Shotgun 2020

Thank you so much for following and for the messages here, wattsapp and strava.

The hr numbers show that I poured everything into it. But the numbers don't tell the story. The race report will!

Left hip flexor in bits. Every toe on the left foot blistered. Had a burger and beers with my run buddy earlier then walked 2 miles home grinning. 2:58:50. Delighted!

Great Limerick Run Sunday 5 May
Plan: 3:05
Actual: 2:58:50 Can't stop grinning when I see that

New Years Eve 2018 I had spent 15 hours on my own in hospital to cap off a frustrating year. I had tried in vain to build a base of fitness twice, only for injuries and illness to kybosh plans. I was discharged mercifully just before midnight and walked the 2 miles home, listening to the fireworks cracking above. I was fragile mentally and physically and deeply unhappy.

The following day, a calm early spring Tuesday, I entered the marathon and ran the first few of some 900 miles on the plan (more on another post). 18 weeks later I toed the line of the Great Limerick run with my run buddy, Niall.

Ok, he sure was nervous but now he was late! Had he bailed? It could not have been a more perfect running day, crisp and chilly blue sky and barely a breeze. Niall appeared around the corner jogging and we walked down to the start area, both nervous and excited. Went through the plan. 3:05 is happy days PB for him and good for me too. He has blown up enough times at Limerick. 7 minute miles he said. Just under, I said and we shook on it. We eyed up Dermot in a red Dooneen singlet and a red 3hr pacer balloon. Red for danger! After the Mayor and Regeneron VP speeches we were on countdown.

Giddy Start!
Miles 1-3: 6:44, 6:50, 6:42

Straight away we took off and the pace was hot. Niall immediately called to relax but I said it will settle after Hyde Road. It was cold and we needed to warm up after standing around (as if 26 miles were not enough to do that!), Niall wasn't buying it but grumbled an agreement. I met Caz and the kids at Lidl at the base of a hill we would face three times. She had my white running cap but I chose not to take it, a decision I'd begin to regret at mile 15. Mile 1 (6:44) was a quick opening but the hill would surely slow us down. The 3hr group were starting to form a bunch ahead of us.

By mile 3 we were downtown and onto the flat riverbank. We were 20m behind the 3hr group but thought they were moving too fast (6:50, 6:42)and we needed to settle down. I knew Dermot was a solid pacer and that group were in good hands, but we had to let them go.

The Pit Stop
Miles 4-6: 6:59, 6:57, 6:54

During mile 4 (6:59) we settled to a more sensible pace and drifted back from the 3hr group. Running through Rhebogue we noticed a large gap back to the 3:15 group and just a few runners between, closer to the 3:15 gang than us. Niall and I were even more grateful for each others company at this point. Problem, I needed a whizz. I waited until I had a chance just after the 5 mile (6:57) mark on a downhill toward the Dublin Road. It was quick, maybe 10-15secs but I lost a fair bit of distance on Niall now who was 30m behind the 3hr group.

I emerged from the tree and looked back at an empty road. The 3:15 balloons hadn't appeared around the corner yet but Niall was already onto the Dublin Road. Hmm... decision... to slowly reel him in over the next mile which was a tough one, or just go? I went! 200m speed tempo to jump back on. Niall was surprised to see me back so soon and held up a little to let me catch my breath. The 3hr group pushed out to about 50m over the next mile (6:54) up the long drag passed the UL main gate. It was along here we ran over the 10k timing mat that was not 10k. It was closer to 9k. We took our gel and laughed at what people following the tracker must have thought! 39 minute 10k... crazy pace lol

The Elastic Band
Miles 7-11: 6:39, 6:51, 6:49, 6:55, 6:58

We both knew the course and I suggested an elastic band approach to the 3hr group. We didn't consider ourselves part of the group but I wasn't letting them get away too quickly. If the band stretched out we would use a couple of opportunities to hold or reel it in a little. If it snapped and the effort to chase hit the red zone, we would back off and settle back to 7 minute miles. The straight mile down to the roundabout in the Plassey Tech Park was the first opportunity and a (6:39) closed the gap back to 30m. We saw Sergio striding away to the win a mile ahead of the rest.

