Sub 3h15

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Comments

  • GerardMGerardM ✭✭✭
    Yeah ... go go go DT! Look forward to hearing all about it! 

    OO - shame about that incident with your neighbour. Did you find out who it was? Hope you’re having a nice time down there and look forward to you visiting us again in the near future. It’s pretty much back to normal here now and races are starting up again. 
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    2.51.59! Big last 10k, 1.27, 1.24 splits. More later. 
  • SBD.SBD. ✭✭✭
    Excellent running DT and a well deserved PB.  Look forward to the full report.
  • TRTR ✭✭✭
    Well done DT, great work. Excellent progression, with more to come yet. Sub 2.50 in the Autumn. Well done for sticking at it through the winter.
  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    edited April 2021
    Waiting for the detail but sounds immense 
  • Ian5Ian5 ✭✭✭
    DT-Brilliant and well deserved result,from not running this time last year to that is amazing,well done.
  • G-DawgG-Dawg ✭✭✭
    Fantastic, DT!! So pleased for you, mate. The hard work has reaped the reward. Great time! Looking forward to the report.
  • Gul DarrGul Darr ✭✭✭
    Amazing DT. Great PB and a 3 min -ve split. Look forward to hearing the story behind that. Congratulations and enjoy the celebrations.
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    Thanks all, very tired but pleased now, enjoying a few drinks, as I may do for the rest of the next two weeks or so before I start again. 

    I'm looking forward to pulling a report together but it might not get done until I log onto to laptop on Wednesday. 
  • Awesome DT! I'm looking forward to that report. We've not had many of those of late!

  • JoolskaJoolska ✭✭✭
    I think you deserve several days of celebrations and RnR for that performance, DT19.

    I did my long run yesterday (18 miles at a surprisingly sprightly 7.59m/m.  Same route as last week's 8.17m/m.  Just shows you shouldn't get too hung up on the pace a run comes out at, I guess!).  A recovery run today (7 miles @ 8.34s) so that I can do my MLR tomorrow.  Tiny bit of work to do today but then going for a walk in the glorious sunshine with Mr. Jools.
  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    Thanks Ger. Yes a nice week here. No idea who reported us but most locals have been very friendly. 75 miles this week. Easy when you start the week with a marathon. Definitely time for a few easy days. I have an XC relay in 6 days (3k each leg) so a bit of speed will be the focus next week. 
    Enjoy the celebrations DT 👍

  • SBD.SBD. ✭✭✭
    Enjoy the down time DT.

    Some good mileage for the week OO - were you not feeling the effects of the track marathon!

    Good work on the 18 miler Jools - it's always good when they come out faster than you expected.

    A steady 11.25 miles in the late afternoon sunshine at a steady 8:09 pace.  Really nice day for a run and that's the furthest I've been for a few months.  Need to gradually increase this up to 16 over the four weeks.
  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    Yes SBD very tired legs today but just like your run the sun made it worthwhile. 
  • MsEMsE ✭✭✭
    @DT19 🙌🙌🙌🙌 outstanding effort and well deserved after such a consistent build up. Great to see the outcome of your collaboration with Lewis. 
  • JoolskaJoolska ✭✭✭
    A very steady 12 for me today in cool and blustery conditions. Right shin felt a little tight whilst running, although fine now, but I suspect tomorrow's planned rest day is needed, plus some careful foam rolling and stretching. Looking forward to a sports massage in about 10 days' time, too!
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    Sbd, I'm before you know it 16 will be a piece of cake. 

    Jools, I've got one booked in Thursday morning as a referral within my chiropractor clinic, where it's allowed where there's a medical reason. 

    Thanks, MsE. Looking forward to the next chapter now. 

    I feel bizarrely nowhere near like I ran a marathon 2 days ago. I've some moderate doms in my quads, mainly due to effect of alphafly but beyond that not even a mild ache or soreness. 45 mins gentle on the turbo this morning just to flush legs. Another rest day tomorrow and day off work then finally a recovery run on Wednesday.  
  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    DT not sure if you had both but why do you prefer Alphafly over next%- askingvfor a friend....
  • TRTR ✭✭✭
    SBD - you can easily step from 11 to 16 in a few weeks.

    Jools - hopefully a minor issue. The massage should sort you out.

    DT - probably a combination of running the 1st 1/2 well within limits and the super shoes protecting your legs.

    I did 20 inc 13.1m effort (av 6.42) saturday on my slighty lumpy hm route, which is only a couple of seconds a mile slower than back in the summer, on a pretty breezy day here.
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    edited April 2021
    I'm not sure there's much in it. If buying again, now that next% have come down to £209, I'm not sure I could justify the additional £50.

