Trekking poles and back packs

So after a few days of short runs during last week after the moonlight marathon my legs finally started to feel less heavy and I managed a comfortable 8mile run on Friday morning.

On Sunday I decided to return to the trails as I really wanted to try out the trekking poles I got at the end of December and last week I also picked up a new backpack.

The poles I picked up were the Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z, normally fairly steep but I managed to get a very, very good discount which means I could justify going over my initial budget of €30 for trekking poles.   

The pack I picked up was the Ultimate Direction HARDROCKER VEST 2018-2019, its an end of line backpack so I got it well over 50% off the normal price. It'll replace my Ultimate Direction Scott Jurek 2.0 Ultra pack which I picked up in Oct 2014 in prep for training for my first 100mile race.

Sunday's trail run was a 7.30am start on Slievenamon with a group of us and one of the guys even brought his dog for the 12-mile run, it was -6c but the views were lovely, just stunning.   The route was the normal 12mile circuit of Slievenamon which mainly follows fire road around the base of the mountain, some bog and some open mountain.

Conditions on the circuit were very icy and the polls saved me from at least 2 or 3 falls on my arse, overall the polls certainly made any hilly sections easier but I was curious of just what benefits I'd find on the most difficult sections.

Specifically, I wanted to test the polls on a section called "Waterworks Hill", this is a very boggy section of the trail and its always slow going as its very uneven, your feet sink and its very wet.
But without a doubt the polls made it far easier, I set a new personal record of 12:58 beating my previous best of 17:07.   Of course, there is a caveat here, this section was frozen due to the cold temperatures so the ground was hard, I'll need to give it another test under proper wet and boggy conditions.

The next  real test of the poles on the route was the section we describe as "That f**ken wall!", this is the right-hand shoulder of Slievenamon at about mile 11 of the run and its a killer of a steep climb, by far the hardest section.  I set a new record for this section of 12min 19sec, beating my previous best of 12:21 also set with polls. Without polls, my best time was 14:24 so its clear the polls have a big a benefit in making upward progress.

Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z

Overall, it has been a positive experience and regardless of if they are in your hands or stored at the front of the pack, I can honestly say you'd hardly notice you have them due to the low weight. They also don't bounce which means they are not annoying to carry either.

Ultimate Direction HARDROCKER VEST 2018-2019

As for the new Ultimate Direction pack, this is my second Ultimate direction pack.   I got my first Scott Jurek Ultra 2.0 pack back in October 2014 and its served me very well through hundreds of miles of training and races.

But, it does have a few issues. For starters, it has hard water bottles which aren't terribly comfortable and also as you drink your water the water sloshes around and this can get irritating while running.   Due to this, I had actually given up using the Ultimate Direction bottles in favour of reusing a normal water bottle which I'd crush down as I use the water in it, this stops it making noise.

By comparison, the Hardrocker vest comes with Ultimate Direction body bottles which are soft and shrink down as you drink your water, so this change is very much welcome.

The pack itself is much bigger then the Scott Jurek Ultra 2.0 overall,  the Scott Jurek Ultra 2.0 had a 7litre storage capacity, by comparison, the Hardrocker has 10litres. The pocket design is much better with storage for everything including a GPS (if you needed to carry one) and it also has lots of smaller pockets suitable for gels.

The pocket selection at the back is also better, the Scott Jurek Ultra 2.0 had three large pockets but the Hardrocker has three large and one small, one of the large pockets is also open so its ideal for easily getting in/out a jacket without messing about with zips.

So far I'm very happy with the pack design and hopefully, it'll get years of use to come.

Tullaroan Ultra-marathon (39.3mile) 2017 Race Report

Welcome to another race report, its the June bank holiday weekend and that means the Tullaroan Half/Marathon & Ultra took place on Saturday.

This is the forth year that Tullaroan AC have put on a 5km/10km/half & marathon races. Last year they added a 39.3mile Ultra for the first time after previous requests for the distance and you can read all about my race report from last years running of that course here.

It's been exactly a year since I ran a 39.3mile distance and prior to last years run I hadn't run this distance since Connemara Ultra in 2014 where I managed to finish in 5hrs 52min 19seconds.

Last year in Tullaroan after running part of the third loop way too fast and experiencing a good bit of cramping from the 34mile mark onwards I finished it in 6hours, 3min and 36seconds and came in at 4th place.   I was determined to improve on this and maybe, just maybe finish top three!

As always it was an early start for the Ultra as it set off at 7am, it was a small enough field with only 13 taking place and I got number 12!

and we're off....

This year I had opted to take on less food during the race and to only carry 4 gels and because I hate carrying water in my hand, I opted to use my Ultimate Race pack for the day.
In all honesty I didn't need the race pack and I could have just dropped the gels at certain points before the start but I didn't bother.

We were off at 7am and it was a slow and steady start with the aim of averaging an 8:30min/mile pace for the entire race. For the first 4miles or so I was chatting to a few people but after that I was pretty much on my own for the rest of the day.

