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metamorphosis

http://www.marathon-photos.com/scripts/event.py?event=Sports/CPUK/2011/Irish%20Runner%205%20Mile&match=2067&name=Richard

Seriously looks like im trying to elbow people in some of them photos!

metamorphosis

Last Sept i was given a snot colored garmin 405 from RQ. It's done me untilk last night, it was acting up funny Monday and now well the screen is just gone. I mean it works,but with no screen.

Anyway, before i go getting a new garmin, prob a 305 on amazon or somewhere, if anyone on here has one that they'd be looking to get rid of or find a compassionate new owner, i'm your man.

metamorphosis

Nice handy 10.58 miles today with friend who's doing New York. Handy 7.40 pace with couple traffic stops. Very happy, tbh as it felt like a 10min mile pace and the HR was in the high 120s. By the time we finished i felt like ui could have gone for another two hours. Masters coming up in a matter of weeks and il be gone from the 30+ hr week job but keeping on the freelance fitness work. Blessing in disguise as working 35 hours and teaching 12 hours average of classes on top of that a week while doing your own training every week would not equal good race times as the months go on so itl be nice to be able to catch up and start getting more than 5 hours of sleep and have less spinning classes to teach.

metamorphosis

12.22 at 7.26 pace again today. Very humid out but felt so handy. Bit more rest and there seems to be a nice uptake in how im feeling again. Off to work 5-9 now on a bank hol. Bah.

metamorphosis

Training going well, nice 16 miles on Monday (should have been Sunday but too much after effects of from drinking), last 3 miles the fastest and felt the easiest. Things are slowly coming together.

Nice midweek run yesterday of 8 miles.

Out of interest, what are peoples opinions on splitting the midweek long run? I know it's not ideal but working 9-2 on a wed and then teaching soon after it's often handier time wise for me to split it half and half running to work that morning and then running home after.

theboyblunder

Depends IMO. If you are just trying to build overall mileage (aerobic capacity etc) then its fine, advisable even.

If its a midweek long run (P&D style) then its not - the idea behind these is to get to to start to run out of glycogen (but not the whole hog like a weekend LSR) so splitting it defeats the purpose.

Training seems to be going well, whats the target?

metamorphosis

theboyblunder wrote: »

Depends IMO. If you are just trying to build overall mileage (aerobic capacity etc) then its fine, advisable even.

If its a midweek long run (P&D style) then its not - the idea behind these is to get to to start to run out of glycogen (but not the whole hog like a weekend LSR) so splitting it defeats the purpose.

Training seems to be going well, whats the target?

Cheers, I do go through some sessions a week on pretty low glycogen stores as it is so im not sure if doing the midweek run all in one for this purpose would be of any more benefit that splitting it in two.

At the mo, looking for 65:00 for the 10 which im confident about, Beat my Limerick half time in sept, so 1:25:xx and for Dublin, not so sure yet, deffo under 3:10 for now. I know I should be targeting a faster time given my half time but tbh when you work in fitness and are teaching double digit classes a week that takes a serious toll on your body and training and running faster, so il see yet.

metamorphosis

Feeling the DOMS from Thursdays conditioning session today. twice a week i train with a guy. One session is plyometric/conditionning based and the other is weights based. Its been helping a lot.

Thursdays session consisted of 10 exercises split into 5 stations (2 exercises each station) that went 45sec:45sec, 30:30 and then 15:15 before i moved onto the next station.

Exercises stations were -

1.Dips : negative chin ups
2.Bosu ball bridge : stability ball rolling plank
3.Squat press : squat jump medicine ball throw
4. Cable flyes : push ups
5. Hack Squat : plated lunges


Warmed up on treddie and cooled down on treddie, last 6 min consisted of a push-up to squat jump to burpee in the format of 1 of each of them to 2 of them to 3 to 4, all the way up to 7 and back down again to singles. See how many you could do in 6 min straight non stop - killer. My core strength has come on leaps and bounds and has my shoulder - they dont round anymore when i tire when running, overall strength has improved.

Long run tomorrow.

metamorphosis

One of the gyms I'm working in hosted a 2 hr talk from Gerry Duffy last night about his 32 marathon challenge with Ken and his deca last year. Some great video footage of both and saw his training plan. 31hrs one week leading up to the deca! Came across as a grounded centered guy. Really interesting.

racheljev

metamorphosis wrote: »

One of the gyms I'm working in hosted a 2 hr talk from Gerry Duffy last night about his 32 marathon challenge with Ken and his deca last year. Some great video footage of both and saw his training plan. 31hrs one week leading up to the deca! Came across as a grounded centered guy. Really interesting.

