Kaboom

Pressure is only for tyres

Stress and loads of it is where my life unfortunately is at the moment. After Limerick Tom had asked me to pace 1:45 half in Killarney. I had 15 miles at this pace pencilled in that weekend so it was a no brainer. However herself indoors got extremely sick and ended up in Limerick A&E again and is still in Hospital with no resolve to her issue. Adding to this I am very busy at work with a job that is physically demanding for 2-3 weeks. Lorraine is coming towards her Junior cert Exams and has had a few teenage freak outs about them as well. Unfortunately I had to pull out of Killarney as there was just too much other stuff going on. I still managed to do the 15 mile run that weekend but the last three miles felt tough and I had to push just to hold the pace.

Then the tyre final blows

Training had been tough since and that's expected as its the last couple of sessions before the dreaded taper. Last Friday I had taken the day off to complete my 5th and last 20 mile run. Dropped of my water along the route beforehand and set out my plan. Two miles warm up followed by 16 miles of a progression run 2 Miles @ 8:02, 6 Miles @ 7:55, 6 Miles@ 7:49 and 2 Miles @ 7:42 with 2 miles Warm down. Gels at miles 6,12 and 18. Started off well for the first 6 miles until I took my first Gel. Shortly after this I was struggling to hold the pace. By the time I had got to the 7:49 section I was not making the pace, reluctantly took another Gel at 12 with the same result and my pace was going backwards and the effort level was going up. I decided to not bother with the remaining 2 miles @ 7:42. At this point I just stopped and sat on the side of the road for 2-3 minutes just to get my breath back and try and straighten my head for the remaining 6 mile slog home. While friday was a beautiful sunny day for running, there were times in that 6 miles where I really was in a dark place and questioned my sanity and WTF was I doing this for anyway.

Fixing the tyre

Hindsight is great. Well at least I can use it to try and prevent what happened last friday from happening in Portumna. After looking at the HR data my Heart Rate spiked both times after taking the Gel, this is unusual as I had used this Gel in training but I suppose this was the first time they were consumed at race pace. A return to the GU may be on the cards. Ran a recovery run yesterday and the HR numbers were higher but this was expected. Thankfully work has eased off a small bit so I will take the next week and possibly the whole of the taper very easy and just let the body recover. I have planned a trip to Portumna for 13 miles at race pace, I will still go there but do the run at a very easy pace instead.

May 13th         
          12 Miles Tempo 10 miles 1:17:13 @ 7:44 HR 161 with 1 Mile WUWD

May 16th         
          8 Miles Tempo 6 miles 44:36 @ 7:27 (10K pace + PMP) ,HR 160 with 1 Mile WUWD

May 19th

          15 Miles Long run 2:00:04 @  8:01 pace, HR 155

May 22nd

           10 Miles, 8 Miles Marathon Effort 1:01:13 @ 7:40 pace, HR 159 with 1 Mile WUWD 

May 24th

          20 Miles, Long 2:46:27 @ 8:20 pace, HR 161 

Normal Service Resumed

PMP or PME

What is my PMP time? I am aiming for sub 3:25 in Portumna so you would say its sub 7:49 pace. However if you enter my 10K PB set this spring various calculators will spit  out times ranging from 3:28 to 3:19 and just because a calculator spits out a certain time there is no guarantee that you will achieve this on the day.  Recently I have started to introduce Planned Marathon Pace into my Long Runs and Tempo sessions so what pace should I be running these miles at ? 7:49 obviously.
First of these session in the bridge one morning. A favourite of the running coach, some of the lads were doing 15 miles 2 miles warm up with 3 * 3 Miles PMP with 1 mile recovery in between. There PMP speed was around 8:15 so I tagged along at that as I had a 20 mile session down for the day. First 2 were grand but I decided when the others had gone their merry way to try the third @ 7:50 pace, by then the breeze had picked up and 2 miles where on an incline under these conditions it was a struggle to hold the pace. A struggle I won but it was more LT/10K effort. I was pretty disappointed with this at the time. The next session 10 mile PMP run, after two miles a malfunction on my watch meant that it lost connection with foot pod and HR unit (watch battery low) thus leaving me with a dumb stopwatch. I ran the rest of the run on feel as I had no clue of splits on the route. Finished with 1:16:40 for 10 miles 7:40 pace suitably elated and trying to figure out did that run come from. Conditions were ideal, which brought home to me that these runs should be done by effort rather than sticking to a pace. I have now reverted back to the old method of the body telling the brain when we are at Marathon Effort. Last 2 runs have been done like this and in wet and windy conditions. One was at 7:55 pace and the other at 7:49 pace. So currently my marathon pace is anywhere between 7:40 and 7:57 pace largely determined by factors outside of my control, the Irish Weather. Rather than trying to hit a certain pace in my PMP runs I have now resorted to running on what it should feel like or what I perceive it should feel like.

