An 18 Week Sabbatical

Monday 29th January
No weigh-in

a.m.
Cross Trainer I thought I was meant to be doing an 11km recovery run, so I added an extra 5 minutes to my usual 50. It was only afterwards that I discovered it was a 10km run in the plan, so 5 minutes of my day were wasted.

p.m. There was no real reasoning behind doing this on the treadmill, other than it seemed like a good idea at the time. I don't attach too much importance to these recovery runs, so it was just a case of getting it done.
Totals;
Time: 0:30 - Distance: 6.00km


Tuesday 30th January
75.6kg

General Aerobic Run - 14km I did this before work and was running towards the faster end of my aerobic pace range. This was as much to do with making sure I wasn't late for work, as any great desire to be running 'fast'. Like most of my runs recently, I was getting faster for no extra effort, the longer I ran. There was one kilometre I did in 4:13, which was 2 seconds per kilometre quicker than I wanted, but I was working no harder than I had been for any other split. It bodes well for what's ahead, I hope.
Totals;
Time: 1:01 - Distance: 14.01km


Wednesday 31st January
75.6kg

Medium Long Run - 24km I wanted to hold my pace between 4:20-4:24/km, but it wasn't proving to be so easy in the opening stages. I had to push harder than I would have liked, to finish a few of these initial kilometres under target. While I wasn't struggling, I never felt like I could simply relax into things. In my defence though, it was a pretty miserable night. Although I escaped any of the heavy showers of snow, that had fallen earlier in the evening, I was still dealing with cold and windy conditions, and the kilometres I was close to missing my target for, were all into a headwind. Then without killing myself, I was still able to salvage them. There's much harder work coming up, but I was well able for what was required tonight, and that's always enough.
Totals;
Time: 1:43 - Distance: 24.01km


Thursday 1st February
75.1kg

Recovery Run - 13km At 6 p.m., I was driving to the NAC, to do this on the treadmill. I wasn't exactly relishing the prospect, when it occurred to me that the treadmill would automatically stop after 1 hour. At the pace I going to run, this would mean I'd be a kilometre short, and I'd have to restart the treadmill for the sake of five more minutes. This was enough to change my mind and I drove on by the gates of the NAC, and continued on to Ratoath, where I did the run on the road. It was late when I started, but I was much happier out in the fresh air, than I would have been in the gym.
Apart from that backstory, the run itself went well and I finished with a better average pace, than I have been holding for my recovery runs of late. Without any extra effort, I ran several of the kilometres quicker than 4:48. This was my projected marathon pace plus 20% the last time I followed this P & D plan. Come race day in 2014, it turned out to be a bit too soft. But it's good to know that what I adjudged to be "working" 4 years ago, felt so easy tonight.
Totals;
Time: 1:03 - Distance: 13.01km


Friday 2nd February
74.4kg

Medium Long Run - 21km I was hoping for an effortless run tonight. It was like this some of the time, but not often enough for my liking. Rotterdam is getting closer and closer, and halfway through the 18 week plan, I'd love to be running faster for the effort I was putting in. Still, I felt a lot more comfortable tonight, than I felt for the first medium long run I did in December.
Totals;
Time: 1:30 - Distance: 21.00km


Saturday 27th January
73.8kg

Recovery Run - 11km w. 6 x 100m strides Bar my customary morning coffee, this was done on empty; 15 hours into a 16 hour fast. It would be silly to get too carried away with anything done in a recovery run, but I felt good for the strides and was hitting speeds I don't remember hitting for a long time. Perhaps even more importantly and a sure sign that fitness is returning, I recovered quickly from all of them.
Totals;
Time: 0:55 - Distance: 11.03km


Sunday 3rd February
74.5kg

Long Run - 29km w. 19km at MP(<3:40/km) As usual, I went to the Phoenix Park for my Sunday morning long run.
For the 19km at race pace, it was my plan to simply do lap after lap of the Playing Fields, until I was finished. At just over 2½km, this meant nearly eight laps in total, which I know sounds like a long and boring run. But if I could hold my hoped for pace, the sense of satisfaction I'd get, would be enough to keep such negative thoughts at day. Unlike my previous marathon paced run, which was a major disappointment, I was quietly confident of getting the job done today. This was partly due to the bit of weight I've managed to shed in the intervening period, but it's mainly due to the fact that I've been running better of late. Thankfully the confidence I had beforehand proved to be well founded, and I was surprised how easily the sub 3:40/km pace came to me.
The corresponding run in my preparations 4 years ago, yielded an average pace of 3:52/km. Come race day, I ended up running significantly quicker than this in horrible conditions in Connemara. Even repeating the 3:33/km pace I held today, on a much easier course, in 9 weeks would be enough for sub 2:30. I'll still do my marathon paced runs with a target pace of :40/km, but with 9 weeks still to go, I hope there are further improvements still to come.
At no point in today's run, did I think the pace was unsustainable and had it been called for, I'm confident I could have held it for a while longer. Ultimately though, I was happy with what I had did today. I finally feel like I am ready to attempt a marathon PB. I've made hard work of getting here and hopefully I won't f*ck things up from here.
Totals;
Time: 1:50 - Distance: 29.01km



Weekly Totals;
Running: 8:32 - 118.04km
Cross training : 0:55
S & C: 1:40

There's probably a bit too much triumphalism in my account of Sunday's run, but I'm not going to get carried away with things. There'll likely be plenty more moments of self doubt between now and April 8th, but 17km into the 19km MP effort on Sunday, was the first time since starting the plan, that I truly believed sub 2:35 in Rotterdam is achievable. I've been busy with triathlon training for the last four years, but I've never since came close to replicating my performance in Connemarathon 2014. It's been hard not to have to have doubts that my time that day, might just be my lifetime best for the marathon, but I think I've turned a corner now.

