Warriors Run 2011

T runner

DULLAHAN2 wrote: »

Hey T runner

Quick question about the descent is it quicker to come straight down the mountain or to follow the path down? Last year i ran down the first 2 ledges then went off of the gravel track down the grassy path but i am not sure if this is the best way down. Have you any taughts on the quickest way down?

Straight down is quickest. Keep to the left of the path as you descend the two ledges and then keep left and straight down you go. Direct line. Its tricky for the first drop, fast feet needed, but within 5 secs youll be clear and flying down. Great way to overtake runners too.

One exception: if youve no grips and its very wet and greasy maybe take the path right.

Mint Sauce

T runner wrote: »

Straight down is quickest. Keep to the left of the path as you descend the two ledges and then keep left and straight down you go. Direct line. Its tricky for the first drop, fast feet needed, but within 5 secs youll be clear and flying down. Great way to overtake runners too.

One exception: if youve no grips and its very wet and greasy maybe take the path right.

Even with grips it can be slippy. Went on my arse on one of the grassy sections last week, was not even flying it.

T runner

irish-stew wrote: »

Can anyone give any more details on the accent path, I seen mention of a caravan. Does it start on that concrete lane just part it, with the one or two gates accross it.

I have been using the tourist path at the carpark, and going to the top and back down from there, but would like to get see the actual accent at least once before the big day. Gradient and terrian wise is there much difference.

Route goes.

Turn left through gate adjacent to Layby at top of glen road.
Climb and Run through gap at top left of this field.

Look up: above some rough ground further up youll see a gate leading out to the open mountain. Route goes through here. To get there zig zag left then right picking the smoothest grass. (will be well marked on race day, just go left first and then back right when it look sright to do so). go through gate.
Climb steeply with fence to your right. The main mountain bowl is noe directly in front of you. Follow the fence as it turnd 90 degrees right. Follow it around the bowl as it straightens again. It is now tight between the fence and the mountain. Continue climbing until it opens out. Continue along the fence until you are about 50 metres short of a fence ahead. Now the fun part.
Turn and face the mountain. Look up and left and pick out a flattish ramp that goes directly in a up/left direction. Climb this.
After a few minutes of tough climbing it flattens out into a serious of sheep paths. Follow them around till you hit the mountain wall. Follow it and endure a horrible soul destrying climb to reach the top with the Cairn in sight about 200 metres ahead. Run to the Cairn and run 3/4 way around before descending down the main tourist trail.

Print out the route map and take it with you in conjunction with this.

PS take note of organisers instructions re private land etc. on the site.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

T runner wrote: »

Follow it and endure a horrible soul destrying climb to reach the top with the Cairn in sight about 200 metres ahead.

Hahaha, I actually find that soul destroying climb the "easiest" part. I assume you're talking about the last climb to the cairn, with the little stone wall on your left hand side?
I find the tougher up hill section - just as you go through the gate amd around the bowl of the mountain is the hardest part, by the time I get to the "soul destroying climb" I've had to walk a good bit so I've had a bit of a rest.

T runner

irish-stew wrote: »

Even with grips it can be slippy. Went on my arse on one of the grassy sections last week, was not even flying it.

Believe it or not if you go slow you are braking and far more likely for your foot to slip and to fall. Descending at speed means your foot spends less time on the ground with less braking and less chance of a fall.

Once it gets steep you just relax and use fast feet and youll be half way down before you know it.

I usually try and recover on the lower flatter narrow stoney part. Just picking where to land with each stride: not slowing down at any time, but not pushing either. The effort is easier than at any other time during the race.

If you get to the bottom here feeling OK youll be in good shape to run well home.

If you push too hard before the hill its all out the window. A slow time with a lot of pain is all thats on the cards then.

T runner

Hail 2 Da Chimp wrote: »

Hahaha, I actually find that soul destroying climb the "easiest" part. I assume you're talking about the last climb to the cairn, with the little stone wall on your left hand side?
I find the tougher up hill section - just as you go through the gate amd around the bowl of the mountain is the hardest part, by the time I get to the "soul destroying climb" I've had to walk a good bit so I've had a bit of a rest.

Itb was soul destroying for me last year anyway! Depends on the frame of mind too maybe.

