Send in the Clowns - BAC 10K Challenge

Oisin11178

I got a water baloon in the head from a passing car this year. Have had stones thrown at me loadsa times. My favourite is the clowns that block the path and force you out onto the road. Just getting abuse is mild these days.

Krusty_Clown

Yesterday: 6 Mile Trail Run
Very enjoyable run and a fab way to finish out a great year of running, with DustyBin, slogger jogger, and D'pop, over one of the upcoming IMRA winter league routes (February 6th), which I am unfortunately destined not to attend (potential work trip, postponed xmas party and most important, the OH'es birthday). A tough initial climb that left me gasping with hands on knees was soon followed by joyful bounding, sloppy trudging and gleeful careening. After the dubious start it's a wonderful mix of every type of terrain that Wicklow Wexford can throw at you, and brought me back to my youthful worry-free days of chasing the shadows and the wind without a care in the world. Well recommended to anyone new to IMRA, looking for a course with a bit of everything Good banter and a pint afterwards, just to wrap up the year nicely. Cheers fellas!

Summary: 6 miles in 66 mins, @9:58/mile, HR=151

Krusty_Clown

Today: 8 mile steady run
Didn't head out with a plan, but surprisingly, I had no aches from yesterday's 6 mile trail run (mustn't have tried hard enough!) so after a couple of easy miles the pace picked up subconsciously, until I was running nice comfortable miles in the 6:40-6:30 range, which is a good sign that my xmas hasn't hampered my fitness levels too badly. Nice to get a solid run out on the first day of the year too. The body is feeling pretty good at the moment too, so there have been some benefits to the seemingly unending series of easy runs, due to cold/flu/chest infection afflictions. Onwards and upwards from here.

Summary: 8 miles in 58 mins, @7:08/mile, HR=145

aero2k

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

8 miles in 58 mins, @7:08/mile, HR=145

The year was only into it's first day, and already you were providing inspiration - after getting off to a reasonable start with yesterday's race I reckoned "if Krusty is doing 7:08 miles, I better get the finger out." I had a nice run today, if a little slower than yours. Thanks!:D

I have to sympathise on the teenage abuse thing. I've been lucky enough to only suffer some verbal abuse and a badly aimed snowball. I'm all for people having fun, but it should be with the consent of all involved. I hope I don't encounter anything more severe, I've a feeling it mightn't end well.

Krusty_Clown

Today: Sugarloaf hike and 20 mile LSR
Kids were going cabin crazy and I needed a break from the work laptop, so we headed up to the Sugarloaf and had a nice easy walk/climb to the top, which felt easy in comparison to New Years eve's climb! Great views of Wales and Northern Ireland from the top, on a really clear day. A nice easy jog/run back down, and I threw on the running gear with the plan to run the 12kms home.

The run home started with a 250m elevation drop, so after 5 miles I felt fresh as a daisy, despite the earlier hike. After 10 miles I was getting close to home and looking for other places to run. So like Forest Gump, I just kept on going, deciding at that point to get my planned 20 miler out of the way, so I can have a rest day tomorrow, and spend some more time catching up on work stuff. With no money/water/nutrition I was getting hungry towards the end of the run, but was glad to get the first 20 of the year out of the way, with some long runs coming up over the horizon.

Summary: 20 miles in 2:36, @7:45/mile, HR=134

Krusty_Clown

Today: 15 Mile hill run: Tallaght Kilakee Loop
Disastrous start to the year so far. Having completed my course of AntiBs and steroids, my chest infection was anything but gone, so I had no choice but to drop the running/exercise entirely and try to get healthy again. After a week, nothing had shifted, so back to the doctor I went for a different selection of AntiBs and steroids (I could be a real contender for the steroid Olympics!). Feeling 15% better today, and didn't want to write-off my entire week, so I studied the map of the initial section of the Dublin Mountain Way (from Tallaght to Kilakee), printed off a copy, and jumped into the car for The Square in Tallaght.

Leaving the car-park over the pedestrian bridge with map in hand and trail shoes in my backpack, my plan was to find and follow the mountain way as far as Kilakee, and then re-trace my steps back to Tallaght. I'm planning on running the entire distance as a training run in the near future, and this section is the only one I am not familiar with. That fact became immediately apparent as I completely failed to locale the start of the 'way'. No signs, no monuments, nothing. So I headed in what felt like the right direction, missing out on the correct path by a mere 300 metres. Thanks to a superb navigational course in Glendalough last year, I managed to pick up enough tips to keep me headed in the right general direction, hoping at some point to re-unite with the 'way'. After escaping Tallaght and climbing for a couple of miles I got my bearings, and realized I was running parallel to the correct route. No biggie, I'll rejoin at Kilakee and follow the correct route back.

