Down, (down again) and Back - 2014

Izoard

Plan looks like:

Donadea 50km Feb
Barcelona Marathon Mar
Comrades Ultra June
Lost Sheep HIM August

Comrades has been on the bucket list for a while and with various work changes on the horizon, 2014 is probably my last chance to nail it on to a work gig.
Convenient that it is a "down" year:)

Also, keen to "run" a proper marathon, as a combination of IM/Ultras/pacing and fancy dress, means I haven't actually properly engaged in the classic distance for years - Barcelona gets the nod here.

Lost Sheep has also been on the bucket list - nice to see it show up in August.
Good to have some class of tri on the list, otherwise I might be sent off to join the hairy-legged masses on A/R...

As for Donadea...I'd be afraid not to do it at this stage...

Dory Dory

Izoard wrote: »

Plan looks like:

Donadea 50km Feb
Barcelona Marathon Mar
Comrades Ultra June
Lost Sheep HIM August

Comrades has been on the bucket list for a while and with various work changes on the horizon, 2014 is probably my last chance to nail it on to a work gig.
Convenient that it is a "down" year:)

Also, keen to "run" a proper marathon, as a combination of IM/Ultras/pacing and fancy dress, means I haven't actually properly engaged in the classic distance for years - Barcelona gets the nod here.

Lost Sheep has also been on the bucket list - nice to see it show up in August.
Good to have some class of tri on the list, otherwise I might be sent off to join the hairy-legged masses on A/R...

As for Donadea...I'd be afraid not to do it at this stage...

Sounds black tie. Ooh-la-la.

Izoard

Dory Dory wrote: »

Sounds black tie. Ooh-la-la.

Just for you, Dory - first fancy-dresser home in DCM 2009, I'm unreliably informed...

catweazle

Always the snappy title - you never fail

I hear the down year on comrades is much harder on the legs!

Hoping to do Lost Sheep myself this year!

handangeo

Whats this...............no IM?????

Izoard

handangeo wrote: »

Whats this...............no IM?????

Impossible to get the long bikes in, with the current family activities.

I know from South Africa this year, that you can blag the bike to a certain degree with turbo-only, but that's as far as it goes.

If I go back to IM, I'd like to lower the 11:30 - blagging won't cut it:)

griffin100

Nice to see you're not trying to squeeze all your races into 6 weeks.

Agree about the bike and IM, but I reckon I'll be trying to blag my way round again in 2014.

Izoard

After a couple of weeks of trying to get the body used to consistently running sub 5 min kms again, my calfs* were in no condition for the LSR at the weekend, so got myself re-acquainted with the turbo.

Gave me a chance to do some damage to Series 2 of Homeland - brilliant stuff, so far.

* I never know whether it is "calfs" or "calves" - teachers were always a little vague on this as well....anyone?

Dory Dory

My understanding is that both calves AND calfs are technically correct, however calves is more widely accepted.

Izoard

Dory Dory wrote: »

My understanding is that both calves AND calfs are technically correct, however calves is more widely accepted.

Thanks Dory*, I'll go with "calves" from now on...

* An American giving me grammar lessons? Jesus wept...:)

Izoard

Decided to drop into Parkrun Marlay while out doing a longish run this morning.
Good crowd, in messy conditions.

5km grovel from Rathfarnham uphill into the wind as a warm up, followed by a spectacular 23:05 5km:eek: At least I have a marker...

Great resource to have on the door step.

Felt good afterward, so decided to run up to "St. Thomas's", which is Mrs. I's dream house.

(Un) fortunately, the DSD Death Star managed to make the acquisition before I could sell a few of the kids and a kidney, so was planning to drop into their open day to check out their plans for South Dublin domination.

I wasn't quite sure exactly where it was, so was running around the wilds of Whitechurch in the lashing wind and rain. After a couple of close shaves with wobbling trucks, I gave up and ran home.

A little over 2 hours total in "testing" conditions - character building.

Izoard

Much better conditions today - easy 4.5km warm up, followed by a slightly more respectable 21:55 this week. 4.5km warm down, home.

Glad to put in a better performance this week, despite the excess of the past few weeks.

LSR planned for tomorrow - will be the first back-to-back running in ages...

