Down, (down again) and Back - 2014

Izoard

Plan looks like:

Donadea 50km Feb
Barcelona Marathon Mar
Comrades Ultra June
Lost Sheep HIM August

Comrades has been on the bucket list for a while and with various work changes on the horizon, 2014 is probably my last chance to nail it on to a work gig.
Convenient that it is a "down" year:)

Also, keen to "run" a proper marathon, as a combination of IM/Ultras/pacing and fancy dress, means I haven't actually properly engaged in the classic distance for years - Barcelona gets the nod here.

Lost Sheep has also been on the bucket list - nice to see it show up in August.
Good to have some class of tri on the list, otherwise I might be sent off to join the hairy-legged masses on A/R...

As for Donadea...I'd be afraid not to do it at this stage...

Dory Dory

Izoard wrote: »

Plan looks like:

Donadea 50km Feb
Barcelona Marathon Mar
Comrades Ultra June
Lost Sheep HIM August

Comrades has been on the bucket list for a while and with various work changes on the horizon, 2014 is probably my last chance to nail it on to a work gig.
Convenient that it is a "down" year:)

Also, keen to "run" a proper marathon, as a combination of IM/Ultras/pacing and fancy dress, means I haven't actually properly engaged in the classic distance for years - Barcelona gets the nod here.

Lost Sheep has also been on the bucket list - nice to see it show up in August.
Good to have some class of tri on the list, otherwise I might be sent off to join the hairy-legged masses on A/R...

As for Donadea...I'd be afraid not to do it at this stage...

Sounds black tie. Ooh-la-la.

Izoard

Dory Dory wrote: »

Sounds black tie. Ooh-la-la.

Just for you, Dory - first fancy-dresser home in DCM 2009, I'm unreliably informed...

catweazle

Always the snappy title - you never fail

I hear the down year on comrades is much harder on the legs!

Hoping to do Lost Sheep myself this year!

handangeo

Whats this...............no IM?????

Izoard

handangeo wrote: »

Whats this...............no IM?????

Impossible to get the long bikes in, with the current family activities.

I know from South Africa this year, that you can blag the bike to a certain degree with turbo-only, but that's as far as it goes.

If I go back to IM, I'd like to lower the 11:30 - blagging won't cut it:)

griffin100

Nice to see you're not trying to squeeze all your races into 6 weeks.

Agree about the bike and IM, but I reckon I'll be trying to blag my way round again in 2014.

Izoard

After a couple of weeks of trying to get the body used to consistently running sub 5 min kms again, my calfs* were in no condition for the LSR at the weekend, so got myself re-acquainted with the turbo.

Gave me a chance to do some damage to Series 2 of Homeland - brilliant stuff, so far.

* I never know whether it is "calfs" or "calves" - teachers were always a little vague on this as well....anyone?

Dory Dory

My understanding is that both calves AND calfs are technically correct, however calves is more widely accepted.

Izoard

Dory Dory wrote: »

My understanding is that both calves AND calfs are technically correct, however calves is more widely accepted.

Thanks Dory*, I'll go with "calves" from now on...

* An American giving me grammar lessons? Jesus wept...:)

Izoard

Decided to drop into Parkrun Marlay while out doing a longish run this morning.
Good crowd, in messy conditions.

5km grovel from Rathfarnham uphill into the wind as a warm up, followed by a spectacular 23:05 5km:eek: At least I have a marker...

Great resource to have on the door step.

Felt good afterward, so decided to run up to "St. Thomas's", which is Mrs. I's dream house.

(Un) fortunately, the DSD Death Star managed to make the acquisition before I could sell a few of the kids and a kidney, so was planning to drop into their open day to check out their plans for South Dublin domination.

I wasn't quite sure exactly where it was, so was running around the wilds of Whitechurch in the lashing wind and rain. After a couple of close shaves with wobbling trucks, I gave up and ran home.

A little over 2 hours total in "testing" conditions - character building.

Izoard

Much better conditions today - easy 4.5km warm up, followed by a slightly more respectable 21:55 this week. 4.5km warm down, home.

Glad to put in a better performance this week, despite the excess of the past few weeks.

LSR planned for tomorrow - will be the first back-to-back running in ages...

Izoard

Last 10 days have been spent mainly in Las Vegas, with some limited treadmill, to try to minimize the drop in fitness.
2 bonus days on the snowboard, reminded me of leg muscles that I hadn't used in 3 years - was happy to escape injury free, in the end.

The Barca-bound mates are planning an early 3hr LSR on Sun - should be fun...

Izoard

Decided it is time to start back into some proper gym work, to get some degree of S&C into the plan.

I dropped in last night, foolishly wearing some class of tri t-shirt.

Got some sage-like glances that said, "he must be all right, if he's telling us he does tris"

Cue significant let down, as Izoard looses all decorum on the TRX bands and managed to release a kettlebell in mid-air, just missing my workout partner.

It always amazes me, that despite many years of endurance stuff, I've a terrible core and flexibility.

