Speedy Gonzales or Slowpoke Rodriguez?

Best of luck at Trooperstown. It's a nice course. I marshalled last year while injured and then hiked it after the race. The stretch between the two summits will be very boggy I'd imagine.

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!

Well done today!!!

So this was the target race that would get me back into regular training. I love the cause and I’ve had good success and enjoyable races here every time. The course is a bit of a classic with every type of terrain met. When I first did it in 2013 I was very fit and in half decent mountain running shape. Last year, I was very very fit, with no mountain running and so I concentrated on climbing while trying not to lose time on the descents. This year I was fit but not as fit as other years but arguably was relatively better conditioned for the mountain stuff.
As the organisers asked for carpooling TheVaggabond from these parts, joined me in the car for the journey down. We arrived down quite early and I was glad as I had to do the full reg. Beautiful morning, real spring feel. I managed a 20 minute jog and had a look at the last few km. Same trail descent as the Trooperstown race except it continued for another km or more till the trail head a few hundred metres up the road from Reg. central at the Brockagh resource centre. Long straight, sharp right, sign to ‘display race numbers clearly’ and then 100 metres slightly uphill to finish. That was the very last section, and remembering that I more or less knew every part of that decent.
Bus ride over the Wicklow gap and down the far side to the start in a Coillte forest on the right. A climb and descent in there on fire road and then a long 5km climb up to the Wicklow gap. 7k of descent then into Glendasan eventually past the Monastic Tower before turning left at the Glendalough hotel for a very steep very nasty climb. Undulating for 2 km a last small climb before we start the descent to the finish.
Good conversation again with Vaggabond on the bus ride, a little anxious as before any race. I was going off easy so that helped allay some nerves. A couple of very small speeches. We all gave a big phone recorded hello to Emma Fogarty who is one of the principle organisers, an EB sufferer and currently hospitalised. She doesn’t get admitted unless the pain is intolerable so I hope she recovers quickly from the current level of distress. She wasn’t given long to live as a child and amazingly has passed her 31st birthday. Seeing kids with this disease is heart-breaking. I chatted to a man after whose 2 daughters have it. Anyway, this is why I do and help out with this run yearly as any funds raised go to both research for cure (not that far off) and care.
At race start I hear a conversation between two chaps. One (Adam) looks strong and is training for Lanzarote (I’m actually thinking ultra but it is an ironman). The other chap (Karl) was third last year. I see the lad who was second last year too (Gary).
Off we go and my easy pace has me back barely in the top 30. I can still see that Adam has busted clear and already leading on my own. Que Sera can’t do much about it but stick to my plan. I’m behind more runners than usual but I’m not surprised as fitness is not as good as last year. I slowly pick off one or two more and after a few minutes up, there is a small downhill before the rest of the first climb. On the down I pass about 10. This isnt unusual as anyone whose gone out too hard (95% of people) will need recovery already here. On the next up I slowly make my way up to 3rd or 4th. Adam is way ahead. Once the down starts, I concentrate on holding effort slightly shortening my stride (as I imagine, in fact it actually gets longer). That means ground contact is less, you don’t need big thigh shaking bounds to get down a hill fast, fast feet is more efficient especially early in the race. I’m now in s second and closing on Adam. I realise I may pass him before the descent. As the first section is tricky this would be a good outcome. He is clearly a good climber; best place for him is behind me on the narrow trail ;-)
I am leading by 10metres as the descent ends. 16 mins 42 secs running over a minute slower than last year. As expected. Onto grass now and flattish, hoping over a few stiles clumsily I still note that Adam is having trouble bridging the gap here. I keep the gap until we cross the road, I glance back. Karl and Adam are together and chatting. My mind wanders but I straighten it out. Onto the right side of the road, into the forest and now for the main climb. It gets steep on pretty good ground and Adam bounds by. I was expecting this. It’s not off putting. I let him go. No-one behind just us two. He makes 10m before it flattens out back to the tricky flat trail. I can see clearly now that he is finding this awkward. I close the gap, just as we reach another steep climb. Off he goes. Suddenly a flag seemed to by hanging non-sensically off a tree. No flags on the obvious route ahead. He asks which way. I say I reckon straight ahead is on St Kevin’s way. Running another minute. No Flags! I know from experience that we may lose the race if we are wrong and continue. I tell him s much. We run back down the hill. Gary (2nd last year) waits at the dodgy spot. He reckons we were right. A line of runners are coming up the hill. I tell them I know the route we are on will lead us back to flags, and the whole field will follow us anyway. I let Adam go ahead and give him 10m. Gary nips passed too. It flattens out. I pass Gary and close to Adam. Soon we will run the last km of climb on the Wicklow gap road. My plan is clear. I need to put in a bigger gap on the tricky ground after the gap than Gary can bridge on the last up. There is a steep bank back up to the road. Adam walks here. I stop to walk to stop bumping into him. I inexplicably keep walking and give him another easy 10m!
I up my tempo a little and close the ground. I should have been ahead and hurting him here but I’m at peace with my error. Through the carpark and on to the rough descent. I just go here. Fast committed. On the 3 or 4 minutes down to the forest I have gapped him by more than a minute. The path beside the forest is bad. 3 times I go knee deep into muck before deciding that I don’t step on anything that’s brown. I know Adam is likely to struggle here and after several minutes of avoiding the Brown the path improves. Now it’s just get into a rhythm and keep pressure on the effort, in that order. Clear of the forest and a 500m run over to another road section. I look back, no sign!
Fast effort now, keep the pressure on. Back off road, through the abandoned village above Glendasan. On to the rocky zig zag descent. Some boardwalk, some descent. Down to the river and a gravel road. River on left. Look back up valley no sign. OK, no heroics necessary on last climb just don’t blow up. Steadier here, not feeling great, endurance is bad but the good work is already done. Turn for climb. Horrible and steep. Just keep jogging steadily. I look back down and see no-one. That’s a 3 min gap at least. I reduce effort to steady, enjoying the undulating section once the main climb ends. Around Brockagh, I look up and can see the climb where we came down in pre-blizzard conditions a few weeks earlier. I’m now in tweeting bird spring time. Onto the trail. Relaxed down. Eventually flattens out. Down gear again. I’m going slow, almost easy. Look behind, no-one. The long straight. A couple of hundred metres to go. Look behind, a white vest. Not to worry. 100m to go, there’s the line, lovely stuff. 40s gap to second. I lost a couple of minutes on the last section but it was deliberate as I was in control and probably saved a couple of day’s recovery by that. Second guy did really well to come through Adam. Adam in third another 40s back. He had a lot of trouble on that downhill as I thought he might. A couple of falls too. It’s a tough section that bit.
Anyway, that’s my section of training over. Onto the next phase now…..

