Cross Country Training Thread

dna_leri · 31-10-2018 10:48am

Sacksian wrote: »

I should point out that, in the next xc race after asking this question, dna_leri completely ignored the "go out conservatively" advice and was rewarded with selection for the Irish team for the upcoming Masters XC International!

Went through the first km in 3:16 from down hill start, slowed to 3:56 near the end! Only looked at watch to see how many laps were left. Closest I have come to DNF in a race in a long time. Will not do it next time but xc is great for trying out different tactics. Maybe 30s sprint start will work.

Wubble Wubble · 31-10-2018 1:32pm

Sacksian wrote: »

I saw a couple of pictures from the Leinster Novice - I presume it's going to look as much of a mud bath as all the others come mid-December, once the 20 or so preceding juvenile races are finished. Navan will hopefully be a good location for turnout too - should get more from Dublin than last year and probably more from Ulster.

I'm doing Dublin Seniors and Dublin Intermediates for the first time this year - more as part of the National Novice preparation than any expectation of competing (particularly the seniors). Hope to be in good shape by the time the Novice comes run around and I'll be very happy with anything inside the top 50.

#xc4life

100% on this. Ground conditions were fairly benign on Saturday, certainly compared to what the National Novices can expect. Best of luck to all those running the Dublin Seniors in Santry this weekend.

Sacksian · 31-10-2018 1:38pm

dna_leri wrote: »

Went through the first km in 3:16 from down hill start, slowed to 3:56 near the end! Only looked at watch to see how many laps were left. Closest I have come to DNF in a race in a long time. Will not do it next time but xc is great for trying out different tactics. Maybe 30s sprint start will work.

The splits suggested you held on well - 2k in to the race and in a good position probably adds to the motivation you need to hang on. This will do wonders for your 15s next summer!

Sacksian · 04-11-2018 9:56pm

Dublin Seniors was fun. Course was immaculate. Results are up but I think the later times/places are one place out - the guy who finished in front of me has my time and I think he has the time of the guy in front, and so on.

Fair play to Crusaders for getting team bronze in the senior men's. They've been consistently getting xc teams out and building a big squad over the past couple of years, with a lot of guys in and around each other at a very good standard so it's good to see that rewarded - and I think the bulk of their scorers today are probably eligible for the National Novice too.

KielyUnusual · 05-11-2018 9:38am

Sacksian wrote: »

Dublin Seniors was fun. Course was immaculate. Results are up but I think the later times/places are one place out - the guy who finished in front of me has my time and I think he has the time of the guy in front, and so on.

Fair play to Crusaders for getting team bronze in the senior men's. They've been consistently getting xc teams out and building a big squad over the past couple of years, with a lot of guys in and around each other at a very good standard so it's good to see that rewarded - and I think the bulk of their scorers today are probably eligible for the National Novice too.

Ha ha. It was definitely more fun than your average Dublin Seniors. Conditions were class, they took out the main hill and there wasn't an Olympian in sight

.

The Cru men were delighted to finally get a senior medal at XC. To be honest, I never really thought it would happen. The field wasn't as strong as it has been in recent years but regardless getting a team medal at Dublin senior level is an onerous task. We were lucky in that we got everyone out that we reasonably could have and yes, the whole team is eligible for the National Novice too :cool:.

Might see you at the Nationals if you are racing. Still undecided myself. If its mucky, I'll probably do it because it would be ideal not showing up to the novices having only ran on bone dry courses all winter. Unless, fingers crossed, the national novice isn't its usual mud bath.

pconn062 · 05-11-2018 10:30am

Louth seniors yesterday for us. Good (read flat and easy!) course with good underfoot conditions. 10k cross country is.....long.........and tough......and long! Glad, like Christmas, it comes but once a year. Happy with my run considering the low training levels, even though I was not on our scoring team. County champs in men's and women's event.

overpronator · 05-11-2018 11:32am

pconn062 wrote: »

Louth seniors yesterday for us. Good (read flat and easy!) course with good underfoot conditions. 10k cross country is.....long.........and tough......and long! Glad, like Christmas, it comes but once a year. Happy with my run considering the low training levels, even though I was not on our scoring team. County champs in men's and women's event.

Was there watching myself, a hugely impressive first 4 for Dunleer. DDAC new facility is brilliant to see for athletics in Louth.