Lastly, I'd set myself a goal weight of sub 74kg, by the end of January. As it was obvious I wasn't going to get there, I had to implement the drastic measures I alluded to in last week's update. This consisted of four 16 hour fasts on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night. Although I saw 73.8kg on the scales Saturday morning, I'm fully aware it's not going to stay there without continued discipline. Four 16 hour fasts, over four consecutive days, was a bit extreme. It's something I'd never done before, but sometimes needs must. I hope I don't have to resort to these measures too often, but I still feel like I need to get to 70/71kg and there's a bit to go yet, so there might be a few more hungry days ahead.

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Did you have any body-fat measurements done when you were 70kgs?

No, I didn't have anything like that done. I was just periodically weighing myself on a digital scales. I don't plan on doing body fat measurements this time either. When I can see my abs and veins on my arms, I'll know I'm close to racing weight. I also know from being at 70.something previously, it's not a dangerous target for me. I'd agree that severe calorie restriction is not the ideal way to go about weight loss, but I've let myself get too heavy and that's the only way out of the state I'm in.

I don't know what would be a dangerous target weight for me, to be honest, but it always strikes me that people who run faster than me are invariably skinnier and lighter than me. I'm not for one second underestimating the training you've done, but you're a case in point of my maxim that lighter equates to being faster. And if I do ever want to match your times, I don't believe I'm going to run them at what I currently deem to be my racing weight. Getting to such a weight might very well be a natural byproduct of the extra miles I'd have to do, but that doesn't change the fact that 70kg+ guys running sub 2:30 marathons are few and far between.

I know I go on about my weight a lot, (This is as much about giving voice to my own inner monologue, as anything else. If anybody feels like chiming in though, have at it. I won't take any offence.), and it probably gets tiresome for anyone reading. But my slow drop off in weight since I started logging here, should tell you I'm not treating it as seriously as I pretend to.

There's usually a point in my preparations for goal race when the alarm bells go off. Rotterdam is exactly 2 months from today and that still hasn't triggered them. I'm due to do a tune-up race on 25th February and I hope the bells sound before then. I want to be waking up less than 72.5kg that Sunday morning and if I can do that, I'll be at the point you are in not being unduly worried about my weight.

Neady83 wrote: »

You reminded me of Yoshi, a loggerhead Turtle that made quite an impression on me when I saw her in SA way back when. They're incredibly graceful animals and I can't help but think that they're very wise.

By that, I'll take it you mean I'm very wise as well.
I just googled 'Yoshi loggerhead turtle': It's an interesting story, but it's sad to think not all turtles in the wild are doing so well.
Anyway, there's also a jellyfish in the tattoo, one of the most stupid and pointless creatures I can think of, so I wouldn't necessarily read too much into any tattoo I have, am getting, or will get.

My god, you're incredibly disciplined with your training and your weight targets.

Setting targets is the easy bit, if I do manage to get under 71kg by April, I might accept the plaudits, but right now, I don't think I'm doing anything hugely impressive. Likewise with the training; If you followed me for 24 hours, half the time, you'd wonder 'What the f*ck is he up to?' I procrastinate like there's no tomorrow and honestly spend longer thinking about going for a run than I do actually running.

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

Small enough study but the results make a lot of common sense. Basically fasting may be having the opposite effect you’d like to see

http://8020endurance.com/did-you-get-enough-to-eat/

As well as the small sample size, I'd be curious as to what level those 31 athletes were performing at. At an elite level, runners, cyclists and triathletes are probably never too far off ideal racing weight and given there's not much of an off season, it's probably not a good idea for them to be ****ing around with their diets too much. But for recreational athletes like myself, it's a much different scenario. I won't comment on anybody else here, but for me, I feel like a boxer who just needs to make weight and I'd say it doesn't really matter how do that. I don't even think extended periods of fasting are all that unorthodox. A 16 hour fast is simply not eating 4 hours either side of an 8 hour sleep, and it's only something I've done a few times a week recently. It's not like I've adopted a whole new approach to what I eat.

joey100 wrote: »

That study would be very similar in ways to what Laura found during the obesity research. Fasting stops your body producing GLP hormone which helps kick your metabolism in and encourages your body to use it's fuel. That's part of the reason why breakfast, or something to eat in the morning is so important. When we wake we have been asleep/fasting for around 7-8 hours of sleep and probably another hour or two beforehand. Having something to eat in the morning kickstarts the body producing GLP, which in turn kickstarts your metabolism. It's part of the reasoning why plenty of small meals are usually better than 1 or 2 larger ones. Long term fasting can cause damage to your bodies ability to produce GLP and so slow down weight loss as the body doesn't know when it will be fed next so hangs onto everything it can. That's a very basic version of it, and one I'm pretty sure I have told you about before so apologies for any repeating.

I'm not informed enough about obesity to comment with any authority on the issue, but suffice to say the challenges facing people like that, are not the same as the challenge I have in trying to lose a small amount of body fat. It's likely a whole lifestyle change they need to undergo and telling them to fast for 16 hours is probably neither realistic, nor likely something they can maintain in the long term. I guess setting them on the right path is something doctors would be trying to do from the outset, not helping them lose a few kilos as quickly as possible.


