Training Log Archive: Jon X

Travel back from Berlin. And on to Callendar then Aberfoyle....

Cathedral. Beers by the river. East Side Gallery. Italian restaurant. It didn't sell pizza....

Leisurely start then back up to Gendarmenmarkt, managed to walk all the way up and (more notably) down the 252 steps of the French Dome. Cultural interlude followed with classical concert in the Concert Hall. Freezing cold experience thereafter on open top bus tour finishing at dusk, think we were all asleep at one point!

Leg still swollen but bruising less livid.

Went to the chocolate shop and German Dome with MC before she headed to airport. Not quite sure how I did not notice the Dome when we ran past it on Sunday.....

Then used Rosco's precise directions to meet the others and we headed off to the Olympic Stadium and Park. Impressive but lots of walking again! Then a very fine meal outside on the banks of the Spree up by Fredrichstrasse. The wine flowed.....

Very swollen left calf with vivid livid colouring. Not helped by a day filled with lots of walking tourism I'm sure. Jewish Museum seemed to have miles of corridors!

Event: Berlin Marathon 2011
 

Berlin Marathon 2011
Short version:
Managed to survive left calf cramp scare at 18km and run through it. Last 12km was tough and right on the limit for sub 3 so no leeway, managed my fastest kilometre of the race from 40 to 41 which got me home.

Large swathe of bruising on my left calf now but even larger smile on my face.

Delighted.

Long version:
Not quite sure how far to the start corrals so had to jog there just in case, got there with more than five mins to spare and it was absolutely rammed with no space to stretch or anything. Decided not to bother trying to push further ahead given the crush, plus I could see the sub-3 pace group balloons up ahead and happy to start behind them and use as a marker. Not a cloud in the sky but not too warm yet. Need to drink early and often today.

Slow crowded start and took well over a minute to cross the line, concerned about possible time loss early on. Plan to run 4:12 for each km and keep track of cumulative seconds above or below plan. The plan leaves about 120 seconds in hand, going beyond that will be panic stations!

Start - 2km: It is very crowded and there are lots of slower people. Conscious of the need to run the pace, also conscious not to use up unnecessary energy pushing through gaps. Having to hold back a little from doing that but the first two splits are 4:17 and 4:12.

2km - 10km: settle into pretty much the right pace although a few seconds are slipping away, it all feels just slightly harder work than I would like and the early drinks stations are carnage. I do notice a few landmarks and a few bands as we pass which is a good sign that I am fairly relaxed. Get to 10km in 42:19 so 19 seconds of my cushion 'spent', haven't run a split under 4:10 yet!

10km - 15km: Take first gel at 11km and manage not to lose any time on the split, then the 13th kilometre split is 4:27! Still seem to be moving at the same speed as those around and no further back from the sub3 balloons, decide the marker is out. Starting to feel better and some of the seconds from km 13 come back but still leaking seconds to plan, another 11 in this 5km.

16km - 17km: feels like the balloons are getting nearer and at 17km I catch a little peleton of people all moving nicely. For the first time I start to feel confident and look forward to sitting in the group for a while.

17.2km: in a few strides that confidence is gone as a tight knot of cramp comes from nowhere and grabs right into the heart of my left calf. I am still able to run but it is painful and i don't know whether to stop and stretch or whether it will go as quickly as it came.

17.5km: we get to a drinks station, I grab a drink and then almost without thinking I stop at the kerb and stretch my calf. I am only stopped for a few seconds but the time feels like it is rushing past. I start again and it has made no difference. I am running but panicking, yet looking around I am still holding the pace of those around me. Very stressed. Thinking my race may be about to come to an early end.

17.5km - HM
Gradually I calm down, decide there is no point in stopping to stretch/massage, either the cramp goes away or I will have to stop anyway, but if I take the time to stretch it now then I can give up on breaking three hours. Set myself the target of running to halfway where the FVO fanclub will be and making a decision there. But it is not helping the time, another 24 seconds gone by 20km. My leg is easing after a km or two, and I get a boost seeing MC and Eileen shouting me on just past 20km, the next split is better and at halfway I am in less pain and through in 89:29, 52 seconds behind plan. My time cushion was meant for the second half, not for spreading evenly through the race.....

