adidas dublin marathon 2008 - the recovery

Latest report from Joan Geraghty, author, 'Anyone can run' and now double marathoner

The frame of mind I went in to Dublin Marathon 2008 was so bad I don't know how I did the thing at all. But now, two days later and recovering well from the outing, I am completely overwhelmed at how well it really went for me. My time was no better than Connemara - two minutes more actually at 4.16. But that to me is irrelevant. The time didn't matter to me this time around at all. I wasn't focused on achieving any great result, other than just getting the damn thing over with. So in this context, it is amazing I managed to come so close to my first marathon record - which I was so thrilled with back then, in April 2008 at Connemara.
The reality is, for Dublin, I didn't even wear a watch. My usual running watch that I wore right through my training, packed up the week before Dublin and I decided that was a sign that I shouldn't focus on time this time around at all - so I didn't. And it was such a great release not having to look at my wrist at every mile marker and figure out my speed. Of course there were so many other runners commenting out loud on their own times that I did have a general idea how I was doing, but from around mile 20, I cut away from this stream of information as I basically went on strike and started walking.
Before getting to that point though, I can honestly say that from the outset, the Dublin marathon wasn't bad at all. I turned up at 8.30am or so on the freezing but wonderfully dry morning that it was, queued up for a portaloo in my quest to steady my nerves and then lined up alongside other runners waiting for the off. The atmosphere was electric. Everyone seemed to be in great form, looking forward to the run. I myself felt at odds with the happy anticipation. My own feeling was entirely one of dread. I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to be doing it. I was going to psyche myself up to just run my way through the damn thing and get it over with but when it would be over with, I would be so, so relieved. The big problem with this though was that I still had to perform. I still had to get out there, take my place among the 11,700 other runners and get in to their groove. I had to ignore my real mental state and create a fictitious new one that fed me the line that I was doing this because I wanted to do it, because it was a beautiful day, because I was blessed to be alive, to be healthy and whole in body, because I could, should and would. Lots of hurdles there!
The day before the marathon I did write one last blog entry, outlining just some of the negativity I felt, although I didn't post it here because I felt too embarassed about being so downbeat. Now that it's over though and went so much better than expected, I'll attach it here, as much for my own reference as anything. So it went like this.

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"It’s the day before the Adidas Dublin City Marathon 2008 - 3pm in the afternoon. I’m booked in to my hotel room and feeling a serious case of the trots coming on. Nervous doesn’t describe how I feel. I’m dreading tomorrow. Unlike my first marathon, a mere six months ago in Connemara, where I was bouncing off the walls anticipating the event, this time, I’m in complete denial. It’s like it’s happening to someone else. I’ve hardly even spoken about the damn thing - even though it’s been looming over me like an avalanche waiting to happen for months now. The big problem has been my training. It’s been disastrous. Follow that up with the worst case of negative thinking ever - and you’ll understand that it really is madness I am doing this thing.
So why am I persevering with this Dublin marathon mission? Well, for a variety of reasons I suppose. First of all, like many people, it’s a goal I set for myself that I want to fulfil. Secondly, I committed myself to doing some fund-raising, in order that I wouldn’t be able to dig my way out of it. Thirdly, it’s a first for me - in that it’s my first ever Dublin marathon - and the way I’m feeling about it now - most likely my last. Dublin means something to me. I spent over 10 years of my life here some years back and I still love coming up to the ‘big smoke’ and getting stuck in to its frenzy of life. It’s our capital city and such a brilliant place. It feels patriotic to be lining up to do its marathon so the whole thing has major resonance that way.
Writing all this makes me feel more positive than I have been feeling about the Dublin marathon for a while. Now I’m here, I’m thinking I may as well get on with it and just give what I’ve got. The negative thinking though has a load of weight behind it. So much seems to have gone wrong with this goal and while I don’t intend to dwell on this side of things after tonight - I’ll just list them out now to try and unload my burden!
OK. So basically it all comes back to the poor training. Around half way through the build-up to my distance runs, I felt the gloss go off my running. It was like, suddenly all the fun disappeared. Keeping to a schedule became a chore. The first 10-mile run was a pain in the butt. I wanted to stop after about 30 minutes but felt obliged to keep going. As the weeks went by that same sense of obligation deepened. I felt I was being forced to do all the running, which soon became, to my mind, bloody running.
I know now exactly what went wrong. I signed up for a second marathon way too soon after my first one. It was a crucial mistake and one I felt too duty-bound to follow through on. I should have given my body much more time to recover from Connemara. Instead, I dived right in again, without thinking it through.
My nervousness now is due to the fact that I never did cover the right distances in my training. Over the last few weeks, I did try to get in a 2.5 hour and 3 hour run, but in reality, I never completed a proper one. I did stay on the roads once for 2.45 and again for almost 3 hours, but on both occasions I stopped several times along the route and basically, just went on strike. I was hating every minute of it. It all felt so wrong. It still feels wrong that I’ve put myself through this and intend to go the whole way tomorrow (I hope). But I just feel there’s no way out of it.
So for the last month or so it’s been like living with the enemy. My inner voice has been constantly negative. I’ve left the house to do my training runs in the worst possible frame of mind. Hating the chore ahead of me. Some runs felt OK, most felt crap. I didn’t want to do the damn things.
The result is I’m going out tomorrow with a sense of incompletion and lack of preparation. I never really managed more than 15 miles in one outing and I also suffered like hell after that and could not have gone a step further. That was about six weeks ago. I”ve done nothing over 12 miles since. So that leaves me terrified that I’ll hit the wall real early tomorrow. On top of this, I’ve been feeling awful physically the whole way through too. My left hip has been killing me every time I run for weeks now - forcing me to keep the runs short anyway. Also my right hamstring starts hurting at around 10 minutes in to every run. And this week, I’ve got a head cold that has my head throbbing and my throat closing over. Add to that shallow breathing and a general sense of being unwell - and you’ve guessed it. I’m in a complete sorry-for-myself-hopeless state of mind. There’s a lot to work on between today and tomorrow and please God I will somehow manage to somehow put a positive spin on things and get my head around getting my body around tomorrow.
So there you have it. How not to prepare for a marathon. The only good thing about tomorrow being October 27th, 2008, is knowing that by October 28th, 2008, it will all be over for me, one way or the other. Roll on."

