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Cleanman wrote: »

Great going Dazza! What's the target for Omagh? And will you find it difficult to adjust to starting your run after 6am???

Tempted to go with the 1:30 pacers but that might be pushing it, probably have to wear some sunglasses to adjust running in the daylight!

Wednesday 26th March 10 miles @ 8:12

Had planned to do this yesterday but I think the legs were glad of the extra easy day. Plan was to include 2 miles @ HMP followed by 1 mile easy and then 5x 1min on/off @ 10k/easy pace. Done four miles easy to start with, with a few bursts/strides in the 4th mile. The two HMP miles were 6:48 & 6:51 which was the notional target. Done a little bit over a mile easy before starting the 10k mins but that was more due to forgetting that I had to do them.

The effort for the two miles HMP probably seemed to be more than it should be. Will really be a case of judging the effort of the pace in the early stages of Saturday's race.

Thursday 27th March 6 miles @ 8:55
This was meant to be a simple easy run but after a mile I wasn’t feeling right. Felt like I needed to get sick. Not sure where it came from but was obviously quite off putting. Just eased right off and it slowly passed. Last mile was a 7:49 so was feeling alright at the end.


Friday 28th March 6 miles @ 9:03
Real handy run with some strides at the end. Managed to actually give myself a bit of extra time as I normally end up rushing strides whenever I try to do them.

Omagh Half Marathon

This race sat nicely into the marathon plan at the end of the 9th week with 9 more to go afterwards. While not the main goal it was earmarked to give some feedback on how training was going and whether I was on target for my goal time.

I got tempted over the last couple of weeks to go with the 1:30 pacers. Can’t really pinpoint where that optimism started but it was definitely been given plenty of thought. The rationale side of me wasn’t really agreeing with it as it would be a big step up from previous results. The last couple of sessions didn’t really do anything to justify it either but I still managed to find myself lined up behind the 1:30 pacer as the race was about to start.

Had travelled over with Mrs. Dazza who was attempting her first half. She decided to line up behind the 2:15 pacer at the start and I moved my way up.

Even though I was only 2 rows behind the 1:30 pacer at the start I found myself a good distance back by the time we got around the first corner. Instead of easing my way into the race I kept pushing until I managed to close the gap and tag onto to the back of the pacing group. First mile was 6:39. Once in the group I felt the effort ease a little but the course started to bite. Second mile was 6:56 which was pretty good going given the climb involved. Can’t remember whereabouts but during the 3rd mile I accepted that I was being unrealistic and decided to run my own race and let the pacer go. Third mile was 7:06 so I could still see the pacer teasing me in front.

I hoped that easing the pace would make things a bit more comfortable but it was a struggle just to keep going. I lost the protection of the pacing group from the strong breeze. That with rolling hills just made it pretty tough.

Miles 4 - 10: 7:30, 7; 31, 7:44, 7:38, 7:50, 7:32, 7:43
The splits tell their own story. Some of the miles were going alright until another hill came along or you turned back into the wind. It was a very twisty route but if anything all the turning kept it somewhat interesting. Took a gel at mile 6 in the hope it would spark a recovery. Plenty of thoughts during these miles to stop or walk.

Miles: 11-13.1: 7:09 ,7:42, 7:22, 6:42 (pace)
Mile 11 was nice! It had a couple of long downhill stretches and for the first time in the race I was passing people. Had to give back some of the elevation in the 12th mile back in to the wind too. a downhill stretch gave a bit of momentum in the last mile before the final climb up to the finish. Turning into the primary school grounds where the finish line was I saw two guys in front of me. Both were out on their feet. Got by the first guy pretty easily but ran out of course for the second. Finished in 1:36:40 (watch) and 1:36:37 (chip).

Result was just over a two minutes PB but was outside the A, B or C targets for the race. It would be very easy to use the course and wind as an excuse but I know I approached the race all wrong. I went chasing a time which wasn't on. In hindsight I would have faired better starting conservately and taking advantage of the quicker miles at the end.
In terms of Derry it gives me plenty to think about. I plan to do another race in a few weeks and will wait until then before I set my goal for Derry. Had a 10 mile and 10k race to choose from. Will go with the 10 mile race as it is in Derry and takes in part of the marathon course.

