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Wubble Wubble wrote: »Maybe so, given that I didn't really factor in the wind, and also I'm several pounds heavier than I was for JB. But enough for a difference of a minute?
I actually had DNF demons from very early on yesterday. I was parked between the little roundabout and Castleknock Gate, and on the first lap I was more than a small bit tempted to turn left instead of right, which would have meant me pulling into the driveway while 90% of the participants were still out on the course!
Anyway, glad I stuck it out and maintained my DNF rate of 0%. Love your comment about XC! Time means nothing, positions mean everything
all about trying to catch the guy (or girl) in front, but of course you know they're trying to do the same. Looking forward to my next three weekends racing XC, with the Raheny 5 to close out January.
Believe it not that will have had more of an impact on your performance than you might think..... + 1 to the too hard on yourself comments
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Enjoy the XC!0 -
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Back up to date (updates will probably be weekly in the main for the next while...)
Tue 3/1 - Rest
Back in work today. In a strange way, I'm looking forward to having some kind of routine again. The plan for last week was to have my assignments complete or nearly complete. Well, between running, lazing around, watching the darts etc etc it was a case of doing almost anything but!
Wed 4/1 - Rest
Thu 5/1 - 4 miles @ 7:30 p/m
Just a couple of spins of the loop around the estates.
Fri 6/1 - Rest
Sat 7/1 - 3.5 miles approximately
With the Masters XC on Sunday, I decided to volunteer in the parkrun rather than start another back to back. Since the last update, I've been thinking a double back to back of 5ks over Christmas and New Year possibly wasn't the best strategy, slow and all as three (four?) of them were.
Instead I jogged up early to Porterstown, with the intention of running two laps of the Doyle Cup XC course before my marshalling stint. During this, I ended up being chased by three dogs, in separate incidents and all with different owners! I don't know what attracted them all to me so much, but perhaps some different attire or scent might be in order next time
As for the parkrun itself, it was a bit mental, as Fingal CoCo had designated Porterstown as one of its two Operation Transformation venues. So you had something between 250/300 people making their way around a course where our best (non OT) numbers would be about 70/80 normally. I was glad to finally get away home for a shower around 11 AM; even if I'm helping take away the gazebo and clear up the coffee table etc, I'm usually back no later than 10:30.
Sun 8/1 - Dublin Masters XC, St. Anne's Park
At last, it was time for me to make my club XC debut! Although I knew it would be a major step up from the staple diet of parkrun mixed with BHAA, it was still something to look forward to. We were well represented today, to the extent that I wasn't going to be a scorer unless a highly unlikely/unfortunate set of events took place. No pressure at all!
We got a nice and gentle warmup lap in, before cheering on the ladies, and then getting ready for our own race. The start area was fairly swampy, so I lined up alongside the path where it wasn't as bad. This time, my strategy was to start at the back, and take my time before trying to pick people off. Distance today was 6k, made up of a cavalry charge from the start followed by four laps.
Laps 1 & 2
I think I was actually last as the gun went. I saw scotindublin just to the side as we were heading away, and gave him a shout. Then he disappeared into the mass of bodies, and I didn't see him again. The first part of the lap was very bumpy and narrow, but I didn't mind that we were almost down to walking pace here; it suited my strategy to a T. There was also a log to be hurdled on a narrow part of the downhill towards the lowest point on the course. Not to worry; I was feeling comfortable and passing people one by one as I made my way around. Half way and I'm still feeling in good nick, even the sticky part at the corner of the Raheny GAA pitches isn't slowing me down much.