As I climbed, the road got icier, until there was approximately an inch of snow on the ground. After fending off a couple of mutts I switched to the trail shoes (wishing I had brought my yaktraks for the frozen tundra conditions) and continued the uphill climb. Next I came across an eejit in his low profile front wheel drive mitsuhondabaru, stuck in the ice. Tried to help him out of his idiotic dilemma for a while, before giving up, and leaving him with a long wait and an expensive rescue. Back on track and I was at Kilakee long before I expected it. Enjoyed the view for a minute or two before heading back, keeping my thumb on the map as taught by the master!

The section through Kilakee forest was great fun, bounding through the tress, eyes constantly scanning for the next day-glow blotch of paint. Back down the sheets of ice I had earlier climbed (some of my route was right!) and I headed towards Glenasmole reservoir. The blanket white scenery was spectacular, but the going was tough, but easy by comparison to the later section along by the resevoire, which was absolutely treacherous. It was great to hit the wide stretches of water, as I knew I only had a couple of rather dull suburban miles to go, but the roads and paths around the resevoire were hellish, with miles and miles of sheets of ice. Back to the reality of housing estates, roundabouts and following the car tracks in waterlogged football pitches. I arrived at the end, realizing my original deviation, and glad that my detailed EastWest map is in the post.

So it's all looking good for a run of the entire stretch, from Tallaght to Shankill, as soon as cold/flu/other non-running related illnesses have cleared up. If anyone wants in on this epic journey, let me know.

Summary: 15.2 miles in some kind of time (forgot to restart the watch a few times) at some kind of pace, HR=144

tunguska

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Getting a little concerned about the amount of abuse from the teenage population. I stand up to them at every opportunity, but the last few times their intrusion into my personal space happened when my back has been turned. The recent snow episode has made them all a little bit too brave. We need to take back our streets. Whose with me? :rolleyes:

Count me in. Little bastards, somebody really should get themselves an iron bar, put on a balaclava and run amuck on their heads. I dont get too much of it up my way, I pretty much know everybody and their brothers around the place. But ive gone for runs in other places around dublin and its ridiculous the amount of abuse thats thrown at runners. Its a narrow minded Irish thing. No way would you get that in the states or pretty much any other country.

pgmcpq

tunguska wrote: »

Count me in. Little bastards, somebody really should get themselves an iron bar, put on a balaclava and run amuck on their heads. I dont get too much of it up my way, I pretty much know everybody and their brothers around the place. But ive gone for runs in other places around dublin and its ridiculous the amount of abuse thats thrown at runners. Its a narrow minded Irish thing. No way would you get that in the states or pretty much any other country.

Not a new or particularly Irish thing it seems. Came across this recently ... jump to forth paragraph

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1091125/1/index.htm

Krusty_Clown

Tonight: 5 mile recovery run
Small improvement again, so was glad to get out for a few miles, and kept the pace nice and easy to loosen up the calves from yesterday's icy hill run. Same fricking teenagers pegging stuff at me from the darkness of the park, so I made the point of running through the park, cos these fnckers are not going to dictate where I do my running. Scare the sh1te out of a few of them in the process which was an added bonus. Next time I'm wearing Ninja black. No more Mr. day glow.

Summary: 5 miles in 40 mins, @7:55/mile, HR=134

Sosa

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Tonight: 5 mile recovery run
Small improvement again, so was glad to get out for a few miles, and kept the pace nice and easy to loosen up the calves from yesterday's icy hill run. Same fricking teenagers pegging stuff at me from the darkness of the park, so I made the point of running through the park, cos these fnckers are not going to dictate where I do my running. Scare the sh1te out of a few of them in the process which was an added bonus. Next time I'm wearing Ninja black. No more Mr. day glow.

Summary: 5 miles in 40 mins, @7:55/mile, HR=134

We are lucky enough down these parts,i have not had any altercations with anyone while running....yet !

Krusty_Clown

Sosa wrote: »

We are lucky enough down these parts,i have not had any altercations with anyone while running....yet !

Spent five years living in Waterford and never had a bit of personal abuse. Flat got robbed twice though.

