Running mad or mad to run?

Slogger Jogger

A recce while recommended isn't a complete necessity. If the weather on the day is really bad the race could be rerouted to a shorter course or across the valley towards Mullacor. If visibility is fine then you'll be okay. It wasn't fine when we ran it on Saturday but a couple of spot checks on the map and compass and that was sufficient. Its slow going once you get off the initial track. I'd recommend you wearing your grippiest trail shoes.

Slogger Jogger

5k at breakfast time around Annacurra trails, very easy.

Late afternoon headed up to track in Charlesland for 2k warm up; some 300m stretches (fastest 00:59), 2k warmdown. Total 7.23k, average pace 4:14 min/k. Great facility here which I must use more. Headwind on home straight though wasn't fun.

BeepBeep67

Welcome to the world of Tartan and I'm not talking the Bay City Rollers (apologies anyone younger than 40).

Slogger Jogger

Nearly didn't make this one. My dodgy back was playing up. However, some times the back ache works its way out with a bit of exercise so I headed out in any event. Took in a light pool session on the way to try ease out the muscles and that seemed to help. Got there early and did a bit of a walk, then did a few k of a warm up and all felt okay. Saw quite a few of the usual suspects beforehand. Many were wearing road runners. I stuck with the speedcross's as I reckoned there'd be sticky sections of the route, and so it proved.

The downhill start is a bit manic. Theres a temptation to really go hard here, which is what the lead runner did (opening up quite a gap very early). I heard later than he got a stitch but held on for 2nd place from John McEnri.

I ran steady and when we started up the zigzags I was in a pairing with Martin Francis. I ran within myself on these bits happy with my footing through the sticky stuff. The marking left it a bit open for people to inadvertently take shortcuts before the end of each zigzag piece. Still, no big deal. I went ahead of Martin when we crossed the worse of the boggy ground and started heading out on the right side of the stream. I lost a place when we started a bit of a climb through the trees, to a runner I didn't recognise but I hung on in there til the finish and put in a finishing spurt at the uphill to stave off being overtaken by Martin. 9th second week in a row and a Boards team finish. Happy days. I don't often make the pub after races, but hung on today and had good craic with Dunebuggy and co. Cheers.

7.63k race; 31:49; 4:10 min/k pace. Fastest k, (1st) 3:08; Slowest (3rd) 5:00

MCOS

Consistency isn't it Nice running there SJ

Krusty_Clown

Definitely a good suggestion on the trail shoes. I enjoyed running though the streams and mud, while many around me were queuing for the stepping stones/logs.

Slogger Jogger

Feeling the effects of yesterday's race combined with my back acting up. Still, got out this evening after a family day out and did an easy 6k at recovery pace and felt myself improving as the time went on. 5:06 min/k pace. Conditions perfect. Nearly stopped mid-run at times to admire the beautiful hills out the Aughrim backroads... Croghanmoira and out towards Lug... wonderful. With views like this out the backdoor it makes it that bit easier to get out and run sometimes.

Abhainn

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Feeling the effects of yesterday's race combined with my back acting up.

Heh SJ doing anything in particular to sort your back? physio? stretches?

My lower back is aching these days and I don't know why. Never troubled me before.

Slogger Jogger

Hi,

Various stretches alright but no physio as it always comes and goes naturally. I do find that alternatives to running, like going to the swimming pool help - even just for relaxation. I've a bit of an ache this morning but I'll head out for a short run and hopefully loosen it out. If its the first time you've encountered it its no harm to get it checked out.

Regards,

Mick

Slogger Jogger

Easy hilll run, 10K. I'm a great believer in the restorative powers of running. Started this run this morning with aches and pains and contemplated stopping... was feeling fairly sorry for myself.. but with the sun shining and the skies clear, pretty much the best morning for the last few weeks, it was a case of knuckling down and making the best of it so I ran on. As I ran the body started to ease into a decent running form and the discomfort fell away. Ran to the top of the hill behind my village, so did some 400m of ascent and what goes up just come down. Took it handy descending, taking in the views of the countryside. Magnificent. Feel better already.

Slogger Jogger

Got another dog for the house today, a border collie who seems very very energetic, so I guess thats my running partner sorted for the foreseeable future :rolleyes:

Woddle

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Got another dog for the house today, a border collie who seems very very energetic, so I guess thats my running partner sorted for the foreseeable future :rolleyes:

I had a beautiful border collie, I would bring him to the field and hit golf balls and he'd go collect them and bring them back. We did have a mishap on a bike once though. I was bringing him down to the vet and I decided to cycle(slowly) the dog decided to stop for a poo, I continued to keep cycling not realising and he pulled me clean of the bike as he wasn't budging till he was finished.

GoHardOrGoHome

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Saw quite a few of the usual suspects beforehand. Many were wearing road runners. I stuck with the speedcross's as I reckoned there'd be sticky sections of the route, and so it proved.

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Definitely a good suggestion on the trail shoes. I enjoyed running though the streams and mud, while many around me were queuing for the stepping stones/logs.

I had a brand spanking new pair of Salomon Speed Cross 2s in the boot but couldn't bring myself to mucky them up! God I'm sad! Well, in my defence, I wasn't sure of the terrain and I hadn't worn them before so probably not a good idea to race in a pair of shoes you haven't jogged around in. I was happy in my Kayanos. No regrets!

Are the Speed Cross 2s cushioned enough for hard trail? Also, would they wear down quite quickly on the hard terrain?

Slogger Jogger

I find the Speed Cross 2's fine, with sufficient cushioning. Then again I'm just 70kg.

