Speedy Gonzales or Slowpoke Rodriguez?

Mon. 7th December: 10k with 7k steadyish

Was meant to be a cycle home from work and run later but the wind wasnt safe for cycling so i had planned my usual run-DART-run. Arrived at my station, I saw that on the electronic message board that my train was delayed and not due for 16 min so decided to pick a station I might be able to get to first and then 'race the train'. Put a good effort in kept an eye on the trains progress on message boards passing intervening stations. Ducked in at the station, just made it. Good fun.

Also AM Cycle commute 12.5k

Tue. 8th December: 5k commute

Jog-DART-jog

PM Cycle commute 12.5k

Wed. 9th December: No running

Cycle commute round trip 25k. Back sore

Thu. 10th December: Rest

Sore back and cold symptoms

Fri. 11th December: 11k inc. 7k steady then 7 x 1 min hills on treadmill

Jogged to gym , dropped bag. Headed out for a 7k run. Effort was a low steady intensity. Arrived in the gym and decided to do a few hills.
Did 7 x 1 min @ 10 kph incline 15' rec 60-90s. Messed about with some of the weights machines in the gym, did a few quats with low free weights (20 kg). Sauna, Jacuzzi, Steamroom then jogged home. Grand couple of hours.

Sat. 12th December:

AM Strenght class (Core ), .

30 min. Gym class, working Core, abs, adductors, glutes. Enjoyable class.

In the gym.Climbed 20-30 stories testing out one of those moving stairs things. Great machine. Would be handy training for some of the big mountain races where mountain walking might be a requirement.


PM 10k on the treadmill about 9k progressive-steady

Incline 1'. Took a few minutes to get the legs moving up to speed. After about 12.5 kph started to up the pace by .1 kph every 30s, then every 45s, then every minute for a very gradual progression. At 14.8 kph (i think) corresponding to 4:03 min/k I felt I hit a groove, or a second wind or whatever. I upped it .1 k and it felt less comfortable again. Had intended to keep increasing pace till close to 16kph and hold. In truth this would have been too much work for me. Backed it down to 4:03 kph held it there for 10 enjoyable mins (until my legs got tired). More Saunas etc and then jogged home.

Sun. 13th December:

AM Gym classes: Upper and lower body strenght work on angled machine then Spin class

First class good work. The class included some explosive squatting which was possible on the machine. Some rowing also to work chest and back.

Leaving I spotted a Spin class starting and jumped in for the Craic. Worked hard, good 45 mins there.

PM 10k easy-steady.

Nice run in calm weather out to Clontarf's Wooden bridge and back. Wore these kind of minimalist trail shoes as schlopping through the grass was what I decided Id enjoy most. Suprisingly dry.

Weekly Totals: Running 45k, Cycling 40k, 3 exercise classes.




Delighted with the week. Critical part of it was the weekend. After missing a couple of days midweek it was looking like another failed effort to re-establish the habit. The gym saved me and my running reasons to join look vindicated. Not out of the woods yet but cautiously optimistic. I can see the path my exercise will take for the next number of weeks and it looks enjoyable and therefore sustainable. I'm doing a lot of the runs at steady paces (not easy) because I enjoy them more. Ill get fitness feedback quicker this way which will help too as reward. Also, my strenght seems to have been harder hit than my fitness, the strenght orientation in the fitness classes, hills and steady runs (compared to easy) will help too.
Plan this week is to keep it going, maybe the volume will naturally creep up. I like the hill reps on the tread so will add another couple of reps onto that session. I probably should do some strides for leg speed, will see.
Going to have a go at the climbing wall too. My 4 year old daughter can climb half of it by now and is egging me on.
Back and cold are better.

Holiday Training:

Week 1:

Various short runs totalling about 60k. Ran everyday and finally re-established consistancy by running every day. Did a couple of slightly more intense runs like:

3 x 3 min uphill (on a loop) then 6 x100 strides on the flat

Week 2: 6 runs inc 1 double and a 14.5 k run easy-steady. Also did about 5k fast-steady during a run. After the 14.5k run I actually felt the need to recover i.e a fitness gain. Happy days.

Looking forward to the running year ahead with a little more confidence. Plan this week is a hill rep session. 8-10 x 1 min @ 10kph and 15%, something like that. Also a steady run, may aim for 3 x 15 mins here. Ill try and throw in a run > 16km too. And Sunday I'm in for the annual Dublin masters at St Anne's. 4 x 1.5 k laps. I know whats in store, it will be Die hard and 3 sequels. I was worried that the race might negatively affect me. More confident that it will spur me on now.

Hope to manage Howth hill race the following week.

Monday 4th January
11k easy.
Run-dart –run commute both ways. Have reduced Dart by a station at each end which reduces my fare by nearly 50c. Takes about the same time. I’ll be cycling most days but still, an easy way to help increase mileage a bit and might cover a couple of pairs of runners a year.

Tuesday 5th January
14k easy-steady over a few runs.

Wednesday 6th January
18k easy-steady over a few runs
Included 8k lunch time run on DL West pier. First lunch run in ages. These runs will be key for me to hit target mileages later.

Thursday 7th January
17k easy-steady over a few runs Inc. 7 x 100m relaxed uphill strides.
I jog past a hill every morning and I’ve been eyeing it for uphill strides and sprints. Steepish and nice and quiet. Just concentrated on relaxation and form here. High knees and bouncy enough. Wanted the tiredness to hit my legs and I felt it a bit after 7. That was enough to be starting with.

Friday 8th January
11k easy jogdarts.

Saturday 9th January
13.5k easy with strides
Jogged out to statue at the end of the Bull wall. Strides all the way back, starting with 5s progressing to 15s. Pleanty of recovery between and all relaxed.
Just to put some 'Up for it' into the legs and mind before the XC on Sunday.