At the roundabout before the huge windmill we settled to catch our breath up the long mile pull to the turn at the gate. I recognized a Limerick AC runner giving it guns on the other side of the road but only realized it was swashbuckler too late to roar at him. It was nicely distracting watching the relay runners chase each other and we were at the turn before we knew it.

The next 4 miles back around UL and onto the riverbank averaged 6:53 and we still hung 30-40m off the back of the 3hr group.

Oops!
Miles 12-14: 6:51, 6:56, 6:45

We had planned to go through halfway on 1:32 but according to Niall we were damned if we did and damned if we didn't! Last year he went through in 1:32 and lost his way in the thick of the half marathon crowd for 2 miles and never got it back, finishing in 3:10. Any faster than 1:31 and we were risking the 3:05. I thought the elastic band would snap on the pull up through town or on mile 14 up the hill by the Barracks. The opposite actually happened. We found ourselves slowly closing the gap to the 3hr group and were just a few seconds behind them going over the halfway mat. Perhaps it was the adrenalin from the support in town which was building. Shouts for Dooneen (I wore a Dooneen singlet too).

Halfway split: 1:29:57 :eek:

On the Barracks road we shortened strides but I could sense Niall's concern over my shoulder. We had been chatty for ages but the work had begun. We were 2 minutes ahead of schedule and a minute over best case scenario. We looked at each other and kind of went oops! But significantly for Niall at least, we were ahead of the half marathon start and a clear road up the hill. We still didn't bridge the gap and held a 30m distance to the 3hr group but close enough to hear Dermot's (the Pacer) calls and advice on breathing, strides, pumping the arms etc.. He was great.

Mile 14 up the hill was (6:45). I started to share Niall's concern. Had we blown it? It was getting warm and I felt the sun and sweat on my forehead. For now, the heart rate checked out in low Z4. Working.

Self Talk
Miles 15-17: 6:38, 6:45, 6:39

Up Rosbrien Road the next chance for the elastic band to break was the hill by Old Crescent Rugby Club. However this is very familiar territory. I shortened the stride and pumped the arms up the hill and for the first time actually caught the back of the pace group. We descended into Dooradoyle and to my surprise there was Caz and the kids at mile 16 and she had my running cap. Woohoo! The suburbia support was excellent and I got a bit excited on mile 17, reminding myself to breathe, shake the arms down this hill, shorten the strides on this bit etc.. Only I was saying them all out loud! Before I knew it I had a couple of bodies grouped around me.. eh wrong red singlet lads

The loop up around Dooradoyle brought forward the best possible mid race scenario for me. I had visualised many times being at the top of the hill in Dooradyle with the 3hr pacer in sight at the bottom, within a minute. Except it wasn't a minute, we were now in the 3hr group!

Teeing it up
Miles 18-20: 6:46, 6:45, 6:55

We were motoring back down the Rosbrien Road. The fabulous support really helped on the hill back out of Dooradolye. I had eaten my 3rd gel and drank another H5 caffeine tab, that I dissolved in a bottle. We were right in the pace group now but Niall was at the back. I kept checking on him and he would grunt or say "yeah". I was a bit concerned that I had lead the charge into the 3hr pace group and if we blew up it was on me, but he was still there.

The hill by Lidl to Punches for the 3rd time hurt and it didn't end until you were around the corner and over it onto O'Connell Avenue. We lost a couple here, thankfully not Niall. Running back down town passed mile 20 I felt great. The heart rate was low 170s, top of Z4 but we were into the last 10k and we had made our bed. We were going to hang on for as long as we could. Worst case scenario was now 3:05.

Enter the Red Zone!
Miles 21-23: 6:45, 6:48, 6:47

The crowds in town were great. On Henry street I actually ran beside the Pacer and another Dooneen runner was just behind us. Loads of shouts for Dooneen and this was the 0.5% boost for representing a club. I felt strong and was even tempted to push on but very quickly binned that crazy idea. It was still a lonnnng way to go. Mile 21 through town and across Sarsfield bridge was fab. So much support, crowds out at the riverfest on a sunny day. It was really uplifting. (6:45) for mile 21 and the Pacer said we had a little bit in the bank. All good!

