First race of 2019

First post of 2019 and not long to go to my first race which is going to be Donadea 50km, this of course is a training race for my goal race in April which is Connemara Ultra (39.3mile) which I've not actually run since 2014.

My aim for the 50km is to come in around the 4.30 mark, I've not yet decided on what my goal is for April but aiming to beat my PB set back in 2014 one way or another.

I'm also toying with the idea of doing the Wild Atlantic Ultra (50mile) in May up in Mayo.  For the previous 50miles distances I've run I've come in around the 9.30-10.30 mark but the cut off for the WAU 50 is 11hrs so it wouldn't leave a very big margin for error for a DNF.

However, for previous 50mile distances I've either been using them for training for a 100miler or I've done the distance in the middle of a 100mile race so its not a great comparison, when it comes down to it I think I could pull of 9hours or less for this distance with race effort.

Time to get back to races

So it turns out I have this Sunday the 26th August off so I decided that a half-marathon might not be a bad idea especially considering I feel I can pull off another sub 1:30 half.

However, it was not meant to be as Clonmel filled up about a week ago. I even contacted Clonmel A/C to see if there were any spaces because of people deferring till 2019 but no such luck (honestly I didn't think it held much hope).

All is not lost though, I spotted that the Tullamore Quinlan Cup Half Marathon is taking place on Saturday at 11am, its a flatter course then what Clonmel is so it increases my chances of a PB.

Although not yet 100% I also have in mind a marathon in the next month or so too, I may even aim for a PB depending on how this half goes.

Time for another race...sort of

I started writing this blog entry last week but progression isn't as I had hoped so plans are being revised somewhat since!

I always find it useful to have a focus when it comes to running and sometimes that's a long term goal like Connemara 100 which I had aimed for months out and other times its a last minute idea.

On Sunday 20th August it was very tempting to go and do the Clonmel Half-Marathon as its only down the road from me (assuming there were entry's available of course), but I opted against such a temptation and instead took it easy.

I was origionally planning to do the JJ Ready Half Marathon towards the end of September, however now I'm not even going to chance that and instead I'm opting for the 10km least I push myself too much and end up injured by doing the half-marathon!

It's not that I think I won't complete the half-marathon, I would but I know myself well enough that I'll push the effort more then I should be and this is likely to set me back which is an utterly stupid thing to do at this early stage after the 10km where I know myself that i'm no where near 100% yet.