Plans don't always go to plan

Since the Dublin Marathon I've done very little running as I've not felt 100% but none the less  I still perhaps stupidly wanted to back into some sort of routine, I'm also thinking about what I want to do in 2023.

I have a 50mile Ultra in May which was postponed from last May but I need some events between now and then both to build upto but also to push myself in my training.

So this week I started on just easing myself back into running, no fast paces and instead focusing on keeping a low HR. Over the next few weeks I'll work in intervals to bring up the pace to my normal range (7:30min/mile range).

Tuesdays run was much, much more effort then it should have been and as the week went on I wasn't feeling great, Thursday night I didn't sleep well at all and throughout the week I had a higher resting avg HR of 47 instead of my normal of 40.

I woke up on Friday morning and felt rotten, I was also 99% sure I had a chest infection and after a GP visit all was confirmed and I was put on antibiotics and steroids. 

So basically no running until that course is finished, not a great start and frustrating as I've not had a chest infection in years which I've mainly put down to running and improved fitness. 

This weeks runs were
- Sunday: 5miles @ 9:58min/mile pace
- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 11miles @ 9:55min/mile
- Wednesday: Rest
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: Rest

Vartry 50mile 2016 Race Report

Last weekend was my second running of the Vartry 50mile Ultra and overall it was certainly a more positive experience then last years despite the lack of training going into the race.

Before I even traveled to Wicklow for this race I always had in my mind that I honestly didn't care about the time, the aim was merely to put time in the legs and I expected to finish in between 10-12hours due to this.

As always it was an early start from Kilkenny as I left just before 3am to arrive with plenty of time, driving through Glendalough didn't look particularly good as there was seriously heavy rain but as I got closer to Roundwood things started to clear up abit...but still the forecast for the day was pretty much rain so I had ensured to bring changes of clothes just in case I needed them.

By the time I had arrived the 100mile racers were already out for around 10hours, I chatted to Dom the race director and various other runners before the race.  As always some runners I'd never met before but there's always a few familiar faces that are always good to see at ultra events and its always enjoyable to share experiences.

Just before the start I met up with JP & Paul who also ran this race last year and who I planned to run the event with, the basic plan for the day was take it relatively easy, have a chat and just tick off the miles and use the whole race as a training run.   So off we went bang on time and he started to endure the rain.

Unfortunately despite the weather forecast showing breaks in the rain before 9am and before lunch time this didn't happen and the wind and rain kept up for pretty much all of the day, so this meant every so often I'd also have to remove my gloves and wring the water out.      Still, despite the rain and wind only my hands and face occasionally felt the cold and I wasn't worried about getting too cold.

The 50mile route consists of 5x 10mile looks with some small out and back sections in order to give an even 10mile on each lap, I've done ultra's before of 5km loops and I honestly find them unbearable but doing 10mile loops is actually fine. Its a nice distance to have for a loop whilst still allowing you to pickup food, clothes etc at the start/finish area.

As time passing went the race flew, although to many such a long time on the feet might seem endless and crazy I honestly found it went seriously fast which was no doubt down to the fact that myself, JP & Paul chatted and joked for basically the entire race.       It was also great to meet up with others taking part in the race to cheer them on and just said hello, shouts out to Ray who also won the 50km race.   I even met up with a fellow ultra runner blogger who's blog I read.

As the loops ticked by I decided that unlike last year I wasn't going to bother with changing socks at the 30mile mark as my feet felt fine, so instead I just changed my t-shirt and long sleeve top and off I went again.

By the 40mile mark I decided I felt pretty good, in fact I felt far better then I felt at this stage back in 2015 so with around 1hr 50min to go I decided to see if I could beat last years time of 10hrs 10min and run the last 10miles....sorry JP & Paul for abandoning you :)

Whilst I did run a lot more of the last 10mile then I did the 30-40mile section I missed out on beating last years time and finished in 10hours 22min 43sec.  Still, I'm not at all disappointed considering I wasn't planning on setting any specific time, the reality is I'm actually surprised because I finished in much better shape then I did last year so that's a nice boost for my confidence.