Would think I might be back in Omagh. Thought they coped very well with the numbers there (3,000). Definitely a course that you will do better with a bit of knowledge of the route.

As I was hunched over a wheelie bin after the race Tom Joad introduced himself. He had a tougher day considering it wasn't misplaced optimism that had him behind the 1:30 pacer. Does good to have a good b$*ch about a course when it wasn't your day. Done a light trott back to the car to offload the prize they were giving instead of medals and after putting some more layers on back up to the finish where I found Mrs Dazza who had run a very sensible race finishing in 2:09:xx.

Runchick wrote: »

Well done on a PB Dazza even though you're disappointed at not hitting the target. Do you think your stomach issues had something to do with it - your log would suggest something hasn't been right all week. Also going out too fast is so hard to recover from. I absolutely hate the wind - when I ran that course last year it was very cold but no wind and I got round ahead of target - a windy day would probably have been a different story. Well done to Mrs Dazza on her first half - I'm sure she's delighted with herself

Onwards and upwards

Thanks Runchick, don't think it had any impact on the day but probably was another reason to have been more conservative.

Legs didn't feel the freshest but that was to be expected. I just got it wrong at the start and paid for that. But I can see a few positives from it and it was better to make mistakes yesterday rather than in 9 weeks time

Tom Joad wrote: »

To come away with a PB on a day like that is a great achievement. Good to meet you up there too.

Good to meet you on Saturday Tom, well done for spotting me. Not so sure I would have picked you out as easily. I'm sure that race will stand to you later in the year.

Cleanman wrote: »

Well done dazza! You picked an aggressive target, went for it and then had the good sense to pull back before it was too late. You still picked up a pb in the middle of a heavy marathon training schedule and if nothing else, the race will bring you on for the next attempt. Happy days:D

Cheers Cleanman

Sunday 6th April 15 miles @ 8:06 (inc 10 miles @ MP)

Thought I could feel a bit of a head cold come on last night before going to bed. Had a slightly sore throat and just felt a little off. Throat was fine this morning but was still feeling a bit off. Ate a banana before heading out, normally wouldn't eat anything before morning runs. The plan had just a normal 15 mile run for today but I missed an MP run last weekend because of the half and had so little MP miles done that had planned for a while to try one today. After 4 1/2 slow miles as a longer warm up I didn't out much hope of getting too close to MP. But I took a gel and decided to give it a go.

The route chosen was undulating and there was a strong breeze this morning. Lessoned learned from last week was that pace was going to fluctuate when the conditions or elevation profile was going against me. With that I mind reckoned there was no point in looking for perfectly flat road when I know Derry won't be perfectly flat. It was more going to be a case of keeping the effort as even as possible and see where that got me. MP miles were:

7:28, 7:20, 7:36, 7:39, 7:24, 7:37, 7:38, 7:33, 7:27, 7:23

Overall pretty happy with how that went. Pace slipped on the miles were there was some climbs or into the strong headwind but good to see it came back when terrain was favourable and the wind eased off.

Friday 11th April 3 miles @ easy-ish pace
Lazily didn't get up on Friday morning for a run. Was only going to be short anyway as I had a day of driving ahead. So when I got back in the evening went out for a very short run just to stretch the legs after all the driving. Was enjoyable until I got a stitch, effects of a late dinner. Hadn't even bothered to put on the watch before I headed out.

Sunday 13th April 22 miles @ 8:31

Had another busy day on Saturday so delayed going out a bit so I wasn't skimping on sleep. Was delayed even more when I realised that my Ipod battery was flat just as I was heading out the door. Plugged it into the charger for ten minutes so that I would at least have it for the first few miles. In the end it lasted for the entire run.

Wasn't feeling too lively heading off. Broke the run down into 3 loops, first one a short two miles, 2nd a 7 mile loop and final one 13 miles. By the end of the second loop was feeling alright. Offloaded any extra layers when passing the estate. Daylight had broken out at this stage and it was feeling quite mild when not running into the strong breeze.

