Sharpening

With Berlin getting close, the time had come to take some action.

First of all, I finally booked flight and accommodation. I'm not entirely sure why I left it so late. Before Irdning I tried to focus on just that race and not even think of anything else but it then took me almost 2 months to look ahead towards Berlin. Anyway, despite being late I managed to snag some reasonably cheap flights and beds.

The other thing is that I'm trying to somewhat sharpen up beforehand. It's a very simple program from MC. Easy / faster / longer, and repeat. The main problems so far are that 1) I run too hard on my easy days and 2) I run too hard on my faster days and 3) I run too far on my long(-ish) days.

I just need to stop trying to be clever. For my easy day this morning I thought it might be a good idea to scout out the trail from the promenade towards Bray Head. I've run up the Eastern slope a few times and wanted to see what's it like from the other side. Well, wouldn't you believe it, the thing is bloody steep, so steep that any notions of "easy" got lost very quickly. Ah well. At least I know what's it like now. And which turn NOT to take, unless you like climbing precariously and end up bushwhacking for a bit.

Yesterday was an interesting route, via the road to Greystones and back on the cliff walk, with a couple of miles on the beach added for supposed fun. The beach section actually wasn't all that much fun, too soft in places and the sidewards slope made my knees hurt, so I'll leave that out in future. And I had estimated this to be about 12 miles and got caught out when it was over 14. As it turns out, 12 would have just about been enough to tire me out and the last 2-3 were a bit of a struggle on tired legs and out of energy.

Ok, I better get that right, and quickly. Easy days easy. Faster days at the prescribed effort. And relax on the long days. And maybe keep the exploring for another time.

15 Aug

4.95 miles, 40:31, 8:11 pace, HR 152

16 Aug

4.95 miles, 38:11, 7:49 pace, HR 156

   3 miles @ 7:22 pce, HR 163

17 Aug

4.8 miles, 38:52, 8:05 pace, HR 151

18 Aug

14.16 miles, 2:12:22, 9:20 pace, HR 148

   beach section & Cliff walk trail

19 Aug

5.75 miles, 1:00:52, 10:35 pace, HR 140

   Bray Head

My Dalmatian Run

I have started marathons on already tired legs before - when doing back-to-back marathons, or several in a row. Saturday, as a single run on pre-fatigued, was a new one. The fact that it was going to be an off-road race added to the situation; I had no idea how the legs would react to the long, steep climbs and the uneven running surface (something I generally hate). I wasn't worried as such. More curious how this would play out.

"You might win this one". Mo's comment, flattering as it was, was definitely wide off the mark. I had no intentions of racing this one, and even if I had I very much doubt I'd have been anywhere near the top. Probably not even when I had been at my best, 4 or 5 years ago, and definitely not now. But thanks for the ego boost all the same!

I had arrived in Ballyvaughan at 8:15, which should have been plenty of time to easily get ready in time for the 9 o'clock start, but after chatting to some friends, picking up the number, chatting some more, getting ready, chatting to the president (Dave Brady, that is) and remembering very late to put a plaster on my nose and going back to the car to retrieve it, I had cut it mightily fine and arrived at the start line at 8:58. Ah well, still on time, isn't it?

I noticed the tired legs from step 1, I could not fail to do so. Somehow I still managed to start a little bit too fast, almost 7:30 pace on a slight uphill; maybe Mo's words had worked their way into my subconscious, even though I perfectly knew I wasn't going to finish near the top. However, once we hit the first trail section, after 4 initial road miles, things changed very quickly. I immediately moved backwards in the field at quite some rate, though at that point that still included the half-marathon runners. The rough surface really didn't suit me and took some time getting used to. About a mile into that section I went over my ankle, which subsequently hurt for a while, but thankfully no damage was done and it all subsided.

Before the start I'd had a quick discussion with Karina on what shoes to wear. I had brought along roads shoes as well as trail runners, so I'd be able to make a late decision. But it had been dry almost all week and I remembered back to February in Donadea when I wore trail runners and afterwards felt it had been the wrong choice, so I went with the road runners (Karina opted for trail).

That trail section lasted for another 4 miles, first a long, steep climb and then a section at the top that would have been extremely muddy had it been raining, but thankfully we had avoided that. It was also quite windy up there. I had lost maybe 10 places, including 3 to female runners - not that that particularly bothered me, but the sight of Deirdre Lynn floating past me effortlessly at some point in a race is starting to become a little bit too familiar.

Once we made it back to the road section for the downhill part things changed again. I started to charge down that hill at pace and made up a fair few places, until a couple of miles later my brain started to kick in, wondering if it really was such a great idea to hammer a downhill section so hard in the first half of a race, especially for someone whose legs weren't in great shape to start with. So I dialled it back a bit , just to err on the side of caution - and since this was first and foremost a training run it was definitely the right decision. Oh, and I did manage to look around me and soak up the scenery - wow! What a stunning setting!

As soon as the road bottomed out we went straight into the next climb, and that one was a real bitch. Very steep, very uneven, very tough. Most people I saw actually walked it, at least in parts, though I was a) too stubborn and b) slightly worried I wouldn't be able to start running again once I got into a walking rhythm, so I ran. I passed a few more runners, not that it really mattered, and got to the halfway point in surprisingly good shape and even better spirit. At some point I started to wonder how much running I had been doing this week and started adding it up. 59 miles so far this week, plus well over 16 last Sunday, plus the 26 today - wow, well over 100 miles in 7 days, and that included a 5k race at full tilt. Actually, I was mostly surprised I was still able to do the maths at that point. I sometimes have troubles counting past 2 in a race.

Then followed a very, very long gradual descend, thankfully on road, winding its way down the mountain. Once again the scenery was spectacular, with the Atlantic and Connemara further in the background and the Burren all around us. The gradual downhill gradient made the miles just fly by, which was good because now the fatigue started to add up and become a factor.

After criss-crossing the countryside for 16 miles I could not have told you if we would have to turn left or right to head back towards Ballyvaughan but thankfully the markings were absolutely immaculate with really big signs that you could not possibly miss. The Ballyvaughan Fanore Walking Club could teach quite a few running clubs how to organise a race!

On the Green Road, the most benign surface of the day, around mile 19.
Photo by Andreas Riemenschneider

The beach section was actually the only flat bit of the entire race (apart form maybe the last quarter of a mile) but it was also the roughest footing, so no chance of a breather or making up some time. Eventually we made it back to the road for a small bit and then onto the next trail section, the third and final big climb. The footing here was actually much better than on the other climbs; someone called it the Green Road, which was apt, with its rather smooth grass to run on. There were still a few rough bits but in general the only problem were the tired legs.

