The breaks even out in the long run

Firedance

congrats!! well done, enjoy the beers

Dubgal72

Well done, very healthy result! Enjoy the beers I'm having PB beers bubbles tonight too, not for me, for Firedance so why don't I have a few for you too, I think a county medal deserves a glass or two!

Tom Joad

Nice one - enjoy the beers

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Sunday 27th September- County Novice XC 6K

I've been looking forward to this day for the last few months with XC being my sole focus for the winter and without any distractions from the marathon like previous years. The approach has been completely different to what I'm normally used to in that I've raced really sparingly coming up to today, only once since early July so I had to take the vast majority of my confidence from the feeling and feedback I getting in training which was all positive and progressive. Heading in, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the win as LAC were going to be strong as they always are for novice and with alot of our big hitters focused on the DCM this year, we weren't near at full strength. This had me feeling that I had to shoulder alot more self-imposed responsibilty in helping the team to be as competitive as possible.

I knew the course well heading in and of all the XC courses I will face this year, it's the one that will suit me the least, it's not fast by any stretch of the imagination. 6 1k loops with an uphill stretch of about 200m, the most difficult part being the first 50m where the it really kicks up. The route takes in pea gravel, dirt and grass so I made a last minute decision to wear spikes as I gelt it would give me an advantage on the hill.

Race:

By the time we hit the line for the start, I'd my sweat on, The air felt really dead and hot, not what you expect during an Irish XC race. The whole field seemed a little cautious heading out on the first lap, the pace was so slow that I found myself in the lead group and it only felt like we were out for an easy run. It stayed this way for the first 800m until we approached the big hill with a hairpin turn just where the grade really kicks. Even on the first lap, this one has a bite to it and strung out the field. I'd planned to take a little bit easy up the hill and play into my strength of kamikaze downhill running but that went out the window early on as I just couldn't let anyone pass me.


By the time we had hit the halfway point on the second lap, everything had kind of settled down and I got a fair idea of where I was which just so happened to be no man's land and isolated, the pace wasn't great but the effort levels were already starting to creep up as I created the hill for the second time and began the third lap. The pace really had me worried at this early stage as it felt like I was hopping on the spot and making no real forward progress but a quick glance around to see some familiar faces gave me some reassurance and I reminded myself that this was a race, not a time-trial.


As we desended down the hill for the 4th time, I got a hop when an LAC runner came sprinting past me, the lads up ahead had moved a good but ahead so this was going to be my battle for the rest of the race, just make sure he didn't get to the line before me. I was starting to suffer big time and the mind was yelling to quit and I was counting down how many times I still had to go up that hill again but I had to hang in there. He started to slow slightly as we hit level ground so I took that as my opportunity to stick a nose out in front and hold it until the bottom of the hill and get the best line into the hairpin. That move almost killed me but it was well worth it as I could block any move he tried to make on the climb.


As we reached the top and second last lap, I could feel him starting to fade back gradually and I opened up a slight gap which was just enough to break the tether with a little increased effort on the way down. Now, it was just a matter of keeping it that way until the finish which wasn't going to be easy, we were both fading fast.

With 500m to go, I heard a huge roar from one of the lads behind that he was closing fast and a big "come on to fook!", I had no idea how close or far away he was so it was a case of giving it full gas and running on fear and jelly legs, form went out the window and I just gave it my all to get to the line as fast as I could. I managed to hold on with him finishing about 5 seconds back.

That was good enough for 3rd man home for the club and more importantly, we took home silver as a team. LAC dominated but we'll have a great shot at revenge come county senior so I'm looking forward to that.:)


Thoughts:

Hills, hills and more hills. I've came a long way over the last 2 months on them and I'm beaming with the progress I've made and where I am. I didn't get passed once on any of the climbs today but there's still huge room for improvement, Going up definitely took a bite out of me as I didn't feel I had the energy to take advantage of the downhill like I usually do. This isn't a big thing as I definitely feel overall, the balance worked out better so I'm moving in the right direction and it's great to see progress both currently and potentially so I'll keep chipping away at it. I'm pretty happy with how it went all things considered so being on County intermediate this weekend.:)

pconn062

Great report, well done. I love XC racing, there is just something so primal about it. No watches, mile markers, just hard racing. 8k this weekend?

tang1

Great stuff E, well done and congrats on the county medal.

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pconn062 wrote: »

Great report, well done. I love XC racing, there is just something so primal about it. No watches, mile markers, just hard racing. 8k this weekend?

