Rain, Rain and More Rain

Despite not going to bed early last night I woke up this morning before the alarm clock went off. The weather was awful (rain, rain and rain) and really encouraged me to get ready for the 13.1mile race (not!!). I briefly contemplated convincing myself that my calf was still sore and I should not risk the race. But (un)fortunately my calf felt fine. Maybe the ice and spiky ball had done some good after all.

So at 9:15, a bit later than planned, I headed off to Blarney. Pamela and the girls were going to follow on later hoping to avoid most of the rain. (as if that was likely - it is Ireland you know!!)

After registering it was time for a warm up otherwise known as a light jog in the rain just to acclimatize i.e. get wet!! I had joked with Grellan on Friday that it would be mad to go for a 2 mile warm up before running a half marathon. But that is just what I found myself doing (2.55miles @ 8min pace). My leg was fine and despite the rain being 'wet' it was 'refreshing'. Maybe today will go OK - I thought to myself....

The race started on time at 11:00 and I had positioned myself in the back half of the pack. In hindsight this was a mistake as there was a lot of pushing / jostling for position in the first half mile or so and I found myself getting a bit frustrated. It reminded me of the Great North Run last year where I started well back and spent the whole race running around people. However the pack opened up shortly after the first 0.5m and space was not a problem. Time to settle down I told myself. My plan before the race was to run an even 6:45 pace for as long as I could. This would give me a good benchmark for the Great North Run. I knew that the course was reported to be hilly so I didn't hold out much hope for running 6:45 for the entire race.

Mile 1 was reached in 6:54. A bit behind plan but not bad considering the congestion at the start.

Mile 2 (6:43). Time to settle in I told myself and run to plan.

Mile 3 (6:41). Still on plan, still uphill but still picking off runners.

Mile 4 (6:42). I took a brief look at my watch. Still going strong and not feeling too bad (Picture below is near the 4 mile mark). I picked off another couple of runners during this mile too. Hopefully they don't know something that I don't. Maybe I'll pay for this pace in the second half.

Mile 5 (6:50). Took on the first water here. I planned to take water at approx. 4, 8 and 12 miles as per the Great North Run water stations. I don't know how anyone can drink from plastic cups while running. Got a few sips in without drowning and onward up the hill I went!! Picked off 1 or 2 more but I was conscious that the worst was left to come and there was still a long way to go.


Mile 6 (7:05). Yeah all the reports were correct. The hill into Grenagh is a beast.

Mile 7 (6:35). Just as I reached the village all the locals were coming out from Sunday Mass. Keep going Brendan. It's amazing how not wanting to give up in front of others can motivate you!!


Mile 8 (6:19). A steep downhill out of Grenagh saw my heart rate drop pack down to 170 for the first time since mile 2. A welcome relief!! I even picked off one or two more. I could hear multiple foot steps behind me an feared that the pelaton was about to reel me in. Time to pick up the pace I told myself. So I did.


Mile 9 (6:23). I'm waiting for the downhill section to begin. It seemed to be uphill most of the the way!! Surely there must be a downhill section too?? I passed a guy and commented on the hills. He said the worst was over but I didn't believe him.


Mile 10 (6:20). Although I didn't know it at the time this translates to a 66:35 10mile just slower that my Ballycotton 10 earlier this year but I felt a lot better than I did when I finished the Ballycotton 10 which was just as well 'cause I was still over 3 miles from home!!


Mile 11 (6:28). Only 3 miles to go and the downhill section will come soon. I thought to myself!! This section of the route is over the same road as miles 1 - 4. I think to myself I'm running uphill now so this must be been downhill last time. I didn't know that!!


Mile 12 (6:28). Only 2 miles to go. Passed one more runner and saw another target ahead. It's nearly over....

Mile 13 (6:37). I was still chasing the guy about 20m ahead but I didn't seem to be gaining on him. There didn't seem to be anyone close behind me. At this stage my stride was shortening and I really just wanted to finish as soon as possible. I was tired of all the hills!! Just before the 13mile mark there was one last short steep section. I pushed hard and as I reached the top I saw my fan club (Pamela and the girls) standing by the side of the road shouting 'go daddy go'. Just what I needed and I picked up the pace for the last 0.1mile.


