Connemarathon 7/4/2013

Enduro

You're correct in your thinking. It is the sutton / Marine hotel side which most resembles the HOTW. Just a moderate bump up!

The Rook

Great stuff, thanks to you both.

As for it being a "moderate bump up" I fear it may the a moderate bump which sees me vomiting half way up come April 7th!!!

TFBubendorfer

The Rook wrote: »

As for it being a "moderate bump up" I fear it may the a moderate bump which sees me vomiting half way up come April 7th!!!

Enduro is right (as always ), the HOTW isn't that tough a hill. It's the fact that you hit it so late in the race (at mile 9/22/35) with tired legs that makes it feel a lot harder.

Enduro

And of course the key to avoiding becoming a vomit-comet is to forget all about keeping your speed when you're climbing. Just keep the effort the same as if you were running on the flat. Shorten your stride a bit to help with this (like changing gears down on a car or bike), and you should be able to keep the same rythm (rpm!).

roro2

I found that training on the Howth Head hill (the Sutton side as said above) was great preparation for Connemara. It is probably a little longer than HOTW in Connemara but you have a downhill section half-way up in Howth, and the inclines would be similar - a bit steeper on the lower sections then becoming more of a long uphill drag. If you can fit a lap of Howth Head into the second half of your long runs, the hills in Connemara will be no problem, and there aren't many nicer runs either!

statss

Debating between doing the half or full ( see thread - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056832477). Will put my name down for the half for now.




Half:
Bugsy2000
Statss

Full:
R O B
The Rook
dev123
Stephenduffy08
ciancullinan
Conseng

Ultra:
johnsherwin
Cabaal
Vagga
opus
Killerz

Puck

Doing the full.

Half:
Bugsy2000
Statss

Full:
R O B
The Rook
dev123
Stephenduffy08
ciancullinan
Conseng
Puck

Ultra:
johnsherwin
Cabaal
Vagga
opus
Killerz

Toblerone1978

Half:
Bugsy2000
Statss

Full:
R O B
The Rook
dev123
Stephenduffy08
ciancullinan
Conseng
Puck

Ultra:
johnsherwin
Cabaal
Vagga
opus
Killerz
Toblerone



I would love to be have a crack at the ultra, a new and different challenge for 2013, and to tick that box. However it is subject to staying injury free which is a massive 'if' when it comes to me and running.

statss

where are people planning to stay? any recommendations?

spurscormac

statss wrote: »

where are people planning to stay? any recommendations?

Pillo Hotel on outskirts of Galway is where the expo, race registration is etc.
Any number of Galway hotels is an option, though you need to be able to get to the bus starting point at the cathedral.

Try the official accommodation list for a full list.

Oughterrard is an option too, with buses leaving from there - thats what I did, drove from home (Galway) to there, parked at the GAA grounds & hopped on he bus from there rather than take the bus all the way.

ultraman1

Half:
Bugsy2000
Statss
ultraman1's da

Full:
R O B
The Rook
dev123
Stephenduffy08
ciancullinan
Conseng
Puck

Ultra:
johnsherwin
Cabaal
Vagga
opus
Killerz
Toblerone



[/QUOTE]

ultraman1

Half:
Bugsy2000
Statss
ultraman1's da

Full:
R O B
The Rook
dev123
Stephenduffy08
ciancullinan
Conseng
Puck

Ultra:
johnsherwin
Cabaal
Vagga
opus
Killerz
Toblerone
me



[/QUOTE]

McWotever

statss wrote: »

where are people planning to stay? any recommendations?

Clifden. Any number of B&Bs. Good atmosphere there for the whole weekend, I think it adds to the experience.

hot to trot

Half:
Bugsy2000
Statss
ultraman1's da

Full:
R O B
The Rook
dev123
Stephenduffy08
ciancullinan
Conseng
Puck

Ultra:
johnsherwin
Cabaal
Vagga
opus
Killerz
Toblerone
me
hot to trot


super to see Ultramans dad on the list .

