2015 Year in Review

Last year was a fast year and a year of both great experiences and some very frustrating experiences but I don't think I'd hugely change anything with the exception of actually dropping out of the Dublin marathon so I wouldn't have experienced the injury problems I had in November/December.

I started off the year training for the Thames Path 100 which was in May and for the first few weeks I felt like I had one of the best training periods as I had been done some nice long runs until February where I experienced my first bout of sickness the day after a 36mile run.

But I recovered and soldiered on for my training race in April.

At the start of April I didn't take part in the Connemara Ultra which I usually really enjoy and instead I opted for my first 50mile event in Co Wicklow called the Vartry 50.

It was a 5x 10mile looped course which was also hosting a 50km and 100mile event and my plan was to take it nice and easy and finish it in 10hours even....I finished it in 10hours 10min so I was very happy with this outcome.

Although I had been sick in February and this really worried me doing Vartry 50 was a really great boost to my spirits as it made me really hopefully that I could pull off the Thames Path 100 one way or another.

Taking part in the Thames Path 100 in May was an experience, I don't think I could put it into better words then I did in my race report. It was both some of the best experiences of my life and also some of the lowest experiences of my life all in the space of 27 and a half hours.   Its surreal to think that at 2am in the pouring rain I was running through a wooded area somewhere past Reading beside the river Thames, not something I expected to be doing 12 months before.

At the end of May I got back on the road and did my first decent long run by taking part in the locally run Tullaroan Marathon, I enjoyed the time running the course and chatting away to JP. It felt great to be back on the roads and it was a lovely day for it too!

In July I ventured back into ultra-running and took park in the Keith Whyte Waterfront Ultra Marathon III (36miles), I started this race off way too fast and would have been on for my second fastest marathon distance only for the wheels came off at around mile 25 and this resulted in ran/walking to the finish!

After that it was holiday time but by the middle of August and after fitting in some holiday running around parts of Co Wexford and Co Waterford I started training for the Dublin marathon. 

This time I was hoping for a sub 3:20 personal best and as part of the training I opted to take part in the JJ Reddy Half Marathon. 2015 was the first year that the half-marathon distance was being hosted by the organizers.

I knew from the start that it was going to be a hard course as I've run the 10km course twice and the course didn't fail to deliver!

Still I gave it all I could and managed a time of 1:29:33, my first ever sub 1:30 half marathon race time and I was thrilled!

After September my training for Dublin didn't go to plan and although I should have either dropped out of Dublin or aimed for a slower time I stuck with the 3:20 plan and everything fell apart at mile 21.   

In hindsight I know now that when things fell apart at mile 21 I should have dropped out of the race but instead I kept going and this cause my about 6 weeks+ of muscle pain and problems during November and into December during which time I had a few sessions of dry needling which wasn't pleasant but worked great to sort things out.

At times when I was experiencing muscle problems I couldn't run 2miles without being crippled the next day walking down the stairs....a very frustrating experience but an experience I've since taken some lessons from.

As it stands now my legs are returning to normal and I can do 10miles+ with no discomfort in the leg muscles, but I have lost a level of fitness which is frustrating but that's the way things go.

Total Miles for the 2015: 1,670miles
How does this compare to previous years, this is how:
2014: 2,005miles
2013: 1,651miles
2012: 1,513miles
2011: 956miles

Keith Whyte Waterfront Ultra Marathon III (36miles) Race Report

Yesterday I did my first run of the Keith Whyte Waterfront Ultra Marathon III in Co Cork, it was very much a last minute affair as I signed up during the week.

One interesting thing about the Waterfront Marathon is as a guest it featured Team Hoyt who came all the way from the USA to take part in the event, inspiring stuff.

Initially I wanted this to be my 24th marathon with the aim of Dublin in October being my 25th but then I realized the next day that the Keith Whyte Waterfront Ultra Marathon actually was my 25th, oh well.

So instead of the marathon I opted for the 36mile Ultra for a bit more of a challenge, the course also had a 100km Ultra, Marathon and 10km race.   The loop for the three big races was a 9mile out and 9mile back route so for the 36mile event you just did this route twice and you're done.

My initial goal was to run the entire race at an avg pace of 8.30min/mile, my reasoning for this was I previous ran the Connemara Ultra in 5hours 52min and 17sec at a avg pace of 8:53min/mile so I wanted to see if I could better this for a race that was only 3miles shorter.

So I headed off down to Cork very early and arrived at the start line at 7.30min, met a few familiar faces including Vincent who is the race director of the Tullaroan marathon here in Kilkenny.

Before everyone headed off at the start there was a warm welcome for Team Hoyt and they started off just before everyone else, with the exception of the 100km which started at 6am the rest of the races started at the same time and so I headed out for the first loop of 18miles and for the most part I kept to plan for the first 10miles or so but as I felt good I ended up upping the pace and eventually dropped my overall avg pace to 8:11min/mile. Far faster then I had planned but I felt good so I kept things up.

The first loop went great and I felt I made great progress as I lopped back and headed out for the second loop but by the time I approached mile 24 the wheels started to come off and the pace had really started to drop off, by mile 25 it had dropped further and I was down to 9:00min/mile.

Although by the time I hit 26.2miles I had actually run my 3rd fastest marathon by running it in 3:41 I knew my pace goal was totally out of the window!

Really I only have myself to blame for the wheels coming off as I got too cocky far too early on in the race, really silly mistake to make.  

Despite this I still managed another improvement as I hit the 50km mark in a time of 4:38:51, this beats my previous best time set at the Donedea 50km in 2013 of 4:49:33, not a bad improvement considering I still had another 5miles to go in this race.

In the last few miles I found that my calf muscles were cramping up (not something I usually experience) and I had to stop and stretch a few times to relieve the pain, I also ended up walking a bit.  I did eventually however increase my pace for the last 1/2mile to a respectable pace of 7:39min/mile.

My finish time was eventually 5hours, 41min & 04sec, the split times from the race mats can be seen below (click to enlarge).

So the plan is now to get back into training for Dublin and perhaps do the odd 10km or half marathon between now and October. Although I got carried away during this race and it cost me my pace goal it still really helped my confidence to see a 3:41 marathon time as part of this race and it makes me think that if I had actually raced the marathon distance I would have easily beat my current marathon PB of 3:33:33.   This gives me a fair bit of confidence when heading to Dublin in October.

Pants, Myself and JP

Garmin link for anyone interested,



Miles This Year: 1128 miles