Cool runnings

Pacing Mule

Best of luck tomorrow Dave !

kit3

Best of luck Dave.

yaboya1

Good luck tomorrow Dave.
I'll keep an eye out for you on the course.

davedanon

Thanks all. Much appreciated. Hopefully see youse in McG's after for a swift one. Have a good race, everyone.

tang1

Best of luck tomorrow Dave.

beertons

Good luck tomorrow Dave

davedanon

Monday 26th

Dublin City Marathon. After London in April, this was essentially a shot to nothing; a free throw of the dice. The marathon goal for the year had been attained, and I had my sub-3.15 pb. That being said, I don't subscribe to the notion of 'a nice slow run around', 'just enjoying the day', etc. Everyone has their own motivations when it comes to long-distance running. Mine is based on achievement and competition. I like to race, and if the race is 26.2 miles long and requires 4 months of specific training, well then, I'm damn well not going to waste one on a happy-clapfest. No disrespect intended to anyone who differs. It's just not for me. We only have so many (raced) marathons in us. The sole exception to this would be a pacing gig, and I'm actually keen to try it. I would get a massive kick from helping other runners achieve their goals. But I digress, and not for the last time I'm sure.

I was determined to give myself every chance to recover in time for Dublin, so I made sure that a month at least had passed before I undertook anything like a hard session. At 16 weeks out, I began to train, just as I had for London, but the sessions were tweaked, with a sub-3:10 in mind. This represented a 4min-plus advance on London, and realistically I wasn't absolutely sure I could manage it. But, I rationalised, it was the next logical milestone (sorry!), and if I fell short, I still had that 4 minute cushion so that plan B would still result in a pb. Such was my reasoning, but I suppose if you argued that I was being a little unrealistic with a sub-3:10 plan A, I would find it hard to dispute that.

So that's the groundwork laid. What about the race, I hear you cry. Well, let's see, it all started the night before, when for the first time ever I had a passably decent pre-marathon sleep. Normally I'm staring at the ceiling for about 7 hours. But this time I went to bed a little later, around 11, and planned to get up earlier than normally, at 5am. I'm a big fan of not eating within several hours of a race. I think that when you have food sitting in your stomach, it pushes up on the diaphragm, and so reduces the expansion space for the lungs. I have no idea if there's any actual truth in that, but it's just how I visualise the workings of my own body. Nevertheless, I had a notion to get up really early, and have a solid breakfast. Usually it would be porridge, but this time it also included coffee, and a toasted bagel. In general though, I like having loads of time to mooch around before a marathon. You remember things at the last second, review plans, check gear, and so forth. I have a horror of not being prepared. I have not always been thus. Indeed, quite the opposite. I think my present persona only exists as a kind of ironic apology to the ghastly shambles that I was for most of my life. I know that males mature later, but in my case, adolescence only arrived in my thirties at best. Whatever exterior impression I now present to the world, in my own mind I am firmly unchanged from my 16 year-old self.


Ok, TMI alert here, be warned.


One good aspect to getting up early (and staying up) is that the digestive system has a chance to crank into action and allow the body to perform its regular functions. And when it comes to ‘regularity’, I’m as reliable as a German train. First thing, every morning, as a rule. And so it was this morning. Well, kind of. I had an uncomfortable feeling that there was ‘unfinished business’, in fact. But now it was suddenly time to go, so I bundled everything into the car and drove to the club for 7am, where we had arranged to meet and sort out our car-pooling arrangements. We were in town before 8am and by 8.10am we had met up with our clubmates at our usual spot on Merrion Sq. south. It wasn’t a pleasant morning for standing around. It was nice and cool, but there was a persistent drizzle, and the wind, on people’s minds so much all week, was already in evidence. We chatted for a bit, but soon everyone was organising their gear and deciding what was, and wasn’t, going into the race baggage-bag. Forty minutes to go, and I decided that yes, I did need the toilet now. There was a huge bottleneck on Merrion Sq. caused by people queuing for the (badly-organised) portaloos, so I decided to make my way around to the start, where the announcer was informing all that there were lots more, but of course the queues were lengthy here as well.

People were streaming by in their tens and hundreds, and it was hard to keep anxious thoughts at bay as the minutes ticked past. By 8.50am the flow of people had eased. They were all crammed into their pens a couple of hundred yards up the street, but I was still bloody queuing. At 8.56am it was my turn, and suffice it to say that I really did need to use that portaloo. With a minute or two to spare I jogged up toward the start, trying not to panic. Getting through the Wave 1 crowd was out of the question, but I was able to make my way up on the path, although a few barriers had to be
vaulted. When I saw a 3.10 balloon I jumped into the crowd and checked everything: watch, laces, gel-belt, and so on. I had made it with, ooh, at least 60 seconds to spare. I was missing something, though. ****. My bottle. My little squeezy kids’ bottle full of High 5 2:1 was back in my bag. Damn. Nothing to be done now though. It was nice and cool. I probably wouldn’t need it. I tried to re-focus and forget about it. And anyway, we were off.

