Pre race rambling....

23rd to 27th September –With the big day looming, my everyday thoughts are turning more often than usual to the race itself. Have decided to run with the pacers and ideally at mile 18 start tipping ahead. Weather it works out this way we will see. Bubendorfer in his blog said the 3.30 pacers run at 7.55 garmin time as the garmin measure the course around 26.4 rather than the 26.2. A useful thing to know. In terms of gels I will take 5 in the pocket and take one every 4/5 miles. The only issue for concern is what to wear. I want to wear the club singlet but don’t know if i should wear with a t-shirt underneath it or not. If I choose the former option do I risk getting overly warm or if I choose the latter do I risk chafing? Mind you the waether is supposed to be chilly so might opt for the singlet/running top combo after all complete with disposable gloves, hat and black bin liner.

Anyway will think about it later...ran 5.60 miles at 7.30 pace. First mile was 7.50, the rest around 7.20 to 7.25. Obviously way too fast in terms of intended marathon pace but glad the pace and legs felt good.HR 158. Went for another run on Thursday. Ran the first 5 miles at a slow pace with the last 3 miles at MP (around 7.49 average). At this stage it makes no difference to my training if I did 6,7 or 8 miles. Too much or too fast a workout is in fact detrimental to my chances on Monday. In terms of sleep not doing too badly either- grabbing plenty of naps in the afternoon after work – a hour here and a hour there. It’s the carb loading thing that I can never can reconcile . I over did it last year and paid the price for it a few days beforehand in the worst way possible (I’ll spare my small readership the gory details...).

 

Did the usual porridge thing for breakfast, fruit and whole grains for lunch and chicken and pasta for dinner on Thursday. The day before was similar enough with a veggie stirfry for dinner. By Friday come dinner time I couldn’t face digging into a plate of gnocchi so went down to the chipper instead for a milk shake, chips and a chicken burger. Bet you won’t  see that recommended in any running blog!!!!

I also threw myself on the scales today for the first time since training began in June. back then I weighed 190 pounds or 13st 10 pounds. These days I am 184 pounds which works out as 13st 4 pounds which prior to the taper was probably nearer 13st. It all helps... This was first time i actually paid a more conscious effort regarding my food intake. No tea, coffee, only 4 beers since August, very little choc and way more veg and fruit. I also cut out drinking cranberry juice. I estimate the stuff is nearly 40% sugar and I was drinking nearly 4 cartons  a week. All that on top of running a average of 50 miles a week with a race nearly every week since August has defintely paid off. (Chips on Friday excepted.... ;-) )

Saturday morning. The slight pain in the left shin is still there so cancelled the two mile light jog. Feeling happy and rested otherwise. Will be glugging the water as per usual today and breakfast and lunch will consist of porridge (with honey and grains), 3 to 4 pieces of fruit, a couple of bagels for lunch and for dinner a salad and Aoiffe’s humdinger steak sandwich. We’re heading to Dublin via the train on Sunday staying in the usual (expensive!!!) spot in Stephens Green. Routine usually is the same, that usually means heading straight to the RDS and then to Dundrum shopping centre. Aoiffe does a bit of shopping and I plan to  sit down in  a local pub trying to catch the Everton V Liverpool match. Hope to meet up with Don Golden, Don Ryan and a few Mallow AC lads on Monday morning of the race.

Destiny awaits and the time for bullshitting is over....................... (old photo from 2 years ago but the feeling never changes)

Mileage for the week 14 miles. 6 miles with 5.6 at 7.35 pace with 0.4 mile cooldown. 8 miles with 3 miles at MP pace.