PB or not PB...that is the question

06/10/2019


32.25K –164:08 – Road – NP34

Despite running the length and breadth of Limerick City I still ended up having to do a few laps of pitches at the end to make up the distance :rolleyes:

Really happy with this I have to say - I know I should probably have a bunch of these under my belt and I should be injecting pace surges etc. as well but taking everything into account I'm not in too bad of shape.

Kept the pace very consistent the whole way round and felt I had a bit more in the tank at the end.

2 brief breaks to buy an energy drink in a shop - was looking for Lucozade Sport but ended up with Ballygowan Aciv which seemed to be marginally less toxic. Took another water break at the car before doing the final 4K on the pitches.

There was a LOT of people of doing long runs - each looking more miserable and anxious than the last :-)

No issues with the Achilles or calves at all really thankfully - gave them a good soaking in an ice basin when I got home so maybe that's helping recovery.

10/10/2019

10.05K – 47:25 – Road – NP34

Pretty solid run this afternoon in windy and bizarrely warm conditions.

Legs a bit sore and stiff - not sure if it's taper madness or just general madness at this stage.

Was toying with the idea of doing another Thursday-Sunday longish (18K)-long run(32K+) combo but after a period of mature reflection, I've decided to cut my losses and quit while i'm ahead.

I don't think I have a lot to gain from another 20 miler (apart from peace of mind maybe) and have a lot to lose (eg. another major achilles flare up). So will probably rest tomorrow and Saturday, and then maybe do something like an easy 20Kish run on Sunday. And then go for a physio rub down on Monday evening :cool:

15/10/2019

8.10K - 37:51 - Road - NP34

Have been on an enforced mini-holiday this week as our young fella is sick with a chesty cough. I have the option to work from home but tbh he was a bit thrown down and I was feeling a bit worn out myself as well; not the optimum use of annual leave perhaps but the change of pace hasn't done me any harm.

Popped out for a quick stretch of the legs yesterday evening before it got dark - legs a bit stiff but not tooooo bad, otherwise it was a very easy and pleasant outing.

Just wrote out a checklist there for the DCM - dunno if I feel more relaxed or freaked out after putting everything on paper :eek:

20/10/2019

16K - 74:58 - Road - NP35

Hectic but enjoyable weekend for my eldest fellas birthday - I could almost build an extension on the house now with all the Lego we have :pac:

Out bright and early this morning to get run done before party at 11 and also to recreate next weekend a bit. Bought a few tubs of quick oats so wanted to test that they were ok for pre run breakfast; no probs at all....the hotel I’m in weren’t sure if early breakfast will be available next weekend so that’s one less thing to be worrying about.

The run itself was pretty damn good

Felt a bit sluggish for the first few km but then it was like my legs woke up and I was running very smoothly and strongly after that. Actually probably ended up running slightly faster than intended but it felt good tbh.

Physio tomorrow then rest and sleep for a few days

23/10/2019

6.10K - 29:05 - Road - NP34

Getting down to the wire now!!!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek:

Under a bit of time pressure today so had to curtail my planned 8K....all good in the hood thankfully.

I'd pay good money for a couple of good night's sleep at this stage :cool:

25/10/2019

6.25K - 30:08 - Road - NP34

A final final final lunchtime run to calm the nerves and keep the legs loose.

Have found this week a real drag tbh - have missed running actually (:D) and not sleeping properly at all, which is not something new really but it had started to improve a bit lately.

So all set for Sunday now - this is probably the best prepped I've been for a marathon. I think the Achilles flare up I had back in July/August might have been a blessing in disguise - with 20:20 hindsight, I reckon if I'd kept ploughing on at full tilt I'd probably be totally banjaxed now.

Looking back at previous marathon training efforts, there's no doubt I've been a bit blasé and even wreckless at times - definitely a lot more focused now and feel more emotionally invested as well if that makes sense.

