Off the Fence....and looking to go sub 3 hrs

FBOT01

My god that 4 weeks went very quickly. I have been ticking away with a weekly structure that sees me doing hill sprints on Tuesday, an LT Session on Thursday, a 10m including parkrun on Saturday and then a longer run of anything up to 2hrs on a Sunday with easy/recovery runs in between of 45-60mins.

Runs of noted since last update were as follows:

• Sunday 05/02 - Trim 10 - pacing tang for his sub 64 attempt. Great day and event as always. Pacing went well and tang put in good shift. At the rate he is progressing I think he will be pacing me next year
• Saturday 11/02 - parkrun St Anne's 19:37, Decent effort progressive sub 20 at the end of a 10miler.
• Tuesday 14/02 - 8x75secs Hills RI150. These were done on Sutton side Howth head. Including the run out and back this was a nice 13m+ midweek run.
• Thursday 16th - LT 14/16mins RI120. Game of two halves. With the wind for the first rep (avg pace 06:01) but back into it for the second one (avg pace 06:33). Overall decent session.
• Sunday 19/02 - 15m MLR (07:25 avg pace). Jumped in with Ferris for this. He is following the Hanson plan for London and the pace was set based on his targets. He had told me beforehand that the plan was 07:40 but broke the news to me as we started off that he had miscalculated A little tired towards the end but target distance or pace was never in doubt.

Overall target for February was to continue to work on endurance and LT and to get weekly mileage up over 60m. Have gotten some good LT sessions in and last two weeks have been 60m+.

Only negative is that I have not upped my game sufficiently on the S&C front and as such I am rolling the dice a little as the mileage increases. Dry needling and massage can only do so much. If I don't get my sh!t together pushing on for a marathon after Ballycotton would not end well.

Two weeks to Ballycotton from tomorrow so more of the same in the coming week followed by a week of sharpening.

hot buttered scones

Best of luck tomorrow. Might see you around the start.

Bungy Girl

Have a great race tomorrow !

Wubble Wubble

Best of luck tomorrow M, and of course ENJOY!

denis b

Know you will be getting your head in the zone and might not see the messages of support M, but they are there. All the very best.

Annie get your Run

Best of luck M and of course ENJOY

tang1

Where's the race report? Give home a kick in the hole A will ya!!! Great running M, not that is surprising or anything & greatly deserved.

Mrs Mc

tang1 wrote: »

Where's the race report? Give home a kick in the hole A will ya!!! Great running M, not that is surprising or anything & greatly deserved.

Gladly

FBOT01

tang1 wrote: »

Where's the race report? Give home a kick in the hole A will ya!!! Great running M, not that is surprising or anything & greatly deserved.

Real life getting in the way, B.

Official time was 60:59. Rightly or wrongly I went for it and couldn't push on the way Mick C did. Couldn't even hang on:)

Full report to follow.

FBOT01

4 weekly updates seem to be becoming the norm for me with real-life getting in the way of my interaction with boards. Way behind on most of what is going on around here I am afraid. However, a crap 6 nations match between Scotland and Italy provided me with the opportunity to at least pen some kind of update.

As with the rest of the year to date I continued to tick away for weeks 9 and 10 with a weekly structure of hill sprints on Tuesday, an LT Session on Thursday, a 10m including parkrun on Saturday and then a longer run of anything up to 2hrs on a Sunday with easy/recovery runs in between of 45-60mins. Averaging +60miles weekly. Week 11 was race week for Ballycotton so I trimmed things back with my 2nd and 3rd rest days since Raheny. With the race on the Sunday I took full advantage of the excuse for an easier week. Week 12 is being treated as a recovery week with no sessions and I'll probably finish out with 30 something miles.

Runs of noted since last update were as follows:
Thursday 23/02 - LT 14/16/8mins RI120. Avoided the worse of the weather but it was still very windy when I got out. With the wind for the first & second reps (avg pace 06:15/06:25) but back into it for the last one (avg pace 06:40). Overall an OK session.
Thursday 02/03 - LT 18/12/10mins RI120. Avg pace for the reps were 06:10/06:21/06:25. Another overall OK session.
Sunday 05/02 - 16m MLR (07:22 avg pace). Jumped in with Ferris again for this. We headed to PP early to get this done. All went to plan and we hit all the markers and felt strong throughout even finished up the Kyber holding pace without any real problem. Much more comfortable than the 15 miler we did a few weeks before at similar pace.
Sunday 12/03 - Ballycotton 10.....report to follow shortly depending on whether France come to play rugby or just to make up the numbers

Still haven't upped my game sufficiently on the S&C front....MUST DO BETTER

As at today the plan is to push on with a view to toeing the line in Cork in June. Despite the obvious attractions of the "TbL Thickness" approach, I will probably stick with a more traditional option and go with the guts of the P&D 55-70 12 week plan again

Kennyg71

Best luck with this Cycle M, hope all goes to plan. Maybe I'll get a chance to tail you in October then.

