BQ or Bust!

Thanks all.

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Great stuff Murph, well done. Running spikes, jazus you're getting notions

TbL

The wellies wouldn't cut it. I'm skinny and have to jettison as much ballast as possible. The Endorphins weigh 2.8 oz, as opposed to the 10.8 oz clodhoppers I use on the road!

aquinn wrote: »

Great splits D and congraulations on the PB. Some time. Credit must be given to the aero-dynamic haircut as well as the spikes.

Cheers, I always find a haircut works well going into a race, although this one isn't that new (took a while to 'grow in').

OOnegative wrote: »

Knew by the look of you last week you were in great nick!! Bravo on the PB D, very well done.

Cheers, B - I had the same thought. Dutchland is good for you.

Mulberry wrote: »

Lovely form in that pic Murph. Well done.

(In an aside, I'm RIPPIN that they had a 100M race without advertising it? Rippin.)

Yeah, think they just added that in the previous week - there were some emails as far as I recall. Should have mentioned it to you!

eyrie wrote: »

It's got to be hard to judge with so little room for error over shorter distances. I've never raced anything like that myself (nothing shorter than a 5k) so don't know the first thing about it - is it just pure pain the whole time pretty much?

I think things happen too fast to call it pain, as such - it hurts but in a different way to long road races and you don't have much time to process it, plus you know it'll be over in a few minutes anyway. Like I say I find lap three the hardest, but by the time you're on the back straight you're thinking, nearly at the bell! I'm really new to all this and every race has been different, it all depends on who else is there in terms of whether you get a decent race or not. Grade D seems to be a very wide band - finish times were between 5:10 and 7:50 the other night so you don't always have someone to chase or someone chasing you.

chickey2 wrote: »

Well done!
I love that the photo has your shoe in focus but the rest of you isn't!

Ha ha, yes, nothing like a bit of flattering motion blur!

Younganne wrote: »

Well done D, great racing.

Cheers A - hope you make it back to the track yourself next summer. You had a very decent outing last time as far as I recall

Kellygirl wrote: »

Well done Murph. Great racing. I’ve never done anything like that either.

Highly recommended! There were plenty of first timers the other night which was good to see. It's great to be able to run in the national stadium, and the place was looking great nick following the Morton Games and the Nationals.

Huzzah! wrote: »

On gossamer wings... Congrats on the PB. It's great reading about track races.

Hope the gossamer holds out long enough for the goal race. :pac: Cheers - you should try one some time.

skyblue46 wrote: »

Great racing and great race report. It's this and Scotindublin's race report that have made my mind up to broaden my horizons next year. A bit of XC, a bit of road and some track too... Fair play to you!

Thanks S. You're made for it. A bit more competition in the M50+ categories would be welcome.

Operation 800 Week 11/12

More Donegal running this week, and maybe even some Mayo. All ticking over well.

Mon 6 Aug

9.4k easy

Back to St. John’s Point - the missus dropped me off at the village and I ran down and joined her at the beach estimated at 8k. Oops, slight underestimation. No harm done though. Pleasant run, taking in some of the course from the race the other day. Even hillier than I remember, so must have been in good shape during the session/race.

Tue 7 Aug

Session: 3 x 1 mile @ tempo; 6 x 200 @ R

I’m always happy to find a holiday track so headed up to Stranorlar to use the Finn Valley AC facility. The track was empty except for a young runner, being put through some drills and a session by his coach. The mrs had a session too so we warmed up on the infield and then chose lane 7 to stay out of the way. Another hot day and no shade, but I got through this pretty well - very well in fact, as I somehow construed tempo pace to be 4:05/km instead of the 4:20-4:25 I should have been looking at, and only realised later.

Splits (approx):

6:31 6:35 6:39
37 38 37 39 38 38

Delighted with this. The 200s were also too fast - should have been more like 44 per - but felt great, which is encouraging. A few laps to cool down. When leaving the track, had a chat with the coach we’d seen earlier. Lovely chap. Turned out the athlete he was working with was Karl Griffin, the young Donegal 800m man. Should have asked for some tips! Enjoyed this session - great facility. Cost to use - two euros, with shower facilities. Probably could have sneaked a swim in the pool while I was at it! Total: 11.6k

WTD: 21k (13m)
MTD: 68 (42)
YTD: 1,918 (1,192)

Week 11 cont.

Wed 8 Aug

10k recovery on the roads around Ballycastle, Co. Mayo. Would have been a shorter run but had to retrace steps when the beach where the loop would have ended turned out to be bisected by a river. :rolleyes:

Thu 9 Aug

4.5k recovery.

Long drive home, arriving just in time to see Thomas Barr win his medal, then a little leg stretcher in Fairview Park before dinner.