    If you stand and walk in each you can feel an additional push forwards in alphafly vs next %. 

    Interestingly on Saturday I saw very little alphafly about, it was next % everywhere. Very similar to seeing elite fields. I'm not sure the alphafly will stand the test of time. 
  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    Interesting. The Alphas seemed impossible to get hold of a while ago but freely available now 🤔
  • G-DawgG-Dawg ✭✭✭
    Keep up the Nike racer chat, guys. I will be treating myself to a new pair to use in London. I have two pairs of the previous model Zoom Fly and will either get the new model or treat myself to the Next% if I'm in good form in the summer.

    Rather than just sit around drumming my fingers waiting for DT's race report I thought I'd kill some time with a run.
    Popped out for a lunchtime 10 miler. Cold and windy here today so didn't bother with anything structured, just did a run to get my body used to going at MP. felt nice and strong even with the stiff headwinds. Averaged 6.50 with two annoying splits just over 7.00 due to traffic and social distancing. Good signs, though.
  • OO54OO54 ✭✭✭
    I almost bought a pair GD. With a discount code they are £189, about what I paid for inferior Nike versions. But with 3 of these lesser beasts in the box I showed some restraint 😉
    I'm on the track tonight back to club nights. Would under normal circumstances be very excited except its bliddy freezing out there...
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    If you've got the Nike app and a nike account you'll get a 25% birthday discount code making them £150. It's a no brainer then. 

    Gdawg, as soon as I get logged on tomorrow and clear all the e mails and urgent stuff that's appeared since last Wednesday I'll get it prepared. 

    Off for a run tomorrow. Never felt so good post mara. Only doms were in my quads and I'd expect that from the alphaflys anyway. 
  • Back on the track last night here too, and it was snowing. First time on a track since summer 2019, and probably first time ever in snow. 
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Dorney Lake marathon

    This is essentially the culmination of two training blocks interspersed by some significant time out from March-July last year with a stress fracture.

    I’d got myself in pretty good shape for London 2020 when injury and then COVID struck. With no real running March-June, as soon as I could I got myself training on the turbo I did. I started running tentatively early July, built up through August and was back to what would be considered normal training in September. I was pretty surprised how fast fitness not only returned, but then surpassed previous levels. I was doing nothing differently at all, except weight loss.

    In November I entered Dorney Mara and at that time races were happening and it seemed fairly probable it would go ahead. In December I took a late opportunity to run the MK half as I wanted to get a gauge of fitness. That went very well, on a difficult course, with a 90s pb. That was to be possibly the last racing weekend before lockdown.

    I continued to marathon train over winter, getting lighter and faster. At times it wasn’t easy knowing and being told by all commentators that the prospect of Dorney going ahead was virtually zero. However I was enjoying the process and my view was that providing I didn’t get injured, the worst that happens was the race was cancelled and I was fitter. Highlights over that period involve twice beating my 10m pb just on my routine Friday tempo run and a 10k TT in 36.11 smashing my 10k and 5m pb’s and smashing through sub 18 for 5k.

    In early March the Government tossed out a glimmer of hope with their announcement that organised sports could commence on 29th March. It still took UKA another 3 weeks to get things straight and I finally had confirmation the race was on just 9 days out.

    I got through taper week with only having to deal with the onset of 4 minor ailments/niggles which was quite reasonable. I had also been permitted by the organisers to change to the 11am start (3-4 hour runners) from the 9am start (sub 3) due to my 100m journey. This did cause me some concern as I was putting myself in a position whereby a solo TT was increasingly likely. But then I do all my training solo and on balance this was preferable to a 5am start to get there for 9am. They also allowed my wife to be a marshal for a few hours to enable her to drive me there and back and get around the ‘no spectator’ rules, so I can’t fault how accommodating the organiser was.

    The other point of issue was then settling on what mara pace was, in the absence of proper tune up races. It is sometimes all too easy to misread a 10 m training run as being sustainable over a marathon and having had two bad marathons I have a high degree of respect for the event. Ultimately my goal was to run under 2.55, beyond that was a bonus and I would look to use this as a platform later in the year in London. I carried out some research via Strava and was quite aware that my garmin would log this course as 26.40m Therefore my pace planning was around this distance. It meant I needed an average pace of 6.37mm, which frankly didn’t seem too much of an ask. I decided that I would start off 6.40’s and slowly eat into it so as to pass half way at 6.37 pace. I would then hold steady a bit longer then at 16m, it’s just a normal weekly 10m tempo so we go from there and wind it up. That was plan A at least!

