BQ or Bust!

ThebitterLemon

Super stuff Murph, great to see another auld lad tear it up.

Enjoyed reading your progress on your log and delighted for you that you smashed your goal.

Well done.

TbL

RedRunner

Perfect training and perfect execution on the day. Really delighted for you D.
Plus you've set me a tasty little target for the spring ;-)

Congratulations.

career move

Well done Murph. That was a super performance and a great race report too

SamforMayo

Fantastic race, and race report. You make it sound easy! Delighted for you.

blockic

Savage. Well done Murph..only getting around to reading your report now. Great read. Delighted you got the BQ. Bring on Boston 2016!

tang1

Well done D, throughly well deserved & an excellent report. You have every reason to be 'Delira'.

DOCO12

Smashing report and performance Murph, to echo what others have said you really did make it sound easy. Top class run!

Murph_D

Thurs 2 Oct

3.8 mi @ 10:28 (6k @ 6:28)


Fri 3 Oct

5 mi @ 10:06 (8k @ 6:16)

Did these little recovery runs in Crete, where we were lucky enough to be able to spend a few days recuperating after the recent efforts. Next up is the 5-hour pacing gig at Dublin City Marathon, so I felt it was important to get the legs moving again fairly quickly (I would have preferred at least a week off). A few twinges on the first of these runs but all seems OK. I expect the pacing gig to be quite a challenge: 5 hours on the feet sounds like a tough prospect. But hopefully we will get a good crowd in on time and have a bit of fun along the way.

Reflecting on the Berlin experience, I'm really happy with what was a very successful training block and a dream run on the day where everything seemed to align beautifully, despite the conditions being warmer than initially expected. A couple of people above have commented that my report made it sound easy, and while no marathon is ever easy, it really did feel less difficult on the day than I was expecting. I think this was partly due to breaking the race down into manageable chunks: hitting those splits on time throughout the race made me more and more confident as the race went on. I was well rested and well fuelled. Paid more attention than other years on food and hydration in the final week, and while this could be psychological, I felt the benefit on the day. The gel strategy also seemed to work out, in that for the first time ever I got them all in without feeling any ill effects. Put all these positives together with an unforgettable Berlin atmosphere and inevitably I wondered afterwards might I have pushed it a bit more and seen where that might take me. That's something I will be thinking about more over the coming year.

But not at DCM. 5 Hour Bus coming through!

WTD: 9 mi (14k)
MTD: 9 mi (14k)
YTD: 1,042 mi (1,677k)

Murph_D

2014 Goal Times - update

Distance|Goal|Current PB|PB Date
5k|22:35|22:05|Apr 2013
5m|37:26|36:47|June 2014
10k|46:53|46:28|July 2014
10m|78:22|77:07|Aug 2014
HM|1:44:32|1:46:25|Mar 2013
M|3:39:59|3:36:17|Sep 2014


Another one bites the dust.

viperlogic

excellent race and report. Well done.

Murph_D

Tue 7 Oct

6.4 mi @ 9:25 (10.3 km @ 5:51)

One hour easy run through Glasnevin and part of the Royal Canal. My cygnets have matured and are almost ready to flee the nest. Now if only it was like that at home.

The legs feel nice and fresh after the little break. The post-Berlin recovery process has been very smooth, assisted by plenty of gentle walks and a few swims in the Med.

The goal now over the next few weeks is to prepare for the DCM pacing debut. A clubmate suggested just doing the last three weeks of the Berlin plan again, which seems like a good idea. I guess I will substitute the new marathon pace (11:26 mi / 7:07 km) for the old. If any experienced pacers have any suggestions about how to go about doing a decent job for my 5-hour pacees I'm all ears.

WTD: 6 mi (10 km)
MTD: 15 mi (24 km)
YTD: 1,049 mi (1,688 km)

Murph_D

Wed 8 Oct

13.3 mi @ 11:25 (21.5 km @ 7:06)

The aim was to do 14 miles @ 5-hr MP but it was bucketing down so I took a shorter route back from the Phoenix Park. It was quite difficult at first to get used to the slower pace but after a while my natural slowness kicked in and I managed to hang in there without too much difficulty, although the pace was not particularly even. Ran with a (not particularly good) backpack on too - that wasn't much fun. More practice required!

