3:30 or bust!

menoscemo

Great report John. I am very impressed by the rock steady HR, a big improvement from your previous marathons there, it shows that all the miles (or KMs :rolleyes:) pay off in the long run.

BTW what happened in KM 28? You appear to have ran that one faster then your 5k pace :eek:

Itziger

menoscemo wrote: »

Great report John. I am very impressed by the rock steady HR, a big improvement from your previous marathons there, it shows that all the miles (or KMs :rolleyes:) pay off in the long run.

BTW what happened in KM 28? You appear to have ran that one faster then your 5k pace :eek:

Km 28 was the tunnel I think. I ran a wicked 0.6 miles there too!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/244881820

Aimman

Well done on the race and the report. You knocked that PB out of the park.

belcarra

menoscemo wrote: »

Great report John. I am very impressed by the rock steady HR, a big improvement from your previous marathons there, it shows that all the miles (or KMs :rolleyes:) pay off in the long run.

BTW what happened in KM 28? You appear to have ran that one faster then your 5k pace :eek:

Ya, I was happy with the HR consistency too. The miles definitely help but pacing yourself correctly from the start is so important too and I really felt I got it right on the day for once! If only I had a right breakfast...:cool:

Km28 was indeed the tunnel as Itziger has pointed out. Messed up the gps signal so that was why I had to reset the 'laps' on my watch and km30 as I was about 500m out at that stage I think. Definitely was not 5k pace in reality!

belcarra

Marthastew wrote: »

Enjoy the recovery:)

My recovery will be MS-like with me pacing Clonakilty in 2 weeks time!!
I've done my first run back this evening and will be back to normal mileage by the end of this week. No rest for the wicked!:D

belcarra

Monday 19th November - Saturday, 24th November - Nothing!
Stayed on in Valencia til Thursday and did nothing but eat and drink!
Received my new bike turbo trainer on Friday but it was Saturday before I got to set it up. Did 3 x 5mins of tough cycling taking each rest period as a chance to further hone the bike set-up. Then did 10mins at an easier pace before finishing up. Would love to hear from anyone that has used trainers what sort of sessions are best and what HR zones I should be working. I'm looking forward to using this for evenings where some cross training is required and there's a footie match on tv!

Sunday 25th November - 4.5km short LT run
First time back on the roads running last night. I had to collect my car from the pub from the night before so I was happy that it was only 4.5km in that weather! I still went at a fair old clip with one eye on next Saturday (either Jingle Bells or Parkrun 5k). Think I will do 5k training for the next few weeks but still try and keep one substantial long run per week, if for no other reason than to cross the magic 2k mile mark.

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|24/29|365.6
March|22/31|310.0
April|21/30|277.5
May|20/31|252.1
June|2/30|47.4
July|16/31|189.7
August|22/31|290.6
September|21/30|366.6
October|28/31|452.9
November|12/25|125.4
Total|217/330|3,108.3

belcarra

Monday 26th November - 11.5km MP run
Started off this evening with a 15min session on the Turbo @ 140 av HR.
I then hit the roads for an 11.5km run where I felt I was going about 15secs faster per km than I actually was (4:42/km). I guess that's the residual from the marathon last Sunday so no worries about that. Good to be back out doing a proper run again after taking the previous week off.

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|24/29|365.6
March|22/31|310.0
April|21/30|277.5
May|20/31|252.1
June|2/30|47.4
July|16/31|189.7
August|22/31|290.6
September|21/30|366.6
October|28/31|452.9
November|13/25|136.9
Total|218/331|3,119.8

belcarra

Tuesday 27th November - 14.2km Night time mountain run
Met up with Micilin Muc, Jeawan and a work colleague of MM's(Henry) at Taylors pub and took an easy run up through Kilmashogue and onto Three Rock and then TwoRock before returning back via Kilmashogue again. The pace was easy and we stopped several times so by the end I felt like it was just a few kms on the flat!
One thing I learned however was that my head torch is pretty dismal. The other guys had much better torches so I reckon a trip to Base2Race beckons tomorrow!

