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!

Practice Makes Perfect

Subject your body to a particular stress often enough and it adapts, gets used to the stress and accepts it as normal. That's what Abina told me on our 21st wedding anniversary last month when explaining the longevity of our marriage ;) I was wondering where my ability to endure came from. It's a fine line obviously - too much stress and the body will sooner or later blow up and break down, necessitating a long period of recovery before further stress can be applied. I have moved away from the marriage analogy and am not referring to divorce and re-marriage, i'm very happy with the stress I have thank you very much.

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As my speed-endurance is in a good place at the moment because of my body's positive adaptation to the stress I have applied over the last two months, I decided to, more or less repeat, last Saturday's Marathon Pace endurance run to see if it felt less stressful than last week (relativity being the key). The route wasn't much different than last week except that I kept away from the City Quays, swapping it for a loop around the less congested Mardyke/College Road and the walkway from Inchagaggin to the Straight Road.

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I did make a couple of changes though.

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First off I decided to start a bit slower than last week but cut-in over 4 miles - 7:20 - 7:10 - 7:00 - 6:50 and then MP @ 6:40 target.

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Second I swapped my 1000 mile+ €13.50 Lidi runners (Paced Limerick and Dingle in them) for my 1000 mile+ €30 red racers I bought in Decathlon Barcelona last year (served me well in my recent HM & 15 mile PBs - although there's a gaping hole in the side mesh - so what). Would I run better in a pair of DS Racers/Kinvaras/Lunar Racers/Saucony ??/NB ??/ and if so why? That's a totally different post.

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Thirdly I didn't fancy the idea of wearing a running belt to carry water so I didn't and left a bottle outside the front door with a half notion of looping back after 10 or 11 miles - I never did.

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Finally, I left the gels at home too (no water anyway and the only gels I had required water for consumption). I was also following advice from Keith Livingston (thanks Rick for the link) who does not appear to be a fan of gels, in fact he recommends using gels only in the last few miles of a marathon, if you have to! Here's some of what he has to say about the marathon:-

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If you want to go as far and as long as possible without hitting the wall, you must have THREE things going for you:

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1. A trained ability to utilize a blend of (‘unlimited’) fatty acids and (‘limited’) carbohydrates for long periods at high aerobic levels, thereby conserving glycogen (high energy) stores for the business end of your race.

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2. Sufficient hydration of the muscles to allow access to the stored glycogen. Glycogen is really an endless starchy chain of glucose molecules. It needs about twice its volume in accessible H2O to be metabolized. So a marathoner who is ready to race will often be slightly heavier than normal.

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3. The patience to start slightly slower than your intended race pace, so as to spare glycogen and come home full of running. The marathon doesn’t ’start’ till the 20 mile/32km mark, so go steadily till then.

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The traditional “wall” that marathoners hit at around 20 miles represents the final unloading of glycogen stores from the type IIA fatigue-resistant (aerobic) fast twitch fibres as they are sequentially recruited while the slow twitch fibres have exhausted their work capacity.

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I headed out into the wet morning (first wet run in a while) covering the first mile in a relatively slow 7:25 but was soon up to speed. The first 2 MP miles were in 6:29 (downhill) & 6:44 (uphill) - past the point where I took a gel last week - would I last the pace, when will I feel the inevitable fatigue. The miles came and went, maintaining a steady effort which delivered a pace just under 6:40. All thing going well i'd keep the MP going until mile 16. Things did go reasonably well, except that I hit the incline up past the Carrigrohane Post Office after 15.6 miles and had to push the HR to keep close to the 6:40 target until I had 16 miles under the belt - certainly glad to ease back after that, although the remaining four miles were all under 7:20 pace. I was also beginning to feel the early signs of dehydration (to be expected), deferred perhaps by the light rain that fell from time to time.

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20 miles in 1:16:11 (ps correction 2:16:11 - thanks Rick) - my fastest 20 miles to-date, and I only "raced" 16 of them. During the later MP miles my HR was in the low to mid 150's (with the exception of the mile 16 uphill effort), which would appear to be my sub-threshold MP HR.

