The Hundred mile week dream.

xebec

Oisin11178 wrote: »

Eddie i got a box of high 5 isogels if you want some for monday.

Can you bring the box around the course with you? By the time I've had a few and sarsfieldsrock has had his usual fill there should be one or two left for yourself :pac:

sarsfieldsrock

Wed Track Session

I have 8 normal High5 gels and 8 isotonic High5 gels packed! I will decide what sort of mix to bring but will probably take 4 of each. The isotonics are a bit bulky to cart around especially if I don't have pockets on the shorts.
The gel belt will hold about 8 normal gels.
Maybe if RQ isn't going to run it she could be a supplier of gels at various points of the course?:cool:

Anyway did the track session of 6x400m tonight with a 1 mile+ warm up and warm down. I did the 400m's with an aim of 1:40 and was fairly close to it on all 6 of them so I was quite happy with it.
I got talking to some of the Newbridge AC lads who were having a session there. They do long runs at 11am at the Curragh so I will probaby start joining them after the Monday.

Oisin11178

xebec wrote: »

Can you bring the box around the course with you? By the time I've had a few and sarsfieldsrock has had his usual fill there should be one or two left for yourself :pac:

Have 20 left so you can have some if you want.

xebec

Oisin11178 wrote: »

Have 20 left so you can have some if you want.

Nah I'm good thanks, was more hoping you'd carry mine around for me

RacoonQueen

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

Maybe if RQ isn't going to run it she could be a supplier of gels at various points of the course?:cool:

What would it be worth? :pac:

sarsfieldsrock

RacoonQueen wrote: »

What would it be worth? :pac:

2 pints that night from every person you give gels to!
Can't say fairer than that.

Of course if you are doing something else other than cycling around following the race then thats different.:cool:

xebec

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

Of course if you are doing something else other than cycling around following the race then thats different.:cool:

Yeah, we're not going to slow down and wait for you RQ :pac:

Although if I do slow down that will be the only reason :rolleyes:

RAL3

Best of luck SR

sarsfieldsrock

Dub Marathon 2010

I am a greedy so and so. Even though I got a PB by over 11 min I was still going over the "what might have been" scenarios in my head.
For the most of this race I was on for a sub 3:40. This is despite the fact that the target was a sub 3:45.
But it started to go wrong at mile 23. I did it in 8:34 but the jig was up and I had to take 30 second walking breaks every 2-3 min after that. When I was running I was still able to keep the pace up but the last two Garmin miles were 9:16 and 9:23 with 4 min for the last .44 miles to the finish.
Maybe miles 21 and 22 were just too quick but I didn't feel any different then than I had for the previous 10 miles.
Still I am delightedwith the result and can now plan an assault on another PB in Barcelona in March.

The race was very well organised, with a few quibbles, and the conditions were perfect for running. From talking to people afterwards there were a lot of PBs around so everybody ran well.
One of the quibbles was the crowding at the start of the race. The streets are fairly narrow and to have so many tight turns makes it very difficult to keep a steady pace up. The fact that one of the corrals is 3:30 - 4:15 means that you can have a lot of slower people running with much faster people. I think that they should have corrals in line with the pacers and they probably need to try out the same starting procedure that they have in the Race series in the park.
The second quibble was the placing of the mile markers; especially in the second half of the race. I missed the most of them and it was very disquieting.

These are minor concerns and it was great to see so many people entered in the race. Hopefully it will continue to grow in the coming years.

So the next race is the Sixmilebridge marathon followed by the Boards AC 5K. This will be my first 5k race so I can look forwards to another great PB!

It was also nice to meet up with all the other boardies after the race. Good to hear so many stories and well done to robin on his sub 4 and RAL3 on his Boston qualifiying time. They were the two that stand out but everybody seemed to have enjoyed it even if some races had not gone according to plan.

It was scary duing the Leeds game though. I was sure that robin was going to get his head kicked in by the Leeds soccer hooligan
Its always shocking to see that sort of behaviour.

menoscemo

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

well done to robin on his sub 4

Jesus, he must have forgott o stop his watch till well after his first pint

Well done yourself yesterday. I wouldn't worry about those 2 minutes, It'll be an easier target to beat in Barcelona.

RacoonQueen

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

It was scary duing the Leeds game though. I was sure that robin was going to get his head kicked in by the Leeds soccer hooligan
Its always shocking to see that sort of behaviour.

:pac:

Robin was a right cheeky fecker last night. He would have deserved it.

sarsfieldsrock

6 Miles

I finally dragged myself out the door for the first run since the Dublin marathon. I have been suffering with a cold all week but couldn't let another day go by without a run.
So my legs felt a little heavy and the chest bad but I got 6 miles in just under the 54 min.

