| Location: Tralee,Ireland Member Since: Oct 01, 2011 Gender: Male Goal Type: Other Running Accomplishments: I've never worn compression socks. Short-Term Running Goals: To do a race. Long-Term Running Goals: 1. Break the world record for the marathon in the 50+ age group, when I'm 50 in 2015.
2. Never wear compression socks.
Personal: Married with two girls (6 and 10).
The Qwer Old Fella's Marathon Method is a four year experiment.
The first year (2012) was about getting back into running, staying off the smokes and booze, while sticking to a healthy eating plan and shedding mountains of lard. All boxes ticked.
Year two (2013 - age: 48) Injured Jan through March. Build back up and work on my 5k speed. Goal 15:45.
Year three (2014) will be about doing my first marathon in the spring. (Just for the experience and on a tough course - maybe Tralee; goal time, 2:30ish.) Then begins the prep work for Berlin 2015
Year four (2015) is all about breaking the world record for the marathon in the 50+ age group - it's only 2:19 :).
The above might sound nuts; it is, but then I'm nuts. Please do not copy any of the training I do: if you do, you are likely to end up running like me - not a good idea.
The idea is to have a laugh along the way. If I fail, I don't know what I'll do - my whole belief system will crumble and I suspect that this little rock might just stop spinning for a couple of seconds. Jakers, I better not fail for all our sakes. That's some burden, even for SuperBam. Favorite Blogs: |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 33.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 33.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | Weight: 144.40 | |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.00 |
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3 miles easy out at Banna dunes. Great fun in the freezing rain - don't think Grace enjoyed it: I think in future when her old fella tells her to wear gloves and a hat, she might just listen.
The Banna dunes is a great place to train - loads of grass tracks and sand dunes; good for getting on soft surfaces and strength work. I'll be training there more often.
The leg was perfect. I'll get in a week of 5 milers and then start picking things up. The holiday is over... |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
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a.m. 5 miles easy along the canal.
Leg and achilles felt fine and dan-day; can't say the same about my heart and lungs - I was blowing like a harpooned whale. It's going to take a good bit of time to shift 14 pounds but I suppose as the weight vanishes the fitness will improve.
I need to have a little look at some goals and start scheduling some races - I'm not going to be doing 15 months of miles without any focus. I'm thinking that for the next 18 months I 'll work on my 5k fitness. Probably 6 month blocks. Hopefully each block will result in substantial improvements.
The 5k goal is 14:50ish by Sept 2014 - my little injury scuppered all plans of breaking 15 this year. So, I need to set a goal for Sept/Oct this year and March/Apr 2014. I was thinking, maybe 16 mins for Sept this year and then 15:30 for March next year (hard to do speed work in the winter because of the wind). 15:30 to 14:50 may seem like a big jump but I'll have a summer of track work, so I think it's possible. Once I hit 14:50ish, I'll have the necessary speed and foundation to attack the marathon:)
Of course, I'll only hit those goals if I can stay healthy. Staying healthy is a major part of managing the process... |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | Weight: 145.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
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a.m. 5 miles easy along the canal. Everything fine and dan-day.
Last night, I was doing a bit of the old English Lit. teaching stuff and I covered the 'unseen poem'. We went over the poem, Cold. I thought I'd share it with you as it is a beautiful poem that I suspect all of you will be able to tune into...
Carol Ann Duffy
Cold
It felt so cold, the snowball which wept in my hands,
and when I rolled it along in the snow, it grew
till I could sit on it, looking back at the house,
where it was cold when I woke in my room, the windows
blind with ice, my breath undressing itself on the air.
Cold, too, embracing the torso of snow which I lifted up
in my arms to build a snowman, my toes, burning, cold
in my winter boots; my mother’s voice calling me in
from the cold. And her hands were cold from peeling
then dipping potatoes into a bowl, stopping to cup
her daughter’s face, a kiss for both cold cheeks, my cold nose.
But nothing so cold as the February night I opened the door
in the Chapel of Rest where my mother lay, neither young, nor old,
where my lips, returning her kiss to her brow, knew the meaning of cold.
A simple sonnet with a majestical volte that comes in as late as the 12th line. But let's pick a random line. Ok, let's see - ah yes, line 6:
'Cold, too, embracing the torso of snow which I lifted up'
There's a kinaesthetic strain to this line that mimics the physicality of lifting the torso of snow. 'Cold, too,' - here, Duffy enacts, through the employment of two perfectly placed commas, the effort the child uses to lift the snow. The polysyllabic, 'embracing' simulates the arms wrapping around the snow, while the iambic syllables which follow, draw us into the energy of the line, as our eyes lift the snow with the child. But here's the spellbinding brilliancy of the poem: 'which I lifted up'. The enjambed line leaves our eyes straining at the end of the line with the snow in the air. We struggle under the weight as our eyes stare out across the cold, white, artic expanse of the page, looking for somewhere to plonk the snow. I could go on and on...
