Is it Now?

donothoponpop

Stupid_Private wrote: »

... Different plans work for different people...

Bingo! Real simple when I see it written down, but thats what I've been doing wrong the past few days, comparing other logs to my own. You're dead right, from now on its put the head down time and get the most out of the next four weeks. Cheers.

shels4ever

Stupid_Private wrote: »

I agree with --amadeus-- , you have been mister motivator for the past few weeks. Not so long back you gave him a verbal kick up the ass for having doubts! Trust in your plan and don't worry about other peoples. Trust in it and it'll all come together in the end. Different plans work for different people. I didn't go above 18 miles in training last time out and still went to the starting line full of confidence. You've over four weeks of real work to go - loads.of.time.

Great Advise there , Listen to him

Slogger Jogger

Some great posts there. I don't have boards access in work so only picking up on these now. Thanks all for the encouraging messages.

Great running today donothoponpop. I agree that we're all in fine shape and touch wood (knocks head) that we'll beat our targets hands down. This is my 17th marathon. Its the only marathon that I've actually done a dedicated marathon schedule for in the sense of using the different running tools - LSRs, tempo runs, intervals, hills (thank you Mr. Higdon). Previously I would have 'just' run. My PB last year in Cork was set against a backdrop of just running and I pretty much didn't do a dedicated running schedule for Cork either as I'd prep'ed for Conn last year and filled in the gaps to Cork with hill runs and the like. Still ran 3:06 on a hilly-ish Cork route. The fact that I did that, and finished strongly and that I've done a great schedule so far, gives me confidence of PBing in Rotterdam and there is no reason why sub 3hrs isn't attainable. I PBed in the 10K before Christmas and I've done well at recent imra races so that shows me that my training is working. Doing good, as a sideline, on the 1000 mile challenge

I'd be well up to running together. Won't be talking much mind . When I'm racing like that I tend to get into the zone.:) Picture the scene. Us crossing the line together... Timer above heads saying 2:5n Don't care what the n is...

--amadeus--

17th!! :eek:

I thought there was someone else doing Rotterdam and aiming for sub 3 (I thought it was Rusty?) - was I imagining things?

donothoponpop

--amadeus-- wrote: »

17th!! :eek:

I thought there was someone else doing Rotterdam and aiming for sub 3 (I thought it was Rusty?) - was I imagining things?

Unfortunately he got an injury in the first IMRA race so had to postpone his first marathon of the year- Rusty, we'll raise a glass to ya in Rotterdam!

Rusty Cogs 08

Ah thanks guys, I'll be wishing you all the best. I'll pm dp my mobler number so I can get the results hot off the press, so to speak. Back on the roads now myself, ran a 67'29'' 10 miler tonight so feel like I'm coming back alright.

You guys have the momentum though so keep it up (any chance of those infamous boards singlets for the attempts ?)

Woddle

Rusty Cogs 08 wrote: »

Ah thanks guys, I'll be wishing you all the best. I'll pm dp my mobler number so I can get the results hot off the press, so to speak. Back on the roads now myself, ran a 67'29'' 10 miler tonight so feel like I'm coming back alright.

You guys have the momentum though so keep it up (any chance of those infamous boards singlets for the attempts ?)

Should have them on Friday, Monday at the latest

donothoponpop

5 wtg day 3

4.5 mile forest run. Had good company on this run a very experienced runner who was telling me about some of the wackier races he's done in the US. The Gorilla race, a campus race around a forest trail, in which a man dressed in a gorilla suit leaps out at you from behind trees to put you off. Extra points for throwing/dodging bananas!
Or the Corning Tower Stair Climb in Albany, a race up 42 flights of stairs, he said the lack of oxygen made breathing very difficult. I was kicking myself, I had lived in NY for 8 years, but didn't run then, I would have loved to try something like this. Ah well, spilt milk now.

5wtg day 4

14.5 hilly run, av pace 7:45.
Took this one easy enough, indeed I had my Garmin "up my sleeve" and didn't look at it till I was home. So I let the pace go with how I felt, and I felt like taking it easy. Happy that the pace I thought I was at was what corresponded with the watch.
Lot to be said for not running with the watch. Its very useful for pace, but oftentimes I will look at it too much, when I could be enjoying the run and the view, as I did today. Great day for it.

