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I have to ask Ray, why are planning another marathon (Dublin?) when the training for this one has busted you up so badly? From reading your log over the last while you seem to have struggled a bit with the training and I get impression (correct me if I'm wrong) that you haven't totally enjoyed it?! Do you like the marathon distance that much?
Fair question
The plan was always to run Dublin this year. The Athlone/Limerick training cycle was to give the training a dry run and re-acquaint myself with the distance. I didn't want to run Dublin as my first marathon in 3 years, and I thought running sub-3 earlier in the year would take some pressure off that run. We'll see how well that plan works out soon enough :pac:
After Dublin I'm thinking of running a lot of cross-country over the winter, race a lot more in general, maybe target the Meath/Kildare set of 5ks in early summer for a 5k PB, maybe do the old arses track and field next August then London in 2016.
Have I enjoyed the training? Hmmm... I'd say I haven't enjoyed many of the midweek sessions. It's not that the sessions themselves are bad, but I've usually run them late and tired, and I think I've dropped out of loads - I hate that. But the weekend long runs and the high(ish) mileage suit me fine, and I like the mixed speed long runs. If I could, I'd do the midweek sessions as part of a group, but otherwise this is the kind of training I'm happy to do. Some people find running boring, I find it relaxing, so my training is always going to be based on running regularly. I've no interest in the very short distances, where the training intervals are short, the recoveries long, and the gym is as important as running.
And the marathon distance... I think everyone looks for some organising principle for their training. If you're a track runner, your year is centred on the summer track season and everything else is geared to that. If your strength is cross country, everything is is building towards that. I'm not ever going to be competitive at any distance. I like XC, but I'm no better at it than anything else. And the club is not at a point where tbb is going to tell me I'm on x team training for y event and here's the plan I'm to follow
If you run marathons, they become that organising principle. You could plan to run 20 or 30 races in a year, and maybe you want to do well in all of them and you'll do some specific training for each distance, but if one of the races is a marathon that's the one that everything else will have to fit in around. 0 -
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Very good point, my only question would be; why does the focal race or organising principle have to be a marathon? Could it not as easily be a half marathon or a 10k? A distance where if the race goes wrong you can turn around and do another the following weekend?
I'm not trying to have a go at you by the way, I'm just curious as to why a lot of club runners base their season around a marathon as opposed to another shorter but equally rewarding distance.
You've answered your own question
It's hard to make a 5k the focus of your training when there'll be another one just like it a week later. **** this one up and it's no big deal. (Unless you're talking about championships, qualifying times etc) And there's a lot of crossover between the training for one distance race and another, so you can take your 5k training and do well in a 10k from it.
People don't base their seasons around shorter races because they don't have to.
And then there's all the spectacle around the marathon, often the travelling abroad... there's more buzz around the race than around any other I'm likely to run in.0 -
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You've answered your own question
It's hard to make a 5k the focus of your training when there'll be another one just like it a week later. **** this one up and it's no big deal. (Unless you're talking about championships, qualifying times etc) And there's a lot of crossover between the training for one distance race and another, so you can take your 5k training and do well in a 10k from it.
People don't base their seasons around shorter races because they don't have to.
And then there's all the spectacle around the marathon, often the travelling abroad... there's more buzz around the race than around any other I'm likely to run in.
Fair enough, although I don't think I'll ever understand that mentally. I've seen too many people on here and elsewhere put months of hard work into one race only for it to go wrong on the day. To me that seems like madness but I can understand why people get a buzz out of that challenge. Anyway, good luck with the taper, hope the race goes well Ray! 0 -
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So, preparation for this marathon was not all it should have been. The last five or six weeks have been injuries, missed sessions, dropped mileage, and general hilarity. But, I figured that I had been well in shape before that, so I had at least a fighting chance, **** it, why not give it a shot?
One result of this lack of preparedness was... a lack or preparedness. Booked my train tickets late (and ended up with a tour of the west), packed my bag on Saturday morning an hour before leaving and almost forgot my runners, and generally did not have a race plan more detailed than knowing 4.10/km was 'race pace', 4.15/km was 3 hour pace and the last few miles were going to be hard.