Sunday 10th January
10k Inc. 6k Dublin XC.
Usually this course can be forgiving if you’re not 100% fit. There is a decent section of firm forest floor path (half the distance) and the grass is normally not bad. Due to a new laid tarmac path along the park perimeter blocking a section of the old route the course had to come in a bit. That added at least 100m to the course distance. It also meant that the firm grass of the well-drained park perimeter was replaced by ehh slightly wetter stuff in-park. Yesterday, apart from a few small sections of semi-quagmire, most of the grass was quagmire deteriorating badly every lap.
I watched some of the women’s race which had a great turnout of around 150, and was won well by a Bros Pearse runner who seemed to be gliding over the muck effortlessly in her first XC race apparently.
I was considering whether to go out hard to stay ahead of the main body of runners and try to hang on, or to start conservatively and move through. When I saw the course I realised that I would be racing for 25 mins here rather than the usual 20 and that most of it would be in muck. There is room to pass here so it was option B. This was going to be painful; I had plied myself and overdosed on coffee so the coffee buzz was trumping any fear.

Lap1: Off we went, I started very controlled and was passed by a good few in the fast start. I wasn’t going to react at all. I had it in my head that I should be able to pick places on the firmer ground. So survive the muck and make hay in the forest. When we hit the forest I didn’t feel like it was a wise idea to push it, but I found that even so I was happy to notice I was now picking off places. Through that section of trees and over a fallen trunk over a path and now were onto another tree section where we run down and up both sides of the path that heads towards the coast road St Anne’s Carpark. Grand here slight down, and then back up again. Back on the muck and I’m still reeling runners in but not as quickly. I reach Paul M, a club mate and start working with him. Were in the quagmire leading to the finish line now. Its thinned out so runners are trying desperately to find good slightly less mucky lines, going way left of straight line in this section for instance. We pass the 1 lap mark and this lap felt loooong, glad i went out conservatively now.

Lap 2. Paul passes me here and I have to work to stay with him through the muck. The ‘best line’ on this quagmire section early lap, is to run on the better grass between trees that border one side of the route, darting out and back to avoid face planting each trunk. There is extra difficulty in that the direct bright sunshine is blinding and is also being reflected into the eyes from the wet swamp that is the course. Paul passes a guy and I have to go out into the schlop to pass and keep up. Yep, the tree hugging is deffo better! Round the corner and no tree hugging available, so its schlop all the way until the ground rises a bit before the forest and gets slightly better. Legs feeling heavy now. Onto the traily forested bit and I find I’m relatively good again, passing Paul and I hear him working to try and keep up. This relationship is working very well! Pass a few more. One guy makes a big effort to pass me in the last bit of forest before the finishing straight on lap 2. No problem there except, he slows down once passed. I pass back immediately to let him know that I won’t be submitting that easily and to discourage any more of it. Back in the muck in the finishing straight and I try and take the straight line instead of veering left. Mistake, as I’m passed by Paul and another and it cost me about 5 metres.

Lap 3: Working hard to stay with Paul through the sun blinded tree hopping section. My aim in this lap is to try and cover the forest a bit quicker. The guy who passed me earlier now comes bombing past in the muck taking myself and a few runners. I’m puzzled by this as he had to work to pass me earlier. Anyway, the pace was too hot for me so I let him go. Into the forest and a big Donore guy goes bombing past, again the pace is too much to follow. I do my customary place swap with Paul and we are still reeling in runners. The first guy who stormed past us stops ahead and retires either an injury, or more likely a bad blow up due to that big surge in the mud. I still see big Donore ahead and I feel he might be a target now to try and reel in. I turn the legs slightly quicker here. Back onto the schlop, and I stay left this time.

Lap 4: Bell sounds and I try and work harder through the muck. I’m closing on 3 runners ahead. Then Donore then there is a big group of 5-6 ahead of them who seem to be coming back. Paul doesn’t pass me here, which means the work I’m doing is getting me around quicker now. Onto the forest and turn the legs to get speed. No strength to push. After the tired feeling early in lap 2, I was worried that I would start to fade and suffer. But the legs haven’t felt anything since and the coffee has done a wonderful job on easing the suffering. Hurting now in fairness, I think I pass a few more including a Sportsworld runner I recognise as very experienced. Onto the schlop and Donore is coming back but out of reach. People are now taking the straight line here. I know that going left is faster yet I follow like a lemming. Mistake. Final push and I’m just flapping around in the muck like a cat on ice. The sportsworld guy is right behind me and he finishes with strong strides to pass me fairly easily. Not much I could do about it. Paul was just a few seconds behind. It was a great break bumping into him on the course. Staying with him in the muck meant a lot of places for me, made the top 40 which was good and I think he got a guy late in the last lap to get 3rd in his category so fruitful for us both. I was worried that I would be so far back that the race would discourage me, but I’m happy with it and because I raced and paced it pretty well it will serve as a good marker for improvement. I’ll get a good fitness kick out of the race itself.

Week total 94.5k. A bit of a jump in volume, but no cycling this week or fit classes and no real tiredness over it.

I’ve entered the Howth hill race next weekend. Howth is different in that there is less room to pass so Ill have to start faster and try and hang on/hold runners off. Hopefully there is some climbing endurance in the DNA now and I can fight to hold places on the early main climbs after the more intense start. There is a big incentive then to work on the flattish section mid race as, if I can hold my own there, I should be able to hold runners off on the narrow twisty descent home. Thats assuming I know when the twists are coming, which I will as hopefully I'll have a chance to recce it and practice it in my warm up.

Easy days now as I recover. May do (8-9) hill strides again this week, a steady run and a few strides the day before Howth. Loads of time to get fit. I do need to lose weight. As I’m a stone up on normal race weight. Dropping sugar and dairy will do it. For once I’m eager to do this as a permanent change. Hope to start that this week. Similar mileage to last but there will be a few extra cycle commutes thrown in.

Murph_D wrote: »

Nice going in the muck - tree hopping, wish I'd thought of that.

Thanks a million. I read your report, great going yourself and a very decent improvement on last year especially considering they are the only XC races you've ever done.

I don't do well in the muck so any line with less of it helps me. Some folk are faster going straight through, like yourself.

Have you considered doing a few BHAA XCs? Good for marathons.