As for any long term damage I might be doing myself; Suffering from extreme cold, severe malnutrition and scurvy, this guy, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Evans,_1st_Baron_Mountevans, must have as close to death as you could possibly come. He was bedridden for 2 months after the ordeal, but went on to make a full recovery, had a distinguished career in the British Navy and lived to the ripe old age of 76. I'm sure I'll be fine.

dublin runner wrote: »

A really good post here on facebook:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=382765202198009&id=201462503661614

He dips into race weight and I would agree with what Stephen writes. I think it's a very interesting post; the importance of being relaxed, not a slave.

What works for me isn't for all. I go completely carb-free from the Sunday eve to Thursday eve, with a Sunday marathon. I wouldn't recommended it, it's not healthy. In saying that it's only temporary so I don't worry about the negative impact. In no way shape of form would I ever indulge in fasting during training.

Balance is the key thing.

Like I said in my reply to TRR, things are very different for elite runners. I'd certainly agree it's important to strike a balance, but just hear me out; According to the article, Stephen Scullion says for the first 6 weeks of a 10 week training block, he's probably "3-4 pounds" heavier than what he intends to race at. I'd say I've sometimes lost close to that after a trip to the toilet, and if 3-4lbs was all I was looking to lose, then I'd have a similarly nonchalant attitude towards weight loss. Read some earlier articles attributed to Stephen though and you'll see he hasn't always been so easy on himself.

Getting back to me; In the first 6 weeks of this training block, I was 13-15lbs heavier than what I intend to race at. To just get to what I would consider an ideal training weight, I needed to lose three times what Stephen Scullion does. Based on this morning's weigh in, I've still 4-5 pounds to go. I'm not detailing my approach to weight loss as an example for anyone else to follow and some might think I'm being irresponsible, but at the same time, this log isn't an advocacy group for anorexia. Talking about my weight ad nauseam, keeps me focussed on my target and I think it belongs here. The weight loss goals I'm stating are probably overly ambitious, but not at least aiming for them, wouldn't help me.

I've done carb depleting/carb loading many times before and I'll be doing it again the week before Rotterdam. It's hard, but I'm not so sure it's unhealthy. (Then just to add the hardship, I abstain from caffeine until the morning of the race as well.) Giving up carbs, certainly sheds weight quickly, but all I think you're really losing is the water that's needed to store glycogen in your body? Once you start eating carbs again, the weight goes back on. I've never been brave enough to try it, but I wonder how I might fare if after abstaining for few days, the first carbs I had were for breakfast on the morning of a race. Only for I've never seen this recommended anywhere, I'd give it a go. Perhaps one of the tune up races in this plan might be a good time to give it a trial of sorts. And I also know some people who claim carb loading is a waste of time, but it's also forces you to be very careful about what you eat and it's the discipline of avoiding carbs that I find good.

Great training by the way!

It's okay for a fat fnck.

Monday 26th February
No weigh-in

Long Run - 29km I wasn't particularly enthused about running 29km on a Monday evening, but the plan I'm following, calls for a long run the day after a race. I thought it important to keep this running order, so I planned it last week to postpone last week's long run by an extra 24 hours. So despite the distinct lack of enthusiasm, I'd no choice but to get it done. The fact that it was longer than any other midweek run I've done lately, actually helped me in getting started relatively soon after finishing work.
My legs didn't feel like I'd raced yesterday, but at the risk of this feeling coming upon me mid run, I ensured I was sufficiently fuelled and scoffed down a handful of jellies, before I started. I began running on The Royal Canal Way and I'd taken a gel with me, which I consumed after 12km. At this point, I turned around and headed back, in the fading light, to my car parked outside my school in Clonsilla. I duly arrived back safe and sound, and finished off with an additional 5km around the well lit streets of Dublin 15.
Totals;
Time: 2:03 - Distance: 29.10km


Tuesday 27th February
74.3kg

Recovery Run - 10km I did this before work; necessary as I was booked in for more tattooing in the evening.
Totals;
Time: 0:52 - Distance: 10.14km


Wednesday 28th February
74.1kg

Cross Training
I was scheduled to do a VO2 max session today, but given the huge amount of snow that had fallen in Meath, I wasn't going to be able to get it done outside. I didn't know whether the NAC was open, but even if it was, I wouldn't have been able to drive to it. Unless I ran around my living room, I wasn't going to get the session done. Instead I hopped on my stationery bike trainer and did my best to replicate the intensities of the 1,000m reps I should have been doing. I don't have any metrics to go off, but I did feel like I was fading somewhat as the efforts progressed; a sign of a successful makeshift replacement session if compared to my usual running form.


Thursday 1st March
73.3kg

Cross Training Even if Leo Varadkar hadn't basically issued a curfew on the whole country, I wouldn't have risked going outside in the conditions today. Yesterday was the first time I sat on a bike in four months and unfortunately in that time, my arse has gotten soft and tender. After last night's "ride", It was extra tender today and it took a lot of will power to sit on a bike for the 100 minutes I felt I needed to do in lieu of a 19km MLR. I'm delighted it wasn't any longer as it would probably would have meant standing and pedalling for any additional distance I'd have had to do.


