"Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them"

4.61 mi @ 8:31avg

Avg HR 143
Max HR 174

Dropped the young lad at football training and parked up there and went for easy run. Last real run this week. Will rest tomorrow and do 2/3 mile very easy on sat. Race Day Sunday!


WTD|14
MTD|71.82
YTD|189.91

HelenAnne wrote: »

Thanks for your nice comments on my race times on 'the locked thread!'; I am still very far from fast, but I suppose I'm moving from back of pack to mid-pack, sort of. the main thing is I love it, and have been lucky not to be injured. You're doing great too and doing loads of running.
I'm not very confident about a marathon though - I wonder do I need a few more years' base first? I'm not sure how strong I am. I really enjoy half marathons and long training runs, but 26 miles at an effortful pace - not sure yet!hats off to those of you training for it!
Good luck on Sunday!

It's all relative at the end of the day. As far as doing the marathon, you'd have no problem completing one if just finishing is your goal. If you have a target time, then that's when it starts getting more complicated. I don't know how long you are running but I was only running about 18 months before I did my first so no I don't think you need a few more years base. I know the mistakes I've made over last couple of attempts so this year I am seeking to address those errors and hopefully reach my goal. Is there usually a marathon training group at club?
I think having a few hundred miles already in the legs before starting a training plan is a good idea. As you run regularly that shouldn't be an issue. You should do it , you won't regret it. It is such a great feeling crossing that finish line( even when you don't run the ideal race).

Thanks for the good wishes for Sunday!

davemcmahon wrote: »

Good luck tomorrow RR. You're well able to smash that pb.

blockic wrote: »

Good luck RR! Looking forward to the report.

tang1 wrote: »

Best of luck tomorrow.

upthe19th wrote: »

Good luck redrunner...tear it up tomorrow.

Thanks everyone! I drove the course today .Some difficult hills but some fast sections too.(Getting my excuses in early:))
Pre-match nerves now setting in but can't wait to see what I can do now in race setting.

Smashed my pb to smithereens today. Only problem is that Im not sure I can count it as the course measured very short by my garmin...arrgh!

Race report later when I gather my thoughts and after I take the kids to see Wreck it Ralph!

Up at 7am this morning and had my porridge.Had all my gear together from night before so after double and triple checking my bag,putting on my race number onto my Boards t-shirt, I did a few stretches just to loosen things up.I didn't get out for run yesterday so I had two days rest going into the race today.

A quick check on the weather and it looked ok, a bit damp but nothing to worry about.That was soon to change! Began the drive down to Balbriggan along the M1 and to my horror met snowstorm.Where did this come from? I know...the sky:) This hadn't been forecast so was genuinely worried that if this kept up the race might not go ahead. Got to my Mother's house to pick her up as she was walking the 10k and we both looked at each other and looked to the skies in the hope that it would improve before the start!

Drove down to the start.There was plenty of parking across the road from start so no problems there. Walked over to the start area. Wanted to check exactly where the turnaround point was for 2nd lap as map provided wasn't that clear. Asked about 5 different stewards/marshalls yet none of them could tell me! Not a good sign I thought. Guess I would have to just hope that following the runners in front of me would get me round correctly.

There was a big queue of people collecting their race packs and time seemed to be running short so there were some anxious faces. My Mam had collected mine yesterday so I was grand.Yet again another not so good sign in terms of organisation.

Did a bit of a warmup around the business park where the start was and was set to go.People were brought behind the start line and then some girl started doing some kind of aerobic type workout which barely anyone was paying any attention to. She finished and then it looked like we were about to go. HM runners first followed by 10k was what the format was. There was someone on a microphone giving instructions but couldn't hear a word. So we started..or so I thought..but we went over the mat but nobody was running..weird I thought?

What happened was that we were brought up through start line over mats and then to entrance to park where we had to wait a few minutes.Of course there were a few 10k runners there who had to be told to go back and that delayed things a little. We then got a countdown start from 10 down and we were off eventually. A downhill start followed by a sharp uphill and then onto a level section fo first mile.Felt really good in first mile.Too good as it happened (7:18). So I knew I had to keep this in check so slowed down a bit. This was helped by the fact that there was a longish drag in next section. Next mile 7:55. Was starting to settle into rhythm but I knew I'd have to conserve something as there was hills to be negotiated in the next section of race so tried not to do go too fast. Was thinking of what Blockic was saying about keeping 8:15 pace for first loop and then see if I could push on. Decided to keep going and try keep steady pace keeping the average at something as close to 8:15 as I could. Next five miles 8:00,7:59,8:09,8:00,8:02.

It then began hurting a bit and I remembered Blockic saying that if it was hurting around 7/8 miles then I was doing something right.So this gave me something positive to hold onto. Was defintely tiring. Next four were 8:16, 8:32,8:21 and 8:34. Took a gel at mile 9 and I think this helped me get through the final set of hills. Was feeling not too bad at this stage and knew a new PB by several minutes was on the cards and maybe even sub 1:50 which I was secretly hoping for.

There was a nice little downhill section on way back towards town on last section and this gave me a chance to let the road do the work and give me something for the last halfmile to push on and finish strong. The finish was at top of a hill and I was able to finish strong on this passing out a few people on the way and felt like I'd given everything I had...crossing the line and hitting my garmin stop button at 1:42:39.......fantastic I thought, a whopper of a PB but on looking at the distance....12.68 miles....ahh feck it!
That was a real sickener. I ran a great race but all for what now? I'm disgusted I can't really call this a PB.I'll have to wait for next opportunity.
last few splits 8:34,8:14, (7:48)

Previous HM Best 1:56:36 (Dublin Half 2012)

New PB : 1:42:39.....or not as the case may be!:mad:


WTD|26.68
MTD|84.5
YTD|202.59

career_move wrote: »

Super running well done That is a great time

Thanks but I'm finding it hard to enjoy it even though it would have been a big PB on a full length course.