Krusty_Clown

Tonight: 11.5 mile steady state run
I should really be doing intervals and tempo sessions in preparation for Ballycotton in 8 weeks time, but while the physical frame is well up for it, the wobbly inside bits are still not up to intensive workouts, so a good steady 11 miles with a couple of hills is probably as good as I can do for the time being. Only planned to do 5 miles, but as I headed over Killiney hill (Vico Road), the views across Dublin bay were quite special, and I couldn't find anyplace that I wanted to turn back, so I kept on going until I looped around the 40 foot (public bathing area in Dun Laoghaire). Turning up the hill and heading for home I realized why I was having so much fun, a good strong wind behind me, now in my face, twinned with pounding rain, muddy roads and wet feet. Bring it on! Kept a good pace on the hills, so happy enough with the run, and home in time for dinner by 11pm.

Summary: 11.5 miles in 1:25, @7:22/mile, HR=149

Krusty_Clown

Tonight: The easiest of easy 4 mile runs
Nice to get out purely just for recovery, and for a bit of a listen to Marathon Talk (Chrissie Wellington episode). Nice easy crusin.

Summary: 4 miles in 35 mins, @8:33/mile, HR=133

Krusty_Clown

Tonight: 5 miles including 2 miles @6min/mile
First session in around four months, so I started with just two miles, the plan being to increase it by around a mile every week, until I get up to around 7 miles @10 mile pace. It felt a little easier than I thought it would, but a little harder than I remember. Having not done any fast paced work in a while I got the pace completely wrong and kicked off at around 5:30/mile, which would've seen me crumble within 800m, so I dropped it back a little. Finished comfortably enough, so looking forward to adding a few miles on, over the coming weeks. Going to take it handy for a couple of days, in case the weather's good for the weekend, and I tackle my extra long run.

Summary: 5 miles in 37 mins, @7:03/mile, HR=146

Krusty_Clown

Today: Nice easy 4 miles
Just an easy run to make sure that the legs and body are in good form for tomorrow's long run. I mapped and measured the distance today, at it comes in at 26.14 miles, so I'm sure I can find a couple of hundred metres at the end to make the distance a little more familiar. Weather looks like it will be good, but there's a chance of a strong headwind, which would be a real killer. Looking forward to it.

Summary: 4 miles in 32 mins, @7:40/mile

Krusty_Clown

Today: 26.4 Miles from Tallaght to Shankill over the Dublin Mountains along the Dublin Mountain Way
The 'powers that be' decided that Dublin needed a new mountainous trail from Tallaght to Shankill, and they saw fit to have it finish 400 metres from my house, outside my local pub. Well, if that's not a purpose-built challenge that has my name written all over it, what is? Couldn't drum up much interest due to the timing and distance of the run, but thankfully D'pop jumped in with a very helpful offer to meet me and run a few miles after his IMRA responsibilities were off-loaded.

I got dropped off in Tallaght at 11am sharpish, and clambered around the gate that marks the start of the 'way'. Within 20 seconds my running shoes and socks were muddy and wet. Great! Only 26.7 miles to go! The DMW is a superb trail/route, but there are certainly areas that need to be fixed and the miserable start in Sean Walsh Park is one of them. After two miles you arrive into the much more pleasant Glenasmole Resevoir, where I nearly had complete navigation failure. After following the river for a mile, I arrived at the now familiar structure of the bridge I needed to cross. Just as I hit the grass marking the start of the bridge I saw a waymark pointing in a different direction. Someone's been playing with the signs I surmised, before whipping out the Eastwest map to confirm. Yep, I'm right, the map is right, the sign is wrong. Across the bridge I go. Arriving at the other side, I'm surprised to see the trail narrow to little more than a goat trail. This isn't right. I remember it being much wider. I whip out the map again. Hmm.. I'm wrong. Map is wrong, sign must be right. Another study of the map. Hmm. turn's out the map is right, the sign is right, I'm wrong. Who'd have guessed?! As D'pop put it: any time you're questioning the correctness of a map, you know you've already made a navigation error!