Well Gohard... you didn't show today. Tuh tuh. No team score...

Slogger Jogger

Woke up early to a bright day. Back had improved but not totally. Applied some deep heat and that seemed to have a positive effect. Walked the new dog while coffee was brewing. The walk helped too.

Drove up to Crone wood where a good crowd were assembling. Registered and did a 2k warm up, very slowly. No ill effects. All good. Bumped into Dunebuggy. 2 out of 3 Boardsies so far... Where was gohard...?

The route here is 3 loops of a 4k ish circuit in Crone wood with some short steep climbs but fast descents too. Lots of speedy runners in evidence at the start. I just decided to run conversatively. No sense blowing up on the 1st or 2nd loop, with 1 more to go.

At 12.10 we started and the speedsters headed off followed by the slower runners which included myself. The first climb knocks the stuffing out of you and before we got to the top I was reduced to a walk. After that it was an up and down track before a nice fast descent in various stages before you hit the 'start' again. During the lap my position was called at as 24th... That didn't change for the rest of the race. 2 more loops of same, with the climb bit being invariably slower each time, but otherwise pace was sound. No runner ahead or behind near enough for me to trouble, or to trouble me. Quite strange running against yourself, but happy with my pacing and that I was fairly strong on the last circuit. Happy with my time of 1:06:35 for 12.86k with almost 600m of ascent. I was 129% of the winners time which was a sensational 51 mins or thereabouts :eek:

Body sore now! Assuming I run tomorrow it'll be nice and slowww.

donothoponpop

Nice going SJ, three times up that feckin' hill today, there must be a permanent 2009 IMRA scar up that bloody hill! I only ran it once, in a recce, and that did it for me. You've been Mr. Consistency in your hill races this year, take a couple of easy days and let that tight back have some rest.

Slogger Jogger

Cheers.

Garmin Connect details here.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/10737413
Elevation on Garmin Connect is inaccurate. The total today was c. 600m

Using the Garmin player though I've estimated the 3 laps I did as follows:
00:20:23
00:21:52
00:21:52

Happy with consistency of last 2! The main difference being the 1st lap I managed to run most of the hill, whereas that wasn't the case the next 2 times... To do well here though you'd need to do lots of specific hill training and be a speed demon to boot! Being young might be useful too

Slogger Jogger

Donothoponpop's advise to take it easy for a few days was like a prophecy. Woke up today to find my back was okay, but my left ankle was crocked. There might be a message there.. Could be a sub-thread for the 'age and running' thread...

Anyway, lots of ice basin treatment beckon. No running possible . Walking only possibly with a nice limp. Such is life when you're born with a gammy ankle. Its fine 99% of the time. Then its fecked, but can be back to what I consider normal within a day or two. I won't try run til at least Wednesday. I'd really like to do the Devil's glen run, so fingers crossed.

Did a cross-training / recovery session in the swimming pool to loosen the body out in any event.

donothoponpop

Wow, sorry to hear that! I'm still going round with a limp, two great advertisments for the rigours of mountain running are we- although to be fair, you've put your body through many, many, more races this year! RICE, RICE, RICE:D

BeepBeep67

Hey SJ, bad news, hope you recover pretty quickly.

Slogger Jogger

Going stir crazy, so went out on the bike to 'walk' the dog

GoHardOrGoHome

Aaargh! Now I feel even worse. Hope you get better soon.

Krusty_Clown

+1 get well soon, though looking at that hill profile, I'm not surprised. Looks like a killer! Did you buy that bike that you mentioned in a previous thread?

Slogger Jogger

Howdy. Biking on my old trusty MTB for the moment. I should be getting the voucher for the new bike in the coming days, so in a matter of weeks I'll be wizing around

Ankle improving marginally. Still limping a bit so I'll keep the weight off it til tomorrow or Wednesday.

Slogger Jogger

The sum total of running I've managed since Saturday's World Trial Race has been about 1k last night which was a slow trot. So I was very doubtful to be able to run this evening. As it happened the days away from running probably helped rather than hindered me. I arrived earlier in Devils Glen and the ankle had improved to the point where I knew I'd be able to run with a strapping. I walked most of the course to mark it out beforehand as part of the volunteer duties, which was a nice way to warm up and enjoy the scenery.

I was a bit apprehensive about the race when lining up on the start line, but happy to see a good collection of other Boardsies there too. When the race started I did the initial climb okay without any reaction. Similarly the next downhill section was encouragingly okay. Mild discomfort, but nothing which slowed my progress any. At the mid way point I was 6th I think. Dug in there for the next half of the race and stayed in the shadow of the runner just ahead. I couldn't close the gap but he wasn't getting further away either. We were passed by a top class runner who started slow and raced through the field by way of a training run! Eventually finished in 37:41 in 7th place. 1st M40 in this race and in the Trail race series. Chuffed about that and very happy to have come through a race after a few days of inactivity and limping around.

The feedback about the Devils Glen race was very positive. I've been running there on and off for a no. of years. It really is a fab place to run.

asimonov

Well done SJ. Great result last night and in series. Hope the ankle came through unscathed.

Slogger Jogger

8k slow recovery hill run in Annacurra. Ankle feeling tender but able to run. Dog happy with 40 minute workout too.

Krusty_Clown

Just catching up on last night's result. Congrats! Great running. Now if you just avoid running between now and October, you'll definitely sub-3.

BeepBeep67

Great run - came across these interesting reads you might enjoy:
http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Take-Your-Run-to-the-Trail.htm?act=AFC-

Slogger Jogger

Cheers. Theres an interesting mountain running article in the latest Runnersworld too. No online link though.