Posts Tagged ‘exhaustion’
Posted in North Bay, Paris Marathon, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, non-linear periodisation, training
Tags: energy gels, exhaustion, headland, marathon, North Bay, Northstead Manor Gardens, pain, Paris Marathon 2009, South Bay, training
After last week’s better than expected performance on the Sunday long run, I was actually looking forward to this Sunday’s long run – a leg-busting 22 miles.
Unfortunately, whatever helped me fly around last time wasn’t there this time. From the outset my legs felt really heavy and my muscles ached from the start. I had to stop about six minutes after starting to remove a stone from my shoe, so I took the opportunity to do some extra stretches as well. I warmed up after the first three miles, but my muscles never totally stopped aching.
The lap system worked well again. I split the run into two nine-mile laps followed by a third four mile lap to bring me up to 22, around the South and North Bays. Running this kind of distance reminded me of just how demanding distance running is. At the end I was racked with aches and pains, which continued all right through the rest of the day. It took me all Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to recover from the effort.
Finally I must comment on the weather. I’ve been rather lucky this year with the weather, with each long run falling on relatively mild Sundays. After completing my first lap, I took the decision to dump my running coat, hat and gloves at home and the bright, constant sunshine rewarded me. The chilly breeze reminded me it was still technically Winter, but it was what I needed on this long run.
Posted March 30th, 2009 by Simon
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Posted in North Bay, Paris Marathon, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, non-linear periodisation, training
Tags: black ice, cold, exhaustion, ice, North Bay, Northstead Manor Gardens, Paris Marathon 2009, Peasholm Gap, Peasholm Park, South Bay
A so-so week last week. I missed out on Monday’s scheduled session because I was so tired from the nine-mile run I ran on the previous Sunday, however, I made up for it on Tuesday when I rolled Monday’s session in with Tuesday’s.
This left me quite exhausted, combining a five mile run with 6×30 seconds fartlek period at the end of it, but I certainly felt better for it. Unfortunately on Thursday my exhaustion caught up with me again and I slept my alarm clock. Instead of getting up at five o’clock, I woke up around six, so by the time I had breakfast, there wasn’t enough time to get dressed, do my warm-ups and then do my scheduled run. So I admitted defeat and went back to bed, failing quite disappointed with myself.
I made doubly sure that got up for Friday’s training session, which was quite exhausting. I planned to make up Thursday’s miles on Saturday morning, but once again my tiredness one me over and I decided it was better to give myself a day of rest rather than punishing my body even further the day before my Sunday long run.
After all the tiredness which had ruined a few of my training sessions over the past week, I decided to take things easy on Sunday. I deliberately got up later than usual and took things slowly. It was probably best that I did, because Sunday saw the worst frost and ice of the winter so far in Scarborough. Even the steps outside my front door were covered in black ice.
That pattern was repeated throughout my twelve-mile easy run. I ploughed on through the first six miles, valiantly following my normal route, however, it became clear that running along the unsalted paths of Northstead Manor Gardens and Peasholm Park was more trouble than it was worth, due to the coverage of black ice. So once I made it through Peasholm Gap I decided to run the remaining six miles back and forth along the beach and on the promenade.
Posted February 16th, 2009 by Simon
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Posted in Dublin Marathon, marathon
Tags: Dublin, Dublin Marathon, Dublin Marathon 2008, Edinburgh Marathon 2008, energy stations, exhaustion, pain, the big one, the finish, water stations
As I gradually slowed down, the mile markers came slower and slower. I was still confident I could make my target time, though I realised that it would be close. Any thoughts of a faster time than that evaporated.
Running on what dwindling dregs of energy I had remaining, I made it to the next water and energy station between miles twenty and twenty-one. By now I was close to hitting the wall. I took on two bottles of water at this station, because I felt like I desperately needed it. This station was also giving out small packs of gummy sweets, so I took a pack for energy and as a distraction. I also took two bottles of water; I drank one straight away and held onto the other one to drink between now and the next water station. The fact I felt I needed to take on extra water in between stations was an indication of my condition at this point.
From that water station on Fosters Avenue, it was a short distance to the next turn left onto Stillorgan Road. Stillorgan Road is a major artery into the city, with two lanes in either direction, so once again I was unnerved by the roar of passing traffic. The marathon only followed that for a short while before it followed the slip road onto a flyover. I ate some of my gummy sweets at this point to try and distract me again, but it wasn’t really working. I did feel strange again running up a road where usually I’d be run over in a second.
On the bridge crossing over Stillorgan Road, there was a St John Ambulance station offering Vaseline, but I was already greased up enough. The marathon followed the slip road back down onto Stillorgan Road but I didn’t feel quite as disconcerted running on a main road this time, possibly because I was so tired and possibly because the traffic was coming towards me, rather than from behind me.