Anyway, enough crapping on for me for now....the next update here will be my race report :pac::pac::pac::pac:

27/10/2019

DUBLIN CITY MARATHON 2019

42:47K – 204:08 – Road – NP35

So 3:24:08….a new PB by well over 2 mins

First marathon in 7 years

Everything went pretty much to plan on the day

No injuries or sickness before, during or after….have actually felt grand today and yesterday:D

So I should be feeling ecstatic and over the moon right???

I’m definitely content and satisfied with Sunday, glad I had the wisdom/experience to throttle back when I did and finish relatively strongly but……..


I feel like I still have unfinished business with the marathon…..I swore after 2012 I was done, and told anyone that’d listen that this year was definitely my last but I feel like I haven’t fully done myself justice yet over 26.2 miles.

Will rest and recover now for a bit and then see where I’m at around Christmas time – not sure if a Spring marathon would be a good idea (?) or if I should target something more long term maybe.

Expo:

First time entering Dublin since 2009 so it was immediately clear that things had changed in the meantime – huge crowds at the Expo, was dreading queues at registration but was pleasantly surprised to see how slick the organization was…..breezed through that and spent a few minutes looking at overpriced running gear that I don’t need.

Then wandered over to the main stage area just as the 40 Marathons group were getting their presentation – really inspiring to see them all there tbh….shook hands and chatted with a couple of them, great to see their enthusiasm, energy and interest hasn’t waned over the years.

Didn’t hang around too long after that – popped back to the hotel, had something to eat and hit the leaba around half 9.

Race Day:

Up bright and early – got the porridge and granola in asap, followed by a banana and few oat cakes.

Met up with a couple of lads from the club down in the lobby and strolled into town – again the crowds streaming in at this stage were much bigger than previous years I remember.

No hassles through the bag drop and toilets, and made my way down towards the start.

It was super congested – I could see the 3:20 balloons in the distance but there was no way I was getting anywhere near them. I don’t recall London being this crazy at the start so I think they deffo need to look at some sort of pen system within the waves. It’s all good and well having wave starts but having 5 or 6 thousand people all starting en masse isn’t a good idea imho.

Anyway, got moving and spent most of the first 5K concentrating on not tripping and/or running into people. The only thing bothering me was my gel belt – I hadn’t ran with more than 3 before, so having 6 on board changed things a bit – it was moving around a lot which was mildly annoying but not a huge issue.

5K: 23:55

And spent much of the next 5K avoiding people as well – there was large parts of this race I genuinely can’t remember as I was just focused on the immediate space around me. Didn’t notice the hills in the early sections at all. Had lost sight of the 3:20 pacers for most of this part as well – it was only on the occasional straight bit that I caught sight of them – wasn’t too worried about this as such as I knew they had started ahead of me but the congestion was starting to p1ss me off.

10K: 46.57

Made contact with the tail end of the pace group coming out of the Phoenix Park and the crowd thinned out slightly here – was feeling very comfortable at this stage and the gel belt was finally getting lighter!

15K: 70:08

If I remember correctly, this was largely a fairly narrow section ran into blazing sunlight (?) – things bunched up here again and I really wanted to get ahead of the pace group but there was literally no room.

Got tapped on the back of the legs a few times and felt like clobbering a few idiots around me with headphones on…particularly the fella singing along loudly to what I think was a Neil Diamond song :pac:

10m: 74:52

20K: 93:27

Finally some space to run in – was comfortably embedded with the pacers now and was cruising along nicely.

13.1M 99:05

25K: 116:51

Can’t remember a whole lot of this tbh – I think I was just in a nice zone and rhythm so maybe it was a pure Zen state or something. I should mention that the support on the course was fantastic throughout – no doubt it really helps when things start getting tough.

30K: 140:04

Mile 19 sticks out as I nearly faceplanted going over a speedbump – dunno if it was tiredness, lack of concentration or the sunlight/shade combo on the road but I was very very close to making a mess of myself. Not only frightened the shyte out of myself but think I freaked out 2 fellas beside me as well.

I had moved slightly ahead of the pace group at this point – it wasn’t crowded really at that point but I’d been kicked in the ankle 3 times in quick succession by someone so I put on a mini-surge just to move away from it.

