First training run over 50miles of the year!

The countdown is on to the 98km Waterford Greenway group run this Saturday, I'm sure I'll find it hard going towards the end bit I'm really looking forward to it.

Its funny how these things change, back in 2014 I ran my first 100km and it was a massive deal to do it. It took my awhile to recover after it as well. But for this I'm just seeing it as a long day on my feet.

It's strange how things can change so much....

Thanks Dog

I mentioned in the last post that our dog knocked me to the ground on Monday and I hit my knee on a rock which caused a lovely bruise.          Well, the next day she knocked into me again and caused another bruise, this time on my shin (though thankfully no where near as painful)

So for getting the dog out and about I end up with two bruises on the same leg within 2 days, my knee still isn't 100% yet but its not far off it thankfully.

she's an awful hard life our dog!

Another jaunt on the Waterford Greenway

Another week and another jaunt on the Waterford Greenway and thankfully these longer runs only get easier over time.   On Thursday last I went out for another run on the greenway, this time I started at the WIT Carriganore campus and headed off towards Kilmacthomas and ran around 4miles past it (15miles in total) and then 15miles back.

An enjoyable run for the most part but the conditions were pretty crap throughout the entire run with mist, wind and rain. But I had packed accordingly for bad weather and was very thankful for my jacket.

One thing that was slightly annoying but not at all surprising is part of the greenway past Kilmeaden is currently closed due to works that are still underway. I say I'm not surprised by this because when I visited the greenway 2x weeks before it was "officially opened" this entire section was still mud with no fences etc.

When I headed off for the 30mile run I expected this so when I was asked to detour I wasn't pissed off, however the same couldn't be said for other greenway users who according to the workman I was chatting to gave them abuse about the need to detour off the greenway track. 

Kilmacthomas Railway Viaduct

After the 30mile run I took it easy with only a very handy 2mile run with the dog the next morning. On Saturday there was no run but on Sunday a fast 11mile run with Mossy who's also a member of the local athletic club.

This fast 11mile wasn't the plan to begin with as the pace started slow enough with 8min/mile but by the end the overall average had dropped to 7.30min/mile and a several of the miles were sub 7:00min/miles. I certainly felt this effort so soon after the 30mile run on Thursday!

Overall while it hasn't been a massive mileage week it was pretty good and I felt the training is bringing improvement which is only a good thing.

On Monday evening I brought our dog Buffy to the local wood for her usual run and she managed to run straight into me at full speed knocking me to the ground in the process where I hit my left knee on a rock      So for my troubles my knee was really sore on Monday evening to the point where it hurt to bend it, a few days on its not too bad as it's just a little bruised but its not hurting much otherwise.

While due to shifts at work I'm not getting many pre-work runs done during the week I'm still managing my long slow runs.

Of course getting the long runs each week is important as I have a nice long run on the 15th April as I'll be running the entire Waterford greenway out and back which will clock in at 60miles (approx 98km) so it'll be a good day out and it's looking like they'll be a nice group of us running the route together.

The entire route we'll be running can be seen below, anyone interested in joining us can visit the Facebook event page

Entire greenway route

In general, if you're interested in running, walking or cycling the Waterford Greenway then I'd recommend that you checkout the greenway website. It has lots of helpful info including a useful Greenway App which allows you to very easily find all the parking locations.

Waterford Greenway Attempt 1 & 2

It's been a week and a half of attempts but also good decent long miles under the belt,

Last week on Friday I decided I wanted to do a 30mile run but for a change my plan was to run part of the new Waterford Greenway by doing 15miles out from Waterford City and 15miles back.   This all started all fine as much more of the greenway was completed the my last attempt at running it back in 2016.

However, it was not to be as I got approx 9miles in and couldn't go any further due to construction work so I turned around and ran back to the car and called it a day at around the 20mile mark.

Then last Tuesday I figured I'd try again except this time instead of starting at Waterford City I'd start at the other end of the Greenway in Dungarven. I eventually opted to start near Clonea Strand because parking the car was easier so off I went.....

This section of the greenway has been finished for some time and I also knew that I'd be running through a railway tunnel and running over not one but two railway viaducts, I'd also get a far better view of the Comeragh mountains.   The run did not disappoint as I got all of these and had a cracking day for it too.

