. These two miles elapsed in 06:43 and 06:47. The right turn back up to the hills of Military and Glen road took us into a heavy shower and a strong head wind. At this point I lost a guy in a red t-shirt who I seemed to have changed places with for most of the previous seven miles. I felt surprisingly strong but withheld the urge to go faster. Mile eight elapsed in 06:52. Here I decided I would try and overtake a guy in a Dublin GAA shirt who I had changed places with in the first two miles of the race. I really closed the gap on both sets of hills but he slowly pulled away on level ground. At the second approach to the crest of Glen road hill, approaching Ordnance Survey road, I was within six feet. However, history repeated itself and he pulled away again. Mile nine was a disappointing 07:03 and I decided I needed to inject a bit of discomfort and completed the last mile in 06:26.
My finish time was 68:42. I was fairly pleased with this, considering the hills and less than ideal conditions. Additionally, there was still a little left in the tank at the end and I would definitely have done a sub ninety minute half. Still a long way from a sub three hour marathon but I am not going backwards at least.

What to do?

2009-08-14T21:00:00.004+01:00

Still procrastinating on how to approach tomorrow's 10 Mile Frank Duffy race in the park. I've religiously followed my marathon training plan for eight weeks now so it should be a good test of my progress. My last race was a half-marathon in baking heat shortly after a return from a four week lay-off where I posted my slowest ever race mile split times.
I'm thinking 06:40-45 average mile splits are realistic. However, I do not want to over do it so will aim for 06:49 and if I still feel fresh in the last two miles I will put the hammer down. There's a record entry of 6,500 this year and there will be predicted race time zones at the start. I guess people will ignore this as they generally do.

Progression run & weekly mileage

2009-08-10T12:35:00.004+01:00

I completed an eighteen mile progression run yesterday. Apparently, these help build endurance and get the body used to running at a progressively fast pace over a long distance. Additionally the Phoenix park hosting vintage motor racing meant for a much diverted route and I took the opportunity to explore trails in the park I had never previously encountered. This made the run a bit more interesting and is consistent with my desire to do the majority of my training runs off concrete and tarmac.
A successful run with the last four miles ten per cent slower than targeted marathon pace. My average HR of 146 was very positive considering it was cross country with some very steep hills. Hopefully, this is indicative of progress. Also, this week saw the completion of fifty miles, which is my rather modest highest weekly mileage.

Circadian cycles?

2009-08-05T19:09:00.003+01:00

On Tuesday morning I hauled myself out of bed at 5.50am to do a ten mile run with five miles at tempo pace. I knew all was not well when my heart rate was in the early 150s after a very slow first mile warm up. Upon beginning the tempo pace section of the run I was huffing and puffing within quarter of a mile and I was scarcely making marathon pace! After four 'tempo' miles with a split average of 06:56 I 'bonked' on the fifth. I felt shattered and shuffled back home feeling miserable.
Reviewing the run information revealed an average heart of 166 during the tempo miles, which is quite high. However, it actually felt higher and the effort felt more like 10K than half-marathon effort.
A brief google search on 'morning running tips' revealed the following article from Running Times on 'circadian cycles'. http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=7567
In short, it would appear that for most people, the early morning is the worst time to engage in vigorous physical exercise. Interesting article and I intend to hang onto this as an explanation for my rotten performance. My next tempo session, which will take place in the evening, should provide 'the litmus test' for this assertion.

Marathon pace run

2009-07-28T07:49:00.007+01:00

The weekend schedule called for a sixteen mile run with ten miles at marathon pace. I faced this with a little trepidation; it would be the longest I would have run at that kind of pace since the DNF at Cork.
I set off towards the Phoenix park and up Chesterfield road. The first three miles felt good but my heart rate seemed rather high at over 150, while going at 08:30 pace! However, the first MP mile elapsed in 07:11 and felt relatively easy. The next few passed in a couple of seconds faster than target pace. Coming on to Chapelizod road meant that I now faced a stiff headwind but I felt strong and maintained my pace. The remaining few MP miles took me through the National War Memorial Gardens and it was quite pleasant along the Liffey.
During the last three miles, at recovery pace, I felt quite tired but felt I could have gone quicker during the MP miles. I was quite pleased with this workout and was a nice confidence booster. Upon review, I also found my heart rate remained in the low to mid 160s, which indicates I could certainly keep that pace for a marathon.