Somewhere close to the 20 mile point we either rounded a bend or went over some hill (I can't remember) and the view opened up. It was absolutely stunning, a truly breathtaking sight, and I'm not even referring to the fact that we were climbing yet another big hill. Wow! Just wow! Worth the entire race alone. However, I did not mingle and carried on, chasing after the guys in front.

I didn't lose any more places on that section but I lost a fair amount of distance to the guys right ahead of me, until it got to the point where I could no longer see them. Never mind, the signposting kept up its top notch standard. The footing got rather rough again, and by now I was sufficiently tired to not lift the legs properly any more, which led to a few incidents of stumbling over a stone, which could have ended ugly but thankfully I managed to avoid a face plant on each occasion.

The views remained spectacular, with the Atlantic well below us on the left and the road almost as far below. Eventually, at the 22 mile point, we turned left and reached a long, steep field where we dropped down all the way to the road. It was one of those sections where a proper hill runner can spin the legs and drop down at world-record pace without any real danger, but a road runner like myself ends up running down slowly and awkwardly and without any hope of making up some of the time lost at the climb.

However, once we reached the road I was back in my element. Actually, at first the legs needed a bit of time to remember what road running was like, and then I felt a bit weak and almost faint and took my one and only gel to avoid low blood sugar, but once that was done I had 4 miles of real fun. I finally was back in my natural habitat and made full use of it. The road gradually dropped towards Ballvaughan and anyone with a working set of quads would be able to make full use of that. To my surprise, I was one of those lucky ones. The legs seemed to have forgotten the miles and the 5k race 2 days earlier and I made up a host of places. With maybe 2 miles left to go I caught up with yet another runner who mentioned something about 3:45. I looked at at my watch, did some quick calculations, and very confidently stated "we'll make that". By now we had caught up to many of the walkers doing the half, and they never failed to encourage us, which was great to see, some real camaraderie out on the course.

Anyway, eventually we got all the way down to sea level but by now we were inside Ballyvaughan and could smell the finish. Indeed, just a couple of bends later there it was, just one more effort and it was done, in 3:42:29 on my watch and a few gifted seconds on the results.

God, I loved that race. The scenery is up there with the very best, absolutely spectacular. It wouldn't have been anywhere near the same experience on a rainy day and we got very lucky this year with the weather. The date, however, tends to coincide with Niamh's birthday, which is why I had to wait until now to finally do it. Maybe I can persuade her to celebrate it via a annual getaway in the Burren in future?

Obviously it's not a race you'll do for time. I guess the fairly brutal climbs and the rough footing adds at least 20 minutes to your time, more if you struggle on trails, a lot more if you're there to enjoy the scenery instead. But give it a go, you can thank me later.

26 May

Clare Burren Marathon Challenge 2018

3:42:21, 8:35 pace, HR 144, 16th place

There is ever so slightly contradicting feedback this week. The numbers aren’t particularly great, my HR is far higher for any given run than I would like and higher than I would estimate from pure effort. On the other hand, I’m starting to feel really good again; at least on most days. My Achilles troubles have finally gone away and the knee is barely noticeable anymore, so I’m definitely back in business. There is nothing I can do about the lost training. At least I was still able to run every day but a few workouts had to be binned.

I’m starting to settle into a routine. I somehow managed to squeeze my bike into my tiny car when driving back from Kerry on Sunday, so now I have an extra option for the commute. What I ended up doing was to cycle in on Monday morning with a big backpack containing office clothes for the whole week and run most of the other times.

Tuesday morning went particularly well, I felt really good but still took it easy and was flabbergasted when I looked at the numbers afterwards and saw 7:35 pace. It was the downhill part of the commute but even so I would have thought the effort was closer to 8-minute pace.

I had an extra run on Tuesday evening when Anto, he of Donadea fame, invited me to a run in the Wicklow mountains, He brought me towards Lough Dan where we proceeded to run through some rather rough territory – it wasn’t even trail running half the time, just plain bushwhacking, and I still have the scratches form the gorse to prove it. That had been my second run that day after the  morning commute and I was suitably tired afterwards. Therefore I cut Wednesday’s mid-week long run down by a couple of miles to a mere 13, taking the scenic route back home from work. That will work in future for the times I need a bit more than 5.5 miles at a time.

It didn’t come as much of a surprise that the legs were a bit heavy on Thursday morning, so I took it rather easy on the commute to work – and on the way home again, though the headwind and the uphill miles made that a bit of a struggle

I’m racking up the miles again, not as much as I used to in the past, but a lot more than earlier in the year when I was still recovering from my overtraining. I can tell a massive difference between what I was like before Albi and now. The move to Dublin and the added stress that came with it did some damage but I’m over the worst now.

22 May

5.5 miles, 43:24, 7:53 pace, HR 145

23 May

am: 5.5 miles, 41:44, 7:35 pace, HR 146

pm: 7.6 miles, 1:39:18, 13:02 pace, off-road

24 May

13 miles, 1:44:41, 8:03 pace, HR 147

25 May

am: 5.5 miles, 44:03, 8:00 pace, HR 144

pm: 5.5 miles, 46:23, 8:26 pace, HR 145

Carauntoohil

I shouldn't have said that the curve is always pointing upwards I guess, because it did get a kink on Friday. Looks like I jinxed myself. Not that 7 miles at 7:06 pace is a particularly bad workout but with the HR stuck at 159 it wasn't quite what I wanted to see.

It had all started so well with me ticking off 6:50 miles while feeling exceptionally relaxed, until I turned sharply left twice and now had that wind right in my face! To make matters worse, the way the loop was shaped meant I had the wind at my back for about 2 miles and against my face closer to 4, which didn't do the average much good. Once I turned into the wind I found it next to impossible to get the HR down. I felt like I was crawling and I still had the HR alarm beeping relentlessly. I was doing about 7:20, which wasn't all that slow into a headwind but after the 6:50 miles it felt like almost standing still.

Ah well, so the numbers are worse than last week. How much that is due to the wind and how much to latent fatigue from the weekend or the Windy Gap I'm not entirely sure. What I do know is that I did something COMPLETELY different on Saturday.

You see, I have been living here for 13 year and I can see Carauntoohil right from my front door. However, to my eternal shame, I have never climbed it. I must have said something to Niamh because she bought me a voucher for a guided tour, which meant now I had to quit talking about it and go and do it instead. I guess that was the main reason why I had never gone up there before: having grown up in the mountains (different mountains altogether) I have way too much respect for them to go up there on my own on a first attempt, so it was always going to be a guided tour and it took Niamh to break the inertia and just go ahead and book something.

