Turning a mule into a race horse.

Chivito550 wrote: »

Physically, there's not much you can do over the next day and a half. Rest, Vitamin C, Echinechea etc. All the obvious stuff. But mentally, you have to get into a positive mindset by Monday morning, or the battle will be twice as hard. I went through a similar thing before Nationals this year. No illness thankfully, but had a nightmare race 3 days beforehand where my calves wouldn't play ball. I was on such a downer. If I couldn't get myself back up quickly then it was game over. Thankfully I did, and it all went well. The training is done at this stage, so get yourself right mentally, let your body fight the bug over the next day and a half, and then play with what you have got on Monday.

If you are not quite 100%, there's no shame in dropping the pace a bit for the first half or whatever, and pick things up before the end if feeling good. If not feeling good, then you would be justified at going at a slower pace anyway. It's always good to have a plan B, as this can be a frustrating sport at times. But I completely feel your frustration.

Best of luck.

You actually had 2 weeks of bad racing / bad luck injury whatever and then nailed a very elusive PB when the main event came. That's actually quite a boost to read. I had read your report at the time but never twigged the bad races before it. Thanks for that boost.

You're absolutely right. Need to be 100% positive now. Heading off to the expo this morning and will enjoy it and prepare mentally now for a good race tomorrow.

Summary:

Felt grand up until 8 miles then noticed breathing and heart rate were rising rapidly. Thought oh oh but kept going as per plan. Halfway up crumlin road my right quad went nuclear. Every step www like someone was thumping me giving me a dead leg. Tried running through, tried stretching it out etc but basically I couldn't run at any kind of speed without pain and even the slow run was a timebomb for a random lock up. At Terenure the left leg went the same way and at that point I decided the race was done.

Then later on I did the stupidest thing I've ever done running and decided I could still make it under 5 hours which is still a 36 min PB. Swore a lot, ran through the pain more with each running session, ignored getting light headed and made it home at 4:58:xx and had to be caught by first aiders and escorted from the finish line. Mortified !!

Will do a full report at some point. Not going to beat myself up. Wasn't 100% and it showed.

The longer version:


Preparation:
Preparation had gone well but maybe not well enough. Getting sick two weeks out and not recovering fully was not ideal nor was the niggles and calves that needed managing or resting along the way. That said I felt and indeed still do feel I had trained to be in 4:15 / 4:20 shape. I had hit all the LSR's on the HHN2 program, one particularly tough one along the way but took the character building aspect of that as a positive.

Start to Castleknock (7 miles):
Got there nice and early and was in position just behind the 4:10 pacers. Plan was to head off at 4:15 pace towards the park then drop back a bit under 4:20 for the duration of the park to arrive out of the first hilly section still on 4:20 overall. Small bit of congestion at start but nothing too bad. The drag up the park was tougher than expected. Swirling wind didn't help matters at all but I knew my family were just outside of the Phoenix Park gates so had that to look forward to. Came out of the park feeling very good - even stopped briefly to hug and kiss the kids before heading off again. The wall of sound and people at Myos pub in Castleknock was incredible. What a buzz to run through that feeling on top of the world at this point.

Splits 1-7:
9:55, 9:26, 9:27, 9:47, 9:53, 9:40, 9:40

7-Halfway:
After Castleknock the descent back down towards the park and Chapleizod was a welcome relief. Mindful of advice given here I didn't tear off down this and tried to take it a bit easy. Despite that though my breathing started to become quite laboured and I could feel my heart rate rising - heart was thumping like you do when you are scared and you can feel it beating fast. Got a little bit worried at this stage but soldiered on dropping the pace back a little more. Out through Chapleizod and the second big hill of the day under the flyover up to Sarsfield Road. Again took that nice and easy - I was about 1 minute up on 4:20 pace at that stage and allowed myself to lose a bit of this on this section. Out across the SCR and then the right hand turn over the canal and up to Crumlin. OMFG where did that wind come from ! Combination of the steep incline over the canal and up to the shopping centre and the wind billowing down meant the pace slowed dramatically here for the last quarter of this mile dragging that split down a bit. That said went over half way bang on where I wanted to be.

Splits 8-13
9:32, 9:41, 9:48, 10:03, 9:43, 10:15
Halfway at 2:09:53.

13 - 17
Then ladies and gentlemen the wheels came off. Just after halfway my right quad went bang. Every step was like someone was punching me giving me a dead leg. Had to stop to try stretch it out. Would run a bit more - it would go again. Going uphill into the wind stopping and starting was not fun at all. Eventually got to the top of Walkinstown hoping that the flat ground thereafter would help things. It didn't but I was still managing a relatively decent pace - all be that 4:20 was out the window. Then just before Terenure the left leg went exactly the same way. Now I could hardly move and after a few more burst of running before being hit with the snipers shot I mentally wrote off the entire race. Posted here I was as good as DNFing and was walking back in the hope of beating the 2012 time of 5:36. Thought about turning left at Terenure and heading straight back to town but decided not to.