I had been expecting wind and rain for the day so dressed accordingly but in the end I ran in a t-shirt and had to take off my long sleeve top after the first 2miles as I was roasting, I had my ultimate direction backpack with about 1.5ltrs of water and I had a small amount of GU gels. I just about hit the 15mile mark when I ran out of greenway due to construction work but I managed to hit my 30mile target although I will say that the last 3miles were a challenge.

During the 30miles I used up all my water but I only took in 2x gels and felt pretty good throughout.
My long term goal with the greenway is to return in April and do an entire out and back run which should result in around 60miles cover, since there's no Vartry 50mile event in April taking place this will be my long run in April instead.

Kilmacthomas viaduct

So the question some of you might be asking is what did I think of the greenway, overall it was a good experience?

Most of the surface is either tarmac or compacted gravel, there are a number of road crossing but they are minor roads and I only saw 2 cars the entire time.  Any main roads are either crossed via a underpass or via a bridge which are all specially build as part of the greenway. 

I highly recommend the greenway for a day out either as a walking, running or cycling day, you can find my Garmin link for my second 30mile attempt here. 

Total Miles This Year So Far: 394
Miles So Far in March: 98,84miles

Some downtime

Last week at Donadea

It's been a week of downtime after Donadea 50km as myself and Grace went away for a midweek break, it was lovely to get away as we both didn't have very much time off during Christmas.

We spent most of the week down in Co Cork and enjoyed seeing a few sites including Fota Wildlife which I've not been to in about 8 years.

I did however manage one sneaky run of 5.5miles during the week, it wasn't anything too exciting as I just did loops of the streets near the hotel we were staying at but it was good to loosen up the legs a bit after the 50km as I'm very wary of taking it too easy and my legs stiffening up as I've had this triggers a recurring injury in the past.

While out and about I did pay a visit to The Edge Sportshop just off the South Link Road in Cork and I got to say they have a great selection of brands, my reason for visiting was to pick up some Skins shorts which happened to be on sale as I've been hoping to pick up a pair for the last few months.

Why do I want Skins shorts? Well, basically I find running in normal shorts is fine but when it comes to chaffing up to about the 40mile mark but after that I find chaffing becomes an issue and this can turn into a very painful issue like what happened during Connemara 100 after about the 70mile mark. 

Although chaffing is a very real issue for basically every runner its often not talked about much I've found and finding a solution to stop chaffing can often be a trial and error situation for each runner.  For example for nipples I tried plasters, petroleum jelly etc and they all only worked to a point, after much trial and error the bullet proof solution I found in the end which works 100% of the time was to simply use KT Tape. KT Tape also worked out the cheapest solution also as I could buy roles off of ebay for next to nothing.

In relation to the Skins I bought the basic plan is on longer runs is to use the Skins under my normal shorts and hopefully that should assist in lessening the effects of chaffing especially for the much longer distances.   I've only tried them out for two runs so far but so far so good, the real test will be using them on a 40mile+ run however which I'll get around to over the next months.

ah the joys of running....

Donadea 50km 2017 Race Report

First race of the year and it was a challenging distance but an enjoyable one none the less.
Back at the beginning of 2016 I didn't do my first race until April, this year I've revisited the race scene a little earlier then last year as I ran the Donedea 50km on Saturday.

I've had little or no long distance training since December as I only have done a hand full or short runs and done 1x 20mile at the start of January and 1x 24mile run a week and a bit before Donadea so I was somewhat ill-prepared but I was still had a far better fitness level then I was at this time back in 2016 (certainly not as heavy anyway!).

It was a bright and early start to race day as we left the house at 7am, I say we because Grace was coming to support me and we also brought our new dog Buffy.

We arrived in plenty of time for registration, to get ready and meet up with numerous familiar faces from previous races. As always in the Marathon/Ultra scene its great to see so many friendly faces.

Courtesy Of Paul Daly

For those not familiar with the Donadea 50km course the route takes in the Donadea Forrest Park in Co Kildare, it consists of 10x 5km loops of the park.

