Filling The Void

While I welcome the break from high mileage that a taper brings, running no miles at all is tough as I have to fill my time with something else and to-date that has been eating and drinking and a bit of biking. The eating is winning out - I still have the same appetite I had on 65 mile weeks and I can now drink the night before my zero mile long runs, which I did in spades when my brother stayed over on Friday night.

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This morning I had the welcome distraction of helping out at the annual Eagle AC 5 mile road race in Carrigaline, which went off without a hitch - and I didn't eat or drink too much either.

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I continue to knead away at my calves with the foam roller so hopefully recovery is happening under the surface. I'll resist the temptation to run for a few more days as the benefit to be gained at this stage is purely psychological.

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Marathon Training Week # 14 - 14.3 Miles

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February (Run 213 miles, Bike 70 miles, Swim 9km)

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Born Under a Bad Sign

I'm finally in taper mode and my last weeks running went pretty good for the most part. After the 20 miler on 14th I had a easy 5 miler on the Monday and managed to churn out 5 x 1 mile repeats at 6 minute pace at the Tuesday track session.

Following 10 miles easy in the vibrams on Wednesday morning and a day off (2.5 miles on the dreadmill) Thursday I was ready for another marathon pace run on Friday morning. As I had the day off and the kids were off school I had a lie-in until 7 am before heading out the door for about 10 miles at MP. The warmup 1.5 mile were at 7:30 pace followed by 10 miles @ 6:41 pace (1:06:50). I kept my warmdown pace pretty steady and upped the distance to get a half marathon in 1:29:22 (6:49 pace overall). A 28 mile bike ride in the afternoon with Adrian left me completely dead - no energy at all, which surprised me - the week was finally catching up with me. The hilly long run with Eagle on Saturday morning was a struggle after about 8 miles, despite the easy pace, as my right calf began to ache and the gel at mile 10 did nothing to lift me energy levels. I cut the run short at 16.3 miles (shortest route home) and rested up Sunday and Monday to get a bit of recovery in. I gave my calves a good going over with the foam roller and surprisingly it was my left calf that appeared to have all the knots in it despite the dull ache in the right.

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I decided to play safe at the track last night and keep the mile repeats close to marathon pace and see how I got on. I fell in with the group running 6:30 pace and covered 2 repeats (actual pace 6:37/35). My right calf began to tighten up during the 2nd mile so I decided to play safe and reverted to easy pace running for the rest of the session. Another easy 5 miler in the park today and while there was no pain I could feel the tightness in my calf, always conscious of it and the fact that I would probably not be able to sustain a hard effort for very long without doing some damage.

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I don't know if there's any benefit in continuing with easy running as it may delay any recovery/repair that is going on and i'm leaning towards resting up for the next week, switching to the bike, and testing the legs again next Wednesday for the traditional "marathon gear test" where i'll do a couple of MP miles in the gear I intend using on the day. I can't say i'm injured as I can run comfortably but I want to be able to race comfortably hard come Sunday week.

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While things are not quite as bad as they seem and i'm still confident i'll be fighting fit come Sunday week the lyrics of Creams "Born Under a Bad Sign" come to mind -"If it wasn't for real bad luck I wouldn't have no luck at all".

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Mon 15th Feb

5.31 miles in 47:58 (9:02 pace @ 114 HR) Vibrams

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Tue 16th Feb

2.5 miles in 19:48 (7:56 pace - Treadmill)

8.78 miles in 1:08:08 (7:45 pace) with 5 x 1,664m in 6:12/10/11/12/08 (target 6:12)

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Wed 17th Feb

10.11 miles in 1:26:16 (8:32 pace @ 118 HR) Vibrams

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Thur 18th Feb

2.5 miles in 19:48 (7:56 pace - Treadmill)

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Fri 19th Feb

13.13 miles in 1:29:22 (6:48 pace @ 144HR?) w/10 miles @ 6:41 pace.

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Sat 20th Feb

16.35 miles in 2:18:09 (8:27 pace @ 119 HR)

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Training week # 13 - 58.68 miles

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Tue 23rd Feb

2.5 miles in 19:48 (7:56 pace - Treadmill)

6.41 miles in 50:54 (7:56 pace @ 122 HR) w/2 x 1,664m in 6:49/47.

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Wed 24th Feb

5.44 miles in 44:33 (8:11 pace @ 117 HR)

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A 20 Mile PB

I had a choice of races this weekend. A 10 miler in Bantry or a 5k cross country in Cork. As Abina was working the Bantry 10 was certainly out and while I could have left the eldest in charge for an hour this morning I wasn't inclined to go to the cross country either despite the fact that I hadn't given my spikes a second outing since I bought them in November. What good is a 5k cross country to me 3 week out from a marathon anyway particularly as a late night on Friday meant Saturday's 11 plus mile run could hardly count as a long run.

