Dublin Marathon 2015 Race Report (or how NOT to run a goal marathon)

I almost didn't run the Dublin Marathon this year as I could feel the unset of what kind of started to feel like a chest infection during the week but it never seemed to fully develop, but to be on the safe side I went into recovery mode and took anything I could that I thought might help and rested as much as I could.

Luckily prior to Monday I had three whole days off so outside of going to the RDS on Saturday to collect my number I didn't have anything else planned and was able to rest to allow myself to recover!

As of Sunday night my breathing and lung function "seemed" to be fine and I have no unusual aches or pains so it appears I might have stop the unset of something worse, but without a doubt I've been run down the past 7-10 days.

But I decided I'd still give the marathon a shot (this may not have been the best plan) and so I drove up on Monday morning, before the start I met up with one or two of the pacers including Don the race director of the Vartry races in Wicklow and also Paul who was pacing 3:20. Unlike previous years my plan was to stick with the 3:20 pacers (there were 3 in total) and not to get over confident and go off in front of them.

From the start the 3:20 pacer group broke into two parts with one pacer running about 50metres - 100metres ahead of the two others, this certainly helped to spread out the crowd a bit more and although initially the head pacer was running slightly faster miles to create this gap spreading out the group was certainly a good idea.

Marathon Splits (click for larger version)

Despite the weather still being breezy surprisingly the Phoenix park was very calm as we ran up Chesterfield Avenue with only the odd bit breeze pushing across, the conditions otherwise were perfect as it was relatively cool, little or no wind and no rain....certainly a change from last years warmer conditions.

Conditions after that varied with a strong'ish breeze now and then, I learned from previous races and I wasn't out in front anymore, instead i stuck myself behind somebody to try and conserve my energy by letting them do the work.

By the time we hit the half way point I was however starting to feel tired so I took on another gel and that gave me a small boost, but by the time I hit mile 18 I think it might have been the first time Paul mentioned to me to keep the arms moving.

Things didn't vastly improve after that during the ascent of a small hill at mile 20/21 I again started to run into difficulties and although once again Paul did his best to encourage me to get up the hills I just felt like I had a total lack of energy and then the problems really started to start! My left IT band started to cramp really badly!

Due to the cramping I ended up stopping and walking, I tried to stretch it out and it helped a little and I started running again as I the 3:20 pacers were maybe 200metres ahead still so I kept up for a further 500metres but then my right leg started to cramp along with my left calf muscle!    At this stage I knew I was in trouble as I never normally experience cramping this bad.  

I walked for abit and tried to stretch things out and while I was able to run a short distance again things would start to cramp up and then I also started to also experience a very painful stitch on my right side.

At this stage I figured my issues where down to either A. I still was sick or B. I still hadn't fully recovered from being sick and either options were likely affecting my breathing which was likely causing a decrease in oxygen intake causing the cramping and stitch, not a great situation overall.

The rest of the miles were made up of walking very slowly and running short distances, although I did manage to run the last mile nonstop to finish in 3hours 51min 6sec. (Garmin of the run)

Overall a frustrating experience given I was bang on target until mile 20, in reality I likely shouldn't have run the Dublin Marathon or instead perhaps chosen a slower time like aiming for 3:30, but then who knows I might have experience the same issues running for that time also.

But then as anyone that reads this blog knows I'm awful stubborn when it comes to stuff, while I can push myself through hours of running or walking with painful blisters. Unfortunately in this case I couldn't push past the muscle cramping to keep any sort of reasonable pace....what I wouldn't have given for some blisters instead!

The outcome could have been worse of course so I'll take what good i can from the race including that I am very confident I can get that sub 3:20 time...provided I'm not trying to get it when sick or still recovering from being sick.

At this stage I still want to get the sub 3:20 time so I might pick a marathon in the next few months that I'll race in order to try hit that time, I don't want to wait until Dublin near year which is historically the only marathon I actually try and race.

Miles This Year: 1,492 miles

STOP! Taper time!

So I'm officially tapering for the Dublin Marathon on the 26th October!

Training hasn't been very consistent since after the JJ Reddy Half-Marathon but I'm not overly worried as I don't think I've lost much fitness overall, so with that I'm putting my money on the counter and finally committing to a sub 3:20 marathon time.

For the last while I've been debating between aiming for 3.15 or 3.20 but after noticing Dublin doesn't actually have any 3.15 pacers I'm going to play it safe and aim for 3.20 and the 7:26min/avg pace required. I'm reasonably confident I can pull this off and hold the pace together on the day.

