Berlin Q or Bust: Road to sub 2:45

Mellow Yellow 26.2 wrote: »

What was your time in 2016?

2016 Graduate....2015 Novice

a hard earned 3:39:52 in 2015, a relatively straight forward 3:19:07 in 2016

Duanington wrote: »

A relatively straight forward marathon, one can only dream

Well I did add in 'relatively'

Dublin Half Marathon Report

There's no denying that this race had been looming large in my ceann since the Frank Duffy dnf. A seed of doubt had been planted and whilst i'd gone out and raced well in a 5 Miler the following week and knocked out an angry sub 48min 8 mile tempo, i was really hoping for a strong showing here. The fact that it was basically the Frank Duffy course +5k made it easier to motivate myself. I also really love this race! My 4th time racing it and I've always ran well despite it being a tough route in my opinion.

As the week went on I was actually feeling really good. Had a 10x300 hills session on Wed, 10k on Thu and took yesterday off. Skyblue was kind enough to say yes when i asked him to meet me on the course with a gel, so i was all set and ready to go with a really clear game plan in my mind.....then the strength and, more importantly direction, of the wind became apparent. Didn't change a whole lot, some sections got easier, some harder but that sort of wind in the PP is never really appreciated.

Met Sean and gave him the gel and set off for a bit of a warm up and then onto the start line. Despite the first 3k being downhill and downwind I was determined not to go off too hard. Conservatism was the name of the game until I got off the North Road. First 3 k came in at 3:44, 3;42 & 3:44 which given the favourable gradient and helping wind were ran with the handbrake on. I didn't feel like i was racing at all here. Had a few guys tagged who are usually around me in races that must have went out at 5:40 pace for the first couple of miles. I was content to let them go, having a fair idea that they would regret it later.

Working now up through the s bends and against the wind. Already some of the fast starters are coming back to me. I just settle into a rhythm here, knowing that a few seconds will be lost but not chasing it. Km 4 & 5 3:45 & 3:47.

Big drag up to to Chesterfield from the Magazine fort, was sitting on a couple of groups to shelter a bit, still holding back but feeling strong on the uphills. Kms 6&7 3:49 & 3:49

Passing the zoo now and where i pulled the plug last month. Had a little chuckle to myself about how good i was feeling now. On to the North Road, which now, thanks to the helping breeze wasn't quite the proposition it usually would be. Got a welcome shout out from AMK and then was delighted to see Sean and get the gel just after the water stop and really just felt like i was gliding over the surface here. Kms 8-10 3:43, 3:46 & 3:47.
Through 10k in 37:36

About turn on the avenue and the strength of the wind gave a hint of how tough the longer section later on would be. Still not pushing things yet, moving nicely towards Whites gate. Kms 11&12 3:45, 3:44.

Plan for Whites Rd was just to keep it under 4mins/km pace. Ended up going 3:57 but passed about 4 guys. Felt really strong. The plan was always to recover a bit on the Tower rd downhill section as (a) im not very good at downhills and (b) i wasn't going to attack until 10 miles. But mostly for the first reason! 3:45 for the km downhill, all 4 guys that id passed on the uphill caught back up to me! They must have thought i'd emptied the reserves going up the hill tipping now as we get back into the park, and by the time id passed the water station i was back ahead of the 4 guys again! 3:44 & 3:44 for the kms back around to Chesterfield Ave.

Through 10 miles on my watch in 60:25 but 61 mins on the course. The 10 mile marker was definitely way off. Now problems are beginning to arise. This was the area that id planned on starting my kick for home, but the breeze is pretty awful. Suddenly this downhill section is not very enticing. Just dig in and you'll be off it soon enough. However, i'm leaking valuable seconds here. I start to regret starting so conservatively now.....but soon enough we're off it. 3:51 for the km into the breeze.

NOW it's time to see what's in the legs. I make up my mind to go hard and if things go south then so be it. Luckily enough i fall in with two other guys and the 3 of us are tipping down acres, passing a good few here. Kms of 3:37 and 3:34 bring me to the bottom of the Upper Glen. If i don't blow im going to PB, however it's uphill and into the breeze.....There's a few guys who have detonated ahead of me, but our group of 3 is still working well together. A hard earned 3:50 km gets me to 20k, but the last km and a bit is not easy and i can feel the lactic acid in the legs now.

But all i have to do is dig in for 4 more minutes or so I tell myself. 3:38 for km 21 and then finish strong, with another nice AMK shout out, for a 1:19:40 PB (19 secs).

Delighted with that. Tough conditions on a tricky route. Ran the smartest race i've ran yet. Started conservatively, attacked when i could, held back when i needed to and finished strong up the hill into the wind to get a PB. A great day. Back on track.

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Deadly stuff J. Dunno why but I thought you ran quicker in Sept last year on the same weekend as Charleville.

1:19:59......still smile when i think about it! Late surge got me under the 80.....and inspired you to do the same if i recall do you still have the HM pb over me? very close i think.....