The pace picked up a bit for the last 10 miles or so but the main focus was just on getting the distance covered. Only one more 20 miler to go on the plan now

Monday 14th April 6 miles @ 9:31
Simple recovery run over usual route. Legs were feeling quite heavy for first two miles but grand after that.

Wednesday 16th April 14 miles @ 8:33

Milder out this morning. It was still dark when I looked out the door before heading off. But the sky was clear so chanced it without the head torch and the accompanying hat that usually goes with it. The had the usual feel, slow start with gradual pick up and faster finish.

Monday 21st April 6 miles @ 9:27

My usual Monday morning recovery run. It being a bank holiday there were a few different people walking around, one in particular looking worse for wear.

Tuesday 22nd April 10 miles @ 8:12 (incl 6 x 1k @ 5k pace)

Nice morning again. Done 3 miles or so warm up during which I tried to map out in my head where I wanted to do the reps. For the 600m/800m reps I have a designated stretch that I have measured to be 400m from point to point and I usually put a marker in the middle (beside a lamp post) so that I can check the pace/time every 200m during reps. Didn't want to use that stretch on its own for 1k reps as it would involve two u-turns. Decided to add distance onto both ends and set my garmin to km auto lap.

Splits for the 1k reps were: 3:53, 3:59, 3:56, 3:58, 4:02*, 4:00

Had some loose target at the start for times around 3:50 which obviously didn't happen. My route had a short but noticeable assent/decline which helped on the uneven numbered reps and sapped the life out of the legs on the evened numbered ones. Didn't have my usual 200m markers that I am used to for 5k paced stuff so pacing was all over the place. Had to stop half way through the 5th one as a convoy of cars were leaving an early morning session in the gym as I approached. Overall a decent enough effort. Recoveries were around 3 mins jogged.

Thursday 24th April 6 miles @ 9:19

Nice morning out and legs were feeling pretty good so was just a case of holding things back a bit.

Friday 25th April Rest

Saturday 26th April 5 miles @ 9:15

Very easy run to loosen out the legs before the race on Sunday. Done a some strides at the end. All feeling ok.

Sunday 27th April - SSE Airtricity 10 Mile Challenge
This race was put on by the Derry Marathon organisers as a warm up race for the Marathon. The big selling point being that it takes in part of the marathon course. Going by the route map it seemed like a reasonable course, a little bit undulating but the only real climb coming in the last mile.

For me I knew I didn’t do myself full justice in Omagh, went out too hard and probably threw the towel in after that when things got tough pretty quickly. With that in mind I didn’t want to be approaching this too aggressively. At the same time I wanted a better idea of where I was at with the marathon not that far away.

Was over in Derry early, got parked and jogged over to the start. Picked up my race number and finished my warm up in St. Columb’s Park. It was a lovely morning but quite warm, could feel it more when standing around. There was a nice breeze in the air when you were moving against it. After a 2 mile warm up I was ready to start.

I had settled on a plan of trying to go out at 7:00 mins/mile pace or just under. The start took us around a short loop before going into the park. The park had a few twisty bits before a nice downhill stretch. My garmin went haywire here. Couldn’t rely on it so just paced myself on a couple of guys in front of me. The garmin settled down once we got out from the tree cover but knew that the distance might be a bit skewed. Went passed the first mile marked with 6:41 on the watch but didn’t get a beep until 6:56. Next mile was pretty flat, running along the foyle. I had slotted in behind a guy with a red t-shirt and another with a navy blue, was feeling quite comfortable. 2nd mile was 6:57. After this we come out towards the Foyle Bridge, without any extra effort I find myself going by the red t-shirt guy following the navy shirt. He opened a gap heading over the bridge. Found the climb up along this tough. Once you got to the top of the climb you could see the leaders below you running back down alongside the river. Coming off the bridge a sharp decline followed. 3rd mile 7:20. Legs opened up at the start of the 4th mile until the route flattened out. Running back towards the city centre the breeze was now at our backs and the heat started to be felt. 4th mile 7:03.

Route was pretty much flat but I was struggling in the heat. Was glad to see the first water stop, and the water was in bottles. Took one and poured a good bit over me before taking a few sips. This gave a bit of temporary relief. Mile 5 7:28.

