Marathon Training Week 6 of 10

Week 6 of my marathon programme only has one key workout - 3 x 4 miles at MP with 3 mile recoveries. This is the key workout of the whole programme. Nail this and I got the whole programme nailed. However as I was "volunteered" to pace the Inaugural Killarney Lakeside Marathon on Saturday I decided to defer my key session and swap it with my secheduled 22 mile long run from the end of week 7. My rationale was that pacing Killarney was only an additional 4 miles. However since all my training programme long runs have been close to 7:20 pace I requested the 3:15 pacing gig (7:26 pace) in lieu of my traditional 3:30 slot.

  Session 1 - Tuesday (1830hrs - 2030hrs)

With no specific speed session in the programme I used my Tiuesday track session to complete the 5 mile evaluation run, the results of which I covered in my pervious post.


15.66 miles in 1:58:28 (7:33 pace @ 128 Hr = 601 Hb/Km) with 5 mile Evaluation in 34:18 (6:52 pace @ 138.4 Hr = 590 Hb/Km).

 

Session 2 - Saturday (0900hrs - 12:15 hrs)

Killarney Lakeside Marathon

I travelled down with Ian (running the half), Denis (pacing 4:15) and Killian (pacing 3:30) for this reasonably low key marathon with all but the first mile in the Killarney National Park, over three laps between the Castleross Hotel and the old Copper Mines beyond Ross Castle - beautiful off-road course. When getting ready I noticed that I had brought my Asic Gel Tarthers instead of the DS Racers - I hoped the lightweight shoe would not cause much discomfort. I also forgot my heart rate monitor, which was a little dissappointing as I wanted to see how my HR would vary over the 26.2 miles.

This was my first time pacing 3:15, but I was not too concerned eventhough I was on my own. Still I decided to warmup for a few minutes as the pace would be steady from the off. I met up with Thomas before the start as he had planned to run with me for the first half. Tom Enright, who organised the pacers, joked that should Thomas and I be in the lead coming into the finish, that I was to let Thomas win, as it would not be appropriate for a pacer to win. No worries on that score as there were a few serious runners, in addition to Thomas, lining up at the start line.

Relaxing before the off with Clubmates Denis & Killian



Thomas stayed with me for most of the opening mile, pulling me along closer to 7 minute pace before he reminded me that I might be banking a bit of time - and then he was off, chasing down podium contenders.

There were about 12 runners in front of me including the leading lady with 3 or 4 around me over the opening miles. However most of these fell away by the time the first lap was complete, with the exception of John (using this as a 16 mile training run for his 3:15 attempt later in the year) and Brendan (PB 3:09), who was content to run 3:15 pace. We picked up Seamus at the end of lap 1, running his first run since completing the Prague Marathon last Sunday (a 26.2 mile recovery run). The miles seemed to fly by as we chatted away. We were pretty much on our own until mile 20, when Brendan began to push on.

Mile 19 - Brendan, Seamus and I

Between miles 20 and 22 we passed 4 runners, including the leading lady.

The Garmin indicated that the course was a bit short, but then again the tree cover may have interfered with the satellites, as the organisers had confirmed that the course was officially measured. I wasn't taking any chances though and made sure I had enough of a cushion to cover all eventualities. With no one within a few minutes behind me there was no point in hanging around for a 3:14:59 finish and with over a minute and a half of a cushion I ran into the finish line with Seamus, completing a very enjoyable run, my feet none the worse for wear having worn the lightweight Gel Tarthers. Certainly a very encouraging run, finishing 10th out of 121 finishers, at no stage feeling under pressure. The leading female, was first in behind me in 3:19:18, fully justifying my decision to finish a bit early.

26.22 Miles in 3:13:25 (7:23 pace & No HRM)

Weekly mileage - 69 Miles
Avg Weight - 77.4 Kg
RHR 40 (recovery from Marathon)