On a side note, for the last few weeks I've been enjoying some night trail running by taking part in group trail runs organised by the South Leinster Trail Runners, its early days but numbers are promising with the most recent runs having 16 and 14 participants respectively.

The runs so far have taken part in the Co Kilkenny area so far but here's coping it goes from strength to strength as its seriously good fun.

For anyone interested in coming along and you're curious about the types of routes, you can see Garmin profiles for the three trail runs so far below:
- Jenkinstown Wood
- Castlemorris Wood
- Knockdrinna Wood

Noticing pace improvements,

I said previously I was planning on intervals and that's exactly what I've been doing!...well on and off when I remember.

I have a frustrating relationship doing intervals, they are so much harder to do when your on your own as it can  be hard to push yourself but 95% of my training is on my own but about 7-10 days after doing a couple of hard sessions I have always found some improvement in my pace.

So I really don't want to do them, but I know they are good for my overall performance and they certainly pay off as seen from the recent 1:29:33 half marathon time.

In addition, I've found that shorter runs like my usual 5mile morning or evening run where it would have been a massive push to do just under 7min miles is now down into 6:50min/mile - 6:40min/mile avg pace for the overall run. Its a push to do this but its alot faster then the same effort even before the summer.

Its times like this I wish there was a local running club so I wouldn't have to drive 10miles to do speed sessions etc with other runners (even that can be awkward to get to).    On that note, if there's anyone local reading this that wants to head out for few runs feel free to drop me a message.

Miles This Year: 1,444 miles

Some pacing at the 24hr Edenderry Challenge

Paul & JP during the 24hr Challenge

Last week was a little different then usual, while I did my normal runs during the week instead of doing my usual
long slow run in Kilkenny City at the weekend I instead opted to pace JP in a 24hour event he was running in Co Offaly. 

Unlike many 24hr events which tend to be track based this one was on a 5mile loop which mentally at least has to make it easier for people taking part.    The aim of these events is simple,  run as many miles as you can in the 24hr period.

 

So on Saturday evening I drove up to Co Offaly to meet JP & Paul who at the time I met them had already been running for around 4hours as the event started at 3pm.I arrived shortly after 7pm and eventually caught JP and Paul on the next loop nearer to 8pm.   My plan was to give them a bit of company and distraction while they put in the miles.

The conditions were very good, cool, but not too cool. No rain and although mist was starting to settle in around the time I left it wasn't too heavy.

As well as JP and Paul running, they also had a crew supporting them. Nicola and Ray had taken on the very important role of crewing for the two lads for the entire 24hr period. Between making sure they were eating/drinking and keeping warm enough the two of them also cycled and ran the odd loop with the two lads throughout the 24hr period.

I took in 4 loops with JP and Paul during which we chatted about this and that and also played 80's music on speaker which was a good distraction and a little odd to hear Billy Joel We Didn't Start the Fire while running a dark country road at around 11pm at night.

I left the guys off to continue running when they were at around 45miles at about 2am and I finally got home at around 3.30am, keeping an eye on Facebook the next day I saw that Paul had dropped out at 75miles to be on the safe side after an injury from doing the UTMB a few weeks back.   To be honest I was surprised Paul was even running the 24hr event as he had run the UTMB so near to it.

At 3pm on Sunday evening I was delighted to hear that JP had finally hit 100miles with 30minutes to spare and was also 2nd male to finish.  After his performance on the TP 100 course back in May I had no doubt JP would hit 100miles during this event and I'm thrilled for him.

This was the second year the 24hr event was being operated in Edenderry by the Edenderry Tri Club, although I was only around for 5-6hours in total it seemed like a very well organized event with plenty of space for crew and use of facilities at the school where the start/finish 5mile loop was situated.

I must say that when JP mentioned he was taking part in the event I was seriously tempted to take part myself as I even had a few days off work at the time and I'm really curious can I get a sub24hour 100mile on 100% road when compared to the 75% trail/25% road situation for Thames Path 100.

Unfortunately as I've already signed up for the Dublin Marathon on the 26th October and I've been training towards it and aiming to set a new personal best I didn't want to derail this goal by running a 24hr event as I wouldn't be properly recovered in time for Dublin in a few weeks.

Although I already have plans to run the Vartry 100mile in April 2016 and the Connemara 100 in August 2016 I must say I'd be tempted to do this event next year as the 5mile loop makes the logistics very manageable, I guess I'll have to see how the year pans out.

The Edenderry 24hr Challenge wasn't the only event I knew people at and there was a number of people traveling over from Ireland to take part in the Spartathlon in Greece which started on Friday morning and covered 153miles.  