There are up sides and down sides to this type of looped course. Its great for leaving your gels/water etc at the start/finish area which means you don't have to bother carrying anything but I personally find that after the 6-7 loop it can feel a little endless. I much prefer the changing scenery of a point-to-point route.

My rough plan for the day was to aim for a sub 4hr 30min finish, unlike the last time I ran this face where I started off and ran the first 5km in at avg of 7:30min/mile (amateur error) I took it nice and easy for the first loop with a 9:30min/mile avg pace while chatting away to the Paul Croke, Paul Daly and a few others. Once I felt I had eased into the race I started to up the pace with the aim of hitting 8:30-8:35min/mile avg pace.

Courtesy Of Paul Daly

Each loop after that went by without any incident and with the exception of meeting up with Paul Croke and others now and then to chat I was on my own for much of the race. I  gradually reduced my overall race pace down to an average of 8:34min/mile during this time.

For nutrition on the day I didn't put a lot of thought into it and decided to take on less then I had on previous 50km races, I only brought a few GU gels and I had planned on only taking on water and the gels during the race. I took my first GU gel at the 9mile mark, the second at the 15mile mark and 2x more at around 24mile and 26mile marks.

By the time I got to the 7th loop my quad's were really getting both tired and tight so I ended up walking through the finish area on this loop, I took on some coke and water and had to stretch twice during this loop. This was annoying as I lost a few minutes during this loop and my overall pace during this loop and subsequent loops slowed down.  My plan of a sub 4:30 race finish was out the window at this stage.

For the 9th and final loop I decided to up the pace and sped up from the slower pace of 9:20 down to 8:20min/mile avg. while I knew the sub 4:30 target was out of reach I was confident I'd managed 4:40 or better and I passed a good few people during this last loop which was a nice boost to the confidence and its a good reason to keep pushing toward the finish!.

To my surprise as I approached the finish line I was finishing in 4hrs 37min and I finished with an official chip finish time of 4hrs 37min 17sec.

All in all a good day and most enjoyable, with little or no training I finished off with a nice personal best improvement.  Big thanks to Grace for coming to Donadea with me to support me the support was greatly appreciated especially as it was so cold out!.

Stuff from the day...

Would I recommend this race? Yep certainly, Anto puts on a good event in a nice location and there's a good atmosphere. For those that like a t-shirt or medal you always get some nice stuff including a buff. The 5hr cut-off time also keeps the entry standard decent and it removes walkers from the race which is a plus as it makes the race route less crowded.

For anyone interested you can find my Garmin event for the race here.

First race of the year and some plans

Time to get things back on track and that means both getting more structure into my runs/training and also getting back to updating my blog....after a long deserved break.

Its 2017 and my first race of the year is this weekend as I'm taking part in the Donadea 50km in Co Kildare, I have previously ran Donedea but its been a few years since I did it back in 2013. Back then it was my second 50km race and I found it much harder then my first 50km race in Portumna about 6 months earlier.

So you might be asking, do you have any other plans?   Well so far I've my eye on Tullaroan Ultra and I've already signed up to do the Waterford Marathon which are both in June so they'll be a fun time in June.

I had planned on doing the Vartry 50mile in April but that race isn't going ahead so I'm debating doing a long slow run on the Waterford Greenway instead (Waterford to Dungarvan and back again) this would come to about 90km or around 55miles.)

As for anything else, I'm still thinking about what I might do.

So back to to what I've done recently, the last long slow run before Donadea was last Friday where I clocked up 24miles on a route that is (at least for around here) pretty hilly, some of the hills were particularly steep and rather then taking it handy on them I ran them all.  

Since Friday I've been taking it handy enough with some slow short runs before Saturday so here goes nothing...

2016 Year in Review

It's being posted very late this year but welcome to another year in review, I actually didn't do that many races this year but it was still an interesting year and a year where I dug deeper then I ever needed to in a race before in my life.

2016 kicked off with me still being injured after the end of 2015, 2015 overall wasn't a good year for not being injured as after the Dublin Marathon in October I basically did little to no running...I didn't even manage to run the Waterford Half Marathon and I just barely managed the Stook 10mile.

But I was determined that 2016 would be different so I started off with a plan, this plan basically was running the Connemara 100 Ultra in August.

