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.
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
The plan
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.
Monday, 10 May 2010
One family 5K
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.
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.
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
ARC 10k
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.
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.
Monday, 3 May 2010
Boston 2010 postscript
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.
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.
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Boston 2010
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!
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!
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Volcanos
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.
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.
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