Dublin and Cork Graded Meets 2015 Discussion thread

Chivito550

Thought this could be a goer to generate a bit of discussion surrounding these meets, rather than it being confined to the logs, or hidden away in the event forum.

First Dublin meet is tomorrow evening in Santry. Who is running what?

PaulieC

Have heard of these before, can you explain what they are ?

RayCun

What, as well as Track and Field Events 2015 and The Middle Distance thread (and probably also the round numbers threads) :pac:

I'm in the 10k tomorrow


Track races and field events organised by the Dublin Athletics Board. Open to any club members, not just Dublin (clubs are expected to supply officials if their athletes compete)
http://www.dublinathletics.com/

Every two weeks through the summer.
'Graded' meets because there are races at different standards

Chivito550

PaulieC wrote: »

Have heard of these before, can you explain what they are ?

For those who don't know what these are, they are regular track and field meets which take place throughout the summer. In Cork there are 5 meets.

Info here: http://corkathletics.org/Race%20Flyers/2015/John-Buckley-Sports-Graded-Track-and-Field-Leagues-2015.html

In Dublin there are 8, which take place every second Wednesday, starting tomorrow, April 22nd. More info can be found here:

http://www.dublinathletics.com/

Entry to be done online.

Each meet, the track programme rotates. Tomorrow there will be a 200 and 1500 among other events, meet 2 will have a 100 and 800, meet 3 a 400 and mile etc etc.

While the track may seem daunting to many here, these meets are nothing to be afraid of. The standard varies a lot and all abilities are welcome. It's a good introduction to track and field. So if anybody here wants to try a track race or two, I'd encourage you to give these a go.

Must be a registered club member to compete.

28064212

Running London on Sunday, so rules me out of the first two Dublin meets. Looking forward to trying out something at the third. Have to decide on a club first though!

Chivito550

RayCun wrote: »

What, as well as Track and Field Events 2015 and The Middle Distance thread (and probably also the round numbers threads) :pac:

They tend to get hidden away in there a bit I feel.

Gleedog

RayCun wrote: »

I'm in the 10k tomorrow

10k on track...mental

pconn062

There is also going to be a regular series of Graded meets in Drogheda (in the Lourdes stadium), hosted by Drogheda and District AC. I believe these will run on opposite weeks to the Dublin Grades. First three dates are here:

Thur 30/4/15 200m/800m/3000m
Thur 14/5/15 100m/400m/Mile
Thur 28/5/15 200m/800m/3000m.

I ran a few of these last year and they are pretty good, the standard is sometimes a little weak but hopefully if more people hear about it, it will improve. If I get back to any sort of shape I will probably run these instead of the meets in Tallaght.

pconn062

RayCun wrote: »

What, as well as Track and Field Events 2015 and The Middle Distance thread (and probably also the round numbers threads) :pac:

I'm in the 10k tomorrow


Track races and field events organised by the Dublin Athletics Board. Open to any club members, not just Dublin (clubs are expected to supply officials if their athletes compete)
http://www.dublinathletics.com/

Every two weeks through the summer.
'Graded' meets because there are races at different standards

Fair play Ray, don't think I could hack 10k on a track. I assume there is just 1 10k race with all standards included, could be a bit messy if you have 30-36 minute guys?

RayCun

pconn062 wrote: »

Fair play Ray, don't think I could hack 10k on a track. I assume there is just 1 10k race with all standards included, could be a bit messy if you have 30-36 minute guys?

yeah, just one race
I checked with the organisers, did they want a minimum standard of entry, and they said they were happy to have some joggers at the back. I'll be cursing that decision tomorrow evening :pac:

Gleedog

RayCun wrote: »

yeah, just one race
I checked with the organisers, did they want a minimum standard of entry, and they said they were happy to have some joggers at the back. I'll be cursing that decision tomorrow evening :pac:

Few elbows while passing, they'll soon learn if they don't move

RayCun

Gleedog wrote: »

Few elbows while passing, they'll soon learn if they don't move

I'm flattered :pac: but I'll be one of the guys sticking doggedly to the inside lane, waving everyone past me

Chivito550

Planning a 200m myself. Weather forecast looks great for tomorrow.