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Now, how bad was that?! And how did I perform so well, in my own terms, in that context?
Well, that's what is preoccupying me right now. Yesterday I was just so zonked from the huge mental as well as physical strain from it all, that I couldn't really think about it. I slept very little the night before the marathon, and very little again the night after it. My brain was just bursting with it all. First the pressure, then the massive relief, followed now by disbelief. I was also meeting up with friends, and had one interview to do for my new book, and then had a four-hour car journey to drive. So I was utterly on overload and couldn't really switch off until now, after arriving home, giving the kids their little gifts and doing the requisite show-off tour with my medal. Fortunately, I settled right back in overnight then as I slept the sleep of the Gods. The kids are on holidays so the house is nice and quiet in the mornings and we all slept right through to 9.30am. Fantastic.
So here I am now, well rested, upbeat and genuinely starting to feel the runner's post-marathon high coming in. I just feel so happy now. The relief that it's all over is still so sweet but more than that, to my own surprise, I'm just loving how well it went for me, how good my body feels right now and how well I'm recovering physically. After Connemara I suffered for days. The first day after, I really couldn't walk. My legs felt just so awful, so hurt after it all.
This time around I kept myself so much more active directly after the marathon. Instead of hopping in to a car, I had to walk back to the hotel, a good 2 miles away. Actually, I passed the hotel at mile 24 of the route and it was no joke trying to resist the pull to go in there and then. But I was really looking forward to walking back there again after the marathon, knowing I wouldn't have to run anymore and that it would help me iron out my legs after all the heavy running work. And it really was so effective. That walk back was as good as anything. I had so many other things going on as well, I was numb through with the cold and staggeringly hungry. So other than getting back to the hotel, I had no time to do stretches or anything else.
Once I reached Merrion Road, I was met with the sight of hundreds of other marathon runners making their way through the last few miles of the course. I don't know why I was shocked to see people still running. I just thought because it was all over for me, it must be all over for everyone, but of course it wasn't and I so felt their suffering, their pain. And there I was, that annoying woman, swinging her medal around her neck, so self-satisfied that it was all over. So sorry to those who saw me! I wasn't intentionally crowing! I just think the day you win a medal is the day you wear that medal and I hope that seeing the medal even spurred some runners on to getting to the finish line to claim their own.
Anyway, I could write and write about the Adidas Dubln Marathon 2008, how fabulously well organised it was, what a beautiful, cold and dry day it turned out to be, what a display of runners and bodies from all over the world were on show and all the quirks of the running world that you see in such an event - but I'll leave it there for now. I've my new fitness book to finish first and my the first edition of my new fitness magazine website here, fitnessjunkie.ie - to complete so need to turn my attention there. First of all though, I need a good breakfast and the kids are circling for attention.
So bye for now but how great, how very great that Dublin Marathon 2008 is over and went so well for so many. My last thought on the matter for now is that I can see myself running another marathon again after all. I never thought I would be writing that two days ago, but there you go. And next time, I know I can do better - four hours easily!!!!

bye for now.
Hope Dublin went well for all you other runners out there. Make sure to get back in the saddle asap.

adidas dublin marathon 2008 countdown

Latest report from Joan Geraghty, author, 'Anyone can run' and trainee marathoner

Woe is me. I’m still struggling with my running training for the Adidas Dublin Marathon 2008 - taking place in a mere four weeks from now - less even! Where on earth has my endurance gone? All I know is that this goal is definitely not the right goal for me now. My head is just not in this space at all and all I want is to get it over with and move on to focussing on other fitness programmes I’m mad to get on with. Marathon running just isn’t doing it for me anymore. OK. I’ve only run one so far but I’m nearly there for number two and I very much doubt now I’ll be signing up for no.3 anytime soon. Of course you never know. I might get such a high if/when I do complete Dublin, I’ll sign up for another marathon immediately.
One massive runner around my parts was telling me this week that he hasn’t been training at all for Dublin either, even though he plans to do it too. His time is usually in or around 2.40, so he’s disappointed at the thought he’ll only get back in 3.20 this time around. It goes to show that none of us will ever be satisfied with our performances, even when we get them right at times.
Well I’m just going to grind my teeth and stick with the programme. Last Sunday I attempted my first 3-hour training run but only lasted 2.40. I just got so sick of it. Twice I stopped altogether. I just felt like throwing a strop. It was great to read in the Adidas Dublin Marathon Newsletter this week then that walking and running 16 miles is just as effective as running them all. Is that really so? Don’t start tempting me now.
Best of luck to anyone else out there prepping for Dublin right now. I might see ye at the starting line - we’ll say nothing about the finishing line until afterwards.

toodleloo

x

Joan