2015 review

30^th December 2015

It’s been a age since I bothered to write a blog update so I better get on with it.

On a running front I had a reasonable if not a spectacular year. A steady 2015 in keeping with a steady 2014. I was delighted to say I completed 2 marathons and my first ultra, even if on the day I ran or walked into very tough places for the last 10 miles. I do intend to give  the Connemara ultra, 39.3 miles, another  bash in 2017. I  enjoyed and was happy to get another sub 3.30 in the Frankfurt marathon and while not a PB I can say I gave it my all having nothing left to give in the last 5k. Yeah it’s a race I hope to return to next year with hopefully me getting a better training cycle in this time.

I haven’t been doing a whole lot of mileage in the 8 weeks since. I can’t  really explain why but the fire isn’t really there at the moment and for the last few weeks I was focusing on one tempo and one interval session a week with a long run no longer than 10 miles. Rather than aim for a long term goal like a marathon, for the moment I am training in 4 week cycles aiming for a target race at the end of each cycle. The idea is to increase my speed in shorter distances and hopefully pick up a few pb’s between now and June. This approach paid off with me getting a PB in the Newmarket 5k, 20.22, two weeks ago. It's a modest time but a good one for me especially I was running 20.48 for the last couple of years in the same race. The next race I will try to aim for will be the Dungarvan 10 in 4 weeks time. While I may not get a PB I will be aiming for a course PB , hopefully under 1.12.53. 

Other possible races include Adare 10k, Ballycotton 10 and so on but we will try to get the hunger back for running first. At the moment I sometimes feel I am a step away from not running anymore. It doesn’t feature very high on the list of my priorities at the moment and hasn’t in a while. That is the way it goes.

I ran a total of 1940 miles this year, which works out as a average of 37 miles a week

Throwing ideas out there

Week ending 8^th November

It’s been 2 weeks since the marathon and up until yesterday I haven’t been running at all. I was determined to keep the trainers in the cupboard after Frankfurt and give some time to eating, sleeping and generally arsing around. There was no interest or appetite for running and I really have to say I enjoyed not running. Then yesterday morning like some sort of reflex action I went for a easy 4 mile jog and a 10K jog today. I didn’t even wear a garmin for either jog so I had no idea what pace I was doing but the feeling was one of comfort and I enjoyed it all the more for it.

In terms of future plans I do intend running a marathon next year – probably Dublin or maybe Frankfurt again. I’m not sure if I will be running a marathon before then. There is the consideration of doing Tralee marathon in March, Manchester and Connemara in April or Limerick in May but for various differing reasons I won’t be making a decision until January. Ideally it would be great if there was a flat marathon in April in Ireland as the cost of hotels in Manchester is pretty saucy and Tralee comes too soon after the Ballycotton 10 while Limerick despite falling on the May weekend seems the best and most affordable option, but I am worried it take me a few weeks to recover so I may miss some good local races. Then again I might be better off just racing shorter distances until next year and get some PB’s under my belt. Sure we will see (I really am throwing considerations around here). For the moment I will just do some jogging. Even though I didn’t PB in Frankfurt I feel it’s time to aim for something a bit more ambitious between now and next year. There will be no Connemara ultra though.

4 miles on Saturday. 10k on Sunday.

Frankfurt marathon 2015 3hrs27mins59seconds

Week ending 25^th October 2015

The evening of the Frankfurt marathon. 

I didn’t PB coming in at 3.27.59 , a mere 45 seconds from a PB but this feels like a victory for me. I started training for the Frankfurt marathon on June 1^st but issues in the background made running very difficult and stressful. Some of my family members were going through hard times and running was not my priority. 

Nevertheless I was able to get the miles in and by the end of July I was in very good shape before I went on my holidays. I had targeted a sub 3.20 time and a sub 3.22 as a B time , all eminently achievable. I also hoped to get close to a 1hr30minutes for a half marathon and was scheduled to run a variety of 10k and 5mile races. Then the stomach bug hit me on the last day of my holidays and I missed 3 good weeks of proper training , DNFing the Tullamore half marathon. My confidence was dented and my fitness was compromised by September. Motivation was low and I doubted if I would even get on the start line.

I started again early in September and concentrated on running a  LSR on Thursdays and MP runs over the weekend.Everything else was rest or easy jogs. By October I was back in some sort of shape and was hopeful of getting a PB, maybe not a sub 3.20 but sub 3.27 at least. Either way I had to get some measure of satisfaction as I resolved to stop running marathons for the foreseeable future if I didn’t run a good race.

Myself and Aoiffe drove down to Farranfore airport meeting up with the rest of the Mallow runners catching a flight to Frankfurt/Hahn and a 2 hour bus journey into Frankfurt town itself. We settled into a solid enough hotel, even if the area was a bit on the seedy side but only a 10 minute walk from the start line. I was glad to say I slept very well on both nights and upon checking my resting heart rate I was glad it was well under 50 beats – always a good sign. Saturday we spent relaxing- going to the expo, mooching along to a art gallery and sitting on my rear for most of the day drinking tea, water and eating food. I felt good and was happy to be here with my wife and clubmates.

Sunday morning I was feeling in very good form meeting up with a large group of club mates and feeling pretty confident. I was wearing a 3hr27minutes pace band which was enough to aim for a small PB. I also had my garmin working off kilometres rather than miles, a issue which cost me a sub 3.30 last year in Amsterdam. The organisation of the marathon was pretty impressive and close to 10 am local time  our race started.

I wasn’t too far behind the pacers for the first 8 km but the pace was a lot faster than 4.55 km pace/ 7.57 mile pace. The first 5 miles involve a series of what seemed a bewildering series of loops around the city and I was boxed in for the first 40 minutes or so. However what served to bother me was that the sweat was running off me in gallons. I was finding the heat/humidity a real issue. Temperatures wise it was only 10 degrees but the combined heat of the runners as well the tall skyscrapers ensured there wasn’t a puff of air anywhere. Every other runner looked to be coping well enough which made me feel even more anxious, so maybe it was a Irish thing. Paudie and Denis later said they had similar issues as well. It also meant by around 10km I had drunk the entire contents of my water bottle and had used my gel a tad early. That said though once we got outside the central business district and into more open areas I felt a lot better. After 10km I had also caught up with the pacers and was getting into my stride.

After that I was in good running form and was running shoulder to shoulder with the pacers up until the halfway mark. I ran according to the km markers and my pace band rather than the splits on the garmin as the watch was around 2 minutes out per each mile or 45 seconds per kilometre. It was however practically impossible to follow the blue line as the crowding was still a issue so it was easier to run behind the pacers instead. That said there was the usual argy bargy at the water cup stations with one guy giving me a handoff at around 20k that Richie McCaw would be proud of. One of the other runners asked was I ok I nodded in the affirmative and plodded on. It’s the way it goes, no harm done.