MILES 1-5

7.34, 7.01, 7.28, 7.06, 7.17


The first mile is a little slow as always, the crowd is densely packed, 15,000 runners this year. That doesn’t deter one or two assholes from trying to weave their way through the throng though. I yell at one guy, and inwardly wish him a short and nasty morning. By mile 2 we’ve safely negotiated the turns and climbs around the Christchurch area, followed the river and we’re crossing Blackhall bridge (is that what it’s called? who knew?) to De North Side. Up Blackhall place and Manor St. and it’s a long drag. Try not to fight it, just glide along. Eventually this initial climbing section finishes and it’s a short hop along the North Circular to the Park. Thoughts at this stage? Feeling very comfortable, the pace isn’t a problem. It feels kinda warm though. I know it’s actually cool, but the rain has stopped, and with the unexpected tailwind blowing us up Chesterfield, it feels quite still and calm, and so my inner humidity-O-meter is kicking into action. There’s a balloon up ahead, but I can’t read the numbers on it. My capacity for logical thought tends to be greatly diminished during races, but even I gradually work out that it can’t be the 3hr group. It must be the 3:10 balloon. That’s ok, though. My target is nominally 3:10, but in reality I’m not hanging my hat on Plan A. The plan is to run easy, no matter what, and in any case, even despite the following wind, this is still a big negative-split course, and the 3:10 guys will be trying to maintain even splits all the way around.

Average pace 7.17 per mile

MILES 6-10

7.14, 7.29, 7.04, 7.15, 7.20.


Working our way up Chesterfield towards the Castleknock gate now, and even in its current form, shortened from last year, it’s still a long, wearisome slog in a straight line. I’ve had a glug or two of water along the way, but it doesn’t give you the same kick as the High5. I’m trying not to dwell on that, but I know there’s a Lucozade Sport station coming up in the next few miles, and I’m looking forward to that. I’m also wearing a gel belt with 8 caffeine isogels, and I think I might have taken one along here. This wouldn’t be usual for me, and nor was the one I took right at the start. You know what they say about trying new things before a marathon. The truth is, I’m looking forward to getting to Myo’s a little too much. I’m still relatively comfortable, not struggling, but a certain weariness has settled on me. Derry didn’t feel like this, and London certainly didn’t feel like this. So I’ve popped a gel, and finally we exit the Park and hit the left turn at Myo’s. A nice downhill from here, right? Couple of fast miles, claw back some time. Not so fast, buddy, it’s a bit more complicated than that. There’s a little bit of up and down before we settle into a firmly downhill state, and we re-enter the Park at Knockmaroon and wend our way down towards the Chapelizod gate. At Chapelizod we hit the 10 mile mark, and I’m now at that stage when you know something is on the way, it’s in the post, and the only thing that matters is when it’s going to arrive. Unless something changes, there are problems on the horizon.

Average pace 7.16 per mile

MILES 11-15

7.42, 7.37, 7.42, 7.50, 8.00


As Ali said to George Foreman in a hot, sweaty ring in Zaire in 1974, when George had punched himself to near exhaustion: “Man, you picked the WRONG place to get tired”.
Chapelizod-Walkinstown is the Bermuda triangle of DCM. It’s where races disappear, sunk without trace, holed below the waterline. In order to run a decent time in Dublin, you need to arrive at the Walkinstown roundabout feeling fresh and perky. The course is about to relent and go easy on you for a while. No more hills until you go through Milltown; in fact there’s lots of nice, gentle downhills to relax on. None of which matters if you arrive at Walkinstown like I did, battered and sweaty and trying not to think about the 11 miles and more still to come. I had arranged for a second bottle at mile 15, and man did I need it. I had popped another gel or two, but they had been giving me a touch of stomach cramp. Nothing too bad, but it didn’t help, and I needed help. When you cross back to the south side at Chapelizod village, there are two significant climbs in front of you, plus a short uphill stretch which brings you to the South Circular road. After that a respite, before the long drag section up the Crumlin road towards the roundabout. Thankfully that unusual SE wind was again behind us. I’ve had much worse experiences in Walkinstown, and I’m not
talking about meeting Mrs. Dave for the first time (and anyway, that happened in Mosney, and is quite another story). Once again, I was looking forward to reaching a certain point a little too much, and investing an unrealistic level of hope in the restorative powers of running on the flat for a time. At mile 15 Karl was waiting, as promised, with my bottle.
“How are you?”
“****ed”.
“No you’re not. You’re ****in’ strong. Keep going. KEEP GOING.”

If only I could.

