Stook 10 miler

Monday, 11th November, 2013 - 11.9km LT Effort Run (4:36/km)

I wasn’t sure what was going to be on the cards this evening given how I felt after the MP run and the LSR last week so I went out with a general plan to assess after the first 500m. Thankfully things felt well by that stage so I pushed on over the next couple of kms. With Stook 10 miler (where I intend to run @ MP pace with a few easy miles before and recovery miles afterwards) on next Sunday I wanted to get the fast run out of the way as early as possible this week. So, as the first couple of kms got a little faster I was soon in LT effort territory. Even though the legs were feeling pretty decent they were still somewhat lagging in speed with residual from the past month, so the paces were about 10 seconds off where I’d expect them to be.

After 7.5km I turned North onto the Swords Rd though so decided to ease back and ‘recover’ - as much as one could hope to recover - on the next uphill km. Once that was over I was back on the relatively flat Collins Avenue and then upped the effort back to LT for the next 3km (mainly slightly uphill) before finishing with a recovery 400m to the apartment.

So, quite happy with this run as it indicates I’m getting back towards where I should be and hopefully from next week I’ll be pushing on improving once more. Only 4 weeks til Lanzarote so only two weeks of actual training left with a two week taper after that.

Won’t feel it now!

Tuesday, 12th November, 2013 - 13.6km Mountain Night-time Run

I met up with Felim this evening after work for a night time run up in the Dublin Mountains. We did a number of these as group runs last year and once you have a good head torch, suitable clothing and can navigate the terrain then it’s great fun.

Tonight’s run was Seefingan, located South east of Tallaght. I volunteered at this race during the IMRA Leinster League and it was the worst possible decision given we were all eaten alive with the worst case of midges I have ever witnessed! This evening though was a dry cold evening so we weren’t expecting too many of those critters tonight.

I parked the car at an entrance to a trail and we set off from there for the top of Seefin initially. The first km was grand as it was along a fire road without too much of an elevation gain. We eventually came to the start of the trail proper which turned out to be a feint outline where the main feature was the mountain waters streaming down. On our way to the start point Felim had mentioned that a good portion would be on road and given that it hadn’t ained much in the last few days I figured I’d wear road runners rather than trail shoes. Big mistake! My feet were constantly losing traction going up this section and combined with the steep incline I was slowed to a hike from quite early on.

Eventually we got to the top of Seefin where there was a pretty cool burial chamber at the main cairn. After a few minutes of poking around here we moved onwards for Seefingan which was not very far away but we had to dip down into a col before climbing back up to the summit. Again the ground was wet and mucky so the pace was pretty relaxed around here too. After about 10 minutes we got to the top and once again paused for a while to take in the view. Felim’s plan was to hit across to Kippure from here (very evident with its illuminated masts) but I figured it would be even wetter and more miserable from my perspective at least. And, me being such a moaner at this stage I felt Felim wouldn’t much relish me whinging all the way to there and back to the car! So instead, we decided to traverse North to Corrig and then Seachan before making our way out to the small road we’d driven down earlier.

Standing atop what we believed was the main summit we made for the peak in the distance. Unfortunately we were actually about 100m West of the true peak where there was a trail leading between the mountains (see map above). And, what we thought was Corrig actually turned out to be Seachan instead. All this meant that we dropped off the mountainside too far leading us to skirt the boundary of Kilbride rifle range to the West! The terrain around here was a little rough so progress was slow but after 20mins of hiking we discovered our mistake(s) and started to climb back up towards the real Corrig. Eventually we got there but not before we were enveloped with low cloud for 5 minutes.

Once we got to Corrig peak we followed the trail across to Seachan which was straightforward enough. Then we chose our route to drop down to the main road along the forest boundary. This trail coincided with a small stream and I reckon I fell about 5 times coming down this 15 minute track. Thankfully nothing serious though as Felim struggled to refrain from laughing at me because he knew he has a freakish record of twisting ankles himself and that he was running on borrowed time!

We finally reached the main road and at last we were on firm footing. A twenty minute run later and we were back at the car all in two pieces. Then the expected happened. While still in touching distance of the car Felim managed to roll his ankle!

Good to be back out doing night time mountain runs but I don’t think I’ll be back to do this particular run again! And will definitely be wearing the Innov8s in future!