Gleedog

RayCun wrote: »

I'm flattered :pac: but I'll be one of the guys sticking doggedly to the inside lane, waving everyone past me

hahaha *awkward apology* best of luck!!

Sacksian

pconn062 wrote: »

There is also going to be a regular series of Graded meets in Drogheda (in the Lourdes stadium), hosted by Drogheda and District AC. I believe these will run on opposite weeks to the Dublin Grades. First three dates are here:

Thur 30/4/15 200m/800m/3000m
Thur 14/5/15 100m/400m/Mile
Thur 28/5/15 200m/800m/3000m.

I ran a few of these last year and they are pretty good, the standard is sometimes a little weak but hopefully if more people hear about it, it will improve. If I get back to any sort of shape I will probably run these instead of the meets in Tallaght.

Any results from last year, Pconn?

I'm vaguely tempted by the idea of a Thursday night race - and the 14th could be a good date for a return to the track!

Timmaay

Gleedog wrote: »

hahaha *awkward apology* best of luck!!

You running the 10k ya nutjob ha? Doing the 15 here tomorrow! Defo not in shape at the minute but still can't wait to get back racing, the only aim tomorrow is to have a solid consist race!

KielyUnusual

Timmaay wrote: »

You running the 10k ya nutjob ha? Doing the 15 here tomorrow! Defo not in shape at the minute but still can't wait to get back racing, the only aim tomorrow is to have a solid consist race!

I'll be running the 15 tomorrow too. Will be the first time on a track in almost a year. Can't wait

BeepBeep67

pconn062 wrote: »

There is also going to be a regular series of Graded meets in Drogheda (in the Lourdes stadium), hosted by Drogheda and District AC. I believe these will run on opposite weeks to the Dublin Grades. First three dates are here:

Thur 30/4/15 200m/800m/3000m
Thur 14/5/15 100m/400m/Mile
Thur 28/5/15 200m/800m/3000m.

I ran a few of these last year and they are pretty good, the standard is sometimes a little weak but hopefully if more people hear about it, it will improve. If I get back to any sort of shape I will probably run these instead of the meets in Tallaght.

I have the 3k in meet 3 penciled in for my sub 10 attempt - Boards round numbers smack down anyone?

pconn062

Sacksian wrote: »

Any results from last year, Pconn?

I'm vaguely tempted by the idea of a Thursday night race - and the 14th could be a good date for a return to the track!

Sacksian, I don't think the results are online anywhere that I can access. They (DDAC) usually publish them on facebook afterwards. I remember a few 800m races from last year being run around the 2 minute mark, and also a 3k with a few guys under 9 mins. If you are interested in a particular meet let me know and I'll ask the organisers if they have an idea on the quality of the field.

pconn062

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

I have the 3k in meet 3 penciled in for my sub 10 attempt - Boards round numbers smack down anyone?

I'm up for that (providing I think I can break 12 minutes at that stage!).

Gleedog

Timmaay wrote: »

You running the 10k ya nutjob ha? Doing the 15 here tomorrow! Defo not in shape at the minute but still can't wait to get back racing, the only aim tomorrow is to have a solid consist race!

NOT A HOPE
Hope you feel the burn

KielyUnusual

What an evening for the first track meet of the season

NetwerkErrer

All the best tonight lads!

Going to give the steeple a shot in the John Buckley meet if they can get 3 to run it, that could be tough enough I'd say! Should be good prep for Munster track 2 weeks later. Otherwise, going to have to go with a flat 3000.

Chivito550

Ironic given I'm the one who set up this thread but I'll be bowing out of most of these graded meets from now on. Got calf spasm in the warm up. My body doesn't cope with evening races after being in work all day. I'll take a day off work for any graded meets that have a 400 (if I'm going to race these I'm either going to do it right or not at all). I could manage an 800 I reckon but the body doesn't seem to be able to manage sprinting at this hour when fatigued.