Originally I was planning on going on Friday but one look at the weather forecast earlier this week made me change it to Saturday. That made it worse for Niamh as she had to taxi the kids on a busy day all on her own but it was definitely the right choice. Friday was a miserable wet day without any views and Saturday turned out much better than I could have hoped for. We had some non-athletes in our group, so we took our sweet time. It meant 7 hours on my legs, which should actually be surprisingly good ultra training - a way of training that is definitely under-utilised, not just by me but most runners. Last year I spent a weekend in Wicklow soaking up Barry Murray's wisdom and I know he would have enthusiastically recommended it. MC was all for it as well. Anyway, the clouds all lifted when we got to the top and the views are just to die for (Caher, btw, looking by far the best) and I even had a good view at our house but just couldn't see them waving back.

It's definitely something I can warmly recommend and going with an extremely knowledgeable tour guide was great too. Not only did he point out all kinds of landmarks that I would have missed otherwise, he also told us plenty of stories from the mountains and we got a lot of education about how to treat the mountain with respect and how to minimise our impact, all delivered by a man who lives and breaths the mountains.

Anyway, Sunday's easy run was rather mundane in comparison, yet another easy 7 miler like I have done so many times before. The legs were definitely feeling the mountain and I would have sworn I was plodding ahead at a very slow pace. The numbers on the watch did surprise me when I got back home.

13 Apr

7 miles, 55:52, 7:59 pace, HR 136

14 Apr

10 miles, 1:13:08, 7:18 pace, HR 154

   incl 7 @ 7:06 (HR 159)

15 Apr

Carauntoohil, 7:30, 9.5 miles

16 Apr

7 miles, 53:48, 7:41 pace, HR 143

A New Horizon

Oh shit! What have I done!

Right now I'm barely able to run 10 miles. I'm not even sure how I'm going to pace Cork in 3 weeks. And now there is the formal confirmation that I am going to run 153 miles in one go, across a mountain, in the heat, against some tough cutoffs.

A friend of mine once told me "you are looking for the race you cannot finish!" I cannot help but wonder if this is it.

Ah well. I still have over 4 month to get those legs into shape!

The past week has been a bit up and down, Wednesday felt tough, Friday felt good, and I can never quite put the finger down what is causing those swings because I did the same run every morning, at the same easy effort. I can't even blame the weather because on the one day with the most miserable conditions I actually felt my best.

The form graph is pointing slightly upwards but at  much more gradual angle than I would like and with a few dips in there as well. In past years there usually was a day when I suddenly felt a lot better. I'm still waiting for that day to come. Having said that, I undoubtedly feel a lot better than 2 weeks ago, there's no denying that.

On Saturday morning I finally decided to do something else or a change and headed back into the mountains. I had originally been planning on doing that last week but chickened out at the last minute because the weather was so bad. It was probably a good decision because my legs most likely would not have been up to it anyway. It was still tough enough this morning, no matter how easy I went. The first thing I did was to turn off the HR alarm, this was not a run for the watch to beep at me relentlessly. I was surprised how high the HR climbed on that steep gradient up to Windy Gap. The legs actually felt okay. I gave myself a free pass to turn around and go home whenever I felt like but managed it up to the top without much of a struggle. Mind, I took 30 seconds rest at the top before turning around - it felt unsafe to attempt running down that slope with quivering quads. I didn't pay any attention to pace and expected this to be the slowest mountain run I had ever done. Surprisingly this was several minutes quicker than back in February.

Maybe the legs aren't as bad as I thought? Anyway, I know I will feel the effects of today's efforts for a few days. Time to take it easy - not that I anything else would have been on the menu anyway.

6 May

10 miles, 1:25:40, 8:34 pace, HR 144

7 May

10 miles, 1:24:33, 8:27 pace, HR 142

8 May

10 miles, 1:25:00, 8:30 pace, HR 140

9 May

10.7 miles, 1:34:37, 8:50 pace, HR 155

   Windy Gap

Rough

I'm starting to get neurotic about my training. I'm flip flopping between thinking that I need to do more as Turin is approaching rather rapidly and panicking about not getting enough recovery. To be honest, I'm not in a happy place right now.

It's not all bad. My cold is gone and nobody else in the family is sick, so for the time being I can look forward to a spell of being healthy. The legs, on the other hand, could be better. A lot better in fact. I tried to get them moving a bit over the weekend but had to conclude that the 50k from Donadea is still in there.

Niamh whisked me away from home for a day during the week, which was a lovely break. I almost left my running gear at home and only decided at the last moment to bring it after all. I did a few slow miles in Fota; the trails there were lovely at first except that I kept feeling the stones through my soles and eventually moved onto tarmaced roads, which felt more comfortable straight away. I guess I really am a road runner.

I took it easy again on Friday but on Saturday I had to bring Cian to Tralee and used the opportunity to run there that morning, which had the advantage of not having to get up quite so early. However, I clearly got ahead of myself on that run when trying to run 2x1 miles at a faster pace, about 6:30-ish. The main problem was that the first mile was right into a very strong headwind and by the end of it I was cooked. I did manage a decent enough time on the return leg without killing myself but that was because I now had a strong tailwind blowing me along. My original plan had been to tag another couple of miles to the end of that run, but the legs had turned to concrete and I left it at that.

I still had that run in there on Sunday of course, in addition to the 50k still making itself at home. The gale force wind and heavy rain didn't exactly spell encouragement but out I went, heading for Windy Gap because I concluded that I can only run there in daytime, which at this time of year means during the weekend. Even the first step was a struggle which only got worse when I reached the hills. Thankfully the rain subsided for a while, otherwise the wind would have blown it straight into my face and I was already struggling badly as it was. It might have been windy at home but further up there it was a lot worse and Windy Gap clearly lived up to its name. With the conditions and the already tired legs this quickly turned into one of the toughest run I've ever done. I wasn't sure if I would make it all the way to the top right until I actually got there, and when I finally made it I had to sit down on the nearest stone just to catch my breath and stop myself from collapsing, despite knowing that I could not stay there for long or I would start getting hypothermic very quickly.

I was not looking forward to the return journey, but that was actually very easy, with the wind blowing me home almost without effort. I really had to mind my footing though, it was rather treacherous, so much so that I kept slipping even in trail running shoes. I got home in one piece, thank goodness for that.

Ok, some more recovery is in store next week, I suppose.

19 Feb

6 miles, 52:59, 8:49 pace, HR 140

20 Feb

5 miles, 40:29, 8:05 pace, HR 141

21 Feb

8.25 miles, 1:03:29, 7:40 pace

22 Feb

10.7 miles, 1:42:40, 9:35 pace, HR 150

   Windy Gap

Weekly Mileage: 35 (!!!)

Post Trauma

Saturday night was not a good one. I might have thought I was dealing with the car crash reasonably well but once I wanted to go to sleep, sleep was not forthcoming, despite being absolutely knackered and barely being able to keep my eyes open when watching telly. Things were different in bed, I was just unable to fall asleep for hours, and once I finally managed to do that I kept waking every couple of minutes. My top was absolutely drenched in sweat in the morning, I could have wrung it out. Dawn came as a relief and as soon as it seemed bright enough to justify going for a run I was up and ready to go.