Izoard

Last 10 days have been spent mainly in Las Vegas, with some limited treadmill, to try to minimize the drop in fitness.
2 bonus days on the snowboard, reminded me of leg muscles that I hadn't used in 3 years - was happy to escape injury free, in the end.

The Barca-bound mates are planning an early 3hr LSR on Sun - should be fun...

Izoard

Decided it is time to start back into some proper gym work, to get some degree of S&C into the plan.

I dropped in last night, foolishly wearing some class of tri t-shirt.

Got some sage-like glances that said, "he must be all right, if he's telling us he does tris"

Cue significant let down, as Izoard looses all decorum on the TRX bands and managed to release a kettlebell in mid-air, just missing my workout partner.

It always amazes me, that despite many years of endurance stuff, I've a terrible core and flexibility.

The only way is up.

Izoard

So, Donadea awaits...

Have been reasonably disciplined with the LSRs over the past few weeks - 3hr, 3:25, 3:25, which is more than I had done this time last year.

Hoping for a dry day and the formation of a ~4;30 bus, otherwise this will be a looong day out, with the only distraction being, trying to work out at what point I will be lapped by the faster boardsies...

Izoard

Driving down to Donadea in the lashing rain, meant I was less than enthusiastic about this one, today.

Plenty of Boardsies milling about and finally got to meet the Iron Oryx - (the Tough Guy sticker on the car was the giveaway).

Pretty muddy under foot, but reckoned 5:30 pace was a reasonable starting point.

This race is a game of 2 halves, each lap is front ended with the climbs, so once you are through 2.5km on each lap, things calm down.

If I could keep the average around 5:30, for the first half, I'd be delighted.

Caught up with Oryx after a few hundred meters, and clung to her coat-tails as she effortlessly churned out - 5:10-5:20 kms.

Plenty of mud was beginning to sap me on the climbs and I was struggling to hang on. Towards the end of lap 4, the elastic broke and I was facing 30km solo.

Seeing Oryx head off in the distance, I wondered if she'd re-appear* again - a max 28km LSR, will usually come back to bite you in a race like this.

Without a group, my pace went through the floor, and all sorts of ailments, real and imagined, began to haunt me.

By Lap 6, I was on the verge of pulling out - left hamstring was screaming at me and I was hating the mud.

Went back to infant mode - grabbed a pack of Jelly Tots and rewarded myself with a couple after each km completed. While it got me over the hump, the pace was still chronically slow.

Through the marathon in a disappointing 3:58 with a heavy shower for company.
A sleet shower came along a little later, but eventually struggled over the line in 4:49.

I've dropped 10 mins each year I've done this - if it continues, I'll be on the cut off next year:(

Part of this is definitely mental - I've no gra for running at the moment, so I need to think long and hard about whether Comrades is worth doing this year.

In any event, a great race, yet again from Anto and the Donadea RC team in testing conditions. You could see evidence of the emergency chainsaw work all through the course, so it underlined the effort put in, to ensure this went ahead.

* I should have known better - she powered on, banging out the same pace relentlessly...

Izoard

Back in the soft-focused past, I reckoned 2014 would be the year of running!
Barcelona stood out as a great race, to finally record a reasonable marathon time in the past few years.

Donadea came and went with little training and a performance to match - now Barcelona is here and I've managed 4 runs since Donadea:)

Running just isn't floating-the-boat at the moment, so the prospect of doing Comrades in 2 months, is laughable.

On the plus side, I'm really enjoying the S&C stuff I'm doing 3 or 4 times a week and the Lent-inspired crap-ban, is also beginning to bear fruit.


So, the objectives for the weekend are:

1. See BOD close the book with a hat trick in Paris
2. Complete Barcelona with a smile on my face and a plan to get back at it for Comrades
3. Raise a glass in the George Payne to the health of MrStew
4. Watch Arsenal hammer Spurs.
5. Make it back in time for the Gorey Parade....

Mañana....

Dory Dory

Post a pic of yer-bad-self smiling after you complete Barcelona. Have fun with it!!!!

Kurt Godel

Now now Izoard, you're an old hand at this game. Steak is a good substitute for muscle, so eat plenty of it now to compensate for lack of training. No more than two pints of beer the night before (so as not to mix with the bottle of red you'll have had at dinner). "Desayuno irlandés completo, por favor" is the only Spanish you'll need for race morning, and the PB is in the bag. Best of luck!