Back on the correct route, I started my long climb to Kilakee. After a lot of slow uphill, I arrived in Featherbeds Forest and switched to my trail shoes, and had great fun chasing the yellow splotches painting a route through the dense forest. On to Cruagh and another fab run through a superbly maintained route, before hooking up with D'pop, who had very generously brought me along a water refill. We climbed up over Tibradden and at this stage the legs were getting pretty tired from the constant lifting, but I knew that once I got the next climb out of the way, much of the route would be downhill. At the top of Tibradden, the sun was out, the views were spectacular and the terrain was built for long runs and everything was ok. As we headed up towards Fairy Castle I really started to tire, so stopped at the top for some magical restorative Flapjacks. A tough descent down a river-bed, before we rounded Three Rock, and I happened to spy those who must be obeyed enjoying a bit of rock climbing. A quick hello, another change back to my road-biased shoes, and it was time to hit the road with another 10 miles to go, but this time I could see my ultimate destination, as 'my hill' moved closer and closer into the foreground. A quick farewell to D'pop who headed back towards his car (his job of providing an orange beacon to chase now completed!) and I was on my way.

The road climb to Glencullen (Johnny Foxes' pub) is an unnecessary and boring interlude, that adds a couple of unpleasant miles to the journey, but if it's on the route, so it has to be run. I had the misfortune to accidentally turn off my Garmin for 20 minutes during this section too, which is a pain in the ass, but I was able to measure the missing chunk afterwards and fill in the gaps. My legs didn't welcome the downhill drop to Kilternan, but the petrol station at the bottom gave me a welcome rest and some welcome encouragement from the curious attendant.

I knew three hours before I arrived into 'The Scalp' that I would end up walking much of the final big climb. The terrain was deep mud, and the legs were too tired. I found a good stick, and trudged up the hill through the ankle deep mud, running whenever the motivation returned and the top came well before I expected it. Back on familiar training ground, I knew I was home and dry. I knew every rock, hill and gorse bush and enjoyed the final stretch, though the legs were finding entirely new ways to complain. The local pub was a familiar and welcome sight, and looking at the clock I managed to finish the distance in 4 hours and 26 minutes. The remaining 400m run back to my house was just cruel and unfair punishment. But it didn't matter. 'They' laid the route before me to scoff at me, and tease me, and now it's done. Next time I may return and include the additional 11km optional loop, but for today, that's enough.

Summary: 26.4 miles in 4:26, HR=141 (plus a 400m cruel run home afterwards).

tunguska

Whats the story with that run KC, are you training for an ultra?

Krusty_Clown

tunguska wrote: »

Whats the story with that run KC, are you training for an ultra?

That run was for kicks; because it was there. But yeah, I have a couple of ultras coming up. A 50k in six weeks (if work doesn't interfere with my plans) and then the big deal is the Two Oceans ultra in Cape Town in April. It's only 54k, but I want to run it well. Plan would be to run a good marathon at home soon afterwards, but due to illness and injury I've lost a bit of ground (speed) over the last few months.

Krusty_Clown

Tonight: 5 mile easy recovery run
After 2.5 years of running, I reckon I've finally figure out recovery runs. There's no such thing as too slow. Easy, easy, easy and no more than 40 minutes, and it's as good as a sports massage. Not the most enjoyable runs, particularly at 9:30pm, so stick on the cans and listen to the radio or some choons, a marathon talk podcast, and just enjoy getting out there rather than focussing on the run itself. It's working for me anyway, and the heart rate barely moves, so it's only doing me good. No hurtin' after the weekends long mountain run, which is a good result.

Summary: 5 miles in 42 mins, @8:26/mile, HR=128

Krusty_Clown

Tonight: 5 Easy miles
Tough tiring work day, so really wasn't in the form and having a snooze on the sofa sounded like a much better proposition, but went out anyway and it was freeeezing.... Body's loosening up after Sunday's romp, so I finished with a faster mile that felt comfortable enough. Dropped my headtorch, and it's still working despite missing a few useful pieces which just rounds off a fairly crap day!

Summary: 5 miles in 38 mins, @7:38/mile, HR=144

Krusty_Clown

Tonight: 10k with hill repeats
Couldn't run yesterday, due to work commitments which saw me arriving home at 12:30am and today was looking unlikely when I arrived home from work at 8pm wrecked, but I forced myself out on jelly legs. After 1/2 a mile I was running comfortably and feeling fresh, so I headed up towards a nearby hill, to do some short hill repeats in a well lit area. Managed 6 short hills (around 300m) before my tiredness caught up with me again and I headed for home, happy that I had made it out and enjoyed a short session on an evening that would normally be reserved for beers on the coach (a longer session).

