Just for the craic

Monday 28th October 2013

DCM 2013 – 3.19.26

The lead up to the day of the marathon was filled with lots of nerves, excitement, apprehension, sleepless nights and plenty of eating (felt like I put on half a stone in the last few days of taper), all silly mind games really but its all part of this marathon running game.

After what seemed like an eternity the morning of the marathon arrived and I got a lift in off one of the lads from the club, the atmosphere in the car was a bit a strange, everyone was kinda zoned in to their own little world, going through their plans in their mind all while trying to make small talk to break the silence. We parked up and made our way over to the baggage area, we said our good lucks and all that and went our separate ways. I headed on with Elfoyzer, a good man to have around in these situations as he is always confident and chirpy and is a great motivator, I think he helped career_move pace around the bohermeen half earlier this year. After a quick pit stop we went into our pen as the national anthem started, after this I moved up said a quick hello to Blockic and took my position a few rows behind the 3.20 pacers.
The nerves were replaced with excitement at this stage and the gun went off, here we fcuking go I thought to myself and I let out a good roar as this is the moment all the training comes together.

Miles 1-5, 7.52, 7.24, 7.26, 7.13, 7.27

First mile was slow enough with the congestion but I knew this was going to happen so no need to panic. Running across O’Connell bridge I was struck by a wave of emotion, I could feel myself tearing up and it was difficult to breath, really had to pull myself together here as I was nearly ruining my tough guy image. Funnily enough the Cure song Boys Don’t Cry came on in the car on the way in and I remarked to the lads listen to the words of that song, no tears today men I said and here I was a mile into the race nearly crying haha. Seen my mother around the 2 mile mark, she gave me a big wave and a smile. The next few miles ticked along nicely and I found my rhythm and stuck to it.

Miles 6-10, 7.35, 7.31, 7.23, 7.26, 7.37

Into the park I felt really good, the miles were flying by, no issues at all, I was relaxed and enjoying myself. I seen a few clubmates on the Furze road, they gave a big cheer and I responded by flashing the guns to show that I was feeling good.
Down that hill in the park was great, I felt like I could run all day, here I was greeted by more clubmates, jaysus the noise of them as I was going past you would think that I was winning the race, it was a great feeling. Next was that hill at chapelizod, we had done this a few times in our training so it didn’t feel too bad today, once that was done I was delighted as that hill was worrying me a little before the race.

Miles 11-15, 7.28, 7.47, 7.40, 7.25, 7.26

I think this part of the course was the toughest for me, this was up that long drag and into the headwind. But I stayed in the pack and tried to shelter as much as possible. When we hit the half way point I raised my arms in the air and said well done man we are winding down now. I started to recover from the couple of tough miles and I was in a nice smooth rhythm again and felt like I was cruising.

Miles 16-20, 7.32, 7.29, 7.31, 7.33, 7.45

It was at the 16 mile mark I kinda knew I had this 3.20 in the bag, I was full of confidence and was really enjoying myself and found myself pushing ahead of the pacers. I stayed a few meters ahead of them for a while but never too far away as I knew I’d need to tuck back into the group going up Roebuck Rd. Again at this point there was good support from our club. When we got to Roebuck I let the pacers go ahead of me and I dug in and got up that hill without any problems at all and I came out at the top of the hill ahead of the pacers again. I had to reign myself in a bit here, I said to myself stay with the pacers from here, no heroics and risk a blow up.

Miles 21-26, 7.40, 7.25, 7.30, 7.30, 7.29, 7.30

So the plan was to stick to the pacers and see this thing trough, the pace group was dwindling as the miles ticked along. I was still feeling quite strong and was right on the pacers shoulder up to about mile 24. At around the RDS I was beginning to feel a bit tired and I noticed I was letting the pacers get a few meters ahead of me, time to dig in. I gritted my teeth and found that extra bit of energy from somewhere and pulled up alongside the pacers again. Just hold it together and you will see this through was going trough my head. 25 miles done at this stage, feeling fcuked now but no way I was letting this slip at this stage. Then I seen the crowds and heard the noise, man it was brilliant and gave me such a lift. Coming around Trinity is something I’ll never forget. The pacers urged us all on and I went ahead of them and crusied into the finish line. Job done, happy fcking days… I hugged the pacers and said my thanks absolutely delighted with myself, I never did introduce myself to the pacers so if you read this thanks again lads.


So that was it, my marathon experience, what a day and what an acheivment for me and where I came from. To come from a 20 stone, heavy drinker and heavy smoker to run a 3.19 debut marathon is something I’m very proud of. I’ll never forget that day, my main goal was to finish it and enjoy it and that’s exaclty what I did, I enjoyed every step of the marathon.