Izoard

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Now now Izoard, you're an old hand at this game. Steak is a good substitute for muscle, so eat plenty of it now to compensate for lack of training. No more than two pints of beer the night before (so as not to mix with the bottle of red you'll have had at dinner). "Desayuno irlandés completo, por favor" is the only Spanish you'll need for race morning, and the PB is in the bag. Best of luck!

World class, pre-race best-practice as described by Dear Leader.:)

The only thing missing is your patented LSR, wedged between the vino/pints and the full Irish on race morning...how long would you suggest? PMP?

Kurt Godel

Nothing says "OAP" more than a sweaty auld chap jogging at night, so a few hours clubbing the night is a better way to get the heart rate up. Remember, you're not in Ballygobackwards any more, so I'd suggest you swing whatever way the action is flowing.

Izoard

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Nothing says "OAP" more than a sweaty auld chap jogging at night, so a few hours clubbing the night is a better way to get the heart rate up. Remember, you're not in Ballygobackwards any more, so I'd suggest you swing whatever way the action is flowing.

Perfect - I'll just have the couple of Smarties to get me in the mood...don't want to go mad, like...

Any fool can do a marathon with training - this however, is the sharp-end.

Izoard

Sat:

Early start - picking up buddy #1 @ 0500 for the 0640 flight - watching enviously the green-clad masses, heading to Paris for the BOD lap of honour.

Great hotel, right at the start/finish/registration area, so dump the gear and straight to the George Payne for the rugby fest. At this point we had picked up buddy #2 and his OH, who was taking on the marathon distance for the first time.

The inappropriateness of a few pints the afternoon before a marathon was lost in the emotion of the victory in Paris - great stuff.

Sun:

Very leisurely start - certainly the easiest city marathon in terms of logistics.
Buddy #2 decided on the chivalrous action of staying with his OH, so he was signing up for a 4:30 or so...
Buddy #1 was eying up a 3:30, so I decided to head out with him and see how long I could last before dropping off.

I originally planned sub 3:40, which would move me up a few pens in Comrades, but the lack of any training of note, put paid to that.

The sun was out to play, so also knew this would be a factor in the 2nd half.

The first part of the race, up to the Camp Nou, seemed to be filled with long drags, that put paid to my idea that this was a flat course.

Stuck with buddy #1 through 7km, and was still holding ~5min kms through 10km.

Started to dial it back from there, but made it through the half in 1:50, so still worked on the basis that 3:4x was still on the cards.

Heat began take it's toll and you could see plenty of Northern European-types (including myself) beginning to flag.

The 2nd out-and-back seemed to go on forever and now there were few places to hide from the sun.

I was running out of time for the 3:4x, but still felt it was on the cards - however, the final 2km was the final nail in the coffin, with the constant uphill knocking the pace out even more. Serves me right for cutting it that fine:)

Finish in 3:50 - 2:00 for the 2nd half:eek:

Quick shower and change and back to the GP for more TV sport - did get out and about later on - always a great city to hang out in.

Still wavering about Comrades, next milestone is Staplestown 50km in mid May, so will chip away towards that.

ultraman1

Well done today..tuff conditions...hope it not as warm in suud aafriicaa

ultraman1

Well done today..tuff conditions...hope it not as warm in suud aafriicaa

Izoard

He hasn't gone away, you know....

So - "training" has been terrible since Barcelona - I've been travelling pretty much full time since Barcelona, so training has been limited to treadmill efforts and S&C stuff.

Managed to get out for 3 hours last week in prep for Staplestown 50km yesterday.

Arrived down to the start to see the 50 milers heading off - this is the race I should have been doing, but it was just too close to Comrades to have a crack at it.

The plan for the race was purely time-on-my-feet, and I'd planned to introduce a walk/run effort at the start of lap 4 (30km) and get me home ~ 5 hours.

Started off the race with the effervescent Marie from Slaney, my buddy from the Oilgate 1/2 - she was doing her 50th marathon - great achievement.

5 * 10 loops and got through the first 4 on 4:50 pace, introducing limited walk breaks on 30km.

