What a difference a week makes.

After last weeks performance in the Road Relays I was given  a dose of reality in the Intercounty cross country championships where I finished an abysmal 91st. In hindsight it's no less than I deserved, having had a pretty bad week in terms of commitment (sleep,diet,strectching etc.) On the day my only excuse, although possibly a valid one was my hydration level. I drank a bottle of water on the bus up but was finished it by 11:30. With my race at 15:15 I went through the rest of the time including warm up without drinking anything which was foolish & I knew it.
When the gun I went I knew after a hundred metres I was in for a bad day, with my hamstrings already feeling like they were after doing a hill session. I struggled around the course & just could n't get the legs going, and could n't suffer as much as usual either. All in all a big dissappointment but not a waste of time as the experience of racing against such a large (and talented) field will not doubt stand to me down the road (or field!)
Got back on the horse on monday by doing 85 minutes as the weather was pretty good for a change. Did 50 minutes on tuesday in the pouring rain followed by a talk given by a dietician. She emphasised the importantance of hydration (why couldn't it have been a week earlier?) but surprised me in saying that water is n't really enough when training really hard. She also reiterated the importance of timing and especially the first 20 minutes post exercise so I will try and make a concious effort now to make sure I've food/drink in the kit bag for after training. A final point of note she made was the importance of protein with each meal & highlighted that it's usually missing from brekkie so I've substituted the marmalade with peanut butter. We'll see how it goes!
Onto yesterday and it was time to see how the legs were in a session. The weather was awful but thankfully I had two lads with me to make things easier. Did 8x400's in 71 (last 2 were 72) and then managed 4x800's on my own in 2.30,2.32/2.34 & 2.31. Very pleased with how it went as it was definitely my hardest track session ever. In the back of my mind it helped to know that it was 10 days out from the National novice cross country. The last hard sesssion I did (14x400's) was 10 days before the intervarsities so hopefully there's something in that...
Sunday: Warmup: 3miles Race:5.6miles Warmdown:2miles
Monday: 12 miles @ 7.07 HR 142
Tuesday: 7.6miles @ 7.15 HR 145
Wednesday: Warmup: 1.5miles + 8x400 in 71-72/ 4x800 in 2.30-2.34 Warmdown: 1.5miles
 

Clean Runners

Went out in the dark last night for an hour. Wasn't really in the form but as I neared home actually started looking forward to it. It was n't raining but I passed through the route I was planning on taking & as it was flooded I made other plans. Unfortunately the water was unavoidable as all roads in the area were under water at some point. Of course as luck would have it the worst occurred at the furthest point from home with a 200m strech under 6" of water making for some cold feet but some clean runners!
Did a session earlier today: 2x800's followed by 6x400's. The 800's were grand with a 2.30 & a 2.29 but the 400's were a bit slower at 74secs's. Wasn't exactly flogging myself with the national intercounty XC championships on Sunday so no complaints.
Monday:8miles @ 6.58/mile HR144
Tues: Warmup:3.5miles 2x800 + 6x400 Cooldown:2.5miles

Athletes Diet??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiQMwfNHmB0
Steak & Chips, followed by 6 jaffa cakes & a snack before bed of 2 jumbo sausage rolls. What does this lead to? Arguably my best ever race performance!Had a bad week running wise picking up some bug that had me in bed shivering at 8.30 last Sunday night. Had managed 3rd place in the Lisgoold 5K earlier in the day and decided to do another 7 miles that evening for good measure. Shortly after coming home however started feeling off so decided to try and sleep it off. Took monday off & did the 2nd midleton 3K on tuesday evening recording a time 9.45 which was 8 secs off last time despite perfect conditions. Did n't feel physically or mentally up to it, and during the warm down had some terrible stomach cramps. Took it easy for the rest of the week & found it hard to motivate myself for the IUAA road relays which were being held in Maynooth on Saturday. Decided to head to my parents place friday night to break up the journey & that's why I decided not to bother with my usual pre race meal of wholegrain pasta and chicken.
The relay consisted of legs of 1-2-3-2-1 miles of which I was doing the 3 mile. I was very nervous of not letting the side down & hoped that the stomach cramps would  n't return. Settled into a nice pace on the first lap and managed to hang on to a guy from UCC as he went past & just stuck on his shoulder. Knew he was faster than me so said I'd hang on as long as I could. Went through the first mile in 5.02 but felt  ok so carried on. Struggled a little on the 2nd lap but still managed to stay on the other guy's shoulder. Around half way around the 3rd lap I was ready to let him off but suddenly I found myself ahead and drove for home. The last few hundred metres were tough but there was great support which helped.Managed to cross the line in 15.27 which I think equates to a sub 16 5K so was absolutley chuffed with that.
Took a day off today & will go easy again this week. National Intercounties are next weekend so will do that & then start back training hard for the munster cross country champs in January. Or thats the plan at least!

County Cross Country Championships

Woke Sunday & felt like turning over & going back to sleep. Not good. I shook it off & got up & went through my usual raceday routine of some light stretching followed by breakfast of a large bowl of porridge with banana mashed in & about 6 slices of wholemeal toast washed down with coffee & water. It certainly didn't feel like the day for which I'd been waiting for the last six months. Was a bit late setting off for Clonakilty but made pretty good time so was there about 90minutes before the off. After exchanging pleasantries with some of my clubmates & other people I knew we set off to walk a lap of the course. The 30mm of rain that had been forecast to fall overnight was evident & just in case this didn't make things wet enough there was a stream that had to be traversed twice per lap. The course climbed gradually to high point before losing all the elevation in a steepish downhill. I liked it as a course and was glad I had gone with the long spikes.
So onto the race: as we started on a slope situated on a bend I positioned myself at the outside effectively giving me a more gradual climb than the very inside. Started fast & found myself in 3rd postition after 100m or so. I relaxed a little and settled in around 6th for the first lap. With 2 clubmates ahead of me & a 3rd & 4th to pass me as we entered the 2nd lap I found myself in 5th place (8th overall) and with 4 to score out of the medals should we win. I hung in for the next lap or so but found the gap opening as the race wore on. As the laps progressed I was passed by 4 other runners but I managed to stay on the shoulder of the last guy to pass & got away from him on the last lap. Ended up in 11th and bitterly dissappointed not to medal but on the day it was a bridge too far.
Went out & got Royally p!ssed Sunday night as I felt I needed to blow off some steam afterwards. When looking back at the stats for the race on my Garmin afterwards I noticed my Avg. HR was quite low (170) for the race. Maybe this was because negotiating the mud was tricker than the effort available but I don't think so.
Managed to drag myself out for 8 miles monday even though I felt awful. Was planning a session on tuesday but still fet a bit crappy but as soon as I got going I managed 14x400m in around 72 which was grand. Just an easy 7 on wednesday.