Marathon report

Before it all seems like a distant memory I think I better scribble some thoughts about last Monday’s marathon.

Tapering had gone well but as I said in a previous post maybe 20 days was a bit much considering I had not gone over the 60 mile mark during my heaviest training period. Anyway that being said I was nice and relaxed for the race day.

If you had a wish for a particular type of weather then your wishes had come true – conditions were perfect. Had a good night’s sleep the night before. Up at 6am had muesli and bagel for breakfast. Headed off to the start of the race around 8:00 am. I always love the great buzz and atmosphere around the start area before the race kicks off.

In fairness to the organisers they had the time zone segregation down to a tee this year. I was in the under 3.5 hour section and I got off to a good start - I believe it took me just over 20 seconds to get over the start line. I think in a race of 12000+ that is brilliant. This year the race took off in the opposite direction to previous years but this had little effect really. I always find the first 2 miles a case of minding my step and keeping out of trouble.

This year rather than keeping track of my time based on every mile I ran I decided to write my target times in 4 mile intervals up to 20 miles and 3 mile intervals for the remainder on my inner arm to help keep my pace on track. Basically I would check my per mile pace at the mile marker but not be thinking on how much time has gone at each mile. It worked well for me and it’s something I think I will do again. During my first 4 mile section my pace was all over the place.

Mile 1 7:38, Mile 2 6:55, Mile 3 7:13 & Mile 4 7:00. Total time 28:47. 29:44 is what I had targeted on my arm. My average page was to be in the 7:20 to 7:25 range. Time to relax and steady myself. I think at this point I had started to fall into old habits. Mile 2 in particular was silly. I was feeling great through this period but was glad to see the start of the phoenix park at the 4 mile mark as I kinda feel that from there you start to get into your stride and the race proper.

Miles 4 to 8. Mile 5 6:58, Mile 6 7:12, Mile 7 7:25 & Mile 8 6:55. Total time 57:16. Target time at 8 miles was 59:29. Huston we have a problem but the big problem was not realising the problem at the time and fixing it. 2 minutes doesn’t sound like much in the large scheme of things but I think it affected me later. I found mile 4 to 8 enjoyable. My brother had come out to cheer me on around the 5.5 mile mark which I wasn’t expecting. Also I met Grellan who was flying it. Hadn’t met him before but always enjoy reading his blog. Strange to see people passing that you know how their training went but would have never had spoke to them. Breaks the journey a bit. Anyway on through the Phoenix park and the 8 mile mark is at the exit of the park. There is a down hill run to the exit gate so there is a great sense of invincibility as the legs are fresh.

Miles 8 to 12. Mile 9. 7:00, Mile 10, 7:20, Mile 11 7:06, Mile 12 7.25. Total time 1.26.07. Target time 1.29.14. Ok I am now hitting closer to my targeted time and it is not from tiredness in the legs. It is because of the fright at the 8 mile mark to be honest. I did tell myself to pull back on the pedal. In the back of my mind I was worrying if I had pushed it too far in the early stages. Time will tell I told myself and just said get on with it now.

Mile 12 to 16. Mile 13 7:33, Mile 14 7:18, Mile 15 7:14, Mile 16 7:37. Total time 1.55.49. Target time 1.58.59. Coming to the halfway point joined in with a couple of runners that were running around the 7:20 pace. This really suited me as I usually don’t like the 13 to 16 mile part of any marathon. After the water stop after the 15 mile mark I lost touch with them. My times were starting to suffer at this point but to be honest I felt good so I wasn’t 100% sure what the story was. I think I slowed down a lot when taking on water and a gel at this point.

Mile 16 to 20. Mile 17 7:21, Mile 18 7:15, Mile 19 7:45, Mile 20 8:11. Total time 2.26.21. Target time 2.28.44. I had got into a great rhythm between miles 16 up to the 19. Just before the 19 mile mark coming up to Milltown I felt my calf starting to cramp. It was on the pull up to the spar shop. It gave me a shock as I wasn’t expecting it at all. I should have expected it as I have not done a marathon yet where I haven’t cramped. The difference this time was that it wasn’t at the 23 mile mark like usual but 19 miles. Ahhhhh!!!. I slowed down my pace straight away and in the back of my mind told myself that the 3:15 would not be on the cards today. By the time I hit the 20 mile mark I was on target but it was not a real indication of how I was. In fact I was ahead of my target but I knew what was ahead. My first marathon I tried to run through cramps and ended up in a bad way by the end. Now I slow down so at least I can jog along.

Mile 20 to 23. Mile 21 8:34, Mile 22 7:52, Mile 23 8:17 Total time 2.51.04. Target time 2.51.03. Ok I have just hit my target time now but my mile splits at this stage are disastrous. I’m gone over the 8 min mile and to be honest I am kicking myself. It was not because of energy or dehydration but any time I would try speed up then my calf would start acting up. At mile 21 on Fosters Avenue I walked for about 20 seconds and it gave a bit of relief. Another gel at this point and some water and on I went again. My pace had well slowed down but by the end of mile 22 I was starting to run rather than jog again. This didn’t last long as another mile down then the calf muscle started cramping again. This was basically the way from this point until the end and my times tell the story.