Laps 3 & 4
I didn't look at the watch once. I'm not sure it's a great idea for XC anyway; your target is the guy ahead, not time. Still passing people gradually, although they're generally getting a bit tougher to crack. Lap 3 definitely saw my effort levels increase from the first two laps. I was closing in on MisterDrak rapidly towards the end of lap 3, although I was probably doing a bit too much looking in my mirrors as the leaders were coming through to lap us. Eventually I got him at the start of the last lap, and pushed on for the next target. As we approached the end of the narrow opening section, I saw a club colleague ahead. I mightn't be last one from the club today! I passed him as we turned away from the All Saints Road entrance and turned down the hill. Towards the bottom of the hill, I could see Murph_D for the first time since the race started, and it got me thinking, maybe I could catch him
Well, that didn't materialise, as he picked up his pace too, and was about 8 places ahead of me in the end. Never mind; I got a few other boys in the last few hundred metres, although one lad caught me on the finishing straight; the only one to pass me in the entire race.
Time: 29:34
Position: 219/261
Analysis
A great race, and one which I really enjoyed, even though I finished in the bottom 20%. Racing against guys of a higher standard than I'm used to helped to push me along, as did my strategy of starting conservatively, rather than all guns blazing after one lap and thinking "I've three more laps of this!"
Great support around the course from so many, including (in no particular order) RedRunner, HelenAnne and Marthastew. I'm sure there were others too, sorry if I'm leaving anyone from here out; either I didn't hear you, or you weren't in my eye line!
With my second college semester starting tomorrow, I've a couple of days of inactivity to look forward to as regards running. Next week brings Part 2 of my XC trilogy, in Cows Park, Dunboyne, at the Leinster Masters.0 -
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scotindublin wrote: »Well done today J and thanks for the shout out at the start line.
I think I got a fairly benign introduction to XC today; it was very enjoyable and was certainly good to run with lads of a much higher standard than myself.
Good luck with the Leinster XC next weekend.
C
No hassle, always good to give a bit of support, especially to a fellow 2016 Graduate
Today was perfect to start off your XC career. Course wasn't too sticky, dry on the day, no wind. Running with/against stronger athletes can only bring you on, once you don't blow your lights early and spend the rest of the race going backwards; a killer for the old confidence! Raheny 5 is one of my favourites, so much so that I'll be making it 5 in a row on the 29th.Well done today. Best luck next week.
Just looked 221 so couple behind you .
Thanks a million, I caught you at the very end then. For your first XC outing, and being far from in the whole of your health, that's an excellent performance. You heading to Dunboyne next week? Strike while the iron is hot 0 -
Wubble Wubble wrote: »Next week brings Part 2 of my XC trilogy, in Cows Park, Dunboyne, at the Leinster Masters.
It's just the one cow J enjoy it, I won't be there but will be baking goodies for the refreshment stand
Well done today, saw a video of 'the log' looked like great fun altogether
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Annie get your Run wrote: »It's just the one cow J enjoy it, I won't be there but will be baking goodies for the refreshment stand
Well done today, saw a video of 'the log' looked like great fun altogether
Noted AM I'm not sure I'll have much time to sample the refreshment stand I'm afraid, I've a very narrow window for Sunday's race. Might be a grab 'n' go job!
The log turned out to be a bit of craic, on one of the videos I watched, eagle eyed viewers might spot a Boardsie waving at the camera....Good man, J, sounds like your race was much better judged than mine. You should've said hello, although you're not the only one I missed today. Excellent debut, hope I was at least of some assistance!
Thanks D, sorry I missed you afterwards. Our crew were just to the left of the chute, and then we went back to our gear and had photos taken and whatnot. I thought I might catch one or two from here on my way out, but no joy. For example, I'd no idea FBOT was even there until I saw his name in the results. As for Dunboyne, I might try push a bit harder there, although from what I've heard and read, I expect conditions to be a lot less favourable than they were yesterday :eek:0 -
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Weekly update....
With my second college semester starting this week, and assignments taking up more of my time than I hoped they would at this stage, mileage was wojus.
Mon 9/1 & Tue 10/1 - Rest
Work, college, home. Except Tuesday we went out for an impromptu pizza after college. Calorific, but very tasty
Wed 11/1 - 4 miles @ 7:41 p/m
I got out for a run tonight. Wow! Double loop with a very windy stretch as I headed west; nippy enough too.