Whats next for me, I have no idea… I started this log with the 2012 marathon as my goal but that didn’t happen as I got injured and didn’t run for 4 months in 2012 so it feels right that I close this log off or at least stay away from logging training for a while.
I have to say a hugh thanks to everyone who posted here offering advice. I must say an extra thanks to Almac06, Happygoose & Elfoyzer, the lads from the club who’s advice and encouragement have been great since I joined the club.
One piece of advice I’ll give to anyone reading this who is not part of a club is to get your ar5e to a club and join, if I can do it then anyone can. Its quite daunting at the start but it will bring you on so much and the friendships you make are invaluable.

Tom Joad wrote: »

Good to see you back logging wowzer. Dunboyne is a better reflection of where you are at than today - obviously just one of those days for you today.

Cheers TJ, I didn't recognise you there today as the last time we met you had a cap and/or shades. I only realized who you were after I walked off after the race, fair play again on your result. The consistency of your training is really starting to pay off.

Tuesday 22nd July 2014

6.07 miles in 43.38 avg pace 7.11

I haven't had a minute to look at 10k plans yet so I headed out today with no plan for this run. The objective was solely to just enjoy today's effort and that's what I did.

I let the body dictate the pace and it was very comfortable despite the heat, I'm a winter person, the older I get the more I hate the summer and everything that comes with it. Its interesting to note that my pace today would have been my PMP if I was doing the marathon in October.

In hindsight I probably should still be running recovery pace today after Sunday but the race attempt seems to have taken very little out of me, speaks volumes really. Maybe I need to learn to HTFU in races when the going gets tough as I tend to switch off when I start hurting.

Thursday 24th July 2014

6.73miles in 53:04 avg pace 7.53

Continuing on from yesterday’s theme I headed out the door with no plan in mind, just get out and go for a run and see where it takes me. After going up towards the sea for the past 3 days I decided to go the opposite direction towards the Phoenix Park. Its exactly 2 miles from the door in work to the first roundabout in the park when coming from the city centre so when I got here I knew I still had plenty of time to play with so I went left down the hill towards the magazine fort. When I got to the bottom the Khyber was staring me down, so I hit lap on the Garmin where start is sprayed on the ground and put the boot down and tried to maintain a decent pace up the Khyber as best I could. I stopped at the 800meter mark and I clocked it at 3:14 so somewhere between 10k & HM pace. Overall a very enjoyable run even in the heat, the amount of flies was ridiculous though, one of the many reasons I hate the summer.…

Hills are definitely something I need to work on more, I’ve only ever done one race where I felt comfortable on hills and that was Bohermeen half in March but that was under the guidance of a certain Clown who went above and beyond the regular pacing duties and talked his group up that hill twice.

Sunday 27th July

6.26 miles in 46.24 avg 7.26

Real life got in the way of my long run this morning so I could only manage to squeeze in a few miles. Nothing to say about this run really, I was just happy to be able to get out for a few minutes peace.

I'll try and get a long one in tomorrow instead, although it may have to be done over 2 runs, its not ideal but sometimes life does get in the way.

Tuesday 29th July

5.72 miles avg pace 7.06

Sandwiched between warm up and cool down miles I did a session of 12x400 off 30seconds.

The aim was to get them all around 90 seconds, the reps were reasonably consistent coming in at 86-88 seconds, I was comfortable, controlled and relaxed throughout the session, job done so I'm happy with today's effort.

Day 9 and still no chocolate, its beginning to drive me insane now.

Thursday 31st July

7.08 miles avg pace 7.09

The plan for today was a 3 mile tempo at 6.30 pace so after 2 miles warm up I headed off along the seafront for my tempo miles. First mile and a half up to my turning point went like a dream, very smooth and relaxed. Then when I turned back I realised why it felt so easy as the breeze was pushing me along. No matter what the weather is like everywhere else in Dublin, its always f**king breezy in Clontarf. Anyway effort levels increased significantly to maintain pace, and I ground it out to get it finished, splits for the 3 miles were 6.31, 6.28 & 6.26. A 2 mile cooldown followed.

outforarun wrote: »

Don't think I could ever drop chocolate completely, don't think I'd want to. What I do is allow myself buy a 100g bar Friday evening. I then manage that over the weekend I usually manage to stop eating the whole lot on Friday and still have some left over for Saturday. Keeps me sane.

(chocolate in post race goodie-bags is also fair game)

As it happens the last bit of chocolate I ate was the galaxy in the fingal 10k goodie bag.

I'm an all or nothing person, I'm not disciplined enough to confine my chocolate binges to weekends only. It was getting ridiculous so it was time to do something about it.

Also lining up at fingal with you guys I noticed that I am a good bit bigger than you all so I figured I could do with dropping a few pounds, not that I'm overweight but I'm sure losing a bit of weight won't do my running any harm.

tang1 wrote: »

You still lifting the weights wowzer?

Very little weights for the past year or so Tang since baby 1 arrived. It's all bodyweight stuff these days just to maintain for vanity purposes and to keep the wife onside, skinny runner types don't do it for her.