I reached the halfway mark in 1hr 43 minutes and at this point I had two choices. 1)Stick with pacers for a further two miles or2) push on for the second half. I was feeling very relaxed and I was enjoying my race so I thought it was time to opt for the latter approach.

The people of Frankfurt seemed to be coming in large enough numbers to support the event and there was good craic from the various bands along the route. I was feeling very solid and by 30km I was around 10 seconds ahead of my 3hr27min target. By 32km I was around 15 seconds ahead of schedule and didn’t feel in the least bit troubled. At this stage it was time to push on a bit further and see what did I have left. While there was one or two small pulls the course was indeed flat and straight with a nice few downhills. I spotted Denis Cronin gave him a thumbs him and he responded in kind. He looked in good shape.

The crowd around me begin to thin out a bit and there was a lot more walking wounded making their presence felt. The legs were beginning to felt sore but I felt mentally positive and with less than 6 miles left or 48 minutes running I was pretty sure I was going to finish on the upward curve. This was confirmed to me at mile 23 which came in at 3hrs which gave me a 3/4 minute advantage ahead of the 3hr30min time. I was also running down Mainzerstrasse , the place where our hotel was situated and where Aoiffe was on hand to cheer me on.

Yeah I was feeling cocky…

…..then the car crash happened.

 It felt like the air was deflating out of my body and the energy levels begin to drop. I was also feeling a bit lightheaded with one spectator shouting at me to keep at it. (At least I think that’s what they said- no Deutsch). I was resolved to keep running or shuffling along as long as I could but I was feeling fckud. 

What was really beginning to cause the damage was having to run the last 4k in the same route as the first 4 k which meant looking at those horrible skyscrapers. I also had to  deal with the small path of cobblestones and a mentally draining out and back portion where all the faster runners were belting it.

I stopped and walked for around 20 seconds at mile 24 and shuffled on again at mile 25 before I walked for a another 20 seconds. I really thought I was going to drop down, the brain had gone into a freeze and the legs were really throbbing. However as they say “Pain is only temporary”, and I knew I was well able to finish out the last mile.

Perhaps my breakaway at mile 13 was a bit early or maybe my band aid training methods in September were catching up on me. The last half a mile seemed to go for ever ending in a straight run  up towards the Egbert (sic) strasse taking a sharp left towards the Festhalle. The run in into the hall is pretty cool alright. I managed a half token arms up in the air gesture crossing the line in 3hrs27mins59seconds. No repeat of Amsterdam 2014, this time the clock was on my side.

I was shattered. I had left it all out there. It wasn’t a PB but it was a personally satisfying time. It was also my 10^th marathon and my second sub 210 minutes. Next time I hope to set my heights higher.

The rest of the clubmates ran some cracking times, in particular Noel who came in at 2hrs49minutes35seconds while Sharon ran a brilliant 3hrs10minutes54seconds. 

My time was a lot more humbler. It was probably the poorest training cycle I ever undertook but in many ways my best ever marathon.It was also the best course I ever ran on.

When's the next one ? I don't know.

Happy days.

Post race drinks and chats in O'Reilly's, Frankfurt.

The morning of the race

One week to Frankfurt, one year since Amsterdam

Week ending 18^th October,

The last week of the taper starts tomorrow, a situation I have found myself in for the last 5 years now. It doesn’t get any easier, phantom pains, nerves, visualization , tactics and so on. 

What is different is that this is the probably the poorest trained marathon I have ever entered in that there are probably at least half a dozen things I would have liked to remedied for this one. In previous marathons (the good and the bad) I always felt I couldn’t have done anything differently in terms of training but this time I would have liked to done a lot more races/tempos/intervals and mileage. The stomach bug in August left me feeling pretty hopeless for most of August leaving me with the month of September to rebuild up my fitness and get into some sort of shape.

 I broke my training done to two key workouts- long runs on a Thursday and a marathon pace shorter “long run” on the Saturday or Sunday. I managed to complete 4 X 20 mile long runs (21,21,22,20.5). These went okish enough but the marathon pace runs went quite well – running the Charleville 13.1 half marathon in 1hr39min16seconds and 15 miles on my own at 7.40 pace. I also ran a number of 10 mile runs at similar pace every other weekend. The rest of my running was distilled to easy paced runs.

On the upside I do feel a lot more rested as I was only running 4 times a week so maybe that will prove beneficial to me. I can only do my best at this stage and hope the race goes well and post race recovery goes ok. I have two races in mind for the New Year and haven’t completely given up at a crack at another marathon in the first half of 2016.

3 runs this week. I had a cold and didn’t run from Monday to Wednesday. Thursday I ran 9 miles at around 7.55 pace and Saturday I ran 9 miles (14.5 km) at 7.40 pace. Today’s run was a easier 10 mile run with 7 miles run near the riverbank in Mallow in the company of Adrian, Caroline, Sharon and Peadar and the remaining few miles on my own.

Last two weeks

October 11th

It’s only 2 weeks to the Frankfurt marathon so the training is done and dusted now. The next few weeks are all about essential maintence and avoid anything daft. I finished this week with a mere 38 miles getting in two ten mile efforts on Thursday and Saturday, one slow and one at marathon pace (7.40 pace) with a 18 mile run at 8.30 pace in the rare company of Mallow ac. It was my first run with the club in 13 weeks and it was good to get out with them. A good number of the club are running in Frankfurt, all hoping to PB in the sub 3 hour to sub 3.25 range. I had hoped to get some running completed during the Monday to Wednesday period but work commitments and family commitments made it impossible.

The previous week saw me clock my highest number of miles yet – 60 miles. The two most notable workouts were a 20.5 mile long run on Thursday evening and a 15 mile long run on Saturday. The first long run was patchy enough. The route was flat – Glanmire to Blackrock and back again but I started stitching at mile 19 and was forced to call it a day after 3 hours. I had hoped to do 23 miles so that wasn’t great. I had to walk the 2 miles back to the car in a certain amount of discomfort for 15 minutes. It wasn’t a great workout. Saturday was a lot better running the 15 miles in a very snappy 7.42 fashion. A good speed session. It’s hard to know what to make of it to be honest but I suspect the differing quality of the workouts had more to do with getting a good nights sleep and running on a empty stomach. The 20.5 mile run was a tired run and having a rushed lunch didn't help.

In regard to setting a goal for Frankfurt a PB would be a tall ask, yet.......

Something is better than nothing

Week ended 26^th September

Well I’m back running anyway so that’s something. The mileage isn’t much higher than 40 -50 miles a week with faster workouts confined to a  Sunday race and the bread and butter long runs completed on Thursday evenings. Last week my two significant workouts were a long run in Mayfield after work- I enjoyed that run, running 2 miles in Mayfield going out as far as the Model Farm road and looping around back onto the Mardyke. I finished on Summerhill North grabbing the bus at St Lukes. I had racked up 21 miles/ 3hrs05mins and that was plenty. Then it was shower and change up in my mums and heading up to the hospital to see my Dad. It was my best run up there in a long time.

