3:30 or bust!

belcarra

What: Sub 3hrs 30mins marathon in 2012.
When: End of May.
Where: Probably Edinburgh (May 27th).

Following on from my last log, the new goal for 2012 is a sub 3:30 marathon. I will be focusing on Edinburgh but have not entered it yet, so target marathon may change.

So far I have entered Donadea 50km on Feb 18th and Connemarathon Ultra on April 1st. Yes, I know - both of these are Ultras - but I intend to run them at a handy pace, simply to complete them. I will then have 8 weeks between Connemara and Edinburgh so that should be fine.

I intend to follow P&D's 55-70 mile/12 week plan for Connemara. This should allow the correct timeframe-ish from the New Year til April 1st and will also ensure I get a higher volume of miles per week than my previous training block, which it is hoped will place me better off for the longer races.

Then, once Connemara is completed, I will switch across onto the 8 week multiple marathon schedule also from P&D. This should allow for more focused session training in advance of the target marathon.

So, hopefully I will have a 3:30 marathon in the bag before I waste the month of June drinking Polish beer, gaining about 2 stone and bemoaning Glenn Whelan's abilities to shackle Xavi!!

belcarra

GA Run 9.0km @ 143bpmI went for my first run this evening since the Philadelphia Marathon. I felt I needed a couple of weeks clean break from running to let the body have a chance to recover.
It was very cold out there so I started briskly enough. The first 3km went along fine but then the middle 3km seemed to get a bit tougher, like as if the break had left me short. This didn't last too long though and the final 3km were a bit easier again so I think it was just a matter of blowing off the cobwebs.
Distance was approx 9km as I couldn't have been bothered freezing my ass off waiting for the Garmin to register!

Good to be back into it again!

belcarra

2011 was a pretty good year running-wise for me and I managed to PB at every distance I ran.

The data below shows where I stood at the start of 2011 and progress to now, and finally where I’d like to be this time next year:
Distance:|Pre-2011 PB:|End-2011 PB:|2011 Improvement:|End 2012 target:
5km|24:19|20:58|3:21|19:59
8km|38:17|36:06|2:11|34:49
5 Mile|38:19|37:17|1:02|34:59
10km|47:55|44:25|3:30|42:59
10 Mile|01:22:16|01:17:17|4:59|01:14:59
½ Marathon|01:44:31|01:40:20|4:11|01:37:29
15 Mile|02:25:35|02:25:35|0:00|01:59:59
¾ Marathon|N/A|02:39:45|N/A|02:34:59
Marathon| 04:21:40|03:51:30|30:10|03:29:59
50km|N/A| N/A|N/A|04:44:59
39.3 Mile|N/A|N/A|N/A|06:20:00


So, plenty of challenges ahead for 2012. Hopefully at least half of them will be out of the way by Summer.

menoscemo

belcarra wrote: »

What: Sub 3hrs 30mins marathon in 2012.
When: End of May.
Where: Probably Edinburgh (May 27th).

Following on from my last log, the new goal for 2012 is a sub 3:30 marathon. I will be focusing on Edinburgh but have not entered it yet, so target marathon may change.

So far I have entered Donadea 50km on Feb 18th and Connemarathon Ultra on April 1st. Yes, I know - both of these are Ultras - but I intend to run them at a handy pace, simply to complete them. I will then have 8 weeks between Connemara and Edinburgh so that should be fine.

I intend to follow P&D's 55-70 mile/12 week plan for Connemara. This should allow the correct timeframe-ish from the New Year til April 1st and will also ensure I get a higher volume of miles per week than my previous training block, which it is hoped will place me better off for the longer races.

Then, once Connemara is completed, I will switch across onto the 8 week multiple marathon schedule also from P&D. This should allow for more focused session training in advance of the target marathon.

So, hopefully I will have a 3:30 marathon in the bag before I waste the month of June drinking Polish beer, gaining about 2 stone and bemoaning Glenn Whelan's abilities to shackle Xavi!!

That's some pretty lofty challenges there!! I am not sure about trying to run a big PB 8 weeks after Conn, I was pretty wrecked for a while after it last year. I'd suggest a better tactic is to go for a marathon about 3 weeks before conn. It gives you plenty of time tiem to recover. Look at the marathon as your last big efort before the taper....

