Training Log Archive: Dooby

Late to bed last night, very tired. So decided doing something today would be risking it, take it easy and train for the week.

Kenmare-Lauragh-Healy Pass-Adrgiole-Glengarriff-Priests Leap-Kenmare
Avg Cadence = 72rpm

Started off dry but plenty of cloud about. Puncture in the group early enough so had to stop, got ate by midges, not nice. Then started off again. Pace wasn't too bad, so was happy enough. The climb then started before Lauragh, bit of a drag, around 500m from the top I stopped to put on my rain jacket. The group had already lost 3/4 lads as there was another puncture. When I got to the top not long after the main part of my group they were stopped. One of the lads had fallen off his bike, broken collar bone, maybe more damage done to shoulder too. Some serious pain going on. A car was flagged down and the fella was put into the car to get him to Kenmare where he was then taken to a doctor and to hospital. So a slow descent followed in the rain into Lauragh. I was glad I stopped to put on my jacket, not seeing the crash is a good thing.

Then off up the Healy Pass. Group splintered pretty quickly. There was 4/5 of us together going at a handy pace, nothing stressful, HR in mid 150s creeping towards 160. Near the top TheFlan and a girl pushed on but I decided to keep at my own pace, save the legs. Then over the top and onto the descent where I took it easy, just followed TheFlan. This descent really is incredible, wide open with loads of bends, really something to experience, but not in the wet.

Regrouped in Ardrigole before heading on towards Glengarriff. Pace on this section was probably high enough. Nice drag too at one point before a seriously fast descent. I was at the front at the start of the descent and then the group started flying past me. Spotted a car parked on the left at the bottom of the short hill and a dog running about. Brakes on, the dog was herding sheep which were also on the road. The dog was held by the farmer and the sheep had enough sense to stay out of our way. On the next descent TheFlan slowed so I hung on for him, before taking it easy into Glengarriff and scones.

Big group from Glengarriff to the bottom of The Priests Leap. Wet too along here. Stopped to take off jacets before the climb started. I'd heard this climb was tough, and it certainly lived up to its reputation. It's a monster. The faster lads went away quickly but I went at my own pace. TheFlan was ahead and so was Danny, no intentions of keeping up. First part was alright, and then we turned into a long stretch which just went straight up almost vertically. Went past Paul along here, then past a farm before nearly onto the mountain. The last really steep bit was tough, my rear wheel slipped, and then I headed into the verge and was coming off. Somehow I got my foot to clip out and put it down to save myself. Foot ended up in a load of deep mud, but nothing serious. Couldn't get back on the bike as it was too steep and lads were gaining from behind, so just started running up the hill in my cycling shoes with my bike. It worked! Got ground on the people gaining on me, only had around 50m to get to a flatter bit.

Before I came off I saw that Danny was only 50m in front of me, so he was now my target, along with the girl who was ahead of me on The Healy Pass, she was just behind Danny. On the flatter sections Danny was slightly faster but on the steep bits I gained. This went on for a bit before I finally caught Danny. I then went past and focused on the next group of bikes up the road. Also gained on them. The climb at this stage was flatter sections and steep sections, the steep being very steep. There was also a short descent a couple of times, one of them fast. I finally caught the next group of lads and also passed them. There was only 1 fella in a yellow jersey ahead before the last steep climb to the summit but I failed to catch him.

I must say that early in the climb I realised/felt my legs were in trouble, both quads felt sore. On the way up I had to mind them and also try and get up the hill. Thankfully they improved a small bit on the way up and didn't slow me down too much. Because of this I realised that Kenmare was as far as I was going.

The descent off the top was pretty dodgy, gravel and grass in the middle of the road. Brakes on the whole way down. Finally we made it out onto the N71 where myself and TheFlan cylced a decent clip the rest of the way into Kenmare with another lad tucked in behind us.

Glad to have done the priests leap, it really is a tough climb, probably one of the toughest i've ever done, actually it probably is the toughest. It was just over 6km to the top from the hammer drop and took 29.16, climb was 442m.

Muckross (Upper Loop + horse trail at start)

Robrunner encouraged me out this evening, on his way west so stopped for a run, and food!

Felt ok running, no real struggles. Lovely evening for running so well worth getting out. Tracks had dried out a bit since Monday. HR went up on the hills but nothing too abnormal.

Need new runners, spotted a hole in my right shoe, funny place. So getting new runners in time for Switzerland would be nice. Will check out the web and get them there, not changing the type or size.

Early start in the morning, leaving for kenmare at 0645. Wondering if body can do it, starting to feel like it can but will manage it carefully. Darren, do not cycle hard tomorrow until you can see the finish line in kenmare. It's going to be epic...

Avg Cadence = 92rpm

Ended up on the turbo trainer, started to rain just as I was about to go out and didn't look like clearing fast. So hopped up on the turbo trainer. Feeling tired today, bad sleep last night so not too bothered about not killing myself today.

Right hamstring is sore today for some reason, stretching it isn't finding any sore point so not sure what's going on. Will give it a good stretch tonight and see where that gets me.