I'm reading his book at the minute, jeez he's one tough dude The double ironman sounds like the maddest thing ever.
See you Saturday at the 10 miler?

metamorphosis

Yup see you Saturday!

metamorphosis

Chip time: 1:00:51. Under the 61 minutes. Where did that come from. Bloody happy. Race report to come. Thanks to the plonk in the bank of ireland singlet - you may have deprived me from water at the first water station making me angry at you but i held onto you in anger for the next 7 or so miles!

dolliemix

Great time! It must have been the anger that spurred you on!

theboyblunder

metamorphosis wrote: »

Chip time: 1:00:51. Under the 61 minutes. Where did that come from. Bloody happy. Race report to come. Thanks to the plonk in the bank of ireland singlet - you may have deprived me from water at the first water station making me angry at you but i held onto you in anger for the next 7 or so miles!

Great time - Blonde hair? Think I might have been running with you at the 8 mile mark. Had I known I would have said hi.

Krusty_Clown

theboyblunder wrote: »

Great time - Blonde hair? Think I might have been running with you at the 8 mile mark. Had I known I would have said hi.

tbb: you must have been really hot in that Bank of Ireland singlet.
Well done metamorphosis (and you, theBoyBlunder). Cracking times.

tHE vAGGABOND

Not bad for a girl :pac:

theboyblunder

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

tbb: you must have been really hot in that Bank of Ireland singlet.
Well done metamorphosis (and you, theBoyBlunder). Cracking times.

Hahaha I wasnt the water depriver - I was the heavy breathing chap in the fetching luminous green singlet

metamorphosis

theboyblunder wrote: »

Great time - Blonde hair? Think I might have been running with you at the 8 mile mark. Had I known I would have said hi.

Nope, back, shaved head. Wiggle shorts and nike orange sleeved and black tech tee


So - 60:51 chip time. Very happy.

Got the train up that morning from Limerick and had good old brekkie. Met Rainbow Kirby before i went to the park and got a glimpse of her new digs. Got the last shuttle bus up, bag drop off and quick warm up and made my way down towards the starting pen positioning myself close to the top of pen one but not too close. Saw woddle positioned back a bit in pen one and soon saw brian line up in front of me declaring 'il probably clip past you at 8 miles'!

i really thought i would snag between 64:00 and 65:00, never thought i had it in me to go faster, but the last few weeks iv gotten some good runs in and a nice streak of training. i was a little rested but not optimally after teaching so many classes during the week. We got going and i just went out. Mile one was just under the 6 min and so was mile 2 - and they felt like every bit like sub 6 min mile should do for a runner of my speed. Iv also come to learn something about myself ruining hard recently too and that is that the first 2-3 miles always feel horrible to me and after that, regardless of if i get faster i feel much better and the perceived effort seems easier and it was the same today. Miles 1-3 felt much harder than 3-6 even though i was pretty much the same pace for the first 6 miles. Knowing this helps me to just shut the **** up and get on with the first few miles.

Coming up to mile 3 and i noticed that i was pretty much running steady bang on 6 min/mile still. Got to the first water station and of course the guy in the bank of Ireland blue singlet got his cup of water and while trying to get a second cup he managed to knock every cup out of all the following volunteers hands - GIMP. I really wanted some bloody water. I vowed to beat him at that moment, he had been with me since the get go. The S bends passed and im still giving the evils to that plonker. Mile 4 was still at the same pace even though with the progressive incline of the s bend coming up to it, it felt slower. Mile 5 and i had eclipsed my 5 mile time from July and was still with blue singlet guy. Coming up to mile 6 he asked if i was going for the hour. though at this stage i was good for 63 and i knew that sub 65 was in the bag but from right about here it began to feel a tad faster. But i kept questioning whether i could drive on a bit more because for a while i really think i could have lashed out a little harder.

I told blue singlet guy that i was more for 62 and then i declared that i was gonna hold onto him anyway for as long as i could. We pretty much paced each other until mile 9. Mid way through mile 8 i felt a surge of speed and second wind and went on and dropped off a group of us that had been clinging together. Seconds later, there was blue singlet guy. from mid mile 6 i had slowed by a few seconds not by much. I had lost the bones of about 20-30 secs after mile 6 but then from then on i still kept the next 3 miles steady again. Just after mile 9 blue singlet guy takes the reigns and opens up a gap of about 50metres. A stitch that funnily enough went away with that final nice hill opened up the gap to about 100 metres. On the home straight, I knew i had under 62 and by now, i was fooked, but i knew if i kept on ploughing on i could get under the 61 so kept going. The last few hundred metres i heard a shout and looked over to see a surprised look on menos face. Crossed the line in 60:58 clock time. Bloody delighted.

