The calm before the...long & slow running!

Monday, 8th July, 2013 – 41km Cycle to Ratoath (27kph) + (1.5km Recovery Run)
My small toes on both feet were quite bruised after all the long distances so I decided to go for a cycle instead. Very enjoyable 41km followed and when I got home I threw the runners on thinking I’d get a few running kms added. However, after 500m of running it was obvious the toes were too sore and were causing over compensating tightness on the outside of my right leg so I looped around for a truncated 1.5km.

Tuesday, 9th July, 2013 –7.2km Recovery Run (5:15/km)
Thankfully the toes were much better today so I pushed myself out the door for an easy run but the first few kms were tough so it resulted in recovery pace instead. By 3km the legs were coming round and the final few kms were ran a bit faster. Overall though feeling a bit jaded for a few days now. Not sure if it’s the heat or the accumulated mileage or simply them both.

Wednesday, 10th July, 2013 –11.2km IMRA Race #8 – Ballinastoe
I’d already ran my 7th League race so I was guaranteed a LL prize regardless but the lovely weather this week was drawing me back to the hills. I gave Felim a lift from Loughlinstown and we were parked well in advance of the start. The course was a 2.5km outward section followed by a large 6km loop and then a run back along the initial 2.5km section again.

Just after cresting the first 2.5km hill

Right from the off we were climbing - up fireroads first, then followed by a rocky path through the woods. As has happened most of the time this year I started too far back in the field which meant I was well over 100th position by the first 200m. I wasn’t too bothered though as I didn’t fancy racing this one flat out due to a general apathy which included a total lack of a warm-up (I figured I was already warm and the first 2km were uphill so I’d be much warmer & without stressing the muscles too much so that should work perfectly). I passed lots of people on this long climb with most taking walking breaks waaay too early! Of course this led to me falling into step with some of their rhythms and therefore me walking when most of the time I didn’t really need to! Eventually we were cresting the hill and soon afterwards turning left and away from the glare of a low-setting sun. Much of the next 5km was downhill through pine trees, flat through pine trees and uphill through pi… you get the drift! The branches were very low lying so it felt like I was constantly bent over trying to avoid them. At one stage I had just passed a Junior runner and no more than 60secs later I heard him go flying to the ground behind me. I slowed and turned and asked him if he was ok but there was already 4 or 5 following runners asking the same so I continued on. There would be no pressure on me for a while now I thought as everyone would have slowed down due to the incident but lo and behold within 30 seconds the kid was trying to pass me again! Fair play to him. A minute later I was catching another junior runner in front of me so I rewarded the kid behind me by stepping aside and letting him past to chase his challenger. Unfortunately though, it seemed they were mates and once he caught up to the other lad they slowed to have a chat! Luckily for me the Junior course veered off from our course about 200m later and they were no longer holding me back.

More uphill!

A couple of more uphill kms followed before we looped back around to the outward trail and turned for home along the opening 2.5km. At this point I passed 2 or 3 guys on the top of the hill, so once we were descending the rocky path there were two ladies about 100m and 200m ahead of me. I made it my goal to overtake the two of them by the finish. The first girl held out for about 3-4 mins before I passed her and shortly afterwards we arrived out onto the fireroad for home and there I passed the other girl. Next up was a guy a further 100m ahead who was just passing an early starter. We were now only about 600m from the finish so I was quite literally running out of road! I had caught the early starter pretty quickly and with about 300m to go I was reeling in the guy. 100m later and I was on his shoulder but I was reckoning he’d find a boost of energy once he knew I was about to pass him. Seizing the inititative I upped my speed to maximum effort for the run in to the finish and to my surprise there was no fightback whatsoever from the other guy leaving me to beat him by 20-30m. The last 130m was clocked at 3:09/km pace which shows I wouldn’t have lasted much longer or I’d have blown up!

