After The Races

First of all, more photos.

In pensive mood before the start - Photo by Iain Shaw

The 3 guys in front at the start were the same 3 guys in front at the finish, even in the same order - Photo by Iain Shaw

Awful running form, I do apologise - Photo by Iain Shaw

Photo by Iain Shaw

And some observations from Portumna that did not make it into the race report:

When Niamh told him that I had come third, Cian said "why does he always come second or third but never wins!" (tough critic, that one), to which Niamh apparently replied "because he is getting old". I'm not sure if I ever want Niamh to defend me ever again.

"Thomas, you need to eat some pies. You are fading away!"

When I was about to lap Mo, he called out "hello Thomas" without turning around while I was still a few steps behind him. He had done the same in Donadea last year, which spooked me. I did not know my gait was so distinctive that I can be identified so easily, but Mo claims special powers in that regard and says my cadence is distinctively high.

Despite that apparently high cadence I am heel striking in every picture.

Recovery from the 50k is going amazingly well. My left shin was quite sore on Sunday morning, the same area that had been painful early in the race, but an easy 5 mile run that morning seems to have done the trick. I am convinced a full rest day would have led to slower healing.

I think my shoes were slightly worn out, and I am blaming that for the shin. The Saucony Kinvaras are lovely shoes, but they tend to wear out a little bit quicker than other shoes. I had about 650 miles on the pair I wore in Portumna. With the Brooks Green Silence that I have in rotation as well I don't even think about changing them before at least 800 miles. As a result, the reward for several months of faithful service for over a thousand kilometres on the road was a one-way ticket into the bin.

Running a race with a loop setup like Portumna is one of the very, very few situations where you can frequently tell the ladies that they are looking really good, without having to fear repercussions from either the ladies or your own wife.

I had a look at my 5k splits from the official results. As expected, my times were very consistent. Apart from the last lap, where I lost some time by goofing around at the finish, all other splits were between 21:42 and 22:04. I did slow down a little bit over the last 3 laps but not much, certainly when compared to some of the other times.

Recovery has been going very well indeed. My left shin was very sore on Sunday morning and I wasn't sure if running 5 miles was a good idea but went anyway, and after a rather gingerly start I started feeling better with each step. By the time I was back home I was already much better, and by evening time my shin was virtually pain free. I am convinced it would not have subsided so quickly had I had a complete rest day. The leg muscles have also been recovering well, I was never sore but there were definitely some heavy legs in the mornings, something that's still not entirely resolved but getting better every day.

This week will be an easy one to recover from the 50k. As long as I'm feeling good I will do some decent mileage next week and then it's time for some sort of mini taper before the 10in10, which is approaching at a rather alarming rate.

17 Jun

5 miles, 38:53, 7:46 pace, HR 136

18 Jun

8 miles, 1:01:36, 7:42 pace, HR 143

19 Jun

8 miles, 1:00:01, 7:30 pace, HR 143

At My Happy Place

The Ewen Special:

- Started at 7 minute pace, felt comfortable
- Kept running 7 minute pace until the end. Still felt comfortable.

Anyone else, keep reading.

It was an early start, the alarm was set for 6 o'clock, though our damn cat made sure I didn't need it and was up 20 minutes early. The drive across half of Ireland passed without incident, though the relentlessly heavy rain early on had me wondering how the day would go, but once I was past Limerick things improved markedly.

I treated this strictly as a relaxed training run, I even picked up my sports drink in Portumna when I happened to pass a shop just before the entrance to the forest park. I had been wondering what I would do if the situation were similar to Killarney 4 weeks ago (or Sixmilebridge last year), but when I spotted Rory Mooney at the start I was actually relieved because it meant I really could relax and would not have to worry about racing for victory. They even did a presentation before the start, honouring (and slightly embarrassing) Rory for running his 50th marathon (that includes ultras, obviously) today, though they ignored my suggestion that they might as well give him the winner's trophy straight away.

