Boston Scientific Half Marathon (Clonmel) Race Report

Blueway at Kilsheelan, County Tipperary

Long and short of the last few months is got I Covid back in January and it did a number on me, few
weeks after I had it I still had very little energy and running what should have been a easy 3miles was like a hard 15mile run.

This of course ruined my plans of a 50mile race in May which I have postponed until 2023 as I lost a lot of fitness and couldn't continue to do the training I needed.

Things are very slowly going along now, I have an entry for Dublin in October which has carried over from 2020 so I opted to make some effort on training and I signed up to the Boston Scientific Half-Marathon in Clonmel which was on the 28th August.

I've done this race a few times and its not what I'd describe as flat, but they changed the course this year and have promised a flatter course.  

Half-Marathon Race Route

The course started in Clonmel and then looped back to Kilsheelan via back roads before going onto the Suir Blueway and coming back to the finish. I've run and cycled on the Blueway a fair bit over the last 18 months or so so I knew what to expect there but I had no idea about how the route would be on the roads to Kilsheelan.

Few miles in and I knew this course wasn't going to be very flat, or at least it wasn't going to be flat until I reached the Blueway.  You can see from the elevation profile below that it certainly had some climbs, but for everything that goes up it also must go down so there were some enjoyable downhill sections.

Race Elevation Profile with Pace Overlay

I managed to keep a fairly respectable pace throughout most of this section but by the time I hit the Blueway at Kilsheelan I was starting to feel the strain of maintaining the pace. 

Up until the 7.5mile mark I only had maybe 3-4 people pass me so this was a good sign, but on the Blueway this changed and I maybe had a good 10 people pass me. This was a little demoralizing as I've not had this happen in sometime when doing a half marathon distance.

But I kept going as best I could and tried to run based on effort rather then checking my actual pace on the watch. Coming up to the finish I managed to pip two people so thats always a boost!

I entered the race expecting 1:40'ish, but I finished with a fairly respectable 1:36:17.

It's far off my PB of 1:29 and prior to January and getting Covid I could have pulled this sort of pace out of the bag on a training run so I have a lot of work to do to get back to that sort of fitness. But its still better then I expected just the same.

Long sleeve finisher shirt after the race is decent quality and it'll get some use during the winter months no doubt and for those into medals its an alright medal.
  

Virtual Dublin Half/Full Marathon 24th/25th October

The weekend finally arrived to do the virtual Half and Full marathons I signed upto, one of  challenges
with doing these two runs is Grace is due to give birth over the new few days which means I couldn't go running miles and miles away from our house like I normally would.   Instead I ended up doing different loops that were no more then 3-4miles away from the house.

My plan was to get the full marathon out of the way first and do the half on day two, these weren't going to be any sort of runs I was going to set new personal bests on by any means. I just wanted to cover the miles for the back2back challenge.

I set off for the marathon on the 24th just after 7am and started the first of many loops, for very obvious reasons I brought my phone and I also needed to bring it to run the Virtual Dublin Race Series App so I decided to listen to some podcasts for the run.  I met a few people that were clearly doing the virtual half-marathon based on the much, much faster pace they were pushing.

After what seemed like endless loops around the town and surrounding countryside I eventually finished up in 4hrs 2min.

Day two took a lot more effort, I almost called off doing the run but eventually headed out the door at 4pm the next day and again I did loops around the locality. This felt much more of a slog especially towards the end and it was very far from my fastest half marathon but I managed to just about finish it in under 2hours with 1hour 56min.

One major take away I took from these virtual runs is the Dublin Virtual Series App sucks, it was seriously inaccurate when it came to the distance and it was off my 1mile when I did the half marathon.

It was also annoying to have to worry about the app being open on my phone so due to the inaccurate meassuring I opted to upload my Garmin results over the app tracking.

Still, the swag I got in the end wasn't bad. I could live without the medals but I really like the arm warmers and they'll get plenty of use!

Spoils of my two runs, liking the arm warmers

The problems with not paying attention...