Wednesday & Thursday, 13th & 14th November, 2013 - Rest Day

A very busy real life meant that I failed to get out for a run on either Wednesday or Thursday unfortunately. Hopefully though the busy period is now over and normality will be resumed…

Friday, 15th November, 2013 - 7.4km LT Run (4:32/km)

I was off to the Ireland v Latvia match in the evening so had to get a quick run in beforehand. I took this a bit literally though and ended up running another LT run. I was feeling good at the beginning so after opening with a 4:41km I pushed on for LT pace. 7km later I ended up with 4:24/km as the average. Not bad considering the slower first km and the Swords Road hill to contend with.

The match itself was pretty decent in that Ireland retained possession well with much fewer long balls being hacked upfield. Still a depressing lack of real cutting edge amongst the strikers though and Poland on Tuesday will be a far tougher test.

Saturday, 16th November, 2013 - Rest Day

Took another rest day for a number of reasons, one of which was the 10 mile race tomorrow.

Sunday, 17th November, 2013 - 16.3km Stook 10 mile race (4:34/km) with an 8km (5:04/km) warm-up

Woke up this morning and really didn’t want to leave my bed. I was even considering a DNS for a short while before coming to my senses and got in my car. Arrived in Dungravan, Co. Kilkenny at 10:45am and registered/picked up my number. Got chatting to Johnny briefly and then it was time for my pre-race miles.

I headed out on the course which is a figure of 8 loop and managed to get the first 5km loop completed before heading out on the larger loop for a mile before returning to the village to clock up 8km in total. I had been wearing too many layers – long sleeve t-shirt, short sleeved t-shirt and a light jacket with gloves – so I got rid of the sweaty layers and threw on a fresh short sleeved t-shirt and felt much better.

Before we got underway I ran into a few familiar faces including Gary, Dominic and Kate at the start area. Myself and Kate had similar goal paces so we decided to run together for the first while at least. Around this time Shortstuff from boards made herself known and it was good to meet another boardsie in real life! Not long later we were away.

I was using my course knowledge from my warm up to good effect and so knew when to push on and take advantage of the downhills and when to hang back with uphills. This seemed to allow myself and Kate easy passage through 10-15 runners on the first 5km loop as they seemed to get caught out by an over enthusiatic start. Before long we were back through the village for the start of the second loop. I was averaging marathon pace but unfortunately because the terrain was so undulating the effort was more like a typical 10 mile race.

Course profile

Things remained steady until we reached 5.5 miles. Johnny had me pre-warned that miles 6-8 were all uphill and that 6-7 in particular was the roughest. So, around 5.5 miles we came upon the start of an uphill and seeing as there was no immediate sign of an easing off I commented to Kate to be prepared for 2 miles of this. Almost immediately she began to ease off in order to allow herself to get up and over the climb. I pushed on a bit in front of her at this stage and kept focusing on those in front of me as targets to catch and pass. Progress was minimal initially but by 500m of climbing people were beginning to fade and I started to row them in. A couple of guys stopped to a walk around the 7 mile marker and in total I reckon I passed about 8 people on the climb. There was a female KCH runner about 30m up the road and she had been the same distance ahead since the first 500m. I kept trying to close the gap little by little but she had the match of me all the way up the climb.

The end of the 'flying mile'!

Eventually we reached the high point of the course where there was a big gang of locals offering vociferous support which was very welcome. I gave them a big thumbs up as I turned the corner and started to lengthen my stride. 200m later and we reached the start of mile 9 where the ‘flying mile’ began. This was a one mile section that was all steeply downhill. The organisers laid on timing mats to calculate our mile split. Seeing as the tough part was done and we only had 2 miles left I decided to throw caution to the wind and legged it along this section. I think the five miles before the race started to catch up with me here though and my form/control was pretty wayward for large parts. I just about managed to prevent myself from falling over but before I knew it the mile was done (later found out it was 6:02 (3:45/km)). As soon as I was over the mat I eased back to a more sustainable pace for the last mile.

One of the guys that I had passed on the flying mile managed to pass me again on the last 300m running in to the line. I might possibly have held him off if I tried but I was just happy enough to be finishing up. Passed under the gantry in 74:10 which I was very happy with considering the route was even hillier than I’d expected and the five miles beforehand. I ended up with marathon pace average (4:34/km) but a 10 miler average heart rate of 156bpm with a max of 167bpm. Of course the draw of the after race spread on offer in the community centre combined with the thrashing I gave my legs on the last two miles meant that I reneged on the recovery miles afterwards. I was disappointed with myself for this as I needed a 20+ miler but I reasoned I might end up doing the legs more damage if I went out for more. Not sure if it was the wise decision or just simply the popular decision...

Week 46 Summary (so far):

RTW: 4 from 7 days

DTW: 57.2 km

DTY: 3,521.0 km