Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads

The Black Oil

Week 6: 36.23 miles. Busy week with work.

Mon 19/2

Rest

Tues 20/2. Knees a bit moany at the start, otherwise all grand. Long day in the office.

Pre 1.02 mile
60 min very easy. 4.75 miles at 12:41.
Post 1.29 miles

Weds 21/2. Holy threadhold, Batman! :pac: Bad auld day for accidents on the M50 - morning and evening.

Pre 1 mile
3x10 min @ Threshold w/ 4 min rec. Can't be arsed posting the rec details.
1.17 miles at 8:55
1.13 miles at 8:58
1.22 miles at 9:02
1.18 miles at 8:55
Post 0.76 miles

Thurs 22/2

Pre 1 mile
60 min very easy. Must have forgotten to hit the lap button here at the 60 minute mark as it has me down for 68 mins at 12:34. 5.43 miles.
Post n/a

Fri 23/2

Rest/Conference.
A non-running day, but I had a rather strange marathon dream in the wee hours of Thurs night - highlights of which included 1) me going into the supermarket in the middle of the race don't recall buying anything and 2) a section where I had to go up some fierce mound/hill thing, it was mad mucky too. Now I think of it, have I absorbed point 2 from reading nop's ultra report? :pac:

Sat 24/2

Pre 1.01 miles
60 min very easy. 4.80 miles at 12:36.
Post 1.30 miles

Sun 25/2. Just a fine morning for it, really. Water bottle belt in situ, first time in many months.

Pre 1.01 mile
75 min moderate. 5.79 miles at 10:28.
Post 1.36 miles

Neady83

The Black Oil wrote: »

2) a section where I had to go up some fierce mound/hill thing, it was mad mucky too. Now I think of it, have I absorbed point 2 from reading nop's ultra report? :pac:

ha ha Nop, you really bring your race reports to life

The Black Oil

Neady83 wrote: »

ha ha Nop, you really bring your race reports to life

Post-ultra nop motto. Sitck to the mud? :pac:

Mon 26/2

Pre 1 mile.
60 min very easy. 4.75 miles at 12:42.
Post 1.31 miles.

Sleep - meh.

Tues 27/2

Pre 1.01 miles.
7x4 min @ CV w/3 min rec
Thing|Distance|Pace
1| 0.48 mile|8:36
2| 0.51 mile|8:39
3|0.59 mile|8:32
4| 0.33 mile|8:46
5|0.23 mile |8:44
6|0.57 mile |8:45
7|0.60 mile| 8:38

4 and 5 are messy because I had to stop when asked for directions, then forgot whether I had pressed the lap button. 6 and 7 were a minute too long too, oops.

Edit, only 6 above - appear to be one short.

Post 1.20 miles.

Snow started to appear tonight. Counted 5 rescue vehicles on the M50/M1 on the drive home.

Weds 28/2

Rest/Up at the usual time, sent a text to the boss before 7am, but she said to stay put. On standby for calls and emails.

Thurs 1/3

Pre 1 mile
60 min very easy. 4.86 miles at 12:33.
Post 0.44 miles.

Threw on the trail shoes and grips for this. Pretty good at keeping out water, tbf. Fair bit of snow to plod through. I think this was the first power cut, for an hour, another time it went out for 14.

Fri 2/3

Rest...er, sneachta. Power again by lunch time.

Sat 3/3

Pre 1 mile.
60 min moderate. 5.71 miles at 10:36.
Post 1.08 miles.

Back out of the house. Heh, bit of an obstacle course at times, grips on again. Legs had to work a bit harder. One side of the bypass was more trod on than the other. And the piece closer to Rush had some deep ish parts. Opted not to head on the Rush road as I was almost finished and couldn't fully see how bad the path was. Saw a pheasant scarper across the road in a gap in traffic. Moved quickly! Snow up behind the school was something else.

Sun 4/3

Pre 1 mile.
2hr 15 easy. 11.45 miles at 11:53.
Trail shoes again, forget to put them somewhere warm last night, oops. No grips this time as things were very much clearing. Saw people setting up for the Lusk 4 miler as I headed out just before 11am. Much snow has melted, but there were still large banks of it in the ditches. Normally roads that have space for 2 cars were reduced to one. Also, some of the snow was shoulder height and above. Similar story over towards Loughshinny. Plenty of grit and stuff churned up over the past few days had made its way into the car park and road. Opted not to run all the way down the edge of the harbour itself. Waves were breaching the sea wall and I didn't fancy an early shower with an hour to do after that. Home, socks were reasonably dry even within damp shoes and a wet road surface. Food, showered, shopping and some of the 4 mile runners coming in. Seems to have gone off well.
Post 1.14 miles.

