Know of good 200m+ grass please?

RJM22

Hi all,

I'm a long sprinter looking for some nice flat, well mown strecth of grass to train on? Does anyone know of such a place in Dublin/Wicklow area please?

I'm doing 200m reps and running up to 600m. I keep getting shin pain from the track and can't afford physio so I was hoping to transfer to more forgiving grass.

I hope someone can help me out - and hey if you own a golf course or cricket grounds then im ur new best friend!

Thanks a mill all

myflipflops

How accessible it is to the general public i don't know but there used to be a 300 metre grass track in the grounds of Blackrock College. I remember running the East Leinster schools 5k on it a few years back. It would be fairly certain that it's still there and those grounds are always well cared for. Wouldn't see any real reason why you couldn't get in and use it.

RJM22 wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm a long sprinter looking for some nice flat, well mown strecth of grass to train on? Does anyone know of such a place in Dublin/Wicklow area please?

I'm doing 200m reps and running up to 600m. I keep getting shin pain from the track and can't afford physio so I was hoping to transfer to more forgiving grass.

I hope someone can help me out - and hey if you own a golf course or cricket grounds then im ur new best friend!

Thanks a mill all

thirtyfoot

RJM22 wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm a long sprinter looking for some nice flat, well mown strecth of grass to train on? Does anyone know of such a place in Dublin/Wicklow area please?

I'm doing 200m reps and running up to 600m. I keep getting shin pain from the track and can't afford physio so I was hoping to transfer to more forgiving grass.

I hope someone can help me out - and hey if you own a golf course or cricket grounds then im ur new best friend!

Thanks a mill all

Trinity is the best spot around in Dublin for what you want. Its very fast even around the edges.

RJM22

that sounds liek a good idea, thankyou. ideally it would need to be accessible for the whole year but Ill get in contact with them all the same. I had an idea about contacting my local airfield too-they have a 1km strip of perfect rolled grass and its like 50m wide too! Is the trinity track really that accessible during the winter as well??

thirtyfoot

RJM22 wrote: »

Is the trinity track really that accessible during the winter as well??

No, I think they try and discourage running in winter. Don't even know the legality of running there full stop. We usually just go and keep the head down and train.

People have been training there for years. Back in the days of Noel Carroll and others, punters would pop down just to see Noel and a few others hammer around there on their intervals.

RJM22

cool well thanks anyway?Well Ive a view to skipping out for a two hour lunch during my thesis next semester to get in my training. Do you think there are areas in Phoenix park? Its huge and I tried exploring it to find a suitable spot to trundle wheel and set up 50m markers (clyde hart training) but I completely lucked out? Any true dublin runners know phoenix park better?

jlang

I'm not sure if you're winding us up asking us to point out where there's grass in the Phoenix Park but around the playing fields would probably be a good place to start. There's a roughly triangular path around it and I'm sure there'd be a flat 200m of grass parallel to the path. You'd probably get away with some chalk marks on the path to tell you where to stick your flags.

thirtyfoot

RJM22 wrote: »

cool well thanks anyway?Well Ive a view to skipping out for a two hour lunch during my thesis next semester to get in my training. Do you think there are areas in Phoenix park? Its huge and I tried exploring it to find a suitable spot to trundle wheel and set up 50m markers (clyde hart training) but I completely lucked out? Any true dublin runners know phoenix park better?

This all depends what speed you want to go. If you want to do sessions at pretty high speeds then you might struggle finding places anywhere outside of a golf course or cricket pitch. I wouldn't do or advise anyone to do fast 'track' sessions on a soccer or GAA pitch. if you are going fast the slightest bobble or divit can cause you to lose a lot or speed or get injured. Doing low tempo stuff is grand but no high end speed work I'd say.

Another suggestion might be to sort out the injury problem. Might seem like an obvious thing to say but you seem to be saying you'll need to run on grass for the winter and beyond. May not work in the long term and when you hit the races hard (which you probably are now) then the shins will act up anyway. Might be hard but you could try to beg, borrow or steal some money and get the injury sorted.

RJM22

Thanks for the advice...no not pulling leg over phoenix park - genuinely wondering where any serious runner would go to train in there. Tingle all good advice - still doing speed makers on the track, fastest tempo i'd do on grass would be 6 200s at 26s.

I hear you on the begging for physio money but its really not an option when i need money for other things first. Prevention and strength / stability are my only other options really. Anyway all good advice so far guys and I appreciate it!

Tingle am I right in assuming ur a 400m guy, i read it somehwere b4?

My Thoughts

Might be too far out but Shanganagh Park in Shankill could be an option, I'm only a slogger jogger but its very well maintained and there are so many different areas you should be able to find a quiet spot.

Metar

A few places worth checking out in the Phoenix park would be:
1) The Polo grounds - 1 km circuit that is flat and has a track worn into it around the perimeter (its just on the rhs going up the main rd from city centre end as you pass the Zoo). You see a lot of people doing fast reps there.
2) There is a cricket pitch just across the road from the Zoo/Polo grounds.
3) The Army have a football pitch then just behind the cricket ground, which is only used by the army, so very little use (as football pitches go). This ground is well tended by the Army, so you may get thrown off it if you're seen training!
You should give them the once over to see if they are suitable.

chrissor

You could try St.Columbas college, there is a nice bit of grass around the cricket pitch there, we on the Irish National Olympic Handball team use it for sprint sessions during the summers, though we use their gym too and I dont know what kind of affiliation with the people in charge is needed, you could give it a go though.

RJM22

Wow guys that was the great info i needed right there...my thoughts im south of shankhill and completely forgot about that park its perfect!...and the polo grounds are a short cycle from college!perfect perfect perfect!

Thanks for taking the time to help all - i really appreciate it!