So, I've been a little distracted over the last week with work getting very busy with a couple of new clients on board and we had to do a pitch proposal as well. After the cross country race I took a complete rest day on the Monday and followed this up with a recovery run the next day. I have wanted to get one last long run in before the race, so on Wednesday I did a 20 mike race prep run. The pace was good, average 7:31, with a spread from 6:50 - 8:10 min miles. I also tried my home made gel in the gel flask. The natural sports gels are made with agave nectar, dates, dillisk seaweed, salt and zest of lemon and lime. They are simply blended together before I put the mixture into a gel flask that clips onto the waistband of my shorts. The gel flask I got from zombierunners.com in the states and is made by ultimate direction. The gel flask would work perfectly with a processed gel but the homemade gel was bitty and so clogged the sports cap dispenser. I got the gel out by unscrewing the cap, and it gave me the required energy boost and tasted pretty good (against all odds!). The only other run of note from now to then was sundays's 10 miles with 7 at just under 6:50 pace, I often struggle mentally to hold sub 7 pace in training but this came easy enough. Happy days. After all this running, tapering came easy this week, and between work and homelife it was good to be able to take the foot off the pedal. Right now, I'm sitting on a bus on the way to the airport at 4:30am, we fly to bologna at 7. I'm feeling hopeful but not confident of a good run. I got loads of well wishes from other boardsies on my training log there.

This was meant to be the weekend of my final LSR (a 20 mile progression run) before the marathon. However, my club gowran ac, had asked me to run in the Kilkenny Novice Cross Country. I haven't run cross country in about 20 years and once i heard they'd give me a lend of some spikes for the race i agreed to run. I figure the race would help sharpen me for Florence and I could push the LSR out 2 more days without harm. So my long run on Saturday was replaced with a 13.1 mile run at 8 min miles around the stunning Jenkinstown Estate. It was really wet, mucky and hilly - but i got stuck in and really enjoyed it. I could have run more but darkness closed in and i had no torch with me.
Jenkinstown Estate
I awoke on Sunday feeling a little stiff from Saturday's run - but drove down to Kilmacow the village hosting the cross country in plenty of time to see the under age races (bringing with it flashbacks of awful teenage cross country experiences). The race was a short lap of a field followed by 4 longer laps to make 6k. As this was my first cross country race, i decided to start slowly for the first couple of K's and then see if i could pick it up from there. I quickly settled into 7th or 8th place and I ran with one of the lads from the team who had just done a 3:02 dublin marathon - after one small lap and one big lap we picked up the pace and moved through the field to take 3rd and 4th place. Very little happened after that - i was 20 seconds down on the guy in 2nd and my team mate dropped back a little. The course measured short on my garmin but my average pace was 6:18 min miles - so a great workout for two weeks time and a nice confidence booster to run a good controlled race again. We also won the team title and got presented with a cup..
Winners of qqCounty Novice

Sunday 8th November (20 days to go) With three weeks to go to florence, this is meant to be the start of my taper...but considering i missed 5 weeks of training I have decided to train right through to  13 days before and then taper from there. After Friday's tough 17 mile session, i took Saturday off  but Sunday was a stunningly beautiful day so I hit the  new "soon to be opened" road and did 11 miles in 1:20ish. Hangover completely cleared. In he middle of the session i did 4 X 1' pick ups (at 5:55 pace) but i could feel my ITB so had to back off immediately. Still, finished very strong with 7:05 miles and could have run plenty more. Monday 9th November (19 days to go) 6 easy miles with very sore shins in the pouring rain, a session to forget.

Thursday 5th November (23 days to go) I had an early morning visit to the physio this morning, I went to Tanya the daughter of Star the guy who had fixed my ITB a few weeks ago.  I think she was a little bit shocked by the state of my legs - but she is cut from the same cloth as her dad and it didn't take her long to get to the crux of the issue. It seems my good leg (the uninjured one) is now my weak leg and the injured one is now in good shape.  She worked both legs and i have to go back next week and one final session before Florence. Both my calves were sore afterwards but i struggled through 6 miles at around 8min mile pace that evening. Friday 6th November (23 days to go) I seem to be spending half my life on a treatment table these days - as yesterday i had my second of three acupuncture sessions with Neale Svenson in Enerqi .  Neale is an outstanding guy, and good to talking running with.  With a weddding on this weekend, it seemed best to try and get a good workout done on the friday so i could recover over the weekend. I have done no marathon pace running in the last 8 weeks so i decided to tryout a pretty tough workout that is Marathon Pace (6:50) over 5/4/3/2/1 miles with 2 min jog recovery.  I ran around the ring road in Kilkenny after parking my car at a nearby garage. I did out and backs over the same route  - i started / finished at the top of a half mile hill so I had to work hard on each one to maintain the pace The average pace was good 6:49 for all of them except the last one which was 6:40. I was very cold and sore afterwards and drove straight home to defrost in front of the fire.  I have started to think about a race plan and at the moment it looks like i will probably head out over the first 10 miles at 7 min pace (which will leave me 1 min down after 10 miles). I will then adjust based on how i feel. I've also decided to wear my brooks launch runners as the glycerin's are just too heavy over 13 miles. Off to a wedding now - so time to banish all running thoughts :-)

