My UltraRunning log

mithril

Summary 18.17 km in 1:26:07 (4:44 pace) along Royal Canal

mithril

Summary 19.09 KM in 1:37 (5:04 pace) along the Wicklow Way (571 m total ascent).

Parked in Marlay Park and ran up Kilmashogue Hill up to the masts on top of 3 Rock mountain. Then descended to the car park for a assault up the mountain. I tried this a couple of weeks ago, and found it tough enough carrying a back-pack, but as I hoped, managed a much faster pace when not carrying weight.
This will be a familiar run later on the year as I get closer to the Zermatt marathon, with the Telecom masts having to simulate the Matterhorn pyramid. 2000m height gain in that race - almost all up-hill - so a good deal tougher.

mithril

Thursday
Summary 10.49 KM in 1:02 (5:55 pace) recovery run along Royal Canal.

Friday
Summary 24.28 KM in 2:00:00 (4:59 pace) long run along Royal Canal to Lough Ennell and back.


Saturday
Summary 19.23 KM in 2:13 (6:57 pace) from Crone Wood to Lough Tay along Wicklow Way and back. 797M height gain which partially explains slowness but pace also dropped alarmingly any time I moved off a good path onto broken ground. Does not augur well for my Wicklow Way Ultra race in March.

Sunday
Hike to top of Mullaghmeen in North Westmeath near Castlepollard. It's the lowest highest point of any country in Ireland. Only 258M high but still magnificent views from the cairn at the top over the Central Plain. Attempted it before as part of the 26 Peaks Challenge but we managed to climb the wrong mountain in the dark.

Monday
Summary 14 KM in 1:01 (4:24 pace) along Royal Canal Path. Cruised at 4:30 pace for most of the run but threw in a few fast intervals as well at 4:00 pace. The lingering cough I have had for last month finally is clearing up and breathing comfortably again even when running hard.

donothoponpop

mithril wrote: »

Saturday
Summary 19.23 KM in 2:13 (6:57 pace) from Crone Wood to Lough Tay along Wicklow Way and back. 797M height gain which partially explains slowness but pace also dropped alarmingly any time I moved off a good path onto broken ground. Does not augur well for my Wicklow Way Ultra race in March.

There's usually a specific reason for this- footwear, ankles, fear of twisting something, etc. Usually its something that can be worked on. What do you think was the specific issue with loss of speed on uneven ground?

mithril

donothoponpop wrote: »

There's usually a specific reason for this- footwear, ankles, fear of twisting something, etc. Usually its something that can be worked on. What do you think was the specific issue with loss of speed on uneven ground?

I think the problem is my ankles. A lot of wear and tear on the joints, and they never feel completely stable.
I have had 3 fairly prolonged ankle injuries, twice on the left, and once on the right. I considered going for an arthoscopy but it would be a couple of months off running and it might cause other complications.

mithril

Tuesday
Summary 6 KM in 33:41 (5:36 pace) recovery run on grass around Carysfort Park.

Only 3 days to Art O'Neill Ultra. Will make my final selection of kit on the day itself when weather forecast will be more accurate. A lot will depend on whether we have precipation on the night which is when it will get really unpleasant.

mithril

Wednesday - easy cross training in gym.

Thursday – rest.

Art O’Neill Ultra kicks off at 2 AM from Dublin Castle tonight and hopefully will finish for me sometime around lunchtime tomorrow in Glenmalure.

Goal is just to complete the distance in any time and enjoy the night. I will run it competitively next year when I am more confident of the route, and hopefully when weather conditions are better.

Weather forecast is pretty grim - high winds, cold and rain/snow - but I noticed that the R.T.E. forecast has managed to be wrong every day of the week so far so hopefully it won’t be that bad. Those 3 elements combined would make it very miserable on the exposed hills. I also have an issue with my vision in the rain; normally I wear contacts while running, but this does not properly correct my vision and I would struggle to read a map with them. Glasses are very uncomfortable to wear in the rain and would need to continuously stop to wipe them. I think I will start with contacts and have a spare pair of glasses in the rucksack if I am struggling with them.

I will navigate primarily using an eTrex Vista GPS into which I downloaded the GPX route from the site. I will also carry the Harvey Map of Wicklow and a compass. The Garmin 305 would be good to have as well but it’s in for repair again. The battery life of the Garmin 405 which I wear instead will not be long enough for the entire run and it does not have the Map functionality of the earlier model which I consider a major deficiency. I am not sure yet how I will use it. I have downloaded the route as a course but I think this would be difficult to follow on the small screen .