Average pace 7.46 per mile


MILES 16-20

8.03, 8.07, 8.12, 8.24, 8.55


Up to now I had been mainly concerned with events in front of me. Those 3:10 balloons, for instance. For a good while they had been visible, bobbing along in the distance, but now they were long gone, and I knew what was coming next. First it was two clubmates, one of whom said afterwards that I didn’t recognise them. I wasn’t nearly that bad, but I obviously wasn’t a picture of health. After that the 3:20 group couldn’t be far behind, and that meant the rest of my training group. When would that happen, I wondered. I was on the brink of defeat. Thoughts had crept into my mind that oughtn’t to be there. I could quit. I could just stop. I was going to have another failure on this course. I was dog-tired, and still 10 bloody miles from home. I started plotting the best way of getting back into town, as I was ****ed if I was going to walk the whole course. Because I knew I couldn’t run anymore. The KCR was approaching. Perfect. Hang a left instead of right, and stroll straight into town. Pick up my bag, go home, and get into bed for the rest of the week. But then another thought popped into my consciousness. I was on a team. I was on a f*cking team! Those b*st*rds would never let me live it down if I DNF. I might even be depriving someone of a medal. I possess four proper medals. Three of them are from DCM. In 2013 my 3:29 was good enough for Dublin AND national Championships medals in the O-50 team category. Even my 3:45 in 2014 got me a Dublin team
gong. So I couldn’t not finish this race. Damn and blast them all to hell. I didn’t let on to myself though. I said just turn right here. Never mind what’s next. Just make a right. So I did. I was doing alright though. I was still running. But it couldn’t last.

Average pace 8.21 per mile

MILES 21-25

8.55, 11.12, 8.23, 9.14, 8.04


So I’m climbing painfully slowly out of Milltown. I’ve bullied and browbeaten myself to this point. I’m going slower and slower, I’ve been overtaken by my teammates, along with the 3:20 pacing group, and as you can tell from the mile paces, I’m about to come to a halt. Now, some people say things like: “I knew if I stopped once that would be it”. That’s not how it works with me, and with most people, I suspect. You start by thinking you can’t run anymore, but you know you will start again. Because there is no alternative. Who wants to walk a marathon? It’s boring as hell, and there’s thousands of well-meaning, annoying b*st*rds yelling at you to start running again. So you stop. I stopped. But then I started again, and I knew this pattern would continue until the finish. The first one is in Milltown, probably coming up the hill, or maybe just after it. Then a half-mile later another brief halt. Altogether I stop 5 times. The longest one is during mile 22. The whole stretch from Milltown to Clonskeagh seems to be hilly. Why did I never notice this before? I’m nowhere near ‘heartbreak hill’ but it’s uphill the whole bloody way up to it. Two of my training partners have yet to pass me, both of them looking to break 3:20, so obviously things haven’t gone to plan for them either. Here comes one now, though, Phil, being chivvied along by Karl, who’s his younger brother. I’m actually walking at this point, so Karl keeps going but yells encouragement at me. It helps to get me moving again, and I overtake them going up Roebuck, I think. Karl is doing a brilliant job, stirring up the support along the way, and he seems to have picked up more strays as well. Finally we crest the hill, and for the first time ever I find the Foster Ave. descent painful, quads complaining as I shuffle toward the Stillorgan Rd. Mentally I schedule a stop at the flyover, and this helps to keep me going. At RTE I am moving but planning a halt, when I see clubmate Brendan, a spectator today, and he’s pressing a High5 on me, but it’s not an Isogel, it’s one of the gloopy ones. In any case I still have some of own gels left. Not sure they’ve been any use today anyway.
Once I’m out of his sight I stop again. When we round the turn onto the Merrion Rd. it’s straight ahead, all the way to the finish. One of the more welcome course alterations this year. I can hear drumming footsteps behind me. Must be the next pacing group, and for once I find the experience of being entirely surrounded by runners beneficial, and I actually raise my pace as we approach the 25 mile marker.

Average pace 9.09 per mile

MILE 26

8.44

I try to keep pace with the group, but because I don’t really care if I break 3.30 or not, I can feel the effort is too much for me to sustain, and I ease off to the side to allow them to stream past. A tow for half, three-quarters of a mile was all I needed. People are yelling and screaming encouragement, but I’ve been ignoring everything but my own race all day, and after I wonder if I was too focussed on myself and my goals. I have no anecdotes, no amusing behaviour or funny signs to talk about. I shut everything out, so I could concentrate on my race, but now all I care about is finishing the damn thing. At mile 26 we cross the canal. Nearly there.

MILE 26.33

8.00

Running along Mount St. and I see someone collapsed at the side of the road, people gathered around. Was it the woman who nearly died? Declan from the club appears. If you’re going well and chasing a time, he’ll yell at you and order you to run harder. He’s nice and encouraging though, because he knows my race is well blown. Into Merrion Sq. and onto the carpet, and finally it’s over. Three hours, thirty minutes and thirty-one seconds after I started.

kit3

Great report Dave - very vividly written. The marathon can be a bitch sometimes

chickey2

Great report. Fair play for hanging in there when it got tough.

davedanon

Ha! I didn't expect anyone to actually wade through all that. Needed to get it out of my head, though, so I can move on(wards and upwards).

davedanon

Tuesday 27th/Wednesday 28th

Rest.


Thursday 29th

5 miles easy.

5.01 @9.22


Friday 30th

Short easy run.

2.27 @10.05


Saturday 31st

Rest


Sunday 1st November

Easy run.

5.6 @8.52


Monday 2nd

Rest


Tuesday 3rd

Brisker easy run. Not planned, but feeling better quite obviously.

5.7 @8.18


Wednesday

Short easy run. Lap of Tymon with Mr. meno.