I am now going to target a 3:30 in Barcelona. I should probably be going for a 3:35 as its probably my limit for a marathon but I dream on until March anyway.
I have a 16 week plan which starts from tomorrow.
I have made a few adjustments to it to suit myself but nothing too drastic.
The extra two weeks are to give myself two outside plan weeks to run the SainteLyon in France on 5th Dec and the Art O'Neill on 7th Jan. I will taper for a week and then run the Ultras and get back to the training plan the following week.

As part of the plan I hope to run a 1:40 half sometime in February so it would be nice if somebody could recommend a nice flat one around the start of Feb.

RacoonQueen

I've been on the search for a late Jan early Feb half marathon between here and the UK aswell. Good one in Lancashire(well for me as I have friends in Preston) but thats early January. One just outside Leeds on 13th of Feb but it's quite hilly. I'm likely to go for that one although Leeds are away to Bristol that weekend

Chester 23rd of Jan, Brighton 20th Feb or Dover 13th Feb are ones I'm thinking about too. Don't think there are any Irish halfs in the first couple of months of the year? None that have been announced yet anyway.

Oisin11178

Eddie ill be heading down to 6milebridge in a couple of weeks. how are you getting down there?

sarsfieldsrock

This is the half that I am currently looking into. Four laps of a lake so not very exciting but it is on 2 weeks before Barcelona and is very flat.

Race Your Pace Half Marathon


I am off to Limerick that weekend anyway. So I am heading down by train on Saturday morning and staying with a friend in Limerick.
I will get a lift out to the race on the Sunday morning. Its on at 12 so you might be able to get a train down on the Sunday morning or go down on Saturday as well and stay in the Bridge?

The Hammer

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

Dub Marathon 2010

So the next race is the Sixmilebridge marathon followed by the Boards AC 5K. This will be my first 5k race so I can look forwards to another great PB!

.

I overheard someone talking about this Sixmilebridge marathon. Are there any further details about this? Date, cost, etc ...

I have tired a few unsuccessful Google searches and didn't get anything more than a link to your post.

RacoonQueen

Oisin11178 wrote: »

Eddie ill be heading down to 6milebridge in a couple of weeks. how are you getting down there?

Sorry to be missing this. Would love to do it, seems like it'd be great craic.

Oisin11178

sarsfieldsrock wrote: »

This is the half that I am currently looking into. Four laps of a lake so not very exciting but it is on 2 weeks before Barcelona and is very flat.

Race Your Pace Half Marathon


I am off to Limerick that weekend anyway. So I am heading down by train on Saturday morning and staying with a friend in Limerick.
I will get a lift out to the race on the Sunday morning. Its on at 12 so you might be able to get a train down on the Sunday morning or go down on Saturday as well and stay in the Bridge?

Plan is to stay down there on saturday night. Might change though.

sarsfieldsrock

Run To Curragh
Curragh Run

So I seem to be over the bad cold finally and I decided to finish my running break. I will be starting a Barcelona training plan this week and doing the Sixmilebridge marathon next week so it was time to get a run in.
The Curragh was covered in fog which was a bit disquieting and of course led to a bit of confusion when it came to finding my running partner. He had drove out while I had run out and he had parked beside the cars after the roundabout. That was where I was waiting as well so not too bad.
But of course there are two places where cars were parked just after the roundabout and you couldn't see one from the other with the fog.
We got sorted eventually but not before we had missed the group run start with the Newbridge A.C. runners.
I talked to a few of them afterwards and they seem like a good bunch.
My running mate and myself split up after a mile and I met him afterwards. We both prefer to run alone.

sarsfieldsrock

Cross training tonight. Did 1 mile easy on the treadmill in 9:45.
Then 30 min on stationary bike. 5 min easy then 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1 mins hard with 1 min easy rests and then 1 mile in 9:15 on treadmill.
First of the tough track sessions tomorrow.

sarsfieldsrock

The track session tonight was a bit of a disaster Garmin wise. I some how managed to stop the thing 3 times but the session itself wasn't much better.
Whether the legs weren't too great last night or, more likely, I am trying to go at a pace that I am not capable of it still went badly.
I did 1.5 miles as a warm up and that was probably too long and too quick.

I am not used to the track sessions but I think I will drop the target pace for next week. Probably drop down to the 3:35 training plan for the track sessions and keep the 3:30 plan tempo paces from now on.

Anyway 6.5 miles clocked up but not good ones.
After doing 0.79 miles in 5:16 I managed to do 5 more 400m laps in 1:50 with 400m rest intervals and some other staggers around the track.

sarsfieldsrock

I decided to skip the cross training tonight and do the second running session instead. It is for Friday but I want to take 2 days off before the Sixmilebridge race on Sunday.
But I wasn't going to try running in the winds that are there tonight so it was off to the gym and the treadmill. This bought back to me why treadmill running is such a chore. The gym was extremely warm but I got the 6 miles done.
Two easy at 6.25 mile pace, then 1 at 7:14 pace, 1 easy, 0.5 pace, 1 easy, 0.5 pace and 2 easy.
The same run outside in non windy weather would be fairly straight forward but the heat of the gym and the sheer relentlessness of the the boredom really makes it different to keep running at pace.
Well the weather will not be windy forever.

sarsfieldsrock

Sixmilebridge Marathon.