Sacksian · 05-11-2018 1:10pm

Looking at the Louth results, there were 46 in the senior men's in Louth, with 7 scoring teams, compared to 52 in the men's at Dublin Seniors, with 6 scoring teams. There really seems to be a good club scene in Louth at the moment, and not just in xc. I'd be interested to see how the Connacht League fares as well, in terms of numbers.

I think Mick Clohisey has won the last 3 Dublin Seniors, and there were no Dooneys or Travers yesterday either so there might be a few guys who saw the results and regretted not being there for a rare opportunity to be in the mix for a Dublin Senior title or an individual medal.

IvoryTower · 05-11-2018 2:39pm

pconn062 wrote: »

Louth seniors yesterday for us. Good (read flat and easy!) course with good underfoot conditions. 10k cross country is.....long.........and tough......and long! Glad, like Christmas, it comes but once a year. Happy with my run considering the low training levels, even though I was not on our scoring team. County champs in men's and women's event.

The hill is still under construction, another few weeks and it would have been there

pconn062 · 05-11-2018 4:12pm

IvoryTower wrote: »

The hill is still under construction, another few weeks and it would have been there

Flat and easy is good with me, especially for 10k.

MY BAD · 06-11-2018 12:02am

Sacksian wrote: »

I'd be interested to see how the Connacht League fares as well, in terms of numbers.

Not great tbh

https://bit.ly/2PDmBo5?fbclid=IwAR1O7XnOpf32EtBRrFYMplle8dI4OkYMOgMu5yBN2dOAKuYKqAbJFXJEKlw

Testosterscone · 14-11-2018 3:24pm

Any word on the post X mas Intermediate venue's (Leinster and All Ireland)

El CabaIIo · 14-11-2018 4:09pm

Sacksian wrote: »

Looking at the Louth results, there were 46 in the senior men's in Louth, with 7 scoring teams, compared to 52 in the men's at Dublin Seniors, with 6 scoring teams. There really seems to be a good club scene in Louth at the moment, and not just in xc. I'd be interested to see how the Connacht League fares as well, in terms of numbers.

I think Mick Clohisey has won the last 3 Dublin Seniors, and there were no Dooneys or Travers yesterday either so there might be a few guys who saw the results and regretted not being there for a rare opportunity to be in the mix for a Dublin Senior title or an individual medal.

I know you didn't ask but the numbers across the board were way up for Munster Senior and uneven ages at the weekend despite monsoon conditions that morning. First time I've ever seen bib no. over 1000 at it. Even the u19's managed to have relatively decent numbers compared to recent years with 43 men and 25 women and the likes of National Intermediate champ Micheal Harty finishing 10th(albeit on the road back from injury)

Mens senior was way up on recent years at 50(it could be a lot better ofc) but it's good to see improvements anyway. The depth was in the senior race was probably the strongest it's been in recent memory when you see sub-33 road runners not making top-15.

The numbers in the older age categories still aren't at the level you'd hope for but Munster has been fairly barren for a long time so the results are encouraging and moving in the right direction.

Some of the juvenile age groups had huge numbers.

https://www.munsterathletics.com/results/2018/Results%20from%20Turnpike.pdf

Sacksian · 14-11-2018 11:42pm

El CabaIIo wrote: »

Mens senior was way up on recent years at 50(it could be a lot better ofc) but it's good to see improvements anyway. The depth was in the senior race was probably the strongest it's been in recent memory when you see sub-33 road runners not making top-15.

https://www.munsterathletics.com/results/2018/Results%20from%20Turnpike.pdf

Looks like there were a good few missing from the top end in Munster too. Should be a cracker in Abbottstown next week. It's still pretty dry out there. Hopefully, things'll start getting a bit muddier by mid-December!

El CabaIIo · 15-11-2018 11:29am

Sacksian wrote: »

Looks like there were a good few missing from the top end in Munster too. Should be a cracker in Abbottstown next week. It's still pretty dry out there. Hopefully, things'll start getting a bit muddier by mid-December!

I wouldn't have taken you for a mudlark;)

The rain doesn't seem to be making any difference. It was a pure downpour for nearly 5 hours Sunday morning, I brought a set of 12mm spikes and was considering flippers because I was expecting a lake down there but even after all the juvenile races, the ground was still like concrete.