Are you all booked for Poland? And tickets? Maybe see you over there....

belcarra

menoscemo wrote: »

That's some pretty lofty challenges there!! I am not sure about trying to run a big PB 8 weeks after Conn, I was pretty wrecked for a while after it last year. I'd suggest a better tactic is to go for a marathon about 3 weeks before conn. It gives you plenty of time tiem to recover. Look at the marathon as your last big efort before the taper....

Are you all booked for Poland? And tickets? Maybe see you over there....

Yip, fully intend to push on and do even better next year. At this stage my main priority would be the 3:30 marathon.
Did you run at a high effort in Conn last year? I intend to take it easy and just get round the course which hopefully will take less out of me and allow quicker recovery. I am down for Donadea 6 weeks before Conn so no room in there for a quick marathon.
If end of May marathon goes up in smoke then I will refocus for an alternative - perhaps Dublin in October - for the 3:30.

I've decided a package trip for Poland will be the job. Apparently they will be approx €1,500 for 10 days/3 matches so sounds promising (Rep was on Newstalk yesterday morning saying as much).
The key thing for me will be the guaranteed match tickets...could be a struggle to source them otherwise and probably not much cheaper booking everything individually.

menoscemo

belcarra wrote: »

Yip, fully intend to push on and do even better next year. At this stage my main priority would be the 3:30 marathon.
Did you run at a high effort in Conn last year? I intend to take it easy and just get round the course which hopefully will take less out of me and allow quicker recovery. I am down for Donadea 6 weeks before Conn so no room in there for a quick marathon.
If end of May marathon goes up in smoke then I will refocus for an alternative - perhaps Dublin in October - for the 3:30.

I've decided a package trip for Poland will be the job. Apparently they will be approx €1,500 for 10 days/3 matches so sounds promising (Rep was on Newstalk yesterday morning saying as much).
The key thing for me will be the guaranteed match tickets...could be a struggle to source them otherwise and probably not much cheaper booking everything individually.

A ran a decent effort in Conn last year (thru marathon in 3:42), the goal was sub 6. It was very comfortable on the lungs and Heart (HR low) but it is the legs that made it hard in the end. Got a lot of cramp and finished in 5:50, still made my goal but was not feeling back to normal for many weeks afterwards. I think no matter how 'handy' you take it it's going to take a lot out of you. I set a marathon PB in training for Conn (3:24 in Barcelona- still stands today ) exactly 8 days after the Donadea 50k last year. Plan this year is to do Blackpool marathon 2 weeks after donadea and 3 weeks before Conn. I still reckon thats a better startegy than targetting a marathon after Conn Ultra.

I've booked flights and accomodation independantly, there are 3 of us and we are going out for a week (hoping to catch the first 2 games). Works out at about €600 each but no tickets. I'm checking the uefa ticket portal every day so hopefully some pop up.

We must meet up for a few long runs through the winter?

belcarra

menoscemo wrote: »

A ran a decent effort in Conn last year (thru marathon in 3:42), the goal was sub 6. It was very comfortable on the lungs and Heart (HR low) but it is the legs that made it hard in the end. Got a lot of cramp and finished in 5:50, still made my goal but was not feeling back to normal for many weeks afterwards. I think no matter how 'handy' you take it it's going to take a lot out of you. I set a marathon PB in training for Conn (3:24 in Barcelona- still stands today ) exactly 8 days after the Donadea 50k last year. Plan this year is to do Blackpool marathon 2 weeks after donadea and 3 weeks before Conn. I still reckon thats a better startegy than targetting a marathon after Conn Ultra.

Cheers for that Meno...Good to be aware about the legs being dead even though it wasn't a max effort - Something for me to bear in mind.
How was your nutrition during the race? Were the cramps a result of low electrolyte levels, etc? Or was it just simply a matter of it being a bloody long run!!?

I think i will still go with the original schedule and as I say, if initial marathon in May blows up I still have time for another, or possibly even two runs at it later in the year. I fully believe if it wasn't for NYC two weeks before Philly that I would have been very close to 3:30 there. Therefore I'm hoping/aiming that 8 weeks should be enough recovery.

menoscemo wrote: »

I've booked flights and accomodation independantly, there are 3 of us and we are going out for a week (hoping to catch the first 2 games). Works out at about €600 each but no tickets. I'm checking the uefa ticket portal every day so hopefully some pop up.

