IMRA season 2011

Rinker

I'm newly registered with imra this year. I didn't enter a club on registration but would like to register for Boards. Anyone know who I can contact to do this?
Really enjoying the build up to the races and the race reports on here. Adds a lot to the events:)

donothoponpop

Rinker wrote: »

I'm newly registered with imra this year. I didn't enter a club on registration but would like to register for Boards. Anyone know who I can contact to do this?
Really enjoying the build up to the races and the race reports on here. Adds a lot to the events:)

Contact the Results and Records Secretary for IMRA, email listed here, asking him to amend your club to Boards AC.

woody1

was looking at the photos there and it looks great id be semi interested in doing some of the western imra races
apart from generaly being not fit enough to do them at the moment id have some questions

is the course always so clearly defined as it seems in those photos ie on a track or fire road or whatever for instance i cant think of a defined track on the likes of nephin what happens in that case are there markers or flags to follow

is everyone that does them as superfit as they look in those photos i know theres generally a fair mix of abilities at all events be it running or tri or whatever but most people there dont look like their in any hassle at all i guess what im asking is do most people run all the way up and down or do some run walk am i better off waiting til ive enough training done to run all the way up and down


the little bit of hill running ive done for sea to summit and rough diamond ive enjoyed but id need to work on it a lot id say

Ar Strae

woody1 wrote: »

is everyone that does them as superfit as they look in those photos i know theres generally a fair mix of abilities at all events be it running or tri or whatever but most people there dont look like their in any hassle at all i guess what im asking is do most people run all the way up and down or do some run walk am i better off waiting til ive enough training done to run all the way up and down

I think it's fair to say that we're all superfit :rolleyes:

Come along.. you'll be absolutely fine! I remember freaking out at my first IMRA race as everyone around me looked ridiculously fit but there are always a few scalps to claim!

Generally people will walk a chunk of the uphills...possibly not some of the legends on this chat channel but in fairness pretty much everyone else. Donothoponpop mentioned that he had only ever seen one person run the full ascent in Annagh Hill for instance? (Who WAS that btw?)

As to marking and obviousness of routes, each race is labelled as to how it's marked. Spring League, Winter League, Leinster League and Trail league all tend to be on well marked paths or trails (not necessarily paths in the sense of something as easy to follow or run on as the Wicklow Way Trail)

Championship races are more open country...e.g. Tonelagee starts with "the fastest way you can get to the top of that mountain from here..." finding tracks and nav decisions, cutting corners etc adds to the fun (apparently, I haven't got to that stage myself yet!)

But all I can say is..come along..you'll love it...the races are brilliant..the craic is great and one of the best things is the rivalries that start up all the way up and down the field. As the same peeople turn up to the races you start to grudge that git who always seems to finish just in front of you and strive to sneak past him :-)


Ro

nerraw1111

woody1 wrote: »

was looking at the photos there and it looks great id be semi interested in doing some of the western imra races
apart from generaly being not fit enough to do them at the moment id have some questions

is the course always so clearly defined as it seems in those photos ie on a track or fire road or whatever for instance i cant think of a defined track on the likes of nephin what happens in that case are there markers or flags to follow

is everyone that does them as superfit as they look in those photos i know theres generally a fair mix of abilities at all events be it running or tri or whatever but most people there dont look like their in any hassle at all i guess what im asking is do most people run all the way up and down or do some run walk am i better off waiting til ive enough training done to run all the way up and down


the little bit of hill running ive done for sea to summit and rough diamond ive enjoyed but id need to work on it a lot id say

Depends on the race whether its marked or not. The winter league and Leinster Leagues are fully marked with red tape with the simple rule that you never cross the red tape.

Definitely give it a go.

PositiveNegativ

Putting on a big effort for the camera is one of the unwritten rules of hill running. A second hidden camera 20 metres beyond our esteemed snapper Mr Shiels would give a fairer view of runner's fitness levels

woody1

thanks for the replies and the advice mostly i was just looking to find out if everybody runs all the way up and down which it seems they dont so thats reassuring
looking at the race calendar the main ones id be looking at would be nephin croagh patrick or maybe slieve foye as its quite close to my parents house so it could be a while before i do a race but itl give me time to get some training in

Ar Strae

woody1 wrote: »

looking at the race calendar the main ones id be looking at would be nephin croagh patrick or maybe slieve foye as its quite close to my parents house so it could be a while before i do a race but itl give me time to get some training in

If you can get to it Slieve Foye might be a good one. I don't know the race routes of any of the races but Slieve Foye is fully marked whereas Croagh Patrick and Mweelrea (which has replaced Nephin on the same date) are completely unmarked so Slieve Foye would give you a chance to concentrate on the hills without having to think about route choice.

I'm hoping that Slieve Foye will be my first race back this year too!

