gaelforce west 20/8/2011

Mr Jinx

Head The Wall wrote: »

Bike is 44km, there's another 12km after the reek.

its 44km in total. 33.5kms to Croagh Patrick and 12km after Croagh Patrick
http://www.gaelforceevents.com/west/en/the_course/course_info.html

Fi H

Mr Jinx wrote: »

its 44km in total. 33.5kms to Croagh Patrick and 12km after Croagh Patrick
http://www.gaelforceevents.com/west/en/the_course/course_info.html

I love the way you added 33.5 and 12 and got 44

gaelforce was sneaky last year cause i know some people said they got 73km on their garmins!

Rawhead

4 stars (good)

Yesterdays little surprise in Croker now means I'll be heading for the smoke the day after the race. Those hard plastic seats won't be kind on a sore arse.

toomuchdetail

Anyone on here doing the Half Iron in Galway on the 4th Sept and going GF ?? I entered GF in a moment of weakness and from the last 2 years blisters,knees and one broken spirit were come of the baggage I took away .
Was going to use GF as a training event and hopefully get in at about 6hrs but is there time to recover or should I just let it go ?

toomuchdetail

LaHaine wrote: »

Thinking about getting a pair of Mizuno Wave harrier runners for this. Anyone have them? Or recommend any other trail running runners?

Also, as part of the mandatory kit a waterproof jacket is required. Would a cycling gillet be adequate for this?
.

Bought the Mizuno last year as I use the Alchemy wave runner on the road , bottom line is that this year I bought the Solomon speed cross 2, I think they are possibly even a little cheaper than the mizuno but the fit is alot better and the support is chalk and cheese in comparison .
Not sure where your based but exposure sports in Castlebar give a 10% reduction for GF nutters so they should come in around €100.

On the rain were a cheap lidl jacket (€10) thats light and can fold/cram into a small pocket would be ideal a gillet might be a bit bulky

ThisRegard

I read over the weekend that one of the local priests is complaining over what he calls "the secularisation" of the Reek and says about Gaelforce, amongst others, "These events are part of the whole secularisation of our society. Nothing is set aside anymore as special or sacred ". Fair enough, it's a pilgrimage site for many catholics, but it doesn't belong to the church or catholicism nor is it for their exclusive use. I suppose this is off topic and maybe more suited for another forum with respect to secularisation.

Mr Freeze

3 stars (average)

Hmmmm, this argument crops up every year in one form or another.

Last year it was the people of Murrisk supposedly giving out about GF and people training on the reek, I doubt they were as a community giving out, it could have been one person in a pub or nothing at all.

This year, its a priest giving out.

Nobody seemed to give out when Sea2Summit went up the front of the reek last year. Possibly because people made some money out of it charging people for parking out there, you can't charge people at the back of the reek.

ThisRegard wrote: »

I suppose this is off topic and maybe more suited for another forum with respect to secularisation.

It's definitely worth discussing (somewhere).

nerraw1111

The church are seriously losing the run of themselves. 'People are enjoying themseves, quick, to the Pope mobile.'

I for one, believe the biggest blight on the reek is the horrible church they stuck on top of the mountain. Must be the ugliest building in Ireland in one of the most stunning locations.

To quote the priest, is nothing set aside anymore as special or sacred?

A sacred mountain? Fair enough but since when do you put stinking toilet blocks on something so sacred?

Back on topic, with three weeks to go, pretty much of the hard training should be done by now according to a former winner.

http://www.gaelforceevents.com/west/en/event_info/news/john_harrington_peter_ofarrell.html

Still time though for three or four hard cycles.

TheEagles

nerraw1111 wrote: »

The church are seriously losing the run of themselves. 'People are enjoying themseves, quick, to the Pope mobile.'

I for one, believe the biggest blight on the reek is the horrible church they stuck on top of the mountain. Must be the ugliest building in Ireland in one of the most stunning locations.

I mean is to quote the priest, is nothing is set aside anymore as special or sacred?

A sacred mountain? Fair enough but since when do you put stinking toilet blocks on something so sacred?

Back on topic, with three weeks to go, pretty much of the hard training should be done by now according to a former winner.

http://www.gaelforceevents.com/west/en/event_info/news/john_harrington_peter_ofarrell.html

Still time though for three or four hard cycles.

For anyone that has been trainin for GF, what would be a good time to get up and down the reek??