There must have been an incy bit of reluctance to go out because I started to read my email instead and there was a message from MC telling me to take it very easy this week, pretending I had run the marathon and doing my usual recovery routine.

That immediately did change things for that day of course, instead of heading out for a loop around the lake with the option of adding a few miles to make it 20 miles I was left with a short recovery run that would be over in less than an hour. I did defy him slightly by running 10k instead of 5 miles and 8 miles the next day because the legs felt good and had nothing to recover from. He did clear things up subsequently by pointing out that the legs are not the only thing to consider and my stress levels must have been sky high after the crash and dealing with its aftermath.

Apart from that one night I think my stress levels weren't too bad, I slept soundly again on Sunday night and every night thereafter and honestly think that I'm over it.

I did 8 more recovery miles on Tuesday but I did notice that the pace had been a bit faster despite the HR still being well within the Maffetone zone. I guess there is some sharpening effect coming through; the 10 fast miles on Sunday might explain that as I always tend to sharpen very, very quickly.

I got up early again on Wednesday and headed for the mountain for the first time in months. I think the frequent mountain runs I did all summer were a huge contributor to my successful run in Belfast, but I stopped them when my hamstring started hurting last October and then it had been too dark and icy recently to even think about the mountains.

The ice had disappeared and I brought a headlamp to deal with the darkness, so you might have thought I was covered. Unfortunately it turns out that turning on your headlamp for a few seconds to see if it's still working isn't fool proof; after a minute or so it basically stopped and eventually I twigged that no amount of fiddling was going to solve the problem of empty batteries.

The bright thing would have been to turn around and leave it for another day but I'm an idiot and a stubborn one at that so I kept stumbling up the stony, uneven mountain path more by feel than sight. I stumbled on several occasions and did fall twice, though no harm seemed to have been done. It was the slowest time I had ever set on that path but the legs felt surprisingly good and coped with the steep climb without even complaining, so my leg strength must be better than expected, despite the long hiatus since the last mountain run.

Thankfully the light was better by the time I headed for home, because running down these trails in darkness would definitely not have been a good idea.

I felt pretty good after the run but my right ankle really started hurting several hours later, so there was a price to pay. Thankfully it had cleared up again by the evening; probably just a stretched ligament from one of my stumbles and it looks like I have gotten away with it.

The legs were a bit tired on Thursday morning, so I had indeed done some work on that mountain For some reason I had forgotten to press the "start" button on my watch when I set off and only did so half a mile later (my subconscious must have twigged something was wrong., Usually I never even glance at the watch). Yet another sign of old age and oncoming senility?

8 Feb

6.2 miles, 49:47, 8:02 pace, HR 137

9 Feb

8 miles, 1:07:18, 8:25 pace, HR 132

10 Feb

8 miles, 1:04:19, 8:02 pace, HR 135

11 Feb

10+ miles, 1:42:28, 9:37 pace, HR 142

   Windy Gap

12 Feb

8 miles, 1:06:16, 8:17 pace, HR 135

Dirty

When I arrived at that field in Beaufort, I immediately noticed two things: the scenery was absolutely stunning with the Reeks in the background, and Michael and Sean both had a seriously worried look on their faces when I approached them. They had obviously been reading my blog. I did assure them that I might have exaggerated my feelings a little bit and was happy enough to run.

Well, happy probably still isn't the right word. Truth to be told, I wasn't all that keen on it. I am very much a road runner, and every time I have tried something else (triathlon, mountain running, adventure racing) I very quickly came to the conclusion that these things are fun but not nearly as much fun as road running. Nevertheless, this was a team event and I was fully prepared to put the required effort into it. Admittedly, I would not have run 10 miles the day before a road race, but that's the way it goes.

Last year I had gotten my backside firmly handed to me in the Kerry novices race, so I was under no illusion how the Munster race would go. The field for the men's master race was gargantuan in comparison to the juvenile and women's races that had preceded it. And since this was cross county, everyone shot out of the blocks at breakneck speed, which seems to be the traditional way to run these things.

I immediately was working harder than I would have liked but was still way behind the faster guys. Over the next 2 or 3 laps I gradually made some limited progress through the field catching the guys who were clearly paying the price for some early kamikaze pacing. At one point I used Pat O'Shea as a pacer but eventually was unable to keep up any more and he inched away from me.

I still made up 1 or 2 places on the next laps; I generally caught people on the downhill section and tried to hold them off on the uphill. The section at the bottom was very muddy and completely churned up after countless foot strikes from all the previous races and I found that a wider line was faster, I caught at least one runner there on every lap.

With half a mile to go I felt a few guys catching up on me and put in some extra effort to stop them breathing down my neck, as hard as that came. I caught up with the runner in front of me and we both overtook one other runner but I never quite managed to get my nose in front of the other guy and 50 meters from the finish line the one runner we had overtaken a minute ago went past me at a tremendous pace as if I were standing still, so I ended up without a net gain, but definitely relieved that I had survived the torture.

In the end we did not even get a team result because we did not have the required four finishers due to some misunderstanding of the rules. Ah well. Better luck next time (wait - what next time?!?).

30 Nov

10 miles, 1:16:16, 7:35 pace, HR 142

1 Dec

7 miles, including:
   Munster master cross country 7k, 28:40, 6:28 pace, HR 177

Clear Progress

A few days ago my daughter asked during family dinner, "if you suddenly had loads and loads of money, what would you do?", and I immediately responded with "fly to Death Valley and run the Badwater ultramarathon", which even my own family found bonkers. Maybe I'll settle for the Spartathlon next time, though I expect an identical response (but at least I do have a realistic chance of making that start line).

And while I'm on family business, the twins just finished primary school, even though it was only like about yesterday when the photo of their first day as junior infants made the local newspaper (with an even more adventurous spelling of their names than usual). Where has all the time gone?

Talking about time, as scary as the passage of time over the last 8 years, or the fact that half of the present year has already passed (how did that happen, did I blink or what?) might be, it is definitely crawling this week, which may just be related to the fact that the countdown for the 10in10 has reached single figures. I can't remember any of my other recent training runs slowing time as dramatically as this one (ok, these ones).

Training is going very well once more. I was surprised to find myself in possession of a pair of fresh legs on Monday because I certainly expected Sunday's run to have left some marks, but no. I had enough spare energy to drop the pace over the last few miles without feeling particularly pushed. If I wouldn't remember for sure that I had run a 50k not so long ago I would not believe myself because I am not able to tell from the pace, the HR numbers or the feeling in the legs.

Because everything felt so fresh I went up into the mountains again on Tuesday, though I happened to pick the one rainy day of the week. No matter, while it did spoil the otherwise breathtaking views, they were not the reason for me venturing up there anyway. The climb up to the Gap was mostly on autopilot, always an excellent sign, but I was still surprised at the end when I saw that I had just completed one of my faster mountain runs even though I really had not pushed the effort, as can be seen by the low HR.

