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Baby steps
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jeffontour wrote: »Not a hope of me making this Sunday trot, enjoy.
Pity that. I reckon you just don't want to see that hill up past the Dying Cow pub again, never mind the one at 'Coronary'
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This was a step into the unknown for this year for me as its my first run over 30k since last year's DCM training. After a light breakfast of porridge, tea and toast I hooked up with Paul in Clonegal and drove back to Crossbridge to meet up with Gary. The weather was kind and the kilometers ticked away as we chatted away. Chat was minimal heading up the hill at the Dying Cow (a pub we all need to get back to for a drink at some stage). Chat was zero later when we headed up the hill at Coronary. Apart from that the running was pretty good. The signposting was pretty good too with the exception of an under-marked turn to left from Coronary when myself and Gary would have headed on straight but for a shout from Paul. On the trails around the last hill we had about 5 minutes of light rain cool us down. Some of these trails had the best surfaces of trails I've seen for ages. One was so smooth you could almost skateboard on it. The pace picked up a bit with the last 5 miles and we started to approach a 5:15 avg for the day which was pretty good with the hills and the chat. I felt the closing stages but a few more runs like this will stand to me on the road towards DCM 2011. Thanks guys for the company.
31.47k, 5:14 pace, 593m climb (HARDLY FLAT!). Total for the week 101k
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1082075890 -
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Slogger Jogger wrote: »Pity that. I reckon you just don't want to see that hill up past the Dying Cow pub again, never mind the one at 'Coronary'
True, bad enough driving up them!0 -
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Signed up for this last year and had to give up my registration. Was lucky to get in this year as the registration filled up fast, so I was determined to run it and see what all the fuss was about. I've heard lots of talk about this race over the years so wanted to experience it for myself.
Logistically Strandhill is a bit messy to get to for me. The original plan to go up and back on the same day would have meant a very early start on Saturday so I went with an overnight in Carrick on Shannon on the Friday night which got me most of the way there. Car pooled with gohardorgohome and this worked out well. It was good to have company.
We got to Strandhill early then on the Saturday. The hill dominates the town. It looks scary from the Sligo side.. You are thinking how are we going to run that.. the sides look sheer. When you get closer to it it doesn't quite look as scary. It looks magnificent. Strandhill was buzzing with people. The weather was very changeable with some sun and rain and lots of wind. Lots of surfers on the beach making the best of the waves. The start line is right on the beach and it must rival any race start line in the country in terms of location.
Race no. pick up was very efficiently done. A bit of hanging around then to race time.
I hadn't ran this before so my race strategy wasn't very well informed. I just wanted to give a decent account of myself and run as much of the hill as I could. I am a hill runner first and foremost after all
I stuck with the speedcross 2s for the race. They are really comfortable even on the road and most of this is road so it seemed to be a good compromise.
Fast forward to the race then. I did the minimum of a warm up. I would warm up properly in the race! The runners were tightly packed at the start-line and when the hooter went it took a few moments to get into my stride. It never fails to amaze me where people position themselves at the start of races. I was about 7 rows of people back from the start, behind the really speedy guys, who deserved to be in front. Still, I had to skip past some really slow runners in the opening few hundred metres and this took a bit of zigzagging around the road a bit.
Into my running then and I settled into a comfortable pace. Eased past Dermot then gohard who had started just ahead of me. Eased up beside Peterx and I was surprised that he wasn't more ahead or going faster. It would appear that Pete was taking the first few k of the race as a warm-up. I was alongside him for the guts of 3k I reckon before he decided his warm-up was over and he eased into his race speed, moved ahead gradually and that was the last I saw of him.. Found out later he has worked his way through the field to finish a highly commendable 7th. Great going after his win in GF last weekend.
