Middle aged guys trying to run quickly, it never ends well.

Into Week 10 now of 16 for DCM. 49 miles done last week, as per plan, with a 20 mile long run. Ratoath half this Saturday so an exciting week coming up.

Had the thought while out on the long run yesterday that differentiating between injuries/pain/niggles/fatigue is one of the great arts of the marathon runner. There are times when you just know to back away due to a niggle. But there are other times when a decent run will almost make it better, perhaps loosening it out or some such sorcery. Definitely, at times, movement is medicine. It's a gamble and I'd imagine that most runners roll the dice more often than not and say, 'Ah sure I'll do the run and see if if it's still sore afterwards'….!!

If you backed away because of every single niggle that felt like a possible injury, you'd never get through a block. But then you can't be stupid either. I've got through 39 out of 45 training runs in this block so far. Hoping to just manage the niggles until after DCM and up the S&C work then and get stronger over winter, ready to emerge in Kipchoge-esque shape for 2026!

Week 10 of 16 in the DCM block finished with the Ratoath Half on Saturday, the third race of the block following a previous 10k and the 10 miler in PP.

A quick race report; not the greatest buildup on the morning as the youngest was playing in a camogie blitz in another county and the other kids had to be dropped to granny's. All in all, a messy morning. Didn't arrive at Fairyhouse for the race until 20 minutes before start. Missed out on the usual bandwork and settled on a rushed warm-up. Not great with tight calves and managing a hip issue.

Plan was for 7.20 min pace for something around 1hr 36-ish...The first couple of miles are downhill so ended up settling in at 7 min pace per mile and pretty much held on in or around that for the duration. Finished up at 7.06 pace for a 1hr 33 finish. Think sub 1:30 could definitely be a goer next year. Thankfully the fitness seems to be a bit further along than I'd thought.

Wore the Evo SLs again and they worked a treat. Have a new pair of Alphafly 3 coming this week (217.50 off Mister Running) which I'd planned to use in the marathon. But the Evo SL feel so good they could yet be a contender. The calf sleeves will be staying too. They give great support - perhaps it's only a placebo! - even you feel like a bit of a tool wearing them.

Skipped a Sunday five-miler - the first session in the block that was intentionally skipped, as opposed to an injury, as everything felt tight after the HM - so it ended up at 34 miles for the week. A low enough week mileage-wise but it's back to almost 50 this week with another 20 miler on Friday so no hassles there.

Touch wood, all is going okay. The usual niggles are there but S&C once a week seems to be just about keeping things together. If all goes to plan, a 3hrs 2?? finish for DCM should be doable. Six weeks is a long time though....

Week 12 of 16 and things aren't going great. Just one 10k and two cycle rides of 20 miles and 40 miles last week. Missed a long run for the second week running. Met with physio and it's an overuse/inflammation injury, a form of bursitis, probably as a result of pushing too hard in the half race, along with increased mileage. Of course, looking back, when you increase pace and mileage at the same time, you're asking for trouble!

Anyhow, four weeks to go and it's about 50-50 whether I make DCM I'd say. Doing daily rehab on it and taking ibuprofen to bring the inflammation down. Trying to get back into the plan, or a version of it even, this week but an easy 10k yesterday brought immediate 3 out of 10 hip pain again. If that persists, it's hang up the runners for a while I'd say. But we'll see. We might go full Goggins mode either and just see how it plays out! Either way, it's going to be a long winter of S&C to make the body stronger and more robust. It really is key to the whole thing when you're over a certain age.

The energy of a 25-year-old, the robustness of a 65-year-old and the birth cert of a lad in his mid-40s! What a mix!

Ah I've just found that since the mid 30s I'm constantly picking up niggles. Big focus on getting stronger is required.

Aye, I have a good physio in fairness and a strength plan. It was working okay until the mileage increased - and the S&C stuff got squeezed - with the marathon block and I think I just went beyond what the body was strong enough to sustain. Hopefully I can hold it together for a little while longer for DCM and get stuck back into getting strong(er) over winter.

Got through a 20 miler today with no flare ups. Discomfort and mild pain for sure but can cope wigh that. Should come in at a near 80k week so we'll keep the fingers crossed!