We're still in a worldwide pandemic and I'm still running, although a lot less in the past 3 weeks.

Upto a few weeks back I've been doing between 30-40miles a week and while not improving on my speed I've kept things ticking along and I've been enjoying some new 10-11miles routes I started running because of less traffic on some local roads.

That was until about 3 weeks ago when I went out for a 13miles run, 2miles into the run I felt a niggle on my right knee area which I initially thought nothing of it and ran on, after all these things happen now and then.  

But by 4miles into the run it actually hurt me a little so I stopped and stretched a walked a little and again started running. The rest of the run was pretty uneventful and I finished fine.

An hour after I got home I was crippled, it hurt to walk and going up/down the stairs was a real challenging with me being unable to put any weight on my right knee! So I took it easy and did some cycling over the following days on and off to see if things would be better.

I've since had two sports physio appointments and it turns out that luckily I've not done myself any joint damage and instead my IT band had tightened up so much it was causing my knee to land differently which caused the pain.   I've had two sessions of dry needling and its worked wonders, this week I've managed about 6miles of running with no pain in the area and finally going upo/down stairs is painless once again!

This all could have been avoided if I had cut the 13mile run short and it shows the importance of listening to your body and the problems with not paying attention,

So this shows the first problem with not paying attention!

The second problem with not paying attention is when you sign up to races, due to the Covid19 pandemic of course countless races have been cancelled outright or postponed. 

I go to do the Midnight Marathon in January of this year but since then every race I had planned to sign up to or had actually signed up for has been cancelled for 2020 with the exception of the Tralee Marathon which moved from April to September 26th so I should be running that.

Unlike Tralee the Dublin marathon is a much bigger race so its been cancelled for 2020 and its in its place they've recently introduced the virtual race series which includes the Dublin Marathon which is taking place in October.

I signed up because the virtual aspect suits due to two reasons, one it gets another race done under my belt and the second reason I'll get to shortly.

Unfortunately I didn't pay attention to this either as I signed up to both the Marathon and Half-Marathon and only after did I realise that both had to be completed between October 24th-26th. So provided I have the time to do both it's going to be a busy weekend and the legs are going to be a little tired.

So two instances where I should have been paying more attention.

Although the races for 2020 have been almost all cancelled this has at least for me been a good thing, especially when it comes to the Dublin Marathon because we're due our first child at the start of November so heading off to Dublin likely wouldn't have gone down to well with Grace.

When I get out to run from November onwards should be a interesting challenge.....

A man with a plan!

So I'm finally settling into some sort of routine after many months out of routine and its about time too! I also have some plans finally too!

Over the past few weeks I'm consistinately doing between 35-45miles per week which isn't a bad weekly total, my pace is also gradually improving and to help with that I've picked a goal for December.  I'm going to run the Waterford Half Marathon and I'm going to aim to beat my PB of 1:29.

It's perhaps a big ask and the last time I tried this last summer I managed just over 1:30.
To get an idea of how capable I am right now I did a 13.1mile distance last Monday and managed it in 1:35, not a bad time for a training run with effort. It wasn't all-out effort but I felt it none the less.

So my plan over the next few weeks is to rebuild my endurance first and then work on upping my pace, in preparation for the half marathon I also have some plans for:

17th Nov - Stook 10mile
23rd Nov - Long Way Round Mountain Run
7th Dec - Waterford Half Marathon

Is doing a mountain run of 9miles my best plan whilst training for a half marathon...properly not, but I always really enjoy the event and I like to support South East Mountain Rescue who organises the event.

Last weeks training was
Monday: 13.1miles @ 7:16min/mile pace
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 2miles @ 8:33min/mile pace
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 6miles @ 7:52min/mile
Saturday: 8miles @ 7:06min/mile
Sunday: 17miles @ 10:56min/mile

Tullamore Quinlan Cup Half Marathon Race Report

Its been a nice easy week as I've been busy tapering for the Tullamore Quinlan Cup Half Marathon so a managed the following:

- Monday: 6miles

- Tuesday: Rest

- Wednesday: 2miles easy

- Thursday: 2miles easy

- Friday: Rest

While months back my aim was to run a target half-marathon with the aim of beating my PB of 1:29:33 running this half was very much a last minute decision only taken in the past two weeks and really only finalised when I managed 1:35 on a training run for this distance last week so I haven't been training for a half like I should be.