If Youve left a bit youll be rewarded with the best sight in the world: the cairn. If you havent its like another kick in the guts when youre down!

Mint Sauce

T runner wrote: »

Believe it or not if you go slow you are braking and far more likely for your foot to slip and to fall. Descending at speed means your foot spends less time on the ground with less braking and less chance of a fall.

Once it gets steep you just relax and use fast feet and youll be half way down before you know it.

I usually try and recover on the lower flatter narrow stoney part. Just picking where to land with each stride: not slowing down at any time, but not pushing either. The effort is easier than at any other time during the race.

If you get to the bottom here feeling OK youll be in good shape to run well home.

If you push too hard before the hill its all out the window. A slow time with a lot of pain is all thats on the cards then.

I have kinda noticed that at times on the decent. Have gone from the top to the car park in about 5 minutes sometimes, picking my route about 5 or 6 steps ahead, and any time I did slip I was trying to slow down to quick.

woody1

well in the end i didnt get up there at the weekend..did an 8k run in achill on saturday and just couldnt be bothered to do anything major on sunday..
will just have to take it as i find it on saturday...its not like i was gonna win it or anything even close..so a few minutes lost wont kill me..
did a little 4k blow out on sunday night and ran it faster than ever and in particular ran the 2nd 2k sub 4 mins ( each ) which is massive for me as im usually around the 5 minute a km mark ...will have to put that down to the "slightly" more structured training and hill repeats and intervals..so big thanks for all advice given to me here ..as usual pre race will find it hard to do nothing for the week...

Mint Sauce

Going to take it easy this week so not to pick up any injuries.

Done a nice flat-ish 10k yesterday. 58 minutes.

Will take a trip to the top again in the week starting and finishing in the car park. Maybe take another look at possible paths down.

A cycle. 25 to 30k.

And a couple of short runs.

Still hoping I will take at least 10 minutes of the training runs on the day.

T runner

irish-stew wrote: »

Going to take it easy this week so not to pick up any injuries.

Done a nice flat-ish 10k yesterday. 58 minutes.

Will take a trip to the top again in the week starting and finishing in the car park. Maybe take another look at possible paths down.

A cycle. 25 to 30k.

And a couple of short runs.

Still hoping I will take at least 10 minutes of the training runs on the day.

You will.

Just hold back on the day as much as possible. Keep the powder dry.
Its vital to get the descent right. Nice and relaxed and fast.

After you reach the bottom you turn right up a hill past a white building on your left, then its down till you take a sharp left at a crossroads. At this point, its time to go for it. If you went to hard earlier you will not even have reached it yet, ina world of pain moving slowly somewhere behind. if youve judged it right, youre feeling not great (no-one is) but OK. Time to keep teh legs turning over fastish, to cover the 3k or so till the big steepdownhill fast and efficient. Time to eat everyone who has gone out too fast alive.

When you get down the steep dewscent you ahve 1k of flat next. Time to endure the pain. Keep running fast, keeep teh legs turning, dont slow. The quicker you eat into teh distance here the easier it will be.

Keep the legs turning and keep positive as you climb that horrible little hill just under a mile out. Hold back slighly on it and kisk around the corner and down the big hill. At teh bottom you have 400 metres + of pain. Get through it by keeping teh pace, staying ahead of anyone sneaky loitering jsut behind, or close in on a competitor and give the crowd a bit of a sprint finish to cheer.

Im putting it this way so you know to hold back early and finsih strong. Have a plan for each mini section of the race. If youre feeling even remotely OK them obey the plan without question.

If you go out to fast the plan is out.....

DULLAHAN2

T runner wrote: »

You will.

Just hold back on the day as much as possible. Keep the powder dry.
Its vital to get the descent right. Nice and relaxed and fast.

After you reach the bottom you turn right up a hill past a white building on your left, then its down till you take a sharp left at a crossroads. At this point, its time to go for it. If you went to hard earlier you will not even have reached it yet, ina world of pain moving slowly somewhere behind. if youve judged it right, youre feeling not great (no-one is) but OK. Time to keep teh legs turning over fastish, to cover the 3k or so till the big steepdownhill fast and efficient. Time to eat everyone who has gone out too fast alive.

This is exactly what happened to me last year, i went out like a usain bolt by the time i got down to the bottom of the mountain legs went to jelly and it was a very painful last 4 mile.