Monday 11/1 : 11k easy commutes PM 10k Inc. 6.5k steady. 21k Total
Legs felt good after the Dublin Masters on Sunday. Went with the flow and ran steady as I felt. Last few minutes legs were tiring a little.
Tuesday 12/1 11k commutes, PM 5k easy. 16k Total
Easy day, let the legs recover a bit from Sunday’s race and Monday’s steady effort.
Wednesday 13/1: 9k easy commutes.
Same as above. Meant to add another 5k easy, but kids up late and I was tired anyway.
Thursday: Lunch 11k hilly including 7k steady on hilly ground
Main steady part was clockwise outside the perimeter of Dalkey/Killiney Hill Park. Definitely hit threshold or slightly over climbing to the wee roundabout near Killiney village. Ran through for another few minutes on the down before easing off to finish the remainder of the run as warm down. Commutes today were on Bicycle=25k.
Friday 15/11: Commute in = 4k. Commute home = 12.5k Total 16.5k
First run home in ages. Felt good all the way although tired from Thursday
Saturday 16/1: 11k Inc. various strides.
Plan before kickoff was to do 6 x 100m strides.
Ended up doing. 6 strides increasing from 32 steps, to 60 steps. Initially with an exaggerated stride progressing to one with faster cadence. The idea was to try and run fast and relaxed. As I wasn’t used to this, it seemed like the best way to progress it.
I felt ready for more after those, I had my hill race next day so didn’t want tom overdo it.
Did 3 x 30s fast and relaxed. Just a little taster to prepare get back into my aerobic strides next week. That brought me near the end of Alfie Byrne road and East wall and a wee hill there. The race was starting fast on an uphill. I decided to leave the muscle memory 'uphill'
Very fast up the hill with high cadence and then after cresting I kept going for about 50m at a slower steady pace until my legs had mostly recovered. Just to get the legs a little practiced at that transition from climb to flattish which was going to happen on particularly 2 significant occasions in the race. Probably wouldn’t be worth much time wise, but I should get more out of the race having a little prep. Also I fired up most of my quad muscles firing up the hills which was going to happen anyway in the race, so best to have them woken up and used a bit first.
More of a blowout than strides overall but I was happy after.
Sunday 17/1: Race IMRA Howth. 5th place. 12k total
Report:
The field would not be as competitive as the Dublin Masters, and I hoped that from the masters race itself I’d probably come back the week after a minute faster. Start was on tarmac in the deerpark carpark for 80m, then a flat and slightly downhill 100m until narrow steps.
I spotted Ocnoc who used to post on these parts and a guy called Gerry H who has ran under 50 mins for 10k up and down Lug. Enough said for anyone who knows that race. He's not running as much but I had half an eye on him as someone to take on. I had Ocnoc as favorite because he looked strong and fit and he’s good on the rough stuff.
Warmed up with a few lads. Passing the top of the first climb I remarked on the open ground and advised to do any passing on the way back here as it’s a lot more difficult to pass after. Should have kept the gob shut!
So at the top of the carpark you have to cross a concrete slabbed pavement and up a few steps passed the hotel before the 100m section to the steps up the hill. Didn’t like the look of those first steps. Start fast I thought and then ease during the hundred if needs be.
Started fast just behind Ocnoc in second. He didn’t bother with the first steps just did a fancy orienteer vault over a hotel fence. Those orienteers are gas. He would have smashed through the hotel reception window if he thought it was faster. I thought the steps were a bit faster than the route he took, I would have shouted it to him but I was breathing too hard!
I decided I’d stay in second till the steps. There was a bit of a gap behind (clogging on steps) and I kept looking behind like a track race qualifier making sure I was in the top 2 when we reached the steep steps. Up we went. I planned to ease off immediately so as not to red line. It didn’t feel right to hold people up, so I kept behind Ocnoc for half the initial climb. My effort levels were now such that I had to let him go. Soon after a young man bounded past and bridged the gap to Ocnoc. Good luck to him! Over the craggy deerpark summit and the first bit of downhill. Still needing recovery big time, so controlled, not slowing, and not pushing just concentrating on foot placement and recovery. Near the bottom in passed again. This guy looks very lean and fit, I reckon heed be good on the steep climb ahead as we started onto the lopped section (2 loops). He was indeed. I ran 3/4 of this. I would always run all uphill on principle but being a little wiser now I had planned to walk the final steep part to aid to ingoing recovery process. Passed by a group of 4 here which was annoying including Gerry H. He’s paced this better than me I thought, he'll be eating most of the runners ahead of him for breakfast. Over the summit and Gerry B on the photos.
Onto the flat, I am still recovering and notice that I’m gaining on the group ahead, except for Gerry who is gone. I pass 3 on the remainder of the loop including an M40 (Pat) who looks suspiciously like one of the chaps I was liberally throwing advice at pre-race. Doh!
Looking ahead I see Gerry H demolishing the steep climb as he starts loop2When I arrive at the bottom, I hope I have put distance between myself and the chasing group so I can concentrate on reeling in those ahead. We are passing big groups of lapped runners. Near the top I am passed by 4 again, including a new chap in yellow. It’s Ok, because ill tag behind them and get them early on the flat. I pass lapped runners on the wrong side and I find myself well adrift of the 4. The M40 chap is ahead again and with a gap now. I actually assume Gerry H (also an M40) will finish top3 which means me and Pat are battling for the category prize.
I just pass him before the small climb to the masts mid loop. Cadence is good here. Descending towards the end of loop 2 and were passing lapped runners. I keep losing concentration wanting to settle and having to jee myself up. I stumble and nearly fall while actually daydreaming and finally I force the effort up again. There are a few lads catchable ahead. Climbing back onto the deerpark summit before the final descent, I take my own advice and put it all in to pass a chap before the descent. Pat is close behind but putting a body between us makes me feel safe. I shoot down. There is a guy ahead and then its yellow jacket. The guy ahead is moving quite slowly and makes room when he hears me approach. It turns out to be the guy who passed me in second early in the race. He took Ocnoc on and he was unlucky in that the leader was exceptionally good. He got burned obviously or had a twist. Anyway closing on yellow jacket but no cigar. Ocnoc won, Gerry H got into the big gap between ocnoc and everyone else, the guy who passed me for third kept his spot. Then yellow jacket, then me. Good to scat to Enduro after, who looked much recovered after his brilliant exploits in the spine race. He said he could have raced, but didn’t fancy a 'sprint'. I was glad he didn’t anyway! Good crack after, seeing familiar faces. A great way to spend a Sunday morning.

