Training Log Archive: fluceluceIn the 7 days ending Sep 18, 2011:
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Sunday Sep 18, 2011 #
8 AM
Running race 5:55:26 [3] 23.9 km (14:52 / km) +1050m 12:12 / km
Mourne Mountain Marathon Elite - Day 2.
Well the sun that was forcast for Sunday had not materialised. In fact we woke up to the sound of such heavy rain and strong wind I thought I was at the OMM and certainly didn't want to get out of the tent!
Aparently the cloud base was 2100m...which meant we were camping above 2100m...
The start was a mass start so whilst we didn't know who the team 9minutes behind us were, I'm pretty sure they knew who we were and had a target! The first 2 legs were long! We probably lost a bit of time faffing with clothing and how many layers were required as although it was wet windy and wild it was also reasonably mild.
We arrived at 2 with another team and Wil immediately went for loosing them in the clag. Visibility was 20m at this point and we hammered it across the bog tussock monster to spike the next control and get the fastest split of the day for it :-)
The terrain was a bit different today with less steep ground but much more deep bog and big tussocks!
Pattrick Higgins and Johnny McCloy passed us at control 3 and were flying!! They went flying back past us at 4 and we arrived at 5 just after them to find them with the leading 2 teams and no control to be seen. There was a bit of a jumbled mess of decisions about carrying on or hunting, we checked out the other 2 sites that could be described as 'track end' before deciding it wasn't a misprinted grid ref, and continuing. We probably faffed around for about 30mins here!
We were racing with one of the top 2 teams after this effective 'restart' and were still doing well on the Nav, keeping with them until control 10. Next came a climb up a hill, traverse and then swift drop down to the finish!
We finished 7th on day 2 but only 30minutes behind the winners! Overall we were 7th (the team 9mins behind having had a stormer to finish 2nd on the day) and 1st Mixed team by 4hrs 15mins :-) First Elite MM done!
Well the sun that was forcast for Sunday had not materialised. In fact we woke up to the sound of such heavy rain and strong wind I thought I was at the OMM and certainly didn't want to get out of the tent!
Aparently the cloud base was 2100m...which meant we were camping above 2100m...
The start was a mass start so whilst we didn't know who the team 9minutes behind us were, I'm pretty sure they knew who we were and had a target! The first 2 legs were long! We probably lost a bit of time faffing with clothing and how many layers were required as although it was wet windy and wild it was also reasonably mild.
We arrived at 2 with another team and Wil immediately went for loosing them in the clag. Visibility was 20m at this point and we hammered it across the bog tussock monster to spike the next control and get the fastest split of the day for it :-)
The terrain was a bit different today with less steep ground but much more deep bog and big tussocks!
Pattrick Higgins and Johnny McCloy passed us at control 3 and were flying!! They went flying back past us at 4 and we arrived at 5 just after them to find them with the leading 2 teams and no control to be seen. There was a bit of a jumbled mess of decisions about carrying on or hunting, we checked out the other 2 sites that could be described as 'track end' before deciding it wasn't a misprinted grid ref, and continuing. We probably faffed around for about 30mins here!
We were racing with one of the top 2 teams after this effective 'restart' and were still doing well on the Nav, keeping with them until control 10. Next came a climb up a hill, traverse and then swift drop down to the finish!
We finished 7th on day 2 but only 30minutes behind the winners! Overall we were 7th (the team 9mins behind having had a stormer to finish 2nd on the day) and 1st Mixed team by 4hrs 15mins :-) First Elite MM done!
Saturday Sep 17, 2011 #
10 AM
Running race 6:50:58 [3] 29.0 km (14:10 / km) +1850m 10:45 / km
Mourne Mountain Marathon Elite - Day 1.
After coming 2nd overall and 1st Mix on the B in 2008 its taken an entire 3 years for us to finally get round to doing the elite, Wil being ill 2 years ago and me being post Terrex crippled last year.
We set off and it looked like the weather was going to be damp. The clag was down for the first 2 controls and whilst the 1st was not a problem, at control 2 Hurricane Irene had created about 60 new rivers that were most definately a smooth hillside on the map. We spent 20 minutes playing pot luck stream hunting, probably hitting the right one 2 or 3 times, before leading 3 teams into the control - rubbish!
We were then in a head to head race with Harold and Mark, but took different route choices and they ran off into the distance somewhere. The terrain in the Mournes is some of the roughest I've run on, unrelenting tussocky bog rocky rough on steep ascent or descent at all times!
We got through the free choice route section, choosing the same control order as the overall winners then were presented with a path! The first time all day and I got excited when Wil said it was only 3miles back to the finish! So we stormed it! Shame there was actually another hill to traverse to the finish that he had overlooked!
Finished in 6th Position, 1hr10 behind the leaders, having dropped only 10 more minutes to Harold and Mark in the rest of the course! And were 1hr and 50minutes ahead of 2nd MIX pair!!
After coming 2nd overall and 1st Mix on the B in 2008 its taken an entire 3 years for us to finally get round to doing the elite, Wil being ill 2 years ago and me being post Terrex crippled last year.
We set off and it looked like the weather was going to be damp. The clag was down for the first 2 controls and whilst the 1st was not a problem, at control 2 Hurricane Irene had created about 60 new rivers that were most definately a smooth hillside on the map. We spent 20 minutes playing pot luck stream hunting, probably hitting the right one 2 or 3 times, before leading 3 teams into the control - rubbish!
We were then in a head to head race with Harold and Mark, but took different route choices and they ran off into the distance somewhere. The terrain in the Mournes is some of the roughest I've run on, unrelenting tussocky bog rocky rough on steep ascent or descent at all times!
We got through the free choice route section, choosing the same control order as the overall winners then were presented with a path! The first time all day and I got excited when Wil said it was only 3miles back to the finish! So we stormed it! Shame there was actually another hill to traverse to the finish that he had overlooked!
Finished in 6th Position, 1hr10 behind the leaders, having dropped only 10 more minutes to Harold and Mark in the rest of the course! And were 1hr and 50minutes ahead of 2nd MIX pair!!
Thursday Sep 15, 2011 #
8 AM
Running 1:10:01 [2] 6.75 mi (10:22 / mi) +256m 9:17 / mi
And I couldn't resist an early morning run with LD. Ran down to Rivelin and back up via Lodge Lane. Really nice morning and good chat, legs back into it!
Wednesday Sep 14, 2011 #
6 PM
Running 49:12 [2] 4.98 mi (9:53 / mi) +187m 8:51 / mi
Ok, so not entirely rest...DPFR - me and Zanthe ran an alternative (shorter) route at a very easy pace. Legs felt like they'd had a week off and didn't quite know what to do...
Monday Sep 12, 2011 #
Note
Phew, made it! An entire week+ off! Going to ride out to the final trunce and probably run tonight, then attempt the impossible....more rest until Sat (with a bit of a leg stretch Friday) and the Mourne Mountain Marathon!
6 PM
Mountain Biking 55:17 [4] 11.7 mi (12.7 mph) +240m
Ride out to the trunce - missed the start due to some great faffing including failing to unscrew the valve of my front wheel inner tube and therefore riding on less than 20 PSI.....if I ever start to think my massi needs to be lighter again I just need to ride my Scott again....tank! 5kg extra makes going as fast as I normally do hard work!!
Mountain Biking 42:41 [4] 9.93 mi (14.0 mph) +93m
Ride back - got picked up from Hillsborough as was running out of daylight and knee still isn't overly keen on uphill...fail at running a trunce this year