Running mad in 2010

Cheers guys. No races in mind save enjoying the forthcoming imra races. I hope to get across the the Connaught champs even if I'm crap at running Croagh Patrick. Still I can do my penance as I do it.

I see in the final Conn results I'm upgraded (don't know how) to 14th overall and 1st M40

Easy run this evening. Did 4k out and back from Ballinastoe towards Lough Tay and along Wicklow way. Beautiful evening for a run. Going to head over to Glendalough early in the morning to see some of the WAR race...

8.05k, 4:40 pace, 270m ascents
100 days running this year.
Total 902.56 miles

I speculated about doing an LSR today but decided to concentrate on quality rather than quantity so took to the hills above the village with dog in tow. Coillte are tree felling on the hills which makes the going slower than usual. I followed the Annacurra race route to the top of the hill, hung a left down around and up a trail which I knew was a cul de sac. Trails were technical and gorse covered in parts which made for interesting running. The ups were tough - head down, dig in... About turn and back down, around and up to the top of the hill for the 2nd time. Followed the quick trail descent thats in the Annacurra race - trails are bone dry which makes the going good and fast. This brought me around the back of the hill where Oscar the dog gave chase to his first ever sight of a fox. Then had to haul myself up the hill for the 3rd time. Tough, but good for me From there it was downhill trail run all the way. Sub 4 min splits without having to try just letting gravity do its thing. Had to push it towards the end as I tried to work the avg pace down below 5 min/k pace. Just about managed it and well happy with that as a work-out. Home for coffee and bagels. Great having these hills on the doorstep. Not a sinner encountered the entire morning either.

16.66k, 4.58 pace, 642m ascents
102 days running
Total miles: 919.31

IMRA race tomorrow so fairly easy day today. Short run at lunch centred on Deansgrange. Pretty good conditions for running. Long may it continue. At this rate I should top the 1000 mark before the end of the month which if memory serves is about 20 days ahead of last year.

8.5k, 4:30 pace, 81m ascents
104 days running this year
934.05 total

Comfortably paced hilly trail run in Annacurra after yesterday's race. Another race on Saturday up and down Tonelegee (twice), so might take it easy tomorrow.

Total: 11.18k, 4:38 pace, 387m ascents
106 running days
Total miles: 949.53

Arrived in good time with donothoponpop and did a bit of a warm up. A nice crowd assembled at the Wicklow gap for the off at 12 noon on the dot. A steep climb to the top of Tonelagee followed. Tough going it was too. A lead group of Jason, Brian and Peter had set off into the distance with the rest of us following in single file fashion. Half way up the running got too tough, for me at least, so I adopted a long walking stride without losing position. Zoran had reached the trig point ahead of me. I knew Dan Morrough wasn’t too far behind. Off the other side of Tonelagee down to Lough Ouler. Here, different strategies were put to the test. Do you go immediately down to the lake and run alongside it, or do you stay to the higher ground and only hit the lake as late as possible? I took somewhat of a middle ground option and it allowed me to pick up ground on Zoran who had gone to the lake early. We were met at the apex of the lake by Dan who had taken the latter option. We started the climb back up Tonelagee in close proximity. Running gave way to walking before too long again as it was very steep and the path as it was turned out to be quite uneven. I managed to gain a lead on Dan despite this and Zoran in turn had stretched out a good lead on me. He looked like he could catch Aaron O’Donoghue ahead of him again. At that time I reckoned Aaron was 4th overall in the race. As the gradient levelled out near the top of Tonelagee running became an option again. Touched the trig point at the top of the mountain and from there it was going to be a short but fast downhill to where we had started from. Opinions differed again as to the best way down.. do you follow the sheep trail we had followed on the way up or do you run as the crow flies across open mountain ignoring any trail (which wasn’t too obvious at times in any event). Some of the grassy downhill was really really fast. Legs, feet, body coordination needed big time when you are running downhill at this speed. I’m a poor master of these skills but I did enough to hold my position in the race and finished in a time of 46:59 (unofficial.. 6th overall I think?). A great, but tough race and good prep for next weekend’s Connaught championship races. A bit of a misunderstanding at the end nearly ended up with donothoponpop taking my M40 prize but I intervened at this injustice at the last minute. Looking forward to the next weekend race which have a great ambience, the smaller crowds and unmarked elements of the courses being in contrast to the overcrowded nature of the growing popularity of the Leinster League races. Thanks to the race director and helpers for a great event.