Sun: 13.2k Recovery: 1:06:11@5:04/km

Mon: 14k: 1:10:51 @5:03/km

Wet and windy amble around the plains

Tue: AM: 7.3k: 35:13 @4:50/km
PM: 8.2k: 38:54 @4:45/km

Pair of commutes.

Wed: 15.2k inc 2miles @2:52MP with buddy who was off to Berlin.

Thu: 13.1k: 1:02:20 @4:46/km

3 laps of the racecourse. Awful windy out there!

Fri: AM: 7.5k: 37:00 @4:56/km
Gear was drenched after this. Got a lift back from work instead if running home....but got out again later.
PM: 5Miles: 37:54 @4:42/km

Sat: LR 36.2k: 2:41:10 @4:27/km

After dropping a couple of buddies up to the Airport to go Berlin, I went across to town and met another mate for a LR on the last 36k of the DCM route. I still have 4 weeks left, but this was a big run and really wanted to have a good one. Buddy parked in his workplace in town and I drove to the PP where we set out from around the Zoo. Plan was 10k@4:40, 10k@4:30, 10k@4:20 & 6k @however we were feeling

Pretty much went to plan, wind was against us on Chesterfield and up through Crumlin which was a bit grim, but felt strong throughout. Gave the Maurten gels one last chance (jesus their marketing is good!) and had one normal & two of the new caffeine gels with me. Only got two down, stomach ropey after the first at 10k, doing somersaults after the 2nd at 20k. Last 10 miles were a weird amalgam of feeling amazing and focusing on not spewing up on the roadside possibly have a box of the maurten caffeine gels coming back from Berlin, so if anyone wants to take them off my hands drop me a DM wound it up the last 6k and felt really strong. I absolutely could have kept going for 6 more km and cranked out a 3:05 marathon.

Sun: 13k Recovery: 1:05:17 @5:01/km
Spent the morning watching and tracking the Berlin Marathon. What a race! Bekele is back (again) baby! Would love to see him and Kipchoge going at it next year in Berlin (with me on the course hopefully). Two buddies ran PB's so that saw me taking to the roads for a recovery run both pumped for them and deflated that i wasn't there. Next year maybe......master plan would be to run sub 2:45 in Rotterdam next April and get a fast runner time for the following year. But that's pie in the sky for the moment. DCM is 4 weeks out, eyes are on the prize.

122.5k for the week. Wife was away in Edinburgh for work for a good bit of the week so this was the absolute max mileage i reckon i could have ran!

Thu: 8.1k Easy: 38:58 @4:48/km
Window for run got squeezed dramatically and this was all i could manage.

Fri: 15.1k Relaxed: 1:09:59 @4:38/km
Got straight out after work and managed to find the only dry hour of the day found myself tipping along here without realising it.

Sat: Session 10x1k @3:30/km off 90 secs walk/jog recovery
Took myself down to the track as per my instructions for this one.

3:27, 3:27, 3:27, 3:27, 3:28, 3:28, 3:24, 3:28, 3:28, 3:27

Felt really strong and controlled on this one. Walked for 60 secs and then jogged the last 30secs of recoveries. A couple of times id glance at the watch after 2/300m and realise i was moving at 3:15 pace and would have to check myself. This time last year i most likely would have went with that pace, but this 2019 version is made of more disciplined stuff the 3:24 was definitely a GPS thing, no way was it that faster than the others.

Just under 19k for the day.

Sun: Zip

Alas i've been paid a visit by a (hopefully) 24hr bug, and have spent the day and night in close situ to the toilet rather than running my last 20 miler. Will just play the next day or two by ear and then see if i have to tweak things a little for the rest of the week. Better now than three weeks time i suppose.

Today aside, a strong week with 2 good sessions.

Fri: 17k Easy: 1:19:59 @4:42/km

Well as i was taking the week easy and not too bothered about mileage i wasn't too bothered about running yesterday as it wasn't going to be until 8/9pm that i got out, and with the last important session Sat morning, i didn't wanna run too late.....luckily my other half got home early from work and i was able to head out after school. Felt great after the easy running this week, decided to do about 8 miles but completely misjudged a route and ended up doing 17k felt fine after though.

Sat: 8 Mile tempo: 47:49 @3:43/km

Plan was for 6:05-6:00 range, with the proviso of maybe scaling back to MP if last weekend's bug caught up with me a little. Met my buddy who's running his first marathon in a fortnight's time, the two of us had just watched events in Vienna, so needless to say we were pretty pumped ended up dipping a little under prescribed pace but not by too much.

Pace picked up naturally as we went, but felt really controlled. Hard to believe we ended up averaging faster than HMP......really similar time to 8 Mile tempo a few weeks back when i wore the Next%'d for the first time, but today just felt far more straightforward. Went through 10k in around 37mins, both of us remarking on how good we felt. Anyway, good vibes aplenty after that. 2 weeks to go.

Just under 20k for the day.