Run Fat Boy Run - The lazy mans guide to Ironman and Marathon training.

catweazle

Yes looks like I will have a tough pb to match in DCM the way you are going, best of luck!

Dory Dory

Good luck on Sunday. You've put in the work, now it's go time. I will be hoping you go sub 3:30, but I will also be hoping you enjoy the entire race and atmosphere of the day.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I have been following your progress back from your IMUK days, from reading you are in better shape than ever. Go out and deliver the result you deserve. When it hurts always remember you can always hurt a little more.
You do not need luck that's for losers!!

Git101

Best of luck. Enjoy the day..

shotgunmcos

Good Luck this weekend Griffin100

big mce

Best of luck.

griffin100

3.36.........not too sure how I feel about that

Will write a report later when I digest it a bit

Dory Dory

That is an awesome time!! If you are unsure how you feel because you didn't break 3:30, so what. You weren't that far off your goal, plus this was your first marathon, and more importantly you did it! Krusty's words to jackyback still ring in my ears....about how you may have to train harder (faster PMP for training) to make your goal. 3:36 is a fantastic place to start for your first marathon....and it's a hugely respectable pb! Congrats! And one more thing - it's not always about the destination.....it's sometimes more about the journey. And reading through your logs, and especially the last few days, I think this whole thing has been a positive process for you. Well done again.

griffin100

Thanks Dory. This is actually my 5th marathon (2 stand alone an 2 IM) but it is the FIRST one I've ever trained properly for so I'll accept your comments

I'm unsure about how happy I am with the time as at mile 22 I was on for sub 3.30 but it fell apart over the last 4 miles. A quick look at the Garmin suggests my HR was too high for the entire race. I ran the first half with a HR in the 170's an a HR in the 180's for much of the second half of the race. I averaged 176 bpm, my target was 165ish (my recent HM PB had an average HR lower than that), I think that was the cause of my problems over the last 4 miles. Maybe it was the heat, maybe I shoulda ran slower, maybe the terrain got to me, i definitely shoulda trained harder........

There's always next time












At least Izoard didnt catch me

Izoard

griffin100 wrote: »

At least Izoard didnt catch me

Another 20 miles and I was all over you...

Great time - hot conditions and tough course. Easy sub 3;30 anywhere else....

Congrats!

griffin100

Izoard wrote: »

Another 20 miles and I was all over you...

Great time - hot conditions and tough course. Easy sub 3;30 anywhere else....

Congrats!

Hot is right! You should see the sunburn on my bald head. The wife called me at 8am this morning to ask if the cap on the bedside locker should be in my kit bag.........it should have been, but I never expected to get this fried even without it

catweazle

Nothing wrong with that time over that course - if you don't fall off the wagon - you should be able to have a real cut at DCM this year.

Now wheres that bike pump gone, your tyres must be at -10 psi at this stage, whats the races planned before Hard Man?

griffin100

catweazle wrote: »

Nothing wrong with that time over that course - if you don't fall off the wagon - you should be able to have a real cut at DCM this year.

Now wheres that bike pump gone, your tyres must be at -10 psi at this stage, whats the races planned before Hard Man?

Cheers CW. At this stage I'm unsure as to my plans for the rest of the year. I have the Tri An Mhi HIM in May but tbh I've no interest at the minute. I haven't been on a bike in over 6 months and my swimming has gone to pot. I'm more inclined to try and get back on the marathon train and target a flatter race over the next few months to get me under the 3.30 and a bit beyond even. I'm still angry with myself over Sunday and how i faded over the last few miles and want to make up for that (I was tempted to bring my kit into work today and run but sense prevailed). I haven't entered the Hard Man as yet so I'll see how I feel after the HIM regarding that race, maybe I'll get the triathlon mojo back in the next few weeks, who knows?

griffin100

Connemara Marathon Race Report

When I started this training plan 18 weeks ago I put a time of 3.30hrs for the Conn marathon out there as a target. I had based this time on two things:
- a 5km TT that had according to McMillan suggested such a time was possible
- in my head sub 3.30 is a decent (if not spectacular) time for the marathon and it was a time I'd be glad to hit, and it would also make up for the shameful performance that was DCM 2011 when I took almost 4.30hrs to get around.