At first I wanted to run Clonmel but that was booked out for the Sunday so I opted for this instead as it still had spaces and it took place on the Saturday, Saturday arrived and it was time to make my way to Tullamore.     Driving the route to Tullamore reminds me of the times I used to attend the Boards.ie Charleville Photograpghy meetups back in 2008/2009 when we used to all stay overnight in the castle.   You can see a selection of photos I took in the castle on my old photoblog website.

Anyway, back to the running, with a race start of 11am and the fact I needed to collect my number etc it was a 8.00am start for the drive up and for a change I also had the support of my wife Grace which was nice to have for the day.

We arrived around 10am and it was off to register, number picked up and it was time to warm up ahead of the race.    My aim of course  to go out with the 1:30 pacers and stay with them until the last mile and then push forward to get a new PB.

11am rolled along and we all lined up to the start line, the race had fully sold out so there was a good crowd really for the off.  We were off a little late at 11:02am and from the start although we were running 6:40min pace it felt so easy, I actually remember thinking if it felt this easy for the entire race then this would be great.

Unlike so many other races where I've pushed ahead of the pacers I stuck right with the two pacers from the very start, this made easier by the fact that the pacers had flags rather then balloons as balloons tend to constantly get in the way of other runners.

To my surprise the first part of the half-marathon was much hillier then expected but I must say the pacers were good for giving pre-warning to various hills recommending people ease off the pace and not to really push on the hills and take it easier on the down hills.    However, by the time we reached the 6mile mark I was starting to feel it and it didn't help that I had stuck with lead 1:30 pacer who was really pushing the pace to the point where the second pacer asked him to ease back, for a short few metres I managed to drop out of the pacing group entirely but was able to catch up with them and stay with them again.

At this point in the pace the pacing group had managed to bank around 40seconds.

By the time we reached mile 10 I was really starting to flag and it was becoming a big challenge to keep the pace.     To his credit the second pacer tried his best to encourage me on as did two Tullamore A/C club runners who tried to encourage me to stay with them but I just couldn't maintain the pace anymore.

By the time I reached mile 11 I could no longer see the flags belong to the 1:30 pacers and I knew any chance of beating my previous PB was out the window completely but I kept up the pace as best I could.

The finish for this half involved onto the Tullamore A/C track, running past the finish line and doing one loop of the track, as I approached the track I was passed by two other runners but there wasn't anyone else behind me. As I approached the finish line I could see Grace cheering me on and so I pushed on to finish in 1:30:25.

Not the new PB I was hoping for but still a respectable time and place 116th out of 811 people running the half marathon.

I missed out on the new personal best but to be honest I'm not annoyed, considering I hadn't been properly training I finished in a pretty respectable time and if anything this spurs me on about what I could manage if I really put the head down and thought about maybe trying to knock 1-2min off my half-marathon time.

My garmin of the route can be found here.

Time to get back to races

So it turns out I have this Sunday the 26th August off so I decided that a half-marathon might not be a bad idea especially considering I feel I can pull off another sub 1:30 half.

However, it was not meant to be as Clonmel filled up about a week ago. I even contacted Clonmel A/C to see if there were any spaces because of people deferring till 2019 but no such luck (honestly I didn't think it held much hope).

All is not lost though, I spotted that the Tullamore Quinlan Cup Half Marathon is taking place on Saturday at 11am, its a flatter course then what Clonmel is so it increases my chances of a PB.

Although not yet 100% I also have in mind a marathon in the next month or so too, I may even aim for a PB depending on how this half goes.