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So this morning the plan was to run back to back 10 milers from home, the first 10 at MP plus 10% (7:30 or better) and the second 10 at MP (6:45 - or better???). I figured 6:45 pace is the slowest opening pace required to get a sub 3 hour marathon (6:40 would be better obviously) - that would get you to the 20 mile mark in 2:15 with 45 minutes to cover the closing 10k (7:15 average - piece of piss). to be quite honest the prospect of 7:15 miles over the last stages of a marathon doesn't scare me - it's the 20 x 6:45 miles that has me staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night.

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So with only a cup of coffee and a few swigs of water in my belly and 2 gels in my pocket I headed out into the cold sunshine shortly before 9:30 for my first 10 miler. Needless to say my route did not involve any noticeable hills ( the rise past the guide dogs home at mile 4 being the steepest). All I can say about the first 10 miles is that it went very smoothly and at no stage did I feel under pressure. The opening miles were averaging 7:23 pace and there was little drift from that. I decided to leave my first gel until I got back to the house, which was after 1:13:36 (7:21 pace @ 130HR). Now for the hard bit.

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I took the gel and a drink of water at home and used the bathroom. Abina said that I would have to be back to take Ani to soccer practice at 11:30 as the usual car pool was not available and she would be at work. I looked at my watch - 10:35 -

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"ok i'll cut the second run back to 8 miles" I thought as I headed out the door - "I'll drop her the mile over to soccer practice and run the last 2 miles from there or perhaps 2 warmdown miles".

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I quickly got into the faster pace for the 2nd leg and while it didn't feel too tough I was unsure about maintaining it for 8 miles. The first mile, which is a net downhill, passed in 6:38.

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"Ok the 2nd mile won't be as easy but at least I have a bit of a cushion"

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The 2nd mile passed in 6:37, so I kept plugging away waiting for something to slowly give. The next 2 miles were in 6:33 & 6:32. 4 miles in, time to take my second gel and turn for home. I continued to churn out sub 6:40 miles on the return leg and as I was in a bit of a groove (although the pressure was coming on) I passed the usual turn off for the last half mile home and continued on to get up to 9 miles "Ani won't be that late for soccer practice and i'm on to a good thing here".

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As 10 follows 9 as sure as night follows day I leave the turn for home a bit longer and take a slight detour on the way back - the pace is certainly feeling tough now but I can smell home so I push on for a 6:29 closing mile. 1:05:56 (6:36 pace @ 150HR)

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20 Miles in 2:19:30 (6:58.5 pace @ 140HR) - My fastest 20 miles (The first 20 in Dublin last year passed in 2:22:22 approx).

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I dropped the waiting and ever patient Ani to soccer practice returned home and ran a 2 mile warmdown so that my legs wouldn't stiffen up too much.

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I think that's it now before Barcelona. Next weeks long run will be at an easy pace and not quite so long. All the signs are there that a sub 3 is there for the taking, no excuses. I'll have to start believing in it as it's still difficult to get my head around. The heat is always an excuse I come up with - 3 years ago it was 19 to 22 C when I ran it and while not very hot it's enough to slow you down just a bit - hopefully it'll be 12 C with a light breeze.

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Wed 10th Feb

17.22 miles in 2:12:18 (7:41 pace @ 130HR)

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Thur 11th Feb

5.29 miles in 45:14 (:33 pace @ 111 HR) - Vibrams

2.5 miles in 19:49 (07:56 pace - Treadmill)

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Sat 13th Feb

11.57 miles in 1:33:07 (8:03 pace @ 104 HR??? - HR strap malfunction

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Sun 14th Feb

22.1 miles in 2:36:35 (7:05 pace @ 139 HR) with 10/10 @ 7:21/6:36 pace.

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Training Week #12 71.69 miles

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Stepping Up a Gear

One of the reasons I didn't run the Mallow 10 miler last Sunday was that I didn't want to interrupt my track training too much particularly as we were upping the interval from 6:20 to 6:00 miles this evening. The other reason was the 23 mile long run on Saturday - no point in running Mallow if I was not racing it. I could always run 10 miles from home - and that's what I did. So with an unintentional day off yesterday (too many pints of the black stuff on Sunday evening) my legs should have been fairly fresh this evening for the challenge, although I had soffened them up a bit with 5 miles on the trteadmill at lunchtime. Coach's instructions were 3 x 6:12 miles (93 second laps) but we decided that 90 was an easier figure to remember. There was 4 of us in all (Kevin, Paul, John and myself) I had left the garmin at home (still ran with the HR strap Doh!) and was relying on Kevin to get me through.