3.26 @9.03

neilc

Very interesting read Dave, I think we've all had days like that. It certainly mirrors my race in London in 2014. I gave you a shout out in the park and at milltown Luas, I understand now why I don't think you heard me though!

Murph_D

Thanks for the report, D. I assume the difficulties came out of the blue. What do you think went wrong?

davedanon

Murph_D wrote: »

Thanks for the report, D. I assume the difficulties came out of the blue. What do you think went wrong?

Best I can come up with is that two big marathons in one year are beyond me.

Murph_D

Well I was only dipping into your log the odd time but it looked like the training was going well, which would suggest otherwise. You don't mention the conditions much in your report and the difficulties seem to concide with turning into the wind, which might have knocked some of the stuffing out and maybe sowed some doubt? Add in the pre-race last minute stuff, missing drink, etc. which might have taken you out of the zone you needed to be in psychologically (this is something I've noticed in myself, and might have been especially annoying considering you were in plenty of time for a good prep.) All speculation of course. Tough day.

davedanon

Thursday 5th

Rest


Friday 6th

Easy run.

5.21 @8.31


Saturday 7th

Tymon parkrun. Couple of warmup miles down from the house before a tussle with menoscemo over 5k. He led me all the way though, and I finished 4 seconds behind in 20.17 officially.

2.05 @8.55

3.1 @6.31 (20.16)

2 @9.10

davedanon

Sunday 8th

Rest.

Weekly total: 21

davedanon

Monday 9th

5.23 @8.45

HR av 125

HR max 142

Easy, uneventful run.


Tuesday 10th

6.14 @8.44

HR av 130

HR max 144

Tempo run for the others in the group. Got dragged in a bit at the start of it, reined it in thereafter.



Wednesday 11th

5.14 @9.23

HR av 122

HR max 152 (unreliable due to unlikely spike at beginning)

Easy run from club.

4x200m @ 45sec w 3min recovery.

More or less as stipulated. Felt surprisingly sluggish, though. 4x200 at that pace would be less than half the minimal speed session at the start of a training block.

HR av 128

HR max 145


Thursday 12th


11.09 @8.53

Ran from the house to club, ended up doing a bit too much in the end.

HR av 122

HR max 138


Friday 13th

5.04 @8.18

Easy run that started off a bit briskly; settled down thereafter.

HR av 134

HR max 151


Saturday 14th

6.59 @9.42

Thoroughly soaked for the third run this week.

HR av 114

HR max 132


Sunday 15th

14.12 @8.51

A slog in the rain and wind yet again.



Weekly mileage 55

davedanon

Monday 16th

Nice run along the Dodder. So nice that I kept going all the way to Clonskeagh, which meant it was a bit longer than anticipated.

13 @8.53

HR Av 123

HR Max 139


Tuesday

Working all day, so a rare early-morning weekday run. Very relaxed pace.

5.22 @9.22

HR Av 124

HR Max 153 (unreliable)


Wednesday 18th

Rest. I've been trying to find a window for a blood donation all year. It finally happened today. It's never ideal from a running point of view, but it is what it is. Subsequent sessions need to be evaluated with this in mind. V02 should have recovered fully in time for Intermediate xc though.


Thursday 19th

2x2m tempo with warm-up and cool-down. Was struggling with the effort to hit and maintain 6.45min pace on the first 2. The first mile felt quick, but was only 7.00min. Then I overshot on the second, and was glad of the 5 min jog recovery. Too quick again on the third mile, but had decided to pack it in there in any case.

1.48 @9.03

HR Av 115

HR Max 128

---

Mile 1 7.03
Mile 2 6.37

Mile 3 6.28

HR Av 140 (includes cool-down)

HR Max 164

---

2.18 @9.58


Friday 20th

30 min recovery run. Slow leg-loosener.

3.26 @9.18

HR Av 119

HR Max 134


Saturday 21st

6 mile easy run with 6x30sec strides @5k pace. Never did strides before. Picked a section of path beside the M50 in Tymon for them. Basically the parkrun finishing straight. All went well and was enjoying them until a woman's little dog decided to launch itself at me as I flew past. The little ****, it wouldn't stop lunging at me, so I had to ditch that one and wait for her to take her stroppy beast away. I could hear her saying sorry over the music, but I said nothing, and just shook my head. She made no attempt to put it on a leash. Finished them out and headed home.

4.57 @8.35

HR Av 129

HR Max 142

---

6x30sec at around 6min pace.

HR Av 134

HR Max 149

---

1.9 @8.50


Sunday 22nd

10 mile progression run. 3@8.30/3@8.10/3@7.40/1@7.15 - Again, a new one on me. After being last out of the club at the start, there was plenty of backchat when I went to the front of the group straight away and then disappeared into the distance. Enjoyed this, I must say, although I needed to take a little break after the first sub-8 mile to collect myself. I was also a little lost in Aylesbury, trying find my way to Sean Moore park, and needed to plot some sort of route that would bring me back to the club after 3 miles. So did a lap of the park that included Rovers' stadium carpark before heading back to the club via Bancroft. The last 4 miles were tough enough, but I was pleased to hit most of my splits fairly well.

