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Sorry, I thought you said get faster before the 100th Marathon
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taper madness setting in early i see.....
I know. And the gas thing is that I dont feel like I didn enough running inbetween LSRs. Much less then preparing for Conn, and now I have to taper. Bit like not studying enough for an exam, and last minute cramming wont help.
My motivation is to get to the finish line before all the Denny BBQ is gone.:rolleyes:0 -
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Well, there went all the good intentions of a responsible taper!!
Met up with at the training session in Phoenix Park this morning. It was a great turnout, far more than I was expecting and great to have a chat with a few people along the way. The group were doing 15 miles, but I just planned 10 Miles. Didn't take any drinks or gels with me.
Really enjoyed the run with everyone. We were targeting a nice pace of 10 min miles, but for most of the beginning we were at 9:30 miles. Coming into the War Memorial Park, the unofficial pacers ( me and menoscemo :rolleyes:) kept an eye on the garmins and dropped the pace to keep the group together.
When I got to the 10 miles, I was enjoying myself and feeling good, so tagged along for the rest of the run.
We finished the run in 2:28 and everyone was in good spirits at the end. Don't think there were any casualties. Didn't miss the drinks or gels, but when I stopped into Lidl, I spotted a 6 pack of Lucozade in the fridge and went through 3 bottles of the stuff with enough speed to make a kid go hyper for a week.
Driving along part of the Longford route afterwards and seen all the signs and road marking for tomorrow. Would have loved to be doing this tomorrow, but had to make the sacrifice. I'll be cheering them on about the 7M mark anyway.
15.25M in 2:28 (9:49 pace)
Just have another 10 miles to do in the next 3 days to make August another 200M month.
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As the great late Mick Lally used to say... Well Holy God! Its all coming together now.
After the early run today, I was in great form so decided to bring the last 3M run forward to this evening. That way, I'd have two and a half days to rest and give the legs a chance to get into top condition.
Seeing as it was the last one, I thought I'd go a little bit quicker then my recent 'take it easy just in case' pace and set out a bit faster then I planned at 8 min miles. Was feeling good all the way and ended up getting faster with each mile. Felt great bringing up the pace again and was a brilliant confidence booster.
Mile 1 - 8.05
Mile 2 - 7.29
Mile 3 - 7.16
What would have happened if I kept going????
Probablyt not the most appropriate way to finish training for an Ultra, but sealed the deal for a mental boost.
To cap it all off, just as I stopped the Garmin, I got a low battery alarm, which couldn't be timed better. Now I can run the watch flat over the next few hours and charge it up fully from scratch to make sure it lasts for the whole way around.
3M in 22:48 (avg 7:37, pity I didnt have the HRM with me)
Going to sort out my nutrition plan tonight and will post it up later, once I know what I'm doing.RacoonQueen wrote: »I never realized how similar our mileage was over the last vital 12 weeks, if it hand't been for my bike injury mid-august I'd probably have edged close to 200 miles for August too. That's encouraged me actually, always felt like you were doing a lot more training than I was.
We're nearly there, nearly there...
Sure, you put the work and miles in with all the colds etc, should be no bother to you. Still hasn't really sunk in yet that it's so close. I'll probably get stage fright at the start line :eek:0 -
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Right, I've worked out what I need to do. Don't think it's perfect, but I'll have a go at it.
Ideally, its recommended to intake 4:1 ratio of carbs and protein over the run in the quantities 60g carb & 15g protein. Left it a bit late to plan protein intake properly but should have some bases covered
Breakfast - 5am
Normally have porridge, but to save the hassle of boiling a kettle and having porridge again with hot water, I'm opting for Muesli with Chia seeds. The carbohydrate levels are not as high as porridge, but I'll throw in a scoop of Carbo powder to bring it up.
I'll make up 750ml of Flat Coke or water (not decided yet) with Chia seed and 3 scoops of carbo powder. This will go into 6 water bottle for along the way
First 20 miles
Armed with 2 of the coke cocktails and some jelly babies.