HM - 25km: finding it tough, gel during km22 costs 10 seconds and km25 is 12 seconds down. Lots of doubts. Not noticing the landmarks or bands any more.

25km - 30km: working hard but km28 is another 10 secs gone. Through the gel zone and grab one for later in the race. Back on pace through km29 and km30 and at 30km I am 2:07:36 which is maybe the same as at New York, it is also 96 seconds behind plan....

30km: I have 52 mins to run 12.2km, tell myself the next 5km is critical and those kilometres will have to hurt. They do. But km32 and km33 are sub 4:10, at 34km I tell myself 8km is really not that far.....but at the same time am very grateful for the gel in my hand......less grateful when I drop 10 more seconds for that kilometre split. 100 seconds spent.

35km - 39km: counting the markers now and it is great that they are kilometres not miles, they come up much sooner and warn much sooner if the pace is dropping! I know MC and Eileen will be at 37km and there they are, only just over 5km to go now. Three 4:18s in a row and then a 4:17, I make that 129 seconds spent and things are getting very very close, I am into the 'don't use it' margin behind the margin I allowed myself...

39km: My watch says 2:46:00 and there are 3.2km to go. That's two miles. Two miles. Fourteen minutes. I can do the sum. Seven minute miles sounds hard. Put it into kilometres. 4:22s. Sounds better. I am doing 4:18s. Sounds very tight. Kitchen sink time.

39km - 40km: I have been moving through lots of people in the last 5km or so, and I still am. Not really noticing anyone is passing me, no-one to latch onto. Keep picking them off, we turn left up here somewhere and then it will be 40km, there it is....4:12 for the split! But also a few seconds over 2:50:00, I have under 10mins to do 2.2km. Not sure what speed that is but it sounds hard, 2:50:00 was the time I HAD to be under at 40km....

40km - 41km: I know that at 41km we turn left onto the Unter den Linden and I will be able to see the Brandenburg Gate. And that from 40km to 41km there are lots of turns, mustn't let that slow me down. Full effort now, will worry about the last km when I can see the Gate. Passing everyone now, just need to hold things together. There's the left turn, there's the 41km marker....what's the split....it's 4:00...fastest split of the race! Now I believe I can make it, I just need to keep things together for one last kilometre....

41km - Finish: look up to see the Brandenburg Gate and it looks an awful long way away. I reckoned i had to be there inside 2:59.....quite a few looks at the watch down the long long long long boulevard and really digging in. There are people picking up their pace now the finish line is virtually in sight, but I am not one of them, it is all I can do to hold my pace. But I do hold it, and then I am through the Gate, I can see the finish and I can tell I am going to make it. I see the display clock click over from 2:59:59 to 3:00:00 (which is a shame for my finish photo!) but really I don't care, I know I have seconds in hand for my own sub-3 and I even slow down slightly in the last 50m to enjoy the moment. Delight and relief.

Get a medal, a photo, some food, some drink, meet Roger and Ross hobbling along as slowly as me. Get changed very slowly and discover I can't really bear to even touch my calf. Too tired to worry about that now. Get out and meet MC and the other fantastic FVO supporters who have beer and bratwurst ready and waiting. Before too long then Louise and Daria arrive together, they are both rightly delighted too. More drinks, a nap, then a celebratory meal. Great day.

5km splits
21:08
21:11
21:11
21:24
21:26 (halfway 89:29)
21:18
21:04
21:24
9:10 to finish (20:53 5km pace)
(second half 89:47)
Final time 2:59:16 so 43 seconds to spare. Ran the last 2.2km 98 seconds quicker than I did in New York........

C • Fantastic effort 10

Run from the clothing to the start. Had to run as not sure walking would get me there in time for the gun.....

A little jaunt with the rest of our posse to check out the start and finish for the big race. Nothing too stressful, a few strides.
My left leg felt fine.
Ready.

Travel to Berlin.
Carbs.
Expo.
Carbs.
Bed.

Classic marathon taper session, steady run with strides, 8 x 100m-ish in this case.

The strides felt strong if not fast, seems they were a trifle quicker than MP which I guess is good!