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While the table below certainly points towards a sub 3-hour marathon it is worth noting that the standard certified marathon course never measures 26.2 miles on the Garmin and an average of 3 seconds per mile should be added to the splits to get a truer reflection of what is required - about 1:30 minutes or 0.2 miles (i.e. pass the Garmin 26.2 mile mark in 2:58:29 or reach 26.42 Garmin miles in 2:59:59 - take your pick)

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Big Heart

Abina always said I had a big heart, or was that mouth, I can never tell. However according to this article (when you read past the section on sudden death in athletes) a larger than normal heart explains why my heart beats more slowly than it would had I maintained a sedentary life. When it comes to pumping more oxygenated blood around the body to supply energy to muscles during exercise the heart can either beat faster or pump more with each beat. As there is a limit on how fast your heart can beat, no matter how fit you are (an elite athlete has the same maximum heart rate as his/her equivalent couch potato) the only adaptation the heart can make in response to the constant pressure of training is to pump more during each beat (stroke volume), which requires a bigger chamber, 33% bigger and more. The surprising thing is that the heart adapts very quickly - within a few weeks of commencing a sustained training regime. Likewise the adaptation reverses quite quickly once we stop exercising regularly - a bit like any muscle really. So for those that train intermittently it would appear that the main thing that changes is the size of their heart. A low resting heart rate and a larger than normal heart in an average person is an indication of a probable heart block, hypertension or heart failure, so if your are in the middle of endurance training it is probably a good idea to say so when visiting the doctor - although if you suffer from any of the above and are in the middle of endurance training................

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While my resting heart rate is at an all time low of 34 to 35 bpm (I manually measured 172 beats in 5 minutes two weeks ago = 34.4 bpm - taken before rising) and my training HR is quite low, I have also noticed that my racing HR has come down since I started running, with last weeks 10k averaging 158 bpm and a max of 166 over the closing stages - can my heart not beat faster than that in a race. My 10k PB in April 2008 (38:15 - 6:09 pace) had an average HR of 168, which maxed out at 177 over the closing stages (10 bpm higher). Maybe I'm not pushing myself hard enough, although increasing age does account for some of the reduction (roughly 3 bpm over 3 years). So while I am getting more bang for my buck I have less bucks than I used to have. Still I am encouraged by my best ever race result, my 10 mile PB last year, where my HR averaged 161 for the 6:16 average pace.

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Training

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I have spent the last 2 weeks in West Cork, where training has gone pretty well. I followed the Shannonvale 10k with a Sunday long run of 20 miles covering miles 5 to 24 of the Clonakilty Marathon route, topping the week with 64 miles (highest since ultra training in May)

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This week I was just shy of 60 miles as I cut back today's long run to 15 miles, which is all I need for my next key race, the Charleville HM on 18th September. It also doubled as a taper for the Dingle Marathon, which I am pacing next Saturday. I did however up the pace to provide some training challenge and averaged 7:25 pace over the partially hilly course, stopping sporadically to take photos, which explains the suppressed Avg HR of 126.

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McMillian gives me a 1:29:07 half marathon (6:48 pace) for my 40:03 10k last week, which, to be quite honest, is an easy target. Without the hill I reckon I would have covered the 10k in about 39:30, which still gives me a relatively soft HM target of 1:27:54 (6:43 pace). Maybe that's where my fitness is at, but i'll surely improve over the next few weeks, how much will the Dingle Marathon blunt my speed? - too many unknowns so I settled on 6:40 pace as my HM training pace (1:27:24) for this weeks specific endurance run - secretly hoping to get under it.

