Always take the weather with you
Sixmilebridge delivered again. If running 10 Marathons in Ten days was going to be hard enough, the weather as usual made it a true test of stamina. Not since the summer of 95 when Clare finally kicked Biddy Earlys curse to touch have we seen temperatures in the high 20's and low 30's. As I have said before I don't think GOD likes us marathon runners too much or maybe he had an alternate motive for inflicting such conditions on the 23 or so lunatics about to attempt this challenge. Short story 23 legends were born over that week, they inspired a community and showed that faced with the adversity what the human spirit and body can endure. Eighteen of those got home on the final day but the five that fell had the hardest choice to make in pulling out. They had brought themselves as close to the cliff both mentally and physically before making the correct choice to let it go for another time. The motto on the back of the finishers t-shirt got this spot on. So many memories and emotions were experienced over the ten days, watching the joy on the their faces as we approached with Mr Freezes and Ice Lollies. Sharing their smiles each evening as they ran,jumped, walked or crawled under the finish gauntry to step closer to their ultimate goal.
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| Some of the finishers |
They say you get out what you put in, well I can honestly say I came away with much more then I gave.
As special mention must go to Tom and Richie, the success or failure of this event lay at their door. If it failed they would carry the can, well it didn't and was there ever any doubt in that. That been the case they fully deserve the credit for its success.
Dark Side of the moon
I could not pass up the opportunity to run at least one marathon last week. I had originally pencilled in Thursday but had to switch to Wednesday instead due to my own incompetence in looking at my calendar. I know the course pretty well and had ran it on Saturday in the low 20's for a very uncomfortable and hard Two hour half marathon. How I was going to fare in the high 20's was another matter. Wednesday or Day Seven was the warmest so far but not as humid as other days well thats what I was telling myself. We gathered at the start with everyone trying to get under the small bit of shade that was been offered by one small tree. A quick loop of the town and we are on our way. I went along at about four hour pace with Denzil leading us out and two other day trippers James and Ed in close attendance. James kicked on shortly after the mart and I lost Denzil and Ed at the first water station. Fumbling trying to get a zym tablet out of the tube only to realise they had all stuck together with the heat. Got some into the bottle and another bottle to cool myself down. I was surprised that I caught up with Ed so quickly before Kilmurry but he was struggling with an injury and pulled up shortly afterwards. Got to mile 6, had planned on taking on some of my homemade gel drink spent more time looking for it to realise that it must still be in one of the cars circling the course. No worries as I have another at 12 and sure I get it from whoever has it soon enough. Heat was intense but I was feeling okay and still going around four hour pace, I was down time wise due to the delays at the two water stops, but wasn't bothered really as this was not a day for a PB. Tom said todays PB is getting around in one piece which was pretty sound advice. Ran into Paddy at Mile 7 or 8 so I tagged along with him for a bit. Finally got to meet Jennifer dishing out the ice pops, and the like at mile Eight stayed and chatted with Paddy until mile 12 where he was feeling the pace( he was on number two of a back to back in these conditions). I tipped on while he took a breather. Brian or Dave as I called him flew passed me here, thought about tagging on but his pace was a little too hot. Meet Thomas on the way out and he commented I was looking good, and I felt good at this point. Passed half way 2:01:23 on the clock told Sandra I'll get water off her on the way back. Got my gel at the finish and headed out on the second loop. The climb back out of the town broke me. In less than a mile I went from comfortable running to absolutely no energy in my legs. The (eddies) hill sucked me up and spat me out. From here to Kilmurry was a real struggle, I had to stop several times and walk, I was absolutely drained from the heat. Water at the stations was warm and was not helping me. Meet with Siobhan who had a chilled bottle which help a bit but I was still struggling. I was expecting it to cool down in the evening as the sun went down but this was not the case. Just after Kilmurry cross I came down a hill and in front of me was an angel. Bowl of ice cold water and a sponge. I drowned myself, relief,I was so happy I could have kissed her, I think I did too. From here on I was back, picked back up the pace to four hour pace again. Pretty soon I caught up with Gino who was running his 100th today and then I saw in the distance John who took off earlier in the race. He was my next goal so I set about trying to reel him in. It took the mind of the heat and gave me something to focus on. Finally caught and passed him at mile 22. Got halfway up the Bitch as Thomas calls it when again the legs gave out and had no energy. Walked about half a mile to the next station refuelled and once I got over the climb felt good again. I passed the mart(25) just on Four hours and set 4:10 as a goal. Ran from here to the finish but thought I was going to be outside the time. Mike (of Clare FM fame) came along side on the bike and pushed me out to the finish 4:09:50 and it was over. Tom then of course asked probably the most obvious question of the week. "Do you want a can Ger ?". To which I reply as I fell to the ground "Can a duck swim!". Okay there may have been a four letter word in there somewhere. As I skulled my can in the cold tub I was satisfied that today I completed my eighth Marathon in brutal conditions, and it had taken me nearly 47 years to accomplish. I pondered, tomorrow night 18 of these guys/gals would equal that in the same amount of days. This really brought home to me the enormity of this challenge, and what is required to complete it.