These mountain runs do usually leave me with slightly sore legs, but not even that is happening right now (though it may still come tomorrow). I think aerobically my engine is just about as developed as it can be. I wouldn't be in top racing shape because I haven't done any fast paced running at all over the last few months, but I bet I could fairly comfortably break my marathon PR this summer if I switched focus. Now, that is clearly not going to happen, especially since they just announced the date of the Connemara 100, 10th August (I hope to be finished before the 11th starts), though I still have to organise a crew (anyone fancy spending one very, very long and exhausting day looking after an increasingly cranky runner, please join the queue).

Before that, I have the small matter of the 10in10 to attend.

Still 8 days to go. How can a week take so long when 8 years have just passed me by?

24 Jun

10 miles, 1:12:13, 7:13 pace, HR 146

25 Jun

12+ miles, 1:47:16, 8:48 pace, HR 141
   mountain run, Windy Gap x 2

26 Jun

10 miles, 1:14:33, 7:27 pace, HR 140

From Recovery Straight Into The Taper

The previous week was basically a recovery week for me following the Cork City marathon. In some ways it was the opposite of the aftermath of the Killarney marathon, instead of getting sick I was getting healthy again. I could see straight away that the HR values had returned to normal levels, exactly what I would expect to see so soon after a marathon basically. Great!

Since I ran a marathon that Monday and will be running a 50k on Saturday, I took it easy on the weekend, at least as far as running was concerned, and limited the “long” run to a mere 13 miles. What surprised me was the pace, I never intended to run faster than easy pace, maybe the bright sunshine inspired me. I kind of had to pay the price for that on Monday, though that may well have more to do with the fact that I spent the entire weekend working in the garden and was suitably knackered. It probably had more effect on me than the running.

Initially I had planned on doing another mountain run on Wednesday, but since Portumna will be on Saturday I moved it to Tuesday to give me an extra day of recovery. I think those mountain runs are the key workout of my week even though I take it reasonably easy on the trail, but if you’re running a 20% grade for over 10 minutes at a time, taking it easy is rather relative. I had not done a mountain run in 4 weeks and expected it to feel very tough but the legs must have remembered it and it felt much easier than anticipated.

Unfortunately the beautiful summer weather is a thing of the past, it was quite wet up there on the Gap and the wind is a given anyway (the name speaks for itself). On the plus side, it was quite nice out this morning, in marked contrast to the weather forecast, but I always forget that the weather forecast is for Dublin only, no matter that they pretend otherwise. The legs felt a bit heavy early on today but the spring returned within the first mile; I might still have to pay some dues to the mountain tomorrow. As long as the fatigue is gone by Saturday, that;s ok.

I will do a mini-taper for the next 2 days, maybe 8 tomorrow and 5 on Friday. With a 50k to come the weekly mileage will be decent enough anyway, no need to push things unnecessarily.

The 10in10 is getting scarily close! According to the munsterrunning blog, 20 participants have signed up for the full 10 marathons; apparently this is the biggest field anywhere in Europe to tackle this kind of challenge. Wow – history is being made!

9 Jun

13 miles, 1:34:55, 7:18 pace, HR 150

10 Jun

9 miles, 1:09:40, 7:44 pace, HR 137

11 Jun

12.3 miles, 1:50:30, 8:59 pace, HR 144
    mountain run, Windy Gap x 2

12 Jun

10 miles, 1:14:08, 7:25 pace, HR 144

Short Update

Things are definitely getting back to normal - Niamh and the kids are back home, it is raining and my weekly mileage has settled in the 80s.

I definitely felt the effects of Sunday's 21 hilly miles in the legs on Monday. They weren't sore as such, but there was definitely some sluggishness in my early morning run, though the nice sunny weather coupled with some warmer temperatures more than made up for that.

The weird thing happened on Tuesday, despite the legs feeling better than the day before the pace was much slower. I ran the same effort level as for all of my easy runs, but somehow I only barely crept under 8-minute miles pace. While it would be obvious to blame Sunday's run, I suspect the  hours of working in the garden on Monday were much more to blame. That usually does a number on my legs - unlike running, I am not used to it. On the plus side, the HR was really low.

The nice weather just wasn't going to last, sadly missed as it is. Actually, so far it has not been quite as bad as the forecast had made us believe; when I saw the warnings of wind and heavy rain I initially considered binning my mountain run, but now I'm glad that I went ahead with it. A couple of hours at dawn in wind and rain can be much more fun than it may sound. I had planned on going over Windy Gap 4 times but had left the house too late (or ran too slowly) and had to settle for 3 climbs, twice from the Caragh Lake and once from the Glenbeigh side. It's quite a cool sight to be running right along the wisps of clouds as they are twirling around the mountain tops. There is definitely an eerie feeling to that place. The legs felt fine, I was surprised to find that the calves had absolutely no problems doing that very steep climb three times in quick succession.

I haven't said much about my achilles recently; it has mostly settled down; I can feel a little twinge from time to time, usually during the first mile or so, but that's all that's left of it. I don't think this will bother me any more for the foreseeable future.

6 May

10 miles, 1:17:55, 7:46 pace, HR 142

7 May

10 miles, 1:19:28, 7:56 pace, HR 133

8 May

13+ miles, 2:06:18, 9:32 pace, HR 136
   mountain run, Windy Gap x 3

Ultra Training

I do get asked fairly regularly how I manage to get up early every single morning to go running. For a start, running in the evening is simply not an option for me, with 4 small (or not so small any more) children at home it's all hands on deck, so early morning it has to be. I have been doing this for so long by now that it really has become second nature. I don't even need the alarm clock any more. Point in case, the last 3 days I got up at 3 different times yet I was awake 5 minutes before the alarm would have gone off on each occasions. I have no idea how that works, but it does. Once I get up I follow a set routine that I can do entirely on autopilot while still being half asleep; that way I can get out of the door in about 15 minutes. On weekends, when I have time to faff around, it can take me much longer. That routine has become so ingrained that usually I am already half a mile down the road before my first conscious thought of the day (and sometimes that even has to wait until after my return back home).

As for my training, I'm trying to find a way to build myself up for 100 miles on the road. Following last year's lessons from Bangor I definitely want to incorporate steep mountain trails like the one up to Windy Gap on a regular basis. There is no better way to bullet-proof your quads. At the same time I need to get my long runs done on tarmac to get the legs used to the pounding, therefore long runs on the Kerry Way are not the way to go. Right now I'm thinking I can do the mountain run as my mid-week medium-long effort and my long run every weekend on the roads around Caragh Lake. This is exactly what I have been doing the last few days.