Heart rate

Multimarathon

2009-07-15T22:31:00.004+01:00

This was an inaugural event. It was a ride on the tram to Connolly and a short trip on the DART to Clontarf. I had run much of this route when I lived in Sandymount and much of it includes the beach on Bull island and is both picturesque and very flat.
Unfortunately, the previous week the race director elected to put the race back an hour and was scheduled to start at 11am rather than 10am. The increasing heat and humidity was an increasing cause for concern and I knew I would not be able to run to potential. By the third mile my spilt had dropped to 06:58 and the effort was too much. My heart rate for this split averaged 177! I consciously dropped the pace to get my heart rate down and the next few mile splits averaged about 07:20 with a heart rate still approaching 170.
The race consisted of two loops that incorporated much of Bull island and included the beach. This was surreal and an extremely heavy fog came down. Quite literally runners followed the runner in front of them to ensure they were heading n the correct direction. Visibility was probably less than twenty feet and seemed like one of those crazy adventure races in the desert.
As the last few miles approached I slowed further as there was no point killing myself. I decided to consider the race a good workout and consoles myself with the recogniton that it was a good hard session and the first time I had felt completely injury free since I completed the Connemarathon.
I came home in 01:38:17. This was by far my slowest half-marathon but was also the one with the highest average heart rate. The heat and injury induced sporadic training during the previous two months meant I was quite happy with my performance and look forward to getting into good race shape again.

Return from injury

2009-06-24T19:36:00.004+01:00

Last week was my first week back from injury since my DNF at the Cork City marathon. I managed thirty miles. This week I began my Pfitzinger programme. Tuesday had an eight mile run with four miles at tempo pace scheduled. Fitness certainly deteriorates following a two week lay-off. My tempo pace miles were at least ten to fifteen seconds slower than one month ago!
I have the Multi-marathon half-marathon on Sunday. It's been moved to an 11am start from a previously scheduled 10am start. Considering my fitness level, recent injury and the late and potentially warm start means there will be no danger of doing a sub ninety minute race.

Back training

2009-06-24T18:38:00.002+01:00

Last week was my first full week of training since my DNF at Cork. I managed thirty miles with a short tempo session on Thursday. This week I began my first week of the Pfitzinger programme. The fitness certainly tails off with a couple of weeks off. An eight mile run with four miles at tempo pace was scheduled for Tuesday and it was tough. My heart getting up to the 170s for mile splits at least ten second slower than would otherwise be required to reach 170 plus.

Cork City Marathon

2009-06-10T21:42:00.003+01:00

On 1 June I competed in the Cork City Marathon. We got there in good time using the park and ride. It began on time and I was aiming for an average mile split of 07:03. It started at 9am but was already in twenty degrees. The first mile went be in 07:03. A little fast but I felt okay. After two miles I did not feel great. I just felt off and the legs felt heavy. After three miles I was beginning to slow down and by mile five I knew I would not break 03:05. I revised my goal to sub 03:10, which would still be a personal best.
However, I kept slowing down and by mile nine my average mile splits had deteriorated to 7:16, putting me outside PB pace with more than sixteen miles to go. During the thirteenth mile disaster struck. Approaching the crest of a small hill passing Blackrock castle I felt my right calf tighten and within a quarter of a mile my race was over - my first DNF.
I was very disappointed but not totally distraught. It has merely hardened my determination to do well at the Dublin Marathon and qualify comfortably for Boston. I've been to the physio twice and his treatment combined with strengthening and stretching exercises should help my running and prevent injury. I have not ran on it since and am not scheduled to do so until next week when I start the forty to fifty-five mile per week Pfitzinger and Douglas marathon programme.

Niggles

2009-05-13T22:51:00.002+01:00

Less than three weeks to go to the Cork city marathon. Unfortunately I have a number of niggles, including shinsplints. Last week I managed forty-five miles but I'm not going to make anything like that this week. I am backing off significantly on the mileage and will be happy to get more than thirty. For the two taper weeks I am toying with the idea of doing a tempo run and/or a long run and cross training for the remainder of each week.
Hopefully taking this approach will mean I do not loose any fitness while ensuring complete recovery from injury. Time will tell.