I knew from this early stage in the race that I was actually in 3rd place (overall) and 2nd place (male) as both the 1st place male and female had raced ahead of the main group after the 2mile mark and we lost sight of them.

Although I had set the goal of running an 8:30min/mile avg pace early on I had noted that I had run the 1st loop at an avg pace of around 8:20min/mile so I opted to slow things down a bit and do my best to stick to my goal pace on the second loop.
This started well enough but I pretty much knew anyone I was spotting behind me after the 13mile point was also part of the Ultra as both the 8am & 7am marathon starts were in front of me. After spotting somebody at around 15miles I kept the slightly faster pace but I did drop it down to around 8:23min/mile average.

By the time I hit the 26mile mile mark I felt I was in decent shape, unlike last year I completed my second 13mile loop ahead of the half-marathon start who I had actually met up with just as I started my 3rd and final loop. I did however meet some 10km walkers and on some of the hills I ended up walking and chatting to them from the 28mile mark as the hills were starring to really effect the legs.

Still, I didn't forget I was in a race and I knew I was still in 2nd place for male finish of the Ultra so this spurred me on. I passed the 31mile (50km) mark in 4hours 31min which was a personal best for this distance and eventually the half marathon runners started to pass me coming up to 32miles.

Still, it wasn't all bad, but the time I hit the aid station at the Valley Inn I was still in pretty good shape and unlike last year I didn't cramp up and end up on the ground, thats always a good thing!

Shortly after the Valley Inn from around the 35mile mark it was a run/walk to the finish, although I didn't know it at the time one of the male Ultra runners past me between the 35 and 37mile mark, at least this is when I'm pretty certain they passed me as from 37mile to the finish line nobody else passed me and prior to this I had kept an eye on the race bibs for the people passing me. I pushed it on for the last 2miles and I kept up pace with one of the half marathon runners I finished the last mile in 7:51min.

As I crossed the line I was pretty sure I was top three but I wasn't certain if somebody had passed me or not while I was walking so I checked things out with Vincent the race director and was delighted to be informed I came in as 3rd male for the Ultra.

Considering I came in 4th place last year I'm very happy with this results and it'll be my first top 3 finish for anything other then a 3mile race I once did a few years back.

Official finish time was 05:47:58

As always you can check out my Garmin of the race here and you can see the full race results on the myrunresults website.

If you're interested to know how this 39.3mile Ultra compares to the Connemara Ultra held in April each year check out last years race report.

Finally a trophy for the cabinet!

As always, an enjoyable event put on by Tullaroan AC, well organised and plenty of stuff at the aid stations. Thankfully it wasn't as warm as last year but the course will always make it challenging!

Galtee Mountain Trail Running

After a week of feeling aches and pains after the Dublin Marathon I slowly returned to running again, the aches and pains clearly were the result of the total lack of training before the effort I put in for the Dublin marathon.

Since Dublin I've thrown in some long runs of 16-17miles and about three weeks ago I did my first trail run in months!      Rather then my usual playground of Slievenamon and headed off with South Leinster Trailer Runners members Jaime and Paul to the Galtees for what was a short run of 10miles but it took in some very steep climbs.

I've never been to the Galtee's before so it was great to see a new area, though getting up both Galteebeg and Galteemore was certainly a challenge as the two summits had steeper sides then what Slievenamon would have to offer.

The view from Galteemore

Conditions were great, although there was lots of snow it wasn't actually that cold which was also great as I was mad or stupid enough to do the run in shorts! I guess I don't like ruining my streak of  NOT wearing running tights for the past few years, to be honest I've always found tights far too warn as I generally getting pretty warm when running.

Only once or twice did I feel the cold and those times were when I stopped for a prolonged period, I was however lucky that the conditions didn't drastically change as I managed to loose my jacket as it fell through the netting on my Ultimate Direction pack which is an awful shame as that jacket got me through the Thames Path 100, Vartry 50 and Connemara 100 in the rain :(

Really felt it in the legs for a good 4-5 days after the trail run but it was seriously good fun and the views were great. Here's a Garmin log of the trial run.

As part of the run I brought alone my GoPro Session and put together a quick video which can be viewed here in 720p of by checking it out below.

Connemara 100 Mile 2016 Race Report

I've had a few days to reflect since I finished the Connemara 100 Road Race at the weekend and I decided it was time to put my race report together. Before, during and after the race I've had some mixed feelings about the race however overall I'm taking away a positive viewpoint on the race rather then the negative.

As I'm living in Kilkenny it about a 4hr drive to Clifden so the crew and I headed off around Midday on Friday to ensure we had time to check-in to our hotel before heading to the race briefing in the Station House Hotel at 7pm.   We knew we didn't have time to drive the course before the race, which is a shame and I would recommend doing so to others.