Work necessitated a rest day today as I was down in cork talking to a group of food science PHD's about brand development of Provon Revive, the talk went well despite the usual IT glitches. I had a follow up meeting in the computer science department on another project based around mass customisation of a B2B product. The IT consultant had this cool apple computer :-)

Monday 2nd November So far so good on the calf after the session on sunday. I prefer to do active recovery over sitting on my ass, so after work i hit the local GAA pitches for mind-numbing 3.2 mile run around the football pitches ankle deep in water, wearing a head torch and compression socks just to complete the look of madness. I was so slow and undermotivated that my HR didn't rise above 120bpm Tuesday : Temp Run I did a 5 mile tempo run today - my first in 8 weeks and it was tough. The aim was 5 miles around 6:30 pace but keeping my HR around the 170 mark. Splits were as follows: 6:33 (165) 6:34 (171 6:26 (174) 6:41 (175) 6:36 (176) Warm up and cool down of 2.8 miles - means a 7.8 mile total. The leg feels perfect after it.

Long Progression Run in Castle Park 2:13 With only 3 proper weekend workouts before Florence Marathon, i have to start making these count. I am balancing getting hard sessions done with protecting my still tender calf - so i decided to go to Kilkenny Castle Park to do these run. The park offers a combination of grass, gravel trail and tarmac pathways to run on, and there are plenty of loop laps available ranging from .5 mile to 1.3 miles. After last weeks 18 mile run (2:23)  i didn't want to push it any further today - just increase the intensity would do, so i went with a progression run split into thirds of 7:40 / 7:20 & 7:00. I tried to simulate the marathon as much as possible by eating the homemade pear and ginger energy bars and i brought water and dates. I decided to stop for 1min after each third to eat the dates and take on water. The garmin had a lap error after 12 miles which meant i had to reset - so my data is split between 2 session.  More importantly it lost signal going through the trees on the last mile of the middle set and the first mile of the last set of 6 miles dropping a .3 mile i had run. I have adjusted the pace for the error on the last set of miles - but not on the middle one. Set 1 6miles - Target : 7:40 (actual - 7:38) Set 2 6 miles - target: 7:20 (actual - 7:19) - i think the garmin screwed that one up to 7:48 final mile(?) Set 3 6 miles - target 7:00 (actual 6.3 miles in 43:44 = 6:58) - adjusted for loss of .3 mile on mile Really pleased with the session and next week i'll do a straight 20 mile at 7:20 pace run with 3 X 3 mile at MP. Afterwards I went home and watched the NYC marathon - which was a terrific battle in both the mens and womens races - before i cooked dinner for siobhan and the kids...The kids went to bed early - so we dozed in front of the fire watching a midsomers movie we had sky+'d.

1 small pear Handful of Dates or prunes Sunflower seeds Flaxseed Hemp flour Walnuts Fresh Ginger Sea salt Sesame seeds Described in the book as crisp tasting, they don't have that real sickly sweetness of shop bought ones, just after eating 3 and off for an 18 mile lsr so will report on efficacy later!

i use a really good running messageboard called www.boards.ie - one of the posters there goes by the name tergat who is involved in irish athletics, and he kindly doles out really precise advice on training that even flappers like me can understand. Here is a sample of his advice on marathon training