TRR_the_turd

Chivito550 wrote: »

Ironic given I'm the one who set up this thread but I'll be bowing out of most of these graded meets from now on. Got calf spasm in the warm up. My body doesn't cope with evening races after being in work all day. I'll take a day off work for any graded meets that have a 400 (if I'm going to race these I'm either going to do it right or not at all). I could manage an 800 I reckon but the body doesn't seem to be able to manage sprinting at this hour when fatigued.

Bit drastic? Do you train in the evenings? May be a thing of better hydration and a concerted effort to get out of your chair during the day and walk around and stretch!

I use to hate early morning races but purposely started doing sessions early a few years back and that helped me overcome my problem.

Chivito550

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

Bit drastic? Do you train in the evenings? May be a thing of better hydration and a concerted effort to get out of your chair during the day and walk around and stretch!

I use to hate early morning races but purposely started doing sessions early a few years back and that helped me overcome my problem.

Our track sessions are Sat and Sunday mornings. We train on Wednesday evenings also but Irishtown has been out of operation so it has mainly been endurance stuff and all on grass. I haven't been on a track in the evening since last summer.

In Australia I trained on the track on Tuesday and Thursday evenings so I was able to handle the occasional race that was on a weekday night ( about 90% of them were Saturday afternoons).

It's disappointing and frustrating, but it's not the end of the world. There's plenty of weekend meets, especially with the increase in IMC meets this year.

Timmaay

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

Bit drastic? Do you train in the evenings? May be a thing of better hydration and a concerted effort to get out of your chair during the day and walk around and stretch!

I use to hate early morning races but purposely started doing sessions early a few years back and that helped me overcome my problem.

Agreed! I had to sarcastically tell one of the lads I was warming up with tonight that he was a moany negative fu&ker ha, James you might be the 2nd person tonight!

Anyways to try add some positivism to the thread ha, well happy with my run, registered for the B which was a mistake on hindsight , only 5 in the A at registration and I thought they would be all sub4 nutjobs, but anyways ended up in a combined A and B race and mixed it nicely in with the A lads. IMC sat week in Greystones, PB or bust then!

Chivito550

Timmaay wrote: »

Agreed! I had to sarcastically tell one of the lads I was warming up with tonight that he was a moany negative fu&ker ha, James you might be the 2nd person tonight!

Anyways to try add some positivism to the thread ha, well happy with my run, registered for the B which was a mistake on hindsight , only 5 in the A at registration and I thought they would be all sub4 nutjobs, but anyways ended up in a combined A and B race and mixed it nicely in with the A lads. IMC sat week in Greystones, PB or bust then!

Bit harsh.

Well done this eve anyway.

Ososlo

Nice to see some Boardsies and ex-Boardsies doing the 10,000m in Santry tonight. Seemed like a very small field. I'd love to hear how people found doing that distance on a track!

Timmaay

Chivito550 wrote: »

Bit harsh.

Well done this eve anyway.

Ha I did say "sarcastically" .

KielyUnusual

Ososlo wrote: »

Nice to see some Boardsies and ex-Boardsies doing the 10,000m in Santry tonight. Seemed like a very small field. I'd love to hear how people found doing that distance on a track!

Yea, 5 is disappointing by any standards. Especially when they seem to be putting in a concerted effort to push this Dublin Endurance Project.

Personally, I'd love to run a 5k or a 10k on the track if I was training for it and reckon I'd run a lot quicker than on the roads. It takes so many variables out of the equation. You can check your pace at really regular intervals and you always know exactly how much you have left. Conditions last night couldn't have been more perfect either.

Gleedog

Timmaay wrote: »

Agreed! I had to sarcastically tell one of the lads I was warming up with tonight that he was a moany negative fu&ker ha, James you might be the 2nd person tonight!

hahahah timmaay

Well jealous of those who got to race last night, perfect conditions

RayCun

KielyUnusual wrote: »

Yea, 5 is disappointing by any standards. Especially when they seem to be putting in a concerted effort to push this Dublin Endurance Project.

Personally, I'd love to run a 5k or a 10k on the track if I was training for it and reckon I'd run a lot quicker than on the roads. It takes so many variables out of the equation. You can check your pace at really regular intervals and you always know exactly how much you have left. Conditions last night couldn't have been more perfect either.

