Doing Time

This weekend was all about time on my feet. The Runners World 50 mile training programme i'm broadly following (these last two weeks ;) has two weekends of back to back 4 and 5 hour long runs 3 and 4 weeks out from the race - although the first of the 5 hour runs has a note after it - (or about 27 - 29 miles). So strictly speaking the 27.8 mile 4 hour run I did last weekend is good enough for the first scheduled 5-hour run in the programme. The second 5-hour run has no such note against it so I decided to err on the side of caution and see what a 5-hour training run was like.

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Time constraints on Saturday - the two youngest had to be in "Supernova" for 10:30 for a company "fun-day" - meant that I only got a 3.5 hour run in, starting at 6:15. A "walk in the park" literally as I ran the entire 3.5 hours on the grass circuit of UCC Farm, joined after a while by Pat Murphy, whom I paced to a sub 3:30 in Cork last year, who was out for his 20 mile long run. The time passed quickly as we chatted away and by the time Pat was done I only had 15 minutes left to run - certainly one of the most comfortable 3.5 hour runs I have ever done, despite the 8:12 average pace. Pat is aiming for 3:10 - 3:15 this year, having gone on to run 3:18 in Dublin last October. Lizzie Lee of Leevale AC was also out for a easy run, ahead of her half marathon in Gothenburg next weekend, where she hopes to run 6 minute miles to a 1:18 finish - having won the Ballycotton 10 miler in 58:47 (5:53 pace) in March, she should have no difficulty there.

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My legs were in pretty good shape this morning for the real test. A club run of up to 22 miles was organised for 8 so my plan was to get an hour to an hour and a half in beforehand so that my "time alone" after the club run would be short. As I didn't have the advantage of running repetitive loops I took a back-pack (hydration pack with the bladder taken out) to carry my two 500ml drinks (4 hr perpeteum mix and a bottle of High 5) and a few crackers with peanut butter and jam (I wasn't getting hungry this time out). I only managed to get 50 minutes in before the club run (Stayed up to watch the Eurovision with the kids), joining Paul, Denis, Derek, Cian and Martin for an extended 18 mile loop from Pairc Ui Caoimhe out to Passage, Monkstown, Rafeen Hill, Moneygouney, Garryduff, Rochestown return. Denis was fresh back from warm weather training in Singapore and Derek gave us the low down on his 2:53 marathon in Tokyo - it's only a matter of time before he gets into the 2:40's.

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As my nutrition was in the converted backpack, every 3 or 4 miles I had to take it off and open it to take a drink, temporarily dropping off the pace. In the latter stages I just stopped and walked to take on fluids (and solids) which served to double up as a rest from the fatigue of constant pace running. Four of us took the longer estuary walk around to Blackrock Castle on the way back to extend the run towards 20 miles (26 for me). Paul ran a loop of the Monahan/Centre Park Road with me to get his 22 mile target in the bag, leaving me with an hour to kill before I could finish. So I headed back out the 6 mile loop around to Blackrock Castle, repeating the opening six miles of my run and finishing up with a short out and back counting down the minutes to the 5 hour mark. While my legs felt reasonably ok the rising fatigue over the last half hour became progressively more difficult to bear and my pace slowed to a 9:30 shuffle by the time I was finished. Can't say it was lack of fuel as I didn't feel that hungry, although I was slightly dehydrated - what you'd expect after taking on 1 litre of fluids in 5 hours of running.

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Before heading for home I dipped my legs into the River Lee to cool them down and aid muscle repair. I had to move my feet about a bit as the feeling of crabs or some other bottom dwellers crawling over them spooked me a little, maybe it was just underwater tumbleweed. The water was quite cool which felt good but as my feet began to get numb I called it a day.

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My 8.5 hours of weekend running got me to 97 km or 60 miles, not far off my target race distance. However, despite the overwhelming feeling of fatigue towards the end of today's run, I know that the struggle I will face in the latter stages of the 100k will be new territory in terms of mental and physical torture. While my nutrition today worked reasonably well - the perpeteum certainly delays the onset of muscle fatigue by preventing the breakdown of muscle for use as fuel during prolonged runs. At no stage either did I feel the onset of cramps or muscle tightness - that's usually reserved for faster paced running. Still I slowed noticeably towards the end which points towards an energy deficiency - if i'm to last 9+ hours in a race i'll have to increase and vary my energy intake - perhaps take on more solids and add the magic that is coca-cola to my running diet. The sugary liquid carbs such as Gels & High 5 certainly become unpalatable after 3 or 4 hours so it may be time to switch to more savory snacks such as the chicken noodle soup and salted potatoes that appear to be a staple of a large number of ultra runners out there - the one peanut butter and jam cracker that I took mid-run today certainly went down well and will likely make it onto the menu for Portumna.

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Despite the reasonably good longs runs over the last few weeks I still feel a bit overwhelmed by the task of completing (or is that competing in) a 100k.

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Sat - 25.6 Miles in 3:30 (8:12 pace)

Sun - 34.7 miles in 5:00 (8:39 pace)

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Build Week #2 - 80 miles (no swimming or cycling)

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Finally a huge congratulations to Clubmate Paul Tierney who yesterday broke the record for running the mountainous 130km Wicklow Way heading out from Marley Park in Dublin at 4 a.m. and arriving at Clonegal in Co. Carlow 13 hours, 38 minutes and 51 seconds later, beating the 2008 record set by Eoin Keith by 7 minutes and 10 seconds. Huge respect.

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