Noticed on Garmin that they've changed the description of my runs to County Dublin Running rather than the name of the area. This is applicable to home and work. Also on Garmin, looked at the Insights section for the first time and it says I'm running further than 99% of others - me arse. I don't have the social media side of it on which may be why.

Week 7: 41.8 miles.

No marathon dreams this week. :pac: Happy to have kept running given the weather. Saw ESB trucks out yesterday, credit to those and others who were getting things back up and running. Half way through the plan now. :eek:

The Black Oil

Have been busy with stuff, job interview (unsuccessful) and such things.

5th - 11th March. Week 8: 36.62 miles.

Mon 12/3

Rest

Tues 13/3

60 min very easy. Er, forgot to press the lap button for the warm up so this was 5.79 miles or 72 mins at 12:32. Plus, 1.35 miles cool down.

Weds 14/3

Pre 1.01 miles.
50 min Tempo. 6.22 miles at 9:42.
Post 0.53 miles.

Fairly soaked during this one.

Thurs 15/3

Pre 1.03 miles.
60 min very easy. 4.8 miles at 12:34.
Post 1.10 miles.

Fri 16/3

Rest. Read that Enduro is taking on Barkley. :eek:

Sat 17/3

Pre 1 mile.
60 min moderate. 5.83 miles at 10:24.
Post 1.45 miles.

Parade was good.

Sun 18/3

2 hr 30 easy. 12.74 miles at 11:49.
Cool down. 1.08 miles.

Sneachta. :pac: Was listening to the BBC Radio 5 before 8, couple of half marathon races were cancelled. On the road - couple of runners uttered a few words, not much of a clue what they said, tbh. More exposed areas meant more wind and snow. Wild enough down by Loughshinny. Temperatures not too bad overall, but took me a while to warm up at home.

Two Sundays from now - 3 hour lsr. Nearly there.

Week 9: 43.92 miles.

The Black Oil

Week 10: 38.33 miles

Took time off work. Spent it doodling, job hunting. Snow finally departed on the Saturday. Started receiving emails from Garmin steps, guess I pressed something in the app. Didn't sleep all that well. Also did some searching for a May/June 10k. Haven't decided on that yet.

---

And like that, the seasonal allergies commence.

Mon 26/3

Rest

Tues – 27/3

Pre 1.10 miles
60 min very easy. 4.74 miles at 12:40.
Post 1.20 miles

Nice, then dull/overcast. Didn't sleep well the night before, so eyes were a bit droopy on the morning M50 drive. John Creedon was playing some Dylan on the radio that evening, good.

Weds 28/3

Pre 1 mile
2x30 min tempo w/ 5 min jog between. 3.14 miles at 9:40 and 3.24 miles at 9.37.
Post 1.05 miles

Nothing remarkable, took a few minutes to settle into tempo.

Pre 1 mile
Thurs 29/3 60 min very easy. 4.81 miles at 12:33.
Post 0.83 miles.

First time in a while that I did not feel like running.

Fri – 30/3

Rest. Studied the meno plan.

Sat 31/3

Pre 1 mile
60 min moderate. 5.71 miles at 10:35
Post 1.20 miles.

Body a bit ugh, mainly chest/carrying a dose.

Sun 1/4

3 hour easy. 15.25 miles at 11:49.
Post 0.60 miles.

Back on track, physically and mentally. Horses in the field stared. Generally quiet otherwise. Tide full at Loughshinny. Manx camper van out about. Tested gels and bars. And around mile 13 it kicks in - only have to do twice this a few weeks from now. Right so. Hope this cold fecks off.

Week 11: 46.37 miles.

For now, we taper...

The Black Oil

Mon 2/4

Job application sent in.

Pre - 1 mile.
50 min very easy. 4.01 miles at 12:35.
Post - 1.21 miles.

Soaked on this one.

Tues 3/4

Rest/AGM. Home late.

Weds 4/4

Pre - 1 mile.
3x15 min @ Tempo w/ 5 min jog between. 1.64 miles at 9:22, 1.63 miles at 9:14 and 1.61 miles at 9:27.
Post - 0.58 mile.

Wiped from the AGM. Droopy eyes on the M50 in the morning.

Thurs 5/4

Pre - 1.02 miles.
50 min very easy.
Post - 0.45 mile.

Fri 6/4

Rest. Slept poorly.

Sat 7/4

Rest. Took running gear with me, but family stuff took over.

The final stretch of the Pettigo / Donegal road gave a taste of what Conn might be like. Have been up here many times as a child and adult, a looming marathon puts this stretch of terrain in another light. The potholes...