Summary: 10k in 45 mins, @7:21, HR=152

Krusty_Clown

Today: 11 miles steady
Last night I headed out with tired legs and was surprised to feel fresh when the running started. Today, no such luck. I just felt wrecked. My plan is just make it up, 'day by day' at the moment, but for some reason, I reckoned a 10+ mile steady run was on the cards. I still reckon that when you can get out and do what you had planned on tired legs, then it's a good session, even if you don't make your pace target. So although I felt knackered, I was still happy enough to hit the general whereabouts.
Summary: 11 miles, in 80 mins, @7:19/mile, HR=146

aigster

Getting out there on tired legs.... Could just be the key for any beginner !... Very interesting log...(Followed your advice for Dublin marathon and had a good day !)..

Krusty_Clown

aigster wrote: »

Getting out there on tired legs.... Could just be the key for any beginner !... Very interesting log...(Followed your advice for Dublin marathon and had a good day !)..

Trying to motivate myself to do the same thing now (more running on even more tired legs!). Will take the pace handy and try and visit a couple of sites from Megalithomania to keep it interesting (and easy!).

Krusty_Clown

Today: 16 mile medium long run
Didn't want to run too long after last weeks long run, but long enough to tire myself out and push through it, and I was pretty successful. Plan was an easy paced flat 16 miles, but that didn't work out at all. As I left my house heading for the Dolmen in Brennanstown (described in Wednesday's Nationwide) I was drawn as a moth to a flame, to the hills and trails, so ran my first five miles up around Carrigologan and the Scalp. It took all of my focus and concentration to head away and leave the hills behind. Arriving at the Brennanstown Luas ghost station, I hopped over the fence and found the trail down to the Dolmen, but despite searching for a good 45 minutes, I couldn't find the stones anywhere. Eventually, I sadly gave up, though it wasn't a lost cause as the area is amazing, reminding me of Pfeifer Big Sur State Park in California, with the Loughlinstown River creating a wondrous leafy landscape. Also, looking at the tracklogs afterwards I can see exactly where the stones are and where I went wrong (by stopping short of climbing through people's private gardens), so the next visit will be more successful.

After clambering back into the Luas station, I finished off with 7 flatter miles, through the parks. I was getting tired and the head was dropping, which ironically led to my discovery of €40 on the ground, with nobody around to claim it. Not sure what to do with the money. Don't feel entirely comfortable spending it, and there's feck all chance of finding the rightful owners so might split it with a charity, and give the rest to the kids. So all in all, an interesting run out. Will try and go long again next week, with another 20+ mile run, but in the meantime I have some speedwork to try and catch up on.

Summary: 16 miles in 2:18 @8:34/mile (lots of trudging through hedges and looking for stones), HR=137

Krusty_Clown

Today: 10 mile hilly run on my ol' faithful loop

Well, the running drought and disappointment that has been 2011 continues, with another week of no running. The illness that has plagued me since before Christmas continues, so I swapped my running shoes for doctors, drugs, x-rays and blood tests. The only positive point is that I've been working 12-14 hour days, so had I been healthy enough to run, I would have been very hard-pressed to find the time. At this stage the body is telling me it's time to rethink any short term goals, while my ever-unreliable brain is trying to convince me that I can push through any illness. Time to switch off the brain.

Unwilling to sacrifice my weekend I headed out for a 10 mile run on one of my old favourite loops, but the views and fast-paced downhills failed to raise my spirits, as my target ultra pace felt closer to marathon or even 10 mile pace. Still planning a long run tomorrow (depending on how I feel), but I had previously planned a nice trail run with lots of climb and lots of miles, but this has taken a back-seat to just getting as many flat miles run, as I can, without putting too much pressure on the engine.

Summary: 10 miles in 1:13, @7:20/mile.

aigster

Sorry to hear your struggeling .... Allthough your times struggeling are better than mine on a good day.... !... Keep with it ... Still 11 months of 2011 to go.. Head up...!...

RacoonQueen

Still plenty of time until two oceans though KC, 12 weeks? week after Antwerp isn't it? . It's crap when you're stupid bloody health gets in the way of real life. :pac:

Krusty_Clown

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Still plenty of time until two oceans though KC, 12 weeks? week after Antwerp isn't it? . It's crap when you're stupid bloody health gets in the way of real life. :pac:

Ah yeah.. Loads of time for the Two Oceans. I have a couple of ultras planned before that though. I wanted to be in a position to really tackle the ultras rather than just finishing them, which would require a good build-up, but that opportunity is slowly slipping away. No sense in being negative though. Happy to be able to run them at all.

theboyblunder

sorry to hear youre under the weather krusty. hope whatever it is clears up soon. good luck tomorrow.