Mile 13.1 (0:37). A slight downhill to the finish saw me cross the line and stop my watch at 1:26:47 (avg heartbeat 176bpm). A big PB by over 8mins and well under my goal for the year of a sub-90 half marathon. Happy days!!

The race report as recorded by Garmin 305 is shown below. Although I can remember all the uphill bits over the first 6miles I don't recall there being too many downhills over the second half. Just as well I brought Mr Garmin - he remembered them for me!!

Coincidentally my official time is also 1:26:47 which is strange given that I didn't start my watch until I crossed the start line approx 7sec after the gun. This is confirmed by the photo of me below crossing the finish line. There is some more discussion on this issue on the Running in Cork blog..

All in all a very enjoyable and well organised race and I don't think I was passed once during the whole race!! My official placing is 64th out of 508 finishers and it appears that I was the 11th in the M35 category.

A big congrats is also due to Grellan and Thomas who both had excellent runs in the same race and made big PB's. Well done lads.

So now that my goal for the 2008 is reached I think I'm going to have to revise my target for the Great North Run (assuming I get a pass!). I'm not sure what target I should aim for. Maybe sub 1:26 would be realistic given that the race is in 3 weeks time? I'll think about it a bit more and devise my new race plan...

Dress Rehersal

Tomorrow I'm plan to run a local half marathon in Blarney. Since I'm theoretically training for the Great North Run in 3 weeks time it may seem odd to run a 13.1mile race at this late stage in my preparation. I'm sure that not many training schedules would recommend it. In my defence there is method in my madness. Firstly, the race is 'local' and I believe that if I'm willing to travel to England for a race of the same distance I should at least make the effort to drive the 10miles to Blarney for a race. Secondly, as Pamela is pregnant with a due date at the end of October I may not be able to get a 'pass' for a free weekend in Newcastle at the start of October. So just to make sure that all my recent long runs aren't wasted I'm heading to Blarney in the morning.

Well that's the general plan anyway. I woke up this morning with a painful left calf as well as the 'usual' Achilles pains. I don't think that it's anything serious and probably as a result of a cramp I had during Thursdays fartlek. But, as a precaution, I've been icing it all day and in fact as I'm composing this post my leg is up with an ice pack strapped on. Pamela also suggested that I massage the muscle with her 'spiky ball' (like a tennis ball with spikes). Sounds painful I know, but apparently it's very effective in promoting muscle hearing and reducing inflammation and was recommended by her physio. Afterwards my calf felt like it did after my last trip to the physio so it may have done some good. We'll see...

One thing I've observed over the last year or so is that my legs are very prone to injury and these injuries usually occur during the immediate run up to a race. Maybe I'm pushing myself too hard? A work colleague of mine Grellan (also a runner) has said that I should run more 'recovery pace' runs. He may be right. I tend to think of anything over 7:30 pace as being 'recovery'. But maybe I should look at introducing a few 8min+ runs into my schedule. These injuries may be a sign of my muscles being more fragile now that I'm that little bit older (note emphasis on 'little') and possibly I should start to listen to my body....

So as you can probably guess, once again, my plan for the week has changed (I like to think of it as having 'evolved' or 'adapted to circumstances' but this is really just semantics. No run this morning although I don't think that I'd have benefited much from it anyway. In my youth I had a policy of not running the day before a race and I still think that there is logic to this.

Here's hoping that tomorrow my leg will feel OK and that I'll survive the run.... more to follow...

Friday

6.13miles easy/recovery - 46:28 (7:35min/mile) Avg bpm 155

Saturday

Rest

On another thought I wonder has anyone noticed the lack of coverage of the paraolympics this year. I remember that previous paraolympics were well covered on the TV but I haven't seen anything on this years event....

Lovely weather (not!!)

