Training

Fastpacking in the Mourne Mountains

I had an opportunity to take a few days off work and spend some time in the mountains. It was also the perfect opportunity to test the newly released Ultimate Direction Fastpack 20. The backpack which I wanted for the Mourne Mountain Marathon only 2 months prior, but at that time it wasn’t available in Europe.

I watched the weather for a few weeks leading up to the expedition and it was looking good. Best to be prepared though, so I packed for the worst conditions and wished for the best. I was not let down. I also packed food for 2 nights.

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Skyrunning UK: 3×3000 Ultra Trail Recce

On Friday 5th September I set sail for Scotland, with my ultimate destination Keswick in the Lake District. The purpose of the trip was to join High Terrain Events for a two day recce of the 3×3000 race route. Having never been in the Lake District before, I figured this might just be a good idea! I don’t want to learn it at 5am in the dark on race morning!

The race is a rework of the classic ‘Lakes 3000s’ route for the Skyrunner National Series, which is also in its first year. The route covers 80Km and a mean 4000m of ascent. It’s mostly marked, but that means nothing in the clag and high mountains. The route starts (5am) and finishes at Crow Park, Keswick, and undulates along the hills to the east of Derwentwater, before it winds it was up the Borrowdale Valley to the first summit – Scafell Pike. The tallest mountain in England at 978m. That’s checkpoint one! The route then heads off towards Wythburn on the southern banks of Thirlmere, via Angle Tarn and High Raise. At approximately half way, the route ascends the Helvellyn range, were we have a checkpoint on the Helvellyn summit and another at the end of the range on Clough Head. A sharp fell descent from Clough Head and a short trail run across to the checkpoint at Latrigg brings us to the last of the 3000s, Skiddaw. The route here is an anti-clockwise summit loop by Dash Falls, then a steep final fast descent from the summit trig point back to Latrigg. The last section is an easy 5Km back to the finish at Crow Park.
Click here to view the Route Map

Marking out the course!

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Return from the dark side…

Over the last 3 weeks I have severely dropped my weekly mileage due to the calf strain I suffered during a club hill repeats session. Well, slowly but surely I have been getting back with the help of my foam roller and awesome physio. This week I was finally able to get out there and run pain free, although my legs took a few 10k runs to acclimatise again to the plod! That said, I feel the next few weeks will be nothing more than a plod; easy, slow, plodding miles – at least until I can get my aerobic base close to what it was!

The week started off as I returned from a short break to Berlin. Since I had the Monday off work, I flew up the road from Dublin airport, got on my running gear, and headed straight to Divis mountain. I was bursting at the seems, having not seen a mountain or trail in 3 weeks. The last time in fact, was a failed run in the Mourne Mountains, which I had to cut short due to the calf niggle! The run went O… K..! It could have been better! My legs were tight, although they weren’t helped by the 6 hour 3rd Reich walking tour the previous day in Berlin! Still, my calf muscles behaved themselves, and that was the main thing. The plan for the following days… foam roll and another sport massage. I’m nearly back!

Belfast and beyond!

Belfast and beyond!

Tomorrow will see my return to the Mourne Mountains, as myself and a friend will take on the Mourne Way once again. Starting in Donard Forest Park, and heading to Leitrim Lodge were we will have a second car parked. At a guess that’ll be 35Km. A worthy long trail run on recovering legs in my opinion! Stay tuned!

Slippers off, runners on!

PROGRESS… FINALLY! After 10 days I think I may have shaken off a pesky strain in my right calf!

After what has felt like far too long resting, stretching, icing and foam rolling, it was finally time to get out there and see if the injury has cleared up. The plan for this week was a few short zone 2 aerobic runs. Nothing hilly, just plain old boring flat road running.

merrell

Slippers off, runners on!


The first run was planned to be 60 minutes, but after 40, I felt a dull ache in the exact same place I pulled the muscle. I swiftly cut the run short and plodded gently home in 46 minutes. The total elevation gain was 130 meters, which is as flat as I can find around my house. I’ll need to stretch and roll this muscle for another few days! Continue reading →

Nursing an injury!

Thursday evenings usually consist of 2 hours indoor ‘rock’ climbing followed by approximately 2 hours training with my running club. This past week was no different, and the agenda for the running segment was 8 hill repeats at Shaw’s Bridge. This is usually a good session, as the run out and back, combined with the hill reps, totals 12ish miles.

Off we set on route to Shaw’s Bridge at a chatty pace. It was a cold night (2c), but it was dry, so all was good (or at least that’s what I thought)! My calves felt a little tight on the out route, but I thought it was nothing to be concerned about – I had been training a good amount, so maybe it was just a bit of muscle fatigue.

During the earlier part if the night I had been joking with a club mate that I was going to go out and shave some time off my Strava segment for the Shaw’s Bridge hill. I said it would be an all out effort, just for fun, and it would almost definitely affect the remaining 7 reps. Well that’s exactly what happened and more. Continue reading →

First track session of 2014

This evening I decided to take a club mate up on an invitation to join Lagan Valley AV for their weekly track ‘speed’ session. I really need to work on raw speed over flat ground, so it seemed like a great idea.

Mary Peters Track, Belfast

Mary Peters Track, Belfast

It was a terribly wet evening with plenty of standing water on the track. My feet were soaked, as was every other part of me! The session format was not exactly what I expected, as the club were doing some ‘longer’ runs; a relative term compared to their normal 100, 200, 300, 400m sessions, but none the less it was shorter and more intense than I would normally train. Continue reading →

Week 4: The Long Run

This week’s long run saw myself and a few friends tackle a well trodden loop; the Mourne Way, Trassey Track to Hare’s Gap and back along the Brandy Pad.

Mourne Way, Trassey Track & Brandy Pad.

Mourne Way, Trassey Track & Brandy Pad.

It was a supremely wet and windy morning in Lisburn as I arrived at the car share location just after 7am; the forecast wasn’t looking much better for the rest of the day. We arrive in Donard Park, Newcastle, and managed to set off at 8.30am. It was still dark, and the wind was howling through the trees. There wasn’t much chance of my feet staying dry for long, especially in a pair of INOV8 Trailroc 150, which were getting their second outing.
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The Infamous Vo2Max Test!

Today I travelled to DCU to have my vo2 Max tested. The purpose of this is to test your aerobic efficiency. The test involved running on a treadmill for 11-15 minutes at a constant 12kmph. After the initial warm-up period the gradient would increase every 60 seconds.

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I found the test difficult, as it should be, but I wasn’t overly pleased with the result (46.3). The sports scientist who ran the test me said that a 15 point increase would be achievable with specific hard rep training.
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