3:30 or bust!

belcarra

Thursday, 16th Feb - 8.0km Easy Run
Lovely evening for a run - nice and mild and dry while I was out. Easy 8km where I took each km about 10 secs slower thinking ahead to Saturday.
In fact, it was more difficult to find my previous training log amongst the debate surrounding the micro mechanics of muscle stimulation than it was for any of the 8km run!

Kmtd: 600.3
Km-Feb: 194.6
Runs: 43/47

belcarra

Friday, 17th Feb - Rest Day
I had intended to go for an easy 5 miler but decided to be prudent and give it a miss instead.

Kmtd: 600.3
Km-Feb: 194.6
Runs: 43/48

belcarra

Saturday, 18th Feb - Donadea 50km
I had this race pencilled in since before Christmas as it gave me a nice focus point midway through training for Connemara Ultra. As such I approached it without any taper and it was simply to serve as a progress milestone leading up to the main event on April 1st. However, as the weeks whittled away I was looking forward to this more and more and before I knew it it was D-Day itself.

I arrived at 8:45am and got my goodie bags before retiring to the car to relax for a while. Philip arrived a little bit later and it wasn't long before people were encouraged to walk the 300m to the run-in to the race (10 laps of the park left the course 300m short so this section was gotten out of the way at the beginning). On the walk down we spoke with Gerry Duffy for a few minutes. I really enjoyed Gerry's book and it was nice to meet him this morning. Really nice guy to boot!

At the start we got chatting to Claralara, Marthastew, Menoscemo, Grahamor, DigiJem and a few others. A few of us agreed to head out at 4:44 pace which meant a nice round number of 5:40/km. Rightly or wrongly this is pretty much the pace we have been doing on our LSRs so we knew it would be grand for most of the race.

Without too much of a wait the race started, 5 mins after 10:00am. It was a nice feeling going over the finish line so soon and I was to enjoy that 300m straight every single lap afterwards - my favourite part of the course!

We fell into a group of RunningCoach, his buddy, Philip, Eamon and myself for the first few laps. There was a tooilet break thrown in around lap 3 or 4 but thankfully that failed to damage the lap time. Took a little while to settle back into rhythm though! After about halfway Marthastew and Claralara joined out group after having sussed us out for the past 2 laps from only 200m behind us the whole time!

The eventual winner John Byrne (Fellow Mayo man & displaying the County colours brilliantly - Well done John!!) lapped us at exactly the same place by the lake on our 2nd, 4th and 6th laps! Great consistency there by us all!! We could really notice the gap had widened hugely on the third passing to 2nd placed runner so a very impressive time by John.

After a brief conundrum about what lap we were actually on(!) we settled on 3 laps to go. My thinking was that a lap and a half would bring us very close to the end and that no matter what we could then close the final lap and a half out.

Around two laps to go Marthastew and Claralara started to press ahead and upped the pace quite a lot. Great running from the women and I wouldn't see them again until after the finishing line. I passed through the Marathon mark alongside RunningCoach @ 3:58:06 which represents my second fastest marathon so I was chuffed with that! towards the end of Lap 9 I was beginning to get very tired indeed, so when i passed the final food station I grabbed my Lucozade Sport and after pouring out half of it (that I knew I wouldn't drink and there was nobody to share it with) I took a few small mouthfuls. This gee'ed me up for another couple of kms but I began to struggle again with 2km to go. I knew it would only take 9 mins so managed to keep it going and was actually passing a few people who were struggling over the closing stages. I picked up grahamor with about 500m to go which was handy as our stacatto chat managed to ake the remaining mins tick away quicker. Then as we turned onto the final straight I could see RunnningCoach and a couple of other bodies approaching from behind so with the finish line in view I began to pump the legs for a sprint finish. Nobody else seemed to be interested/able to do likewise but I finished it out strongly as the clock counted down closer to 4:44, the pre-race target. Thankfully I managed to judge it perfectly and beat it by two seconds!!! Finish time was 4:43:58.

