Connemara - how was your half?

brownian

Hi all,

I don't see a post-Connemara thread, though there seemed to be plenty of boardsies there. So here's my brief report, and I'd be delighted to read how others got on.

Drove down from Luisburgh through the fantastic Doolough pass and into Leenane for 11.15. Loadsa people, long toilet queues, but all running smoothly that morning. Sun already warm. Tidy, no-messing start by Ray and we're over the line. This year, I started three rows back from the front, to see if this saved some time. Definitely. Crossing the bridge I was still in the first ten, and there was never a sense of being crowded. At the top of the hill the front runners were still in sight, but already out of reach.... especially the rocket man who eventually won.

Went a bit too hard for the first six miles (well sub-7-minute miles), and by the time I got to Keane's I was too hot, too dried-out and pretty wrecked. Staggered to the waterstation by the Garda station and took three of the mouthfuls of orangey stuff. Had a tough time getting going again and ended up walking for 100 yards or so, just coming into the main hill. Jasus, the heat. There's a house on the left with a fountain; I seriously considered stopping and putting my head under it. Finally, got my sh1t back together again and jogged up the hill (easier than I expected, considering how wrecked I'd been feeling), and basically fell down the other side.

The last mile was as tough as it always is, though I found some energy in the last 300m or so, that I could really have used outside Keane's. 1:31 according to my watch and the big clock, 1:32 online. So, either one or two minutes longer than hoped for, but not the collapse it felt like. 31st overall, which is I think my best position in this run, despite the little glitch mentioned above.

I've always scoffed at the notion of "the wall", and in three marathons and as many halfs, I've never seen one. But this was pretty close to what I'd expect, so maybe it does exist after all.

Lessons learnt:
- go out hard, and you'll have to have a big reserve later, or else.
- go out hard, and you may still put yourself in a good position, even if it costs you. The guy I ran the first half with, went on to finish 14th - I don't think he'd have expected that high a position, had he not been dragged into a faster pace for the first half. And 31st is (I think) well up on my previous positions.
- heat matters. I drank all the water I could get, and I was still dried out. When I started to get two bottles per station rather than one, I ran better.
- if you run Connemara, do some hill running first. Last year I did several hill runs prior, this time I didn't, and the hills really slowed me up.

Anyway, enough! How did everyone else get on ??

RedB

Well done - check out the Connemara 2010 thread in the A/R/T Events sub-section. Plenty of feedback there plus in the training logs.

brownian

RedB wrote: »

Well done - check out the Connemara 2010 thread in the A/R/T Events sub-section. Plenty of feedback there plus in the training logs.

Ah, of course. Silly me. Apologies for locational mispost