Preamble
Some information that is needed to give the reader some perspective on this run. My last Tik Tok experiment was done before Christmas in relatively ideal running conditions, for the second part Saturday afternoon was one with blustery showers. Since then I have lost 7lbs weight and I am pretty close to my race weight, well family keep remarking on it anyway. I have attempted three of these type runs over the last two years 4-5 weeks out from a goal marathon long PMP run, all have ended in disaster or non completion at target pace. This left me a bit apprehensive going into the session. 18 miles with 14 @ PMP. Well I wouldn't be worrying about the time as plan is not to look at the watch, cover it up and take a split every 3 miles and the last two miles, over the same 5 mile loop as the last time.
The session
Two mile warm up involved a few stops to try and sort out the footwear, eventually readjusted the socks as a seam was niggling the foot. Started off and tried to settle into what felt like a sustainable pace. Immediately got a shower with the wind picking but luckily it was a tailwind. Flying along but once I hit a few small hills I quickly realised that the pace was a bit too hot. It was maybe 2 miles before I thought I got it under control. Mile 3-6 and 6-9 conditions were good and I was motoring along hard but definitely a sustainable pace. Miles 9-12 started with the part that has a mile of hills and another blustery shower only this time the wind was in my face. Trying to sustain the pace now had become an effort so I had to dial it back a bit. In the final 2 miles I was able to pick up the pace a bit again once conditions got a bit better but things were starting to get a bit tougher. For the first time ever I got through this type of session, the legs where a bit tired towards the end of the run which is to be expected as I am at the peak of my training. It won't be like this on race day as I will have the taper to freshen up the legs before hand. Times below reflect the conditions on the day, I was very happy with the run but even happier when I got back to the car to review the splits. I was expecting an improvement but got a nice surprise when I say the splits
| Miles | Time | Average HR | Pace |
|---|
| 1-3 | 0:22:12.4 | 154 | 07:24.1 |
| 3-6 | 0:22:41.4 | 159 | 07:33.8 |
| 6-9 | 0:22:38.9 | 159 | 07:33.0 |
| 9-12 | 0:23:07.3 | 160 | 07:42.4 |
| 12-14 | 0:15:10.0 | 161 | 07:35.0 |
Dilemma
The next part of the plan includes a tune-up race. Sunday in Dungarvan has been on the cards for a long time. Ever since the pacer diner in Dublin when I mentioned it at the table John Desmond inquired what time would I like to get. I said I would love to be in sub 70 shape. Now if you asked me before Saturdays run I would have said 71-72 minutes was more realistic but since Saturday a shot of sub 70 is on the cards. Its not my goal race but I will go out with the 70 minute pace group and see how things pan out.
Your most accurate Watch ?
Most of us runners possess at least one if not two watches. Well I own two a polar RX3000 which I use for Heart Rate Training/Monitoring and Soleus GPS for measure new training routes and pacing. To my surprise I now own Three, my body/mind.
After finishing Craughwell I had completed 6 Months of Base building long runs with some Lactate Tempo Runs Thrown in here and there, loosely structured around Hadd Training. With Seville approaching before Christmas I switched to the Race Prep section of P&D 55 mile program. I used this program 3 years ago in prep for a crack at 3:30 qualifier for Boston. I never got to the start line as I was not able at the time for this program. This section of the program starts to introduce PMP runs, Planned Marathon Pace runs. I have an issue with Planned Marathon Pace, it most likely is never your true current Marathon Pace. If your Marathon Pace is faster than you are only running at the high end of your Aerobic Threshold and not gaining any real benefit. When you Marathon Pace is slower than PMP then you are doing a long LT training session while it does have a benefit it ends up been a harder session which ultimately may cause an injury or worse still end up overtraining. I tend to do these type of runs at what I feel my actual Marathon Pace is at the time not what I would like it to be. So how do you determine your Marathon pace, that opens up another can of worms altogether, as I have wrote about before this depending on what online calculator/resources you use, it can vary by close to ten minutes or 20 seconds/mile. Having come across this article on Runners World (yes I know not the best source for material) I decided to give it a shot and run it blind. So my first session was 15 Miles with 12 at Marathon Pace. I ran a 5 mile loop which is reasonably flat with the exception of One mile which is undulating. Put on the Polar and Heart Rate monitor and covered over with the sleeve of my body armor. One feature of the polar is you can bring the watch to the chest strap and it will record a lap which I took every 3 miles. Two mile warm up and off I went to try and judge a pace that was not slack but one I felt I could maintain for the duration of a Marathon. The first segments went rather easily and I felt I may have gone a bit too fast from miles 3 to 6. Mile 6 to 9 things where a bit harder but still very manageable. The last Three where tough mentally but the legs where still flying around. On finishing I felt that I may have overcooked miles 3 to 6 which may have made the last three miles that bit tougher and probably slower. Well the results shown below where in stark contrast.
Miles
|
Time
|
Average HR
|
Pace
|
|---|
1-3
|
0:24:01.1
|
151
|
08:00.4
|
3-6
|
0:24:06.2
|
158
|
08:02.1
|
6-9
|
0:23:57.3
|
157
|
07:59.1
|
9-12
|
0:23:56.9
|
161
|
07:59.0
|
Turns out mile 3-6 felt easy because it was the slowest and the last 3 felt the hardest as they were the fastest. The real surprise is that if I was pacing in a race using my GPS watch and constantly looking at it to make sure I was on target I would have been extremely happy to have hit those splits. The HR readings were about right for my Marathon Pace if not a little on the soft side. My final PMP session is this weekend and I will again run it blind just to see if it was a fluke or not.
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.