10.01 @7.57 (8.30, 8.15, 8.18 - 8.11, 8.02, 8.09 - 7.44, 7.37, 7.30 - 7.15)

HR Av 145

HR Max 162


Weekly mileage 46

davedanon

I've just done a sort of log overview, involving going to back to the very first post, and I realise that I should clarify things post-Dublin, just in case there is anyone out there willing to continue reading this stuff and hoping to reap some sort of dividend. Obviously, Dublin didn't go well, and while I'm disappointed, it's not the end of the world, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I already have a 2015 pb, achieved in London, so Dublin was a free throw of the dice. Second, I was happy with the effort despite my limitations on the day.

So that has brought to an end a period of 4 years during which I raced 7 marathons: 4 DCMs, and 3 spring marathons - Kildare 2012, Derry 2014, and London 2015. Assuming a 4 month training programme for each marathon, and also assuming that nothing much significant really happens in November and December, with training sort of half-hearted and party season in full swing, that means that I have been in a marathon training cycle for 36 out of 40 months. The result, inevitably, has been that my speed has dwindled, to the point that I can not now get near my fastest times at 5k, 5 mile, 10k, 10 mile and even half-marathon. My marathon training has become more and more effective. I have reduced my pb from 3.27 in 2010 by 13 minutes. It may sound self-evident to say, but my London run was probably the best I've ever had, and what I mean by that is that everything went perfectly. My splits were extremely consistent. I ran strongly, yet within myself, and my second half was only a couple of minutes slower than the first. It was just about the best I could do, given my condition on the day. I got absolutely everything out of myself, and there was nothing left behind whatsoever. In light of that, aiming for sub-3.10 on a much tougher course in Dublin was fanciful, to say the least. If I had aimed at 3.15, gone out a bit slower, then who knows? But what would be the point? You aim to improve, always.

The paradox I faced now, I began to realise, was that my constant marathon training was impeding my progress in.......the marathon. To improve from my current position, I needed to turn my back on the longer distances and work on getting my speed back. Some people that run marathons think that the 5k is some sort of sprint event, but it really isn't. It's all about strength, and endurance (and yes, speed). But it's the basic building-block of the marathon. When I checked my London results online, I was slightly surprised to see them arranged in 5k chunks, and realising that I had run, in effect, 8 5ks back-to-back, all in the lowish 20s, gave me distinct pause. So this is why I've decided that I'm done with the marathon, for now. All my training henceforth will be geared towards the shorter events, from 5k up. Having said that, I'm doing the Waterford half (on the basis that it makes more sense, 6 weeks after a marathon, than the Jingle bells), so for now the training is being directed towards that immediate goal. It's being directed by Myles Splitz, more importantly. I've asked him to help me out, because quite simply I couldn't think of anyone better qualified for the task. So my goal for 2016 is to improve all my pb's at every distance from 5k up. I won't go near the marathon again until next autumn at least, and possibly not until the spring of 2017, depending on how things go. Because the ultimate aim is the marathon. If I just took a rest for a few months, did nothing, then came back refreshed and trained for another marathon, then I might go under my present best. I might even be able to dip under 3.10, if everything went right like in London. I don't think I would have any chance of getting near 3 hours though, and that is the ultimate goal. 14 minutes is a lot, though. It's 30-plus seconds per mile over 26 miles. To have any hope of achieving this, I need to change things. I need to do things differently. So this isn't really a 5k plan, or a 10k or 10 mile plan. This is a long-term marathon plan that might take 12-15 months to come to fruition. If I can break 18 mins for a 5k, run 38.xx for a 10k, sub-65 for a 10 mile, and finally, finally go (significantly) under 90 mins for a half, then I will be in a position where I can realistically think about having a genuine crack at running 2.59.xx in a marathon. I'd love that to happen in Dublin, but I'd take it anywhere.

wowzer

davedanon wrote: »

I've just done a sort of log overview, involving going to back to the very first post, and I realise that I should clarify things post-Dublin, just in case there is anyone out there willing to continue reading this stuff and hoping to reap some sort of dividend. Obviously, Dublin didn't go well, and while I'm disappointed, it's not the end of the world, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I already have a 2015 pb, achieved in London, so Dublin was a free throw of the dice. Second, I was happy with the effort despite my limitations on the day.

So that has brought to an end a period of 4 years during which I raced 7 marathons: 4 DCMs, and 3 spring marathons - Kildare 2012, Derry 2014, and London 2015. Assuming a 4 month training programme for each marathon, and also assuming that nothing much significant really happens in November and December, with training sort of half-hearted and party season in full swing, that means that I have been in a marathon training cycle for 36 out of 40 months. The result, inevitably, has been that my speed has dwindled, to the point that I can not now get near my fastest times at 5k, 5 mile, 10k, 10 mile and even half-marathon. My marathon training has become more and more effective. I have reduced my pb from 3.27 in 2010 by 13 minutes. It may sound self-evident to say, but my London run was probably the best I've ever had, and what I mean by that is that everything went perfectly. My splits were extremely consistent. I ran strongly, yet within myself, and my second half was only a couple of minutes slower than the first. It was just about the best I could do, given my condition on the day. I got absolutely everything out of myself, and there was nothing left behind whatsoever. In light of that, aiming for sub-3.10 on a much tougher course in Dublin was fanciful, to say the least. If I had aimed at 3.15, gone out a bit slower, then who knows? But what would be the point? You aim to improve, always.