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I had planned on 4 x 2 miles @ HM pace (with about 2 or 3 minute active recoveries - hadn't really thought it out, maybe 90 seconds would do as this is likely to be my penultimate specific endurance session before the race). The day before I had completed an "easy" 12 miler where everything felt relatively effortless for the 7:31 pace. This "flow" continued into the warmup for the 4 x 2 mile session where the pace came down to 7:10 without too much effort. I had picked the flat road around Clonakilty Bay for the session running from Inchydoney to Ring Village (lower) and back. I settled into a pace just below 6:40 which felt relatively comfortable to maintain and, approaching the two mile mark, decided to run on to 3 or 4 miles before taking a break. I ended up running for about 28 minutes (27:56) before running out of (flat) road and turned back with an average pace of 6:34 on the Garmin. The initial headwind on the return leg kept the pace in the 6:40's but it eventually came down to 6:36 - covering the return leg in 28:09. I decided to round the session up to an hour and ran on for another 4:30 before cooling down on the mile home. I covered 9.21 miles in 1:00:37 with an average 6:35 pace which is more encouraging than my visit to McMillian. Could I have maintained the pace for another 3.9 miles? More than likely. Will the Charleville course be as flat? It's billed as a flat course - well then at 6:35 pace I would come home in 1:26:18. Getting that bit closer to my PB all the time.

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One of the benefits of running the back roads of West Cork for the last two weeks, apart from the scenery, is that you get to spot where all the blackberries are - so I returned later for a bit of foraging.

Finally some photos form this morning run. It will be difficult to return to suburban running. If the sun come out for Dingle next Saturday it will be a spectacular run.

It's Official

My 100m PB has finally been ratified by the Cork County Board - 16.53 seconds. My third PB of the year after the 39.3 miles and the 100k, and unlike those races I was back running (racing) within 12 hours. McMillian gives me anything between a 3:03 and a 3:15 marathon for my effort - if only I had practiced using the starting blocks (practiced at all) and broke the tape at 14 seconds I'd be on my way to a 2:40 mara (all for the want of 2.53 seconds) - ah well there's always next time. . As I was toeing the line at the start of the race the MC announced over the PA system that the last race that one of the competitors ran was 100k (leaked from the club chairman). As the rest of the guys appeared to all know each other, they all looked in my direction - all I could do was shrug my shoulders as if to say "why not?". At least the spectators knew the reason for the 2 second gap to the guy with all the struggling slow twitch fibres.

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I celebrated my new PB by joining some clubmates on a tempo run this morning, most of whom are training for the National Half Marathon Championships in Waterford on 3rd September or one of the other HM's in Blarney/Charleville a week or 2 later.

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The plan was 25 minutes of fast running sandwiched between 1 or 2 miles of warmup/cooldown. Six of us in all met up in Carrigaline at 8 (Joe, Micháel, Norman, Paul Daly, Paul Hickey - out celebrating the birth of his firstborn - congrats Paul & Myself) for an out and back along the estuary walk to Crosshaven (old rail line) - flat and fast. After the warmup we eased into the faster pace - too fast for me at the start as I slipped to the back with the two Pauls shooting out the front. I maintained a steady pace in the mid 6:20's counting down the minutes to the 12:30 turnaround. Joe had told me on Thursday that the pace was going to be around 6:50 (must have been the salesman in him). with 12:30 on the Garmin we all turned and headed for home (avg pace of 6:24) - some with more ground to cover than others depending on how far they got. The return leg was a battle of mind against body as the rising fatigue in my legs coupled with the slow motion ticking of the clock eroded away at my resolve - yet the pace remained steady @ 6:24 and I ended my 25 minutes within 10 yards of where I started - good solid pacing - any faster on the outbound leg and my pace would almost certainly have suffered on the return.

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A slow warmdown to the cars and we were all set for the day ahead. Where else would you want to be on a warm summers morning.

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Measured my resting HR this morning at 35 (average over 5 minutes - min/max 33/39) lowest ever - maybe my HR monitor is malfunctioning as during some of my easy runs this week my recorded HR shot up as far as 170.

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Easing off

While I had plenty of energy at the start of the week there wasn't much left by the time I got to my Thursday evening quality session. Of course I didn't help it by setting my target tempo pace a little faster than I should have. Perhaps it was the presence of all the speedsters at the track doing fast 200's that spurred me on.