Thanks man. Not many races where a sprint is a good idea at halfway!:D Can't beat the buzz from it. Yep, 8k this weekend on a course that suits me down to ground, it'll be a mudfest no matter what the weather is and is pretty flat so a different kind of test.

annapr

Great report NE and well done. Is kamikaze downhill running a technical skill?

martyboy48

Great stuff N_E.. Nothing like a "come on ta fook" shoutout to get
a bit more pep in the tired legs

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Cheers everyone!:)

Tuesday 29th September- 7m Inc. 6x75s w/75s recovery

Monday was a rest day so it was back to training today. I seemed to recover pretty quickly from Sunday's effort so I felt primed for running again today. Headed back to the club session but coach was at work and the change in schedule of county intermediate to this weekend meant my training plan wasn't up to date. The planned group session was 12x75s but I felt this might be too heavy on the volume side between races as I just need to tick over until the weekend so I decided to go with 6x75s at mile-3k effort on the grass, ended up a lot closer to mile effort.I probably worked a little too hard on these but it felt great to open out the stride, my legs felt as light as a feather on the cooldown and the lungs got a good blowout.


Wednesday 30th September- 8m Easy

A little stiff hangover from yesterday starting out today which lasted for about 3 miles before I loosened out.

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Thursday 1st October- 7m Inc. 12x200m @mile pace w/60s Rec


Deja vu on this one! Might as well have copied and pasted last Thursday's run in here:pac:...Nah, this felt a little different to last week as I made sure to get a good warm-up in and left it a small bit later in the morning before attempting it. The feeling was mahoosively different on the first few reps compared to last few as I felt a lot more suppel after a few strides and a 4 mile jog.

Reps:

40
38
39
39
38
38
38
39
38
39
39
39

Nice and consistent, always find the shorter reps easier to pace for some reason. Much more relaxed overall than last week.

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Friday 2nd October- 5 mile Easy

Got out early this morning for this one. Big cool down in the temps today and I had to break out the jacket for the first time in months. The chill was well and truly set off by some of the views offered up by the fog though so this was a pleasure....I'm praying the cold holds off for another while yet though as my ability to train really suffers in the cold, hopefully that won't be the case this year...fingers crossed! The body felt good, this week has been easy going and just a matter of ticking over from last Sunday so I'll definitely be fresh on the line.

Went for 64k for the bike as well this evening which was nice, took it nice and handy and made sure not to blow the legs off.

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Saturday 3rd October- 4m Easy w/4 long strides

Just an ol shakeout to tick over with a few strides thrown in for turnover. Body feels alright, a little groggy and dehydrated feeling as I went straight out for this after a nap but that's only a small thing.

tang1

Best of luck tomorrow E.

Firedance

good luck! & enjoy

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County bronze in the team event, we were under strength big time but gave it socks with what we had and put in a big fight all round. I ran one of the races of life to be first scorer home, that should give a good idea of how strong we were but we battled hard. I find it hard to quantify here how well I run in XC but one of the lads clocked me in 31:41 to give everyone an idea. My improvement even just from last few week was huge and evident out there today as I finished miles ahead of the people I was running with in the novice last week. Will do up a report tonight or tomorrow when I get a chance.

tang1

Massive well done man, great to see.

Dubgal72

Congrats! Looks like it's going to be a very good season for you...well deserved!

career move

Brilliant. Well done NE

Bulmers74

Well done lad - you're flying it

annapr

Well done, NE!!

Bahanaman

Get in Axa!!

Wild Garlic

Great stuff dude!

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Sunday 4th October- County Intermediate XC 8k

Second County race of the year and I was feeling confident and positive ahead of today, last week had well and truly blown off any rust so I was looking forward to seeing just how much I could push the envelope on a course that was more favourable to my strengths. Strangely enough for me, this would be the longest distance I've run in 5 and a half months but I was happy in the knowledge that my endurance had come on in leaps and bounds over the last two months so distance was going to be no obstacle.

We were weakened from Novice last week through injuries so this was going to be a battle to hold onto the medal positions with LAC and Dooneen bringing in a lot of strong runners, it was going to be between them for the trophy. The day didn't exactly start off on the right foot for me when I only woke up when I should've been leaving the house, I wasn't going to miss the start but it threw a spanner in the works of my breakfast. Morning prep ended up being a case of fire everything into the bag and scoff down two mars bars for nutrition:pac:, only a small thing, I'd be fine.

Arrived in to UL and took a quick glance around the course to see how it was holding up, everything looked good with only a few soggy patches out in the back field which I'd expected from experience of running the senior there last year. The course is flat for the majority, one short big, big hill up the back of the mound surrounding the track 5 times and a few bumps and false flats but it's a quick enough course in terms of XC.

The Race:

All the races were being let off quick and we were called to the start early while the women's race was only 1k into the 6k distance. Wasn't sure if we were going to let off early or when so I flew through a quick warm-up as we may have got the nod any second.

