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To Connemara and Beyond ...
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hillsiderunner wrote: »Your ramblings now being consumed on the ferry, I've been without internet in my house for the best part of a month, and didn't dare settle-in for a read at work. Well worth the wait. I can see from Strava that you have taken toe and knee out for a bit of exercise now.
You did well, I don't believe that's the last ultra for you. Excellent prep and running and mental toughness, but best of all is the report
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Thank you HSR, glad to hear you liked the ramblings! Yes, I've taken the toe, knee, and rest of the creaking body out for two short (5M-ish) runs this week and am hoping to keep things ticking over for the next couple of weeks, until the next goal race is decided on...0 -
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It is time to dust off the log again.
It has taken quite a while to recover from the Orcas Island 50k event in early February. I didn't push anything, especially after some early, short, and slow attempts to run were quite awful.
Total mileage for February: 68.3M, with over 30 of them being clocked up on Orcas on the one day.
The month of March saw a whole raft of slow, short-ish runs. Perusing my Strava records, I had forgotten about Snowmageddon but noticed a lot of runs with either the word "snow" or "mud" in the title.
Nothing to note of any of the runs, and nothing longer than 8-9 miles. Some parkrun tourism in beautiful Ardgillan Park in DNS, as part of a jr GA away fixture was about the highlight.
Total mileage for March: 113.8M
In April, there was some more coherence to the runnings, as well as the definition of a new target-race: the Wild Atlantic Way marathon in July. My Dutch buddies (the regular readers of this log will feel they know them personally) are coming over to toe the same start-line, as well as hopefully an elite runner from these parts. Target-race is probably an overstatement: an opportunity to jog along the WAW and enjoy the scenery and company, more like it.
The running highlight of the month was a set of parkruns. Between my son (all of 11yo) and I, we have a fierce but friendly rivalry over the family Shanganagh parkrun PB. He had the audacity to claim it a few months ago with 21:40, and it wasn't until after the Connemara training block that I got it back (a rather unexpected 21:25).
However, all that changed again in April. On the 7th, I had offered to volunteer as lead-bike (with my daughter Jenna a passenger on the backseat). It's actually great fun to be lead-bike, as you get to see the race from the front, which I usually don't get to see. And it's a nice father-daughter thing. This week, however I was made to work hard for the volunteer-credit as the winner clocked up a sweet 16:39 finishing time. Also, the field was very large, and since Shanganagh is a 3-lap course, he was overtaking the back of the field from about 3km onwards. It all meant a lot of work, warning the back-markers, navigating around them and shouting out encouragements etc.
As we finished, I parked the bike and congratulated the winner. We chatted a bit when the timekeeper suddenly shouted "your son is coming!". I saw him flying towards the finish-line and could not believe my eyes, he had ran a sub-21 all by himself.
Finish-time: 20:54. #ProudDad
The week after, I was back in Shanganagh. Since Matthew decided he wanted a lie-in, I secretely geared myself up to having a right go at getting the PB back. I figured all these hundreds of miles in prep for Orcas must still be in there somewhere. I was also quite inspired by a member of the online running community that I'm part of (which led me to Orcas in the first place), who is battling some very nasty health problems. We had all resolved to run some miles for her.
So I lined up near the front and ran as hard as I could. The first km was busy with a lot of runners too far forward, but the pace was good (the first km was called at 4:04). The second (and fourth) km's would be right into the wind and I purposely didn't check the split. At 3km, you pass the start-line again and I had planned to be under 12:30. It was called as 12:26 which was a huge boost. I slowly died during the tough fourth km, but eventually we turned with the wind and I ran like a madman for home. The finishing time was a cool 20:49, giving me temporary bragging rights again. Miles splits were 6:40, 6:44 and 6:54. I think this is still a few seconds of my Jingle Bells PB, but not far.
Suffice it to say I was pleased with the effort, especially given the fact that I ran almost all of it on my own in racing no-mans land. That said, I have no doubt that the young fella will restore proper order at his next opportunity and I know that'll be that, as I won't have much left to improve...
April further saw some decent longer runs, including my trademark jaunt towards Greystones over the Bray cliff walk last weekend.
Total mileage for April: 136.3M0 -
Yeaeeeeeee so happy to see this log back in action, especially with all that's been going on.
