Sorry, I thought you said get faster before the 100th Marathon

Aimman

I did.

OK, let me give you a bit of a portfolio before I start.

Began running in January 2007, dropped 5 stone in under 4 months ( I was a heavy xbox gamer) and did my first race in April 07 ( BUPA 10k in 55:10) and was persuaded by a great friend of mine to run 14 miles of the Cork relay marathon that June. From there, I had a few 5M - 10M races until I did my first Dublin City Marathon in '07 in 4:08 (Ended up having a feaure about me in the Irish Times Sept 4th marathon section by Ed Malone, Google it lol) with enough energy to walk 4 miles home at 2am from Cafe En Seine that night.
Since then, I have run a total of 14 marathons (official and in training) including

Dublin
Cork
Belfast
Berlin
Donegal
Longford

peaking at 3:56 for the DCM in 2008

I wasnt really pushing for speed last year, as I wanted to complete as many marathons as i could to the point where from August to October 09, every second week, i was alternating from Marathon to Half Marathon, where ever I could find one. My major achievement in 2009 was completing the first full Donegal mooathon where only 30 people entered the full 26.2M race. I came 15th, which considering the hills along the way, was a trial of fire for me, and dispite the voices in my head saying 'Never Again' I'm thinking of it for this year. the novelty of being the 15th person to ever complete that marathon route still brings a smile to my face.

Knowing that I didnt put any emphasis on speed work, I became obsessed with distance and endurance which is why i signed up for the Connemara Ultra Marathon this year. Why???? Because I never hit the 'Wall' in any training runs or marathons and I was curious to see if I'd meet it in Conn. Thankfully I didn't, despite the hot weather we had and I completed the 39.3M in 6:36

That leads me to where I am now, and if you are sill reading this, many thanks for your patience, and I dont plan in keeping my entries as long as this.

To be honest, my original plan was to complete the Conn Ultra, and go back to living a normal life of a few runs, buliding up the speed and enjoying the running, but in some ways, I have Ultraman1 to blame. The guy is dead sound and offered to bring me from Oughterard to Maam Cross that morning for the start of the Ultra. On the way, he told me about the 100M run he completed last year in Conn. Of couse, I had read about this and the few people that started, and the even fewer people that finished it. I had a reality check there and then, wondering what I was doing trying to reach 40 miles. even more so, when I got to Peacocks hotel and saw the 202 other enterants that looked more at home with this then I was

Cutting a long story short (too late) I finished the race in 6:36 as I've mentioned, but I really didnt bank on enjoying it as much as i did (in hindsight, during the run, I thought a lot differently) but in the back of my mind, I always though "could I manage any more miles?"

I've watched Tfbubendorfer, Mice Rice, Mithril to name a few hammer out the miles with ease and wondered how far can i go before the wall gets the best of me? I'm not a fast pace, probably never will be and I salute the runners that can break sub 3h marathons and wonder what if. I'm even in awe of the Conn Ultra winner that broke the finish ribbon not long after I passed the 26.2M mark and was delighted with my progress.

In my thirst to see how far I can go, I finally submitted to my nagging voices and signed up for the Dingle 50M yesterday. Today, I thought that perhaps a log might be the best way to cope with it. When I signed up for Connemara, I told as many people as possible that I was doing it so that it made it harder for me to back out. Perhaps this way might make it even harder for Dingle

I've just signed up to a few of the training logs of people who inspired me over the last year and will be keeping a close eye on them for tips. I'm hoping that some people will keep an eye on this log and help me with advice though the training for me to achieve the 50M in September. If anyone want to keep track of my progress, then welcome. I'm no expert, and dont endorse any of the training methods I might use here, but if they help someone achieve their goals, then I'm a very happy man.

Right! enought said, wake up people!!!!!! Time to start this log. If I waffle, post too much, not enough, I'm open to criticism which only comes in two sizes, Too much or too little, either of which I'll take on board and make sure this log is comfortable for everyone.:D

Let the games begin............

