Berlin Q or Bust: Road to sub 2:45

Manchester Marathon Week 6

Mon: 10 Miles Recovery: 1:24:36 @5:15/km

Shuffled around the estate for a few boring miles whilst making sure my two fellas weren't burning down the house.

Headed to Naas in the afternoon for the first round of golf I've played in 2 and a half years. Enjoyed it and was actually hitting it half decent by the end.

Tue: 9 Miles Easy: 1:13:18 @5:08/km

More estate laps. The Nike Invincibles are without an equal for these shuffles. Pillows.

Wed: 19.6k in 6x1 mile off 2 mins.

Plan was to not go too crazy at this and see how the body was feeling after Sunday. Headed down to the track, whose gravel had gotten a bit of a resurface which was badly needed.

Had 5:35-5:40 as a ballpark target, and was feeling decent enough as I was warming up. Felt pretty good during the reps and the pace felt pretty manageable. The 2 mins recovery felt generous too tbh. All in all, a good day.

Splits: 5:35, 5:34, 5:32, 5:36, 5:34, 5:32

Thu: 14.2k: 1:09:53 @4:56/km

Caught up with an old pal during this and the run flew by.

Fri: 11.5k: 58:06 @5:05/km

Fri evening shuffle before the return of the football. Arsenal gonna Arsenal I suppose...😋

Sat: 7 Miles Easy: 57:49 @5.08/km

Morning trip out and back on the Naas dual carraigeway.

Sun: LR 20 Miles: 2:10:43 @4:03/km

Didn't get out until half eleven for this one and had seen a few people bang out great runs all weekend so was buzzing and rearing to go for this one.

Plan was 5 miles off/on by two, with the 'on' at MP. Figured out a route where I'd run up to the Camp and do the first 5 miles 'on' on the loop, then run back down to the Lidl loop and do the second 5 miles 'on' there.

Set off in drizzly conditions, but with little breeze it was actually quite nice to run in. Had no specific target for the 'off' miles, but I wanted to run them at a decent clip. To be honest I was having to reign myself in for these miles, trying to keep as much as possible in reserve for the MP sections. Feeling great and these miles clocked in at 33:40 (6:48,6:46,6:45,6:51,6:40). 

Had a little drink stashed on the loop, so took that and popped a gel quickly before I started the first 5 miles MP. These miles went like clockwork on the loop. Whilst I've considerably cut down on how much I use the loop, it does come in handy for stuff like this. Anyway, was bopping along nicely and after finishing up the 5 miles I was away back towards the town. 31:02 (6:10,6:13,6:14,6:11,6:14) for this section.

A couple of down hills and a couple of decent drags and I'm crossing the Liffey ready for the last 5 miles. The 5 miles off came in at 33:52 (6:43,6:44,6:47,6:51,6:47).

Had more water and a gel left at the Pfizer loop. Tiring a little now but feeling pumped and eager to finish strong. Found it a little harder to jump back to MP, as the first mile was into whatever breeze there was, and the Lidl loop always accentuates any wind there might be. 6:25 beeps on the watch, didn't feel that slow I think, but not to worry. Try to get back on pace and follow it up with a 6:16. Definitely feeling tired now, get caught up a little bit with some traffic and mile 18 beeps at 6:20. I've 2 miles to go now and I'm 2k away from home. Decide to make up the deficet at the end of the run and head for home. I've picked up the pace now and hoping to finish strong. Glance at current lap pace, '4:00/km' 😯 What's going on here me thinks. Up it a little more, glance down again...4:15/km' 😡 oh FFS! I don't need this at this stage of the run! GPS comes around eventually and mile 19 clocks in at 6:20, in reality was closer to 6:10 I reckon. Final mile included a couple of about turns and estate cul de sacs and comes in at 6:25. 31:41 for the final MP section. A bit slower than planned, but first mile aside, this was down to the GPS.

Really happy with that one.

121k for the week. 

Manchester Marathon Week 7

Mon: 11.4k Recovery: 59:22 @5:13/km

Bog shuffle. Body in decent enough fettle.

Tue: 14.8k Easy: 1:11:55 @4:51/km

Estate laps. Again, legs felt fresh.

Wed: 16k Easy: 1:17:52 @4:52/km

Meant to do a session, but various happenings meant that didn't materialise. Got in some estate laps on auto pilot. Head a bit melted. 

