The Sunday Column - One personal best down, two to go.

Booya! Far from perfect but lobbing 5 minutes off my personal best will do nicely.

I went into the Frank Duffy 10-mile road race in the Phoenix Park with a headband and a lifetime best of just over 2 hours 15 minutes. So looking like a cross between Rocky while training and Will Ferrell in Semi-Pro, I lined up wearing John’s number.

I had missed registration during the week but luckily John had spotted the earlier than usual deadline and registered himself so he could lend me it if necessary. So off Emmet ‘John Craddock’ Ryan went, a man with a plan.

Like all good strategies it was simple. Run all the odd numbered miles, walk all the even ones except the last which I would also run.

I got off with ease and approaching the mile marker I considered changing tactics. I was feeling very comfortable but no, no I wouldn’t change horses mid-stream. Hannibal loves it when a plan comes together so who am I to argue.

So I walked the second mile, ran the third which was uphill. Ouch, need to plan better. Walk the fourth and I am cruising. Four and a half miles in the most wonderful thing happened. We turned onto the second lap, free from all those sodding elite athletes that keep breezing by my back as they lapped me. Pesky fast people.

At this stage I was selecting targets, using other racers as markers to watch my pace on my on and off miles. As I slowed to walk they would overtake me for a few minutes but when I started to run I soon overtook them. It worked well and as I turned onto the eighth mile I started to bear down on the sole one still ahead. I left her in my wake shortly after the last water station.

With the rain beating down I forced myself forward. The nine mile mark, I break from the plan. I need to cease running for a while. Half a mile later I kick again.

The final bend and I’m breezing past runner, I’m still fresh enough. I see the clock and cross the line with 2 hours 10 minutes on the clock. When the chip is calculated that’ll knock anything from on to six minutes off that time.

A new PB and unlike the last one I still had something in the tank. It’s far from perfect but you’ll hear no complaints from here.

Next up is the half marathon, again in the Phoenix Park, next month. My PB there is just under 3 hours 16 minutes. Then there's the you-know-what in November. One down, two to go.

The Sunday Column - We have a winner

Congratulations to Bob Corr who has won tickets to the All-Ireland Quarter-Finals this Saturday in Croke Park. My apologies to Bob for mispronouncing his surname in the video, I read his name as Carr on the list of tickets sold.

If you didn't win fear not for everyone who participated in this draw will be entered into the main draw for the big prizes next month.

Tickets are still available by contacting me at emmetryan@gmail.com

Remember all the money raised goes towards the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland as part of our 2008 which climaxes this November when I run the New York City Marathon.

The Sunday Column – The drawbacks of success

This coming Sunday I play what will be the most important game I’ve played since I took up American Football three years ago. It’s also the cause of a substantial obstacle to my marathon preparations.

While I am delighted to be on a team in the playoffs I have noticed the difference in my fitness over the past few weeks. I’m in optimum condition for football but that is not necessarily the best shape for running.

Last Saturday should have been the first preparatory race for the New York City Marathon, the Adidas 5-miler in the Phoenix Park. Due to the extension to the football season I had to give this a miss as I have with much of my running based training. I’ve bulked back up slightly, which is necessary for the upcoming game or games, but the challenge will be to drop this again after the season ends. There is an upside, strength-wise I’m doing fine and frankly don’t need to build up on the power front any more for the race. While crushing people generally isn’t an important part of marathon-running, this part of my preparations should still translate well on the stamina front when I start back running again. Still it will take my body a couple of weeks to adjust.

The knock on effect is that with a 10-miler ahead in August I’ll need to ramp up the early part of my resumption of training in order for this race to be of any real use.

Essentially the biggest drawback is that I have to shuffle matters around in order for the half marathon in the Phoenix Park in September to be at the point in preparations that I need it to be.

If I had the choice would I change any of this to be able to prepare earlier? Not a chance in hell. New York can wait; I have business in Cork to attend to first. The Admirals are my only priority for now.

The Sunday column - Dual Masters

I introduce a young gentleman from Tallaght to the concept of pain

In journalism it's relatively easy to fiddle with an article from the Irish Times so that it is suitable for the Irish Independent. Editing that same article for the Sun or Star however is another matter entirely. The differences in styles mean the odds are a writer would be better off starting again from scratch rather than trying to adjust the existing piece.

The same is true with training. Preparing for orienteering, my training partner John’s sport of choice, is not a million miles removed from getting ready for a road race. American Football on the other hand is a whole different kettle of fish.

Today I played for the DCU Saints beat the Dublin Rhinos 32-6 at Castleknock College. Go us. It was a good old fashioned physical affair, as linemen like myself attempted to knock seven shades of…this is a family column…out of each other.

Like marathon running the gridiron is physically demanding but in a rather different way.

There’s the obvious differences, such as road racing general not involving men wearing helmets and pads and then getting rather violent, but then there’s other stuff that wouldn’t immediately jump out at the casual observer.

The type of physical exertion, both in training and game-play, couldn’t be less similar to marathon preparations. The gridiron demands a player can go for short, rapid-fire burst over and over again for around three hours.

You go, you stop, you go again and you keep on doing this until either you or your foe yields. That is it. Instead of the continuous steady pace a runner seeks to achieve, an American Footballer must be able to constantly shift gears and go from nought to sixty in an instant.

An offensive lineman like myself hits three ways: hard, fast and repeatedly. Despite the differences there are some benefits in playing this sport whilst getting ready for a big race.

The stamina I have developed from playing American Football over the past three years has certainly offset some of the problems associated with my general lack of fitness.

In the last two marathons that drive, that ability to grind it out, has helped me get to the finish line in one piece. This year it should hopefully keep me in enough condition to train hard once the season formally ends.

Once that comes around it’s off with the pads and on with the runners. A different kind of challenge awaits.