Training Log Archive: roar

Easy walk with Gina and Killian up Tonlagee from Glenmacnass waterfall car park. Well from beside the car park as it was totally full. Fantastic day and very enjoyable. Brought togs and went for a swim in Lough Ouler, which is absolutely freezing.

day 5? getting easier and more efficient at it. Looking forward to some different stuff.

IMRA Carlingford. 1st, nice one.

Was a bit late arriving so no warm up. Was still pinning on my number during the race briefing. Fantastic day so I was in the singlet, all suncreamed up. Started calmly and paced myself up to Slieve Foye. There were a load of different routes taken as it was very ferny and people were avoiding them. One guy, Fergus, blasted ahead and got a significant gap. There was a crowd of about 7 then fairly close together with me the second last of them for the power walked for the summit. Brian O'Murchu was 2nd to the summit and I was in 7th 1:40 behind him. Everyone quickly dissapeared then and I took a really nice line off the summit. Caught one Newcastle fella and was ahead of him for the flat bit. Caught a blue guy then two by the lakes. He was running then walking and net going the same speed as me.
Keeping nice straight lines I gained some time around Raven's rock and dropped into the valley before Fox's rock. Looked around but there didn't seem to be anyone about. Climbed strongly enough to the summit where the first marshal gave me a jelly. Second marshal was Kieran Rocks, he gave me a jelly baby and told me I was in 1st, a little to my surprise, had about a 30s lead. No time to catch up with him though and turned back.
Was a little more left around Raven's rock on the way back, legs finding the climbing tough and it wasn't as good a line but I kept my lead until we started climbing Slieve Foye. Then the blue guy and Newcastle guy started gaining on me slowly. I knew once I hit the summit any where near them I had it. they followed me but I was running well on the climb and was still in the lead at the top, but only by about 1s over blue, with Newcastle about 100m behind.
Turned on the descending skill and went straight, down the big crack. Technical stuff and I stayed safe enough. No sign of either of the guys. Got some nice lines through the ferns as it doesn't matter so much downhill and I was able to see it nicely. Did hit a massive gorge at one point and the only option was to go into it. Didn't work out too badly but had to do 100m of fern bashing. Cruised down the road then for the easy win.

Nice to be racing for a placing. Really the kind of race that suited me somehow. Climbed pretty strongly in general and the terrain was great. Very enjoyable day out.

Stopped on the way home to go to the beach with Gina. Ate some ice cream and put our legs in the sea on a very sunny afternoon. Very pleasant. Tried to do multiple chores like getting a new bulb for the car headlight and going shopping but everything closed just as we got there.

day 4

Left calf is very tight this morning. Gave it some warming and foam rolling.

day 3

Easy run with Gina. Went along the canal and then back through Stephen's Green & Merrion square. Quite pleasant though the calves are tight enough. Quads can feel yesterday too.

Warm up with Ben to the start and then beyond up the route a bit. Small bit of stretching and then back to the start.

Much nicer start to the route than the old one. On some marked way which was either called Bray or Sugarloaf. Started sensibly but felt good and kept working really well. The first bit of the climb was quite punchy with kinda flat bits then steep bits repeated. After a while it turned up and was more steady. I was hanging on to Brian McG's coattails for dear life. Some tiny lady was there too. They got away a bit nearer the top and then I worked to pull them back along the next flatter bit before the kick up the summit. I kept something in reserve for this as it was tough.
I used the hands on knees approach and scrambled when I could to get arms helping me. Passed out maybe 5 people. Solid work. Pretty blinded from effort by the summit and it took a little bit to get going on the steep, rocky descent. Passed a couple more here though. Then it opened out onto a grassy gradual downhill where someone took a photo. That form though:


Then we were back to the old route, winding through the ferns with decently rough ground. Picked off a few more places and had great fun to catch up to Brian L. Then it turned uphill again. More hanging on but he got a little gap and I couldn't close it before the finish.

A fun race, much nicer start. Definitely worth saying that twice. Felt so much better than last week and was able to push well. 20th 113%

Cool down to my jacket and a bit of the start of the route. Then joggen down the road until I met Ben who had the car keys.

Couple of warm up laps with Michael W then dynamics. Feeling a lot better than last week.

4x 400m 60s 4x 800m 90s

Felt hella better than last week. Nicely in with the group and real consistent good times. Happy. Nice evening too.

83, 80, 79, 80
2:53, 2:49, 2:52, 2:52

Cool down with Brian McG had some jobs to do so cut it one lap short. Nice evening.

Doing a challenge to get me to do this strength work. Today was day 1. Hip flexor movement and then some balance. Finished it off with some custom calf raises.

Acceptable week last week. Missing Thursday not the best. Getting the energy sorted out was worth it though. Seriously need to get on this strength train.

Monday - Easy to + from climbing, also climbing.
Tuesday - Intervals on the track
Wednesday - IMRA Sugar Bowl
Thursday - Might mix it up with a cycle.
Friday - Rest
Saturday - IMRA Carlingford. I'd be tempted to do some o-training while up there but that seems like a bit too big of a bite.
Sunday - O-training L3D day3. Ugh I just realised I forgot to print a 1:10000 copy while I was in Wicklow at the weekend.

Follow up from my knee MRI finally happened. Not the best news. Have a meniscal tear and chronic tendonitis. Advice is to keep running while it's not sore and see a knee specialist who can properly advise on surgery. Spent the evening doing some research on it instead of running and generally feeling not too happy about it. Sorted out my brain though now.