Aimman

Went out for a bit of speed work at lunchtime. Planned to run along the new canal route frm the Kylmore road to Inchicore (0.5M fast, recover for 0.5M etc for 3 miles), but they were putting the final surface on it, looked like the Yellow Brick Road, so it was a no go area. Ended up running my old route into Ballyfermot, up the Marathon route hills to Inchicore and back to the job. Ran 5M in 43:08 which wasnt bad for a lunchtime run.

Went out to Phoenix Park in the evening to do a casual 10M. Did a slow 1st mile in 9:46, just to warm up, then put the foot down wherever I could and ended up doing the 10M in 1:24:33 which was 3 seconds quicker than my PB in the Adidas 10M last year, so hoping for good things this year in a race situation.

Resting up tomorrow for the Intel 10k on saturday. When I finally work out a training plan for Dingle, I'll post it here and see how well I keep to it (open to changes on it too, ;-)

Killerz

Best of luck Aimman. Like yourself, I am moving from a recent "smaller ultra" to the 50 mile distance, with my race on Saturday week. I don't think I've been quite as dedicated as you have in training though, nor do I have your marathon experience! I think you're well placed for the step up, and will watch this log with interest, as I would consider doing this race next year or in 2012.

50 miles... are we stupid?

BeepBeep67

Good luck with goals Aimman - I get nose bleeds if I think of racing longer than 10k.

Blueskye

Best of luck with the training. I'd love to do an ultra in the future, so will be following this with interest.

RacoonQueen

Good luck ainman as you know I might be joining you in dingle might pester you to join me for a few log runs if I do...30 milers here and there might be called for this time around.

menoscemo

Best of luck Aimman, ya mad thing. I googles your article int he irish Times BTW, Nice

Krusty_Clown

Best of luck Aimman. I'm going the other direction, I reckon my next Ultra will be shorter than Connemara, at 36 miles, so I'm very interested in your training regime, and how it goes on the big day. Couldn't find the Irish Times article. Any linky?

gerard65

Good luck. The thoughts of running 50 miles in one go makes me want the curl up in bed.:)

christeb

You'll be lining up at the start of the Comrades in no time - good luck

ronanmac

Good luck, Aimman, I'll remember this opening post as I struggle through "mere" 20 miler LSRs in the buildup to Dublin!

Aimman

Cheers for all the comments, its 15 weeks away, so I should be able to get the distance up in time. For Connemara, I had modified the advanced marathon training plan on the cool running site to make up more miles without the speed work. Every second weekend had 2 LSRs of equal distance, adding on 2 more miles each fortnight,peeking at 20Mile LSRs, with a 30M during one of the weekends. I ended up doing more miles then I planned, because in work, I could squeeze in a 5M at lunchtime and then the planned distance in the evening. (was a mix of being addicted to running, and trying to put a big dent in the 1000M challenge.

At the moment, I'm concentrating on pace, because one the Ultra training starts, interval training and speed work doesn't seem to fit in with all the miles. I'm taking part in races from 5k to 10k just to get the body used to running at a faster pace, to give me a bit more confidence.

The basic framework of my training plan will be to step up the LSRs by 3 miles every fortnight and a 30-35 mile run somewhere

On the Weekends of:

13th June 2 x 10 miles

26th June 2 x 13 mile

11th July 2 x 16 miles

24 July 2 x 19Miles

7th August 2 x 22Miles

14th August 30 or 35 Mile run (depending on mood)

21st August 2 x 25 Miiles ( or maybe back to back marathons)

I'll sort out the in between miles over the next week. I know some people wouldnt recommend the jump of 3 miles for each LSRs, thats an extra 6 miles on those weekends, but in order to get to 2 x 25M its the only option without jumping straight into long LSRs in the next couple of weeks, and I cant arrange LSRs for every weekend.

Aimman

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Couldn't find the Irish Times article. Any linky?

I checked the link, but unfortunately its in the Subscription part of the Times. Not sure if there is an alternative section in the Times site to see it. I wouldnt recommend paying the €10 daily subscription to see it, I could scan it and mail it if you really wanted to read it.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2007/0904/1188603453488.html

RayCun

caching to the rescue


Wow, very impressive.