I wonder if Carol Anne Duffy could break 4hrs for the marathon. I very much doubt it:) |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | Weight: 144.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
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a.m. 5 miles easy - out and back along the canal. Although I'm finding these 5 milers a tad taxing, they are becoming easier. Should have watched what I was eating when I was injured. Oh well.
Well, well, well, come here and listen carefully folks, I've some big news that's going to upset you slightly - don't worry, you'll learn to live with it, eventually:)
Forget all that waffle your history teachers taught you about who discovered America; those teachers polluted your young minds with the worst type of jingoism. All of you are Irish. Yep, Paddy Krong; Paddy the schoolmaster Murphy (that's a given); Paddy Jardine - nope, you're not a Scot as you once claimed, you're Irish. Etc. etc. etc. And as for all ye colleens (girls), you too - Irish through-and-through.
How so? I hear you scream. My youngest daughter came home from school yesterday and told me that St Brendan discovered the New World. Now, I'm not going to sit here and explain away the history of the New World but I suggest you go look it up, that is, of course, if you want to know the truth.
From this day forth, across the proud nation of the United States of America, the 13th of March will now be known as Bam day. A holiday for all, where all must do a fine wee bit of a jig in their kitchen to celebrate the enlightenerer. For sure, 'twas Bam Himself who did only enlighten the good citizens of the United States of America.
sláinte:)
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | Weight: 144.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
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a.m. 5 miles easy along the canal. It's tough trying to run when you're fat!
Anyway, I had this great idea this morning. Guess what? I'm going to share it with you. It's the Tralee Marathon on Saturday and I've decided that I'm going to get out and about on the course and hide behind bushes and chuck stones at people as they run along the road:) Great fun.
Imagine Jake and Riley and the Kenyan fella deep in concentration. Jake smiling to himself - that drink that I pretended to drink from and passed on to them, will have their stomachs turning like washing machines in a minute and then I can stride away to glory:) Thwack! A stone in the head:) Great stuff!
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in the quasi real world of Bam, I was thinking about my goals and I've decided to alter my plans slightly. I might just try and break 3:30 for the marathon. Only joking. I'm going to stick with the 16 mins for the 5k in Sept and 15:30 around March time next year. But rather than pushing on for 14:50, I'm going to give the 2014 Cork Marathon a crack. I think I need to get one under my belt. Cork's a toughish course but it's not as hard as Tralee. There is one (The Killarney Marathon) that's a bit like all the Utah marathons but I couldn't live with myself if I ran it:). So that's it: aim for 15:30 for 5k by March next year and then aim for a sub 2:30 at Cork in June. Secretly, I want to break 2:28. The Irish record is 2:28:XX in the 45-49 age group. That would be cool, breaking the Irish record in my first marathon:)
After that, I'll push on and aim for the 14:50 as part of the prep work for going sub 2:20 for the marathon in the autumn of 2015. That's the new plan.
Of course, the success of the new plan is contingent on not getting caught this Saturday. I doubt I'd be able to train in prison:) |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | Weight: 144.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
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a.m. 5 miles easy along the canal.
Runners everywhere. They're clogging up the roads. Marathon mania has struck. What they don't know is that Bam went to the beach yesterday and got his Pebbles:)
I've never watched a marathon in real life - only on the gogglebox - should be exciting. If my throwing is accurate, I should take out most of the leaders. The race might be won in about 3:45. My guess is 2:32 - for a marathon, it's a very tough course and the weather might be pants!
Off to the expo to see if I can pick up some proper running shoes for my girls. They have tiny feet and it's a nightmare getting running shoes for them.
Somehow, I've put on a couple of pounds. Must be muscle - I doubt it. Now how many cakes did I eat yesterday? |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | Weight: 145.00 |
| | Comments(2) |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
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a.m. 5 miles easy along the canal.
Went out with Grace and my old fella to watch the Tralee Marathon. Great fun. The guy who finished 2nd was leading from the off and had over a minute lead on 2nd and 3rd at 17 miles and 5 mins on 4th/5th/6th. A chap in the 4-6th group pulled the leader back by 23 miles and went on to win. The course was brutal and people were caving all over the place. Well organised apart from some traffic issues and some cheating - people on bikes riding alongside runners and giving them drinks etc.
Not sure of the winning times but I think 2:37 won it! If only I had been fit, I could have run it backwards in 2:35:) |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | Weight: 0.00 |
| | Comments(5) |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 33.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 33.00 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | Weight: 144.40 | |
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