Week total 96k:
Happy with the week. 2 steady runs and a race. Strides developed more. Same volume of running next week but with more cycling and a return to gym classes, and a start to strenght work.

Wednesday: AM 5.5k jogmutes PM 12.k home easy from work - felt ok, feeling recovered after Monday.

Thursday: AM 5k jogmutes PM 3 x 5 x 100 steps strides
Felt a little tired on my jog in. Wasn't dreading the strides but feeling stiff, old and bockety in work. Planned them for lunch, but busy so I would do them on the run home. Not ideal as not everywhere on the route is suitable for fast uninterupted strides. All the ingredients there for a half assed session. So I googled a few videos on strides for motivation and came across this guy who demonstrated a few different types of strides based off Iglooi I think.

Anyway, different angle so I thought Id give it a go. The added interest and instruction would make it more likely for me to execute the session better, and avert that danger of my not achieving the sessions objective.

Stride types were:
Easy: Very easy short strides just to warm up
Fresh: Easy but lifting feet quickly. Cue is pretending there is an iron bar across ankles you have to lift your foot over.
Strong Swing: Strong strides focus on knee lift and power rather than leg speed. Cue is to keep bounding in mind.
Fast: High leg turnover. Cue is running on hot ground.

I decided to use 'easy' and 'fresh' to warm up (60 steps per stride) . 4-5 Easy strides got me as far as the tarmac path near the West Pier in Dunlaoghaire. 5-6 Fresh got me to Blackrock station.

Good warmup. 'Strong' first set, 'Fast' second, Combine them for the third set, as the way I decided to go.
Noticed a bit of leg tiredness from Monday in the first Strong stride. Slowed immediately to an easier effort for the second. If I did the second too hard the set would be compromised. Planned the second set for Sandymount sea path. Arrived at Merrion gate just in time for a double train pass so used a few more very easy strides to keep warm. The fast turnover set was challenging to stay relaxed. For me, I have to concentrate on my shoulders and arms. Set 3 started in Ringsend park, got two in before crossing the east link. Too windy for the riverside, so I got another in past the Point and the remainder up the Luas line.
Good quality for the last set. The other two sets really got the body ready. Relaxed fast. That could easily have been half assed and would have looked the same on paper. Getting better as I'm older at executing these sessions correctly. Easy percentage points to get in fairness.
Tomorrow will be easy peasy 10k over about 4 short commute runs. Saturday 10k with a few uphill strides for Sundays race.

Hellfire Race plan:

Race has a couple of hundred metres gradual up a fire road before a steep climb right up and up. After about 700 metres running we pass the infamous Hellfire club and the start of two clockwise laps. Fast running initially for a kilometre, a downhill right back parallel to the original kilometre in opposite direction, then a climb back up to end the lap. Repeat and then its back down that steep slope, falling out onto the fireroad for the last 200m.

Ill summarise my race plan:

I think the initial climb and descent both present opportunities.
My climbing should be better, but from Howth its clear that I am relatively faster on the flat at the moment.
The course is deceptively tough after the intitial climb. The ground is fairly good (I think), so no resting on rougher stuff...it will be all go. Its short so the instensity wont drop at all.
I think most will run too hard up that first climb even though they are trying to be conservative. That's the opportunity. Ill have to take a leap of faith and concede a lot of ground to the runners ahead. The effort will be like that 9kph on my Monday treadmill session. 4 mins or so of that. If I keep my head and do that Ill be in good nick at the Hellfire club and will expect to start gaining immediately on most ahead (The leg speed from todays session might help a little hopefuly). When I reach the descent, I should be able to concentrate on relaxed descending and keep making progress back towards the climb at end of lap 1. That climb will be tough here, but hopefully ill have something from the two uphill treadmill sessions I've done since Howth: climbing strenght from the first and a little climbing endurance from the 2nd session. Also I hope there will be to have something small left to pick up the speed past the Hellfire again. That may be doubtful though. All pain from now on either way. If Im still picking off runners that will help to keep me going. The last climb will be horrible, but I'll know about the opportunity available on the last descent.
When you have a steep descent like that you either take it controlled (and comparatively slow) or you do a Wily Coyote job (minus the inevitable bad ending hopefully). The difference between one and the other could be as much as 30s for an individual on that descent. At the end of an intense hill race, unless its Ocnoc or someone similar, you wont see many Coyotes.
Long story short, any runners within 30s at the start of that descent may be catchable, even though they may think they are safe. That's the second opportunity. Good incentive to climb hard just before to keep/get runners ahead into that catchable 30s time range.
Ill have a long warmup, look at the course, and practice the Wily Coyote. I know that realistically Ill just be wanting the race over at that point, so ill have a cue or a spot on the ground where when I see it I start accelerating aggressively as i approach the down: no thinking, thinking is bad there.
Brain off, brakes off as they say. Must be in that order obviously.
These hill races are definitely a great way to get fit with the varying courses adding a big element of pacing and tactics.

Firedance wrote: »

good luck on Sunday, that's a really interesting summary there, like all races but perhaps here more so(?) a good mental attitude is worth a lot and you have your tactics too. Looking forward to the race report.

Thanks a million! I should carry out the very conservative start ok as I'm not fit enough to do anything else and there is loads of race to make up the deficit. Passing people will help. There is huge time to be gained on the final descent. The mental challenge of throwing yourself down the hill when its the last thing you want will be tough. Its kind of a chute down. So Im thinking ill avoid the mental challenge (ill chicken out) by just picking a spot where I have to start running aggressively towards that chute. Before I know it, hopefully ill be flying down with a few roadrunners ahead with all fatigue forgotten. Loughlinstown isn't too far away either (touch wood).