Aimman

Ran the Intel 10k this morning. What better way to get a bit of a tan :-) Finally set up my Garmin to try an run sensibly, ie. set up at a planned pace and try to keep it all the way around instead of starting off wayyyyyy to fast and cursing it at the end. the planned pace was 4:35km, but gradually lost pace to run an average of 4:50/km, probably the heat, probably wasn't a good day for me, but I still enjoyed the race. The one good thing I took from the race was that a group of people gradually overtook me after the 5-6k point and for the last km, I was able to step up the pace and started picking them off agin, one by one, with a fast sprint at the finish to claim a couple more places. Clawed back 13 placed in the last km, very happy. finished at 48:23. not a PB, but I'm happy considering the heat.

Good to run again with Gerard65 and meet Robinph and Mithril.

On the way to Longford the afternoon, I was looking forward to catching up with Hunnymonster, ditching the car and doing a few miles, but there were a few delays in their schedule and I got to Longford before they got to pass through it. Never mind, there might be another opportunity.

ultraman1

Aimman wrote: »

my original plan was to complete the Conn Ultra, and go back to living a normal life ,enjoy the running, but in some ways, I have Ultraman1 to blame. .............The guy is dead

best of luck with the training and the log.................one more of us,one less of them;)

Aimman

LOL, you cut that quote short, looks like I'm issuing a death threat, haha.

After a weekend of BBQ, wine and cider, I needed to clear out the cobwebs so squeezed out 20 miles today.

5M at lunchtime at an easy 9min miles and then 15M after work, starting out maintaining another handy 9 min miles, but with the lovely sunshine, the mind kept wandering to cool beer, lol. Ended up finishing at 9:10min miles, but got in the hills of Churchtown, Bramor Road, Tayney Avenue and The Goat Grill to Foster's avenue.

Hoping to get another 15 tomorrow and some speed work on Thursday.

menoscemo

Where are you running tomorrow? I am hoping to get a decent long run in early this week with the race on saturday....

Aimman

I'm doing a 5M at lunchtime, then saving the 10M for after work. Hadnt really worked out where yet. open to suggestions if you are interested in joining. I'll probably do 9min miles again.

menoscemo

I'll be happy to do 10 with you in Tymon again (or anywhere else you might suggest!!) I might kick on for 3 more after you're gone though since I didn't make my 13 on saturday!!

Aimman

No problem, I might even hang around for the extra 3 miles, if the legs are up to it. 6pm ok for you again?

menoscemo

6pm (maybe a little before) I am going to park in front of the school rather than the car park as they close the car park at 7.30

RayCun

can you still get in and out of Tymon at that entrance when the car park is closed?

menoscemo

RayCun wrote: »

can you still get in and out of Tymon at that entrance when the car park is closed?

You can still get in and out through all pedestrian entrances 24/7. they are lttle swing gates.

RayCun

never noticed them before :rolleyes:

Aimman

menoscemo wrote: »

6pm (maybe a little before) I am going to park in front of the school rather than the car park as they close the car park at 7.30

Grand. I can be there from 5:30, so if you're going to be early, let me know and we can get the glorious Tymon Half Marathon under way. Wonder what I need to do to make it official and recognised. hmmmm..... . Not opening that can of worms here, hehe.

Oisin11178

Aimman fags play to you bud. We must in for 2 long run soon. Thinking of am ultra next year. Maybe connemara:-)

Aimman

Planned to do 15 miles today, 5 at lunch and 10 in the evening. Had arranged to meet Menoscemo in the evening who was planning a 13M run. Decided to ditch the 5M at lunchtime and run a mile to the park, do the 13M and a mile back home.

Bit of confusion at the park, and because I didnt have my phone, Menoscemo couldnt contact me. Anyway, I headed off round the park and thought we'd meet each other along the way. I clocked up 5.7M when we met but I was idling along as usual and was averaging 9:30min miles cos I'm a lazy fecker when I run on my own, lol. Soon picked up the pace which gradually brought my overall average pace back down to 9mins which is what I was hoping to do. With about 12M done, Menoscemo was coming up to his 10M mark and was planning 7:30 mile pace for the last 3 miles. After the 20 miles yesterday, the legs didnt fancy upping the tempo tonight, so we parted ways and I finished off 15.2M in 2:18 which is approx 9min miles, I'm happy with that!