Thu 12/1 - Rest
I had planned a run for this evening, but lack of progress the previous night relating to assignments meant I had to scrap it.
Fri 13/1 - Rest
Sat 14/1 - 5.1 miles approx. including Porterstown parkrun
Cold and frosty morning for a run, as I made my way to the park. I just about had time for a warmup lap; some slippy looking patches meant I would be taking to the grass for a fair bit of it. I had a chat with our female course record holder beforehand. Having beaten her marathon PB by 11 minutes in DCM 2016, she is now training for the Donadea 50, and ran over 100 km last week. It just brought home to me how low my mileage has been since!
As for the parkrun itself....I didn't even bother shedding the layers, which will give you an idea of how seriously I took it. 25:46, if you're asking.
Sun 15/1 - Leinster Masters XC, Dunboyne
Pre Race
After an eye opener of a debut last Sunday, today it would be time to find out how much that race brought me on. I was fresh going into it, if nothing else! Earlier, we were visiting friends of ours, and I was reasonably pleased with my discipline, limiting myself to two cheese sandwiches and one small slice of cake with a coffee, in spite of the myriad of treats on offer
Passport packed and in date, I made the short hop from D15 across the border, getting parking at the train station, although this was filling up quickly even with over an hour to go to the start of my race, at the wonderfully named Cow Park. We were down a few from last week, but even so the mood was positive as we made our way around our warmup lap. A bit different to last week, in that it would be three laps rather than the four in St Anne's.
I had a few lads to aim for; an old classmate from school running for Donore (optimistic), a Tullamore man (who actually lives about a mile from me, and volunteered in the Porterstown parkrun yesterday) and adrian522, who I had a brief chat with before we set off.
Aon
"Tommy twists, Tommy turns, Tommy Burns"
Today certainly looked and felt a lot different to the Dublin Masters, even though a lot of the same guys were running. I pushed myself forward a bit more at the start, and this time it felt like real cross country underfoot, with a lot of clumpy grass and sticky patches. I got a decent start, and managed to catch and pass quite a few early on. A few uphill drags into the breeze, although there was a bit more shelter here. I was following a Tullamore convoy on the first lap, with a Mullingar man and a fella from Drogheda (I think) getting into the mix as well. It was interesting getting a feel for where you were in the S-bend sections, but the wind in your face wasn't so much fun.
adrian522 said (either on his own log or the XC thread) that there were 18 turns per lap; without going back to the map again, I'm inclined to believe him. In a 2k lap, that's an awful lot, although I used them to my advantage on more than one occasion. Some aul fellas had a major dose of twisted blood at the end no doubt!
Dó
I was working hard to keep going into the wind on the start/finish straight, but even so, the Tullamore group were getting away slowly. They would be joined by the aforementioned Tullamore man about a third of the way through the lap. I couldn't hang on to him, although I did try! I was getting plenty of shouts on the way around, which was great to hear, I have to say. Something I'm guilty of a lot is looking around and trying to find people who (even might) give me a shout. So today it was a case of, Eyes Forward! In other words, unless you were virtually directly in my eye line you weren't acknowledged :eek: sorry if I seemed ignorant!
Anyway, by the end of Lap 2, the Tullamore crew had disappeared; if not quite over yonder, far enough ahead that I would need a miracle to catch them. There was still a DDAC guy within range, and behind me I could hear MisterDrak getting a few shouts from the Raheny crowd. He wasn't that close to me coming out of the S-bends though; or was he?
Trí
Last time on the full length of the straight, and I could see the Drogheda man starting to really hurt about 20-30 metres ahead. Trouble was, I was weakening too, and although I often thought I could have a shot at passing him, he'd keep finding a tiny bit more. In addition, MisterDrak seemed to be closing on me as I made my way through the S-bends. Time for a last push as I exited the S bends and headed for the last couple of corners before the home straight. DDAC was slowing again, wasn't he? So I started going through the gears (or trying!) and I made a significant impression as we started to turn. But then, he got faster again as we were on the home straight, and try as I might, I couldn't get the momentum I wanted going through the clumpy grass, and kept thinking MisterDrak was going to catch me for good measure. Well one of two ain't bad I suppose! I crossed the line feeling really tired, but happy that I'd given a decent account of myself.