Friday 2nd March
74.0kg

Medium Long Run - 19km My arse just couldn't face another stint in the saddle and as the original 6 p.m. curfew issued by the Taoiseach had been lifted, I reverted to the original intention in the running plan of actually running. There was tonnes of snow on the road, but a new coating was being laid down all the time, so there no real risk of slipping. Trying to hit my usual MLR pace would not have been the easiest or the wisest thing to do, so I just forgot about how fast I ran and decided I'd only run fast enough to stay warm, which considering I would have been well dressed for cold weather cycling, didn't turn out to be all that difficult. I've honestly probably never ran before with even half the insulating layers I had on today. It turned out to be a lovely run and a perfect antidote to the cabin fever I was experiencing.
Totals;
Time: 1:33 - Distance: 19.01km


Saturday 3rd March
73.4kg

Cross Training
After getting 24 hour respite from sitting in the saddle, I was brave enough to go back on my stationery bike trainer; 55 minutes easy done instead of an 11km recovery run.


Sunday 4th March
73.1kg

Marathon Pace Run - 32km w. 23km at MP I drove to the Park for this and for the first time in a few weeks, I was on my own doing Sunday morning long run. With the weather the way it was over the last few days, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to safely run the required 23km at MP that were the bulk of today's run. Before parking at the Visitors' Centre, I drove around the Park and scouted some potential routes. The snow was thawing, but there were still huge swathes of path covered in it and with no way of knowing where it might have compacted to ice, one thing I certainly wasn't going to do, was try to hit my marathon pace running on any of my regular routes.
My scouting trip took me down the main thoroughfare of the Park, Chesterfield Avenue, and I saw a lot of runners on the actual roads, which had been cleared by snow plows. Anybody running here had to share the road was cars. The snow had just been swept up into mounds by the roadside and there were only a few inches between these piles of snow and the passing cars. Although running on the roads, meant there was no risk of slipping on compacted snow, I decided early on, that this was only second best of two unappealing choices. Thankfully traffic was lighter than usual and most drivers seemed to understand the predicament runners were, in and drove with due consideration for their safety. At the same time, it would be a very naive person, who would trust everyone behind the wheel of a car to be so understanding.
The sanest thing to do would be to go to another part of the Park with cleared roads and even fewer cars. Being so choosy, meant I was stuck with a 2.3km stretch of the North Road which I planned to loop back and forth, back and forth on, until I had 23km built up. The thoughts of that were horrifying and I was giving serious consideration to binning today's 23km at MP, emailing Bohermeen AC when I got home, and hoping they'd allow me switch races from the 10k to the half marathon next Sunday. Right up until 7.90km today, I was thinking this. But over the next 100m, I just thought 'Fnck it! Put the boot down and let the chips fall where they may.'
As it turned out, I was a bit outside my hoped for pace, but it wasn't by such a huge amount that it has me worried of not running sub 2:35 in Rotterdam. (I'm starting to think I won't go much faster than that, but that's for another day.) The manner in which I was running the 23km, meant there were numerous dead stops and about turns. I lost a lot of momentum because of this and it undoubtedly cost me several seconds every few kilometres.
The nature of the run was tough mentally and despite my previous assessment of it being high risk, I did twice venture onto Chesterfield Avenue to break up the monotony of running 2.3km, stopping, turning, repeat. Running here, I did quite a bit of zig zagging from one side of the road to the other, another thing that cost me valuable seconds. Had I been able to run my usual laps of the Playing Fields, I'm certain I would have finished with an average pace under my 3:40/km target, but at the same time, I slowed drastically over the final quarter of this run. My average pace for the first three 6km segments today were 3:39/km, 3:40/km and 3:40/km This went out to 3:46/km for the final 5k. Even worse is that it was over the final two kilometres, for which I could only run 3:52 and 3:54 respectively, that I lost the bulk of this time. The final 1km kick I was planning to finish with was scrapped long before I got to the end of the 23km. Even had you set dogs on me, I couldn't have gone any faster. This is slightly concerning, but I guess if all I was having were good days, it would be a sign I wasn't aiming high enough.
Totals;
Time: 2:02 - Distance: 32.01km



Weekly Totals;
Running: 6:30 - 90.26km
Cross training : 3:50
S & C: 0:00

This didn't feel like a great week by any means. The weather played havoc with my plans. Not being able to get out for the intervals midweek, took away one of the sessions I use to judge my form. Then the conditions for my long run on Sunday were far from ideal. At the same time, this particular run was faster than the corresponding run four years ago. If that's all I was going off to judge my form ahead of Rotterdam I'd be confident of doing well, but my poor showing in the 10k last week is still a worry. It's the easier stuff that's turning out faster, but surely it's the harder training where I need to show form. Four years ago I finished off the 23km at MP, with a 3:16 split. It was 3:52 two days ago. I'm racing another 10k on Sunday, some more hard work, and I'm heading into it more in hope than in expectation.

OOnegative wrote: »

Why didn’t you do the half in Bohermeen? It was a deeper field runner wise that would have helped, know of at least two other Rotterdam bound runners that ran it. Just curious as to why you ran the 10k?

I assume you're talking about Krusty and DR here. I was aware they were running the half, but I didn't consider that in making a decision on which race to enter. The plan I'm following called for an 8-15k tune-up race, so an 8-15k tune-up race is what I did. Racing a half marathon at this stage of my training might seem like the most logical thing to do, and if I was getting coached, I probably would have entered and asked the coach to work my training around it. As it is though, I'm following a generic plan and I don't have that leeway. I'm not straying from any other aspect of the plan, so it wouldn't have made sense to stray from the planned for race distances. While I accept the deeper field in the half might have helped, my ultimate goal is a sub 2:35 marathon, not running quickly over shorter distances.