The paradox I faced now, I began to realise, was that my constant marathon training was impeding my progress in.......the marathon. To improve from my current position, I needed to turn my back on the longer distances and work on getting my speed back. Some people that run marathons think that the 5k is some sort of sprint event, but it really isn't. It's all about strength, and endurance (and yes, speed). But it's the basic building-block of the marathon. When I checked my London results online, I was slightly surprised to see them arranged in 5k chunks, and realising that I had run, in effect, 8 5ks back-to-back, all in the lowish 20s, gave me distinct pause. So this is why I've decided that I'm done with the marathon, for now. All my training henceforth will be geared towards the shorter events, from 5k up. Having said that, I'm doing the Waterford half (on the basis that it makes more sense, 6 weeks after a marathon, than the Jingle bells), so for now the training is being directed towards that immediate goal. It's being directed by Myles Splitz, more importantly. I've asked him to help me out, because quite simply I couldn't think of anyone better qualified for the task. So my goal for 2016 is to improve all my pb's at every distance from 5k up. I won't go near the marathon again until next autumn at least, and possibly not until the spring of 2017, depending on how things go. Because the ultimate aim is the marathon. If I just took a rest for a few months, did nothing, then came back refreshed and trained for another marathon, then I might go under my present best. I might even be able to dip under 3.10, if everything went right like in London. I don't think I would have any chance of getting near 3 hours though, and that is the ultimate goal. 14 minutes is a lot, though. It's 30-plus seconds per mile over 26 miles. To have any hope of achieving this, I need to change things. I need to do things differently. So this isn't really a 5k plan, or a 10k or 10 mile plan. This is a long-term marathon plan that might take 12-15 months to come to fruition. If I can break 18 mins for a 5k, run 38.xx for a 10k, sub-65 for a 10 mile, and finally, finally go (significantly) under 90 mins for a half, then I will be in a position where I can realistically think about having a genuine crack at running 2.59.xx in a marathon. I'd love that to happen in Dublin, but I'd take it anywhere.

I don't know Dave sounds like you are selling yourself short there. I went from a 3:14 to a 2:59 in 6 months, having only broken 1 of the race targets you have mentioned above, a 1:27:30 Half.

With the right attitude and coaching you have to believe anything is possible. One thing I've learned from he who can't be mentioned is running is easy once you get the stress, recovery and adaption right.

Best of luck with your pursuits over the next while.

davedanon

Monday 23rd

Short recovery run.

3 @9.01

HR Av 129

HR Max 139


Tuesday 24th

Fartlek run. With Myles and some of the faster lads from the club. Easy enough for them, testing for me. A pyramid structure, with 1, 2 and then 3 minutes at about my 5k pace, with matching jogged intervals. Just about stayed with the peleton for the duration. Warm up and cool down included.

5.71 @7.59


Wednesday 25th

Easy 8m run. Didn't trust myself to go 8 on a loop, so just continued running in a straight line when I got out onto the road. It's downhill and with the prevailing wind too, so just kept running and put the brain into neutral. Eventually turned when I hit Rathfarnham village, and came back up along the Dodder. Took a little detour through Tymon to get some extra distance, and met (very briefly) some club mates on their way to their hill session.

8.3 @8.43

HR Av 127

HR Max 148


Thursday 26th

Easy 6 mile run. Fell a bit short on this one, for no particular reason.

5.19 @9.20

HR Av 121

HR Max 136


Friday 27th

Rest


Saturday 28th

20 minute recovery run. Took the dog, as otherwise he wasn't getting walked.

2.11 @9.25

HR Av 109

HR Max 136


Sunday 29th

Dublin Intermediates xc. 8k cross-country race in Tymon park. Full report to follow.

2.58 @9.38

HR NA (massive spike on first mile)

5.10 @7.35

HR Av 154

HR Max 174*

* Spike after .5 mile, so highly unlikely, however it did get up to a plausible 168bpm at the finish line.

Weekly total: 32 miles

davedanon

Dublin Intermediate XC Championship

A tough xc slog in testing conditions, this was more of a club requirement than a goal race. Not that I was in any danger of troubling the scorers, but you want as big a presence as possible at these events, even if one's only function is to ensure that the guy second from last isn't last. The weather, while not ideal, wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared. I had been in Tymon for the parkrun the previous morning (volunteering) and it had been hellish - wind, cold and driving rain.