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|24/29|365.6
March|22/31|310.0
April|21/30|277.5
May|20/31|252.1
June|2/30|47.4
July|16/31|189.7
August|22/31|290.6
September|21/30|366.6
October|28/31|452.9
November|14/26|151.1
Total|219/332|3,134.0

belcarra

Wednesday 28th November - 60mins of 5 a side
Now that all the serious stuff is out of the way I played my first game of football for almost a year. Enjoyable enough.

Thursday 29th November - 13.8km Night time mountain run
Armed with a newly purchased Black Diamond 'Spot' head torch I ventured out again with the gang (Micilin Muc, Jeawan, Earlyevening, Nerraw and Thisregard) for another mountain run. This time we started from Johnny Fox's car park and ran the Wicklow Trail as far as the start of the technical trail to Curtlestown where we turned back and then took a slight detour loop to give the run a bit of variety. Very enjoyable run. My new head torch was so much better than the Aldi version I had with me on Tuesday!

Friday 30th November - Sunday 2nd December - Rest Days
I had a mate of mine up in Dublin for the weekend so most of it was beer-filled and as a result no running. I did manage however to call into Thirstywork in Bace2Race on Friday afternoon where I picked up a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS. First step away from Kayanos since i started running so it will be interesting to see how i fare...

Monday, 3rd December - 30 mins turbo + 8.9km at Marathon pace run.
Hopped up on the bike for half an hour before heading out the door for the run. Even though i wasn't pushing it hugely my legs were feeling it from the bike. I felt a few niggles during the first few kms including shin splints and sore muscles. I was wearing the new shoes and was wondering was the bike or the Brooks to blame. After a few more kms these niggles seemed to subside a little so that by the time i arrived home I was pretty much fine again. Will need to keep an eye on this as I break in the Brooks though...

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|24/29|365.6
March|22/31|310.0
April|21/30|277.5
May|20/31|252.1
June|2/30|47.4
July|16/31|189.7
August|22/31|290.6
September|21/30|366.6
October|28/31|452.9
November|15/30|164.9
December|1/3|8.9
Total|221/339|3,156.7

The_Boy_Wonder

I bought a pair of Brooks GTS too not so long back. I haven't worn them a massive amount as I didn't want to try anything different back around DCM etc. and even at this stage I ahven't done anything longer than 8/9 miles in them. Only thing I've noticed that's different to Kayano's is a lack of grip. Now it may just be down to all the wet leaves on footpaths and it may improve once they wear some of the outer plastic/rubber.
Kayano's are very reliable and you know what you are getting with them. The 18's are quite a bit light than the previous models, but without sounding like a Scotsman they are pretty expensive.

belcarra

The_Boy_Wonder wrote: »

I bought a pair of Brooks GTS too not so long back. I haven't worn them a massive amount as I didn't want to try anything different back around DCM etc. and even at this stage I ahven't done anything longer than 8/9 miles in them. Only thing I've noticed that's different to Kayano's is a lack of grip. Now it may just be down to all the wet leaves on footpaths and it may improve once they wear some of the outer plastic/rubber.
Kayano's are very reliable and you know what you are getting with them. The 18's are quite a bit light than the previous models, but without sounding like a Scotsman they are pretty expensive.

I saw them for sale recently for €170:eek:
About 18 months ago they cost €135 so not sure what Asics are at inflating the price like that!
While pacing Clonakilty on Sat I got a sore knee. The Kayanos which I was wearing are well worn so definitely time to change over to the Brooks to see how they fare.

Micilin Muc

I've been wearing Brooks Adrenaline GTS for 2 years now and really like them. New pairs never take any breaking-in for me. I get them on Amazon but could probably get them cheaper somewhere else.

belcarra

Tuesday, 4th December - 30 mins turbo.
Just a simple 30 min session on the turbo. Remarkably similar to last night.

Wednesday, 5th December to Friday, 7th December - Rest Days
Had intended to do the Raheny 2 miler this evening but couldn't find the motivation in the end.

