Ain't nothing gonna break my stride....

career move

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Nice work on the bike race(s)! Great to have it all on video too! I'm pretty sure I'd win 'most aggressive rider' every evening going up the quays . Not sure I could cope with a track race and laps etc though! Congrats!

It's so much fun. You should definitely give it a go. They're racing again tomorrow. Sign on is 6:30pm You can get a one day licence for €10 and €5 entry fee. It's well worth it.

career move

IvoryTower wrote: »

That looked like fun, almost as good as running, a poor mans track track i guess

It's a perfect track for bike riding anyway. Just over 1km per lap and the bends are super fun to race around

KSU

career move wrote: »

It's a perfect track for bike riding anyway. Just over 1km per lap and the bends are super fun to race around

Its not a bad loop for intervals as well. Become my local staple, good undulating loop

career move

KSU wrote: »

Its not a bad loop for intervals as well. Become my local staple, good undulating loop

Ya it's deceptive the finishing straight. Doesn't look like much of a drag but you can feel it in your legs if you go hard up it

career move

Jul 22nd - Jul 28th

Tuesday:

I ran for an hour in the morning. I can't remember much about it so I think it was just a bog standard run but the pace looks the faster side of easy so I must have been feeling good. In the evening the club was holding a time trial to finish off the club league. I did a good warm up because my legs were feeling a bit dead after the run and the long bike I did on Sunday. I was a bit disappointed with my time. I should have been nearer 8:10 but the power just wasn't there. A couple of the lads wanted to do a long cool down so we all went along for the 'fun' :rolleyes: It was only 25k but I really struggled to keep up. I've never been so happy to get home and fall into bed

Run 1hr 11.0 km (5:28 / km)

Bike warm up/down 1:15:44 29.83 km (23.6 kph)

Bike TT 8:44 5.0 km (34.4 kph)
ahr:159 max:175

Bike warm up/down 1:31:47 33.36 km (21.8 kph)

Thursday:

I had the day off and I wanted to do a long run. I went before I had breakfast in case it got too warm and it felt comfortable until it wasn't and I started to get a pain in my left glute. Then it was my right glute. Then both glutes. I'd done 17k at this stage and I thought I'll just go a bit slower and it'll be fine. It got really uncomfortable though like both glutes were cramping so I stopped and walked for 10 minutes. When I started running again it was good for the first mile but then the glutes started to get tight again so I stopped after 3k and walked another 10 minutes. Sh!t happens

Run 1:54:30 20.0 km (5:44 / km)

Saturday:

I think I felt good enough. The pace looks fine. I wanted to get 50k of running done this week so I decided I'd do an hour today and an hour tomorrow

Run 1hr 11.03 km (5:26 / km)

Sunday:

I decided not to set my alarm clock and I didn't wake up till 10:20. Decided not to bother with the club bike. I'd missed the start anyway and I wanted to get my run done. The run was uneventful but it got me to my target

Run 1:01 11.17km (5:32/km)

activity |# | time |miles |km
Run| 4| 4:56:29 | 33.06| 53.2 |
Bike| 1 | 2:56:15 |42.37 | 68.19
Walk| 3| 2:20 | 8.82 | 14.2
Core |5| 50:00|
Total |7| 11:03:24

career move

Jul 29th - Aug 4th


Thursday:

I didn't do much Mon - Wed. Stuff conspired against me. I did a double run on Thursday. Felt good. The second one was a bit faster. Last mile in 7:20

Run AM 30:00 5.3 km (5:40 / km)

Run PM tempo 32:35 6.45 km (5:03 / km)

Friday:

Early morning run before work

Run 35:00 6.5 km (5:23 / km)

Saturday:

I didn't want to run because my left hamstring was a bit sore. I had to go to the bike shop to collect a light and the back wheel on my mountain bike was making a tapping noise so it made sense to ride there. It was a good call because Portlaoise was jammers with GAA traffic. It was a bit rainy at times but so humid.

Bike (Mtb) 3:42:44 80.32 km (21.6 kmph)

Sunday:

I met up with the bike club at 10am. 7 of us started off but 3 took the short route after 30k. The 3 guys I was left with are super fast and my legs were a bit tired from yesterday. After 40k I was starting to struggle and I was in the red for the next 40k. So happy to finish and crawl home in the easiest possible gear.