Yeah, it was terribly poor. Won by a Donore guy, Michael McMahon, in 32:18, second (Brian Furey, Rathfarnham) and third (ecoli in 34:10) were about 500m back, then another lap back to 4th (another Donore guy, doing a tempo run), and half a lap more back to me. Temperature was perfect, there was hardly any wind, it was a great evening for running.

I ran like an arse :rolleyes: Bag of nerves all day but no adrenaline for the race itself. The guy in 4th should have been perfect for me to hang on to, but I couldn't, mental failure as much as physical

thewolf_ie

Good solid run in the 15 C, was in a position spot but faded on last lap and couldn't fire finished 4th! Enjoyed it!

TRR_the_turd

RayCun wrote: »

Yeah, it was terribly poor. Won by a Donore guy in 32:18, second (Rathfarnham) and third (ecoli in 34:10) were about 500m back, then another lap back to 4th (another Donore guy, doing a tempo run), and half a lap more back to me. Temperature was perfect, there was hardly any wind, it was a great evening for running.

I ran like an arse :rolleyes: Bag of nerves all day but no adrenaline for the race itself. The guy in 4th should have been perfect for me to hang on to, but I couldn't, mental failure as much as physical

what time did you run Ray? Anywhere near a PB? First track 10k? If so you can claim a track PB

Chivito550

Disappointing alright to see such low numbers for the 10000m. I'd imagine 25 laps is a tough sell though.

RayCun

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

what time did you run Ray? Anywhere near a PB? First track 10k? If so you can claim a track PB

haven't run a 10k of any kind in 2 years, and this was the first (probably last!:pac:) on the track, so a PB definitely. Around 36 minutes, results should be up today

TRR_the_turd

Chivito550 wrote: »

Our track sessions are Sat and Sunday mornings. We train on Wednesday evenings also but Irishtown has been out of operation so it has mainly been endurance stuff and all on grass. I haven't been on a track in the evening since last summer.

In Australia I trained on the track on Tuesday and Thursday evenings so I was able to handle the occasional race that was on a weekday night ( about 90% of them were Saturday afternoons).

It's disappointing and frustrating, but it's not the end of the world. There's plenty of weekend meets, especially with the increase in IMC meets this year.

Now come on. I'm going to play devil's advocate here. If one of the beginners in the marathon novice thread said they were dropping out of DCM after doing all the training for it. Because a morning start doesn't suit them, as they are use to training in the evening, they would get it in the neck!

Not doing the gradeds because of the start time should be the final option. Surely you can experiment with stretching and hydration in work. Have you the option of doing a light jog at lunch time. 15 minute shake out. Do a few heal drops on the stairs mid afternoon. Get out of the chair more etc etc. Experiment now, find what works and use it for future years!

Sacksian

Disappointing to hear the turnout for the 10k - I guess the timing so close to London/Rotterdam might have been an issue for some 10k guys but, unless we're going to give up on the distance completely, they'll have to keep at it. It'll probably be the only 10k in Ireland apart from nationals?

These things need momentum, so I think it'll only succeed if there's a commitment to it and it becomes a fixture every year. I haven't seen the results so I don''t know who won but I'd imagine running 32:18 in those conditions would translate to a substantially much quicker time at nationals, so that's a really good run at this (and any!) stage of the season.

I have thought about doing a 5k on the track but I doubt I could hack it mentally.

Chivito550

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

Now come on. I'm going to play devil's advocate here. If one of the beginners in the marathon novice thread said they were dropping out of DCM after doing all the training for it. Because a morning start doesn't suit them, as they are use to training in the evening, they would get it in the neck!

Not doing the gradeds because of the start time should be the final option. Surely you can experiment with stretching and hydration in work. Have you the option of doing a light jog at lunch time. 15 minute shake out. Do a few heal drops on the stairs mid afternoon. Get out of the chair more etc etc. Experiment now, find what works and use it for future years!

To be honest, there's 3 400m races at Graded meets this season, while I have 10 possible 400m races at weekends, along with the possibility of one or two in the UK if I fancied doubling it up with a trip to visit friends. Sure I'd miss out on some 100 and 200 races but from a 400 point of view is be looking at 8-10 races anyway. If I really want a graded I can use up a day of annual leave.

