Gaelforce West 21/8/10

Fi H

haha! I was milling in the salty popcorn!

Wonkagirl

did anybody else have that grainy salty face thing going on?

i'm wondering did i not take on enough fluid during the race.. i had 2.15 litres in total- how does that sound?

was a real struggle to eat too, wasnt it.. forced myself with a banana, a gel, and an energy bar.. ditching the latter going fwd tho.

helimachoptor

Wonkagirl wrote: »

did anybody else have that grainy salty face thing going on?

i'm wondering did i not take on enough fluid during the race.. i had 2.15 litres in total- how does that sound?

was a real struggle to eat too, wasnt it.. forced myself with a banana, a gel, and an energy bar.. ditching the latter going fwd tho.

I was very salty at the end but i had about 4 litres of lucozade mixed with water and then probably another 500ml of water.

Also i lost half a banana on the run, i peeled it and then it fell off, was really looking forward to it:mad:

Fi H

I drank 3.25 litres of water, 500ml mixed with nuun tablets and 750 mil 2:1 high 5 drinks. My friend who did it a lot quicker drank over 5 litres i think with electrolytes in all of it. also asked advice before the race and aimed to take in 300-350 calories per hour. was told the key to finishing was to keep eating every 15 mins and to eat when you feel good. i think that may be part of the reason i finished! certainly important when out so long.

any of the elites i have spoken to before said they take in food every 15-20 mins something like a mini snickers or gels. if thats all you took in it sounds like maybe you didnt taken enough maybe.

The salty face is just dried sweat isnt it?

c montgomery

Wonkagirl wrote: »

did anybody else have that grainy salty face thing going on?

i'm wondering did i not take on enough fluid during the race.. i had 2.15 litres in total- how does that sound?

was a real struggle to eat too, wasnt it.. forced myself with a banana, a gel, and an energy bar.. ditching the latter going fwd tho.

I had these buns called milky bread. There just like soft sweet mini bread rolls but with a sup of water they break down in your mouth and are easy to swallow. Lots of energy from them. Along with 2 banannas, a pack of ride shots and a gel i had more than enough although i did find the rest hard to swallow.

Wonkagirl

yeah i dont think i had nearly enough fluid or calories. i did better than last yr on that front, but still not enough. will know for next time.

Adi CkonSh

Fi H wrote: »

Yeah... the advantage in being actually last is that all the marshalls know they can go home when you come through so they were very enthusiastic also my really impressive friends who finished hours before me went home showered changed and drove the car down to support me and to drive me back to the hotel.... i LOVE them so much!!

I do think the cycle back into town at that hour of the night would have killed me....esp cause people would have been...where the hell have you been til now :D

Yeah that cycle back to the hotel was killer. You should have seen me driving the car to get you, let alone the atempt to park, not much control of the legs!

Thanks to Trish who I'd met at Jog in the Bog who lent me her pole for CP on her way back down, made the job a whole lot easier.

Legs not as bad today, still walking funny but the arnica bath and camphor massage oil rubbed all over last night seems to have had a bit of an effect. I'm actually considering next year now:D

Fi H

But arent you my best friend for a reason :D xxx

Of course you will do it next year....who the hell else is going to come pick me up at the finish line hahaha!

r0nanf

Wonkagirl wrote: »

I lived in fear of punctures (even on my fully inflated gatorskins) for all the offroad bits, it really took from the enjoyment of the event for me.

My wife got a tear in the wall of one of her gatorskins, and she <u>was</u> walking the bike at the time! Inflated to 110+ psi, so it's possible even when being careful1

yop

I had a few different mixtures of foods/gels/powders and some I found great, others i don't think worked at all.

I found the best was the 4:1 HIGH 5 powder, when I started drinking this (1 litre) I recovered the legs.
Gels I found useless, I was starving on CP even though I had a cereal bar at the kayak. I took 4 gels after the kayak to the foot of the peak of CP, then I had mars bar and banana and they seemed to kickstart me.

Took some other power (high 5 ) in my bladder but found it sickening.

So lessons learned for sure.

ronanmac

A short race report:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/45788554

A long race report:
The alarm went off at 5:15. Four of us were registered for the 5:30 wave, but being booked in at the B and B at start of the course gave us a little bit extra sleep time.