Time: 27:03
Position: 138/159
So a slightly lower finishing position (percentage wise) than last week, although both were very high quality fields, and I'm a lot happier with how I ran today than I was last week. In spite of conditions being much tougher, I stayed in the game till the end, and I feel much more confident about future races of this type. Sadly I'm not available for the Nats, or Rás na hÉireann, where our club has done very well in recent years.
Special thanks to Annie Get Your Run for the support. I only discovered later on reading her log how much ground she covered; on each lap she was in several spots, and she also found me at the end! Fair play AM, don't know how you do it
Nearly forgot.....on Lap 2, there was a youngish lad near the top of one of the hills on the far side. As I was passing, he gave me a shout of "Come on Wubble Wubble!" Exactly as typed, although most of you who read here will know my real name. I told my wife this afterwards, and it gave her a good laugh Sorry if we've met before kid, can't place you ? If we have, I'm getting old.....you may or may not know that Masters is the new PC name for Veterans :rolleyes: thanks for reading!
J.0 -
Well done again great report. You looked strong on a tough course although zero mud today.
Lol on the young fella, that was fletch, he's a clubmate of mine and I'd pointed you out to him, he covered almost as much ground as I did for the afternoon (with his nephew).0 -
Annie get your Run wrote: »Well done again great report. You looked strong on a tough course although zero mud today.
Lol on the young fella, that was fletch, he's a clubmate of mine and I'd pointed you out to him, he covered almost as much ground as I did for the afternoon (with his nephew).
Thought I might have seen him before all right? A regular runner and volunteer at our nearest and dearest parkrunning neighbours in Hartstown. Last time I was there (in the middle of Storm Desmond!) he was RD before he went off to run the Jingle Bells. Cheers O !0 -
Annie get your Run wrote: »Well done again great report. You looked strong on a tough course although zero mud today.
Lol on the young fella, that was fletch, he's a clubmate of mine and I'd pointed you out to him, he covered almost as much ground as I did for the afternoon (with his nephew).
thats brilliant - must tell him about this!0 -
Time to update this log again. I let it go for six days, and it's down to Page 4 already. Shocking :eek:
What might be more shocking for someone out there, is that from Monday to Friday of this week, I didn't even do a stretch, let alone any actual running. Between work, attending college lectures, trying to complete a batch of college assignments which are due for next week, and life in general, I quite honestly hadn't the time or the energy.
So what about the weekend, I hear you say? Read on.....
Sat 21/1 - 3 x 1400m tempo runs + warmup + cooldown
The original script was that I would go to the BHAA XC out in Ballyboden, and use my experience from the Masters races to knock that 5 miler out of the park. As it turned out, I didn't have the time to go over there. Probably not a bad thing actually; on today's evidence, the six day turnaround would have been very difficult to master.
Anyway. 8 of us met the coach at White's Gate, all set for our Saturday morning tempo, setting off for the Munich laps in sub zero temps. My first time doing this type of training run, and it felt like it. I couldn't get any momentum going up the hills, and my legs felt like ton weights. Not particularly sore or anything, the push just wasn't there.
The aim of course is to be consistent with your times. I wasn't. 5:59 for the first, followed by 6:16 and then 6:25 to finish. The coach gave the newbies the option of stopping after two, but I decided to complete it, as I thought it might be good prep for the upcoming BHAA Garda XC. Still and all, I'm glad I got out, and the more of these sessions I can do, the more I should improve. Couple of nice cooldown miles to finish off a decent morning's work.