The legs felt rather stiff during the early miles on Sunday, no doubt because of the faster pace of the preceding days, but they came round soon enough and I was cruising on autopilot for most of the rest. The pace came down gradually and naturally as well, just the way it should be.

I took it a bit easier on Monday, but on Tuesday I was up on the Kerry Way, crossing Windy Gap on my way to Glenbeigh before turning around and doing the same thing in reverse, which gave me about 2000 feet of accumulated elevation gain. The last time I had done that run, 9 days earlier, I could clearly feel it in the legs for the following two days. This time round recovery was already much improved; there was definitely some fatigue in the legs but not much - though of course it could still be a lot worse tomorrow.

What I'm most unsure about right now is the pace I should be running at. 7:30 pace is very easy at the moment and I have always subscribed to the theory your pace for the easy runs should be whatever pace comes naturally, and the Garmin's input should not be used, neither to slow down nor to speed up. That has served me very well up to now. At the same time I can't help but realise that a 100-mile race is run at a much slower pace (7:30 pace would get me close to world record!). Right now I'm thinking that I should keep doing what I'm doing for the time being and the 10in10 will slow me down to get me used to ultra-race pace. It is the equivalent of marathon training where you start at your generic speed and gradually run more and more faster miles until you are used to race pace, except that in this case I'd be slowing down to race pace instead. Since nobody seems to have figured out training for long ultras for good I suppose we're all guessing here.

21 Apr

18 miles, 2:12:08, 7:20 pace, HR 150

22 Apr

8 miles, 58:35, 7:19 pace, HR 143

23 Apr

12.25 miles, 1:48:41, 8:55 pace, HR 145
   mountain run, Windy Gap x 2

24 Apr

10 miles, 1:15:54, 7:35 pace, HR 145

Playing In The Mud

When I crossed the line in Ballycotton, my watch said 60:14. The provisional results said 60:15, which is fine because the rules say you have to round up to full seconds. Now they added another second to 60:16. Hmpf. Not that it makes a difference, it's just another reminder of my near miss there.

Recovery has taken a bit longer that I would have hoped for, or maybe I should say recovery is taking a bit longer. I took it easy all week but when the legs were still sore during Thursday's run I decided to step back again and cut the distance down to 5 miles each on both Friday and Saturday. Now I finally feel fully recovered again. If that's really the case will be revealed 6 days from now, I suppose.

I spiced up those easy 5 milers with a faster final mile. On Friday I had averaged about 7:50 during the first 4, definitely recovery pace, and accelerated up to 6:30 pace on the final mile, which is marathon pace. I did the same again on Saturday but I must have felt better because I inadvertently ran 7:17 miles for the first 4 and a 6:06 mile at the end; maybe I should have checked my Garmin but I only realised it after I had gotten home and looked at the numbers. Then again, if you can almost run a 6-minute mile without noticing, I don't suppose you should complain.

For a bit of fun on the last weekend before the marathon I did an excursion to the Kerry Way, climbing all the way to Windy Gap, about 1000 feet higher up. My original idea was to drop down to Glenbeigh and turn around there, but I had taken me 43 minutes to reach the top and I really did not want to exceed 90 minutes. To add to that, the trail was very slippery and muddy and the steep road was a bit dangerous. Of course I should have worn my off-road runners in conditions like that. The way down from the Gap was rather hairy, I slipped on three different occasions and the last time was quite severe, I was just about to crack my head open on some stones when I somehow miraculously managed to re-gain my balance and avoided disaster. The last week before a marathon is all about not doing anything stupid. I failed in that respect but it looks like I got away with it.

The run was great fun but I was almost screaming in pain in the bath afterwards when the warm water got the blood flowing again into the numb, frozen toes. They were striped bright red and white. Surely you don't get frost bite that quickly, do you? Anyway, they did manage to thaw eventually, but boy, that hurt!

Update: In the afternoon I drove the Tralee marathon course. It's not the same as running it but I think I got a pretty good feel for it. There are a few hills in there, alright!

7 Mar

8 miles, 1:00:01, 7:30 pace, HR 142

8 Mar

5 miles, 37:02, 7:24 pace, HR 139

9 Mar

5 miles, 35:17, 7:03 pace, HR 147

10 Mar

10.75 miles, 1:22:41, 7:40 pace, HR 151
   Windy Gap, playing in the mud

Weekly Mileage: ~48

Connemara Again

I only have a couple of minutes before I'm heading off for Connemara, so this will be short (hurrah says Ewen). The 100 mile race is on tomorrow, and I will be crewing for a friend of mine.

Anyway. It took 4 weeks and I was just about to really start whinging and whining about my lack of legs when all of a sudden the weariness lifted, almost from one day to the next, and since then I have felt better with each day.

I was back on the Kerry Way on Wednesday, but had learned two important lessons from last week's excursion: I left earlier to have enough time to climb up to Windy Gap twice rather than only once, and I wore my off-road running shoes, which performed so much better on the muddy track it was just no comparison. Niamh wasn't all too pleased to see me come home covered in mud, but hey, I've had my fun.

I find I always recover very quickly from these mountain runs. The legs might be rather sore for the rest of the day from all the climbing, but bounce back rapidly. I still took it easy on Thursday with only 8 miles at a very relaxed effort. It was on that run that it struck me how easy running had become again. That feeling of effortlessly gliding over the pavement isn't quite there yet, but it is definitely getting close.

Because I might not be able to run anything at all over the weekend because of my crewing duties, I decided to sneak in a longer run on Friday. It was a gorgeous morning; it looks like we might have some nice weather for Puck Fair for a change, the last couple of years have been rather desperate. I did my usual loop around the lake, with that little detour around the Devil's Elbow to add a couple of extra miles. Last week the 600 foot climb was a bit of a struggle. Today I went up entirely on autopilot and hardly noticed anything (I was probably still half asleep. It was only past 6 o'clock at the time).

My heart rate for the same effort keeps dropping steadily, the figures are a little bit better every day, but the consistent rise indicates that the HRM is working fine. It's sudden jumps in the data that keep me questioning the thing.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to a rather busy weekend in Connemara; the weather should be very nice for the crews, if a little but warm for the runners.

8 Aug

12.3 miles, 1:56:38, 9:29 pace, HR 146
   off-road on the Kerry Way

9 Aug

8 miles, 1:03:23, 7:55 pace, HR 139

10 Aug

16.7 miles, 2:10:44, 7:50 pace, HR 138

Weighty Matters

Not too long ago I read something in the papers that dark chocolate can help you lose weight. For the last few weeks I have selflessly conducted an experiment to test that theory and I'm afraid the results are unanimous, clear and conclusive. Maybe it was the testing protocol, but I can openly state that stuffing your face with chocolate night after night after night will not lead to weight loss, much to my dismay. On Friday morning the weighing scales reached 150 pounds for the first time in quite a long time, 7 pound heavier than I was before Connemara, and it's time to get serious again.

