Berlin Q or Bust: Road to sub 2:45

Apologies for my shouty post yesterday I was quite excited at the time.....here's a slightly calmer race report.

Pre Race: got up to the park nice and early, parked up and leafed through the Times sports Saturday. Weather wasn't as bad as expected, nipped out to the Portaloos and then went for a 2k warm up. Feeling good but a little concerned about how the wind was gonna affect proceedings. Back to the car, changed into the race gear, vaselined up. Of course this meant my hands were too bloody greasy to stick my pace band together....so managed to cut the splits out and i pinned them to my race number.actually worked reasonably OK, but will be glad to wear one of the slightly bettered designed asics pace bands next month positioned myself close enough to the 1:30 pacers and waited for the off.

Km 1-5 (4:06, 4:05, 4:09, 4:15, 4:13)
I knew that there would be some time banked in the first few km but I didn't expect the pace to be as quick. I was about 30m down on the pacers at the start line but by about 5k I was right in the middle of the group. I was a little concerned with the pace but it felt comfortable and everything I'd read on here led me to trust the pacers I've never raced a 5k but I'm taking this as a PB

Km 6-10 (4:09, 4:25, 4:13, 4:14, 4:14)
The stretch past the zoo and on to the north road saw the pacers put about 60-70 meters on me, but I was fine about this. I felt good and with the 40-50 seconds I'd already banked I was happy enough with that and didn't need to deviated too much from 4:15/km range. I was banking on my ability to finish strong. Went through 10k a couple of seconds over 42 mins which would have been a PB until a couple of weeks ago. Still feeling fine and putting in a pretty even effort.

Km 11-15 (4:17, 4:14, 4:21, 4:10, 4:18)
A tough enough km near farmleigh but got the seconds back in the next one. I love that little stretch outside the park. Pacers are about 100m ahead at this point but again I was happy with the splits and figured they'd come back to me in the last few km.
Km 16-21 (4:17, 4:13, 4:12, 4:17, 4:29 , 4:18, + :39 @ 3:59)
Through 10miles in 67:48 which would be nearly a 5min PB for me. I knew I was racing and effort levels were high but I felt in control. Going into the wind down acres road was fine, I got in a small group of about 5 or 6 and we worked together well and the pacers were coming back. Then disaster almost struck, left hamstring really tightened up and I'm starting to panic that 90mins will not happen. A couple of 4min km's to finish are definitely not happening. I shortened my stride a little and tried to be a little lighter on my feet, no idea if this is actually useful or not!, and whilst it was still tender enough it didn't feel in danger. With the finish line in sight I knew a decent clip to the finish line would get me under 90mins. Was able to slow down in the last 30m safe in the knowledge I had my goal in the bag.
Chip Time: 1:29:52 @ 4:15/km

Thanked the pacer at the finish line, nice guy really encouraged people and seemed genuinely happy that people got in under the 90mins. I had a couple of friends on the bike giving me my drinks and gel. And that really helped, had drinks at 5,10 & 15km with a gel at 10k too. About 150ml of High Five energy source and that worked great. I find it great to have someone to aim for every 5k and they were great motivators
So all in all the training is paying off, I'll go into the last few weeks of DCM training in great spirits and with a lot of confidence.

Singer wrote: »

Wow, great run! Hope the hamstring is doing ok.

Didn't get any recovery run in yesterday but got out with the kids and dog onto the Curragh....legs coming around. Calves are the last part to usually come back to me biggest weeks are upon us....

Wed: Easy 14k: 1:14:37 @5:20/km
The run happened, legs felt back to normal, nothing else to report.

Thursday: Session: 3k w/u...10x500m Hill repeats @ 85% effort with recovery jog on the downhill...3k c/d

Session went well, got a bit of life back into the legs. Planned on doing it on grass on Braveheart Hill but Army had the red flags flying as they were firing on the ranges so went to Athgarvan to do it on the hill there. The uphills were into a serious wind and having my head set to doing them on grass, the first couple on the concrete took were tough enough. Got going in the end and really felt like I'd put in a good session.