Things do feel a bit different at this pace though - hills seem smaller, downhill sections seem longer, the rain feels wetter.

WTD: 20 mi (32 km)
MTD: 28 mi (46 km)
YTD: 1,062 mi (1,710 km)

Murph_D

Sun 12 Oct

8 miles @ c. 11:00 (12.9 km @ 6:50) approx.

Haven't been feeling great this week as the household has succumbed one by one to the sniffles and coughs. But felt alright enough this morning to get out for a few miles in Donegal with the Mrs. We both wanted to go longer but it was obvious after a few miles that it would be wiser to cut it short. Hilly route. Did most of this around 5 hr MP before picking it up a little on the way back.

WTD: 28mi (45 km)
MTD: 36 mi (59 km)
YTD: 1,070 mi (1,723 km)

Murph_D

Still coughing and spluttering so no running at all this week. Starting to feel a bit antsy. Hopefully I can get out a few times next week.

blockic

Murph_D wrote: »

Still coughing and spluttering so no running at all this week. Starting to feel a bit antsy. Hopefully I can get out a few times next week.

Better now than before Berlin! Pity we wont cross paths in Boston, never know might make it in 2016 too.

Murph_D

blockic wrote: »

Better now than before Berlin! Pity we wont cross paths in Boston, never know might make it in 2016 too.

Agreed - it's a classic post-marathon lurgy. Re Boston - of course there's no guarantee I will get in - there are a lot of faster oul lads out there these days! The Dr Q "homecoming edition" should be a blast for you 2015ers. Good luck with the training.

yaboya1

Good luck on Monday Murph.

p.s. Take off your Berlin medal. It will only weigh you down during the race

RedRunner

Best of luck D. Did you pull out of the pacing gig due to recent illness? Noticed your name gone off list.

Murph_D

yaboya1 wrote: »

Good luck on Monday Murph.

p.s. Take off your Berlin medal. It will only weigh you down during the race

RedRunner wrote: »

Best of luck D. Did you pull out of the pacing gig due to recent illness? Noticed your name gone off list.

Yes, R, thanks for asking. I withdrew from the pacing team early in the week as I was still coughing it up. The gaffer felt it best to bring in the sub as early as possible to give him a bit of time on the pitch. And if you've seen his pic on the "Know Your A/R/Tists" thread, you'll know that you don't mess with this guy. :pac:

I did start to feel better over the last few days and even did a few kms on the treadmill yesterday. I have the option to run it if I feel OK and I won't decide for sure until tomorrow. If I run I'll stay close to Mrs. M around 4:20-4:30 pace hopefully.

If I don't I'll be out supporting, which appeals to me too!

Don't worry P, the Berlin medal is safely tucked away in the "trophy cabinet" (i.e. hanging on a nail in a corner of the house somewhere).

FBOT01

Murph_D wrote: »

Yes, R, thanks for asking. I withdrew from the pacing team early in the week as I was still coughing it up. The gaffer felt it best to bring in the sub as early as possible to give him a bit of time on the pitch. And if you've seen his pic on the "Know Your A/R/Tists" thread, you'll know that you don't mess with this guy. :pac:

I did start to feel better over the last few days and even did a few kms on the treadmill yesterday. I have the option to run it if I feel OK and I won't decide for sure until tomorrow. If I run I'll stay close to Mrs. M around 4:20-4:30 pace hopefully.

If I don't I'll be out supporting, which appeals to me too!

Don't worry P, the Berlin medal is safely tucked away in the "trophy cabinet" (i.e. hanging on a nail in a corner of the house somewhere).

Hi D, glad to hear that you are on the mend. Best of luck if you decide to run. Might see you along the way. Tell Mrs M to enjoy. Hopefully, see you both in McGrattans afterwards.

SamforMayo

Good to hear you are recovering! Good luck to the Mrs.