Fi H

ThisRegard wrote: »

I read over the weekend that one of the local priests is complaining over what he calls "the secularisation" of the Reek and says about Gaelforce, amongst others, "These events are part of the whole secularisation of our society. Nothing is set aside anymore as special or sacred ". Fair enough, it's a pilgrimage site for many catholics, but it doesn't belong to the church or catholicism nor is it for their exclusive use. I suppose this is off topic and maybe more suited for another forum with respect to secularisation.

This kind of s**t really annoys me...when the church hasnt had the ability to come out and categorically provide a statement againt the exploitation of most special or sacred thing in our society - children, they cant expect that society wont become more secularised!

anyway before i get off on a major rant......definitely getting the bike out over the next couple of weeks, and goign to get one of those clock things fitted that tells ya how far you have gone and your average speed! i am going to try and aim for average speeds this year to make my cut of 2 hours off last years time

thehamo

3 stars (average)

Head The Wall wrote: »

Bike is 44km, there's another 12km after the reek.

Ah yeah but sure that's easy home straight practically all down hill. More trouble goin to the shops for my breakfast

snailsong

4 stars (good)

TheEagles wrote: »

For anyone that has been trainin for GF, what would be a good time to get up and down the reek??

According to the excellent analysis done by koemannscc in his training log on here, a 1 hour 3min up and down would be typical of someone doing a 5 hour race. You can extrapolate from that, roughly. Remember though, that there is a high variance in reek times, even amongst the top athletes. Some are very good at it some are not. Thats what makes adventure racing fun.

Mr Freeze

3 stars (average)

snailsong wrote: »

According to the excellent analysis done by koemannscc in his training log on here, a 1 hour 3min up and down would be typical of someone doing a 5 hour race. You can extrapolate from that, roughly. Remember though, that there is a high variance in reek times, even amongst the top athletes. Some are very good at it some are not. Thats what makes adventure racing fun.

I was 5hr16mins last year, and spent a whopping 1hr18 of that on the reek. I always take the zig zag route.

Fi H wrote: »

gaelforce was sneaky last year cause i know some people said they got 73km on their garmins!

67.27km on mine.

kilns

Do any people walk the course say in the last waves out?

Fi H

it took me 10.5 hours last year so i would say yes...although i did alternate between walking anf jogging, just had a total mental breakdown on CP & had to have a sit down and a sandwich at the top!
Hoping to cut tonnes of time off this year

the problem with being in the later waves f you are slow is that you may miss the cut off time for CP, that said however maybe thats a good thing!

TheEagles

snailsong wrote: »

According to the excellent analysis done by koemannscc in his training log on here, a 1 hour 3min up and down would be typical of someone doing a 5 hour race. You can extrapolate from that, roughly. Remember though, that there is a high variance in reek times, even amongst the top athletes. Some are very good at it some are not. Thats what makes adventure racing fun.

Great thanks for that. Not long now folks...

hardCopy

3 stars (average)

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Back on topic, with three weeks to go, pretty much of the hard training should be done by now according to a former winner.

http://www.gaelforceevents.com/west/en/event_info/news/john_harrington_peter_ofarrell.html

Still time though for three or four hard cycles.

Sweet, just nailed my first 20k+ run last night.

elchupanebrey

hardCopy wrote: »

Sweet, just nailed my first 20k+ run last night.

If you're running twenty km at that altitude GF will be a breeze being around sea levl for the most part:pac:

hardCopy

3 stars (average)

elchupanebrey wrote: »

If you're running twenty km at that altitude GF will be a breeze being around sea levl for the most part:pac:

Ha! I should really update my profile, I am thankfully no longer a Ryanair commuter.

happygoose

I booked two nights accommodation for two people for GFW (Westport Country Lodge Hotel) that I will not now be using. It cost €160.00 B&B for 2 people arriving the 19th August leaving the 21st.

I'm looking to pass this onto someone for the price of my booking deposit, €23with the remainder to be paid to the hotel by whoever purchases.

I'm sure there's someone who needs a room, Westport was pretty booked up for GFW weekend by April last when I booked this.

Rusty Rothar

ThisRegard wrote: »

I read over the weekend that one of the local priests is complaining over what he calls "the secularisation" of the Reek and says about Gaelforce, amongst others, "These events are part of the whole secularisation of our society. Nothing is set aside anymore as special or sacred ". Fair enough, it's a pilgrimage site for many catholics, but it doesn't belong to the church or catholicism nor is it for their exclusive use. I suppose this is off topic and maybe more suited for another forum with respect to secularisation.