Sun 8/4

2 hours easy. 10.10 miles at 11:55.
Post - 1.28 miles.

Took a while to warm up, mentally - with the realisation I've to do this sort of thing for longer and more quickly two Sundays from now. Beautiful day. And that's Man O War done with for now.

Week 12: 30.42 miles.

Neady83

Nearly there TBO Hope the taper madness hasn't set in yet.

Hope you get lucky with those job applications. Been through the whole process in the last six months, it's not the easiest.

The Black Oil

Taper madness? Couldn't possibly say. Arm is sore today for some reason.

Toying around with the idea of Manchester 10k (May 20th) for the summer. Or, there's the Currahee 10k on June 2nd. Bit of a journey (and expense) to get to that one, Stateside. I've emailed them and international runners are accepted. Er, now they've heard I'm from Ireland they're very enthusiastic in their replies, practically asking me what they should see because one of them is visiting Cork in a few weeks.

Bit hard to plan ahead re international stuff whilst job hunting. Manchester would be handier, weekend trip. We shall see.

The Black Oil

Mon 9/4

Pre - 1 mile
40 min very easy. 3.14 miles at 12:47.
Post - 0.79 miles

The sun mass of incandescent gas

Tues 10/4

With rain, thinking too much about work and touch of taper madness.

Pre - 1 mile.
4x10 min @ Tempo w/ 4 min jog between.
1.07 miles at 9:25
1.06 miles at 9:35
Got distracted on number 3, so it's a stitched together effort of:
7:57 minutes/0.85 miles at 9:24 and 2:29 minutes/0.24 miles at 9:28
Post 1.08 miles at 9:50.

Weds 11/4

Rest

Thurs 12/4

Pre - 1 mile.
40 min very easy. 3.22 miles at 12:34.
Post - 0.48 mile.

Fri 13/4

Rest

Sat 14/4

Parkrun volunteering. Only downside of this is the people spitting, snotting, etc, at the end and handing out 300 tokens to some of them. Ick. Feel sick thinking about that again.

40 min very easy. Forgot to use the laptop button for warm up and cool down, so it's 4.71 miles at 12:21, and 58.10 minutes.

Sun 15/4

Pre - 1 mile.
75 min easy. 6.42 miles at 11:53.
Post - 0.13 mile.

And so, the final Sunday before Conn. Should have worn a hat because I caught a touch of the sun. Soon will be able to get a sense of the forecast for the 22nd, seems OK.

Week 13: 29.22 miles

Just a little thing that might be stuck on my arm next weekend...

Nerves kick in at some point?

Huzzah!

Good luck on Sunday, TBO!

ariana`

The very best of luck to you TBO!

Pomplamousse

The very best of luck for Sunday! Hope the weather plays ball.
JFDI, HTFU etc. etc.:D:D
Looking forward to the race report.

The Black Oil

Pomplamousse wrote: »

JFDI, HTFU etc. etc.:D:D

So ordered. :pac: Will probably put one of those letters in the wrong order.

Mon 16/4

Pre 1 mile.
30 mins very easy. 2.46 miles at 12:46.
Post 0.88 miles.

Got a reminder email from the Conn team.

Tues 17/4

Rest

Weds 18/4

Pre 1 mile.
15 mins tempo. 1.65 miles at 9:30.
Post 0.98 mile.

Mentally, not great. Thoughts of stopping and walking throughout Conn. Ugh. Printed the Meno plan for future reference...

Thurs 19/4

Pre 1 mile.
30 mins very easy. 2.43 miles at 12:30.
Post 0.75 miles.

Fri 20/4

Rest

Week 14: 12.15 miles.

499.32 miles via the plan as a whole. 15 mins recovery tomorrow, if I remember to do it.

Sat 21/4

Park run volunteering, then drive West. May bump into a Galway internet human.

Sun 22/4

Connemarathon
4:30/29:XX?
Inishbofin t-shirt?

Step 1: Stick to the plan
Step 2: Smile through the pain :pac:

Pre-race mood



On approach to Hell of the West

Unthought Known

Best of luck for Sunday B. You have a solid block of training behind you so stick to the plan and enjoy it. Looking forward to the race report.

Kellygirl

Best of luck TBO.

The Black Oil

Why do we do these things?

Had a great experience. Counted more cars than sheep early on. Those last few miles really peel away at the feet, but no laboured breathing. Great event and that scenery!

I can confirm JFDI was actively deployed late on.

Kellygirl

Well done TBO! Is that your report or will there be more detail to come?

Huzzah!

Well done! Looking forward to the race report and hearing about that JFDI in more detail

ariana`

The Black Oil wrote: »

Why do we do these things?