Short Stuff ain't easy

I have pencilled in two of the Clare Sports Partnership Summer Series races just to sharpen me up for Portumna, so on Friday last for the first time in nearly three years that I have raced a 5K or 4 Miler in anger and it showed. It was also my first opportunity to wear the new club gear. After a 2 Mile warm up with some downhill strides I hit the start, goal was to get as near to 27 mins or 6:45 average as possible. Course is uphill first mile undulating for second and third with a downhill stretch to the finish. Fresh breeze which will be in our faces on the way home so it should make the splits more even.

Lined myself up two or three rows back near Liam Daly of Ennis Track. I reckon if I beat him or could stay with him I would be near enough to my goal time. A quick word from James Sexton at the start about KM markers that took up legs and walked and off we went. From the offset it was clear hanging on to Liam was not going to happen, stayed with him for first half mile but no way I was going to hold this pace up. Tucked into a group of six, first mile split was 6:47 second mile started with a quick downhill but Liam was still gaining and at the first left turn I was 20 seconds or so behind. At this point I concentrated on staying with the group as the last mile and a half were going to be into the breeze. Mile 2 slightly quicker 13:29 still on target. After this the wheels came off. Group started to split, 3 lads in front picked up the pace dropping three of us but the other two guys were slowing dramatically leaving me on my own.  Try as I could I failed to bridge the gap to the guys in front who eventually split as well. Mile 3 showed 20:45. Final mile is downhill when some guy come alongside. I tag onto him for as long as possible maybe half a mile but he gradually he got away from me. Coming towards the finish I could see an Ennis Track vest coming alongside, I dug in and picked up the pace enough to open and maintain the gap till the finish. Cross the line James Sexton calls 27:28. I don't even look at the watch, my lungs are on fire and my stomach is about to evacuate its contents which very nearly happened.
The usual cup of Tea afterwards but for personal reason I have to make a quick exit so I don't hang around. Final results show me finishing 37th out of 185 overall. On reflection I was not in 27 minute shape and my lack of races/bad luck cost me maybe a 27:15 as I failed to stay with the 3 guys in the middle of the race but nonetheless another PB bagged. Next race is 5K in Ennis at the end of the month just before my Taper.

April 25th

          12 Miles, 10 Miles PMP 1:16:42 @ 7:41 pace,  No HR with 1 Mile WU/WD

April 28th

          15 Miles Long with 3*3 PMP and 1 Recovery 23:12/7:44,23:15/7:45,23:33/7:49, No HR 2 Miles WU/WD

May 1st         
          8 Miles Tempo 6 miles 44:46 @ 7:28 (10K pace + PMP) with 1 Mile WUWD

May 5th

          13.1 Miles Long run 1:59:28 @  9:09 pace, Pacing GLR Half Marathon

May 8th

          20 Miles, Long Run last 8 Miles 1:03:19 @ 7:55 pace

May 10th

          6 Miles, 4 Mile Road Race 27:28 @ 6:52 pace 

Cool Runnings Not

Prelude

Normal activity on day before race pacing is to man the pacing stand at the Expo. As I live local it is only fitting that we do it and allow the out of town guys to get their bearings around Limerick. Arrived mid afternoon so that I could have a quick stroll around and pick up a few bits and pieces  A lot of the stands were of no interest to me so I picked up some Zym tubes and headed into the registration area. Meet with Tom who was none the best for wear and tear after his special Birthday Celebrations the night before. Stand was very quiet but we were kept busy sorting out the pacers goodie bags and running gear. There was some errors which we thought we had rectified. Other pacers arrived around five and collected stuff, general bit of chit chat and my duties were finished for the day.

Race Day

Hit in to Limerick early to get parking close to baggage drop area and give Paul his pacing gear. All the other pacers were decked out in their gear except one of the ladies ended up with a male medium  while the vest will make a nice dress for her I don't think she will ever have use for shin length running shorts. Mathew one of my fellow pacers showed his artistic flare on the Pacer balloons but was not so good in holding on to them. He had already lost two and we had not even left the building. 

After a precise pacing strategy briefing from Brianderunner Niall a quick warm up run to the start to take up our allocated positions. Meet three locals at the start Cathy who was borderline 2 Hour, Rosie and her husband Michael.  Rosie should have been with the 1:50 group and this was Michael's first run and I felt he should have dropped back. They all decided that they were going to get on our bus. With a few minutes to go Karen the third member of our team got the the portaloo feeling. Luckily she was able to pull rank and get to the top of the queue. 
All set and we were off, first two miles where not that congested so Nialls work on getting us in the right spot seemed to have worked. By mile two we are bang on pace and the mile markers are 2 for 2 in being where they should be. The run through the Raheen roundabout allowed us to meet the 1:50 group on the way in and the mad 2:15 er's on the way out.
It got a bit tight on the section from St Nessans Church to Raheen and back into town. We lost time here about 40 secs or so and Myself and Matthew were shouting out instruction to watch out for bollards and parked cars and the 5 hour marathon pacers which were on our racing line. Then for the second year running I went flying out over one of them, our third member was uncannyingly less vocal, but still there encouraging people along at the tail of the group. Conditions had got quite humid at this stage which was probably going to catch a lot of our group later on.