Time to re-evaluate my goals for the half and Dublin.
I seem to do better at middle to long distances. My times in these do not seem to translate to what they should in the shorter stuff and tbh right now i feel much more comfortable doing the middle to long stuff.

The last few months i have learned to run recovery runs at a RECOVERY PACE! I never did this. I have been doing fantastic plyo work and strength work with a great trainer in Limerick. I havn't done a track session in a good bit but these plyo and weights based sessions have helped me no end and i stake a large part of yesterdays time in the effort that i have dedicated to that part of my training. The last few weeks have been good 50 mile weeks and the plan is to continue with a good mileage base and continue with the plyo, weights based work too.

I do not always update this log which is why it might seem that i dont train much but iv been very committed for some time now and when you get a result like this, i know im doing something right. So now i need to heed this, not get ahead of myself and continue with what i have been doing. If it's not broke don't fix it.

Met some boardsies in Ryans after wards. Nice to finally meet Vagga. Brians a lightweight like me now with the drink.

metamorphosis

Since iv started my Masters, been mad busy working and the like, last few weeks had a bit of an infection that has clonked out 2 big major long runs for me. Other than that, training going okay. Iv decided im doing dublin as a B goal and do clonakility in december. I am, at this time, from recent training, confident that i could do 3:15 in Dublin without taking much out of my body and do a faster time then in clonakilty. 2 more long runs and a small 2 week taper for Dublin, weeks rest, get another long one in before clonakilty with shorter faster runs.

Bally8

Hey meta hows the ribs? I tried my best to make your spin class last Wed but I was late leaving Shannon and it was full by the time I got in to sign up. Stuck around for a few minutes to say hi but must have missed you. Some day I will actually make it. I presume you wont be giving classes for a while?

metamorphosis

Nice to meet you wednesday Bally9

Well, the last few weeks have been anything good training wise. Teaching upwards of 14 classes a week, about 8-9 spins and a few some aqua and core classes, hectic with my masters and an injury with the ribs has wrote off some crucial long runs but im gotten some good recent middle distance runs going in training that tell me that i could comfartably do 3'15. So il head out with the pacers and re-evailuate at half way.

Iv have not enjoyed training in a while becuase of masters and work, i have not had free time to chill lately so i actually want to enjoy Dublin.Its been a case of 7am morning class, followed by 6 hours of classes folloed by teaching another class, training and then coursework followed by 5-6 hours sleep tops. I know i have 3 in me but you know what, it can wait til next bloody year!

rainbow kirby

You could always have a crack at 12 seconds ahead of Brian's PB :pac:

metamorphosis

Preceeding months -

I had a great summer of training. Off the back of a great 10mile time, great S&C training, I was confident enough I could get pretty close to Sub 3 for October. Had a little illness over august, nothing mega, just infections that knock the stuffing out of you and your stomach. Long runs went but the shorter intense stuff stayed. The end of August came and my freelance work was going really well. Between doing 15 hours of classes, my own trainign and starting the Msc, the long runs were not happening. I was doing turbo sessions with some team cyclists, teaching spin classes, doing a few short runs, doing some plyo work with a trainer and trying to get all the Msc stuff done. I was running off coffee and 5 hours a sleep and that has continued up to middle October.

On top of that a few weeks back I had a bad fall forward (when training of all things) and cracked two ribs. Cue no runs for 3 weeks or so middle of september ot october.

BUT, i knew i had a solid base of training from the year before and the cycling kept my fitness up. the week preceeding Dublin i did two half distances that felt effortless at 7min/mile pace. I was confident that i could hop in with the 3'30 pacers and finish without drainimg the body.

It's funny, I would never advise a client to do this or would kill a client if they did this but sure that's what the trainign does to my head.

Marathon weekend -

After a solid week of getting great sleep and good food, by the weekend i felt mega. Arrived in Dublin the Sunday and went straight to the RDS. After getting my number and plonking around, I went over to the pacers table and had a very brief chat with TBF, took 3'15 and 3'30 pace bands.

After a meal that evening with work colleague and friend, i went back to hotel and got a good nights sleep setting the alarm for 6am. Going to bed feeling good I thought that maybe I should go with 3'15 pacers, maybe i had it in me regardless.

Marathon morning -

The alarm went off at 6. Got up had a shower and had pre race brekkie. cant really have porridge or cereal or wheat much as from experience of training over the last few months it gives me the trots. I easily horse down a couple rice cakes with mashed banana, almond butter, have another banana, boiled egg and a small nakd bar. I had a dilemma with which shoe i should wear - the lunarswift or kayano. In the end i went with kayano after about 20min swapping shoes. Im a bit crazy like that.