3 powerbar gels should be more than enough for the first section. They'll have to be washed down with water and there is only 3 water stations before the drop off point at 20M, so wont be able to have more then 3 anyway
20M Drop Off Point
First Solid bit of grub, one of those special flapjacks I made with nuts, egg white etc for more carbs and some protein. I'll swap out the two empty coke cocktails for two fresh bottles.
25M - Halfway Point
Ditch the HiVis Jacket (hand it to someone AJ, don't worry, not dumping it on the ground)
Will pick up a protein bar to eat somewhere before the 30M mark and some more Gels and jelly babies if I'm munched my way through them
35M Drop Off Point
Swap over the coke bottles again and pick up the last 2 flapjacks to eat along the last 15 miles. I'll have a scrounge around the food station too, to see if there is anything there that takes the fancy: nuts, banana, cold beer.....
50M Finish
Enjoy a large drink of High5 4:1 recovery drink and anything else I can manage before praying that theres a bit of BBQ food left.
Thats the plan, lets see if I can stick to it.Best of luck at the weekend - you'll do excellent, looking forward to a full report!
Cheers Killerz, I'll try not to make it too long of a report. 0 -
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Warning: Grab a large coffee and cakes before reading, it does tend to go on, and apologies if it rambles. Not sure what parts would be interesting to people, but I just threw it all in anyway. The route and splits etc can be seen here
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/47799860
Was awake at 4:30am, a half an hour before the alarm was due to go off so grabbed a bowl of muesli, slice of toast and headed for the bus to the start line, Met RQ in the hotel, but no sign of Sarsefirldrock. Hope he didn’t sleep it in, but he was hanging around the bus waiting to get on.. Still pretty dark at 5:45am and the bus journey seemed to take forever, twisting around roads. Then we were transferred to two smaller buses to get us up into the forest. This was a daunting time for me and I was trying to ignore how long it was taking, because the furhtere it was driving us away, the longer we had to run back and the bus didn’t seem to want to stop.
The scene was exactly the same as I read in books and articles about those crazy trail races around the world. Dawn barely breaking and a handful of people shuffling around a forest car park, some nervous, some edgy to start, others calmly going through their pre race check routine. All that was missing was an eerie soundtrack in the background. There was no grandeur of a big city marathon. No spectators to cheer us off, no announcer to lighten the mood, basically no hype. This was the hardcore deglamourised side of running but still every bit as exciting and humbling to be amongst the other 48 runners who put so much into getting to this invisible start line in a car park.
The horn sounds and we all head up into the forest trail for a mile and a half. Uphill from the work go, great! Didn’t think I’d need a warm up routine for an Ultra and now the legs where thrown into hard work straight away.
Coming out of the forest, we had clocked up 3 miles already and is was more than another 2 miles before we hit the main road to Castlegregory. At the first water station, I grabbed a bottle of water and for the whole of the race, I carried on with a fresh bottle in the hand at all times to sip on. Myself and RaccoonQueen ran together up to the first 10 miles. I had planned to take a gel at 5M but felt it was far too early. At mile 8 I drank my first coke cocktail (flat coke, chia seeds and carbo powder) and at mile 10 we stopped briefly and I had my first gel and grabbed a fresh bottle. RQ was joking about having the auto pause switched off on the Garmin but something strange was going on in my head and I didn’t get to respond to her. I don’t know if the coke cocktail had finally kicked in, but in my head, I realised that in another 10 miles, time, I would be over the Connor’s Pass and have beaten the one thing that constantly loomed in the back of me head during every hill I ran up during training. Like a madman I was drawn to it. My pace suddenly increased and I felt like I was hurling along the road to get Connor out of the way. At mile 16, grabbed another gel and bottle of water and could feel the pull on the legs as the incline increased and the walk/ run phase started. I didn’t have any strategy, just picked out a target and walked or ran to it before swapping over and picking another point in the distance. Also, I’d keep an eye on the runners in front and would sometimes run when they were walking in the hope of catching up with them before the steep hill for a bit of company.