Finally, for those interested in taking part in the race next year you might be interested in the garmin profile of the race (compare this to the original 2015 looped course which started and ended in Roundwood). I've also included elevation profile and loop profile below:

Race Elevation

Race Route

Last week consisted of:
- Sunday: 2mile walk
- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 11miles @ 9:30min/pace
- Wednesday: Rest
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: 50miles @ 12:22min/pace

Miles This week: 69 miles
Miles this Year So Far: 430miles

Taper time!

Started last week with another nice long run this time a marathon distance as I ran exactly 26.2miles on Monday morning....nice way to start the week.   Thats my last long slow run before the Vartry 50mile in two weeks.

So now since Monday I'm officially tapering and after the 26.2miles I only did a few more miles to finish the week with a low amount of miles.

I'm never a fan of the taper time before a race as I always feel like I could be training more and this viewpoint isn't helped from the fact that I have had past experiences of still managing to perform pretty decently without tapering. For example during July 2015 I ran a 36mile Ultramarathon and then 7 days later I still managed to set a personal best at a local 10km race.

Still I'm reluctant to over do it and I want to be sure I don't burn out during the 50mile or get injured so I want to take it easy before hand.

Looking forward to Easter weekend,

Miles This week: 36.59 miles
Miles this Year So Far: 366miles

First 30mile run of the year

Its been a good week of training, started it with an easy walk on Sunday with my wife Tramore, Co Waterford and then upped the miles to my first 30mile run on Monday morning...certainly a different way to start the day!

I felt absolutely fine during the 30mile run but didn't want to overdo it too much so I did walk on some hills now and then but finished it in good shape and felt fine.

30mile Run Route in Co Kilkenny

 Over the next few days I did have some niggles in my left leg muscle, this teaches me a very valuable lesson for not stretching properly after such a long run!.     But after I did some stretching throughout the day over the next few days as well as a walk on Thursday that cleared up and I felt fine again by Friday, thankfully.

I really have to make sure I'm stretching enough or this muscle pain is coming to come back to bite me again.  I finished the week with a nice fast 8mile run this evening to finish the week with just over 60miles.   All in all a good week training.

I have the Vartry 50mile run in two weeks time so I'm going to start winding down the miles next week after one last long run and then take it easy ahead of the race. I don't think I'm in as good a shape as I was last year going into the 50mile race but it certainly reassured me to get that 30mile run under my belt before hand.

This week consisted of:
- Sunday: 3.02miles @ 20:16min/mile pace (walk)
- Monday: 30miles @ 9:53min/mile pace
- Tuesday: 4miles @ 8:28min/mile pace
- Wednesday: 10miles @ 8:58mine/mile pace & 1mile recovery walk
- Thursday: 4.15mile @ 23:24min/mile pace (walk)
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: 8miles @ 7:09min/mile pace

Miles This week: 60.22 miles
Miles this Year So Far: 330miles

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

Recovery after Vartry 50mile

Its been just over a week since the 50mile and I'm very surprised at the recovery,

First of all besides the legs feeling abit heavy at the start of the week I have no blisters what so ever and no pains or stiffness in my legs. More importantly I passed the stairs test as I have zero problems walking up or down stairs.

I feel better then I did after numerous marathons I've done in the past and I certainly far better then after Portumna 100km last June or Connemara Ultra last April.  

Just to be on the same side at the start of the week I took it nice and easy with slow paced recovery runs. By Friday I had an enjoyable sub 8min/pace 4mile run and when I went out with the lads for the weekly LSR in Kilkenny City it started as a slow run but the last 5miles were sub 7:40min/pace with the last mile finishing at 7min/pace. 

So overall I feel I'm in good shape, certainly alot better then I would have expected after the 50mile run.

From next week I'll get back to running every day but as I'm in tapering mode ahead of Thames Path on the 2/3rd May I won't be going too crazy (maybe one more 20mile run?).  Between now and then I just need to think about what I plan to bring, what I'll be carrying and whats going into a drop bag...decisions, decisions!