I waited around for a while at the finish line as it was a great sense of camraderie around the place with RQ handing out cake to randomers and a really upbeat vibe in general. I grabbed a rub down for myself as well but in reality all I wanted was to lie-down for a while, so I was happy to put up with the prodding and poking for 15mins!

Nutrition:
Apart from having a few mouthfuls of LS on Lap 9 I took no other similar gels or drinks. This was a worry as I didn't even have much of a brekkie (1 banana, half a Mars Duo and lots of water!). I did take on about 2 bananas during the race and about 1L of water with Nuun tablets. I have been a recent convert to these electrolytes and they seem to do the business for me - I didn't have to walk any part today compared to all my marathons previously apart frfom NYC.
Think I will try bringing a tube of broken-in-half nuun tablets with me around Connemara and pop them into a 250ml bottle as I go.

Summary:
I can't compliment Ultraman1 and his crew enough for today. Great race, great support, great marshalling, great atmosphere, Almost great weather (A little chilly in parts - sort that out for next year!!) just a great day really. Not sure if I will be running these distances next year but if I am I'm definitely in for this again!!

Bloody knackered now though!!

Kmtd: 650.6
Km-Feb: 244.9
Runs: 44/49

alitoast

Well done, great read!!

menoscemo

Well done belcarra, but If I were you i'd look into the nuttrition startegy for Conn. If you can't manage solids or gels, flat coke with (Nuun tablets already inside) is the way to go. About 250kcal/500ml bottle that's then energy of 3 gels!!
I also tried flat mountain dew energy drink today and it went down a treat (300kcals per 500ml).
Good consistent splits there today.

belcarra

menoscemo wrote: »

Well done belcarra, but If I were you i'd look into the nuttrition startegy for Conn. If you can't manage solids or gels, flat coke with (Nuun tablets already inside) is the way to go. About 250kcal/500ml bottle that's then energy of 3 gels!!
I also tried flat mountain dew energy drink today and it went down a treat (300kcals per 500ml).
Good consistent splits there today.

Good idea about the flat coke. I had some prepared but didn't take any in the end. I'll try this strategy on my next lsr.
I was pleased with the splits alright so I think I'm finally getting the hang of the discipline required!
Fair play yourself on a great result. If you were to do it again though would you try a little harder not to get chicked??!
;-)

outforarun

Well done. Great running. Some very consistent kilometre times there. Man at this rate you will have bucket loads of endurance come Cork.

menoscemo

belcarra wrote: »

Fair play yourself on a great result. If you were to do it again though would you try a little harder not to get chicked??!
;-)

No way, If i was to go flat out i'd say i could have snuck under sub 4 but that would put next week (and maybe the week) after in danger due to needing extra recovery.

I already beat my target by 3.5 minutes which was more than enough. All eyes on the big prize (conn). I've already promised Gerry Duffy that I will scalp him there :pac:

slowsteady

belcarra wrote: »

I finished it out strongly as the clock counted down closer to 4:44, the pre-race target. Thankfully I managed to judge it perfectly and beat it by two seconds!!! Finish time was 4:43:58.

That is what is called good planning!! Well done.

belcarra

slowsteady wrote: »

That is what is called good planning!! Well done.

Perhaps I should have tageted 4hrs instead!!
It was a nice confidence booster for Connemara...now I just gotta worry about tacking on an extra 13.3km!!

belcarra

Sunday, 19th Feb - 12.0km Easy Recovery Run
Went for a very easy, slow run this evening to loosen out the legs. The first 500m were the worst by far and after that I felt pretty good. Decided to elongate my usual 8km to see just how they reacted and it was good! Could have easily done another 12km today so signs are good!

Kmtd: 662.6
Km-Feb: 256.9
Runs: 45/50

claralara

Well done again! A great day out. Would make the journey again if only to see the look on your face on that massage table...

liamo123

Good solid running in Donadea man... somehow missed u but our paths will cross in Conn!!!!

Aimman

Well done on the running. Didnt get a proper chance to talk to you, but I'll see you in Conn.;)

belcarra

Monday, 20th Feb - 8.0km Easy Recovery Run
Another easy run this evening but much closer to my normal recovery run pace. I could feel one or two slight niggles towards the end of the run so will take it nice and easy again tomorrow.