On the way up I must say that I was a little worried about the Galway/Clifden road as it seemed very very busy and I knew I'd be running the road the next day, while I had previously run this section of Connemara twice before I'd only ever ran it at 7am as part of the Connemara Ultra a few years back I'd never experienced some much traffic on it.  

The race briefing took about 40min as Ray went through various aspects of the course and handed out race packs, hoodies and the crew were able to get signage for cars to warn of a race in progress. After that it was a quick meal and off to bed to get as much sleep as possible before the race as I wasn't planning on taking sleep breaks.



Start - Lough Inagh Lodge Hotel (Check Point 1: Mile 28):
Despite the fact that I've ran countless races at this stage ranging from 5km to 100mile distances each and every-time I feel pretty nervous before I start, and this race was no different. I woke up at 4am to prep before the race and eat my normal bowl of porridge porridge.

Soon it was 5:15am and myself and the first half of my crew needed to head to the pre-start briefing.    After some issues organising a crew for the event as the race drew closer my final crew was made up of my wife Grace, my sisters Sinead and Anne and my dad Neil.  

Myself, Grace and Sinead arrived at the Station House Hotel, Ray had a few words for both runners and crew before we headed to the start line.  As always the obligatory starting line photo was taken, this year it featured 19 brave or foolish people at the starting line.

The starting line

Sinead & Grace

Passing through Tullycross

This year the race start was going to be different, instead of starting at 6am the race was due to start at 6.01am as a minute's silence was being held in memory of Michael Corcoran who was former a participant of the Connemara 100mile.  At the end of the minute silence Ray simply counted 3, 2, 1 and we were off to start the race by doing one loop of Clifden Town before heading to Letterfrack and beyond.

The aim at the start of the race was for me to head out and spend the first 45min or so without my crew, however due to a slight miscommunication there was no sign of my crew at the 1hour mark.  

I was starting to get somewhat worried as I appeared to be sweating a fair bit even though it was so early in the morning and eventually when it hit 1hr 15min into the race I happened to be passing Don Hannon who was crewing for another runner and asked could I call my crew.   Fortunately my crew wasn't too far behind and around 5minutes later they showed up.

Once my crew showed up it was simply a case of meeting them every few miles so I could top up fluids and take in any other fuel as the race went on. As we arrived into Letterfrack we could hear thunder and it started to rain and this continued on and off until just after Tullycross.  

I must say that the views on this section of the course were stunning as I'd never been to this part of Connemara before.

After Tullycross it was the countdown in miles until Lough Inagh Lodge at mile 28, after mile 20 the roads started to look more familiar as this section of the course makes up the Connemara Ultra 39.3 race that I raced a few years back. I passed the famous Stop & Pray church for the first time and turned right towards Lough Inagh Lodge. 

During this section it was great to pass the time

Myself & Anto at Tullycross

chatting to other runners, including Anto Lee who was using the race for training for Spartathlon in September, John Boyle who has run the Connemara 100 a number of times and also Jason (JJ) who was running a 100mile ultra for the first time.

I arrived into checkpoint 1 at mile 28 at 11am (5hours of running), at this stage of the race I felt good and opted to wait until near Maam Cross before changing socks.




Lough Inagh Lodge Hotel Check Point 1: Mile 28 - Leenaun (Checkpoint 2: Mile 55):
I must admit I was worried about this section, while the first 3-4miles were fine after that I turned left onto the Galway to Clifden road which was particularly busy as there was a Mart on.   As Ray mentioned during our briefing, a farmer with a trailer full of unsold sheep isn't going to care too much about a bunch of runners when they are on their way home.

While initially I choose to face incoming traffic after much deliberation I opted to switch to the left side of the road and to have the main traffic coming up behind me. This however was safe as Grace & Sinead and other crew cars were forcing traffic to slow down behind us.  

For most of this section I was still running with John & Jason and we'd run the relatively flat sections and walk any of the hills. Traffic wise there were only a few instances of idiot motorists trying to overtake my crew car and the three of us running....including one idiot who tried to overtake on a turn while towing a trailer with a boat on it! (he had to stop half way and pull back in behind the crew car).
Eventually I saw the familiar sight of the tower from the Peacock Hotel at Maam Cross and as we turned left onto the familiar course I've run so many times before (but this time backwards) I knew that the section from here to Leenaun would involve a lot of walking.    So first off I walked much of this section including the Hell Of The West, this was also the first time my crew walked with me as both Sinead and Grace walked with me on sections. 

Just after the hell of the west the rain and the wind started to pick up so for the first time I put on a jacket and shortly after turned left onto the road that would eventually bring me to Leenaun.     It was on this section that I started to experience blister issues for the first time and so opted to apply a blister plaster and change socks, this however only helped a little it was later as the miles counted down to Leenaun the blister burst!   At this point my crew had gone ahead to Leenaun to change over to my other sister Anne and my Dad but I did yell out in pain and a car stopped at that very moment and asked what was wrong, I explained I was fine and they asked if I wanted a lift which I declined.

