A New Start

Reflecting on my training/races of late I realised something had to change if I wanted to improve or to be able to train harder/smarter. To me that was both nutrition and core strength or strength in general so my body could handle the demands placed on it a bit better.

I found the answer to this on my doorstep almost with Tony Finnegan a fellow runner/triathlete who runs bootcamp classes literally behind my house. Tony was advertising 6 weeks of 1 to 1 high intensity training 3 times a week in the run up to Christmas. After initial enquiries and coming up with times that suited we were good to start last Monday. This also came with a new nutrition plan to help clean up my diet long term. More to come on that.

Monday 11th November - High Intensity Training

I wasn't sure what awaited me but after a bit of initial paperwork we were down to business with a warm up. The main part of the work out was 3 different exercises x 7 reps with 5 sets of the exercises to be done. This included press ups and burpees. Found the burpees tough but was heartened to be able to complete all sets which I was told most people struggle with on the first day. A nice finisher then to really mess you up and it was all over in 30 minutes or so.

This was a new experience for me and the body and felt like I was waking up a lot of muscles.

Tuesday 12th November - Speed session

Usual Tuesday night club session. This week was intervals from 20 seconds up to 2 minutes increasing 20 second's at a time and back down to 20 seconds. This was to be done at 5K pace with a minute recovery between each at 1/2 marathon pace. Arms were hanging a bit from the day before but got through the session fine although the recoveries slowed a bit as we went on.

5.24 miles total for the session.

Wednesday 13th November - High Intensity Training

DOMS central hit me on Wednesday morning where I was nearly unable to use my arms. Even using the keyboard in work was troublesome. Was dreading the session that evening, though it was more thoughts of not being able to do it than anything else.

Pain eased a bit once we got going and again was able to get through it ok with the bench press being a bit of a struggle.

Thursday 14th November - Club Run

My body feels like it is starting to shut down. Pain is now coming from the core area and it gets worse as the day goes on. The longer I spend sitting down the longer it takes me to get moving when I get out of my chair in work.

Headed down to Gormanston as usual for a few easy miles and I'm glad we were only doing an easy run. Coupled with the new form of training and change to nutrition I wasn't able for any sort of pace. I did get roped into doing a couple of 800's at the end which I did but it was only a couple.

4.09 miles total.

Friday 15th November - High Intensity Training

I think the pain has become normal by now and the general lethargic feeling is still around. No rest for the wicked though and another session ticked off.

Saturday 16th November - Tempo Run

The previous week was 5 miles @ 7:27 pace. This week was a much different story. Lost tough with Rosemary & Susan after around 2 miles maybe slightly earlier and slumped to the finish. I think the last mile might have been an embarrassing 8:50 odd and felt like the end of a Marathon.

I just didn't have anything else to give, no power in the legs as such. To be expected for what I had put myself through during the week. I think it will only be a short term thing anyway until my body adapts to all the changes.

I actually saw the below on Twitter last night which was re-assuring and seems to explain it well.

Body weight loss of 2.5% (reflective of fluid loss) combined with high intensity exercise can decrease performance by greater than 45%!

7 miles completed for the session

Sunday 17th November - Long Run

I was a bit dubious after the Saturday episode as to whether I should join the club run or do this on my own where I might have more control over the pace. There seemed to be a good group getting together so I decided to join them. The only problem was it was going to be a hilly run :-( We headed out of Stamullen towards Greenanstown which involved climbing most of the way and then swung towards Fourknocks where we were met with an even steeper hill. At this point I had to resort to walking up most of the hill, but there was simply nothing left in the legs.

When we reached the top we re-grouped and headed back towards Stamullen. The legs were hurting but I was able to manage the downhill/flat portions ok. Even the slightest hill was causing a lot of problems. It was actually funny as I had no problems as such breathing or wasn't out of breath.

Finished up at the end back in Stamullen with around 9.5 miles completed.

Summary: Never before has a 25 mile week taken so much out of me. I know it will take a few weeks though for my body to adapt to the new form of exercise and hopefully then will see some benefits. The 18 holes of golf on Saturday afternoon may have better been spent resting but I did manage to win my class prize ;-) Will try to incorporate a few short recovery runs this week before the HIT just to start getting the miles up again. Hopefully some of the key sessions will be a bit more manageable as well.