PS. I'm not really sure how much use to me either of them running in the half would have been. I'd have seen DR at the start and again at the end. I'd have also seen Krusty at the start and if I saw him before the end, it would have been more of a reflection on his race than mine.

OOnegative wrote: »

Yeah two gentlemen I was talking about alright, wasn’t questioning your plan was just curious as to why really. The few marathons I have ran the max I raced in the build up was 10 miles each time. Really wanted to know the thinking behind it.

I didn't decide what races to include in the plan, so the thinking behind the distances is not mine. I am simply following the program to the letter. I did this four years ago and it served me well, do I'm merely doing it again. That's honestly as much thought as I've put into things.
I haven't fully reread 'Advanced Marathoning' since starting this 18 week block of training, but a cursory glance at some of the other programs in the book, tells me longer races are included in some of the other plans. My understanding of the logic behind the race distances in the plan I'm following, is that anything longer than 15k would take too long to recover from, and end up negatively impacting on the rest of the training. If you really are curious as to the thinking behind the race distances, then you could get a hold of the book and read what Pfitzinger and Douglas have to say on the topic, but I don't think it's much more insightful than what I've said here.

Monday 12th March
No weigh-in

Long Run - 29km My usual long run on Sunday morning had to be postponed by 24 hours on account of being unable to find a suitable race last Saturday. I started this from the NAC and ended up doing loops and more loops of both Ballycoolin and Waterville. It had the potential to be really monotonous, but it didn't feel that way at any point. I was dwelling on yesterday's race and how far off my weight loss targets of three months ago I am, when it occurred to me how close Rotterdam actually is. I had a gel with me, that I was prepared to take if need be, but I got on fine without taking fuel or water on board. Frustration seemed to be enough to keep me going. I wouldn't say I was keeping the effort in check, but I was never working overly hard either. In the end I was happy enough with the overall pace.
Totals;
Time: 1:59 - Distance: 29.01km


Tuesday 13th March
72.7kg

a.m.
Cross Training This was done instead of a 6km recovery run.

p.m.
Recovery Run - 10km Boring enough plod on the treadmill; not much else to be said about it.
Totals;
Time: 0:50 - Distance: 10.00km


Wednesday 14th March
73.6kg

VO2 Max Run - 19km w. 6 x 1,200m at 5k pace I'd been planning to do this session outside, but the weather was completely miserable and I wasn't tough enough to face it. The pace for the 1.2km intervals was comfortable, but I'm acutely aware of how much easier they were always going to be on a treadmill, so I can't draw much satisfaction from the session. I've only two more VO2 max sessions left before the marathon, which I want to do outside. So hopefully the weather plays ball for them.
Totals;
Time: 1:31 - Distance: 19.00km


Thursday 15th March
72.6kg

a.m.
Cross Training This was done instead of a 6km recovery run.

p.m.
Medium Long Run - 24km I drove to The Phoenix Park with the intention of running as much of this as I could on grass. But between this and that, it was dark by the time I started. The grass was soggy and as I couldn't really see the many puddles I ran through in the opening 10 minutes and I ended up just sticking exclusively to the paths. It was all done south of Chesterfield Avenue and took in plenty of the hillier sections of the Park. I was slow to get going, but the pace came easily enough for most of the kilometres after that. Then I'd unexpectedly slow down and I'd have to push a little harder so as not to finish the split outside my upper time limit of 4:24. It felt more like a "long" run than a "medium" long run, but finishing so late in the evening (21:35) no doubt contributed to that.
Totals;
Time: 1:42 - Distance: 24.01km


Friday 16th March
73.1kg

General Aerobic Run + speed - 13km w. 8 x 100m strides I did this on a treadmill and when it came time to do the efforts, I upped the speed to 20.0km/hr and ran at that pace for 100m at a time. I took 100m recovery for which I dropped the speed down to 12.6km/hr. I didn't feel like I was getting sufficient recovery, but the machine I was on automatically stops after 60 minutes of use and not wanting to be caught out by this, I didn't think I could afford to spend any longer recovering.
Totals;
Time: 0:57 - Distance: 13.00km


Saturday 17th March
73.6kg

Recovery Run - 10km An easy 5k out my front door, then 5k back; all done before breakfast.
Totals;
Time: 0:53 - Distance: 10.01km


Sunday 18th March
74.6kg

Long Run - 35km I drove to The Phoenix Park for this, with my fingers crossed all the way there hoping that the overnight snow hadn't made running treacherous. Conditions were fine as it turned out, but it took me a while to suss this out and I was being very cautious to begin. I was running cautiously throughout really, but extremely so for the opening few kilmoetres. Although I was meant to be running sub 4:24/km pace, there were a couple of splits that went above this. I was more concerned with staying upright though and I wasn't prepared to go chasing the pace. I held a steady effort over the 35km and I'm happy enough with the pace this yielded. I got loaded up on Skittles and Monster energy drink before starting, but all I took during the run itself was a few sips of water, with about 10k remaining. I'm not trying to train myself to go without fuel, but I thought running 2½ hours without sugars, would be an ideal opportunity to burn off some excess body fat.
Totals;
Time: 2:31 - Distance: 35.01km



Weekly Totals;
Running: 10:23 - 140.04km
Cross training : 1:20 Three separate stints on my stationery bike trainer
S & C: 0:00

My final tune-up race is happening on Sunday. It's the Dunboyne 4 Mile, which is a bit shorter than what the book advises. But it's close to where I live, and the shorter distance fits better with my plans to just go out like my life depends upon it and seeing how long I can hang on. Unlike the last two 10k races I've done, this is the approach I usually take to racing. It's hardly the best strategy, but from my vantage point, it seems to be only seasoned runners who pace things properly and still finish feeling like they fully delivered. I didn't have that jaded feeling in my legs after either of my last two races. In the last few months, I've experienced it after some training runs though and I finished them in better humour than I did either of the two aforementioned races. I want to experience the feeling that I've emptied the tank after the 4 Mile on Sunday, and whatever the result, I'll be happy if I achieve that. And on the plus side, however badly things go, I've never raced a 4 Mile before, so a PB is guaranteed.