June 29th
16 Miles Long 2:28:24 @ 9:14 HR 144
July 2nd
10 Miles Tempo 7 miles 54:37 @ 7:49 HR 163 with 1.5 Mile WUWD
July 6th
13.1 Miles Easy 1:58:14 @ 9:02 NO HR
July 10th
26.2 Miles Long 4:09:50 @ 9:33 pace, NO HR
Let the Madness commence
Today is Day One of a unique event been ran by B.M.O.H to raise funds for the Juvenile section of the club and School Building project for Kilmurry National School. It is also D-Day for the 23 elite runners as described in the Clare Champion or lunatic's, mad-men (and ladies) or whatever else you want to call them. They start their journeys into the unknown of running 10 marathons in Ten Days on the roads of Sixmilebridge.There will of course have other runners completing one or two Marathons over the course of the Ten Days as well, most notably Keith Whyte fresh from his 100K record setting run and Ruthann Sheehan current 24 Hour womens road record holder.
By Monday the people of the Bridge might be forgiven in thinking that the men in White coats need to be contacted, yes it the fancy dress marathon and I am really looking forward to some of the outfits that will be on display.
Fortunately or unfortunately I have yet to get this level of madness or enlightenment depending on whatever way you look at it but I hope to be there most days to assist in whatever way I can in making sure that on Saturday 13th we see 23 runners complete this unique challenge.
So best wishes to all running this over the next 10 days, and as for the weather well its Sixmilebridge and we may even get snow in July.
Recovery
Even backing off and walk/running the last 6 miles of last Saturday's Marathon, Sunday Morning was the familiar sight of me walking down the stairs backwards. By Monday I had recovered to the extent that I could now go forward front ways. Went to the local pool and did about 12 laps easy swim with a combination of easy kick drills. This did wonders for the legs. Tuesday I felt good enough to go for an very easy 5 mile recovery run, same on Wednesday. Thursday saw me go for a bit longer, had planned 8 but time restrictions (collect young lad from training) meant it was cut short to 6.5 miles. Saturday came and felt adventurous and went for 12 miles. All was okay until about mile 9 when the legs were starting to feel the pace again. Cut back the pace significantly for the last 3. With hindsight maybe 8-10 miles might have been a better option. Had planned to do 4-5 miles on Sunday but the legs were telling me otherwise. Another 5 miles easy this evening and things are starting to go in the right direction. Have a planned tempo run for tomorrow but we shall see what happens.
Nighty Night
One of the biggest tools in the speeding up of my recovery has being sleep. I am trying to get in as much as possible, a solid eight hours at night and even forty winks during the day where possible. To help with this the stimulants also have to get a knock in the head to a degree, i.e. caffeine and the yellow pints. Okay I did have a few deserved scoops after Portumna, which was to be expected. Overall I am happy with my recovery but my HR readings for both resting and easy pace are still a little higher then I would like them to be.
Reflection and Going forward
While it might be easy to blame the lack of salt/electrolyte for my cramps on the day in Portumna. In truth they may only have being a contributing factor. There was other things at play in the lead up to Portumna that probably added to it. Stress, in both my personal life and work for the month of May, saw my quality of training take a dip. At the time I didn't spot that my condition had deteriorated slightly and kept pushing the pace of some runs where maybe an easy back may have yielded better results. Hard Miles, or lack off of on tired legs. My training was loosely based on run less run faster, where you Cross Train between hard sessions and do very little recovery runs on tired legs. Aerobically I benefited from this plan in that I was always fresh for the next hard session, but both mentally and physically I wasn't prepared or had forgotten what it takes to run on very tired legs for the last 6 miles of a marathon. I am going to return back to some Hadd training again and try and add in extra days recovery runs. Hopefully the added mileage occurs without picking up any niggles along the way. I have also pencilled in one of the 10 in 10 marathons and currently I am on the reserve list for EOI marathon in early August. Whether I do these marathons or not, is unclear at the moment so I will leave that decision until nearer the day. If I do them they will be at a recovery pace (4:30 to 5:00), after which I will access where I am at in mid august to see if another stab at Boston Qualifier is in the legs.
June 18th
5 Miles Recovery 45:56 @ 9:12 HR 140
June 19th
5 Miles Recovery 46:06 @ 9:14 HR 140
June 20th
6.5 Miles Recovery 1:00:00 @ 9:14 HR 140
June 22nd
12 Miles Long Recovery 1:48:34 @ 9:03 pace, HR 143
June 25th
5 Miles Recovery 45:59 @ 9:12 HR 140