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While Daniels recommends a 6:26 mile tempo pace for me, my last session of 3 x 10 minutes at T-pace had yielded a pace between 6:13 & 6:20. So based on this I was aiming for 6:16 pace. This is my 10 mile PB pace and after all Daniels say T-pace is the pace you can race for about an hour (close enough). What I failed to realise was that currently I can't race 6:16 pace for an hour - I can just about manage 30 minutes (last weeks 5 mile PB was at 6:14 pace).

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The programme called for 3 x 10 to 12 minutes (2 miles) at T pace with 2 minute recoveries. I aimed for the 2 miles and as I was at the track that changed to 3 x 8 laps in lane 3 @ 97 second laps (i.e. 3 x 12:56 @ T-Pace) . The first session went fine - 12:56 on the dot (I had the track to keep an even pace). I felt tired going into the second session and was down 5 seconds on pace 2 laps in - that increased to 12 seconds halfway through. I covered another 2 laps before calling it a day - no point in pushing the pace. My legs felt heavy, which is the last thing I wanted 36 hours before the Lough Ine Tri. The fact that I was running in full trainers and socks in the rain did not help the motivation. I took off the shoes and socks and warmed down over another 8 laps and left it at that.

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I don't have any great expectations for Saturday's Tri other than to beat last years time of 2:41:12 and get under the 2:40 mark. I don't expect an improvement in the swim/run so it'll have to be on the bike this time. Hope my transitions hold up.

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Tough Tempo

Of all speedwork sessions I do I find the tempo run the toughest of them all. Fartleks are fast, brief and "fun" (well it does translate as speedplay). Intervals are short, controlled and measured - especially on the track. Hill sprints are likewise relatively short, although muscle zapping. Tempo runs and long ones in particular are all about the mental game of hanging on and toughing it out, fighting the desire to quit - which is some of the best race training you can get - but certainly not fun, especially before 7 in the morning. As I am close to my peak training week I reckoned Friday's tempo run should be long so I decided on 2 x 4 miles @ HM pace, which based on my last race is about 6:40 miles. When I rose shortly after 5 however I was already settling for any pace between 6:40 and 7:00, with my priority running the overall distance at a comfortably hard effort. After a mile and a half warmup I set off on the first 4 miles starting out relatively slow. Running hard early in the morning is still a bit of a shock to the system and takes a bit of time to adjust to. The first mile was the slowest at 6:48 and I got progressively faster - 6:41, 6:38 and 6:26 giving 26:35 in all (6:39 pace - on target). After a half mile recovery I was less than confident going into the return 4 miles and had thought about cutting it short or at least splitting it up especially as the pace was suffering - 6:46 & 6:50 for the first 2 miles. I half expected this due to an overall lack of tempo/endurance training. However I pushed on for mile 3 and improved to 6:38. "Only one mile to go, no point in splitting the run it's all about pushing the barrier and recruiting those hard to mobilise muscle fibres that only come out in an emergency such as miles 20 to 26.2 at the end of the month - stopping for a temporary recovery will be counter productive". The pace over that last mile got faster the closer I got to the end - in anticipation of that imaginary finish line - 6:24. 26:38 for the return 4 miles (06:40 pace - done and dusted) 3 seconds slower that the first 4. All in all a good specific endurance run and glad that I didn't bail. Todays run in the park was a relatively easy 5 miler as my calves continue to loosen up. Hopefully they will be loose enough to churn out some decent MP miles tomorrow. Friday 2nd Oct 11.86 miles in 1:23:49 (7:04 pace @ 151 HR) with 2 x 4 miles in 26:35 & 26:38 (53:13 - avg 6:39 pace) Sat 3rd Oct 5.24 miles in 41:13 (07:52 pace @ 125 HR) .

Keep the Easy Days Easy....

...so that you can keep the hard days hard.

