Sunday 31 August 2008

Nice Long Run to end the week.

The hardest part of yesterday's long run was rising at 6 a.m. to drive through the wet dark morning to meet a group from Eagle AC & others who were embarking on a 14.1 mile long run from Pairc Ui Caoimh at 6:45. En-route I passed a runner making his way to the meeting point - turns out he ran the 3 miles from home to get a longer run in. I planned on adding my miles at the end. While the schedule called for 20 miles I was planning on getting a bit more if I could. My last long run was 4 hours, this time round all I could afford was 3 hours max - the idea was to reduce the time (4 to 3 hours) and increase the pace (08:19 to 08:00 at least - which was the planned pace for the group run).
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8 turned up in total which was a good number for such a damp and dreary morning. One or two I knew from previous runs. Pat Twomey who is training for Dublin and John Desmond of Running in Cork blog fame. Rhona Lynch, who won the recent Ballycotton 5 mile series, is training for the half marathon in Amsterdam so I'll be there to cheer her on.
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The route was out along the old passage railway line to........Passage and Monkstown and looping back through Rochestown. The first 8 miles or so along the shoreline were flat. I ran most of this section with guy who introduced himself as Der Moloney (who came in 4 seconds behind me in last Thursday's 5 miler). The first time I heard of Der was when he pipped a certain Thomas at the post of the Bay Run Half marathon last year (although he went by the name of "yellow shoes" in those days). I didn't mention that his name had gone down in running folklore.
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After 8 miles we turned inland and began a climb up the only hill of the day, which went on for a mile and a half - a good test for the lungs. At this stage we were all strung out, with Pat Twomey leading the charge. It was only when I joined him at the top did he tell me that the intention was to push hard up the hill. I ran the remainder of the loop with Pat at about 07:30 pace arriving back at Pairc Ui Caoimhe to replenish our drinks, regroup and (some of us) extend the run by another 4 mile loop. From then on I was on my own and I headed at more or less the same 07:30 pace back out the old passage line following the path around the Mahon peninsula to Blackrock Castle and back in the Marina to the car. Approaching the car I had 3 hours on the clock but was about 3+ minutes shy of 24 miles so I ran a short out and back to get me to 24 miles in 03:03:36. (07:39 pace average)
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While my legs were tiring towards the end I felt reasonably strong and satisfied with the run, especially that it was at a faster pace than anticipated. I was using the run to trial "Power Bar" gels which I am thinking of using in Amsterdam. They certainly appear to have done the job.
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After the run I dipped my legs in the Atlantic Pond to aid the recovery process.
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I took a rest day today for once as per the programme.
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Sat 30th Aug
24 Miles in 03:03:36 (07:39 pace)
Sleep 6.5 hrs: 7/10
Legs: 7.5/10
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Marathon Training Week 9/16 - 69.4 Miles

12 comments:

  1. That's a long, long run. Did you follow the 10% rule on weekly mileage to get up to those 22+ milers or was there some other methodology?

    I'm looking to build up to 18-20 milers during my upcoming base phase and my current long is only 14.

    Any recommendations on doubling (morning and evening) to get the mileage up as opposed to the single run above 15 miles? I'd imagine the recovery is easier/quicker when you double instead, but I guess you lose some benefit. Any thoughts appreciated.

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  2. Geez! Tack a couple of 6 minute miles on the end of that and you have a marathon PB!

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  3. That's some good mileage you've got going on at the moment. I don't know if I'd be able to motivate myself to do a training run of that distance. Fair play to you.

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  4. Mike, I might be marginally outside the 10% rule. However my weekly mileage has not been too high during this training cycle.

    As I'm training for the old 26.2 miler I would see more benefit in the single long run as opposed to doubling up (in any event I would find it difficult to get out twice in the one day).

    Certainly if I wanted to go above 70 miles per week doubling up would be the best route as recovery would be quicker. However this is currently down on my list of priorities after (1) The Long Run, (2) Tempo Runs and (3) Speed Intervals.

    Ewen, I coundn't even tack a couple of 6 minute miles onto my 5 miler last week. However I'd like to think that I could have increased the overall pace without too much difficulty. My problem has always been repeating my training runs on race day.

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  5. That's a very long run at a good pace. Very impressive.

    I'm still undecided if I should go so long, but if I do I'll probably run it a tad slower than that.

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  6. Good strong effort. Very impressive time and certainly encouraging for a good marathon time.

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  7. dipping you feet in the Atlantic pond!!! That's the part I found a bit worrying!!

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  8. Grellan - Great job on the loooong run. Have you used these over-distance long runs in training for previous marathons?

    Have your legs thawed yet?

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  9. Richard, I was a bit concerned at the time - but to hell with it. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

    Marc, I have run a much as 3 x 24 milers in preparation for a marathon before. However my 28+ miler a few weeks ago broke all barriers. At least, for me, it dispells the myth that 26.2 miles is the ultimate - after all some of us out there have medium longs runs of 35 miles in preparation for ultras and still run the next day as if it was a walk in the park. Legs felt good today after rest on sunday.

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  10. Fantastic pace on your long run! My 1/2 marathon pace for Saturday is around there!I am aiming for 1:35..ish

    Aaron

    Blog: airman155.wordpress.com

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  11. Impressive long run, looking good for a marathon p.b.
    Thomas should be worried!

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