Swashbuckler · 16-11-2018 4:27pm

Anybody have any info on the Clarecastle XC route? Running the Munster Masters this weekend. Just curious what it's like.

El CabaIIo · 16-11-2018 5:24pm

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Anybody have any info on the Clarecastle XC route? Running the Munster Masters this weekend. Just curious what it's like.

All the info you ever need for munster champs will be up here:)

https://www.munsterathletics.com

Except for today, I'm not sure why they haven't posted any maps or info yet.

I've ran the course twice before though so here's my best recollection. 1500m/1 mile lap fairly flat with half the loop in a farmers field and the other half around the GAA pitch. Can get fairly muddy espicially around the gaps and at the top end of the pitch. There's a small 70m climb just after you come out of the GAA pitch and back into the field which drops off again quickly before a 150m gradual climb back up to start the next lap. Relatively flat and fast course.

Swashbuckler · 16-11-2018 5:51pm

El CabaIIo wrote: »

All the info you ever need for munster champs will be up here:)

https://www.munsterathletics.com

Except for today, I'm not sure why they haven't posted any maps or info yet.

I've ran the course twice before though so here's my best recollection. 1500m/1 mile lap fairly flat with half the loop in a farmers field and the other half around the GAA pitch. Can get fairly muddy espicially around the gaps and at the top end of the pitch. There's a small 70m climb just after you come out of the GAA pitch and back into the field which drops off again quickly before a 150m gradual climb back up to start the next lap. Relatively flat and fast course.

Cheers El C. That sounds oddly like the route in Bilbao. You're definitely not mixing the two up no?

El CabaIIo · 16-11-2018 5:55pm

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Cheers El C. That sounds oddly like the route in Bilbao. You're definitely not mixing the two up no?

No cinder track in Clarecastle and the climb isn't anything near as steep as bilbao. I ran Munster Intermediate there in 2016.

El CabaIIo · 16-11-2018 6:19pm

I dug up these old maps from 2016. The link wouldn't work here because of the url tags so here's a screenshot:

Swashbuckler · 16-11-2018 6:21pm

El CabaIIo wrote: »

I dug up these old maps from 2016. The link wouldn't work here because of the url tags so here's a screenshot:

That's great. Thanks a mill for that

HelenAnne · 21-11-2018 4:20pm

Anyone running in / watching the National XC on Sunday? I can't wait (to watch

)

youngrun · 21-11-2018 4:38pm

HelenAnne wrote: »

Anyone running in / watching the National XC on Sunday? I can't wait (to watch )

Would love to be running but past it now the National XC is epic and great fun .. Should be some great races. In Senior Raheny have very strong team, Clonmel could get close though. DSD and Letterkenny and Donore pretty strong in Ladies and cant rule out Leevale.
Ladies new winner I suspect, Mageean on the entry list is my tip . Mens hard to see past Tobin..

El CabaIIo · 21-11-2018 4:58pm

youngrun wrote: »

Would love to be running but past it now the National XC is epic and great fun .. Should be some great races. In Senior Raheny have very strong team, Clonmel could get close though. DSD and Letterkenny and Donore pretty strong in Ladies and cant rule out Leevale.
Ladies new winner I suspect, Mageean on the entry list is my tip . Mens hard to see past Tobin..

Can't see past Clonmel, they are properly loaded up front with Tobin and the Maunsells. East Cork outside of the usual suspects will be pretty strong as well with Sean McGrath, Tim O'Donughue, Mcheal Harty.

Hard to see Mageean beating Shona over 8k. Shona is absolutely flying it right now

youngrun · 21-11-2018 5:09pm

El CabaIIo wrote: »

Can't see past Clonmel, they are properly loaded up front with Tobin and the Maunsells. East Cork outside of the usual suspects will be pretty strong as well with Sean McGrath, Tim O'Donughue, Mcheal Harty.

Hard to see Mageean beating Shona over 8k. Shona is absolutely flying it right now

Raheny v strong Claw, two Dooneys, Kirwan , Fay etc

No Shona on list this year ..

El CabaIIo · 21-11-2018 5:25pm

youngrun wrote: »

Raheny v strong Claw, two Dooneys, Kirwan , Fay etc

No Shona on list this year ..