We must meet up for a few long runs through the winter?

€600 sounds like a good deal for flights and accommodation alright! We were looking at getting a campervan but lots of minor points started pushing up the costs and inconvenience, so that is why we are looking towards packages instead.

Definitely on for doing a few long runs with you guys but looks like early January will be my first opportunity at this stage...Down in Mayo for the xmas.

menoscemo

belcarra wrote: »

Definitely on for doing a few long runs with you guys but looks like early January will be my first opportunity at this stage...Down in Mayo for the xmas.

Yeah, I won't be starting those runs until January either, with the half this weekend and then Cristmas up the north.
I'll talk to you then about nutrition/electrolytes etc, too much info for me to be bothered with writing down.

insinkerator

Good luck with it! We currently share aims for 5k and marathon distances! I'll keep an eye on you for tips and encouragement

belcarra

insinkerator wrote: »

Good luck with it! We currently share aims for 5k and marathon distances! I'll keep an eye on you for tips and encouragement

Good stuff, chip in with questions or comments throughout - It will be good for both of us hopefully!

If you want to see my recent trainng (May - November) check out my previous log here.

Best of luck with your goals!

belcarra

Raheny Winter League - 2 Miler - 3.24km @ 166bpm
So, looks like I have another new PB for 2011, although this was a simple one as it was my first time doing a 2 mile race.

I called over to Raheny for my first of their Winter League and have to say it was a nice simple quality affair! About 50 of us started on a street corner under a lampost and did two circuits of a 1 mile course.

I went out a little quick on the first lap. I was in a group of 3 for half a mile but decided to push it on a little bit myself and created a gap of approx 20m, however I began to fade a little just after half way and with half a mile to go the pair went past me and immediately opened a gap of about 20m, before crossing the line about 50m ahead of me.

Finished in 13:23 with splits of 6:33 and 6:50. I had targeted 13:30, so overall happy with the race but I could have run it a bit smarter and got close to 13:15. At least now I have a target for the next race 2 mile race in January!

(3km warm-up/cool-down + 3.24 race = 6.24km)

outforarun

Good luck with the new log. Snap regarding sub 3:30 marathon, that too will be my main goal in 2012. I'll be targeting 4PBs again (over distances where I already have an official PB), not necessarily the same 4 races. I'll count two PBs over the same distance if I have to, Ballycotton (if I get in) and Frank Duffy for example.

Was in Poznan and Gdansk early last year. Two fun cities. Gdansk was beautiful, the port and sea was frozen over when we were there. Would love to go back.

Second what meno was saying, we should try meet up for some of the longer runs: although I'm an early bird, not by choice.

belcarra

outforarun wrote: »

Good luck with the new log. Snap regarding sub 3:30 marathon, that too will be my main goal in 2012. I'll be targeting 4PBs again (over distances where I already have an official PB), not necessarily the same 4 races. I'll count two PBs over the same distance if I have to, Ballycotton (if I get in) and Frank Duffy for example.

Was in Poznan and Gdansk early last year. Two fun cities. Gdansk was beautiful, the port and sea was frozen over when we were there. Would love to go back.

Second what meno was saying, we should try meet up for some of the longer runs: although I'm an early bird, not by choice.

Best of luck with the 4 PBs in 2012 - I'd say you will nail them down handy if you continue the training like this year. One comment though would be that there are easier 10 mile races out there than the two you mentioned (FD10m and Ballycotton (At least I think Ballycotton is hilly - I've never ran it myself)...If you do find yourself narrowly missing out in Ballycotton remember that on a flat course you could be much quicker.

I'll be on for starting into LSRs during the first week back in the New Year - Keep an eye out for the usual Group Run thread!

Good to hear that Poland sounds like fun!!

belcarra

Recovery Run - 7.4km @ 140bpm
Easy-paced 4.5 mile run. Conditions were fine in the sheltered areas but once the wind caught hold there was a vicious chill in the air.
Both adductor muscles were giving me issues the whole run which hasn't happened before. I'm assuming it may be a compbination of both 5-a-side on Tues night and the Raheny 2 miler on Wed, but I hadn't noticed it until the first few steps of the run.