I used the P&D 18 week / 55 mile plan and for the first time ever I stuck almost exactly to a training plan. At the start I never expected to get anywhere near 3.30 in Conn but as time passed and the training went well I started to think it might be on. A 1.34 HM time gave me some confidence. Conn is perhaps not the best race to be targeting a marathon PB in but I had paid for this place in 2011 and deferred it so it was a case of use it or loose it.

I was asked last week what time I was targeting. I answered that sub 3.30 would be fantastic, but more realistically sub 3.35 was more likely and I'd be happy with this. However I wanted sub 3.30 (and top 100 placing if possible) and in my head I knew I had a fighting chance.

Race morning was lovely and sunny and dry. The temperature started to rise quite early on and I knew it was going to be a hot one. After an hour of sunbathing the hooter went and we were off. The plan was 7.45-50 pace first 13 miles; don't loose too much time over miles 14 and 15; try and get back to 8 min pace for miles 17-22; survive the hell of the west and see how it went from there until the end.

I started close to the front of the field and the first few miles were glorious- no wind, sunny, fantastic scenery, gorgeous french girl running alongside me......what more could you want? Breathing was very easy and pace felt very conformable. My HR was somewhat elevated but I didn't worry too much at this stage. I was targeting a 165ish HR and assumed I'd relax into it.
Miles 1-5 - 7.52/7.40/7.40/7.43/7.49
HR 167 / 172 / 170 / 175 / 175

After 5 miles or so field began to thin out. There were a few lumps in the road but nothing major. At mile 7 there was a bit of a hill and here I dropped the 3-4 runners that had been with me for a couple of miles but I was still breathing very easily and feeling comfortable, despite a still elevated HR. No need to worry I thought, the 4 miles or so into Lenanne are all downhill, my HR will recover and drop here. No such luck, as I crested the hill I was hit in the face with a really strong breeze which I had to run into until just after mile 13. Despite lowering the perceived effort in an attempt to get the HR down on the downhill it wouldn't budge. In fact it started to rise, on a downhill!! My average HR for mile 12 which was essentially flat was 196. I decided at this point to ignore HR, I could have slowed and allowed a recovery of sorts but I'd never get close to sub 3.30 if I did that. Despite the elevated HR I was feeling great and breathing very easy. I hit Lenanne and the 13.1 marker in approx. 1.41.45.
Miles 6-13 - 7.34 / 7.52 / 7.39 / 7.53 / 7.36 / 7.35 / 7.48 / 7.50
HR - 175 / 178 / 177 / 179 / 179 / 182 / 196 / 179

Coming out of Lenanne the two mile climb beckoned. I slowed the pace a bit on the hill and concentrated on not going too hard. The hill wasn't that bad in the end, I got up it easy enough and at the top caught the tail end of the half marathon.
Miles 14-15 - 8.04 / 8.17
HR - 184 / 191

Catching the end of the half marathon field was a great buzz and I concentrated and weaving my way through the back markers. This helped pass the time and it was nice to have some people on the course after 13 miles plus of running with no more than 3 or 4 others for company. At this stage I was feeling strangely comfortable and still breathing easy. My HR was going mad but I was ignoring it. The miles ticked off. At 18 miles I started to worry about how good I felt, I've never been this happy at this stage of a marathon before. I did start to slow a bit but I still felt great.
Miles 16 - 20 - 7.35 / 7.40 / 7.53 / 8.11 / 8.02
HR - 182 / 181 / 188 / 184 / 186

