AR/tist in the spotlight, this week: ultrapercy

ThePiedPiper wrote: »

Very interesting thread here so far. Great answers.

1. Have you ever competed in adventure-type races or what is your general view of these type events?

2. Is Mayo's continued shortfalls in Football finals still as disappointing every time or do ye approach them now with a fear instead of expectation?

3. Have you ever ran up and down Croagh Patrick barefoot?

4. Who is the most famous athlete you've ever beaten in a race?

5. How would you go about pacing a race of over 60k? Would it be by feel, garmin pace, or position?

6. What's the most absurd Sat/Sun doubling up on long runs you've done? I've always presumed that a Clonakiltyesque back to back marathon weekend would be savage preparation for an ultra race.

7. Do you harbour any notions of any national, or other records at ultra distance or masters level at under marathon distance?

8. At what distance to you think that actual athleticism gives way to a strange sort of madness?

9. What's the most scared you ever were on a training run, if lost, in danger or the like?

10. What's your favourite beer?

1. I did Gale Force West a few years ago in 4.33 but I was woefully under prepared, technically and physically. Adventure races are fun and Id like to do some more of them eventually.
2. Yes its just as disappointing to lose an All Ireland no matter how often it happens. I feel for the players and staff because despite all the nonsense talked about "63 years of hurt"Mayo fans get a good run from their teams. It must be much harder being a Carlow or Leitreim fan than a Mayo fan. I dont think fear is a factor at all to be honest and I dont feel Mayo have been very unlucky. They were simply second best most years.
3. I have never, nor will I ever, climb croagh patrick in bare feet.
4. I beat a very out of sorts Steve Way in the Bramley 20 mile race in 2011. I think he was using it as a long training run for the London Marathon but was ill on the day. I took a wrong turn and lost a minute at 12 miles so he didnt have a monopoly on excuses.
5. in a 60k race Id go out at 6 mins a mile and try and hold as long as I could.
6.I never do back to back long runs I prefer to give one long run a big effort and recover. I do think you are right tho bac to back marathons would be good prep and I might try it in the future.
7.The masters national records at distances marathon or under are outside what Im capable of but I believe I could run sub 7 hours for 100k if things went well.Keith Whyte has the record with 7:03 And ass I said before talk is cheap its the doing that counts. I dont think I would be suited to running 24 hours and the Irish record for it is very strong Tom Maguire ran 248k I think. Thats more than 10k every hour 24 times in a row, amazing.
8.I dont think there is a dividing line,its all madness really, just on a sliding scale. Is Enduro who runs 3 or 6 day races any madder than Chivito555 who runs 400meters? They both devote much of their free time to something that earns them no financial reward and very little recognition, a "normal" person would consider that at least odd but then maybe its normal thats mad.
9.&10.I dont think I have every been truly frightened on a training run but I have a certain fear of running down steep hills off road and Guinness is still my favourite beer, if you class stout as beer, if not its still Guinness.

All the good questions have been asked, so here's the Friday afternoon shrapnel:
Have you tried any stouts apart from Guinness, Beamish and Murphys?
What do you do for a living?
What has been your greatest weekly mileage? Do you think you might benefit from more miles?
If you had to leave Ireland, where would you live?
Do you own a bike?
Can you swim?
From a training perspective, where will you go next, in pursuit of the elusive 2:30?

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Great thread and a great read.
How quickly did your 5km times come down from starting running? Was it a slow burner or was the potential obvious pretty quickly?

It was a very slow burner after a promising start. My first 2 races were marathons but my first 10k race in July 97 I ran 36:45, a good start on a tough course. Between that and Tobbercurry 10k in 2005 I must have ran 40 10k races all between 36:10 and 36:45. I was convinced that I wasnt physically capable of breaking 36 mins. Then I ran 35:17 in Tobbercurry without doing anything different I just had a breakthrough. My next 10k a few weeks later was 32:45. Im not sure why the improvement happened that way because I had not changed anything really, I thin the years of training paid off all at once. Im still waiting for another major breakthrough.

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

All the good questions have been asked, so here's the Friday afternoon shrapnel:
Have you tried any stouts apart from Guinness, Beamish and Murphys?
What do you do for a living?
What has been your greatest weekly mileage? Do you think you might benefit from more miles?
If you had to leave Ireland, where would you live?
Do you own a bike?
Can you swim?
From a training perspective, where will you go next, in pursuit of the elusive 2:30?

Ah finally the rapid fire buzzer round!
1. no, Im happy with Arthur.
2. I work evening in a factory that manufactures continence care and colostomy products.
3. 127 miles and yes I believe more miles would be a help if I can fit them in.
4. Boston
5. no
6. no
7. Berlin. Hopefully it wont take my breath away.

For an athlete with such strong endurance, the length of your answers are dropping as the miles go on.

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

1. How do you deal with people who ask "aren't you getting bored when running for hours"?

2. And how do you deal with "I get tired driving that far"?

3. Ultra running is just an excuse for slow people. True or false?

4.


Considering you've got a national title to your name, apart form all those other honours, that's just being greedy. Discuss.

How do you deal with silly questions? If you are have a lot of knowledge of any topic any general question is tedious. If someone asks me genuine question I try answer it the best way I can but I have a very good nose for bull**** at this stage of my development. I get lot of genuine encouragement and positive feed back and very little negative stuff but I disregard any gratuitous negativity.
Who ever says that ultra running is just an excuse for slow people and what is their motivation to ask? Does a fast person ask? The longer I live the more I regret the offence I took to uninformed opinion. You have run 220 km for a 24 hour race, you did that so why would the uninformed opinion of someone who has never done that bother you. Learning to be comfortable in your own skin is very difficult but its the way forward. Doing, even badly, is a lot better than criticising in my book.

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I think what Krusty wanted to ask was, would you ever do a triathlon?
What's your favourite flavour of crisps?
Favourite and least favourite training session?
How do you find being coached -v- being self coached? Do you feel as if there is more structure in your training, have you noticed improvements where you previously were weak? Are you a slave to the plan?
What are your short term plans race wise? Will you do a Spring marathon?
What's the shortest race you've done?
What's the longest race you've done?
What's the longest training run you've done?

1. I would like to do a triathlon at some stage but I cant swim and Im too lazy to learn. I do, I discovered, own a road bike but I lent it to my brother on one of his "borrow to keep" schemes.
2. Im not a lover of crisps but forced to choose it would be tayto cheese and onion hands down.
3. I dont really have favourite sessions, I enjoy what Im doing at the time once Im doing. There is always dread before hard training sessions but once I get the first rep done I usually enjoy most sessions.
4. My training always had a general structure but now its a lot more specific. Its a big transition from setting my own training where I know generally what Im going to do but ind of adapt it to how I feel on the day to training exclusively off a programme. Its been good and I have learned a lot and also ran well off it.I wish I had done it years ago.
5. My short term targets are Raheny 5 and the Masters XC.
6. 800m is the shortest race I have ever run.
7. 100k is the longest so far.
8. the longest training run was 41 miles in prep for a 100k.

Are you volunteering?

menoscemo wrote: »

Did you just volunteer?

RayCun wrote: »

beat me to it

Calvin Johnson wrote: »

Are you volunteering?

Haha that's like asking a twelve year old to write their autobiography In running terms I am but a juvenile

ultraman1 wrote: »

tungusta's a bluffer,failed at middle distance.etcetc..walshb ..we wanna know the real u,are u **** or just a grumpy oul bitter man,and I'm sure Raccoon wants to know Wat fried potatoes u eat,just in case

**** ????