Canine Marathoner

hot to trot wrote: »

Half:
Bugsy2000
Statss
ultraman1's da

Full:
R O B
The Rook
dev123
Stephenduffy08
ciancullinan
Conseng
Puck

Ultra:
johnsherwin
Cabaal
Vagga
opus
Killerz
Toblerone
me (ultraman)
hot to trot
canine marathoner

did ultra last year...have just done my first set of back-to-backs of this year's campaign (and yes, i know back-to-backs are only one way to train for this) but what i'd like to know from more experienced ultras is this: what pace should back-to-backs be run at (ideally; for someone wanting to break 5.30)? at ump? or what? thanks

TFBubendorfer

Canine Marathoner wrote: »

what pace should back-to-backs be run at (ideally; for someone wanting to break 5.30)? at ump? or what? thanks

ump - that's funny

The pace should be easy enough so that you can recover from the back-to-back without them impacting too much on the rest of your training.

In other words, very easy. Probably slower than ump, but that's up to you to find out.

Aimman

Half:
Bugsy2000
Statss
ultraman1's da

Full:
R O B
The Rook
dev123
Stephenduffy08
ciancullinan
Conseng
Puck

Ultra:
johnsherwin
Cabaal
Vagga
opus
Killerz
Toblerone
me (ultraman)
hot to trot
canine marathoner
Aimman

ultraman1

Aimman wrote: »

Half:
Bugsy2000
Statss
ultraman1's da

Full:
R O B
The Rook
dev123
Stephenduffy08
ciancullinan
Conseng
Puck

Ultra:
johnsherwin
Cabaal
Vagga
opus
Killerz
Toblerone
me (ultraman)
hot to trot
canine marathoner
Aimman

smackdown

Dow99

Half:
Bugsy2000
Statss
ultraman1's da
Dow99

Full:
R O B
The Rook
dev123
Stephenduffy08
ciancullinan
Conseng
Puck

Ultra:
johnsherwin
Cabaal
Vagga
opus
Killerz
Toblerone
me (ultraman)
hot to trot
canine marathoner
Aimman


Dow99 reporting for duty,,,,, completed the half last year in 2:20 - the hill at the end was my killer,,, looking to get nearer to the 2hr mark this time round!!!

Aimman

ultraman1 wrote: »

smackdown

You Bet. Hope you're training for sub 5:30 this year.

Oisin11178

Half:
Bugsy2000
Statss
ultraman1's da

Full:
R O B
The Rook
dev123
Stephenduffy08
ciancullinan
Conseng
Puck

Ultra:
johnsherwin
Cabaal
Vagga
opus
Killerz
Toblerone
me (ultraman)
hot to trot
canine marathoner
Aimman
Oisin11178

TFBubendorfer

Half:
Bugsy2000
Statss
ultraman1's da

Full:
R O B
The Rook
dev123
Stephenduffy08
ciancullinan
Conseng
Puck

Ultra:
johnsherwin
Cabaal
Vagga
opus
Killerz
Toblerone
me (ultraman)
hot to trot
canine marathoner
Aimman
Oisin11178
TFBubendorfer


Only 3 weeks after the Tralee marathon, so this is going to be a pure fun run for me this year. Obviously, and goes without saying, this race is always fun.

The Rook

Hi all,

I'm currently training for the Connemara Marathon and am doing my LSR runs out on Howth Head on Saturday mornings to prepare me for the hills. All's going well with the training so far but the only problem is that my program says that LSRs should be run at 6 mins a KM pace but with the hills I'm averaging about 6:20. Should I worry that I'm not doing my uphill work fast enough and therefore will struggle to make the pace on marathon day or should I hope to see the pace increase to around 6mins per km the closer I get to the marathon?

Second part of my question is also hills related (can you tell that I usually run on the flat?!!) - I've run plenty of races before and am happy enough with my pacing strategy for these races, but when it comes to the Connemara Marathon I can't really say "do 42 (and a bit) km at 5:20 per km" as the terrain will be uneven so for some I'll be hitting sub 5min kms and for others I'll be hitting (hopefully) around the 6 minute mark. So how should I pace myself for Connemara?!!!

