Pushing the limits

Specificity

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Training programmes normally culminate with a peak specific endurance run about 10 days out from the main event - the optimum time for the training to be of benefit - leave it too late and the body will not have absorbed the full benefit of the session - for a marathon it's normally longer (2 weeks + before race day) as the body may not be fully recovered in time for the race. By peak specific endurance I mean the toughest race pace workout of the programme.

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As I have not followed a programme for the Charleville Half next Sunday (apart from joining the club speed sessions in late July/early August ahead of the National HM last weekend) I reverted to my running library to pick out a specific endurance workout that might do the trick. One that interested me was the 3 x 5k @ HM pace for "Highly Competitive" runners in "Run Faster" by Brad Hudson & Matt Fitzgerald - sounded like a tough mother - there was a slightly easier version of 4 x 3k @ HM pace for the "Competitive" runner or the 6 x 1 mile @ HM pace for the "Low-Key Competitive" runner. Naturally I gravitated towards the most difficult one.

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The one doubt I had was that my peak run was scheduled for last Thursday - 5 days after running the Dingle marathon. I know, if I was serious about training for the half I would not have run Dingle - but there's serious and there's SERIOUS and the offer to pace Dingle was irresistible. My first run after the marathon, a 5.8 mile unintentional progression run with Brendan @ 7:29 average pace on Wednesday went off without a hitch. Still the doubt was there on Thursday - Would I be recovered enough? Would I complete the full session? Would my pace suffer? As the Garmin has lost it's GPS function I headed for the track with the mindset of "see how I get on". While previous HM pace sessions had been @ 6:35+ pace I decided to head for a pace closer to my PB pace of 6:27, which fitted in perfectly with running in lane 3 (1:40 laps or 50 second half laps - easy to remember 20:02 for 5k or 20:50 for 5.2k = 12.5 laps in lane 3).

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The first 12.5 laps went off reasonably well, can't say they were easy (because they weren't) but I was a few seconds below target - 20:44 (19:56 for 5k).

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A walk/jog 400m around the track in 3 to 4 minutes (a concession from the scheduled 90 second recoveries) and start into the second 5.2k.

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Hit the target again - 20:44. Although I was fairly fucked at the finish and felt reasonably happy to call it a day. However Brendan, who was at the track running 800's at the same pace and had joined me for a few laps earlier on said he had one more 800 to do so I ran with him with the intention of running 1k but extended it to 2k and then 3k (3.12k in lane 3). I probably could have run on but my calves were getting tight and the next club session was starting - no point in risking injury - 7.5 laps in 12:25 (11:56 for 3k)

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All in all 13.52 km (8.4 miles) @ 6:25 pace - that'll do me.

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Mixing it up

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My legs were a bit dead for Friday evening's short 4.5 mile recovery run on grass but I wasn't about to give them a break as I had signed up for the 150k Rebel Tour leaving CIT at 9 on Saturday morning, heading down to West Cork - Crossbarry, Bandon, Enniskeane, Dunmanway, Clonakilty, Timoleague, Ballinaspittal, Kinsale, Belgooly, Riverstick, Ballinahassig and back to CIT.

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The weather forecast wasn't great but the day turned out better than expected. There were 500+ cyclists at the start line (and equal numbers signed up for the 80k and 50k routes, starting at 10:30 and 12:15) There was a lead car for the first 55k to Dunmaneway (1st food stop) to keep the pace from going suicidal - yet staying with the front group required a fair amount of work, which I was willing to put in as the alternative was cycling into a headwind on my own at a much slower pace. I got dropped about 8k out from Dunmanway but managed to catch on to another guy's wheel and get pulled back in - 40 to 50 in the group by the time we hit Dunmanway. While it wasn't a race (I'd be left for dead in a race) I enjoyed the challenge of having to put in the effort to keep pace - kept me focused.