Sun: recovery 8k with pooch: 45ish minutes

First run with the dog in a while as she, like her beloved owner, has now had ACL surgery. She did well and my legs showed no ill effects from yesterday's 32k.

Weekly Total: 96k

Have 34k to do next Saturday, but I'm off to the Bisping-Henderson fight in Manchester. Flight at 10 so will be at Hotel by 12 id say. The fights start about midnight and main event about 5am (stupid US Pay per view) So I've two options (Friday and Sunday aren't a runner)
a) Get up and do run at home 4 am ish, it'll be dark and I'll have to run loops around the town, which I hate. But will be able to put the head down for a few hours in Manchester when I get there.

b) do the run in Manchester....whilst ive been there for matches in the past and know the city quite well, the thoughts of running 34k there have never really entered my head...also i'd maybe only get 2 hours sleep before heading out for the night.

First world problems eh?

Wed: Session: 3k / 5x2k @4:00/km / 3k
Splits: 7:53, 8:01, 8:01, 8:03, 8:02

Well definitely went out too fast with the first. Wasnt exactly paying for it at the end but I usually leave a fast repeat at the end and that wasn't really happening today. Also left calf was pretty tight towards the end and afterwards so I didn't push it. Will have it seen to tonight

14k tomorrow, 10k easy on Friday and 34k on Saturday and then taper. I'm good to go now if I'm honest. I feel in great shape and I'm starting to get paranoid about getting injured between now and Oct 30th. Like really paranoid.....

Thursday: Hill session 10x300m w 2k w/u & c/d.
No watch for this one, enjoyed the session, was going at maybe 80% on the uphills. Braveheart is the place to be in a windy,sun showery evening
Friday & Saturday: Easy 8k & 6k @ 5:16ish for both if I remember ( Garmin memory almost full, so had to delete some runs quickly).....
Sunday: Race 10k Carlow Rugby Club
On the road for just after 10, race at 12 so I got a Sunday Times and planned to get down early to register and read the Sports supplement beforehand....somehow forgot to have breakfast, I never do this, so ended up getting a Danish in some garage on way down. Arrive in at 11 to the worst possible scene you could imagine....a **** load of runners at the start line. So yeah, got the time wrong....dumped car, legged it in past some amused runners.....hearing the race go off as I'm at the desk getting my number, frantically pin it on as I'm going through the hall, out the door, through the start, called back by the organisers.....there's a 5k race(or possibly a 2k fun run) never found out which, waiting to go so they thought I was jumping the gun! Explained to them that I was in the 10k race....thankfully it was an out and back so I wouldn't get lost and off I went sans water, pre match dump, warm up, stretching or having read the Sunday Times, but with a danish sitting rather precariously in my tummy. Realise I better turn the watch on.....it was on my wrist, first positive in a while. Of course the GPS doesn't kick in until the 2k marker...when it does I remember that my plan for the race was to ease into it, 2 @4:20, 2@ 4:15 1@4:10 and then have a good rattle at the rest of it. That first 2k split is probably out the window at this stage, but I throw in a couple of 4:15/kms and then GPS goes on the fritz a little....I definitely wasn't running at 3:21/km pace for the 6th km ....so knocked off the watch and ran the rest by effort.
Route was out and back with a stretch along a main road which was an effort into a strong wind but the rest was on OK-ish country road fare. Gave the last 3k a right rattle, caught and passed a fair % of the 10k field and finished with.....
Time: 40:53 (37sec PB)

Not sure what to think about that.....plan was to run around 42 mins and not go mad, but apart from the probably the first 2km it was controlled enough. I definitely didn't feel like I was putting in the same effort as the 41:30 from a few weeks back in Moone. Should I have ran at all after the shenanigans at the start is probably a more pertinent question to ask myself but I felt fine despite no warm up etc and got a good stretch and warm down in afterwards.

The main reason I chose this race instead of the 10k in Graigue in KK was the start time of 11am so I'd be back in good for the county final (Up the Sash!!) So how I managed to mess that up I'll never know.....