Hopefully it will have eased up by tomorrow morning as I'm down for the Aware 5 miler in the park. Not sure what to expect time-wise so based on learnings from Wed night (Don't go out too fast!!) I will probably aim for a 4.30min/km pace which would get me home in approx 36 mins. Knowing the hills involved this will probably be quite a tactical race to ease up on the uphills and push on on the downhills but i guess we'll find out tomorrow!

Edit: I have just realised my PB is 37:17, so with that in mind (and because I like round number targets) I will aim for sub 37, giving an average pace of 4:35 (7:24min/mile), or thereabouts, instead.

belcarra

After spending heaps of time on this last night I finally managed to put my plan for next year in excel format.
And after completing the task my first thoughts were that that's one tough programme!! Nevertheless, I'm determined to give it as good a stab as I can but if things are struggling by February I may look to review it somewhat. Almost 1,200 miles by the end of May...That should blow the 1,000 mile log out of the water for me next year!!

belcarra

Just a week has passed since I posted my PB table and already I have to update two new PBS!
The first one was the 2 mile distance last Wed but that was a new distance for me so a gimme really! The second was yesterday's Aware 5 miler where I ended up getting around in 36:40! Race report to follow...
Distance:|Pre-2011 PB:|End-2011 PB:|2011 Improvement:|End 2012 target:
2m|N/A|13:23|N/A|12:50
5km|24:19|20:58|3:21|19:59
8km|38:17|36:06|2:11|34:49
5 Mile|38:19|36:40|1:39|34:59
10km|47:55|44:25|3:30|42:59
10 Mile|01:22:16|01:17:17|4:59|01:14:59
½ Marathon|01:44:31|01:40:20|4:11|01:37:29
15 Mile|02:25:35|02:25:35|0:00|01:59:59
¾ Marathon|N/A|02:39:45|N/A|02:34:59
Marathon| 04:21:40|03:51:30|30:10|03:29:59
50km|N/A| N/A|N/A|04:44:59
39.3 Mile|N/A|N/A|N/A|06:20:00

neilc

Some great targets for next year there belcarra, particularly the shorter distances, good luck with them.

belcarra

Aware 5 Mile Race – 8.03km in 36:40
On a bitterly cold Saturday morning I parked up on the Castleknock end of the park and completed my pre-race warm up by jogging to the start line almost 1 1/5 miles away. I thought I had timed it well in that it was 9:53 when I reached the starting area which allowed me to get a little stretching in and allow the HR to relax. After waiting about 5 mins I heard the announcer declare we would be starting 15 mins late die to the dangerously slippy conditions. Apprently the Gardai made the call so I guess I can’t really knock the decision.

So, after waiting the extra 15 mins I was back to being freezing again. Approx 1,700 people ammassed at the starting line and we all had to go over the narrow strip to officially begin our races. This could have been organised better by either; a) adding a wider mat, b) Locating Bootcamp.ie to an alternative location or C) start at a more suitable location, i.e. the road rather than this small path.

I was unsure about what t expect with this race as I had experienced two tight Adductor muslces on last nights run so I wondered would this hold me back today? Also, because of the temps would I be better off just cruising around, especially in light of a Soccer match I had to play later at 12:30pm! I decided I would take it easy at the start and then ramp things up depending on how I felt. Anyways, the race was underway…

Km 1:
The first stretch was along the cyclepath/grass, parallel to Acres Rd. I ran the forst couple of hundred metres very gently, but I then began to push a little more. Running alongside Acres Rd. I was passing lots of people at about the rate of 1 per second for a few mins – There was lots of newbies running today so there was plenty of easy pickings! By the time I got to the turn down the Kyber I was well down on a PB effort. I was averaging 7:40/mile at this stage and I required approx 7:15 instead.
Split: 7:41.

Km 2:
The Kyber was a joy to run. Again, I was passing plenty of people who were taking it easy but I really relished cutting through the field here. The pace was upped considerably now and I was just running down the hill as fast as I liked, declining to be bothered about any possibility of blowing up later. At the bottom of the hill I dropped back to a more reasonable pace before we turned for Millitary Hill.
Split: 6:45.

Km 3/4/5:
I managed to get up and over this without too much trouble and sat in the wake of other runners until I was back in sheltered spots again. Once we finished with the ‘S-bends’ I kicked on a little more down the hill and across to the the last uphill at the Upper Glen Rd. There wasn’t much overtaking going on here as I kept within my comfort zone, doing just enough to keep pace with those around me.
Split: 7:42/7:16/7:55.