Niamh disputes the fact that I am a fat slob, pointing out that I needed a belt to hold up my trousers, but what does that woman know about fat and weight anyway. The weighing scales don't lie (and neither does a certain 4-year old). Niamh also disputes that the XL sized t-shirt she got me for Father's Day was a subtle hint.

My left quads have felt a bit weird ever since I came off Mount Brandon. The soreness of the first three days was just as expected, but even after that had subsided there was still one area of my left leg that just did not feel right. I have therefore been taking it easier than planned all week, only doing short and easy runs. On Friday I finally started tackling the problem with The Stick and the results have been very promising. I probably should have done that a couple of day earlier.

I got in a few faster miles on Saturday on my way to the group run meeting point. I started out at a very relaxed pace and gradually increased the effort until I averaged just under 7-minute miles. The group run itself was much more mellow, taking into account that there are a few beginners with us. They are doing very well, I just wished the numbers were a bit bigger. A lot of people seem to be put off by cloudy conditions, not realising that this is actually perfect running weather. Again, if you're in the area and want to start running, joining us on Saturday 9am at the A Fit Body Gym will be your best ever opportunity.

On Sunday morning I was back on the Kerry Way, trying to squeeze some more vertical gains into my training, in the hope that it will build up my leg strength. A double crossing of Windy Gap had left me totally knackered a few weeks ago; it's astounding how quickly the body can adapt, today I went over that same mountain pass 4 times for a total elevation gain of 3000 feet and managed just fine. I wish I could have done at least one more double-crossing, but I was already 20 minutes later than what I had promised Niamh would be the latest arrival time. Maybe the climbing wall in Dingle added a small extra training stimulus. It certainly felt like hard work. I can't believe how easy Shea makes it look.

With that run in the bag, I guess I am now officially tapering, even though last week very much felt like a taper anyway. The race is only 19 days away.

16 Jun

10.55 miles, 1:24:04, 7:58 pace, HR 140
   5 faster miles followed by a group run

17 Jun

14.75 miles, 2:19:18, 9:26 pace, HR 154

Twin Peaks

Amazingly, there was no marathon on this weekend. I almost feel like a slacker now. I'm also constantly questioning what I'm doing, it just does not feel like I'm getting ready for a 24 hours race. Then I remember that I just ran two marathons and my 39 mile race was not that many weeks back and I think I'm doing alright.

By Thursday I knew I was over the worst of the man-flu, which was a short-lived nuisance, thankfully. I slightly upped  the mileage to 8 on Friday and felt good all the way. The heart rate was also reduced compared to previous days, so I figured I was well on my way to recovery from both marathons as well as the head cold.

I ran a bit faster on Saturday in an attempt to not complete lose my leg turnover, and also to have a bit of fun. I found it hard initially to get my heart rate up; it seemed stuck in the 150s, despite working against a (slight) headwind. The HR graph afterwards was revealing, it climbed constantly for the entire duration of the run. The last mile was good bit faster than the rest, about 6:10 pace, all the other ones had been much more restrained. It felt really good to get the legs moving again.

Niamh was away for much of Sunday and I had to squeeze my run in after lunchtime. Since I did not want to run with a full stomach, it pretty much meant cancelling lunch itself. I did pay the prize late into the run with a few hunger pangs and I had turned into the ravenous beast by the time I was back home, but I don't think the run itself suffered. Running in the afternoon always throws out my pacing, I started out at what felt like an easy effort, until I looked at the Garmin and saw that I was doing about 7:00 pace. I quickly left the road behind and got onto the Kerry Way, climbing all the way to Windy Gap and down the other side towards Glenbeigh. I turned around at the gate and went back the same way, which made for a nice twin peaks shape in the elevation chart, but of course it was just the same hill twice in a row.

The views on this route are just out of this world, amongst the best the Kingdom has to offer. I looked across the Glenbeigh horseshoe with Drung and Beenmore mountains, and could not help but go hmmmm. Tempting. Running (ok, hiking more like) along those ridges is either fantastic ultra training or a waste of time, depending on who you believe, but it sure would make for a few interesting hours. The Reeks weren't bad looking either. The IMRA Carrauntoohil race is on in two weeks, but I'm doing the Cork marathon instead, of course.

I met quite a few walkers on the trail, but I think I was the only one under 60 out there. I felt like gatecrashing an OAP party. I'm certainly not dissing the older generation - quite the opposite, I'm disgusted that the younger one obviously can't peel itself away from the damn telly.

Climbing all those steep hills (the Windy Gap trail has a gradient of well over 20 percent) is an attempt to strengthen the legs. After running a couple of marathons, today I tried to get a different kind of stress into the legs, to help build up muscle strength rather than endurance. It was badly needed. The quads were quivering after the second climb and I was more exhausted than after last week's marathon, even though the distance was less than a half.

I have to figure out what I'm going to do next weekend. With Niamh gone, I might not get any training done at all, which is a right pain at a crucial time.

18 May

8 miles, 1:01:20, 7:40 pace, HR 145

19 May

10 miles, 1:07:20, 6:42 pace, HR 161

20 May

12.25 miles, 1:42:15, 8:20 pace, HR 158
   off road on the Kerry Way

Year's End

I felt surprisingly sore after Tuesday's sprints, which really surprised me; after all there had not been a lot of sprinting. I guess I'm just not adapted to that kind of running. I therefore took it easy on Wednesday, just 10 miles at very relaxed pace before we all got into the car and made it to Dublin to visit the grandparents. For some reason the kids had been really good during the journey itself but went completely off the rails once we reached our destination. I half expected to be asked to turn around again and take the misbehaving brood with us. I wouldn't have blamed them.

Anyway, after being treated leniently and being allowed to stay, I did a few hill sprints on Thursday morning in Deer Park. I expected the hill to be a bit steeper. I tried one repeat on grass, but that was too slippery so I did the others on road. I don't remember them being so tough - after 5 repeats I almost threw up, despite my empty stomach, so it left it at that and only did 6 miles in all. That was a lot harder than expected.

Having said that, the hill sprints were a lot better on the legs than Tuesday's sprints on the flat; I wasn't really sore the next day. I did 8 rather boring miles in Stillorgan, made up of loops just under half a mile in length. I find running short loops mentally much harder than out-and-backs or long loops. At least when I'm running on my own; the 30 1-mile loops in Sixmilebridge were fine, probably because of the 100 other runners keeping each other company.

I ended the year with a run from our house in Stillorgan to Ticknock and then up the mountain towards Three Rock. That's as far as I had intended to go, but when I saw that nice trail going up further I could not resist and went all the way up to the top, where a big cairn awaited me; Fairycastle, according to some hill friendly walkers I met on the way. The wind was quite strong and there was no view to be had thanks to the clouds, but that's not what I had come for anyway. The elevation gain from Stillorgan was about 1500 feet, but it was only just over 6 miles each way, which made this not really a long run, but a fun run instead. Still, I decided I had already sufficiently sabotaged any chances of a good race tomorrow, so I went straight back home.