Headed down towards Bunclody this morning for the 2nd of the trail series of races being hosted by Slaney Olympic. Body a bit tired after yesterday but a social race appealed to me more than a solo recovery run. The field size was quite small, less than 40, but this is a nice contrast to the crowded popularity of the Weds imra races. Did a c. 5k easy warm up beforehand. We then started with a mainly downhill 1st 2 miles. Around mile 3 was a slow but going-on-forever climb back up trails before you could let yourself go a bit on the descent for mile 4. Thats when my legs were really feeling it. Miles 5 and 6 were fairly undulating back to the finish. Finished 5th and 1st M40 in 40:08. Don't have the ascent figures to hand but it must have been pushing 300m. Very happy with that result and I'd have done well to have done better even if I hadn't run yesterday. Didn't know the guy who finished first, but he pipped Keith Heary into 2nd. Keith then set off running home.. another 8 miles! A Ferns runner was 3rd and Raphael Salazar, an imra regular, was about 15 secs ahead of me. Revenge for me pipping him in the recent Debra Ireland Wicklow mountains half marathon.

This was a lovely route on the Carlow side of the Mount Leinster foothills. A few imra diehards made the journey down and all enjoyed it. Roll on the next such race in a few weeks time. Dark clouds rolled in just after we finished and there was a torrential downpour afterwards, so good timing to finish when we did.

Total: 15.46k (9.67k of race), 4:09 race pace, 233m ascents
108 running days
Total miles: 965.16

A mixed run at lunchtime. Easy at first, made difficult by a strong wind. Met up with a friend of mine who was doing 400s on the track near Cabinteely. I couldn't match his pace as I was on tired legs but I did about 5 for the hell of it before heading back to work at a decent pace. 10.3k at 4:21 pace.

This evening got out before rain clouds rolled in for a road and trail run to Aughrim and back at a fairly easy pace. 6.6k at 4.44 pace.

Total running today: 10.5 miles
110 running days this year.
Total mileage: 985.69 (nearly there.. 2 more days)

Closed the deal on the 1000 miles this evening. I'd done an easy run this morning to wake up, which left less than 5 miles to do this evening. Got out and purposely ran one of my favourite routes, as if to embed in my mind where I was when I reached the target. Paused half way around to admire the view back across Wicklow with Lugnacoille resplendant in evening light.

By a lucky coincidence I reckon when I reached the 1000 I was careering down a downhill with a smile on my face doing a fairly effortless sub 3:30k split, which is a rare event. Happy days, accept for the bloody midges flying into the eyes.

I miscounted my rest days in recent days. I've only not ran 7 days this year so I'll reward myself in the coming months with more rest days. My objective at the start of the year was to enjoy my running and I've certainly done that. I've been very fortunate that I haven't had any injuries to speak of and I've been able to put in decent performances in races I've done so I hope to be able to continue that.

2 runs today:-
am: 5.83k, 4:46 pace, 102m ascents
pm: 10.23k, 4:22 pace, 273m ascents
Total miles for day 9.98
Total mileage so far this year: 1002
112 running days. 7 rest days.

Staying around Delphi for IMRA Connaught Champs weekend. Briefly in Westport so have 5 mins of connectivity. 7k ran around Doo Lough yesterday in the shadow of mighty Mweelrea and Ben Gorm. Absolutely stunning. The drive to Westport this morning was tremendous. Some rain showers but Croagh Patrick peak clearly visible - always a good thing when doing a mountain race. Its less than 7k in distance but a lot of pain and fund to be endured during it