At miles 20 I started to feel the pace. The legs started to fight back and it was time to start using all of the mental tricks to keep them going. I told them to shut up, I screamed at them in my mind that we were going to get a sub 3.30, that we'd been training for 18 weeks for this, that I wasn't going to stop in front of all of these half marathoners. This seemed to work.......for a while......
Miles 21-22 - 8.04 / 8.34
HR - 189 / 185

As I approached Maam and the turn off for the HOTW and Maam Cross I began to suffer badly. I started to get dizzy, I got pins and needles in my hands (never had that before) and I started to get a severe thirst. As we turned the corner and went over the bridge I got a drink and I then stopped to walk whilst I drank it......and couldn't get the legs to start running again. I screamed at them, reasoned with them, threatened them but at this stage my legs told my brain to fcuk off and stopped responding. I shuffled through mile 23 and then in mile 24 things went from bad to worse when even a shuffle was too much. Mile 24 was a long slow walk where I spent almost the entire time gulping down water (the organisers deserve credit for the extra water stations at this part of the course). I had a brief recovery over mile 25 but again started to suffer in mile 26 and even the sight of the finish line failed to get me going.
Miles 23-26.35 - 10.44 / 12.10 / 8.09 / 9.17 / 2.48 (.35 miles)

I crossed the line in 3.36.06 for 26.35 miles according to the Garmin (confirmation of chip time is pending) for 105th place out of 600+ marathon finishers. AHR was 176,

I still don't know if I'm happy with that time. If you'd offered me that time 3-4 months ago I'd have bitten your hand off but now....I don't know. I'm angry with myself for fading so badly on the HOTW. I'd visualized running up that hill for the last 18 weeks but failed so badly on the day. Hindsight allows me to say I should've pushed harder on the hill, should have lived with the pain but it wasn't to be on the day.

What went wrong? Two signification issues, perhaps related. My HR was way too high for the entire race. I ran over 20 miles with my HR at half marathon race levels. The day was also much hotter than I expected and I suspect I was somewhat dehydrated by the time I got to 22 miles. I had drunk at every water station but probably not enough. I drank about 8-10 x 250ml bottles over the last 3-4 miles so I think that tells its own story. Nutrition wise i had no issues, a gel at 6, 12, 18 and 21 miles worked well.

I'm determined to go sub 3.30 and perhaps a bit faster as I know its's there for the taking. I need a flatter course, and to be honest some more 20 mile plus runs in training. I'll take my time picking my next marathon, but not too long, don't want to loose the edge (or regain the belly for that matter).

Time to get back on the bike now, the Tri An Mhi HIM awaits...............

Dory Dory

Great report, grifin100. You did super, and I think you learned a few things that you (and I) will take to your next marathon. You can be proud of yourself.

griffin100

So it's been a week since Conn and after some moping about following the failure to hit my A goal I got back in the saddle. Three runs this week of 4,4 and 7 miles. All super slow at 9min + mile pace and very low HR. Legs recovered very quickly with no niggles (does that mean I didn't push hard enough?) and they felt ok during the runs although after the 7 mile run they felt very fatigued afterwards.

I need to make a decision re. my next event. I'm very confident that sub 3.30 is there for the taking on the right course (Waterford perhaps) but I don't know if another marathon too soon would be too hard on the body. I've been injury free since 2010 and I'd like to keep it that way so dropping back the run miles for a couple of months might be a good idea. I've an entry for the Tri and Mhi HIM in late May so I think I'll use this to recover by lowering run mileage and upping my non existence cycling and swimming. After this event I think I'll make a decision on my next race, either another marathon with a 3.20-30 target pace or an IM with a sub 12hr target (lofty targets indeed )

Donelson

griffin100 wrote: »

Connemara Marathon Race Report

Miles 14-15 - 8.04 / 8.17
HR - 184 / 191

Miles 16 - 20 - 7.35 / 7.40 / 7.53 / 8.11 / 8.02
HR - 182 / 181 / 188 / 184 / 186

Miles 21-22 - 8.04 / 8.34
HR - 189 / 185

. AHR was 176,

..............