Thu: Session: 2 x 2 Mile: 11:02 & 11:11

Previous day's hectic happenings were repeated. Ended up with a pretty short window to get something in. Plan was for 3x2 mile with 5k w/u & c/d but that just wasn't a runner. Got out the door at 7, but had to be back for 8:15 as Mrs Healy 1835 was heading out for dinner. So, tired and underfuelled, I took myself up to the Lidl loop to get in 2 x 2 mile with considerably shorter w/u and c/d.

The reps were to be run at 'a good hard belt'. No paces accompanied this advice, so I just went hard and tried to hang on basically. First 2 miles were on an 800m-ish flat section of the loop from one roundabout to another. There was a decent breeze and I wanted to keep the reps fairly consistent so this seemed like a good idea. 400m into the first rep I'm already questioning the loop, the pace, the bloody benefit of what I'm doing. I've already decided to try something else for the second rep as mile 1 beeps at 5:32. This pace is not at all welcome tonight. I dig in and somehow manage to turn around a 5:30 mile for an 11:02 split. Jesus, there's no way I could crack out another of those I muse out loud. Certainly not 3 as originally planned anyway.

However, 5 mins is a long recovery time, and the fact I'd only 1 more to go, made me a little more positive. Decided I'd just go a mile out and back for the second rep. It would involve the first mile into the breeze and a little drag, but the second mile should help me home. First mile beeps at 5:42 but I'd rescued it a little as I was on 5:50 pace for the first 600m or so. Turned on the mile beep and rinsed myself for the final mile, coming in at 5:29.

Cool down back to the house for 9 miles on the button. AMK might be wondering what I'd run a 10k in. I'd like to say sub 35, but after how those paces felt, I wouldn't be too sure.

Still though, got in something and as the night wore on, I was increasingly happier with my effort.

Friday: 13.6k Easy: 1:08:25 @5:02/km

Early evening mooch around the town.

Sat: 14 Miles Relaxed: 1:35:16 @4:14/km

Cut back distance and intensity of LR this week and also put it on the Saturday, 8 days out from Larne. Run itself was fairly straightforward, with only an early return to the homestead to go to the toilet getting in the way. Pace felt very comfortable on a very damp morning.

Sun: 12.6k Easy: 1:02:54 @4:59/km

Recovery around the bog.

106km for the week. Down on what I'd planned, but each kilometer seemed to be hard earned this week 😁

Race week beckons. I feel that as this HM is 6 weeks out and the fact I've a few decent LR's under the belt, that I can ease up a little this week and give the Half a good rattle. As opposed to Trim and Carlingford last year and Kilbeggan a couple of weeks ago. 

Manchester Marathon Week 9

Mon: 7 Miles Easy: 55:29 @4:55/km

Non descript trot around the town.

Tue: 13.7k inc 5x1 mile off 3 min light jog.

Had a small window to get this one in, so again I had to compromise on warm up and cool down. Plan was for 5:40's, just focusing on turnover and rythym. Was pleasantly surprised by how decent I felt on these. Paces came in a little quicker than prescripted, but effort levels were on point.

(5:31, 5:28, 5:30, 5:29, 5:36)

Wed: Rest

Had decided to take a rest day at some point this week, and Wednesday just ended up being a busy day so it seemed as good a time as any to take it.

Thu: 8.4k Easy: 40:40 @4:50/km

Trot after school.

Fri: 8.1k Easy: 42:54 @5:18/km

Out before 6 am for this one. Just tipping easily into the HM.

Sat: 5.3k Easy inc 5x20 sec strides: 26:13 @ 4:58/km

Squeezed in a shakeout before heading up North.

Sun: Race: Antrim Coast Half Marathon

Preamble: 

Decided late enough in the day to stay up the night before, so by the time we looked for accomodation there was nothing available anywhere near Larne. Ended up in the Maldron out by the International Airport, maybe the most soulless spot I've ever stayed in. Left Newbridge at lunchtime, and got up to the hotel in time to watch the Kerry-Tyrone game in the room. News came through that AMK sadly had to pull out due to a stout related ankle injury ☹️

Nipped down for a decent enough pizza for dinner and then back up the room where I was out for the count by 9:30. Restless night's sleep followed by a 6am alarm. 2 bowls of Crunchie Nut Cornflakes (other brands are available) and 2 slices of toast down the hatch, and off we set. 

Parked up in a shopping centre cark park, managed to convince a sports shop owner to let me use his toilet😜, then moseyed down to watch the elite race come by and went back to the car to get changed. Walked up the park area where runners were asked to warm up. 

Park was pretty jammers and the portaloo situation was pretty grim by the looks of things. Let's just say that the warm up was punctuated by runners of all profiles going in and out of the bushes. 