I hear what you're saying but the comparison with DCM is not right. All my big races are at weekends (Nationals, Leinsters, IMC, NI Champs, Munsters etc) so as long as I'm prepared to run well at those then that's the main thing.

I keep myself hydrated very well, and I'm out of my chair a lot during the day. I do calf raises with a significant weight in the gym. I've had calf issues on and off since I've taken up sprinting and nobody has been able to understand it and get to the bottom of it, none of my coaches, masseuses, gym coaches, either here or when I was on Melbourne. The only thing to do is work around it and learn what works and what doesn't. I know the only real way of preparing for after work races is by doing after work track sessions. Not possible at the moment with Irishtown closed, and our group does the bulk of track training at weekends anyway.

Timmaay

Anyone else hitting refresh on the Dublin athletics board website all morning ha?

dna_leri

Sacksian wrote: »

I have thought about doing a 5k on the track but I doubt I could hack it mentally.

It's only 12.5 laps, you have done 15 laps of the indoor track in Athlone

Would like to try it but not sure I could hack it either.

Gleedog

dna_leri wrote: »

It's only 12.5 laps, you have done 15 laps of the indoor track in Athlone

Would like to try it but not sure I could hack it either.

I've done one before where there was a group of lads singing the beatles hey jude every time we went by-helped alot!

How about a choir to spur us on?

There was also a 10 miler I done on the roads, and randomly down a small lane there was a guy playing bagpipes at 7mile...made me feel like I was going to war

Sacksian

dna_leri wrote: »

It's only 12.5 laps, you have done 15 laps of the indoor track in Athlone

Would like to try it but not sure I could hack it either.

That's exactly what I was thinking of! Even 3k outdoors is a bit of a slog. Although, indoors, the laps clock off so quickly that it helps mentally.

At least with 5k on the road, you don't have people shouting 400m splits at you so you can avoid that feeling of "I had 40s recovery between these in training and it still wasn't easy!".

Timmaay

Defo defo defo ignore laps in 3k or up, and instead focus on your km splits!

By the way I get confused at 800 indoors ha, I hate laps!

thewolf_ie

I ran 22 miles 2 years ago on a 400 meter track. Done a 1:23 half before on the same too!

demfad

Sacksian wrote: »

Disappointing to hear the turnout for the 10k - I guess the timing so close to London/Rotterdam might have been an issue for some 10k guys but, unless we're going to give up on the distance completely, they'll have to keep at it. It'll probably be the only 10k in Ireland apart from nationals?

These things need momentum, so I think it'll only succeed if there's a commitment to it and it becomes a fixture every year. I haven't seen the results so I don''t know who won but I'd imagine running 32:18 in those conditions would translate to a substantially much quicker time at nationals, so that's a really good run at this (and any!) stage of the season.

I have thought about doing a 5k on the track but I doubt I could hack it mentally.

Perhaps having it first night (in the endurance project races) might not have been the best spot for it. Now only 5 runners can complete it if I'm not mistaken. If you had the shorter races first with the 10k last many runners who had done the other races may be tempted into it.

Its a hard one to call because a 10k might not be suitable as a deciding race either, but maybe sometime later in the series at least.

RayCun

The Endurance project will have a points table based on finishing times. The points table hasn't been provided yet, but it could be 50 points for 32.xx last night, 40 points for 33.xx, and so on. Last night's winner has a headstart now and could be hard to catch if he does all the races, but you don't have to run all the distance races to be eligible.

shiibata

Are the results up anywhere yet from last night?

RayCun

shiibata wrote: »

Are the results up anywhere yet from last night?

not yet!
keep an eye on
http://www.dublinathletics.com/

they're usually up the day after the meet

Timmaay

And they are up! Just under 4.08 for me, outdoor pb and 2nd fastest I've ever ran despite being totally all over the shop last month with training. I've said this before but its crazy the way athletics works, when you least expect a result you manage to pull something outa your ass ha. IMC in a weeks time, PB or bust defo!