Loving the father/son rivalry, keep ye both on yer toes and very special that you were running kms for your friend. Your kids are unreal, Matthew will knock a sub-20 5km out of you yet
In April, there was some more coherence to the runnings, as well as the definition of a new target-race: the Wild Atlantic Way marathon in July. My Dutch buddies (the regular readers of this log will feel they know them personally) are coming over to toe the same start-line, as well as hopefully an elite runner from these parts. Target-race is probably an overstatement: an opportunity to jog along the WAW and enjoy the scenery and company, more like it.
Oh, who else is coming with us? cause the elite runner from these parts sure ain't me Roll on the Hills of Donegal. 0 -
Matthew will knock a sub-20 5km out of you yet
He'll definitely knock on out himself by the end of the year. I think I have stretched these auld bones as far as they will go!Oh, who else is coming with us? cause the elite runner from these parts sure ain't me Roll on the Hills of Donegal.
Ha ha! Well, the lads are talking flights, the question is, are we D-touring past Achill for the 10k as warm-up? :rolleyes:0 -
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May 14 - May 20: 63.3km [39.4M] in 6 runs
- Monday: nada
- Tuesday: 5M on grass. Lovely fresh sunny morning, 40+ minutes cruising the backfields of Shanganagh Park. Dew on the grass, fresh sun, and glorious views of Killiney Hill. Me like.
- Wednesday: 5M easy. Lunchtime running with one of my usual colleagues
- Thursday: 6.5M steady. It turns out that one of my newer colleagues is a legendary ultra-runner. I reached out to him to suggest some miles and we cantered along my usual Kilternan loop. I have done this many times but never in sub 8-minute miles. :rolleyes: I was drenched afterwards, he had barely broken sweat. Great run.
- Friday: 10M very hilly. As I was travelling for the weekend, I took a cheeky day off to go running. I wanted to do some recce of the Wicklow Way, so I drove to Crone Woods and ran south for 5M over Djouce. Having gained over 400m in elevation I got to the 5M point in 1h04, turned around and ran back down in about 50m. Very nice, tough workout, but awesome trails, quite technical in parts.
- Saturday: 7.5M easy. I found myself on the Isle of Man for a wedding of a friend. One other guest I knew is a runner too and she had brought the runners. We ran along the seafront in Douglas (the main town), she turned back after 5k, I added a few more. Very nice and a lovely morning, but too many beers the evening before.
- Sunday: 5M easy. Some more Manx miles (with a mild headache :rolleyes:) along the seafront, this time with another guest of the wedding. He is just starting to run so we ran really slowly and he picked my brain for training and nutrition tips. I added some more km's after he bailed.
Same verdict as last week: pleased with the miles and some decent workouts in there, but no decent long run.
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May 21 - May 27: 70.0km [43.5M] in 6 runs
You want junk-miles? You'll get junk-miles!- Monday: rest
- Tuesday: 4.5M easy. There's a new running group in work, so I decided I'd join them for some easy mileage. Would have liked to have gone a bit further, but it's nice to run with company instead.
- Wednesday: 5M easy. Usual lunchtime with two buddies.
- Thursday: 2x6M runmutes. Moved the usual Friday commutes to Thursday as most of my team was away on an overnight event. As always, the morning, up the hill into work, was tough. The afternoon, on the other hand, is easy rolling downhill home.
- Friday: 8.5M hilly. Some more Wicklow Way recce, from Marlay Park down South over Kilmashogue and back the same way. We ran part of this during Run the Line in November with denis b and Neady. I wanted to run as far as the R116, but almost regretted it as the last kilometer was a nasty steep technical downhill out, and then back up. This stretch was actually harder than the section around Djouce I ran last week, unexpectedly, as it was so steep. :eek:
- Saturday: rest (well, running-wise )
- Sunday: 13M LSR. I wanted to clock up a decent long-ish run to round of the week, so the family dropped me halfway on the way back from visiting the grandparents, pointing to their foreheads as they drove off. I couldn't quite disagree with them but had no option to start running. The first kms were dreadful for some reasons, but things improved significantly after I took a gel (after 3km already!). Ended up really enjoying the run in a significant confidence boost.
Verdict: hmmm, alright.0 -
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May 28 - Jun 3: 56.4km [35M] in 7 runs
The final prep that wasn't to be- Monday: 4M easy. The usual exceedingly boring easy loop at lunch in work.
- Tuesday: 5M including 20 minutes tempo. This was a short run with the running group in work, this week they had planned a tempo session in the local park.
- Wednesday: 5M easy. Another handful of junkmiles.
- Thursday: no running
- Friday: 6M hilly. Early morning run up the local Quarry Road (oh-so steep as usual) and down the short Upper Rathmicheal Woods trail, also known as Kohima trail. My favourite morning workout, the rain notwithstanding.