Anyway. Got to the start line in plenty of time Sunday morning, feeling relaxed but I could feel my heart was beating hard. Met up with a few boardsies before the off, Hard Worker, snailsong, DrQ, ecoli and, a nice surprise, the stewpendous pair! After a low-key countdown (missing a few numbers!) we were off
I was going to stay behind ecoli for a couple of miles, but the balloon and the crowd were annoying, I'm not used to running in groups, so I stepped out after a couple of minutes and started following a couple of guys in front. Running was completely effortless for the first 30 minutes or so, it felt like a recovery run, but I reined things back in - when I caught up with the guys in front they were running about 4.00, 4.05 pace, so I dropped off again rather than go with them. First 5k were 4.14, 4.16, 4.02, 4.05, 4.08, so just a few seconds fast
All the way through UL things felt very easy. Pace was up and down all the time because the route was all up and down so settled into something that felt comfortable and seemed to be holding the gap on the runners ahead (apart from the guy who had blown after about 4 miles, and Pauline Curley who steamed by after 3 with the second woman in tow). Average pace was showing at about 4.11, which I was satisfied with, if that second was coming back to me it would be later in the race. Splits were 4.22, 4.15, 4.07, 4.11, 4.13
The turnaround point out past UL was good, nice to see the guys in front and get a view of the race behind. ecoli was irritatingly close behind I was getting a little tired of the hills in a race I'd thought was flat and the growing wind:rolleyes:, and some cheeky ****er asked if I was an O50 :mad::pac: but still, I was feeling strong, closing gaps on the guys in front and enjoying myself. Some fantastic cheering from Mr Stew lifted the spirits every time I saw him, and he seemed to be everywhere ( there were hardly any other spectators, but I'm comparing to Dublin) Splits to halfway were 4.09, .12, .12, .14, .08, .20, .11, .05, .10, .10, .22, and halfway mark was 1.28.25 I didn't have any halfway target at the start, but that sounded good.
Didn't like the next section of the course much. Seemed to be a drag up, back roads with no spectators, and straight into the wind and to make matters worse, I was passed by a triathlete :eek: 4.16, .08, .24, .29, .17 - I didn't know I was slowing so much, but at around the point we turned back towards town I noticed average pace was down to about 4.12 and realised that I'd been keeping the effort level more or less constant for a good while, it was time to start working harder. This coincided with a downhill stretch so off I went, making up a couple of places with 4.09, .10, .05, .07, .12. Also got the first sign of things to come around here, there was a left turn before an industrial estate turnaround, and I got a stabbing pain going around the corner :eek: think I squeezed out half the bottle of water I was carrying in the spasm, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. The rest of the run back into the city went well. There was a biggish bridge? on the way, and I was working - maybe a bit too much for this far out - but my confidence was growing, 4.16, 3.58, 4.03.
Another left turn towards the river, another spasm and jump, and somewhere in the mile between throwing Mr Stew my empty arm wallet and arriving at the other side of the river, things suddenly became very tough. Every step was hurting my calves, it was like they were trying to expand as they pushed off but instead were being squeezed in - that was slowing me down, but was manageable. The real pain came when we turned a corner, or the incline on the road changed, because every one of those was causing a spasm - and the last few miles of the marathon is all up and down the same ****ing hill, sharp turns all over the place. Every straight I would slowly speed up, but every corner would slow me down so much, it was killing me. The last few miles were full of frantic calculations, so many miles to go, so many minutes to 3 hours, average pace is x so over the next 5k it could slip to y and I'd still make it.... all of this on a very tired brain. I couldn't hear ecoli behind, but I knew that if he caught me I wouldn't be able to go with him. finally saw the river again... then the bridge... then across the bridge... then the last corner... and only then, when I could see the finishing clock in front of me did I relax and know I was going to make it. 4.19, 25, 23, 24, 27, 30, 27, 21, and 4.10 pace for the last bit
Afterwards... limped slowly away from the finish line, medical guy took one look and sent me to get a massage, ten minutes of gentle rubbing on my calves but a lot of pain and swearing when I tried to turn over to get off the table... ten more minutes there before I hobbled back to the hotel for a shower (30 minutes at least for a half mile journey:pac:) - but no wheelchair this time! Met up with a bunch of boardsies afterwards for drinks, great to see so many faces old and new, before shuffling off for a _direct_ train home
(race splits: 10k: 41:57 28th halfway 1:28:25 26th 30k 2:06:11 24th finished 2:59:06 21st0 -
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:D:D 
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