Have you ever done one?

Firedance wrote: »

Not yet! Its on my goal list for this year though...

Great stuff.
Well worth trying out. Good atmosphere at the races and at the after race get together too. Racing on the more natural terrain definitely adds to the experience.

Peterx wrote: »

I think the second lap will see patient runners get their reward - possibly more so on the long easy descent than on the steep climb - the climb is so steep you just go at your pace, good leg turnover on the flatter stuff will reap rewards, the question is have the slow starters left themselves with to do much to do though.

Fine margins in such a relatively short and intense race...

Best of luck T.

Thanks for that Peter. I'll try and make the effort as even as I can on the laps to take advantage of the fast ground. Not good to get bottle necked behind too many bodies on the first steep climb, so its a delicate balance on the day. Fair play for directing it!

Edit: I think even for slow starters getting up semi-lively to the start of the initial steep climb might help. I overdid that a bit last week.

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

So no George Foreman / Muhammad Ali rumble in Raheny this year?!

No...not in Raheny.......The rumble will be later...much later....in Dunshaughlin .......(Thank feck)



(Edit: Best of luck with it!)

Arrived upstairs in the Merry Ploughboy for sign in with over an hour to spare before race start at 11am. Upstairs is a huge room for high quality Irish music and song for tourists absolutely packed out on summer nights apparently. I had planned being a little earlier and walk-jogging through Masseys wood to the course so that I’d have time to check the route out. There were cars heading up there so I scrounged a lift off one driver and got up there early. Time for a lap of the course so I jogged the fire road, and walked the steep climb. It wasn’t as long or quite as steep as I envisaged, although more technical. I had my reservations about how much time I could get from this when running down it. Steep for the first section before getting shallower. There was a slight alternative further up where a path could be taken through gorse for about 10m. Might be handy for the climb if it was crowded but no good for the descent due to the gorse. As we cleared the forest into the open there was a gradual uphill on mucky grass leading past the ruin of the Hellfire club. Just before the club I noted where the end of the lap climb was to the right. From there it was onto good trail. Still a strong headwind for a few hundred metres of this before descending below the summit wind and back in to some forest shelter. On for a while more before entering a logging area turning right onto another trail and right again and back parallel but lower down. After a good bit of this we climbed a little and descended again (a little = biggish road hill). Now the right turn onto the end of lap climb steep but even and good trail. Half way up. Turned left and flat for about 100m and then right and up for the second half of the climb. We emerged out at lap end, turned right up the mucky slope.
I figured that With 3 hill sessions in the bag since Howth (2 x treadmill, and the Howth race itself) I would have improved enough to challenge if a very good runner didn’t show up. So, half my reason for preparing meticulously was because I sniffed an outside chance of a high result or even a sneaky win depending on if the right people didn’t turn up. You have to be ready should the opportunity present itself! That said I was going to stick to my plan as much as possible. Seeing Des K there and more significantly Killian M, kind of gave me a little dose of reality. But you never know in hill races. Id stick to the plan and see what happened.
Anyway, controlled up the fire road in about 6th place. I notice Des just ahead, Killian is in 3rd and I know for sure he is going to win. If he wasn’t confident he would probably be leading. He just looked like a guy who knew what he was doing, that all he had to do was hold back a little till we all got tired and the race was over. A guy had actually charged 10 metres clear up the road. We turned up steeply, now just to concentrate on relaxing and controlling the effort. I’m passed by a few before we are half way my breathing is a lot more controlled than theirs so im sticking to plan. I pass the guy who charged off at the start. I saw him lying on the ground after the race. It was clearly a long hard day at the office after that mad start for him. I glance up and Killian is away and pulling further away climbing easily up. Des is chasing followed by Neil B who trains in my club). This could be advantageous for me (in the race for 2nd place) if the 2 lads blow too much energy chasing a horse they can’t catch. Behind them is Gavin, who was 2nd in Howth and Tim (leading M40).
I’m in 12th or 13th. I take the sneaky gorse shortcut and come out on the grass beside/behind a group of 4-5. The gorse route means that I now have to take the wind which I hadn’t planned on doing till the trail after the ruin. Hitting the trail my plan is to run just at (or below) threshold effort with a high turnover, concentrating and good form and not pushing it. As the slope slightly down turnover will get the speed up. I want to be strong starting the climb at the end of lap so I can get through it and get going fast for the second lap. Works well and I’m now in 6th closing on Gavin and Tim ahead. Starting the climb I’m happy to notice my turnover remains for the climb (thks to treadmill) and I catch and ease past the lads. They hang on to me but I know I’m faster on the trail and I’ll be upping my intensity there anyway. I drop them on the trail and concentrate now on Des and Tim ahead. Killian has long since been a disappearing dot ahead and is now a disappeared dot.
The lads were slowly coming back but they were also racing each other which wasn’t helping my cause. I’m just trying to run fast now, but I may have forgotton the turnover trick which was working so well for me in lap 1. Better cue than just running fast might have been: same turnover, just up the intensity. By the time we reach the climb I’m still 30 seconds behind. Half way up the two lads are disappearing around the 100m flat section mid-climb just as I’m entering. A full 100m ahead. There are lapped runners coming thicker now. By the time I can see the left turn for the descent the lads are gone and on their way down. I had revised the amount of time I could gain to about 10-15 secs. I’ll still be well behind on the fire road. No real chance of catching one. I was hurting a lot too so... I settle, race over, descent the slope quite slowly but safely and run the fire road steadily till the line. I notice a guy arriving within 50-60 metres, but I wasn’t in any danger.
Good result and definitely the right strategy. I seemed to have improved a good bit compared with the runners who had ran both recent hill races (Howth and Hellfire). The lap that Peterx put in is really really good. The descent is so gradual that everyone can run it hard. That means you’re then climbing when your effort level is already very high. Then you have to run fast again on tired legs. Plenty of training uses and not just for off-road. I’ll be up there for training runs in future.
Lovely cool down run to the Ploughboy via Massey woods to finish.

Next up is Brockagh. That is straight up and straight down (I assume) 6km and 200 metres up and down. That should suit me in theory as I like the shorter ones.

