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To Connemara and Beyond ...
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Bungy Girl wrote: »Ah, I misunderstood somewhere. I thought you'd gotten out of the bridge weekend.
Eh, no, that lemon muffin is mine. All mine. :cool:
Apparently loads of runners 'paused' for an ice cream in the last 500m. Fact.
Now, now, BG. Whatever happened with "sharing is caring"?
Bridge weekend is on, very much so. I play in a new team and we've committed to play trials for the Irish Team (we won't win that
). As practice we agreed to play 4 regional tournaments, won the first two, but no thanks to a bad error on my part, lost the third while leading into the home stretch. That weekend is the 4th, which is also on home turf. Even a lemon muffin won't lead me astray! :cool:
Sounds like you're doing it - best of luck. :pac:Nice going N - report a good read as usual, and a sweet PB! What's next - other than cajoling a posse of newbs into wrecking their legs at the end of October?
Thanks B - I actually don't know. Would like to do the race series HM but as a slow jog (just to get a t-shirt for the race series, really). Maybe with "2hr project". Might go for a 5k race as final target race for 2016. Any suggestions?Nice on Nop, that a very shiny PB and only 26 seconds away from sub 45
Oh there's a always a carrot isn't there Great racing as always, those times just keep on tumbling down
Oh thanks Neady - I can't believe you have time to read logs prepping for your voyage to the South Pole or whatever epicness you have lined up in a fortnight!This Fat Girl Runs wrote: »Great race, nop and loved your report. Congrats on the PB!
Thanks C - glad you liked it! Hope all well. 0 -
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Bungy Girl wrote: »Apparently loads of runners 'paused' for an ice cream in the last 500m. Fact.
Very cilivised.
Well done Nop, excellent planning and nice PB! 0 -
Rather boring update from Aug 1.
Date|Distance/Type|min/mi|min/km|Description
Aug_1|DL Bay 10k Race|7:17|4:32|See report above
Aug 2|4M rec|9:22|5:49|In between showers, out for a painful and slow couple of rec-miles with "sub-2h".
Aug 4|5M v-easy|9:12|5:43|Run was lovely, sunshine and showers to keep us cool, and nice company. Body is creaking, tho.
Aug 6|5k Shanganagh Parkrun|7:24|4:34|My young fella is full of resolve to better his PB (23:20). My job is to get him out of his bed in time, and pace him around the course, but I am not allowed to say anything. It wasn't made any easier due to plenty of 'hydration' the evening before. We said hello to Dubgal who was doing some impressive speed session, and then set off at conservative pace. He kept going all around (didn't fade as badly as he would normally do in the 3rd and 4th km) and left his suffering old man for dust on the final stretch. A fine 23:0x PB awaited him! #ProudDad Niggle-alert is that my Achilles was complaining loudly all the way around, so straight out with the ice when we came home.
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Welcome back. Where ever have you been ?! (lol)
Glad you've rescued the log and have the next few months planned out. Connemara, eh ? Hope the weather's a bit better than last year :eek: Will your flatlander buddies be over for it ?
See you at JB hopefully!0 -
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Bungy Girl wrote: »Welcome back. Where ever have you been ?! (lol)
Glad you've rescued the log and have the next few months planned out. Connemara, eh ? Hope the weather's a bit better than last year :eek: Will your flatlander buddies be over for it ?
See you at JB hopefully! Ha ha.
Connemara, indeed :eek: FBOT the Great already dampened my spirits that only the ultra commands the proper respect (but the prospect of 26 hilly miles is daunting enough). Flatlanders are in doubt. They don't want to come back for the Half, having done it last year. One of them wants to do the Full (he has done a couple), the other doesn't. So there is no consensus yet.
JB - yes, will see you there (real life permitting), but only at the start or finish. No way I'll see you mid-race!0 -
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[*](trembles) Connemara Full Marathon. In a moment of madness I have signed up for CNM17. I am very, very much looking forward to this race and I badly need some focus, although the training plan (a combination of the boards DCM plan and the Myles grad plan) is daunting to say the least.
*Yikes*
When you mentioned Connemara those few times I thought you surely meant the HM. The marathon is serious stuff. Six months to go, you better get cracking with those long runs.
Nop Jr's PB is the same as mine from June 2015 (*sob*), except of course I'm miles from it now. He'll have another couple of mins off that in no time. 0 -
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Weekly update... two shorter, easy runs as I had planned to run #GRVR16 on Saturday.