Raheny 2 miler is on Wednesday and was seriously thinking about doing it as I love those races but I think even 2 miles @ pace this soon after the 50km would be a bit much so have surprisingly maturely decided to turn my back on it. Pity.

My shiny new table courtesy of pilfering from RQ(!):
Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|17/20|264.9
Total|46/51|670.6

RacoonQueen

You've tarnished it with your kilometres :eek:

belcarra

Aimman wrote: »

Well done on the running. Didnt get a proper chance to talk to you, but I'll see you in Conn.;)

Cheers Eamon!
Ya, we had no chance to chat as you were yo-yoing to and fro in front of our little bunch for a few laps:D and then I think we ended up going past at one of the feed stops.
No doubt we won't be too far away from each other in Conn alright. Our group are now accepting early applications to join us for the guided tour of the course but places are going quickly after news broke of the 3rd and 4th placed ladies performances on Saturday!!

belcarra

RacoonQueen wrote: »

You've tarnished it with your kilometres :eek:

I notice we live in neither the UK nor the USA...
...and what exacty is a mile anyways??

Seems to me the only valid choice is the kilometre!:D

belcarra

liamo123 wrote: »

Good solid running in Donadea man... somehow missed u but our paths will cross in Conn!!!!

Well unless I get in your way en route to the starting line I'd doubt that!!
Sounds like you were regretting being lured in by the Clown on Saturday...looks like you should have stuck with TFB alright. It can be a lonely place when you're struggling at the end of a long race, I certainly know that!
Sometimes though those kinds of rational decisions can be difficult to make but it seems like you'll certainly have a focused mind for the next 6 weeks anyways!
You still ran a great bloody time by the way!

belcarra

Tuesday, 21st Feb - 6.4km Easy Recovery Run
I was meant to be somewhere this evening so had to truncate the run to my 6.4km loop directly after coming home ffrom work. Ran it at reg recovery pace but had a bit of a niggle in the front of my right hip/top of quad. I've had this before a couple of times and it's more unpleasant than anything. Pushed the pace on the last km to 5:00/km and the issue seemed to disappear thankfully. No doubt it's residual from the 50km run but I hope it doesn't come back!

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|18/21|271.3
Total|47/52|677.0

belcarra

Wednesday, 22nd Feb - 8.0km Fartlek Run
A bit wary of doing too many easy 8km runs I decided to mix this one up a little bit to see how the legs were recovering. Same route as usual 8km route but i threw in the following throughout the run:
2.0km @ 4:19/km (Downhill)
0.42km @ 4:14/km (Uphill)
0.31km @ 4:11/km (Flat)
0.45km @ 4:31/km (Flat, into the wind)
Happy enough with how it went and although it wasn't simple it still wasn't too tough for the most part.

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|19/22|271.3
Total|48/53|685.0

belcarra

Thursday, 23rd Feb - Rest Day.
Unplanned Rest Day as I was heading into town to a comedy gig and to do a run would have been just too pushed for time. Unintended but probably a blessing in disguise as I'd not taken a day off since Donadea.

Friday, 24th Feb - 34.0km LSR #1/2.
Met with Phil for our first b2b LSR. My stomach was giving me grief beforehand so I made sure we passed by the Cafe toilets beside the zoo as soon as possible. When I resumed running afterwards I felt a million times better so I started to think perhaps I would manage the full distance today afterall!

We then completed a large 24km loop of the park with Farmleigh and the War Memorial Gardens thorwn in for good measure. When we returned to the cars Philip was all done as he had done a 5km at work earlier in the day so he had now hit his required distance. Luckily I still felt pretty good so I took off for a few more kms and the further I went the more sneaky metres I added on! Ended up with 21 miles/34km so was very pleased with that.

