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Time for a New Adventure
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ThebitterLemon wrote: »Well done, that's a very tough, if scenic, marathon.
TbL
Cheers C, I'll definitely be going back, if was so enjoyable especially with no pressure on.career move wrote: »Great stuff Neady. That's a super, super time! Recover well
Thanks CM, I was well chuffed with myself. This week is all about rest and recoveryBloody hell S. That's impressive.
Thanks C, sorry I didn't make LC on Sunday, well done you and Master D.The what now? you did a marathon?!?!?!?!?! :eek::eek::eek::D:D:D holy hell Neady I'm running out of adjectives but here's one that'll do, PHENOMENAL!
Ha ha thanks FD. You popped into my head on the way around the course. I think you'd really enjoy it. It's not a PB course, it's a fun scenic course with no pressure and lots of chocolate en routeWell done Neady, fantastic time on what sounds like a very tough marathon.
Thanks Jake, tough but enjoyable and all the better without the pressure of a target timeHang on a minute, I have barely finished reading your Coast2Coast report! You just checked off another marathon, for fun, after no sleep? That's incredible! I am lost for words.
Thanks Nop, there's very little training going on between the big uns so I'm relying on these weekenders to bump up my hours. I was going over all of your advice on the Novices thread during the race, you're doing a fantastic job, well doneFecking hell, 3 hours on a bike followed by a marathon. Am amazed. How are are you now? That's incredible but to be scolded for not having the miles in the legs. DG will fleece you!
Thanks A. Yea, I did think that this wouldn't be a good report for DG to see, hopefully she's busy Must fill the log with this weekends shenanigans soon so she gets side track with those 
. Honestly though, it was accidental. I was feeing good, we were running at an easy pace and I didn't have a niggle or a pain. If it had been a road marathon, I wouldn't even have been at the start line. The trails are so much more sympathetic on the legs.
I'm feeling great, got out for a 40 minute recovery run yesterday and again this morning. The fatigue that I had after DCM isn't there but I jogged it to effort so I think that helped.0 -
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Accidental, I've heard it all now :pac: 'I accidentally ran a marathon' I might accidentally run DCM but sussshhhh! (I'm kidding A/R calm down).
Having said that, you had me at chocolate......!!! The bike is in the shop, at last, I should have it next weekend, will definitely throw it in the boot in September and have a couple of kayak lessons under the belt by then - although I'd probably be better off borrowing a MTB?? And sure while I'm at it I'll throw in the wetsuit
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Accidental, I've heard it all now :pac: 'I accidentally ran a marathon' I might accidentally run DCM but sussshhhh! (I'm kidding A/R calm down).
Having said that, you had me at chocolate......!!! The bike is in the shop, at last, I should have it next weekend, will definitely throw it in the boot in September and have a couple of kayak lessons under the belt by then - although I'd probably be better off borrowing a MTB?? And sure while I'm at it I'll throw in the wetsuit
Eh I phrased that very badly. I hadn't intended to run the full marathon
Can't wait to see some pics of the new bike. Be sure to pop it in the boot, we can take a spin down around Connemara and the racer will be much easier then a MTB.
I guarantee CM and I will have you at an adventure race before the year is outWell done Neady, only catching up now. That's some good going in the coast to coast and great to see your bike is coming on. Then to follow it up with that brick session a few weeks later, well done. Some serious training going on, you will be flying for Itera.
Cheers Joey, I appreciate that. I feel like I'm turning into a right lazy lump at the moment though as I'm spending the week days resting or recovering and the evenings and weeks are feeling quite long as a result. I'm well happy with my biking, if I can keep that up I'll be delightedWell Neady, what a start for the year. Great reports and greater deeds. Like your mental approach to what you do and thats probably half the battle at times in events like that.
Cheers Denis, I have to say having last year behind me has really helped me this year. Knowing I've done a lot of this already really keeps me going mentally when the going gets tough I could not have finished the Burren if I hadn't DCM under my belt. Plus, if I wasn't able to look around and enjoy the scenery, I couldn't keep doing this, it's what gets me out of bed in the morning 0 -
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Sounds savage S. Saw the photos on the ARSE fb page - stunning scenery. Would love to do it over 2 days with a nice sleep in the middle!
Cheers C. The views were spectacular and the formations on the rock. Then there's massive boulders just dumped in the middle of nowhere. Reminded me of all I learned in geography class about glaciersMakes my days out in the mountains look kinda handy. You have a very experienced and dedicated team there Neady. Picking up a new tent in July and will add this trip to the "to do" list. Have always wanted to hike that line over the years. Keep it up and rest yourself for a few days for some deserved recovery.
Thanks Denis, we're in great shape now and we're all strong on the mountains. This is a must do on a camping trip. Frank has done it a few times over three days. Stopping at one of the many lakes on the first night and the gap on the second night. You're also not far from the Climbers Inn in Glencar if the weather turns bad and you need to get indoors.Holy cow, you totally rock. Yes, I would fleece you (not really) but am too wrecked after just glancing at the last 2-3 pages :eek: :cool: Bloody hell Neady, you are a force to be reckoned with!! :cool:
Phew, no giving out to. I know it was very bold to run the marathon but I've survived unscathed thankfully
It's all long slow stuff DG, there's no speed and no regional or national medals 0 -
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Bored now, entertain me. What's happening?