After 35 miles in the two days, I felt I deserved a treat and broke out my tub of race recovery powder and enjoyed a rare glass of chokkie shake before milling into some pasta and veg. The thing costs a fortune, so only save it for special occasions. :cool:

Planning on 2 x 5M tomorrow, (lunch and after work), and then maybe some speed work at lunchtime on Thursday.

Really need to get back into more core work and some weights for the upper part of the body too. Feel a bit awkward doing them in the park, and by the time I get home, I'm more interested in dinner.

Aimman

Nothing major to mention today.

5 miles at lunch, then 10.3M in phoenix park after work. Pace was poor, but then again, twice coming up the same hill from Kyber Pass to Wellington Monument, couple of runners trying to overtake me and I automatically stepped on the gas and flew up the hill away from them. As soon as the chase was over, I slumped down to the usual plod again.

Perhaps I'll hire Haile Gebrselassie to run behind me all the time, only chance I have of some fast running, lol.

Thats 50 Miles in three days, now I just have to figure out how to cram it all into one day!

Aimman

Havent had a chance to update this in the last few days, so here goes:

Thursday: 5 Miles @ lunchtime, 9.22 pace. Wasnt in a hurry and was a chance to top up on the tan. Planned to do another 5 after work, but something came up.
Day's Total 5 Miles

Between one thing and another, I didnt get a chance to do any running on Friday and Saturday, ended up with a wee break.

Sunday Morning: Set out to do 10 Miles taking in the Phoenix Park along the way, pace wasnt great, averaging 9:20 till I got to 9 miles. Put the foot down and ended up doing 11 Miles and bringing the overall pace down to 9:00.
On Sunday Evening, Did 6 miles in the Curragh at 9:37 pace. Was more interested in clocking the miles rather then the pace, so enjoyed the scenery: Day's Total 17 Miles

Today: 5.2 Miles at lunchtime. Felt great and headed out at 8:00 pace for the first 2 miles, but decided to slow it back a bit and save some muscles for Dunboyne. Ended up @ 8:25 pace. Felt good to have to want to ease back during a run, especially after 17 miles the day before.

After all that, I completed the 1000M challenge today, so I can probably ease off on the double sessions for a couple of weeks and start focussing on Dingle properly now.
Day's Total 5.2Miles

ultraman1

well done on the 10000miles...

menoscemo

Well done on the 1000 miles. I'll be doing some easy miles in Tymon on thursday and friday if you fancy either?

Aimman

menoscemo wrote: »

Well done on the 1000 miles. I'll be doing some easy miles in Tymon on thursday and friday if you fancy either?

I'd love to, but I'm going to be all over the country this week, quite litterally. I probably wont get a proper chance to run til Sunday at this rate (bar the Dunboyne race). Are you headed over to it yourself? Did you recover from the injury yet?

menoscemo

Not doing the Dunboyne race, gonna rest up for the cork marathon relay next monday. Injury seems to be all cleared up now....

Killerz

Well done on the 1000 miles. Excellent achievement.

Aimman

Did the Dunboyne 5M last night. Course was flat, weather was excellent, not too warm. Went out on the first 3 miles at sub 7min miles, knew I went out too fast and then slowed down a bit on the 4th mile and let a few people past. On the 5th Mile, I took up the pace again and got my position back more or less and had to put the foot down when I got onto the track for the last stretch, cos the guy behind me was starting to catch up.

Held the position and completed in 35:45. A new PB and really delighted to get under the 36min mark. Might be hard to beat it in the Adidas series, because of the hills.

