Training is overrated...

16 February, 2016 - Brian O Murchu

After finishing 107th at Howth, I was looking to improve at Brockagh Burst. That was until I was standing on the start line realising I hadn't done much training inbetween #oversight
With that in mind, I started off nice and easy with lots of people sprinting past me early on in the race. Once the fireroad started going uphill, I found myself passing a few runners. When the course left the fireroad, through the gate and up the grassy slope, I was still feeling comfortable and to my surprise still passing people. I caught up with Caoimhin MacMaolain, and stayed behind him for a bit. Until there was a small fork in the path, Caoimhin went left and I went right. I went ahead and I could see a group further up that I was starting to close down. The runners were too far away to recognise, although I did spy the yellow jacket of Eoin Keith -I want one of those new technology jackets (just not in yellow)! The summit came too soon to catch up to the group but I was pretty close to Amidou.

Commencing the descent, I was expecting lots of runners to whiz by me as the downhill is my weakpoint. I ran on the heather at the edge of the path, which I expected to have more grip. Amidou had already disappeared ahead out of sight, and John Bell went whizzing by. The snow had started at this point, and the security of my race number was getting properly tested by the wind. To my surprise, I seemed to be managing the downhill better than usual. When I got to the grassy section of the downhill, which was forewarned by the marshal as wet and slippery, the words of the First Aid Marshal were ringing in my ears "DO NOT FALL OVER".

Managing to stay upright, I was approaching the gate again and Caoimhin was closing in on me, fast. A quick look behind, and I knew I could get through the gate without being passed. So I reverted to my usual scared stiff & clamped up type of motion going through the rocks by the gate. Caoimhin was almost able to touch me when I stepped off the last rock and onto the fireroad. The fireroad gave me confidence to run normally again, and I speeded up in pursuit of a runner ahead. A quick look back, and I had created a gap also. The positions stayed the same to the finish. Looking at the finish times, Amidou gained over a minute on the descent....I may ask him for lessons. Only being passed on the descent by one person is personally a big success!

Based on stats, by finishing 17th I improved 90 places from Howth with less training. Perhaps less is more....maybe I'll keep up this approach for Ticknock

Peter O'Farrell

15 February, 2016

Love was in the air on this brisk Valentine's morning, along with fluffy heavy snow and the ongoing rehabilitation of fat onto the menu of runners.
The mundane bliss of adequate parking and the quiet hum of easy indoor registration led up to a newish route on an old stomping ground.
The Brockagh Burst is a perfect Winter League event, relatively short, relatively steep and as sharp as your fitness allows. We start out gently enough on fireroad which gradually starts to bite and then a hard right leads on the joys of open mountain running and the occasional snowstorm.
As a "proper" hillrun this course runs up a mountain (2.63km 250m climb) before gleefully bounding back down again (3.41km 250m descent)
I was chatting before the start and so found myself in about 40th place after Rene's 1-2-3 GO, Eoin Keith was in about 30th in the row in front of me but he had got his excuses in early, a 6 hour run the day before had taken some zip from his leggies. After the frenzied dash from the line a few gaps started opening and I dutifully kept filling them, like the little boy at the dyke. Another few hundred metres of this barn dancing brought me up to the lads. Des, Ben and Turlough were all happily marking each other and not worrying too much about the pace. I reckoned each and every one of them was quicker than me on the descent so tried to go past them in case they might ignore me and leave me off.
I think Des might have given himself whiplash as he turned his head to see who was creeping up on the left. The whip transferred to his legs as almost immediately the marking stopped and the running began. Des and Ben and Turlough put a gap into me again. boohoo.
I thought of Eva Fairmaners wise words as quoted by Jack - "Mum made a joke that if no one was around I should trip Oisin up!" - Unfortunately the lads had got away before I could trip them and more pertinently about 52 people were watching.
Onto the grassy steep climb and the recent heavy training load came back to bite Turlough in the legs. Ben sometimes seemed to be coming closer but Des was trucking at this stage and by the summit Des had a gap of 39 seconds, I think he summited in 14:33.
Onto the lovely lovely (lovely) singletrack flowing descent and Ben was having trouble shifting his leggies into the big ring. I caught him and was thinking sure that's only bleeding deadly but then he got the legs going again and floated past me on a fine line through the heather and put a serious dent into Des's lead.
The grassy wide track on the descent was super slippy, great fun altogether. Ben's next line found him take a tumble passing a junior but it took nothing out of him and he kept plugging away at chasing Des. At this stage I stopped trying to catch Ben and started to worry about where Turlough was. All that training had blunted his climbing strength but his pesky leg turnover would be killing me on this fast fireroad and so I kept a listening ear out for the fast pitter-patter of well trained legs.
Thankfully the finish line arrived before Turlough did. 6 hour Eoin arrived soon after, as did many others. Sure there were Champions Everywhere, none more so then Cupid's dream Niamh Garvey, sharing the winning of the race with her beau Des.
Turlough had to be content with the first old man prize, Joe Lalor was bemoaning the loss of his M60 winner vouchers (he confided he had been stock-piling them for a pair of rock climbing shoes) with the emergence of Dessie Shorten in the M60 grade - that Wicklow air, and Sandra, must be working well as Dessie does not look his new age. The only way Patsy McCreanor would be denied the M70 prize would be a glitch in the results but once that was sorted out another voucher went winging his way. Caitlin Bent was imperious in the W70 grade whilst Deirdre Fortune (W50) and Ann-Marie Lynch (W40) took home the younger laurels.
6 juniors, equally split between the long and the short course all had a ball.
In place of soup and sambo's at the post race afters we were treated to a 45 minute talk on performance nutrition by Barry Murray which was very well received. The winter league continues to add value, as they say. Thanks to Rene and all in Glendalough AC for putting on a great show in a stunning locale. The fluffy snowflakes at the finish line were kind of romantic for the day that was in it.