Most of my recovery runs have been at a steady 7:50 to 8:10 pace which fits in reasonably well with my "Easy (E Pace)" training pace prescribed in "Daniels' Running Formula". But recently I have slowed the pace of these easy "non-quality" runs, where the only objective is active recovery and getting miles into the legs. My two recovery runs this week (Monday and Thursday) were at 9:04 and 8:43 pace over 10 miles. However while the pace was easy they were far from comfortable as it was windy and wet on both occasions. Having escaped the rain over the last number of months I managed to get three wet runs in this week with Tuesday evening's speedwork limited to 3 wet and windy miles at 3 hour marathon pace with a 1 mile warm up/down either side -and I can't say the pace felt comfortable, even for 3 miles.

My 2 dry runs on the other hand went quite well with a 16.5 mile long run on Wednesday morning, which started off sluggish and felt better as the miles progressed. This morning's tempo run in glorious sunshine actually went better than expected. I had planned 2 x 3 miles @ HM (06:30 pace) with 0.5 mile recovery in between. Typically I have found it difficult to get down to 6:30 pace on these runs and if I do get near it, i can't maintain it for the duration. My 2 warmup miles felt sluggish which was not encouraging for what was to come but as I eased into the tempo pace I felt comfortable so much so that I thought of extending the first leg and cutting the second and ultimately decided to run the 6 miles straight with recovery at the end. In reality I should have re-adjusted my target pace to account for the longer duration. The one benefit was that it was a flat 6 miles (Ballincollig/Straight Road) which helped with maintaining the same intensity, although when I turned at the Kingsley Hotel after 3.5 miles I faced a slight headwind, which was more tough psychologically than physically. I thought the end of the last mile would never come as the fatigue intensified - my mantra over the last 400m was "keep the easy days easy so that you can keep the hard days HARD.....HARD............HARD". I maintained a relatively consistent pace which turned out slightly faster than last Sunday's 10k so all-in all a good hard session. My legs do feel achy now though (pleasantly so). Mile 1 - 06:35 (148HR) - 06:35 Mile 2 - 06:24 (155HR) - 12:59 Mile 3 - 06:26 (159HR) - 19:25 Mile 4 - 06:23 (163HR) - 25:48 Mile 5 - 06:34 (166HR) - 32:22 (only 19 seconds off my 5 mile PB - time to find a fast 5 miler) Mile 6 - 06:31 (168HR) - 38:53 (06:29 pace @ 160 HR) This has been a better week for sleeping as the kids are off school and I don't need to rise as early in the morning to get the runs in. Although some days I subconsciously compensated by staying up later. Have a good Easter and good luck to all those running the Kilnaboy 10 on Sunday (the final one in the Munster Series). I don't think I'll make it as Abina is working on Sunday and there is the small matter of an Easter Egg hunt to organise. I'll be missing out on 2 tee-shirts though. (although I'm not short on those - now if it was a free mug....that's a different story......) Mon 6th Apr a.m. 10.1 miles in 01:31:27 (09:04 pace @ 117 HR) p.m. 2.5 miles in 19:50 (07:56 pace - treadmill) Tue 7th Apr 5.27 miles in 37:37 (07:08 pace @ 159HR) with 3 miles in 06:50, 06:47 & 06:51. Wed 8th Apr a.m. 16.49 miles in 02:07:20 (07:43 pace @ 154 HR) HR all over the place, in the 160's for the first 5 miles but dropped into the 150's when I pushed on the uphills!!! p.m. 2.5 miles in 19:50 (07:56 pace - treadmill) Thur 9th Apr 10.16 miles in 01:28:31 (08:43 pace @ 120 HR) Fri 10th Apr 11.39 miles in 01:22:12 (7:13 pace @ 149 HR) with 6 miles @ 06:29 pace @ 160 HR)

UCC 10k - A Great Progression Run

Mile 1 - 07:03 (138 HR)

Mile 2 - 06:46 (152 HR)

Mile 3 - 06:38 (158 HR)

Mile 4 - 06:33 (160 HR)

Mile 5 - 06:15 (164 HR)

Mile 6 - 06:13 (168 HR)

M 6.22- 01:17 (05:47 pace @ 174 HR)

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10k in 40:45 (06:33 pace @ 156 HR)

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I got a call from my friend Puds yesterday asking was I running the UCC 10k this morning. Puds is getting back into running after a break (a few years back he ran 59:xx in Ballycotton finishing in the top 100 and got 2:57:xx for his second Marathon attempt.