DJ was playing some tunes and also announcing the various waves time to head to the start area. No signage of any kind as to actually where this start line was, but after watching the various waves leave the park we were a little wiser.

'Yellow (Sub 80mins) Wave to the start line'. Was with a couple of clubmates at this point, so we tipped down towards the road. Once we got there it was just total confusion. No signage, most people unsure of which direction to go. Walked towards what we presumed was the start line but we quickly came to a bottleneck. What ensued was about 15 mins of extremely slow progress as the marshals and other runners tried to get the crowds to move backwards so that the front of the field could get back behind the start line. The first couple of hundred runners were like sardines in a can. No craic at all, but I was surprisingly calm, which in hindsight, boded well...

The Race:

Decided to head out tentatively as the chances for carnage in the first few hundred meters were high. Thankfully nothing too crazy went down and apart from the GPS on my watch kicking in a little late, we were off and running. 5:51 beeps for the 1st mile and while it's a little quick, it's also downhill and I've probably ran a little quicker than planned due to the GPS being out for a while. Heading out towards the ferry terminal, pace is quick and I'm just trying to ease into things, sticking with a little group for a while. 5:50 beeps for mile 2, but i think there was a little GPS assist of a couple if seconds there. Anyway, clipping nicely but I know there's a little drag coming back into the town in the 4th mile so I figure I might give a couple of seconds back there. Mile 3 comes in at 5:53 and as I suspected, the 4th mile comes in at 6 mins. 

Heading down out of the town towards the coast road and it's quick. I'm holding back on this mile and the group I was in has gone up the road a little. Despite this, the mile comes in at 5:50. Course markings had me about 10 secs slower than my watch, so I was around 29:34 through 5 miles.

So now we're out on the coast road, running into a bit of a breeze with the field spread out in front of me. Systems check. Where am I? How am I feeling? What's the plan from here? It became apparent pretty quickly that the little group I was attached to were pulling clear and I had a decision to make. A Sligo AC runner comes alongside me and suggests we both make up the 15m or so and get back onto the group. I'm feeling okay at this point but I make the decision to back off slightly, take my chances solo and hopefully kick on and finish strong when we turn at Ballygally around 8 Miles. 

The scenery is pretty spectacular here, and whilst I'm digging in, i know im having a decent day. No demons or doubts in my head like Kilbeggan a couple of weeks back. Miles 6 and 7 come in at 6:00 & 6:03 respectively. There's the first water station at around 7 Miles which, in my opinion anyway, isn't really sufficient. If the day was warmer then this may have been a bigger issue, but I was parched at that point, so I can only imagine how some of the runners who had been out for 90 mins plus felt by that stage. 

Through Ballygally and turning back around. Mile 8 comes in at 6:01, but there's an immediate boost in pace once downwind and a little downhill resulting in mile 9 of 5:55. Group from earlier on has splintered considerably and a couple of runners have already come back to me. Go through 10 Miles at 59:17 on the watch and under 59:30 on the course which is faster than Kilbeggan. I know I'm dicing with sub 78, but I'm not doing any mental maths. I'm racing now and trying to pick off as many people as possible, distracting myself from focusing on my own effort levels. 

Mile 11, 5:54......Mile 12. 5:53......I know now that I've a decent PB in the bag barring a disaster. That being said, 2 runners in front of me pull up as enter the final mile. My shouts of encouragement falling on tired ears. I'd noted a little drag back into the town on the way out and now I had to negotiate it. Probably worth giving my km 20 individual split here, 3:44, as it was a bit of a momentum killer. 

Right Johnny, do you want to get under 78 mins or not? An extremely sharp downhill onto the promenade finishing straight was excruciating, but now it's time to empty the tank. I look to the legs for a response and they give me one. Strava tells me that Km 21 was a 3:32 and the last 180m were at 3:27 pace which contributed to a 5:50 last mile. I can see the finish and i know I've still a bit of work to do. Bite down and get in under the 78 mins for a 1:17:55 chip time 😁

Chats with some clubmates afterwards, collected t shirt and medal, and enjoyed that nice warm fuzzy pb feeling 😄

Had most of this written earlier but my dog has woken me up so I decided I'd finish this report off. 41 days to Manchester and this the confidence booster I needed. I ran a sensible race backed off when I needed to, dug in when I had to, and finished strong when things were in the melting pot. On we go. 

Manchester Marathon Week 11

Been a while since I've done a post-midweek session update to the log...