The next milestone was a water station on Nutley Road. I needed water and a toilet break, but I really didn’t want to stop, because I knew it would be extremely difficult to get started again. At this point I noticed the first rumblings in my stomach and bowels. All was not well down there, but I wouldn’t really find out about that until after the race.
Like I thought, I was in such pain, that I didn’t start running again immediately after leaving the toilet. I took a short walking start, turning the corner onto Merrion Road, then, to the shouts of encouragement from bystanders, I pushed myself into starting running again. I wasn’t tempted to take a longer walking break because I knew if I did, it would slow me down overall so much I would probably not be able to make my target time.
Whilst I was running the marathon, I didn’t take much notice of what road I was on, I just followed the markers which indicated the direction of the route. I believed that concentrating on running the marathon and monitoring my own condition was more important than precisely knowing the route. However, the disadvantage of this approach was that I was unaware of just how close I was to the city centre and thus the finish line. Had I known that, It would have been a fantastic boost. What it did mean however was that the marathon was working it’s way back north towards the city centre and the finish.
Merrion Road seemed unending. It was partly due to the fact I was so tired and in so much pain and also, like Crumlin Road earlier on, it was just a long, boring stretch of road to run along. I continually asked myself, “We must be getting close to the city centre by now”, but still the surroundings told me we were still in the suburbs and (I presumed) nowhere near the centre. I didn’t really realise that the marathon was closer to the centre than I thought until it turned onto Shelbourne Road. The road was lined with fewer trees, there were more shops on each side of the road and it was clear we were leaving the leafy suburbs behind.
Running along Shelbourne Road, I felt a small boost from knowing that we were definitely getting closer to the city centre. The closer the marathon came to the centre, the busier the streets became and the more the atmosphere changed to that of a bustling city centre.At about mile twenty-four, Shelbourne Road led onto Grand Canal Street, which led the marathon into the city centre, at last.
At the last water station, I grabbed a last bottle of water, but I think my body had had just about enough water as it could take, so I kept the bottle to sip along the last mile. A mile later, at the twenty-five mile marker, I passed Hollies Street, which I had run down some five hours earlier. I was so lost in concentration that I didn’t even notice that I was retracing steps from that morning.
I did have enough presence of mind, however, to look out for my support team. We had arranged to rendez-vous around the twenty-five mile marker on Fenian Street, so I was trying to keep a look out whilst not looking too far ahead. In the latter stages of the marathon when it was painful, I ran looking straight down at the road, because looking ahead I would feel overwhelmed by the remaining distance and get an unbearable urge to stop and start walking.
Running up Fenian Place, I caught sight of them lined up across the wide road. They all fiddled with their cameras and cheered me on. This was a massive boost as I was really feeling a bit low at this point. Catching up with them also meant that I was tangibly close to the finish line. Whilst they had a five-minute walk down Merrion Street to the finish, I still had a gruelling mile and 385 yards to run before I would allow myself to stop.
The marathon turned right onto Westland Street then left onto Pearse Street, which now seemed vaguely familiar from this morning. When the route curved around the grounds of Trinity College, I began to feel the worst effects of my last-mile push. I developed a throbbing headache which made my temples pound. I really just wanted to stop and collapse, just to give my feet and muscles a break from the constant pain.
There was a slight gradient on Grafton Street, but I was so tired and in so much pain it took a disproportionate amount of effort to get to the top and turn left onto Nassau Street. I knew I was so close to the finish now, but this street was deceptively long. Not just that, but my stomach trouble from earlier returned with that headache. I felt like the water was drinking may have been adding to the problem, so I threw away the half-full bottle and just kept running. Just before the final turn onto Merrion Square West, I had some stomach cramps, which would usually have stopped me from running, but I decided that being so close to the finish, I would just try and ignore them and deal with them after the finish.
I turned the corner and headed for the finish. Right up until a few metres from the finish line, I was scanning the crowds for my support crew and trying to get myself in a good position for the finish-line photographs they would be taking.
A few metres from the finish line, I looked at the clock on the timing gantry and it was ticking close to my target, so I mustered an absolute, desperate, last-minute dash across the line. I would have been gutted to find out, after all that effort, that I missed my target by such a close margin, but I needn’t have worried. I crossed the line as the clock struck exactly 5h30m00s.
As soon as I crossed the line I stopped running and started walking. I noticed immediately how soon I cooled down and I noticed again how cold it was. The worst thing I could have done at this point would have been to stop or collapse from exhaustion, not least because it would have been an obstruction but mainly because my muscles would have locked up and I probably wouldn’t be able to move at all.