Back in the days when I first started running and I was doing coach to 5km I had learned about the Connemara 100 and I remember reading in awe about people running this distance non stop in such a beautiful part of the country, since then its always been a race I wanted to do and 2016 was going to be the year this would happen.

Initially my plan for 2016 was to do the Vartry 100mile in April and then do the Connemaera 100 in August but after being injured I decided to drop Vartry down to a 50mile distances to compensate for my loss of fitness while injured.

By February I was beginning to start to get back into the groove of doing "normal" training miles again which felt great as I did my first 20mile run at the end of February, the last 20mile being in  October 2015!

By the second week in March I did my first 30mile run of the year and then it was on wards and upwards to doing Vartry 50mile in April.

Finally Finished Vartry!

My expected finish time for the event was between 10-12hours but although the conditions were awful as it was raining for the entire race I finished it in 10hrs 22min. While it was slower then the previous years 50mile I finished in very good condition and I felt great (something I didn't feel the previous year).

In May I started doing night runs on a Friday night after finishing work, I used this as a training method to get used to running 20-25miles when very tired and it was common for me to get back to my house at midnight after doing the 20-25mile run.  I found this new training method was useful because a) it got me used to running when tired and b) it allowed me to get my long slow run out of the way for the weekend :)

Finished Tullaroan Ultra (39.3miles)

The start of June brought the annual Tullaroan race event and in 2016 they put on an Ultra for the first time. This basically consisted of 3x 13.1mile loops and it was an awful hot day to run such loops.

Although I experienced some very painful cramping at the 36mile mark I crossed the line in 6hrs, 3min in 4th place! (the nearest I've gotten to a podium finish!)

July for the most part was a wash out as I spent 2 weeks of it in Canada doing very little running and when I got back I started tapering for Connemara at the start of August so no more big miles anymore.

August finally came and it was time for the target race. It was a challenge and you can read all about it here. I had hoped to finish the race in under 24hrs and all went well until 86miles and then everything went out the finish and I was just thankful to finish it!

While I didn't get the time I wanted in Connemara the entire race was certainly an experience, not only did I have the support of my wife Grace but for the first time I also had the support of my family as they crewed for me. They got to see me at my lowest low which I'm sure was difficult at times. It was great to have them all at the finish line and I really appreciated all the support from all of them.

After Connemara 100 I foolishly took a break from running for two weeks which actually caused me more problems then anything as my muscles just seized up (I really need to remember to keep doing recovery runs!).    This resulted in dry needling to get things back to normal again.

October eventually rolled around and with only 2x 20mile runs under the belt I had already signed up for Dublin so I figured I better run it. But did I want to chance aiming to beat my previous Personal Best of 3:33:33 or do I just want to finish?

In the end I decided that instead of going for a sub 3:20 time like I had in 2015 and 2014 I would just aim to come under 3:30 and so this plan paid off and I finished in a time of 3:29:06.

After Dublin I took it easy but I still managed to run Stook 10mile in November and Waterford Half-Marathon in December (neither of which were PB's) but I felt I finished the year in much better condition then at the end of 2015.

So what does 2017 bring?

Well, I've only signed up for the Waterford Marathon in June, but I must say I'm very tempted to go back to Connemara for another re-match to see if I can finally break the 24hr mark!

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.

Dublin Marathon 2016 Race Report

Another year and another Dublin Marathon race report, as your all aware I've been doing next to no running since Connemara 100 due to injury and although I did manage 1-2 20mile runs I managed next to no other runs and this wasn't a very good base to run a marathon. But none the less I had signed up and paid anyway so I decided I'd give it a go anyway and take it easy.

At least that's what I initially told myself....who was I kidding right??

What started as me thinking to myself that I'd do it and take it easy eventually evolved into me planning to head out with the sub 3.30 pacers and see if I could beat the 3:33:33 PB I set 3 years ago, even beating it by 1second would be an improvement after all.

My last two previous attempts to beat this PB have been a washout, back in 2014 I fell on Slievenamon about 3 weeks before the marathon and I bruised my ribs.     The day after the fall it hurt enormously to just breath so I went to the doctors and ended up getting an x-ray to rule out a fracture.