I had hoped to get a couple of recces in during December but the snow prevented it. I did a recce of Black Hill in the Summer and I have hill walked around Art’s cross below so I have some prior familiarity of the route but not as much as I would like.

I sorted out all my kit last night and verified I have all the compulsory items. I will carry all the recommended items as well except a down jacket which is too bulky.I will only carry a 600 ml container which is less than most people. Water is a pretty heavy item to carry and I think I can skimp on this. I normally do my long runs without water and I will chance filling it from streams on route if I get thirsty. In addition to the items recommended on the site, I will carry 2 additional spare batteries for the GPS, a small jar of Vaseline and a balaclava. I also will have some toilet paper in a plastic bag but will only use in emergency.

For food, I will carry 2 Viper bars (the caffeine content might help as I will be missing a night’s sleep) and 1 GO bar. This will supplement the food provided by the organizers at the checkpoints which I will also use.

The course is divided into two – an initial run on roads from Dublin Castle to initial checkpoint Kippure house (25K) and then remaining 30K predominately off-road.

I will run the initial section in road shoes (Brooks Adrenaline),tights , Merino base Layer , Montane High Viz wind proof layer , either fleece lined cap or balaclava and gloves.

I will wear a Silva Tikka head torch throughout the run which I think may be a little underpowered for off-road running (fine for roads).
I will carry a Lowe Alpine 25 litre pack but only the essentials will be in it at this point.
I will pick up the remainder of my kit in Kippure House, have something to eat and change my kit, only making a final choice at this point when I know the exact weather conditions and how I coped on route.
I am inclined to swap the tights for a heavier waterproof Lowe Alpine pair of trousers and swap the Montane layer for a fully waterproof goretex Pac-lite jacket. I will also add at least one fleece on top and maybe carry a second layer in the ruck-sack as well. I probably will wear waterproof mittens over the gloves since hands are the first part of me to get cold even though this would make it harder to manipulate the GPS and exchange kit.

I will exchange the road shoes for Inov 8 Roclite off-road shoes and change my socks to thick Smartwool mountaineering socks. I am also considering adding a RaidLight Gaiter over the shoes, if conditions will be very muddy. If it is cold enough, the ground will frozen enough not to need this.

I intend to run from Kippure House to Black Hill Car park and then make a decision as to how to approach the final section of the route. Hopefully there will be a few other runners I can link up with as well for safety. If conditions are really bad at this point, and it does not seem safe to continue on my own, I will join up with a fast walking group and proceed with them.

Just a slight niggle to the left knee which is unlikely to cause a problem. I also have picked up a chesty cough today – hopefully not the flu - but unless it rapidly deteriorates, should not be an issue either.

I won't bother trying to get sleep this evening since it won't work. One good feed of pasta around 9 and head in for around 11:30.

donothoponpop

The weather is pretty wintery down here right now, hopefully the muck will be frozen for you on higher ground though, kudos on your prep work. Best of luck tonight Pat!

Aimman

Best of luck. Looking forward to the post race report.

mithril

Dublin Castle
Had my feed of pasta at 9PM and dropped the car at Sandyford and took the Luas in to get to Dublin Castle just before mid-night in time to see the walkers away. Met Ultraman1, SarsfieldRock and JeffonTour inside and glad of the company because at that point I was beginning to regret signing up for the event in the first place. JeffOnTour suggested heading out with him but I was reluctant to commit since I knew he was targeting a fast time. My plan was to get the course completed without knocking too much out of me and do a structured build-up to the WW Ultra in March.

Kit check was more casual than I expected, the guys listed read from the required list and asked you to confirm you had them but did not actually ask to see them. I got my number, attached it to my badly fitting high-viz vest, and was ready. The last hour seemed to take for ever to count down and I was too uptight to try to sleep. I started to get hungry again and was regretting I did not bring more food but was reluctant to dip into my stash of bars for the trail and the only alternatives on sale was muck like Mars Bars, which with the benefit of hindsight I think would have been OK, since you don’t need quick energy release for this type of event, just loads of calories. Eventually, we were called outside, I think a horn went and were headed off the dark streets past the drunken revellers in the dark.

Section 1 - Dublin Castle to Kippure House.
I stayed with JeffonTour for the initial section as we handed out around 5:15 pace through the darkened streets, 30 second per KM faster than I had planned, but I don’t think it made any difference. My left knee felt a bit sore on the hard concrete so I switched to the softer surface of the bike path which helped somewhat. There was a slight ache throughout the race but it never deteriorated further and I had no other niggles to worry about. After Firhouse, we left the suburban streets and there was an immediate change as the surface of the road became icy and simultaneously the ground began to rise. I coped quite well with the up-hills on road; I do loops of 3rock mountain for training which is a good deal steeper. We turned onto a minor secondary road at Stone Cross and at this point began to catch the walkers. They were all in good spirits at this point and provided plenty of encouragement as we overtook them, but the initial section must have been very boring for them. It got quite foggy and this point and I got detached from the group I started out with, but it was straight ahead to Kippure House and I got an illusion of speed as I rapidly overtook the walkers on the icy road. This was definitely my strongest section of the route relative to others.