I moved through the finisher processing on Merrion Square South, posing for my finisher photograph and then picked up my finisher’s goodie bag. Then it was time to attend to my stomach trouble. I think I may have drunk too much water during the marathon, which is what I suspect gave me the headache and stomach cramps, unlike Edinburgh where I felt I drank too little.
A good fifteen minutes later I left the finisher’s processing area and rejoined my support crew. They took some more photographs, then we decided to walk back to the hotel. Walking back along Clare Street, watching the rest of the runners finish, we saw the pint of Guinness pass us by. As for the Toucan, he and the pint became separated and the Toucan finished in a respectable sub-four hour time. Later I read that the man in the Toucan outfit was none other than the heir to the Guinness brewery fortune and the pint was his friend. Which is nice.
A few days later the official chip times were released which stated that I had met my target by completing the marathon in a time of 5h27m47s. I’m very pleased with that. It is also exactly one hour and one second faster than my previous personal best, set in Edinburgh.
Without doubt, the Dublin Marathon was one of the best, most enjoyable things I’ve ever done. It is the best marathon I’ve ever run, in terms of time and strategy. More than that, however, was the atmosphere. Dublin is called the “Friendly marathon” and after running it, I can definitely see why. At every stage of the race, there was always someone prepared to shout some words of encouragement, even if it was just someone who was passing by.
I was so impressed by the marathon and I enjoyed it so much that I think I may do it again next year. Perhaps I might even try to break my PB again.
If you’re wondering about doing a marathon, just get out there and start training. The high for me didn’t come until a day or two afterwards, after my achievement sank in, but when it does, it’s an incredible feeling.
Posted November 16th, 2008 by Simon
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Posted in Dublin Marathon, marathon
Tags: Crumlin, Dublin, Dublin Marathon, Dublin Marathon 2008, energy gels, energy stations, exhaustion, half-marathon, Merrion, Milltown, pain, Terenure, the big one, Walkinstown, water stations
Miles fourteen – eighteen were probably the highlight of this marathon. The running was mainly through pleasant tree-lined suburbs with plenty of supporters and onlookers. I was pleased to see how some Dubliners had taken the spirit of the day to their hearts and made the event into a kind of street party, bringing their hi-fis out into the street and pumping out “motivational” songs like Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger.
Another person further along had done the same thing but he was playing some rousing classical piece which I didn’t recognise.
Passing the water station at mile fifteen felt like a proud moment. even though I felt a bit tired, I still felt like I was powering through the miles and the more I compared my performance to Edinburgh, the better I felt.
Running down Kimmage Road West, the Toucan and the pint of Guinness caught up with me. The toucan appeared to be in fine shape, but the pint of Guinness was looking a little more worse for wear. Taking a sharp right-turn onto Fortfield Road, the toucan overtook me and charged off. “We’ve been overtaken by a toucan!”, another runner quipped. The pint of Guinness fell behind me again though and I didn’t see him again until I was walking back along the finish line.
The marathon reached it’s most southerly point at the bottom of Fortfield Road, then took another sharp turn onto Templeogue Road. This was another rather nice section of the race, running through plenty of greenery opposite Terenure College. I had been taking my energy gels regularly and so far all that training I had done was paying off in spades. However, the furthest I had ever run in my training was fifteen miles, which I passed on Fortfield Road. I was into unknown territory here.
Between miles sixteen and seventeen, I started to get a nervous, empty feeling. It was basically my stomach telling me that I was running out of energy. I felt like I was free-wheeling, running on empty, until the next water station. What I needed was to take on more energy, but I was still a fair way from the next water and energy station.
It wasn’t until I was half-way down Milltown Road on mile eighteen that I got to the energy and water station.I didn’t realise how tired I was until I slowed down to pick up some water. Since they were also giving out energy drinks here, I decided to take one of those too. I had my hands full trying to take my energy gel whilst also holding onto two bottles, but eventually ate and drank them all.
From here the hard slog began. From this point I felt like I was really flagging and my tiredness seemed to be washing over me like waves. It was relentless. I knew I couldn’t just run through this like earlier though because I didn’t feel like I had the extra energy to give. There was nothing left over, none to spare. I felt like I had just enough to get my round. The relative “easiness” (and I do mean relative, because marathon running can never be described as easy) of the past couple of miles was a thing of the past.
From here on, it just got harder and harder and harder. I only had six miles to go, which was a standard easy distance during training, but now it seemed like someone had asked me to run another thousand miles. My feet were starting to burn and my leg muscles were starting to ache so badly it was difficult to distract myself from the pain. I couldn’t ignore it by eating sweets or anything else, it was a constant reminder, always there, nagging me.