The other good workout was the Charleville half marathon on the following Sunday. I had planned to run this at marathon pace with a view to pushing on for the last 3.1 miles. All in all it worked pretty well starting off with the 1.45 pacers and catching up with the 1.40 pacers at mile 12 getting in at 1.39.16. It was a good confidence boost if nothing else as I felt I could push on for a another hour at least.I had originally targeted this race last June as a PB race but sometimes you have to make do with what you got.

This week consisted of two good workouts on Wednesday with 9 miles at 7.32 pace and 22.35 miles on Thursday evening. I didn’t enjoy the long run as much despite the longer distance and faster pace stopping in McCurtain St for the now obligatory bus ride home and the trip to see Dad on the other side of the city. Friday was a rest day with a handy 5.5 jog on the Saturday morning. There was no run on Sunday morning as I was pretty wrecked. I was disappointed in that but the energy was not there to go out again.

While it has been a solid two weeks running I have to be realistic regarding Frankfurt.

Week ended 20^th September 50 miles

Week ended 27^th September 40 miles

Start...stop...start...stop

A quick review of the last few weeks. It has been tough that’s for sure. After the stomach bug I dropped around 8 pounds of weight, normally not something I complain about but it reflected the fact that even the most basic workouts proved difficult. As a result I had to start from scratch again. By the end of August I had clocked up around 46 miles that week which on the face of it didn’t look too bad at all but the lowpoint was a DNF in the Tullamore half marathon. This was my first DNF, I have struggled in some races before but always some way or another managed to crawl to the finish – most notably the Rome and Cork marathons in 2012 and 2013 and the sufferfest that was the Connemara ultra this year. This time after 8 miles I had nothing left in the tank and jogged gingerly for a further 2 more miles before calling it a day. I ran a slow hour beforehand covering 7 miles. The plan was use the race as a marathon pace run with 7 miles slow and 13 miles at marathon pace, in this case 7.50 pace. I have done this kind of workout before and it has always proved beneficial but this time I just felt drained after the hour warm up jog. Last year I managed a respectable 1.34.41 on the course last year but this year it was to be a tough afternoon. Maybe I was just out of fitness or still recovering but it was a disappointing setback. My buddy Aidan ran a cracking time in 1.30.33- great going.

I recovered well enough the following week to clock some good workouts running 45 miles with a 8.3 mile tempo run at 7.15 pace on Thursday and a long run of 21 miles on the Sunday. However by the end of this week a planned 50 miles this week had come to a abrupt halt after 3 days and 21 miles. I don’t know why I stopped running but I just did. I simply didn’t have the hunger or zest for it. In fact I was happier not running rather than running, a activity that was supposed to be fun had now turned into a crushing overwhelming drudge. Even doing the marathon in Frankfurt is turning into a type of overwhelming dread. Hence I rested since Thursday but aside from that had a excellent weekend meeting with friends, family and being with my wife. When I get back to wanting to run you will be the first to know but it may not be for a while.

Turning point?

August 23^rd 2015

I managed a rescue of sorts this week after what was a very tough opening few days of training. The stomach bug was in my system until last Wednesday but energy levels were pretty dismal to the point I took 2 days off on Thursday and Friday.

 The first 3 days of the week were not good at all. Basically the running day consisted of me going for a hour jogging or so in the morning, breaking into sweats and heavy breathing after maybe 10 minutes and then suffering for a further 45 minutes, stopping for a 3 minute walk doing another few minutes of light jogging before having to stop a mile out for home for a 15 minute walk back to the house. I then would get in the door empty what was left of my gut lie down and drink a glass of dioralite.

Pretty crap (if you excuse me) to be honest. Tuesday was only marginally better – 2 mile warm up 15minutes X 2 at 7.30 pace and a 1 mile cooldown before panning out again. I thought I was over the worst of it by Wednesday but after coming back after another walk run hour I nearly passed out after coming out of the shower. Common sense prevailed and Aoiffe swore me not to run for at least 2 days. It was a easy promise to make. I was a spent force. The gains I had made up to the August weekend were being undermined.

Thursday night I must have slept 12 hours waking up at 10 am. I took another day off Friday and decided to see if I could do a hour light jog on Saturday. Adopting a very slow and cautious approach keeping the pace down to around 9min to 9.15 for the first hour I was feeling pretty ok , all things considered. I decided to keep going. I was feeling ok after 2 hours covering 13.5 miles – a slow pace. A sensible me should have left it at that but I decided to loop back around Pikes Cross and back down the Railway. These last 3 miles were a struggle. I was stuck in the one gear and there was a definite sense of effort involved. The legs were feeling tight and my head was getting tired. I had to stop for a gulp of water in the railway station but these hardships were good things. It meant my body was readapting to the notion of the long run. In all I ran 18.1 miles in 2hrs40minutes – average pace was 8.51- slow and I suspect the Hr wasn’t particularly low either. However I was delighted to have got the work done even if I was wiped for the rest of the day.

We headed up to see Kevin Bridges do a gig in the Opera House – not one of his best gigs and I was wiped out again the next day after a 3 hour round trip to Cork to see the man perform a very odd show. However rather than go for run On Sunday I went for a 40 minute 2.8 mile walk with Aoiffe- the quads and muscles were achey, a feeling that persisted until Monday.

I had plans to run the Ballycotton 5 mile race and the Tullamore half marathon on the following Saturday. I also had plans to run the Liscarroll 10k and the Clonmel 13.1 the week previously. These races were to play a part in my training but maybe a more back to basic approach might be required.

Miles for the week – Monday 7 miles, Tuesday 7 miles, Wednesday 6.2 miles, Saturday 18.1 miles, Sunday 2.8 mile walk. 41 miles in total.

 Holiday photo taken with Toledo in the background, probably one of the nicest places I have ever ran (or visited).

Spanish belly

Sunday  16th August

Sitting on the couch a bit glum. Tummy started to give me a lot of trouble last Wednesday on the way down from Dublin airport. Aoiffe had picked up a serious vomit and tummy bug the night before we left Malaga to fly back to Dublin and it was only a matter of time before I picked it up. I am probably getting over it at this stage – Aoiffe not as much.

In terms of running over the last two weeks I didn’t do a huge amount in particular during the week of my holidays principally because I didn’t expect I had to as I had put down some very big weeks in the lead up to the break. I ran 4 miles and around 7 miles in Madrid on the Monday and Tuesday and another 7 miles and 4 miles in Toldeo. To be honest I have liked to have done more running but I got a pain of a headcold on the Friday and that laid me low over the weekend during the trip to Granada. Sound like a bit of a crock don’t I?