Shinsplints

2009-05-07T22:10:00.002+01:00

I've developed a case of stage two shin splints. It's especially bad in my right leg and training is quite uncomfortable now. Saying that a few online articles and Runner's world videos gave me exercises that seem to have helped. This evening's six miles easy run was alot better than the previous evening's four miles.
I think I might get away with it getting any more serious but this is my wake up call to abandon any ambitions to increase mileage but rather to introduce some consistent strength training.

Connemarathon

2009-04-16T22:43:00.005+01:00

On 22 March I did the Connemarathon. I was worried about what state I would be in for this as my 'stag' night was on the Friday and I was in a pretty bad way on Saturday morning. I managed to drag myself to Galway where I was staying with friends.
On Sunday morning I was feeling fully human again and got up at 6am to get the 8am bus to the start.
It got quite chilly waiting at the start and was eager to get going so we would not be standing around in the cold. We kicked off exactly on time at 10.30am. Before the start I got chatting to some people who had done the race before and I was glad as they tempered my aims and reiterated how hilly the course is. Consequently I decided to drop my aimed for average mile splits to 07:15. This proved to be a wise decision. The first mile passed in 07:12, so a little fast but very comfortable. I completed the second mile in 07:04, the third in 07:16. Here I encountered Johnny Donnelly of 'runjohnnyrun'. More on his crazy escapades to raise money for charity is available from runjohnnyrun.com. Mile four elapsed in 07:16, five in 07:19, six 07:03. It was here that the gentle incline from the start ended. The seventh mile went by in 07:19 and mile eight in 06:54. Obvious from the quicker time is that I was on the downhill section of the course towards Kilary harbour; Ireland's only fjord. I really began to appreciate the scenery at this point which was truly stunning. Mile nine went by in 07:09 and mile ten in 06:53. I was running on my won alot now. Mile eleven elapsed in 06:39 and twelve in 06:57. These two miles involve the final descent into Kilary harbour and running along the flat. Mile thirteen passed in 07:00. I was consciously trying to slow myself down now as I was going a bit fast and I anticipated a hillier second half. At this, the halfway point you come into the village of Leenane, where the half marathon starts and there is a short sharp rise out of the village. Unfortunately you have to get to this point in less than three hour pace to avoid having to run through two thousand half marathon starters. I could see the front runners pull away from the start as I entered the village and my heart sunk a little. I had to battle up hill against the usual twits who think it's a good idea to walk/run four abreast and those who throw their arms about in excitement. At one point I saw a girl taking off her hoddie to throw it to her friends across the road cheering her on. I decided to over take her on the inside before she did that but I didn't make it and it was only my anticipation of what she was about to do that allowed me to put my arms up in time to stop her throwing her right arm into my face. Battling through the crowd I got through miles fourteen and fifteen miles in 07:25 and 07:26, which I was happy with but I expended an awful lot of energy.
Mile sixteen went down in 06:43, mile seventeen in 06:44 and mile eighteen in 06:58. I was going too fast and needed to slow down. Mile nineteen passed in 07:16, mile twenty in 07:18. At this point I was getting anxious about the hill at mile twenty-three, the infamous 'hell of the west'. Mile twenty-two lapped in 07:29. Mile twenty-three 07:54, which represented the first part of the 'hell of the west' and mile twenty-four was extremely painful and slow, elapsing in 08:49. I was so glad to see the end of it and could now see the finish way off in the distance down a gentle gradient. I could not get back up to my previous pace and could feel my left hamstring cramping up pretty bad and worried about something giving out and registering a DNF. Thankfully I held it together and miles twenty-five and six passed in 07:21 and 07:26 respectively. In the last 0.2 I got 'chicked' but my pride was not hurt too much when it transpired that she would be the female marathon winner. I finished in 03:10:24 and considering this was a much tougher course than Dublin I was very happy with the time.
If I miss the qualifying time for Boston 2010 the Connemarathon will be a very good consolation prize and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. Superbly organised, great course and nice medal and wicked t-shirt for all finishers.