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Cheers

The Rook

belcarra

The Rook wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm currently training for the Connemara Marathon and am doing my LSR runs out on Howth Head on Saturday mornings to prepare me for the hills. All's going well with the training so far but the only problem is that my program says that LSRs should be run at 6 mins a KM pace but with the hills I'm averaging about 6:20. Should I worry that I'm not doing my uphill work fast enough and therefore will struggle to make the pace on marathon day or should I hope to see the pace increase to around 6mins per km the closer I get to the marathon?

You will naturally get quicker on the hills over the next few months so I wouldn't worry too much at this stage. If you are doing your runs over Howth area then you are ahead of many people already.

The Rook wrote: »

Second part of my question is also hills related (can you tell that I usually run on the flat?!!) - I've run plenty of races before and am happy enough with my pacing strategy for these races, but when it comes to the Connemara Marathon I can't really say "do 42 (and a bit) km at 5:20 per km" as the terrain will be uneven so for some I'll be hitting sub 5min kms and for others I'll be hitting (hopefully) around the 6 minute mark. So how should I pace myself for Connemara?!!!
Any advice greatly appreciated!
Cheers
The Rook

Depends on what your target time is but here is a link for someone that did it in 3:46 last year. They have reasonably consistent splits but you can gauge where the hills are because they slow down a little bit over these kms.

roro2

The Rook wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm currently training for the Connemara Marathon and am doing my LSR runs out on Howth Head on Saturday mornings to prepare me for the hills. All's going well with the training so far but the only problem is that my program says that LSRs should be run at 6 mins a KM pace but with the hills I'm averaging about 6:20. Should I worry that I'm not doing my uphill work fast enough and therefore will struggle to make the pace on marathon day or should I hope to see the pace increase to around 6mins per km the closer I get to the marathon?

Second part of my question is also hills related (can you tell that I usually run on the flat?!!) - I've run plenty of races before and am happy enough with my pacing strategy for these races, but when it comes to the Connemara Marathon I can't really say "do 42 (and a bit) km at 5:20 per km" as the terrain will be uneven so for some I'll be hitting sub 5min kms and for others I'll be hitting (hopefully) around the 6 minute mark. So how should I pace myself for Connemara?!!!

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Cheers

The Rook

I did a lot of my LSR runs on Howth Head in advance of Connemara last year - not every week, but at least every second week - and the second half of the marathon was only 2 minutes slower than my first half. What I found useful in training was running to my target pace on the flat, and timing a separate pace for the hills in Howth, which was usually about 1min/mile slower. You can then judge whether you want to adjust your target pace on the flat to compensate for the slower pace on the hills. This will also be of great benefit closer to race day - you'll be able to plan different race paces for the different stages of the race to calculate an overall target time. Not as complicated as it sounds - it's only really relevant for the two long uphills (and downhills!).

But at this stage I wouldn't worry about your pace on the hills, you'll be surprised at how much easier/enjoyable they become after a while. As Belcarra said, if you're already consistently doing this level of hill work you shouldn't worry about the course in Connemara - you'll actually enjoy going past people on the uphills!

woody1

lads when does this normally sell out..
im tempted to go for either the marathon or god bless me the ultra, first time at either distance, 3/4 done in athlone last year, didnt find it too bad had plenty more in the tank at the end.. im not worried about a time and id happily run walk it, but at the same time i want to do a fair bit in jan feb and then see what i think then...
realistically id probably do the marathon and take it handy but the ultra is very tempting..even if it defies all logic..
so do i have a month or 2 to make up my mind or do i have to bite the bullet sometime soon..

The Rook

Belcarra and Roro, many thanks for the advice, I can relax a bit now knowing I'm going about it the right way and am very much looking forward to the day now!

TFBubendorfer

woody1 wrote: »

lads when does this normally sell out..

Usually around now!
#
I got a message today that it will sell out soon. If you're serious about it you better sign up pretty soon.

woody1

ok thanks for the heads up on that . i wouldve left it another week or 2 and had the decision made for me.. marathon so..well thats the motivation sorted for the next 3 months

roro2

woody1 wrote: »

ok thanks for the heads up on that . i wouldve left it another week or 2 and had the decision made for me.. marathon so..well thats the motivation sorted for the next 3 months

You can switch distances up until about a month before - once you get your entry in!