Section 2 - Kippure House to Black Hill.
I wasted an awful lot of time in Kippure House – clocking in at 4:15 and spent 45 minutes there. It took a while to find my bag in the changing area, I had an elaborate costume change as I switched nearly all my running stuff for warmer clothes for the hills. I also switched from contacts to glasses at this point because I realized I would not be able to read a map with contacts and a high wind was likely to whip them out leaving me blind. I needed water for my running bottle – I was quite dehydrated by this point after doing the initial run – and the only source was the tap in the toilet which was potentially dodgy but I decided to chance and had no issues later. I also sampled the soup and a bread roll. By the time I got everything sorted, I had missed JeffOnTour and his group so I waited for the next walking group which set out at around 5.
We were one of several groups that struggled with navigation in the fog on Ballinbrockey Hill and lost a bit of time there. Eventually , we found the track and I knew I could navigate on my own again up as far as Black Hill and worst case would overtake a faster walking group so headed off. I made good time on the road up to Black Hill. The steps up the hill were quite icy , I initially tried to jog it, but realized that walking would be quicker. I had expected a strong wind and very unpleasant conditions at the top but it was quite calm. I had decided that I definitely was not going to run to Art Kitchen on my own so I was relieved when I saw a light behind and two walkers caught up with me at the top of the hill. It took me a long while to recognize one of them as Sarsfield Rock, initially because of the dark and then because of the balaclava that was covering his face.

Section 3 - Black Hill To Ballinagee Br.
I really hated this section over rough heath with boring scenery all around. If I don’t do the event again, that is why. I don’t have an inclination to run it faster, I just don’t want to see the place ever again. We made an initial error in staying on the path too long and then had to push south over some very dense undergrowth to head in the right direction. The Garmin trace indicates we were always going in a generally correct direction but we did not take a direct line and a few times lost and regained height unnecessarily. I think we blew about an hour on the walking groups who accurately navigated. Parts of it were runnable if you were motivated but SarsfieldsRock friend was carrying an injury and I was quite happy to get off the hill in one piece. Eventually, we found the trail off the hill, took a detour to remain on a good surface and made it to Art Kitchen around 11.

Section 4 - Ballinagee Br. to Barravore
There was a long queue for the porridge so we decided not to wait grabbed a few flapjacks and headed off quickly past Saint Kevin’s Way up a forest trail towards Glenmalure. SarfieldsRock’s friend had identified a short-cut through the forest towards Arts’s Cross but I was not comfortable leaving the established route so we parted company at this point to be re-united on the bus home back to Dublin at the end. I could still manage a jog and I made good progress up to Art’s Cross overtaking a walking group at this point. I was glad to have company for the potentially treacherous climb but we were very lucky with the weather and there was nothing to worry about. There was only a low wind and no rain and easily the best conditions of any time I have climbed it in winter. With driving rain in a force 8 wind , or a blizzard,it would be different. I started to eat into reserves at this point, I think the lack of food, sleep and dehydration was more of a factor than the effort which physically I found less draining than a marathon because of the lower intensity of the exercise and the fact you are using different muscles each time the terrain changes.
Having attained Art’s Cross , there was a psychological lift as the last major obstacle had been attained . It was sub zero now and my trousers started to freeze where they had got wet on route, but there was little wind chill, and it was comfortable enough once you kept moving, so I did not need to take my spare fleece out of the ruck-sack. The hard frozen ground was a lot easier to move over than the boggy muck I had recced in the summer so I was able to jog at a decent pace in the direction of 3 Lakes. My line was a little too far to the south instead of southwest so took a bit longer than it should have done. I had a huge sigh of relief as I spotted 3 lakes within 200m of me and simultaneously saw a walking group heading south along the river bank. From there to the end was easy. I jogged down-hill parallel to the river, overtook the walking group and made good progress as far as the fire road. The final few kms along Table track were steep downhill and very icy, I saw a few people changing into YakTrax Pros, but I had enough grip in the Roclites to run down-hill at a decent pace watching the Barravore waypoint on the Garmin get closer and closer until I crossed the finish at around 2:10.
Poor enough time, but I did as a recce more than a competitive event, and I know I could take a couple of hours off handily enough now I know the route better and if I pushed myself harder. SarsfieldsRock has however sold me on the idea of competing in the Saint Etienne –Lyons Ultra next December so I think I will be targeting that one instead next winter.

jeffontour

Good to hear how you got on. You looked fairly unsure of the wisdom in signing up Friday night but I think you were being a bit hard on yourself and your ability! Nice to go into the unknown and come out the other side in one piece isn't it.

asimonov

Well done, it sounds like a bit of a slog in the middle. Nice one to have ticked off the list though. Congrats.

