Longer Days

As the spring approaches, there is more light in the morning and evenings which should mean more training time but instead i am beginning to get lazy and stay in my warm bed.

Laziness is probably due to the mentally taxing projects for college and the new modules the 2nd semester brings. In college terms, there are still no sign of results so the wait continues.

For racing, i have been approached by the Irish AR Legend that is Paul Mahon! He needs a land navigator for the up coming season. After some serious taught on the races and distances as well as training commitments involved and the effects I belled him back and count down is on to the Achill Mountain Marathon - the weekend after the Irish Champs!

Racing this summer will be all about recovery. Keeping my body ticking over till the next race.

The prelim calender looks like this (note its highly likely to change!)

13 Mar IV's XC, Cork IT

20 Mar IV's HR Glendalough

26-28 Mar Spring Cup (WRE) Denmark

2-5 Apr JK (WRE) England

23-25 Apr IOC NI

1-2 May Achill MM Mayo

23-27 June Le Raid North France

26-27 June Irish Rogaine Wicklow

17-24 July WUOC Sweden

31-2 Aug Beast of Ballyhoura Munster

13-16 Aug NAM Kerry

18-19 Sept Mourne MM Down

I'd also like to attempt the Wicklow Round and a go at the Wicklow Way.... As well as Euro Trails for Hill Running and possibly World Champs

For training, the club transfer has gone through and i am now a member of Donore Harriers AC. Needless to say, the DIT crowd gave me a right slagging with them all been members of Clonliff and what not.

Training with Donore is going well and i feel myself getting stronger and faster. The first test is tomorrow at 14:30 with the Leinster Senior XC down in Kilkenny... Should be epic!

Back to projects.... again

Bliss

Well with the exams over all thats left now is the hideous amount of hours that needs to go into the numerous projects and assignments between now and May.

Training is still going well. Hit a few low points but you can't be breaking records every night of the week!

Since Jan 9th the volume is staying consistent with the added flavor of speed work. Generally knocking out 100km a week. I was also lucky enough to find a perfectly painful 4km hill loop... fun times!

I think 100miles is still a little outside my reach at the moment. My time management is way to crap to fit it in :P

Whats orienteering again?

Snow Snow Snow

With January well and truely under way and the exams apon us, all i can think about is the possibility of them been canceled due to the bad weather and how tragic it would be! I would have very little to do except knock out laps of the park, add a couple of fartlick session and sleep.
Even the track is frozen!

Running in snow is tough on the legs - although i did get a novel idea for another blog. Stair running for leg strenght, or in the case of dublin - Mulitstory Carpark Reps!

Back to the books....

Zero Ninner Out

With 2009 now gone. The figures speak for themselves!
Running 143hrs 1,623km (24%)
Orienteering 96hrs 824km (16%) 2,081 controls

Add in biking, strenght, rock climbing and the rest - total for 09' is 570hrs

To my shame, 853km of those was between Oct and Dec. Basically since i got the finger out and started to train with Donore Harriers.

December Blues

Prjoect deadlines, exams and lab reports usual make up for dull and stressful December. And this year was no different! A project due on the second last day of term usually puts a dampener on the festive season. These things happen. Suck it up and get on with it was the key to survival. So basically on the college front it was crap...

On the training front, December 09' was my highest training hours total.. 65hours of pain!
I managed to make the most of the time off and went on a personal training camp on my home map, the curragh! Most days consisted of a run in the morning and a technical session in the afternoon. A good way to spend any free day!

Sadly now, training will plummet as study rockets with the exams closing fast....

Battling the Elements

Once again racing is the main topic. I can't seem to get enough of it lately!

My single road racing appearance of the year can around once again. The Inter Colleges Road Relays. I was sadly demoted to DIT's second team. The team still was still made up of athletics on elite scholarships - but road running just wasn't our thing. Cowzer took us out on the first leg, he's one of the top tri gurus in the country.. before the race he did 2 hours on the bike and straight afterwards he headed to the pool to get his fix in. He handed over to Niall Ewen, the mountain man, he struggled with the pace but posted a good time none the less. At which point i stepped onto the road... although i gave it socks and caught a few teams my speed wouldn't be classed at all. Packie took us out on leg 4 and someone else who got dragged out took us home in 17th... The first DIT team came home in a very crediable 6th position. Things look good for the IV XC champs in march!

From Maynooth we traveled onwards to kildare to celebrate my 21st. Needless to say there was blood and mud in epic sumo matchs. The following morning the CNOC army headed to the curragh plains for a fartlick session. More mud, water and hills to sweat out the booze (one bottle of millar) from the previous night.... 15km of random beastings and a 3km topless sprint back into Newbridge, with yound Kev taking the honors at the post. A really fun training session - my younger bro still isn't right for the hammering he recieved :P

This weekend brought with it heavy rain, strong winds and the Inter County Cross Country Championships. This race was been used to select the Irish team to run at the Spar European XC champs been held in Dublin. The course was rolling hills that got very cut up as the races went through the programme. Finally, after a long cold wait, the final race of the day took off. The Mens Senior 10,000m. Kildare had a county team for the first time in years! The likes of Eoin Bret and Pat Malone were back in the white singlet to give it socks.... well, that makes it sound overly epic.

The mud, wind and rain really knocked me about the shop. I got dropped off the leading group as it left the start line and i had to fight the entire way. I was passed by an U23 running but i bid my time and waited, just kept turning over the legs as the mud encased everything... On the final lap he was dead on his feet, i brushed past him and set my eyes on the 3 galway singlets up ahead. Just before the summit of the final slope i went for it, caught them by suprise and finished just in front. Sounds epic but it reality it was only for the (extremely) minor places.

When the results were counted i was 84th across the line and 17th U23... could be worse. I was pretty annoyed afterwards but these things happen, i'm no speed merchant.

Icing on the cake was Kildare getting the 3rd place county prize.

Time to get stuck into the milage between now and Spring Cup, i might ever go crazy and pick up an orienteering map!

Every cloud has a sliver lining.

The Ridge

Over the past two weeks i've been slowly increasing my milage and trying to up my training while getting in enough college work to make sure i get through my exams!

I finally went back to 3rock for the weekly run. It was a wake up call! Ger is still well able to hammer the pace.

On the racing scene i took part in the Munster Orienteering Championships. I tryed to keep my HR down while enjoying my orienteering. I made a few mistakes and lost time but i was enjoying it which is the most important thing at the moment. Orienteering lost its fun for me after the world championships so i've been teasing myself at races until i want to orienteer hard again. I finished 4th in the race, less than 20sec down on 2nd place. Darren Burke (CorkO) reclaimed his Munster title with Seamus O'Boyle (CNOC) grabbing the silver closely followed by Dav Heally (GEN).


This weekend i took part in the final IMRA race of 2009. the feared Powerscourt Ridge. 15.5km with 1,000m of vertical climb. It is a course to show respect to. Sadly i didn't show it the respect it deserved. I got dropped nearing the summit, despite launching myself at the muddy downhill and taking the lead i couldn't withstand the final 65m climb and i dropped back to third position. I gave it everything on the final fire road but the damage was done by this stage. One positive is i was less than 5mins off of the course record, something which i have my eyes on. That and the Stone Cross to Lug Relay.... Goals for end of session 2010 maybe?