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Bliain Faoi Thrí
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I feel a bit silly writing a report for a race I declared myself out of... it feels kind of like people giving condolences for your own funeral, only for it to transpire that you weren't dead at all!
I noticed on Thursday that I had a PM from BJohnson, who is a chiropractor in Galway. He reckoned he could do some work on the knee that would get me to the start line, and sure enough, by the second session on Saturday afternoon, the knee felt much freer. Feeling irrationally delighted, I headed from his clinic to the Marriott to pick up my race number.
I was keeping an eye out for boardsies when I got to Leenane, saw RedB but he disappeared again on me so I didn't get a chance to speak to him. I met a bloke I used to know from home who was aiming for a 1:34 finish. I really wasn't feeling very confident about the run, what with injury and training interruptions but he gave a bit of a confidence booster before I got to the start line.
I knew what to expect with the first hill, following last year's race, and took it reasonably handy. Things were going okay when I felt the knee heating up (?) at about 3.5 miles, and although it tightened, it never got so bad that it affected my running in any way. Instead, my lungs just felt like they weren't opening and I was struggling a bit early on. I kept having to remind myself to run my own race, as I was locking myself onto other people's pace.
At about six and a half miles, though, I really began to fade and started going a bit backwards. Then, some bloke with an American accent, who looked exactly like a Hollywood depiction of an early '80s US runner (perfectly coiffured moustache, receding but impeccable hair, tanned and short) came up beside me and said "Come on, buddy, let's keep it going." Ok, says I to myself, and ran along with him. After about two miles of this, though, I had to remind myself again to run my own race, so I dropped off a bit and he went on. I was very grateful for his help, though, as I know if I didn't meet him, I would have dropped off the pace even more and wallowed in some suffering self-pity
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Shortly after the bridge in Maam, I saw Slogger Jogger and said hello. I think he may have been wondering who the hell I was, judging by the confused look! At the bottom of the Hell of the West (or the pits of Hell, I suppose!), I came across the Tom Selleck lookalike again and while I ran with him for a while, he wasn't long opening up a margin.
Last year, I had to walk up some of that last hill, and although I really, really, really wanted to do the same this year, I managed to keep going. Once I got over the top, I aimed to up the pace going downhill, but I think I may have done so too early as I was hit by a stitch almost straight away. Again, a case of keep on keeping on, although that last stretch after the downhill just seemed to go on forever.
Coming to the finish line, I saw my father holding up my son, who gave me a high five and a confused look as to where the hell his Daddy came from! I felt shattered afterwards, didn't feel the same elation or enjoyment as I did last year as it just felt like a much tougher run. Garmin time was 1:38:26, gun time 1:38:22, average 7:27. Slowest mile was mile eleven, going up the hill, at 8:41, fastest was mile three at 6:53.
In retrospect, of course, a very enjoyable day, and I'm looking forward to trying a flatter half-marathon soon, maybe Kildare. The whole thing, as ever, was extremely well-organised, which is one of the main reasons for the Connemarathon filling up early every year. Congrats to the ultras and the marathoners especially, for what had to have been a tough day. Oh, and thanks again, BJohnson, the knee doesn't feel bad at all today!0 -
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actwithoutwords wrote: »Congrats. Great run in those conditions and given the injury. The only two half marathons I have properly raced so far have been Connemara. I'm very intrigued as to what kind of time difference there would be between it and an average fairly flat half. The hell of the west killed my chances of the sub 1:40 in the end.
I've done four half marathons, one in 2002 (2 hours 20, I had never run over 10 miles before), Connemara last year (1:56), Waterford last December which was flat (1:42) and Connemara again on Sunday. I'll probably sign up to Kildare so that should give a pretty good indication of the difference between a flat and hilly marathon, it coming up so soon. 0 -
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My wife, the two boys and I headed out for a spin yesterday, so I threw the wetsuit into the boot to give swimming a go! I bought the wetsuit (a cheap Aquasphere suit with the word "Rookie" helpfully emblazoned in silver lettering on the legs and arms) on eBay a few years back but had never used it, mostly because I couldn't close the zip on it until recently.
Anyway, we headed back to Carna, to a lovely beach at An Aird Mhóir. I have to say that I was pretty anxious about getting in the water, as I'm rarely in Irish waters except when wearing a drysuit, thermal undersuit, rock boots, gloves and a five mill hood :eek:. The tide was pretty far out, and by the time the water was up to my knees, I reckon that I had walked halfway to Aran.
The only purpose to the swim was to see how long I could keep the front crawl going before taking a break, so that I would have an idea if a sprint triathlon was a realistic proposition this year. I told my wife to time me once I started swimming. She did, and 17 seconds later, I stood up, freezing in extreme wussiness! Scuba-diving is much more civilised!
Anyway, I gave it a few more attempts, but between the cold and my totally inadequate swimming, I called it a day. I can't see me being able to do anything other than running and running/cycling events this year. I'm not sure if my swimming is beyond redemption, but I'm pretty sure that yesterday's experiment put paid to any triathlon attempts in 2010.0 -
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The only purpose to the swim was to see how long I could keep the front crawl going before taking a break, so that I would have an idea if a sprint triathlon was a realistic proposition this year. I told my wife to time me once I started swimming. She did, and 17 seconds later, I stood up, freezing in extreme wussiness! Scuba-diving is much more civilised!
Anyway, I gave it a few more attempts, but between the cold and my totally inadequate swimming, I called it a day. I can't see me being able to do anything other than running and running/cycling events this year. I'm not sure if my swimming is beyond redemption, but I'm pretty sure that yesterday's experiment put paid to any triathlon attempts in 2010.
I'd say you lasted about twice as long as I did when I carried out a similar exercise this time last year (or maybe even in May?). When I tried on my first wetsuit in the shop and came out to show MrsB, the shop assistant had to tell me that the zip actually went at the back
so trust me, I know that rookie feeling. Between the cold, the waves and the sand swirling underwater messing me up, I lasted less than 10 secs. I think its just too early to attempt open water swimming unless you're well used to it. I was seriously doubting my ability to swim in open water at all until the local tri club started swimming in a lake in late May / early June (?) and even then I had 2 swim caps on. A pontoon 200m parallel to the slipway gave me the confidence to do a Tri at the end of June and even then surviving the swim was my main goal. The first twenty seconds of that was very frightening and I wanted to stop but then I calmed down, followed the crowd and got into an easy swim rhythm. One arm after the other, same as one foot after the other in running, a relaxed kick and you'll get around. If you practice in a pool then you'll build up your confidence so it'll only be the elements to conquer after that. You'll be away from any wave motion after a minute and the water temp should be reasonable in the summer. You'll warm up also after a minute and maybe have 2 swim caps to ensure your head doesn't get cold.
No bother to ya,:). Get back swim training pronto.0 -
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Hmm... balancing the extending family with work and training is turning out to be tougher than I thought! Getting the time to train is not easy. A way around it would be to return to the dreaded 6am runs, but with the eldest lad waking at about 6:15 these days, that's not really an option. Here's hoping he'll settle back into his post 7am routine soon!
Anyway, I was supposed to do a six mile run on Wednesday, but didn't get out until yesterday while at work, and even at that, I was short on time so I decided to make it a five miler and just go out a bit harder than usual. I had to stop twice early on just to let my lungs and heart catch up with the rest of me.
Distance: 5.1 miles
Weather: Cool with a nice breeze
Surface: Pavement and various side roads
Time: 34:51 (average pace 6:50)0 -
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