On this section I hit mile 50 in 9hours, 36min and 21seconds. This was a sizable improvement on my previous personal best for 50mile which was 10hours, 10min, 35sec set in Vartry in 2015.
Shortly after the road started dropping down into Leenaun, as much as I'd have loved to run these downhill sections I knew they'd trash my legs so I opted to walk them all.   I arrived into checkpoint 2 at mile 55 at 5.07pm (11hours, 7min of running).

In Leenaun I opted for a full change of clothes, hot food in the form of pasta and I even washed my face and hands just so I could feel more human again.   I also opted to change my rain jacket as the rain was not stopping anytime soon!Leenaun (Checkpoint 2: Mile 55) - Lough Inagh Lodge Hotel (Checkpoint 3: Mile 67):
Coming out of Leenaun I knew exactly what to expect....hills, lots of hills. There's a long and steep climb out of Leenaun before I could get back onto the relative flat of the road to Lough Inagh Lodge.     


What I didn't expect was the wind as well as the rain, as the road climbed the wind started to hit me and it was truly relentless to the point where I was experiencing problems just standing in the same spot beside the crew car when my sister and dad stopped the car.

I kept being blown around the road and when my Anne took out a chair I'd have to sit down straight away or it would be blown away.

As I past the Stop & Pray church for the second time the wind kept up the entire way to Lough Inagh Lodge with only the occasional change in direction but at least the rain tapered off at this stage.  Not much of a conciliation prize though.....

I arrived into checkpoint 3 at mile 67 at 8.13pm (14hours, 12min of running), I once again took on some pasta and other food and drink. I also changed socks and applied more blister plasters. At this stage I was getting awful tired of the wind!

Leenaun (Checkpoint 3: Mile 67) - Roundstone (Checkpoint 4: Mile 82):  
Leaving Leenaun I decided to maintain the mix of run/walking as far as the Galway/Clifden Road where I needed to turn right towards Cliden and the Roundstone junction.   By the time I reached the

Dad & Me

junction though there was no sign of my crew and with them my headtorch and flashing arm band. I was worried.

It was rapidly getting dark and I'd be back on a busy road with only a reflective top on, I met up with JJ at this junction and stuck with him for the first mile until my crew showed up.   After this as this road had a fair amount of hills I opted for run/walking right up until I hit the Roundstone junction.

When I hit the Roundstone junction the sight of the 15km distance to Roundstone really took its effect on me mentally, I guess I thought I was closer but for the first time in the race I opted to listen to music and I maintained my run/walk routine for the next 7miles or so.

At this stage of the race the pace was slowing down but that was to be expected and was to plan because I couldn't sustain the sort of pace I had been doing up until now.

However, at mile 81 my pace dramatically slowed down and I was feeling seriously low on energy, while the previous miles averaged between 13-15min miles this mile averaged 18min and it was about to get a lot slower!.I arrived into checkpoint 4 at mile 82 at around 12:04am (Approx 18hours, 4min of running), I was zapped of energy and starting to feeling cold. I took on two cups of hot soup, more hot pasta and other items. I also changed my top from a t-shirt and jacket to a long sleeve top, t-shirt and jacket instead, as well as gloves and a winter hat. This did help and eventually I started to feel warmer.

I spent a good 30min at Roundstone before I eventually left.
Roundstone (Checkpoint 3: Mile 67) - Finish: (Mile 100):
Leaving Roundstone I was feeling physically drained, I wanted to run faster but I just didn't have a lot of  energy and the miles slowly ticked by at this stage at around 20-22min miles.   I kept up this "faster" pace up until around the mile 87 mark and I could no longer maintain it and my pace dropped even further to avg 30min miles.

It was around this point that the crew changed over again from Anne and my Dad to Grace and Sinead again, Grace and Sinead also took turns doing A LOT of walking with me all the way through sunrise and beyond. All during this time the wind kept up as it howled and at one point we even got blasted with sand and salt.  All the time they spent with me was much appreciated and without them I think mentally I'd have been in trouble.

At one point I was finding it so hard to have the energy to push forward that I asked Grace to take a stick I kept for walking in the woods out of the car. Shortly after Ray drove up for the first time and asked how things were going, he wasn't in any doubt that I wouldn't finish and at this stage neither was I....it was just a case of when.

Eventually I found just holding the stick was taking too much energy and I opted to throw it back in the car and just walk slowly on.  Miles at this point were now averaging 28-33min, a soul crushingly slow speed.

As we approached Clifden  I was now drained emotionally as well as physically, each time I rounded a turn I'd see another hill and eventually on the final hills on the climb to Clifden I stopped and just put my head in my arms on a wall. I was exhausted and the hills even at such a slow pace were taking every ounce of energy out of me, I was so very close to calling it a day at around the 96mile mark.

However, after a few minutes I continued on and after what seemed like endless turns and hills I could finally see Clifden, but I wasn't finished yet as I still had 3x loops of Clifden to do before I could finally cross the finish line and call it a day.