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"About 7 minute pace would do me" he said. I knew he was underestimating a tad. However with me aiming for 6:30+ pace we agreed to run together and pull each other along. We picked up Ritchie (a friends of Puds) on the way in. He was giving it a go - "I have to do something about my smoking" he said.

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We placed ourselves well back in the pack at the start line. My warmup hadn't gone very well with my HR in the 150's for a very easy pace. I had decided there and then to ease my pace back towards 06:50 pace (3 hour marathon pace) as I didn't want to push and risk an injury after yesterdays 20 miler. The shuffle after the gun went off was reminiscent of a marathon start and it wasn't until we had run 500m that we began to get under 8 minute pace (I nearly forgot I was in a 10k race). After the first mile we began picking off runners in front, which lasted right up to the finish line - a great feeling. The end of mile 2 and the first half of mile 3 saw us climb the only hill on the course - we continued at a nice steady comfortable pace at just above 7 minute mile pace. Past the crest and a fast downhill section, Puds hung back a little but caught back up at the 3 mile mark. Still very comfortable as we picked up the pace towards the 6:40 mark. My legs felt great and if the pace was becoming hard it was still comfortable (I now know what the comfortably hard feeling is like). We continued to pick off runners in front - "Solid running Grellan, you're like a metronome" Puds said. I certainly felt like I was cruising (the difference between racing and running comfortably hard although only 20 or 30 seconds a mile is huge - no pain whatsoever).

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Shortly after the 4 mile mark Puds passed and said he was picking up the pace for a mile. I only found out after the race that this was my cue to hang on to his coattails and then lead him in over the last mile. However I let him go but maintained a 15 yard gap behind him. My pace had picked up to 06:15 at this stage and I was surprisingly comfortable. During the last mile Puds picked up the pace again and the gap between us lengthened but we both continued to pass others. I knew I had enough in my legs to pick up the pace a little if I had to, should someone come up on my shoulder. with the 6 mile mark in sight I passed under the 6 minute mile pace as I increased my leg turnover. While my running over the last mile felt tough it was still reasonably comfortable. Approaching the finish line I was surprised to see 40:xx on the clock and I still managed a quick sprint to overtake my last runner 10 yards from the line. I suppose when running with those who have averaged 06:30 pace for the race it should be quite easy to pass them and leave them behind when you are at sub-6 minute pace (unless they had held back also). Puds came in at 40:28, I think, so he put a few yards between us over the last mile.

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While 2:30 down on my PB I am satisfied with my run as it worked out the way I wanted. Sure, if I started nearer the front I could have had a good shot at getting under 40 minutes, but this race was never about the result, it was all about feeling good and strong while getting a tempo run in. Certainly pinning a number on my shirt makes tempo pace feel very comfortable.

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Ritchie came home in 48:xx and as we stretched by the car he recovered by lighting up.

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Sun 5th April

10.02 miles with 6.22 miles in 40:45 (06:33 pace @ 156 HR)

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I'm going to call this Marathon Peak Week # 1 (Run 77.9 miles, Bike NIL, Swim 3500m)

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I've Got It Bad!

After last Sunday's race Abina was chatting to the man in the car parked next to ours.

"How much running does your husband do, 1 or 2 days a week?" he asked.

"Most days he's up at half past five for a run and goes for a swim at lunchtime" was the response.

"He''s got it bad alright" The guy replied. I could picture them both discussing my affliction as if my condition was so far advanced that there was no hope for me.

There have been a a few moments during the week where I have thought that i'm not a rational human being and I wish someone would put a stop to my madness. But then I read of those that appear to be more afflicted than me and I somehow rationalise that maybe I am normal after all.