Mile 24 to Finish. Mile 24 8:25, Mile 25 8:53, Mile 26 8:54. Lastly the last section of the run took me 9.12. This has me baffled to be honest. I understand mile 24 up to Mile 26 but the last section????? 9:12 minutes. Ok my garmin clocked it as half a mile. Always the way with a marathon. There is always more than the 26.2. But 9:12? Ok I cramped bad after turning around Trinity and needed to pull out some Biofreeze to ease the pain on a quad muscle. (Note to self. Why did I not use the bio freeze earlier. Miracle stuff I tell you.) I really don’t know why it took so long. Can’t explain. Aliens abducted me I think for a few minutes. Anyway I crossed the line in a time of 3:21:59. Chip time 3:21:37. A new PB by 50 seconds.

Update 29/10/2009. Follow up. Correction. Last half took me 4.41. Need to open my eyes. Sorry.

Am I happy with my time?? Yes absolutely. Any day you can finish a marathon is a good day. Any day you get a PB in a marathon is a great day. Ok to achieve anything more would have been brilliant but hey you have got to be happy with what happens and I think I learned more from this marathon then any of my previous 4.

Cramping is something I didn’t factor into plans at all and looking back over my schedule over the last few months I think I changed a couple of things that might not have helped. During my training this time I did a lot of track and speed work. I think this held good to me in regards to my energy and feeling good inside all the way around but what suffered was my midweek medium long runs. Also Looking at my long runs only 1 had gone over the 20 mile mark and none of my long runs had gone over the 3 hour mark. I didn’t really cop this but its great to have documented it so I can look back at it. I think next year I will add 2 20 milers and a 22 miler into my plan. Also bring back the midweek medium long runs.

Looking around the internet seems to give way too many causes for cramping and none of them definite. If anybody has any secrets that they want to pass on then please do.

Lastly thanks to the people cheering us all on. My own family were great to travel up and also some of the club mates who would appear at different points of the course really helped.

Till the next Marathon next year sometime - Bye.

Paudie

The time has come.

Well just near the end of the 16 weeks training putting in 624 miles and it all boils down to preparing correctly over the next 3 days. Mess around too much and it could make for a disaster on Monday.

Anyway since my last blog it has just been all about taper taper and taper. My schedule from the beginning was to do 37 miles on week 14, then 25 in week 15 and 13 in week 16. To say I stuck to the plan for the last 3 weeks would be an understatement. Bang on for each week. I have a 2.5 miles stretch the legs tomorrow evening and that’s it. My question though is was the taper correct. Now that it’s done I feel that I started tapering a week too early. Maybe a 14 day taper would have been better. This I will use as learning for my next schedule. What’s done now is done.

The one advantage with pulling back on training is that any niggles that I was carrying have gone away so I can feel confident that I am not carrying an injury into the race. Ok I am getting the phantom pains but at this stage I know that they are my imagination. All will be good on the morning.

My carb loading is well and truly in full swing now. Water and pasta. No doubt by Sunday I will be sick of pasta and rice but let’s not complain about it now. I find the water intake means I am a regular visitor to the toilet at the moment.

Ever since my first marathon where I prepared really badly, I have learned some tricks that work for me in the run up to a marathon. Ok the normal pasta rice and water is on the menu but 2 other things that I now find essential - Pretzel sticks & Dioralyte. I lose a lot of sodium during a long race. I used to cramp a lot. Don’t know the science of how they work but when I use these 2 products in the last 3 days I don’t cramp as much. Pretzels sticks build up my carbs while also increasing the sodium in my body. The nutrition values for 100g Pretzel sticks are Energy 390 kcal, Protein 10.6g Carbs 78.1g and fat 4.0g. This mixed with water always works a treat for me and in the last few days I nibble constantly on them. It also helps to keep my sweet tooth at bay. The Dioralyte is something a club mate told me about a while ago. You can get it at any pharmacy over the counter. What I do is mix up the powder with water and over the space of 3 days I will sip it during the day. It helps with dehydration. I’m not telling anybody to do this but all I can say is that it helps me.

For me I love the last 2 days and I think getting ready is as enjoyable as the race itself. I am meticulous when it comes to prep for a marathon. I tend not to leave anything to chance. My morning breakfast on race day is porridge and a bagel at around 6 o’clock. Anyway learning from the last 2 years, Dublin at the end of October is a cold place. A throw away t-shirt and this time a pair of throw away gloves is a must. (Aldi have handy ones for €3 at the moment)

All the above being said then all I need to do is pack in my gels, 2 biofreeze sachets and get to the start line. I always drink a litre of water with a slow release gel mixed into it in the last hour before the race. I believe it helps me in the first 10 miles. 4 gels is what I use in the marathon. My first marathon I didn’t use any gels and boy did I pay for it. Never again. Now I use the 4 but my forth is usually around mile 23 and I find it hard to get it in to me at that stage but once I’ve taken it I do find the benefits. The Biofreeze sachets are extremely handy if I start to cramp. I rub the Biofreeze into the cramped area and it relieves the cramping.