This was my 4th year in a row to take part in this great race. The weather gods were good to us as after some rain showers beforehand we were greeted with sunshine for the most part during the run. 64 registered runners took to the line beside the pub at the main road at Murrisk. Vivian O’Gorman gave his usual pre-race line about ‘if you want to enjoy the view, stop. Don’t try do it while you are running!’. We headed off, up the tarmac lane and up the steps passed the blessed virgin statue at the foot of the mountain and onto the pilgrims path up the mountain. The speedier and hardier runners stretched off away from me as I started I thought pretty slowly and conservatively. You can start fast on a run like this and suffer later, so slowly does it. Along the rocky uphill path you go. In the lower part of the race I picked off various runners that had started perhaps too fast to sustain their pace. Onwards and upwards through the rock strewn trail. Pilgrims heading up and down the mountain stood in silence mainly looking at the eejits running up the mountain. Up ahead I could only wonder at the power and pace of the lead guys that were way ahead in the distance already. I was happy enough with my pace but still before too long the calf muscles start to send soreness messages to the brain. As it got progressively steeper and messier underfoot it was more efficient to switch to a walking stride and despite this I made progress in keeping up or passing other competitors and not losing any places. As the path flattened out (ish) in the middle section I got a trot going ahead, running alongside another runner I didn’t know, each of us egging the other on a bit. The final climb, for me and most is unrunnable. The rocky scree cone that ascends steeply to the summit is a true test. Using big stepping strides I made whatever progress I could upwards. Descending and ascending pilgrims were having difficulty on this section. Some of them had younger kids and dogs with them – pure madness. Needless to say they probably thought what we were doing was mad, and that’s probably true to a certain extent. I was quite a bit up the scree cone when the first descending runner went dashing past down in a scramble of rock and peddles. Brian Furey from Rathfarnham. Gave him a well done shout and continued my uphill slog. Over the next few minutes more descending runners past. Some I knew, some I didn’t. Before too long the gradient eased and you could make out the gate which marks your arrival onto the flat bit where the church is. Managed a bit of a run clockwise around the church. Said hello to Finbar who was manning the summit, taking summit times. I was c. 40 mins to the top… for all of 3.65 or so k up. Downhill down the scree I went, judging my steps with as much care as I could manage, balancing the speed and the risk. This isn’t a surface or a gradient you want to fall on. Lets just say it wouldn’t be forgiving. Made it down this section having gotten past one or 2 descenders on the way. Picked it up on the gentler section in the middle taking care to lift the feet and not stub the toes on loose rock and gravel. I’d fallen here in previous years. I past one of the lead runners (Jason Kehoe) on this section. He was standing with some people, taking a drink of water and I could only assume he’d come a cropper on his downhill. He didn’t look to worse for wear and he acknowledged my shout. Downwards I went over the rocky, technical ground. A couple of shouts of courtesy to pilgrims to tell them of a descending runner approaching as I went. In the closing k I was aware of another runner hot on my heels and for a few moments he appeared in my vision as we ran shoulder to shoulder. I was determined to hold whatever place I had so I upped the pace, not an easy thing on very rocky and technical downhill ground, but faster I got. I made it to the gate near the bottom of the hill before him and reached the steps which I took 2 at a time before reaching the tarmac lane. Almost comically my sprinting legs seemed to have a jelly-ish quality to them after coming off the hills, so running with any pace along the road wasn’t too easy. A quick look around though satisfied me that I had built a lead that wasn’t going to be overtaken. Waved at the family as my OH took a photo as I passed the visitor coffee shop. 200m on from that the race was over. Checked the time. 58.53. Did a double take. That was my first time beating 60 mins here. I’d never come near 60 mins really before.. my best being 64.18 from last year. Chuffed with that. Good enough for 12th place and 3rd M40. Race was won by the 1st to the top Brian Furey. Diarmuid Collins, winner of the Wicklow way trail race, was 2nd with Peter O’Farrell, last year’s victor, in 3rd. A great race in a special place. You couldn’t quite call it enjoyable.. certainly not the uphill.. you’ve to work bloody hard at it. The downhill is a mixture of fun, fear and adhenaline in equal measure. I finished the race without so much as a cut or scrape which is always a good thing on Croagh Patrick. Various others had the cuts and bruises to show for it. Jason had suffered a dead leg having come down heavily on his quad muscle. Hopefully he won’t be out for too long with that. Definitely an experience to be recommended. For those interested in these things I wore inov-8 X-talon runners and found them very effective. They are very light and have little cushioning but they grip well.
7.28k, 741m ascents, Time: 58.53, Pace: 8:05
Splits: 7:38, 12:04, 7:15, 14:48, 6:26, 5:01, 4:43, 0:54 The splits are laughably slow, but they give a sense of the difficulty of the climb, and the terrain underfoot which is difficult to run fast downhill on aswell!

Ben Gorm - we ran to the top from the other side. To run it this way would have been a bit steeper but shorter.


An impression of the running terrain on the trail up towards Croagh Patrick...


Nearly there...