When you come down the last big hill coming back into strandhill there is apartments or townhouses on the left just meters from the final straight i had to stop there as i didnt want to run any longer but some woman said it just there so i dug deep and sprinted as fast as i could the last 100 yards over the finish line.
I will be defo taking it easier up to the cairn so i dont go boom like last year.It will be hard holding back looking at eveyone passing you out but it is a must if you wanna finish strong

DULLAHAN2

DULLAHAN2 1.25

Mint Sauce

irish-stew - 1.40

T runner

T runner 59'

dna_leri

DULLAHAN2 1.25
irish-stew - 1.40
T runner 59'
dna_leri - 1:10 :eek:

stampydmonkey

DULLAHAN2 1.25
irish-stew - 1.40
T runner 59'
dna_leri - 1:10 :eek:
stampydmonkey 1.29

woody1

DULLAHAN2 1.25
irish-stew - 1.40
T runner 59'
dna_leri - 1:10 :eek:
stampydmonkey 1.29
woody1 - 1.40

RunningForFun

DULLAHAN2 1.25
irish-stew - 1.40
T runner 59'
dna_leri - 1:10
stampydmonkey 1.29
woody1 - 1.40
RunningForFun - 1.15

daveboy01

DULLAHAN2 1.25
irish-stew - 1.40
T runner 59'
dna_leri - 1:10
stampydmonkey 1.29
woody1 - 1.40
RunningForFun - 1.15
daveboy01 1.25

Hail 2 Da Chimp

DULLAHAN2 1.25
irish-stew - 1.40
T runner 59'
dna_leri - 1:10
stampydmonkey 1.29
woody1 - 1.40
RunningForFun - 1.15
daveboy01 1.25
Hail 2 Da Chimp 1:15

Mint Sauce

Flipping heck. Looks like me and Woody are going to have to step things up.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Get a load of espresso's and red bull into you before the race :pac:

Mint Sauce

Hail 2 Da Chimp wrote: »

Get a load of espresso's and red bull into you before the race :pac:

Ugh. Will be puking before I hit the bottom of the Glen Road if I do that.

:eek:

woody1

i dunno, that 1:40 could be a bit on the soft side, then again it could be ambitious, its impossible to know without having experienced it before, as a few here have, i would always tend to be a bit careful when predicting times .. if the hill is dry then id hope to knock a bit off it going down , was fairly quick running down croagh patrick and the booster in castlebar but both have more defined paths than knocknarea, ran down hill on wet grass / heather on achill at the weekend and had no issues....dont want to blast down the hill and die on the road either, first time doing it i think the primary ambition is to run it in a reasonable-ish time and try to get back next year to be more competitive...
must have a look at the running order for saturday now, wondering what time to be arriving there for.. aim for 2 ish i suppose...normally an hour drive but will prob have to allow an extra 30 mins for traffic... never liked hanging about for ages before races..

Mint Sauce

woody1 wrote: »

i dunno, that 1:40 could be a bit on the soft side, then again it could be ambitious, its impossible to know without having experienced it before, as a few here have, i would always tend to be a bit careful when predicting times .. if the hill is dry then id hope to knock a bit off it going down , was fairly quick running down croagh patrick and the booster in castlebar but both have more defined paths than knocknarea, ran down hill on wet grass / heather on achill at the weekend and had no issues....dont want to blast down the hill and die on the road either, first time doing it i think the primary ambition is to run it in a reasonable-ish time and try to get back next year to be more competitive...
must have a look at the running order for saturday now, wondering what time to be arriving there for.. aim for 2 ish i suppose...normally an hour drive but will prob have to allow an extra 30 mins for traffic... never liked hanging about for ages before races..

I was orrignally looking at a 1.30, but was baseing that on my 5 (best 23min) and 10k (best 55min) times, unfortunalty dont think I could keep that pace over the warriors run distance and terrain.

Best time over the course (starting and finishing knocknerea in the car park) is 1.50. So hopefully the extra adrenaline on the day, more daring on the decent, plus the crowd will spure me on. As long as I start easy, slow, and dont worry about being passed out in the early stages, hopefully can get that 1.40 or quicker.