The course consists of 10 laps of 5k each inside Portumna forest park. It is a lovely setting and I knew even before the start that I would enjoy it. I like running loops in races as much as I hate doing them in training; it's the fact that you constantly meet other runners that makes all the difference. The 100k had already started 2 hours earlier, our 50k started at 10 o'clock, the marathon would start at noon with the half marathon following at 2 (and a 10k even later), but I reckoned that by the time of the half-marathon start I would be finished and would not have to worry about congestion.

Photo by Peter Mooney

We started in very pleasant conditions and I immediately settled into a pace that felt comfortable, which turned out be more or less exactly 7 minutes per mile pace. I was in fifth position during much of the first lap but was pipped once more and would spend most of the next few hours  in sixth.

The lap contains a fairly long out-and-back section and it's there where most of the social interaction takes place. The marathon club was out in force and there were dozens of friendly and familiar faces. "Hello Mo" - "Hello Thomas". "Hello Alan" - "Hello Thomas". "Hello Graeme" - "Hello Thomas". "Hello Frank" - "Hello Thomas". "Hello " ... you get the picture. Actually, past experience has shown me that my level of social interaction serves as a very accurate gauge of how I'm feeling. As long as I have a few words for the other runners, I'm fine. When I get tired I might just give them a wave. Once I start withdrawing into my own bubble and shut out the rest of the world, alarm bells start ringing regarding my energy levels.

But right now all systems were green. I kept close to the runner in front of me. It might have looked as if I were pacing myself off him, but actually I was running entirely my own race at the pace I felt most comfortable with, and it just happened to more or less coincide with his pace. At times I was 10 steps behind him, a couple of minutes later I would be right at his shoulder again. We did exchange a few words, but not a lot considering that we were running so close to each other for quite a long time.

More or less together for the first 6 laps - photo by Peter Mooney

The 100k had promised to deliver a great race up front with Shane storming off at the start and Vasiliy not far behind, but sadly it became apparent that Shane ran into troubles early on and was in for a very tough day. Our own 50k race was comfortably led by Rory Mooney, his victory was never in doubt. When I saw him leading the race and brother Peter taking photographs I was wondering what was going on, did Peter gift his brother a victory today, but the Mooney family strategy became apparent when the marathon got under way, they were obviously set on returning home with two winner trophies (which they did).

The weather was quite changeable. The lovely conditions at the start did not last forever, it started raining during lap 3 but settled again at lap 4, there was another shower later on followed by a massive downpour after 2 hours, right when the marathon got under way, and each time we were back to running in bright sunshine one lap later. While running in the rain wasn't all that great, it ensured that the temperatures were always pretty much ideal, so in the grand scheme of things that was actually a good thing. Conditions were great today, no excuses.

Things were not all smooth sailing for me. Yesterday my left Achilles had started hurting again out of the blue, which was bad news not just regarding today's race but the state of my legs in general. I've had Achilles troubles a few weeks ago but thought I had gotten on top of things. To have a recurring problem is worrying, especially with the 10in10 approaching rapidly. However, at lap 3 in Portumna it was not the Achilles that was causing problems but the front of the leg, just above ankle height (basically opposite the Achilles). It was quite painful for a few miles but eventually settled down again. Next lap I got a side stitch, which caught me completely by surprise. I was running entirely within myself, nowhere near the limit and feeling very comfortable, so where did that stitch come from? I concentrated on my breathing for the next mile or two, trying to manage the situation as well as I could, and eventually it released its grip and let me run again without a bother. After those two episodes everything was rosy again, but I did worry what the second half of the race would bring.

After rain comes the sun - photo by Peter Mooney

The halfway point came so quickly I almost missed it. I was feeling very comfortable and optimistic. I did take my second gel around that time which kept the energy level steady. The weather was nice and sunny at the time without being too hot, but during the sixth lap the heavens truly opened and there was a massive downpour. The marathon was starting right at that time, they must have been miserable standing around waiting for the start.

Just as we finished the sixth lap we merged with the marathon field coming down the other road (the marathon start was outside the park) and I wasn't particularly looking forward to the congestion that was to follow, especially on the next lap while the marathon field was spreading out. However, it was nowhere near as bad as feared, congestion was never a problem. While a lap course like that can only ever support a limited number of runners, they have gotten it pretty much right.