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For the remaining 95k I paired up with Eoin/Eoghan/Owen?(take your pick) from Douglas (who was cycling a hybrid!!!) as we took turns at the front to keep a steady pace. The sun came out as we hit the coast road from Timoleague but the strong south westerly wind was a struggle at times. 2nd food stop at Ballinaspittle (ate & drank like a horse) and we headed south for Garrettstown, where the cross wind blowing sand off the beach cut into our arms and legs.

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For the final 40k or so we joined those doing the 80k and 50k and the road became more congested. Yet we maintained a steady pace, surprised that my legs were holding up reasonably well and after 5:06:02 in the saddle we arrived back at CIT. Eoin had 149km on his Garmin - 18.2 mph @ 131 HR. I cycled the 4.6 miles to and from CIT with neighbour Ian to get my (our)first century ride (101.8 miles) - and he only bought his bike in July - with his longest ride @ 35 miles!!!

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The Limit

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Despite fuelling well at the food stations yesterday I awoke this morning 1 kg lighter than 24 hours earlier. I wondered would this be an advantage for the scheduled 15 mile hilly club run at 8 this morning. I was in two minds as to whether I should run it at all as the only pace on offer was 7:30 miles. Clubmate Vivian, who had also completed the rebel tour, was also a bit apprehensive about doing the run. The first time I ran this route I pulled up with a calf strain 13 miles in and had averaged about 8 minute miles at that stage. Running 7:30 average pace over this course with 100 bike miles in my legs (not to mind Thursday's peak speed session) was going to be rough.

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Vivian and I were the only fools to join John O'Callaghan, who had scheduled the run. We were joined by Paul Daly about 2 miles in - none of us had a workable GPS watch so the pace was guestimated (turns out we were quite close overall). The run certainly was a challenge for me with my HR maxing at 161 at the top of the toughest climb, about 6 miles in - I was at my limit. I managed to recover on the flat/downhills which enabled me finish the run intact although a slight tightness at the base of my left hamstring/back of knee after yesterdays cycle escalated to "ache" status and requires a bit of TLC with the foam roller. The average for the 15 miles was 7:27 pace @ 137 HR - glad to be finished and looking forward to a rest day tomorrow.

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Home for a shower and quick breakfast before heading off to support friend Puds (Liam) and clubmates running the Blarney Half Marathon. Puds, who comes from a cycling background and dips in and out of running had told me that he was training for the race with a target of coming in under 1:20 and sure enough he finished 13th overall in 1:19:49 - there's a guy who sets a target and knows what he has to do to get it.

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Have a good week.

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Head for the hills

The last run of my cut-back week was an off-road session in the Nagle Mountains (hills really) with Paul and James from the club. Paul has spent a lot of his time running off road, having completed a few mountain races. He's planning on running the Wicklow Way Ultra 2 weeks before Connemara. James isn't that far behind him, having run this particular route twice before. That's if you can call it a route as we climbed gravel roads only to turn off and head back downhill along rock strewn trails, stopping to walk through overgrown paths (Paul had thought about bringing a slash hook to cut back the vegetation - what would it be like during the summer months) - back up a 20%+ gradient where if you reached out in front of you you'd touch the ground (I walked a bit here). Needless to say my 140 heart rate threshold was well and truly exceeded.

I soon discovered what separated me from the 2 guys....weight. They both clock in at about ten and a half stone (67kg) ...mountain goats, whereas i'm nearly 3 stone heavier (84kg)... means a lot when trying to drag your sorry ass up a hill. We finished up the run with 3.5 miles on road to get up to 15 miles total. A good strength session. On checking the garmin after I was surprised the average pace was below 9:00.

That was the second of my cutback 15 mile weekend back to back long runs. The first was on another (less) hilly route to the south west of the City between Spur Hill and Ballinora before finishing up for the final mile on the grass of UCC Farm.

A Thursday morning run in the vibrams pushing close to my self imposed 140HR limit yielding a 7:25 average pace over 12.2 miles left my legs feeling tired and achy - just hope they got enough rest before I head into the final 3 weeks of high volume. I still don't know how I'll fit next Sunday's Ballycotton 10 miler into this high volume schedule - needless to say I won't be aiming for a PB, with my target similar, if not slightly better, than Dungarvan (1:12:03).