Krusty_Clown

Nice one Pat. Congrats on ticking this one off. Would love to do it next year, further fueled by your write-up. What exactly didn't you like about section 3? Was it because you have to travel through heavy undergrowth?

mithril

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Nice one Pat. Congrats on ticking this one off. Would love to do it next year, further fueled by your write-up. What exactly didn't you like about section 3? Was it because you have to travel through heavy undergrowth?

Yes, that's largely it. Thre is nothing like a path anywhere on this section and there are a few holes in the ground where you could easily break a leg if you were unlucky. My torch was not powerful enough for off-road night navigation although I otherwise made a pretty good choice of kit. I would also take a few addtional energy bars or flapjacks next time.

Because you were moving slowly, you were generating less warmth and its the only section where I felt cold.

mithril

jeffontour wrote: »

Good to hear how you got on. You looked fairly unsure of the wisdom in signing up Friday night but I think you were being a bit hard on yourself and your ability! Nice to go into the unknown and come out the other side in one piece isn't it.

Really did not know what to expect. The first 2 off-road sections did not do much for me but enjoyed the Glenmalure one. There is a 17 mile detour which avoids them both by heading over Ballysmuttan bridge and then skirting the edge of Blessington lake through Lackan to Ballinagee Bridge. It adds a good bit of distance to the route but probably is faster and I might try it next time.

Sunday
Rest

Monday
6.78 KM in 37:30 (5:32 pace) recovery run around Sandyford.

Tuesday
7.76 KM in 32:11 (4:08 pace) marathon pace run on U.C.D. track with Menesco, ClaraLara and Aimman. Legs don't feel particularly tired but my cough has worsened since the week-end and getting out of breath very easily at anything faster than this. I think this would have been 4:30 pace only than Menesco was doing long intervals as well and made it much easier to sustain the effort with someone to run alongside.

menoscemo

Thanks for the company. I wish I had your garmin instead of mine. I ran way faster according to yours :pac:.

BTW looks I got up to 3:30/mile pace for the sprint finish at the end.

mithril

menoscemo wrote: »

Thanks for the company. I wish I had your garmin instead of mine. I ran way faster according to yours :pac:.

BTW looks I got up to 3:30/mile pace for the sprint finish at the end.

You looked to be flying there to me as well. No way I was going to try and stay up. I normally use a different Garmin, so I don't know how accurate this one is either. I suspect the slower time is more likely to be right.

mithril

Wednesday
Thursday

Cross-training in gym both days.
My left knee is sore and also have a heavy head cold. Both issues were present before the Ultra but it aggravated them. Trying to knock both of them out before the week-end,so I can do a decent session in the hills.

mithril

Friday
Summary 12 KM in 53:18 (4:26 pace) run around UCD GAA pitch.

Cold has eased, and it being probably the last dry evening for a while, tried a run around the UCD GAA pitch on grass where the soft surface would reduce any impact to knees. Was able to run through the niggle without issue although any inflammation only becomes obvious next day.
This felt tougher than it should have been, I think the cold is impacting my breathing more than I realized.
Afterwards seemed to have good results with stretching; starting to think it might just be a tight ITB which would be good since these are easy enough to fix.

mithril

Saturday
Summary Approx 26 KM in 2:40 (6:10 pace) along the Wicklow Way from Foxes Pub to Crone Car Park and back again.
Ran first half of the WW Ultra with a detour to inspect the new hostel at Knockree. Sheltered by forest most of the way so the force 8 winds were really only an issue at the top of Prince William Seat where I had to walk.

Sunday
The plan was to run the second half of the WW Ultra from Crone Car park to Ballinstoe and back again but left knee was very inflamed when I woke up. I tried massage and Ibuprofen to reduce the pain, but did not get enough improvement. I crocked myself for 3 months last year trying to run through a niggle the day after the WW Relay, and with my injury profile I decided not to take the risk. So strectching and easy cross training for a bitm in the gym and then went to see "127 hours" at the cinema. I don't think I am the type who could saw off an arm to save my life.

aigster

Impressive miles.. Hope knee a minor thing for you...I read your log and anytime I feel like slacking... Gives me a guilt complex... I'm only back up to 18 miles but feelin grand... Plan is conn ultra..
Put the feet up and get the knee right!..

mithril

Monday
Summary 10KM in 39:49 (3:58 pace) tempo run on U.C.D. track.