Should be a cracker alright. Didn't know shona pulled out, opens it up a bit.

Sacksian · 21-11-2018 5:41pm

Probably not going to make it, as much as I would love to, especially now there'll be plenty of rain between now and Sunday! Not even going to try and predict the individual races but the men's club title should be a three-peat for Raheny.

Regardless of the marathon after effects, Mick Clohissey, Kevin Dooney, Brian Fay + at least one other will more than likely finish in the Top 20. Last year they had Kevin Dooney, Conor Dooney, Eoin Strutt and Mark Kirwan all in the top 20 and, even without Mick, they won by 27 points.

It's all about the fourth man so, if all the entries are correct (which they generally aren't), I'm not sure Clonmel can compete with the likes of Clonliffe or DSD in terms of depth.

youngrun · 23-11-2018 3:02pm

youngrun wrote: »

Raheny v strong Claw, two Dooneys, Kirwan , Fay etc

No Shona on list this year ..

Leevale have a US signing who could be right up there given her times .https://www.corkathletics.org/news/1146-preview-of-national-senior-cross-country-championships-2018.html?fbclid=IwAR3DUawLgmHFhjg7emp8M5CYH0X5J1Ds9rlcQdsB2ENrq5bDfUKo6ezIbuc

Ceepo · 23-11-2018 3:42pm

Sacksian wrote: »

It's all about the fourth man so, if all the entries are correct (which they generally aren't), I'm not sure Clonmel can compete with the likes of Clonliffe or DSD in terms of depth.

Clonmel will have a strong 4th man,
I'd would say they have 2 lads battling it out for 4th man.
David Mansfield ran 2.20 in DCM. And Michael Carey was a top 10 national junior.

TheBigGreen · 23-11-2018 3:56pm

Is the nationals available online to watch?

KielyUnusual · 25-11-2018 2:34pm

Huge field in the U18 Girls from the looks of the video posted by Athletics Ireland. Great to see. Now just to manage that in to Senior Level.

Sarah Healy winning by a country mile. Will be great to see how she fares at Europeans.

HelenAnne · 25-11-2018 8:16pm

The whole day was so exciting! Fab races in the senior men & women. I was addled counting club scorers as they passed me!

RayCun · 25-11-2018 8:39pm

I think u18 and juniors were combined

Sacksian · 25-11-2018 10:54pm

Well done to everyone who ran today. It's great for the sport in Ireland to have someone like Sarah Healy coming through - she might get more people tuning in to watch the Championships and, generally, the shorter u20 & u23 races make for good television.

It'll be interesting to see how AI handle selection for Euro XC - hopefully, they send a few squads. Based on the results, men's u23s could be more competitive than previously - there were 3 in the Senior top 10 this year (and 6 in the top 20), compared to 3 in the top 20 last year (and none in the top 10). Think the teams are out tomorrow.

Wottle · 26-11-2018 12:21am

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmufGf68

A few pics from almost all the races, very enjoyable day out. Plus had the most delicious pizza on a cone, think I may have been the only one to try it.

youngrun · 26-11-2018 8:53am

Some really high standard races this year, senior races were stacked. Great winners in Dooney and Mageean both went for it from the off

HelenAnne · 26-11-2018 9:10am

Wottle wrote: »

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmufGf68

A few pics from almost all the races, very enjoyable day out. Plus had the most delicious pizza on a cone, think I may have been the only one to try it.

The cone looked like it would be sweet, like an ice cream. Was it just normal pizza base?

HelenAnne · 26-11-2018 9:14am

Wottle wrote: »

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmufGf68

A few pics from almost all the races, very enjoyable day out. Plus had the most delicious pizza on a cone, think I may have been the only one to try it.

They’re really good photos, thanks!

Wottle · 26-11-2018 9:16am

HelenAnne wrote: »

The cone looked like it would be sweet, like an ice cream. Was it just normal pizza base?

Haha, I asked the same question, it was pizza base.

Testosterscone · 26-11-2018 4:21pm

Full teams selected for Euro's. Great to see u23 teams as well as mixed relays involved.

http://www.athleticsireland.ie/news/big-irish-team-selected-for-european-cross

Scullion and Batt included in the men. Had thought Batt had finished running but good to see him included, a 64 half back in August accoding to IAAF.