Tue 22nd Feb 8.3 miles @ 8:21 pace & 130HR with 5 x 1 mile @ 7:16 pace & 2 min recoveries. Wed 23rd Feb 2.5 Miles @ 7:56 pace (Treadmill) Thur 24th Feb 12.2 miles @ 7:25 pace & 137HR - Vibrams Sat 26th Feb 15.82 miles @ 8:21 pace & 131HR Sun 27th Feb 15 miles @ 8:45 pace & 134 HR - Off-road hilly run. Base Week #5 (Run 54.1 miles, Bike NIL, Swim 3.5 km)

7:42

All my runs lately appear to average 10 seconds either side of 7:42 pace despite the fact that they all have a different focus - Long, MP, hill reps, hill sprints. My recovery run on Monday was the only one that bucked the trend. My legs were still fatigued from Sunday's long run and the 8:33 pace was all I could muster.

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The 20 week programme I am looking at ("Run faster from the 5k to the Marathon" by Brad Higgins & Matt Fitzgerald) calls for a Tuesday run of 3 x 15 minutes @ MP, MP/HMP and HMP/10k Pace. Since I am jumping into the middle of the programme and I haven't done much speedwork I adapted (The main thrust of the book is towards adaptive running) the run to 2 x 2 miles @ MP with 10 x 15 second hills sprints (which I should have done on Monday). For MP I decided on 07:00 to 07:05 pace. The first 2 MP miles were a shade faster at 6:59 & 6:52 - a minute and a half later I was into the hill sprints which went reasonably well. They're sufficiently short to allow for a quick burst of speed (5:14 to 5:48 pace) and recovery. The return MP miles were a little faster than the outbound, particularly as I pushed hard for the last 200 yards of the 2nd mile ( trying to simulate race finish) 06:50/06:31. The start of the 2 warmdown miles was a struggle as my legs recovered from the fast finish but they soon came back to life.

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Wednesday I was in Inchydoney visiting my sister and mum. In the evening I managed to get out for a run through the light rain to Ardfield - towards Red Strand and back. There's a nice steady climb from mile 2 for about a mile and a half (08:30 pace outbound and 06:30 inbound) and a nice undulating road to the turnaround at 5.5 miles. It started to pour out of the heavens for the last mile so I continuted past the house to the beach and cooled down in the surf with a few surfers for company.

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Today I went looking for a new hill to run on. The programme called for 5 x 3 minutes uphill @ 5k effort. (I swapped Friday's for Thursday's run as I intend to run long on Saturday) Uphill speedwork longer than about 90 seconds efforts is alien to me so I was looking forward to it!!!. However as I had little speedwork in my legs I wasn't going to hold myself to the 5 reps. I warmed up towards the Regional Park and along the Wood Road and turned right over the Bride River to the base of the hill. I decided to run easy to the top of the hill to see how long it was. 16 minutes later I reached the highest point, although after the first mile the gradient eased. I ran at a steady pace back down to the start (a 6:40 mile at 130HR never felt so easy). Turning at the bottom I decided I had time/energy for 3 x 3 minute reps. I set out too fast at the start of the first rep and paid for it towards the end as my legs turned to jelly. For the next 2 the pace was more steady (07:09/07:13) - although both reps fell about 10 yards short of the first (06:54 pace). Still a good workout though.

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Mon 17th Aug 7.45 miles in 1:03:47 (08:33 pace @ 118HR)

. Tue 18th Aug 9.64 miles in 1:14:35 (07:44 pace @ 142HR) with 2 x 2 miles @ MP- and 10 x 15sec hill sprints. . Wed 19th Aug 11:28 miles in 1:25:23 (07:34 pace @ 133HR) .

Thur 20th Aug 9.73 miles in 1:15:23 (07:45 pace @ 135HR) with 3 x 3 min hills @ 5k effort.