Monday 19th March
74.1kg

a.m.
Cross Training I did this instead of a scheduled 10km recovery run.

p.m.
Recovery Run - 6km I'd only intended doing the stationery bike training today, but as the day wore on, I started to feel guilty about not continuing the run streak I've been on. This was the first Monday in a while, that didn't include a second shorter daily recovery run in the evening. I didn't think it would do any harm in going out for an easy 6km, like I have been doing of late. I drove to Fairyhouse Race Course, where I could run on grass. I was sort of half enjoying it and the thought crossed my mind of doing the full 10km recovery run that was in the program. The light was fading though and in the end, I abandoned that idea. Had it been next week, after the clocks had gone forward, it might have been different. But either way, doing or not doing the extra 4km, isn't going to have any effect on how I fare in Rotterdam.
Totals;
Time: 0:33 - Distance: 6.00km


Tuesday 20th March
74.6kg

Cross Training I was in with a physio early evening and after some Acupuncture, he cautioned against running for the rest of the day. He gave me the go ahead to cycle or cross train though. My original plan was to do intervals today and I wasn't going to try to replicate that session on a cross trainer. With the final tune-up race in the plan occurring 24 hours later than scheduled, it was probably wise that the 600m intervals, designed to prep me for the race, were also pushed forward 24 hours. If I simply swapped the VO2 max session with tomorrow's 24km medium long run, I would have had to spend one hour forty minutes on a cross trainer, which needless to say wasn't very appealing. There was an 11km recovery run + speed, scheduled for Thursday and that stood out as being by far the easiest thing to mimic on a cross trainer. So that's what won out.


Wednesday 21st March
73.5kg

VO2 Max Run - 14km w. 5 x 600m at 5k pace After the physio treatment yesterday and a 24 hour delay, I felt more ready to take on these 600m intervals than I did yesterday. I feel I've spent too much time obsessing about pace during most of the runs I've done in this block of training, so my goal tonight was simply to run fast and see what it got me. I drove to the Park and did the intervals on the path at the far side of the Playing Fields. After sussing out wind direction, I took the executive decision to run the majority of the five efforts with the assistance of the wind. Once started each individual 600m rep, I attacked from the get-go and I was pleasantly surprised with the outcomes. I certainly wouldn't run a 5k race at 3:03/km pace. It's unlikely I'd have even held it over 800m intervals, but I wasn't trying to do either tonight and I finished feeling a lot better about things, than I did before I started. I'll adopt the same strategy for Sunday's race and hopefully I'll finish that just as content as I was about these.
Totals;
Time: 1:10 - Distance: 14.00km


Thursday 22nd March
72.7kg

Medium Long Run - 23km I wanted to keep this towards the slower end of my 4:02-4:24/km pace scale, which is what happened. The pace was very manageable, but still not as comfortable as I would have liked, and I never felt like I could afford to stop looking at my watch and just relax into the run.
Totals;
Time: 1:39 - Distance: 23.01km


Friday 23rd March
72.7kg

General Aerobic Run + speed - 13km w. 8 x 100m strides My triathlon club had a training weekend in Carlow. The majority of members had cycled down in the morning, but with a marathon looming, I chose to drive. Another member got a lift off me and when we got to Carlow, we did this run together. Most of it was alongside a path next to the river Barrow. It would have been a nice route had it not been so slippy. We turned early to be sure of doing the strides on solid ground. We began the run almost immediately after the drive down from Dublin and it wasn't really until the strides started, that I felt fully loosened out.
Totals;
Time: 1:00 - Distance: 13.12km


Saturday 24th March
No weigh-in

Recovery Run - 10km I was still down in Carlow and with the inclusive buffet breakfast ending at 10 a.m., I wanted to get this run done before that time. Otherwise, I risked running with a bellyful of food, which is never a great feeling.
I got less slow as the run progressed, which is better than nothing, I guess.
Totals;
Time: 0:53 - Distance: 10.00km


Sunday 25th March
74.6kg

Recovery Run - 3km
Just doing my usual short pre-breakfast shakeout on the morning of a race.
Totals;
Time: 0:18 - Distance: 3.35km