Bike warm up/down 40:27 [3] 15.1 km (22.4 kph)

Bike 2:57:50 82.64 km (27.9 kph)
ahr:131 max:164

activity | # | time| miles| km|
Bike| 2 | 7:21:01 | 110.64 | 178.06
Walk| 5 | 4:50:00 | 13.67 | 22.0
Run| 2 | 1:37:35 | 11.34 | 18.25
Core| 6| 1:00:00 |
Total |7| 14:48:36 |

I won't be doing too much next week. I'm driving to Scotland during the week and spending a few days with my aunt in Edinburgh before driving to Inverness to meet up with my team on Saturday. I think the race starts Monday. We got the schematic during the week.

Itera 2019

Stage| Discipline| Distance|Climb|Fast time|Slow time
0| Foot|5km|50m|00:30|1:00
1| Paddle|20km|0m|2:30|3:30
2|MTB|110km|1500m|6:30|9:00
3|Paddle|55km|600m|10:00|13:30
4|Foot|65km|3500m|14:00|20:00
5|MTB|20km|50m|00:30|1:00
6|Foot|10km|1300m|3:00|4:00
7|MTB|140km|2500m|11:00|14:00
8|Foot|40km|2400m|8:30|11:00
9|Paddle|30km|0m|3:00|4:00
10|MTB|70km|1200m|5:00|7:00
||565km|13100m|66:30|90:00

Times don't include sleeping or transitions. No real surprises except for the 600m elevation on the stage 3 paddle. Really hoping we don't have to hike a kayak up a mountain :eek:

The live tracking map is here. We are Team #11 24H Meals Adventure Team
http://live.opentracking.co.uk/itera19

OOnegative

Best of luck Kate, ya loon!! Will be tracking.

career move

OOnegative wrote: »

Best of luck Kate, ya loon!! Will be tracking.

Thanks Barry

hillsiderunner

Good luck for Itera, no bother to you. I will track.

There is lots of festival stuff on in Edinburgh right now (:mad: ) if you need to amuse yourself when tapering ...

shotgunmcos

Wonder how much tracking I can do in a new job but I'll try. Good thing its 24/7 for the week lol I'm excited enough just to track you, you must be buzzing!

Murph_D

Good luck!

career move

hillsiderunner wrote: »

Good luck for Itera, no bother to you. I will track.

There is lots of festival stuff on in Edinburgh right now (:mad: ) if you need to amuse yourself when tapering ...

Thanks

Yes I'm looking forward to a few days in Edinburgh

career move

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Wonder how much tracking I can do in a new job but I'll try. Good thing its 24/7 for the week lol I'm excited enough just to track you, you must be buzzing!

I probably won't sleep tonight. Spent all day packing :eek: I need more food ..... apparently it'll be 3 days before we see civilisation

career move

Murph_D wrote: »

Good luck!

Thanks Murph. Good luck to you in the Masters

shotgunmcos

http://live.opentracking.co.uk/itera19/
Kate in 24hr meals team #11
Still on full (Long) course and 16th of 37 teams overall.
Currently in the transition from bike to an epic paddle with the option of hiking up a 600m mountain en route. Team 38 just took a wrong turn off the river into a lake. Easy enough to do as they are paddling in the dark. Leaders have scaled the mountain and on the way down now. 2 short course (green markers) bypassed that hike and are paddling towards a V un the river. Wrong choice could spell trouble! Kate and team need to move soon to get onto the water with some headlights ahead.. 14hrs gone... a long long way to go.

OOnegative

shotgunmcos wrote: »

http://live.opentracking.co.uk/itera19/
Kate in 24hr meals team #11
Still on full (Long) course and 16th of 37 teams overall.
Currently in the transition from bike to an epic paddle with the option of hiking up a 600m mountain en route. Team 38 just took a wrong turn off the river into a lake. Easy enough to do as they are paddling in the dark. Leaders have scaled the mountain and on the way down now. 2 short course (green markers) bypassed that hike and are paddling towards a V un the river. Wrong choice could spell trouble! Kate and team need to move soon to get onto the water with some headlights ahead.. 14hrs gone... a long long way to go.

