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Dingle Half/Full Marathon - 5th Sept 2015

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    #32
    innuendo141
    Registered Users Posts: 1,039 ✭✭✭innuendo141


    TFBubendorfer wrote: »
    That's a massive improvement and there is much more to come - the same effort on a flatter course will lower the time by a few more minutes for sure. Congratulations!


    I really enjoyed the day and got on much better than expected (seems to be a theme here). My race report (very long, as always) is here: http://rubbishrunner.blogspot.ie/2015/09/good-news-from-dingle-c-mo-olwill.html

    Btw. I don't really give a damn about medals (I have far too many already) but the spinning heart in this one is pretty cool. Thumbs up!

    Great report and enjoyable as always, and thanks! Already looking forward to Tullaroan
    skittles8710 wrote: »
    Wow that's some chunk off your PB! Fantastic on that tough course you must be buzzing :)

    Thank- yeah, still buzzing in the office! Body in reasonable condition too so even happier still.


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    #33
    spurscormac
    Registered Users Posts: 1,523 ✭✭✭spurscormac


    Due to intermittent training over the sumer I didn't really have a proper goal time going to Dingle.
    I've only done two other HMs, Connemara was my first, a 1:44:odd effort. The next one I did was Kinvara a couple of years ago, and managed 1:35:15, but this was after a very solid winter training.
    So I headed for the start line with a stretch goal of 1:39:xx and a more realistic sub 1:45 in mind.

    The race started well, I felt very good and decided on a 7:30 goal pace which would give me 100 seconds once the hills kicked in on the second half.
    The first half went well and I banked plenty of time (though I would pay for this later), 7:24, 7:12, 7:24, 7:35, 7:28, 7:29, with mile 7 in 7:50. I was now past halfway, 8 seconds inside the 7:30 p/mile pace, and 108 seconds inside 1hour 40min.
    Then the hills hit, the fatigue set in, and I slowly crumbled to 8:11 for mile 8, rallied a bit for 9 & 10 in 7:57, 7:59 but in the space of those 3 miles my banked time was gone. A steady 8:00 into the headwind for the 11th mile was followed by a complete collapse on the hill and a 9:12 mile.
    Despite the mostly downhill last mile towards the finish, I had nothing in the legs and only managed 8:32, with an overall finish time of 1:42:32.

    The pint at the end was guzzled down quickly, but when I went back to the bar for another, the queues were 5 deep, so I abandoned that until later back in town.

    Given my lack of structured training and the subsequent difficulty of the last few miles of headwind and hills, happy enough with the result.
    In future I think I'll try using some gels, could help prevent the drop off with 3 miles to go. I attempted to eat some jelly babies, but found them too much work to chew and with a dry mouth I ended up spitting it out as it was an annoyance.
    A beautifully scenic run, I was glad to have driven it on Friday to know what was ahead, and get the opportunity to take in the views.

    So now to get the head down for a winter of proper training and maybe a better crack at this distance in future. Galway Bay half in a months time on my doorstep is tempting, if only to gauge where I could be on a flatter course.


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