However, this turned out to be a double-edged sword, in that it was becoming more and more difficult to get started after each break.
As a result, the last lap became a mental failure, where I ended up walking waaaaayyyy too much.
5:15 was not what was planned, but good to be out there for a long stretch.
On reflection, a week in Vegas - getting back on Friday, was probably not the best preparation...

Great org from Anto, Frank and the rest - it is a fantastic resource (EoI) that we have the option to run a marathon a week, with zero fuss - turn up and run.

Ahh, yes...Comrades.

So although a "down" run, this will basically be a hilly 50k, followed by a largely down hill marathon



Given the objective is to finish alive, the original plan was to start with run/walk - however, based on the lessons from yesterday, I'll aim to run the 50km and hope for the best after that, with enough time banked to get me home inside the cut off.

Plan is to do an easy 3 hours next weekend, before heading to Jo'burg on the Tuesday, and on to Durban on the Friday.

How hard can it be?:)

Izoard

Hopefully, navigating a chaotic expo to collect the race number isn't a harbinger of things to come.
At least for the "internationals", we could dodge the "queue of death", but some of the locals were lining up for 2hrs +:eek:

Based on the above, decided to avoid the general bus migration to the start (15,000 all in line for busses at the same time...), by hooking up with a mate who has alternative transport sorted out.

Still means a 2am wake up call, though!

Weather looks to be hot tomorrow afternoon - 26/27 - perfect conditions for the all-black compression gear...

griffin100

Izoard wrote: »

Weather looks to be hot tomorrow afternoon - 26/27 - perfect conditions for the all-black compression gear...

Ultra Batman!!!

Best of luck.

Kurt Godel

Best of luck Izoard.

*Top Tip- Not using your wetsuit for its intended purpose? Cut small holes at the knees and elbows and Hey Presto! a perfect all-over compression suit for Ultra Distance!

Dory Dory

Don't forget your cape!!!!

Have a great time....and best of luck to you! Whoop whoop!

(A little worried, however, how well you know this "mate" with his "alternative transport." :eek: I'd hate to have to send Kurt, shotgun and the rest of the boards posse over there to look for you!)

Dory Dory

71 km into race....looks like 8:42:53 split. Go big I!!!!

Dory Dory

Well done, Izoard! Welcome to Durban. :)

Izoard

A Long Walk to Freedom Durban.

Background
I’ve largely fallen out-of-love with running inthe past year, but Comrades has always been on the bucket list and with work changes looming, it was unlikely I’d be down in South Africa much, after June.

So, with my usual “how hard can it be” approach, I signed up back in November, and promised myself to put the work in, so I could at least survive this monster.
However, a couple of flat 50ks and the Barcelona Marathon later, my kilometreage for 2014 was in the region of 740km, not quite the2000k+ the Comradians seem to have as their minimum benchmark.

Pre-race:
A couple of days spent working in Jo’burg and then arrived in Durban on Friday. It has been 14 years since I was here last, and time hasn’t done the city any favours. Aside from the beach, it is one of the less-palatable SA cities.

Headed to the expo, and was faced with a massive queue for registration. However, although they charge Johnny Foreigner a ridiculous multiple of the local price to do the race, one benefit is that there is an “international” queue – phew!
This still took 20 mins or so, but not quite the 2-3 hours the locals were dealing with.

Pretty big expo, but any of the decent Comrades stuff had belong grabbed – they pretty much ran out of everything by Friday evening.
Met up with Comrades Buddy (CB), who was staying in a far posher-hotel and hung out with him for the evening.

I decided against doing the bus tour on Saturday morning, as the thoughts of 4 hours on a bus to see scary hills was not what I needed…
Saturday was pretty tedious with the rising dread only punctuated by a decent feed at the posh hotel, before setting the alarm for an anti-social 2:30am.

Race Day:
Having seen the chaos at registration, I didn’t fancy signing up for the communal busses that take the 18,000 or so, from Durban upto the start at Pietermaritzburg. Luckily CB was signed up to a package that meant he had his own transport to the start, so I jumped in with him.