Pity to see Mitchell missing from the Women's team though I know she has made a conscious decision to avoid cross country, especially going into her marathon debut next spring.

youngrun · 26-11-2018 6:06pm

Testosterscone wrote: »

Full teams selected for Euro's. Great to see u23 teams as well as mixed relays involved.

http://www.athleticsireland.ie/news/big-irish-team-selected-for-european-cross

Scullion and Batt included in the men. Had thought Batt had finished running but good to see him included, a 64 half back in August accoding to IAAF.

Pity to see Mitchell missing from the Women's team though I know she has made a conscious decision to avoid cross country, especially going into her marathon debut next spring.

Good to see full teams across the board
Definite medal potential in a couple of cases ,Men's 23 team and U 20 team and individually in Ladies
Would have liked to see the sixth man yesterday picked, Landers had a great run has stacks of potential and is also current universities champion.Need to be giving guys like this their opportunity.
Ladies also is pretty strong.
The hunger and desire of the likes of Clohisey,Finn and O Flaherty for more racing ,high standards,and to keep pushing for international vests and medals is something to be admired and hopefully inspirational for some of those up and coming.

Sacksian · 27-11-2018 2:18pm

There seems to have been two different courses for the Dublin Intermediate XC in recent years - one either side of the m50 - does anyone know what the course is this year? Do I need 12mm spikes?

RayCun · 27-11-2018 2:27pm

Sacksian wrote: »

There seems to have been two different courses for the Dublin Intermediate XC in recent years - one either side of the m50 - does anyone know what the course is this year? Do I need 12mm spikes?

It's on the outside of the M50, starting and finishing beside the basketball arena.

I ran the course 10 days ago in runners, no problem.
I ran it on the weekend in spikes, no real muddy patches, probably could have worn runners again.
There's been more rain, and there will be the juvenile races on first, but 12mm spikes are probably still overkill.

Testosterscone · 27-11-2018 2:29pm

Sacksian wrote: »

There seems to have been two different courses for the Dublin Intermediate XC in recent years - one either side of the m50 - does anyone know what the course is this year? Do I need 12mm spikes?

Course was moved to over by the Basketball Arena (Tallaght side of M50). Can't see them moving back as there are all weather pitches going in the other side now so some of the fields are under construction and probably lost for good.

After the recent rain I would imagine the field beside M50 will be marshy but overall its a decent course for holding up with the weather.

Sacksian · 27-11-2018 2:39pm

Thanks - looking forward to it!

RayCun · 28-11-2018 9:41am

There is no parking at the basketball arena.
Race HQ is the Templeogue United clubhouse on other side of the M50 (only a few minutes jog away)

https://www.dublinathletics.com/20-uncategorised/527-dublin-juvenile-league-3-and-mens-and-womens-intermediate-cross-country-championships

Sacksian · 30-11-2018 11:44am

I'll be scanning Jingle Bells results to gauge various teams' line-ups for the Intermediate!

Sacksian · 02-12-2018 7:52pm

Super victory for Bros Pearse in the men's race at the Dublin intermediate - well done RayCun!

And by the tightest of margins too - it seemed unlikely with Rathfarnham's first 3 scorers finishing 1-2-10 but BP packed brilliantly to win on count-back. I think a senior medal is a well deserved reward for all the work their club has been doing within Dublin athletics, especially juvenile, over the last few years.

I had a very flat race - I had let a group go earlier in the race expecting them to come back to me but they never did and I never made it up to them - closest was probably in the last 200m. However, we still managed to eke out a team medal, which was a bit of a bronze lining!

RayCun · 02-12-2018 7:53pm

I can take no credit for the result, but I will bask in the reflected glory

Peterx · 03-12-2018 11:55am

Men's results of Dublin Intermediate
https://www.dublinathletics.com/attachments/article/528/Dublin%20Intermediate%20CC%20%20Men%20results%202018.pdf

Every place counts indeed.
Brother Pearse 5th and 6th scorer in 20th and 23rd pushed the Rathfarnham 4th place finisher down to 28th and that very much helped with securing the gold.
Some packing from the Brothers!

Great event, my first XC race in years. Sweet Grud, the pain of XC is something else, got my highest recorded heart rate in years on the finish line trying to stay ahead of the next fella.

Cross Country Training Thread

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