My running companion had to have a short nature break and all of a sudden I found myself running on my own, but it did not have real effect, I just kept cruising along at the same 7-minute pace as ever. I met Grellan, who was doing the marathon, at the out-and-back section and he accused me of racing, a charge I strenuously denied. I was still feeling comfortable.

I had been wondering if it would happen, but my running buddy for the first 6 miles did indeed catch up again, by the time I was going through the finish area once more he was back right at my side. "That was quick" I quipped. Unfortunately it looks like he overcooked himself on that lap because within half a lap I was ahead of him again, and this time he remained behind. I was starting to feel the effort myself and was breathing noticeably harder on the two very slight uphill drags, but the pace remained virtually the same. One of my friends running the marathon asked what position I was in and I responded with "sixth ... , no fifth, fifth", remembering that I had just dropped my companion after running most of the earlier miles in his wake.

Photo by Peter Mooney

I picked up a drinks bottle from the table after lap 7, the one I had bought about 3 hours earlier. It might have been a rather casual way to approach such a long race, but it was clearly working for me. It took me quite awhile to empty it, but once I had finished it I knew it would sustain me for the rest of the race. I'm not sure if the next happened on lap 8 or 9, but one runner gave me a shout "third place is right ahead of you", which really confused me - surely that should have been fourth? It did not change my approach to the race, I just kept the pace at exactly the same level as ever and I soon saw the yellow shirt ahead of me. He must have hit the wall because he had slowed down considerably and there was no question that I would catch him very quickly. It was not even an overtaking manoeuvre, I went past him when he stopped at the water station for a couple of seconds. Unbeknownst to me the previously second placed runner had dropped out, and so I found myself in third place, more or less by accident.

From the start of lap 9, and even more so on the final lap, I could sniff the finish ahead of me. At one point I calculated if Rory would lap me but I was safe in that regard, and of course the possibility stopped entirely as soon as I started my last lap. I really enjoyed that one, I soaked up the wonderful atmosphere and tried to encourage most of my friends for one last time. The last kilometre was actually the hardest because it was right into the headwind, which may not have been particularly strong but after almost 4 hours of running you do start to feel the extra effort. I celebrated the last hundred meters, doing the aeroplane and just generally fooling around before crossing the line in 3:39:11, a few minutes faster than expected and 10 minutes below my previous PB, though that had been a training run as well and I still have a few minutes spare should I ever decide to fully race a 50k at top effort. Race Director Seb Locteau seemed a bit taken aback that I had finished in a podium position, but I probably was just as surprised as he was (and to be fair, they'd had more top runners last year, apart from Rory of course, who broke the course record!).

Some idiot goofing around at the finish - Photos by Peter Mooney

I rarely looked at my Garmin, for the first 6 laps I always saw an average pace of 6:57, somewhere on lap 7 it switched to 6:58 and stayed there. That's Garmin pace of course, as always the pace according to the official mile markers was about 4 seconds slower. I might have slowed down by a small amount over the last few laps but I would expect my lap splits were all within a few seconds of each other.

This was possibly the most I have ever enjoyed a race, I loved running those laps surrounded by friends in a beautiful forest park in nice conditions. While I was clearly running faster than on your average long run, I was always running well within myself and never pushed the effort particularly high - quite possibly the very reason why I could enjoy it so much. Congratulations go to Seb and his fantastic team of volunteers for putting on a top race with impeccable organisation while at the same time providing a very friendly atmosphere.

Congratulations also have to go to Grellan, who only 12 days after setting a new marathon PB somehow managed to lower it again to 2:54, which left me gobsmacked as I really did not expect he would have the legs for such a fantastic effort so soon after Cork.

And seeing so many runners giving their best was truly awesome, both at the top end where Vasiliy put in a truly magnificent effort in the 100k as well as the back of the pack where the resilience and sheer determination of the runners was absolutely inspiring. Very well done to all concerned.