Saturday, 8th December - 42.4km Clonakilty Marathon (4:15 pacer)
My last pacing job of the year, I happened to be working in the area on Fri so managed to get my number very easily in the afternoon. Organisers had laid on a house for myself and 2 other pacers which worked out pretty handy. A small group of us met for dinner and a beverage or two to relax that night but nothing too wild...we're very professional!:p
Got to race start a little later than planned but still in plenty of time for the race start which was subsequently delayed by 30minutes. I didn't mind this too much but plenty did. Anywho, we were away by 9:30am with myself and RunningCoach pacing the 4:15 crew. The highlight of the whole marathon was passing Jerry Forde on the hill after 300m. Or rather passing the bikini-clad helper he had accompanying him up the steep hill. RC was outraged that I failed to get the long lens camera out for a quick pic. It was two miles later before he was prepared to talk to me again!:D
The first few miles went fast enough with the pair of us being joined by about 8-10 pacees. Unfortunately none of them seemed to be on for much chit chat so I had to endure RC's ramblings for much of the first ten miles...
Eventually the pacees started chatting once they had relaxed into their rhythm and the first few tough hills passed quicker than otherwise.
In the mid section there is a long section of uphill which lasts about 5km. Just at the very beginning of this section my right knee started to give me lots of sharp pain. For a brief while I thought it might get bad enough to have to pull out but kept this to myself for a few kms. Eventually when we plateaued out the pain began to subside and I was ok to continue.
By mile 19 we had lost most of the gang but there was still a few sticking with us. However the one mile steady uphill at this point led to the rest of our gang falling away. We tried picking up a few people as we finished off the hill but yet again people were not able to stay with the pace. On the downhill we tried to grab back some of the time lost on the hill. When we levelled off again we were still about one min down so the next few kms were done around 5:50/km. The last 4 miles were pretty flat bu there was still one incline left to get up to the hotel itself. This actually lasted a little longer than expected so that when we were on the run-in we were under pressure for the line. Instead of racing it out just to get a time for personal reasons we cajoled a few runners who were struggling with the finish. Of course this resuted in taking a bit longer than planned for the final 300m and resulted in 8secs over the 4:15 but I think we did the right thing by pushing those finishing out the course.

The event is probably the hardest road marathon in Ireland and everyone was in agreement afterwards that it was a challenge. I'd have no problem going back to pace the race again but doubt I'd ever 'race' it seeing as it's so hilly.
Great weather for it too which capped the whole day off.

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|24/29|365.6
March|22/31|310.0
April|21/30|277.5
May|20/31|252.1
June|2/30|47.4
July|16/31|189.7
August|22/31|290.6
September|21/30|366.6
October|28/31|452.9
November|15/30|164.9
December|2/9|51.3
Total|222/345|3,199.1

ultraman1

belcarra wrote: »

Tuesday, 4th December - 30 mins turbo.
Just a simple 30 min session on the turbo. Remarkably similar to last night.

Wednesday, 5th December to Friday, 7th December - Rest Days
Had intended to do the Raheny 2 miler this evening but couldn't find the motivation in the end.

Saturday, 8th December - 42.4km Clonakilty Marathon (4:15 pacer)
My last pacing job of the year, I happened to be working in the area on Fri so managed to get my number very easily in the afternoon. Organisers had laid on a house for myself and 2 other pacers which worked out pretty handy. A small group of us met for dinner and a beverage or two to relax that night but nothing too wild...we're very professional!:p
Got to race start a little later than planned but still in plenty of time for the race start which was subsequently delayed by 30minutes. I didn't mind this too much but plenty did. Anywho, we were away by 9:30am with myself and RunningCoach pacing the 4:15 crew. The highlight of the whole marathon was passing Jerry Forde on the hill after 300m. Or rather passing the bikini-clad helper he had accompanying him up the steep hill. RC was outraged that I failed to get the long lens camera out for a quick pic. It was two miles later before he was prepared to talk to me again!:D
The first few miles went fast enough with the pair of us being joined by about 8-10 pacees. Unfortunately none of them seemed to be on for much chit chat so I had to endure RC's ramblings for much of the first ten miles...
Eventually the pacees started chatting once they had relaxed into their rhythm and the first few tough hills passed quicker than otherwise.
In the mid section there is a long section of uphill which lasts about 5km. Just at the very beginning of this section my right knee started to give me lots of sharp pain. For a brief while I thought it might get bad enough to have to pull out but kept this to myself for a few kms. Eventually when we plateaued out the pain began to subside and I was ok to continue.
By mile 19 we had lost most of the gang but there was still a few sticking with us. However the one mile steady uphill at this point led to the rest of our gang falling away. We tried picking up a few people as we finished off the hill but yet again people were not able to stay with the pace. On the downhill we tried to grab back some of the time lost on the hill. When we levelled off again we were still about one min down so the next few kms were done around 5:50/km. The last 4 miles were pretty flat bu there was still one incline left to get up to the hotel itself. This actually lasted a little longer than expected so that when we were on the run-in we were under pressure for the line. Instead of racing it out just to get a time for personal reasons we cajoled a few runners who were struggling with the finish. Of course this resuted in taking a bit longer than planned for the final 300m and resulted in 8secs over the 4:15 but I think we did the right thing by pushing those finishing out the course.

