Donadea 50km 2019 Race Report

First race of the year back on the 9th of February and I was all set...well almost.....I hadn't been feeling 100% the entire week before so I knew I was fighting off something but I decided I was doing it anyway as I've had this feeling before and I've been fine

Courtesy of Paul Daly

Saturday morning arrived and its about a 90min drive to Donadea Forrest so it was an early enough start to arrive with plenty of time and to register for the race start at 10am.


After not going to many races in the last few months it was good to once again see so many familiar faces and before everyone knew it it was 9:45am and time for the race briefing.   Now for those that haven't been to a race with Anto as the race director you are missing out.   The briefing is pretty straight to the point and no messing about, it boiled down to:

- No Headphones!
- No littering, use the bins!
- No headphones, if you use them you are disqualified
- Do 10 laps of the 5km course within 5hours and then fuck off home
- No headphones!

My aim for the day was to do the 10x laps and aim to do it in 4hours 30min or less.

We all started off at around 10:01am and at the start I was about 40seconds plus ahead of the 4:30 pacers on the entire first loop, but I started to slow down throughout the loop and by loop 2x I could see them right behind me.

All felt good initially but by loop 3x I had to stop for toilet break and I then lost the pacers and spent lap 4x chasing them.  The muscles in my left leg then started to get fairly tight and I knew this was going to be an issue.

I continued on and got chatting to various people but the day still didn't feel right and I was beginning to really feel the effort.   By the time I started hitting the mile 18 mark I knew I was in awful trouble and decided I had enough, I wasn't slogging it out for the remaining few hours/miles and I was calling it a day!

At mile 21 I called it a day and looked for Anto at the start/finish , Anto was happy got me to pose for a Loser/DNF photo and it was as simple as that, my first ever DNF.

Overall I managed a slower pace then I wanted for the race upto then of 9.14min/mile, further information can be seen on my Garmin of the race.

I didn't hang around once I dropped out and picked up my drop container I have left just after the finish line and I headed to the car.

The next day I got onto the physio (Bodymend) and arranged to have some dry needling sessions to sort out the IT Band and as always it did the trip.....but as always the sessions were far from pain free. They did the trick however and I was back running shortly afterwards.

Courtesy Of Antony Lee

Was dropping out the right thing to do?
It was a hard decision to make as it was my first DNF, I feel perhaps I'm less stubburn then I used to and I feel I put this down to trying to pack it in during Connemara 100 2017 race.   Prior to this race I've always refused to DNF no matter how much pain I was in and I was discribed myself as either too stupid or too stubborn to DNF.

None the less, it was the right thing to do. My right IT band wasn't in good shape and took a few sessions of dry needling to put right afterwards.  I

feel it also effected my running style as afterwards I ended up with another muscle injury in this month during a 30 mile training run prior to Connemara Ultra 39.3miles.

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.

The Long Way Round

Ticking along lately with my next big race due in Feb which is Donadea 50km, until then I'm taking it relatively easy.

Normally in November I try run Stook 10mile and in December I run the Waterford Half-marathon, but I've not registered for either and even if I wanted to Waterford is now sold out. Shame really as I do enjoy Waterford.

However, for the third year in a row I am doing the Long Way Round which takes place in Clonmel at night, for me its less of a race and more of just an enjoyable night trail run.   
At last years event I ran the course wrapped in Christmas lights and wearing a Santa hat, I also accidentally arrived at the start line very, very late and I was literally the last person to cross the start line so I was never going to do great with that sort of preparation.

The event is a fund raiser for the South East Mountain Rescue and for anyone that does hill walking or trail running I'd encourage them to come along, its a well organised event and a good laugh.

Kilkenny Medieval Marathon 2018 Race Report

Race day arrived on the 15th Sept and I headed into Kilkenny to do the Medieval Marathon 2018, although this race takes place only 10miles away from me as I've mentioned before I've never run it so I was looking forward to it.

I headed to race number pickup which was taking place just across from the very famous Langtons Hotel, collection was quick and it was good to see some familiar faces even this early on in the race.

One thing I've forgotten to mention is the night before race day there was an announcement that due to a large funeral taking place out in Church Hill area in Cuffesgrange the marathon route had to be re-routed as it would have created a safety hazard otherwise.  I'll get back to this later in the race report though.

The start for all the races (marathon, half, 10km) all started in the same location which was the CAS bridge, not a bad location as it was easy get to but it is a very busy area road traffic wise.

My aim for the day was somewhat hopeful, I was aiming to beat my sub 3:29 PB so I decided to head out and stick with the 3.30 pacers and speed up towards the end....at least that was the plan.

Of course that was the plan and like everything I don't always stick to it especially at the start as crowds annoy me in races so for the start of the race I upped the pace to get ahead of most of the crowd, but by the time I hit the 3-4mile mark I met up with the pacers and I stayed pretty comfortable with them.