The pick up was for 3:30, which seemed a little tight, given the start at 5:30, but hey, they’ve done this before, right?
We eventually got on the road around 3;45, and Albert, our trusty driver, was immediately confounded by the road closures in Durban, so finding his way onto the M13 was an effort in itself.

Once on the highway, we seemed to be climbing forever –thank God, this was the down run!
Once we hit Maritzburg, the traffic was completely backed up, getting into the town.

We had a very nervous Dutch guy on our mini-bus, who was about to explode under the pressure.
Dutch guy: “How far to the drop off, Albert?”
Albert: “Not sure, boss”
Dutch Guy: “Will we make it on time?” (Imagine this in capital letters..)
Albert: “Ehhh, not sure, boss…”

We were inching along, and the clock was approaching 5, with the pens closing at 5:15.
Eventually, we made the collective decision to get out and run to the start, so an unscheduled 2k warm up run was required.

We got to the pens just at 5:15 and after much confusion, managed to find the bag drop. OK – let’s get into our pen!
Except, the pens had reached capacity some time ago, so we were still on the street, outside the pens, when the count-down started.

A feature of this race is the SA anthem, followed by Shosholoza (which is the unofficial/preferred anthem), both belted out with gusto, by the 85% South African runners.
Then the cock crows, and boom we are off – except we are not.

Medals and cut-offs are decided by gun time, so I wonderedif the 6 mins or so, that it took us to cross the line would be material lateron…
Once our pen starts moving, we pile in from the street.
Race on!

The plan was to “run” for as long as possible, before switching to the run/walk. With no idea of the hills, I wasn’t sure if this would be at 5km of 50km.
First up was a gentle descent out of Martizburg, before the climb to the first of the Big 5, Polly Shortts. Fairly straight forward, but only when we were descending the other (hard) side, did it dawn on me that the “up”runners have to do this with 8km to go in their race – mental.

After Pollys, it rolls until the climb to Umlaas Road, which is the highest point of the race at KM21. I felt this would be a great psychological barrier to get through – it is all down-hill from there, right?
The climb is long rather than severe and over we go, 2;10 or so on the clock. From here, it looked like (on the profile map), that it rolled for the next 35km or so, but that was somewhat misleading.

At this stage the sun was up, but looked like there would be some cloud cover to take some of the sting out of the heat.
The race is exceptionally well catered, with water stops every 2.5km and the constant support all chipping in with their own goodies. I was toying with the idea of a backpack, but this was like an IM marathon, with the amount of food/drink on offer.

Camperdown and Cato ridge passed by – all manageable, but taking a constant toll on the legs in the heat.
At 40km, we hit the bottom of Inchanga and CB says we better start walking. Mentally, I thought this was a bit early to start with this, but he’d done the bus tour, so I deferred to his wisdom.

Inchanga is a brute. This climb went on for ever, and I would have been proud to make it up on a bike.
Most of those around us were also walking, even guys with 20+ Comrades under their belt – mindful of the horrors that lay ahead.

Through the marathon in 4:32 (KG, I’m still good for the 4:30 pacing in Dublin, honest:))and after 46km finally off Inchanga, down to Drummond.

40-55, was the real killer, and by the time we reached the top of Botha’s, my hamstrings were weeping in pain.
At this stage, I was cooked, but looking at the cut offs, we were well ahead, so, given it was “downhill” from here, we could make it, even if we walked most of it, however the plan was to run the down and walk the ups –if possible.

The descent from Botha’s was a killer on the legs and straight into another climb, before the “down” started in earnest.
While a lot around us were now suffering from the heat and general gastric ailments, I felt fine, except for the minor matter of my quads,calves and feet all cramping.

At this point, sub 11 was still on the cards and I was willing the cramps to ease out, so I could put together a reasonable stint of running, before returning to a relieving walk.
CB was in better shape than I was, but he dutifully waited up, whenever I’d start hopping around and cursing yet another cramp.

Walk up Cowie’s (the last of the Big 5), before switching onto the motorway, for the descent into Durban.
Sub-11 was slipping away, and I knew we’d finish inside the cut off, but I still wanted to run any bit I could, just to get off thismotorway.

It seemed forever, when we were driving up this road 12 hours ago, thinking at least we get to run down this to the finish.
I’d been looking forward to first setting eyes on the sea, but frustratingly, every hill crest, was a false dawn.