The event is probably the hardest road marathon in Ireland and everyone was in agreement afterwards that it was a challenge. I'd have no problem going back to pace the race again but doubt I'd ever 'race' it seeing as i only do the easy downhill marathons .

fixed that for u...:p

belcarra

Tried going for a run this evening but only managed about 600m before having to turn back due to runner's knee. It was similar to the pain which ocurred during the marathon on Saturday.
I was limping the whole way this evening so I'm guessing I'm gonna have to give it a bit of rest :-(.
Anyone know how long typically runner's knee takes to heal?
(Mods: Hopefully this is not considered medical advice...I'm just looking to hear from other people's experiences!)

belcarra

Monday, 18th December - 9.0km MP run.
I tried going for a run last Tuesday but my knee was giving me serious issues so I turned back after only 500m. A trip to the physio the next day and he gave me some exercises to fix the problem. Then a couple of days enjoying the season that's in it and a couple of more recovering meant that I only got back out on the road last night.
The first half km I thought I could feel something again around the knee but the longer I went the less I noticed it. After 2km I was going along at a nippy enough pace and it still wasn't screaming at me so I managed to hold that pace all the way to the end. Some more exercises afterwards and I felt grand. Hopefully that's the back of the mini-injury scare as I was driven demented"

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|24/29|365.6
March|22/31|310.0
April|21/30|277.5
May|20/31|252.1
June|2/30|47.4
July|16/31|189.7
August|22/31|290.6
September|21/30|366.6
October|28/31|452.9
November|15/30|164.9
December|3/18|61.3
Total|223/352|3,209.1

ultraman1

bout bleedin time......well done.

belcarra

Wednesday, 19th December - 11.7km Easy Run.
Ended up crossing the 2,000 mile mark with this run. Not much else to report.

Wednesday, 26th December - 6.5km Manulla 4 Mile race.
Ended up getting a cold on the day I finished up for the xmas hols so running was very curtailed (especially when allied to the drinking and hangovers!). I had to give this a blast though but wasn't feeling confident when connstantly blowing my nose before the race! Ended up running a decent first km but then the tough course and cold symptoms resulted in me dropping back through the field. Got passed by a couple of mates in the final mile and a half which was disappointing but the splits tell the story where I just couldn't get the oxygen to my muscles sufficiently (not sure what happened to the HRM though!). Finished in 28:50 according to the official results but in 29:02 according to my watch(?). I did manage a decent sprint for the final 50m though when I was able run anaeorbically and beat a couple of others by taking about 10m out of them...which was nice! The race was won by Ultrapercy in 22:18 - Fair play!

Saturday, 29th December - Land of the Giants Duathlon - 5.5km Run - 16km Cycle - 2km Run.
I had entered this race just a few days before getting my cold but I decided to do it regardless. The first 5.5km run was through a nice park and things went well til the 5km mark when things became much tougher. The last 500m to transition took lots out of me and I dithered a few too many seconds in transition just to get my breath back. I was 43rd on the run.
Eventually I got cycling but fresh from Sea2Summit I knew I was crap for leg power and so it proved again. Lots of people passed me on this leg but even so I was a bit embarrassed at just being 106th in the cycling leg.:o
There was now 2km left to the finish and my legs were like jelly. However, I still managed to pass one guy almost immediately and then another 500m later. Then, with about 50m to go before the finish i managed to snag my final kill! Surprisingly, I lasted the whole 2km run without anyone passing me and managed to finish 45th overall for that leg. All combined I finished 73rd (out of 160 I think). I suppose the cold had it's effect but think I need to get lots of turbo/bike work in before I go back to do another duathlon!

