Confessions of a Comrade Cailin

16M 2:34 @9:45mm ( 151)

Legs felt tired and heavy right from the start so was wise not to do the hilly run. My stride length was so short that I often stopped to see if one foot actually passed the other.Just decided to do cushy jog. Somehow managed to keep pace reasonable. Working effort seemed easy. Good training for Comrades...running on tired legs. Havent really done it since 50K training.

Achilles tender so going to pamper it for a day. I think the starting and stopping during the marathon last week started it off. Was that only a week ago? Seems ages.
Ate waaaaay too much once I came in. Weight back up again .:(

Thursday 10m Incl 4 X 1200m 10pm windy dry 7C

wasnt sure what pace to do the rest of the run once I had the intervals out of the way , so did them a bit tempo-ish. took me til the third to get the heart rate high enough to put me in the vo2max category. Went over on ankle in a pothole in the dark but managed to keep running on it.
Faster splits were 7:49 7:49 7:45 7:40
Overall 1:28 8:51mm ( 165)

Friday, ankle a bit sore and was too lazy to organise myself to go out in torrential rain. Decided to save myself for lsr tomorrow.

Saturday lsr 20 Miles
last 8 miles at bit faster than race pace 3:07 9:22mm ( 154)

Took a flattish new route to see what it was like.Will go back to hills during taper. In spite of washing my ipod shuffle in the machine it still worked so I listened to marathontalk.com podcasts for a while, though it was hard to hear at times when traffic passed. Light was lovely and was tempted to just run for about 30 miles and hitch back.
Went out slow and after the turn around thought that I should do what the pacers did in Athlone and speed it up towards the end rather than just be lazy for the lot. So upped the effort but was still comfortable. in spite of my mantra today ( i'm- a - sub- 4 - marathon- runner) , im still a long way off methinks:(
Maybe I should have stretched the pace a bit more for the last long one.

last 9 miles were in 80:29. (158)/75%WHR

Ya jammy git Oisin. Id love to have had the chat with those guys and also to be still out at 3am having a social life :rolleyes:

Horrific conditions with gale force winds and showers but wore new Karrimor jacket I got in Heatons,( 24€ reduced from 45£) and i felt so cosy.This is the third Karrimor item I have and i find it brill. Its only new in stock for them but is definitley lovely to run in .
It was dark and few cars were out. Really enjoyed this run. Was tougher trying to get back but overall it ended up being...

Thursday 8M 1:17 avg pace 9:43 at ( 154)

11M 1:30 8:15mm avg (171) 85% WHR

Decided to run where I used to live. It is more undulating for definite. Must go there more often. Few short hills and rarely a pure flat bit . Forgot how far it was so ended up jog/walking the last 2 miles home, otherwise I'll never manage 16 tomorrow.
When I struggled to keep the pace/effort up I just kept chanting "sub 4 mara thon" in time with my step. NOthing like it for focussing the mind.:D

And of course I will have that pint to look forward to ...that Oisin has promised

Sadly not. It kills me to have to turn down an Irish marathon but I really want to get this sub 4 out of the way and am a bit anxious about doing it so close to Florence.
Will be trying to get as many marathons as possible in after that .

Well I had planned on a route with a big hill and some undulations with two circuits to make the most of the hill. Unfortunately a dog joined me after one mile near my friends house. He stayed with me for 5 miles and I thought he would have a heart attack on the hill. He really struggled but I reckon he figured he had no choice but to stay with me if he was to find his way home again. He was great though.... cars slowed down cos he was usually in the middle of the road and If i passed a house with a dog , they had no interest in me . Decoy dog;) MIght take him again .

I did one circuit and brought him home. Closed the gate of his house and sneaked off, but 300 m down the road he comes again after jumping the wall. I hadnt the heart to drag him around another 4 miles so I got into the car and abandoned him and the rest of my run.

Coped well with the not so flat terrain and I think for Comrades proper I just have to make the effort to drive to these locations to avoid the flat roads near home.

Two more weeks to Florence. My lsr pace is fast becoming my marathon pace, or reasonable close to it . Im far too conservative to push myself hard on the day in any race, so sub 4 or not , I reckon I will be able to continue and then do the Clonakilty two weeks later.

Spent ages analyzing plans and schedules trying to decide which to go with . Think I will have a go at the new zealand ultra runners 100k tweaked a bit and see how it goes. I reckon it wont matter if I dont do as much as they suggest for every outing. Tuesday - speedwork; thursday hills, and long sat/sunday. Easy runs if I get extra runs in or if legs are complaining a bit or need a break.