It may have been visible sooner, but I only registered it, about 10km from the finish.
A huge amount of suffering going on around me, but I was in my own world of shuffling hell, so was not much assistance.

Still some serious bumps to get past, before we hit the flatin Durban, with 2.5km to go.
We shuffle towards the stadium, the cauldron of noise getting louder after each step.
We close in on 1km to go and I turn to CB – except he’s not there.
Given he’s been waiting for me for the past 25ks, I presume he’s ahead,but I see him, white-as-a-sheet stopped just behind.

Looks like all those litres of water and other junk has taken it’s toll on his stomach.
We take a breather and he comes around and into the stadium.

Wow – what a finish.
The Sahara stadium is packed to the rafters and a wall of noise for the finishers – we get to do a lap of the field, before crossing the line together in 11:26 gun/ ~11;20 chip time.

I felt fine at the finish, so a slight sense of frustration that the legs packed up so early, but you get what you train for.
Bump into Boards Legend-of-Comrades, opus, who has knocked out a truly inspirational 8hrs something. Incredible.

Once we get a drink into us, attention turns to the bloodsport of counting down to the 12 hour cut off.
Heart-breaking to see people shuffling into the stadium, but who are going to miss the cut off by a couple of seconds. Once 1200 hits, the show is over – people start packing up and leaving, but runners are still streaming into the stadium – only in South Africa!

Eventually make it back to the hotel, where the next 4-5hours were spent in a writhing mess on the floor, with my entire body cramping in one way or another – the flight home today should be interesting.
All in all, a brilliant race – serious ultra with a big city marathon feel. Best finishing set up by a mile (including any IM finish) and the race itself is exceptionally well organized.

Almost all of the locals claim the “down” is harder – I find that very hard to believe. Anyone who has run the course in reverse, has my ultimate respect.
It is off my bucket list, but highly recommended for any of the serious ultra-heads here.

Done.

Kurt Godel

Well done on getting that monster off your list! It seems like an awful lot of suffering!

griffin100

I like the minimalist approach to training Definitely a race that's not on my bucket list!! Great report and well done.!

Dory Dory

You are a brave man, Izoard. Serious respect!!

Abhainn

Comrades is on my bucket list but after reading that I'll be expecting hrs of pain
Great account Izoard even with the excess details of suffering in there:)

ronanmac

Wow. Fantastic description of what seems to be a fantastic race. Fair play.

mossym

well done on the race and the report, it's a hell of an achievement to have it done

Izoard

Lost Sheep 2014 "Race" Report

I had great plans to get ready for this race over thesummer, once I had Comrades out of the way – never happened.

Any “training” has been doing gym work. Have not been in the water for a year, same for the tri-bike, and little or no running since Comrades.

By early August, I planned to transfer the slot, but missed the deadline and figured I could blag my way around and enjoy the scenery.

Race day was perfect – little or no wind and calm sea conditions – quick chat with BTH and catweazle and then down to business.

What could possibly go wrong?

Swim:

Very relaxed at the start, nice warm up and we are ready to go, waist deep.

Off we go and immediately, my heart is in the red zone and I’m really struggling for breath. Stop for 10 seconds, to get some free space and go again. As I’m reaching out, I get caught by a foot on my arm, delivering some hyper-extension on the left side, which serves to knock something out of place in my shoulder – some rotator-cuff issue.

Now, I’m struggling to breathe and can’t do any meaningful front crawl.

At this point, I’m last and the green hats are disappearing fast. Can’t quite believe this is happening – I’m not a fast swimmer, but can usually go forever without an issue.

The kayaks start to circle and I realise that the game is up, after 100m.

The lads ask me what I want to do – This is excruciating - I want to get out, but I can’t actually say the words – breathing is getting worse, but I can’t DNF after 5 mins!

With a swim cut off of 70mins, could I breaststroke my way around, despite the breathing issue?

I eventually made a deal with myself – do what you can, until they pull you out at the cut off – just so I could rationalise that I was pulled, rather than quit.

Long story short – dog paddling and hyper-ventilating, I made my way around in 57:48 – last out of the water….

On my knees on the jetty, I couldn’t stand up, but with abit of help, I was eventually guided into transition.