Aimman

Went out for 3 miles today, to blow off the cobwebs. After the first 3 miles @ sub 7 pace in Dunboyne, thought I'd just do a short one fast and see how I faired out. Plan was to warm up on mile one, run fast for the other 2 miles

Mile 1 7:38
Mile 2 6.37
Mile 3 7:29

Mile 2 is my fastest mile recorded so far, but then again, lot of my runs were long and I didnt really try to overdo it on any one mile of training. Hopefully, a bit of speed work will bring it down. It should have been 6:34, cos I had to stop on a corner just near the end while the worlds slowest driver turned the corner. Now I remember why I spent so much time running in parks away from traffic and streets.

I'll have to dig out my Aldi HRM watch and start paying attention to it to give me a better idea of whether I'm running flat out, or if there's more in the tank.

Aimman

No running since last Thursday and ate and drank all the bad stuff over the weekend. Think I'll have to check the scales in the morning.

So dug out the HRM and went for 4 miles at lunch @ average pace of 8:49 taking it easy all the way.

Average HR - 149

Going to pay a bit more attention to the HRM in future to check my progress.

Aimman

7.5 miles today

Ran the first 5M @ average 7:50 pace, found a nice empty part of the park, did some core work, lightly jogged the next mile @ 9:30 pace, then back to 7:37 pace for the next mile and jogged out the last half mile to the car.

Average HR - 143 (65%)

Think I'm getting my head around the HR zones now. Just have to figure out what to target for each run I plan.

Aimman

Not sure how productive today was (whether I was overdoing speed stuff)

Lunchtime: Interval work. tried out 6 x 400m with 200m recovery in between. Not sure if it was enough, or if I should have done more. Ran along a straight section of the grand canal, but was a bit on an incline, which is why every 2nd interval is much slower

1 mile warm up run then:
Run|400m|200m (pace in mins/mile)
1 |6:41 |9:46
2 |7:02 |10:00
3 |6:44 |10.15
4 |7:25 |10:26
5 |6:25 |10:25
6 |7:47 | then ran last mine back to work @ 8:54

Then after work, went to park for what should have been a gentle run, ended up legging it after the warm up mile

Mile Pace
1 9:48 warm up
2 7:49
3 7:46
4 7:25
0.5 8:49 warm down

(Apologies for the format. thought I could whip up a table, but need a bit more work on my code)

Now, from what I read last night, my Tempo Run pace should be about 7:45 - 7:50 based on my best 10k pace this year, so in theory, did I end up doing a 3M tempo run today? the heart rate was up to 161-166 at the best of time, which would suggest it was.

So 8.5 miles over an interval session and temp run. Not sure if mixing both in the same day is productive. Any comments about it would be appreciated

Aimman

Got my hands on the Advanced Marathoning book today (20% discount in Easons on sports books) And just had a quick scan. Discovered that double runs in one day is probably not as productive for training for an ultra. One longer run on the day would be more benefit then two smaller ones. Did lots of doubles in training for Connemara, but didnt really cause any problems, but I'll read more of the book and might concentrate on single longer runs instead of couples, unless I'm pressed for time.

Did 13.1 miles in the Phoenix Park today. Set out for a handy pace, but started off too quick and kept up the pace. First 10 miles came in at 1:24 (average pace 8:24). Put the foot down for the next 3 and bit miles and did sub 8 pace for all three

mile Pace
11 7:57
12 7:57
13 7:38

Bringing the overall average pace to 8:12min/mile (forgot to put on HRM, was in too much of a rush to get on the road.)

Very happy with making the last mile the fastest. Havent raced many half marathons, but my best time is 1:50:34. I finished the 13.1M today in 1:47:29 which I am delighted with, because I tackled the hills head on and a lot of the route was dodging around in the trails around the edges of the park. I think a good flat route would have been even quicker. Felt good after the run and very happy that my pace is improving.

Aimman

Small recovery run. 4.5M @ 8.37 pace.
avg HR 140
time: 39:20

Very warm this evening

Aimman

Tempo run today. Started off 2 miles warm up, then 4 miles @ 7:45 pace finishing with 2 more miles to cool down.

Dont think it was a proper 4 miles tempo, because coming up to 3.5 miles, my average pace for that mile rose to 8:07 and I was feeling a bit knackered. Was going to leave it at that, but put the foot down and brought it back to 7:45. I think for a tempo run to be effective, it has to be constant pace all the way, not just an overall average so I'll try another 4M tempo next week and see if I can go the whole way before attempting a 5M tempo.