Tue Nov 15: 5M easy (9:11 min/mi). Unremarkable miles.
Thu Nov 17: 4M easy (9:07 min/mi). Usual lunchtime loop with 2 buddies. As we left, it was lovely and sunny but very cold. The first couple of kms were in the wind and the lads were complaining bitterly. "Push that f*cker under the bus", I heard one of them say, and this is before it started to rain :eek:
Sat Nov 19: 13.1M @ 9:05 min/mi. #GRVR16, a 'virtual run' organized by this dude I follow on youtube called "the ginger runner". He does some cool race-report videos of ultra-trails marathons in the Pacific Northwest which I highly recommend.
The idea of the 'virtual run' was to run 120 minutes, any route, pace, distance, elevation, and then send in the Strava link. I signed up and got a cool t-shirt and started plotting the route. From my local Shanganagh park, a route through Bray, towards Greystones and back over the cliff-path would be about the HM distance. Despite the hills and significant undertraining, that sounded like a decent challenge.
I convinced my two buddies (see above) to come with me, and they would take turns running. Bob (the better runner of the two) would run the first half towards Greystones (over the road). The other, Brian, would then run the cliff-path to Bray, where Bob would take over again, to run the last stretch.
Again, it was freezing cold as I proudly donned the #GRVR participant t-shirt (and several other layers, I hasten to add), my friends arrived, and we were on our way. Bob and I had a great run, and I felt really good despite the long climb over Bray Head. In fact, running downhill into Greystones, I had to hold back so I wouldn't drop my pacer
Brian was waiting where he was supposed to be and took over pacing duties. Greystones harbour is a bit of a mess and the entry to the cliff-walk had moved. A bit of cursing later we were finally on the right track. It's not the hardest of trail runs, but it certainly is a lot harder work than the road. It was also cold, in the wind. During the first uphill, boring stretch, my pacer was struggling a little so I slowed down a bit. There were also many walkers along the path, and steep sections that we couldn't run. Brian overcame his early struggle and ran the last part strongly into Bray, but my average pace had dropped to well over 2h HM pace.
As we were approaching Bray, Bob re-appeared and took over pacing duties once again. I told him I was behind pace and he stepped on it. Much as we had nattered on our first stretch, there was no chat at all - the cliff section (especially the sharp descent into Bray) had taken its toll. We made our way towards Shanganagh Park and at this point, I was glad to have a pacer as Bob really kept the pace honest. We returned to our starting point with almost the HM distance on the watch, just under 2 hours. Job done
The 'Ginger Runner's' motto is #TrainRaceBeer and we marked the occasion to have a few pints afterwards - with that sweet sense of "I had a good hard run today" in the legs.
https://www.strava.com/activities/7798933460 -
Just what the world needs, more boring training miles. The objective of these weeks is to simply clock up a lot of miles before I embark on an 18 week plan for #CNM17. Man. I am bricking it even thinking about it. :eek:
The #GRVR16 effort from last week was still in the legs so I took Sunday and Monday off.
Tue Nov 22: 5M @ 8:16/mi
Meant to be 5M easy but ended up running up much faster. I ran solo and experimented a little with my usual loop (oh, the excitement). As I was stretching the legs for a slightly faster last couple of kilometers, the (already fragile) male ego took (yet another) serious dent as I was well and truly chicked on the home stretch. Tried to accelerate to match the pace set but in vain.
Thu Nov 24: 5M @ 9:08/mi
Same loop with the usual buddies, uneventful.
Fri Nov 25: 5M @ 8:35/mi
Planned to runmute in-and-out of work but the logistical challenge is just overwhelming, so I chickened out. Instead I did another similar 5M which again I ran faster than I should. I should really start to apply some discipline, as otherwise I won't even get to the start of this training plan.
Saturday - meant to do the parkrun with jr, but a very early GA match (for him, in case you might wonder :rolleyes:) put paid to that.
Sun Nov 27: 10M hilly/traily @ 9:29 /mi
Fab run! First on the roads into the hills overlooking Shankill, then onto the trails. Awesome. Got my backside handed to me on the steeper sections, especially up Barnaslingan. I scared the bejaysis out of this couple walking with their jog as they didn't hear me coming and I might have passed by them a little closer than I should have (their dog cut me off). Down the hill along the (very) steep Quarry Road (have felt its wrath so many times on the way up), into the local park and home. Pfff.