From the start, I took up station at the back of the field, hoping that I might be able to reel in or two as the race progressed, or more likely that they would just come back to me. Two things were worrying me though. One was the sight of a fellow Tallaght athlete, a few places ahead of me. I knew that wasn't his true position, and reckoned that he was just getting carried away with the excitement. The other was my spikes. I seemed to have forgotten how to run in them. I felt as though I was running on my heels, and two or three times I came down awkwardly on my left foot and had a little ankle-wobble. It's always the left foot; that's the one I broke and ruptured all the tendons of when I was 25. It's had less flexibility ever since. The first mile came around in 6.55, which I reckoned wasn't great. Meanwhile, I was getting no closer to the field; quite the opposite, in fact. As we started the second lap, I realised my clubmate had disappeared, and figured he had dropped out. On the next lap I passed him, standing at the side of the course with his wife. I hoped he had dropped out, rather than suffered an injury. On we went, and it was becoming a lonely sojourn for me. I wasn't just last. I was last by a distance. By the time lap 3 came around, I was entertaining/fighting off the usual demons telling me to quit. I kept going, but it wasn't fun. Basically I had to stop racing and slow right down in order to complete the race. As I entered the last field on lap 3, I suddenly wondered if I might be lapped. That thought was enough to galvanise me, and as I took the last but one corner, I watched over my shoulder for the leaders. I saw I was going to be ok, and as I started the last lap I put my hands in the air and went "Whoop, not going to be lapped!" at my, probably bemused, onlooking club mates. Last lap, and I trudged around, promising myself a respectable finish, even if, by the time I entered the last field again, the guys in front had already finished. As soon as I cleared the bark covering the road, I forced my limbs to churn a little faster, and pounded up to the finish line in a futile little gesture of defiance. Oh well, someone has to be last.

annapr

Fair play to you Dave! Loved that report.

Murph_D

Doing the Dublin Masters?

davedanon

Murph_D wrote: »

Doing the Dublin Masters?

Oh yes. Wouldn't miss it.

davedanon

Monday 30th

Rest


Tuesday 1st December

5 x1k track session at 10k pace, with warm-up/cool-down. First track session in some time. Just two of us doing this too, so we had to work hard enough. The pace was ok, but the body took a while to adjust to track running. Was aiming for 4.00-4.10 km/min pace. Hit it pretty well.

2.24 @9.27

5x1k (4.04, 4.02, 4.08, 4.08, 4.01)

1 mile-ish cooldown

HR Av 132

HR Max 168

Wednesday 2nd

Easy recovery run. Nothing to report.

4.07 @8.46

HR Av 117

HR Max 142*

*Due to spike at start, so not accurate.

Thursday 3rd

Busy with work today. No running.


Friday 4th

Easy run. Threw in a HMP mile in anticipation of tomorrow's race.

6.06 @8.28 (1 @6.44)

HR Av 125

HR Max 150


Saturday 5th

Waterford Half-marathon. Race cancelled. The trip went ahead, however. No running (hic).

EDIT How could I forget about doing Tymon parkrun on Saturday morning? Three Waterford-trippers turned up, plus the legendary Jack Tyrrell, still trying to regain full fitness. It was an utterly foul morning. Howling wind, driving rain and a general air of gloom. 19 runners eventually turned up, but at one stage we were outnumbered by volunteers. Major kudos to them, btw. And there was me in the Tallaght singlet. Well, I thought it should get an outing at least once this weekend. Off we went, and the two other boys surged away fairly rapidly, leaving me and Jack together in 4th and 5th position. Around halfway he moved ahead a little, then urged me to close the gap, saying we would work together. And so we did, until the drag up towards the finish, when I assumed it was ok with him if I upped the pace. A fit Jack would have wiped the floor with me, but he's still getting there, so I was able to stretch my legs to the end, finishing in a undistinguished 21:xx. But in my defence there was the weather, and a pounding hangover from the previous night's club end-of-year awards. We finished as we started, in 4th and 5th, but I was reliably informed by the other two Tallaght lads that the guy in 3rd cut the course pretty significantly. So I reckon it was a moral clean sweep of the first four places for Tallaght AC.

1 mile warmup

3.10 in 21.24

1 mile cooldown


Sunday 6th

Bleeuurrggh.


A very fragmented week, overall, culminating in the cancellation of Waterford. Anyway, onward. 5k training starts in earnest now.

Weekly mileage 22

davedanon

Monday 7th

Recovery run. No run since Saturday morning, of course, so ran a bit longer on this one. A 7.58 mile in the middle of this had me scratching my head, until I realised that was when I chased a car up past the Spawell, after he had just sailed through the red light on the pedestrian crossing, just as I was about cross the road. I think he saw me shouting at him, too. He's lucky I didn't catch him.

6.02 @8.39

HR Av 127
HR Max 153

Tuesday 8th

Work prevented me doing session, so re-jigged schedule.

Wednesday 9th

Easy run. Very windy, first 3 miles at close to 8 min pace, much slower when I turned into the wind.

7.01 @8.39

HR Av 132
HR Max 148

Thursday 10th

25 minute tempo. Just two of us on this, the other a sub-3 guy but who was happy to go at my pace (about 7 min/mile). It was too slow for him, and he suggested keeping the tempo going for 5 miles, but I would commit only to 25 mins minimum. In the end I did 4 miles at tempo pace, and he ended up doing 3 hill reps with some of the other lads.