Tried tracking earlier but couldn’t make head nor tail of what’s going on!! Keep the updates coming M if you don’t mind please.

shotgunmcos

OOnegative wrote: »

Tried tracking earlier but couldn’t make head nor tail of what’s going on!! Keep the updates coming M if you don’t mind please.

This stage with the blue race line is an epic paddle stage down river, out the estuary and down the coast. Its night time, there is a decision to go up and down a mountain for a checkpoint en route. The sea will probably be rough if windy. The tide will turn at some point if not already coming in. Wrong turn could lead into cul de sacs or small lakes and you could spend an hour or more trying to figure that out.

For reference the blue tag teams are on full course, as in they have tagged every checkpoint so far. Green teams are short course, meaning they skipped checkpoints so as make cut offs. Top right corner of the live tracking stream pulls out the leader board. Lead teams have gone through CP7 the mountain peak. Kate still at transition (T2-3) probably having a wee nap

Edit they just left transition, so now heading for the river. Looks like they have to drag their boats about 600m just to reach it!

shotgunmcos

Gained a place. Up to 15th and on the water still moving well. I'll update again in the morning. Let's see what happens overnight!

shotgunmcos

http://live.opentracking.co.uk/itera19/#

Good morning. Day 2 of ITERA. Kate and her 24hr Meals boys had a good night. Scaled the mountain to tag CP7 in 15th placed. More importantly got back down it safely and back onto the water. They have made very good progress overnight picking up another place to 14th overall. The lead trio of Sweco, Lozere and Columbia Vidaraid are well down the coast beyond CP8.

Kate's team are still on the full course meaning they have tagged all controls so far. They are about 1.5-2hrs from CP8. There are 5 other full course teams between them and that control including Beast AR in 10th.

Overall they are doing great and still very much racing!

shotgunmcos

http://live.opentracking.co.uk/itera19/#

Day 2 and all teams are now on teh epic paddle down the West Coast

Pointy End - Podium
Columbia Vidaraid in the lead, chased by Sweco and Lozore

4-8th Place about 3hours separating them
Still all close
4. Swiss Adventure - Swiss Team
5. Endurancelife - UK Team
6. Aduron - French Team
7. BudinoRiad - Spanish Team
8. Beast AR - Irish Team

Then a big gang of teams about 15-40 minutes back inlcuding places 9, 10, 11 (top 10 pack) on full course and a bunch of short course teams

12th Place Overall so far - slowly catching the pack
Kate and the 24hr Team - 1 hour behind the top 10 pack and gaining! Really impressed how the team have executed the navigation flawlessly to move from 16th last night to 12th now. Lets hope they keep the pace up, are all healthy and will catch up with that top 10 group. They are passing short course teams so once they catch sight of the pack it should spur on Kates competitive juices Interesting Thing. They were quicker than Sweco on the mountain climb last night. They are tracking well to the bike and trekking estimates (CP7 Mountain last night was a 4hr estimate and perhaps a 4hr penalty for teams not doing it? and Kate and team did it in 4hrs26 in the dark!

shotgunmcos

http://live.opentracking.co.uk/itera19/#

I feel the next 6 hours before nightfall are crucial.
Kates Team #11 are still ranked as full course
Top 3 teams are already on the big trek and should bag the first peak in daylight
Next group of positions 4-6 are moving and should be at the transition (CP11) in the next few hours
There are 3 teams banked on the shore along with a couple of short course teams. Either resting or the conditions/wind are getting worse

If it as A) just resting - then they should be joined by the top 10 battle soon. Kates Team are 1.5hrs behind in 12th
If it is and a headwind or worse has kicked up and those teams are sheltering, I suspect it will be a real challenge for Team 24hr Meals to make it across open water, over a land headend and back down a channel to the transition, before night falls.

Best case scenario all the full course teams make it to the transition tonight, grab some kip and kick out in the early hours for the huge trek. There are just 15 full course teams left, 3 of which are 1.5-3.4 hours behind Kate and the boys. They will be doing well to make the transition in daylight and risk not making cut offs. 1 unranked team (#3) has already opted to bypass the first few big peaks. If the conditions are challenging on the water I suspect Kate's team could be the last full course team to get onto that trek.