It was a great run to end a great year! Happy 2012, everyone!

28 Dec

10 miles, 1:19:11, 7:55 pace, HR 144

29 Dec

6 miles, 48:48, 8:07 pace, HR 147
   incl. 5x15 sec all-out hill sprints

30 Dec

8 miles, 1:03:23, 7:55 pace, HR 140

31 Dec

12.5 miles, 1:50:03,8:49 pace, HR 145
   mountain run to Fairycastle

Over The Hills And Far Away

I was agonising all week if I should add yet another race to my already extended racing season, namely the Kerry Athletics cross country in Kenmare on Sunday. I was worried about my shin, but cross-country running would probably be a lot better for it due to the reduced impact off the road. I even had a chat with a team mate on Saturday, and he told me I could wait pretty much until the last minute to make up my mind.

In the end, I decided against it, but I'm not sure if I chickened out of the challenge, did not fancy the long drive to Kenmare or simply tried to nurse my leg. Whatever the reason, I was not there at the start line. Maybe next year, but that's exactly what I said last year and the year before that. I suppose Grellan had it right when he said I really was a road runner.

Having said that, in order to get 2 hours of running without the pounding on the road I headed for the Kerry way this morning, crossed Windy Gap (it was a very windy day, no prizes for guessing what the conditions up on the saddle were like), dropped down all the way into Glenbeigh and then turned around and did it all again. The double crossing of Windy Gap gave the legs quite some workout, I think it's the ideal way to build up some leg strength without running yourself into the ground. The shin behaved itself fairly well; I could notice some discomfort but no more than that.

It had been a bit worse yesterday, when I decided to put in a slightly higher effort than the recovery runs that had marked the rest of the week after the Valentia race. The quads told me early on that they didn't really feel like working and the shin started protesting last into the run as well, so it was not an unqualified success.

One question: what's the next challenge? will be going for another of sub 3?

Excellent question. In one way, I do want to have another go at the marathon because I know I didn't quite reach my potential in Vienna. On the other hand, I still don't really feel putting myself through a gruelling marathon training cycle again. Instead I'll aim for sub-5 in the Connemara Ultra instead, and if everything goes to plan, this will be a stepping stone for my big goal race later in 2012. But you know what they say about men and plans and all that.

8 Oct

8 miles, 58:07, 7:15 pace, HR 151

9 Oct

12.2 miles, 1:50:27, 9:03 pace, HR 148

Uphill Again

You might remember that last Sunday I had followed up a disastrous 5K with a run up Seefin mountain the next day. Paul took slight exception to me calling that "not real training", and while I can understand that a guy who has represented Ireland in a trail world championship feels that way, I am a road runner and the rule of specificity applies. But it got me thinking, why do I not feel the urge to run up these mountains every day like others would?

As much as I treasure the views from up there, that's not really what I'm looking for. I guess the main thing is that I get the quiet, peaceful me-time on the road at 6 o'clock just as much as I would up on the mountains. There aren't too many people on the Kerry roads at that time. I also like running purely for the sake of running itself. I prefer being able to stride out and not having to wonder what I'm landing on. Running across a boggy field isn't as meditative.

Having said that, I had enjoyed my little mountain trip sufficiently to do it again on Saturday, but this time I extended the route and once I had reached the top of Seefin (via a more direct route and almost 5 minutes faster than last week) I followed the ridge that runs parallel to Caragh Lake on the left and Dingle Bay on the right, basically re-tracing the route of the mountain run stage of the Rás na Ríochta adventure race. When I hit Windy Gap I turned left and followed the Kerry Way back home. All in all it got me over 10 miles and the conviction that I had just completely destroyed the last remnants of hope for a decent race the following day. Little did I know. Maybe the key to a fast 10K is to run a mountain the day before and then cycle 40 minutes to the race start (remember, you heard it here first!).

Interestingly, since yesterday morning I have been feeling much better. I am not sure if I am feeling better because the 10K lifted my spirits or if I had already been recovering and the 38 minutes 10K was merely a sign of that, but I don't care. I spent much of last week feeling sorry for myself, wishing my running were better and worrying about Dingle. All of a sudden I feel like newborn, Dingle will be great fun and I am thinking about adding one or two more races to my racing season (that last point could be a mistake, of course).

27 Aug

10.5 miles, 1:43:15, 9:50 pace, HR 151

29 Aug

6.1 miles, 47:22, 7:45 pace, HR 143

30 Aug

6.1 miles, 46:35, 7:38 pace, HR 146

Should Have Done This AGES Ago

I was spoiled for choice last weekend with no less than 3 races on offer. As you know, I did the “5K” (haha) on Saturday, but there was also another 5K and the IMRA Mangerton race on Sunday, all within easy distance from home. After feeling like being hit by a bus after Saturday, neither was an option, really, but I decided to make up a bit for missing out on Mangerton by running up the nearest mountain from home, Seefin.

That’s a run I had been planning on doing for ages, but never got round to because there was always some “real” training to be done. The weather was beautiful when I got ready to go out, cloudy when I left home and raining within a mile, but luckily it improved again. I took it easy, especially as the legs felt rather heavy from the race and I took my time. I ran for as long as possible, even on the rougher terrain, but started hiking on the last, very steep bit up to the summit. There are no less than 3 three cairns on top of the mountain, and one of them had a funny circle of white stones around it, which can even be made out on the Google Earth screenshot (if you click on it). I picked up a small stone as memento (and because the boys love collecting “interesting stones”) and headed back home, taking a more direct route down the mountain. It had taken me just over 50 minutes to get from our door to the top and slightly over half an hour to get back home and I think it was the perfect way to get the legs moving that day and to get the painful memories of the race flushed out.

There is yet another race this Sunday. After Saturday’s howler I’d normally be inclined to give it a miss, but as it is in the neighbouring village I may just participate for the fun of it, but then that’s it, my racing season is over, and within hindsight it probably should have been so 3 weeks ago. I have the small matter of two marathons ahead of me, but since I am running both of them at the relatively sedate pace of 3:30, those will count as training runs for next spring, really. I am already looking forward to next year. It might be a bit premature, but I take it as a good sign that the mojo for the longer distances has returned.

I need to get rid of that cold first, though. I have booked a doctor’s appointment.

21 Aug

7.8 miles, 1:25:47, 10:59 pace, HR 143
   mountain run, mostly off-road

22 Aug

5 miles, 38:33, 7:43 pace, HR 143

23 Aug

8 miles, 1:02:46, 7:51 pace, HR 147