The only way is up.

Izoard

So, Donadea awaits...

Have been reasonably disciplined with the LSRs over the past few weeks - 3hr, 3:25, 3:25, which is more than I had done this time last year.

Hoping for a dry day and the formation of a ~4;30 bus, otherwise this will be a looong day out, with the only distraction being, trying to work out at what point I will be lapped by the faster boardsies...

Izoard

Driving down to Donadea in the lashing rain, meant I was less than enthusiastic about this one, today.

Plenty of Boardsies milling about and finally got to meet the Iron Oryx - (the Tough Guy sticker on the car was the giveaway).

Pretty muddy under foot, but reckoned 5:30 pace was a reasonable starting point.

This race is a game of 2 halves, each lap is front ended with the climbs, so once you are through 2.5km on each lap, things calm down.

If I could keep the average around 5:30, for the first half, I'd be delighted.

Caught up with Oryx after a few hundred meters, and clung to her coat-tails as she effortlessly churned out - 5:10-5:20 kms.

Plenty of mud was beginning to sap me on the climbs and I was struggling to hang on. Towards the end of lap 4, the elastic broke and I was facing 30km solo.

Seeing Oryx head off in the distance, I wondered if she'd re-appear* again - a max 28km LSR, will usually come back to bite you in a race like this.

Without a group, my pace went through the floor, and all sorts of ailments, real and imagined, began to haunt me.

By Lap 6, I was on the verge of pulling out - left hamstring was screaming at me and I was hating the mud.

Went back to infant mode - grabbed a pack of Jelly Tots and rewarded myself with a couple after each km completed. While it got me over the hump, the pace was still chronically slow.

Through the marathon in a disappointing 3:58 with a heavy shower for company.
A sleet shower came along a little later, but eventually struggled over the line in 4:49.

I've dropped 10 mins each year I've done this - if it continues, I'll be on the cut off next year:(

Part of this is definitely mental - I've no gra for running at the moment, so I need to think long and hard about whether Comrades is worth doing this year.

In any event, a great race, yet again from Anto and the Donadea RC team in testing conditions. You could see evidence of the emergency chainsaw work all through the course, so it underlined the effort put in, to ensure this went ahead.

* I should have known better - she powered on, banging out the same pace relentlessly...

Izoard

Back in the soft-focused past, I reckoned 2014 would be the year of running!
Barcelona stood out as a great race, to finally record a reasonable marathon time in the past few years.

Donadea came and went with little training and a performance to match - now Barcelona is here and I've managed 4 runs since Donadea:)

Running just isn't floating-the-boat at the moment, so the prospect of doing Comrades in 2 months, is laughable.

On the plus side, I'm really enjoying the S&C stuff I'm doing 3 or 4 times a week and the Lent-inspired crap-ban, is also beginning to bear fruit.


So, the objectives for the weekend are:

1. See BOD close the book with a hat trick in Paris
2. Complete Barcelona with a smile on my face and a plan to get back at it for Comrades
3. Raise a glass in the George Payne to the health of MrStew
4. Watch Arsenal hammer Spurs.
5. Make it back in time for the Gorey Parade....

Mañana....

Dory Dory

Post a pic of yer-bad-self smiling after you complete Barcelona. Have fun with it!!!!

Kurt Godel

Now now Izoard, you're an old hand at this game. Steak is a good substitute for muscle, so eat plenty of it now to compensate for lack of training. No more than two pints of beer the night before (so as not to mix with the bottle of red you'll have had at dinner). "Desayuno irlandés completo, por favor" is the only Spanish you'll need for race morning, and the PB is in the bag. Best of luck!

Izoard

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Now now Izoard, you're an old hand at this game. Steak is a good substitute for muscle, so eat plenty of it now to compensate for lack of training. No more than two pints of beer the night before (so as not to mix with the bottle of red you'll have had at dinner). "Desayuno irlandés completo, por favor" is the only Spanish you'll need for race morning, and the PB is in the bag. Best of luck!

World class, pre-race best-practice as described by Dear Leader.:)

The only thing missing is your patented LSR, wedged between the vino/pints and the full Irish on race morning...how long would you suggest? PMP?

Kurt Godel

Nothing says "OAP" more than a sweaty auld chap jogging at night, so a few hours clubbing the night is a better way to get the heart rate up. Remember, you're not in Ballygobackwards any more, so I'd suggest you swing whatever way the action is flowing.

Izoard

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Nothing says "OAP" more than a sweaty auld chap jogging at night, so a few hours clubbing the night is a better way to get the heart rate up. Remember, you're not in Ballygobackwards any more, so I'd suggest you swing whatever way the action is flowing.

Perfect - I'll just have the couple of Smarties to get me in the mood...don't want to go mad, like...

Any fool can do a marathon with training - this however, is the sharp-end.

Izoard

Sat:

Early start - picking up buddy #1 @ 0500 for the 0640 flight - watching enviously the green-clad masses, heading to Paris for the BOD lap of honour.

