Dublin Marathon 2012

Last Monday I ran the Dublin Marathon as one of the 3:30 Pacers.  This wasn't a planned day out but an unexpected opportunity which I'm glad I took.  Being so soon after the 24-hr World & European Championships I was unsure if it was a good idea as the added responsibility meant I couldn't just go with how I felt on the day and would be required to run and finish as planned.  The brief was to finish in 3:29.30 and my finish time was 3:29.17 as per the official results so it was almost perfect.

Dublin Marathon 09

I'm still taking it kind of easy and gradually easing myself back into a training routine with my next definite plan for this year being a sub 3hr Marathon in the Dublin City Marathon this coming October.  Training should be a bit easier this year now that I have some company for the bulk of my training runs as there's a few lads from the club (Le Cheile A.C) training for the same goal.

Training proper will start on Monday 22nd June which will leave 18 weeks to prepare for race day and between now and then I'm training on average every second day.  I've prepared a blank template which includes a list of races and goal finishing times which we will use to measure our progress and between the group we will work out a plan that will suit us all as much as possible.

The best training plan is one that fits around your life rather than trying to fit your life around the training and listing key races in advance can help avoid possible conflicts of interest.

My finishing time for Dublin last year was 3hr 00min 30sec and because I've kept a detailed diary i'll be able to compare my progress this year with my training results from last year.

So far this week I've ran 3 times which included a 13 mile run with Tony today at 7:30 min mile pace.  When training alone I use my Heart Rate to determine effort but the compromise when training as a group is to use a pace thats comfortable for all involved.

Starting Back

Started back running last week with a short easy run every second day of less than 6 miles keeping my Heart rate below 150 bpm and finished off the week with a short track session of 4*800 Metres.  As expected I found it hard getting back into a routine so I got my son to cycle with me which helped keep the pace easy and it also gave me a reason to get out. 

This week i plan on increasing the distance and including one faster paced run.  My long term goal for the moment is the Dublin Marathon at the end of October and short term goals are a series of races planned for the Phoenix Park starting with a 5 mile race in July.