Saturday, 25th Feb - 32.1km LSR #2/2.
Arrived at the Boards group a couple of mins past 9am but the crew had already taken off. I set off in chase after them with Philip (Who had also arrived late) and had managed to peg them back by 2 miles, just after Shels off road excursion was terminated by a popular revolt!:D

We headed down to the War Memorial Gardens and then back to the cars for 10:10am before setting off again. It wasn't long before we started to shed runners. Paulbn and Vagga were the first to head off then followed by Chinguetti a little later. The remaining 5 fractured further again when Jcsmum & Shels pushed the pace more than myself and Phil were prepared to go with and Gerard65 seemed to disappear into the ether somewhere around here also! Another 6km and we were back to the cars again for a quick drink. At this stage we were both feeling the effects of a very high mileage 8 days so we just about managed to shuffle away for the last segment of 8km. Lo and behold though, as we were getting close to the end we decided to tack on a further 2km reroute just for the hell of it! So, after a total of 32km we arrived back at the cars for the final time.

Really pleased with nailing the 20 mile b2b runs this weekend given the Donadea race last weekend. That's approx 150km in the past 8 days so it should be the peak week and (if it's anyways possible!) all downhill from here.:rolleyes:

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|21/25|271.3
Total|50/56|751.1

Marthastew

I'll never catch you on the 1000 mile table now....
Well done, you're in great shape for Conn:)
Are you doing Howth to Bray next week? Should be good fun

The_Boy_Wonder

Great miles being logged there.... Fair acheivement to be able to churn out the back to back long runs....

So have you managed to buy anything in that little cafe yet?! You get a loyalty card yet?!

belcarra

The_Boy_Wonder wrote: »

So have you managed to buy anything in that little cafe yet?! You get a loyalty card yet?!

I think they have a 'Wanted' poster of me on their walls!!
Some day I must make time to stop and buy something...do they sell 'flat coke with Nuun' I wonder??:D

belcarra

Marthastew wrote: »

I'll never catch you on the 1000 mile table now....
Well done, you're in great shape for Conn:)
Are you doing Howth to Bray next week? Should be good fun

Hoping to do Howth alright...ya, should definitely be a bit of craic - well, at least as much as any 30 mile run could be!!
Any truth in the rumour that we are stoping off for a pint every 5 miles...??:p

jcsmum

When you and Philip left us this morning, I had only 2 miles to go and I was concentrating on getting back to the car before I dropped down with exhaustion. I was just about able to shout goodbye to you both. :)

belcarra

jcsmum wrote: »

When you and Philip left us this morning, I had only 2 miles to go and I was concentrating on getting back to the car before I dropped down with exhaustion. I was just about able to shout goodbye to you both. :)

Ye both looked fresh enough at the time but I see Shels had a similar reaction as yourself!!

belcarra

Sunday, 26th Feb - 6.5km Recovery Run
Climbed the Sugar Loaf in the afternoon and the legs stood up well after the previous two days. Unfortunately I can't add those kms to the log though so i went out in the evening for a 6.5km recovery run to tick the box!

Monday, 27th Feb - Rest Day.
No box ticking today though as i was pretty tired all day so decided to take a rest day.

In the evening I went to the Sports Surgery Clinic in Santry (Across the road from me) for their first 'Race right night' aimed at prospective Gaelforce entrants. 3 people spoke about stretching, training plans and footwear. Found the footwear guy interesting (Amphibian King rep) but the other two were aimed a bit too much at beginners and too basic for the crowd present I felt. They mentioned the likelihood of folow-up sessions for a bit more detailed talks but I'll have to enquire to the specifics before returning I think.


Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|22/27|271.3
Total|51/58|757.6

belcarra

Tuesday, 28th Feb - 14.5km Easy Run with 5 x 600m intervals @ 5km pace
I decided today that I am happy with the endurance side of things so that it was time to start reintroducing some speedwork into my training. With that I went for a 14.5km run this evening which included 5 x 600m intervals with the following data:
Interval #|Distance|Time|Pace|Recovery Time
1|0.61|2:25|3:58|2:11
2|0.63|2:27|3:55|2:08
3|0.61|2:53|4:00|2:08
4|0.61|2:29|4:04|2:03
5|0.61|2:32|4:09|N/A

So, happy enough with that for my first real speedwork session this year. Ideally I would have preferred to keep the pace @ 4:00/km but not worried with it slipping at this stage - should only improve from here on out!

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|23/28|351.9
Total|52/59|772.1