Thankfully I didn't have a fracture but by the time Dublin rolled around I still wasn't 100% and 10miles into the race I was in a fair bit of pain so I could no longer maintain the faster pace so I resolved myself to use the marathon as a training run.  My goal of a new PB died with this decision.

Last year I actively trained for Dublin from the end of the July after I had recovered from the 100mile in May, things started well by me setting my first sub 1:30 half marathon in September which gave me a good boost and made me think I could pull off a sub 3:20 time at Dublin but once again things were not meant to be.

By the time the marathon rolled around I wasn't feeling the best that weekend but I still went ahead with my plan and ran anyway.  I got as far as mile 21 and the wheels feel off, I could only describe that the rest of the race was a utter slog to the finish.  In hindsight I hadn't respected the amount of time I needed to recover from the 100mile in May and I should never started my training for Dublin.

So this time around I decided I'd go for a more conservative sub 3:30 by heading out with the sub 3:30 group and see how things went, I figured there was a good chance I'd pull it off and if things didn't feel right I'd drop the pace right down and convert the race into a training run.

Before the start I could tell my mind wasn't really in it as I first left my gels in bag which I dropped at the baggage area and after I went back and got them I then left my gels in the toilet...thankfully I managed to get them back though.

Eventually I was ready to start and I headed off to the sub 3:30 pacing area where I got chatting to the pacers.    The start I found was very different to previous years as I found that the field was much more spread out crossing the starting line, this was no bad thing as in previous years it made the first few miles a pain to navigate around slower runners and road obstacles.

From about the 3mile mark I had spotted the very familiar looking colours of the Saturday Road Runners from Waterford who happen to have the same club strip as Callan AC, they were just ahead of the 3:30 and they were staying together as a group so for the next 15miles or so I kept in with them on and off.

About 6miles in I met fellow Kilkenny man Ger who's also part of the same trail running group I'm part of in South Leinster, he looked a lot more comfortable with the pace he was doing then I felt I must say. We chatted for a bit about this and that.

For the most part I preferred to stay away from the main sub 3:30 pacing group for two reason, the first being that the very large group of people around them really annoyed me and the second is I used the pacing group behind me to spur me on so I wouldn't as easily be passed by the group.  Eventually I created so much of a gap between me and the pacers that anytime I looked back I couldn't see the balloons.

At the half way mark it was a 1:44 half marathon and I was still feeling pretty comfortable, by the time I got to heartbreak hill however I was beginning to suffer and I eventually lost the Saturday Road Runner group, but I was no where near as bad as I suffered last year where shortly afterwards I was forced to basically walk to the finish.

By about the 23mile mark to maintain the pace was starting to be a problem but I looked around and I could see the 3:30 pacing group around 100metres back so this spurred me on to keep on moving, I knew I could afford to loose a few seconds and still be 3:29:xx but I ideally didn't want the pacers to pass me anyway.

On the last mile coming upto the finish Ger met me again and despite his encouragement I couldn't keep up with him, approaching the finish I did the silly error of also upped the pace at around the 800metre mark from the finish line which was much too early and so I finished across the line much slower then I would have liked.

All in all however I finished with a new personal best of 3:29:06, this beats my previous marathon PB set back in 2013 of 3:33:33 which I've failed to beat the past two years when specifically aiming for a sub 3:20 marathon. It felt great to finally get a new PB for the marathon! :)

My Garmin profile for the race can be found here.

Given the sheer lack of training I'm very happy with the end result as I only really managed a hand full of short runs and 2x 20mile runs since August.   However, I will say that the lack of training is seriously noticeable after the race as my legs are aching a lot more then they usually would. They felt better after the Vartry 50mile back in March by comparison!

Dublin had over 19,500 runners taking part this years which makes it I believe the 4th largest marathon in Europe and this increase in runners I felt was also reflected in the support from people on the race route. The good weather conditions also likely helped but there seemed to be much bigger crowds this year compared to previous years I've run.  All in all it was certainly a good day and I've no doubt I'll be back again.

So thats it, next race after this should be Stook 10mile Roadrace in Co Kilkenny in the middle of November.