Wont sombody please think of the children! So when did the church buy the reek?

Anyone got any tips for a good route around dublin/wicklow for a cycle and hill run in preparation for gaelforce, my hill running training hasnt gone great so want to get one or two decent sessions in before this years race

centre back

4 stars (good)

this time 2 weeks will be after dropping my bike at delpi and stuffing my face with pasta!!!:D

Rinker

2 stars (poor)

Rusty Rothar wrote: »

Anyone got any tips for a good route around dublin/wicklow for a cycle and hill run in preparation for gaelforce, my hill running training hasnt gone great so want to get one or two decent sessions in before this years race

If you go to the WAR Powerscourt website they've got a great route.
Alternatively run the Sugarloaf starting from Kilmacanogue then onto the bike to Roundwood and take route back to start over the Sally Gap:eek: or the easier route back by Djouce woods:p.

The Sugarloaf is good preparation for CP especially with all the loose stone up at the peak.

ThisRegard

The Sugar Loaf is the Bermuda Triangle of the IMRA calendar. Each time I've attempted the route on my own I got lost one way or another. One time impressively so that I climbed to the peak from the opposite side of the trail, that was an interesting morning.

Rusty Rothar

Rinker wrote: »

If you go to the WAR Powerscourt website they've got a great route.
Alternatively run the Sugarloaf starting from Kilmacanogue then onto the bike to Roundwood and take route back to start over the Sally Gap:eek: or the easier route back by Djouce woods:p.

The Sugarloaf is good preparation for CP especially with all the loose stone up at the peak.

Tried it last weekend on Sunday with the bad weather, ended parking up near the peek and it took about 40 mins to the peak and back to the car, dont think thats ideal preparation for GF

Thanks, I'll try it from Kilmacanogue on Sunday. Is the trail easy to follow from Kilmacanogue?

Rawhead

4 stars (good)

Did my final full scale training today.
70km cycle to Reek= 2:31
Summit= 41mins (took a good 10mins for legs to free up)
Descent= 26mins (reek was very busy and to be honest my legs were rubber)
Base to Harbour= 35mins to 40mins (not exactly sure as I was under pressure at that stage and forgot to hit the lap button)

I didn't do any run but reckon the double cycle should balance it out somewhat. Tackling the reek after the cycle was very tough compared to the last time I done it fresh (31mins) and it was fairly well broken up after last weekend. I tried my new pair of trail runners and believe its the best few quid I could have spent, great grip and gave me confidence. My descent times are fairly poor but I don't mind saying that I would be cautious enough, I've 3 little kids at home and its only a race.
The skelp was a bit rougher than I thought, I'm using my road bike and you could leave most of it behind on that stretch if you wanted. I took it fairly easy today as I didn't want to make bits of the bike at this stage so I reckon there is 5 mins to be had from that stage at least.
I'll do a few cycles and runs next week but I'm pretty much done at this stage. I had planned to cycle the 70kms home but gave up and got the brother to pick me up in Castlebar, I was absolutely smoked at that stage.

Rusty Rothar

Rawhead wrote: »

Did my final full scale training today.
70km cycle to Reek= 2:31
Summit= 41mins (took a good 10mins for legs to free up)
Descent= 26mins (reek was very busy and to be honest my legs were rubber)
Base to Harbour= 35mins to 40mins (not exactly sure as I was under pressure at that stage and forgot to hit the lap button)

Sounds like exactly what I had planned to do.... good intentions still count dont they?

syl77

Went up the Reek during the week, I found from the shoulder to the top (went up GF route/back way) to be more worn from when i did it last November (s2s) with less loose stones, this made it some what easier going up to get a footing but harder coming down because of less stones to slow your speed down.

Fi H

Going to give the reek a go tomorrow just to get it into my head

nerraw1111

Rusty Rothar wrote: »

Tried it last weekend on Sunday with the bad weather, ended parking up near the peek and it took about 40 mins to the peak and back to the car, dont think thats ideal preparation for GF

Thanks, I'll try it from Kilmacanogue on Sunday. Is the trail easy to follow from Kilmacanogue?

If you start from the Glencormac pub, cross the road and head towards the GAA club.

Then follow the road until you reach some bushes and follow the trail. It eventually sweeps around to where people start climbing from the car park