Turning a mule into a race horse.

Ososlo wrote: »

How important are sessions really for marathon training especially for a first marathon really though? Yes it's great at the moment to work on speed, but in a few months time, is it not just all about getting the miles in your legs and building the endurance with maybe a tempo run each week to compliment that rather than doing hill sprints etc? Maybe I'm wrong...

Is there not too much of a chance of injury building mileage week after week PLUS doing sessions?

I agree to a certain point. But even this years novice plan here has an occasional hill session and strides etc early on.

Ultimately endurance is key for marathon so these sessions would have to take back seat later in plan as mileage increases.

Ososlo wrote: »

Yep there are a few faster paced bits in the plan alright but they wouldn't be anything like an eyeballs out club session. They're fairly tame really.
You have a month or so to pick a plan so plenty of time to get advice. No harm to talk to them in the club too as Murph says and get advice from the pros.

ps- I amended my last post to say your 2nd marathon! Sorry:o

Ha it may as well be my first tbh.

So as mentioned earlier I threw in a ninja entry to tonights Dunboyne 5 mile race. Ninja entry being I told nobody about it and didn't mention it here in advance. A few days after Terenure it was niggling at me that I had sold myself a bit short. When it came time to dig in I had found nothing - Did I try hard enough ? Had going out too fast ruined things ? At the same time I became aware that this race was on. An evening race and probably my last chance at a 5 mile race this year. So I decided to enter it, try for that elusive sub 40 one more time.

Arrived in good time, bit of confusion and delay at the registration / number collection left me having to jog for 5 min to get to the start line which was a lot further away than expected. Nice warm up though

Got to the start line and realised that there was no timing mat at the start which meant that the chip time would actually be the gun time. No major worries - I had my watch and the times quoted here are off my watch. Crossed the start line approx 15 seconds after the gun time.

Set off looking for a steady pace just under 8 min. Bit of congestion in the first mile. Found it hard to get into an appropriate pace. When I got the chance to overtake people it meant bursts of speed. Not the best start to be using energy weaving in and out and also difficult to judge the pacing right. As it turned out I hit the first mile a bit quicker than planned.
Mile 1 7:35

Doh ! The exact same time as the first mile at Terenure Nothing I could do about it at that point but try and hold back a bit and hope I wasn't blown already. This was my first ever race where I was running not knowing the course. Each turn, road, hill was met fresh with no thought or plan. If I hit a hill I maintained effort and slowed a little, downhill maintained but sped up a bit. All the time trying to stay comfortable but not at 100% effort. I needed to be able to dig later and have something left. Quite surprised to find mile 2 was quicker than Terenure.
Mile 2 7:39

Not feeling too bad at this point I pushed on but at this stage was trying to keep it steady in and around 8 min pace. If the watch went to 8:15 I sped up a bit. If it went to 7:45 I slowed down a fraction. Again this was all about maintaining a bit of energy for later.
Mile 3 7:54

Happy days. All going well. 3.5 miles in I knew just knew I had it in the bag. Steady as she goes etc. Same strategy. Hold it at around 8 min pace. Starting to feel it though and dipped into 8:20 / 8:25 territory a little too often for my liking. Still all went well and mile 4 came in a good time. It turned out that this was the beginning of what was a gradual 2 mile climb home.
Mile 4 8:05

Now at this point I was also aware that I was at 4.04 miles on my watch as I passed the 4 mile marker. A result of the weaving in and out earlier I presumed. This meant that I was a few seconds behind the figures mentioned here. This last mile was tough - very tough. Again the hindsight shows this as an uphill section. By 4.25 miles the confidence I had that I had this in the bag was evaporating rapidly. I was struggling and spending the time doing maths in my head of how long was left, what pace I could drop back too and still make it home and finding myself struggling to hit that pace. I even considered walking for a bit a la Galloway marathon method. Would a brief walk allow me to take off faster and complete the race in the goal time ? It was time to dig deep. At Terenure I came up empty. Tonight I found a bit in the reserve tank and pushed on. At this stage the maths was in overdrive - trying to keep the pace consistently under what it needed to be to get home under 40. A cruel finish for those hanging on awaits at the end of the Dunboyne 5 mile. You turn into the club and have to do a lap of the track before finishing. I was spent at this stage. Got passed out by 6 or 7 people on the track who were having themselves a lovely sprint finish. Me - I was racing that clock hanging on for dear life and praying the finish line would come soon. This was the hardest 400 metres I have ever ran. Managed to come in under 40 min on the race clock (39:51 if I remember correctly) and 39:37 on my watch which in this case is more accurate as there was no starting mat.
Mile 5 8:04 for the mile / 8:23 to finish the course


Total Time: 39:37
Other unofficial PBs along the way ...

1 mile 7:23
2 mile 15:02
5k 23:50

Literally collapsed over the finish line and almost had myself what would have earned me a penalty lap at the beer mile. Lay there for a couple of minutes and soaked it in. I done it. I fukcing done it. This was the goal I set back in 2012 coming off the couch a very fat boy. In the greater scheme of things the time isn't that great or impressive. But for me personally that time is a massive milestone and means so much more to me than a 5 mile PB.

Congrats to Dunboyne club who had a fantastic spread laid out afterwards. I hadn't stayed around after Terenure so this was my first taste of club hospitality. Couldn't believe the amount of sandwiches, biscuits and cake laid out. Had a cup of tea and a sandwich, stood at the club entrance cheering on as many people as I could (this is still a novelty for me - to finish up the field in a race enough to cheer on a load of people behind me) and went home a very happy mule.

AuldManKing wrote: »

Congrats - must have just missed you?? Maybe the new svelte form hid you from our view

Nice work on the Race.

More like I just about made it to the start, was 10 min behind you and was near passed out after

Knew you would be there alright from your log but didn't see you on the night. Next time !

Ososlo wrote: »

Over the moon for you PM as I remember reading your original post a few years ago about wanting to aim for the sub 40 so I know how much it must mean to you to finally do it. You're really making huge strides at the moment. You're gonna have a great DCM:D

4th March 2012 set what I thought at the time was a modest goal. That was a few weeks into the couch to 5k program I was on. Still is / was a modest goal in general to be fair ! but turned out I was a lonnnnnnnng way away from it

Did the 5 mile race series in 2012 in 47:10 so was some way away which was closest I got to it before tilting at the marathon windmill, injuries and baby arrival.

This time round I have worked a good bit harder, lost the weight (some of it anyway - still a bit to go!) and the times are tumbling down. At the Terenure 5 mile Mrs Mule remarked to me that for the first time she was seeing me come in to the finish of a race close enough to the what she would call serious runners. She said that the really fast, fit and skinny typical runners had only just finished going through a couple of minutes earlier when I appeared at the finish. Now I know that sounds like an insult but it was a real compliment. She was used to seeing me struggle in at the bottom 10% of a race. I see that sub 40 min as on one hand being a massive milestone of self respect for getting there, for getting that close to the serious runners but it's now an old target that the fat lad had. The newer fitter me says sub 40 min needs a lot of improving. New targets await.

JMSE wrote: »

well done pacingmule! seems like a lot of determination has gone into that sub40min 5 mile. I was there and doing my lap on the track probably at the same time as yourself, twas a great night for a run, little breeze, good summer weather and a lovely countryside route. The lap at the end is tough alright and you can hear the footsteps behind you as others make you their target so that gave me a bit of a kick-on, will do again.

Cheers !!! I really enjoyed the race in general not just the sub 40.

If you were with me on the track you probably passed me out