Time for another race...sort of

I started writing this blog entry last week but progression isn't as I had hoped so plans are being revised somewhat since!

I always find it useful to have a focus when it comes to running and sometimes that's a long term goal like Connemara 100 which I had aimed for months out and other times its a last minute idea.

On Sunday 20th August it was very tempting to go and do the Clonmel Half-Marathon as its only down the road from me (assuming there were entry's available of course), but I opted against such a temptation and instead took it easy.

I was origionally planning to do the JJ Ready Half Marathon towards the end of September, however now I'm not even going to chance that and instead I'm opting for the 10km least I push myself too much and end up injured by doing the half-marathon!

It's not that I think I won't complete the half-marathon, I would but I know myself well enough that I'll push the effort more then I should be and this is likely to set me back which is an utterly stupid thing to do at this early stage after the 10km where I know myself that i'm no where near 100% yet.

Wexford Half Marathon Race Report

Back on the 23rd April, I ran the Wexford Half marathon, but there was no tapering before it and there was certainly no personal best set during the race as this time I was pacing the 1:45 finish for a change.

It's been awhile since I've done a pacing job and it was nice to do one again, I've previously paced 5hours at the Limerick Marathon two years in a row and decided it was time to pace another event but this time I opted for a half marathon event instead at an event much, much closer to home!

The last time I ran in Wexford at this marathon I busted a gut trying to get a PB and I did by finishing in 1:42:07 which I was certainly happy with at the time. So this was going to be a refreshing change where instead of pushing myself I could instead get in a handy training run.

Myself and Grace headed down to Wexford bright and early on Sunday and when we arrived it looked like it was going to be a pretty cool day. But by the time I had picked up my number and pacing balloon the clouds were starting to break.

I met up with Michael who would be the second 1:45 pacer and we headed down to the start line, but the time we reached the start it was looking like it was going to be a very warm day!

The day did not disappoint and It certainly warmed up during the race, it also didn't help that I missed picking up water at two of the water stations...but I was more concerned with letting others pick some up.

Although we had a group at the start this seemed to drop off a bit especially in the last 3-4miles of the half-marathon but we still got a few people home under the time and I was happy to finish in 1:44:33, about 10sec earlier than planned but not too bad overall.

Some downtime

Last week at Donadea

It's been a week of downtime after Donadea 50km as myself and Grace went away for a midweek break, it was lovely to get away as we both didn't have very much time off during Christmas.

We spent most of the week down in Co Cork and enjoyed seeing a few sites including Fota Wildlife which I've not been to in about 8 years.

I did however manage one sneaky run of 5.5miles during the week, it wasn't anything too exciting as I just did loops of the streets near the hotel we were staying at but it was good to loosen up the legs a bit after the 50km as I'm very wary of taking it too easy and my legs stiffening up as I've had this triggers a recurring injury in the past.

While out and about I did pay a visit to The Edge Sportshop just off the South Link Road in Cork and I got to say they have a great selection of brands, my reason for visiting was to pick up some Skins shorts which happened to be on sale as I've been hoping to pick up a pair for the last few months.

Why do I want Skins shorts? Well, basically I find running in normal shorts is fine but when it comes to chaffing up to about the 40mile mark but after that I find chaffing becomes an issue and this can turn into a very painful issue like what happened during Connemara 100 after about the 70mile mark. 

Although chaffing is a very real issue for basically every runner its often not talked about much I've found and finding a solution to stop chaffing can often be a trial and error situation for each runner.  For example for nipples I tried plasters, petroleum jelly etc and they all only worked to a point, after much trial and error the bullet proof solution I found in the end which works 100% of the time was to simply use KT Tape. KT Tape also worked out the cheapest solution also as I could buy roles off of ebay for next to nothing.

In relation to the Skins I bought the basic plan is on longer runs is to use the Skins under my normal shorts and hopefully that should assist in lessening the effects of chaffing especially for the much longer distances.   I've only tried them out for two runs so far but so far so good, the real test will be using them on a 40mile+ run however which I'll get around to over the next months.

ah the joys of running....

