Training Log Archive: ColmM

Mourne Mountain Marathon Day 2

We arrived a wee bit late to the start, but despite those 2-3mins, we went straight by the whole field (bar 1 team), as they had all stopped to mark up the map.
Some messing on the trails & then slowing down for Mark's knee allowed one or two teams back by on the way to 1 though.
We moved off efficiently and broke away with one other team in the hunt for the day's leaders.
We were chilling a wee bit early on for Mark's knee, but after the 3rd we started moving properly & the other teams were running well. We went hard at the cluster, and despite taking a sub-optimal cluster route I think (Laurence & Ben, and Shane + Jonny did it right), we still gapped the field on the misty mountain top with some pretty sharp nav through the short legs.

A poor route & very slow descent out of the cluster saw another team catch up with us at the next control (one team beat us by 10mins on this leg). But we took the direct route to the marsh, and climbed well. Once we got here with a gap we could just cruise in and make sure they weren't catch us.

Going into the 2nd last we saw Laurence + Ben, and once I learnt they had Shane + Jonny hot on their heels for the overall gold I set about getting these well to give them a shot, but Shane + Jonny clearly monstered it and caught up really quickly.

And then for some reason Mark's knee was feeling fine so he made us run hard into the finish.

Great weekend, thoroughly enjoyed it. Weather & company helped.
£175 was a nice bonus.

And yes, we should have done Elite. At least we will next time.

C • Mmm 2

Mourne Mountain Marathon Day 1

We set off pretty hard early on, despite the rice pudding intended to slow us.
All the first few legs cleanly, a little slow on the climb as my calves were hotting up.
Debated the long leg for a while, but ended up picking wide left via hare's gap & the brandy pad. Turns out all the Elite, B & C top teams chose this, except for Laurence & Ben on the elite. Splits will be interesting.
Moving fine but not fast over the next wee section, and decided to save climb and go way wide on route to cove mountain (under the castles).
Smashed the route, and ended up saving a good bit on Laurence & Ben, yet to see other splits though.

Mark's knee was starting to struggle on the descents so we slowed it up, and then I struggled on the rough remaining climb, but we got it done and cruised in.
Definitely losing time in the last section, although still compared well to Laurence & Ben (who had done 2hrs extra...).
Ended up smashing day 1 & we were in the lead by over 1hr 15mins, which really only encouraged the abuse we'd already been getting about entering the B.

Doing a few jobs & then some random exploring

Very easy. Calves have been a little stiff since Tuesday.

2016 is officially my biggest year mileage wise, by the books.

steady from campus with one of the boys from the athletics club, Sean.
shorter than I expected, but niftier too. Won't complain too much with the Mournes this weekend.

short jog down and some drills.

HWUAC session on the meadows.

Good session, enjoyable running.
First session in months, so it being relatively short suited me nicely. Running with a few lads, and then mostly just myself and Liam for the last few reps.
Feeling pretty good today.

1 mile cut-down, distances probably a bit random, just cutting out different sections of the mile loop.
Didn't really get what was happening on the first mile, we basically just jogged to show everyone the loop.
Laps a bit all over the shop due to auto-lapping.

Distances: 1.6k, 1.23k, 1.03k, 860m, 880m.
Times: 7:33, 4:05, 3:24, 2:48, 2:48

warm down + a bit extra with Liam.

maybe the canal isn't the best route

EUOC alc-o

jaysus this was way tougher than a beer relay.
caught out a bit early on with some serious eye-touch from the crowd, and lost a bit of the competitiveness. But with the spirits & cider (seriously, who drinks this stuff?), it was probably always about survival.
Can't complain when the wee ones out-drink you.