Dublin Marathon hangover

With the Marathon over there comes a time to sit back, relax and realise what you have achieved or not achieved as the case may be. I had planned to take a week off running at least to let the body and mind recover. Just as thoughts of getting the runners back on came into my head I was hit with a bit of a cold which I think is common enough given that your immune system might be a bit low after the exertions of the Marathon. With that I was forced into a few days more recovery and by Thursday although not 100% I decided to get back into it.

Thursday 7th November - Easy Run

6.14 miles @ 9:04 pace

This consisted of 4 loops of the winter run in Gormanston College with Rosemary & Brian. Where the legs had felt recovered beforehand they certainly made it known that they didn't feel like running again just yet. Was great though to get back out there.

Saturday 9th November - Tempo Run

We are still getting a weekly training plan off Gary to follow and a nice 5 mile tempo run was included to be done at roughly 1/2 Marathon pace + 5/10 seconds. Met with Rosemary at 7:30am and did around a mile warm up although not really getting warm.

The splits for the 5 miles were (7:32, 7:29, 7:25, 7:25, 7:24).

This was tough going, really tough going. I still wasn't feeling wonderful and was struggling in the first mile. I just tried to keep plugging away and although the legs were screaming at me once it didn't feel like anything was going to pop I kept at it.

Although we both seemed to be struggling in equal measure the pace held steady and even picked up slightly on the return 2.5 miles. Before long we were up the last incline and the main road and finishing point came into sight. I for one was relieved to see it. We finished off with a mile cool down back to the cars and everything was done and dusted before 8:30.


Summary: Back at it in a small way last week with a bit of a shock to the system on Saturday morning. Maybe the shock to the system was needed as the lingering cold seems to have shifted now. Looking forward to a bit more structured training this week. Time to build a base again before London training kicks off in earnest...

 

Dublin Marathon 2013

Bank holiday weekend rolled around quick enough in the end but rather than worrying about trying to cram in any last minute training most time was spent checking weather forecasts as there was talk of a storm going to hit over the weekend. The weather is one thing you have no control over but at the same time you feel entitled to a reasonable day. I picked up my number from the Expo on Sunday afternoon amidst the rain and strong winds and then settled down to relax for the evening finishing off the carb loading and heading for bed after Love/Hate. For a change I slept pretty soundly and after some porridge and banana headed off to get the bus with the rest of the gang.
We arrived in plenty of time, getting dropped off just before the 26 mile marker on Nassau St. As we walked towards Merrion square it dawned on me how long the last .2 miles actually was never mind the 26 miles before it. Everything went hassle free and we took our place in the start area close enough to the 3:30 pacers and watched the clock tick down towards 9am.

From a personal point of view my 'A' goal was sub 3:30, 'B' goal was sub 3:40, 'C' goal was a PB (sub 3:46) and anything else would have been a disaster.

Most of my training had gone well but as documented before some of my long runs had been a disaster so if anything it would be a problem with endurance regardless of the pace I ran at.



Training partners with nervous smiles before the off


The Race

Miles 1-6 (8:14, 8:01, 8:03, 7:50, 8:01, 7:57)

The first few miles were all about warming up, not heading out too fast and not panicking if a little slow. After the usual first corner congestion it opened up a bit until we came to a shuddering halt going around Stephens green where the road narrowed with roadworks. This was to be a characteristic of the first few miles anytime we came to a corner or congested area. The pace had come to us quite naturally and even if we wanted to I don't think we could have pushed on much quicker. The biggest problem was trying to stay upright as I got clipped from behind 3 times in the first couple of miles.

As we converged on the park the pace picked up a bit but as you can see from the pic below approaching the park there wasn't a whole lot of road space. I suppose one advantage of this was there wasn't a whole lot of impact from the wind although we definitely could feel it when we hit Chesterfield avenue. I took my 2nd gel along here having taken one that burst before the race. Before long though we were turning onto the furze road and seemed to be bang on pace for where we wanted to be.



