Sharp Taper

I ran a grand total of 19 miles this week, not by design but more because other priorities took over and as the work for Connemara is done there was no point in stressing out trying to get a few more miles in.

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I did complete my final race specific long run last weekend, covering just over 30 miles in 3:48 (7:34 pace @ 139 HR), although my pace did slow to 8:00 over the last few miles. Still, an encouraging run. A 12 mile recovery club run in the hills to the south-west of Cork the following morning went reasonably well at a very manageable 9:07 pace and equally manageable average HR of 108 - dropping to as low as 92 on one downhill section. My legs felt a bit sluggish for a few days but recovered sufficiently for my Tuesday "speedwork" which I cut back to a 5 mile progression @ 6:46 pace average (about 7:07 to 6:36). My other 2 runs of the week, on Wednesday and Friday, went off without a hitch - however tomorrow's Mallow 10 mile PB attempt will be the real test as to whether or not I am fully recovered. After that it's back to 2 weeks of easy(ier) running.

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Here's an interesting video on running economy I came across on the Natural Running Center Site.

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What's Next?

Recovery from Ballycotton has gone pretty well. While the ball of my left foot was quite tender it did not prevent me from running on it, albeit in normal running shoes. With the Connemara ultra now less that 4 weeks away I have only planned 3 specific runs between now and then.

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The first and only ultra specific run is this weekends long run, where I hope to run 30 miles or so (3:45 to 4 hours hopefully). This time i'm planning on taking on some fluids and maybe even a gel or 2.

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The second, on the following weekend (Bank Holiday Monday), is the Mallow 10, where I hope to break my 10 mile PB, given my Ballycotton performance. I know Paul advised caution so close to Connemara, but I think 13 days should be enough for recovery - i'll see how Ballycotton impacts on this weekends long run and reassess.

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Cresting the Incline @ Mile 7

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My third planned run is a final 5 mile constant HR evaluation run a week before Connemara to assess my aerobic fitness before race day. All my other runs will be based on feel with a few faster paced runs if the mood takes, always mindful of erring on the side of caution during the Connemara taper.

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Ballycotton 10 - Not What I Expected

My plan for today in Ballycotton was to run a sub-65 minute ten miler in the vibrams. To be quite honest at this stage I think there is no difference between what I could achieve in the vibrams versus "normal" running shoes. My strategy was to go out at a steady pace just below 6:30 miles. With no satellite reception on the Garmin I aimed to run comfortably hard and check my splits at each mile marker.

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I accepted a kind offer of a lift from Thomas who was en route from the Kingdom and filled up his car with neighbours Pat and Ian who were also running. The day was sunny, with a cold north westerly wind, which meant we'd have it at our back for the last 5 miles. As I wasn't heading for a PB I wasn't too concerned about placing myself near the front of the 2,500+ field. Having said that I joined the queue to the race start a little later than I wanted and spent most of the time before the start pushing my way up through the throngs to get reasonable starting position. With chip timing I knew that my actual run time would be recorded.

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It still took me over 20 seconds to cross the start line after the gun went and the first mile was spent weaving in and out to get ahead of slower runners in front. I quickly caught up with Brendan, who was running his first race in over 2 years (and his first as an M40) and knowing that his target was also sub-65 I decided to hang on to him. The timekeeper was calling out 7:0? at the first mile marker, while the garmin gave me a split of 6:36, not too bad for an opening congested mile, albeit behind target pace. We continued on with the downhill second mile, which came in a much faster 6:14 ,which I put down to the downhill. We continued to pass runners, maintaining a steady pace, as the field spread out Mile 3 coming in 6:20 - building up a bit of a cushion on the 65 minute target. As the Garmin was displaying lap time and HR only I had no idea of total time, which was probably a good thing, especially later on.

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Brendan began to show some signs of distress during mile 4 as his breathing became a bit more laboured, despite the fact that he had done his fair bit of surging during the previous miles. We continued to pass others, which is always encouraging. Mile 4 came in 6:24, still under target pace. At this stage I began to harbour notions of getting under 1:04 as all I'd need is to average 6:24 per mile - i'll see how I get on as there are 6 miles left. Running in the vibrams felt very comfortable with no sign of discomfort. The clock at the 5 mile mark displayed 32:10 as I Passed it - Mile 5 split of 6:16. 1:04 certainly felt achievable, provided I could maintain pace for the remaining 5 miles. We turned South East shortly after mile 5 and the wind was now at our back. As I had no idea of current pace I continued to run by feel and was reasonably comfortable, still reeling in runners in front of me. Mile 6 in 6:14 - the wind must certainly be helping. Crossing the 10k mark I saw 1:19 on the lap time (39:23 for 10k, although I didn't know at the time).