A quick headcount at the finish and I reckoned I might have sneaked into the top 60 as I waited to see how Felim and Jeff had done. They came home shortly after me and with the arrival of the flies we dalled no more and departed. As it turned out I was credited with 72nd position which was a little disappointing. There were several people who went the wrong way on the course and had been marked down as DNF but I was left wondering was there not a lot more who may have ran a short course also because there was one or two people who finished ahead of me whom I was sure I had passed early in the race.

Anyways, not to worry too much considering my attitude at the start. Another enjoyable Wednesday evening league race but that’s my lot for this Summer as the last race is next week and I won’t be able to make it. Hopefully I’ll be back out for a few casual runs after work over the next few weeks.

Thursday, 11th July, 2013 – Rest Day
Felt a bit tired from last nights mountain run and had a couple of things lined up in the evening so logged this one as a rest day.

Friday, 12th July, 2013 – 11.9km Recovery Run (5:35/km)

Just another slow recovery paced run to keep ticking over in advance of the HM pacing job tomorrow.

Saturday, 13th July, 2013 – 21.3km Clontarf Half Marathon (5:36/km)
Already a scorching day in Clontarf when i got there i was happy that I was pacing this and not racing! Met up with my 2hr pacing buddy Conor a while before the start as well as the others including Michael, Dominic and Matt who had to run solo with the 1:45 gang.

Everything went pretty well with a nice gang with us as far as the turnaround point near Kilbarrack. As we ran back however people started to drop off mostly due to the fact the cooling breeze was now on our back and thereby not functioning so well. When we were back on the beach the group was whittling away further and the soft sand exiting onto the wooden bridge decimated the group altogether. A few people remained and we picked up a few stragglers on the run-in to help get them in under 2hrs. It was Conor's first time pacing and he should be happy with a job well done as we finished in 1:59:37.

Sunday, 14th July, 2013 – Rest Day
Even though it was only a pacing job yesterday was still in the legs. Wasn't helped by going out for a few too many drinks in the evening time either!! Rest and recovery today!

So, not a huge amount of kms this week but with it being yet another taper(!) I am reasonably happy. Main thing now is to avoid injury before Friday!

Week 28 Summary: 

RTW: 5 from 7 days

DTW: 53.1km

DTY: 2277.8km

More cycling and IMRA

Monday, 24th June, 2013 - 8.9km Recovery run (5:24/km)
Had to take today off work to get the car sorted out (€120 to fix and collected in the evening. Could have been much worse!) so I was planning to get out early but as things worked out it was actually evening time before I managed to get out the door.

I was still pretty tired for this run so took it at recovery pace again although it was still about 15secs/km faster than yesterday, so that was positive. The knee which had been at me so much yesterday behaved itself very well today with only a slight soreness which lasted no more than 100m.

Tuesday, 25th June, 2013 – 79km Cycle around South Dublin
Cycled from my apartment and met up with Niall at the IFSC. We went South along the Coast road before stopping off briefly at the James Joyce Martello Tower in Sandycove. We then continued through Dalkey onto the Vico road for a nice climb and then descent into Shankill before arriving onto Bray seafront. From there we headed for Enniskerry and while here we decided to go via Johnny Fox’s and have a pint in the Blue Light. By the time the Guinness was gone and the midges had their fill it was just beginning to get dark so we started our return journey to the city, dropping Niall off in Rathmines and then adding the final 12km to get home myself for almost 80km in total including some serious hills thrown in. A good night’s exercise which left me feeling almost as tired as the 87km running on Saturday!

Wednesday, 26th June, 2013 – 9.6km IMRA Race - Kippure

Start of the bog road on the return journey. 2km from the finish.

Feeling pretty tired after the cycle last night (and no doubt the double marathon on Saturday) so wasn’t hugely enthused about my 7th IMRA Leinster League race. This was more of a ‘tick-the-box’ exercise to get me over the line of completing the minimum amount of races required for the league. The race itself consisted of a 2.3km section along a slightly undulating bog road before a 2.5km climb to the top where we turned at the trig point beside the giant aerials. 