Mile 22 (6:48) was similar pace but harder. The beginning of the North Circular Road. On one hand it was only 4 miles to go but on the other, it was maybe the hardest 4 miles on the course. My heart rate was mid 170s, Z5, red zone, pain cave and I ate my last gel too soon. They are heavy GU gels and I had practiced taking them with no water in training. It was quite warm now though and my mouth was sticky. I finally got the water just after the 22 mile mark and washed my mouth as well as dumping water over my head. Exactly why I wore the cap. The shade from the sun and to stop water running into my eyes.

Mile 23 (6:47) was tough. A long pull around the back of the NSS. I had a tinge of cramp in my left quad but for me, sub3 was on now. The 3hr group was originally a group of 25+ that we were unsuccessfulky avoiding was now a group of 10, including a couple of half marathoners. This exact mile was the last mile of many of my MP tempo workouts which really helped now. I was used to hanging on for this mile. Again I had visualised in traing that if the sub3 came into scope I originally planned to stick with the pacer until Mile 25 and the Gaelic Grounds hill was done and then go. However the left quad now concerned me and for some reason I just started pushing ahead of the pacer at mile 23...

Torture and Pure Joy
Miles 24-Finish: 6:39, 6:52, 6:54, 1:38 (400m @ 6:35)

Mile 24 (6:39) I was now running scared but didn't look back. I emerged onto the Ennis Road ahead of the pacer! The legs felt strong but my left quad was still concerning me. I pressed on, passing a few downhill passed the Gaelic Grounds. I turned the corner by Supermacs and looked at my watch when it beeped for 24m. 2:43 and change. I remembered clearky the moment in Connemara 8 years ago when I did the same after climbing the hell of the West. It was on 2:45 then but it was flat into the finish and I missed the sub3. I had over a minute extra now but two bloody hills to do!

Mile 25 Torture (6:52) was awful. On the first quiet hill up towards Thomond Park the left quad started to cramp. As a result, as I pushed, the left hip flexor over fired to compensate for it. My left foot was jamming my blistered toes into the shoe and it changed what was a decent stride for 24 miles into something more resembling the hunchback of Notre Dame. I was dragging my left quad up the hill. 2 lads I passed on the Ennis road came passed me again. To my horror the pace dropped too, 7:05, 7:20 and I thought I had gone too early. To make matters worse I looked back and there was the 3hr pace balloon not 40m behind me! I hit a low point thinking I had blown it but during the minute of mental torture I turned right. The hill was done! Ok come on Mike, don't give it up!

I managed to lengthen the stride a bit to sort of relieve the quad back down behind the Gaelic Grounds. I didn't notice the support or who was on the road around me, it was complete focus. My heart rate was in the low 180s. I don't even hit that on short speed intervals. I was deep inside the pain cave. I shook my arms loose and took a few deep breaths before facing the Gaelic Grounds hill. I psyched myself up for it. I didn't care who passed me as long as they were not carrying a balloon! In fact despite me thinking I was going backwards I was actually passing people on the hill. I was suffering though. Pure and simple and struggling mentally. Then I looked back and the pacer was closing on me. I tried to think clearly amidst the pain. My left quad and hip were in bits but the cramp was low. If I could just latch onto the pacer as he passed I could hang on to the finish. He said he had something in the bank right?

Again while this battle was going on in my head I reached the top of the hill. My heart rate was 186, near max, but I just kept pushing. Mile 25 clocked (6:52) which surprised me. It felt slower. I didn't lose as much as I thought. I just had to hang on! However, sure enough a red top appeared on my right and my heart sank. It was my lowest moment of the race...