Cupid's Dash 10k

2009-02-16T21:44:00.004Z

Valentine's day was the date for the inaugural Cupid's 10k dash. Irishfit.com organised this event in the Phoenix park. It followed the same route as the Aware 10k so it would be test of progress of any from December.
It began at 10am and I made sure I was at the very front so as to ensure a clean getaway. I reckon there were about five hundred participants. I aimed to pass the first mile in 06:20, nine seconds faster than the Aware 10k. The first mile passed in 06:21 and I quickly found myself in a group of about five runners with the leading pack of four in front of us about fifty metres ahead.
Mile two 06:22, mile three in 06:14. I was feeling strong and was feeling confident of breaking the forty minute barrier. At this point the two leading women and the leading group of men disappeared. Mile four 06:20. Mile five, which is where you first encounter the hills as you move along military road, passed in 06:26. I was very happy with this and as I approached the crest I put the hammer down and glided over the top and overtook the four runners I had been with for most the the previous four to five miles. At this point you move down hill for a couple of hundred yards and turn left onto Kyber road, where it is up hill for most of a mile. Here one of the runners I passed half a mile back overtook me; drew level and we ran together for about 400 metres. I felt strong and pushed on, leaving him behind.
For the previous five mile I could see the second woman in the distance and was slowly reeling her in but there were not enough miles to left to catch her. Mile six passed in 06:33 and the last kilmoetre is a nice gentle negative gradient where I pushed on and passed another few runners. I crossed the line in 39:35, a new PB and my first sub forty 10k. No results up yet but I might just have come in the top twenty.

Improvement?

2009-01-13T22:14:00.002Z

I did my tempo run this evening, which is 1600m warm up, 2X1600m@06:44, 1600 rest, 2x1600@06:44 and a cooldown. The first two tempo miles passed at 06:42 and 06:33. I felt fairly fatigued at this point. The rest period was 1600m, which is quite long I think. The second set of tempo miles were 06:28 and 06:33 and I was surprised at how much I had recovered and I might need to reconsider my target pave of 06:44 or reduce the recovery period.

Iliotibial band

2009-01-12T22:18:00.001Z

In recent weeks I've upped my mileage by about twenty per cent and I think it is paying off. I am running a little ahead of my target tempo pace and my interval sessions seem to be getting a little easier. However, there is a drawback. My IT band is playing up, atleast as a self diagnosis I think that is what it is and has resulted in 'Runner's Knee'. I am pretty sure this is what is it as I have all the classic symptoms, a dull and sometimes sharp pain, especially getting up from a seated position or walking downstairs.
Also, the stretches that relieve and/or prevent IT band pain do seem to work and are keeping it under control. I am trying to build in more stretching and gym work to strengthen my quads, hamstrings and glutes. FIngers crossed this will do the trick!

Aware 10K

2008-12-06T19:05:00.007Z

Today I competed in the Aware www.aware.ie 10K in the Phoenix Park. I made it out there at about 9.00am. The sun was just coming up over the Dublin skyline off to the east and combined with the frost laden ground was a very picturesque scenario.
Unfortunately, with this came ice on the park's roads. This was a major concern for the organisers as the start approached. I jostled my way to the front and as we set off I decided to follow those who had ran over ground in front of me and not come a cropper. Conditions were fairly treacherous underfoot but I did not see anyone take a tumble thankfully. My first mile went well elapsing in 06:29; mile two in 06:16 and mile three in 06:11. A sub forty minute 10k was looking possible. Mile four, which was primarily downhill elapsed in 06:14. Mile five passed in 06:33; during this mile we began an uphill section and mile five was a series of undulating hills that I found very tough and my heart rate went into the 180s. Mile six I slowed considerably and this is where I lost the possibility of achieving a sub forty, completing it in 06:58. On a positive I responded well in the last kilometre, which was a gentle negative gradient, completing it in less than four minutes. I crossed the line in 40:21, which beat my previous PB by twenty-eight seconds so I was very pleased with the morning's work!
The picture is of the Waterloo Obelisk, commemorating the Irish General, Arthur Wellesley's, AKA the Duke of Wellington, victory over Napoleon in June 1815.

Aware 10K 2007
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Connemarathon

2008-10-29T21:45:00.002Z

I signed up for the Connemarathon yesterday. It takes place on 22 March next year near Maam cross in Co. Galway. Anyone who has competed in this event always has great things to say about it. The website is a pretty slick affair with video footage of previous events and a detailed history. It's a tough course, lots of undulating hills and if I get near 3hr 15mins there I will be doing very well indeed. The scenery and unique location of this event are what appear to make it such a great event.
I will need to alot more speed and hill work for this event. I am making my way through Daniels' running formula and will use it to develop a more structured training schedule for myself, which I hope will pay dividends after Christmas.