This went better than expected. Running the first half, apart from the first 2 miles, at 4 hour pace was the key to running the second half a lot stronger.
While it was a bit disquieting to be lapped first and to know that you are running in last position this made the catching of people who had gone out faster that bit more satisfying.
I ran the last 7 miles in or around 8:30 pace but I was seriously under pressure on the hill in the last few miles. I was starting to pick up the pace on the downhills a little bit more than I was slowing on the uphill and that was starting to have its affect on the legs. The calves especially were feeling very sore but thankfully they never cramped.
Strangely enough the fact that it was laps helped as I could motivate myself at the start of the hill that I was over halfway through the current mile and it was only a short distance to the next mile marker.
That started the downhill again and before I knew it I was facing hill again.

I walked a bit after 24 in Dublin because the last few miles looked so long and my head couldn't see an end to them. Having ran the same mile 24 tmes here it seemed like a reset at the start of each mile and I only thought of running the next mile rather than the next 5 or 4 or 3 or 2.
Maybe the fact that I knew I had the 3:45 in the bag at mile 24 in Dublin let me relax whereas here I realized that I would only beat the 3:50 if I kept running.
Today I feel fine. Train back to Dublin and a bit shopping there before heading home to Newbridge. Will be in gym for a bit of cross training and a few miles in the Vibrams tomorrow night.

menoscemo

Fair play on the massive negative spilt. The second half seems to have been 10 minutes faster than the first?

I am actually quite amazed looking at the results over on the events forum to see people having run 100+ marathons but with still seemingly no idea of how to pace themselves properly (or am I being too harsh?).

sarsfieldsrock

menoscemo wrote: »

Fair play on the massive negative spilt. The second half seems to have been 10 minutes faster than the first?

I am actually quite amazed looking at the results over on the events forum to see people having run 100+ marathons but with still seemingly no idea of how to pace themselves properly (or am I being too harsh?).

Ah I think that a lot of them just raced the first half and then finished the marathon.
I ran sub 8:30 for the first two miles as I was dragged along with the main group but after running up the hill twice I knew that I was not going to run the same time as Dublin and decided to drop the pace down until the half way point.

Oisin11178

menoscemo wrote: »

Fair play on the massive negative spilt. The second half seems to have been 10 minutes faster than the first?

I am actually quite amazed looking at the results over on the events forum to see people having run 100+ marathons but with still seemingly no idea of how to pace themselves properly (or am I being too harsh?).

I rarely run positive splits but i did yesterday. That was a beast of a course and people underesimated the effect of that hill x26. I planned for 3.30 but got dragged along with 2 other lads, one of which faded badly at the end. Also some of those lads are doing a marathon every week so fatigue is also a factor. Eddie was probably the only one who got a negitive split. Fair play to you eddie.

christeb

A certain high mileage one-time Olympian in our club once took a week off to see how many miles he could do in a week? It reminded me of your blog title.
Take a guess and I'll come back in a few days with the answer.

PS: this was in the 80s when runners were runners!

sarsfieldsrock

christeb wrote: »

A certain high mileage one-time Olympian in our club once took a week off to see how many miles he could do in a week? It reminded me of your blog title.
Take a guess and I'll come back in a few days with the answer.

PS: this was in the 80s when runners were runners!

Hmm. Back in the 80's when marathon runners ran 120+ miles routinely as marathon training.
Well if he took the week off he would be able to do 2 long runs a day; if he wasn't following a training plan and just wanted to clock up a lot of miles that is.
Did he get to the 420? That would be 60 mile a day. I'm assuming he didn't absolutely flog himself to death doing it. If he did then its anyones guess.

sarsfieldsrock

Did a cross training session in the gym last night.
Did a mile on treadmill in the vibrams and then 30 min on the stationary bike covering just over 10 mile on that.
Then warmed down with another mile on the treadmill.
After the bike my lefts felt very stiff but the warm down mile really eased them out again. I am trying to do my easy miles at 4 hour marathon pace as I want to set that as my lsr pace for marathons anyway.

I got back to doing my 3 sets of sit ups and push ups as well after some idleness on my part there. I am only up to 11 of each so I must try to get it up to 15 of each by the end of the week. The target is 3 sets of 25 by the new year and hopefully that is still on.

sarsfieldsrock

4x800m

I struggled badly with this. It was only on the warm up run that I realised how heavy the legs still were from Sunday.
The 4 800's were 3:26, 3:21, 3:30 and 3:33 which is a good bit off the 3:20 that I had aimed for. Still at least I finished them this time and I supose that they are not meant to be easy.
I did 3 sets of 12 push ups and 12 press ups before I headed out so tomorrows set is the unlucky thirteens.
I am looking forwards to the 5K time trial on Saturday. I have never ran a 5k before so it will be interesting.