--amadeus--

I know what you mean - I usually leave teh Garmin at home for easy runs. Makes such a difference when you aren't working at it.

I love hearing about daft events like that - come teh summer we'll have to try and set something stupid up as a charity fundraiser

Woddle

I was thinking of a 24 hour run but all you have to do is 1 mile in an hour every hour for 24 hours based on something done around the London marathon a few years back. Those of us who have a garmin can easily use them as proof :eek:

MCOS

donothoponpop wrote: »

4.5 mile forest run. Had good company on this run a very experienced runner who was telling me about some of the wackier races he's done in the US. The Gorilla race, a campus race around a forest trail, in which a man dressed in a gorilla suit leaps out at you from behind trees to put you off. Extra points for throwing/dodging bananas!
.

would the Irish equivalent be someone dressed as a sheep?

Just to echo what the guys were saying above, its very interesting to read such different logs and different effective approaches of you 3 guys doing Rotterdam with a goal of sub 3. Seeing as you all look to be in great shape it really goes to show that a Training program is not a one size fits all. I'd say the excitememnt is really setting in! I have every confidence ye will all get there!

--amadeus--

Back when the 1000 mile challenge first came up it crossed my mind that an excellent challenge would be 1000 miles in 24 hours. Get 6 or 8 treadmills and a team of 30 or 40 people and it could be done...

Which is all a bit OT to DPs log!

donothoponpop

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Back when the 1000 mile challenge first came up it crossed my mind that an excellent challenge would be 1000 miles in 24 hours. Get 6 or 8 treadmills and a team of 30 or 40 people and it could be done...

No need for dreadmills...

There's 79 people on the challenge right now. We need one more for this idea to work. You pair the person at the bottom with the one at the top. +1 and -1, and so on, until you have 40 teams of two. Each team commits to running 25 miles in a given 24 hour period, then there's your 1000 miles in 24 hours.

Slogger Jogger

Sounds good. You might have something like the following though.. if you're a top person paired with a person towards the end does that mean that you're nearly running the full 25 miles

Can it be the weekend of say a half marathon distance race (say the Wicklow way trail) - that would really help some of us

donothoponpop

5 wtg day 5

10 miles, 5am, 5pm, 7:40 pace.

One of the "double" days in the P&D schedule, two short runs at an easy pace. Personally, I don't see the purpose of these doubles, beyond just racking up the miles without inflicting on harder days in a big mile week.

Thankfully, with me fighting with Abhainn and Stupid Private for the last few top 10 places in the 1000 mile challenge, just racking up the miles suits me fine right now:D

IMRA race tomorrow, don't intend to give it as much as I otherwise could, legs are starting to feel tired after several hard weeks.

Slogger Jogger

5am :eek: Some people just can't sleep thinking about someone a few miles ahead of them on the challenge

donothoponpop

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

5am :eek: Some people just can't sleep thinking about someone a few miles ahead of them on the challenge

No, that would be 5 miles done in the am, 5 miles done in the pm. just because I wake up in a cold sweat in the dead of night, thinking about the 1000 mile challenge, doesn't mean I've completely lost it;)

Slogger Jogger

Thats comforting, though I've a suspicion that you'll want to do a no. of laps of the imra race today to keep your mileage up. Go team.

donothoponpop

5 wtg day 6

6.5 mile Trooperstown imra hill race.

I had never run this course before, but had heard only good things about it. It around the Laragh area, one of the nicest in Wicklow, with some of my favourite runs, Glendalough, Ballybraid, and Glenmacnass for neighbours.

Myself and Slogger Jogger arrived early, and once registered, we scouted the starting kilometer of the route. Trooperstown Hill is a big hulking mass, which would be scaled via a long ascent via "Boots" mountain at its back. A strong field of about 150(?) or so were ready to take this on, and although several imra stalwarts were missing owing to tomorrows XC championships, several more had come along for their first imra race of the year. I met Krusty Clown before the start, and he told me his new tactic would be to start at the front of the pack, rather than being held back by the slower runners as had happened at his previous few imra races. It would prove be be a valuable move for him.

