The Week After The Cork City Marathon

10 Things I Think About the week after the Cork City Marathon

1. Debadification

I think running a marathon gives you very bad legs. On Monday I had Superbad legs, by Tuesday they were Too bad, by Wednesday they were less bad which tempted me back to running. This was not a good idea, I think I'd just gotten used to the presence of badness. The debadification has continued all week. I imagine it will take at least a week to eliminate all the badness.

2. Sleep

I think it's a very bad idea to stay up until 4am the night of the marathon. This may have contributed to the badness.

3. Theresa May

I think that running a marathon turns you into Theresa May. I had absolutely no interest in debating anything with anyone all week. I was a very grey creature with little or no energy and an illogical fear of stairs. I definitely wouldn't have done well in an election.

4. Peasant Wagons

I think peasant wagons are an excellent idea. It is however a very bad idea to try and run to catch a peasant wagon when you've just run a marathon. I blame my current calf niggle on this.

5. Next One?

I think I'm the only person who doesn't get annoyed when asked an hour after finishing the marathon, "when's your next one?" Seems like a perfectly logical question to ask someone who's having severe difficulty getting into and out of a chair.

6. Olivier Giroud

As part of the debadification process I jogged around the Belle of Ballincollig 5k wearing a pair of classy white sunglasses. I got asked by one of the local kids if I was Olivier Giroud. I took this as a compliment, I suppose I was moving very slowly with no chance of scoring but still looked absolutely fantastic.

7. Reverse Dieting

I think the concept of a reverse diet is a wonderful idea after a marathon. It involves deliberately eating more than you need to speed up recovery. Sports science can be used to justify anything.

8. Particle Size

I think I need to be lighter to run a fast marathon. The marathon is the best particle size analyser. It just filters out by size. I'm currently a big particle. I need to be a less big particle. Reverse dieting won't help this.

9. Lessons Learned

Like any good project manager I conducted an extensive lessons learned after the marathon. There were post its everywhere. I think I learned one main lesson. I think I need to run more marathon pace runs. I thought I learned this in Berlin last year butI think I forgot. Come to think of it this happens with most lessons learned.

10. Irish National Championships

I think it was a great idea to buy an entry to the Berlin marathon the morning after Cork. Berlin is not Cork. It will be good to run the national championships again.

Being bored the night before the Cork City Marathon

10 Things I Think About being bored the night before the Cork City Marathon 

1. Weather

I'm very worried about the weather. The cork athletics website said there might be wind. I've never run in wind before, this will be very scary. To mitigate this risk I have shaved my legs so as to glide through the air like a formula one car.

2. Haircut 

I got my pre-race haircut in C4. I just showed the barber a picture of my €55 haircut. It only cost €15. It's not quite the same. Douglas isn't Berlin.

3. Tapering 

I absolutely detest tapering. It's terrible, you never feel tired, you can't eat as much food and you can't go for a second run in the evening. It's awful. Never again. 

4. Weight

I think I'm too heavy. 80kg is too much, I was 78kg at the start of the week. Tapering is terrible. If I tapered every week I'd be 134kg by Christmas.

5. Height

I think I'm too tall to be any good at running. Unfortunately I can't lose height. Perhaps a vitamin shop in Cork might have a supplement that would help me lose height to improve my running.

6. Equipment

The shoes I'm wearing tomorrow are absolutely knackered but I don't want to risk a new pair. I've gone through approximately 12 pairs of the Brooks Ghost 7 and I'm down to the last one. The new model is the 9. I don't like change, I skipped the 8 entirely. I'm sure they'll survive one final run. The shoes have London 2012 on them, that was a long time ago. Why do they have to change the bloody models, it was fine, leave it alone.

7. Nutrition 

I think my nutrition plan will be fine as it doesn't involve any nutrition. This is a good plan.

8. Hills

I've never run uphill in a marathon before as I've only ever run Berlin. This will be a new experience. I'm very worried as tall heavy objects don't travel well uphill.

9. Indefatigability
 
I have secured a lone of John Meade's indefatigability for Sunday. As a result I will spend the whole marathon effortlessly running 6 minute mile pace while telling interesting stories to anyone who happens to be running beside me. 

10. Despacito

I do have a plan for the first three miles and that is to do them relatively slowly.