After seeing the race profile and weather conditions its seriously impressive to see people even take on this event, never mind finish it. Congrats to all that took part.   

Miles This Year: 1,394 miles

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....

Time to put the head down and train..

So the training situation hasn't been very structured lately. There's been alot of breaks and very very easy weeks with holidays and while I have noticed speed increasing (normal 5mile runs going from 7:40min pace to closer to 7:00min pace) I've not been following any sort of training plan and that needs to change.

To get things back onto some sort of proper training plan I began last week with a nice fast 10miles at a pace much lower then the 7:26min/pace I need for Dublin, I didn't want to overdo it when returning back to a week of higher miles so I took it nice and easy the next day and headed out for a very easy 20miles on Thursday.

Despite Thursdays 20miler I still felt fine on Friday doing a sub 7min avg pace for 5miles, infact doing the faster paces is certainly coming easier to me even after long runs like the 20miler. At times I've been running what I thought was a nice handy pace of over 8min, only to look at my watch and see its a 7:10min/pace or lower.

My aim this week is to work on speed by aiming to do two hard interval sessions....I really hate intervals!

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 10.01miles @ 7:14min/pace
- Tuesday: 2.17miles @ 7:21min/pace
- Wednesday: Rest
- Thursday: 20miles @ 8:51min/pace
- Friday: 5.01miles @ 6:59min/pace
- Saturday: Rest
- Sunday: 2.10miles @ 7:33min/pace

Weekly Total: 39 miles
Miles This Year: 1,233 miles

It was a nice week for a nice holiday

Very little running the week before last as I spent the week camping with my wife around the south east of Ireland

The week before we were very worried about how the weather might turn out but as luck would have it the weather was actually pretty good for the week and we spent the time camping in Co Wexford and Co Waterford.

I only managed about three runs the entire week, the first was along the seriously long beach at Morriscastle in Co Wexford which I ran 6miles of and I still couldn't see where it ended. (it seems its actually 13miles long!)

Also had did a lovely run along the coast near Dungarvan on the Friday, other then that I took it all pretty easy


Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Sunday: Rest
- Monday: 6.59miles @ 7:59min/pace
- Tuesday: Rest
- Wednesday: 8:01miles @ 7:27min/pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 6:09miles @ 7:25min/pace
- Saturday: Rest

Back to business as usual

Training for Dublin City Marathon in October is going well, my pace is gradually increasing and although I really dislike doing intervals I'm pushing myself on them and managing 5.30-5.40 pace on many of them...something I'd never managed before.

Doing the intervals is also paying off on my longer runs as I find the effort to start going down to sub 7.20min pace is less and less, so all in all its good. I think this was also evident during the recent Waterfront Ultra as I found it so much easier to do those faster miles for the first 24miles or so.

Of course there's some difference between doing a 3:41 marathon and doing the 3:15 marathon I actually want in October but its still great to see I've had some improvements during the past few weeks and its even better to feel back to normal after Thames Path 100. 

Despite getting sick after it its evident that my recovery after the 100mile race has gone much better then my recovery last year after the 100km in Portumna, but then I did very little running during May and June and this I guess was badly needed as a resting period.

During the week I didn't do a mad amount of miles, but out of the miles I did do I felt good and also did a mix of paces. So for example on Friday when I did 11miles about half of these miles were near or close to 7min/miles.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Sunday: 5.5miles @ 7:05min/pace
- Monday: 11.01miles @ 7:56min/pace
- Tuesday: Rest
- Wednesday: 5.53miles @ 7:57min/pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 11.01miles @ 7:50min/pace
- Saturday: Rest

Weekly Total: 33 miles
Miles This Year: 1,178 miles

Morris Oil Piltown 10K 2015 Race Report

So after last weeks 36mile Ultra I opted for a much shorter race this week by taking part in the Piltown 10km race in Co Kilkenny on Friday night.   I've not done a large number of 10km races but I've always seen an improvement when I run them and I'm still chasing the elusive goal of a sub 40min 10k.   To get a sub 40min time it meant I had to run an average pace of 6:26min/mile for the entire distance. This is a big ask after last weeks 36mile Ultra but I was hoping I could pull it off none the less.

This was a race starting at 7.30pm so I headed off for the start of the race and met up with the lads from town, between all of us we were aiming for times ranging between sub 40 - sub 45. The conditions were good and the course was advertised as fast so there was a lot of hope of reaching our goals.