In Malaga on the Tuesday the cold had cleared up and I ventured for a 80 minute run on the Tuesday morning last week. All my running had to take place at around 6.50 am in the morning so warm was the weather during the day with temperature’s hitting highs of 40 degrees. Even at 6.50 am in the morning it was still in the mid to high 20 degrees so the pace had to be slow. I also ran my time using a stopwatch rather than a garmin.

Nevertheless I felt in terms of keeping the legs fresh I had done enough to allow me to run the Clonmel half marathon but the old Spanish belly intervened on Wednesday on the way down. I did run 8.5 miles on the Thursday in Charleville at a relaxed pace of 8.20 per mile but I should have worried when the effort felt harder than it should have. I had no energy on the Friday and things worsened over the weekend with my system acting in a “irregular “ way. Hence no running today in Clonmel and only 17 miles this week and 23 miles the week before.

We will see what the rest of the week brings.

Good workouts before holiday blowout

Week ending 2^nd August

A very good running week. I hoped to pack a good few miles in this week as it was coming to the end of the month and I wanted to get close to nearly 200 miles for the month of July (I managed 199 last year and 193 this time). Also with a 11 day trip coming up in Spain where temperatures are somewhere in the 40 degrees I might be limited to 3 runs a week. We tend to do a bit of travelling around when we go abroad so getting into a settled routine of running is tricky. At least by getting a good week up on my legs the following 7 days allows me to rest somewhat before building it up again for August and the big month of  September.

Monday – routine recovery jog. I had no Garmin but I did the usual 4 mile route. It felt very comfortable.

Tuesday – 8 miles with 5 miles tempo. Average pace for the tempo was 7.10.It was a faster tempo than this time last year and I should have pushed things on a bit for mile 2. Last mile was run in 6.59 pace. Hopefully by September I can get a faster pace on the shorter tempos, ideally around 7 minutes.

Wednesday – I was up early around 6.40 am for a 90 minute long slow midweek medium “long run” running from Charleville – Railway Rd – Bally hea and back via Charleville. I covered 10.25 miles at a solid slow pace of 8.27 per mile.

Thursday – Another early start with a 3 mile warm up jog and then 10 X 2 min intervals at 6.33 average pace. I rested around 45 -60 seconds between each interval and jogged a mile home. I ran 7 miles in total. Again not a very fast pace for intervals as a lot of runners who run a 5k under 20 minutes would be doing these intervals at 6 minute pace. 20 minutes of intervals is enough to be getting on with as the legs felt it the next day.

Friday – 4 mile recovery jog at 9.20 pace. Hr 135.

Saturday – The day of the long run. Like all my workouts this week I was running this on my own. The plan was to spend around 2hrs40mins on my feet but run around 10 miles at marathon pace. I ran 7.5 miles at a slow relaxed pace (7.45 pace). I took a sup of water and then ran the next 10 miles at 7.40 pace. I was very comfortable for the for 8 miles but the last two miles were tough. I should have kept a tighter rein on the splits at miles 7 and mile 8 and I suffered a bit for the last mile. The splits were the marathon pace run were 1) 7.46, 2)7.59 3)7.48 4)7.43 5)7.35 6)7.26 7)7.29 8)7.30 9)7.40 10)7.38. Nevertheless I was happy with the way the run panned out. I suppose it would have been good to have turned out another 2/3 miles but all in good time. I then tacked on another 15 minutes (1.5 miles) of slow mileage simply to get the legs running on depleted legs. A good workout. 19miles.

My next race will be the Clonmel half marathon in two weeks. I hope to get around as the legs will be jelly like after the holidays. Hopefully I can build up the fitness from that point onwards.

Monday 4 miles, Tuesday 8 miles with 5 mile tempo, Wednesday 10.25 miles, Thursday 7 miles with 10 X 2 miles, Friday 4 miles, Saturday 19 miles with 10 miles at MP pace.

50 miles

Week ending 26^th July

Monday morning the legs were a bit stiff probably as a result of the fact that I was a bit out of practice running for  2hrs20min . I ran around Charleville covering the 7 mls at 8.36 pace. The slow pace over a longer distance did the trick as I was pretty fresh over the rest of the day. This meant by Tuesday morning I was able to go for a 60 minute tempo. The plan was to run around 7.30 pace as distinct from a faster sub 7.10 pace over 30 minutes. In other words a longer tempo over a slower distance. These Tuesday workouts will after August (fingers crossed)  become the key “quality” workout of the week alongside the long run on the Sunday. The shorter long run on Wednesday is important after those Q1 and Q 2 workouts. Races on Thursday or club sessions keeps the interest going and improves my ability to run at short harder paces. Monday and Saturday are slower recovery  runs.

The run went very well covering the 8 mile loop from my house, the railway road, Pikes Cross, Cooleens and back home again. I did 8.10 miles in the 60 minutes at 7.25 pace. It wasn’t easy but I was able to maintain a good control at all times. The splits were 7.48,7.25,7.27,7.23,7.15 (downhill),7.15,7.12,7.21 and 0.12 @ 7.24 around the estate for the rest.

By Wednesday I was surprisingly feeling ok. No heavy or dead legs or anything like that. I got the 85 minute run completed by 8.30 am that morning at around 8.30 pace. I was told to run these slower but it’s hard to run these any slower than what I am doing. If anything it’s doing all I can not to run these at a faster pace. I ran the Charleville/Railway Rd/Ballyhea / Charleville route. It’s bang on 10 miles to and from my house and it’s a well known path at this stage. Most of the route is on the hard shoulder of the N20 but it’s safe out. I headed up to Cork called into my Mum’s and met some of the lads for a bit of lunch in 14A on French Church st.

By Thursday morning I was feeling a bit groggy. I had a poor nights sleep and was in little form that evening making the 105 minute car journey down to Churchtown South in Ballycotton. What did stand to me by the time I headed down was the 2 hour nap from 1230 to 230 and getting the dinner out of the way early. Obviously I have a lot of (unpaid) time off during the summer so there are no reasons not to feel rested. With the correcting out of the way I have a lot more free time.

Anyway the race in Churchtown was reasonably ok. It was my first 5 mile race since last August. The last 1.5 miles were pretty intense and I was on my feet at the end coming in at 34mins.40secs which is my typical / solid run time. I would have liked to obviously run faster but at this stage I have might have reached my peak at achieving 33.08 in Midleton 2 years ago. It was good to get the 0.5 mile warm and 2 mile cooldown in as well. My cousin and many Mallow runners did very well. It’s success at the short distances that will aid the longer ones.