Time to fly.

C • Good Luck in Berlin 14

The forecast for Berlin for the rest of September only shows one day with temperatures predicted at well over 20 degrees. Sunday.

Sweating.

Two miles steady, two miles marathon pace, two miles steady. Except my Garmin went flat just after the turn point and I couldn't remember where I had started the marathon pace section from! So more like 2.5miles at MP then 1.5miles steady.

Last physio session this morning and I guess at least it was a different part of my left leg/hip that was protesting tonight.....hopefully Sunday will be the day when all parts have had their turn and everything feels fine! Otherwise the second part of the race could be quite ugly....

Tight.

London. Rest day.

Capital.

Only 24 points behind Rosco on the BOF ranking list now the London City Race has been added.....

Closing.

C • :) Looks like I will have ... 2

Decided earlier in the week that I was too nervous of my hamstring to sharpen up with Stirling 10km, and had originally intended to do 10-12 miles today but all things considered settled for 'less is more' and cut down on the steady miles at beginning and end.

Leg troublesome in a slightly different place which I took as progress, felt okay to do what I needed though, warmup and warmdown with 2 times 3km at marathon intensity (wind and slopes and muddy tracks all combining to make it not all actually MP). Not exactly smooth and rhythmical but not too bad either.

Back in London again by the evening.

Taper.

Leg more tight than right even after a fair amount of stretching, but decided to try a run anyway as normally all sorts of other muscles tighten up if I have too many consecutive days off. Felt pretty rested and pretty strong and hamstring itself not grumbling unduly, just all felt not-quite-right around top of left leg/hip/lower back. But no worse after the run or over two hours sat in the cinema in the evening (definitely recommend Tinker Tailor to anyone thinking of it).

A week left to go from not-quite-right to marathon-ready.

Countdown.

Home-Edi airport-Heathrow-work-Heathrow-Edi airport-Waverley-Linlithgow-home. Leaving 5am, arriving 10.30pm. And to be strictly accurate it should say Linlithgow-Stirling chippy-home. Disappointingly the fish supper was rubbish.

Travel.

Top of hamstring if anything worse today, the session on Tuesday and the post-physio jog on Wednesday not looking quite such good ideas now. Steady+strides binned in favour of a rest day.

No need to panic yet though and a rest may be no bad thing anyway - although Friday could well be a rest day too as day tripping to London.

Irritated.

C • resting is good now! Well,... 2

Easy day today, especially after serious pummelling from physio at lunchtime. Top of adductor/hamstring unsurprisingly still protesting as a result.

Into strong wind on the way out, somehow managed to run even slower with the wind on the way back! Legs felt quite leaden but wasn't exactly over-exerting myself: pulse back down to 75 after one minute and down below 40 within ten minutes...

Starving.

Straight from the airport to the uni - the payback for day off yesterday!

Loosener.

A few drills etc on the pitches by the track to decide whether to do any reps, then
4x500m (approx) on the pitches - eased into it with 3:52/km, then 3:37-3:45/km
2x400m on the track - a bit harder in 86s then 85s (3:33-3:35/km)
2x200m on the track - a bit harder still, both in 37s (approx 3:05/km)

Left leg still not happy, today the quad was still a bit sore from Sunday (I knew this) but the top of hamstring/adductor was really sore too (didn't expect this). Decided it was just inflamed/niggly and still okay to do the session...

Niggle.

Missed the FVO session but managed a session of pilates plus some of the FVO circuits exercises in my hotel room.

Sufficient.

Staying at the Metropole so nice and handy for an out and back along the Grand Union Canal. Decided that 26.2km had a certain ring to it, it is also exactly 10miles short of the full distance.

Felt quite good once loosened off so ran a good pace, half-marathon from 3km to 24.1km in 97mins which is basically marathon pace +10% so okay given effort level and race yesterday.

Tightening up a bit at the end but still more encouraging than last Sunday! No more runs this far left to do, time to taper and try and get my dodgy muscles in as good shape as poss for the race...

Progress.