The race started on time and we were off; the first mile was a slight decline and as always it was fast as during the first mile I averaged a pace of 6:03min/mile, I spotted this and I eventually slowed onto the second mile. By the time I was heading into mile three I have to say I felt like my legs were heavy and I knew that to try push for a sub40 time was going to be extremely difficult! However I pushed on and headed for what appeared to be an endless section of straight road which began just before mile 4 and eventually ended around mile 6.

By the time I was coming up on mile 5 I pushed the pace and passed two runners; I kept ahead of them for approx half a mile but eventually they gained back the space I had put between them and eventually got maybe 100metres ahead of me.

As we approached mile 6 there was a slight incline on the course and we headed into the GAA grounds where the surface changed coming up to the finish line to gravel and to eventually grass as we raced towards the finish. I tried my best to even catch one of the two runners ahead of me but I just had no more energy in the legs to push any harder.

I finished 37th across the line (out of 128 finishes) in a time of 40min 50sec and was happy to lay down on the ground for a well deserved rest!

Its not really the sub 40 I had hoped for but still a new personal best I can be proud of as it shaves 7 seconds off my previous 10km distance set during the Danesfort 10km in September 2014. 

I think without a doubt if I had not done the ultra last week, I would have broken sub 40 but overall I'm very happy with how things went. Also, after the start and with the exception of the two runners at mile 5 only one other runner past me after mile 1, that's always a confidence boost.

Garmin of the course and my laps can be viewed below:

Miles This Year: 1157 miles

Keith Whyte Waterfront Ultra Marathon III (36miles) Race Report

Yesterday I did my first run of the Keith Whyte Waterfront Ultra Marathon III in Co Cork, it was very much a last minute affair as I signed up during the week.

One interesting thing about the Waterfront Marathon is as a guest it featured Team Hoyt who came all the way from the USA to take part in the event, inspiring stuff.

Initially I wanted this to be my 24th marathon with the aim of Dublin in October being my 25th but then I realized the next day that the Keith Whyte Waterfront Ultra Marathon actually was my 25th, oh well.

So instead of the marathon I opted for the 36mile Ultra for a bit more of a challenge, the course also had a 100km Ultra, Marathon and 10km race.   The loop for the three big races was a 9mile out and 9mile back route so for the 36mile event you just did this route twice and you're done.

My initial goal was to run the entire race at an avg pace of 8.30min/mile, my reasoning for this was I previous ran the Connemara Ultra in 5hours 52min and 17sec at a avg pace of 8:53min/mile so I wanted to see if I could better this for a race that was only 3miles shorter.

So I headed off down to Cork very early and arrived at the start line at 7.30min, met a few familiar faces including Vincent who is the race director of the Tullaroan marathon here in Kilkenny.

Before everyone headed off at the start there was a warm welcome for Team Hoyt and they started off just before everyone else, with the exception of the 100km which started at 6am the rest of the races started at the same time and so I headed out for the first loop of 18miles and for the most part I kept to plan for the first 10miles or so but as I felt good I ended up upping the pace and eventually dropped my overall avg pace to 8:11min/mile. Far faster then I had planned but I felt good so I kept things up.

The first loop went great and I felt I made great progress as I lopped back and headed out for the second loop but by the time I approached mile 24 the wheels started to come off and the pace had really started to drop off, by mile 25 it had dropped further and I was down to 9:00min/mile.

Although by the time I hit 26.2miles I had actually run my 3rd fastest marathon by running it in 3:41 I knew my pace goal was totally out of the window!

Really I only have myself to blame for the wheels coming off as I got too cocky far too early on in the race, really silly mistake to make.  

Despite this I still managed another improvement as I hit the 50km mark in a time of 4:38:51, this beats my previous best time set at the Donedea 50km in 2013 of 4:49:33, not a bad improvement considering I still had another 5miles to go in this race.

In the last few miles I found that my calf muscles were cramping up (not something I usually experience) and I had to stop and stretch a few times to relieve the pain, I also ended up walking a bit.  I did eventually however increase my pace for the last 1/2mile to a respectable pace of 7:39min/mile.

My finish time was eventually 5hours, 41min & 04sec, the split times from the race mats can be seen below (click to enlarge).

So the plan is now to get back into training for Dublin and perhaps do the odd 10km or half marathon between now and October. Although I got carried away during this race and it cost me my pace goal it still really helped my confidence to see a 3:41 marathon time as part of this race and it makes me think that if I had actually raced the marathon distance I would have easily beat my current marathon PB of 3:33:33.   This gives me a fair bit of confidence when heading to Dublin in October.

Pants, Myself and JP

Garmin link for anyone interested,



Miles This Year: 1128 miles