Murph_D

Mon 27 Oct

Dublin City Marathon 26.2 mi @ 10:49 (42.2 km @ 6:43)

Having successfully negotiated the enjoyable but slightly bizarre DCM breakfast run on Sun, I decided for sure that I'd run the DCM with Mrs. M, who had decided on a 4:30:00 target. The idea was that I would act as her pacer, personal water carrier and general factotum :pac:. Felt a bit guilty about this, having dropped out of the pacing gig, but I said hello to my replacement pacer, Paul H, beforehand and as he seemed delighted to have been called up that made me feel a bit better.

Wasn't sure how this would go - both Mrs. M and I had been sick for two of the previous four weeks and not a lot of running had been done. We ran more or less with the 4:30 pacers up to the halfway point, crossing in 2:14:03, but the second half proved more difficult, as the Mrs. started feeling empty, with regular walking breaks needed. Still, it took a long time for the 4:40 group to catch us, at Milltown. The Donegal training kicked in and we had no trouble at Roebuck - I think we were the only ones running up it at that point, and Mrs. M was alert enough to give out about the giant "Your Doing Great" typo on the Wall of Death or whatever it's called. The run/walk "strategy" continued until Ballsbridge where the prospect of seeing our daughters and several other supporters lifted things again. Then the finish was just magnificent as ever. Over the line in 4:43:11.

A tough day for Mrs. M. - I genuinely thought around Walkinstown that we might be using the emergency cash in my back pocket to get back to town, but she gritted it out and I was delighted to be part of her debut. Great to meet so many of the DCM novices, as well as some of the older faces, in McGrattan's afterwards, where "difficult day" was the general consensus.

WTD: 26 (42 km)
MTD: 72 (116 km)
YTD: 1,106 (1,780 km)

Murph_D

Anyway... Time to move on from all this marathon yak.

Would like to continue the PB quest, which means racing a HM and a 5k before the end of the year. Looks like the only HM options are Clontarf and Waterford. I don't like the Clontarf course (not for racing anyway) so Waterford it is - signed up today. Will take it easy this week then start working towards it next week. Not sure what to aim for. Berlin time suggests 1:44 or so which would be a 2-min PB but maybe it's time to be a bit more ambitious. :eek:

RedRunner

Good man D. You're not hanging around!

Maybe give 1:40 a blast? There's a least one decent pacer in Waterford that I know of...maybe he might be able to help you along the way;)

Good to meet yourself and Anna again yesterday. With a bit of luck might catch up again soon at a park run.

Murph_D

Sat 1 Nov

St. Annes's parkrun 5km @ 4:26 (3.1 mi @ 7:08)

Well this was my 27th parkrun, although I've only raced a handful of them, and none so far this year. I wasn't planning to give this one a lash, after an evening of sitting on the couch eating halloween sweets and drinking a few ciders, but on a whim this morning I decided to test out the legs after last Monday's 26.2-mile LSR.

Lined up nearer the front than usual and just tried to hang on to 4:24/km pace. All went well enough for the first lap but I could tell in the middle of the third km that my goose was cooked. A few people started to pass me, and despite the presence of FBOT01 in ghoulish fancy dress at the second last turn I couldn't pick things up. However as my watch never measures this course very well, I hoped the pace showing on the watch might be off enough to still give me a chance on the long finishing straight. Just put the head down here and didn't look at the watch at all. Probably a mistake, because in the end I was just 4 seconds off my 5km PB, and at least it was a course PB for me and the best 5k in some 18 months. Legs felt great today, the engine just wasn't purring quite smoothly enough.

Km splits: 4:25 4:25 4:43 4:44 (3:51) (Garmin measured 4.89km)

Finish time: 22:09 (32nd position)

So not bad under the circumstances, I'll give it another go over the next two months and try to get the sub-22. 32nd position is also the highest I've ever achieved, although there were plenty of other aul lads ahead of me.

WTD: 29 mi (47 km)
MTD: 3 mi (5 km)
YTD: 1,109 mi (1,785 km)

ThebitterLemon

Murph_D wrote: »

Sat 1 Nov

St. Annes's parkrun 5km @ 4:26 (3.1 mi @ 7:08)

Well this was my 27th parkrun, although I've only raced a handful of them, and none so far this year. I wasn't planning to give this one a lash, after an evening of sitting on the couch eating halloween sweets and drinking a few ciders, but on a whim this morning I decided to test out the legs after last Monday's 26.2-mile LSR.