Mon: 6k Easy: 31:24 @5:14/km Quick little run from Marino out past Parnell Pk and back. Switched it with Tuesday's 8k to make sure I got back to Newbridge for the United game.....Nothing of note to report from either.

Tue: 8k Easy: 41:28 @5:11/km The best before date on the milk carton this morning was for after the Marathon....I used to keep an eye out for these things when I was patiently waiting for Dec 26th to appear on them.....

Wed: Relaxed 20k: 1:43:05 @ 5:09/km
Well that brings the main stuff of this training block to a close......bouncing around this evening, had to try hard not to go quicker. All is good (touch wood).

Mon: Easy 8k: 41:24 @ 5:11/km
Ended up in the city a little earlier than expected so I parked just off Roebuck Road and went for a gander around those parts. I had vagueish memories of that stretch last year, not bad necessarily, but seeing as it was in the last 10k, it probably wasn't great either! I ran down to the end of the road and then went back up, got to the top and I'm thinking 'Jesus, this is actually a bit of a killer...' and then I realise that I didn't turn left onto Fosters Ave and instead went through the crossroads and up past Mt Anville! Now that route WOULD be interesting....anyway, went back down and up again, just getting my bearings and then up to the pedestrian bridge on the Stillorgan bypass and back to the car....safe in the knowledge that I have at least 5 hills on my LR route that are way tougher.

Tue: Easy 6k: 31:31 @ 5:15/km
Whatever constitutes the human body's equivalent of the handbrake I had it on for this run. That pace felt really slow...hopefully that's a good sign.

So here's where I am right now vs last years debut: 2016 vs 2015

10k: 40:53 vs 44:27
10m: 73:25 vs 83:44 (with a 67:48 first 10m split in the HM)
HM: 1:29:52 vs 1:37:35
Total mileage 1400+km vs 789km
Long Runs: 6 30k+ runs vs 2 30k+ runs

It's only my 2nd marathon so I'm realistic enough to realise that there are so many variables that may or may not come in to play on the day, and I'm not going to be a slave to my goals, if they're not on, they're not on.....but I feel like I'm in the shape to give 3:20 a good rattle. If the body holds up (I have had a couple of irregular calf and/or hamstring issues over the last couple of years but these have been very few and far between (touch wood). Plan is to go with the pacers and see how the body is feeling at halfway, maybe push on if i'm feeling particularly strong, or stay with them to 20 miles and assess again.....
Whatever happens, I'm happy with how my training and plan has gone, and I can't wait until Sunday morning

Well that's the end of my training for DCM.....finished with a run from RDS to the finishing line and back before I went into the expo. Everything is good to go....best of luck to everyone running on Sunday and thanks for the encouragement and advice on here. J....

3:19:07......job done. Happy. Report tomorrow. Beer now.

DCM 2016

Pre Race:
3 power outages during the night resulted in 2 scared little men in the Healy house and their Daddy awake since 3 am. But I'd gotten about 6 hours decent sleep before that so I was happy enough. Big bowl of porridge and off I set. Got dropped around Baggot St about 7:30. I wanted a bit more time to get ready this year as I got there a lot later last and was a little frantic. No such worries this year. Positioned myself near enough the 3:20 pacers and tried to keep calm, when in reality I was bouncing off the walls with nerves and excitement after doing most of my training on my own I was actually running with a mate who turned up about 30 seconds from the off....he's run lots of marathons including 10 in 10 days last year so he was a great partner to have

Km 1-10 (46:56)
Nothing too crazy apart from that motorbike!! The dude was trying to wheel it back by the time we got to him. How the hell did that happen?? Pacers threw in a 4:31 3rd km which was a little worrying but that was it for the race and they really were fantastic. The British guy who was interviewed in the Irish Runner last issue was very vocal and really encouraging. Pace felt really easy, took some water on at the first stop, figuring it was gonna be a day to get fluids in early. Up into the park and down Chesterfield Ave. Mate on the course had gel and high5 drink ready and 10k and the pace still felt easy at this stage.