Ro

woody1

wont be doing mweelrea anyway its tough enough to walk up never mind run
il probably head along to croagh patrick when its on and watch and see what i think so slieve foye it is then

GoHardOrGoHome

woody1 wrote: »

il probably head along to croagh patrick when its on and watch and see what i think

The eighth and final rule of IMRA-club: if this is your first event, you have to race.

Seriously though Croagh Patrick is a great event. You pretty much walk up with the majority of people, run some flat bits and try not to fall coming down. There's a path the whole way up and down so no danger of going off-route.

PositiveNegativ

GoHardOrGoHome wrote: »

You pretty much walk up with the majority of people

Speak for yourself!

Minority voice

T runner

woody1 wrote: »

wont be doing mweelrea anyway its tough enough to walk up never mind run
il probably head along to croagh patrick when its on and watch and see what i think so slieve foye it is then

What part of the west are you from? Id say we might be able to suggest s few routes to try near to you. Pick a route, do it (walk up if necessacay, run down), tell us where you found it hard and we can suggest ways to work on the weaknesses. Connaught champs this year should be doable. This mountain running is highly addictive. Best get the hits in early and often.

woody1

live between ballina and crossmolina (mayo)
have hillwalked on most mountains around here and
have had a go at running up croaghmoyle ( booster station ), croagh patrick although i have to admit it was mostly walking up but i did run down flat out
and the diamond in connemara again walk up run down
in terms of going up croaghmoyle was the most succesful albeit in 5 or 6 minute bursts and i figure its probably the best on to train on for a while for a lot of reasons its the closest, most accessible and best surface whilst still being fairly steep ... plus if training goes well i can have a go at the harlequin duathlon at the end of the month was hoping to get there every weekend from now to the end of the month but i will be on croagh patrick for the 7 day challenge again this year mid march so i can get some practice in during that as well

ocnoc

woody1 wrote: »

but i did run down flat out

I take my hat off to you. That takes guts

T runner

woody1 wrote: »

live between ballina and crossmolina (mayo)
have hillwalked on most mountains around here and
have had a go at running up croaghmoyle ( booster station ), croagh patrick although i have to admit it was mostly walking up but i did run down flat out
and the diamond in connemara again walk up run down
in terms of going up croaghmoyle was the most succesful albeit in 5 or 6 minute bursts and i figure its probably the best on to train on for a while for a lot of reasons its the closest, most accessible and best surface whilst still being fairly steep ... plus if training goes well i can have a go at the harlequin duathlon at the end of the month was hoping to get there every weekend from now to the end of the month but i will be on croagh patrick for the 7 day challenge again this year mid march so i can get some practice in during that as well

Great stuff. The gradient of the Mwwelrea is leass than Croagh Patrick. Apparently its not boggy, so runnability might be simlar or better than Croagh Patrick.

Have a look at some of the suggested traning and sessions here

Consistent training is important. Once a week doing your hill run is fine.

To build climbing endurance you can experiment by running very very slowly up the hill....ridiculously slowly...any parts where the climb eases dont speed up....continue slowly, to recover.

The idea is to get as far up the hill with a running gait as possible. This will help your climbing endurance far more than running and walking at a more mormal pace.

This goes out the window on race day where you want to get to the top as quickly as possible: the means are secondary. In fact it may be more beneficial to do a run/walk strategy starting the walk before your running muscles are fatigued too much...walking the steeper bits, but running the not so steep bits if possible.

ocnoc

just back from some weekend beastings on Carlingford (aka Slieve Foye).

The LC race there could be awesome!

woody1

thanks for the advice t-runner thats exactly the kind of thing i was looking for now i shall be off before this thread descends into a training log
will hopefully see ye all at slieve foye or croagh patrick maybe both

T runner

Nice little stinger of a climb at the latter part of this race now. Its not the steepest part of the ride but it will be agony!
I think it will be a good inclusion, the fireroad down the WW at the end was way too long to be off the grass. Although Ill probably curse tehe xtra climb as Im running/walking up it. Should add 4-5 mins to the winners time i reckon.

Also means you have to leave a little in the tank for it. A good few palces won and lost ebcause of this section I reckon.

Slogger Jogger

Nearly a month to go to the Wicklow way trail and ultra and already we've 100 confirmed for the trail. Better line up the 3rd bus. Brian Furey has reserved a spot. Any other contenders for the top spot I wonder. Early days...

ThisRegard

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Nearly a month to go to the Wicklow way trail and ultra and already we've 100 confirmed for the trail.

That's a great number at this stage, looking forward to it once I start building up my mileage, haven't managed to get out for a run further than 15k yet this year.

donothoponpop

Heh heh heh, "Good trail shoes are advised for the less confident":D Such understatement!

