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Lurker's Log

mbarr

After lurking for the entirety of the mentored novices thread and being consumed by envy in the run-up to DCM and on the day itself I've decided to keep a log in the hopes of getting myself uninjured to the start line of a marathon in 2016.

Background:
Started running in June this year, I had been walking 20-30km around the city every evening as a way of losing weight (went from 95 to 85kg) then started running (85-75kg) with the sole focus of running the Warriors Run. I grew up on the side of Knocknarea, it's always been in my head to get that done at some stage so I figured why not this year?
Absolutely loved running my route through Drumcondra, Glasnevin and the Royal Canal, and began to take in parts of Phoenix Park on my long runs. I knew I was addicted when I made the decision to move to Stoneybatter mainly to be closer to the park. I picked up a drinking injury during the fleadh in Sligo and ended up not making the Warriors Run, but at that stage I had signed up for the race series half marathon and had something to work towards recovering for.

Current state of affairs:
I've ran 3 races and a parkrun since taking up running;
Ransboro 10k (July): 50:06
Knocknarea 8 mile (August): 1:05:48
Race Series Half Marathon (September): 1:48:26
Sligo Parkrun (September): 21:36

Totally all over the place, and all very soft I think.

Training:
I'm currently making it up as I go along, after reading Jack Daniel Running Formula and P&D Advanced Marathoning, and I'm running just over 40 miles a week (6 runs) with a tempo run, intervals and a long run in there. Long run is currently 13 miles.

Plans:
I'm signed up for the Gingerbread half marathon and the Jingle Bells 5k, and I'm planning on running the Rotterdam Marathon in spring. I'm 90% sure I will use the P&D 33-55 miles/week plan to train for this, as I think I need the structure.

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Comments

jake1970

Best of luck M, AAA goal all the way.

Wubble Wubble

mbarr wrote: »

I can verify that some mild taper madness can be experienced before marathon #2 too. I split my heel open when crashing into that car last week, thought it would heal in time no issue, and ran on it no problem at all Saturday through Tuesday, including 12 miles on Saturday.

Now however the thing is looking rawer than ever and I'm going slightly mad. Walking around work in flip flops to try to get the thing to heal. It shouldn't be a problem I don't think, sure my feet will be numb after 12 miles anyway.

Yep, been there! Best of luck M, looking forward to reports of a successful race!

Ososlo

It's been great to follow the brilliant training here and on Strava! Have a fantastic race!

ThebitterLemon

Best of luck.

I'm sure you'll hit your pb.

Enjoy the day.

cf

snailsong

Best of luck, Mark. Enjoy.

adrian522

All the best of every thing on Sunday. You've put in a great cycle of training so now just to go out there and reap the rewards.

No negative thoughts and try and enjoy it!

quick feet

Best of luck Sunday!

denis b

The very best of luck. I will have a go at Rotterdam in the future so looking forward to the report. Take care and enjoy.

Mrs Mc

Give it socks great training block have a great race

chickey2

Best of luck!

annapr

Hope the heel has healed M, and very best of luck in Barcelona, hope you have a great day!

denis b

denis b wrote: »

The very best of luck. I will have a go at Rotterdam in the future so looking forward to the report. Take care and enjoy.

D'oh

. BARCELONA BARCELONA BARCELONA.

BARCELONA BARCELONA BARCELONA
BARCELONA BARCELONA BARCELONA
BARCELONA BARCELONA BARCELONA

Now, I have my lines done. Thank you cut and paste but where were you for those dreaded lines in primary school. Much easier than trying to sellotape 4 pens to a ruler and then trying to match the pen spacing with the lines in the copybook.

Enjoy.

mbarr

denis b wrote: »

D'oh . BARCELONA BARCELONA BARCELONA.

BARCELONA BARCELONA BARCELONA
BARCELONA BARCELONA BARCELONA
BARCELONA BARCELONA BARCELONA

Now, I have my lines done. Thank you cut and paste but where were you for those dreaded lines in primary school. Much easier than trying to sellotape 4 pens to a ruler and then trying to match the pen spacing with the lines in the copybook.

Enjoy.

Hehe go to page 15 for Rotterdam report! Thanks for the well wishes everyone, heel is fine, feeling good. Bring it on 😊

FBOT01

Well done today, M. Enjoy the rest of the trip.

Annie get your Run

Yes well done! Look forward to hearing about it. Enjoy the rest now.

Wubble Wubble

Well done M, seems like it was tough going out there. Enjoy the celebrations!

denis b

Great stuff M. Followed the updates.

mbarr

Thanks everyone, tough race, 3:36, I'll focus on the positives, I've ran 2 marathons! Ran very long, 26.8, felt like I was doing my best to take the line but sure there you go. Could be down to running with the 330 pacers for so long.

tang1

mbarr wrote: »

Thanks everyone, tough race, 3:36, I'll focus on the positives, I've ran 2 marathons! Ran very long, 26.8, felt like I was doing my best to take the line but sure there you go. Could be down to running with the 330 pacers for so long.