13 Jun

8 miles, 58:41, 7:20 pace, HR 147

14 Jun

5 miles, 37:36, 7:31 pace, HR 140

15 Jun

Portumna Forest Marathon series of races, 50k
   3:39:11, 7:03 pace, HR 159, 3rd place

16 Jun

5+ miles, 39:42, 7:52 pace, HR 139

From Recovery Straight Into The Taper

The previous week was basically a recovery week for me following the Cork City marathon. In some ways it was the opposite of the aftermath of the Killarney marathon, instead of getting sick I was getting healthy again. I could see straight away that the HR values had returned to normal levels, exactly what I would expect to see so soon after a marathon basically. Great!

Since I ran a marathon that Monday and will be running a 50k on Saturday, I took it easy on the weekend, at least as far as running was concerned, and limited the “long” run to a mere 13 miles. What surprised me was the pace, I never intended to run faster than easy pace, maybe the bright sunshine inspired me. I kind of had to pay the price for that on Monday, though that may well have more to do with the fact that I spent the entire weekend working in the garden and was suitably knackered. It probably had more effect on me than the running.

Initially I had planned on doing another mountain run on Wednesday, but since Portumna will be on Saturday I moved it to Tuesday to give me an extra day of recovery. I think those mountain runs are the key workout of my week even though I take it reasonably easy on the trail, but if you’re running a 20% grade for over 10 minutes at a time, taking it easy is rather relative. I had not done a mountain run in 4 weeks and expected it to feel very tough but the legs must have remembered it and it felt much easier than anticipated.

Unfortunately the beautiful summer weather is a thing of the past, it was quite wet up there on the Gap and the wind is a given anyway (the name speaks for itself). On the plus side, it was quite nice out this morning, in marked contrast to the weather forecast, but I always forget that the weather forecast is for Dublin only, no matter that they pretend otherwise. The legs felt a bit heavy early on today but the spring returned within the first mile; I might still have to pay some dues to the mountain tomorrow. As long as the fatigue is gone by Saturday, that;s ok.

I will do a mini-taper for the next 2 days, maybe 8 tomorrow and 5 on Friday. With a 50k to come the weekly mileage will be decent enough anyway, no need to push things unnecessarily.

The 10in10 is getting scarily close! According to the munsterrunning blog, 20 participants have signed up for the full 10 marathons; apparently this is the biggest field anywhere in Europe to tackle this kind of challenge. Wow – history is being made!

9 Jun

13 miles, 1:34:55, 7:18 pace, HR 150

10 Jun

9 miles, 1:09:40, 7:44 pace, HR 137

11 Jun

12.3 miles, 1:50:30, 8:59 pace, HR 144
    mountain run, Windy Gap x 2

12 Jun

10 miles, 1:14:08, 7:25 pace, HR 144

Easy Week

Even if you're running a marathon as a training run (and don't get carried away), the most important thing is to recover from it, so an easy week it was. I followed Monday's marathon with 5 miles on Tuesday and then a rather repetitive sequence of 8 miles on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

What really counted for me was the fact that the HR readings were much better than the week before, so it looks like my shock therapy of running a marathon actually worked, believe it or not. The HR values are exactly what I would expect after a marathon, and once that is out of my legs I fully expect them to return to pre-sickness levels.

The weather has been absolutely glorious, I cannot remember the last time we had a full week of sunshine, and there is still another day or even two left before the rain returns. To be honest, the only reason I did 8 miles on Wednesday rather than 5 is because I wanted to spend more time in the early sunshine. I even got something resembling a tan over the last few days, though I am under no illusions that it might last.

The one change in the routine was Friday when we had our company's day out and went to the Eclipse Centre near Kenmare, same place as last year because everyone had enjoyed it so much back then. We sure picked the right day! I even managed not to bang my knee on the assault course this time, a major bonus. I enjoyed the day's activities very much, at least until about 8 or 9 o'clock when most of the colleagues started to get drunk and I was merely getting dead tired as my bed time approached and then passed. It took a very long time to get back home, I didn't hit the hay until 1:20 in the morning, when I usually would be halfway through my beauty sleep at that time already.

The post-marathon legs were never sore, walking down a staircase never caused any problems, but they were definitely fairly heavy on Tuesday and Wednesday. I inexplicably felt really good on Thursday but had to pay the price on Friday. They were a bit heavy again this morning, but I'm sure being on my feet all day had at least as much to do with it as the marathon.

