Focus

For the first 10 weeks of the year I was Mr. consistency - averaging 70 miles a week which included a marathon distance run at the weekend around a club 40 minute tempo run. On these days i'd run into town, warmup with my clubmates, run a 40 minute out and back tempo @ 6:30 to 6:45 pace and then run home, making sure I covered at least 26.2 miles. Some of these were a bit of a slogfest but I adapted and they became easi(er) over time. So while I wasn't as prolific at running/pacing organised marathons as I was last year (I still haven't run one this year) I managed to accumulate the same training benefit from my front door.

All this training culminated in the Wicklow Way Ultra on 22nd March, my 11th marathon distance run of the year. The plan after Wicklow was to repeat last years marathon training programme for Portumna, for which last years M40 win entitled me to a free entry this year. The purpose of the early season tempo runs was to accustom me to the harder efforts of the mile and 2 mile repeats @ 6:15/20 pace that the programme would demand. However within a week and a half of Wicklow I was sporting a mild strain in my left calf, probably due to a combination of maintaining my weekend marathon streak and getting lost coming down from Galty Mór on a evening run and having to run a bit longer than planned to get back to the car. As speedwork was out of the question the strain prevented me from starting my marathon training programme and it was back to easy aerobic running. Even this was putting strain on my calf and I had to ease back for a few days.

 

With the possibility of a serious attempt at Portumna fading the longer my injury prevailed my sights began to shift back towards the endurance side of the spectrum (i.e. all day events). I had two potential targets -

 

(i) if my injury prevailed I would aim for the Sneem 50 Mile Walk on 24th May. To hedge my bets I introduced a few walk only sessions into my weekly training culminating in a 20 mile 4 hour walk on roads - and you though long runs were monotonous!!!

 

(ii) if I recovered reasonably quickly I would aim for the Wicklow Way Solo Race, also on 24th May. This race had been on the back of my mind since my cousin Liam mentioned it to me earlier in the year, the only issue being how could I fit it into my marathon training and be sufficiently recovered to give Portumna a good old rattle. The answer was that I couldn't, it was either one or the other and now with Potumna out of the picture, the Wicklow Way was left standing uncontested.

 

The only concerns I had were that the I had only ever run about 24km of the primarily off-road 131km route and the first 4 or 5 hours of the race would be in the dark (it starts at midnight).

 

I dealt with the first concern by doing a recce of the entire route over 3 separate runs spaced out over a few weeks, the first as part of a Sunday group run from Marley Park to Glenmalure (km 2 - 65) on 27th April and the remaining two on my own - Glenmalure to Moyne (Km 65 - 91) and Moyne to Clonegal (Km 91 - 131) over the following weeks (a great way to use up excess annual leave). The second concern was glossed over with a 5 mile midnight run on Friday/Saturday, with 3 of those miles through Ballincollig Regional Park wearing my budget Aldi headtorch. It did the job, and spooked a few birds from their slumber in the process. I also picked up a spare head torch yesterday in a Euro saver shop for €1.50 (sans batteries) - and it's brighter than the €8 Aldi version. The days of spending money on "quality" torches  ended when the €50 Cateye torch I bought for my bike gave up the ghost within a few months of purchase (and less than 15 hours of work on the clock) - it couldn't handle the wet (i.e. outdoor use!!!)

 

So....... with a week to go it is option (ii) that I have gone for (Sneem was ever only going to be a fall back - but I will keep up the walk training) and now it's time to do a bit of planning.

 

Support

While the race will be supported (drop bag/aid station locations have not been identified yet as it depends on the number of volunteers) I will not have the luxury of having 24/7 attention like I did on Connemara last year so I will have to carry some provisions in a backpack.

 

Time

I haven't a clue. The cut-off is 21 hours. The combined time of the recce runs is a little over 16 hours, but I was fully refreshed at the start of each segment. To give me some basis for aiming for 16 hours I compared my recent Wicklow Way Ultra time of 4:58 to that of Clubmate Paul Tierney (4:18) and applied the ratio (1.155) to Paul's 2011 record breaking run on the Wicklow Way of 13:39. This gave me a time of 15:46, so sub-16 hours is possible. Then again Paul had full support in his 2011 attempt and I on the other hand will not be drafting in any additional assistance next weekend. So we'll see.........

 

Getting There

The current plan is to drive to Clonegal on Friday. Walk the 4 km to Kildavin to get the evening bus to Dublin. Get my brother in law to collect me from the bus station and drop me to Marley Park, with a few hours rest in between, run from Marley Park to Clonegal and drive home. I'm even tired thinking about it. 

 

 

A Pain In The Ass

Having to run/walk/crawl 38 miles longer than I have ever gone before, i'm just a tad nervous about not having followed a structured 100 mile training programme or in the absence of such a thing not having followed the general training advice of those that have gone before. My longest training run has been 26.2 miles and I'm putting everything on the fact that I have run a few of them over the last few months (6 since 1st June). No back to back 4/5 hour runs that I did for the Portumna 100k in 2011, no training with my planned nutrition for the day, indeed no clear nutrition plan other than  to load up with every conceivable food that I may need/want on the day.

 

 

The only thought I have given to my race plan is the fact that i'll need to incorporate some form of walking into the day, following the general advice of "walk well before you have to". While those at the pointy end of things might get away without having to walk during a 100 miler I don't want to test whether or not I am one of those as it will prove very painful and counter productive if I find out at mile 60,70 or 80 that I am not. With this in mind I have done some walk specific training over the last month, but not nearly enough to build up the walking base that I would like. Training the body to walk efficiently at a reasonable pace is very similar to training the body to run efficiently  and just because I can run at a certain level does not mean that I can walk at the same level, the aerobic base may be there, but the muscular base is lagging slightly. Don't get me wrong, most people can walk for a very long time, but to do so at anything resembling a reasonably consistent and steady pace requires specific training. I initially introduced walking into my warmup/cooldown for a few of my runs and then did a few walk only sessions, resisting the urge to break into a trot, which doubled as "patience" training (also required for Saturday). At the back of my mind was a walking pace of 12 minute miles (5 miles per hour), which I initially struggled to achieve for 1 mile, requiring constant vigilance as my mind tended to wander.