Week Mon 1st - Sun 7th Feb

Mon: 10k Recovery various runs
Tue: 21k Recovery various runs Inc. 35 mins on treadmill relatively brisk (4:45 pace)
Wed: 21k various runs. All easy paces. Felt tired after yesterday. The treadmill run took it out a bit, but no harm as it will help endurance a bit.

Thursday: 12k Inc. 2 x 6 x 35 follwed by 3 mins hard
Used the easy, long and fast swing strides to warm up (about 10 x 10-15 secs)
Blustery out so did the first set on the deserted cycle path (ducks for cover) city side of Clontarf. Felt tightness on my inner thigh after and behind my knee. Had this last year: tight gracilises. Moved it to the grass path just beside. Path a bit bumpy and as I’m hill running training it is perfect for getting the bit of balance at fast speeds. Needed for flat too so I’ll stay there for the next few similar sessions. No feeling in that area after switching. Did 3 mins hard to finish.
Fri: Rest. Had car today. Really tired coming home from work. Relaxing evening called for.

Sat: AM Hill session treadmill: 12k
PM 8k easy.
Plan: 2 x 4 x 2 mins @ 11.2 kph @ 12 % incline
Then 1 x 4 x 2 mins @ 10kph @ 15% incline
Swapped this session with the steady hilly run which will now be Tuesday. Decided that it made more sense to have this harder session further away from the Brockagh race. I’d get more recovery from it and also it’s more relevant to Brockagh. The first two sets and the third were equivalent according to my calculations on Daniels treadmill charts. In actuality the first felt easier. You can run up the 12% grade without that much of a change in style. You have to change it for the 15% and you really feel like you’re climbing with a lot of effort in the quads. I’ll wear a HRM next time but I’m pretty sure Daniels is off. Maybe it’s just that any ‘flat’ fitness I have helps @ 12% but doesn’t at 15% which is more leg strength. I’ll be adjusting if I do it again either way.
Anyway, the easier pace was about right. I decided mid-session to do 5 @ 15% in order to get a transition to steeper climbing done within the same set. And for comparison purposes. (But mainly because there is a fearsome looking 90m climb in 600m well into the Brockagh race ascent) 15% Deffo felt harder even at the slower pace. Did the first 2 of the next set @ 15% and made a decision to revert back as to finish the last 2 @ 15% would give me a recovery problem. Last 2 @ 12% and felt that bit easier.
I do the individual reps by counting every 4 steps. It takes me about 93-4 to run 2 mins=185-190 cadence. So after I count to 90 I look at the time always conscious of keeping my cadence up. Good way to avoid clock watching which can disrupt concentration and the quality of treadmill sessions.
Good session. No more @ 15% now as I start to look towards the Wicklow Mountains half. May concentrate on the alternations also and make them more specific to the longer race. More experiments to come.

Sun: 15k Inc. 12k steady. Decided to get a steady run in while fatigued from the session last night. Route was downwind along coast road (Clontarf towards Howth).
Then back via Howth road up through Raheny village and Killester to avoid headwind.
Downwind was tough as my legs were wired for the session last night. The hill up to Raheny-Killester felt very easy @ the steadier effort. The 12% was relevant even for that shallow gradient to Raheny. Good to know. Paces were slow: 4:16 with wind, 4:40 against and up/down hill. That’s normal, I’m not worried. Just taking a reading. I’ll put watch away again for a while. The right effort was what counted. Comfortable steady and I noticed my endurance poor after 30 mins. The first very light layer of endurance work down. The bit of gained endurance should make Tuesday’s steady hilly run better quality.

99k for week. Slightly down on last week but definitely a bigger week.

Wednesday: 10k easy
Thursday: 17.5 k easy various runs inc 12.5k. Tired from Tuesday. No strides session today
Friday: 10k easy various runs felt super strong.
Saturday: 7k easy inc 5 x 30s strides
Sunday: Brockagh burst race 6.1k. 12k total

Approx 101km. 1 hill session, 1 hill race.

Brockagh report:

Course was shallow gradient fireroad for a kilometer. Turning left for steeper fireroad for another 500m. Right turn and steep up the side of the mountain on a grassy path. Right turn on main mountain path for the last few hundred metres to the top. A little less steep. Then straight through the summit and not steeply downhill on a boggy path on a boggy heathery area. Turn left almost back on yourself on similar terrain, flat and slightly up. Rejoin main mountain path and its down all the way. Initially retracing last section of the climb but continuing down main mountain path instead of turning right. Mucky and tricky enough underfoot. Eventually changing to smoothish grass. Through a gate and last 2-3 minutes very fast on fireroad to finish at the Start point but arriving from a different direction.