    Arriving on race day conditions were reasonable. It was overcast and around 7c. Whilst I wouldn’t call it windy, it was breezy. You can’t really expect to run around a location like this and there not be some wind. The set up was good with the 9am and 10am starts underway which meant that there was only the 11am start folk hanging around and using toilets etc so no pre-race dramas. I got myself ready and was troubled by some mild stomach ache, which I put down to nerves and that did disappear as soon as we got going.

    I got myself to my pen about 10.55 and a couple of other lads came along, but it was difficult to know if they were deferred from the 9am start or were sub 3 hopefuls. I decided I didn’t need to know as I had my plan in place. Just on 11am they took us to the start line. This was kind of a bit random in that we were stood facing the start and told ‘there you go, start when you want’. It was a case of making your own decision as to when the pain and suffering ought to begin. Much like when I am preparing to start an interval session, it was a matter of the sooner I start the sooner it’s done, so I just got myself going.

    The course comprises of 4 full loops in a horseshoe manner, each being about 6.5m. Each full loop is also broken into 4 so that you run down one side, loop around the bottom, run back up the same side, run right around the top passed the start/finish area and back down and up the opposite side. I prepared myself well for this as for the last 8 weeks or so I have done all my tempos on a 1.2m loop, running multiple loops on a 10 miler.

    We set off towards the far side of the lake going over the bridge with the Olympic rings. What I didn’t know at the time until I had done a full loop was this was the harder of the two sides and of that particular side, the running downwards was to be the hardest part. The reason being was that on this side the wind had a chance to whip up a bit more force coming straight off the lake and the down portion was also raised a few feet above lake level making it the perfect height to feel the cross wind. Coming back up was closer to lake level so didn’t feel quite as exposed to the wind. On the opposing side the run down was at lake level and was quite well covered as it was quite a bit below the open area with a reasonably sized banking up to the return path. In addition on this side there was tree cover immediately before the lake and no lake to allow the wind to sweep off. So in essence what I ended up with was what I soon learnt to call the ‘hard side’ and the ‘easy side’.

    Anyway, back to the race…. I set off at the front of my start and then after about 200m a tall lad in a green vest came by me and went off ahead of me. I thought to myself, I wonder if we’ll meet again in the latter stages!! The nature of the course being up and down, you got to have a permanent check on where folk were compared to you as the race developed.

    The first few miles were pretty crap. I was struggling to run at 6.40s anywhere near as easy as in training. Of course as this stage I didn’t know I was running the hardest part of the course. There were quite a few people still on the course as well at this time as all the 9am sub 3 starters were still there. I persevered but after a few miles the demons were kicking it, ‘it’s OK you haven’t had a bad mara for a while’, ‘they can’t all be winners’ etc. I genuinely feared the worst. Then I thought back to London 2019 when the first 8 or so miles felt like a trudge and that sort of lifted me a bit. The first few miles crept by in 6.44, 6.37 and 6.38. By this point I was running back up the hard side and I realised this part wasn’t as hard. I also noted that my average pace was already at 6.40mm and was right on target.


  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    I noted that green vest had opened up a reasonable gap between us at an early stage and at about 4m a guy in a black vest came through and passed me. Again, I wondered what would become!!!

    As I came up and into the otherside of the loop things became easier again and I started to get my bounce with a 6.37, 6.34, 6.34 and a 6.39 essentially completing the first full loop. I also got a gel down at 5 miles. By this point the demons had passed and still not feeling as good as I had hoped (I think there is possibly a misconception with marathons that you ought to feel completely untouched by the pace in the first half or you are in trouble), the pace was feeling pretty easy now and if anything I was working to keep a lid on it.

    I would also add that mentally it didn’t feel like I was running a marathon as I was not counting to 26. After loop 1 it was very much a matter of counting down from 3. It was a bit disconcerting early on seeing mile markers for mile 25 when you are only 3 in but you get over that.

    Onto lap 2 and the miles kept ticking over, albeit I remained cautious however a systems check at certain points versus loop 1 and if anything I was feeling better than the same stage in loop 1 so my thoughts turned to ‘if I feel like this at this point in loop 3 then it’s on’. By this point green vest and black best were out of sight to the extent I didn’t really register them, albeit that by about 10m I noted they were both working together so black had caught green.