JJ Reddy Danesfort Half-Marathon Race Report

Massive lack of updates lately due to my iMac breaking so I have no way of uploading any of my

Courtesy: JJ Reddy Run Facebook Page

runs to Garmin to keep track of things....but I'm still training away and yesterday I ran a half marathon.

This was the first half-marathon being run as part of the annual JJ Reddy 10km/5km race and because it was likely not as hilly as Tullaroan's Half-Marathon course which was on the Saturday I opted for it instead.

The course took in parts of the previous 10km course which I've run in 2012 & 2014 so I had a very good idea about what was involved but it also had an extended loop on the Kells Road to make up the miles (I'll upload a Garmin profile when I get my iMac back).

From previously running the 10km course I knew that it was not going to be easy and it was likely going to be harder then even the Waterford Half-Marathon course which I've had a habit of getting personal bests at anytime I've run it.

Still, with all the above in mind I decided I was going to race this properly and I was finally going to the the sub 1:30 time I've been wanting for sometime now. I needed this as a good test before Dublin at the end of October.

As always during these races you start to notice some familiar faces and I was in good company within the 1:30 pace group starting at the start line, initially the group kept together on the first larger loop but by mile 4 it was starting to split and I think perhaps for a little while I got carried away and kept up with one of the lads from the group and then even raced ahead of him for a few miles.

In hindsight this perhaps wasn't the best plan but I felt good so I went with it and wasn't until the second loop at around mile 8-9 that I started to pay for it because I was heading into some long drags which I knew where going to take abit out of me....and they didn't fail on this.

By the time I hit mile 10 I could hear what was left of the 1:30 pace group behind me and then by mile 11.5 John the 1:30 pacer was beside me. At this stage I was really struggling on the hills and I'd likely have slowed only for John shouted words of encouragement to keep going especially before the turn back onto the last bit of the course towards Dunesfort.

Still I wasn't prepared to finish slow and in the last mile I kept the pace as best I could and even in the last 20metres I gave it one last push and just passed another runner just before the timing matt.

Official Finish time: 1hour 29min 33sec
(Results can be found here)

Really happy with the result as its well below the 1:29:57 time I was aiming for, also given the course was hilly it makes me think that on a flatter course I might even drop below 1:29.   134 in all ran the half marathon course and I finished 17th so I certainly can't complain to be in the top 20, that's a nice improvement over my first half marathon time set in 2010 of 1:56:48.

The race was very well organized with plenty of food at the finish even though most of the 10km race had finished there was enough for the half-marathoners which is always a good sign.  Plenty of water during the race (bottles not cups for anyone curious).  I'll certainly try and make it back next year...especially as its just down the road from me.

Its really been a boost for Dublin and its making me seriously consider aiming for 3:15 time. Finally the speed work I've been doing since May has paid off and I appear to have both a good endurance base and speed base built.

I have the endurance for the distance (thats not the problem!)...but can I keep the 7:26min/mile avg pace needed for all of the 26.2mile course?  That is the question....

Looking back and looking forward

So it’s a new year and new plans and challenges, but before I get into what I’ve planned so far in 2015 I thought I’d just recap 2014.

Overall 2014 has been a good year, sure I didn’t get a new marathon personal best like I had planned but I managed to run 7 marathons, 2 ultra’s and one of the ultra’s was my longest ever distance and longest time on my feet at 62miles and over 12hours running!

Looking back I think the first part of the year went better then the second and this was likely down to me not properly recovering after Portumna 100km and instead going into training for the Dublin Marathon and expecting to set myself a new personal best, it was just too much, too soon.  Live and learn I guess.

Still, I did manage a nice improvement on my Half Marathon time at the Waterford Half Marathon in December so at least the year ended on a high for me.

Outside of doing races I also gave trail running a good try this year and dispite injuring myself at the start of October I must say that I really enjoy the challenges on a technical trail, alot more to think about then if your just road running.  I'll certainly be doing more trail running in 2015.