800m to go and as the red top passed me I realized it wasn't the pacer singlet, it was Niall!! I rejoiced!! Somewhere on that hill he had been the last person with the pacer. Everyone else either fell off or pushed on. Finally after 14 marathons and many sub3 near misses and tears, Niall suddenly believed he could do it and left the pacer. He was eyeballs out and motoring so I latched on, somehow picked up my stride rate and followed his feet for 400m past the Maternity Hospital and onto Sarsfiield bridge.
Mile 26 (6:54)

400m to go and I knew too that I was going to get the sub3 today. The noise from the support on the bridge was simply brilliant. I even had some shouts from familiar faces. My quad was on fire and the pain was real but I just had to hold it together. I saw some poor guy on the final corner leaning against the railing cramping. That was nearly me, but not today.

200m to go and I didn't have Niall's sprint finish but I was still running at 6:35 pace to the line. The noise was amazing, the time on the clock even better. 2:58:50!! :eek:

Niall and I embraced like sugar crazed kids behind the finish line. Pure Joy. We could scarcely believe it. We were sub3ers! Beyond our best expectations The second half was 1:28:53 a negative split of 1:07! That was a first for me too. Just a perfect day. Credit to Dermot Kearns the sub3 pacer too, he was just solid throughout.

In terms of placing I was
#74 at 10k,
#65 at 20k,
#49 at 30k,
#33 at 40k,
#32 at the finish.
#20 in my Age Category

I collected my bag and we headed to the Lock Bar before the masses for a burger and some sub3 beers. Boy were they good! I walked the 2 miles home alone, listening to the festival atmosphere around town, enjoying the sunshine and feeling great mentally and physically fit. I was a very very happy man.

Tuesday 7 May
Recovery and a note on Hansons

The hip flexor is grand after stretching. Quads have a way to go but I'm in good shape. A bit of walking, stretching and rolling this week and then yoga mat and light rowing when the body is ready. Have another marathon on Saturday which is bringing the kids up to City West for Disney on Ice.

Hansons hmmm
Honestly its the first marathon plan I've seen through so hard to say I would not have achieved the sub3 with another plan like P&D etc.. The Hansons method suited me. I've often broken down on 20-22 mile LRs simply because 1) Running was not my main focus and 2) my mileage was low with the LR being up to half of the week's mileage.

No LRs?
Hanson Advanced plan has 3x 16 mile LRs. That's it.

Its not that the de-emphasis is on the LR its more of an emphasis on the mid week running. The mileage is more spread out over a Thursday to Tuesday 6 day routine. The volume of 900 miles is similar to other plans but I did over 100MP miles in it clocking well over 10% dialing in the marathon effort. Its not that Hansons don't advocate 20 milers. Its more of a cap of 25-30% of your weekly mileage being you LR. 16 miles was 25% of a 64m week.

What did a typical Hansons week look like?
The plan has 3 SOS (sessions of substance) again not unlike other plan.

M: Easy 6-7m
T: SOS - Intervals. During the speed section (weeks 2-10) you run approx 5k worth of intervals and during the strength section (weeks 11-17) you run 6 miles of longer intervals at MP-10secs.
W: Off
T: SOS - MP Tempo. 6m in week 3 progresses to 10m in week 15
F: Easy 6-8m
S: Easy 8-10m
S: SOS - LR every second week and 10m easy every other week. LRs were 12, 14, 15, 16, 16, 16

When you factor in warm ups and cool downs you are looking at approx. volumes

M: 50-60 minutes
T: 65-90 minutes
W: Off
T: 80-105 minutes
F: 50-70 minutes
S: 65-85 minutes
S: 90-130 minutes

Short runs were typically an hour. I didn't run less than 6 miles until the last taper week. Doing 2x 90 minute runs midweek with an office job and small kids basically meant lots of early (5-6am) mornings.

Cumulative Fatigue - the governing principle of the plan. The plan is progressive so the fatigue builds week on week from about week 5. By week 12 starting the strength intervals you are looking forward to each Wednesday. The MP tempo runs were basically running a half marathon every Thursday before or after work. The speed intervals were pretty tough by week 8 as you had 5 days of running with 2 SOS in your legs before you started.