There will be plenty of teams about with short course teams but all going well I reckon they will be hanging on to the full course by the skin of their teeth on Morning 3. Fingers crossed for a clear moonlit night to give everyone a good start on that long long trek, that will make or break the race for most...

shotgunmcos

Oh dear...

http://live.opentracking.co.uk/itera19/

I had been following Rob Howard and Sep Monsters reports (today's posted below), because I wanted to try and assess what was happening myself.

10 full course teams left - who I though all finished the paddle within a cut off
10 short course teams left - who had taken a decision not to take some controls, like the 4-5hr haul up the mountain last night
The rest of the teams are now unranked.

The epic paddle down the coast is reminiscant of ITERA 2016. After paddling the entire Lough Corrib by night mid pack teams, including TriHarder AR were hit with a savage headwind when most fatigued. Luckily then we were already racing the short course and still in the overall race

Many of the short course teams made careful decisions to race the short course. It usually is only the top 10 or less that complete the whole thing on World Series Adventure Races. The courses are not set up to spit out the amateur teams but to stretch the top teams while giving all teams the best possible experience from the options they take. When you choose to go for it early and 24hr Teams did, you avoid time penalties but also risk cutoffs.

When I saw teams in the top 10 banking their boats earlier today short of the paddle finish I figured it must have been a headwind or squall or both. When I saw 24hr Meals and a half dozen other teams take refuge on a pier I figured it had been a very tough day. Undoubtedly the organizers had decisions to make.

The unranked teams still get to complete as much of the course as they like, they are just not involved in the short course race. The Irish Team Beast AR are at CP11 (transition from Kayak to Trek) with about 20+ other teams. I'd say its a mess of tired bodies, kit, food, smelly gear etc...

The next stage trek is massive, despite Columbia Vidaraid streaking away in front. The faster teams today missed the worst conditions but even they were not hitting the estimated completion times for stages.

Actual race report info from Sleep Monsters confirmed a rough day with increasing headwind...

https://www.sleepmonsters.com/races.php?article_id=10673
Last night’s course change and today’s headwind have hit the teams and the race organisation hard, and it’s been a tough day for all.

Teams have struggled to make progress, whether portaging on land or in a choppy sea against the wind. The enforced change left teams with a longer portage to the coast and it was harder to find a route, and of course going out of your way is magnified when you are pulling a kayak cross-country!

The leaders were well behind schedule, but racing hard and making good progress, and the rest of the field were much further behind. At the end of the paddle at Ardessie the next stage was the Pharaoh Canyon, a descent organised by ‘The Canyoning Company’. The latest arrival time to do the canyon was gradually pushed back with the helpful staff agreeing to stay on as late as possible to get as many teams as possible through.

The expectation had been to have teams in the canyon all day today but in the end 9 teams were able to make the descent. It a short walk up the hill over the road from the transition, the teams came down a series of slides, waterfall descents and flying foxes, all in quick succession, to arrive back at the road. The waterfalls were small but descending through them got the pulse racing!

Two of these teams who arrived together were Lochland Runners and Endurancelife Development Team. Lochland Runners told me, “The portage was hard as we are three girls on our team, so we had to take one kayak forward with all of us, then go back for the other, again and again.” Tim Martin the first time racer with Endurancelife DT joked it was “one of the top 10 worst days of my life”, but he was still managing to smile, especially after the canyon and a slow transition to prepare for the next trek.

Both these teams are very experienced at tactical races that have multiple options, and both knew gaining time early on is the best tactic. It allows them to manage the race and make choices later on the course, rather than rush from cut-off to cut-off. Lochland had taken the short course on the first ride and missed Suilven, while Endurancelife DT had climbed Suilven. It gained them some penalties, but by doing the canyon they avoided an 8 hour penalty and are now well placed.

To stay on the full course teams had to leave Ardessi by 19.00, after that it was mandatory to take the short course route on the next trek. A couple of teams had to rush to complete the canyon in time, and the last of these was the other Endurancelife team. They were the fifth and final full course team to leave and bundled out of Transition with their kit minutes before 19.00, than packed on the track.

