September 16th – September 22nd
Mon: 40 min easy + 5 x 15 sec strides + 5 min.
Complete. 10.14km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12425264765
Tue: 60min easy.
Complete. 13.34km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12435083650
Wed: 90 min (if feeling good can run steady last 20-30 min).
Complete. 5k steady. 19km total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12444109443
Thur: AM: 30 min PM: 30 min.
Complete on Sunday. 5km AM; 5KM PM.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12474491859
https://www.strava.com/activities/12477010360
Fri: OFF
Sat: 50 min easy + 5 x 20 sec hills + 5 min-10 min easy.
Complete on Thursday. 11.67km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12452404338
Sun: 2 hours 20 min (steady from 40 min-2 hours/ practice gels or drinks).
Complete on Saturday. 80 mins at 3:52 average. 33.54km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12465933303
Blocks, blocks and more blocks. There is never one defining period or week of Seán’s training. It is periodised with different focuses throughout and there always seems to be a little bit of down time when you need it most.
I had wrote here before about being impatient to start marathon training early in the summer months only for Seán to tell me, in no uncertain terms, to calm the fuck down and it’ll be grand. I was just off the back of a 5K block having finished a 10K block, prior to which I had been doing a decent amount of base training for a 10 mile as I recovered from anemia. Last week, I raced a 5K and then a half marathon within a few days of each other and I felt like I bounced out of the those two races quite well with no niggles at all. I was then looking at the schedule for this week and thinking it was a little light with only 6 weeks to go to Dublin Marathon. There was a spicy enough long run but, other than that, it was very light. The Wednesday mid week long run had a steady portion of 20 – 30 minutes so I ran 5K between with an average of 3:54s. Usually, my Wednesday is a recovery run after a long, hard marathon session on the Tuesday so, again, I was thinking maybe I was losing a week of hard training here.
Through the jigs and the reels of adapting training around life, the long run was to be on Saturday as I had my cousins wedding on Friday. I woke up on Saturday morning fresh and ready to go. The 40 minutes easy portion was just cantering along in trepidation for the steady portion to begin. I started a little bit later than usual, around 10am, and it was a little warmer than it has been for these runs. I ran in the Memorial Gardens and 40 minutes were up as I was on the Chapelizod Road. I ran towards Stoneybatter and then set off on the climb from the quays up to Castleknock village, following the marathon route with a slight detour to my car to grab a bottle of water. I switched off the pace on my watch and was trying to run my best to a steady effort. The splits averaged out at 3:52’s for the 80 minute steady portion and I think this was a true reflection of a pace I can currently call steady, knowing that my marathon pace should (hopefully) be quicker than that.
As the run progressed, my breathing was consistent throughout and the overall effort felt consistent throughout but my legs did begin to fatigue. I recall thinking how are my legs getting tired when I’ve basically done fuck all this week but the cumulative fatigue of the weeks of training coupled with the races last week were likely catching up on me. I was able to maintain the pace (while still not checking) and didn’t feel I was working any harder so I was happy to see the splits after I finished. But the legs were definitely fatiguing. My mind was wandering and I was thinking what sort of pain cave would I be in had I of done a big session mid week – thankfully I didn’t have to countenance that.
My route took me back down towards the zoo and the last 15 minutes was up the North Road and finished at the triangle. 80 mins and 20.52km done. I began my warm down when I noticed the lace of my right shoe was open. I bent down to tie it and my hamstrings started to stiffen up. I finished tying the lace, slowly rose from my position hunched over and started jogging. The hamstrings weren’t the only part of my legs to stiffen and I started to experience what I felt in the Berlin marathon when I began to slow down and when my stride changed – total tightness of the lower limbs. The fatigue would not let me jog as slow as I would have liked so I marched home in 4:20’s and we live to fight another day.
As I got back to the car and thought about what had transpired, I was counting my blessings that this was basically a down week with a hard long run at the end. It ensured I could absorb the work from the races without completely tiring me out. I didn’t even think I needed that but apparently I did.
Seán had said that there are a few hard weeks left before the taper, including a 3/4 marathon in Clondalkin, and then we will scale things back and freshen up before Dublin. I don’t know how those next few weeks will look just yet but I am ready to pop one off.
Buckets of Rain 