Pitch dark initally, the morning revealed itself to be, for the second Gaelforce year in a row, an island of tranquility in a summer in inclemency. For breakfast, it was a banana, porridge with chia seeds, a bottle of water with chia seeds, half a Mule bar (50 per cent off for being out of date!) and a strong coffee. At the start line, I met Yop and a cameraman from work, and then, following an emergency dash back to the B and B for a final toilet break, it was time to head to Westport.

The cheering from the next wave near the start was great, and I settled nicely into the run. I almost missed the turn for the Famine Trail section, but it was a lovely run, bouncing off rocks and trying to find the harder ground. That didn’t go entirely to plan, though, as my shoe disappered into a bog hole and I had to hobble back to fish it out. I guess I have to tighten my laces more when offroad running, as opposed to road running.

Last year, I got straight into the queue for the kayaks but had planned this year to take a little break, take on some water and a gel, and take a toilet break. My plan was scuppered by my only annoyance at the day’s organisation. We had been informed that every wave bar the elite wave would be taken off the clock once we came to the first transition area and I had planned accordingly. While I was taking gel and water, however, I was told that there was no time out as there were plenty of kayaks available. It threw me a little, but I got into the kayak with a Westport man called Francie and we headed across the fjord, away from my home county and into his.

The second run was heavy on the legs but not quite as boggy as last year. Two weeks of incessant rain before Gaelforce 2009 had left the ground considerably softer and more cut up, and things were a bit firmer underfoot this year. At the bike transition, I changed out of the trail shoes and threw the bike shoes on. The bike felt good, a break from the running, and half way through, I started chatting with Cathal from Cong. We stayed together for the rest of the bike leg but he was definitely stronger than me in the saddle as, while I was suffering, he was chatting away with me and everyone he passed! I guess if you’re a cyclist from Cong, you’d have to be good! The new bike section was bone-shaking, I was glad to have done it beforehand so as to see what was ahead of me. I felt guilty for doing such awful things to my bike, though, and I’d say that there isn’t a bolt on it that doesn’t need tightening!

Onto the reek, and Cathal and I stayed together for much of the zigzag pass, where he headed off and I struggled, cramping as I climbed. Half-way up the scree section of the Reek, the gel I had taken coming off the bike reappeared and I vomited twice. I am very grateful for the elderly pilgrim who gave me a gulp from his Ballygowan. Heading down was better, I went out on the scree and let the stone roll away underfoot. There didn’t seem to be as much loose scree though, and a mixture of that and me not being able to keep up with my body slowed my progress. I passed Cathal a quarter of the way down, but it wasn’t long before he was in pursuit!

Onto the bike again, and the Scelp. It was easier to cycle this year as opposed to last, but I was cramping up badly on the inner thigh, not sure what muscle it was but I hadn’t experienced cramps there before. Once I got onto the main road, I got down on the tri-bars and gave it leather. I had last year’s finish in my head... dispose of bike, run across a bit of gravel and onto grass, and that’s that. This year, I started swearing to myself as I cycled further and further past the finish line, knowing that the run was going to be longer than I thought it would be. I left down the bike, but was so spent at this stage that I struggled with changing shoes. A rake of people went past me, some of them I caught before the finish, others I didn’t.

Eventually, I made the finish line in 4:44:17. At the time, I felt like I couldn’t have given anymore. Thinking back, I’m not so sure. After last year’s finish of 369th place (5:04:30), I had a “secret” ambition of finishing in the top 100. When I came in at the finish and saw my provisional finish of 89th place, I was delighted but suspected that I would slide down the order pretty quickly. In the end, I finished in 116th place.

Afterwards, I wasn’t sure if I would it again, but today, I was looking at my splits and everyone elses’s splits and looking at the room for improvement. The times posted by Padraic Marry, PeterX, Enduro and company are phenomenal. I know that I will never get near those times but if I want improvement, there is no getting around the mountain. I definitely need to improve my performance on Croagh Patrick, and work on other aspects. Whether you should go for toe clips or cleats, I’m not sure. I felt that the cleats were the right decision until I was trying to change shoes at the final transition. I wonder what strategy the elite pack went with on this one?

Overall, it was a fantastic day and a fantastic event. Big-time congratulations are due to the organisers who took on board a lot of negativity last year and made Gaelforce 2010 a great event. And fair play to everyone who finished. A tough day out, but a great day!