Good luck to all running the race, and to Slogger Jogger who will have the larger task of Running the race.

thepassanger

DNF for me today, gutted.
my lack of observation lead me to 'miss' a turn
cant wait for the next race on this route though, was a real beaut. well done to slogger jogger and associates!

T runner

thepassanger wrote: »

DNF for me today, gutted.
my lack of observation lead me to 'miss' a turn
cant wait for the next race on this route though, was a real beaut. well done to slogger jogger and associates!

Hard luck today Passenger.......

RACE REPORT

donothoponpop

Great report Turlough.

T runner wrote: »

-Boards.ie zapped polerguise style back into their computer monitors.

Good. Fighting words. I needed a catalyst.

<spits into virtual dust>

BRING

IT

ON

ocnoc

Lots of people getting lost.
Can't wait for the LL now... we're due mist this year

Slogger Jogger

I think Maulin needs to be reconsidered as a WL event. Logistically, even with decent car pooling today the car park in Crone was overflowing. Because the trails here are so popular with walkers its not practical to mark off junctions the way you would normally do. Therefore, unless you have a marshall at nearly every junction people, esp those new-ish to IMRA races, are going to go astray. That or have it earlier on the Saturday, say a 10am start.

Lots of other hills out there as we saw from the race in Annagh. Variation is good.

Peterx

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

I think Maulin needs to be reconsidered as a WL event. Logistically, even with decent car pooling today the car park in Crone was overflowing. Because the trails here are so popular with walkers its not practical to mark off junctions the way you would normally do. Therefore, unless you have a marshall at nearly every junction people, esp those new-ish to IMRA races, are going to go astray. That or have it earlier on the Saturday, say a 10am start.

Lots of other hills out there as we saw from the race in Annagh. Variation is good.

New routes are cool, Annagh Hill was a blast and it only as I running along with scant notion of where I was that I realised that I normally know exactly where I am in IMRA races which is obviously handy for knowing when to hit the turbo but the shiny newness of Annagh Hill made it the race of the WL for me. That and the big day out feeling of cycling home, it's rare enough to get a to b spins in.
The Maulin route as designed and re-tweaked by Gerry Brady (thanks Gerry) is the best test of traditional hill-running of this winter league. It is a brilliant course only lacking in length whcih is fair enough in that dangerous winter time....
I don't know if the new government will have any time to focus on recreation but the answer should not include healthy hillrunners having to forgo a classic race due to parking pressures, more preferable would be new big carparks in new forestry areas close to the urban conurbations for the walkers (and hillrunners and bikers) to be able to spread out a bit thinner on the lovely Wickla ground. Butter mountain, Slade Valley, there's loads of places that could easily take an acre of carpark and already have plenty of walking ready land.

Anyway, thanks again to all the volunteers. I did absolutely nothing to help out and enjoyed 4 races so I suppose I'd better get some volunteering in, the trail league might be the place. it just isn't calling to me in the same way as the champs..

In the Woods

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

That or have it earlier on the Saturday, say a 10am start.
QUOTE]

+1 on the earlier start. I was up there 2 out of the previous 4 weeks just before 10am for a run and there weren't that many cars there.

Really enjoyed the race, did the Powerscourt uphill here in 09 but apart from that haven't really raced here. Did a recce on part of the route with a few others a week ago so I had an idea of some of the hills. Finished 15th so must be improving even though it didn't feel like it walking up some of the really steep sections. First time doing the winter league (got in 3 out of 5 races), hopefully get all 5 races in next year. Roll on the wicklow Way Trail.

T runner

Hi Folks. Was messing about last night and as tehse races are so different semanding different strenghts I did a comparison between the two races on a spreadsheet.

I picked runners who had run both races and compared their stats.

I calculated the average gain in both improvement in both race time and base points for all of these runners runners.

I then calculated how much each runner deviated from this average.

The important stat is the gain or loss (compered to average gain) in base points.

Just to show that certain courses suit certain horses.

Sorting by the base point gains (largest to smallest) shows el presidente Dermot on top, with Caitlin and Peter in close attendance.
Charlie and Zoran well up.

Dermot is doing loads of cycling, turbo sessions etc.
Distance bothers Charlie and Caitlin more than Hills. Zoran would be more strenght based also, Peter too at this time of year.

James Alexander also well up which is surprising at first view. Good help us all when he starts doing quality training!

nerraw1111

Interesting post T Runner.

Really impressed with the Winter league, was a great success from my perspective.

Only did the minimum three races to score so missed out on 2. Favourite race of the league was Aanagh Hill, superb course. Trooperstown was also a lot of fun. I'm lucky in that most courses are completely new to me.

Looking forward to the Wicklow trail and will probably do a couple of the Spring League.

Presume road runners will be the best for Wicklow Trail? Or is there any tricky descents where trail shoes might be worth wearing?