Long time since I have run a tempo run, in fact almost 8 months and it showed with this effort. Put a good deal of effort into it and barely slipped under 40 minutes in the end. I was running this in under 38 minutes on track last Spring but never got anywhere near this in a race. A 38:xx PB for the distance is something I would like to take out this year if I can fit it in with other higher priorities.

The only saving grace was this got easier and faster as the run progressed and the final KM of 3:48 was better than I expected.
Knee was niggling throughout but did not deteriorate so I think yesterday's stretching had some benefit. Sports massage later this week and if this does not cure it, will schedule a trip to the physio.

mithril

Tuesday
21.12 KM in 1:32:38 (4:23 pace) in lengths of Blackrock Park.

Knee felt OK aftern yesterday's run and body felt quite fresh so decided to fit another hard session in since I am taking tomorrow off .

Good run, cold has nearly cleared up and easier to maintain this pace compared with a week ago when I was blocked up.

mithril

Agonizing sports massage where the therapist tried to tease up a knot above my knee that I think is reflecting down into the knee itself when I do a tough workout. Every marathon seems to knock less out of me and takesd a shorter time to recover from. But the sports massages themselves seem to get progressively more painful to compensate.

I got confirmation that adding "Boards A.C." to my late Ballycotton entry got it accepted. Its quite close to Wicklow Way Ultra and I want to run both reasonably well. Hoping for a sub 1:05 PB on this.

First half of the year I will do marathon type training with an emphasis on improving speed in the next few weeks.
I have 3 trail marathons planned - WW Ultra, Mourne and Zermatt marathons.
Once I have the Mourne marathon out of the way, I will start doing double LSRs and just log slow time on the feet in preparation for the Dingle 50 mile Ultra.

mithril

Thursday
Summary 16.64 KM in 1:18:35 (4:43 pace) from Blackrock to Ringsend and back again.

Some of the nicest sections of sea-front running in Dublin on this route, broken up by a few nasty concrete and granite paths which normally I avoid .
Easy, comfortable run once I had warmed up. Thermometer on the car said 2 degrees but felt colder even with gloves and an extra windproof layer. Knee still niggling, not sure whether yesterday' torture session was ineffective, or if the soreness is because the muscles manipulated in the massage need a bit longer to heal.

mithril

Friday
8.22 KM in 45:39 (5:36 pace) recovery run on grass around Carysfort Park with the History of the World in 100 Objects podcast for company.

ultraman1

mithril wrote: »

I have 3 trail marathons planned -

4:rolleyes:

mithril

Saturday
Interval session on U.C.D. track.

2.5 k warmup, 4*400, 3*800,3*1000,1*1.6 with 400m recovery.

79,84,79,87 for the 400s.
Gone back a bit since last year when I was able to hit consistent 78s but I expect it will get this back in the next few weeks as the few pounds of surplus weight disappear. I am in the ballpark of where I need to be for Ballycotton.

Sunday
24 KM in 2:03 :32 (5:07 pace ) from Kilmashogue car park to top of 3 Rock Mountain..
Parked in Kilmashogue car park and ran 3 loops to the top of the masts on 3 Rock mountain. Ran up-hills fairly hard but took it fairly easy on the downhill. As the Garmin measures, it's exactly 4KM with 250m height gain to the summit.

First two ascents 22:19 and 22:09 but left knee started to get very sore on the second descent. The sports massage did not have the results I was hoping for. I considered abandoning at this point but it responded well to stretching and I completed a final ascent in a much slower 23:58

Had 2 litres of water and a banana in the car and refuelled after each loop.
Two solid workouts completed. Will try and add an extra loop next time.

mithril

ultraman1 wrote: »

4:rolleyes:

Well one will be more of a training run than a competitive race.:)

mithril

Monday
Summary 7 KM in 45:30 (5:30 pace) recovery run around Sandyford.
After core strengthening and stretching session in gym.

Tuesday
Summary 6 * miles intervals on U.C.D. track with 400m recovery.
6:13,5:59,6:05,6:03,6:08,6:12

Solid session since I had a couple of tough workouts over the week-end as well and was not fully recovered going into this.
Unfortunately,I never seem to be able to bring this pace with me when I do a short road race. I think the harder road surface plus the inaccuracy of the Garmin are the two main reasons.

Made me realize how tough a 4 minute mile is and we ahve gone a long way since that was remarkable in top flight athletics.

New PB for me! I never have run a mile before.