I had a rough couple of KM around here I think but rallied a bit and got back on track again.

35K: 166:19

Ahhh….35K….not where I hit the Wall…but where I saw it in the distance and decided to respect the Wall.

Out of nowhere, my right quad and knee started to cramp up a bit on the (seemingly) endless series of long drags.

I wasn’t feeling sick or queasy either but something didn’t feel quite right – I was still with the pacing group and tried a couple of times to HTFU and dig in but I sensed that the tank was emptying rapidly at this point. Did some quick mental maths and knew that if I played my cards right I could still nail a PB ( 3:26 ) fairly handy.

So I stepped off to the side and walked for 4 mins to get my sh1t together. Also wanted to loosen my right shoelace which had started to become a tad uncomfortable; bent down to untie it but my quad nearly exploded so left it as it was.

I was also glad to be away from the pace group in a weird way – it’s hard to explain but I felt like the pressure was off and I could ‘enjoy’ the rest of the race and soak up the atmosphere.

Got moving again ok after that but knew the last few miles were going to be a slog either way.

40K: 191:15

Was half tempted to bail into the hotel as I trundled past it – could clearly see my car in the car park as well.

My right knee/quad was now properly sore so a couple of more micro non-running breaks were required – was still computing times in my head and reckoned the PB was still in scope.

Kept the legs going and put the hammer (or whatever was left in the tank) down for the last KM – the noise from the crowd was fabulous and for once I was passing people out in the last stage of a marathon.

Delighted to get over the line and a PB is welcome any day at my age.

Had to ask a volunteer to open my shoelace in the end lol.

Met the missus and headed back through yet more crowds – she was actually shocked at how fresh I was (she’s seen me in some right states in the past).

Hopped in the car then pretty much straight away – I knew there was no point in eating anything for a while…..5 gels and a Lucoazde sport had taken their toll.

It took the guts of an hour to get to Naas due to all the diversions (and a couple of missed turns). Spent about an hour in a gigantic hot bath then went to the bar for a well earned pint of Guinness just as Mo Salah was smacking the ball into the back of net against Spurs

Yesterday was more relaxing (in the thermal suite in the hotel) and retail therapy (in Kildare Village).

Back to the grindstone today – nice to get congrats and well-wishes at work and have raised around 500 quid as well for our company charity.

TLDR:
It went probably as well as it could on the day taking everything into account.
It’s not my last marathon

Actually had a solid, unbroken night's sleep last night :pac:

It's so rare I had to post on my running blog about it :D

Recovering pretty well after DCM I think - shoulder/neck still a bit achey but everything else feels grand.

Considering a gentle autumn lunchtime jog tomorrow....

And have started looking at Autumn marathons (:eek:)....Limerick is on my doorstep I guess but meh, I drunkenly promised my brother-in-law that I'd pace him around a marathon (he's building for an Ironman) and he's just entered Brighton but not sure on that one for a number of reasons....Manchester looks like the best option at the minute I reckon.

31/10/2019

6.60K - 32:36 - Road - NB880

So I lasted 3 whole days without a run :pac:

Have been fairly tired the last couple of days but actually managed 2 decent nights sleep back to back for the first time in years.

A slow paced jaunt today in murky Nenagh today - no major aches or pains. The late stage marathon issues (knee and quad) did not resurface thankfully.

Will probably sign up for the Dungarvan 10 miler tomorrow morning.....keeping an eye on the Manchester marathon too

03/11/2019

12K - 56:10 - Road - NB880


Early start in the cinema to see Farmageddon – the day can only go downhill after you’ve had popcorn and chocolate at 11am

Was itching to go for a run so headed out before it started getting dark – trying to get the balance right between not going back to soon and not losing the fitness I’ve built up over the last few months.

12K felt very short which is good – will try to get out tomorrow and Thursday and will be back on the wobble board as well.

Have a slight tightness behind my left knee/lower quad – hopefully nothing to worry about but will keep an eye on it