From the off, a slow ascent through the forest was borne steadily, nothing too dramatic about the incline. This is the part of the race where a lot of people lose themselves, and tend to go off too quick. While that can be a good tactic during a narrow start, today I was able to start reeling in runners from about a kilometer or so. Not too far ahead I could see Slogger Jogger, and from a cursory glance around I was surprised at the company I was keeping: during last years races these were people I couldn't get anywhere near, now my heavy recent training was allowing me to surge ahead of them. The ascent over soft mountain trail continued, and it was a matter of "steady as she goes". My legs were starting to feel to effects of a lot of milage this week, but keeping one foot motoring in front of the other was the way to go. Another day, I might have tried to cover SJ as he pulled away from me, picking off runner after runner, but for today I was happy with where I was in the field. Besides, something had to be kept in reserve for the later climbs...

It was around this time I was contenting myself with my position, that I became aware of some laboured breathing over my shoulder. As he drew alongside, I saw it was Krusty, who was having a great race. "When does the downhill begin?" he asked, and I wasn't sure if he was joking or not. Certainly by this stage a good downhill would be welcomed, but there was still a lot of climbing to go yet. From this moment in the race until the finish, myself and Krusty traded places, each waiting for the other to break. I don't mind telling you, during our duel I thought how I would have to post in my log that Krusty had beaten me, or tell of how he broke me, and it was this thought that made me dig deep on those uphills. However, no matter if I put on a spurt, he was soon right on my shoulder again. After we went over the first ascent of Boots mountain, I tried to shake him off by doing a fast descent, but by the time of the second climb to the summit of Trooperstown Hill, he was with me again. I figured that I'd be able to shake him off on the descent, as I was pretty experienced on descents...

And so I took off, down the mountain for home. With each step I thought the breathing behind me would go silent, but it stayed with me, as he matched my downhill stride for stride. There's a very steep descent on part of this course, which I had intended "sliding" down in a controlled manner, but I could only manage this for part of it, before the competition forced a proper fast descent. Hitting the trail again, we were still at the same pace, and as we hit the final downhills through the forest, with a kilometer to go, I tried to give it all I had. I reached a stage where I figured "that's it, I can't go faster", but by the skin of my teeth held him off till the finish.

Krusty, you gave me a great race, you had a brilliant run, I'm sure (results not up as I post) that's your best imra result yet, very well done. SJ had another superb run, finishing 12th amongst very strong runners. I beat for the first time a lot of runners I hold in high esteem, so very pleased with the day. Doubt Boards AC did as well this time as two weeks ago, but we are moving up the rankings, and are a genuine team now, even when missing some of our stronger runners.

Onwards and Upwards.

Woddle

well done donothoponpop, great running and it's great when you start a bit of rivalry with a boardsie, myself v Robinph, Shels4ever v stmochtas and now Krusty v Donothoponpop it will push you on to better things, great account

donothoponpop

5 wtg day 7

13.1 miles in 1:28:38 (a pb:)), av pace 6:45 min/mile.

Pace, pace, pace. I had this circa 14 mile run at PMP (6:52) hanging over me for a while, if I did it and got the times required, I knew my preparation would be spot on. So it was with some trepidation that I drove early up to Dublin, intending a coast road out and back from Sandycove, which would simulate the flat roads of Rotterdam far better than my Wicklow hills ever could.

The first half was all into a sharp headwind, so I was surprized that I could hold the pace, and in fact beat it a bit, getting to the halfway point a minute inside my PMP. On the turn, the wind didn't seem quite so strong at my tail, and had to push the pace a little from mile nine onwards. Managed to get to the half marathon point in a time that was a best for me. Straight away into the sea for a freezing cold swim!

So over the last ten days, I have done a LSR 21 mile at 7:33 pace, and now 13.1 at 6:45. This last one a day after a hard ran race, and at the end of my hardest training week so far. I got a load of confidence out of todays run.:)

village runner

donothoponpop wrote: »

5 wtg day 7

13.1 miles in 1:28:38 (a pb:)), av pace 6:45 min/mile.

Pace, pace, pace. I had this circa 14 mile run at PMP (6:52) hanging over me for a while, if I did it and got the times required, I knew my preparation would be spot on. So it was with some trepidation that I drove early up to Dublin, intending a coast road out and back from Sandycove, which would simulate the flat roads of Rotterdam far better than my Wicklow hills ever could.