Heading towards the Phoenix Park

 Miles 7 - 13 (7:50, 7:43, 7:57, 8:08, 7:49, 8:08, 8:09)

The next couple of miles were flat/downhill towards the exit of the park but still very crowded. Our pace was dictated somewhat for us but it was on target so nothing to worry about really. The pacers were still in sight about 50 metres up the road. Again we ground to a halt coming out the park gates but got going again without incident. As we headed towards Chapelizod we were greeted with a wall of sound and also the smell of someone having a BBQ. The miles seemed to be ticking off ok but we were now about to hit a pretty testing part of the course and were greeted with a nasty incline to bring us up to the 9 mile marker. The legs certainly felt that and took a few minutes to recover. The next park down through inchicore was messy to say the least. With half the road blocked the available space could simply not cater for the amount of people and we got slowed here as you can see from the slightly slower mile. There were another couple of short sharp inclines as we made our way towards Dolphins Barn and I momentarily got detached from Rosemary & Susan along here. I tagged onto them again after a few hundred metres and having a bit of a chat to myself. The Crumlin road is always a wind tunnel even on the calmer days so today it was quite a drag and although losing a bit of time against our planned pace it was the right thing to do to keep the effort steady rather than trying to force it into the wind. Eventually we were able to turn off onto the Walkinstown Road, avoiding a barrier falling in front of us and we got to the 1/2 way point in 1:45:02 which was bang on target.

I wasn't feeling too bad at this point but at the same time knew the main tests lay ahead.

Miles 14 - 19 (7:56, 7:51, 8:01, 7:50, 7:48, 8:00)

Finally as we headed for Kimmage there seemed to be a bit more space appearing on the road, we had a bit of a t and everyone seemed to be feeling ok so we just ploughed on as we were. This is one of the flatter sections of the route as we headed towards Bushy park and down towards Terenure where there is always a huge crowd and was quite surprised here when a DJ called out my name. We were now in the 10 mile to go part of the race and we tried to compare it to one of our Thursday tempo runs from here and started counting down the miles one by one. The legs were hurting at this stage and the feet were sore but we were maintaining a strong pace for this part of the race.

Miles 20 - 26.2 (8:34, 9:11, 8:41, 9:06, 9:29, 9:38, 8:57, 8:33*)

Kaboom

I don't have a clear recollection of where I ran into trouble but I think it was around the 19.5 mile point. For the previous few minuted both of my hips had kind of locked (or felt like that) and the pain had spread down into my quads. I had to make the painful decision to let the others go on without me. After a 20 second walk I got going again resigned to the fact that the 3:30 was out the window but hoping a slight ease up in pace might be manageable. For the most part I managed this but was having to take regular walking breaks of 20 seconds or so. While my body felt fine my legs had simply given up on me. I managed to work out at 22 miles that once I kept going then I should finish under 3:40 so that became my new target.

As I headed towards Ballsbridge I knew I would be seeing familiar faces in the last few miles which helped a lot to keep me going. Mile 24/25 were a killer where the wind in parts seemed to be at it's strongest. Saw my wife and brother just before the turn to Westland Row which gave me a boost and then a big contingent of SOS blue hoodies on the corner who I threw a few high 5's to. My race was run but I was certainly going to enjoy what was left of it. More support on Westland Row and then the turn towards Trinity College. As you round the corner towards Nassau St it feels more like the Tour de France than a Marathon with the crowd support and people encroaching out onto the road. I started to cramp up turning onto Nassau St and was jsut about to stop when a friend of mine Matt who was stewarding let an almighty roar at me to keep going. The cramp went away and I was managed to keep going up Nassau St. Spotted Karen Clarke stewarding in the last mile as well and let a roar out at her. The finish line was now in sight but about 100 metres from the line I spotted the guy below stalled with cramp. Nothing more for it than to throw my arm around him and get him to the finish on one leg. It might have cost me a few seconds but in the overall scheme of things that did not matter.

Lending a helping hand

 

So there you have it. Crossed the line in 3:37:43 finishing 2,703 out of 12,353 finishers. A PB of almost 9 minutes based on last year. Once again though at the 4th time of asking I feel defeated by the Marathon.

 

I'm also a realist and I know you get out of these things what you put in along with the sacrifices you are prepared to make to achieve your targets. But then at the end of the day you have to realise this is also something we do for enjoyment and it is not the be all and end all by any means. It doesn't mean we won't be trying just as hard or harder the next time. For me the next time and probably the last time is in London in 160 days time.

 

Special thanks must go to my wife Emma who affords me the time to do the training required. Any training missed is certainly not down to her. To our coach Gary O'Hanlon who is delivering great improvements in a short time with us, thanks for all your help and your weekly training plan. To the other 2 amigo's Rosemary & Susan thanks for the company and camaraderie on those Thursday tempo's and all the other training runs. There were up's & down's along the way but mainly up's and you both ran great races showing me how it should be done. And a final word of thanks to the people who gave up their time to come in and support us on Monday. Go SOS.

 

Now where did I leave those runners ;-)