Marathon running is a big challenge. Covering 26.2 miles by foot at a good pace is not easy. To do the event well, one must have performed excellent training for several months. I do NOT believe in “surviving” a marathon, people should train for it the right way. Committed runners should prepare well five to six months prior to a marathon race, at least. The first two to three months should be focused on 5km-10k training. The last two to four months should be marathon-specific training. During 10k training, one should focus on consistently doing the types of workouts that lay the foundation for marathon-specific training. Ive posted some stuff below which I have put up here before. Re Long Runs you have to start with building time on your feet and can be a slow as you want. As you build to your target long run time e.g 2 hrs 20 mins, you can then add some quality to the end of the run. E.g 2 hrs easy & 20 mins @ Marathon pace. 5-6 weeks out from the Marathon you can do something like 10 mile easy & 10 miles @ Marathon pace. Let’s look at 10k training in more detail. In truth, there are many ways to prepare for this event but, in brief, two main approaches are viable: Approach # 1: Run moderate mileage every week and do plenty of faster paced interval, tempo, or varied paced speed sessions. By moderate mileage I mean ~110 miles per week for elite runners, ~80-90 miles per week for semi-elites, ~60-70 miles per week for “club” runners, ~ 40-50 miles per week for “local” runners, and ~30 miles per week for novice runners. Approach # 2: Run high mileage and do less fast running. By high mileage I mean ~125 miles per week for elite runners, ~ 105 miles per week for semi-elite runners, ~ 85 miles per week for club runners, ~ 65 miles per week for local runners, and ~ 45 miles per week for novice runners. You should not do long, fast runs during 10k training, even if you are doing high mileage. However, you could do many double day runs – two runs per day - to elevate aerobic volume. An elite and semi-elite runner using this method would run 90-120 minute per day in most cases. A club and local runner would cover 60-90 minutes of running most days (a weekly single run of 90-120 minutes is fine). A novice runner would cover 30-60 minutes of running most days (a weekly 90 minute run would be fine) and have 1-2 days of rest per week, too. It should be “balanced training.” It should be consistent and moderate in how much fast running you do. You should reach the end of your 10k training phase without fatigue, injury or malaise! Avoid the trap of racing too often: it would deplete your adaptive reserves. Use common sense and be patient. Never run “super-hero workouts” and be sure to take care of the little details like icing sore spots, backing off when you feel pain or exhaustion, eating right, and getting enough sleep. Remember, you want to be “hungry” to start marathon-specific training! Marathon Training is all about two words: Big/Long Workouts (Long Runs with quality included). It really is that simple. Whenever you prepare for the marathon, you need to do workouts that last a long time, twice per week. If you have a history of injuries or breaking down easily that may mean you should do only One Big Workout per week. However, most runners who do it this way find that the shorter, slower runs between the Big Workouts make all the difference in the world. Many runners have made comments about how good they feel doing Big Workouts because they aren’t running too much distance work between each Big Workout. That is, they are using a bigger variance between the important (key) workouts and the regular, every day, runs. For example, a club runner using a different training program might be running 10 milers every day between harder workouts but when using this Marathon Training method they run just 7 miles between key workouts. I’ve never believed that high mileage is necessarily the best way to train for marathons. Though mileage builds aerobic capacity, it is not specific. Big Workouts, on the other hand, are specific. They simulate the demands of the event. That’s the key! Big workouts vary in length or duration relative to a runner’s ability and experience, but generally “Big” means at least 70-90 minutes of continuous running. When you run more than 80-90 minutes three important elements of exercise physiology are improved: glycogen storing, fat burning, and shock absorption. This doesn’t even include the mental elements: relaxation while tired, concentration, and tenacity. Do take care to build up to Big Workouts slowly. Be sure to have a medical test before attempting any training schedule. It is assumed that you should be healthy and have no injuries. It is also assumed that you have built up to such workouts over many weeks and months. Examples (Each to include 2-4 miles warm up and warm down): -4 x 2-3 miles @ MP, jog 2 minutes between, then 6 x 100 @ 5k, jog 100 - 4 x 1.5-2 miles @ HMP, jog 2 minutes between, then 6 x 100m @ 5k, jog 100 I suggest that you pick one of three peaking plans: short, medium or long duration. Choose the one that fits your situation and needs. The short peak phase lasts 4-5 days only. The medium one lasts 8-10 days. The long one last 15-21 days. If in doubt, pick the middle one. Long runs are a critical element of marathon training, but it is important to back off the duration so that your legs won,t be too sore on race day. If you having been really pushing the mileage high and your long runs long, then start tapering the long runs about 4-5 weeks before race day. If you have been reasonable and not overextending yourself, your last long run can be 22 days before your race. I suggest cutting your long run by 20-25% on day 15 before your race and 30-35% on day 8 before your race. For example, if you have been running 20 milers regularly for a long run, then two weekends before your race run 15 miles only at an easy to moderate speed. Then, one weekend before your event run 13 miles at a Slow pace. Key workouts are an important consideration too. In the last three weeks, I suggest you do one mid-week workout that is a bit more speedy than your long run. The three key workouts I recommend in order of succession are as follows: 1) warmup, run 5,4,3,2,1 mile at Marathon Pace (be realistic), rest 2-3 minutes between each, cool-down; (if in doubt, skip the 5 mile rep) 2) warmup, run 5-6 x 1 mile at Lactate Threshold Pace, jog 1-2 minutes between each, cool-down; 3) warmup, run 2 x 1 mile at 10k pace, jog 2 minutes between, cool-down. So a typical week during Marathon buildup (last 12 weeks) may look like this: M- Easy 4-8 miles T- Easy 4-8 miles & 6*100m strides W- Big Workout as above T- Easy 4-8 miles F- Rest S- Easy 4-8 miles & 6*100m strides S- Long Run 2hrs + with last 2-5 miles at MP

it all seems so simple.