Well done again on a great run. Second placed was a club mate of mine, delighted for him also.

Really well done, great report and you were very helpful sharing your knowledge of the course too.

Don't step on the brown! That's a good motto.

Haven't recorded exact training so roughly from memory:

After the mountain half on 13th April:
Mon: E 14k
Tue: Off
Wed: E 20k inc strenght
Thurs: E 10
Friday: 16k run inc 45m Steady hilly. Some st threshold. Calf feeling tight.
Sat: 18k including St Annes Parkrun:
Jogged 8k to parkrun start. Was in 2nd for most of the race. The idea was a sub max effort. Bernard R was the runner ahead. I wanted to turn over fast and try and keep gap under 10s. Achieved this but half way down avenue my calf gave out to me and i had to ease off. Finished 17:15 or thereabouts. Mistake, I actually forgot about the tight calf from yesterdays steady run.
Sun: 2 hr cycle over and back Howth head.
Weekly 78k

Mon: Cycle AM and PM. Evening elliptical in gym 20 mins steady. Strenght
Tue: Cycle AM and PM: PM 10k E + Core
Wed:Cycle AM and PM: PM 7k E + Elliptical 20 mins + Strenght
Thurs: Cycle AM and PM: PM 10k easy + Elliptical + Core
Fri: 16k E + Strenght: On the grass at Clontarf. Lovely run.
Sat: 5k easy + Strenght
Sun: 24k run 1hr 55min:
Started slow to test calf. OK. Idea was to settle into a nice rythm and never force. Mainly trail. A 10k section of mostly trail and road was @ 4:24 pace. HR was low 170s. A painless comfortable pace. was about 4 min ks when on flat road. Happy with that.

Only 72k for the week and 78 the week before but deligted after that longish run yesterday. I used the elliptical trainer well to recover from calf niggle, and used the 'down' time to kick start my strenght training.

Strenght is:
'technique' squats assisted by a rope for balance. Weighted squats 25kg for now which is light for me but focus is on technique. Also doing standing ham curl. Leg press: the machine where you can push your body away to give a ballistic type exercise. Explosive push off but controlled 'landing'.
Walking lunges 3 x 40m. Calf raises. Other arm stuff.

Core is: dynamic core stuff, push ups on wobble board and so on.
Stretching and rolling. All round but concentrating on hip flexors.

Touch wood calf issue is behind me. Felt strong on run yesterday.
Mentality is a phase of strenght and base starting from scratch. Have most of the elements in place. Ready to start slowly blowing up the volume.