I'm hoping for a fairly normal training week next week, including a mountain run which hasn't happened in a few weeks because I had gotten ill after Killarney, and then of course there is the small matter of 50k next Saturday in Portumna, which I am already very much looking forward to. I have heard so many good things about that race that I cannot wait to sample it myself. I won't be breaking any records though and hopefully I won't do what I did in Killarney.

4 Jun

5 miles, 40:25, 8:04 pace, HR 137

5 Jun

8 miles, 1:02:16, 7:46 pace, HR 141

6 Jun

8 miles, 59:14, 7:24 pace, HR 145

7 Jun

8 miles, 1:00:45, 7:35 pace, HR 146

8 Jun

8 miles, 59:43, 7:27 pace, HR 146

Shock Therapy

Photo by Niall O Crualaoich

Contrary to my prediction I was not thinking I was going to do something really stupid when I was standing at the start of the Cork City Marathon even though I was still recovering from a cold. No, I was far too pre-occupied with the seriously dodgy feeling from my stomach to be thinking anything, really. I did not mention it to anyone, certainly not to my prospective pacees, because they were expecting me to be the expert who would pull them around the course in the allocated time of 3:15, and whining and whinging before we even started would not have made the best impression, I think.

The pacers - Photo by Anne Lucey Murphy

The gun went on time and me and fellow pacer Alan quickly settled into the right pace. I have run Cork plenty of times before and know that the course always measures long on the Garmin, usually around 26.5 miles, and that has to be taken into account. A 3:15 marathon is 7:26 pace (minutes per mile, obviously, as always), we want to come home 30 seconds early, that's 7:25 pace on the official mile markers, and the Garmin should show 7:19/7:20. Once you know it, it's easy.

Unfortunately, during the early miles I was far too busy feeling sorry for myself to either take in the atmosphere or keep the pacees informed on our progress. I never even noticed the first 4 mile markers, that would have required looking elsewhere than the spot just ahead of my feet, which is where I had fixed my gaze because it seemed the best way to keep the nausea in check. Initially I felt absolutely parched and grabbed a small water bottle at the mile 2.5 water station, but even the first gulp almost made me throw up, so I proceeded to drink tiny sips for the next few miles (I still had half the bottle left by mile 10 where I exchanged it for a fresh one, half of which lasted to mile 16 - and those were small bottles, 250 ml/8.5oz).

With the pace band's help I did notice that we were 10 seconds behind target at mile 5, 10 seconds ahead of target at mile 6 and slightly behind again at 7, which was definitely down to some misplaced mile signs because the other pacers told similar stories. But after going through the tunnel at mile 8 we were definitely a few seconds behind because at that point the average pace on the Garmin had deteriorated to 7:23. For the first time today I wasn't just hanging on but injected a little pace into the proceedings. Alan was totally switched on and reacted immediately, which was good because the next wave of nausea hit me soon after and then I was once again pre-occupied with not having to make a quick side stop. He did enquire once about how I was feeling but regretted it immediately when I let slip that my stomach was feeling awful and I wasn't sure which direction its contents were eventually going to leave by.

I had been feeling like that before and knew that eventually it had to settle down. My initial guess was 10 miles, and I was reasonably sure I could hang on until then, and when we went through the relay changeover stations or the half-marathon start I could put on a fake smile and wave.

I hadn't said much up to that point, even by my own standards, but when we turned into the walkway off Blackrock Castle around mile 11 I inquired if anyone remembered running here in the Hurricane of 2010 when the conditions had been absolutely awful with the rain coming in horizontally. I realised that I must be feeling better because up to then I was afraid opening my mouth and inviting the nausea in. I wasn't completely out of the woods yet, I still had a few of waves to fight off over the next couple of hours, but I knew that the worst was behind me, and I might even finish that marathon, and maybe even on time.