Mile 18 and the 2nd Coke cocktail was emptied. I passed a runner earlier and he was gaining on me as I approached the final narrow stretch of the pass and that was enough to put the bejasus up me and keep running for as long as I could. At the summit I looked back along the road, smiled and thought “Beat you Connor!” then quickly put that monster back into the closet and focused on the rest of the run. Would have been nice for a photographer at the top to take a picture of everyone reaching the summit.
This is where it really started for me. Restocked the cocktails and gels and had a flapjack. The food station was well provisioned with drinks, fruits, gels, sweets, chocolate, pasta and sandwiches. Helped myself to a Red Bull shot, grabbed another water in hand and then charged down the other side of Connor’s Pass like a crazed warrior out of a battle scene in Braveheart. After defeating the Connor Clan, it was time to take on the town of Dingle. All I was short of wearing was war paint. As I passed but two runners they gave me a bit of a concerned look and told me to go easy on the downhill.
Four glorious miles of fast downhill freefalling paid its price as I had to climb up the main street. I wasn’t expecting it. Though the route was going along the seafront and it took a bit more out of me then I expected. The two runners gave me a bit of an ‘I told you so’ look as they passed me again on the uphill our of Dingle, lol.
I hit mile 25 at exactly 4 hours. Magic. That was exactly what I wanted and the rest under 5 would make me happy. Picked up a Lucozade protein bar here and carried a packet of hula hoops for the salt later. Sun was out since the Connor’s pass and the temperatures were soaring already.
Spent a bit more time walking up the hills to preserve the energy because the 2nd half wasn’t flat by any means. Again, picking out points in the distance to change pace and watching the pace of the runners ahead and enjoying the scenery.
Mile 30 – Felt like a schoolboy at break time, walking along the road eating hula hoops and drinking coke. Was joking about it to a couple of runners, but they weren’t smiling or engaging. Think the miles were starting to get to them.
Coming up to the water station at mile 32, I looked back and smiled as I saw a familiar face coming up the hill, Sarsefieldrock was approaching. He was wearing a Tipp jersey and had great banter with the locals and people at all the water stations.
I made a bit of a mistake at this point. At mile 17 I realised that the plasters had come off the nipples and they were beginning to hurt. At the food stop at mile 19, I forgot to put new plasters on them and would have to wait till mile 35 to tape them up again. At mile 32 they had Vaseline and I loaded the nips with a dollop. As myself and Sarsefieldrock headed off, I realised that the Vaseline only stuck the singlet to the chest making it much worse. Feck all I could do about it and if I got any pain in the legs, I suppose I could give the nipples a bit of a tweak and take my mind off the legs, lol. It also got worse every time I poured water over my head and made the singlet wet.
Myself and Sarsefieldrock ran together for a good bit of the rest of the journey. As he did the marathon last year, he knew where all the hills and flat stretches were and was able to give me a heads up on what was to come. When it came to walking, he had a faster stride then me and it was uncomfortable for me to keep up a fast walk. As he went ahead too far, I would run to meet up with him. If he ran ahead faster then me, I’d keep running while he was walking until I caught up and this technique worked well for me. I thought I was a fast walker, but Sarsefieldrock can whip up quite a walking tempo when the pressure is on.
Food Stop #2 at mile 35, just after the breathtaking scenery at Slea Head and the coves there. Was feeling a bit full, so only had a half a flap jack, half a banana and another Red Bull shot. Restocked the cokes and realised I didn’t use any gels since mile 16, I was very happy with that.
Mile 40 – Had another coke. It was great running with company, because it took the mind off the endless miles which seemed to be stretching out longer now. At mile 45, we were catching up with a lot of marathon walkers and there was a deadleg section where we ran down a road for a half mile, turned around and ran back again before continuing down the main road. This was a great boost because it gave us a chance to see the other ultra runners again that had gone ahead ages ago, on the other side of the road coming back.