Fitzilicious

Wonkagirl wrote: »

did anybody else have that grainy salty face thing going on?

i'm wondering did i not take on enough fluid during the race.. i had 2.15 litres in total- how does that sound?

was a real struggle to eat too, wasnt it.. forced myself with a banana, a gel, and an energy bar.. ditching the latter going fwd tho.

Lots and lots of salt on the face....always happens, wouldn't worry about it!
Went with standard tyres pumped to the max and I was grand, was more worried about falling off and doing serious damage(wearing cleets) than puncture TBH!

Going to try circuits this eve, It will be painful but loosen me out....I hope!!

theboykidney

Anyone know how many people are in each wave?
I'd like to figure out my net gain/loss.
cheers.

nerraw1111

c montgomery wrote: »

Have to disagree here. I flew down it on my racer with standard tyres as my gatorskins never arrived. I had the advantage of being in the second wave so there was not many people on the skelp as i was descending so i could pick my line easily.
Its not easy and takes a bit of bottle but it can be done:)Real bone shaking stuff tho.

Agree. I cycled all of the skelp on a racer with flat handlebars. It's very cycleable. I nearly came off a few times but managed to hold on. I was in the second last wave and traffic wasn't much of an issue.

I still think a MTB is the wrong bike. There would be very little advantage on the off road parts other than comfort and protection from punctures. That said, I'd love to tackle the skelp downhill on a MTB, i'd say it'd be great craic.

Yup, face was covered in salt at the end. I reckon I drank about 2 litres in total during race.

Wonkagirl

theboykidney wrote: »

Anyone know how many people are in each wave?
I'd like to figure out my net gain/loss.
cheers.

i heard it was 300 but i couldnt confirm if that was true, i'd say you'd have to do a manual count on the site.

better stats would be nice for next yr, for instance, i'd like to know where i came in the womens. my goals were top 50% overall (beat that comfortably), and top 20% of women. will prob have to do a manual extrapolation for the latter though, by counting the amt of women ahead of me and using the 4:1 ratio. Looked to me like it was more 9:1 though!

Wonkagirl

nerraw1111 wrote: »

I was in the second last wave and traffic wasn't much of an issue.

Traffic was a massive issue in my wave. PLUS, the people walking chose to walk on the NICE bits!!! that was nuts. and annoying. I cycled as much of the skelp as i could, but i kept coming across people walking on the flat/grassy bits with their bikes, leaving the only cycle option to be the worst possible terrain available. eejits.

Wreck

I posted this in my log, figured I'd stick it up here too for anyone who wants to be bored by my meanderings!


Ok so trip report for Gaelforce to follow, probably too long and boring for anyone to actually read but at least I'll be able to look back on it at a later stage.

Friday waiting to go down was awful, was filled with nervous excitement and my lift got delayed in work so we didn't actually leave Dublin till after 16.00. One of my friends who had already left rang me saying she was backing out of doing it, but eventually she agreed to go ahead when I said I'd run it with her, provided she could get into my wave. To be honest I was delighted to have someone to run it with as I'd no idea what to expect, and didn't know anyone else who was starting in my wave.

Because we ended up leaving late, we didn't get to stop for a meal on the way down as we were afraid of missing the registration cut-off. In the end we made it down in good time and the registration went pretty smoothly. By the time we got to Westport itself it was around 22.00 so decided just to get a sandwich in the garage. Unfortunately I didn't get to eat it as when I got to the hostel I was staying in I basically went straight to bed. When I got into my room the three others were already asleep and I didn't want to disturb anyone's race prep so I just put my bag in the corner and went to bed. Two big mistakes here - not eating and not making sure I had everything ready for the morning.

Had a pretty restless night, finally dozed off around 01.00. My wave had to be at the bus for 07.00 so was planning to get up around 06.15. Unfortunately, the people who were on the 5.30 bus were extremely obnoxious, so I (and probably everyone else in the hostel) was awake at 04.00 and had to listen to people laughing, talking out loud and actually running up and down the hallway. I understand people being excited, but these gimps had no regard for anyone else. Once the first wave left thing quietened down a good bit, probably because everyone else was aware just how annoying the first wave was.