I found myself pinned in too far back at the start but given my lethargy I figured I’d leave things be. The bog road section saw me slowly move up through the field. Annoyingly though my Garmin was set to auto alert once my HR went above 150bpm (from my trail marathon) which pretty much meant it beeped the whole way! Once the slower stuff arrived with the start of the ascent I managed to adjust the watch to remedy this. In the process of doing so however about 10 people passed me on the climb.I soon got back into my rhythm and regained a few positions but we were at the top before I was properly able to let rip. On the descent the new innov8s were proving their worth and I was ploughing down the bog slope. Because of this wild abandon I twice got caught out by bogholes where I was lucky to get my foot and shoe out without major incident. Still though each time cost me precious second where people went by me once more. By the time we hit the bog road again I had regained almost 10 positions from the summit. A couple more on the way to the finish meant I got home in 87th position (55:04). A quick look at the results tells me that my usual spot of 66th required a time of 53:14 – almost two minutes which would probably have been possible had I been a bit fresher and not lost that time on the ascent to readjusting my watch. Still though, happy enough as I now have my base score for the LL. All future races (3 remaining) will now be in a bid to improve the score.

Thursday, 27th June, 2013 – Rest Day
All the efforts of the past week caught up with me and I deferred to an almost guilt-free rest day.

I.M.R.A. to the rescue

Monday, 17th June 2013 - Rest Day
Tuesday, 18th June, 2013 - 48.5km Cycle
Unsurprisingly I wasn't in the mood for much on Sunday or Monday but by the time Tuesday came round I fiigured a planned cycle with two mates was the perfect way back to exercise. The cycle was very relaxed for the last 20km so it was a nice reintroduction to the legs.

Wednesday, 19th June 2013 - 9.6km IMRA Sorrell Hill
A lovely evening up around the Blessington lakes was the setting for my 6th IMRA Leinster League race. I started quite a bit back as the plan was not to go out too fast but rather ease into it. The first 1.5km was along a fireroad with a decent incline and then it flattened out. I passed about 20-30 people along here so things were going well, however I was still probably only in 80th position or so.

Nearing the top

We soon departed the fireroad and cut through some trees on a steepish section where the surface was boggy but very dry. After about 500m we were atop Lugnagun and out onto open mountainside where we had a 500m section of a drop and then another 1,000m of flat before we began the climb to Sorrell Hill itself. By this time I had passed about another 10-15 people but once the climb got steep I was quick enough to ease back to a hike. Soon after we met the leaders on their descent so I knew we were close enough to the top.

By the turnaround point on top of Sorrell Hill itself I counted out that I was in approximately 60th position which I was very happy with (65th being my season's best). On the way down I found the new shoes really earned their crust and the grip on the boggy/grassy slopes was much better than I would have been used to with the old shoes. 
(Edit: Eventually when the results were uploaded I discovered that I actually finished in 54th position - Very happy with that!)

Having said that one or two people did go by me but I managed to maintain position by passing a few people myself. Things remained like this til we got back out onto the fireroad coming off Lugnagun. There was only about 1,500m remaining at this point. My legs were turning over as quickly as I could manage yet on the finishing 250m straight I was passed by a couple of other runners. Disappointing but I guess my botched marathon had an effect on my speed this evening.

Final few metres...

Sprint to the line

I really enjoyed this race. I think a lot of this was down to the new pair of Innov8 X-Talon 212s which I bought just two hours beforehand. They are remarkably light with amazing grip on the boggier sections and much better than my old half worn Salomon Speedcross 2s. Unfortunately there was an issue with the results laptop and I'm still awaiting confirmation of my finishing position in what I hope was my best performance of the League so far. At least this race managed to get me back on track with the running and Saturday is now long forgotten!