Dublin City Marathon report​

This time 12 months ago, I was running two miles every second day, trying to see what was achievable pain-free. I'd spent a lot of the year running sporadically and concentrating on a rehab programme to correct an old FAI hip injury. Apparently many people have FAI impingements which are symptom free, until you start upping the mileage. The issue caught up with me in early 2023.

Slowly but surely I built throughout this year to the point of being able to take on a marathon programme again. This would be marathon number 4 following Belfast, Dublin and Manchester across 2021 and 2022.
So did it all work out at the end of the 16 weeks? Kind of! Yesterday was a great day and I enjoyed every last bit of it, getting around in a PB time of 3 hrs 18. Previous best was 3.34. On paper, it was a textbook negative split, 1:40 for the first half and 1:38 for the second half. The race number has already gone up on the wall in a frame next to the previous three!

The downside is that I ran through the pain and basically compartmentalised the hip injury for the day. I just refused to even acknowledge it and dogged it out. It hasn't been right for the last six weeks since a 1:33 PB half marathon really set it off. Even on Saturday just gone, I was getting pain walking up stairs. But that HM result made me think it was worth the gamble, to navigate the last six weeks and do the marathon and see how it panned out. Between busy work and family, it will most likely be another year before I get to a marathon start line again. Or maybe more. And the result was definitely worth it. But the gut feeling all along that I was probably taking a risk, and the constant ache in the hip/arse, was always there in the background.

Truth be told, I think I could have gone faster if I'd put down a proper marathon block - I hit about three quarter of the runs/sessions over the 16 weeks, missed a couple of important long runs and swapped most of the shorter speed work in the block for steady runs - and 3:15 was probably on yesterday.
With a decent winter of rehab, something sub 3:15 will probably be the target next time. But we'll see - if you want to make the marathon gods laugh, tell them your future plans! I'm just grateful for having number four in the bag and getting through a really enjoyable year of races.

The two big things that helped yesterday were, firstly, proper fuelling. I took seven gels and a full packet of carb chews, as well as drinks at every stop and 500ml of electrolyte drink that I carried myself. When I look back to previous marathons, I probably wasn't taking half that much. Never got a sniff of a cramp or a stitch yesterday thankfully. And, secondly, keeping 'average time' as the main stat on the clock was a giant help. I knew anything below 7 mins 40 per mile was a sub 3hrs 20 finish - so I made sure it never went above that. That was a great motivator in the second-half. And of course when you're slow going up the hills, you don't worry because your average time isn't moving.

Reading all the signs was another great distraction. 'Hope you last longer in the race than Jim Gavin did'....'Therapy was an option'...'Run bitch run'...'Don't trust a fart'....the crowd was unbelievable!
In terms of improvements, injury aside, I still haven't ever got through a full 16-week block with all the speedwork and long runs completed. Diet (particularly around hydration) and sleep could improve. And general mobility could be better. And, of course, I don't have a club or a coach and am making it all up as I go along really. It's exciting when you know there's still a good bit of gains to be made.

But first, to get that dodgy hip right and go after some shorter stuff over winter. Thanks for reading!

Now that DCM is done, I'm thinking of contacting a coach for some advice over winter. Not even sure what I'm looking for, just a bit of a review of where I'm at I suppose, and how to safely get to where I want to get to. I used to play a lot of golf and got regularly coaching. But I've always done running on the fly, picking up a lot of stuff through reading/forums/YouTube/personal experience etc.

Not particularly interested in joining a club, and not looking for accountability, more just someone who would maybe take a call or an email a couple of times a year. Any suggestions welcome!

Hard to believe it's four weeks (and a day!) since DCM. And not a whole pile has happened since for me really, on the running front at least. Went for a five-miler 10 days after DCM and both the hip and calf flared up almost immediately so took the decision to leave running off for a few weeks altogether. In the meantime, I've been stretching and rehabbing pretty much every day. Was back at the physio in the middle of it all and he's thrown in a few new things to keep it a bit more interesting.

I'm kind of making my peace with the fact that, with an FAI hip injury, I'll probably always have a level of pain. It's just about trying to find ways of keeping that down to 2 or 3-out-of-10 pain. Be interesting to hear from anyone else dealing with it, and how they've managed. It seems to be a case of accepting that things are never going to be perfect. Within that new reality, I still think goals can be achieved. Limerick and Dublin marathons are the plan for 2026 and hopefully a shot at something around 3 hrs 10. Hopefully the body plays ball!