Looking forward to 2015 so far I’ve the Thames Path 100 in May and I’m doing the Vartry 50miler in Wicklow in April instead of my usual run of the Connemara Ultra Marathon. I wanted to opt for a 50miler instead of a 39miler in Connemara to ensure my last long run is of a reasonable distance.

I also plan on testing out my kit and tactics during the 50miler to make sure everything works out like I expect for the 100miler in May.

However, before either of these runs happen I'll have to run several 20 and 30mile runs in preparation as well as increase my overall weekly mileage and that's something I've already started, more on that in my next blog post.

I'm looking forward to 2015!

Total Miles for the 2014: 2,005miles

Waterford Half Marathon 2014 Race Report

ts that time of year again, its time for the Waterford Half Marathon!

It may not feel like the flattest course in Ireland but for me I've always managed to set a personal best on the course so I always look forward to it, last year I knocked almost 4min off my personal best when I set a time of 1:34:43.

This year I was determined to finally get a sub 1:30 time, I knew it wasn't going to be easy and I knew going into it that my confidence had been knocked from my poor performance at the Dublin Marathon 2014 but since things are feeling better I was determined to give it my best shot.

So as always (before every race!) I was up earlier then I really needed to be and got myself ready for the race, unlike last year where I realized 40min before the start that I had gotten the time wrong this year I knew the start was at 10am and I arrived in plenty of time.

So I parked the car and headed to the start line, along the way I got chatting to various people including JP a fellow Portumna 100km finisher.

Once we were off there was a little congestion as we hit the first roundabout within the WIT campus grounds but things quickly improved once we hit the main road and I was holding with the 1.30min pacers. 

As with last year I found the hill climbing up the first mile to be tough (as starts go) but things evened off and things improved as we headed towards the industrial estate.

I’ll be honest, once we hit about mile 3 I think I got too confident as I was about 5-10sec out in front of the pacers. This is something I have an awful habit of doing and while I managed to keep this position right upto mile 10 I eventually had the pacers pass me at mile 10.

I did manage to keep them insight for another mile but I eventually lost sight of them, I had hoped that on the downhill from mile 12-13 that I might be able to catch them.    However, as I came to the top of mile 12 I couldn’t see the balloons anywhere in sight.

Still I upped the pace and kept going, as I approached the finish I gave it everything I had and managed to pass two people in the last 200 metres before the line after which I dropped to the ground the second I was through. My legs were done!

My finish time was 1:31:44

Overall the event was very well organised and was great to meet a number of familiar faces both before and after the event, while its not the sub 1.30 I really wanted its still a really nice improvement on last year to have.

Could have I got sub 1.30?  Maybe, maybe not. I’m still not sure......

While I do a lot of running and miles I’m crap for doing speed work even though anytime I have done speed work I’ve noticed improvements. I think I just find it hard to push the pace during speed sessions as I basically do 90% of my runs on my own. 

However, even without these speed sessions my half marathon times have been consistently dropping each year as my overall training pace and endurance has improved.

It’s gone from 1:56:48 in 2010 at my first half marathon to 1:41:06 in 2012 to 1:34:43 last year and now 1:31:44 this year.  So overall I’m still very happy with the improvements I’ve seen,.

Given I’ve never started a training plan specifically aimed at improving my half marathon times I’d be interested in what improvments such a training plan could bring in the future, maybe that’s something I might consider for the half marathon in December 2015.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 5miles @ 8:21min pace
- Wednesday: 5miles @ 8:05min pace
- Thursday: 2miles @ 8:21min pace
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: Rest
- Sunday:13.18miles @ 6:58min pace

Weekly Total: 25 miles
Miles This Year: 1,881 miles

Clonmel Half Marathon

So I had a pretty easy going week before running the Clonmel Half on Sunday, still I managed more miles then last week even before Sunday so that's a good sign that I'm feeling good and the miles are increasing.