Lined up nearer the front than usual and just tried to hang on to 4:24/km pace. All went well enough for the first lap but I could tell in the middle of the third km that my goose was cooked. A few people started to pass me, and despite the presence of FBOT01 in ghoulish fancy dress at the second last turn I couldn't pick things up. However as my watch never measures this course very well, I hoped the pace showing on the watch might be off enough to still give me a chance on the long finishing straight. Just put the head down here and didn't look at the watch at all. Probably a mistake, because in the end I was just 4 seconds off my 5km PB, and at least it was a course PB for me and the best 5k in some 18 months. Legs felt great today, the engine just wasn't purring quite smoothly enough.

Km splits: 4:25 4:25 4:43 4:44 (3:51) (Garmin measured 4.89km)

Finish time: 22:09 (32nd position)

So not bad under the circumstances, I'll give it another go over the next two months and try to get the sub-22. 32nd position is also the highest I've ever achieved, although there were plenty of other aul lads ahead of me.

WTD: 29 mi (47 km)
MTD: 3 mi (5 km)
YTD: 1,109 mi (1,785 km)

Nice run Murph,

I'll have to give one of those park runs a good lash before Christmas.

Ps FBOT wasn't in garish fancy dress, that's just his usual ****e dress sense

TbL

Murph_D

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Nice run Murph,

I'll have to give one of those park runs a good lash before Christmas.

Ps FBOT wasn't in garish fancy dress, that's just his usual ****e dress sense

TbL

Do the boggers still come up to the big shmoke for the Christmas shopping? Perfect excuse for a quick diversion to St. Anne's. We'll even mind your wallet while you run.

ThebitterLemon

Murph_D wrote: »

Do the boggers still come up to the big shmoke for the Christmas shopping? Perfect excuse for a quick diversion to St. Anne's. We'll even mind your wallet while you run.

Tnx Murph,

But I've been told that when you're helping at those Park Runs you're prone to dropping/losing things so I'll carry my wallet, tnx (its a lot lighter anyway after yesterday's shopping spree by Mrs TbL!

TbL

Murph_D

Sun 2 Nov

7.7 km @ 6:32 (4.8 mi @ 10:32)

Pleasant recovery run on Clontarf seafront on a bright, windy morning. Annoyed with myself now for not getting PB yesterday.

WTD: 34 mi (55 km)
MTD: 8 mi (13 km)
YTD: 1,114 mi (1,793 km)

Murph_D

So here's how I'm thinking of preparing for the Waterford HM. This is based on the middle third of the meno marathon plan that I followed for Berlin this year and Dublin last year (the original plan accounts for the Race Series and so has a HM built in). But I've tweaked it a little, substituting HMP miles for MP miles where originally specified, and 10mP miles for HMP miles, except for the first week which I kept at HMP.

HMP is going to be 7:50/mi (4:52/km), based on last two race results which are pretty consistent (3:36:17 M and 22:09 5k). That suggests a HM target of 1:42:xx, which I'll hope to push to <1:40 on the day, although the Waterford course looks hilly enough so that might be a tall order.

Week|Mon|Tue|Wed|Thu|Fri|Sat|Sun|Mileage
Nov 3|Easy/rest|Easy/rest|8 inc. 4 @ HMP|Rec.|Easy/rest|Easy/rest|14 easy|30-35
Nov 10|Easy/rest|Easy/rest|14 inc. 4,3,2,1 @ HMP|Rec.|Easy/rest|Easy/rest|18 inc. 2 x 3 @ HMP|45-55
Nov 17|Easy/rest|Easy/rest|10 easy w/strides|Rec.|Easy/rest|Race 5k|Rec.|30-40
Nov 24|Easy/rest|Easy/rest|14 inc. 7 @ 10mP|Rec.|Easy/rest|Easy/rest|18 alternating 2 easy/2 HMP (8 @ HMP in total)|30-40
Dec 1|Easy/rest|Easy/rest|10 easy with strides|Easy/rest|2 Easy|Race HM|Rec.|30-40


Does this look OK? Any comments or suggestions welcome!