It took every ounce of my strength to do these loops, any section of the road or footpath that was up or downhill was hard going and anytime I'd step off a footpath onto the road was really uncomfortable. At this stage my entire crew was there for the finish and I was joined by Grace and my Dad for different section of the loops. I even did 2x of the loops were with my dad and his support meant an awful lot to me.

I finally crossed the finish line in 27hours, 14min & 36seconds, I was never so glad to just stop walking and I wanted nothing more then to lay down on the ground just to get off my feet for a few minutes.

Finally Finished!!

With the help of Ray & Seb I eventually got back up and headed back to the hotel for a hot bath and around 90min sleep before we needed to go to the prize giving ceremony.



Prize Giving Ceremony:
This year the price giving ceremony was in the theater in the Station House Hotel in Clifden, I must say it was a nice location for the event and it was nice to hear many of the participants different stories.     From Jasons (JJ's) story of dropping out of the race at 91miles due to a injury, sleeping for a few hours and eventually rejoining the race to finish it in 29:42:30, the 2nd place finish of Rolando after which he headed home as he had work and of course Ed McGroarty 1st place finish in 15h 55min 34sec and his speech.

Sinead, Myself, Grace & Dad

Will be proudly added to my wall!

Final Thoughts:
As I went through the hardest part of this race I mentioned to my wife that I believe this is the last time I'd do a 100mile race, this race almost broke me and that even occurred at the 96mile mark just before Clifden.

When things fell apart during this race and I didn't have any more energy to run and barely enough to walk the mental toughness of the event really took its toll on me and eventually I was mentally fatigued as well.   Although I didn't get the sub 24hour time I wanted from this race I now know that I'm more than capable of better times on other distances such as 50mile and 100km and that I've been too cautious when doing these distances.

Keeping that in mind I think I'll call it quits on the 100mile distance, as to improve at it would likely require a bigger time commitment then I believe I can give it or am willing to give it. However, I am certainly going to aim for sub 9hours in a 50mile event in the future (Vartry 2017 perhaps?).

I also know from this race that even when the body starts to give up that mentally I can keep going for a long, long time. Sure some will say I was foolish I should have called it a day instead of spending 9hours walking but to me it proves I can dig deep when I need too and I'm just too stubborn to walk away from this race with a DNF.

It was an experience to do this event with my family including having my 83 year old dad walk two of the final loops to the finish line in Clifden with me, other then my wife I've never had family members attend any of my races before so it was a fantastic experience and I'm truly glad of the support Grace, Sinead, Anne and my Dad gave me throughout the entire race. It meant so much.

So that's it for the race report, I've bounced back recovering from this race far faster then I thought I would. I was able to run up the stairs at home on Monday morning and I even went for a 5km recovery run on Tuesday night. 

Tullaroan Ultra-marathon (39.3mile) 2016 Race Report

Welcome to another race report, this time for Tullaroan's third year of operating 5km/10km/half and marathon races, except this year they added another loop to make a 39.3mile course after Tullaroan AC had received numerous requests in the past for the addition of an ultra course (Thanks for listening guys).

As mentioned in my last blog post its been a few years since I've run a 39.3mile course so I decided the goal for this race was to race it and try and set a new personal best by beating my previous time set in 2014 in Connemara of 5hours, 52min, 19seconds.

With that in mind I did a pretty easy week of running before hand and off I went bright and early to Tullaroan and even at 6am it was looking like it was going to be a very hot day at the races.
The Ultra kicked off with 7am along with the very early start marathon runners, I settled in with an very easy pace of around 9:40min/miles for the first 7miles and ended up talking to Paul Brunnock about this and that, this was useful as I could to ask him about his experience previously running the Connemara 100.
By about the 7mile mark Paul stopped at one of the water stations but I continued on, it was around this time that I realised that I was running a far too slow pace and I was clearly taking it too handy as I needed to average under 8:52min/miles for the entire race to set a personal best. So I upped the pace. Including the initial slower and faster pace I increased to, I eventually finished the first 13.1miles in around 2hrs 5mins.

On the second loop I knew it was going to be a somewhat lonely loop as the proper marathon hadn't started yet and the very early marathon runners and ultra runners were well spaced out, I did however still manage to meet a few early marathon runners and it was good to chat to a few of the other runners and as always it was good to see some familiar faces from people I've met at other events.
I finished the second 13.1mile loop in 1hour 50min which was a nice speed increase on the first loop.

At the beginning of the third loop I stopped at the crossroads in Tullaroan to refill water and get a few things to eat and at the same time the half marathon kicked off so I wasn't going to be on my own for the last loop.
Initially I must admit I got somewhat carried away and upped the pace to pass many of the half-marathon runners by weaving in and out of the crowd, but I did eventually slow down after I realised this.  Among the crowd I did however meet a few familiar faces also including Paul who I ran with during the Vartry 50mile back in March of this year.