Got my gear on, had coffee but spilt it on my legs. I hoped this wasn't a sign of things to come! Started worrying a bit when my usual pre dump before long run didnt come and expressed as much to RK on FB. Left the hotel at 8 for the leisurely stroll down to race start. 2.2km walk down. popped into spar and got a drink and espresso. Felt better with a non spilt coffee on me. Dropped off my bag in the baggage area and bumped into one or two faces from Limerick.Made my way up to orange pen and warmed up, pee'd twice and warmed up again. For a few min i decided should i go with 3'30 in wave two ro go wave one with 3'15. After thinking of the 2 13milers i did the week earlier at 7 pace that felt great i made a judgement call to go wave 1 and positionned myself about 100m behind 3'15.

Once we got off after the herd of the first few miles, fell into a comfy pace not far behind the 3'15 pace balloon at the end. Once we got to phoenix park my arch of my right foot started acting up for some reason. Letting it get to my head i stopped, untied my shoe and tightened it tighter. After another 2-3 miles, it eased away and the worry went from my head. Not long out of the park shouted at Xebec who hadn't even seen me. Introduced myself to lechile before the ten mile mark. Pace felt really grand. Not long after had a quick chat with krusty. Said to him how i felt like i could do this pace all day long. After the half way mark all going good, made a toilet stop soon after and after a quick pee, off i went again. Gotta say the crowds are mega in Dublin. Some really funny signs out there. Once we hit 18 miles, again, the quads were a little heavy but i still felt good. I thought that if i felt like this when i hit 21/22 il power on. Passed Xebec again at 18 miles, he missed me with the camera again a second time . Had a brief chat with Liamo from here on in. Mile 19 and the legs within seconds became deader. Coming to 20 mile mark, although the legs felt heavy, i actually felt good anyway and even though i was beginning to struggle there was a guy behind me who looked like he was anything but enjoying himself. Liamo egged him on a little and i made a quick remark saying think off all the wasy 10ks you had in training, thats all we have left.

I gotta say now that by mile 22 the legs just said 'WFT are you doing to me' I kept pace but jesus **** me christ i was quiestionning why i was stupid enough to have run today. I knew if i stopped i might not be able to walk again so did everything i could to hold pace. I stayed with 3'15 for hell or leather. Once the crowds picked up and cheered again, speed came in the legs that otherwise would not have been there. Liamo at this stage went back to get some other pacees and lecheile and he said for me to go catch up with krusty a couple of metres ahead - at that stage i just couldnt and the aim was to stay ahead of liamo til the end. Once we got into the city and passed the 25 mile mark i just powered it up as much as i could knowing there was a matter of minutes left. Coming around trinity and onto Nassau street Krusty slowed and cheered on those passing, i think i made a comment along the lines of 'so much for running at this pace all day'. Picked it up and crossed the line in 3'14'39, chip time 3'13'58. Delighted.

After i wobbled back to the hotel, showered and saw that it had started to pour rain helped myself to a 100gm bar of aldis finest 70% with almonds chocllate, went to starbucks where i was treated to a lovely hot choclate and themn pizza in milanoes. All in all a good day bar the commute home where the couple peroni beers fecked me over


Very happy, it brought enjoyment back to training for me for the first time in a good two months. Iv been eating like a horse sine. Had to teach a 7am, 6pm and 9pm class on tuesday and 2 more wednesday and thursday so resting up for the next few days or so and build up nice and slowly over next 2 weeks, see what's on next on the agenda. A new hald PB i think and see about maybe a marathon, but it would be late next year if i do.

Krusty_Clown

Well dome meta! It's was good to meet you too during the race. Onwards and upwards for you!

metamorphosis

Next on the agenda is 8k race on 27th November, I reckon I should have a good time in the bag. Sub 30 anyway.

Then I suppose stephens day 10miler provided im in Limerick for Xmas.

Wont be doing waterford half although id love a half soon as i have a new PB to take there.

Iv been mulling over going for sub 3 in 2012 or stick with the short stuff. Im really weighing towards doing another marathon and goin for sub 3. Hold it off til may next year and try for it in Limerick

dolliemix

Just read your marathon report now. Great stuff congrats!

metamorphosis

Wow, didn't realise I had been away from the log this long!

RacoonQueen

metamorphosis wrote: »

Wow, didn't realise I had been away from the log this long!

10 months of training to log now. Chop chop.

menoscemo

metamorphosis wrote: »

Wow, didn't realise I had been away from the log this long!

I hear you missed couple of pacing gigs too. Have you been in a trance?

metamorphosis

I missed one!!!