Well done M, great admiration for anybody who gutted it out today and finished fair play to you, enjoy the beers!!!

snailsong

Well done, M. A solid performance in difficult circumstances. Enjoy the celebrations.

tailgunner

Well done for grinding it out, sounds like extremely tough conditions on the day. Looking forward to the report!

denis b

Congrats M. Very solid run and could nearly predict the splits, it was so controlled.

HigginsJ

Congrats, sounds like a great performance in the conditions.

Mrs Mc

Congrats M

mbarr

Wasn't feeling too enthusiastic about writing this, feeling rather mixed about Barcelona, but reading Tang’s account of his day has helped put my own experience in perspective.

Felt very comfortable for most of the race, started well (MP felt easy), survived the hills with minimal issue, got to the half way mark feeling fine, first out and back was grand. Around the second out and back (km 30ish) I started to notice that I was flagging a bit. I could see a gentle drag on the way back in and I was dreading it. Still with the 330 pacers here, saw my missus at 35k, had been hanging on for a while at this stage. Passed under the Arc De Triumph and mentally crumbled. Lost the 330 pace group here and fell apart shortly after, stopped to walk, ran a bit, gave up totally on a PB, once the heart rate returned to normal I managed to pick back up to some sort of jog and slogged through it to get up parralel avenue to the finish. Wasn't too upset at the finish, glad to be done with it, glad to have 2 marathons completed, but in the days and nights since I've been turning the experience over in my head and there's definitely some disappointment there.

It was obviously hotter than I had trained in, but something tells me regardless of the heat, I wasn't on for 330 on Sunday. Whatever happened was what happened in Rotterdam last year, power gone from the legs, lack of mental effort to push through it. I have a newfound respect for the marathon distance, and I told myself in the closing sections that I wouldn't be running another for a while.

My gut feeling is my issue is probably running my initial long runs too fast and not having enough time on my feet. I couldn't have run more marathon pace this cycle or last, and the volume has been fine, so that's really all I can think of. Where I fall apart is time wise exactly when my long runs usually stop, after 3 hours 10 mins or so.

Anyhow, onwards and upwards, haven't focused on a new goal yet but will be doing so over the coming weeks. Feet are black and blue, Saucony kinvaras are a lovely shoe but probably not enough cushioning for me for a marathon at my current weight. Might have been different if i had maintained my form to the finish.

3:36 crossing the line, as I mentioned in my earlier post I was half a mile long, way longer than Rotterdam, and definitely my longest ever run. Thanks everyone for the support, see you back out there soon I hope.

Singer

I think you're under-estimating the impact of the weather on the day itself. It might have felt like 26.8 miles (or maybe even 30 miles!), but your Strava map has you ploughing through many of Barcelona's buildings and wobbling constantly all over the place, which you either cynically left out of your race report or maybe all those fancy and well organised but tall buildings were messing with your GPS

You probably weren't too far off what was achievable, and it was a damn good performance regardless. It'd be interesting to see an analysis of the race data to see whether the rate of blowing up was influenced by the weather (though I bet the locals weren't as badly affected).

Kennyg71

Well done on what sounds like a really warm day, think I'd agree with singer on heat effect, rather than anything you did wrong in training, bar being able to replicate the weather. It can take an extra 15-20 sec a mile to adjust to them
conditions, sounds like you did well to get HR in check and finish out. Onwards and upwards.

mbarr

Singer wrote: »

I think you're under-estimating the impact of the weather on the day itself. It might have felt like 26.8 miles (or maybe even 30 miles!), but your Strava map has you ploughing through many of Barcelona's buildings and wobbling constantly all over the place, which you either cynically left out of your race report or maybe all those fancy and well organised but tall buildings were messing with your GPS

Yeah you're 100% correct of course! The more time that goes by the happier I am with the race performance.

Recovery coming along well, creaky recovery run yesterday, legs felt a bit twinge-y but seems about right.

Gonna spend the evening planning my next few months of running, not going to allow myself a dip in training over the summer this year!

mbarr

Recovery from marathon still coming along Ok; had to take a break last week as the toes were acting up. I think they're on the mend again now. Another 2 weeks of easy running.

Plan is to then start into a P&D 12 week 10k programme, 45 - 57 miles per week, with Clonee 10k as the target race. The plan looks like fun, looking forward to getting started.

Depending on how that goes I'm then hoping to do a base building plan over the summer building my mileage up to 60 miles a week, then embark on a half marathon programme targeting the Gingerbread half in November.

Might get back to the club for some of the weekend running, but I find I prefer to plan my own sessions, and the weekday sessions are a bit late for me and involve hanging around waiting to run when I get home anyway.

adrian522

Ha ha, almost the same as what I'm doing. P&D 10K for Dunshaughlin, then HM towards Charleville or something else in September. Though I won't be too rigid in sticking to the plan.