Not Quite Four Laps

Monday

3 @ Recovery Pace
5 @ 7m43/mile

Two tough recovery runs. I thought my legs were OK after the run yesterday but when I tried running, I was creaking. Had intended on just the one 8 mile run but my legs couldn't handle the downhills round my place so I cut it short. Was going to leave it at that but I squeezed in a late night 5 miler up in Dublin. It might have been the quantity of food I eat during the day but I could barely lift my legs and I was sweating profusely even with the cold and the easy pace. Stumbled in the door, showered and just conked for the night.

Tuesday

2 mile w/u, 3k (9.36 again:rolleyes:), 3 mile w/d

I was looking forward to the track session all during work today as the sun was beating down on me from our generous skylight in the office. It would be a nice change to do a session in the non cold and dark. Getting down to Irishtown stadium, I discovered that the cancelled 3k from last week had been put back to this week. Normally, I would have been delighted with this but there was still a lot of stiffness remaining from the hilly run on Sunday so I wasn't feeling in PB shape.

After the warm up that included some dynamic stretching and strides, we made our way over to the far side of the track for the start. I hung back a few rows with the intention of taking it easy but once we got going, I just went round the outside and settled into seventh or eighth. As i got into the race, I was really enjoying it. Had a few see saw battles and ran the race with some irregular pacing, which was a bit of a change for me but it worked out well. My lungs were on fire after the race and I must have sounded like I was dying to anyone who heard one of my various coughing fits on the run home.

Really happy to have equalled my 3k time on the back of some tough running over the last week. Tough week planned ahead and if I hit all my key sessions then I'll be reasonably confident going in to my taper.

Friday

Woke Friday morning with a wicked bad sore throat and generally feeling pretty crumby. I togged out at lunch and was about to head out for a quick run down Shanganagh Park but thought best of it last minute. No run in the evening either.

Saturday

10 miles @ 6m44s/mile

Went out the usual run round Bull Island. Lovely morning but I was very tired on this run and definitely feeling the effects of the cold I was suffering

Sunday

20 miles @ 6m58s/mile

I brought the Leap card with me on this one because I didn't know how I was set up for it. I felt pretty weak for the first few miles but was okay once I got into it. Ran up to Howth Summit and then straight back the way I came. The return leg with the wind at my back was really enjoyable and I finished up the last 4-5 miles at something approaching my hoped for marathon pace

Monday

5 miles @ Easy pace

Very congested but not feeling too weak generally. Took it very handy on this one. Left the watch in the office to resist any temptation to go a bit faster

Tuesday

1.5 w/u, 12 X 400m (30 sec recovery), 4 w/d

Reps 1-8 ~ 73s, Reps 9-12 ~ 75s

The cameras were down at Crusaders this evening so a pretence had to be put up despite not feeling on top form. Just a small group running this evening due to the relays at the weekend. I lead out the first few reps but really tired after half way and took a back seat for the remainder. Only two of us from the original group of five or six ended up finishing and I was considering calling it a day after eight myself. Stuck it out though and was happy with my resilience. Also learned that thirty seconds recovery is not enough time to recover.

Wednesday

6 miles @ 7m02/mile

Legs were tired after yesterday but felt back to normal otherwise after a few days under the weather.

Thursday

1.5 w/u, 2.5 @ MP, 1.5 w/d

Just a final few marathon paced miles for a bit of a confidence boost. Didn't quite work out that way though. I was running in to some horrible driving rain for one half of the loop but still didn't feel as comfortable as I would have hoped. These things happen in the taper madness, I suppose

Friday

5 miles @ 7m23s/mile

Had the day off work today so went for an easy run round Drumcondra. By far the nicest day for a run in what seems like years. Nice to leave the jacket at home for once. So that's that. No more running until 10 o'clock Sunday morning. Was worried I wouldn't make it to the start line when my shin started acting up a few months ago so delighted that I'm fit and ready to go. Three quarters of the battle is making it to the start line in one piece.

Thanks for all the well wishes and all the advice over the past few months:).

