Taper week 1

8^th October

Bailed out on my usual 4 mile recovery jog. Time for a bit of rest and reflection.It must be taper time as the motivation slips a bit.

9^th October

Ran with Mallow Ac but avoided the speed session. Did 6/7 miles with Patrick Buckley and did 3 more myself to give me 10 miles at a easy pace. No Hr information.

10 miles in 1hr.28mins (8.48 pace)

10^th October

Ran up in Mayfield,Cork City for this effort. Every mile and every step was a tedious affair. Didn’t enjoy it one bit. First week of the taper is always a pain but won’t be doing much speedwork this week. The idea is to keep the volume up at a decent level. No doubt about it the taper is a pain. The mind is telling me to rest up and stop running- all the training is done but too severe a cut back could be foolhardy yet not cutting back enough means my body doesn’t get a rest. At the moment the bones feel tired.

11 miles, 8.35 pace, HR 138, 1hr 34mins 35 seconds

 

11^th October

Ran up in Charleville for this one. First mile saw the heavy legs feeling ease somewhat and lo and behold by mile 2 I was feeling more like myself. Having done 11 miles yesterday I didn’t need to do more than 9 miles today but it was important to make it count. Mile 1/2/3 passed in 8.19,7.45,7.47. I was enjoying it too. Miles 4/5/6 passed in 7.43/7.32/7.22. There was no doubt that the legs were very strong too and the speed was increasing yet the effort felt very easy – that floating feeling. Mile 7 passed in 7.23 and by mile 8 I was sprinting all out yet feeling relaxed. That mile passed in a savage 7.04. The last mile finished in 7.17. The whole workout was completed in 1hr08min15seconds for a average pace of 7.35. HR was 152. Again very satisfying.

12^th October/13^th October

Hectic old day on Friday. Suffice to say I was happy to sit on my rear that evening my discomfort worsened by the 6-1 trashing the national soccer received at the hands of Germany. The following morning had planned to do a easy paced 15 mile run but when I had woken up my resting heart rate was very high, nearly 60 beats a minute. Normally it’s under 50 beats these days. I was still feeling very tired and to be honest mentally couldn’t face heading out the door. I was grateful to see the heavy showers too, it meant no painting the back fence either. Cancelled the planned run and was happier for doing so. Won’t be able to do it Sunday either meeting some friends in Cork for a few beers Saturday night. Nothing major just 2 or 3. The last time i had a beer was on the first Friday in September and that was only one!!! Will do the run (hopefully) on Monday. Wisdom has taught me at this stage not to force the body during taperingbut at the same time to try to keep the legs fresh. Neverthless I don’t want to be feeling this lethargic all the time.

I had planned at the end of taper week 1 to do around 45 to 50 miles. Instead I have managed 3 days,running a total of 30 miles. I do need to do that slow run of 17 miles on Monday marking as it does 2 weeks exactly to the Dublin marathon

Weekly mileage 30 miles

Monday 15^th October

I knew I had to do a long run this evening. It was 2 weeks to the Dublin marathon and I knew the legs would start getting sluggish if i didn’t get the last long slow run completed. Unfortunately it had to be done after work up in Cork city which meant I wouldn’t get home to Charleville until 9pm. Anyway the rain was bucketing down when I started and rather than face a last uphill mile I did a few laps of the estate to get the first mile up on my legs. Anyway whatever it was I couldn’t get the legs to go much faster than 9 minute pace. Maybe because I was mentally tuned into a long slow run or maybe it was late in the evening or my legs were just lazy but i was a bit worried. I ran from Mayfield-Mallow rd-Commons rd-Blackpool-Sundays Well-Mardyke-Lee fields and back home up through Montenotte. The whole thing came to 17 and a bit miles and took around 2.33.35. Very slow. Legs felt fine throughout and the average HR was 141.

Total miles 17 miles – 2hr33mins35mins -9.09 pace -141 HR.

Progress Report

Anyway here's my progress report on my training since June. Taper information is not included.

17 weeks training. Total mileage 849.66 (not including taper.)

Average weekly mileage 49.98 miles.

Highest mileage month.-September 235 miles.

Highest weekly mileage: 62.5 miles, 60 miles

Longest runs 21 mile, 21 mile, 22 mile, 20 mile.

Longest run at marathon pace 20 miles with 15 miles at MP.

 Number of other marathon pace training runs 13 miles with 7 miles at MP, 15.5 miles with 8 at MP,21 miles at 12 MP.

PB’s – Cork/Cobh 15 mile race (1.55.35) Charleville half marathon (1.35.50), Donoughmore  7 mile (49.51) 10K Liscarroll (41.42), Ballycotton 5 mile (34.15), Dromcollogher 4 mile race (27.36).

Other races. Clonmel half marathon (1.45.16), Blarney half marathon (1.37.46), Ovens 5k (22.xx).

Injuries. Sore right foot. Slight groin strain (all ok now). 2 more taper weeks left. Will do more specific marathon running this week but I won't be doing a huge amount of mileage