By the time I started hitting the 30mile mark I was beginning to pay for getting carried away and the legs started to rebel on some of the hills so I was forced to walk.  I was however again able to make full use of the downhills and I was using this to leap frog half-marathon runners who I'd catch up with and then I'd lose them again as I was reduced to walking again.

By the time I hit the 35mile mark and the water station at Valley Inn I decided stretching might do me some good, this however was not to be the case.  As soon as I lifted my left leg to stretch it my right leg had a painful cramp and I collapsed to the ground.  Once on the ground my left leg then also decided to have a painful cramp as well so I was experiencing a fair bit of pain in both legs.
I'm sure this was a worry to the people looking after the water station and when they asked what I needed I just said I needed a help up, so after a lot of pain standing up and walking for the first 100 metres or so the cramps went away and I was able to run again thankfully!

The last few miles were somewhat of a slog as that section has a number of climbs which you have to endure but I still ensured I ran as much as I could as I had spotted another ultra runner who I was determined was not going to pass me as up until now no other ultra-runner had passed me during the race.

Once the hills were over I took as much advantage of the relatively flat road as I could but by now I knew I wasn't going to set a PB as 1mile out I had already hit my time of 5hours 52min. This was somewhat frustrating but I was dead certain that the Tullaroan course was much hillier then Connemara (see my comparison below) and the conditions were seriously hot (for Ireland anyway!).

Coming up to the finish I upped my pace and finished in 6hours, 3min and 36seconds and ended up being the 4th male to finish the Ultra.  This is by far the closest I've come to a "podium finish" for a large race and I'm thrilled with it! :)

At the finish it was great to see a number of club members from our local club Callan AC who despite some very challenging conditions and a such a hilly course had set some excellent times. For some of the others it was their first time to complete a 10km race.

Tullaroan's new Marathon/Ultra medal

Overall I must say the Tullaroan Race events have gone from strength to strength each year I've ran it and I think I heard that this year they had over 600 runners which is certainly a massive increase from the first year. Organisation and facilities before, during and after the race were also very good with plenty of water stops.   It was also a nice touch to offer three different medals for the 5km, 10km/half-marathon and marathon/ultra events.

The timing of the races also worked out well as the roads weren't too crowded and it was really nice to get the support and company of the half-marathon runners on the third loop of the ultra, it also helped that Ultra runners had a sign identifying them (this is something I've seen previously for the Connemara Ultra (see example picture)

So now the race report is over, just exactly how does Tullaroan's 39.3mile course stack up against the Connemara Ultra 39.3mile course, without a question Tullaroan is far more challenging course with more hills and over 200 extra meters of gain over the entire course.
You can see the courses compared below (click for larger image):

Tullaroan course: 663m elevation gain

Connemara Ultra Course: 402m elevation gain

For those interested you can also see full Garmin profiles of both Tullaroan Ultra and Connemara Ultra course (Connemara Ultra was recorded in 2014 but remains unchanged since).
Would I recommend this for race somebody that wanted a challenging 39.3mile Ultra, most certainly :)

Miles This week: 67 miles
Miles this Year So Far: 788miles

High mileage month and a club outing

Far from a very high mileage week with only 38miles under the belt but still a productive month of mileage as I clocked just over 209miles for the entire month of May, this is higher then any month in the past 18 months with exception of January (215miles) & March (230miles) in 2015.

This coming weekend I'm signed up to do the Tullaroan Ultra (39.3mile), this will be a break from the usual Tullaroan Marathon I've done a few times and it will also be the first 39.3mile Ultra I've done since doing the Connemara Ultra in April 2014.  

As its been a few years since doing the distances I'm opting to race Tullaoran and see if I can beat the 5:52:19 time I set back in 2014. It'll be a good opportunity for me to test some different food and also it'll do me no harm if I manage to get a new personal best for this distance.

On a side note they'll be a good turnout from my local athletics Club Callan AC as a number of the club members have signed up to doing either the 5km or 10km so it'll be great to have a outing. :)

Miles this Year So Far: 742miles

Waterford & Back...sort of & Night running

Seem to have gotten out of the habit lately of posting blog updates, but that of course doesn't mean I haven't been doing some running.  I'll start back with more regular updates from now on.

Callan Marathon Elevation Profile

After Vartry 50mile in March the training seemed to somewhat fall apart for a short but I'm now back doing proper long runs in preparation for Connemara 100 in August.

Last weekend for example I set off with an ambitious plan to run 58miles from Callan to Waterford City & Back, however things did not go as plan as I got little sleep the night before and in the morning I started off around 90min later then expected.

Course Route

Both of these things meant it set back my whole day and by the day I got to 40miles I had to call it a day as I would have been home far too late to get other things done that day.

On Friday after working the entire week and finishing at 7pm I opted to fit in my long run after work rather then doing it on Saturday or Sunday morning.

