The Final Countdown

This was the last week of meaningful training before Dublin and a good week was hoped for.

Tuesday 16th October - Session

Our speed sessions have moved to St Pat's GAA in Stamullen for the winter as it has a more all weather surface and is floodlight. The track we use is somewhere between 500 & 600 metres with 2 long straights and sharp bends. As a result most of our sessions now will be timed rather than distance based.

After just over a mile warm up and some drills we started off with an 11 minute Tempo session which was to be run at 15 seconds faster than Marathon pace. I managed to keep the pace steady with a nice group together and the pace worked out at 7:44 for the 11 minutes.

When we got back to the start we had a few minutes recovery as Gary explained the 2nd part of the session. This was to be 2 mins @ 10K pace, straight into 90 secs at Marathon pace and we had to do this 6 times straight off, no recoveries.

Pace for 2 min @ 10K pace   (7:21, 7:12, 7:13, 7:01, 6:58, 6:46)
Pace for 90 sec @ MP were   (8:04, 7:59, 7:54, 7:51, 7:47, 7:45)

This was a toughie no doubt but again we got working as a group and ticked them off gradually picking up the pace as we went along. We definitely got a good confidence boost from this.

Gary explained the purpose of a session like this was to enable you if you hit a bad spot in a race and had to ease off for a few minutes to get over it a session like this would help you pick up the pace again.

A short cool down brought it up to 5.87 miles for the session.


Thursday 17th October - Tempo Run

7 mile tempo @ 7:49 pace

Our last tempo run (I think) before the big day. This week called for 7 miles @ 10 - 15 secs quicker than marathon pace. After a mile warm up and plenty of chat and excitement we got down to business. The chat stopped pretty much straight away as we were faced with a nice hill at the Delvin and the gradual rise for the next mile or so. After we swung off the main road we were on a nice back road where I think we know every hump and hollow of at this stage. The pace was nice and steady without much fluctuation and with a couple of miles to go our only danger was the lack of light and coming back over a few hundred metres of dodgy underfoot conditions. Last thing we needed was someone going over on an ankle. This was safely negotiated and we were all glad when we reached the end. A cool down followed back to the cars for just under 9 miles for the night.


Friday 18th October - Easy Run

5.02 miles @ 9:10 pace

Having escaped the rain on Wednesday there was no escaping it on Friday night. Just an easy loop around Balbriggan. Pretty windy as well into the bargain. The weather seems to be taking a turn for the worse at the wrong time :-( 


Sunday 20th October - Long Run ;-)

8 miles @ 8:25 pace

Big reduction in long run distance this week. Gary does have a heart after all ;-) Met Rosemary at the college and set out from there. Met Stuey, Glenn, David & John along the route and everyone seemed in good form. This was a grand relaxing run and if anything we were holding back to keep the pace in check. We noticed on the way back we were running into a decent head wind but didn't really feel it. Most of our thoughts and conversation seemed to be taken up with only one subject...

So the mileage dropped off again last week to 28 for the week but keeping the intensity with 2 good sessions and a bit of a long run. This week I'll probably run every second day with a light session on Tuesday, nice club run on Thursday and a couple of miles either Saturday or Sunday depending how things work out.

There is nothing more to be done now other than wait and see how things pan out on the day. There are so many factors to take into account with a marathon compared to shorter races and you just have to hope things you have no control over like weather etc. turn out to be ok. Training has gone well with the exception of a couple of long runs which of course leaves doubts in the mind. Previous to this I would have done 2/3 20 mile long runs, in this cycle I didn't really manage one properly. The counter to that though are the tempo sessions we did every Thursday. There were 13 in total and I managed to knock these out week after week meeting the required challenge of distance and pace. I had never done pace runs like this before and am hopeful these will stand to us.

Nearly all of these runs were done as a group with Rosemary & Susan. We worked off each other well and enjoyed each others company for the runs. On Monday we will line up together at the start line and take it from there. We have a plan and the most important part of it is to get the pace right from the start of the race, resist the urge to take off too quickly in the early miles. After that it's just a case of taking it mile by mile.

Good luck to everyone else doing on the marathon on bank holiday Monday, especially the first timers. Most of all enjoy it, savour the atmosphere, there is something really special abour running through the streets of Dublin being cheered on by thousands of people regardless of your ability.