The worst thing of all was that I knew none of this would be getting any better until way beyond the finish line. I was actively punishing my body, pushing it beyond its limits and it wouldn’t let me forget it until at least a few days after the marathon.
Posted November 16th, 2008 by Simon
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Posted in Dublin Marathon, North Bay, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, training
Tags: 11 miles, aches, agony, Dublin Marathon, energy gels, exhaustion, headland, marathon, North Bay, pain, pains, Peasholm Glen, Peasholm Park, Sea Life Centre, six miles, South Bay, The Royal, tiredness, training
That might seem a tad over-dramatic now, but I assure you my Tuesday training run was, literally, agonising. After a days rest from my Sunday long run (of 11 miles), I began the weekday schedule by doing the usual six miles. The first mile was hard, but then it always is, as my muscles warm up to optimal operating conditons.
Then the second mile was just as hard. Usually, it gets a little easier, the aches and pains wear off and I can concentrate on running the distance. Not today. It just got harder and harder. I was running my normal route of going round the headland, around the South Bay, back around the headland and along the North Bay and through the parks. When I reached the Sea Life Centre, I almost stopped as I turned around to head towards Peasholm Park, but I knew that if I stopped it would be twice as hard (and painful) to get going again.
So I struggled on, plodding away trying to ignore my aching leg muscles. By the time I was a short distance into the Peasholm Park leg, on the final mile of my route, I gave in and started walking instead. It wasn’t just my legs that were being tortured – my feet were on fire!
From there I walked the rest of the route. As I emerged from Peasholm Glen, I was started by a tremendous BANG! from the other side of the lake. It took me a few moments to realise that it was a television crew who were filming an episode of The Royal.
The exhaustion of this run has once again made my doubt my ability to run the marathon in my target time of 5h30m and rudely reminded me of just how hard and difficult running a marathon is.
Posted October 2nd, 2008 by Simon
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Posted in Dublin Marathon, North Bay, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, training
Tags: Burniston Road, eleven miles, energy gels, exhausted, exhaustion, headland, Holbeck Hall, Holbeck Hill, Marine Drive, Peasholm, Peasholm Park, Ramshill, Ramshill Road, Scalby, Scalby Mills Road, Scarborough, Sea Life Centre, South Bay, Valley Road
One of the scary things about training for a marathon is how the training schedule can creep up on you. For months now, It feels like I’ve been doing the preparatory section of my training plan. Now there’s a steep, sudden increase in mileage, it’s taken me aback a little.
For this long run around Scarborough, I created a new route. From the end of my usual route at the bottom of the South Bay, I then diverted up along a coastal path which leads me out onto a car park near to where the Holbeck Hall hotel famously collapsed in 1993.
From there my new route turned right onto Holbeck Hill, following that road until it meets Ramshill Road. Then the route continues down Ramshill Road until it joins Valley Road at the roundabout there. Then I diverted up Valley Road for about a mile before turning round to rejoin my usual route. The route follows my usual route around the headland and Marine Drive all the way up to the Sea Life Centre, where my route deviates from the usual again, heading up Scalby Mills Road.
I’d follow that until the junction with Burniston Road, following that down to Peasholm Park, where I would rejoin my usual route again until the finish.
I started late, because I forgot my energy gels, which didn’t put me in the best mood. This also meant I was starting later than I wanted to which in turn meant that I would have to dodge all the Sunday walkers who would get in my way.
The first three miles were run of the mill. The first shock came when I got to the end of South bay and began running up the coastal path. The trouble with aerial maps is that they don’t display terrain elevation very well, as I discovered. It was so steep, running became impossible and I had to walk most of it, which was exhausting in itself.
After I’d climbed that mountain, running along Holbeck Hill was comparatively easy. I passed the six mile mark whilst running along this road and was surprised at how “easy” this run was so far. From there on it was all fairly normal, run of the mill running.
The fatigue only really started to hit when I got to the far end of my route, going up onto Scalby Mills Road. Around this point I started to feel a boost from the second energy gel I had taken earlier, but it was still tough. Turning on Burniston Road I headed down to Peasholm Park.
This was where I really felt exhausted, as Burniston Road is a lot longer than it looks on a map! Finally, though I made it to Peasholm Park and completed my run after that.
That was a really exhausting run and I was left panting for breath when I finally stopped.
