Training Log Archive: roar

Event: Relay, Newbridge House Demesne
 

Forgot to reset my watch after my warm up so this is both the warm up and the race. Fingal family relay in Newbridge Demesne. Don took first le on the short course and came back first. I cruised around, trying to keep a solid pace which seemed to work pretty well. Enjoyable enough had to think a little about some route choices. Felt good, calves less tight.

Conor took last leg on the long and was caught by Angus who was on second but we were still easily first and got some chocolates as a reward.

Easy jog around the park place. Nice day out and was quite enjoyable.

Event: IMRA Tonlagee + Lap of the Lake
 

Tonlagee + lap of the lake.

Started off down St. Kevin's way towards Laragh form the Wicklow gap. Just cruised this part but everyone was really slow and I spent most of it in second place. I found this a bit worrying but decided I'd go with it. Upon hitting the flatter road one guy came straight past me so I was 3rd at the road crossing. That didn't last long however. As soon as I hit the mountain I started going backwards. I had no energy in my legs at all to go uphill, and the ground was very soggy. Couldn't get the heart rate to a reasonable level after the first hard part. So I walked. Lots of people passed me out and eventually I got a flatter bit where I could run and Killian and Niamh were there. I tried as hard as I could to not let Niamh run away from me and seemed to be successful up as far as the gap, though we were a small bit high coming into it.

Ran along a sheep trail for a bit then I cut down and caught up with a group of guys who had been in front of me. Got stuck behind one of them on the trail around the lake as he had 0 ability to cope with anything remotely technical and somehow managed to take up the whole place while doing so. It was just me and him at the bottom of "the wall" that is tonlagee from the north. Again I was quickly forced to a walk. Some guy passed me as I suffered my way along. Stopped really pushing myself hard here as I didn't seem to be doing anything and I was suffering anyway! Eventually the first plateau came with footsteps behind me, Niamh again catching me on the hill. Managed to run from the stone to the trig point at least and got to the top just ahead of Niamh and Killian. Guy who had passed me out went straight on, while I turned 90 degrees right to land on the path.

Could still hear the footsteps behind me so I pushed hard at the top of the descent. I had no intention of people being near me at the bottom. Found the track beautifully but as we got to the steeper bit I heard a huge scream. Stopped turned around and saw Killian behind me doing the same. Started to run back up the mountain, with more energy than I had had all day I might add, Saw Niamh pretty quickly as she waved us to go on. Turned back to the task at hand and set off to catch the three people who were ahead of me. The first two were pretty easy once I got any way close but the last one I had to work pretty hard for. Problem was I didn't know where the finish was so I was spending some time looking up for that. When I did find it it was too late and I had no chance of the catch.

Way too tired to go orienteering afterwards, that and the weather was absolutely horrendous which I somehow haven't mentioned. About 4 degrees, mist and raining at the gap!

Was terrible with the stopping & starting of my watch.
Great day though and really enjoyable cycle with Brian around the park. We mixed it up a little and went outside of our comfort zone (i.e. the park) but traffic was really bad so we quickly returned.

Event: IMRA Bray Head
 

Finally know what's happening this week and can make a plan:

Wednesday: run followed by Bray hill run
Thursday: Cycle with Brian
Friday: gym + rest
Saturday: Tonlagee hill run followed by Fair mountain training
Sunday: I'd like to do some orienteering intervals but will have to plan it

Very long warm up to make this a long run day.

Went along the clifftop path which was lovely, except it was the eving and the sun was in the west and directly wesst of the path is Bray head so it was all in the shade. I could see the seagulls sitting in the sea, all just beside the line between shadow and sunlight and was terribly jealous. Calf feeling a little tight.

Bray IMRA.

Objective here was to run hard after already having been running for a while. The race started quite late (maybe 20 mins) so I stiffened up a bit after my earlier run. I felt good for the first 200m and then started to go backwards. Had to just sit in on the steep climb. Kept the legs moving in a running motion. After while I started to overtake people again and could see Mike Long about 4 places in front of me at the summit. Relaxed down the hill and recovered a bit, then I powered up the next slope. I seem to be able to handle these gentle gradients pretty well and picked up a few places. I pushed hard over the summit and got a few more but there was a lot of lactic in the legs now. Passed Mike here by jumping through some gorse. Didn't gain too much on the gentle downhill as everyone seemed to be pushing hard. My plan was to keep going up the last hill to the cross. Started that fantastically, but died a bit before the junction and Mike passed me again. Had to recover at the start of the downhill then but was able to pick it up. Finally got decisively ahead of Mike and had a nice race with a guy through the forest. Passed him by cutting a sharp bend crazy tight. Passed one more guy on the last bit.

Faster than last year anyway, though I was absolutely wrecked that day. Really suffered on the steep climbs but wasn't too bad on the flatter stuff. Nice to have HR data again and it was really high for me! Calf felt stiff though so will have to continue to watch that.

Jog with Cillin along the grass promenade and back again to get up to 90 mins today. Felt good at the end but definitely stiffness in the calf.

1 hour run.
GPS is nicely shifted for the first 5k. I swear I was by the road mostly.
Plan was to not take it too easy and I did that. Lovely evening on so should have got some tan on the legs. Was a bit late running and had an early enough lunch. The body started to get really tired after around 40 mins, which may be related or just due to lack of running. Form felt pretty good until then but was pretty bad at the end. Felt a bit better on the road home though. Calves seem ok. Bit of tightness on the outside tendons.

A nice rest day. Body was tired from the weekend.