 

 

While my walking pace improved over the month, culminating in a 10 mile walk at 11:33 pace last Saturday, it is highly unlikely that I will achieve anything near this pace during the race as the effort in terms of heart rate was similar to running at about 9:00 pace ( the whole point of walking is to give the body a bit of a rest) and most of my walking will be on the uphill sections. A 14 mile run/walk the previous weekend, included 3 x 1.85 miles, walking the uphills @ 12:30 pace and running the downhills @ 6:03 pace giving the double training benefit of uphill walking and strengthening the quads on the downhill sections (the quads appear to be the first muscle group to suffer during long ultras - all things being equal at the start). In terms of adaptation, I found that my glutes/hamstrings in particular felt achy after the walking sessions so I am hopeful that I have managed to mobilise/awaken a few additional muscle fibres that I can rely on at the weekend. After all it is likely that my musclular/skeletal system will be the weakest link in my endurance chain - it certainly was the case during the Portumna 100k 2 years ago, where after about 65k (40 miles) my natural pace slowed, matched by a similar reduction in heart rate, suggesting that it was a reduction in the number of muscle fibres that I could recruit that led to my drop in pace. Lets hope that I have mobilised/drafted more recruits into my army of muscle fibres for this weekend's battle and that my battle plan is effective and followed through. Time will tell.



 

Another Experiment

The next event I have signed up for is the JFK 50 Mile Challenge in Sneem next Saturday. The challenge for me will be to refrain from running as it is a "walking only" event on roads between Sneem and Molls Gap - so a bit of up and down ( and great scenery) to break the monotony. Why did I sign up for it you might ask. I dunno really - maybe the word "Challenge" intrigued me. How difficult can it be to walk 50 miles. The challenge is to complete it within a 20-hour cutoff time - that's a long time to be on your feet. Although I have 12 hours at the back of my mind. 15 minute miles or 4 miles per hour would get me to mile 48 in 12 hours - maybe 13 then, allowing for a few short breaks at the 4 water/aid stations). The JFK connection stems from the walking craze generated in the US in 1963 when John F Kennedy challenged the nation to march 50 miles in a day. If I wanted to run a JFK 50 miler I'd have to go stateside.

As I have no walking under my training belt I was a little concerned that my running ability might not be enough to get me through the challenge. Surely there is a difference between the physiological requirements for endurance walking and endurance running. Although I won't be taking the challenge that seriously and race-walking like Rob Heffernan I would like to give a good account of myself and use it to improve my endurance base. I was not prepared to deviate too much from my running schedule (what schedule?) so I decided to introduce some walking into an extra long run today and get some experience of walking on tired legs. My plan was to head out for 5 hours, starting each hour with a 5 mile run and walking for the rest of the hour before repeating it all over again. At the back of my mind was 40 minutes running (8 minute pace) and sub-15 minute pace for the walking section - which should get me over 10k for each hour (6.22 miles) or 50k over 5 hours. I was interested to see how the walking breaks would affect my running - would I be able to run more comfortably for longer? Would I find it difficult to run after walking?

As I will be taking a backpack with me next weekend I took one today, using it to carry water (750ml), a spare top, shorts and a pair of shoes, fuel (a few gels, an apple and a small bag of almonds and raisins), a laminated map of the rural by-roads to the west of the City (new route) and an emergency €10. Another challenge - I'm not used to running with a back pack and it's not a running specific one either.



I headed out shortly after 6 into the morning haze. The first 5 miles up over the hill at Currabeg was uneventful.

Mile 4 - Morning Mist



The walking break went well, managing to keep the average pace under 15:00, despite a steep uphill section.



Mile 6 -Uphill Walk



The second 5 miles went relatively fast as they were over a net downhill past Farran Church and across the Bride Valley to Aherla, before the next walking break, again primarily uphill. I noticed that my walking speed didn't vary too much unless the grade was very steep. The third 5 miles took me south following a downhill route for about 2.5 miles along a small river valley before my course veered East at a crossroads and took me uphill to Knocknavilla. The climb of 100m over 1 km was one of the toughest i've ever run. As it steepened towards the top it was very difficult to resist the urge to stop. Perhaps that is why one of the largest ring forts in the Country was built on top of the hill over 3,000 years ago, with commanding views of the surrounding countryside.



Mile 15 - Which Way?



I recovered on the downhill before starting my third walking section. With 18.8 miles on the Garmin, I lost the satellite connection and had to resort to running/walking by time. 







Mile 17.5 Crosspound Pub - It's seen better days





Mile 20 - Dual Carriageway

I started the fourth 5 mile run, continuing east over undulating terrain as far as Ballynora. At this stage my legs were beginning to feel heavy and the early signs of a bonk were evident. I was glad when the 40 minutes were up and I could take on some fuel. The morning was warm and I had all but depleted my water heading into the last hour.



Mile 25 - Heading into my last 5 mile run

My last 5 mile run took me into Bishopstown and out the Model Farm Road. My legs were feeling very heavy and fatigue had well and truly set in. Motivation was low and I was counting down the time to when I could stop and walk. Surprisingly when the 5 miles were up I was able to maintain a reasonable walking pace, despite the fatigue. I covered 32 miles (51.5k) in the 5 hours. I was still over a mile from home though, but had no inclination to run it and continued my walk covering 33.1 miles in 5:16.