Sunday's results put me 50th out of 80 runners - I did say the field was fast. However despite my efforts Eagle managed to get the third team spot with the 4 club mates that came in in front of me. The pictures below show the clam before the storm and the tempest within with 400m to go ( The pain I was feeling is well hidden).

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"Dad, how come you were so exhausted after running 4 miles and yet you run 20 miles at home, stretch a little and then eat your breakfast as if it's just another day?" Keevsa asked me afterwards. Pacing is a difficult concept to explain because 20 is still much greater than 4 no matter what way you look at it.

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Some good advice on marathon running was dispelled from some of the veteran Eagle runners:-

• To race a good marathon you should have 10,000 miles in your legs (i've some way to go)
• A mid-week long run in addition to the weekend long run will improve endurance
• Don't race Cork to Cobh (15mile) 2 or even 3 weeks before a marathon

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Despite my stiff legs on Sunday evening my recovery run on Monday morning went quite well especially during the later miles.

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Tuesday evening was track day and as I arrived I planned 6 x 1000m as I should be moving to longer intervals for the marathon buildup (i'm still making it up as I go along - may be better than religiously following someone else's schedule provided I follow a few basic rules wrt speedwork, recovery etc.)

. I had planned on extending the 3 minute 800m pace I did last time to 3:45 for the 1000's but I knew this was not going to happen after my first lap and I revised my expectation downwards to 3:50+ (I would bail if I couldn't keep under 4 minutes as it would indicate I needed more recovery from Sunday).

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During the early reps I though finishing 6 would be a tough task but it got .easier as the session progressed, although the times got progressively slower - 3:50/51/52/53/55/52- endurance but no speed. I warmed down over another 3+ miles around Bishopstown after the track.

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With it in the back of my head that a mid week long run would help my endurance during the latter stages of the marathon I headed out at 5 on Wednesday morning for a 2 hour run, scarcely 8.5 hours after I had finished my warmdown from Tuesday evening's track session (call the men in white coats). During the run my conscious mind that existed before my life of running rose from the depths and shouted incredulously "what the f~c# are you doing running the roads at this ungodly hour, have you gone completely mad" as if it had just returned from an extended trip to find that the caretaker mind had completely lost the run of itself. This feeling lasted for a short while before it returned to the depths from whench it came. Some day I expect it to return for good - until then?

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I completed 15 miles in all in a time that I noted was 1 second under the time for my first race ever (Cork to Cobh 2006) - 01:58:27.

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Thursday is usually my second speedwork day of the week although when I rose just before 6 this morning my first thought was "I'd like to lie down again". Again my hastily drawn together plan was to do a 2 x 2 mile tempo run (06:30 pace at best) although the way I felt during the first warmup mile I wasn't sure I could get below 8 minute mile pace. However there appeared to be some jip in my legs when I upped the pace after the 2nd warmup mile - my safety valve for calling it all off was if I couldn't keep under 7 minute pace. Mile 1 in 06:55 was close to the mark as it ended on a hill - Mile 2 at 06:37 was better giving an average of 06:46 for the first segment. After a half mile recovery I launched into the second leg and ran reasonably controlled for a 06:42 and 06:38 3rd and 4th mile (average 06:40). I was reasonably pleased with this given my overall fatigue level and it's training effect and not time that i'm looking for.

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Mon 23rd March

a.m. 11.07 Miles in 01:28:27 (07:59 pace @ 125HR) Recovery

p.m. 2.5 miles in 19:50 (07:56 pace - treadmill)

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Tue 24th March

10.7 miles in 01:21:49 (07:39 pace @ 139HR) with 6 x 1000m in 03:50 - 03:55.

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Wed 25th March

15 miles in 01:58:26 (07:54 pace @ 137HR)

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Thur 26th March

7.8 miles in 57:52 (07:25 pace @ 142HR) with 2 x 2 miles in 13:32 & 13:20.