Miles this week consisted of:

- Monday: 8miles @ 7:56min/mile pace
- Tuesday: 4miles @ 7:59min/mile pace
- Wednesday: 8miles @ 8:42min/mile pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: Rest
- Sunday: Clonmel Half Marathon

The plan had been to run a new PB of sub 1:30 (all going well) in Clonmel however my body had other plans and as such I ended up sick from Wednesday onwards...eventually things got better but this was yet another factor that I was aware of for setting my new PB and it made me even less hopeful.

Sunday arrived and I figured I'd aim for it anyway with a secondary goal of beating my PB by 1second or more.    Off we went and I knew instantly the race was going to be a challenge as we ran against the wind and up the hill away from Clonmel.

After the initial climb out of Clonmel I settled into a nice pace for a downhill section but after a short while I found myself struggling abit after the first mile and from around 4miles on I found my legs felt awful heavy and lacked any real energy.   Although it was still early on in the race I figured at this early stage I might as well resign myself to a finish time of between 1:34-1:45 and I'd instead treat the rest of the race as a long run for the weekend.

In many respects it was nice to just take it easy for a chance during a half marathon as its the first time I've done it and I've never paced a half marathon race either. However I was still lacking energy and I alittle struggled again at mile 8 and I just decided to walk abit on mile 11 and mile 12 as I just didn't want to take any more chances.  I did however pick up the pace for the last 200metres at the finish.

Official Finish Time was: 1:42:37

Its way off my PB of 1:34:43 but I supposed considering I had given up on any PB or a decent time by mile 4 and I walked towards the end it wasn't bad overall.   Overall I think I can put the poor result down to a mixture of not having the best training of late, the though course in Clonmel and being sick just before the race....perhaps in hindsight I shouldn't have ran it I guess. :)

As always there was a good feed after the finish with plenty of cakes and sandwiches etc, also one thing I found different is they were handing out milk at the finish line which was a nice change from the much more common Red Bull muck.

The milk was Avonmore's new gimmick protein milk so it basically tastes like low fat milk which isn't great when compared to full fat milk but its still a better alternative to red bull, I think I'll stick to drinking normal milk and the occasional chocolate milk. :)

Weekly Total:  34 miles

Miles This Year: 1272 miles

I shall double my efforts....

Very easy week after Portumna 100km, I only did some walking and headed out for a 8mile cycle on Thursday morning as I wanted to allow the blisters to heal up properly.  Right foot feels fine now but blister on left foot is till uncomfortable when walking at times. Legs feel fine otherwise!

So anyway, I've completed three of my five goals for 2014, these have been:

- Run my first Back2Back Marathons
- Run a faster Connemara Ultra
- Run my first 100km
- Run a sub 3:15 Dublin Marathon
- Run a sub 1:30 Half Marathon

As you can see I have two goals left for 2014, the first of which will be in October with the Dublin Marathon and the half marathon I aiming for will be in Waterford in December as I always seem to manage a new personal best when running Waterford Half Marathon.

One thing I know at this stage is I have endurance sorted, if I can keep on my feet for 12hours doing a 100km (even if the pace is slower) then I have endurance sorted out.   The plan now is to work on my speed!

Last years Dublin Marathon had a target of sub 3:30, I wasn't far off this with 3:33 and in reality I would have managed sub 3:30 had I just stuck properly to my pacing.       Instead I upped the pace early in the race because of a) I wanted to catch the pacing group as I was 3min behind them and b) because I thought I was good to be able to hit 3:27.   So basically I got cocky and that was my downfall....oh well!

From my training runs I know that even as part of a training run I know I'm well capable of doing 12mile or 15mile run at a 7:30-7:40min pace as I've regularly done these as training runs. Something I wouldn't have been capable of doing this time last year as even a consistent 8:00min pace was a challenge.

So with that all in mind for a sub 3:15 I need a constant 7:27min pace, I think this is pretty do-able as all I need to do is work on speed.

Hopefully my feet will be all ok after the weekend and I can start back slowly into training.