Now I'm Running...

ike · 18-09-2009 9:43pm

Thanks lads appreciate the good wishes. Just to summarise this week did a couple of 10k's on Mon & Tues with a few fast K's thrown in to keep the legs loose.

Arrived in Berlin on Thurs morning after a very early start (2:30am), managed to check into hotel around midday, we had planned on going for a run last night but everyone was wrecked, so we all headed out a 7:30 this morning for a gentle few miles, headed up to the Brandenburg Gate which gave me goospimples hopefully making it through there on Sun will be a serious buzz.

Still feel I'm about 2 good weeks of serious training away from being my best, but will definately give it a lash.

Roll on Sunday!

ike · 22-09-2009 12:40pm

Only getting a proper chance to update this now, arrived back home yesterday but was too wrecked to switch on a PC.

Got into my pen (E) and had a quick chat with the 3:30 pacer and had hoped to stay close to him as much as possible after the first K he seemed to take off, so I started running my own race and got myself into a positive frame of mind

The race was going great up until half way was @ 1:46 about a minute off pace. For the next few K's I started to feel a small bit light headed, but it still didn’t knock me off my stride. That feeling stayed with me for the next 4-5K, strange one can’t explain it.

All my KM splits were going very even, then just before the 30K I got a cramp in my left hamstring (an exact repeat of the Dublin Marathon last year), about 20 sec of a stop n’ stretch sorted that out, lost about a minute over the next 2K’s, so was starting to think about a sub 3:35 target, so I didn’t bother trying to make back that lost minute.

Got back into 5:00/km pace from 32-35km I was just over the 3 hour mark at 35K so wouldn’t have been far off a 3:35. I got two more cramps in the same leg, but shook them off very quickly. I can’t remember the exact point the race ended for me but I think it was the water stop before 36km, I grabbed a couple of cups and maneuvered back to the left hand side of the road and slowed a bit to make sure I got all the water on board.

Mentally I was in great shape at this stage and kept visualizing charging down the last KM to the finish but for some reason when I looked at my watch I was running at 6:00/km or slower tried picking it up but the legs would not respond, tried a couple of times and no response so I just said “ah well that’s that then!” and started walking for a bit, the 5km from 35-40km took me 32min! and the last 2.2 took me around 13min, with about a K to go I remember saying Jesus I must try and get a PB out of this at least, so I finished in 3:45:07 just under 2 minutes outside of Dublin, it doesn’t really feel like a PB, because I was so far ahead of it at one stage and still ended up close to it.

Honestly tho I’m not particularly disappointed, I knew all along I was going to fall short on time in getting the long runs in and felt I need at least 2 more weeks of hard training. Probably would have felt a lot worse if I did put in the training and failed I didn’t mentally give up or switch off which is a positive

It was a great event and a huge occasion, the crowds and entertainment made the time pass very quickly. If I had to fault one thing it was the water stops they got very crowded and at times I was barging my way in, ideally if they were at both sides of the road and about 20meters longer it would have been a great help. The course was so flat it was unbelievable; I can’t even remember anything resembling a hill or a rise in the road!

Headed out the to the Irish Pub in the Europa centre, with the gang of us that went over, met Woddle, Krusty Clown, and Rusty Cogs for a bit in the Irish bar later that evening

Still feel I have a very good marathon time in me I just need to find the time to fit in the long training runs and possibly build more strength into my legs. Overall it’s been a good year; I’ve made some good improvements in my 5 mile, 10mile and Half. Just checking back on logs from 08, it looks something like this...

2008 2009
5 mile 35:16 32:48
10 mile 79:21 69:28
Half Mar 01:44:38 01:35:11

Finishing the log for now, will continue to tip away over the next few months just to keep ticking over. If I target something in particular I’ll start up a new log.

Thanks for reading

ike.