7.28 @7.50

1.5 @8.48
4 @7.04 (6.50, 6.52, 7.02, 7.31)
1.78 @8.45

HR Av 139
HR Max 162

Friday 11th

Easy recovery run. Nice and slow.

8.02 @9.06

HR Av 111
HR Max 136

Saturday 12th

2 (6x200m). Warm-up and down, 200m reps @ 41-44 secs, 100m jog recovery. 400m jog between the two sets of 6. Not on track for this, so headed down to Tymon and did these along by the M50. The parkrun finish, basically. It was absolutely teeming down with rain, but not particularly cold, and there wasn't much wind. Thought these would be handy enough, but 41 seconds is brisk enough, and I needed that 400m jog in between sets. It's a good way of breaking up an interval session, too. 12 of anything just sounds daunting.

2 @8.42
.13 @8.04 (marking out interval)

2x6x200m.
(41.8, 42.3, 42.4, 42.1, 41.6, 40.8)
(41.8, 42.9, 42.9, 41.6, 43.2, 39.7)

HR Av 130 (includes cool-down)
HR Max 153

2 @9.05

Sunday 13th

10 mile long run. Was out on Saturday until late, so left this until the afternoon. It was really calm, not a breath of wind, and the rain mostly held off. Headed up to the waterworks, and really enjoyed myself.

10.02 @8.22

HR Av 128
HR Max 148


Weekly mileage 46

A good solid week, despite some re-jigging and the encroaching festivities.

davedanon

Monday 14th

Working all day unexpectedly. No running.

Tuesday 15th

8x800m @10k pace, with 200m jog recoveries, plus wu/cd. Found these tough enough, as I don't think I've done 800s since before London. Also I came down with a cold the following day, so I think that may have been a factor. Did these on my own too, unless you count the presence of Tom Fitzpatrick and Sean Hehir doing their own workout. Does everyone else also feel like doing a Wayne's World "we're not worthy" bowing and scraping routine when elite athletes vocally encourage your wheezing progress around the tartan? Anyway, mentally I tried to divide these into two blocks of four in such a way as to make them seem less than the sum of their parts. After the third one the jog back became more of a walk, then jog, back. It's hard enough to jog 200m in 2 or 3 mins anyway, which was the prescribed interval. As it was all the interval recoveries were in and around 2 mins, so happy with that.

2.23 @8.51

HR Av 119
HR Max 133

8x800 (3.18, 3.16, 3.22, 3.13, 3.13, 3.13, 3.15, 3.07)

HR Av 143
HR Max 167 (just on the last one)

0.56 @7.34

Wednesday 16th

Easy 8 mile recovery run. Felt somewhat creaky and distinctly un-athletic setting out on this, up a little drag and into a brisk headwind. Kept repeating the 'recovery mantra* to myself and just got it done. Knees aching a bit lately, and tried to run on grass where possible, but Tymon was mucky as f*ck. Felt safer on the hard paths.

8.07 @9.13

HR Av 119
HR Max 135

* it goes: It's a recovery, it's a recovery, it's a recovery. repeat ad nauseam.

Thursday 17th

1 hr progression run, with the final mile run at MP. Everyone was doing a tempo of assorted durations and speeds, so although we all started together, I was with the group for the 1.5 miles of warm-up, at which point they accelerated away from me. I had gone with the faster lead group, as my plan was to break the run down as follows: 2.5 @8.30/2 @8.10/2 @7.40/1 @7.15 - this I had calculated would take exactly an hour. Unfortunately things didn't quite work out as planned. After a very slightly slow first mile, the next 1.5 was run at 7.40 pace. Then I was supposed to drop to 8.10 for 2. They came in at 7.42 and 8.03 respectively. The next drop was to 7.40 pace, and this I managed! Though only by running 7.48 and 7.29, I must add. The last mile was meant to be a 7.15, and by this time I was running back up towards the club, and the gradient and wind were against me. I was also more tired than I should have been, because of my overshooting the pace all evening. Still, I was determined to hold the effort and come in significantly under the 7.40 that I had hit several times too many already. As I exited Tymon park at the Penny Black I knew that I didn't have the distance. I would have to finish on the track; the only problem was, I didn't know exactly how much track I needed to run. I didn't have the watch set up properly. I would just have to keep running until the watch told me I could stop. This is a form of torture, I have discovered. In the end I had to to run a lap and a bit. It doesn't sound like much, but I was doubled over, hands on knees at the conclusion.

7.5 @7.48 (8.46, 1.5 @7.40, 7.42, 8.03, 7.48, 7.29, 7.09)

HR Av 137
HR Max 161

davedanon

Friday 18th

Day off.

Saturday 19th

Easy run. 8am start with some club buddies.

8.3 @8.47

HR Av 127
HR Max 144


Sunday 20th

Long run. Early start again, very hard to get up at 7am, with the rain pelting off the windows. Meant to do 10, but wasn't too bothered about falling a bit short. Post-cold I've been a bit chesty today and yesterday.

9.29 @9.08

HR Av 122
HR Max 147

Weekly mileage 41