Two Outta Three ain't Bad

The (wee) Hills of Donegal

Decided to take a leaf out other runners book and plan this year's holidays around a marathon or a series of them. So off to Inishowen for my holidays this year. Herself asked is there anything on up there "yeah just a marathon or two". Unfortunately it only turned out to be One as the Fleadh was on in Derry and getting accommodation proved very difficult. Eventually got a house for a week but it meant that we would arrive on the Saturday (Day 3) and the only race open to me would be Sundays trip around Malin Head.
The date in question also coincided with Crystal Palaces first Premiership Game and Clare's All Ireland Semi Final against Limerick on the Box. My plan was a 4 hour marathon would get me into Culdaff with 30 minutes to spare to get to a drinking hostelry with the young fella in time for the Palace Game. The race in question is pretty much self sufficient so on Saturday Evening I drove the course in reverse to drop a bottle of water at Mile 21. On the way back Christopher made the comment that he would meet me at half time in the Pub.
The next morning saw the usual gang of runners assemble plus a first timer from the U.S.A in Culdaff for transport to the start line. Banter was good and up to its usual standard with certain people getting it in the neck for getting lost the day before. We all got shipped off to the start a quick race brief and off we go. I decided that sub 4 hour would be a little too adventurous today so I started very easy for the first few miles to leave something in the tank for the climbs later. After we passed through Malin Town we hit the mile 4 marker which was my 1000th for the year and the hardest of the day, we got hit with a squally shower and a gale in our faces. I was running with Gerry (who got lost the previous day) and Steve where we took turns at the front to provide cover until the shower passed and the wind died down. Steve dropped away at Lags Church to take some photos so myself and Gerry continued on up the first climb.

We got to what I thought was top, looking down to the church I commented that it was not all that bad, turned the next corner to be faced with a steep incline and wind in the face, from here on I kept such comments to myself. As Gerry had inadvertently ran an ultra the day before he was suffering on the downhills with his Quads. To keep mine from suffering the same fate I just ran down them as fast as my legs could go and easy up to let Gerry catch up again on the level. We got to Mile Ten and I had to make a quick pit stop, Gerry stopped up and waited. The miles ticked away again after this, and the fantastic scenery and company helped with this. Shortly after the Half we met the Champ who was taking a walk break, then Gerry found the need to jump the wall so I walked with Shane for a bit, until gerry caught up again. The next 2 miles were pretty flat the pace seemed to up and I was starting to feel it. We hit the start of a 5 mile long climb at mile 16 and after a mile Gerry decided to take a walking break, so I ploughed ahead on my own. Shortly afterwards I meet Gino sporting his 100 marathon jersey he got in Sixmilebridge, quick hello and on again. A constant climb until you get to Mile 21, meant that the downhill legs needed a couple of minutes to warm to the task in hand once I crested the climb. Pretty much downhill from here until 24 so I put down the boot and picked up a good chunk of time. We also had the company of a cyclists doing a 100 mile inishowen loop and could hear them coming behind so we had to keep well into the side of the road. At mile 24 one of the crew was driving around handing out Jaffa Cakes.

The wee Hill

She said to me one more wee hill and its downhill to the finish. Wee is a word used a lot in the Donegal dialect that does not loosely translate to small or minor in fact in this case it was quite the opposite. I had to revert to walking the second section of this hill it was that steep. It was downhill to the finish after that and on the way down I spied Culdaff Beach or locally known as Caratra, which planted a seed of a swim straight afterwards in my head. Got over the line in 4:08:01 by my watch, official time however has me at 4:10:00 really made no difference to my finish position so I will take the official time. Afterwards the lure of the ocean was too much so I dumped the kids in the Car and hit straight for the beach. Wading hip high in the sea after 26.2 miles is divine no matter how cold/wet/breezy the day was.

Black is the Colour

One down two to go, settled down with a pint of the black stuff with an overflowing plate of grub provided by the Extreme North ladies. One eye on the match the other on the presentation of prizes. As each Quadrathon participant got their Medal (weapon of mass destruction) Spurs got a penalty ah shite. There was a special presentation to Shane McCarville for breaking Dave Brady's record of 47 Marathons in a Calendar Year in Ireland, also another for Dave himself in having completed 60 in the 12 months since last years Quadrathon. Palace pressing another pint quick we might just get something out of this, but it never materialised. With the presentation finished and most were hitting home, I settled into the bar with the young fella for the main event of the day. Well what can you say Limerick really shot themselves in the foot, free taker could not hit a barn door on the day and Management failing to address it until half time gave us the gap we needed. At half time more pints of the black stuff, no Limerick revival so onwards to the final against the rebels. Of course the day didn't finish there oh no. Got some grub dropped the young fella home and out to finish of the celebrations. At some early hour on Monday morning I left the pub and took a right where it should have been a left. It took me awhile to realise I went the wrong way so I capped the day of with a 4 mile ( 2  mile as the crow flies) recovery walk home.

It only hurts when I walk lift my head

The usual stiffness/soreness normally associated with a 26.2 run where not to be seen. All that was evident was a little man with a hammer in my head and the embarrassment of getting lost in a city the size of Culdaff. I would like to think that the gallon or two of black stuff or the 2 mile stagger home where what were responsible for my quick recovery but I dare say the 20 mins in the sea afterwards was really responsible. The rest of the week was a lot of unwinding on the beach with a few sprinkling of 4-5 mile recovery runs thrown in. I will definitely come back at some point in the future and tackle some of the other course in the Quadtrathon.

August 18th
       26.2 Miles 4:10:00 @  9:32 pace, No HR    

August 27th
       9 Miles Tempo 6 miles 47:37 @  7:56 pace, HR 164 with 1.5 Mile WUWD

Take it Easy

Vacation from Running

Recently a lot of my runs were beginning to feel like a chore. Having notched up 950 miles in the year, I decided that a change was as good as a rest. So I hung up the runners for a week or two. This gave me some extra time for family activities and some long overdue jobs around the house. It also coincided with my 47th Birthday and 18th Anniversary and sure the rest would do the legs no harm. So how does a runner manage to strain both achilles calves without running even one mile?
He plays footie on a beach with the young fella for 30 minutes with no shoes on. Driving home they felt a bit tight but next morning I had to revert to walking downstairs backwards as forwards just hurt too much. This added another week to the lay up. Anyway back to doing some mileage this week and all seems good with the exception that I have slowed down somewhat, this is probably a weight gain issue but I am just too scared to stand on the scales however the mirror don't lie. I have also rather craftily lined up what promises to The Best Sunday ever or it may turn out to be the worst. More to follow on this later.

Barefoot running

I was really surprised at how little I did barefoot that left my calves/achilles in a condition similar to that of running 26.2 miles in what we call running shoes. I use a support shoe which probably has a 10 to 12 mm raise at the heel. It really brought home to me that I am most likely under utilising my lower leg which in turn is most likely placing a higher load further up the chain. I have done some reading on the web in this regard and I am probably better off running barefoot but the transition involved would need to be very slow, or one would need to go back to the start with a couch to 5K type buildup. If I ever had (touches loads of wood) a serious injury which kept me off running for 3 months or more then I might consider the switch but for now I will stick with my High Heel runners.

August 13th  
          4.1 Miles Easy  37:38 @ 9:06 HR 142

August 14th
       10 Miles Long Recovery 1:37:11 @  9:41 pace, HR 143