One thing is for sure, its going to be an experience......

This weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 2.08miles @ 9:2omin/pace
- Tuesday: 5.04miles @ 9:14min/pace
- Wednesday: 2miles @ 8:49min/pace
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 4miles @ 7:32min/pace
- Saturday: 14miles @ 8:28min/pace (last 5miles at 7:40min or lower)
- Sunday: 5miles @ 9:28min/pace

Weekly Total: 32 miles
Miles This Year: 662 miles

Vartry 50mile 2015 Race Report

I've always seen Vartry 50mile as my test race, a race where I wasn't pushed about time or anything. I just wanted to test what I'd eat, my pace and what it would be like to carry my backpack for so many hours.

Overall I'm happy with the results...read on for more details of course.

It was an early start as instead of staying up in Roundwood I choose to drive from Kilkenny, thankfully most of the journey was via motorway so it was pretty quick.   Arrived in plenty of time and was greeted by Don the Vartry Race director just before I got my race number sorted.

As time rolled on the lads arrived and so we all lined up at the start and we were off in the dark.

Route Map

Route Elevation

The Vartry 50mile race route consisted of 5x 10mile loops, a small portion of this loop also included a short out and back stretch of road. The route overall included a good numbers of hills as well. (see elevation and route map)

During the first loop me and the lads took it pretty handy as there was no real point in trying to run up all the hills, especially when we had to do the same loop 4x more times. The plan was to finish somewhere around 10hours and to pretty much take it handy for the day and effectively use it as a training run.  Except for Ray who planned on finishing first and even after some problems still managed to cross the line in 1st place, impressive stuff.

On the second loop with the lads I managed to lose them at the start/finish area as I thought they had gone on ahead of me after I stopped for a min or two but I was 2-3miles into the next loop by the time I realised they were behind me.

I figured I'd meet up with them again at the start/stop area at the end of loop 3 (30miles) as my plan at that stage was to change my socks, re-grease everything again and take on some food and drink before heading off again.  So I did this and still no sign of them so I ran on maybe 2miles before meeting them coming towards me. It turns out they stopped for some photos at an armored personnel carrier at Specialops Paintball which we had been passing during each loop of the course.

At this stage I figured I wouldn't be meeting up to finish the 50miles with the guys so I kept on going. By about 35miles in I was starting to feel abit tired but surprisingly I still had no signs of any blisters starting on either of my feet.  This is particularly surprising given the amount of blister problems I've had the past 6-8 weeks.
 
On the last 10mile loop I took it handy enough at times and I was starting to feel abit tired but as I approached the final few hundred meters I figured I might as well finish running and I finished in 10hours 10min. 

Overall I'm happy with the result and it was a good test run ahead of the Thames Path 100 next month as I've learned I was carrying stuff which I simply didn't want to eat and other stuff that I can just substitute others items for at the Aid stations. 

This in turn means my backpack would be lighter which is very much a good thing as I found my shoulders hurting abit towards the end.

As for the Vartry 50mile event itself, Don (Race Director) and everyone else involved did a excellent job organizing the event. The location was great and although the course was tough, it was an enjoyable course none the less. I can certainly see myself coming back next year.

I can only imagine how tough the 100mile race at Vartry was considering that by the second lap anyone doing the 100mile race was already running in the dark and then had to continue to run in the dark for a further 10hours or so. Mentally that has to be hard going as most other 100mile races often finish in the dark after starting very early in the morning.  

So many of the people running the 100mile still looked fresh at the 80 or 90mile mark and many just looked like they were out for their normal weekly runs. Really impressive to see.

I will say that doing the 50mile race has reassured me somewhat in relation to my physical ability to finish the Thames Path 100 after my doubts a few weeks back, however I will admit that mentally it has perhaps made me doubt if I can stick it out when the times really do get tough when it starts hitting 20+ hours into a 100mile race.  

Only time will tell in relation to that I guess,

Weekly Total: 54 miles
Miles This Year: 630 miles