Sun 22/1 - Club long run(s)
It was still dark as a decent size group, including AMK, assembled at Castleknock Gate for an 8 AM start. I'd a lot more layers on than yesterday, even though it wasn't as cold. We set off between 8:05 and 8:10 for the opening stint, which took us down Chesterfield and then right onto what's left of Wellington Road. Having cleared that building site, we were on our merry way up the Khyber for thankfully the only time today. It's quite a while since I ran that way, and it showed. AMK and two of the other faster lads pushed ahead along here, and they subsequently turned away down the Furze Road while the rest of us headed back to the start. Anyhow, I managed to get to the end of the opening 8k stint intact and just about keeping in touch, although one of our ladies put us all to shame, getting out for this the morning after running a marathon :eek: She went home then, as did the other newbie from yesterday's tempo, while the rest of us met the late (8:45) starters
Different route for this. We headed west along the trail past Farmleigh and over to Knockmaroon Gate, before turning through the Furry Glen and going up this ridiculously steep hill that I've definitely never run up before. Even at this stage, I'd fallen back about half a minute off most of the rest of them. There was a bit of tarmac to run along as we headed downhill alongside the Glen Road, but then AMK and co shot past us, before we turned left and up another steep hill on the trail around the back of St Mary's Hospital. Over towards the Magazine Fort and I had some tarmac to pick up the pace a bit, before heading back onto the trails and through the up and down section over towards the Acres Road. From here I turned right along the road they use in the 10 Mile, before swinging left and back up Chesterfield, by now running alone and feeling a bit wiped out. Thankfully by the time I got back to the car, one or two of the lads were still around. I don't know how far I ran, but it's definitely well into double figures, and my longest run since DCM.
Sitting here typing, I'm definitely thinking I dodged a bullet by not going to the XC yesterday. Racing four weekends in a row, including three XC, could have resulted in a death march scenario. It's probably saying something that only two of us from the club ran both the Dublin and Leinster Masters in addition to the Tom Brennan. The other fella wasn't with us today or yesterday.
I've signed up for the Raheny 5 again. This morning as I lumbered around the PP, I was questioning my sanity in doing so. But maybe this will be the making of me, as I aim to crack a nearly 3 year old PB. Time will tell! In the meantime, I've got an assignment to start finish off.
Best of luck to all running in Raheny. Hopefully I will catch up with some of ye out there. Thanks for reading!
J.0 -
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scotindublin wrote: »We were doing the Munich Hills yesterday aswell, popular spot on Saturday morning.
Hopefully the college stuff goes well this week and I will keep an eye out for you next Sunday in Raheny.
Cheers C, I noticed a fair few other lads around. Tricky enough when the ground was frozen solid coming down the hill, I might have added. Hope your own Raheny training is going well.
Assignments are complete! They have been a pain in the @r$3 welcome distraction as I prepare (!) for a so called goal race. My own fault though, they should have been gone ages ago. C'est la vie.Good stuff J. Haven't been in park in a good while - what's going on with Wellington Rd?
Roadworks were supposed to be complete and the road reopened to traffic on January 9. However on this morning's evidence, they don't seem to have done a whole pile in the last couple of months. Virtually the entire road on the monument side has been dug up, and little or no evidence of resurfacing :rolleyes:
I might also mention (back to the actual running) that I've abandoned my idea of running a HM in March. There's no way realistically that I'm going to get up to the mileage needed in 5/6 weeks; I've suffered through more than one HM where I haven't gone in properly prepared, I can do without another.Annie get your Run wrote: »They're making it one way and apparently including a fancy new cycle lane.
This one did make me laugh, I have to say IMHO cyclists have it far better in the PP than anywhere else in Dublin; I used to cycle into town, and found parts of my journey extremely challenging on the good days. 0 -
Wubble Wubble wrote: »This one did make me laugh, I have to say IMHO cyclists have it far better in the PP than anywhere else in Dublin; I used to cycle into town, and found parts of my journey extremely challenging on the good days.