Race - Dunboyne 4 Mile
Warm up
Race Like I've said elsewhere in this log, I wasn't particularly happy with my two most recent 10k races. For both of them, I tried settling into what I felt was a sustainable pace. I finished both regretting that I hadn't put it all on the line in pursuit of a good time. I certainly wasn't in PB shape for either race, but I finished the two races knowing I could have worked harder. I've since looked back over 'Advanced Marathoning' and the following line stuck with me; "By tune-up races, we mean all-out efforts, not races in which you give less than your best." Going all-out early on in both tune-up races, might have seen me finish with slower times, but I couldn't class either as an "all-out effort". Whatever happened in today's race, I didn't want to finish today's race with similar misgivings.
After the warm up, I took up position near enough the front of the field. I'd no right to be toeing the line with Mick Clohisey and others of his calibre, but standing between two Dunboyne AC club mates whose pedigree I was aware of, I figured I was standing exactly where my running pedigree warranted.
The starting gun went and I went out hard. It meant I was in the company of faster runners and everybody around me in those early stages would ultimately finish ahead of me, but thankfully it helped me get off to a clear start. I was working overly hard, but I simply thought 'Fnck it, this what you'd planned, so just stick with it.' I was running alongside Kevin Moriarty, who went posted a 20:14 finishing time, so I was clearly way out of my depth. But still I don't regret the approach I took and so concerned was I with leaving it all on the line, that I actually moved in front of him at one point. He wasn't long regaining the lead. He did this with relative ease and after it happened, it became apparent how much I had invested in getting off to a good start. The pass happened before we got out onto the Dunboyne bypass and before turning back off the 1.5km stretch of bypass to head into Dunboyne Village, I was passed relatively easily by three or four more runners (I forget really).
There was still about half the race to go and I was now slowing significantly. From here on, my hope was simply not to lose any more places before the finish line. I hoped at this stage that anybody who had the beating of me was already ahead of me, but I'd no intention of easing off and kept reminding myself of my resolve to push as hard as I could for as long as I could. I arrived back in the village and wearing Dunboyne AC colours, meant I was getting plenty of cheers from the locals. This helped me keep up the effort, but not enough to reverse the drop off in pace I was experiencing, since the start of the second kilometre.
I could hear somebody closing in on me for quite some time, which ensured I kept up the effort in the closing stages. I crossed the '600m to go line' still leading him, but I was gone into the red and my only hope of keeping my position, was the chase was costing my pursuer more energy than I was expending in holding him off. This wasn't the case and he eventually passed me with around 300m to go. It prompted a fight back that didn't last much longer than two seconds. I was bunched and had no answer.
Thankfully, there was enough of a gap between me and the next runner and I was able to cross the finish line without having to fight off any other challenges.

Cool down Just a gentle jog before refuelling with cake and coffee in the community centre.
Totals;
Time: 0:52 - Distance: 12.42km



Weekly Totals;
Running: 6:25 - 81.90km
Cross training : 2:23 A combo of swims, stationery bike training and one stint on a cross trainer in the NAC
S & C: 0:35 One failed attempt to restore good habits

The 3:20/km average pace I finished with in Sunday's race was realistically the best I could have hoped for today. The pace is 2 seconds per kilometer quicker than I held when I set my 10k PB just over 4 years ago. The way last Sunday's race was going, it's likely I'd have slowed to such a degree, my average pace would have crept above 3:22/km had I to run an extra 3.6km. So I don't believe the 4 Miler was a better performance than when I ran my best 10k time training for the Connemarathon in 2014. Still, I'm a good bit happier with my most recent race than I was with the previous two races in this training block. It's not enough to leave me super confident of delivering a PB performance in Rotterdam. Even in the best case scenario, I still think running sub 2:35 in 2 weeks' time, is going to be touch and go. Nothing will stop me going for it though. I don't know if I'll take the same kamikaze approach in Rotterdam as I took to Sunday's race, but it's somewhat reassuring to know that I can run a lot slower than I did in Dunboyne and still achieve my goal.

Monday 26th March
74.0kg

Long Run - 27km I was in the Phoenix Park for this, with the intention of sticking to grass for the whole run. My speed was dropping though and it was going to be easier maintain pace on the road, so I switched to tarred paths after about 20km. Over each ⅓ of the run, my pace dropped from 4:18/km, to 4:19/km, to 4:20/km; maybe not huge drop offs on the face of it, but things were starting to feel like more of a struggle. Perhaps I should have expected to feel a bit flat after racing all out yesterday, but the average pace I held, is 40 seconds slower than I want to run in the marathon. It's a huge gap and it I think it should have felt a lot more comfortable than it did. I don't know what it means for Rotterdam, but it's allowing doubts to creep in.
Totals;
Time: 1:57 - Distance: 27.01km


Tuesday 27th March
74.2kg

Recovery Run - 10km I'd only rejoined Dunboyne AC a few hours before the 4 Miler last Sunday. It was just in time seemingly, as tonight was the last chance for members to collect key fobs for the clubhouse and track. I had to pick it up after a Fit 4 Life session, at 9 p.m.I drove out there for 8 p.m. and did this run beforehand. Bar Sunday's race, it was my first time running in Dunboyne in a few months. I find I don't appreciate much during a race so I didn't really take in the route and there was something nice about running old familiar roads tonight.
Totals;
Time: 0:51 - Distance: 10.14km


Wednesday 28th March
73.2kg

Recovery Run - 10km Just not to be doing two straightforward recovery runs for two days in row, I was going to include some strides in today's run. After consulting the book though, I found out that it was supposed to be simply 10km straight on the eve of this week's VO2 max session, which is happening tomorrow. Given the importance I ascribe to interval sessions, especially the very last on in a training block, I opted to leave out the strides.
Totals;
Time: 0:51 - Distance: 10.14km