2 pints at the finish, please - photo by Mark McManus / Power For Sport

We were back on target pace as well, the Garmin averaged 7:19 again and we went through halfway in 1:37 flat, just where I wanted to be. There was a bit of a surprise at mile 15 when the full and half marathon courses merged and with this year's new start time I had expected to hit them in the middle of the field but there was no sign of them. The idea that we might have miscalculated and we would catch them later on was quickly proven wrong and we soon enough twigged that their start must have gotten delayed (There was an organisational glitch. I have heard no complaints yet, but that's just a matter of time). We also had caught up to my friend Seamus, who as a sub-3 marathoner should have been much further down the road but didn't seem to have the best of days. For now he managed to hang on to us, though.

I looked around as the hilly section started at mile 17, and we had a sizeable group of lads with us, though sadly no lady. Unfortunately that group melted away like snow in the sun over the next few miles. The hills, while not bad at all, did not help but I think a lot of runners started suffering with the humidity and the higher temperatures. 20C/68F might not sound much to anyone outside Ireland, but for anyone who had trained here (i.e. just about everyone) this would have been significantly warmer than what they were used to, and the high humidity made things worse. Before the start I had been bitching about how I did not like the pacing gear because I can't stand zippers in my shirt, and since we were in Ireland it would never be hot enough to require opening it, but half a race later I was proven wrong and opening the zipper did indeed help (I still don't like the material, but I am perfectly aware that bitching about free running gear is pathetic).

By mile 21 there were just 2 pacees left with us 2 pacers, but at least both of them looked comfortable and the hills were now behind us. For the only time in the race I pulled rank as the more experienced pacer when we turned into the Straight Road and told Alan to ease up a bit, we were about 50 seconds ahead of time and there was no point racing into the headwind. The Straight Road (Carrigrohane Road to non-locals) is a bit of a mental test as the Cork County Hall can be seen all the way in the distance yet it never seems to be getting any closer, but at least it's slightly downhill (initially at least), though that advantage was being negated by the headwind which, just like the temperatures, could have been a lot worse but still, it wasn't ideal.

My legs were getting heavy at that stage as well. A pacer is supposed to feel comfortable all the way round and I was under more pressure than I should have been, even though me dropping off the pace was never under consideration, and certainly would not have happened so late in the race. While this was still short of race effort, it was a bit closer to my limits than I would have liked.

The top half marathon runners eventually caught us, three of them towards the end of the Straight Road and two or three more before the finish. One of our pacees felt good enough to inject some serious pace himself and we managed to pick up two more who managed to hang on with us. We certainly milked the crowd when the roads finally became crowded over the last half mile, which was great fun. The pacees all sprinted ahead to squeeze a few more seconds out of their time and we went over the finish line with a big smile on our faces in 3:14:31 on both our watches, excellent pacing if I may say so myself. Most of the credit has to go to Alan because for the first 8 miles I myself was merely hanging on and even afterwards he mostly set the pace himself. My Garmin displayed 26.51 miles at the end, just as predicted - at least I got that one right, it made the actual pacing much easier because we were bang on the correct pace right from the start.

I kinda hoped that running a reasonably fast marathon would provide sufficient shock therapy to knock the cold out of my system. The drawback of that strategy is that it's a rather painful way to treat yourself, and I don't know yet if it worked. I guess I'll find out.

Finally, big congratulations to Grellan who found an even more unusual way to dump a pacer and his group on the way to a 2:56 marathon than I had done 2 weeks ago.

2 Jun

8 miles, 59:44, 7:28 pace, HR 148

3 Jun

26.22 miles, 3;14:31, 7:25 pace, HR 148
   3:15 pacer, Garmin distance 26.51 miles (which would have been 7:20 pace)

We Are Go

I did a couple of tests the last few days to give me a clearer picture of where I stand and if I would be able to do Cork at all. After a set of excessively easy 5-mile runs I eventually got itchy feet, not entirely surprising, and one mile into Thursday's run I decided to keep the distance at 5 miles but run at a faster clip. I averaged about 7:10 pace, much faster than what I would have expected, and all of a sudden the prospect of running Cork seemed a lot less daunting.

On Friday I ran 8 miles at the same effort level that I would have run before I got sick. What I found was that the pace was marginally slower, the HR was at least 5 bpm elevated and hills seemed to feel a lot tougher. Still, all in all that was promising. By now I now longer felt sick. Were I not a runner I would have sworn I was fully recovered, and even if I were a runner without a HRM I probably would have thought I was almost entirely recovered. It's the readings of the HRM that give me some concern now, they are clearly well above what I would see had I not gotten sick last week, and I clearly am still recovering from that episode.