That was pretty much it until Sunday running for 2hrs40mins. I had no garmin running 3 miles with Liam Murphy at 8.30 am joining the main group for another 14.5 miles. I feel reasonably fresh for a car journey up to Cork to meet Derm and Tim to watch a disastrous defeat by the hurlers to Galway. I would have hoped to have got a run in on Saturday but no such luck

Anyway a downbeat end to a good block of training. 50.87 miles. Monday 7 miles, Tuesday 8.1 miles, Wednesday 10 miles, Thursday 7.37 with 5 mile race, Sunday 18.5 miles approx..

42 again

Week ending 19^th July

Another weeks running done and dusted. Same mileage as last week – 42 miles. I probably would need to be getting into 50 miles a week territory pretty soon. Hopefully I will manage it this week and maintain the mileage the week after. 

The time from 3^rd August to  12^th August will see less mileage but the plan from then on is start ramping it in preparation for the Frankfurt marathon which will be 10 weeks from the time I get back in time for the dreaded Clonmel half marathon.

Plenty of time between now and then of course but I have been giving my post Frankfurt marathon plans some rough thought. I have ruled out doing any ultra next year, although I do hope to return to Connemara again in 2017 or perhaps give Portuma a shot. In terms of marathons I have vague notions of doing the Sixmilebridge or Clonakilty marathons afterwards but as I came a cropper last year training for Sixmilebridge maybe not. For the moment I don’t see myself training for anymore serious marathons until next year focusing almost totally on distances between 5k and 10 miles with perhaps a 13.1 mile race thrown in.

The cornerstone of this weeks training was 2 speed sessions and one LSR. Monday was the usual 4 recovery run (9.36 pace, HR 135). Tuesday was the speed work. 2 mile warm up with 30 minutes tempo and a 1 mile cooldown. The legs were dead enough and the splits were reflective of this. The average pace was 7.09 which is a small bit slower than the last tempo run but the last mile picked up to sub 7 pace. Not a bad effort all the same but hopefully the next tempo will see some improvement.

Wednesday was a slower 80 minute run but it was a lovely day for it. I ran 9.5 miles it total at 8.25 pace around by Pikes cross and Cooleens. All flat and all slow.

Thursday a training session with Mallow AC, warm and cooldown with 6 X 0.5 mile hill repeats in Doneraile Park. I was fine for the first 3 repeats (6.40 pace) but suffered badly in the last three (7.00). Lesson learned.

No running Friday or Saturday which probably needs to be rectified in future weeks.

Sunday was a long run. I met the Mallow crew at Newtwopothouse and jogged the 6 miles to Doneraile park taking part in a 5K fundraiser on behalf of local lad, Dessie Fitzgerald. I jogged down the back at 9 minute pace and then the remaining 7 miles back to my car. That gave me 16 miles in total at a pace of 8min50sec pace or 2hrs21min on the feet. It was slow and it wasn’t always comfortable but that’s the way it was meant to be. I need to emphasis long runs over the next few weeks.

A lot of stuff to work on.

42 miles (4 mls Monday, 7 mls with 4mls tempo Tuesday, 9.5 miles Wednesday, 5.5 miles with 6 X 800 metre hill repeats Thursday, 16 miles Sunday.)

Drom and Port

Week ending 12^th July

I ran two races this week, a 4 mile race in Dromcolloger (my third time doing this) on the Monday and a half marathon on the Saturday in Portarlington up in Co. Offaly. In between I ran 9 miles in 77 minutes in Charleville, walked 3 miles as a recovery session with my wife and ran 8 miles in Mallow with the club.I didn’t run on Friday or on the Sunday. I covered 42 miles this week.

An advantage of running the same course one year after the other is that it gives you a indicator of where you are. In Dromcollogher I was running my first short race since December so I was just aiming to give it my best shot. I came in at 27mins36seconds which was around the same time I ran in 2012. The splits were pretty identical too. I ran with Pa and Paudie for the first 1.5 miles so as not to take off so quickly so that I would not burn up in the last few miles. When I crossed the line I was glad to have got a solid time under my belt. I warmed up with 2 miles and cooled down with 1 mile for a good workout.

Tuesday was a easier paced day. I had planned to cover a fixed time in this case 75 minutes as prescribed in a number of running programmes. The idea was to run at a LSR pace. I covered 9 miles in 77 minutes, the pace was faster than LSR pace, 8.30 pace but I think I did pretty well. Wednesday was a walk in my wives company, always a good time for a chat about the day.

I took it handy on the pace in Mallow running the 3 X 10 minutes at 7.20 pace.

Saturday was the day of the half marathon in Portarlington. My mate Aidan only lives 5 miles from the town and the race was a good chance to catch up. Numbers for the 3 races – marathon, half marathon and 10K were small and I couldn’t imagine if the event would have another year in it. From my point of view I was going to use the race one of two ways- a marathon pace run or a simply just race it and see where my fitness was. I opted for the latter option in the end despite the 2.5 mile warm up. The course was marked in kilometres (road markings only) rather than miles but that wasn’t a issue for me and the water stations were well placed. At times the marshalling wasn’t always evident and some cars and trucks were too close for comfort. This is a point that needs to be sorted in future or someone could get hurt. Anyway my legs were finally a bit rubbery after 3 miles- they had no pep in them. I was in touch with the 1hr 40 minute pacers for the entire race but that was as fast as I could go. I obviously was out of practice. This was my fastest long race since last October so some stiffness was to be expected. In the end I crossed the line in 1hr39min51seconds not a fast time  but not entirely slow either. It means I am in reasonable shape but a long way off where I want to be. I was tired crossing the line which also indicates I gave it all I could.Hopefully I could build on this weeks training over the next few weeks.

Mileage for the week 42 miles. Monday 7 miles with 4 mile race at 6.54 pace, Tuesday 9 miles in 77 minutes, Wednesday 3 mile walk, Thursday 8 miles with 3 X 10 minutes, Saturday 15.5 miles with 13.1 miles at 7.37 pace

Step on

8^th July

Last Christmas I purchased my wife a smart phone thingy as part of the yuletide celebrations. I don’t have much interest in such technological machinations happy to make do with my functional brick. Truth be known I don’t see much value in a lot of it at all- after all how much internet/information access does one need? Anyway what is interesting is the pedometer app on it. (I like the real feel weather thing too) The target stepcounter calls for a minimum of 5,000 steps a day. A soft walking target but it does work out as a solid 3 miles a day. Anyway I have got into asking her "How many steps have you done today ?" which given my mildly obsessive compulsive nature is probably driving her nuts. Best to stop now...

My “how many steps have we done today” reached new levels of interest last week during a 5 day trip to London. I think we walked around on average 8,000 to 9,000 steps a day which was pretty good going , around 8K to 9K a day, going from one sightseeing opportunity to another and also from one eatery to another. The trip to London was as always a good one coinciding with the big smoke hitting 2 of it’s hottest days in decades. We stopped at Hampton Court Flower show, the National Portrait gallery, Tate modern, the Imperial War Museum and a few other delights. Running wise I managed to stretch the legs for 2 X 1 hour jogs around Hyde park, where as Blur once said “All you runners go around and around and around”. Not far wrong either. Nice spot though. Enjoyed buying a buckletload of CD's in HMV in Oxford St.

