Training Log Archive: AC

All that good sleep was undone with a very late night (4am) and a relatively early start. Mixture of work and reading did it for me and just kept going as didn't feel very tired. Not great now though.

Had a huge sleep last night - went to bed at 8.30 and didn't wake properly until 8am (a couple of trips to the loo and one trip to comfort Freya who had a bad dream). Man, that was really needed and much appreciated. But felt sluggish the rest of the day. Used this run to scope out part of the last section of the Paris marathon course from Radio France through the 16th and up into the Bois. THis will be a tough section of the course as it is quite hilly and a bit of a climb up into the Bois, all from 31-36km.

First run back after the marathon and it really didn't feel good. Took a long while to get above a shuffle and never really felt like I was able to actually run properly. Adductors very tender so will need to do som eresearch to find out how to strengthen those as they were one of the areas to really suffer on the marathon (extra core strength perhaps? or more hill running?). Still, got it out of the way and looking forward to getting back into teh training. Paris marathon is only 5 months away :-)!

Can't walk downstairs, except backwards.

Signed up for Paris Marathon, 15 April. can't let this NY experience be my only marathon experience.

Event: New York Marathon
 

What a tough race. Started out well enough, then ran too fast from 10-20km and suffered from there to the finish. Was on pace for a 3.20 finish at half way, but then started cramping up badly from about 28km and woulnd up walking most of last 10km. Finished in 4.06 - a drop-off of some 40 minutes! Have analysed the stats and have seen the problem. First 5k was perfect at 24.45. Second 5km was a bit faster at 23.16. Then started to speed up even further with third 5k in 23.10. Fourth 5k felt easy at 23.12. At this stage, I thought it was all going just fine. Starting to work a bit, but still feeling okay. From 20-25km, started to slow down , both because i was getting a bit tired, but also because I was starting to realise that I had gone too fast and was trying to recuperate and regroup. So this 5km passed in 24.44, but it was too late. The real agony started not long after this. It took me 27.37 to go from 25-30km, 38.15 to get from 30-35km, 44.51 (!!!) to get from 35-40km, before sprinting the last 2.195 km in 17.22. Problem was cramping shins (really painful), adductors, quads, calves, and left arm (!?!). everything else was fine - lungs and heart were fine. Strange thing is that i wasn't really sweating that much despite the warmish weather. Ate and drank regulalrly, so no real issue there.

A few things went wrong, at least according to my initial analysis:

1. Forgot my long compression socks (must have left them in Paris), which may have saved my calves and shins.
2. I was battling a cold and sore throat the week before the race. This didn;t help.
3. I was really busy two weeks before the race and had time only for two short training runs. So not a proper tapering.
4. Biggest problem though was not sticking to the plan and speeding up after first 5km. Just got carried away. Guess I learnt the hard way that one must stick to one's plan.

C • on a positive note 3

Travel to NY. Felt like a long trip, but easy enough. Got through US Immigration nice and easily by using my G4 visa - magic! No queue and got a nice escort from the guard to the baggage collection and through customs. All done in 10 minutes! Long cab ride to teh hotel and a late dinner of spag bol - delicious!

Not training so much and getting to bed early does not mean that I sleep any better! Having trouble going to sleep and then staying asleep. So got up at 5 and worked for an hour before heading out for a final easy run before heading off to NY tomorrow. Everything feeling okay. A bit heavy legged, but probably natural. Paranoid about any twinges. Cold seems nearly gone.

Had trouble sleeping last night with too many work and marathon-related things spinning in my head. Looking forward to escaping to the airport on Friday, but I am afraid that work will be following me and the laptop will have to make the trip to NY with me :-(. Sore throat and minor cold still hanging around, but not getting too bad.

Decided to see how a run felt, esp as this is a public holiday and i can sleep teh rest of the day. Actually felt pretty good. Did 5 x 500m at marathon+ pace getting progressively faster then finishing off with 500m at around the planned marathon pace (4.23min/km, 4.20, 4.14, 4.11, 4.06, 4.40). All going well. Wore the heart rate monitor for teh first time in ages and that was good to see that my heart rate was fine for all teh intervals.