Moved into new house - moving boxes, cleaning and running up and down stairs counts as training right? Oh and we have no wifi yet so I've soooooooo many logs to catch up on.
Just been doing a little cycling, jogging, rowing, gym, nothing too exciting. Got some character building cycling done with two nut jobs of fellow adventure racers of mine last weekend. They kicked off in Kinsale last Friday morning at 6am and have covered almost 2,100km in just 7 days along the wild atlantic way in the most horrendous conditions. Two of the toughest women I've ever met: http://maps.opentracking.co.uk/wildatlanticwayaudax.cfm no. 7 and 46.
Next weekend I'll have a go at a 50 mile trail run along the Western Way from Maam Cross to Westport. If I survive, there may well be a report Until then, it's all pretty boring 
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Glad to see you are relaxing and taking it easy... That sounds like a spectacular trail run... Are there actual marked trails all the way or is there navigation required?
Thanks Anna, mostly marked trail but the Maam Turk mountains needed some navigationShe's probably doing the 50miles, then swimming from Westport to Achill and doing the HM as a cooldown :eek:....as hike-a-bike training.......you're right, while hiking a bike :pac:
Ha ha ha unfortunately the 50 miles was all that I was able for. I did wonder when we got to Westport what it would be like to hop on the bike but I sat on the ground and banished all such thoughtscareer move wrote: »Hope you're settled in to the new house. Best of luck in the Westwrn Way. Hopefully the weather will play ball
Cheers CM, I need to head over to that now log of yours and check things out. Well done on Rogaine, the memories of last year send shivers down my spine.Nice work S!
Thanks D, there's a report in progress.Aha!! I found you!
I didn't even know there was such a thing as adventure racing logs.
Fantastic going yesterday. You were a while getting going but by the end running away from us all. I just read a bit of your log there. I knew you were tough but didn't realise the extent of your prowess. 50 miles is only a morning jog for yourself and Rachel. Martin and myself had sore legs and empty tanks by Leenane!
It was a great pleasure to 'run' with yourself and the others yesterday. Hoping to do it again soon, are you coming to firedance's meetup in September?
Thanks again for the support, encouragement, company and the fantastic homemade energy balls!
And thanks for bringing Martin, the excellent mountain guide. But for him I might be still out there.
Thanks so much P. It was an absolute pleasure to have your company and your encouragement especially at the start when I was in such a hoop. Martin is a legend for taking us over the Turks with such ease. Unfortunately I've been deleted from his contact list after asking him to do this one with me.
There will be energy balls galore in Louisberg, it's in my diary Well done again, you did unbelievable for someone nursing an injury from early in the game. 0 -
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Saturday July 2nd: Western Way 50mile trail run
The Western Way 50 mile is a mountainous trail ‘run’. It doesn’t stick to the traditional Western Way route but instead takes in the first section of the Maam Turk mountains and crosses over a saddle on the Sheefrys later in the day before dropping down by Lough Lugacolliwee (there was 2,755m of elevation gain altogether). This race popped up on facefriend a long while back so I sent the link to a friend, Martin, who I’ve hiked with for years. He doesn’t do long distance running but he can cover the Turks at a ridiculous speed so I thought he’d be up for it. He said he’d think about it and when I bumped into him after the Burren marathon he agreed to be my partner in crime. As luck would have it, I met Snailsong from around these parts at the Burren marathon where he mentioned that he may be doing the Western Way. Next up was my mate Rachel from the AR world – she just completed 2,100km of the Wild Atlantic Way in 7 days – she’s stone mad and tough as nails. Then there were four
On Friday I got to enjoy the company of Nop and his friends, full of the joys of Summer and heading to Achill for the half. It was lovely to meet you Nop and well done again on a super performance. I caught up with Snailsong later in the evening and we saw off the four guys doing the 100 mile yo yo. We made arrangements for the following morning and off we went.
Saturday morning and we’re all waiting nervously for the bus to pick us and take us to Maam Cross. There was much chatter about gear and bag drops and what not. It was quite wet when we disembarked the bus at Maam Cross so we donned our wet gear. Before we knew it we were off up the hill at a nice clip. Next onto Corcóg when almost straight away I felt my race was over. I’d nothing in the tank, I was struggling on the first climb of the day. Martin, our excellent navigator was tipping away out front but I couldn’t keep up. Snailsong was staying with me and giving me great encouragement but I was a gonner. Mentally I was writing this report and trying to come up with excuses as to why I had my first DNF and why I had to turn back on the first climb. I couldn’t understand what was wrong, I’ve climbed this mountain more times than I can count, this is the stuff I’m good at, I usually power up the hills but instead I was a sweaty, pale, shakey, pukey and short of breath mess. I told the guys I’d have to turn but they were having none of it (blaming my two sleepless nights on it). Rachel took my bag even though I protested and Martin slowed the pace though we were still fairly clipping it. Slowly, I started to come around, colour came into my cheeks and by the second peak I was asking Rachel for my bag back.
