Valencia Marathon Week 7/12

October 23rd - 29th

Monday - Little bit sore on waking and with a travel day ahead, the best decision was to rest.

Tuesday - 10 miles ez (16k) with RCSI, a very therapeutic run for me as I recapped my race performance with the group and unloaded some baggage.

Wednesday - 7 miles ez (11k) an early start, nice fresh morning.

Thursday - 10 miles ez (16k) with RCSI, a few 400 meter reps in the middle, not at any great pace.

Friday - 5 miles ez (8k) around Bohernabreena reservoir, on the foothills of the Dublin mountains. A beautiful, quiet location to run and gather some thoughts.

Saturday - 20 miles ez (32k) some lingering fatigue in my legs and possibly in my head from the race. I'm normally good at putting disappointment behind me but for some reason negativity is loitering. I spent a lot of the run trying to get to the bottom of it and my assessment is that I'm bordering on overtraining. Some of the signs - feeling a little unmotivated, letting my good nutrition practices fall by the wayside and finally, low heart rate numbers on easy runs that don't equate to an easy perceived effort. Hopefully having an awareness of all this will help me make better decisions and I can turn this ship around.

As mentioned previously I've downgraded my target time by five minutes, however it may still need further adjusting!

Sunday - If I was having a pity party for myself the day before, today was the complete opposite. Super excited to cheer on all the Dublin City Marathoners, with a special interest in the twenty six DBR runners participating. I was at the 17 mile marker (27k) with two of my daughters, cheering and taking pictures Link to photos

Conditions were almost perfect, no wind, cool but with heavy showers. All the DBR guys ran superbly well and they put a smile on my face that is still holding.

Now all I have to do is bottle their elation and sprinkle it over the next five weeks of my training and I should be good to go, hmm sounds a bit too easy, let's see.

Comments

Valencia Marathon - 12 Weeks to go!

Last year's Valencia Marathon resulted in a small personal best. I ran 3 hours 18 minutes and 31 seconds, it was my first time to ever run a negative split (second half faster than the first half) and my eleventh attempt at the distance. I'm definitely a slow learner! It was very satisfying and not once did I experience any weak spots throughout the 42k. Needless to say, I was thrilled, however I left this wonderful city thinking, what if.... What if this wasn't my third marathon in eight weeks, what if I concentrated on a good diet (eat more), what if I did some strength/core work? So here we are, twelve weeks out and my motivation is sky high. I want to run another personal best, feel strong and have a smile crossing the finish line, it doesn't sound like much, but to an experienced runner, we know what's involved! Time, commitment, patience, effort, recovery, support, to name a few. I've made some rough sketches that are starting to form a plan. Some of which...

Valencia Marathon Week 8/12

October 30th - November 5th Monday - 5 miles ez (8k) back up to Bohernabreena reservoir for some more peace and quiet. Tuesday - 9 miles ez (15k) I enjoyed the run but was made aware of a slight niggle to my right calf. This was most likely caused by wearing my vaporfly shoes for last week's long run. For me it confirms these are only to be used for 5 and 10k races going forward. This run brought October to a close and although I've felt pretty meh throughout, the volume of work is there, 224 miles (360k) the total. Wednesday - 10 miles (16k) with 5*1 mile (1.6k) at half marathon effort off a 2 minute jog recovery. First session since Valencia half marathon, ten days ago. There was a little bit of dread leading up to this, my confidence needed a strong session. Wore the Mizuno rebellion pro to help with my calf niggle and they did the job just fine. They've now covered 300 miles (500k) and they still feel nice and bouncy, however they do stink and are becoming quite squeaky...

Valencia Marathon Week 4/12

This week didn't go particularly well, my first speed bump in the road. Some of it was from being a little tired but most of it due to humidity, I struggle a lot in these conditions. As delightful a prolonged summer is, I'm craving cooler temperatures. This will be a shorter recap than previous weeks as I don't wish to linger for too long in the negativity. Monday 8 miles (13k) easy, a lovely day for a recovery run. Tuesday 9 miles (15k) easy, into Herbert Park and back along the canal. Wednesday 8 miles (13k) with 6 miles (10k) at 160 heart rate. An extra mile added to the tempo portion. This should have felt like progress but the fade was obvious, power dropping for the same effort. Just happy to get this one done. Thursday 5.5 miles (9k) with the RCSI gang. Loved this run, felt bouncy and smooth. Definitely the outlier of the week. Friday 5 miles (8k) easy, quite the contrast to the day before, every step was a chore. However, I did finally start some strength and condi...

Dave Bradshaw Running

Search This Blog