Km 6:
The next km was more of the same until the course began to flatten out. I managed to pick up the pace towards the second half of the km. More and more people were beginning to feel the effects of going off too strongly around this point.
Split: 7:39

Km 7:
Turning onto Furze Rd. was welcome, knowing that the hills were now out of the way and with only 2km left I knew I could kick on a bit again. I started passing a few more at this stage, yet there was others now passing me also. I kept things steady knowing that some of them had gone too early and would surely be caught.
Split: 7:13.

Km 8/9:
The final km was the quickest of the day, even taking the Kyber hill into account. I benefited from the more relaxed first half of the race, so much so that this split was even faster than the second half of the Raheny 2 mile race on Wed night! As the turn for home came, everyone was cutting it short by about 5m-10m. I decided to join in also in a bid to maintain my place. Frantic finish unsued and 2 or 3 of us were juggling positions all the way to the line with me managing to just about pip them home.
Split: 6:43/5:50.
Total: 36:40.

So, happy with the result given that I’m just back into a bit of random training at the moment, yet still another PB! (My previous PB was a bit soft, to be fair).

I left the Park at 11am and got to my match in Tymon in plenty of time. Ended up playing 60mins at RB with no tiredness issues which was nice. Of course, 2 mins after coming off as planned, our LB gets cramps and we use our final sub. 5 mins later our CH comes off injured with no available subs left, so we’re down to 10 men! 5 mins later again, our Player/Manager gets sent off for a professional foul!! We end up playing the final 15 mins with 9 men.
The result? We actually won 7-1! …I guess we’ve played tougher opposition!

slowsteady

Plenty of good targets there to keep you focused for 2012, including that 3:30. Not sure you are making it easy on yourself with the planned schedule, there is a Waterford marathon on now at the end of June which would give your legs another few weeks recovery time - unless you reckon we will be in the final?

Good luck with what looks like a heavy training schedule - if you can keep that up the PBs will fall:)

belcarra

slowsteady wrote: »

Plenty of good targets there to keep you focused for 2012, including that 3:30. Not sure you are making it easy on yourself with the planned schedule, there is a Waterford marathon on now at the end of June which would give your legs another few weeks recovery time - unless you reckon we will be in the final?

Good luck with what looks like a heavy training schedule - if you can keep that up the PBs will fall:)

End of June target marathon is definitely out as there will be the small matter of Euro 2012 (And all the associated beer swilling) in the middle of the taper - I'll be lucky to be sober by the end of June, never mind able to run a marathon!!
Hence, I am looking for end of May/start of June. It could well end up being Cork instead of Edinburgh.

I agree the schedule is really heavy regarding the weekly mileage. I am still in the recovery phase from Philly so am taking it easy at the moment with just a few training runs and a couple of shorter races ticking me over. Hope I don't get so lazy that the step-up in January falls apart!!:eek:

Thanks for the feedback!

belcarra

Recovery Run 6.0km @ 136bpm

Managed to get out for what was intended as an 8km run yesterday but ended up being truncated to a 6km run instead. My quad muscles were becoming increasingly tight throughout the run because of what I reasoned was the cold weather and lack of recent running. I decided to bail in order to avoid stressing the muscles any further.

Later, in the evening I also had a game of 5 a side, during which the muscles were fine again but the weather was still Baltic!

Hope to go for a 10 miler or so tomorrow afternoon.

menoscemo

belcarra wrote: »

After spending heaps of time on this last night I finally managed to put my plan for next year in excel format.
And after completing the task my first thoughts were that that's one tough programme!! Nevertheless, I'm determined to give it as good a stab as I can but if things are struggling by February I may look to review it somewhat. Almost 1,200 miles by the end of May...That should blow the 1,000 mile log out of the water for me next year!!

Just look at your plan there. Looks quite tough!!

For the purposes of preparing well for The Ultras, if I were you I would consider doubling up your long runs at the weekend. That is Doing your second longest run of the week (you midweek MLR) the day before or the day after your weekly long run. In the absence of doing any really long runs (26 mile+ LSR's) that would be the best way to build up Ultra endurance without increasing overall mileage.

belcarra

menoscemo wrote: »

Just look at your plan there. Looks quite tough!!