Holy ****! that's some ticker you've got there

griffin100

Donelson wrote: »

Holy ****! that's some ticker you've got there

Ha, when you look at those numbers I suppose it's no surprise I blew up.

I'm hoping to have some lab tests repeated soon and to get an indication of where my LT HR is currently and my HR zones and this will help for future training.

On a different topic I finally got my leg over last night after a gap of 8 months. It's been so long I'd nearly forgotten how to stay on, what to wear and how hard to go. I managed to get back into the swing of things quickly enough but did forget to lube up so have some soreness today and my back is pretty stiff. 28.2 kms averaging 27kph (it took me a while to work out how to switch the Garmin from run mode to cycling mode :rolleyes:). Very windy and cold. I overestimated how warm it was and ended up arriving back home with two blocks of ice for feet. Two things jumped out at me, my cycling shorts are about an inch shorter than my running shorts so I have a lovely farmers tan on my legs that doesn't quite reach the end of my cycling shorts giving rise to two funny looking white rings on my legs, and its time to get this stuff out again.

I also did 6 miles at 7.50 pace yesterday so my first double day in a long long time.

Bally8

griffin100 wrote: »

On a different topic I finally got my leg over last night after a gap of 8 months. It's been so long I'd nearly forgotten how to stay on, what to wear and how hard to go. I managed to get back into the swing of things quickly enough but did forget to lube up so have some soreness today and my back is pretty stiff.

Your poor poor wife

RedB

^^^^^^^
LMAO

Great pickup Bally8

griffin100

Been a while........

Recovery week no.2 saw a total of 3 runs totaling 20 miles plus two bike rides totaling 75kms.

Recovery week no. 3 started off well with a 5 mile run over the hilly route I used for Conn training at 8 min pace. Felt ok during it but the next day I was in bits. A couple of days later I did a 9 mile run at a slow pace (8.30) but I suffered like a dog, legs felt like jelly and body was not happy. Legs felt crap for days afterward. Dont know if it was a hold over from the marathon or just a bad day but I didn't run for the rest of the week. 4 days without a run, that's about the longest I've gone in months.

Three weeks out from the HIM and realistically I don't think its gonna happen but I'll make a decision closer to the day. All I can do between now and then is try to get some run fitness back and do a few swims and bike rides to try and get some feel for these again. Last year I did this race in a truly awful 6.08hrs off minimal training (less then 800kms on the bike:rolleyes:), this year I will have even less training done and I could be looking at an IM like time We'll see how it goes, I hate paying for races and not doing them :rolleyes:

griffin100

Can't believe I haven't updated in so long......

Last week was quite a good week, I actually got over 10hrs without too much difficulty on the time management side, doing most of my running in work is a big help. When the 50m pool opens things will get even easier I hope.

Runs x 4: 47kms
Bike x 3: 159kms
Swim x 1: 600m

I managed to get 3 bikes in last week. My first ride was included a 1km climb with an average 10% gradient. I love that hill but perhaps doing it was a bit too much given my lack of bike training and since then I've had a sore knee. It doesn't stop me training but is annoying, lesson learned - keep the 10% gradient hills until I trained some more. I also did a 'long' flattish bike on Saturday of of 82 kms / 3hrs. I did suffer on this one though. The first 41 km was easy and then I turned back for home into the wind.....I've never been so feckin cold in my life. The wind increased and the temperature started to drop as it got later in the evening (it was 4 degrees according to the car when I got home) and I had no gloves or shoe covers on. I lost all feeling in my extremities and the last 10km were tortuous as I bonked at the same time (water and one gel for a 3hr ride, not a great idea with my current fitness levels). Averaged 27kph which I'm happy with. Overall not a bad week by my recent standards.

I also had my first proper swim in months, all of 600m. I went to Glenalbyn for the only public swim of the day (10am) and hoped it wouldn't be too busy. The place was feckin mental with breast-stroking pensioners with no concept of pool etiquette. I had planned to do a 1,000m straight swim but got out after 600m. Felt good but was a bit slower than usual pace.