Event: City of London Race
 

City of London race, M40+

Started quite late with Martin W three mins behind and leading time just under 48mins. Kept it controlled through the Barbican early on and then tried to push on in the easier middle section. Got lucky at 17 when I was headed for wrong side of wall but found a way round that only lost me 30secs. Pushed it after that and quick through the first couple back in the Barbican, but leaving 21 and heading to the penultimate i hadn't seen Martin at all on the doglegs and thought I could run 47mins......so promptly rushed, got confused on the multi-level stuff, panicked and made it much worse, lost 90secs in the end and got there just behind Martin. He won by two mins and I went from 2nd to 5th on that penultimate leg. I should know better than that!

Was lacking confidence in my shape/pace beforehand so pretty pleased with how it went from that perspective, just wish I had kept my head a little better....

Fun.

Warmup jog etc with Martin including jog past entrance to penultimate control (if only I could have got to that point successfully..), warmdown trying and failing to spot MC finishing.

Token.

Too late. So dark by halfway that I had to pretty much walk down the hill. Which probably wasn't much slower than the riest of the run. Core more painful than for several weeks. Left leg, hip flexor, adductor all grumbling. Right achilles grumbling. Should have stayed at home.

Ugh.

Got back to Edinburgh airport just before 6pm and thought I really should go for a run. Tenderness in the quad gone but not quite sure how it would go - three days off should mean fresher legs but a bit short on sleep and good hydration over those days, and over stocked up on coffee and biscuits and sandwiches.

Parked up at work and headed to the Carse road, took a couple of km for my legs to get used to running at all but then started to get going. Felt okay so tried for 10km at marathon pace which I just about managed (42:02) - my quad is fine at a steady/good pace but definitely feeling the strain a bit when I stretch out further. Again I could run the pace but it was a bit tougher than it should be and I had to concentrate a bit too hard and keep looking at my watch so I didn't drift down to 10/15 secs/km slower.

Zzzzzz.

Up at 6am in Southampton. Meetings in Reading from 8.30am. Got to hotel in Bristol for 9pm.

Leg less sore so had thought of running but feeling pretty knackered from travel and lack of sleep. Luckily remembered the wise words of Marathon Talk "always give an injury another full 24 hours beyond the time when you think you are ready to run again", and went straight to the restaurant with a clear conscience!

Weary.

Down to Southampton to watch the one day international cricket. They did start eventually but that was a long time after we had tired of sitting in the wind and rain! On the wagon pre-Berlin so couldn't even pass the time with a few cheeky drinks :(

Quad still tender but seems to be settling down, happy to take a rest day instead of doing reps though. Even managed a much needed early evening nap when I got back to the hotel.

Holiday.

C • The wagon 4

Physio thinks quad problem is just a strain and not a big concern, hope she is right...
She followed up those positive words with the usual hip flexor/ITB stuff but also some seriously painful ironing out of both quads.
Needed a day off anyway.

Rest.

Some of them were easier than last week. Some weren't!

Late.

Still on one circuit which was fine by me.

Careful.

Supposed to be 37km with last 21km at marathon pace or thereabouts. A bit of a risk but now or never for a run of that length. Quad tightened right up when I picked the pace up and got increasingly painful, so had to back right off and jog back to car. Still painful a few hours later. Need physio to work some magic at lunchtime appointment tomorrow....

Ouch.

C • Fingers crossed.... 2

Due final long run tomorrow so just a recovery run today. Quad still niggling, need to be careful with it tomorrow.

Jog.

Wanted to do 24km but busy day at work and seeing a house at 7pm, just time for 70mins. Ran it at a decent pace and felt pretty comfortable doing so.

Pleasing.

Went to the uni for some reps, had forgotten the track would be in use by Central, so headed out to the Cambuskenneth road instead....

...for 8x600m with 1min jog recovery. Twinge in left quad still there but went ahead anyway and it seemed to survive okay, Didn't fancy risking it for the 4x200m I had planned at the end though.

Supposed to be at approx 5km pace and I guess they were (although a little variable - slightly slower on the farm track than the tarmac), but it was all a bit of an effort. Mileage in past week high by my standards but would have hoped for it to feel a bit easier.

Plodder.

Jog back and then round the loch. Met Rupert on his way to meet Ben who was at the Central training.