For the purposes of preparing well for The Ultras, if I were you I would consider doubling up your long runs at the weekend. That is Doing your second longest run of the week (you midweek MLR) the day before or the day after your weekly long run. In the absence of doing any really long runs (26 mile+ LSR's) that would be the best way to build up Ultra endurance without increasing overall mileage.

I've had another look at the plan based on your feedback Meno and have to agree with your suggestion about the 2 long runs at the weekends, so I have changed one of the MSRs each week to before/after the LSRs so now I will be doing between 26 and 32 miles over two days leading up to Donadea.
Thanks for the tip!

belcarra

I enjoyed the Christmas break a little too well, and with the focus of the training plan starting this week I found it difficult to be inspired to go out running much in the past few weeks.

I did manage a local 5km race on Stephen's Day which was a windy and tough course. First year for the race and it went very well. I'll definitely be back for it again next year. I completed it in 22:46, a good bit outside of PB but not one bit bothered about that!

This week I have started the plan, albeit I did miss the first day :P.
A 9km easy run on Tuesday was followed by a 14km run last night with 6.5km @ LT level. I'm back into the HR monitoring again for the first few weeks of training to ensure I stay at the optimum effort level. Last nights run was during rain and lots of wind which meant the HR was slightly raised at 159bpm as opposed to 155bpm target. I expect this to ease back to normal levels after the wind departs. On the cool-down afterwards I was doing over 6min/km and still the HR was hovering about the 150bpm level when it would normally be approx 130-135bpm. Does anyone else have issues getting their HR to fall back down after a LT session?? I must keep an eye on this next LT session I do.

Tuesday: 9km Recovery Run
Wednesday: 14km LT Session (6.5km @ 159bpm)

belcarra

8km Recovery Run tonight. Weather is much better than last night.
BPM was 139 beats which was close enough to 137 target.
Legs feeling a bit heavy with DOMS which I hope are much better for tomorrows run.

menoscemo

A few of us are doing 20 in the park on saturday if you're around/interested.

belcarra

menoscemo wrote: »

A few of us are doing 20 in the park on saturday if you're around/interested.

Sounds interesting alright but I have planned a run up around Howth head with a couple of mates @ 1pm. Might try for a long one on Sunday if anyone is doubling up lsrs!

belcarra

belcarra wrote: »

Sounds interesting alright but I have planned a run up around Howth head with a couple of mates @ 1pm. Might try for a long one on Sunday if anyone is doubling up lsrs!

That Howth Run didn't actually happen in the end, but regardless I wouldn't have been able to make the boards meet-up in the morning anyways.

belcarra

Friday – 17.4km LSR.
This was meant to be 22km run but had to cut it short at 18km. Decent run with decent conditions but a bit of a wind in parts. DOMS still leaving my legs feeling dead.

Saturday – 8km Recovery Run.
Easy recovery run. Nice evening for a run. DOMS less of an issue but still there.

Sunday – 13.3km General Aerobic.
Planned to stay at approx 142bpm, finished @ 141bpm so happy with that. First half of run was effortless however second half was a little tougher given that it was mainly uphill. Perfect conditions for a run with zero breeze and no rain. Temp approximately 8-10deg.

Still trying to shake a cold that has been annoying me for the past week…

(Links to routes to come)

belcarra

Monday - 8km Recovery Run.
Felt poor at work as the cold has moved from sniffles to nasty cough. Lay on the bed for an hour when I came home before watching Arsenal v Leeds (Hard luck RQ!:D). The rest and the sign of TH scoring for Arsenal again inspired me to head out for a 8km recovery run which went very smoothly on another lovely night. I think running through some of the worst of last weeks weather has made me appreciate the nice evenings even more.

Think I'm going to start copying RayCun regarding a simple tracking of my runs/distance for the year to date:
Kmtd:78
Runs:7

belcarra

Tuesday - 17.6km Medium Slow Run.
After last nights run where I floated around tonights run was pretty much the opposite. From the start I felt crappy and it only got marginally better as the run progressed. Legs are still pretty leaden which I am attributing to too much too soon on my return. I have been keeping the pace/effort low intentionally in order to allow the legs catch up with the heart but they're still lagging:rolleyes:.

Kmtd: 95.4
Runs: 8