Mile 1 in 6:02 - ok but had to pick it up during the last 800 to get on target. Mile 2 in 5:52 - I had led out and overcompensated particularly chasing down the other pacing groups during lap 3. Still felt good though. Mile 3 in 5:50 - Paul led out with no watch and I kept on his heels. Coach said that we should have stuck to the target 6:00 pace and that if we were feeling energetic we should add miles as opposed to increase pace, which made sense. So John, Paul and I headed out for a 4th mile and kept pretty much to target - Mile 4 in 5:58. That makes 4 miles in 23:42. I thnik we'll go for the sub 30 five miles next week. It's not entirely new territory as I had done 5 x 6 minute mile repeats in December but the recoveries were a minute longer at 3 minutes. Tue 9th Feb 5.0 miles in 39:40 (07:56 pace - Treadmill) 8.0 miles approx with 4 x 1 mile in 6:02/5:52/50/58.

A Totally Different 10 Miler

The Week That Was

My left Achilles looked like it was giving trouble during Tuesday's track session, despite cutting the mile repeats back to 6:40 pace. It was still aching during the early miles of Wednesday's 15 miler which tempted me to cut the run short but I persevered and the pain subsided and was all but gone by the end of the run. Still I took the precaution of taking Thursday off and I was as good as new on Friday for an easy 7 mile run in the Vibrams. In fact the last 4 miles were at 7:30 pace or less and I had no issues afterwards. Saturday's long run with Pat was over a reasonably flat 23 miles over which we pushed the opening pace (8:00 for the first 5 miles) to eventually end up with an average of 7:30 for the 23, which wasn't a bad test of endurance. Pat cut his run short to 21 as he was saving something for Today's 10 miler in Mallow. Looks like he exceeded his target of running the 10 miles in a sub 3-hour MP of 6:45 and came in at 6:30 average. I, on the other hand, had an entirely different 10 miler around the roads and park of Ballincollig averaging 8:30 pace in the Vibrams. I joined Adrian for the first 6.5 miles as he was heading out for his 21 mile long run. The ball of my left foot had been tender for the last few miles of Saturday's long run (I have now taken the insoles out of my cheap runners which now have 540 miles in them) so I took the precaution of carrying a pair of runners in a backpack in case I needed them. While there was some discomfort in my feet I ran the full 10 miles without changing footwear and actually the pain subsided - all part of getting used to minimalist shoes. It's certainly not a sign of impending injury as i've felt this pain before and it has always subsided. It's all part of the adjustment as the load from the ground is transferred up through my legs by muscles and tendons in my feet that probably never had to do a days work in their life, well not since I was first shod, shortly after I rose up on my hind legs. I've spend the last 4 years challenging my body to see what it is capable of doing now it is time to challenge my feet as they are far more technically advanced than any running shoe with 2 million years of development behind them compared to 30 odd years or so for cushioned running shoes. I don't think I'm ready yet for my first race though. I still have to undo a lot of bad learning. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Training Thoughts

A few of you asked what was different about my training that resulted in a breakthrough in Dungarvan last Sunday. The primary reason I think is that I continued to train after Dublin in October and my body did not breakdown (i.e. I remained injury free). After my injury last April I scaled back my running until the late summer before ramping up for Dublin. Therefore I have been able to train beyond Dublin without my body requiring a long break. If I can get through Barcelona in 4 weeks time I will give my legs a bit of a break, especially from speedwork, before Connemara. The only thing that I can think of that has changed in my training is that I am doing less speedwork. In particular tempo runs have all but disappeared from my schedule, the very session that I would have thought would be crucial to improving times from 10k to 15 miles. After all tempo pace is anything from 10k to HM pace. I read somewhere that us Master runners could do with less speedwork as recovery takes longer and the risk of injury is greater. Certainly, a fair number of my calf strains/tears happened during tempo runs. I also have strengthened my calves adding calf raises to my gym session. One more thing - I am not following a program out of a book. I am loosely following a programme given by the Club coach - i.e. I follow the track session every Tuesday and the coach keeps an eye on my log and advises me if I am doing anything wrong. Mon 1st Feb 5.11 miles in 43:11 (8:28 pace @ 119 HR) Recovery run Tue 2nd Feb 8.17 miles in 1:13:31 (9:00 pace @ 126 HR) with 5 x 1 mile @6:40 pace Wed 3rd Feb 15.04 miles in 2;00:56 (8:02 pace @ 128 HR) Fri 4th Feb 7.04 miles in 53:49 (7:39 pace @ no HRM) Vibrams Sat 5th Feb 23.29 miles in 2:54:17 (7:29 pace @ no HRM) Sun 6th Feb 10.03 miles in 1:25:05 (8:30 pace @ 116 HR) Vibrams Training Week # 11 68.68 miles.