Mon: 14k Recovery: 1:15:41 @5:24/km

Was after 9pm by the time I got out for this one 😮 But eyes are firmly on the prize and I shuffled out the door into the night to get this one in. Brilliant Second Captains pod on the soccer helped tremendously and the whilst the legs were quite tired, they were feeling better by the end.

Tue: 9 Miles Easy: 1:13:04 @5:03/km

Baking hot for this one, but once again I could feel things coming around as the run went on.

Wed: Session 3x3 Miles off 5 mins jog

Straight out the door of the school onto the loop in the Camp for this one. I knew I'd be tight enough on time so I decided to not impinge on the reps but rather cut down the wu and cd.

Plan was for 18:15-18:05 pace. Managed to make a hames of programming in workout on the watch, so had to split workout into 2 activities (which I hate 🙄). Also meant it was actually 3 x 4.8k rather than 3 miles. But I knew the paces I was aiming for.

This was maybe the strongest I've felt during the block. Averaged under 6min mile pace on all 3 reps and was just cruising really. Would have liked to get a little more distance in, but had to settle for around 19k for the day.

A confidence boosting session 👍

Last 20 miler next Sunday, but just a steady effort. Nothing else too crazy in there; couple of MLR's, 10 Mile Tempo, couple of smaller sessions. Might make it up to the PP for a run at some point 🙂

Manchester Marathon: Week 11 of 14 😮

Mon: 8 Miles Recovery: 1:05:43@5:06/km

Up at 5:30 am for this one as my eldest fella who is in 4th class now, finally made his communion Monday evening. Run was non-descript, Communion was grand. He's fairly easy going and doesn't get too overwhelmed by things. Domino's Pizza afterwards with extended family was as raucous as things got on a Monday evening 🙂

Tue: 16.5k Easy: 1:20:46@4:53/km

Decent afternoon's work around the Curragh and surrounding areas.

Wed: 13.5k Easy: 1:09:08@5:07/km

Had one of 'those' days where life happened and was left lacing up shoes at 8:30 in the evening facing into a 6x1 mile session that I was completely under-prepared for. The gist of advice from people whom I trust as of late has basically been 'DFIU in the last couple of weeks by doing something stupid'. So I took off the Saucony's, threw on the Pegasus 35's, and plodded around for 70 mins.

Thu: MLR 14 Miles Relaxed: 1:34:33 @4:12/km

Aside from doing this during the commuting rush hour of 5-6pm and getting held up at every conceivable junction and traffic light on the route, this run was great. I am getting a real feel that fitness is approaching a peak. Will try and ride this out for the next 3 weeks. It's exciting, but also it's almost 'that' time. Jebuz summed it up fairly well on his log post regarding the mental vagaries of the last couple of weeks before a marathon 🤯 I've always found it difficult not to over analyse things in the lead up, and I'm sure sitting down and watching/tracking Berlin and London marathons over the next couple of weeks will have me bouncing off the walls! Hopefully I'll have some fresh inspiration from other peoples' races. AMK mentioning training on the DCM route did make me really miss the whole build up to DCM. Maybe in an ideal world, I'll get my Berlin 2022 Q in Manchester, and pace DCM or something next year. You see this is what happens, I'm waffling now...........

Manchester Marathon Week 11 cont'd

Fri: 10k Easy: 53:04 @5:18/km

Shuffled around at the ungodly hour of 8:30 pm on a Friday evening 😴 In autopilot getting out for these runs atm. A good sign for me anyway. 

Sat: 7 Miles Easy: 54:17 @4:49/km

Late afternoon around the bog after a busy day ferrying kids to matches, training etc. 

Sun: 20 Miles Relaxed: 2:14:36 @4:11/km

Last 20 miler of the block. My buddy who's going having a rattle at sub 3 in Manchester was having his last big MP run so I said I'd meet him in the camp and fall in with for a few of them. Was a bit off with the timing so had to wait a few minutes for him to arrive which wasn't ideal to be fair as I had cooled down quite significantly and really shouldn't have let that happen. Anyway, no damage done and the run was as straightforward as you could ask for really. 

Looking back over my LR's, and have managed to fit 8x20 miles in with today's effort being the slowest average pace of them all 😮 not that this stat actually tells you anything about the LR's themselves, but I got a bit of a kick out of it all the same. 

Not easing off massively just yet. Have a juicy enough effort on Wednesday to take care of, but that's the last of the 20 milers anyway. Really looking forward to tracking Djemba Djemba & Jebuz next Sunday morning, it's been too long since I spent a morning staring at a tracker...😁

120k for the week. 