Magic will like this one. Bought some food in Tescos this evening, including vegetables. The girl on the till had to enquire regarding what one of the vegetables was. She knew what an onion looked like and the carrots, but it was the courgette that had her confused!

Nice lie in this morning at home in Cork, work had me go to something in Cork at 11 so made sense to not travel back to Killarney.

Then this evening I met a friend from college for dinner. Hadn't planned on training anyways, going with the philosophy of not killing myself between now and WOC. A few (tough) sessions in a row is fine but think rest in between, it's possible there could be a correlation between me getting tired and getting sick, so not wanting to take the chance.

Forecast for tomorrow is crap so not sure whether to bring the bike to work with me. Saw a petition in an ice cream shop window in Killarney wanting to stop the rain. Easy to understand why based on what June has been like. Think i'll bring bike to work, stash it under the stairs, and then see what the story is when I get back from North Kerry, doing a work tour of there tomorrow, it better not rain!

Just had a look at the route for last nights run and compared it to the same run a week ago, the 2 gps tracks look very different. 1 week ago seems more accurate, there are some funny shapes on last nights track! Think the accuracy must have been way off last night. Climb was about right.

Nice day outside, looking forward to running tonight. Final information for the event says full leg cover is advisable so that's something to look forward to. Although I was going to cover them anyways, my memories of Warrenscourt will always include briars.

Went up the hill a bit to warm up. Didn't warm up a massive amount. Then did a bit of stretching.

Warrenscourt
Summer League

Plan was to run hard, practice that. Wasn't expecting much orienteering. There was some route choice early on, more climb and then drop or drop and then climb. I dropped and climbed on all occasions, but it suited the controls as there was good APs coming from the lower road rather than the upper road.

1 - looked for open area on right, there was a control, then cut down along the wall to 1, briars.
2 - Dropped to the road at an angle, again briars. Didn't run too hard as difficult to see underneath the undergrowth. Noticed the turning circle on the way to 2, then but up bt the wall through the white to the control.
3 - Went at an angle but it was poor going, undergrowth and briars. Might have been better to have climbed straight up and then contoured through the white. When I did hit the white I wasn't sure how far I was from the control as I didn't see any odd trees. Kept going and saw the tree.
4 - Nice small path to 4 so followed that, enjoyable.
5 - Considered dropping to the wall and following it but decided to follow the path back towards 3 and then dropped down just before 3 as it was above 5, safer option. By the sounds of things it was rough going by the wall so probably better option staying high.
6 - Hit the lower road and put the hammer down aiming for the turning circle I spotted earlier. Cut up just before it and it was rough, then crossed the wall which wasn't easy, lots of briars, then continued climbing. Checked my map too to see if I was on the right side of the wall.
7 - Dropped down to the road and then put the foot down, very obvious control, spotted my route out of it on the way in.
8 - Knew i'd to just hit the road and follow it, then worked out where the control was. Saw the knoll before it and then the control, not too obvious though.
9 - Passed the bend in the track then saw the path before the control. Description was an odd tree, brown circle on the map, but got the control. Was asked on the track before I went in if I was lost! Bit wet here too, in and out.
10 - Down the path using the track junction as an AP, then into the stream and across to get the control. Back across the stream and back up the track towards 11.
11 - Feet felt heavy due to the water in my shoes. Remembered my AP for this control from earlier. Found a small path after crossing the river and followed this, then spotted the control from around 50m away.
12 - Earlier on the way to 8 i'd a look at the felled area to see if anyone else was crossing it, didn't see anyone but looked passable. So chose to cross it coming back to the last control. Not ideal running but kept going. The track back up the hill then hurt a lot. Cut up onto the small path to the last control and follwed it to the finish.

Routegadget
Splitsbrowser
Gotta love the Splitsbrowser, nice straight line all the way along the top:-)

C • Superman 2

Did a loop of the upper part of the wood. Cut in and run along by 3 and 4, but got a bit stuck getting out. Then on the lower track I decided to cut through the open overgrown area to see if the path along the field still existed, used to be nice. It doesn't, so had to fight my way out of there again.

Legs feel fine today after yesterdays exertions, think hip flexors need a bit more stretching though, were a small bit sore over the weekend, and just at the end yesterday but not a problem cycling.

Woke up this morning to find it raining again. Weather has been seriously crap recently.

Monday - Running (Muckross)
Tuesday - Orienteering (summer league)
Wednesday - Rest, can't afford to push my body too much
Thursday - Cycle (hope weather picks up)
Friday - Running (Muckross, easyish)
Saturday - Viscious Cycle, 180km + thousands in climb!
Sunday - Rest

Bike will probably be arriving, expected tomorrow so collecting/getting fitted for it might upset my planned training schedule this week, how bad:-)

Muckross (Upper loop)

Distance is around 600m less than the same run 1 week ago, have the tracks shortened or is the GPS acting up?!?

Didn't feel like I was killing myself, didn't want to, and legs felt alright, was cruising at the end, felt nice. Met a couple of horses being walked too having to carry people near the end. That started me thinking about racing a horse and/or a Mantracker type event, where could I go without being caught.

Short shower while I was running, didn't get wet though, was light. But tracks were pretty wet, especially first one which was a river at times.