So I packed up my backpack and decided to run what I like to refer to as the Callan Marathon course.

This route is a nice hilly route that takes me through Windgap, Tullahought and back via Castlemorris Wood to Callan.

For the most part the roads on the route aren't busy but on Friday night it rained alot and by the time I got to Castlemorris wood the battery's in my head-torch weren't doing so well but as it wasn't busy and there was a moon out I could run with the torch off until a car would come so I'd turn it back on.

Overall it was a good hilly training run in wet conditions and it was good to get back into the practice of doing a night run while tired as I've not one of those in many months.

Now, time to get back to a more regular structured training schedule :)

Miles this Year So Far: 683miles

JJ Reddy Danesfort Half-Marathon Race Report

Massive lack of updates lately due to my iMac breaking so I have no way of uploading any of my

Courtesy: JJ Reddy Run Facebook Page

runs to Garmin to keep track of things....but I'm still training away and yesterday I ran a half marathon.

This was the first half-marathon being run as part of the annual JJ Reddy 10km/5km race and because it was likely not as hilly as Tullaroan's Half-Marathon course which was on the Saturday I opted for it instead.

The course took in parts of the previous 10km course which I've run in 2012 & 2014 so I had a very good idea about what was involved but it also had an extended loop on the Kells Road to make up the miles (I'll upload a Garmin profile when I get my iMac back).

From previously running the 10km course I knew that it was not going to be easy and it was likely going to be harder then even the Waterford Half-Marathon course which I've had a habit of getting personal bests at anytime I've run it.

Still, with all the above in mind I decided I was going to race this properly and I was finally going to the the sub 1:30 time I've been wanting for sometime now. I needed this as a good test before Dublin at the end of October.

As always during these races you start to notice some familiar faces and I was in good company within the 1:30 pace group starting at the start line, initially the group kept together on the first larger loop but by mile 4 it was starting to split and I think perhaps for a little while I got carried away and kept up with one of the lads from the group and then even raced ahead of him for a few miles.

In hindsight this perhaps wasn't the best plan but I felt good so I went with it and wasn't until the second loop at around mile 8-9 that I started to pay for it because I was heading into some long drags which I knew where going to take abit out of me....and they didn't fail on this.

By the time I hit mile 10 I could hear what was left of the 1:30 pace group behind me and then by mile 11.5 John the 1:30 pacer was beside me. At this stage I was really struggling on the hills and I'd likely have slowed only for John shouted words of encouragement to keep going especially before the turn back onto the last bit of the course towards Dunesfort.

Still I wasn't prepared to finish slow and in the last mile I kept the pace as best I could and even in the last 20metres I gave it one last push and just passed another runner just before the timing matt.

Official Finish time: 1hour 29min 33sec
(Results can be found here)

Really happy with the result as its well below the 1:29:57 time I was aiming for, also given the course was hilly it makes me think that on a flatter course I might even drop below 1:29.   134 in all ran the half marathon course and I finished 17th so I certainly can't complain to be in the top 20, that's a nice improvement over my first half marathon time set in 2010 of 1:56:48.

The race was very well organized with plenty of food at the finish even though most of the 10km race had finished there was enough for the half-marathoners which is always a good sign.  Plenty of water during the race (bottles not cups for anyone curious).  I'll certainly try and make it back next year...especially as its just down the road from me.

Its really been a boost for Dublin and its making me seriously consider aiming for 3:15 time. Finally the speed work I've been doing since May has paid off and I appear to have both a good endurance base and speed base built.

I have the endurance for the distance (thats not the problem!)...but can I keep the 7:26min/mile avg pace needed for all of the 26.2mile course?  That is the question....

Tullaroan Marathon Race Report 2015

As a last minute decision last week I opted to take part in the Tullaroan Marathon, partially because its the nearest marathon to where I live and I want to make sure to support it and partially because I just wanted to do some long'ish miles at a leisurely pace and see how my body is since the Thames Path 100.

This is the second year that the marathon is being held in Tullaroan and as well as hosting a marathon they also hosted a 5km, 10km and a half marathon. All in all its well organised and its great to see so many races being available to people of all abilities.   Its a credit to all involved.

The marathon course is pretty straight forward as its 13.1mile loop, but it has plenty of hills on it to test you none the less. 

Elevation Profile

My rough plan was just to head out and take it pretty easy for the day, walking some of the hills and to just chat away for the way this was going to be very far from a race and my rough plan was to finish between 4:30-5:00hours.

JP & Myself

The morning didn't have a great start though as I headed out the door at 8:20am on Saturday and went to start the car and found the battery was flat.   I realised I didn't close the boot properly the night before (doh!).

A quick job with the jump leads from the other car and everything was sorted but the clocking was ticking away.

I made good time to start and met up with JP, Nicola and the lads. this time round only JP was running the marathon and he had roughly the same plan as myself so we headed out from the start together.