This weekend is the Tri An Mhi HIM. I had just about persuaded myself to do it despite having done no real swim training in months,minimal bike training in the last 8 months (<300kms), but at least having done a reasonable amount of run training this year (900km). I want to see if I can go 1.45ish off the bike for a HM. However I've a chesty cough and cold at the minute so I think I'm going to have knock it on the head, running up the stairs at the minute leaves be breathless (even more so than normal ). I can register tonight in B2R so I;ll do that, get my T shirt and see how I feel on Saturday morning.

catweazle

I assume you will be doing this, fair play! You will get through the swim nice and quick as it will be so cold you will want to get out asap. Awful time of year to be 35-40 minutes in lakewater but needs must!

griffin100

catweazle wrote: »

I assume you will be doing this, fair play! You will get through the swim nice and quick as it will be so cold you will want to get out asap. Awful time of year to be 35-40 minutes in lakewater but needs must!

Well I've prepared for it .........wetsuit and trisuit tried on for first time since last August........legs denuded of some thick growth.......gels bought........registration completed.......wife warned that she won't see me home until late Saturday.........

That said still feeling a bit ropey, but that could be due to the epic hangover I have today and not my cold

To do this I have to get up at 5am tomorrow morning, that'll be the hardest bit I think. Any sign of wind or rain and I'm turning back over to sleep.

griffin100

Gear packed last night, early to bed, up at 4.30am this morning, coughing and spluttering and loads of phlegm, big breakfast, into car, still coughing, feck it, back to bed. If it had need an SD or an OD then maybe I woulda gone, a 6hr plus HIM with a cough and tight chest is just asking for trouble I think...........or maybe I shoulda just HTFU Oh well!!

catweazle

You were as well off, that could have been a long day for you!

griffin100

catweazle wrote: »

You were as well off, that could have been a long day for you!

I was gutted yesterday when it was such a nice day, but the cough is still present (worse actually) today and reading the couple of reports on how cold the water was I think I made the right decision. I'm looking forward to RedB and Courdilloon's reports though.

Need to make a definitive plan for the summer, otherwise I'll just plod along getting fatter

RedB

griffin100 wrote: »

catweazle wrote: »

You were as well off, that could have been a long day for you!

I was gutted yesterday when it was such a nice day, but the cough is still present (worse actually) today and reading the couple of reports on how cold the water was I think I made the right decision. I'm looking forward to RedB and Courdilloon's reports though.

Need to make a definitive plan for the summer, otherwise I'll just plod along getting fatter

You mean I have to write a report as well as doing a HIM!

I was thinking about you as I struggled around the course yesterday and prayed that you hadn't made it as I found it tough with "plenty" of training.

Good decision

griffin100

Last week was a better week, managed 40 miles of running, broken down as 9 / 6 / 4 / 8 / 13. This got me my first green on the SBR Challenge. No bike or swimming though :rolleyes:

I did try to do some speed work by doing some miles at HM pace. My HM pace based on my HM race just before Conn is 7.10 mile. Tried running at this pace and ended up nearly dying after two miles. Looks like I've lost some of the speed / fitness I had for Conn but that's to be expected. However I did manage to do 4 miles at my Conn PMP (7.50) during my 6 miles run and also the 13 miles LSR at 8.20 pace and was very very comfortable with both of these so all is not lost.

I'm toying with the idea of doing the Waterford marathon. It's in 6 weeks and whilst I don't think I will get back to full fitness by then I should be able to get to a reasonable state, but do I really want to run a marathon without being in full fitness? I would like to break my 3.36 PB and don't see the point of running this without being in with a fighting chance of this. I need to think about this some more.

I need a medium term target to work towards otherwise I'll end up running junk miles with no purpose. The likelihood of doing another IM this year is receding as I just don't have the desire to do one but this may change. Certainly the current good weather makes me want to get on the bike, but time is the big limiter.

catweazle