Today..12M 1:50 avg 9:15mm ( 156)
Dog... 11 miles + 2 cats chased

IN spite of reading Tergats advice on trying to run every day , not ony did I skip my usual MOnday but also Tuesday. weather was ferocious and achilles wasnt much better
Managed to get out for about 5 miler late last night. Forgot to take garmin home from work but I reckon it was about 52 minutes. Legs felt very heavy and the scone I ate before I went out was like a stone in my every increasing belly. Pace was easy but effort was more.


Thursday did 9 MIles. 3 Miles were supposed to be @ vo2max. managed 7.39 for first one but second one was 7:24 and I had to stop for a rest at the end of it and I thought id puke. so third one , although the heart rate was the same effort of heart rate worked out a 7.59 mm cos of the stop between mile 2 and 3. Again i wasnt sure what the pace was supposed to be once you finished the intervals ,So I ran about 85% til the end apart from the last mile.

9M 1:19 avg 8:50mm ( 167)

OK so I had planned to jog around but it was only 5 miles and given that I am supposed to do a few intervals next week pre marathon, didnt think there was any harm in going near 10k pace.
Very well organised and most enjoyable. HIll in the middle wasnt that big at all so that was a nice surprise.

:40 mins . Avg 8:08mm, ( 169)
Splits: 8:42 8:11 8:33 7:54 7:19

Sorry I have been so slack at keeping logged up. I tried to write race report about 2 times but it got lost before it was posted. Grrr.

Anyway... here we go .

Arrived at start in my singlet , shorts, hoodie and plastic bag and stood with everyone else in the rain getting progressively colder for an hour. I had had good sleep and was in good form after walking up with a really lovely bloke I met in the hostel.
The plan , such as it was , was to start behind the pink sub 4 balloons and over the first 8 miles reel them in . Hang with them for the next 8 miles and if I had anything left to stretch in front of them for the end, other wise to stay put and I woud be guaranteed my finish.
I couldnt see them at the start so was going to have to rely on my garmin which was fully charged. I had forgotten my pace band so I figured that 9mm would be a good enough margin ( 9:09 is sub 4 pace).
I averaged a very comfortable start of
8:41
8:52
8:55
7:36
8:49

I was very cold and stiff setting off and kept my jacket on for four miles. I thought that I should at least be seeing pink balloons ,knowing that I was going at a good pace but it was at mile 8 that I saw them ahead on a switch back. I upped the ante a bit and over the next 5 miles got closer to them , maybe 400m in front at times? As long as I could see the balloons and had a target I was happy, but frustrated enough. I was having difficulty opening gels as the hands were very cold. I had to stop to try to tear them in my teeth and take gloves off to hold them.
At about mile 13 I got a sudden sharp pain on the side of my knee. I knew that if I stopped that I wouldnt get going again , so I limped on and over the next 12 miles it eased and raged on and off. I was still going well I thought
9:03
8:53
8:59
8:49
8:38
8:31
8:53
8:36 Half way. Heart rate just starting to get to 78% WHR at mile10. Cushy enough yet.
Still no pink balloons. Was put off my loads of pink umbrellas so many times. I found that going around soooo many corners was also irritating my knee. And avoiding the bigger puddles ( how deep were they? were there potholes in them ?) and having to watch the paving stones and kerbs so carefully as people were jumping all around the place avoiding them. The city was beautiful but you were so carefully monitoring your step that you couldnt really appreciate it in the rain.

At mile 18 I lost a lot of time trying to get a gel open and get going again after I stopped to get a drink. By mile 20 the garmin had died. The balloons were gone and I had no time reference. I kept going , not knowing did I have time in hand, did I need to keep the same pace or would I get away with a slight slow down? I felt very cold again and I just kept reciting the mantra I had used in training over and over for miles . It definitley helped my focus. I wanted it to be over and was looking for any discarded clothes I could have thrown back on . It felt like I had slowed down a lot. I felt despair. I felt stressed trying to time manage the whole thing and wasnt enjoying it as much as I usually do . I was begining to regret even trying for the sub 4.
8:47
8:57
9:00
8:59
9:27
9:06
9:24
So i talked my way to the finish and crossed the line. I didnt know what my time was as I didnt see the starting clock. I hadnt seen a pink balloon in about 6 miles.I didnt know had I missed it andn by much or was I way off . Massive anti climax.
I got my clothes , shivered and shook my way back to the hostel to a hot shower. I put on all my clothes and went to bed to try to wam up . About 2 hours later my friend from Scotland text me to see if I got it . She checked on line and told me that I got 3:58:14. Was happy but it took a while to sink in.
Im happy with it now. I knew that I had the capacity to do it but I know I probably hold back too much on the day. UP to mile 20 my stats were avg pace 8:42 and working heart rate of 160 ( about 78%)