- Saturday: 2 1/2M easy + 3M (Marlay Parkrun). Continued recce of the Wicklow Way, this time the final couple of miles in Marlay Park. It's actually trickier than I thought, but eventually all paths lead to the big house. I was thinking that I would be glad not to have to find my way at the end of a 100+km run. After the recce-run, I lined up for the Marlay Parkrun, at the very back of the field at first, but got quite annoyed with the congestion and overtook about 300 runners to clock a not very impressive time.
- Sunday: 10M hilly. Some more hilly miles, starting to taper a little for next week.
Jun 4 - Jun 10: 47.4km [29.4] in 4 runs
This entire week was dominated by the need to taper for Saturday - as the legendary Neady was going to take on the Wicklow Way Solo and had asked me to run in support from Glendalough to Marlay Park with her. I had covered a couple of sections of the Wicklow Way in the previous week but was obviously bricking it with the prospect of having to keep up with Neady. On Friday we met up for lunch and discussed the possibility that she may not be allowed a support-runner - they're not allowed at the sharp end of the race, only when a runner is in danger of missing the cut-offs.
Neady obviously totally crushed her Wicklow Way Solo attempt and finished an amazing 3rd lady. Together with AgyR and HSR, we visited her in Glendalough, but knew in advance from the splits she was too far ahead to be allowed company on the trails. Oh well, so be it, I was delighted for her to have ran such an amazing race - and we'll run that 50k together some other time.- Monday: rest
- Tuesday: 4M very easy
- Wednesday: 4M very easy
- Thursday/Friday: rest
- Satuday: 16M LSR. Having returned from supporting Neady in Glendalough (in still-clean running gear), the better half looked at my somewhat disappointed face and booted me out for 2 hours of running in the sun. Not having prepared a route, I just ran a local 4M loop several times to clock up a decent long run, to make up for the missed miles this week. After that, my son and I went to Marlay park in time to see Neady claim third place. What an inspiration!
- Sunday: 5M rec on grass, lovely running on the grassy backfields of Shanganagh Park.
A little short in miles last week, but overall feeling good for the WAW marathon in July.0 -
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Lovely meeting you that day Nop it was an amazing day I really enjoyed following and helping out makes up for not getting out for as long or as much as I would like
Likewise! It was a superb day indeed. Your supporting efforts put all of us to shame. When are you running the Wicklow Way Solo yourself?:pac::) 0 -
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This entire week was dominated by the need to taper for Saturday - as the legendary Neady was going to take on the Wicklow Way Solo and had asked me to run in support from Glendalough to Marlay Park with her. I had covered a couple of sections of the Wicklow Way in the previous week but was obviously bricking it with the prospect of having to keep up with Neady. On Friday we met up for lunch and discussed the possibility that she may not be allowed a support-runner - they're not allowed at the sharp end of the race, only when a runner is in danger of missing the cut-offs.
Neady obviously totally crushed her Wicklow Way Solo attempt and finished an amazing 3rd lady. Together with AgyR and HSR, we visited her in Glendalough, but knew in advance from the splits she was too far ahead to be allowed company on the trails. Oh well, so be it, I was delighted for her to have ran such an amazing race - and we'll run that 50k together some other time.
N, you're a true gentleman and a legend. You answered the call when I asked you for help, you prepared meticulously for the challenge and then I let you down. If you had been able run with me, I've no doubt that we would have smashed it and I'd have gotten through that section in much better shape than I did on my own.
Thank you for your support throughout the weekend and you can be 100% sure that we'll run that 50km together, very soon 0 -
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N, you're a true gentleman and a legend. You answered the call when I asked you for help, you prepared meticulously for the challenge and then I let you down. If you had been able run with me, I've no doubt that we would have smashed it and I'd have gotten through that section in much better shape than I did on my own.
Thank you for your support throughout the weekend and you can be 100% sure that we'll run that 50km together, very soon
You're too kind I'm so glad you did well - you didn't let me down at all! Looking forward to that run! 0 -
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Annie get your Run wrote: »Looking forward to seeing you run the entire Wicklow way next year Norb! I’ll have to get some tuition from Baby & crew to step up the support though!!
We'll both be crewing for Norb next year 0 -
Annie get your Run wrote: »Looking forward to seeing you run the entire Wicklow way next year Norb! I’ll have to get some tuition from Baby & crew to step up the support though!!We'll both be crewing for Norb next year
Easy now, girls! :cool:0 -
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