Another point where we meet other runners is on Sarsfield Bridge, we cheer on some of the marathon finishers when I notice James Liddane from B.M.O.H flying past on his way to a 74 min 3rd place finish in the half. Quite a good day for the club in that respect as we had three top ten finishers in the race, Keith Lynch in 5th and John Hannon 10th overall.   
We had picked back up the time lost earlier as the crowds in the city gave everyone a bit of a lift. At this stage I noticed I had a shadow on my shoulder, Eugene was motoring along very nicely and was still able to talk. We hit the first climbs around Thomond when I noticed Cathy up ahead, kept her and as many as possible going here but the heat and hills were starting to reduce or group very quickly and we dropped her at Mile 11 or so. Got a nice shout out from menoscemo Brian and Joanna on their way into town here and Conor and family at the back of the GAA Grounds. Nice to see fellow runners out to support us along the way. Once we got turn onto the North Circular Road section we had maybe half a dozen left and were starting to pick up some 1:50 runners. I felt sorry for the Marshall trying to get runners to stay on the left of the cones when clearly it was a lot quicker to cut the corner. When you have 11/24 miles under you in a race you are not going to run the long line. The best section of the race is along the North Circular its flat/downhill for the most part. The locals were out in force and a family had rigged a hose for us at the turn about,which was very welcome and much appreciated by all. From here on in it was a matter of trying to keep people going, me and Matthew vocally encouraging others while Karen seemed to have the hand of God. She would place her hand on a runners back as she past and they would immediately start running with us again. Once we hit the bridge those that were still with us went on ahead.
Even my shadow Eugene flew past us on the Bridge as well as Two Clare Crusaders, Finola and her partner. Once we hit O'Connell Street we were alone all our group where well on the way to the finish so we crossed the line in 1:59:28 happy our job was done. We encouraged a few more runners to put in the effort for another 30 seconds. Got our goodie bags, tin foil and mingled with the crowd afterwards. A lot of thank you's and photo opportunities  Cathy came in about 2 minutes later, even though she didn't get her sub 2 time she was still very happy with her days work.

Aftermath

No Chocolate in the goodie bag. Plenty of healthy bars disguising themselves as Chocolate but not the real thing. There was a banana so that's as near a sugar rush as I got. Hung around with Karen and Matthew until the 2:15 pacers came back and we made our way back to the baggage drop off. From there do to the Clarion for some grub and a quick chat with the rest of the crew. Good to see that the 3:30 Marathon Pacers went beyond the call of duty and got one of the gang over as Fourth Lady. 

The Main Man Himself

courtesy of Rory Mooney

Unfortunately I Had to hit away early and didn't even get to meet up with Mr Pat O'Keeffe to congratulate him on his epic achievement of running 100 Marathons. Pat is an inspiration to us all and if we can do a small portion of what he has achieved we will be all the better for it.

99 Red Balloons

Following them Balloons

May Bank Holiday again and I will be lining up at the start of the Great Limerick Run (Half Marathon) with balloon or two on my back. Behind me will be a group of people eager to get under whatever time is on that balloon. Saturday will see me at the Expo Number Pick-up manning the pacer stand and answering questions for runners as to what we actually do on the day. What follows should answer most queries but if it does not then call by the stand tomorrow when collecting your number in the UL Arena and make your enquiry.

• What times are been Paced ?
  For the Marathon Sub 5:00,4:30,4:00,3:45,3:30,3:15 & 3:00
  For the Half Marathon Sub 2:15,2:00,1:50,1:40 & 1:30
  Pacers for each group will aim to finish in 30 or so seconds under their allocated time.
• What Experience do the pacers have ?
  Pacers are drawn from a group of runners on boards.ie, 100 Marathon Club and various Athletics clubs in the Munster region. The majority have paced other events including Dublin Half and Full Marathons, Cork City Marathon, Dingle and Tralee. There will be some virgin pacers but each band will have an experienced pacer running the show.
• How will I find them ?
  The guys and girls in the special commissioned pacer gear with inflatable running aids attached to them (balloons). The faster times will be nearer to the front.
• Where should I start ?
  Very important. Behind the pacer. As times are nett times we set our watches as we cross the start line. Anyone behind us that finishes with a pacer or ahead of a pacer will be guaranteed their time. The same cannot be said for anyone who starts ahead of us.
• Will the pacers bank time early ?
  No. We will endeavour to run every mile at the same pace but this may vary by 10-15 seconds per mile. We will not run fast early to gain time nor would we advise any runner to do this either. Do not worry about the time or pace thats our job. 
• I can't get near the pacer ?
  Certain times will have large groups of runners. The 4 hour Marathon and the 2 hour Half Marathon group can be very big at the start. You do not need to be sitting on our shoulders for the race, the last thing we need to happen is runners to get tripped up and fall which may lead to a DNF. So give one another some space and just stay in the vicinity of the pacer group.
• What will happen at water stations ?
  We will pick up our water and run  through the aid stations. As there will be a group us do not stop/walk at the aid station as it will impede other runners in the group, pick up your water/gel/drink and move on.

Aftermath

At some time on Monday evening you will have got your target time and while your legs hurt you feel good about yourself. Hopefully we will have played a part in making your run one not to forget.