Time to move on

It's about time I concentrated on my training for Dublin. With a little over 4 weeks to go I have another 2 weeks of solid training before tapering. The first test of my marathon legs will be on Sunday morning in the 15 miles between Cork & Cobh. Unlike last year I won't be looking for a PB but a solid performance with at least 10 of the 15 miles at marathon pace, which I have optomistically set at 7 minute mile pace. If I finish in 1:45 feeling "relatively" fresh i'll have a better idea of my capability come October 26th. My plan is to get in an additional 5 miles between the warmup and cooldown to get 20 in total. I stand corrected in my last post in relation to the wait for the results of last weekends Tri (apologies Nuala) as the results were e-mailed to me on Monday. my splits were:- Swim - 00:28:07 (7th - closer to 1800m) T1 - 00:2:26 (including 200m run) Bike - 1:27:00 (including 2 saddle fittings) T2 - 00:00:59 Run - 00:35.23 (4th - about 8.6k = 6:39 mile pace) Overall - 2:33:55 I reckon I lost about 13 minutes on the bike and would have come in around 2:21 if my saddle had stayed on. Ah well there's always next time. This week got off to a poor start on the running front as a long day on the work front (0625 - 1900) put paid to any notions of hitting the road on Monday. Tuesday was track day with another 5 x 1,000m in 3:45 (6 minute mile pace) in the bag. I know I probably should be upping the number or reps or the distance as I get closer to peak week but I was happy to do the 5. I ran with John and Paud from the club, who are both faster that I am, which showed during the last rep when they sprinted off with 200m to go and put 60m on me coming in at 3:22 to my 3:31. All in all a good workout. The early rise on Wednesday morning to get my mid-week medium-long run in before 7 was tough particularly as I left it a bit late and pushed the pre-dawn pace a little more that i'm used to in order to make sure I got the 15 miles in (last weeks late rise cost me 3.5 miles). What can I say I need the endurance. I'm still waiting for the day i'll get sense and pack it all in. Todays run was consigned to a 4.5 mile run around Bishopstown during a late lunchbreak before collecting Ani from school. I don't think she appreciated the fact that her Dad collected her from school by "running up the road past the school gate looking all sweaty". While stretching against the front of the car one of the mums asked whether I had trouble with the car or my calf and did I need any help. Tue 29th Sept 2.5 miles in 19:49 (07:56 pace - Treadmill) 7.83 miles in 1:06:49 (8:32 pace @ 131HR) with 5 x 1k in 3:41/43/40/42/31 Wed 30th Sept 15 miles in 1:54:06 (07:36 pace @ 138HR) September (Run 198 miles, Bike 250 miles, Swim 6.8km) Thur 1st Oct 4.54 miles in 33:35 (07:24 pace @ 138HR) September