Lastly my target time for this marathon will be 3:15. If I can do this it will 8 minutes off my time last year. It brings me towards my target of a marathon under 3 hours by the time I’m 40. (Hopefully) I plan on going out at 7:20 per mile and fingers crossed it will work out. I know my last 5 miles will be difficult to keep the pace around 7:25 but I am going to give it a try. A great piece of advice one of the experienced runners in the club told me was that you will have 3 or 4 bad periods in a marathon but you’ve got to remember you will come out of it. If you can bear this in mind during the race it actually works. This is something I always use to pull myself out of bad periods. The crowds all along the way help to spur me on. I always try to thank the people clapping as I run. When the chips are down I find the crowd one of the best ways to get out of it. Every high 5 to a kid brings me one step closer to the end. I’m sure everybody has their own ways to get through the 26 miles 385 yards and God don’t we all need it!

Anyway off I go and best of luck to anybody else who is running a marathon in the upcoming weeks.

Slan

Now the hard work is done.

Now the hard work is done.

The last week of training is what I consider the hardest part of training. Over the last 3 weeks my mileage would be just short of 170 miles. This time last year I would have hit higher mileage but my training last year was on the same road and the same type training every night. This year I have tried to mix it up by including track work on Tuesday nights and hill work on Saturday mornings. The question is, will this work out well for me in 3 weeks time??? Time will tell but it has made my training easier because of the variance.

On to my last week’s training. Well at the start of the week I decided to train hard for the week. The aim was to ensure my legs were a little tired for the Cork to Cobh race on Sunday as I didn’t want to race Cork to Cobh but just run at my marathon pace. So the week started with my regular six and a half miles Monday run and that was followed by a track session on Tuesday. My track session wasn’t as long as I hoped but the dark evenings are starting to come against me and there are no lights on the track. (excuse)

Wednesday was a rest evening but Thursday was a semi -long run. 11.3 miles in total and this was run at 7.16 per mile pace. Follow that on Friday with a 6.7 mile run with every second mile run at my 10k pace (6:30 per mile). Have to say I felt strong and any niggling injuries that I was carrying over the last few weeks seemed to have mostly cleared up. Just in-case I thought I was having it easy on Saturday morning I did an easy 5 miles on grass.

Now on to Sunday. Cork to Cobh 15 mile road race. I like this race. It is the longest race apart from the marathons that I know of in Ireland. It has always helped me with my confidence before the marathon. Last year my time for this race 1:46:47. I pushed myself then and it worked for me. I had a bad experience 3 weeks prior last year in the Blarney half marathon and the confidence boost from the Cork to Cobh race was great.

This year though was a different story. The plan this year was to learn to pace myself. Pick a target and stick to it. I went out with the following plan. My target Marathon pace is 7:25 per mile giving me a time of just under 3 hours 15 minutes. My plan for the 15 mile was to try run the 15 miles at 7:20 per mile. Well after a 2 mile warm up Sunday morning I lined up along with approximately 800 other runners. After the usual announcements before the start of the race the race got underway. A steep downhill is how it started so it was a case of watching my footing to make sure I didn’t trip over anybody. On wards we go and one of my club mates Patryk ended up running beside me from around the 1 mile mark. I hit the first mile at 7:08 so it was time to readjust. Luckily Patryk was running the same pace as me so by mile 2 we had settled and mile 2 has slowed to 7:12. From there on we averaged between 7:13 and 7:22. I felt very comfortable at all times and myself and Patryk were able to have the odd few words as we ran. By the end of the race I felt there was more to give. What I found hardest was holding back in the first 10 miles. Anyway taking the weeks training into account and holding back my time was 1:49:40. Almost 3 minutes slower than last year but a totally different feeling this year. I feel that 3 hours 15 is very realistic at the moment. (Avoiding injury or the flu)

Now the tapering starts. My weekly mileage this week is 40 miles. That is a drop of 15 miles from last week. Last night was an easy 5 mile recovery and tonight I ran my weekly track session which I plan to be the last one before the marathon. Tonight’s session went very well with 10 x 800meters all under 3:10 each. Rest tomorrow night (Wed). Next week is a 25 mile week and my last week will be around 10-15. In some ways I like the tapering period but the thought of getting injured or getting sick always plays on the mind. I am a big believer in what you eat in the last 10 days will be what makes or breaks a marathon. More about that in my last blog the week before the marathon.

That’s all for now and last blog in 2 weeks time.

Cork to Cobh times.

1: 7:08
2: 7:12
3: 7:14
4: 7:15
5: 7:19
6: 7:14
7: 7:13
8: 7:22
9: 7:21
10: 7:06
11: 7:17
12: 7:21
13: 7:05
14: 7:19
15: 7:07

Now the hard work is done.