ThebitterLemon

The "TbL Thickness" plan is the way of the future!

And according to Mrs Mc you could hold seminars on the thickness part of the plan

TbL

FBOT01

The short version.....warmer, windier and slower than I would have liked!!!

|2017 | 2016|2015|2014
Official Time|1:00:58|1:00:34|1:01:23|1:04:32
Overall Position|132|113|126|210
Category Position (O45)|14|6|9|48

Slightly longer version…..

Prerace

Raheny 5 followed by this was always the plan for the early part of 2017. This was my fourth outing to Ballycotton so I have reasonable knowledge of the course and the set-up. As has become the norm on the morning of the race I got up early and had my usual breakfast. While sitting enjoying the view over the bay I reviewed my last year’s race reports. This refreshed my memory on the logistics and hammered home the point about congression, etc. at the start. Then I jumped onto Strava to review the splits from my previous outings. Had to find something to do to pass the time given the late start. This helped me to confirm my strategy in the head which was effectively go hard or go home. If I didn't commit from mile 1 all the sub 60 talk would have just been that talk and there would be no chance of even a PB.

As in recent years we had a house rented in the village for the weekend with friends. This year we had the new houses which were built in the field that used to be the bag drop so couldn’t have been better placed. Had plenty of visitors from 11:00 onwards including Ferris, Kennyg, Murph, Annapr and their crews and plenty of the St Anne’s parkrun crew. This helped to pass the morning.

So 12 O’Clock came and time to start thinking about the job at hand. A couple of warm-up miles in the company of Ferris, Murph and kennyg among others before heading back to the house to get changed. After donning my Raheny vest and black bag I headed to the start area. We were in place a good 15/20mins before the start but all seemed a little busier than previous years. A quick hello from HBS and a lot of standing around followed. Eventually, the gun went and we were off.

Mile 1 – 05:53

I was lined up about 15/20 rows back by the time the elites joined in from the front before the off. Gun seemed to go off out of the blue and took everyone around me slightly by surprise. But the crowd start to move forward pretty quickly. I got into my running reasonably quickly and the requirement for stopping and starting or weaving wasn’t too bad. I had the same feeling as in 2016 when I felt like my HR was sky rocketing and couldn’t catch a breath. The fact I had read my description of this from 2016 a couple of hours earlier gave me the comfort to know it would pass pretty quickly. When we hit the mile 1 marker the guys shouting times called 6min flat. I knew that was gun time so that I would have a few second in hand. Good starting mile nothing to complain about.

Mile 2 – 05:44

As we turned at the bottom of the hill we were very exposed with the wind coming off the land to our left. This would mean miles 3-5/6 would be mostly into the wind and if I got isolated it would be game over. The group I was in was moving a little slower than I thought I needed but the next group was +20yards ahead and moving at pace. I decided to go all in and push to cross the gap to the group in front before we took the left turn into the wind. This resulted in my fastest mile of day but in my view was a necessary move. Caught the group with about 5 yards to spare before we turned the corner and settled into the back of the group to shelter and try recover and get the HR down.

Mile 3 – 05:50

Another quick mile just making sure I stayed with the group. Had made a decision before I even started that there would be no clock watching, it was all about getting the most out of myself and committing. The only time I looked at the watch all during the whole race was when I crossed the 10k mark. To be fair in Ballycotton you can’t avoid knowing how you are progressing as they have someone calling splits at the 1, 3, 7 and 9 mile markers. They also have a split clock at half way. As I hit the 3 mile marker the guy called 17:40……..whoops I thought to myself, as with a 5k PB of 17:42, I was definitely pushing the boundary. Banished the negative thoughts and focused on staying with the group.

Mile 4 – 06:03

Mile 4 sees a bit of climb and this combined with the head wind saw the group break up a little. This was followed by a little cat and mouse with two Eagle AC runner who really didn’t want to be making the running into the breeze. I unlike Krusty was a complete d1ck and took as much cover as was on offer. After all I am only a little guy so me taking up the running wouldn’t have helped anyone very much…….never mind the fact I was running closer to the edge than I would have liked.