My planned runs for yesterday and today were to be a 9mile easy and 6mile fartlek respectively. However, a late night's work on Tuesday meant that I only got 4 hours sleep and a long day at the office yesterday meant that I wasn't home until after 9pm. On top of that when I did eventually get home the autumn rains and wind were really in force. All-in-all it would be an 'uphill' battle to get out and run, never mind complete my planned 9miler. So I decided to be sensible for once and reduce my run to a 10k. Once out I felt better but really noticed for the first time that the summer is gone (did it ever arrive). It must be the first time a since last winter that I had to run in the dark! The run well enough all things considered but the steep hill back home was one hill too many and I gave in to the temptation to walk for 1min (unforgivable I know). On the positive note my hip, which was bothering me on Monday, showed no signs of distress but both calf's were a bit tender afterwards - strange...I'll have to keep an eyen on that.

Today's session was closer to the programmed 6mile fartlek. I got out at lunchtime which has two advantages. Firstly, it's the one time of the day that I can set aside (most days) and keep from other commitments and secondly it's 'time limited' which means that I have to run fast to get the session done!! I set off steady enough with 2 miles at 7:29 pace. I then put in various steady/tempo intervals of 0.33mile (6:15 uphill), 0.29mile (5:54 uphill), 0.17mile (5:30) 0.74mile (7:10), 0.55mile (5:54). Varying recovery lengths (see below). All-in-all an OK session.

Wednesday - 6.3mile - easy (ave 7:33) - 48:26

Thursday - 5.63mile - fartlek - 40:19

In the beginning....

So, today (9th September 2008) I'm finally entering the world of blogging. My wife, Pamela, has been saying to me for some time now that I should start a blog (I think that this was just so that I'd have another outlet for my fanatical ramblings rather than her having to listen to me!!!). So I here I go...

I'm a 36 year old 'would-be' runner. I used to run a bit when I was in school and college mostly track and some cross country / road. But life during 'Celtic Tiger' Ireland of the late 1990's early 2000's got a bit too busy and between one thing and another I drifted from my running dreams.

In 2005/2006, with my hopes of ever running in the Olympics gone, I decided that if I didn't start doing some form of exercise before I was 40 I never would again. Running is what I knew so run is what I did! Mostly at lunchtime, not very far (max 3 miles) and not very often (1-2 times per week). Hence it never got any easier and I never got much return from my limited effort.

In January 2007 I decided it was time to s**t or get off the pot! I entered a lottery for a place in the Great North Run (half marathon Newcastle to South Shields UK) the following September. I've wanted to run in this mass participation event since the early 1990's. If I was accepted I would have a serious goal that was realistically far enough in the future to be achievable.

I was accepted and my training began. From 0miles per week to 20-30 miles. Totally ignoring the 10% rule with the result that I suffered a string of calf injuries and invested alot of money with the local sports physio. Eventually my training proper started in April / May 2007 with regular base mileage. Still plenty of time.

Training went well, ran a few local 5k (~19:30) / 5mile (~33mins) road races during the summer and saw some improvement in times. The important thing was that I was getting out regularly and getting into a good routine of consistent running 3 - 4 days per week.

The GNR came and went. Starting well back in the field with about 20,000+ runners ahead of me I resigned myself to running through a lot of traffic and settled into a steady 7min - 7:15/ mile pace and content with just enjoying the experience - which I did. My time was respectable (for me) 1:34:51 which placed me about 1200 out of 36,000+ runners. Some might say - not bad. The important thing for me though was that I was back running far and regularly and I even lost some weight (approx 13kg)

Since then I've kept with it (in between various calf injuries) and in 2008 my training has been more consistent that ever. A 66min 10miler in March, a sub-18:30 in May and a sub-32min 5mile in June. In fact, I'm running more miles now (up to 50+ per week), more quality miles (2 interval sessions per week) and longer long runs (regularly 13miles +) than ever before. I got the bug!! And yes I entered the GNR again this year with a new target. This year I want to run sub 1:30. Here's hoping.....

So on to my running diary.....

Although a strange pain in my left hip appeared last night today's session consisted of a lunchtime steady 6mile run at 7:00min/mile pace (avg). The run went well and I felt good afterwards particularly considering I had taken a 4 day break since last Thursday. No ill effects on the hip after the run. Average heart rate 161bpm.

The plan for this week is a 9mile easy/steady run tomorrow, 6mile fartlek Thursday, 6mile easy Friday, 5mile recovery Saturday and 13.1mile race Sunday. Let's see how it transpires.....