I took a gel this point and kept reminding myself that we ONLY had 5 miles left and sank the last bottle of coke. Body was feeling good. No problems and I was feeling very confident. Bit of tiredness in the legs alright, but no potential injuries, apart from the balls of my feet being sore from running on the badly surfaced road with all the loose chipping. The final hill that lay ahead of us was a bitch and we spent more time walking it then the running, but at the top, Dingle lay ahead of us one last time and we picked up the pace to a fast run. Within a couple of minutes, an alarming pain shot across my ribs. The sudden downhill sprint was playing havoc with the core and ribcage and I realise that I’d probably have to fall back and let Sarsefield carry on. Sarsefield’s injury was starting to catch up on him too, and we briefly slowed down for a walk. My pain started to dissipate and was gone just as fast as it came. Sarsefield started to do some calculations and reckoned that we might not make the 9 hours with the way we were going.
Up to this point, I wasn’t too bothered what time I was finishing. I made it to half way in 4 hours, the rest was going to be taken consistently and enjoyably so that I could finish. But the boiler began to stoke inside me and I got a thirst for the finish line. If there was a chance the 9 hours couldn’t be made, then there was also a chance that it could be made, and I had to find out. Sarsefield told me to go on, because he was going to continue with walking and running and before I knew it, I was doing a Forest Gump down the long straight road. I don’t know where the energy came from, but I was doing the last three miles at sub 9 min pace, after all those miles, peaking at 7:12 in places. What fuelled the fire even more was that in front of me in the distance, I could see ultra runners walking. After them passing me out so many miles ago, they had run out of juice (excuse the bad pun) and I flew past all 5 of them intently focused on the finish line. As I looked back, Sarsefield was running too, I gave him a big thumbs up and kept heading for the finish.
I passed the 50M mark on the seafront and started to panic. There was no one in front of me and I couldn’t see the finish line. There was nothing around. Nothing to set a target for and sprint at. Not even a bit of music or excitement. The road was just a line of traffic cones. Then, just as I came to the car park, there it was to the right, jumping out to surprise any finisher. The crowds, the finish line, the music and the glory. I took my hat off and waved it frantically in the air. As I came to the finish line I did a hop, skip and a jump over it. In mid air I realised that the legs were now weak and I’d probably fall flat on my face in front of everybody turning myself into an embarrassing YouTube video, but the legs held out and I finished with dignity with the odd glazed teary eye.
I finished in 8:49:22 and was already looking forward to next years Ultra.
After a lovely massage, myself and Sarsefieldrock (who managed to put in a great finish and came in a couple of minutes behind me) ran into the sea and had a bit of a swim about. Pity the batteries in the camera went flat, because it would have been a great photo of us standing up to our belly in the sea eating a strawberry Cornetto.
We were getting funny looks from the runners as we cheered them along from the sea as they approached the finish line. We also got to see RQ finish, and she gave us such a perplexed look as we cheered her on from the side of the road only in our shorts dripping wet, but she was in the zone and heading for finish.
Would I do it again? You bet. Would I change anything? Well, I’d love to be able to increase the running time in the second half next year, now that I know the course and aim for under 8:30.
Had a great post race drink or two or more, and because the weather was hot, a great opportunity to stand outside the pub and exchange stories with fellow runners.
No surprises, this final report for the Training was a epic one, but then again, you know by now that I waffle on when I’m typing, but I hope you enjoyed it and might give someone a bit of help in preparing for something similar. It was a fantastic few months and hard to believe it’s all over, but that just means more room for other achievements and next on the list is a sub 1:45 half marathon and a sub 3:45 marathon before the end of October. Lets see what happens J
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Great report Aimman, great run, you seemed to actually enjoy it - :eek:.
Cheers Gerard, I think it was the first race that I didn't have the usual "Never again, What the hell was I thinking" moment going through my head every now and again.
Since writing my blog, I found a picture of the Naked Welcoming Committee for RQ. Think Mithril took it (to avoid copyright issues, lol)
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Great report! Sorry I missed you on Saturday night, only got your voicemail on Sunday evening... :rolleyes: Will we be seeing you in Ryan's after the half to celebrate your achievement again?
Oh you bet. I'm on for a session then. We tried to get into Foxy John's but it was jammed full. Sarsefieldrock was wearing his Vibrahams 5 fingers and someone might have stood on his toes
How did your evening go?0 -
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