Mile 5 – 06:05

Mile 5 was pretty much along the same lines as mile 4. Hit halfway at 30 flat so was happy enough with the time although the effort level had been high. I was going to need the tail wind to keep me on track on the way home.

Mile 6 – 06:00

Water station came in mile 6 and between that and the support around Ballymaloe I felt a got a very brief second wind but the group was pushing on again and I was struggling to hang on.

Mile 7 – 06:07

Mile 7 saw me drop off the back of the group but also saw me cross the 10k mark @ 37:16 some 25secs faster than last year. I was still in the sub 60 game just about and definitely still in the hunt for a PB. The 10k split helped to keep me focused for a little longer. This was the hardest part of the race mentally and I spent quite a while focusing on the ground 10ft in front of me and on my breathing to try to find a rhythm and to distract me from the negativity that comes from seeing a group pull away. A smaller group started to form and 3 of us (a Celbridge AC guy and a lad from Youghal AC) started to work off each other to keep the momentum. Call at the 7 mile marker was 42:20 or thereabouts. Again this was gun time so a PB was still potentially on.

Mile 8 – 06:13

Hanging on throughout this mile. Can’t remember a huge amount about this mile.

Mile 9 – 06:18

Was passed by a couple of lads just after the 8mile mark and jump in behind them to try to build momentum for the hill that was coming. Rounded the corner and hit the hill trying to maintain pace. I was working hard and feeling the cumulative effort that it had taken me to get to here. Memory is a little more hazy here than usual and don’t have clear recollections of who passed me or who I passed. I do know that I finished the hill neutral in terms of places as I was very conscious of this at this stage. Guy calling splits gave me 54:4x at the 9 mile marker which was pretty similar to last year. However, it felt like I was working significantly harder than last year. Sub 6min mile needed just to PB now. Ploughed on regardless chasing down the bodies ahead as that was all I could do at this stage.

Mile 10 (.08) – 06:13 (04:32)

Last mile was less than vintage and my legs and lungs were both begging for it to be all over. As I approached the middle of the village and the 800m mark I was flagging and I was really hoping that some of the crew had parked themselves somewhere along here….. and to my great delight there they were in full voice just when needed. Thanks to Annapr, Mrs Ferris B, OB and the crew for the much needed lift. Back in the game now and the last job of the day was to push for home, not lose any more places and if possible, to pick off a few extras. I was passed by two lads as we moved between 400m and 300m to go but they didn’t do a convincing job and I hung on to their coat tails. Then came the Bay View and a huge shout from my house mates for the weekend. I hit the gas and emptied the tank. Truly rinsed myself over the last 150m and left the two lads for dead and think I got one extra in the last 20m. Exchanged congratulations and acknowledgements with those who finished around me and headed back around to the Bayview to join the crew and cheer in the rest of the field. Loads of strong performance if not as many PB’s as we would have liked. Heat and the wind played their part.

Overall Thoughts

I didn’t get any closer to going sub 60 or to getting one of the famous top 100 t-shirts than I had in the previous year and failed to even match 2016 in either time or performance. However, I wasn’t unhappy. I had given it a go and come up short. No shame in that. I will be back next year for another go. There will need to be a little more focus in the training for the early part of 2018 with as much specific 10m training as I can get during that period.

In summary another great day in Ballycotton. Great event, well organised and run. Thanks to all involved.

Finished off the evening with a nice few drinks in a couple of local hostelries in good company.

Finally, I crossed the line at 1:00:58 on the clock and 1:00:49 on my watch. For some reason my official gross and net time are both the same at 1:00:58. This is definitely wrong and my watch time is probably more accurate. Either way it was short of a PB so no real point is hassling the organisers to fix it for the sake of it……….roll on Ballycotton 2018!!

Murph_D

Agree with that - not much more you could have done. Last year you were in the middle of marathon cycle and possibly a tiny bit sharper but not much in it, and conditions a bit tougher this year anyway. Well raced and well done on the difficult finish - I wouldn't like to be trying to stay in front of you at the end of any race of any distance!

tang1

Murph_D wrote: »

I wouldn't like to be trying to stay in front of you at the end of any race of any distance!

He wouldn't even let me finish ahead of him when he paced me in Trim, threw in a kick right at the end to stop me*. Great performance M, conditions appeared to be a bit more difficult than years gone past. A mighty fine building block going into Cork training.

*Did not actually happen!!!

Younganne

Well done FBOT great running and sounds like you gave it everything for the whole race. Great finish and You're sub 60 will come. Just keep the faith!!:D

RedRunner

Well done in BallyC M. Best of luck with rest of training fro COrk