What did I get from the Hansons plan? Apart form a shiny sub3 PB
1. Lots of MP running practice. Even the Strength intervals which were 10 secs quicker felt like money in the bank for MP practice. Some of these session were tough and often felt like later marathon miles than fresh training miles.
2. The heebeejeebees during the 9 day taper as I had not felt "fresh" for 17 weeks.
3. I learned how to manage fatigue and recognize symptoms of the fine line between fatigue and overreaching. When I was really feeling it I used heart rate instead of pace to gauge effort.
4. I got stronger. Regular 1:32-1:36 half marathons were not taking much out of me. As the plan progressed and I felt the fatigue, I seemed to bounce back just as quick each day.
5. Crucially - No injuries! I managed to handle 50-60m weeks and even 2 at or over 70m. That was new territory for me and confidence that I could handle 60m weeks. The extra mileage was mainly adding a mile to the warm or cool down of the sessions. All additional mileage was easy.

Would I use Hansons again?
Sure why not! Its simple and rhythmic which I like but perhaps too simple for some. It means early mornings which is not for everyone. This is not the plan for the weekend warrior! I'd not necessarily change the LR approach other than to bring some "stuff" into the 16m LR like progression or MP reps.

Thursday 9 May
30min Row

Had to dust it off before a first go on it this year. Steady at 20 strokes per minute and 7,258m completed. The Concept 2 Erg kicks your ass, particularly if you haven't sat on it for months. Some more stretching.

Friday 10 May
Recovery 4.87m @9:10

After spending the last 4 days steadily gaining weight I needed to move. I walked in and out of work yesterday and this morning no problem. It looked lovely and sunny out but still bloody chilly and I got caught in hailstones, seriously! The body in general was ok but the left quad and hip flexor that went through all the pain are still a little tender. This was too soon. I'll stick with the rower, walking and just stop eating crap! Apart from that I've been sleeping in until 8am which has been wonderful. Lots of cancelled meetings at work the last 2 days so I've been doodling a plan. Perhaps if Limerick was the end of a series of marathon blocks I'd be sick of looking at plans but I had to write down what I learned and what I'd change etc.

The Next Block (Recovery)
Get the legs back running easy over the next 2 weeks and then start adding volume. I hope to do a Parkrun but the main aim will be to get back up to base mileage by the End of May

The Plan (DCM Block)
I'll start the DCM block in June after a holiday with Caz and the kids. Overall I'm sticking with the Hanson Method and progressing the advanced plan. The first few weeks of the plan its mainly easy so I'll look to do another Parkrun or a 10k.

No Change
The format of Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday SOS. It was a challenging enough pattern as is but worked.

The approach to DCM (apart from a tune up half marathon). I won't fixate on a specific target. I may never do for a race again actually. I'll put in a block of training and run my best on the day. What that produces is what will be. Of course I'll have a feel for what target pace to train at by mid program and a what that will translate to for a goal marathon pace.

The Minor changes
Tempo (MP) target pace will be 5-10 seconds faster
Speed and Strength target pace will be 5-10 seconds faster
Recovery pace will be 20 seconds slower

Basically hard gets a little harder and easy gets easier to balance the force

The Major Changes
Charleville Half Marathon half way through the race specific phase
The last Block was all work and no play! Worth it of course but I don't want to do another 18 weeks of just training. Plus, sub3 is in the bag and the pressure is off!

Increasing overall weekly mileage - Overall I averaged 50mpw over the 18 weeks but missed the bones of 10% of the plan. My last 6 weeks were 65mpw which was new territory for me. Not a huge jump to 70-75mpw but I'll do it slowly.

Adding strides or short hill reps to easy runs. To spicy them up without risking more intensity than necessary.

Longer and more frequent LRs and some "Stuff" in LRs. - I added stuff to the LRs in the advanced plan already and its something I always did back when I was last run fit. The main thing will be more frequent LRs but keeping them within 25% of the overall weekly mileage and capping at 2.5hrs max. The Advanced plan was proof that you don't need as many so I'll happily bin one of it stretches to overreaching territory.

Finally
I've achieved my 2 A Goals for the year already. The B goals are getting close to other PBs so I have benchmarks for next Spring with a winter base behind me. I feel blessed to go 4 months without injury, I will need to bring in S&C and be disciplined enough to step back whenever I need to stay that way for the rest of the year.