The guy in the red t-shirt passed me around this point and I cursed myself for not sitting behind him earlier. The 6th mile was a bit surreal. I was slowing up so losing ground on those in front, not that many were overtaking me. We we running along the quay by the river with people out for their Sunday run/walk coming in the opposite direction. It just didn’t feel like a race. Mile 6: 7:38. Had another water stop after the 6th mile marker. Over done the pouring water over myself and got a good bit in one eye. Rubbing it back out I managed to move one of my contact lenses. Had to stop to see if it was still there and get it back into place. Got going again once it was sorted but had pretty much given up on the race at this point. Developed a bit of stitch at this point which stung anytime I tried to pick the pace up. Miles 7-9: 8:16, 8:24, 8:21.

We went over the Peace Bridge back towards the park. I had been prepared for a horror of a final mile from my study of the elevation profile before the race. I was coasting along and noticed a Lifford Ac vest come up on my shoulder. She was working quite hard as we started to climb and I decided to try and keep pace with her. After a short distance somehow moved ahead of her. There was a short decline before we were climbing again back up through the trees in the park which the garmin didn’t appreciate. It wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated but then I had give myself 3 recovery miles! Once at the top of the park there were a few struggling ahead and I closed the gap on them and went passed some. We headed back down towards the start. I mistakenly thought we were taking a straight line to the start and opened the legs out into a bit of a sprint only to be gutted when those in front turned left. Eased off the final kick a bit until we rounded the final corner.

Finished in 1:15:11 . Course came up at 9.89 miles with last mile showing 0.89 (@ 7:36 pace). Reckon the trees in the park which we went under twice probably skewed the distance a bit.

Overall not really what I had wanted. I ended up being over a minute slower than my 10 mile split from Omagh. But I have learned a few things from the race. I didn’t cope at all with the heat. Early morning running doesn’t help with this but it was a warmer than usual day and the marathon will start at 8:30 as opposed to 11:00. Will need to change my choice of top for the marathon. Wore my boards t-shirt which has been the choice for the last year but it felt a bit too heavy at times during the race. Have had similar issues with it before, mostly in longer races and warmer weather. I will obviously re-assess downwards my goal for the marathon. I think I really need to be much more conservative especially in the early part of the race.

Monday 28th April 6 miles @ 9:38

Very handy run this morning. Legs were feeling ok, a little tired maybe. .

tomred1N wrote: »

Dazza looking at the milage and sessions you reel off week in week out I'm a bit baffled with your race times ( as are you I guess !) Your 18 miles Long run just last week with 12 @MP around 7:30 pace ....if I were able to do that on a sunday morning on my own I would be confident enough of doing a marathon at that pace. However your 10 mile race pace was less than this ??? . Wondering myself about the mileage and P&D 70 miles plan for later in the year. Is it too much I wonder ??

Good question tomred1N, it doesn't make a whole pile of sense just looking at the numbers. I think it is a bit of a mental issue if anything. Doesn't really matter how much good training you have done if you don't fully commit to the race. Think I also let what my watch tells me affect me too much during races.

Wednesday 30th April 14 miles @ 8:37

Early start this morning for this. Still dark heading out but reckoned it would have brightened up enough by the time I had a loop of the town done. Down to the last 14/15 mile MLR next week, will really miss them .

Monthly Summary
Month| No. of Runs| 2012 | No. of Runs | 2013| No. Of Runs| 2014
January| 14 | 34.22 | 23 | 127.01| 27| 221
February|16| 46.21 | 11 | 59.82| 23| 213
March|16| 52.11 | 23 | 137.57| 27| 267
April|14|49.98 | 27 | 174.19| 26| 257
May|22| 95.18 | 27 | 154.79
June|17| 85.79| 23| 150.07
July| 18| 101.16| 26| 194.29
August| 17| 126.55| 25| 181.85
September| 18| 151.64| 26| 190.85
October| 16| 115.04| 24| 182.57
November| 21| 91.63| 23| 160.63
December| 16| 89.14| 25| 178.17
Totals | 205| 1,038.51 | 283 | 1,892| 103| 953