The first half was all into a sharp headwind, so I was surprized that I could hold the pace, and in fact beat it a bit, getting to the halfway point a minute inside my PMP. On the turn, the wind didn't seem quite so strong at my tail, and had to push the pace a little from mile nine onwards. Managed to get to the half marathon point in a time that was a best for me. Straight away into the sea for a freezing cold swim!

So over the last ten days, I have done a LSR 21 mile at 7:33 pace, and now 13.1 at 6:45. This last one a day after a hard ran race, and at the end of my hardest training week so far. I got a load of confidence out of todays run.:)

Great running. Great to get confidence. Didnt read all the thread so dont know how your training to date is going.
Great to get abit of confidence. If you can do 3.10 in dublin you aint far away. Back from a 10km in dungarvan. Broke 38 min after doing a slow 20 tuesday and 12 in 80 min thurs(60 miles this week) so have to be happy. Was hoping to get closer to 37 but after 4 hours sleep I have to be happy. After 3 miles even 2 i was stuck to hte ground but was thrilled i kept going. Felt like stopping many times between 4 on but I kept counting to 100. Ran from 2 miles on my own and got passed by one person at 4 and stayed with him till 5.5. I am heading to ballycotton so i wont do much this week(maybe 40) so i will be fresh sunday.
How many long ones have you done ?

Slogger Jogger

Great running sub 3 hour destined pal. You'd the good sense to head up towards Dublin and do your run on the flatter roads. A great fillip for the confidence for you, well deserved. We can both take a lot from this weekend's running.

Krusty_Clown

Well done with the PB, particularly having done it after yesterdays race. You could easily lop another 5 minutes off that in a race environment, with a proper taper. Great indicator for your marathon!

I ran those same roads this afternoon (a good bit later than you, I think). I struggled with the head-winds too, particularly when I ran down the West pier, and the weather changed dramatically (hail and gale force winds). Well done!

donothoponpop

4 weeks to go, day 2

9 miles including 5x600m VO2 max.

These 600's are meant to be run at 5k race pace, which I'm imagining to be 3:45min/k. In the event, I ran them a little faster, splits were 1:58 (too fast), 2:06, 2:05, 2:07, 2:07. Each one felt like a sprint finish (I imagined Krusty on my shoulder from the weekend;)), and like last week I was very glad when they were done.

Slogger Jogger

Can you almost smell that taper in the air? :rolleyes:

donothoponpop

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Can you almost smell that taper in the air? :rolleyes:

Getting close now! I have to say though, I'm not feeling too bad, all things considered. At this stage during training for my last marathon, I was exhausted, and doing far less mileage then too.

4 wtg, day3
13 miles at 7:50 pace, hilly trail run.

I was more than content to keep the pace slow enough during this run, the legs are tired after yesterdays session, and a hard weekend. Very much just a matter of getting the miles in. Luckily for me, the P&D schedule seems to take the foot off the pedal a bit this week, before ramping it up for one last push.

donothoponpop

4 wtg day5

5 miles easy hill run.

donothoponpop wrote: »

Getting close now! I have to say though, I'm not feeling too bad, all things considered.

Heh:rolleyes:. Famous last words. I woke up two nights ago in a cold sweat, after having some weird dream that involved the 1000 mile challenge, and then couldn't get back to sleep. That's waaayyyy too focussed, so I took yesterday off, and just ran an enjoyable 5 up a dark hill tonight. It's probably too long since I enjoyed a run like this, so its just as well that I'm coming to the end of a long and intense training schedule. I'm happy with the mielage, with the amount and distances of the long runs, with the races in between, and with the speedwork and paced runs. All in all I can't complain about feeling a bit worn out just now. I'll take it easy (and have some wine and fun) this weekend, before giving training a last push before the taper.

Anyway, there's a lot of it about:D

Peckham

donothoponpop wrote: »

I woke up two nights ago in a cold sweat, after having some weird dream that involved the 1000 mile challenge, and then couldn't get back to sleep.

Please don't tell me you were dreaming about Woddle!

Good idea to kick back a little and feel positive going into the last few weeks.

Woddle

Peckham wrote: »

Please don't tell me you were dreaming about Woddle!

.

Little do you know we were talking about the horizontal dance earlier