Aeolus and the Hyades

Marathon 13 unlucky for some

Last year in Sixmilebridge I learnt a lesson that stood me well when setting off for Craughwell to run Marathon Number 13. No matter how nice the morning, plan for all eventualities. Looking out from the community hall in Craughwell at the wind and rain, I was glad I had packed a decent jacket and spare dry runners, socks, under armour and my Santie Present (Compression Calf Sleeves) which I robbed from under the tree that morning. I was contemplating not using the Jacket until the halfway mark but wisely I changed my mind. There was a large group of people for this race, which included a half marathon and 5K run for Craughwell AC fit for life group. Val gave the pre race briefing before going to the start to get wet. Course consisted of 8 Laps so the plan for this was to run it around 4:05 pace and do the last lap at marathon effort. We set off and pretty quickly the field spread out nicely. I took it very easy on the first few miles. We had the wind and rain at our backs for most of the first half of the lap and the stretch up through the town. The section into the wind and rain was slightly uphill and extremely tough going. Got through the first lap in exactly 30 Minutes so again I was going relatively easy at 4 Hour Pace, ditto again for the second lap. Finally got into a group halfway through the third lap which made running into the wind and rain a little easier. Frank from EOI was in this group so time ticked on for next couple of laps. Some ladies also noted my nice new white socks and that I would have difficulty in keeping them clean. Had planned on changing at the halfway point but it was so bad I would only be dry for one or two miles so didn't bother.

Water Station 

The Start/Finish had a water station and it was every bit a water station in every sense of the word. You would need a canoe to navigate it. On lap five the going was getting tough in that we lost about a minute and a half. The group split up here so I hit away and made back some time. Crossed lap six in just under the 3 Hour mark. The last two laps saw the weather get worse and I started my Marathon Pace effort a mile earlier just to get in out of it. Finished in 3:54:34 with the last 4 or so miles done at 8:05 per mile. Not the pace I would like it to be but in those conditions I was happy that I was able to grind them out. Afterwards the spread of food was brillant with every variety of niceties to fill and warm the soul. Plenty of good auld banter afterwards once everyone got in and was dry. Val presented Brenda Francis with her Bronze Medal for completing her 25th Marathon. A special word of thanks to the Marshall's and volunteers who looked after us so well on the course, especially in the conditions that we got on the day. All that was left for me to do was wash my Santie present and get it back under the tree without herself indoors noticing!!

Some shorter stuff

With it being about 9 weeks out from Seville I have been concentrating on higher tempo shorter stuff for a bit just to sharpen myself up. Unfortunately the weather has not been playing ball and its very hard to judge paces with the recent spell of wind and rain. This is especially harder when trying to do intervals when the wind tends to gust up to 100KMH. Sometimes it felt like Aeolus himself would wait until I was running into him on the lap when he would unleash his vengeance. So trying to do these to exact pace was going to be nigh on impossible so I paced them as best I could on effort. One type of run I have been playing with which is tough but may well help me toward the later end of a marathon is 400m @ 10K paced followed by 800m @ Marathon Pace with no recovery/rest between sets. I have got this up to 8 sets before Marathon Pace starts to feel like 10K pace.
Had planned to run my first every 5 miler and had set-up the week to try and do it justice, however the weather again intervened this time in the shape of a frosty St Stephens Morning, which meant the cancellation of the race. Still went to Cratloe woods for a workout with some others from the club. What I learnt from this is I need to work on my hills. Did a 600 and I flew off on the downhill section but the lads chewed me up again once we hit the incline. Going to concentrate on more of this shortened stuff for the first month of the new year in an effort to get some speed into the legs. Will keep the long runs to between 2 and 2:30 as having completed 7 Marathons since June has given me a good base on which to build on.