Sunday I was back on terra firma for a cutback 10 mile long run. 2 races coming up by the end of the week.

Week ending 5^th July 28 miles and lots of walking.

Monday 4 mile light jog, Wednesday 7 miles with 7 X 30 second sprints, Friday 7 miles, Sunday 10 miles @ 8.16 pace

Hectic stuff

Week ending 28^th June

Heading into July now. I have much rather been where I am now around a month ago but recovery from the ultra and then PF hit my running plans for six a bit. I still haven’t entered any short races either. No running 5k’s to 5 mile races isn’t fatal to one marathon ambitions but it does keep the interest going and if they go well it means your ability to run at longer distances at a  slower pace becomes easier. I had planned to enter the Shannagarry or the Milstreet 5 mile races this week but some issues prevented that from occurring. Let’s just say it’s a awkward time at the moment but all fine now.

Monday I headed up to Athlone to the correcting conference. I have been correcting leaving cert history papers since 2008 and the best way to kill the evening downtime post conference is to go for a run. I have no real interest in going for a pint or hanging out with the other teachers post conference, in fact we are all probably glad of the private time. Anyway I jogged the usual route I have been doing since 2008- 3.5 miles out of town and 3.5 miles back in. As usual the sun came out in the evening as it seems to do every conference evening in June. I ran the first couple of miles handy enough around 8.20 pace but picked it up over the last 5 miles around 7.30 pace. I all I covered the distance in around 7.40 pace. It was a testing effort and I was in a bit of sweaty lather making my way to the hotel. HR was around 155 so that was a interesting piece of information to digest. It told me I needed to start shedding around 10 pounds by September (nothing new there) and to get the heart used to running at what would be marathon pace.

Tuesday evening I headed back to Charleville to bring the back of scripts back for counting and to get myself set up for correcting. At around 5.30 I headed out for 5.5 miles. I had no garmin but reckoned I ran at around 8 to 8.30 pace.

There was no planned run on Wednesday as I had a trip up to Cork with my wife.I then had to get moving on the scripts which made for what at times was a tricky day.

Thursday was more of the same but I least fitted in a 70 minute medium paced “long run” in. These are beloved of Pfitzinger and are meant to reinforce the gains of the weekend LSR. The problem with these is that I have to work hard on keeping the pace slow. Pfitzinger’s schedule calls for around 11 miles to be started and to build it up to 15 miles. I hope to get there eventually but not quite yet as such a rapid approach exhausted me 3 years ago. Hopefully by September I will be up to 2 hours running in hilly terrain and hopefully at a good pace and lower HR. Today I ran for 70 minutes at 8.30 pace covering 8.5 miles. HR was 145.

No running Friday. I had hoped to get a relaxed 4/5 miles in at recovery pace but one or two things made that difficult. Not running wasn’t such a problem really as at the moment I am only looking to get out there maybe 5 days a week. The plan is to get up 6 days a week by August.

Saturday was a good workout. 5 easy miles around the town and 6 X 2 minutes intervals @ 6.40 pace around the park with 1 minute recovery. I covered 7.3 miles in total.

My youngest sister in law had her 18^th on that evening so I was obliged to show face but being a oldie was at the same time expected to stay in the background lest I ruin the party.!!!Teenage angst!!!! I had around 2 bottles of beer and kept the snacking reasonably light.

Got home for around 2 am and was out running at 10 am later on. This was one of my big workouts – 1 hour at easy pace and 1 hour at marathon pace. The trick was to keep the marathon pace restrained enough and see what I had left in the tank for the last 10-15 minutes as the inevitable tired legs kicked in. The restrained part was the hard part. This time I was running on my own and the tendency here is to over do the pace and go too fast for the first 4 miles and not complete the workout correctly over the last 3.5 miles. It’s happened before. Anyway I ran 6.92 miles in the first hour at around 8.35 pace. That was nice and handy before picking it up for the last hour on a challenging route. Fast and flat for the most part but some nice pulls too. Anyway the second hour went very well covering 7.8 miles which is around 7.45 pace or so. The sun came out for the last 2 miles and I was feeling the thirst a bit but as I say job done. Spits for the second hour were as follows: 7.48,7.46,7.41,7.30,7.37,7.42,7.48 and 5.20 at the end at 7.56 pace. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was glad to stop the timer after two hours. I’d be glad to return to the LSR again next week.

A tough week in a lot of ways but some good running. Total miles 43 miles

Hitting all bases.

Week ending 21^st June

Managed to hit 40 miles this week and a 1000 miles for the year.

Monday 4 mile recovery jog at probably too fast a pace. 9.15 with HR of 145.

Tuesday 2 mile warm up with 3 miles at 7.05 tempo pace and 1 mile cooldown. Splits were 7.05, 7.06 and 7.03 (must check this out). I seem to be getting better at keeping the tempo splits tighter.

Wednesday  8 mile jog/70 minutes on feet at 8.45 pace

Thursday 5 mile run with Doneraile with 3 X 1 mile repeats at 7.05, 7.00 and 7.08 pace. A tough session on hills but I enjoyed it. In another 2 weeks the club will be running 4 X 1 miles but unfortunately I will be away.

Friday Rest day

Saturday 3 mile walk with my wife, 55 minutes. Walking is a tough business

Sunday Hilly long run with the club. 13 miles at 8.30 pace. No HR information as strap was misbehaving.I tacked on 2 miles after we completed 11. Stomach was queasy for half of the run but settled down after that.

40 miles for the week. A good running week. I managed to cover all bases. A recovery jog, 2 speed sessions, a midweek medium long run and a LSR.

Looks like Frankfurt

Week ending 14^th June

I bit the bullet and pinned my colours to running the Frankfurt marathon on October 25^th 2015. As seems to be the case these days there is a large number from Mallow AC going and despite my best efforts to resist I gave into (polite ) peer pressure. I found myself caving in after one group long run too many. Kind of weak that way…… Marathon runners always feel the next race will be the PB race. Aoiffe, my wife, is looking forward to the break away so that helps soften the ground.

Anyway I booked the flights flying from Faranfore airport to Frankfurt – Hahn airport. As you expect from Ryanair the airport is actually quite a distance from Frankfurt, I hadn’t realised until I booked it the distance is actually 120 Km or nearly 2 hours by bus!!!!! Anyway all travel things aside I am sure it will be a cracking weekend and most importantly a good race for me. It’s been a long time since a marathon PB – nearly 3 years and realistically given my age it could be my last chance. After that I could be entering the dreaded era of “seasonal bests”.