Jogging up the steep down route on the fireroad it was hard to tell how I was feeling as there was more coffee than blood in me. Legs felt a little funny and shoulders stiff. Got a decent warmup and a few strides before the off. I knew Des was running (second in Hellfire and usually wins most hill races he enters). Also Peterx was running. He was cycling to the race from Dublin as part of preparing for an adventure race, but although it might slow him down a little it may not necessarily slow him down enough! I saw Enduro at the Brockagh centre but he told me he had run for 6 hours on Saturday and would not be going too fast. I wasnt too sure about that either.
I assumed Des would take up the pace. My strategy was to hang on to him, hopefully to the summit and hope I was faster down. That might mean waiting till the fats fireroad Usually on fast fireroad I do well. As you shall see this was all Walter Mitty stuff.
Anyway off we went. Des soon took the lead up followed by a young lad in second (Ben). I was third right behind Des. Pace felt OK but I wasn't quite comfortable. Nearing the end of the first shallow fireroad and Peterx pushes through strongly. The pace increases. Im in 4th now behind Peter. I notice he gets slightly detached from the two lads so i speed up and re-attach myself to the train back in 3rd. Left turn and the steeper fireroad. This is hard now. At a slight bend I notice that there is a big gap till Peter. He may have blown a gasket ...in actual fact he was pacing it correctly..i was the one who was blowing gaskets. Im hanging on now......shoulders very stiff...heavy with fatigue....waiting for the steep climb... maybe the intensity will ease there..maybe things will improve on the hardest part of the course.... I cant hang on and I let them go. Right turn up the steep climb and now its just a struggle to keep running. I hear paper flapping behind me. I dont have to look to know its Peters number rustling in the wind. He passes, climbing strongly. I look up and see that Des has dislodged the Ben and is clear. I fancy Peter to close ground on both as he was climbing faster. A short little left turn along a fence gives some flat running respite. 10 seconds and were back up right. Eventually we reach the main path and the right turn. We still have to keep going up and the effort doesnt abate. I see small people on a close looking summit. At last! A horrible feeling after a minute and a Dougal moment realising it was a false summit and the real summit was a couple of hundred metres behind. The people were small because they were far away!
Over the cursed summit. I need to recover...i need air. I try and relax and get some in. My descending is dire, so dire I start to worry about behind. Sure enough I hear splashing close by and Im passed (Mark). Peter seems to have caught Ben ahead. Im trying not to make a bad race worse. I need to recover more and i have to take the flat-slightly uphill section steady. I sense somewhere that I can get a place back. Although the time im sensing that if I was a bit fitter I could absolutely hammer this descent. I dont try.
I just stay steady and hope some motivation comes back with recovery. We start the downhill proper, I just concentrate on not braking. Better than before but still poor. Now its the smooth grass downhill. I increase the cadence and im quickly back up to Mark. I pass him on the last section towards the fence leading to the fireroad. I really concentrate on this section until i'm onto the fireroad opening a decent gap. I don't want to have to race anyone near the end.
Finish line arrives a lot earlier than expected. 4th again. It turns out Ben is an orienteer, flew the descent actually catching up with Des before slipping on the muck. Des, the winning habit ingrained just got there by 10s.
Peter was mixing it with the lads till late in the race and raced brilliantly..... and all that with the cycle from Dublin in the legs. Fair play!

I probably paid the price for pacing off someone who is stronger than me. But the race will bring me on. I was only 70s down at the end which gives me some hope. It felt a lot worse, but I think it was a tough race for evryone, just a tough course. Im still 12 pounds or so over full racing weight. If I can get that down without losing strenght, and get fitter it will be good.
I dont think there is much more to be gained from flogging the treadmill uphill sessions as I dont have a good base and wont gain much more. Debra half is 4 weeks away. Ill do a block of training now for it with more steady runs and maybe some controlled long intervals on the flat. Mileage will be up and a start on the strenght stuff. I may do the Brockagh race in 3 weeks to complete Winter League, will see. I may need to do a long fast hilly run around then in which case Ill skip it.

Firedance wrote: »

another super report, I saw a photo somewhere of Brocagh and a severe weather change mid race (facebook probably) what were conditions like?

Thanks a million. Started sleeting on top but I missed the worst of it. It got heavy after I believe and then the day turned again to clear(ish) blue skies.
Cold one to be standing around on the summit and for all volunteers.

Thursday cont: PM 16.5 k inc steady efforts on the 'mill.

Jogged to gym. Felt a little more recovered from Sundays race so it was time for an effort of some description. Decided on a progression run on the treadmill.
0% incline and not a hard effort to cover myself incase legs still fatigued from Sunday. More easy warm up. Then started to increment and alternate (relatvely) hard and easy minutes. e.g 12kph-13kph - 12 - 13.5 - 12 - 14 etc.
I decided to keep the easy efforts at 2kph slower than the faster ones. Got up to 3 mins @ 16kph, 1 min @ 14kph. Did several of those for 12-13k in all.

Friday: Legs felt very invigorated after yesterdays session. Effort was perfect.
Down in Sligo. Late run: 13.5 k easy. Tried to cover all the tarmac in Strandhill (not housing estates). Obviusly had to retrace my steps a few times but managed 11k. There wont be a pub quiz on that unfortunately unless Im compere.

Saturday: Steady hilly run 21k

Good session involving 5 hills. Ranging from 2.5 - 10 mins +
Ran easier between hills but still steady (not easy). Ran downs steady.
(will fill in stats later)
Hill 1: Glen road climb. There is a slight downhill after the climb for 500m followed by another short climb. I ran at a controlled effort through it all to make it into one longer effort. Grand. About 10 mins.
Hill 2: Part of the climb on Knocknarea loop race towards Rathcarrick wood, went into the wood and climbed the fireroad and on up. I jogged a bit further to suss out potential alternative Warriors run climb. Stop when my new 1/2 price yellow luminous runners were covered in muck.
Hill 3. Back to road. Continued Warriors course down steep descent about 2.5 k out. Turned and ran back up. About 2.5 mins. I felt tiredness on a very steep part deep in my legs. No more 15% inclines for me for a while.
Hill4: Back and down loop climb again. Climbed up in reverse towards mountain on road. About 5 mins. Tough climb.
Hill5: A long way to the next climb so threw in a few 30s - 1 min bursts.
Climb into Strandhill (reverse Warriors direction). Went hard. Lungs heaving but stayed perfectly relaxed through the discomfort which meant I could go at that hard effort all the way. Happy with how I executed it.
Jogged home. 100 mins running so longest outdoor run for about 6 months I think.

Sunday: Back to Dublin. 15.5k easy-steady out coast road and back via Raheny-Killester. Someone passed me so I decided to pace off them. Eventually caught up with him after causeway and had a chat before we parted ways. a lot of the run was 4:20 or faster which is not easy for me. But felt good throughout.

102k for the week. A few cycle commutes in there and a few days recovery from Sunday. Ill have a full week training now with no race at weekend to rest for. The tiredness on Saturdays steep hill comes from doing uphill sessions @ 15% without a base of conditioning for it. I knew that though and the object was to get back enjoying running, so compromises had to be made. There should be a lot of improvement there for me in the steady sessions, and in the higher volume potential of doing less hard sessions. Weight slowly coming down.

