Getting Old

It's been a while. Still running away. Just not posting about it. Not much to post about really. Apart from the Belfast 24 hour last June. But the longer the race disappeared over the horizon of the past the less inclined I was to write about it. But to move on perhaps I should close it out. So in summary:-

Belfast 24 Hour

• I kept going for 24 hours - ticking off my C-Target.
• I didn't reach my A-Target of 220 km, but managed 202km, just ahead of my 200km B-Target.
• The last 3 to 4 hours consisted of slow walking, with a distinct lean to the left - it may have something to do with running in an anti-clockwise direction for the preceding 20+ hours.
• I didn't sit down or rest once, but did stop to stretch (Morton style), quite regularly for a spell before I was reduced to walking.
• I had chronic back pain for the week after the race, resulting in my only "sick-day" (and consumption of pain killers) in the year. I couldn't even reach to tie my shoes from a sitting position - it gave me a much greater appreciation of what those living every day with chronic pain must go through. Thankfully it was temporary.

Dublin 2016

I planned to recover from Belfast over the summer and train for a decent (sub-3 hour) M50 time at the Dublin City Marathon at the end of October. But I suffered a few setbacks in my recovery, nothing serious but enough to scupper my  plan to get to the start of my marathon training programme, which required a good speed/endurance base. So I ran Dublin in a few seconds over 3:20 on the 10th anniversary on my first marathon (Dublin 2006). This was my 50th marathon (not counting the 16 ultras), of which I have paced 25 - nice and symmetrical.

 

Moving On

 

My primary goal for the new year remained a sub 3 hour M50 marathon and with this in mind I started the year by increasing my endurance base and getting a little speed in the legs  before starting a marathon programme in April. One thing that particularly stood out was my lack of speed and the difficulty I had in getting it back and running paces that came more easily a few years ago -  which got me thinking about how much my increasing age was blunting my speed and potential performance in races. I had looked at age graded results before but I have never considered using them as an "excuse" for getting old. I plugged my 4 sub 3 hour marathon results into the age grade calculator to see what would be my "equivalent performance" in 2017 at the age of 51.

 

 

Sub 3 Hour Marathon Age Grade Performance

Year	Age	Time	Age Grade %	Equivalent Age Graded Time	Equivalent Marathon Time at Age 51
2011	45	02:59:19	73.33	02:47:39	03:08:44
2013	47	02:54:35	76.59	02:40:32	03:00:42
2013	47	02:56:01	75.97	02:41:51	03:02:10
2015	49	02:55:37	77.45	02:38:45	02:58:42

 

 

While my 2:54:35 PB set in 2013 would give me an equivalent marathon today of 3:00:42, my best "age graded" marathon of 2:55:37, two years ago would, for the equivalent performance, just about get me under 3 hours this year (2:58:42) and would be equivalent to a 2:38:45 marathon in my prime (early 30's). The figures above suggest that I have a limited window in which to get my targeted M50 sub 3 hour marathon as every month that passes will take about 8 seconds off my "equivalent" result. In theory I have up until January 2018 - unless I can perform better than my best age grade performance of 77.45%.

 

Age grading performance % is explained as "the ratio of the approximate world-record time for your age and gender divided by your actual time."  To have scored 100% in 2015, I would have had to run a time of 2:16:01.

 

I decided to check out my age grade performance for my other PBs to see what my age grade performance PB is. Funnily enough my 5k PB of 17:57, run in the build up to my marathon PB in 2013, at 80.32% is streets ahead of my other PBs. If I could manage to hit this age grade performance for the marathon I should be able to go sub 2:53 this year - that's a big if, given that i'm basing it on a 5k performance and if it had carried through to a similar age graded marathon performance I would have achieved 2:46:29 back in 2013.

 

PB Age Grade Performance

Race Distance	Year	Age	Time	Age Grade %	Equivalent Age Graded Time	Equivalent Marathon Time at Age 51
Marathon	2011	45	02:59:19	73.33	02:47:39	03:08:44
	2013	47	02:54:35	76.59	02:40:32	03:00:42
	2013	47	02:56:01	75.97	02:41:51	03:02:10
	2015	49	02:55:37	77.45	02:38:45	02:58:42
Half Marathon	2011	45	01:22:32	75.67	01:17:10
10 Mile	2012	46	01:02:17	76.45	00:57:33
10k	2013	47	00:37:52	77.38	00:34:32
5 Mile	2010	44	00:30:24	75.44	0:28:15
4 Mile	2010	44	00:24:24	74.86	00:22:34
5k	2013	47	00:17:57	80.32	00:16:10	02:52:19

 

 By early May I was 5 weeks into my marathon training programme, my speed was slowly coming back to me (reeling back the years) heading for a marathon somewhere in the mid 2:50s, with the Portumna Marathon on 11th June my target. Unfortunately my plan got derailed during the Killarney Lakes Half Marathon on 13th May when 5 miles in I pulled up with a left hammy strain. I have managed to recover a bit over the last few weeks, enough to pace 3:30 in tomorrows Cork City Marathon (my 51st official marathon),  but speed work is still out of the question. So my quest for an M50 sub 3 hour marathon continues - whether or not it is an age grade, lifetime or M50 PB remains to be seen - hopefully all 3.