I must say that the first mile or two were abit challenging!  Not because of the hills though, but because I had spent the previous 3 days painting fences which involved standing up and kneeling down which caused abit of discomfort in my legs when going down stairs etc afterwards.   This also meant my legs didn't like the idea of running for the first few miles.

Eventually however they settled down and I could start to run along at an easy pace without any discomfort.   We ticked through the miles at a handy pace and basically spent the time talking about everything and anything.

As the miles ticked down to the finished we past a few people but continued to take it pretty easy by walking some of the hills, but for the last mile - mile half we kept up the running pace to finish in 4:33:06.

Overall I'm happy with how things went, it wasn't a race to me as I just wanted to stretch the legs for a few hours. I found afterwards that the legs were abit sore but by the next day they were fine.   

I feel that the body is bit by bit getting back to normality after Thames Path and being sick, its not 100% yet though.

Miles This Year: 890 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

Slievenamon & Home

My route around Slievenamon & home

Last week started with a rest day but then I decided on a long slog of a day on Tuesday by first doing 17miles around Slievenamon on trails and then running all the way home, this totaled approx 36miles but I paused my watch for approx 1mile by accident so I'm going to say 35miles.

I'll admit that the climbs on Slievenamon took alot out of me, this is likely because I've not done any trail running on it in a few months now so I did alot more walking then normal.   Overall really I did more walking then I would have liked.

The good news however is the muscles in my left leg did behave throughout so that's something that's very much positive especially given the issues I've had lately.

The rest of the week included alot less miles but I still managed both a 10 and 13mile towards the weekend, this ends a high(ish) mile week and I'll be taking it handy this week ahead of doing the Vartry 50mile on Saturday.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 35miles @ 13:43min/pace (paused the watch for 1mile)
- Wednesday: 5miles @ 9:19min/pace (Recovery)
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 10miles @ 7:48min/pace
- Saturday:13miles @ 8:49min/pace
- Sunday: 8miles @ 8:29min/pace & 1.67miles @ 25:33min/pace

Weekly Total: 73 miles
Miles This Year: 575 miles

Copper Coast Running

Courtesy Ray Lanigan

What a productive week mileage wise!
Well, ok I didn’t run every day but I did some good long runs of 20 and 35miles and I felt great the day after each of these runs.

My quad muscle in my left leg also held up pretty well during the entire week, although I could feel it on the hill climbs during the 35mile run that I went on in Co Waterford around the coast.

The more regular stretching is giving results it seems....although I really need to stretch more!

I used the 35mile run on Saturday as a test for roughly what I was expecting to carry for the Thames path 100 in May, while the pack appeared to be heavy enough it was certainly manageable.

It was a nice change to head out for a long run part of a group instead of on my own as by far the vast majority of my runs are on my own so it certainly makes the day pass faster.  It was also good to meet some of the people I'll be heading over to the UK with in May.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 20miles @ 9:35min/pace
- Wednesday: 10miles @ 8:08min/pace & 2miles
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: 2miles @ 9:11min/pace
- Saturday: 35miles @ 11:46min/pace
- Sunday: 5miles @ 7:26min/pace

Weekly Total: 74 miles
Miles This Year: 356 miles

First 30mile training run...

No blog post last Monday for the week before as I had little to report running wise as it was a easy week with just 4 runs and although one of them was 25miles on Sunday most of the week was spent not running at all due far more important commitments I had to attend during the week.

However last week was alot more active running wise as it was a harder training week and I've finally run my first 30mile run of my new training season!  These weren't fast training miles by any means but they were still miles in the legs and I can definitely say that the miles get easier as they are added up.

Given the 30mile run was on Thursday and I had done a 25mile run on the Sunday previously I felt pretty good....even if the conditions for the 30mile were far from ideal with freezing fog.

Fog over the distance mountains

Running like this is sort of odd, at first I find it hard but then as the weeks go on the miles just feel easier and easier and that's especially noticeable when I do a 20 or 25mile run and the next time I do 8 or 10miles, where as before I would have needed a rest day.

Still, I'm cautious about running myself down and hence why I'm alternating easier and harder weeks like I am. I suppose two harder weeks followed by an easier week might be better and thats something I might look at as the months roll on.

One thing I'm finding kind of hard is the very early starts on my days off for the 20-30mile runs, for example my 30mile run began at 6.30am just so it wouldn't eat up my entire day off.

I did experience one problem after the 30mile run on Thursday, my left knee started to bother me. Not so much when walking but more so when sitting. So thats something I'll have to keep an eye on.

Finally, I wasn't feeling the best on Saturday and Sunday so I took them as rest days.

Last weeks runs broke-down as:
- Monday: 8miles @8:19min pace
- Tuesday: 10miles @8:16min pace
- Wednesday: 10miles @ 8:42min pace
- Thursday: 30miles @ 10.58min pace
- Friday: 5miles @ 11.13min pace
- Saturday: Rest
- Sunday: Rest

Weekly Total: 65 miles
Miles This Year: 205 miles