The most important test came this morning, Saturday. I ran 10 miles all at 3:15-marathon-pacing pace, which would be 7:25 in real terms and 7:20 on the Garmin (Cork always measures long on my Garmin). All went well, the pace is easy enough even if the HR is higher than usual. The hills feel harder, which shows me that I am running closer to my threshold than I would ideally like. If this were a race I would give it a miss, I am clearly in no condition to get the maximum out of my body right now, but this will be a marathon at a reasonably relaxed pace and I am confident everything will be just peachy. Cork is definitely back on and Alan, my co-pacer, can breathe a sigh of relief.

Not sure why they used that brutal picture - and Paul looks even worse

With that worry out of my way, I can start focusing on my next target. Last Sunday I did a photo shoot with a photographer in Tralee, together with another local endurance athlete, Paul Gosney. Paul is doing a double Ironman right now, as I am typing this he should be roughly halfway through the cycle. He is doing that in support of a great charity, Liam's Lodge, which is the sister charity of Bee for Battens, which has been making quite a splash the last few years. My involvement will come next month, when I do the 10 marathons in 10 days event in Sixmilebridge in support of the same charity. If you can find it in your heart to support some desperately needed help for very sick children and their families, click here (or the image on the side of my blog). I hope I can get a bit more media exposure over the next few weeks to raise a few more funds. Any donations, even if it were just a Euro, would be very gratefully received. Thank you.

30 May

5+ miles, 36:17, 7:11 pace, HR 155

31 May

8 miles, 1:00:28, 7:33 pace, HR 148

1 Jun

10 miles, 1:13:18, 7:19 pace, HR 152

Healthnote

I admit it, I'm not very good at being sick. This is slightly weird because as a child I used to be sick all the time, every year in school I would easily amass the highest number of absences, well ahead of even the most dedicated skiver. Things improved somewhat as I got older, but the real change only happened when I started running, not quite 10 years ago, and since then I must have gotten used to feeling super fit as well as super healthy.

I have been running a little bit the last few days. Normally I wouldn't have, feeling as I did, but as mentioned previously I've had plenty of time to read Phil Maffetone's book while being bed-bound, and his recommendation is that gentle aerobic exercise can greatly enhance recovery, and we're not just talking about recovery from injury. Actually, it does make sense to me, I have long ago discovered that any niggles I have go away much quicker when I keep running rather that rest completely, but obviously you have to make sure you do not aggravate things. Things may be well the same when recovering from sickness, but again, you need to make sure you do not aggravate things.

The legs had turned into two concrete pillars after 5 days of not running at all, so when I went out for a gentle 5 mile run on Monday morning I quickly changed my mind and cut it down to 4, even though after a mile or two there was some serious improvement already. Things felt easier on Tuesday but I was a bit alarmed by the HR readings for such a slow pace. There were mixed results this morning, the legs felt awful again for the first mile but the HR improved, albeit only slightly.

I always keep track of my pace, HR and their ratio in a very simple spreadsheet. When I'm in top shape I tend to see number above 60 (55 for races), and it's been a long time since I've had to look at figures in the low 50s for a training run. That spreadsheet is a very good thing to have in situations like this, I can easily convince myself that I'm feeling better, but cold hard figures from a HR monitor transferred into a spreadsheet can't be fooled.

At the moment, my participation as pacer in Monday's Cork City marathon is definitely under threat. There is no way running a 3:15 marathon can be described as gentle aerobic exercise, so I won't try and pull that particular excuse. I still have 5 days and right now I won't rule anything out. It is still possible that I will be standing on the start line wondering if I'm about to do the most stupid thing I have ever done in my life, but then again that would be a very familiar feeling, as experienced here and here and here and on a couple more occasions as well ( I tend to do idiotic things very well, apparently).

27 May

4 miles, 32:36, 8:09 pace, HR 141

28 May

5+ miles, 40:27, 8:01 pace, HR 145

29 May

5 miles, 40:32, 8:05 pace, HR 141