Well you are the absolute outlier on my Strava feed regarding timing of runs 😂 Running at that hour just feels.....wrong 😉 Although I did do a LR at 3:30am on one occasion. It even prompted TbL to post on this log for the first time 😁

Regarding Berlin, there's usually an app, but I don't see it on Google Play so not sure about that...is it on TV I wonder?

In the final throws of this block here...

Fri: 7 Miles Easy: 59:10 @5:14/km

Bit of craic in the school, ran a mile with each class in the morning. Kids are hilarious.

Sat: 5 Miles Easy: 39:26 @4:54/km

Sarsfields GAA laps.

Sun: 20.2k Easy: 1:36:27@4:47/km

Met a mate over in Naas for this one in the afternoon. He's running Manchester too and chasing a slightly faster target than myself, so we had a good chat about all things MCR and the morning's goings-on in Berlin. Berlin was great to watch. I've a real affinity with that race, even though my own edition in 2017 was a disaster. Maybe it's the fact that once upon a time I lived and studied in Germany for a year as part of my initial degree or maybe it's just the whole spectacle around that race, but whatever it is, I desperately want to run it again (Have you not noticed the title of this log?).

The weather conditions meant it was with a sense of foreboding that I watched events unfold, as I knew from painful experience that once temperatures push past 20 degrees then things are going to come to a head late on. I followed a good few people and, Jebuz's blister disaster aside, everyone of them positive splitted, and not all of those stemmed the bleeding as brilliantly as Djemba Djemba. I was chatting to AMK and he talked about being unsure about targeting Berlin in the future because of the chances of a scorcher and I can see why. Nobody that I knew who ran the race actually adjusted their targets due to the heat. It's a real dilemma for people standing on startline, particularly, let's say, if you have say a specific target that you've named a log after :). I don't know what I'd do. I've blown up in 20+ degree heat in Rotterdam and I've made my big breakthrough on a 20+ day in Limerick 4 weeks after. It's a difficult one. Anyway, I won't have 24 degree heat to worry about Sunday week, but wind might play a factor, so I may have to make a couple of adjustments.

Mon: Rest

Tue: 11k Easy: 56:02 @5:05/km

This was not great. I'd jarred my hip getting out of my little lady's bed after reading a bedtime story the night before and it was at me all through the run. Add to this a really tender left hamstring and suddenly I'm in a world of worry. Probably nothing, but I'd prefer not to have to deal with such niggles. Had an Epsom bath and offered some prayers to the marathon gods.

Wed: 14 Miles Relaxed: 1:33:56 @4:10/km

Okay, so I might have been a little over dramatic the night before. I was still feeling the hip and hamstring a little on this one, but not to the point where they affected the run at all. Was bouncing off the road for this one. Had 6:50's in my head going out but once I ran up to the Curragh and started on the loop, I found it impossible not to fall into fairly effortless 6:40's.

Will be spending the next few days trying not to get sick.

I am 100% ready and all-in for October 10th.

🤣 You really weren't in my thoughts when I made that comment! Seeing as you stealthily snuck that PB attempt in nicely under the radar. Like I said to you, it really was a free hit and fair play for making it to 20 miles. Hopefully your foot will keep playing ball and you can have a right rattle at one in the New Year. The week of a marathon can really drag sometimes, let's hope this one passes quickly! He says at 8:38am on Monday...anyway, off to check the weather forecast.

Anyone flown out of Dublin Airport lately? Haven't been on a plane since the before times. If one had a 6:30am flight of a Saturday morning, what might be a sufficient arrival time to get through security these days?

Thank you all kindly. @skyblue46 no, T1 on Michael O'Leary's finest for me. Next time maybe 😀

Right so, turns out that I'm not on the way out and whatever was hanging around yesterday in the system doesn't look like it will impact Sunday. It's times like this that the log does come in handy for just looking back over a training block. Whilst things were a little hectic, overall I've gotten all the quality runs in that I wanted to get in and I feel like I've given myself the best chance I could have of performing well on Sunday.

As regards my plans for the race...well with the title of the log being what it is, I could hardly target 4min kms on Sunday could I? 🤣 But in all seriousness, sub 2:45 is the A goal and I won't be shying away from that pace. But I have B & C goals that can be targeted if necessary. No tracker app for this one but you can track people on the official website. How well that might work is unknown, but the timing splits are 10k, 21k, 30k.

Will hopefully have a good report for ye after weekend.

Johnny