Fri 10 Aug

Session: 4x200 FR + 2x600 FR + 4x200 R

This is the last of the big sessions on the schedule before next week’s race. Jogged over to the track at Irishtown for this. The session looks tough and it was. 400m recovery for the 200m ’fast reps’ (target 37-38) was fair enough, but by the time the 600s rolled around I was not feeling confident of hitting the suggested 1:53 - justifiably so as it turned out. These 600s were very tough, and the 1k recovery was badly needed. The finishing 200s were a little too fast, despite a deliberate attempt to slow down to the target 44s.

Splits (approx):

34 39 36 37
1:58 1:58
39 40 44 41

So a bit all over the place, but glad to have it done. Tried to work on using arms more, while still relaxing shoulders, which is harder than it sounds! Jogged back across to D3 for a total of 15.2k.

WTD: 51k (31m)
MTD: 98 (61)
YTD: 1,947 (1,210)

Operation 800 Week 12/12 - Race week

Last checks before Tullamore. In addition to the 800m, I’ve signed up for the 1500, but the focus is very much on the former. Hopefully the 1500 will just be a it of fun and not a desperate attempt to save the day.

Mon 13 Aug

40 mins recovery on the Clontarf seafront. Muggy!

Tue 14 Aug

11.8k including 2x400 @ mile pace, 2x200 @ 800m pace.

Warmed up with a sluggish run over to Irishtown feeling very tired. J Daniels final session was for 4x200, 2x1m tempo, 2x200, but the club coach suggested something much more benign and I was more than happy to comply. Despite the turgid warmup I felt great doing these reps, which clocked a little too fast again.

1:23 1:29
0:36 0:37

So a very short workout, and I was jogging home by the time everyone else was halfway through their own sessions.

Wed 15 Aug

7.8k easy on the seafront. Spotted aquinn but took me a while to catch her. Nice evening, humid but with a short cooling shower. Bumped into a former colleague and stopped to chat. The seafront is a great place to run and always teeming with life!

WTD: 27k (17m)
MTD: 139 (87)
YTD: 1,989 (1,236)

National Masters 2018 (800m and 1500m)

“You are going to have the race of your life” (Charlie Spedding/TAFKADG)


Backstory

And so to this year’s goal race – 800m at the National Masters Track & Field in Tullamore. It would be only my fifth attempt at the distance, which has become a bit of a project after a first stab at it at the 2017 BHAA Trinity Track meet. That day, I surprised myself with a 2:37 debut, a half-decent time for my age category and track inexperience, and on the slow surface to boot. At the time, I had done at least some appropriate training, the Trinity meet taking place not long after a few weeks of mile prep. But my 800 time was much better than the 5:54 paced mile that had resulted from that short block. This piqued my interest, suggesting that perhaps I was more suited to shorter distances. I set myself a sub-2:30 goal for 2018. If nothing else, it would freshen things up after six years of mostly marathon.

The year started promisingly with a 2:32 indoor 800 at the NIA in February. As that had come off no specific training, surely the only way was up? I’d also done an indoor mile (5:50) and a one-mile(ish) leg (5:54) at the National Road Relays, so I was slowly getting better at this short stuff. Signed up for a few of the Dublin Graded Meets, and on Dubgal’s advice embarked on a 12-week 5k programme (Pfitzinger) before shifting to more track-specific training with the 12-week programme that comprises phases III and IV of the Jack Daniels 800 plan from his Faster Road Running book. The 5k phase didn’t result in a great performance, as I struggled to a 20:09 at Bob Heffernan. But a couple more small PBs during the Gradeds (1500 and the mile) suggested that progress was being made, although not at a particularly rapid rate. This year’s Trinity resulted in the same time as last year (2:37) but in a much different type of race, where I finished third in what might be kindly described as a tactical battle involving a slow first lap. I was learning all the time, and as the goal race approached, with the training going quite well across three months of 40-mile weeks involving two quality sessions and a long(ish) run, my confidence was reasonably high that I could pull off the goal. It was very unlikely, based on studying previous results, that I’d medal in the race, but hopefully I could get off to a good start and maintain the pace. That’s all I would ask of myself. If a race resulted, so be it, but the likelihood was an isolated second lap where I’d probably have to draw completely on my own psychological resources to keep things on the rails. The final session on Tuesday, just the 2x400 and 2x200 filled me with confidence, as it had felt so easy and natural. I knew I had locked in the required pace, and it felt like I was peaking at the right time. Now it was all about getting the job done!