There was no getting back to sleep for me so I decided to get up and 05.45 and try to eat as much as possible - was a good call as I spent about half an hour eating, and I think if I hadn't done this I may not have made it through the day. (Spoiler is possibly too much information)

I also tried to take a dump as I'm pretty regular about needing one around 08.30 every morning and would be on the start line at that time - this did not work out however

. There was still one person asleep in my room so I just grabbed all my stuff and went to the bathroom to put on my gear and check over my supplies for the day - two of my bananas had been squashed and were destroyed, and I forgot to put in two energy bars - again this was stuff I should have checked the night before.

Got down to the bus and met my friend, bus journey was good, was great to have someone to talk to. Got down to near the start line for about 08.10, but we were delayed starting until 08.50 - this would normally annoy the **** out of me but there was great camaraderie among all the competitors so it was actually a bit of a laugh. Rush of adrenaline as we were called to the start line and big cheer once the hooter went.

I found the first 12k run really easy. In hindsight we didn't go hard enough, but I was worried about going too fast and being wrecked for the rest of the race. The first section was on road, and not pounding this out was a mistake, as there were plenty of spots on the off-road section that you had to take slowly which would have been a chance to recuperate. We did the run in 1.54, but I could easily have knocked half an hour off this and been fine.

Next section was the kayaks, which was just a joke to be honest. My friend and I did it in under 12 minutes, and neither of us had any kayak experience to speak of. It was just so easy compared to the rest of the race, it seems like a gimmick to me. My back was a little sore coming off, but I think that was due to the way I sat more than anything else.

This was followed by a 4k bog run, which again I found pretty easy, although there was a danger of twisting an ankle. Did it in 30 mins, but again could probably have shaved 10 minutes off this.

Got to the bikes in 02.51 in total, which was about 15 mins slower than I had hoped but still fine. From then everything started going wrong. First off the brakes on my back wheel must have come lose on the trip down, as the wheel was constantly rubbing against it. Managed to get them straightened a little bit, but they kept going back all through out the rest of the day, which was obviously a bit of a hindrance.

Once I got on the bike I felt really good, my legs were fine. This 33k cycle was the part of the race I was most worried about, but starting out I was pretty confident. Again we made the mistake of not pushing hard enough on good surfaces and roads. About 20 minutes in I hit a pothole and punctured my back wheel. Just then it started lashing rain, had been lovely up till then. Took me almost half an hour to change the tube as the wheel had become jammed when I went over the pothole. My friend stayed to help me, and I felt really bad for delaying her, but I honestly think if she hadn't waited I would have packed the race in there and then. Was so frustrating trying to get the wheel off in the rain, and my hands were becoming numb. Eventually managed it, got the new tube on and we were off again.

We had a good stretch of decent cycling over the next 15k or so, I stopped to fix my breaks at one point and ended up having to help another guy with a puncture, only took about 10 minutes though. I left my pump with him as I wanted to try and catch back up with my friend, which I eventually did, just before the last section of road before the path to Croagh Patrick. This was pretty terrible for cycling on, and I got a second puncture - no idea how, as I was trying to take it easy and didn't notice hitting anything. I let my friend go on so that I wouldn't be delaying her anymore, fixed it in about 10 minutes with the lend of a pump from someone else. At that stage I was about 3k from Croagh Patrick, and I ended up running with the bike for at least 2k of this as I couldn't afford another puncture - no more spare tubes. All in all this 35k cycle took me 2hr56, an absolutely ridiculously slow time. I reckon the punctures and break problems cost me about an hour in total on this section, and tactics probably another 30 minutes.

Got to Croagh Patrick and started pounding up it in an attempt to catch up with my friend, I'm sure people thought I was mad sprinting past them but I actually felt fine at that stage. Also I was just delighted to be off the bike and not be worrying about punctures for a while. When I caught up with her about a third of the way up she was pretty tired, so ended up taking it quite slowly from then on. Due to my lack of prep in the morning, we had run out of food at this stage, and although I was fine and had plenty of energy, she was struggling big time. About 3/4s of the way up I honestly thought she was going to pack it in, she looked so pale and was complaining of dizziness. Took a little breather, and I bumped into a girl who was staying in the hostel with me who I had met at breakfast, and she supplied us with some food. We pushed on to the top and it was great to get up there. There was no mist or clouds at that stage so we had a full panoramic view of the area and it was amazing.