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Ups and Downs

Yesterday's long run with Eagle AC was certainly one of the hilliest I've ever run. Well if truth be told it wasn't very long, 15 miles in all with the last couple of miles at a slow hobble as I appear to have pulled a muscle in my left calf on the last hill. Initially I thought it was a cramp as a bit of stretching appeared to ease the pain and I was able to run very comfortably on the downhill section to mile 14. However I eventually slowed to a walk over the last flat mile and for the rest of the day I was limping as it was painful to walk. Now 24 hours later it is still tender so at least a few day of no running is called for (perhaps a week). Not what I want 6 week out from a marathon bit I don't have much choice. I wouldn't mind but this week I had cut back on the mileage as I was conscious of proper recovery before making the final 4 week assault of intensive training before the 2 week taper. Funnily enough it was this time last year that I was laid up with an IT band injury (21st April) and just as I was recovering from that my calves gave trouble (9th May), what can I say? I certainly looked after my IT band in the intervening year (strengthening my hip adductors/abductors) but I can't say I have been looking after my calves, other than simple post run stretching. There's a lesson there I think.

While yesterday's run was all ups and downs so was my week in that I managed to shave a few seconds off my 4 mile PB on Thursday evening at a road race in Castlemartyr (the first of the summer evening road races). Following on from last weeks 6 mile tempo run at 06:29 pace I though that it would be a good time for a tune up race to check my fitness. However a lot can happen in 6 days. Whereas on the previous Friday I had felt very strong during my tempo run the race on Thursday was a huge effort from shortly after the halfway mark. Still my pace was reasonably even throughout over what is a relatively flat course. Over the first two miles I was continuing to pass others with one guy passing me around the halfway mark. The guy was familiar to me, as on a couple of occasions in the past I would have overtaken him on the last mile. This time was different, I stayed with him for about half a mile and then he gradually pulled away. By mile 2.5 I was wishing it was a 5k, especially when I looked at the average3rd mile pace of 06:24 on the Garmin. However the downhill section to the 3 mile mark improved the pace. For the last mile I was slowly pulling in the guy in front of me. If truth be told I was using him to pace me to the finish as I was spent. When I was on his shoulder with about 600m to go he urged me to "go for it" and he dropped back a little. However I knew I had no kick left and as we approached the last corner with about 60m to go I could hear one of his supporters urging him on to "take me" after the bend as the finish was close. I upped the pace in anticipation but had nothing left when he powered past me putting a margin of 2 seconds on me by the time we crossed the line. My official time was 24:35 (Garmin gave me 24:33 for 4.03 miles) - average 06:09 pace. Adjusted splits were 06:07 06:11 06:12 06:05 I was hoping to attack my 5 mile PB next week but I think I'll have to leave it for another day. Next PB will be the marathon in June. Mon 13th Apr 8.63 miles in 1:13:39 (08:32 @ 151 HR) HR incorrect - I hope Tue 14th Apr 6.02 mile in 48:56 (08:08 pace @ No HRM) with 3 x 1000m in 03:34/33/33 (equivalent to 03:42/43 in lane 3 of previous weeks) Wed 15th Apr a.m. 13.54 in 01:44:17 (07:42 pace @ no HRM) p.m. 2.5 miles in 19:50 (07:56 pace - treadmill) Thur 16th Apr 10.06 miles with 4 miles in 24:35 (06:09 pace @ 167 HR/Max 181) Fri 17th Apr 5.2 miles in 44:56 (08:39 pace @ 115HR) Lowest recorded HR may be error Sat 18th Apr 15.07 miles in 02:05:49 (08:21 pace @ 132HR) walked last mile. Marathon Peak Week #3 (Run 61.4 miles, Bike Nil, Swim 3000m) - I decided against the bike this morning but it may form a bigger part of my training over the next few weeks. Finally best of luck to Thomas, Mike, Michael and Bill running in Boston tomorrow.