Road to Recovery

Tuesday, 14th May 2013 – 11.8km Recovery Run (5:20/km) 

I ventured out for an easy run this evening as I felt I was on the road to recovery (apart from a cough all other symptoms gone). Managed it pretty well but at the start I felt a number of twinges and niggles from a week of being coiled up and sitting on the couch too much without the usual release of a daily run to loosen them out! Felt a little jaded towards the end but that’s to be expected on the first day back as I’m probably not 100% recovered yet.

Wednesday, 15th May 2013 – 12.8km IMRA Race # 4 – Powerscourt Uphill and return to car
I mentioned after last week’s IMRA race that a measure of how poorly I ran was that I was a minute slower than my 2009 time over the same course when I had been 5 mins quicker over the previous week’s shorter course when fully fit. Tonight I had a time of 58mins to beat from 2009 but I didn’t know how well recovered I was so I didn’t look at the watch during the whole race – the time would be whatever it would be. 

This race is unique in the Leinster League in that it is an uphill race which starts in Crone Wood (165m) and as you'd expect the course rises all the way to the top of Djouce (714m), with just a quick dip down to the Dargle around halfway which offers a steep 60m downhill stretch before having to gain that back all over again on the far side of the river! All told, the total elevation gain is over 600m.

Powerscourt Uphill - Course profile.

I positioned myself well down the pack this week as my plan was to be conservative starting out and try to pick a few people off along the way if I was up to it. The first couple of kms were on fireroad which allowed people to fall into their own pace easily enough. It was obvious after 500m that some were pushing too much too early. I just kept it steady and thankfully I wasn’t feeling anything like as bad as last week. 

About 2km into it I discarded my jacket on the side of the road as I was warm enough without the need for the extra weight. After another 500m the fireroad became trail and levelled off a bit before we were above Powerscourt Waterfall. Soon after we were coming off the side of the mountain and dipping down to the river. Again some people were flying down here but I knew there was still lots of uphill remaining.

Halfway into the race, just about
to turn down into the Dargle valley.

Once across the river it was all uphill for the next 3km and a rise of almost 380m. Up to this point I had been passing lots of people but by now most were at a similar level. Over the course of the remaining 3km I probably passed about 5 people and was passed by one or two. By the time we got to the last 500m climb up to the top of Djouce itself I allowed myself to walk the rest as I still want to do decently in Killarney on Saturday and I didn’t want to push the body too far too soon. Even with that I was keeping pace with everyone around and even managed to pass a couple of people in the final 100m before the top itself. Once finished it took a few seconds before I stopped the watch and was very happy indeed to see 46:45, proving that 2013 times are (or should be if healthy!) hugely improved on 2009 times. Felt like payback for last week!

Of course with an uphill race there is the little question of return to race start and as with most other I jogged it on down. This was great fun when the legs opened up on the softer boggy section but by the time I was halfway down I started to get a jellylegs feeling so eased off to a walk/jog routine. Hopefully it will be enough to save the quads and legs from being too tired for Saturday. Hopefully.

Week 19 Summary (so far):

RTW: 2 from 3 days
DTW: 24.6km
DTY: 1,591.9km