As we approached Cuffesgrange this is where the race route changed and I must say I was disappointed, partly because I knew the route off by heart and enjoy the route but also last minute changes are never good for people especially when it comes to races.   However, I fully agree with the reason for the route change as I'm local and was fully aware of the sheer size of the funeral taking place and the safety issues it would have represented to the runners.  

However I feel very sorry for the race organisers and I'm sure it created many logistical problems for them on the day including with stewards.

Due to all the changes instead of heading the route I'm used to running on we headed off on a different road and as the miles dripped by I dropped the pacers and headed off ahead of them as I felt comfortable.  This section of the course due to the route was an out & back (I'm never a fan of these!).

On the way back from the out-and-back I met the pacers and continued on, at this stage I was starting to feel the miles and when I reached the Kilkenny road (about 5 miles from Finish) I could see the pacers behind me and they soon caught up with me. By mile 22 the pacers caught me and very quickly I was dropped by them as I get a cramp in my left leg.

From here on it was a bit of a slog to Kilkenny City and it wasn't the most pleasant experience while I tried my best to try recover some sort of decent time out of the race.

Once I hit into the city the route took a lot of twists and turns and involved crossing some very busy roads which wasn't ideal. John's Bridge especially was very congested traffic wise and involved running between the cars in traffic to cross the road which I wouldn't expect to have to do in a race.

Coming up to Kilkenny Castle and the finish line was a little bit of a slog especially coming up from the Canal Walk but at least nobody was in the way, but once I reached the castle wall I started to meet people.  While most of the time these people seemed to get out of the way or at least be aware there was a race taking place as I passed the entrance to Kilkenny Castle a group of American's walked straight out in front of me and only for a quick jump out to the left I would have collided with them.

Shortly after I crossed the finish line in 03:40:22.

Not the PB I was aiming for but none the less I'm pretty happy with it.

I'm on Strava

I'm on Strava and I'm still training by doing about an average of 30miles a week,
but thats still not an excuse for not updating this blog

If you'd like to follow me on Strava you can find me here.

Finally a race!

So I have finally booked my next race and its this Saturday the 15th in Kilkenny City, it's also a marathon!

I've not run a marathon as a race event in some time, while I had planned to run the Waterford Marathon the race organisers cancelled it because of heat during the summer which was awfully disappointing and frankly I think it was a overreaction.  It was also likely due to them choosing a poor route which they knew they could not provide adequate first aid support on due to the narrowness of the Waterford greenway.

After doing the Tullamore Half marathon I decided that since I'm not doing Dublin this years I'd opt to do another marathon so I've settled on the Medieval Marathon, its in its third year this year and although it only takes place 10miles from where I live I've never taken part in the race.

Although I've not taken part in the race over the past few months I had changed my regular running route in order to allow me wife to drive to work and then I would run into Kilkenny City and collect the car. The route I happened to take for this avoids the main and its a pretty nice route, some of this is incorporated in the marathon route so it should be interesting.

New Watch

Those that are connected to me on Garmin or Strava may have noticed I've changed my watch, I've

stuck with a Garmin but I've changed from my old Fenix 2 to a Forerunner 235.   

For anyone that's used a Fenix you'll know that the battery life is great but one problem I have with it is no matter what way I put it on the heart rate strap chaffs the heck out of me!   The last bit of chaffing on my chest it gave me took several weeks to heal up.

As I wanted to use my HR when training I finally opted to change my watch and I picked up a Forerunner 235 for around 120euro on Prime Day (normally 220+).

I've been using it for a few weeks now and impressions and so far so good. 

Tullamore Quinlan Cup Half Marathon Race Report

Its been a nice easy week as I've been busy tapering for the Tullamore Quinlan Cup Half Marathon so a managed the following:

- Monday: 6miles

- Tuesday: Rest

- Wednesday: 2miles easy

- Thursday: 2miles easy

- Friday: Rest

While months back my aim was to run a target half-marathon with the aim of beating my PB of 1:29:33 running this half was very much a last minute decision only taken in the past two weeks and really only finalised when I managed 1:35 on a training run for this distance last week so I haven't been training for a half like I should be.

At first I wanted to run Clonmel but that was booked out for the Sunday so I opted for this instead as it still had spaces and it took place on the Saturday, Saturday arrived and it was time to make my way to Tullamore.     Driving the route to Tullamore reminds me of the times I used to attend the Boards.ie Charleville Photograpghy meetups back in 2008/2009 when we used to all stay overnight in the castle.   You can see a selection of photos I took in the castle on my old photoblog website.

Anyway, back to the running, with a race start of 11am and the fact I needed to collect my number etc it was a 8.00am start for the drive up and for a change I also had the support of my wife Grace which was nice to have for the day.

