Running

[whiskeysteve]

Well that was my first race event to enter so coming from running solo in the evenings it was a real eye opener, great experience!

The congestion at the start was interesting, started out much slower than I expected! Then theres lots of weaving in and out, the path around Phoenix park got quite narrow at times so there was plenty of running on the grass verges.

Lined up with a lot of trepidation about the foot, had it well iced the night before and the weight kept off it but it was obviously nothing too serious as it mostly held up all the way.

Didnt know the races had pacesetters with flags on the back, very handy!! Slowly manoeuvred in with the 1hr 50m trio, very sound with vocal encouragement and carrying extra water bottles to pass out, clearly that pace is not a bother to them!

Felt good by ~7 mile mark and kicked on ahead. Pacing on the GPS on the mobile was not worth a shite and it cut in and out after the halfway mark, and in between my 80s power ballads was giving me garbage feedback. By the 12 mile mark I was feeling very stupid for increasing the pace and going up the incline on the final leg was horrible, wasn't far ahead of the 1:50 pacesetters by then. Some woman on the sideline shouts out "Keep going, ye only have 300m to go!"  so tried to open up for home.. only turns out she was feeding me porkies for it was def at least a km  . Gassed myself out then and weaved over to the side for a quick retch like a drunk outside a kebab house, the 1h50 train cruised by, so went into a (relative) sprint and caught them at the line for a chip time of 1h 49m.

I then augmented my fatigue with an almighty night on the beer... roll on the marathon!!

Well done to WT4E and Laoislad also!!!

[Mayo4Sam]

The brother in law said the 2hr pacer he followed came in at 2:04, if thats true then thats shocking, how hard is it to pace for two hours and thats a long way out.

Not a great race for me, heart rate was very high all through, well over 180 for the whole race, dont know whats wrong, came in at 1:33:42, which is a good bit off the sub 1:30 I was hoping for. Need to look at my sleeping I think.

Stupidly went and played a gaa match yesterday, managed to hurt my knee, too sore to run and tear the ligaments in my shoulder again. Maybe a weeks rest is what I need!

[laoislad]

The brother in law said the 2hr pacer he followed came in at 2:04, if thats true then thats shocking, how hard is it to pace for two hours and thats a long way out.

Not a great race for me, heart rate was very high all through, well over 180 for the whole race, dont know whats wrong, came in at 1:33:42, which is a good bit off the sub 1:30 I was hoping for. Need to look at my sleeping I think.

Stupidly went and played a gaa match yesterday, managed to hurt my knee, too sore to run and tear the ligaments in my shoulder again. Maybe a weeks rest is what I need!

Really? That's poor if true. I haven't seen it mentioned on any other forum though.I'm on a beginners forum on boards.ie and most of the posters would be at the 2hr for half level and no one has posted that yet.
Maybe he started out ahead of the 2hr pacer and fell back to meet him,that would bring him over 2hrs wouldn't it?

Great time all the same Mayo as was yours whiskeysteve.
I'm still happy with how I went despite deliberately slowing with 3 miles to go,had the weekend to think about it and I'm happy I made the right decision.

Only 35 days to go to the big day!

[Denn Forever]

Only 35 days to go to the big day!

And then your evening's and weekends are yours.

[WT4E]

The brother in law said the 2hr pacer he followed came in at 2:04, if thats true then thats shocking, how hard is it to pace for two hours and thats a long way out.

Not a great race for me, heart rate was very high all through, well over 180 for the whole race, dont know whats wrong, came in at 1:33:42, which is a good bit off the sub 1:30 I was hoping for. Need to look at my sleeping I think.

Stupidly went and played a gaa match yesterday, managed to hurt my knee, too sore to run and tear the ligaments in my shoulder again. Maybe a weeks rest is what I need!

Has he checked his chip time? Sounds like he thinks he got 2:04 as that's what the finish line clock would of said for the 2 hour pacers coming home! There's adjustment needed for starting in the second wave!

[whiskeysteve]

The brother in law said the 2hr pacer he followed came in at 2:04, if thats true then thats shocking, how hard is it to pace for two hours and thats a long way out.

I wonder if he means the clock time and not chip time? When I came in the clock said 1:55 or so and I was thinking the 1:50 pacesetters had somehow messed up too, but they were obviously timing from the point they crossed the starting line (~6mins after the first waves of athletes set off). Over 8000 people taking part I think I read so obviously a lot of congestion delaying the bulk of the runners getting through the starting gate.

Edit: WT4E said it first! I reckon he may be on 1:58 or thereabouts if it said 2:04 on the clock

[Dubh driocht]

Will it be the same pacers for the full marathon ? Our plan is to run with the 3.30 person and see if we have any extra for the last two miles. Was in Dublin for the weekend and the buzz around Phoenix Park was excellent.

[CD]

Brilliant running at the weekend lads!

Getting nervous enough about the Marathon now. Just had a week of no running at all and plenty of stretching to try to reduce the swelling in my ankle. Going to do 6 miles tomorrow and see if it's going to be up to it! Sore still but I think I can run on it if I'm smart!

A big week ahead.

[CD]

Brilliant running at the weekend lads!

Getting nervous enough about the Marathon now. Just had a week of no running at all and plenty of stretching to try to reduce the swelling in my ankle. Going to do 6 miles tomorrow and see if it's going to be up to it! Sore still but I think I can run on it if I'm smart!

A big week ahead.

Ran 5.5 miles this evening. Achilles sore every step of the way. 32 days to the marathon. Don't feel confident about making it. Apt with physio on Friday will decide whether or not I'll book a hotel this weekend! Gutted - was so well prepared.

[An Gaeilgoir]

Thats a tough break CD,hope you can get it sorted, being off training all week with a flu/ chest infection, tried a few miles on Tuesday, got to three and had to walk home....off to Paris with the missus to run a 16k on Sunday around Paris...looking forward to it.

[imtommygunn]

CD I can tell you through bad experiences that the achilles is a nasty injury however unless you're far down the road you could well be ok. A physio will tell you I guess.

Have you got a gym membership or a bike? I would suggest you keep very active and substitute your runs for another form of exercise. Biking or cross training are non impact so you can keep the fitness up.

[Asal Mor]

The non-impact training sounds good for the achilles.

Lads , how do ye feel after running a Marathon? I did my first one recently and felt fcuked after it and not in a good way. I felt really drained and sh!tty, and I actually caught a cold/flu for about a week. I don't want to discourage anyone from doing it but just wondering if anyone's experienced this.

[laoislad]

That's a shame CD. Hopefully you might still make it.
I have a training session with Sean Hehir on Saturday morning.
Nearly more nervous about it than doing the Marathon.!

[CD]

That's a shame CD. Hopefully you might still make it.
I have a training session with Sean Hehir on Saturday morning.
Nearly more nervous about it than doing the Marathon.!

Hope the training session went well and the nerves weren't too much of a factor

Got a bit of good news this morning - no achilles tear as originally suspected - just badly inflamed. Had a really good session with the physio and it already feels better. Hoping to be able to attempt a few miles next Saturday and the marathon is still on!

Happy man 

[Dubh driocht]

20 this morning, perfect day for it. Sooner this tapering business starts, the better! The links to the stretching exercises that someone posted a few pages back are needed more and more in these last four weeks. I would strongly recommend a few of the yoga stretches, especially the downward facing dog- good for old boys like myself. Is there a long term weather forecast for the 27th October?