Off we go! The pace was a lot, lot hotter straight from the gun today than it was last week and the splits happened almost instantly with a big lead group followed by a smaller "Chase group" which I decided to go with. I could tell straight away that this was going to balls out from gun to tape and there would be no time for even the slightest breather. The group was made up of about 9 as we came towards the hill for the first time, my plan going into today was not to fry myself on it so the approach I took was to tiptoe up nice and light like a trail runner and close any gap that opened along the flat section of the banking. This seemed to work a treat and the effort felt low and I lost nothing even though the lads looked to be driving into it.

The first 2 and a half miles seemed to progress the same way with no one making any move in the group, we were just setting a relentless tempo with people falling off the back. The group had wittled down to just four of us by the time we hit mile 3 when I decided to launch an attack off the steep downhill but to no avail and the lads were stuck to my heels, I knew that attack was a mistake almost instantly as it took a lot out of my quads and I gained nothing for my efforts.

The lads were now queuing up behind me as I fought the wind up the backstretch and started to pass by me one by one but I managed to fight back and hold somewhat into the tailend but was hanging on for dear life, the hurt was on big time by mile 4 and another runner in the form of a freshly crowned spartathlete from Dooneen had joined up with us briefly before leaving us all for dust.

The last mile hurt like nothing I ever experienced before outside of a marathon just to cling on as best I could to the lads before being outsprinted to the line, there was no glorious Sprint from to pickup places or hold off anyone today, my legs were running on fumes as I'd given it everything just to be in that group. Crossed the line as first scorer for our team and we managed to take home Bronze. Unofficial 31:41 and no clue where I finished overall yet as the results aren't out yet.

Thoughts-

Really happy with how the race went. Was a long way clear of any runner I was with in the novice last week and I'm 100% sure I picked up a lot less points even though the field was much stronger which is the aim of the game. Not much to fault either as for the second time in as many months, I ran above my own expectations. I've 3 weeks until the next XC which is Munster novice which will give me a nice window to improve even more so I'm happy out with the progress I've made so far.

Tom Joad

Only catching up here. Some fantastic racing. You were obviously made for cross country.

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Tuesday th October- 6m Inc. 3k TT (11:12)

:eek: This was a shock to the system. I was still a bit tired heading into this after Sunday's exploits so this was always going to be tough. The route is 2 and 3/4 laps of the local park on a narrow winding path through the woods and is never conductive to fast times but I've done a few now to have a solid idea of what the time means in the bigger picture. Tough going lungbusting effort to record my 2nd fastest time ever on this TT which is only topped by a 10:52 in the taper for Dublin last year.

So here's my record with race times at around the last few TT's.

July 13- 11:36 (40:50 10k)
Oct 13- 11:21 (18:34 5k)
Apr 14- 11:26 (40:27 10k)
July 14-11:20 (39:46 10k)
Oct 14- 10:52 (No race- 2.06:28 30k @MP)
Oct 15- 11:12 (????)

Taking this as a pretty good sign, I knew I wasn't going to be in as good a shape as this time last year but I'm not that far off all things considered. Hoping to get into a 5k next week and see if I can finally beat that 2 year old PB.

Myles Splitz

Without trying to rain on your parade you have had 2 races the last two weeks and a time trial today. It's a long season for chasing PB's you need to balance the races with training.

Made the same mistake in Apr last year when got in great form and raced myself senseless for 6 weeks which ultimately ended my season in June.

Be smart in the approach to racing and the times will come without forcing them.

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Myles Splitz wrote: »

Without trying to rain on your parade you have had 2 races the last two weeks and a time trial today. It's a long season for chasing PB's you need to balance the races with training.

Made the same mistake in Apr last year when got in great form and raced myself senseless for 6 weeks which ultimately ended my season in June.

Be smart in the approach to racing and the times will come without forcing them.

Cheers man, you're spot on. I knew heading into the 3k today that the smart choice would've been to knock out a few easy miles, it just frustrated that I'm always in the shape to run fast at this time of year when there's no road races on so I was trying the sneak it in. But you're right, I'll give the 5k a miss and keep building, when it comes, it comes.

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Wednesday 7th October- 8m v easy

Legs were dead today so I dialled it back a nice bit on the effort just to make sure I recover as well as possible. It went ok out there and I'm not stiff at all, just lacking that sense of pop and urgency in the stride even at the slower pace. Hopefully, this run knocked some life back into them and they'll be back to normal tomorrow. Probably best to give the session a miss in the morning after the intensity of the last few days so I'll knock out a few easy miles and throw in some strides instead.

Bahanaman

Strides are great!!