Is it time to expand the horizons

It is yet again that time of the year when the running season in Ireland begins in earnest. Running enthusiasts would have continued to pound the ground over the winter months.
Casual runners may have gone on hibernation during winter. Now is the time when both hardened runners and casual runners share the running tracks and open fields.
Running competitions spring out from every county and runners are spolt for choice. I have been there and done that.
How does one keep oneself motivated and eager to keep pounding the ground? One obvious answer is to set oneself a higher bar with each new season. Increase of distance and reduction of finish time are two obvious choices.
There comes a time when a person seeks further new challenges and thrills. Triathlone. For sure it is a giant leap from just a road pounder to a triathlete. Adding swimming and cycling to the equation is indeed a giant leap of faith.
Cycling and swimming are full-fledged sports in their own right which require years and years of skill building.

I am seriously considering the possibility of being involved in this hybrid sport. To show that I am serious, I have bought myself a bike and a neoprene swim suit given that it's not exactly warm in Ireland.

Maybe it is time to broaden those horizons. Who knows.

Dublin City Marathon 2010- Taming the Beast

 
Having failed to be part of the elite sub4 brigade in the 2009 edition of the Dublin City Marathon I dedided to give a go once again- with the same goal and maybe different tactics. I am glad that this time around I just about managed to finish just under 4 hours (3hrs: 55 mins).

2009 I was a marathon rockie and this year I though I might use a little bit of experience whic I gained from my marathon debut last year. The first time around I was not familiar with the marathon course and I found out the hard way! The course is relatively flat for the first 27 km. The next 8 or so km consist of  a series of steep rises which usually come at a point when most of us are barely hanging in there.


This time around I was familiar with the course and I knew the challenge that lay ahead. I had 2 options.

Option One
One option was to follow the experts advice, which formed one of the 20 tips form the Dublin Marathon 2010 Complimentary race Programme Magazine. The tip form the article entitled '20 Tips For the Road', adviced inexperinced racers to avoid running too hard from the onset bacause 'bad pace judgement in the fisrt half will be paid for in spades later on'.

Option Two
 Option 2 was for me to take-off at a relatively fast pace and then hope that by the time I hit 'the wall'Ii would have done enough to ensure that I finish within the set time.

Against expert advice I decided to go for option two. I must say I almost paid the prize for chosing this crazy tactic but at the end it worked. I started off at a relatively fast pace. I started the race  behind the 4 hour pace setters and I pushed on until I was neck to neck with the 3:45hrs pace setters from about 5km before the half way mark. I stayed with these guys for the good part of 10km. This was probably  my steadiest part of the race and it probably helped me with the ultimate goal. My legs and soul gave in at around 33km predictably so, I must add. The pace setters left me for dead and this was when the real struggle begun. I struggled to complete the last 9km and I was averaging between 7 and 9 minutes per km.
Clearly I was regretting why I did not listen to the experts advice. I just hoped I had done enough in the first 33km to ensure that I finish in less than 4 hours!  Luckily I had done enough for me to afford a pace of between 7 and 9 minutes per km for the last 9km.

My reasoning for not choosing option one was based on the fear that if I maintained a slower pace from the onset, one sure thing was that I was still going to hit the wall although this was likely to be at a further distance than in option 2. However my fear was that I would have been left with very little time to spare in relation to the distance left.

The race started off on a chilly October Morning and soon the temperatures picked up to a comfortable 12 degrees.

This year I decided to use the Nike+ application on the Iphone because of its easy to use features. The app worked fine for me. I will review the App in my next post. I also had the irreplaceble Garmin Forerunner 405 with me.

I must say the new powersongs that I added to my playlist helped me at least for the first 2 thirds of the race. The songs were relatively ineffecitive in the last 8 km of the race because I was beyond any form of motivation. I added to my playlist Shakira's Waka Waka (This time for Africa) and the evergreen Tina Turner- Simply the Best.

Getting Better with Age?

Dublin Half Marathon 2010

Today was the day for the last of the Adidas Lifestyle Race Series before the beast itself; The Dublin City marathon. Today I participated in the Dublin Half Marathon and I have to say I am encouraged by outcome.

On yet another record turnout, the Dublin Half Marathon saw a participation of something in the range of 8000 runners. And walkers. There was an occasional shower or 2 throughout the race and the temperatures ranged from 9 degrees to 11 degrees.
I did better than last year's race. I shadded off 7 minutes from my finish time Last year I completed the race in 1 hour 54 minutes and this year I completed in 1 hour 47 minutes.



Before i begin to congratulate myself for a job well done i need to ascertain if there were external slush environmental factors worked to my advantage this year.
Admittedly the weather was good for a race of this type though it was not so friendly to gadgets such as mp3 players, some sportswatches mobile phones and such other gadgets. It meant I could do a faster pace without the negative impact of high temperatures.

Today I decided to join the '2 hour' group instead of going for the 1 hour 50 minutes or better. I realised from previous experience that i  get my motivation from running faster among a slower group than running faster with a faster group. It probably defies logic but that's what happens with me and today it seems I was vindicated. The conventional wisdom should be that one needs to be motivated and lifted by running along faster runners. The classroom analogue would be a situation whereby a student is expected to do better if he is educated among brighter students. In my case it seems to be reverse. I preferred to see myself running past people rather than being at par with everybody.

I pulled away from the 2 hour pace setters right from the start and kept on going at a faster pace than majority of the people that I was with in my group. This motivated me and I kept at it right up to the end which resulted in me finishing 7 minutes faster than last year. I remember last year I struggled with the last 5km of the race.
Experience has also played an important part. Last year I was a Half Marathon Race rookey but this year i knew the route well enough and i knew waht to expect at each corner of the race coures.
I was particularly happy with my tackling of the ground elevations. I will not claim total ingenuity on these, and i should also point out that on 3 of the rises there were 3 guys from the Fitwest club or something whom i shadowed. they seemed to accelarate as they went up the slopes and slowed down normal level ground. They seemed to be very much at ease and it was quite clear that they were seasoned runners.  I managed to shadow them on 2 occasions but on the last slope they beat me for dust and I never saw them again!

I should also say my selection and timing of music worked well for me. My 'power songs' came at the right moment when I needed them most.
So while it looks like I am getting better with age the jury is still out there on this one.
  I collected all the data for the race with Nokia N97 Sports Tracker app, the Garmin Forerunner 405 and the new kid on the block, Iphone app, Nike+