Before we knew it we were making our way down to the Holy Well and to the first checkpoint ( the Turks section was about 6 miles). I couldn’t stomach food since I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me so I guzzled coke. I hate the stuff normally but it’s liquid gold during these kind of events. We were on tarred road for about 4km before getting back onto the boggy trails and already my legs were telling me that they’d worked dam hard. We took a walk the inclines, run the flats and declines strategy from here on it. I was tipping along on my own for large sections of this, Paul and Rachel had a synchronised rhythm going and Martin was going in fits & bursts but I was going at my usual comfortable steady pace so I stuck with that. I ran for a bit with a mountain leader from Dublin and we chatted about the mountains and how great they are. It was rolling hills from here to Leenane and coming off the last hill into Leenane, Martin and myself fell into step with Rachel and Paul. We all agreed that it was tough going to get to this point and we were still less than half way through. I’d finally recovered from my wobble in the morning and was feeling good though so that was a blessing.
More coke guzzling at Leenane and we were on our merry way again. Pauls friend joined us for a bit and the company was welcomed – when we saw the Welcome to Mayo sign, there was only one thing for it, a terrible rendition of the Green and Red of Mayo. There was a long section on road before we followed a beautiful river bank along for what seemed like miles. I felt a hot spot on my foot so stopped for a bit to sort it – nothing some Vaseline wouldn’t sort. It was starting to get tough now – almost 30 miles in and still a long way to go. We climbed up the Sheefry Pass, a very steep section of road, where we met and greeted some American tourists from Salt Lake city. It was a cracker of a climb. Rachel was regaling me with stories of a cycle race that she’d done here. Down the other side – walking this time as it was steep and causing our quads to scream - and we were back on the mountains again.
Oh hello lovely squishy mountains. My legs were sore but the mountains always put a spring in my step. We were moving at a nice steady pace and zipped down the other side where there was the most stunning lake (Lough Lugacolliwee), surrounded by steep rock cliffs. We chatted about kayaking on it but figured getting the kayak to it might not be worth the hassle There was another small climb and from here we could see Croagh Patrick but it seemed to be way way off in the distance. This was followed by a quick soft grassy descent to the road. It was here that the Achilles tendon on my right foot started to pinch a little. A pain I’d not felt before. Besides the pain I was feeling strong, probably the strongest that I’d felt all day.
The next road section was loooooooooooong but I kept telling myself that I’d done 25 hours on sore throbbing feet only 3 weeks earlier so I better suck it up and get on with it – it was mind over matter at this stage and this Achilles problem wasn’t going to get the better of me. Rachel and myself were playing mind games, we talked about having 60km in our sights, that was our focus, nothing more than 60km so we focused on getting to that. We saw two fellow 50 miler men up ahead so ran to them, chatted a bit and headed on, another great distraction. We took to calling out markers up ahead that we’d run to - house, a horse, an electricity pole, a gate, a fence ….. it was a game and it was working. Of course there was more singing and lots of giggles and it really helped.
Next up was a right turn onto some more soft ground for about a mile or two before breaking out onto a forest fire road. Our game began again. This time we were running to dips in the road and walking the inclines. We wondered where this third and final checkpoint would be, having hit the 60km we were aiming for 70km now. After 70km, it was only 10km to home and that was doable. Finally we had the shelter in sight and we ran to it I was finding it easier to keep running then to stop at this stage – my Achilles was pinching and I was wincing when we walked.
From the rescue shelter we knew the last 10km would be mostly on road so we had left our road runners in the drop bag for this checkpoint and it was a joy to quickly stick them on and get going. 10km, 10km was all we had left although I did some calculations and figured we’d 11 or 12km which didn’t help. Which or whether, we were on the home straight and we were determined to finish it. There was a rocky decent that was playing havoc with my Achilles but I winced and we motored on. Down down down and finally onto the road from Westport to Croagh Patrick. My other half was here with jelly beans and we nearly jumped on the car with joy at the sight of the jelly beans (and him of course), we sang a song and laughed as he drove along side us and then left to greet us at the finish.
We were running well here. There was a 50 miler in sight in front of us but we didn’t chase – this was a challenge for us, not a race. The last 5km were hard but we egged each other on, playing our game of running to the next lamp post and the skate park and then the bike shelter …... It took a while but 14 and a bit hours later we ran down the slope to the car park and through the finishing gantry. We hugged it out and congratulated each other on a great team effort.
After getting our t-shirts and wooden medals, Don, the organiser told us we were the second ladies home and handed us second and third place silver plates. Typically Irish we were urging the other to take the second place but I won out and got Rachel to take it. If she hadn’t carried my bag on Corcóg, I would have headed back down. The third place plate should be for Martin and Paul who encouraged me along the way and were the best company on a great trail run (thank you guys). It was tough but it was epic and I couldn’t have asked for better people to spend the day with We finished in 8th place – 20 people started the 50mile and 19 finished.
One of the other competitors took some footage along the way and compiled the following video – it has some great footage of the Maam Turks and various parts of the trails ☺ [URL]
https://youtu.be/XQGV_jdhqJE[/URL] 0
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