    At 7m I tried to take a revvies caffeine strip, however the work involved in opening it offset the benefit so I knocked those on the head after the first one. The next few miles just ticked by, there’s not much I can say about running up and down  in straight lines then around the top of a lake. They came in 6.39, 6.34, 6.37 and 6.35. By this point average pace was at the desired 6.37mm. I took my second gel at 11m and was well into the second loop and starting to believe this was going to end in something big.  I recall checking my watch at 13.15m and it had just ticked over to 1.27.00 so taking half way at 13.20 I probably made that in 1.27.20 with average pace smack on 6.37, with a 6.29 (slight panic I’d gone too fast) and a 6.37 to end the first half. A quick systems check and it was very much time to let the reigns go a little and see what came. I started a thought process along the lines of ‘that doesn’t give me much scope if I slow down latterly, I really need more in the bank’, then the newer marathon running version of me steps in and says ‘don’t be so ridiculous, we aren’t slowing down, we are going faster now’. I basically put all my money on my ability to negative split.

    As I make my way through lap 3 running down towards the bottom of the hardest part suddenly green/black vest appear to be coming back to me. At the turnabout point at the bottom the loop, (about 15m) I can see they are much closer to me and this is like a red rag to a bull, it almost drives me with energy, the thought that my race plan is going to work better than theirs. I take another gel at 15m and I can feel the boost from this.

    The next few miles, a noticeable creeping of pace is evident from my halfway decision with a 6.32, 6.30, 6.31 and a 6.30.

    On to mile 18 and I catch green/black vest. By this point black vest has already started dropping off green, he looks tired. I sit behind green vest for a bit as he’s about 6,3 however it’s slowing me down so I pull alongside him. He doesn’t want me to pass him and go off into the distance but he can’t do much about it. I think that brief period of ‘racing’ really engaged me and I feel like I am in a race now as I want to show the two of them how to run a marathon and I want to put as much between us as possible. At this point I am feeling the best I have all day and I know it’s just 8m at mara pace, something I do every Friday lunchtime.

    I am also cautious though as I know one hiccup could derail the whole thing so I am still telling myself, let’s just get to 20 then go. Miles 18 and 19 are the start of a consistent period of sub 6.30s with a 6.28 and a 6.23. A final gel at 20 and I’m ready for the last 6.

    The course was much clearer now as many of the 9am and 10am starters are done and also the wind seems to have dropped off. At 20 I continue to urge myself to show control to 22 then we go for it. Miles 20 and 21 come in at 6.25 and 6.28 and I am having the run of my life and I know it, yet it doesn’t seem any harder than the slower miles in the first half. This stride and pace feel right!

    Finally mile 22….oh OK let’s just rinse this now then! Straight in with a 6.16 followed by 6.24 and 6.24. By this point I am on the final down straight of the final half of the final loop and I know I’ll soon turn around for the run home. At 24.4 I look at the watch knowing there’s 2m left and some basic calculations tell me 2.52 is safe and 2.51 is a maybe. I am feeling euphoric at this point. Green/black vests are minutes behind me, probably wondering wtf is going on and I am just floating along. As I pass 25m (6.20), runners coming down the otherside are shouting me on and one tells me I look remarkably fresh. I didn’t want it to end and quite frankly if at 26m someone had told me there had been a cock up and I needed to go again down the otherside, I could have!

    I am debating now, when to really let go. Just keep it steady I tell myself, get to the 26m marker which comes in 6.20 and then I know I’m done and can start wrapping things up. I begin my sprint finish, knowing that there’s still the best part of 400m to go so it was important to not overcook it as I wanted to cross the line gloriously!! The line finally came and the final 0.42 was run in 6.02mm pace. I stopped my watch and I know this sounds odd but I was hugely disappointed to see 2.52.02 and I was convinced it would be 2.51.xx. It wasn’t until I got back to the car and checked the official results did I see 2.51.59, so another bout of joy came my way.

    Normally after a mara I need to fall on the floor and can’t move again. I felt pretty good here and was happy just stood and walking normally, chatting to a few folk. 5 or so minutes later green vest came in in 2.56.xx for his first sub 3 on his 5th mara. We had a good chat, mainly him trying to understand what the hell I’d taken to finish like that. Given we started together and we were together at mile 18, pretty pleasing to then come in 5 minutes quicker. Another couple of minutes  and black vest came in. He had also ran 2.56 in his first mara, but he started two minutes behind us. It’s almost a shame as black and green vest ran almost identical times, just 10s between them, so they could have ran the whole race together.

    Essentially I ran a 1.27/1.24 split with the last 8m at 6.26mm and the last 10k in around 39.40. I think there’s a reasonable argument that I was able to pace it that way because I showed it too much respect in the first 15 and could potentially have been braver and gone for 2.49. Ultimately though the A goal was sub 2.55 to bank a Berlin GFA and also a pb and London 2022 GFA. Job done and now I can perhaps take a bit more of a risk in an Autumn marathon.

    Below is the photo my wife took as I approached the finish line.

     


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