We arrived around 10am and it was off to register, number picked up and it was time to warm up ahead of the race.    My aim of course  to go out with the 1:30 pacers and stay with them until the last mile and then push forward to get a new PB.

11am rolled along and we all lined up to the start line, the race had fully sold out so there was a good crowd really for the off.  We were off a little late at 11:02am and from the start although we were running 6:40min pace it felt so easy, I actually remember thinking if it felt this easy for the entire race then this would be great.

Unlike so many other races where I've pushed ahead of the pacers I stuck right with the two pacers from the very start, this made easier by the fact that the pacers had flags rather then balloons as balloons tend to constantly get in the way of other runners.

To my surprise the first part of the half-marathon was much hillier then expected but I must say the pacers were good for giving pre-warning to various hills recommending people ease off the pace and not to really push on the hills and take it easier on the down hills.    However, by the time we reached the 6mile mark I was starting to feel it and it didn't help that I had stuck with lead 1:30 pacer who was really pushing the pace to the point where the second pacer asked him to ease back, for a short few metres I managed to drop out of the pacing group entirely but was able to catch up with them and stay with them again.

At this point in the pace the pacing group had managed to bank around 40seconds.

By the time we reached mile 10 I was really starting to flag and it was becoming a big challenge to keep the pace.     To his credit the second pacer tried his best to encourage me on as did two Tullamore A/C club runners who tried to encourage me to stay with them but I just couldn't maintain the pace anymore.

By the time I reached mile 11 I could no longer see the flags belong to the 1:30 pacers and I knew any chance of beating my previous PB was out the window completely but I kept up the pace as best I could.

The finish for this half involved onto the Tullamore A/C track, running past the finish line and doing one loop of the track, as I approached the track I was passed by two other runners but there wasn't anyone else behind me. As I approached the finish line I could see Grace cheering me on and so I pushed on to finish in 1:30:25.

Not the new PB I was hoping for but still a respectable time and place 116th out of 811 people running the half marathon.

I missed out on the new personal best but to be honest I'm not annoyed, considering I hadn't been properly training I finished in a pretty respectable time and if anything this spurs me on about what I could manage if I really put the head down and thought about maybe trying to knock 1-2min off my half-marathon time.

My garmin of the route can be found here.

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.

Good to be back....

So I've finally got back into some sort of routine the last few weeks with running and its nice to be back to it, honestly I've missed it a lot.  I've missed the morning routine and getting out and about.

As it is I currently start work at 7am so a morning run means a pretty early start especially if I want to get a 8mile in before work but its something I'll need to make the commitment to and I'll be honest my mind just hasn't been with it for sometime to do this.  

I've thought about why and honestly I think the 100mile last year took a lot out of me mentally, compounded by Dublin in October and I think I sort of reached burn out to a degree, I just couldn't get back into a proper routine and outside of the Tullaroan Ultra which I booked in November I just had no interest in picking specific races to do anymore.  Instead I sort of plodded along with running now and then including the odd LSR.

This however has only started to change since around June when I opted for a 5mile race and signed up for Waterford Marathon (this was later downgraded to Half because they cancelled the marathon)

So anyway, to get me into the swing of things last week we were camping down in Clonea in Co Waterford which was lovely, no tv phones etc to distract us and every day I got to enjoy running on the Waterford Greenway for a change.

Nothing like camping for being relaxed

Runs on the greenway consisted of starting at Casey's Caravan Park at Clonea strand and either optiing to take the causeway towards Dungarvan or heading towards Waterford City and going through the Durrow Tunnel and back.   Each morning was a 7am or earlier start so was lucky to meet even 1-2 people while out running.

The Durrow Tunnel route was especally enjoyable as it allowed for a warm up section as far as the Rose Cottage Carpark for the greenway, an uphill seection towards the railway viaduct before the tunnell and then a flat section after that. The return trip then of course had a very enjoyable downhill section and then back to the park.  Overall I hit decent paces and it felt great.

Of course we weren't camping just so I could run parts of the Waterford Greenyway, myself and Grace also cycled around 20miles of it one of the days and generally got out and about in Co Waterford.   But mostly it was just about the total downtime and spending time together and it was lovely.

To finish our holidays I was up early on Sunday and decided to return to Slievenamon for a summit and back trail run. When running up on Slievenamon I normally do the circuit but its been a good while since I've run trail and I wasn't prepared to do a minimum of 12miles of trail around the mountain as a start!

First thing first!  I forgot how trail running is much harder then road starting off.   The climb to the

View from near the Summit

summit was a mix of walking and running (mainly walking I must admit) but the decent was all running and I picked the more difficult shale/loose rock path down the mountain to make it more interesting.

By the time I got back to the car I had only completed 3.78miles but it was immensly enjoyable and it was good to get back on the trails.

As I write this I've just done a 2mile recovery run because of the other thing I forgot about trails......you really feel it in the legs when you've not done it in a while! :)