Thursday 29th March
73.4kg

VO2 Max Run - 19km w. 3 x 1,600m at 5k pace I drove to Dunboyne AC to use the 400m track to do the intervals, mainly because I couldn't think of anywhere easier to do them. I warmed up with a 3km run to a cul-de-sac in a housing estate in Dunboyne and another 3km run back. For the 1.6k intervals, I switched my watch to record in miles. Im not 100% sure of what my 5k pace should be in miles, so the effort was much more controlled than it was for my intervals last week. The first two intervals were done anti-clockwise around the track, then I switched direction for the third rep. I don't know if it's due to the peculiarities of the track in Dunboyne, a strength imbalance in my right and left leg, or GPS inaccuracies, but the faster pace I held running in a clockwise direction has always been typical for me. The pace was about what I would have expected. I'm not getting too excited about the session, but then I'm not too disappointed either.
Totals;
Time: 1:10 - Distance: 15.00km


Friday 30th March
72.7kg

Recovery Run - 8km I had to check 'Advanced Marathoning' a couple of times to confirm it was an only an 8km recovery run in the plan. Bar the double runs days, I haven't had anything so short in the 17 weeks thus far; a sure sign that the marathon is just around the corner. It was a nice easy effort beginning from the NAC out to the National Cross Country Route on the NSC campus. Apart from the fact the ground was wet and I wasn't wearing appropriate footwear, there's not much else to comment upon.
Totals;
Time: 0:40 - Distance: 8.01km


Saturday 31st March
72.4kg

General Aerobic Run + speed - 11km w. 8 x 100m strides I was back in getting tattooed yesterday. Not wanting to wear clothing on top of fresh wounds, it meant I went with the treadmill for today's run.
I set the treadmill to 13.4km/hr (4:24/km) for the majority of this. I started the strides after I had completed 9km, at which point I upped the speed to 20.0km/hr and finished out the 100m at this pace. For recovery, I dropped the speed back down to 13.4km/hr, finished out the next 100m at this pace, then upped it again to 20.0km/hr, and on, and on, until I had all eight strides done.
Totals;
Time: 0:48 - Distance: 11.00km


Sunday 1st April
72.1kg

Medium Long Run - 21km I felt a bit sluggish at the start of this and the first two kilometres both took me 4:20. It didn't help that I'd started off running into the wind, which remained against for the opening 7km. For the pace I was holding, it felt as if I was working too hard during this opening ⅓. Thankfully it became easier after taking a right hand turn and I got out of the headwind. Once I got going, I didn't want any drop off in pace over the 90 or so minutes I'd be running, so I'd push a little bit harder when I came upon any drags.
The run came at the end of another 16 hour fast and not having had any breakfast beforehand, there were a few brief moments during the run when I wondered if it was wise to have gone out without any drinks or fuel. But these moments passed almost as soon as they came and everything worked out okay in the end.
Totals;
Time: 1:39 - Distance: 21.01km


Weekly Totals;
Running: 7:43 - 102.18km
Cross training : 2:52 A combo of swims and stationery bike training
S & C: 0:40 One trip to the gym; better than no trips, I guess

There's only week to D-Day and although there's nothing more I can do to prepare for the race, I'll hold off on predicting a time just yet. I won't be happy with anything less than sub 2:35 though, but I still haven't decided on a strategy yet. It's about time I know, but it's either roll the die, approach it aggressively and hope that works, or be more sensible about things and go for even splits, but where's the fun in that? I've made it this far through the plan unscathed, which is great, as I know not everybody is so fortunate. But having done that, I would have thought, I'd have emerged the far side a better runner. The evidence for that is fairly scant and the excuses I can come up as to why it didn't happen are fairly lame and I won't embarrass myself by listing those excuses here.
Thinking positively though, I have successfully gotten through the exact same runs that delivered a massive PB for me four years ago. Sure, the majority of my races this time round were disappointing, but then I wasn't training for these shorter distances and I'm going to be much better primed next Sunday, than I was for any of the tune-up races. I'm trusting that's going to be a huge factor in how I'll run. Fortuitously I'm also in the middle of two weeks off work right now. I'm already feeling much fresher and there'll be no excuse not to get a good night's sleep every single night of race week either.
Looking back on how I ran in Rotterdam last year (2:42:51), also gives plenty of hope. In 2017, I got injured in the build up and missed a lot of training. In each of the first three weeks of March, I ran 0km, 3.7km and 4.7km respectively. It was touch and go whether I was actually going to make it to the start line, so to still finish with a time of 2:42, having made it to halfway in 1:17, is encouraging. The lead up this year has been infinitely better than 12 months ago, so hopefully it stands to reason I should race infinitely better too.

MalDoc wrote: »

Best of luck at the weekend! That 16:8 really seems to have paid dividends the last week. Out of interest, what's your approach to diet the week of a big race? Do you plan out each meal or just avoid carbs a few days before the race....

The 16:8 dieting would definitely pay dividends if I wanted to squeeze into a wedding dress. It remains to be seen how effective it will be for my marathon though. In truth, I've left it too late to get to my racing weight. When you consider it's basically only not eating 4 hours before bed and skipping breakfast, I don't think 16:8 fasting is all that drastic. But if I was lighter two months ago, I probably wouldn't have done it so routinely.

As for my diet during the week of a big race; From Monday onwards, I'll avoid carbs for 3/4 days, then gradually reintroduce them from Thursday/Friday. The day before the race, I'll eat minimal solids and get most of my calories from liquids. It's toast and jam on the morning of the race, two cups of coffee and a sports drink. Half an hour before the race, I'll drink a can of Red Bull and eat a handful of jellies. Then immediately prior to the starting gun, I'll either have a gel or scoff down some more jellies.