Really enjoyed this run and I plan to do a lot more of these trails, but running wise it was a little mweh. I never felt I got out of second gear and am niggly all over the place (hip and feet). I think these faster mid-week runs are doing me no favours so it is time to buckle down and run slow. Slower. SLOWEST!
Next week is Jingle Bells and I can't remember anything faster than the parkruns I did with jr over the past couple of months (all around 23 minutes). So if there's a magic sharpening up mid-week run suggestion, I am all ears!
https://www.strava.com/activities/7869468830 -
Tue Nov 29: 5M easy @ 9:01 /mi
Junk-miles - at reasonable slow pace for once.
Wed Nov 30: 5M with 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1min @ ~5k-5M pace (same time off)
I recalled this pyramid workout from last year's graduates plan and decided to give this a go on the usual lunchtime loop. Total sufferfest. I ran with one of my faster colleagues and even he struggled. Really good work-out, we probably did overdo the pace a little (just under 7 min/mi on average).
Felt decidedly niggly :eek: after this run, so skipped Thursday's planned 45 min easy.
Sat Dec 3: Jingle Bells 5k: 20:49 chip-time (PB!) :cool::pac:
Absolutely splendid day for my first outing at the famous Jingle Bells 5k - last year I had an entry but wuzzed out because of the torrential rain. I met the boardsie formerly known as FD, Wubble, Murph_D, annapr, laura and Bungy Girl in the carpark, and jogged down to the start area. My previous fastest 5ks were two Shanganagh parkruns right after DCM 2015, 21:42 and 22:00 in an unholy downpour. I have clocked up many parkruns since but always with jr, so these were decent workouts but not at all-out race-pace. I was hoping for something around 21:30, which meant just below 4:20 min/km average.
I checked with Murph and BG about their target times as I had some vague notions I might stick with them for a few km at least. Their replies made me look for alternative pacers - but as the gun neared, I had lined up with BG and TBFKAFD and off we went.
The first km was reasonably controlled despite it being the only net-uphill km of the day and I was surprised to be able to keep up with BG reasonably comfortable - clocking in at 4:15. The field thinned out as we turned onto Chesterfield, but we had a little tailwind - the effort increased to stay on pace but the second km was 4:13. I was still somehow managing to stick with BG but as we turned onto Ordnance Survey Road, she started inching away and I almost immediately resigned myself to the inevitable. But right at that time, the third km chimed in at 4:18 - so I realized I was about 15 seconds ahead of target time with the downhill session still to come. Some stern HTFU instructions and I managed to pull up my socks and up the effort, to stick with the little group that had formed, led by BG and other strong looking runners.
The fourth kilometer is lovely downhill along the Upper Glen Road and the pace increased, as did the breathing which had started to become decidedly laboured. The 4th split was 4:08 and I knew a juicy PB was well within reach. At that stage, bizarrely, for the first time since the start, I was running right at BG's shoulder and even inched ahead of her. I'd like to report that this was a conscious, well timed, strong effort, but in reality, I think I happened to be running the perfect race-line on a nice downhill bump so it was more a coincedence. Obviously, within seconds, she came blazing by again and proper order was restored. I didn't see her again until the finish-line. :rolleyes: In the meantime, I was having an almighty battle to stay on pace, especially when I saw the official clock ticking away towards 21 minutes. I got over the line just sub-21 (gun time) and had to grab hold of the nearest barrier to not keel over. Particularly pleased with the emptying of the tank.
Turned out my final km was 3:52 and it all resulted in a splendid 20:49 PB, which I am absolutely delighted with!
There were great runs all around and it was great to see many boardsies and former novices, most were pretty delighted with their times and many PBs were recorded. Great show by Donore and a really nice morning out! 0 -
Brilliant!!! Great report, great race and a big WELL DONE to you It's a super race isn't it? Hope your enjoying PB beers beer
Great to catch up today, am rapidly talking myself out of Fat Turkey though, the ole 10K pain we talked about earlier, who needs it 0 -
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Super stuff, Nop! Delighted for you. Nop Jr. will have his work cut out now trying to beat that. I think you've managed to buy yourself some time
. As the others have said, it's a fantastic result off limited training, just goes to show there's always a bit more in the tank.
Hopefully see you at the Fat Turkey. Gobble gobble.0 -
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