Since the last post I've taken the leap and entered the Cork City Marathon. So I suppose now I've got to get serious!!
Training has generally been going well but true to form soon after I spent my money on the entry I got a slight groin injury. This happened last week and threatened to end my marathon career before it ever really started. The last time I got a similar injury it took over a month to heal but this time it turned out that a few days rest and some TLC in the form of ice and light stretching was enough to put things right. This week things are back on track. So hopefully no major harm done.
Since I missed my planned long run last weekend I was all the more determined to go 20+ miles today. It was just as well that I was determined because when I woke up at 06:30 I was less than motivated. But the sun was shining and I knew that the weather was due to turn later on so off I went.
My plan was to head out at a comfortable 7:30 min/mile pace matching my 20mile run of a couple of weeks ago and again carrying no fuel or water. I was banking on the three weetabix and the glass of apple juice that I had just before I left the house to carry me through! The run went reasonably well despite a slight calf cramp from miles 9 to 11, a stomach cramp at mile 21 and sore feet by mile 22, not to mention the the obligatory chafing . It's encouraging to think that if I could keep today's pace going it would be a 3:15 marathon; respectable enough for a first attempt wouldn't you think!?
Pace Splits (min/mile)
Miles 1 to 5 7:34, 7:25, 7:32, 7:31, 7:26 (Avg 7:30)
Miles 6 to 10 7:17, 7:16, 7:18, 7:24, 7:25 (Avg 7:20)
Miles 11 to 15 7:31, 7:26, 7:25, 7:25, 7:27 (Avg 7:27)
Miles 16 to 20 7:23, 7:27, 7:30, 7:34, 7:23 (Avg 7:28)
Miles 21 to 22 7:47, 7:15 (Avg 7:32)
Today's long run (22.32miles in 2:46:17, avg 7:27min/mile) around Cork City....
6 comments:
I knew you were doing ti as soon as i saw your 22 mile training run. Good luck. Enjoy!
Thomas.. my secret is out... although you may recall that I did flag/threaten it in my post of May 22, 2011!
Good luck with it Brendan. With that sort of pace for 22 miles in training you should be in good shape. My only advice is to try to get in some long-ish runs (min of 12 - 15 miles) on a warm day. We're having very cold weather so far and some warm weather conditioning (learning how to sweat and hydrate) will be useful if we have a warm early june. thankfully I'll just be a supported this year!
Thanks for the advice Richard. I'll book a flight to the Canaries tomorrow cause the chances of seeing a warm day here anytime soon are remote!! I've heard that about cork fortunately I've only ever run the second relay leg and it's usually freeeeezong at that stage!
no fear of u brendan. sure i think we had figured you were going to do it but u just had to realise it yourself. 22 miles is a great run. i think mile 22 on the course is by mount mercy school. sneaky hills from 20 to 22 and a narrow bottleneck on the mill race at before 24 but you will be flying all the same. i think 3.15 at least for you. don't be depending on the water stations from the curragh rd onwards if last year is anything to go by tho. have someone throw u a bottle or two
Thanks Cathal. That's good advice about the water ... I'll negotiate with my 'support crew'. :) All the hills seem to in the second half but at least they changed the route to cut out the worst of the model farm road. I usually run it the opposite way to the marathon and love the downhill sections! I'm sure there'll be plenty of HM runners around for encouragement
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