Thursday 20th June, 2013 - 7.4km Recovery Run (5:27/km)
My legs were quite tender from last nights IMRA run so a nice slow run was required to get them ticking over again. I even flirted with the foam roller as well but figured the soreness is DOMS as opposed to strained/knotty muscles. Not quite sure how the two are related but I figured I ran the risk of further bruising tender muscles with the roller so I stopped before long.

I also debuted my second running purchase of the week this evening – A Garmin 310XT. After playing around with it a bit, some of the improvements on my old 305 included: 

• a more comfortable strap
• quicker to register satellites
• audio sounds available (My 305 used to have this but it disappeared with age!)
• vibratory/pulse alerts
• extra screen for data fields
• extra data fields themselves

Very happy with the new watch overall. Apparently the battery life is significantly longer also so will be taking advantage of that over the next month or so.

Week 25 Summary (so far):
RTW: 2 from 4 days
DTW: 17.0km
DTY: 1908.0km

Finding my level!

Wednesday 22^nd May 2013 – 12.0km Mtn Race # 5 – Glasnamullen and lap of Djouce.

About halfway up to Djouce

Race number 5 in the Leinster League and I was feeling a bit jaded after last nights 5km PB. So, I decided to take it handy enough early on and see how I felt once I started the downhill and take it from there. We started with a lap of the car park field across the main road from the trailhead. This was intended to string out the field before hitting the trail but I’m not quite sure how effective it was as we still seemed pretty well grouped when crossing the road and I was content to sit-in somewhere around 75th place I reckoned.

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.

Illness strikes!

Monday, 6th May 2013 – 11.8km Recovery Run (5:25/km)

I was way more knackered from the beers after the race than the marathon itself so it was late Monday evening before I managed to go out for a relaxed recovery run. Legs were perfect after yesterday which was encouraging.

Mtn Race #2 - Scalp

Wednesday, 1st May 2013 – 12.4km Mtn Race #2 - Scalp

3.2km Warm up
5.8km IMRA Race 2 – Scalp  
3.4km Cool down  

Race number two of the IMRA Leinster League took place just North of Enniskerry on Scalp. The route consisted of a clockwise loop of Carrickgollogan including an up and over of the summit and then a second loop of Barnaslingan, again clockwise. I had covered parts of this route last weekend but mostly in the opposite direction.

I called in to Registration before 7pm and then drove to Enniskerry village to park up. I was using an extra long jog to the start line as my warm-up and to get an extra bit of distance for today’s mileage. It was uphill almost all the way to the race start, over 2 miles away. I was well warmed by the time I reached the start line but there was still 20mins left to wait!

Dublin Mountains Way

Saturday, 27th April 2013 – 43.4km Dublin Mountains Way 
I’d been looking forward to this Saturday all week as it was the only weekend for the next month that I didn’t have some kind of race to pace or run so effectively it was a free weekend where I could do what I liked. Of course most normal people would probably take it as a chance to ease back and chill out but I was about to take the other path…

Return of Mountain Running

Monday, 22nd April 2013 – 11.8km Recovery Run (5:14/km)
Just a handy recovery run tonight. Took it so easy the av HR was 129bpm but the pace was still quite decent at an av 5:14/km so I’m taking this as a sign of training going well!

Pacing Wexford Half Marathon

Thursday, 18th April - 21.6km Easy Run with 6 x 1mile @ 10km pace
My endurance fitness is pretty good at this moment in time and should tick along nicely as during May I have two marathons to pace (4:30 in Limerick & 4:15 in Kildare) and one to run freely (Killarney, but not a goal race!) so that should continue to take care of itself.

The return of IMRA

Sun, 20th Jan – IMRA - Howth Winter

Today marked the return of IMRA races and it all kicked off with the only Northside race which took place in Howth. My preparation wasn't exactly textbook given I'd been out last night with a gang of people from Boards and my gameplan of just one or two drinks went AWOL. All this resulted in a slightly hazy head but then the crisp cold Howth air was just the thing to sort me out.