Training Log Archive: ColmM

Not much soreness at all from yesterday really, but seems a sensible time to have my first rest for a wee while, and can push on again during the week.

Dublin Peaks - 1st (CR)

Really cool race.
Start came a bit out of nowhere, was mid-pack, and had to work a little to catch back up, but was probably already 10sec+ behind the leaders.
Climbing consistently up to fairy castle, but was probably back in 8th with Alan Ayling & Paul Keville just behind. Not ideal. Was hoping to be contending this race. Still, knew where I needed to be conservative, and where I needed to be aggressive, and I had time

Descending fairy castle I kept it controlled, wanted to keep it smooth, I wanted to gain back time, but it was way too early to be pushing.
Again through the rougher stuff & climbing up to Tibradden tried to keep it smooth and strong, and sure enough popping out of the trees I could see the front group ahead, cool, probably only a minute or so.
Descent off Tibradden, I took pretty quickly, chance to get back a bit, through the rough stuff must have gained a bit back, and in the forest I’d almost caught O’Keefe & McAlinden, and had done so just as we hit the road. Up to 5th now, with Laurence a bit up the road. The others pushed on a bit to catch him, but I didn’t see the need.

Was back with Niall & another fellow climbing Cruagh, they got a gap going up the small trail, unsurprisingly. But kept my rythym and minimised it. Saw Niall cut through the forest as per my recce, and then join laurence and Conor in the lead, knew I wasn’t far back now as I cut through, probably still 1min - 90sec.

Summitted, and coming through the terrain, and I started to get moving. This was a time to be aggressive, came down the rocky trail fast and moved right back up to the leaders, and hitting military road I had closed down to 20sec or less on the front 3. Cool, all good again now.

Up big road this stayed pretty constant, but I made a wee effort to catch them before the foot of kippure as I thought it would help on the climb. Got them just at he foot, and greeted by Quinn “ah there he is, you’ve been missing all the fun”.
Stuck in, nobody was flying. The way I saw it, if I could slow down this climb, it would suit me nicely. It was messy in the mud and none of us could keep much grip but Conor in particular had poor shoes.
About halfway I fell back a bit but kept a rythym again, and did what I could to keep within distance. In the end Niall got a gap, about 15sec to the other 2, and a further 15-20sec to me, maybe.

Turned on the descent and knew here it was, if I was to have a hope I had to go for it here. Conor ran 15:12 5k two weeks ago, so I needed a gap on him. And the other two are stronger climbers.

Flew down, no control and slipping like never before but mostly stayed on my feet and picked off Conor early. Got back to Niall after a bit more work, and was just behind Laurence after maybe 2/3rds of the descent. Went by but didn’t put much more into Laurence.
Took a gel here now (~90mins, foot of kippure). We worked together a little on the stony bog road, I’m sure the other two were gaining back, but we were keeping a solid pace so I was happy to save a little.
Took on a little water at the checkpoint and worked a bit on the road to get back to Laurence.

Was just ahead starting the Cruagh climb, so don’t really know what happened, but got into a better rythym and was strong enough climbing. Conor came close to catching, but as soon as we hit the terrain I started to open a little gap again, maybe 30sec - 1min. Took the Cruagh descent pretty hard and got all my lines alright. This was good, knew I’d open up a bit more gap, but didn’t know how much.

On the 200m road took my 2nd gel, and got ready for the rough Tibradden climb. Walked most of this but kept strong and it was over quick enough. Know I shouldn’t have, but had a cheeky look back and didn’t see any sign behind so started getting confident.

Still, cruised the rough trail at a nice pace. Minor battle up the final trails to fairy castle, but moving alright.
Still went well down the final descent. Knew I had the Course record, but not by how much.
Legs were feeling fine so pushed on, and ended up with a 5min win, as the other 3 filtered in.

Delighted with the win and the time. Didn’t expect it at all, clearly in better long shape after the Mournes than I expected.
Great race, and great competition between the 4 of us.

C • Peaks 6

Very chill bushy with niallmac & his antics.

Recovery for them calves. Need goggles.

Easy 45 in marlay.
Stiff but alright. Mostly grass.

Marathon tempos with lorrieq on the UCD pitches.
2x 2mile (3’00), 4x 800 (1’00), 2x 1mile (2’00).

Wet and windy out, but enjoyable conditions.
Proper tough session, maybe a bit too much so for my poor calves, having done very few sessions over the last while.

Anyway, some tough sections heading towards clonskeagh into heavy wind, and a collision with a closed gate made for some varied paces, but mostly pretty on target.
Enjoyed it, now to get those calves recovered for Saturday.

Dublin Mountain Peaks recce
Just did the middle section, fairly confident of my route now.
Legs a bit tired today so walked a few of the climbs to keep em a bit fresh.

easy grass in bushy

Few easy morning miles from corbett's

Steady hills.
From Wesley up the edge of Marlay to Taylors, then straight up to the masts, and down via lamb doyle's and sandyford area.
Lovely run, pleased with the effort.