Killarney’s ‘Marathon of the Lakes’

Thursday 16th May 2013 – 11.8km Recovery Run

I was feeling a little tired and tender after last night’s mountain race so just took a handy pace for tonight. Did a bit of stretching afterwards in a bid to feel fresh on Sat morning but not looking particularly great at this moment in time. 

Friday 17th May 2013 – Rest Day.

Went straight for Kerry in the afternoon after work and it was about 7pm by the time I arrived in Firies so too late for a run then. 

Saturday 18th May 2013 – 29km Killarney Marathon of the lakes – Relay legs 1 & 2

A beautiful morning saw us off at 9am for the start of the Killarney Marathon of the Lakes. This was the first hosting of this event and after speaking a few times with the RD he mentioned that they had intentionally kept it low key so as to ensure it was manageable and that any teething issues would not be too major.

Grellan would like it to be made widely
known that he 'is not a crook'!!

The first km was on the main road before we turned into Castlerosse Hotel with the remaining 41km set in the Killarney National park, made up of three laps of approximately 13.5km each. I settled in with Grellan (3:15 pacer) for the first lap with a couple of short sections where I thought I was drifting away only for him to catch me up a few mins later. The first lap was completed with a few seconds in the bag but I knew I was beginning to feel a little tired and had noticed my HR was constantly in the mid 150’s – Way too high for a sustainable marathon distance run. 

HR Contrast between Saturday and other recent fast marathons.
I can only assume there were still remnants of last week's bug in my system.

Halfway through the second lap I had drifted off the back of Grellan and Brendan (the other pacee for much of the time). Over the course of the last few kms in the second lap I was dropping well off the pace required so given that Ailbe was awaiting me for the final leg of the relay I decided I would just come to a stop at the changeover point rather than jogging it around with him at 5:30 pace. By the time I reached him my legs were knackered. I was quite content with not having another 13.5km to plod around. After a few mins I began to feel a little guilty that I took the easy way out but given the elevated HR and the way I was feeling I reckoned I still wasn’t completely over the bug I had earlier in the week. After running the numbers and comparing Rotterdam (similar distance before DNF’ing) and Valencia (first 30km) it was clear that my HR was averaging about 6bpm higher than those previous races. It was no surprise really that it had taken more out of me and so the easy decision I made proved to be the smart decision as had I plodded around for the final leg I’d require much longer to recover and all for nothing.

Thankfully, I had given Ailbe a good platform to work off. I jogged back out the course and met him a mile from the end and ran the remainder with him to the finish. Our time of 3:26:50 was enough to win the relay competition which was my first ever running prize! Granted it wasn’t a huge field (20 teams entered) but I’ll happily take the victory and the prize! 

Finish Line - Winners of the relay competition!

Overall I found the course to be really scenic and 99% of the trails to be good surface and enjoyable. I had heard of the hill just at the back of Castlerosse as being the feature to pace myself for but the reality was that it was no big deal. I thought the section around the back of Ross Castle and into the copper mines was far tougher as it was rolling hills the whole way which took it’s tolls on the legs each time we passed through. The route is a great amenity to have for the people of Killarney and it’s right up there with the Phoenix Park as a running idyll. All things being equal I think I’ll be back here again next year for a bigger and even better event. 

Finally, the race was enough to push me over the 1,000 mile mark for the year which is a sign of good training generally, albeit if the rate of progression appears like it may be slipping somewhat.

Sunday 19th & Monday 20th May 2013 – Rest Days x 2.

Knackered after the events of Saturday and the drive back to Dublin so worked on recovery instead!! Monday ended up being very similar with no running either...good job there's a race on this evening!

Week 20 Summary:
RTW: 4 from 7 days
DTW: 65.4km
DTY: 1,632.7km