I spent a few minutes contemplating what to do – but I really wanted to do the bike and enjoy the route.

Bike:

Off I went, and managed to catch a few riders on the first climb, before the Healy Pass. Caught a few more on the Healy itself and cresting the summit, I was so happy I’d kept going – stunning scenery and fantastic descent.

At this point my lower back was giving me a lot of problems(not surprising, given the year away from the tri-bike), so the rolling section to Glengarriff was spent in all sorts of contorted positions, trying to get some relief.

Wasn’t clear where the Caha Pass climb started, so after 3-4km of climbing out of Glengarriff, it was a relief to see the “Caha Pass” sign. However, this was not the end of the climb and there was a bonus 1.5km of ascent, before the tunnels.

The wind had picked up and was pushing me around a bit on the descent.

Caught a couple more on the run into Kenmare and was feeling a little bit better heading into the run.

3:35 bike.

Run:

My back was in bits from the bike, so this was never going to be enjoyable – a couple of girls who I had passed on the bike, immediately caught me by 2km, as I was shuffling along praying for some respite.

I had no idea what the run course entailed, but the hills seemed relentless. Switched to a run the flats/downhill and walk the uphill,and the back improved a little bit and I started to pick off a few runners ahead of me.

This went reasonably well until the big climb at km17, whereI started to cramp and 2 of the CTC girls I passed on the bike, came past.

Once over the hill, it was a relatively straight forward runback to Kenmare, but a couple of nasty cramps meant I was focussing on no one passing me, rather than catching the 2 in front.

2:21, for a 7:06 finish.

Ultimately, I was happy to experience the race and finish,after the swim horror show.

I now know, that I can’t blag this stuff anymore – so it was the severe kick in the ar$e I needed to start respecting these events and train properly for them.

Cracking race, great marshalling and camaraderie amongst the competitors in the back end of the event.

The new focus starts today!

griffin100

Sounds like a rough day out. Well done on finishing, would have been easy to drop out during the swim.

I agree, the blagging approach can only get you so far.........more so as you get older

Oryx

Well done. It sounds truly awful!

Kurt Godel

Jaysussss- that sounds like a horrible way to spend a day. On the positive, you have enough stubbornness not to take an easy DNF, and you recognise that winging these events won't get you very far. I hope you get into winter training in a big way, its too early for the pasture of the golf course just yet.

Dory Dory

Well, I guess that's one way to do the Lost Sheep.
Props on not quitting....and props on having the guts to cross that finish line 7 hours later. You do some crazy sh*t untrained, Izoard....so naturally the thought of a well trained and focused Izoard doing crazy sh*t is both scary and exciting. Sort of has a reality-show/adventure-insanity quality to it!

shotgunmcos

Ah yes Mr Izoard, time to put in a winter with that new focus or take up golf! Kudos for seeing it through with good spirits as usual

Izoard

Kurt Godel wrote: »

I hope you get into winter training in a big way, its too early for the pasture of the golf course just yet.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Ah yes Mr Izoard, time to put in a winter with that new focus or take up golf! Kudos for seeing it through with good spirits as usual

Jesus...two references to taking up golf - I now know I've hit rock bottom;)

Abhainn

Your some man for the pain. At least enjoyed the scenery, that's something:)

catweazle

Izoard wrote: »

Jesus...two references to taking up golf - I now know I've hit rock bottom;)

Not sure if you would have the fitness for golf unless you have the buggy, have you considered snooker or darts?

Izoard

catweazle wrote: »

Not sure if you would have the fitness for golf unless you have the buggy, have you considered snooker or darts?

Your (cat) weazle words are pinned up on the fridge...

Back in the pool after a year hiatus - rotator cuff still giving me lip, but if the wheels come off tomorrow (Sporting Proud/Brittas Bay Olympic), at least I can walk the swim this time.;)

Racing my way to fitness...

Dory Dory

Will you be doing Donadea 50k again this year?

Izoard

Dory Dory wrote: »

Will you be doing Donadea 50k again this year?

I usually say "never doing that again...", every year.

I'll see if I have the gra for running, post DCM, assuming KG doesn't sack me from the pacing team in the meantime...

You planning to make a special guest appearance?

Can Anto even afford your appearance fees???