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Running mad in 2010
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Hooked up with donothoponpop in Tinahely for what was intended to be a gentle paced run around the new waymarked trails, which I'd already had a go at last Sunday. The weather was to make it a more difficult affair today with rain falling incessantly, cold temperatures and muddy and sodden ground from recent days rain. Still, it was a great run to start the weekend and the run and chatting made the run go faster perception-wise. From the start of Mangan's lane in Tinahely its aprox 2k to the trail head, then its a case of following the new arrows in an anti-clockwise direction for a run on mixed ground - single track, muddy trails, some tarmac lane and forest track, before the main climb from the townland of Kyle up the back of Ballycumber.
Big temptation to walk in parts but we hung in there, kept it kicking over up and along the ridge on the hill where we encountered the strangest thing for this time of the year. SNOW. Drifts of snow on our path, up to a foot deep in places, made for difficult and interesting running for a time. Made the feet all the more colder. The hands were bloody freezing too. Theres a nice downhill off this run too but I could have lived without the 2k bit on the tarmac road at the end. Tarmac road and inov8s aren't the most compatible. D'pop sprinted off the last 2k piece ahead of me while I was happy to canter to the end. Very happy to get into dry clothes after. A great run though and will look forward to it in better weather
This would make for a great race route. Or, failing that a route for a Boards hill running getogether at some point.
17.26k, 5:57 pace, 603m ascents
88 days running this year
799.08 miles ran.0 -
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Sounds good. Then all back to your place or Donothoponpop's for a bbq?! Great of you guys to offer.Slogger Jogger wrote: »This would make for a great race route. Or, failing that a route for a Boards hill running getogether at some point.
So much for a taper! A hilly 10+ mile run? (I still refuse to be a johnny foreigner cheese eating surrender monkey Thierry Henry lovin' metric boy). 0 -
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Krusty_Clown wrote: »Sounds good. Then all back to your place or Donothoponpop's for a bbq?! Great of you guys to offer. So much for a taper! A hilly 10+ mile run? (I still refuse to be a johnny foreigner cheese eating surrender monkey Thierry Henry lovin' metric boy).
Sounds like a facebook page to become a fan of
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My 4th marathon in Connemara and my 20th overall. A nice milestone and it was one I was keen to enjoy and not to put myself under any pressures in terms of times etc. Some races are for PBs. Connemara ain’t one of them.
The clan booked into the Leenane Hotel for the weekend and it was destined to be a great weekend. This is an old style hotel overlooking one of the finest views in the country (Killary harbour). An additional wing of new rooms have been added onto the hotel since the last time we stayed and we were lucky to be booked into the new part which was 1st class. A balcony view onto the harbour and across towards Ben Gorm. Priceless.
In recent marathons in Connemara I’ve completed the 1st half only to run into the throng of people who had just started the half marathon. I always felt that this slowed me down on those previous occasions so my plan this time was to go faster in the 1st half – the easier half – and try to get to Leenane before they had started, so the challenge was to do it in less than 90 minutes. More on that later.
Great weather greeted us on Sunday morning. The other half drove me from Leenane to Lough Inagh. A vagary of the Connemara logistics is that Leenane gets sadly overlooked in the transport grand scheme of things – Clifden, Oughterard and Galway are where it’s at for convenient transport.
There was a very relaxed scene at Lough Inagh. The view across the lake was magical. I posted a photo on the Connemarathon event thread to show the ‘start line’ view. Chatted away with some fellow boardsies - great to put faces to the user names. Had a nice chat with the lady who was featured in the Irish Times who is aiming to complete her 100th marathon this year. A legend from the Slaney Olympic club in Wexford.
We cheered the first few ultra marathoners through our start line and pretty punctually at 10.30am Ray O’Connor set our race underway.
I ran comfortably and fairly within myself for the 1st half. Tried to take in the views as much as possible and leg the legs do their thing. My km splits were quicker than they needed to be but I wasn’t too concerned. My mantra was to get to Leenane and see what happens after that. At various stages in the 1st half I could see the tell tale bib of Athenry’s Mick Rice up ahead and unintentionally I managed to reel Mick in just as we got to Leenane. I knew that he would run close to a 90 minute split so having him ahead of me worked well by way of a target.
The family gave me a cheer as I ran through Leenane. Myself and Mick exchanged a few words running through the village. The half marathon hadn’t yet started, so the plan was working. On the hill out of Leenane Mick picked up a gear and went away from me. It must have been at least 1k on out of Leenane before the 1st half marathoner went steaming past. Soon after a regular stream of half marathoners went past. Shared some greetings with, and got great encouragement from, fellow boardsies and imra runners in the half contingent. My pace had reduced out of Leenane but I wasn’t too concerned at this stage although I was conscious of the headwind which was making the running that bit more of an effort in the growing heat.
My pace was generally okay until the 30k mark. From here things started to go awry. I don’t know if it was the effects of the heat or what but my pace started to fall markedly and I couldn’t do too much about it. My legs had started to ache too and I was regretting having worn racing flats which didn’t give much protection from the pounding on the uneven tarmac roads. I had the will power to run, albeit slowly, the hell of the west, but painful cramp set in the calf muscles and I had to stretch and try walk it off. Ironically I found running the downhill from the hill of the west and to the end harder than the uphill. I was obviously suffering badly from the heat and the last few k – flat and all as they were was a struggle.
Crossing the line my energy levels were close to zero and soon afterwards I found the first patch of ground I could – a wall near Peacocks – to stretch out prostrate on. Cramp was wracking the legs – quads, calf muscles, feet and the pain was pretty bad. I managed to shuffle back towards the buses but the marshall didn’t know of any plans for a bus to Leenane. Bumped into a few familiar faces including Mick Rice (him looking fresh, me with the life drained from my face). Met my mate Aaron who had run a great 5:01 in the ultra and he too, despite the extra 13 miles was a bubbly as ever. Anyways, after getting some nourishment on board in the hotel – a great spread of soup, sambos, fruit etc, I eventually managed to locate a bus heading to Leenane – the long way around via Clifden!
After race thoughts… pay more attention to the weather. A cap would have been handy. Carry a gel or two.. drinking water alone isn’t enough to ward off the heat. Pre-race nourishment with some sort of electrolyte drink probably would have helped too. Also, I needed to get more long runs in. High mileage with small to medium sized runs is no short cut to a marathon. The plan to go out fast was probably a mistake. When the good half marathoners are streaming past you in droves it can have a demoralising effect. It’s nearly better in retrospect to meet the half back-markers and for you to make your way through them at your own pace, it’s an altogether more positive thing, but maybe that’s just me
Despite feeling wrecked immediately after the race, a few hours later the life had returned to me.. particularly after some grub and a few drinks. I’ll remember my 20th marathon with more fondness than not. Another learning experience.
42.44k, 339m ascents (according to Sportstracks), 4:39 pace
Recovery day:
No running. After a drive back from Leenane I headed out on the bike to stretch the legs in non-impact mode. A 25k amble around the backroads on a lovely Wicklow evening, followed by a wince inducing ice cold bath. 0 -
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