In relation to what time to be there for. If you dont collect your race pack on friday evening, then you would need to be down there before 2pm on saturday, bibs, chips, etc are to be collected between 6 and 8pm on friday, or 12 to 2pm on the sat.

More here on the schedule.

cloneslad

DULLAHAN2 1.25
irish-stew - 1.40
T runner 59'
dna_leri - 1:10
stampydmonkey 1.29
woody1 - 1.40
RunningForFun - 1.15
daveboy01 1.25
Hail 2 Da Chimp 1:15


Cloneslad 1:25 - Hurt my ankle getting tackled at rugby last night. I have it bandaged up at the minute and I drove down to sligo today. Hopefully it'll be okay by saturday.

Cool Running

Sounds like a lot of boardsies from this forum running. Best of luck to everyone. Cloneslad hope ya recover in time. Nice shout on your time T Runner, great to get under the hour. Stew id say ya might dip under the 1.40 with the adrenalin on the day.

Hopoefully it will be a nice day in Strandhill. Im looking forward to checking out the results and pictures on the net next week.

I seen Emmet Dunleavy is doing a lot of local races and winning them all as expected. Does anyone know if he is running? or what other contenders are gonna be at the start line?

T runner

Cool Running wrote: »

Sounds like a lot of boardsies from this forum running. Best of luck to everyone. Cloneslad hope ya recover in time. Nice shout on your time T Runner, great to get under the hour. Stew id say ya might dip under the 1.40 with the adrenalin on the day.

Hopoefully it will be a nice day in Strandhill. Im looking forward to checking out the results and pictures on the net next week.

I seen Emmet Dunleavy is doing a lot of local races and winning them all as expected. Does anyone know if he is running? or what other contenders are gonna be at the start line?

Hes running.

Other contenders entered are Eoin Gahan current champ but doesnt seem to have run much this year, and Barry Minnock: second last year.

There may be more that im not aware of.

Minnock may be the one to beat, if he runs, as he is an elite mountain running international and is currently on of the top road runners and track runners in the country from distances of 5k to marathon.

It may be Emmets turn this year though....A good few years since weve had a Sligo winner.

Re. time prediction.

I run this every year. Any year ive done well ive respected teh mountain and gone out easy. Im not usually in the top 30 at Kellys, thats the truth. The road to the mountain is only one quarter of race time. The fastest way to complete teh race is to go out conservative and keep your momentum going when it gets tough on the hill and after.

The big test in this race on the day is not the hill: Its what pace you run out to the hill. I went out 30 secs faster last year than in 2009. I finished up well over 6 minutes slower and in distress. Not worth it.

Mint Sauce

From top to the car park today in just over 6 minutes.

Kept the feet light, relaxed, a bit of skipping and jumping. Did feel the grip go a few times, but just kept relaxed, didn't tense up, and managed to stay on the feet.

Was sure I also got a few funny looks like 'who's that loon, running down the mountain, in his shorts, in the rain'

Although the two people who asked what I was up to seemed very interested and wished me well.



Roll on Saturday.

dna_leri

T runner wrote: »

Hes running.

Other contenders entered are Eoin Gahan current champ but doesnt seem to have run much this year, and Barry Minnock: second last year.

There may be more that im not aware of.

Minnock may be the one to beat, if he runs, as he is an elite mountain running international and is currently on of the top road runners and track runners in the country from distances of 5k to marathon.

It may be Emmets turn this year though....A good few years since weve had a Sligo winner.

Re. time prediction.

I run this every year. Any year ive done well ive respected teh mountain and gone out easy. Im not usually in the top 30 at Kellys, thats the truth. The road to the mountain is only one quarter of race time. The fastest way to complete teh race is to go out conservative and keep your momentum going when it gets tough on the hill and after.

The big test in this race on the day is not the hill: Its what pace you run out to the hill. I went out 30 secs faster last year than in 2009. I finished up well over 6 minutes slower and in distress. Not worth it.

I thought Barry was out or did I misread this: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=73953866&postcount=89

Hopefully Emmet gets the win but there is always potential for surprises.

@T runner: Is it a fair estimate to expect rough split times of 25% at start of off-road section, 50% at the cairn and 75% mid-way along Rathcarrick Road (around the big house) ? Appreciate all your inputs on this and other thread. Good luck on the day to all.