looking for a "track" near Dublin 18

meijin

Hey, I'm looking for a flat piece of road/pavement that could act as a track for intervals training, preferably within 10-15 minutes running distance from Sandyford / Stillorgan. Having distance marked every 200m, up to 1600m would be perfect Any ideas welcome.

One I found so far is Stillorgan Wood, about 500m of straight road. The loop in Deer Park is not too flat unfortunately.

Yes, UCD track would have been great... :mad:

catch.23

meijin wrote: »

Hey, I'm looking for a flat piece of road/pavement that could act as a track for intervals training, preferably within 10-15 minutes running distance from Sandyford / Stillorgan. Having distance marked every 200m, up to 1600m would be perfect Any ideas welcome.

One I found so far is Stillorgan Wood, about 500m of straight road. The loop in Deer Park is not too flat unfortunately.

Yes, UCD track would have been great... :mad:

UCD is still runnable, and probably better than any flat bit of road or path you'll find. You do need a bit of imagination for one of the turns though. Most of the track is covered in sand so its not slippy in the wet either. Distances are easy manage!

sideswipe

meijin wrote: »

Hey, I'm looking for a flat piece of road/pavement that could act as a track for intervals training, preferably within 10-15 minutes running distance from Sandyford / Stillorgan. Having distance marked every 200m, up to 1600m would be perfect Any ideas welcome.

One I found so far is Stillorgan Wood, about 500m of straight road. The loop in Deer Park is not too flat unfortunately.

Yes, UCD track would have been great... :mad:

There is a track here Which I use from time to time, not great quality but better than nothing. It's probably 3 miles or so from Stillorgan so if you could get there inside 15 minutes you'd be doing well!! There is a 1.7mile loop around the park itself which is handy as well.

TFBubendorfer

sideswipe wrote: »

There is a track here Which I use from time to time, not great quality but better than nothing. It's probably 3 miles or so from Stillorgan so if you could get there inside 15 minutes you'd be doing well!! There is a 1.7mile loop around the park itself which is handy as well.

I was going to post that one as well. I use it fairly regularly when visiting the in-laws in Stillorgan.

Krusty_Clown

I'd go easy about using that track as we approach Halloween, particularly late at night.

Ballyogen Road is a flat stretch of road that is very quiet, and it's very rare that you'd get a bike on the cycle lane. You'd just need to mark out your interval distances. Not too far from Sandyford. Small rise at both ends, but you'd find a flat 1k no problem.

Peterx

Ahh, well if we're clogging up bike lanes the link road from the two ends of junction 13 on the M50 has a good long straight for doing your intervals on.
Essentially start at the roundabout off the M50 heading for Dundrum town centre. Not exactly flat but sure it all adds to the training, and it's very well lit and very quiet in terms of Halloween messers.

macinalli

If UCD is convenient for you, then an option is to run your intervals on the path in front of the Sports Centre. It's a pretty straight path (with a slight hill) and the students have painted 100m markers along it. The whole straight comes to about 500m. You'll often have walkers/cyclists on it, but unless you're in a group there'll be plenty of space.

huskerdu

There is a small park in Ballinteer, beside the Meadowbrook swimming pool that I use for
intervals.
The path around it is about 900m, Its fairly flat but the path is not perfect road surface in places and there are some dog walkers on the path.

sideswipe

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

I'd go easy about using that track as we approach Halloween, particularly late at night.

Ballyogen Road is a flat stretch of road that is very quiet, and it's very rare that you'd get a bike on the cycle lane. You'd just need to mark out your interval distances. Not too far from Sandyford. Small rise at both ends, but you'd find a flat 1k no problem.

Haven't ran in there after dark myself. Encountered many's a smoldering pool of green, semi-molten plastic that used to be a wheelie bin on my early morning runs though!
Was in there yesterday and the council were just finishing installing lighting along the pathways.

Krusty_Clown

sideswipe wrote: »

Haven't ran in there after dark myself. Encountered many's a smoldering pool of green, semi-molten plastic that used to be a wheelie bin on my early morning runs though!
Was in there yesterday and the council were just finishing installing lighting along the pathways.

Excellent news. Most of it is well lit, until you get to the section at the back of the petrol station on the N11 (near the track). Is that where they were installing new lights? Hope it lasts.

Not sure if you know it, but the path system actually continues across the other side of the Wyatville Road, down through Ballybrack, where a short run will bring you to the coast (through Bayview). Nice trails by day. Wookies abound by night.

sideswipe

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Excellent news. Most of it is well lit, until you get to the section at the back of the petrol station on the N11 (near the track). Is that where they were installing new lights? Hope it lasts.

Not sure if you know it, but the path system actually continues across the other side of the Wyatville Road, down through Ballybrack, where a short run will bring you to the coast (through Bayview). Nice trails by day. Wookies abound by night.

Yep, they seem to be lighting the path that goes from beside the Garage, over to the playground where the clubhouses are located. Theres quite a bit of work going on at the moment so hopefully they light the full circuit.
I often use that Wyatville Road to Bayview route as well as the Deansgrange to Kilbogget route just to avoid exhaust fumes for a while. Wookies usually in bed sleeping it off when I go;)

meijin

Thanks guys!

TFBubendorfer

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Not sure if you know it, but the path system actually continues across the other side of the Wyatville Road, down through Ballybrack, where a short run will bring you to the coast (through Bayview). Nice trails by day. Wookies abound by night.

Excellent stuff. I didn't know that. Coming from Stillorgan I always went down Wyatville Road/Military Road at that point, but following that path would be my preferred option from now on (if it's reasonably bright ).

The one thing I always noticed was that the path from Deansgrange was always very well lit but as soon as you cross Johnstown Road into Kilbogget Park it was dark. I always felt it was like a statement that people in that area don't matter much to the council.

Krusty_Clown

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Excellent stuff. I didn't know that. Coming from Stillorgan I always went down Wyatville Road/Military Road at that point, but following that path would be my preferred option from now on (if it's reasonably bright ).

Just aim for the steps and follow one of the paths to Ballybrack. Then taking this route, you can hit the coastal path and take this as far as Shanganagh Park. Unfortunately if you want to head further south (towards Bray) you have to exit Shanganagh Park and head along the Dublin Road (unless the tide is out and you don't mind scrambling across 1.5 miles of rocks!).