Of course this left most of the teams still having not arrived, and some were not going to make it. Some stopped at Achiltibuie, and the race has arranged for them to be picked up by bus and brought to Ardessie and to continue the race from there. They will then have to leave by 5am at the latest tomorrow morning, but probably earlier if they want to make it to the rafting.

Some other teams pulled in to Ullapool, or nearby, and they had the option to walk cross country from there (without their kayaks) to Ardessie, so they could continue under their own power. Team Turbaina and Beacon Adventure Racing decided to do that and the others are also being picked up by bus.

All of which will bring the race back together overnight and allow teams to move on completing as much of the course as possible.

shotgunmcos

Here is a flavour of it... a video

The amount of portage :eek: (carrying and dragging your boats over land, bush etc..)
And the wind on the water :eek:
The the scary jagged remoteness of those Monroes (Each as high as Carraugntoohill)

https://www.sleepmonsters.com/video.php?video_id=954

ReeReeG

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Here is a flavour of it... a video

The amount of portage :eek: (carrying and dragging your boats over land, bush etc..)
And the wind on the water :eek:
The the scary jagged remoteness of those Monroes (Each as high as Carraugntoohill)

https://www.sleepmonsters.com/video.php?video_id=954

I mean, it's amazing what they (and career move) are doing but part of me really can't comprehend that this is people's idea of fun

shotgunmcos

Quick update
Seems a race decision was made to move unranked team back to short course. This meant the race was back on. Kate's team moved back into the top 20 overnight and left the 2nd last transition in 16th place overall! They picked up the mandatory checkpoint and smartly left out the big risk trekking ones to get back into the pack.

Half way through the long rafting stage now after a good day of progress and just the final bike leg back up the East Coast to go. They should finish sometime tomorrow evening all going well.

From Sleep Monsters

Over and Round The Five Sisters
Rob Howard / Photo : Rob Howard / 15.08.2019
Lozere Team2raid
The heavy rain overnight at ITERA made a tough race even tougher and when not pushing on the teams were taking shelter where they could along the route.

When the final teams arrived at Kinlochewe at TA4/5 after the long Fisherfield trek they were beyond the cut off and needed to rest, but as Beacon Adventure told me; “We were told to camp in the field alongside but it was about a foot deep in water!”

They were allowed to sleep inside the hall and then transferred forward to the Clunie Inn, which is now serving as an impromptu transition. (Leaving from here means teams can trek to the start of the last paddling stage by a shorter and easier route than the original short course and aim to arrive for today’s rafting.)

Teams taking this option, and those who were bussed to Ardessie on the second paddle, will now be ranked again, with a penalty of 36 hours for each transfer. (This is just to ensure they finish below short course teams who finished the stages.) Those who missed cut-offs, took a ride anywhere else or have withdrawn will still be unranked.

Staff at the Clunie Inn have been letting in sodden groups of racers all morning, and the bar manager Pepe has just told a team, “Come in, come in, it’s already messed up in here!” He is dealing with an unprecedented demand for ham and cheese toasties at the moment and said he normally gets no passing customers until 10.00, but today he has been busy since 8.00, the place is packed, and he is having a great morning.

Overnight highland hotels and hostelries have been taking in travellers passing by, as they’ve done for centuries past. It was such a foul night with flooded roads and paths turned to streams that teams needed some respite and to warm up.

I met the Belgian team all enjoying a beer at the Lochcarron Hotel last night and just down the road in Strathcarron several teams found shelter in another hotel/bar. Adventure racing is often about adapting and making the right choices in any given situation, which is what team were doing.

Simon McAllister of McSeamus Clan told me; “We were passing just as they were closing and knocked on the window and the guy welcomed us into a pool room area off the bar. We had access to toilets, even a shower if we wanted, and he bought us hot chocolate and said to just close the door after ourselves when we left! It turned out they’d been following the race online and knew all the teams! What amazing hospitality!” He added, “Two or three other teams came in before we left.”