Plan this week is to do Club session (on my own). This week it is 31 min tempo. Last week it was 7 x 1500m off 2'. Not sure which Ill do. Will think about it.
Saturday its the key session for Debra half. 3 big hill climbs (and descents) out at 3Rock-Kilmashogue to specifically prepare for race. Must make it as similar as possible: Good pacing = climbs get more intense, run downhills fast enough to force improvements in efficiency.
The key to the race for me this year will be good descending and good pacing. Cant afford to tire before the last climb. That makes this session even more vital. Climbing wont be up to it, so have to skin the cat other ways.
Tuesday will be another club-type session and then Ill race Trooperstown on Saturday. Its a race where you have to pace well, so it will suit.(knew id convince myself to do it!)

Week 22-28 Feb

Monday: Lunch 10k Pm 12.5k run home (22.5k) cycled in
Tuesday: PM Session 10 x 3 mins off 30s (13.5)
Wednesday: AM 4k lunch 10k PM 10k (24) cycled home
Thurs: Lunch 10k PM 10k (20) cycling commute both ways
Friday: One hour steady (20) cycling commute both ways
Saturday: AM 13k PM 6k inc 8 x100m strides (19)
Sunday: Hillrun 3 climbs (22k)

140k running, 75k cycling

Good week. Sundays session was the main session for Debra mountain half. 3 climbs around Kilmashogue and Ticknock. 2 long ones 20 mins and over. Final climb was 5-6 mins all out putting a lot of force in. Effort continued into descents for a while before relaxing. Last descent was hard most of the way. That means that ill hopefully get the endurance benefit as the overall effort was mostly steady over the entire run. 2:05 min run.
Easyish til Tropperstown IMRA next week. May do aerobic strides on Wednesday off road. Same again next week or something like 12 x 3 mins @ LT off 2 mins. That will give a little flat strength as each and every rep can be run perfectly with pressure coming slightly on legs.
Debra half then on the next Sunday. Then I think It will be full base training. One thing Ive noted id that the hill work has made this couple of weeks base mileage easier and (touch wood) less niggly.
Keep the hills I think.

Still almost a full stone over ideal racing weight so diet will have to be addressed. I want it to come down slowly. Its stationary now. Ok to be a a little over at this time. Not as much as I am.

10k 380 climb/descent


Big question on the car pool down was the snow. The snow line on a misty Djouce seemed to be at about 400m alt. A standalone hill like Trooperstown should have the snow well blown and/or melted off. So it proved. It’s a long 4-5k climb to ‘Boots’ summit followed by a few climbs including a stiff one back up to Trooperstown. 10 minutes later, after a rough plunge down Troops hill and a bit of road, fire road and single track descent the race was over. Plan for me was simple. Start conservatively, pace it. This was especially important with next week’s Debra half in mind.

If we went, Des leading a group including his recent nemesis Ben and his orienteer pals, a few other usual suspects. I was well back in about 20th. Top of fire road maybe 12-13th. After tarmac maybe 8th. I passed another Ben (Ben Lunar) and Mikey on the early flat open section and now was in 6th with a huge gap till the top 5 ahead. Des was well clear and alone since early on the fire road (I was surprised that his nemesis Ben wasn’t closer, he was still clear in 2nd visible in his UCD orienteering top). A black clad chap was in third, and then two more orienteers in 4-5th the latter wearing a red and black Orienteering top as opposed to the blue and yellow favoured by his team mates.

I’m slowly gaining on all bar Des. We approach the main climb to Boots and Des has a winning gap. Race over there. Everyone else is not far ahead though and I reckon a 2nd place finish is still possible

The black clad guy has faded to 5th and I pass him on the climb. Then I pass the black and red guy and the two blue and yellow jerseys ahead and reachable. Black and red guy is able to stay with me for an intermittent descent but I pull away on the next mini climb. It’s getting tough now and I’m not closing as quick as I would like. At the summit of Troops I’m less than 10 secs behind the guy ahead and less than 20 behind Ben. If I hold that gap on the descent I can have a cut at them on the fast stuff (flat trail, road, fire road). Not long into the steep descent red and black top literally flies by. The two lads ahead are flying but red and black guy is fastest and moves clear in third. As far as I’m concerned all 3 are gone. I run a little hardish on the flat to avoid losing any other places.

I could have gone on a lot longer which is good news for next weekend. Ended up 5th ending up a full 40 secs behind red and black guy and 2 mins behind Des. I’ve been 4th last 4 races so at least that changed. Home and checked the results. 4th! Apparently Ben in 2nd arrived late. No number (and little warm up to explain his slow start I guess).

March 7th-March 13th

Day Dist. Int. Last 7 days(km)
Mon 26 E AM 4k commute--Lunch10k hilly run Killiney--PM 4k Commute--PM2 8k treadmill sauna and steam 1hr ouch! 93.5
Tue 11 E Very easy run 65 mins on sand and grass 99.5
Wed 16.5 LT AM 4k commute--Lunch 10.5k including 20 x 1min LT off 15s


Monday was going fine. Did my last run only an hour after a rich enough omelette. Cooking myself right after for an hour in a hot Sauna and steam room was just too much. Moved the day from easy into draining and gave me stomach trouble for a day and a half. On the other hand not being able to eat meant that i lost more weight in a day than I did for the last couple of months. Took it very easy on Tuesday so as not to drain the reserves. Crashed after putting on of the kids to bed and kept sleeping till morning.
Felt a million dollars after I woke. If I could id schedule a weekly Mega sleep to offset the lack of sleep this parenting young kids lark seems to cause.
Decided on an LT session I was given last year. 20 x 1min off 15s. I dont want to kill myself but I wanted to run faster than this Sundays race pace. This fitted the bill. Decided to give more weight to form rather than effort. Run tall and relaxed, hips forward, knees slightly higher than usual-- slightly exagerrated form.
The minutes averaged at slightly slower than 3:45s (6 min miles) but Im not worried. Effort was controlled but strong. Form was good. Meant to do a few strides jogging back to work but was daydreaming and forgot. Later.

Friday will be 10-12 diagonals. Looking forward to Sunday. I'm not as fit as last year and more at the mercy of whomever shows up, but ill try and race it as best I can!