Posted September 28th, 2008 by Simon
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Posted in Dublin Marathon, North Bay, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, training
Tags: Aquarium Top, blisters, Dublin Marathon, Edinburgh Marathon, energy gels, energy supplements, exhaustion, five mile, headland, nine mile, North Bay, Peasholm Park, Scarborough Spa, six mile, socks, South Bay, training
This week has been mostly about allowing my blistered feet to recover. So on Tuesday I did an easy five mile run. It should have been six, but I knocked a mile off to help prevent blisters from occurring again. It was tiring, but well within my capability again.
Fortunately, my feet seem to have adjusted to my new socks and I didn’t get any new blisters from that. So continued on Wednesday with a six-mile run, along the usual route, which was again, very tiring. I decided that in order to meet my target time of 5h:30m, that I would not train on Thursday or Friday, but instead give myself a chance to rest before the long runs of the weekend.
It was surprising just how much I missed running after just two days. When you get used to running five days a week, having a day or two off really becomes noticeable. On Saturday I did another six-mile run along the usual route which was again moderately tiring.
Sunday was a day I was looking forward to, but with a certain apprehension. Sunday’s run called for a ten-mile run – the longest yet in my training for Dublin. On each subsequent Sunday the distance will increase dramatically – next week is 12 miles, the week after 14 miles and so on. This means I’m finally moving out of the mild build-up section of the training into the hardcore fitness building section.
My route for this fairly epic nine-mile run took me from my usual starting point, around the headland and across South Bay to the Aquarium Top roundabout. From there I continued on towards the Spa and ran about as far as the old Victorian sea defences stretched, which is basically where the South Bay finishes. Then I ran up and down a gravelly hill and re-traced my steps all the way back to the roundabout, where I ran up Valley road, passing under Valley Bridge. A few meters after that I turned around and headed back towards the roundabout.
From there, I ran all the way back along the South Bay, around the headland and followed my usual route to the finish, where I started from. I had set out fairly late, having forgotten several things, including my energy gels, which I would use for the first time whilst training for the Dublin Marathon, which put me behind my desired start time, so by the time I was running back along the South Bay, the streets were getting fairly busy and I had to a lot of weaving and dodging, which I don’t like doing because it breaks my concentration.
I wasn’t feeling very tired at all at that point, but then I had only done about four miles. By the time I was running around Peasholm Park, with eight miles behind me, I was really feeling it. I’m talking serious exhaustion here, almost slowing down to walking pace. However, I didn’t let a little thing like fatigue stop me, knowing how i’ve suffered much greater exhaustion when running the Edinburgh Marathon, I could handle this. It wasn’t pleasant, but I stuck in there and made my home, an hour and forty-five minutes after I set off.
Posted September 22nd, 2008 by Simon
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Posted in base training, training
Tags: Effort, exhaustion, headland, North Bay, Peasholm Glen, Peasholm Park
Effort was the theme of Monday’s run. My base training schedule called for a 45-minute jog at moderate pace. After a fairly easy 30-minute jog on Saturday, I felt this outing shouldn’t be too different. The sea was unusually rough and the weather was more appropriate for a blustery January morning. I decided to change my usual route, running around the headland and back again, as every wave that came in crashed on the promenade, making it far too dangerous to run along.
The main disadvantage of running round the headland is that it is exposed. On the way out, the wind is behind you and gives you a welcome push, but on the way back towards the North Bay, the wind is against you. This can really slow you down when you are already tired enough from running. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted July 23rd, 2008 by Simon
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Posted in Leeds 10K
Tags: exhaustion, Leeds, Leeds 10K
From here on in the run was fairly standard. I was expecting the field to thin out a little the further up the pack I moved, but with approximately 11,000 runners competing, there was sign of this happening. I had deliberately tried to keep to a natural pace and not go too fast. After I rounded the turning point at Claremont Crescent, about half a kilometre after the halfway point, I decided to really let my legs open up and start running, rather than jogging.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted June 25th, 2008 by Simon
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Posted in Edinburgh Marathon, marathon
Tags: Edinburgh Marathon, endurance, exhaustion, finish, Linkfield Road, mile 25, mile 26, Musselburgh, personal best, Prestonpans, Ravensheugh Road
The final few miles were probably the hardest running I’d done in the entire marathon. I don’t know where I got the energy to keep running after so long on my feet, but the fact that the pacemaker car was stalking me as we passed the power station near Prestonpans was probably what forced to pick up the pace and just keep running.
As I passed through the energy station on Ravensheugh Road for the second time – this time, thankfully, going down hill – I was encouraged again by the prospect of only two more miles to go. Running past mile 25 was a psychological milestone, because it meant I had only one mile left to go, then 385 yards to the finish line. I knew the finish line was close, even if my legs were complaining that it was still too far away! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted May 30th, 2008 by Simon
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