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|24/29|365.6
March|22/31|310.0
April|21/30|277.5
May|20/31|252.1
June|2/30|47.4
July|16/31|189.7
August|22/31|290.6
September|21/30|366.6
October|28/31|452.9
November|15/30|164.9
December|6/31|87.0
Total|226/365|3,234.8

belcarra

So, that wraps up 2012 and the stats show a good year with 2010 miles (Just 2 shy of the 2012 for the year that was in it!), over 50% more than last year's tally. I ran 62% of the days available but lots of that was due to injury and illness in the months of June and December meaning reduced opportunities to run.
PBs across the board in all events, nailing the big target of the year (Sub 3:30 marathon) and completing my first couple of adventure races to boot! In total I managed 5 marathons, a 50km and a 1.5 marathon. Next year I hope to do even more!

beeduybe

How's the knee?

hot to trot

Just found your training log today. Fab race report and congratulations on superb performance.

Am looking forward to starting back at page 1

Did you do that long run at Christmas where you were wondering about garmin battery ?

belcarra

beeduybe wrote: »

How's the knee?

Knee has been fixed (hopefully!) but have a twinge in my opposite ankle the past few days. Feels like what I imagine a stress fracture would feel like but pretty sure it's not a SF as ironically it's appeared as I was doing very little running. I hope to shake it off this week...

hot to trot wrote: »

Just found your training log today. Fab race report and congratulations on superb performance.

Am looking forward to starting back at page 1

Did you do that long run at Christmas where you were wondering about garmin battery ?

Cheers Finn. When you get to page one of this log there's a link back to an old log...which has a link back to an older log...which has a link back to...:P

Unfortunately, as referenced above I had a niggling knee injury in early December and then a cold for Christmas so I never managed to get out for that long run. Might go back down in early Feb and do it in prep for Donadea...

hot to trot

belcarra wrote: »

Might go back down in early Feb and do it in prep for Donadea...

Where is back down ? There is a marathon club run in Killeigh near Tullamore on January 26th , if that is any help in your prep for Donadea? Or Connemara marathon route on Feb 9th if thats not too late?

belcarra

hot to trot wrote: »

Where is back down ? There is a marathon club run in Killeigh near Tullamore on January 26th , if that is any help in your prep for Donadea? Or Connemara marathon route on Feb 9th if thats not too late?

Ah Finn, I thought the username should give it away seeing as you are living in the same County!?
I'm heading away skiing on Sat 26th for a week so will miss the marathon but may well give the marathon on the 9th a go if I don't head back to MAYO and do that proposed long run...

hot to trot

Would love to keep you company for a few miles but I would have to buy a bike to keep up with speedy you

Enjoy a week on the piste

belcarra

So, the challenge in the title of this log has been met and 2012 is well behind us now.
My new challenge is a bit more long term and so I have decided to change homes for recording it.
The challenge is to go sub 3hrs by mid 2014 and the new home is: sub3hrs.blogspot.ie

Hopefully a few of you will manage to drop by and say hi but I'll still be following up on all your logs here anyways!

Ciao!

Aimman

Best of luck with the new goal.

blockic

belcarra wrote: »

The challenge is to go sub 3hrs by mid 2014 and the new home is: sub3hrs.blogspot.ie

The race is on so! The first to sub 3! I'll be popping in for sure anyway. Good luck with it.

Edit: Just saw you are doing Chicago too. Both of us have the same goal races with the same goal times. This should be fun!

belcarra

blockic wrote: »

The race is on so! The first to sub 3! I'll be popping in for sure anyway. Good luck with it.

Edit: Just saw you are doing Chicago too. Both of us have the same goal races with the same goal times. This should be fun!

I think you have more natural ability but that being said 'bring it on'!

menoscemo

belcarra wrote: »

So, the challenge in the title of this log has been met and 2012 is well behind us now.
My new challenge is a bit more long term and so I have decided to change homes for recording it.
The challenge is to go sub 3hrs by mid 2014 and the new home is: sub3hrs.blogspot.ie

Hopefully a few of you will manage to drop by and say hi but I'll still be following up on all your logs here anyways!

Ciao!

Sad to see the log here go, but that looks nice and fancy over there!!

How did you get in to pace Derry?