Managed to get some more food for my friend, and I shared out some drinks with others who had left theirs down with the bikes. Seemed to do the trick for my friend, as she was much livelier on the way back down. She broke her ankle a while back, and really struggled on the descent as a result of this, so again we took it pretty slowly. I went up and down in just under two hours, on my own I reckon I would have done it in 40 minutes less, but there was a pretty good chance I wouldn't have made it past the first puncture on my own. All in all I really enjoyed Croagh Patrick, only had two issues. I felt it was quite dangerous having so many people on the mountain at one time, especially as there were quite a few gimps who didn't take other people into consideration. I understand it's a race, and fair enough if you want to risk your own body on the descent, but knocking stones into others and shoving past people is really not on. My second problem was that my hands were totally numb by the time I got down, I couldn't even buckle my helmet - will definitely put the gloves on next time!

Got onto to the bikes for the final 14k cycle, and I was absolutely petrified of another puncture. I guess I ran about 3k of this pushing the bike over the crap surfaces. Along the way I bumped into the girl who had given us the food on CP, she was struggling with her own puncture so I stopped to help her - at this stage I was quite the expert so only took about 10 minutes. Once I got on to the better surface for the last 8k or so I absolutely pounded it out, I reckon I passed at least 30 or so people. Got off the bike and started off on the final run, which I thought was a 100 metre dash, so I again I sprinted it, turned out it was actually 800 metres, but I was well able to keep up the pace and past another ten or so people. Over the last section of the cycle and run I was pretty delighted to find that I still had plenty left in the legs despite being on the go for over so long.

So I finished in 08.55, which is nowhere near what I wanted, and I am disappointed with this time. I'm especially disappointed that I didn't push harder on the runs. But I'm also delighted that I actually finished, and overall I really enjoyed the race. I also had a great laugh doing it with a friend beside me, I think over 9 hours on my own would have driven me insane! And experience wise it was brilliant, I've learned an awful lot for the Achill Roar next month.

I thought overall the race was really well organised, everyone including the marshals, locals, tourists and competitors were amazingly enthusiastic and supportive. Was a super experience. Yesterday thoughts of punctures on the bike were putting me off doing it again, but today I'm already planning training and tactics for next year!

GoHardOrGoHome

I had:

500ml water
400ml water with Nuun
60ml of a mini Red Bull drink
1 mouthful from some kind soul on Croagh Patrick.

So about one litre in total.

3 gels. Amazed I could stomach them.

kerinsp

Is there a link somewhere to see everyone elses split times?

c montgomery

Just looking at my splits and i wish i could do this event again next month. Lots of room for improvement although i still feel like i left nothing on the course.
I paid a heavy price for my lack of running training but it couldnt be helped.
After 2 GF's the score stands at CP 2 Me 0. Im hoping to peg that back next year:)

helimachoptor

http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2010/gaelforce6/

c montgomery

kerinsp wrote: »

Is there a link somewhere to see everyone elses split times?

Here ya go;)

http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2010/gaelforce6/gael_force_splits.html

Wreck

Does anyone know where we can find the photos taken by the photographer at the top of Croagh Patrick?

helimachoptor

Wreck wrote: »

Does anyone know where we can find the photos taken by the photographer at the top of Croagh Patrick?

Have asked the same question, from the website they will appear soon... but there was an unofficial guy taking some aswell, the links are a couple of pages back.

c montgomery

Wreck wrote: »

Does anyone know where we can find the photos taken by the photographer at the top of Croagh Patrick?

Some available here
http://www.gaelforceevents.com/en/event_photos.html

Wreck

helimachoptor wrote: »

Have asked the same question, from the website they will appear soon... but there was an unofficial guy taking some aswell, the links are a couple of pages back.

Yeah I saw those ones, spotted a few friends but none of me! The guy on top of CP made me and my friend pose for a pic, I really want to see what state I was in.

c montgomery

c montgomery wrote: »

Some available here
http://www.gaelforceevents.com/en/event_photos.html

Pricey at 9:75 a pop

Eido

Wonkagirl wrote: »

i heard it was 300 but i couldnt confirm if that was true, i'd say you'd have to do a manual count on the site.

better stats would be nice for next yr, for instance, i'd like to know where i came in the womens. my goals were top 50% overall (beat that comfortably), and top 20% of women. will prob have to do a manual extrapolation for the latter though, by counting the amt of women ahead of me and using the 4:1 ratio. Looked to me like it was more 9:1 though!