Oh yeah, I'd absolutely agree with that, going through the park is by far my favourite bit of the commute! I don't think a cycle lane on Wellington Road is not going to make a whole lot of difference to anyone...0 -
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Annie get your Run wrote: »Completely forgot to ask how you got on earlier, you disappeared very quickly! You looked strong coming around the green so hopefully you got the desired result
That's how I roll AM, now you see me, now you don't
Sun 29/1 - Raheny 5 - You've Got Fail
Pre Race
It took us about an hour to get from D15 to Raheny (my wife was dropping me off), as the traffic was absolutely desperate from before the Darndale Hilton on the way across. Eventually landed in Raheny about 2:15, and after the customary rest stop, bumped into AMK as I re-emerged onto the road. We got a mile or so warmup done, before I joined the long queue for the bag drop. Eventually got this done about 2:55, so without even time to stretch properly, found my way in among the masses. The Muppet was in here, so I went over and we had a quick chat before the cavalry charge.
Miles 1 & 2
Only when we got going, did I realise just how far back I was. It took me nearly a minute to cross the start line. Even here, there were still loads of people who had no business starting where they did; the hardest part of the first half mile was dodging around them. It kind of suited me in a way as I didn't want to go too hard too early; the first mile was beyond comfortable, and I was passing loads of runners while making little or no effort.
The second mile was a disaster. I was almost down to walking pace at times, as we trundled along the Howth Road section. Normally the wind is my biggest problem here. Today was the fact that for long spells I could barely move.
Loads of people cut the corner onto Sybil Hill Road (as directed by at least one steward?!) while I stayed out on the road, and made it my business to pass all the corner cutters fairly lively, once we got a bit more breathing room on the downhill stretch.
Miles 3 & 4
Still making up lots of places as we made our way to the lowest point of the course on Mount Prospect Avenue, and then up towards the St. Anne's Park entry point just after the 3 mile marker. I was working harder mind, but I still didn't feel that I was anywhere near where I should have been. I'd been following two guys through the field from about 1.5 miles, and eventually got them just we reached the bottom of the avenue. Seconds after this I passed Marthastew, who was kind enough to give me a shout, so I returned the favour
Going up the avenue, I saw AMK on the other side looking strong, followed afterwards by Murph_D. I was still nowhere near the turn as D passed me. I might mention that I didn't look at the watch, but there's no way I should have been that far behind him, regardless of how well or how badly either of us were going.
Anyway, we turned around, and after about 150 metres coming back down the hill, I spotted the two lads I mentioned earlier ahead of me. WTF!!! Obviously they turned through one of the many gaps in the rails. I was absolutely raging, and let them have a piece of my mind as I passed them (again). Quite why people do this is beyond me. Certainly there were no prizes on the line in the middle of the pack!
Mile 5
Still passing a lot more than were passing me, although the drag towards the park exit was taking more out of me than I expected. Shortly after leaving the park, I passed a work colleague and was still feeling fairly strong as we came towards the green. Time for an eyeballs out for the line special. Just as I turned, AGYR gave me a shout, which made me smile but didn't slow me down Right again, and I'm still improving my position. One more corner! This was a massive disappointment however, as I seemed to run out of puff, and about ten people passed me in this short stretch.
36:10 on the clock, with a chip time of 35:17, and a finishing position of 714th.
Analysis
This was actually a course PB, beating my time from last year by 12 seconds. However, it's still over a minute off my nearly three year old actual PB. My race management was shocking. I feel like I overcompensated for my poor starting position (and super slow first 1.75 miles) to the extent that I fell apart on the home straight. Plus, having now run this race five years in a row, you would think I'd have the timings sorted out for travelling across, bag drops etc. All things considered, it feels like I didn't get anywhere near I should have. Still, I managed to have a hot shower and get a coffee in the GAA club, where I very briefly met AGYR, denis b (excellent flapjacks!), BG and others. Unfortunately I couldn't stay for long, as my wife was picking me up amidst the post race traffic mayhem on the Howth Road.
Next
Back to XC it is for me, starting with the BHAA Garda 4 mile in the Phoenix Park next Saturday.0 -
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