Anyway a good running week. Monday 3 mile walk with my wife, Tuesday 5.2 mls with 7 X 30 second strides, Wednesday 6 mls at 8 min pace with hill repeats, Thursday 8 mls (3 miles with couch to 5k, 3 X 10 minutes at 7.05 and 1 mile cooldown), Sunday 11 miles with 6 miles at 7.45 pace.

The last two sessions were with Mallow ac. Tadhg did a great job of pacing me on the Sunday run. It was a marathon pace run and it was tough. Long way to go.

Mileage for the week 32 miles.

Marathon training I suppose.

Week ended 7^th June

21 weeks to the Dublin marathon. I don’t really know to be honest how the training cycle will go as I am balancing trying to get good training done with trying to avoid further injury. That said the running week was a reasonable one. I ran 5 days this week. Monday was a 4 mile recovery jog keeping the HR under 140 in pretty dreadful conditions. This was the day of the Cork marathon. I was down to run a leg of the relay but because of one thing or the other I had to withdraw. On Tuesday I ran my first tempo run since probably February. 1 mile warmup – 3 mile tempo at 7.10 average and 1 mile cooldown. The splits were 7.05, 7.05 and a laboured stiff and sore 7.18. Hr was 163. A solid effort though I will be hoping to improve in the last mile.

On Wednesday I ran 6 miles in Charleville. It was supposed to be a hilly run but given the lack of hills in the area I had to make do with hill repeats by the local hotel and repeating a 1 mile pull up by Love Lane. Thursday was a club session with Mallow my first in 4 weeks. I warmed up with a few miles and then ran 4 X 6 minutes, covering 3.5 miles. I hadn’t realised my pace was so fast around 6.51 pace. I guess I just felt energised.

Friday was a rest day as was Saturday. Hopefully in a few weeks I get that extra run in on the Saturday. Sunday was a long run with the club. We ran 11.5 miles at a relaxed pace of 9.15. Just as well as the Hr was a bit high 143.

Mileage for week 32 miles. Monday 4 miles with 5 X 30 seconds strides, Tuesday 5 miles with 3 mile tempo at 7.10 pace, Wednesday 6 miles with hill repeats, Thursday 6 miles with 4 X 6 minutes at 6.51 pace, Sunday 11.5 miles at 9.15 pace.

Plantar Fasciitis

Week ending 31^st May

This has been my longest gap between updates. My last race was of course has been the Connemara ultra where I didn’t get under the 6 hour mark but was glad to get the race covered and to get under 6hrs20mins. The problem (as I feared) has been one of recovery. I took 2 weeks off running and then eased into running (lots of slow Maffetone type jogging) and then into one modest speed session with the club (4 X 6 minutes). On the Sunday I joined the club for a 10 mile jog where I ran the last 3 miles at marathon pace (7.40 per mile). The problems started when the plantar fasciitis started to flare up.

The PF first flared up in 2010 when I first started training for my first marathon. It required some rigorous (painful) physiotheraphy at the hands of the now sadly departed Rob Savage but I was back in training after 2 weeks. It just meant little or no speedwork over the summer. It also acted up a couple of years later but was sorted within a week.

This time I headed down to John O’Sullivan in Mallow and he said I was lucky I started dealing with it early. He worked on the calves, hamstrings and Achilles as well as the heel spur.After 3 visits and another 2 weeks off the feet I headed back running doing lots of slow short jogging (4 miles during the week with Sunday long runs of 7 and 10 miles). On the positive side the HR side of things has been very positive. If I run slower than 8.45 pace the Hr levels out at under 145 so I am happy to keep it there. Hillwork and speedwork isn’t still viable nor is participation in any races. The PF hasn’t completely cleared up either but I am religiously icing and treating the afflicted area a number of times a day as well as stretching the calves and breaking up the spur. This month I have covered a modest 98 miles which says it all.

Injuries are becoming a issue in the last few years. 2013 I exhausted the body after the Cork City marathon and gave my quads a nasty pull. After the 2014 Amsterdam marathon I had to withdraw from the Sixmilebridge marathon with tight calves and a sore hip flexor. After the Tralee marathon and in the leadup to Connemara I had issues with my left kneecap which was related to a ITBS issue. It’s all part and parcel of the running game but injury preventation may be required as part of training. In regard to upcoming challenges I won’t be making any plans yet.

Connemara ultra April 2015 (It's a long one)

Monday 13^th April.

Completed my first ultra in Connemara yesterday. My overall plan was to simply complete it and ideally get in under 6hrs 20mins (9.30 pace). My dream time was to get in under 6 hours (8.55 pace). While it wasn’t the fastest pace plan in the world in comparison to a marathon time goal, the nature of the course (very tough and hilly) and the distance (the effort required for the last 13.1 miles was the equivalent to a marathon) called for a cautious strategy.

For most runners with a decent experience of marathons it was clear many of the runners were hoping for a sub 6 hour time. In the end only 50 runners out of 164 runners achieved it. My finishing time was 6.17.49, so at least I finished it and achieved my B time.

Even at 6 hours with the wheels having truly fallen off at that stage I was still only a mile from the finish so in many ways I am not that far off a better improvement next year.

However from a more critical point of view the training I put in since January never really paid off. I clocked up nearly 720 miles in the last few months running back to back’s, midweek long runs and was very comfortable over 10 miles,  running a marathon and 6 20 mile plus Sunday runs. This has been a feature of many races I have ran since 2012 where the training has not lead to the performance I hoped for.

We were bussed from the Cathedral carpark on the Sunday morning at 7 am. The rain was sheeting down at that stage in keeping with the monsoon like predictions for the rest of the day. The weather was expected to create havoc for the runners especially those out tackling the longer distances but had cleared up by the time we arrived at  Peacocke’s Hotel in Maam’s Cross for the pre race briefing and the gear change. In fact the weather was to be glorious for the whole day- sunny blue skies, no wind, warm temperatures with snow capped mountains adding to the whole back to nature vibe.

I chatted to my clubmate Adrian Ryder before the start. He ran this 2 years ago in a excellent time of 5hrs48mins and was hopeful of doing well again. He shot off after a mile never to be seen by me until I crossed the finish line. My neighbour John O’Connor was also running as well, this was his second Connemara ultra and hoped to improve on last year’s time of 5hrs53mins.

I ran my own race. The plan was to run the first 26.2 miles in around 3hrs50mins (8.45 to 8.50 pace) walking through the aid stations for 90 seconds at a time. I hoped then I would have enough in the legs for the last 13.1 miles to get me around in 9.05 pace for a sub 6 finish. That was the “A” plan. The “B” plan was to get around in the last 13.1 miles with what ever I had left and try to get under 6hrs20minutes. The time of 6hrs20mins I picked on the basis that was  a achievable gap that I could make up in the following year.