Buildup

I’d love to say I prepared as well as Ashling’s textbook case linked above. I did not, but I did invoke the Spedding mantra more than once in the days and weeks leading up to the event. A good night’s sleep by my (low) standards had me feeling pretty good on the drive down to Offaly. Speak of the devil, I bump into A and her fiancé at the Enfield Applegreen, and we exchange good wishes for our respective races. There was loads of time, which was just as well as I missed my exit off the M6, adding another 15 mins onto the journey. Arrived at the magnificent Tullamore Stadium, found a parking spot and checked in. Watched some of the sprints, witnessing Mulberry lowering her own national 200m age category record - very impressive. Said hello to a couple of clubmates, got changed and warmed up around the outer field beside the stadium. Things were running a bit late, but I made sure to be trackside nice and early. Changed into the Endorphins, and did a few strides on the back straight. The shoes felt even better than last time out, broken in from the previous race, and now with spikes that were are all the same length. Final check in for the M55s, and we are combined with the M60s. I’m assigned to lane 3, sharing with a Belfast Harrier. It’s showtime, and I toe the line with FBOT’s advice ringing in my ears: “Hit it hard!”

The 800

What I’ve learned over the few previous attempts is that - for me anyway - there is no time to think, and very little time to adjust if anything goes wrong. You have to be in the zone, ready to go, and quickly into your stride. Muscle memory has to kick in from the off. It’s only a couple of minutes of racing, but that second lap can be long and lonely if you blow it on the first. The gun goes off. What follows is of course a hazy blur, but I think what happened, and what was going through my mind, went something like this.

My lane-mate is likely to be a medallist, and I track him around the bend until the cut-in point on the back straight. I’m at the back of a group of five, and as we trundle down the back straight I think the pace feels a little bit slow. I start to worry about this, and there follows a messy 10 or 20 strides where I alternate between lanes 1 and 2 thinking I might have to push things. But I don’t gain (or lose) any position, and as we approach the home straight I start to feel the burn so I stop worrying. What’s happened, of course, is that the start felt slow because I am strong and ready. In reality, the pace is fine, I’m still in good shape at the back of this group - and importantly, not dying yet as we hit the bell. I glance at the trackside clock, which reads 1:15.

Things are going to plan, and I double down and dig in on the bend, registering a couple of tremendous shouts of support. You can do this, I tell myself, you can f@&king do this! As expected, the lads ahead start to pull away, their race only starting now as they push the pace. Amazingly, I find I can sort of stay in touch - although I simply don’t have the power to catch them, I can still use them to keep me focused till the end of the back straight. With 200 to go they are well away but I’m confident I can bring it home from this point. Every 200m rep I’ve done over the past few months has been carried out with this final 200 in mind. I have visualised this moment, and I will not die now! Of course I AM starting to suffer, and the finish feels impossibly far away, but I trust myself, I back myself, and somehow keep it going. The plan featured a few sessions involving 600m reps at race pace, which of course were impossibly hard. But now I understand that they’ve helped me get to exactly this point in the race and all I have to do is let the race-day adrenaline do its job and get me the rest of the way. There doesn’t seem to be any threat from behind, so I can’t rely on the competition to push me to the line. I hit the home straight and dig as deep as I can to stay in touch with the closest runner, a couple of seconds in front. The wheels stay on and I push - in my mind at least - gracefully and powerfully through the line, then fall onto the infield, totally drained.

Approx splits: 76, 72.

Previous PB: Indoor: 2:32.25 (Feb 2018, NIA). Outdoor: 2:33.29 (April 2018, Morton)
Target: 2:29.99
Official Time: 2:27.96
5th posn (of 10). 4th M55 (of 5)
VDOT 55.9
Age grade: 83.3%
Verdict: Race of your life!

[Edit - spotted some pics on FB that suggest my memory of this race, and my positioning within it, is inaccurate. In reality, I was in 7th position, not 5th, approaching the bell. So an even better second lap than I thought!]

The 1500

As I posted previously, the 1500 was entered as an afterthought, just in case I’d need a shot at redemption. I hadn’t put any mental preparation in for this, and after the successful first race I considered not running it at all. What was the point? I’d never match the performance, and the whole thing might just put a dampener on a successful day. But after my cooldown I hung around anyway, grabbing a sandwich and coffee and sitting in the stand watching the 5,000m races (congrats to BeepBeep) and the 110m hurdles. Had a chat with Mulberry and admired her two gold medals. Ashling and Ian came by (more medals) and we had a nice chat. Everyone was telling me I should do the second race. Bungy Girl would be on my case too if I wimped out, so I eventually got back out there and started warming up again in the sweltering late afternoon heat. The legs felt terrible, and I had a bit of a headache. I was definitely not in the mood (or the zone) and nearly took the spikes off again. But I just told myself that if it felt wrong I could just jog it in (no DNFs allowed in DNS Harrierland, unless gravely injured).