Half considering the St Annes 4m on Saturday. Starting controlled. Looking forward to the long evening running. Im usually do most of my running in Winter. Hopefully a good Spring and Summer of it this year.

Well done, it was very good weather for running. I like the course, even on windy days. You must be in good shape now for your marathon so?

Ok I missed a day on the last update as the long run was on Monday!

Tuesday: Lunch 10k hilly run Killiney Obelisk. PM 20 mins elliptical (cautionary) 10k
CycleCommute x 2 = 25k
Strenght work: squats 3 x 10 x 25kg
Ballistic leg press yoke: plenty of springing cant remember weight.
3 x 40 m lunge walk. Myrtle for hip mobility etc, Core routines inc press ups on bosu board.
Stretches particlarly for hip flexors. Also pigeon pose for Glutes piriformis. Ham stretches.

Wednesday: Lunch 10k hilly run Killiney Obelisk. Included 6 -7 strides on way back. Completely relaxed, easy strides no forcing.
CycleCommute x 2 = 25k. Fell asleep putting child to bed so no evening run. Needed it.

Thursday: Lunch 8.5 k including 20 diagonals: soccer pitch run diagonals jog lenghs. Normally jog ends but jogged lenghts to get tailwind. Getting back to it so it worked well. 21 mins
CycleCommute x 2 = 25k
PM: Easy 14 km. Felt good after the lunchtime session. 22.5k total

Considered BHAA 4 miler tomorrow (Saturday). Calf is still not quite there. Its noticable on harder surfaces but not on softer. Considered Bray Cliff run but too late for that alas. Better gains from knuckling down with a decent sub threshold run of some description.

Monday 4/4/2016
Lunch: 10k Killiney Hill. Felt strong but not recovered after yesterday.
PM: 11k easy: Did some Core work in the gym and some stretching (hip flexor)
(Tot. 21k)
Tuesday
Lunch:
Diagonals 100m + (12 x 150m) + (2 x 100m)
Headed for local pitches at lunch. Did a diagonal on a pitch and it was a little soft. Noticed that there were two end to end (small) pitches with a sideways slope . That means I could do long diagonals slightly downhill. Did 12 of these. Jogged the ends and a little more for recovery (45s ish).
Finished off with a couple of strides on tarmac back towards work. It’s noticeable when coming from running on slightly soft grass how light your step becomes on harder surfaces.
Calf is still not 100% happy so want to keep off the hard stuff anyway. (7.5 k)

Tonight it’s back to the strength. I took out the triathlon book for a luck and lo and behold it not only has a section on strength but gives a full program. Starts with an adjustment phase, then a transition phase and then heavy-ish lifting phase. The adjustment phase has 20/30 reps, transition 10-15 and the heavy has 3-5. 3-5 sets I think. Adjustment phase is based off your maximum single lift and it tells you how to estimate this based on what you can lift to failure between 5-10 reps.
It states that this is most useful for swimming and cycling. (Apparently weight training doesn’t transfer well to exercises where the action’s power is < 20-25% of the max you can do in one action. This implies a swim stroke or a cycle pedal are but a running stride generally is not). However it gets into benefits to running by what it calls complex training: Using weights followed by running specific exercises ply’s etc. This is what I was going to attempt but was thinking about sticking in ballistics in between the weights and ply’s.
I didn’t know about the 20-25% thing before. It is extremely interesting because a stride up a steep slope is surely > 25%.
So this guy suggests 5 lifts. Based on the prime movers and also address weaknesses due to muscle imbalances etc.
Prime mover ones are squats, step ups, leg press (Sled: the one where you move when you push)).
I’ll probably add deadlifts. So you focus on one of these per session. Maybe heel raises also, triceps I guess for running, maybe knee extensions for injury prevention.
The primary lifts are the only ones that get heavy. The rest stay in the adjustment or transition phase (can’t remember which).
So for complex training in the first phase (adjustment), you might do 3-5 x 20-30 squats followed by skipping.
And/or a load of heel raises followed by rockets (jumps for height). And your other 3 exercises for imbalances and personal weakness.

There is a stair climber (or 10) in my gym.
A possible complex session here would mean you’d have the primary exercise as steps ups (carrying weight).
Then maybe ballistic leg press (Sled), pushing off with alternate feet .
Followed by running up the stair climber.

There is a test done (Hartmann on Radcliffe) where I think she had to jump up and down on a 16inch box 20 times. The time taken for the test is the measure. Might use this to bench progress.
I’d hope to slowly add hill sprints, hill springing and other running specific stuff to my routine. The trick is not to get injured so the change will be slow, slow slow. If I get a chance later Ill post more specifics on the weight lifting stuff.
This guys (Joe Friel) program is by no means current state of Art. But it is close enough and it is progressive and doable.