Splits 14-20
11:41, 11:10, 11:47, 13:23, 13:12, 14:46, 13:17

20-Finish
I was getting really fed up with being passed out by pace group after pace group and it kind of invoked my stubborn side. I had been hobbling along at this point for 4 miles. Heartbreak hill was upon me and I decided that I was running up it without stopping no matter what. Passed out a lot of people on this very short section and I was telling myself that once I was up there the last 6 home were the easiest terrain wise. At that point it started to enter in my head that perhaps I could make it home sub 5. Having a 4 in the hour column sounded much better than 5 and wouldn't be a total write off for the day. So I sped up a bit. Except every time I tried to run fast the legs would go. I was reduced to a slow shuffle trying to balance off the pace I needed to get sub 5 versus what the legs could handle. Got it wrong every few hundred metres stopping in agony on the side of the road each time. Got to 40k sign - only 2 to go! Garmin at this stage was .4 of a mile out and I was trying to work out the maths of what I needed to hit time wise. I thought I was worse off than I was and sub 5 was slipping past too. At this stage the 4:50 pace group caught me - bearing in mind I started off a 10 minute wave ahead of them I knew I was toast if I couldn't pull away from them. So I decided with 1k to go that I simply wasn't stopping until the finish line no matter what. Highly highly stupid of me to be honest. Ignored the pain, was close to crying from it, then ignored feeling light headed, focus on that finish line which seemed an eternity away and not getting any closer. Copped then that I was maybe a minute under 5 hour but knew if I slowed or stopped I mightn't make it so kept going.

Splits 20-Finish
12:15, 12:48, 11:37, 12:29, 12:30, 11:51, 10:18 (pace for last half mile on garmin)
Finish time 4:58:34

The Finish
Hit the finish line and I wasn't in good shape. Wobbled a bit tried to walk through but was like I had 10 pints on me. Started to lean left and one of the marshalls caught me. Was trying to insist I was fine but a couple of first aiders got to me then and insisted I wasn't. They were right of course. Had to be helped to the barrier. Spent a bit of time there and thought I was ok enough to walk on. Got a few more metres and had a repeat peformance outside the first aid tent itself. When I eventually got out and got back to the family I was in tears. Emotionally and physically shattered. Mortified at the time but in hindsight gave it absolutely everything I had to get home under the 5 and I am proud of that - but I do know it wasn't smart.

Reflections:
Made it into Mcgrattans late in the day - was in no shape immediately afterwards. From talking to people there, reading on boards and the amount of people I saw in deep trouble over the course it's clear that yesterday was a tough tough day. The course, wind and sun knocked the stuffing out of most people it seems. I don't know how much the sickness effected me - only running once in the two weeks up to the race could have had a toll on the legs influencing the injuries. I know in my heart and soul I had trained for a better result than I got but it was a PB by nearly 40 minutes so I'm not too dissapointed. I will be back for a better time.

I hope that all those I saw in worse shape than I was at the finish line but still out on the course are ok. A scary amount of ambulances required yesterday. Something horrific about passing people being worked on on the ground The support on the course was unreal - a huge thank you to anyone reading this who was out there supporting or marshalling. Special shout out to the woman at mile 1 with the sign "I'm proud of you random stranger" The best sign of the day for me - and I'm proud of you too.

yaboya1 wrote: »

And the good news is, next time when everything goes to plan you'll get another pb by more than 40 minutes

That is one positive for the day

laura_ac3 wrote: »

Sorry to hear you weren't feeling better but I think there was a few of us in the same boat on the day! I saw that sign too, made me smile and I gave them a big wave and thumbs up!

Support around the course in general was amazing. Castleknock was something else altogether. Won't forget that in a hurry.

DCM 15 planning starts now. :pac:

I was a little tempted to go look for a spring marathon to have another go at a 4:20 or below but truth is that the training wasn't good enough this time round and I think taking a year to get back to it and come back aiming at a better time again will be the better choice.

Once I get back on the road plan will be to maintain a relatively higher mileage base than before I started to step up mileage for this year. I want to land at the start of a DCM program running 15-16 miles every weekend so the step up won't be that big for me. I'm also going to train a lot on the first half of the course (assuming it stays the same) from Parkgate St up through the park and from Dolphins Barn to Walkinstown. At least once a month the weekly LSR will be on this section. Despite taking it easy on the downhill out of Castleknock both my quads went with the first one going at 13 miles and second at 17. Also despite running 5 x 18-20 mile LSRs in the lead up my legs gave up dramatically at 13. Conclusion for me is I didn't train enough on hills and in particular downhills.

Will spend the first half of the year working on pace and shorter distances. Plenty of room for improvement there. Bohermeen spring half is also on the agenda as I broke my PB for half marathon midway through Mondays race. I haven't raced a half for 2 years so racing one in March will be a great mid season checkpoint on how things are going for the longer term. Will also be targeting another stone off weight wise for Bohermeen which of course will help a lot.

Looking forward to the training already.