Training Log Archive: ColmM

Mournes Day 2

Started pretty hard again, and set off well through the first cluster I felt. Got plotting a few more, and tucked in behind Ben Windsor & Matt Vokes on a few short legs as they came by. Didn't look like much choice on the 2nd cluster, and as we climbed up to the first one, Paul/Phil & the Neil Talbot / Steven Shields teams came through us - it was a brutal climb, and in particular Paul & Phil looked very strong. Already the sense of racing was disappearing a bit, but we got a gel in and slogged out the straight route on the long leg, big mistake. These leading teams had all gone that way, but we would have been much better off on the Brandy Pad route, and coming back into the control East of Bearnagh. That long leg sapped it out of us with a few brutal climbs and a whole lot of heather. In particular I was really struggling on the climbs with the heat.
We finally got up to it, but a bit drained. I rejuvenated a bit, and was moving a bit better than Jonny on the flats & downhills, but was struggling up the climbs and JQ kindly carried my pack up the next decent climb. We just chilled, and walked most of the next leg back along the wall. We contoured round to it, dropped into the valley, and Jonny looked for the control at the stream source but it was nowhere to be found. After a little while before I realised what was going on, I checked the description and realised I had marked it in the wrong place. I had marked both maps cos we were tired, and was conscious this issue could arise, but took it on the chin. Stupid, but here we were. Jonny climbed back up to it and I slowly followed. Very stupid and cost us somewhere in the 20-25min range based on splits (though I'd guess closer to 20 as we weren't moving quickly anyway). We saw Conall & Oisin coming down out of it not long after we'd realised where it was. I didn't want to be beaten by them so that perked me up a bit and I took Jonny's bag for a bit of flat trail as we tried to hold it together for the last bit.
Took the route directly up to Meelmore on the last climb which was rough climb-wise but nice running afterwards and easy nav which was good. Made sure to nail the last couple and as we hit the 2nd last Oisin & Conall were there to end our fears of being beaten by them (we'd beaten them by 20mins yesterday, and they'd started about 7mins after us today).
Ran it in and got dropped by Jonny which I was fine with after handing him the Si.

Pretty shocking days work. The mistake and that was silly, but since we'd kind of given up the racing at that stage, it didn't actually bother me too much. I was more just disappointed with my physical shape today, as I had not expected to be bonking after a good number of months of long work. I felt great on Day 1 and was happy to push hard and could have upped it a bit or kept going for longer, but day 2 was the exact opposite.
I don't like the idea of making excuses, but I also have to recognise it's fair to assess reasons for sub-par performances. Regardless, I think I was quite badly affected by the heat and probably not enough liquid consumption resulting in some minor dehydration / heat stroke. The situation was maybe not helped by losing that extra meal for yesterday's dinner, and / or just generally pushing hard, but the latter in particular is common place in these situations.
Whatever it was I wound up fairly wrecked afterwards compared to normal, with lots of cramps and lack of feeling in my arms at the finish, and headaches and generally feeling really quite shite on the journey home. Anyway, all's well after some rest, but good to document these for future reference. I will probably take next week unplanned & rest up just to relax, before heading to Oxford next weekend. Exciting time to kick on with winter training again then soon.

Mournes Day 1

No Mark this year due to injuries but fortunately got jonnyq in to step up. We got a few good long runs in with packs over the last few weeks so was feeling pretty confident going in that we could give it a good challenge.
We got the kit out and gear came in at around 5.3kg which seemed solid, jonny's a tad lighter. I actually lost one of my freeze-dried dinners and a cup-a-soup on the way to the race (not sure how), so maybe a little lighter, but I also took this as a good thing since I usually have too much food, so it didn't worry me.
Knew Phil & Paul would likely be the strongest team, but they were an hour earlier so a little irrelevant, but with Conall & Oisin 16mins before us, and Conor & James 8mins behind us, we planned to go out pretty hard. This worked fairly well. Marked in a couple, and moved alright to 2, I marked in the first cluster while Jonny navigated in, and nailed it. And suddenly we could see Conall & Oisin 2mins or so ahead, ideal.
We didn't rush to catch them, planned ahead a bit and kept it controlled through 3 & 4, but I caught up with them while punching and we moved ahead starting the cluster, picking Corragh first. We swapped a bit and stayed together for a while. We chose to go back out to the Brandy Pad from Lamagan round the annalong valley, and got a bit ahead for a while, but refilling water and having gels the guys caught up again. We'd generally been moving fairly well, though a little stop-start here and there. I was conscious not too push too hard because Jonny had said the pace was fast but he was still going strong, I just wanted to make sure we didn't overcook it.
I liked the line into this control after the cluster from the Brandy Pad, but the other route got quicker times from the boys. We were pretty clean through the control pick section and got away from the others, though spent a bit of time checking the location of the hut because jonny had marked a different one.
Was happy with the next cluster route to the Col first, we didn't fly up, but we moved better to the one after. I reckoned the right option around North Tor was better, but this was a mistake really, much rougher terrain coming in and some ankle issues in there for Jonny started to impact the speed. Shame, because Jonny had suggested the other line. We originally planned on contouring around to the next one, but with his ankle struggling on the slopes, we climbed over the col between Tors and headed onwards. Mostly pretty clean from here, but we did run past the last control and lose 90secs which was pretty stupid.

Overall was pretty happy with day 1, we could have been a bit quicker, but knew we'd done a solid job. I was fairly surprised when I heard Paul & Phil had run in the 3:30s, bloody ridiculous running. There was definitely more time to be had out there for us, but we wouldn't have been looking at near that. As more results filtered it turned out we were 5th, which was also surprised with. I've had much worse days in the Mournes and come back 2nd. Especially impressive was the mixed team of Shane & Karalee ahead of us.
Set our sights on a podium as 3rd were still only 5mins ahead, but with the real racing a little over as we'd never be catching the other 2, I gratefully accepted a couple of Guinness from Mark who had rocked up in his van.
A lovely evening and a nice campsite. Better sleep than last year, but it was cold and the tent still being rather small does have a tendency to soak up a bit of condensation.

Easy back from the bike shop, round Terenure & Bushy.

Easy evening run with Cian

Rathfarnham - 34min tempo.
Pretty good, pace started easy enough and chatty and slowly picked it up. Ran off the front in the 2nd half, and gradually quickened a bit. Ran 3'50/km so pretty good really.
Felt really good and relaxed, which was nice, very positive session, and makes me feel like I haven't lost any strength really. The group aspect definitely helping, fairly set on trying to get the same setup once I move.

Lunch run with Cian in between "lectures"