Eventually I lined up with five other M55s, combined with the five M50s, and we were off with a minimum of fuss.

On the first lap, I settle at the back of the group, willing a bit of life into my rubbery legs. They don’t want to cooperate, but by the end of the lap I’m starting to feel a little bit better, and even dare to pass a couple of lads going around the bend. I wouldn’t be the only one with a race in the legs, so maybe it won’t be as uncompetitive as I thought. This second lap feels kind of alright, and I’m not too far behind a clubmate who runs around the five minute mark. But predictably, lap three proves my undoing again, and I simply have nothing in the legs when the runners in front start to accelerate, and the two runners I’d passed go by on the back straight and once again I’m pretty sure I’m in last place (not that I was going to look over my shoulder to check). But there’s a guy in front in even more trouble and I pass him on the back bend then find myself able to concentrate a bit better, trying to hold him off as he does his best to stay in touch. So as the bell sounded, amazingly I’m in a race, and a glance at the clock, still under four minutes, suggests a PB might be a possibility if i can put in a half decent final lap. That seems to be all the motivation I need, and I pick it up, even though I’m now half a lap behind the leaders, who I can hear being cheered home as I go down the back straight. With 200 to go I find myself channeling the Jack Daniels session vibe again, and the muscle memory kicks in for the final push, and I imagine myself gliding around the bend and down the home straight to hold on to my 9th place. I’m exhausted, but the number on my watch suggests I might be in with a chance for a small PB, confirmed a few mins later in the official results. Saved!

Approx Splits: 1:03 (300m), 1:26, 1:29, 1:24.

Previous PB: 5:22.61 (May 2018, Tallaght)
Target: redemption or respectability!
Official Time: 5:21.86
9th posn (of 10). 5th M55 (of 6)
VDOT 50.4
Age grade: 77.5%
Verdict: Tough going but glad I did it.

And that was that. A fantastic day, and I cranked the Dad Rock on Radio Nova up to 11 on the way home. Fair play to Athletics Ireland and the many officials and volunteers who put together this competitive and hugely enjoyable meet.

Next

For now, it’s back to long form stuff for me, as I prepare for a ‘high 5’ NYC marathon, with the Frank Duffy and the Charleville Half lined up too. It will be interesting to see how well I can transition back to marathon training over the 10 or 11 weeks before New York. I’ve kept the base mileage up fairly well, averaging close to 40 miles per week for most of the year to date.

I’ve enjoyed the 800m focus over the past six months. Thanks to BG, DG, Mulberry and others for advice, suggestions, encouragement, shared knowledge and experience. It’s a different kind of buzz. I’ve also enjoyed being able to race a lot - 20 times this year already, with 11 PBs. The 800s continue to stand out as way better - at least in terms of VDOT and Age Grade - than everything else. Would like to have a stab at the 400 sometime, to get a better idea of exactly where the sweet spot lies. Onwards!

TLDR: Achievement Unlocked!

Thanks all! Appreciate the messages. The whole 800m thing was a blast - I'd encourage anyone to have a go at some track training and see what you've got. I thoroughly enjoyed it - it's good to shake things up every now and then.

Mon 20 - Fri 24 Aug

No running. Planned few days rest but the body has been protesting, with crampy calves and low grade back pain all week, the latter possibly due to too much sitting around and a couple of long drives. Some promising developments in the job search, possibly, which might come with good onsite gym/pool facilities and a few new running routes (not too far away though). Fingers crossed!

Sat 25 Aug

12k including St. Anne’s parkrun (23:55)

Pacer day at St. Anne’s, with me in the usual 24 mins slot. Big crowd today. Always a pleasure to help a few runners post a good time, and nice when they let you know afterwards. Got out a few hours later for another few miles around town.

Sun 26 Aug

Long run - 2 hrs 8 mins / 23k

Like yesterday, I decided to take advantage of popefest’s closed roads and get in a long run around the city on a route I would normally avoid. As it was early and the crowds were only beginning to converge, I headed up towards the Park and then out to Chapelizod along Conyngham Road, following the marathon route as far as Dolphin’s Barn before heading back home via the Grand Canal and the city centre. Loved this run, although I began to feel very tired in the 11th mile. Good to have that long-run-tired kind of feeling all the same. Longest run of the year so far.

NY marathon training starts now, building around next week’s Frank Duffy and next month’s Charleville half.

WTD:35k (22m)
MTD: 204 (127)
YTD: 2,054 (1,276)

RayCun wrote: »

and will you be in a new singlet in NY?

You're well informed, Ray. Yes, I will.