Miles 1- 5 went pretty well passing through the first aid station in around 43 minutes taking on a gel and a few bottles of water.  The ultra marathon group were all bunched very close to each other and I fell in  with this lad from Dundalk who reckoned if we kept up this pace we should get in for 5hrs30mins!!!! I started to get a bit startled and was glad to let him off. By the time I came to my first bag drop at mile 10 I took on some Jaffa cakes, a banana and left the rest to the kids manning the table. At that stage I had being running for under1hr26mins so I was hitting my target pace. I felt comfortable and very relaxed as did most of the field.

At mile 12 I stopped for a toilet break bumping into John O’Connor and we stayed close enough to each other with me stopping at the aid stations and catching up with him later on as he ran on. The first 13.1 miles passed in around 1.53 around a minute of two ahead of schedule. This was the point where the marathon runners started their race and we ultra’s started to overtook a lot of the slower runners.

The miles up to mile 18 started to get a lot tougher as we were running not only into a progressive climb but the wind started to funnel a bit. It wasn’t as windy as last year, thankfully, but it was a tricky spot. Mile 17 and Mile 18 passed in 8.56 and 9.06 respectively and I for one was glad to get to my drop station at mile 19. A lot of early pace setting ultra runners were beginning to wilt as well with another hill to negotiate just after the aid station. Again I took on another banana but left the Jaffa cakes behind. I also brought a bottle of flat coke with me but after a few sips I dumped it into a bin. It was pretty revolting and the bottle (500ml) was too heavy to carry. A lesson learned.

At mile 20 I was feeling ambitious. I was well  past this point in under 3hrs and while I wasn’t hitting 8.30-ish pace I felt I was doing well enough at this stage.  I should have learned my lesson because by mile 22 I was beginning to get a little strained. Thankfully these miles all the way to Leenane (mile 26) were downhill but I was careful not to push too hard because the calves were under pressure. I was also mindful of the IT band which was beginning to tighten ever so slightly.

I was passed by a small but stocky ultra female runner who was hammering out the miles at a handy rate. She appeared to be in good form, me less so. I was glad to get into the village on flatter ground reaching the 26 mile aid station in around 3hrs48mins. There was no official 26.2 marker for the ultra runners but I estimate I reached the distance in around 3hrs50minutes. So far so good, now with 13.1 miles of uphill and downhill running to go the real race begin, everything before this was shadow boxing.

The hill out of Leenane goes for around 1.5 miles and the damage brought on by the last 4 miles into Killary harbour kicked in around down. I had planned to walk it but tried to hold off until the garmin read 4hours which took me past 27 miles. It still meant I was in a good place timewise. “Stocky” was pretty crocked herself and managed a few half hearted jogs before walking herself.

I walked for 90 second before jogging again. I wasn’t feeling 100%  with the brain urging to me walk again. I reached mile 29 in 4hrs16mins coming to my drop table. I was f****d at this stage and I was not in a happy place. John jogged past me in that relaxed ultra fashion. He was sympathetic but he had a race to run (finishing in a new PB of 5.50 or so). I worked out that with 10 miles to go I needed to run at 10 minute pace to get me under 6 hours. That on the face seemed easy but the mind was pretty foggy at that stage.

This was where the true ultra grit kicks in as the key to ultra running is mental more than physical. Every runner out there even the sub 3 marathon runners are well and truly nackered at this stage but it’s all about having the where with all to keep going.

I ran mile 30 in 9mins46seconds giving me 4hrs25mins41secs on the Garmin, a respectable landmark time. I would have gladly have stopped there and then. I was wrecked having to discard a half digested banana, passing on the flat coke. I really didn’t like it.

I ran beside another ultra runner who was moving at a solid pace. Truth be known he was a bit of a headbanger ranting away to himself but you could see he was feeling confident and was also physically very strong. Mile 31 passed in 8.50 and mile 32 passed in another walk run effort of 10mins13secs, my slowest mile of the lot.

The course of this stage was marked by various pulls, inclines and little hills but from here on the course was to drop downhill until the dreaded “Hell of the West” at mile 35.

And so on it went …mile 33 – 9.53, mile 34 – 9.58. That left with me 5 miles to go with 5hr06mins30seconds up on the official clock. The garmin was out by 90 seconds for every marked mile- caused by the fact that I was veering around other runners. That meant I had 5.5 garmin miles to go , 5.3 course miles. This meant I had to run/ jog each mile in 9mins30seconds. It seemed easy on the face of it but the calves were completely seized up meaning every time I attempted a light jog I would cramp very severely. Jogging was out of the question and with 2 steep hills ahead of me (the “Hell”) and 2 steep descents I was running out of luck.

There were a number of other ultra runners going up the “Hell”. Some were sprinting up it, some were jogging it, many others were walking it. I caught up with two other walking ultra runners. and we estimated that our walking pace was around 15mins per mile uphill and that hopefully we could jog the downhill’s at 9 to 10 minute pace. I was now aiming for my B target.

Mile 35 passed in 10mins35seconds and Mile 36 passed in 12.43. The steepest part of the Hell passed in a morale crippling 15mins28seconds. (It feels even hard to type these splits).

At the top of the Hell it was a steep 2.3 descent to the finish. I tried to jog down the hill but the cramps were a sharp reminder not to be getting any notions. I nearly fell over at one stage the cramping got so strong. Even the breathing was getting laboured especially the diaphragm and I started wheezing badly. Another ultra runner was power walking past me (Tracey) and she gave me a shot of her inhaler. That did the trick and on we power walked together like two middle aged women going for a walk around the local park.

Mile 38 passed in 15.19 minutes. At 6 hours I only had a distance of 1.3 miles to go. I took heart from this. As hopeless as I was I was still only a mile off from a sub 6, something to take heart from if I ever try this again next year.

We started to jog again as we came closer to the finish line and Tracey pulled ahead of me. I was wheezing badly again and the pain in my ribs was getting very sharp. I crossed the line in 6hrs17mins49seconds.

I wasn’t too downhearted when I crossed the line. I wasn’t particularly elated either. It was more a case of a hard job done reasonably well neither very good but not completely crap either. Plenty to work on. It was my first ultra.

 I chatted to Adrian and John after the race. They did very well. Adrian’s marathon PB of 3.36 is a soft one indeed.

As for me I would depending on my circumstances next year might give the ultra a shot again next year. I definitely can improve on this showing but I don’t think I will ever see myself dipping my toe in the ultra game on a regular basis. I need to work on shorter distances and improve my times and performances in those distances first. For the moment though I will take a break from running and recover instead.

Connemara ultra 39.3 miles. 6hrs17mins49seconds. 9mins35sec pace.

Miles 1-26.2 – 3hrs50mins approx., Miles 26.2 -39.3 – 2hrs27mins49seconds