The McSeamus Clan were at TA8/9 at the Morvich Outdoor Centre and McAllister told me, “We are going to take a transfer to Clunie as we are a bit broken now. We had an amazing crossing of An Teallach as we were up there at the dawn in fine weather and it was just stunning, but the ride on the short route in the wet weather was hard. There were some rocky sections to walk and every path was flooded.”

The transition as Morvich at the end of the ride was in a small outdoor centre and was really busy in the middle of the night. Teams were taking every available camping spot, and were sheltered under the porch to unpack their bags and then move inside to change and repack. There was no room inside for all the gear, but teams took off the really wet kit in the hallway then moved into another drier room.

The race takes a lot of trouble to find halls for all the transitions for exactly this reason, sometimes a gazebo in a field won’t do! There has been plenty of hot water and tea and coffee at all the transitions as well and they were especially welcome last night.

The Nav4 – JRP team were taking down their tent this morning and deciding what to do next, as were a few other teams. Tom Gibbs was there with the maps of the next stage going over the options for them, and trying to ensure as many as possible will make the rafting stage today.

Joe Faulkner said, “I’m very proud of how we’ve been working as a team and the decisions we’ve made. We’ve looked after ourselves and each other and made the right choices for us at the time. We may not have a great result but have done well.” (Unfortunately with hand injuries to two of them the team had to move forward as they could not do the last paddle.)

Among the lead teams there are less decisions to make, on the route anyway, they just have to stay on the full course. They have to look after themselves too of course, decide how hard they can push and where and when to sleep. Leaders Columbia Vidaraid slept for the first time after passing through Morvich last night, then took a direct ascent up onto the Five Sisters ridge.

With high winds, dense cloud and rain it was an option only taken by the remaining full course teams, and that is now likely be down to three. (Swiss/UK Adventurers are looking to be too far back now to reach the finish before course closure if they continue on the full course route.)

By mid-morning the cloud had lifted and the rain thankfully stopped, and there was a change in the lead too. Columbia Vidaraid lost their way and descended the wrong ridge, then took a while to reorient themselves, by which time Lozere Raid2team had passed them.

The French team said they thought CP30 was not there and took a picture of the location (all the teams carry a camera as part of their mandatory gear for this purpose). They looked in good shape as they crossed the main road at Clunie and said the trek had been hard. “it was thick fog and wet and the navigation was not easy,” said Benjamin Monier.

They met course planner Tom Gibbs as they stopped to take off all their wet weather gear and he told them, “There is a good path from here for a while.” Maxime Brajon replied, “For some reason I don’t think I believe you!

shotgunmcos

Kate and Team finished just before 8am this morning after 4.5 days of straight racing. Awesome stuff and well done Kate and the 24hr Meal Team Boys!! You have a bit of reading to do on the team wattsapp Our superstar TriHarder Queen

Mulberry

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Kate and Team finished just before 8am this morning after 4.5 days of straight racing. Awesome stuff and well done Kate and the 24hr Meal Team Boys!! You have a bit of reading to do on the team wattsapp Our superstar TriHarder Queen

Four and a half days' racing. Your focus this time 12 months ago was beating 14 SECONDS in your 100 m at the nationals! You're a gas woman.

Well done, congrats, and looking forward to reading the report.

career move

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Kate and Team finished just before 8am this morning after 4.5 days of straight racing. Awesome stuff and well done Kate and the 24hr Meal Team Boys!! You have a bit of reading to do on the team wattsapp Our superstar TriHarder Queen

Mike thanks for the awesome updates and messages. Really cool to read back over

Mulberry wrote: »

Four and a half days' racing. Your focus this time 12 months ago was beating 14 SECONDS in your 100 m at the nationals! You're a gas woman.

Well done, congrats, and looking forward to reading the report.

Haha yes completely opposite ends of the spectrum

This race was one of the best so it deserves an epic report. It may take some time. Luckily I'm on a rest period

OOnegative

Can’t comprehend the mental fortitude and determination required to complete an event like that. Huge well done to you Kate and your team, inspirational stuff by ye all. Enjoy the recovery.

career move

24H Adventure Meals take on Itera

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1akHOPegvqwy530KhKcUeTaAhpa9KOYGA1eF4wamXRbU/edit?usp=drivesdk