After aprox 3.5k of road we turn into a field which marks the offroad / hill part of the route. There wasn't much by way of a track. We were running through a field which had long grass and the pace dropped quickly. We moved towards a single track which would contour a bit around the hill and I settled into my short steps to overcome any short climbs. In the course of this I went past a few runners who were perhaps unaccustomed to the hills. The single track around the hill was a bit awkward as for much of it the track was at a camber to the hill, so you were never quick level in your stride. I had settled into a comfortable hill pace for me and was enjoying the run.
At one stage we turned a sharp left and hit a really steep bit. At this point it was more efficient to do a long strided walk. The section didn't last long and we turned onto another track of sorts and I was running again. Before long we had turned again and we were heading up towards the last of the climb to Maeve's tomb on Knocknarea. I skipped past at least 2 runners on this section and as we passed the tomb (which was very impressive indeed) I looked forward to the downhill.
The bits of views I got from running the hill were tremendous. Sea all around.
The downhill path was for the most part a zigzagy single track of sorts. I got past one or two runners on this section and I long strided down the path while they were taking it a bit more road styley. After the single tracks there was an awkward section of path with big stones which could have led to an ankle turn very easily. This slowed me down a bit as I tried to avoid doing anything silly.
Back onto the road again and I pretty much found myself running solo. There was one or two guys way ahead but with the twists and turns on the road I couldn't see them for long stretches. T-runner had given us lots of pre race advice. I think he had said that 1/3 of the race time still had to be run after the descent from the hill, so I settled into what had now become a road race. This wasn't easy. Running solo and battling sore legs and a head wind that was coming from the Atlantic. This headwind would be the most annoying part of the remaining kilometres. There was no shelter from it. I tried to put the head down and will the kilometers away. Tried to settle into a decent running form. From time to time the local supporters along the road would applaud and cheer. The support was great. I tried to gauge the gap between me and the next time I heard them cheer. It wasn't much, but I wasn't looking around me to see. The gap between me and the runner ahead was closing imperceptably. As we neared Strandhill the crowds on the road supporting grew. A runner with a South O'Hanlon club vest eased past me but I didn't have a gear to step up to to pull him back. He also got past the runner ahead of me but I couldn't muster more speed. The last section of the race was fab. Heading down the main street lined with people all cheering. Hit the finish line in 64 mins 24 secs (on my watch). 19th overall. Absolutely chuffed with that. Without the headwind a sub 64 or 63 was probably possible, but on the day I couldn't have gone much faster than that.
Great results from the Rathfarnham guys. Brian (3rd), Peter (7th), Turlough (9th or 10th?). They were trumped for the team prize by a good packing of Sligo AC runners, including Emmet Dunleavy in 1st. Great to see him winning this after some podium spots over the years. Eoin Gahon, last year's winner, was 2nd. Class acts all.
Well done gohard and Dermot for solid runs. Congrats too to Emma Donlon who was 1st lady after her GF win last week.
A great post-race spread was on offer for runners. They really look after you down here. A pity we had to hit the road home and weren't staying for a few post race pints.
I'd recommend this race. It would suit a lot of boardsies I can think of - Abhainn, Pronator, KC. Its 70% road race after all. It sells out quick though so you need to have your wits about you as to when the registration is happening.
14.13k, 369, climb, 4:33 min/k pace
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1098309070 -
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Slogger Jogger wrote: »I hadn't ran this before so my race strategy wasn't very well informed. I just wanted to give a decent account of myself and run as much of the hill as I could. I am a hill runner first and foremost after all
The bits of views I got from running the hill were tremendous. Sea all around.
The downhill path was for the most part a zigzagy single track of sorts. I got past one or two runners on this section and I long strided down the path while they were taking it a bit more road styley. After the single tracks there was an awkward section of path with big stones which could have led to an ankle turn very easily. This slowed me down a bit as I tried to avoid doing anything silly.
Great report SJ, well done. Very similar experiences to mine - in fact our reports are almost copies of each other.
For a man who never saw the route, you handled it very well - lots of runners misjudged it and paid a hard price.
Pity you could not stay for the celebrations, they were a match for the event.0 -
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