Great hotel, right at the start/finish/registration area, so dump the gear and straight to the George Payne for the rugby fest. At this point we had picked up buddy #2 and his OH, who was taking on the marathon distance for the first time.

The inappropriateness of a few pints the afternoon before a marathon was lost in the emotion of the victory in Paris - great stuff.

Sun:

Very leisurely start - certainly the easiest city marathon in terms of logistics.
Buddy #2 decided on the chivalrous action of staying with his OH, so he was signing up for a 4:30 or so...
Buddy #1 was eying up a 3:30, so I decided to head out with him and see how long I could last before dropping off.

I originally planned sub 3:40, which would move me up a few pens in Comrades, but the lack of any training of note, put paid to that.

The sun was out to play, so also knew this would be a factor in the 2nd half.

The first part of the race, up to the Camp Nou, seemed to be filled with long drags, that put paid to my idea that this was a flat course.

Stuck with buddy #1 through 7km, and was still holding ~5min kms through 10km.

Started to dial it back from there, but made it through the half in 1:50, so still worked on the basis that 3:4x was still on the cards.

Heat began take it's toll and you could see plenty of Northern European-types (including myself) beginning to flag.

The 2nd out-and-back seemed to go on forever and now there were few places to hide from the sun.

I was running out of time for the 3:4x, but still felt it was on the cards - however, the final 2km was the final nail in the coffin, with the constant uphill knocking the pace out even more. Serves me right for cutting it that fine:)

Finish in 3:50 - 2:00 for the 2nd half:eek:

Quick shower and change and back to the GP for more TV sport - did get out and about later on - always a great city to hang out in.

Still wavering about Comrades, next milestone is Staplestown 50km in mid May, so will chip away towards that.

ultraman1

Well done today..tuff conditions...hope it not as warm in suud aafriicaa

ultraman1

Well done today..tuff conditions...hope it not as warm in suud aafriicaa

Izoard

He hasn't gone away, you know....

So - "training" has been terrible since Barcelona - I've been travelling pretty much full time since Barcelona, so training has been limited to treadmill efforts and S&C stuff.

Managed to get out for 3 hours last week in prep for Staplestown 50km yesterday.

Arrived down to the start to see the 50 milers heading off - this is the race I should have been doing, but it was just too close to Comrades to have a crack at it.

The plan for the race was purely time-on-my-feet, and I'd planned to introduce a walk/run effort at the start of lap 4 (30km) and get me home ~ 5 hours.

Started off the race with the effervescent Marie from Slaney, my buddy from the Oilgate 1/2 - she was doing her 50th marathon - great achievement.

5 * 10 loops and got through the first 4 on 4:50 pace, introducing limited walk breaks on 30km.

However, this turned out to be a double-edged sword, in that it was becoming more and more difficult to get started after each break.
As a result, the last lap became a mental failure, where I ended up walking waaaaayyyy too much.
5:15 was not what was planned, but good to be out there for a long stretch.
On reflection, a week in Vegas - getting back on Friday, was probably not the best preparation...

Great org from Anto, Frank and the rest - it is a fantastic resource (EoI) that we have the option to run a marathon a week, with zero fuss - turn up and run.

Ahh, yes...Comrades.

So although a "down" run, this will basically be a hilly 50k, followed by a largely down hill marathon



Given the objective is to finish alive, the original plan was to start with run/walk - however, based on the lessons from yesterday, I'll aim to run the 50km and hope for the best after that, with enough time banked to get me home inside the cut off.

Plan is to do an easy 3 hours next weekend, before heading to Jo'burg on the Tuesday, and on to Durban on the Friday.

How hard can it be?:)

Izoard

Hopefully, navigating a chaotic expo to collect the race number isn't a harbinger of things to come.
At least for the "internationals", we could dodge the "queue of death", but some of the locals were lining up for 2hrs +:eek:

Based on the above, decided to avoid the general bus migration to the start (15,000 all in line for busses at the same time...), by hooking up with a mate who has alternative transport sorted out.

Still means a 2am wake up call, though!

Weather looks to be hot tomorrow afternoon - 26/27 - perfect conditions for the all-black compression gear...

griffin100

Izoard wrote: »

Weather looks to be hot tomorrow afternoon - 26/27 - perfect conditions for the all-black compression gear...

Ultra Batman!!!

Best of luck.

Kurt Godel

Best of luck Izoard.

*Top Tip- Not using your wetsuit for its intended purpose? Cut small holes at the knees and elbows and Hey Presto! a perfect all-over compression suit for Ultra Distance!

Dory Dory

Don't forget your cape!!!!

Have a great time....and best of luck to you! Whoop whoop!

(A little worried, however, how well you know this "mate" with his "alternative transport." :eek: I'd hate to have to send Kurt, shotgun and the rest of the boards posse over there to look for you!)

Dory Dory

71 km into race....looks like 8:42:53 split. Go big I!!!!