Hi there,
My boyf copied and pasted the results into excel and did a bit of analysis. Here are the best bits:
- 2301 people finished
- 38 people didn't finish
- 435 women finished
- 1904 men finished
- Top ten female:
Pos Pos Female No. Name Team Category Time Excluded Time
34 1 71 Derval Devaney Irish F 04:15:52
54 2 2484 Emma Donlon Irish F 04:30:28 00:00:17
78 3 643 Betty Walsh Irish F 04:36:55 00:07:24
88 4 70 Fiona Devane Irish F 04:39:20
109 5 80 Karen Doyle Irish F 04:43:26
167 6 97 Laura Flynn Irish FV40 04:52:51
183 7 549 Sarah Neary Irish F 04:57:08 00:05:30
185 8 201 Lucy Mcnamara Irish F 04:57:52
206 9 210 Leonie Moran Irish F 04:59:40
217 10 394 Mags Fitzgerald Irish F 05:01:54 00:01:19

- top ten male:
1 1 176 Padraig Marrey Irish M 03:36:51
2 2 236 Peter O'Farrell Irish M 03:37:00
3 3 222 Tomás O Dowd Irish M 03:39:56
4 4 147 Eoin Keith Irish MV40 03:43:32
5 5 100 Micheál Forde Irish M 03:44:21
6 6 172 Paul Mahon Irish MV40 03:48:40
7 7 45 Diarmaid Collins Irish M 03:50:40
8 8 286 Colm Staunton Irish M 03:52:19
9 9 3 Gary Bailey British M 03:53:12
10 10 16 Noel Brady Irish MV50 03:54:34


Lots of other statistical analysis you can do once it's in excel but wouldn't want to bore you! It's a pity the organisers don't do some analysis on the website....or at least upload the excel format.

Disappointing number of women competing - would have expected that at least a third would have been women.

I was a GF first-timer. Never done anything more than a half-marathon before and decided in a fit of madness to sign up to GF with my boyf. I've always been fairly fit but had a baby in December so I really needed a high-end objective to get me back out training...and I think I hit the nail on the head with GF alright. What a day! Really enjoyed it. Found CP tough on the climb up, but managed a fair pace on the way down. Finished in 6.04, so came in the top 20% (of the females that finished) so was really happy with myself.
Few lessons learned:
- bring food you actually enjoy (really bland ham sandwich dried up my mouth and didn't do anything for me at all; gagged on the gels; had a revolting energy bar)
- bike choice: found the mtb with slicks great and would definitly use it again; flew past loads of road bikes, even on the flats, and
- no dilly-dallying: because the race was so long, I kind of forgot - some of the time - that it's a race and that every second counts (for those that are competing anyway), and I did a bit of hanging around unnecessarily, e.g. top of CP
- absorb the atmosphere and enjoy the scenery: it doesn't slow you down!!
- bag managment: bike stuff should be in a bike bag (had my bike kit in my backpack for the whole race - quite heavy); have things easily accessible so that you can reach what you need without stopping/dismounting - side pockets in the bag would have been a plus
- talk to the experts: really benefited from a training session held by two of the elites a few months before the event. Also forums like "boards.ie" are great for picking up tips, but don't take everything at face value.
- Come back for more: I loved it!! I'm hooked!!

Eido

Heard there were TV cameras at the elite run - does anyone know if the event will be televised...and if so when?

rebelreded

Wonkagirl wrote: »

i discovered the best bloody things ever- they're called 'power shots' by power bar. basically, gels in sweet form. they're like wine gums, and do the same job as the gels, but are so much more pallatable. Definitely got me up CP, and would use them again for sure. Mine were lemon flavoured, but apparenlty the cola flavoured ones are identical to cola bottles, they were sold out of them in Great Outdoors last week tho

They are called Ride Shots and are the nicest thing ever....stuffed half a dozen of them into my mouth for the last cycle and they were heavenly!!! I had the Cola flavour and a friend had the Lemon and said that they were lovely too!