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I continued to reel in runners in front of me, albeit a bit more slowly, which must have meant that I was running faster than average pace - Mile 7 in 6:08 more or less proved this. I could be heard well before I was seen, and as I came on runners shoulders, they would instinctively look down to see what the hell was making all the slapping noise. I could see two Eagles ahead, in their distinctive Eagle singlets, but couldn't make out who they were with my myopic vision. I gradually closed the distance, passing Mile 8 in 6:09 and with about 1.5 miles to go I was on the shoulders of clubmates Vivian and Diarmaid. My feet at this stage weren't too bad although it felt as if blisters were forming on the outside of both my big toes - nothing that would trouble me during the race but possibly afterwards.

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We ran on together until we hit the hill before the 9 mile mark and the other 2 began to move ahead of me. This was the first time during the race that I felt under pressure as it was the first time anyone pulled ahead of me (except perhaps for the opening half mile). The timekeeper was calling out 57:0? as we passed the 9 Mile mark - garmin showed a lap time of 6:22, the hill blunting my speed. I had no idea of what finishing time I was heading for, other than it would be under 64 (conservatively adding 6:30 to the 57:0? called out by the timekeeper - forgetting the 20+ seconds it took me to cross the start line). I pushed on at a steady pace - my lack of any real speedwork training showing as the other two, particularly Vivian began to pull further ahead. In fact as we entered the last half mile Diarmaid began to come slowly back to me, the effort of sticking to Vivian probably taking its toll. I began counting down the time left with the last km broken down at 200m intervals......"800m to go"......I could hear the MC at the finishing line "120 passed the finish line so far".......push......through the narrow Main Street of Ballycotton, which appeared to go on forever.........."600m to go"..........counting down the number of strides left in blocks of 90 (about 1 minute)............"400m to go".........one lap of the track........Vivian was gone at this stage......my neighbour Pat just ahead (62:34 last month in Dungarvan) I must be doing good.........."200m to go" keep pushing, but no finishing sprint.....the end is in sight..........I see 1:03:04 on the clock just before I cross under it, stopping my watch, where I think the finishing line is (no mat just a gantry) - 6:02 for Mile 10.

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My overall time was 1:02:45 (avg HR 159), I couldn't believe it, just 7 seconds outside my PB. I wouldn't mind but I wasn't aiming for a PB, if I had I'd certainly have given myself a better chance at the start, do a proper warmup (instead of the half mile jog) and get in a better position at the start line (I wouldn't have killed myself going for a 6:20 opening mile). Although I think I ran a good race, going out relatively conservatively (in hindsight) and negative splitting by nearly a minute(31:50/30:55) An encouraging run, although my feet were quite sore afterwards - the outside of both big toes and under the ball of my left foot - enough to limit my warmdown to a slow walk back to the carpark with Brendan and watch Thomas (Great run he had) complete his two mile warmdown before getting a lift home. All in all a good day out. Someone told me after the race that if I ran in normal shoes just think what I could do - I reminded them that it's my legs and feet do the running, not my shoes. I'm beginning to think I'd be faster in the vibrams. maybe I should give the Asics an outing in Mallow in two week time.

Evaluation #3

My aerobic capacity is more or less back where it was at my best last year, achieving 601 heart beats per km during my third 5 mile evaluation run this evening. My best last year was 600 Hb/km on 29th March - so i'm a month ahead. I did get down to 599 Hb/km on 9th August during the early stages of my low(er) volume speedwork preparation for my HM PB and the build up to Dublin. I'll probably complete another evaluation a week before Connemara at the end of March. and see if there's any improvement.

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As my HR monitor took a while to settle down during the last evaluation on 31st January I warmed up over the 5 mile run from home to the Track (I cadged a lift home) and after a short stretching routine headed straight into the 20 laps of the track, making sure to get my HR up to 140 before crossing the start line. My HR dropped from time to time as I took my eye off the Garmin when chatting to clubmates as we passed each other - that's why i'm concentrating on the number of heart beats per km as opposed to pace. Given the erratic nature of my recorded HR during my 2nd evaluation I am ignoring it and focusing on the improvement from my first evaluation on 10th January. Some of my improvement is due to weight loss - about 1.5 kg since my last evaluation. My recovery to 120 BPM of 33 seconds is a marginal improvement on the 35 seconds recorded on 10th January.

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Fish

Last week we lost "Fish", a member of our family. On Wednesday, while I was at work, I got a call from a neighbour to say that he and his brother in arms "Polo" (Abina does the name calling in our household) had escaped from the confines of our back garden, roamed around the neighbourhood until Fish came into contact with a car coming out of a driveway, and went to meet his maker. So there I was at 11 in the morning, standing in the garden with Safan (home on mid-term, luckily the younger two were out with friends) digging a grave in a suit, wondering how the hell was I going to break the news to Abina when she came home from work that evening that her beloved dog had passed on. Sorry, I forgot to say that Fish was a dog (I know). Anyway it put a damper on the whole week, to say the least - particularly as Polo spent most nights pining for his lost companion in the lonesome way that only dogs do (There were times in the middle of the night when the expression STFU came to mind, but thankfully not to mouth - at least when Abina was around).