Km 11-20 (46:31)
Castleknock was brilliant and I found myself feeding off the crowd, cheesy I know but I was really feeling it at this stage . I had an early concern that I might need to take a toilet break but that had subsided at this stage and I felt no niggles at all. Feeling strong still and even though the pace group was definitely starting to thin out as we approached halfway, it was still big enough to make me feel like I was almost drafting at stages.

Km 21-30 (47:07)
Went through halfway in 1:39:26, I'm feeling really strong at this stage. My mate who I was running with went through a bit of a dodgy patch here and he was able to tuck in behind me and get out of it. Whilst I was feeling great I was still paranoid about not finishing strong so any thoughts of banging ahead were quickly put out of my head. The plan was coming together and there was no point in jeopardising it at this stage. A lot of people were dropping off the pace from about 30k on, it seemed worse than last year but then again, I was one of those people last year so maybe I just noticed it more this time around.

Km 31-40 (47:12)
Still right with the pacers at 20 mile mark. My wife and eldest fella were at Milltown so it was a great buzz to see them and still be in good shape. My two slowest km's were drag up into Milltown and Roebuck Rd, but they were 4:52 each, which I'd be happy with. Chipped in my fastest km no.40 a 4:29 when in the km before I'd had my first little doubts set in, calves were becoming a little tired and legs a little heavy. At this stage my mate really come up trumps for me and kicked us on, said the right things at the right times. I don't know where I got that 4:29 km from, the pacers had maybe put about 30m on me up Roebuck and down the bypass, but they were coming back to me now. I knew we'd banked nearly 45 seconds and I just needed to keep the wheels on to get under 3:20.

Km 41-42.2 (4;40, 4:37 & 2:00 @ 4:30/km)
Last couple of km and I'm seriously buzzing. Body is hurting now but there's no way I'm not finishing this strong. Noise during the last couple of km was just amazing. Figured that a really fast last 400m might get me in under 3:19 but strange and uncomforatble things were starting to occur inside my calves, so I backed off slightly and finished a happy happy man.

Result: 3:19:07

So A goal achieved and more importantly I finished a marathon strong. I needed that. I was cruising for about 37km. The last 5km asked me some serious questions about myself but I was able to answer them thank god! I knew going in I had the training done. I'm very lucky to have a friend who devised my training. When you're safe in the knowledge that what you're doing in training is tailored for you by a brilliant runner it's a huge confidence booster. I've come a long way since I starated training last June (2015). I'm not gonna let this fitness slip a little like I did last year either. Raheny 5m, Dungravan 10m, and definitely sub 20 5k ( I've never raced one before) and sub 40 10k are the immediate goal. I'm in the Berlin ballot, and if it get that I'll obviously be giving Dublin a miss next year, but that decision can wait for a little while yet. Reading logs on here has been brilliant too, from the people who are quite close to my own level, to the slower and faster logs, it's great to compare and contrast and gain more knowledge. So....onwards and upwards from here. Will indulge a little this week and then I'll start again......thanks to everyone for the well wishes and encouragement.
J....

So got a decent enough week in. Missed one session but got in....
10k easy: 52:43 @ 5:10/km
10k steady: 48:01 @ 4:48/km
10k (quite) steady: 45:39 @ 4:34/km
10x200m Hill Sprints, continuous, jogged downhills. 2k w/u & 2k c/d. 200m uphills @3:50/km ish....
16k Long Run: 1:18:39 @ 4:55/km

First decent week's training since DCM. Definitely went a bit quick on one or two of these but I just had to burn some energy..... Ive been feeling the good sensations on all of these runs....

Sat: 14k (Inc a trip up and down Braveheart hill) 1:09:31 @4:58/km
Sun: 20k 1:38:39 @4:56/km The dreaded man flu has struck and was coughing and spluttering all night long. Wasnt going for a run at 6:40am but by 7am I had convinced myself otherwise and was pounding the pavement. Felt better after run, not necessarily now, but I'm just gonna try and train through it over the next few days and see how that works.....
76km for the week.