Marathon fashion police

27^th May

Last week before the race and last week of the taper. I was looking through my taper notes from previous marathons and I am more or less following the usual path. Very little running this week, more a case of short workouts at marathon pace dispensing with the recovery runs completely. Tuesday morning was a 4 mile run at marathon pace. Did the workout at a average at 7.50 pace but the effort was quite arduous I was far from achieving that effortless floating feeling one is supposed to feel. No wonder when i saw the HR- 171!!! Crazy stuff altogether and far removed from the low Hr in last weeks tempo run. The HR has been a issue since the mallow ten possibly as a consequence of not running recovery runs at a proper slow pace and running tempo runs at too fast a pace. I suspect my body was also adjusting to recovery from some of the longer races I ran recently . Either way when training for the next marathon it will have to be sorted. Issues at work and one or two other personal things may account for the high HR.

Thursday  morning was another 4 miles at marathon pace, 7.45. The HR was a bit lower- 157 but still too high for the pace i was going at. Rest day scheduled Friday morning and I am stewarding at the Doneraile 5K. Sleep hasn’t been a problem. If anything I feel i am sleeping too much. Appetite remains undimished  but I am resisting (with mixed results) snacking on chocolate and crisps- a bit difficult to be honest. Abstinence off alcohol isn’t a issue either. Last time I had a beer was 4 weeks ago which is about normal for me at the best of times.

Friday evening was a bit different. Heading down to the beautiful setting of Doneraile park for Mallow’s Ac  Dan Byrne 5k memorial race. I ended being roped into registering runners and helped Ger with the finishing times as runners came in. Hectic to say the least. It was the first time I saw how a race is organised from the point of view of the “clipboard” and it is a very busy and exacting business. No room for error either. Anyway i did my job and I think it all went off pretty well.  Running is a far easier business..... John and Denis are real stalwarts at pulling this sort of thing off- a real asset.

Saturday morning headed out the door for a easy 2 mile jog though I made sure to keep at around 8 minute pace running the last ¼ mile at a faster pace. Headed up to Cork meeting my father for a social chat and to collect the numbers for myself, Darragh and Kevin up in city hall.

And that is pretty much that.....Sunday will be just spent lazing around avoiding any attempts by other s to coax me into doing any household/gardening/shopping chores. Hard to figure out what the weather will be like Monday-preferably overcast and cool. In terms of running gear I will make a call on what top or singlet to wear in the morning. If it is warm may dispense with the heavier t-shirt and club singlet in favour of something  less distinctive and lighter. I will have the usual 5 gels in my pocket and the splits for my target time on a piece of paper. Better wear the hat too, taking no chances. Will be up there for 8 am to get the parking sorted. I usually park near Coburg st saving me a long  sore walk back in favour of a shorter sore one instead. 

In terms of race tactics I simply hope to catch up with the 3.30 pacers at some stage and just hang in there. If I can’t manage to catch up or hang in there I hope to fall back on my B goal of sub 3.40.

Miles this week 10 miles