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Fish RIP (2008 - 2012) Sadly Missed.

My training for Connemara has moved away from the base building phase. To be quite honest I got bored with it and anyway I felt that my base, coming off the back of last year, didn't need much building up. Also Connemara is creeping up and I needed to get my ass in gear. My approach this year is different from last year. Not for me the high mileage weeks I ran last March, culminating in a 114 mile week 3 weeks before the event (At times I used stand on my doorstep not knowing whether I was going out on a run or coming back from the last one ;) spending the rest of the time washing laundry). My quickly hobbled together plan this year is concentrated around 3 key sessions per week.

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First up, and probably the least critical, are the mile repeats at the track on Tuesdays. I progressed these from about 6:48 pace down to 6:10 pace, being able to rattle off 5 with 2 minute recoveries during the last session (the night before Fish bit the dust). Hopefully these will be of some benefit for the two 10 milers I have planned, 4 (Ballycotton) and 2 (Mallow) weeks before Connemara.

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Thursday mornings are reserved for Tempo sessions, which I have run in the vibrams as I plan to race my two 10 milers in them. Why? you may well ask. Why not! I may well answer. An experiment of one perhaps. The target pace for these runs are 6:20 to 6:40 pace - ideally sub 6:30 as my aim in Ballycotton is to run sub 65 (6:30 pace). I have completed 3 to-date. The first was a 3 & 2 miler at 6:27/25 pace with 1.5 miles recovery in between. The following week it was 2 x 20 minutes @ 6:29/28 pace and this week 2 x 22.5 minutes @ 6:26/39 (against the wind) pace. The warmup/down and recoveries were kept steady (between 7:00 and 7:20) so that the overall pace has been around 6:48/52 pace - completing my first sub 1:30 half marathon in the vibrams this week - 13:39 miles in 1:31:27 (6:49 pace). My calves certainly feel tight for a day or two after these runs as they share the pressure of the increased cushioning provided by the muscles of my feet.

My third weekly session and the most important (it's race specific) is my specific endurance weekend long run. Last year before Connemara I ran 7 runs of duration 2:45 or longer, with 5 of those under 8 minute pace (the other 2 were the second of back to back runs) and the longest a 29.17 miler over 3:45 at 7:43 pace (fastest of all my long runs). To-date this year I have only run 2 long runs of duration 2:45 or longer, the first a 22.42 miler last weekend in 2:45 (7:22 pace) and the second a 3:15 marathon (26.34 miles) @ 7:24 pace this morning. As Ballycotton is next weekend I have only 1 more opportunity to run long before Connemara ( 3 weeks out) While these runs have been very encouraging with a pace 20 seconds per mile faster than last years training runs I remember that last year I still only managed an average of 8:17 pace during the race, primarily due to a dodgy calf. Hopefully my calves will be stronger this year.

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As far as my fuelling strategy is concerned, I don't have one at the moment and did not trial any on my long runs to-date. In fact this morning was the first time I ran the marathon distance without anything passing my lips (except for the cup of coffee beforehand) - I did keep a bottle of water outside the house as I was passing it at miles 22.4 & 24.4 but I did not divert from my course to take it (foolhardy perhaps). I lost 2.5 kg in the process. Certainly I am beginning to believe that taking food on board on the morning of a (ultra?)marathon is probably unnecessary if you have eaten well the evening before, unless you need it to get your bowels moving, which is important.

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Apart from the vibrams, the two pair of shoes I am rotating at moment are a €20 pair of Aldi specials and a pair of lightweight Asics Gel Hyperspeeds, which I have used for the track work. It took awhile to break in the Asics for the longer runs (probably because they are designed for short races) but last weeks 22.4 miler in them went well. Likewise the Aldi specials this morning caused no problems, although with 420 miles on them, they are wearing a bit thin underneath, noticeable (surprisingly) because the thickness of the sole under the balls on my feet has reduced to a few mm so that I am beginning to feel the indentations in ground underneath, the way I do in the vibrams - the first time that I have seen shoes wear under the balls of my feet - is my foot plant changing in my traditional shoes??? There is also wear on the outside of the heels (see photo below - very noticeable wear locally under the balls on my feet). I think i'll use the Hyperspeeds for Connemara. 5 weeks to go!

Fad

20 Miles

20 miles in 2:30 (7:30 pace) - My longest run to-date this year topped off a 65 mile week - my highest weekly mileage since last June (when I ran 62 miles in 1 day - my highest daily mileage).

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