Standing in the GFA start pen, brother on one side, the indefatigable Krusty_Klown on the other, I wasn’t nervous but I wasn’t confident either. Things I felt hadn’t gone very well in the last while. A month and a half ago, an injury to my shin leads to a fortnight where the grand total of my running was a mere twenty miles. I recovered well after that and got a few weeks of really good training in. Then two weeks ago, I came down with a cold and all my running since then had been a real chore. I couldn’t remember the last time I had run feeling strong and now here I was with 26.2 miles of real hard running ahead of me. One thing I did know was that the man on my left hand side would be running 2.3x today and that if I kept him in sight, then I would make it too.

Then came the moments silence for the Boston victims. Never in my life have I witnessed one so impeccably observed and one couldn’t help but look around and realise it was runners like these that had been so mindlessly targeted. The tension was now a bit higher and the second the clock turned 10, we were off. Everyone was moving at a decent pace but we were still a little restricted and doing a lot of weaving in and around runners. We passed the first mile marker and against my better judgement, I asked KK for the pace. First mile was 6.43. I had intended on going out easy but 40 seconds off pace was probably a bit much. Neither of us panicked though and we just picked our way slowly through the field. It was quite enjoyable in its own way. Both of us trying to find little gaps between groups, squeezing through and then plotting the path ahead. Next time I checked pace with him, we were down in the 6.20s and this was comforting.

It was starting to feel pretty hot after four or five miles and this was an extra worry I didn’t need. The field started to open up a bit at this point too so we had a bit more room to just concentrate on our running. By mile 8 we were there or thereabouts back on pace but the work in getting there was taking its toll. I was starting to overheat a bit and I was really resisting the urge to just stop. With not even a third of the race gone, I really felt the game was up. Just 6 months previous, I was feeling incredibly comfortable at this point in the DCM as we made our way through Phoenix Park and I was just enjoying the experience. Then, I saw a coach from the club with a ‘Cru for life: Release your inner Kenyan’ poster in hand and his enthusiasm couldn’t but help to perk you up. I put on a brave face, gave him the thumbs up and just focused on keeping the legs turning over. Eventually, some life started to return to my body and I felt okay again. The course was a bit undulating all the way and the two of us were really flying up the slight inclines and making good ground on the other runners every time. We were still making our way steadily from group to group and never really got the chance to settle in anywhere for very long.

The halway point was just on London Bridge and this was some experience. To see it looming up in front of you, getting ever larger and the crowds getting ever louder was an experience to behold. I really soaked up this feeling and I’m glad I did because getting off the bridge, I went through another bad patch. The next few miles were full of thoughts of dropping out. I managed just about to keep up with KK and this was the only thing keeping me going. I really wasn’t enjoying myself and I found it hard to justify why I was doing this in the first place. Then as quickly as it had come, it was gone. Now I was really running. For the first time in the race, I was really driving the pace and really enjoying it. I’m not sure if we were going at a quicker pace but in my head I was flying along. This lasted up to about 20 miles and then I was back to working hard again.

I knew the last 10k wasn’t going to be easy but I was mentally prepared for a hard slog. I wasn’t going to slow down unless my legs gave up on me completely. The distance between mile markers seemed to be stretching with each passing mile but every time I saw one, it was like Manna from Heaven. I’d convince myself that the next mile was around the corner, then the next one and so on until finally it came in to view and the game would start all over again. By this stage it was basically just myself and KK, with the odd runner here and there. By the time we reached the Mall and the final straight, there wasn’t another runner in sight. It really felt like a proper victory lap and we just soaked it in. Both of us knew for certain that we had done it and the 2.38 on the clock was a heart warming sight. We threw each other’s hands towards the sky and crossed the line. Pure relief followed by pure delight, followed by a really strong urge to go for a lash. Business taken care of, I met up with a few other of the successful Boardsies. Ronnie085, Pronator and wideball who all ran cracking races as well. Met my brother shortly after who broke 3 for the first time (2.57) and his wife who got inside 3.30 for the first time too, so it was celebrations all round......and celebrate we did.