Guinness Is Good For You

5 pints of Guinness on Friday evening wasn't the best preparation for Saturday's Marathon Pace run, but they did go down well at the time and it's all about enjoying the moment, right?. Still I was home by nine, wolfed down my dinner and anything else remotely edible that I could lay my hands on and was in bed by 1130, i think.

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My weekend scheduled run called for 2 miles warm-up, 9 miles at MP and 2 miles cooldown so shortly after waking just before 8 I headed out and ran one warmup mile to the pub (to collect my HR monitor from the car) and headed west out the Macroom Road, which is less busy (for runners that is) and relatively flat (couple of inclines) - i.e. less distractions so that I could concentrate on the task at hand.

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I had it in the back of my head to extend the cool-down by a few miles to make it a medium long run. I intended to run close to my McMillan predicted MP (i.e. 7.00 pace or under - McMillan says 06:52) eventhough I will not be setting out that fast in Cork. So after my 2nd warm-up mile I upped the pace (Garmin set to 1 mile lap pace, current pace and distance - great for keeping me on target). It was a bit of a struggle to settle into the pace at the start - way faster than base pace and slower, thank God, than tempo pace. Mile 1 in 06:58 OK. Effort felt tough towards the end of mile 2 - "I can't do this - I'll try another mile and continue at base pace and do the MP run tomorrow. Mile 2 - 07:00.

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During mile 3 the perceived effort began to ease and the pace remained sub-7 minute (actually got a bit faster) so I decided to continue on, 1 mile at a time. I think it took the first 2 MP miles to blow the cobwebs away as I began to feel better. I initially thought about turning back at MP mile 5 which would give MP 4 miles and 2 warmdown miles back to the car but I ran on for a further 2 as I was on a roll. I turned back into a headwind with 2 MP miles left and whileinitially I had thought about extending the MP segment to 10 miles, I was glad to call it a day at the end of mile 9 (long drag into the wind). I still managed the complete the remaining 6 miles to the car well under 08:00 pace giving 17 miles for the day.

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Mile splits

2 x Warm-up 08:08, 08:07

9 x MP - 06:58, 07:00, 06:47, 06:37, 06:46, 06:40, 06:38, 06:43, 06:51.

6 x warm-down - 07:45, 07:47, 07:33, 07:28, 07:36, 07:25

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I paid the price this morning with my achy legs giving me 08:40 pace on my recovery run.

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For those who asked about the Garmin, it's is working out quite well. With accurate distance and pace feedback, i'm less concerned about the elevation inaccuracy, HR measurement also appears reasonably accurate (no problem getting a reading) The GPS also works well in the park, but the leaves are not on the trees yet. The whole thing only cost about €160 ($240 incl post and packaging from the US - exchange rate is great at the moment).

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In terms of previous distance measurement - my usual 8.6 mile loop meassured 8.57 & 8.59 with the garmin (not too bad) whereas an 11.4 mile loop I frequently use measured 11.5 miles this morning.

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Best of luck to all those running Boston tomorrow especially Mike, Bill and E-Speed

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Fri 18th Apr

9.15 Miles in 01:10;08 (07:40 pace @ 131 HR) in the park.

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Sat 19th Apr

17 Miles in 02:03:01 (07:14 pace @ 146 HR) with 9 miles @ 06:50 pace

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Sun 20th Apr

11.5 Miles in 01:39:39 (08:40 pace @ 119 HR) Tired Legs.

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Marathon Training Week 18/24 - 74.8 Miles (forgot to log Monday's 5.8 Miles)