8 Miles today (2x 9:00, 4x 7:45, 2x 9:10) Forgot to pack the HRM again. would have been handy.

Oisin11178

Didnt know you could move the fast bud:-)
You doing longford or portumna?

Aimman

Oisin11178 wrote: »

Didnt know you could move the fast bud:-)
You doing longford or portumna?

LOL, either did I. Pulled the finger out after Connemara and worked on speed a bit. The BHAA races really helped, giving me a bit of a push and some confidence to keep the pace up without the fear of suddenly grinding to a halt after a mile. I just have to work on sustaining that kind of pace for longer, with DCM in mind. Only thing is that I'll have lots of endurance training to do now for Dingle, so not sure how the pace will suffer with the long distance training thrown in more frequently.

Cant do Portumna, because I'll be in Germany that weekend and Longford is the week before Dingle. Would love to have done Longford for a crack at a PB, but its in the middle of my taper.

Are you looking forward to Portumna yourself?

Oisin11178

Yeah i do no speed work really, just lots of long pace work. When that becomes to comfortable i lower it. Seems to work for me. Have it down to 7.15 a min at the moment. I am and i am not looking forward to portumna. I have to go down straight after a night shift because there is only one bus directly there. Im taking 5 rest days before it so i will see how i am on the day. Might race is if i feel good. Good loves a trier:-)
I might see you down in dingle:-)

Aimman

In Tymon today with Menoscemo. We did 6.1miles @ 8:20 pace. Felt comfortable. Heart rate was 140 average. Had a grand chat about heart rate zones, tempos, recovery and the like. Looking forward to getting stuck into my P&D book tomorrow.

Damn technology, our Garmins were out of sync, despite starting them at the same time. Mine was a few seconds ahead after the first mile. Dont envy his 14M run tomorrow, I'll be sitting on a plane to Germany.

Weather over there is not looking good at the moment, plenty of rain clouds for the next few days. Hope to clock up some Deutchmiles while I'm there, to compensate for the Weissbeirs. Or maybe have some Weissbiers to hydrate after a run. Not sure what way to look at it. Either way, there will be beer

rainbow kirby

Aimman wrote: »

Weather over there is not looking good at the moment, plenty of rain clouds for the next few days. Hope to clock up some Deutchmiles while I'm there, to compensate for the Weissbeirs. Or maybe have some Weissbiers to hydrate after a run. Not sure what way to look at it. Either way, there will be beer

Jealous? Moi? Never!

Have a great time!

Aimman

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Jealous? Moi? Never!

Have a great time!

LOL, Will do. :cool:

Aimman

Sunday: Sweated out the weekend's weissbier with a 3M run along the Fulda @ 8min miles

Monday - One hour between end of technical training and dinner, had a rushed haphazard workout in the gym on equipment that didnt work

Tuesday - Two hours between training and dinner, hit the trails along the Fulda. Planned a 7M run, enjoyed the scenery and sun so much, did 10.2M @ 8:23 pace. didnt take water with me, so could feel myself slowing down after 5 miles. Made sure I rehydrated with lots of Weissbier afterwards.

Been reading more of the P&D book.... when I get home and start the training for Dingle next week, I've a lot of work to cram in whilst trying to avoiding injury. :eek:

Oisin11178

Aimman wrote: »

Sunday: Sweated out the weekend's weissbier with a 3M run along the Fulda @ 8min miles

Monday - One hour between end of technical training and dinner, had a rushed haphazard workout in the gym on equipment that didnt work

Tuesday - Two hours between training and dinner, hit the trails along the Fulda. Planned a 7M run, enjoyed the scenery and sun so much, did 10.2M @ 8:23 pace. didnt take water with me, so could feel myself slowing down after 5 miles. Made sure I rehydrated with lots of Weissbier afterwards.

Been reading more of the P&D book.... when I get home and start the training for Dingle next week, I've a lot of work to cram in whilst trying to avoiding injury. :eek:

Are you a man or a mouse:D