Had a great experience. Counted more cars than sheep early on. Those last few miles really peel away at the feet, but no laboured breathing. Great event and that scenery!

I can confirm JFDI was actively deployed late on.

Congrats TBO, well done. Amazing to be able walk away from a marathon having had a great experience! How are the legs today?

The Black Oil

Legs weren't too bad, thanks. Although, if some handed me a set of car keys and asked me to drive straight after stopping they'd have been told to feck off.

Neady83

How's the recovery going B? How were your calves after the race? I remember mine were in bits, the pain was terrible after all those hills.

The Black Oil

Bit tired, grumpy yesterday, otherwise all good. Stairs fine. Would drive there this Sunday and do it again if I could.

The Black Oil

Sat 21/4

Parkrun volunteering, then off to the West. Fortunate enough to see a rescue helicopter taking off from the hospital in Galway, what a machine that is. Picked up a headache on the drive down, didn't do anything about it until later. Pottered about by car, went down to look for the Cathedral car park, stopped short and ended up in NUIG's rather nice campus. Back to the B&B, went for 15 mins rec (1.25 miles), then showered and down to Salthill for food. Flicking through the menu's drinks section and spotted the word 'Connemara', oh that must be a special marathon drink, says I. Looked up further to realise I was reading the whiskey category. Anyway, no drink had. Took some paracetamol before 9pm, tried to go for an early night. Didn't happen and was watching junk TV at 3am, and read a bit too. Maybe two hours sleep. Decided I wouldn't bother trying for 8am bus from the city and would drive to Oughterard.

Sun 22/4

Breakfast - porridge, some cheese, nuts, banana and chorizo, and water. Beautiful morning. Hit a fair wallop of a pothole early on in the drive and worried that would be the end of getting to the race... Fortunately not, so all was well (made it back to Dublin without a puncture too). Er, how would the lack of sleep thing affect my run? Got on the bus, good few French on it - didn't see any on the course later, that I recall. Not long into our journey and three people got off in the middle of nowhere. Picked up a few others later on, after we overtook some ultra folk, and later arrived at Lough Inagh. The bus journey was mixed feelings - ridiculously excited (the landscape played a big role in this), but a decent amount of 'oh feck' uncertainty going too.

Pics

View from the bus

Start area

Pic 1
Pic 2

Queued for the loo, then the 'truck with the bags will be closing shortly' announcements started. Geared up, just my t-shirt, long sleeve cycling arms and black sack on the go. Fairly exposed there as you're waiting around to start. Even in those 10 minutes I was fearing and feeling the cold a bit. Should have I kept that top on? Couple of the ultras passed by the barrier as we got closer to 10:30am. They glided along - has David Attenborough started a documentary on them yet? Off we go without fuss, overall it's not a huge group doing the full, at least not visually. Not mental congestion or hectic stuff, but an 'ah ha', this is what the terrain is like. Couple of early toilet breaks for some. Spotted a fellow parkrun volunteer from Sat and said hi. Think the rain had moved from light to decent in between miles 1 and 2 and in the first 6 is where we had a good bit of traffic and big tourist bus. Pacers ditched their signs at 4. Puddles, splish splash splosh! Some of those early miles and visibility was pretty poor if you were to step onto the land. Like the pic from the bus, only closer. Oh, there was a tiny lamb standing proud somewhere, fun little moment. I think after 6 was the right hand turn and upwards. All fine, no complaints from me and people getting to know each other a bit. I decided to get closer to the pacers at that point. Next 6 or so were grand. Damp enough when we got the half. As the lads said, we put in a 'bit of work' back there, then took it handy. Couple of people out supporting outside of their homes, cheers. Some abandoned clothing and the like. I think as or after we hit the half is when we started to lose a few.

13.1 - 2:12:20, we're on track.

Around the fjord is when I finally said hello to a pacer, ran his first marathon 4 years ago and also managed to accidentally sign up for the ultra another time. Let that be a warning if you go on the computer after a few. Shot the breeze about a good few things - the mussel farm, commercialism of some events, etc. Was told ye need a 'high boredom threshold' if taking on an ultra. :P Pacers were great at encouragement and explaining their rationale - stuff like hands, breathing, shoulders, getting the heart rate down and recharging in advance of the climbs. At other times they helping people who weren't really attached to the group, and one or two who had stopped. Talk of not being able to control the weather or course, but just to do what you can and think what why you were out on the day. Plenty talk of doing a marathon, but never do it.

The later stages. I stepped back a touch or two here from the cluster following the 4:30s, by gut feeling and eventually pacers got further ahead. I was physically and mentally fine, but as I said to the one of the lads earlier I didn't want to do anything stupid. Probably could have picked them up gradually, felt no need to use that energy. On approach to 19/20 seemed to be a source of dread for some, maybe a little tiredness factor kicking in. Pacers kept their spirits up about easing into things before HoTW. Alas, I wasn't on the ball enough to spot Neady, jelly baby dealer. :pac: Obviously by this stage I was very curious to see what HoTW was going to be like. It was around the bridge(?) there was a little bit of sensation in the legs ‘oh, you’ve been running today, right so’. The pacers had forewarned their intention was to walk parts and I've vague memory about something about a Telecom Éireann pole being a significant marker somehow. Maybe showing their age with that reference. Anyway, stopping was not on my agenda, but even so, I was surprised at how many were walking this section overall. Even if I had been with the 4:30s I would not have stopped, just gone on the slow machine. This might also be a good place to mention I don't recall seeing any medical interventions or people in bits as you might do elsewhere. Conditions and numbers may have been a factor there.

After HoTW I was still fairly cautious about what exactly to do next, given the advice from here and my unfamiliarity with the tail end of the course. Ergo, didn't put the foot down. Didn't recognise anyone around me. Finished on my own, the tall English bloke and 3-4 American women were all behind me. Good encouragement at the end, even out a fair bit from the official finish. Some JFDI started to kick in because of the 'yipee' excitement of getting close to the end, but more so knowing the course hadn't knocked me on my arse. Refreshments - felt like it took me ages to actually consume a fairly small bit of soup! Brownie was rich beyond belief, could not finish. Back on the bus - bit ripe on there, tbh. Bus driver must have gotten mixed up as he almost didn't stop in Oughterard...

Low points: nothing, really. Tough, hard race? Those words don't seem right perhaps because the pace was fine. No miles that felt ugh or hateful. 'Different' as an experience, without a doubt. Rain, schmain tbh. Great atmosphere, location - DCM probably has family/kids more so in its favour on the support front. Conn for lapping up the miles if you're having a good day at the office, bit of craic and not killing yourself for a time (in my case). I'm sure in harsher conditions it would feel different. The mile signs were pretty small and I think this worked well rather than big ones with inspirational words, it was a case of 'ah grand, that's 17', etc.

Stuff to think about: Couple of times when shadowing the pacers my head said 'hmm, this is like a training group'. I hadn't researched what the 4:30 pace was supposed to be, they did say around 10:17. The lads clearly knew what they at, I was just unused to planned fluctuation in paces in a race setting, perhaps to be expected given the course. Didn't look at the watch a great deal, couple of times it was 9:16. Others slow, see previous spiel! For myself, enough with the cautious crap. :mad::rolleyes:

Fuel: 3 bars, water and electrolyte on my belt, 1 gel and water from most stations as a precaution.

Mile|Pace
1|10:07
2|9:44
3|10:00
4|10:00
5|10:27
6|10:08
7|10:40
8|10:11
9|10:17
10|9:55
11|9:36
12|9:51
13|9:49
14|10:33
15|11:28
16|9:56
17|10:15
18|10:22
19|10:29
20|10:40
21|10:07
22|9:54
23|10:37
24|11:57
25|10:14
26|10:07
?|8:32


Garmin: 26.42 miles, 4:30:55
Race: 4:31:38
Chip: 4:30:46

TLDR: Go West.

Pomplamousse

Well done! :D Sounds like a great experience. Would like to do it someday, or even just the half, but think I'd definitely take your approach and not aim for a specific time.

Wubble Wubble

Well done B, great to have that one in the bag. It got me thinking about next year a bit more!

Unthought Known

Congratulations B. A well executed race and a great report.

Kellygirl

Your report is great. Well done. Sounds like a fun race.

Neady83

Great report TBO, loved it, you captured it perfectly. I'm so glad you approached it well and enjoyed it. It really is a marathon to enjoy, to take in all the beauty of Connemara. Those lambs eh? little balls of tough as nuts fluff, they're so incredibly cute

I'm sorry that I missed you, my jelly beans were gone in a flash, two pretty big tubs of them :O people were dying for them. I was also looking after some French students who I'd brought out for the day so we popped into the pub for tea and came back out just after the 4:30 pacers had passed and we gave out cups of flat coke to the rest of the runners.

ariana`

Well done TBO. I like your approach - you selling it well too, it's on my doorstep, it'd be a shame not too at some point

diego_b

Well done TBO, enjoyed the report. I've only done the half marathon there a few years back and the weather was a real challenge that day as well and the route has plenty of challenges. The views are certainly spectacular so nice to take them in, your approach on the day seems to have worked well for you. Keep up the good work!