Connemara

Yvonne, you seem to be doing some savage training, 3+ hours runs with a few hours running in the pool the same day, you'll probably hit the 39.3 miles and keep going for another circuit.!
Have had to seriously vut short the prep as I hurt some shin muscles 2 weeks ago and only getting out again this week, missed the 30mile prep run and no long runs in over 3 weeks. Going to have to rely on the Jan-Feb prep to keep going as I think its getting late to go long unless I can do one last one this weekend. going to test out the foot and see how it holds up.
Where do you do the aqua running, as thats what I should have tried? Couldnt do the cross trainer or bike as they both hurt, so just rested and just starting up again. Should make the last 5 miles of Connemara interesting

Shin has cleared up a lot, not completely one but back on my feet again. Went and got a few good (painful) massages, heat and cold treatments and did my last big training run last Sat (did a marathon), so feel I havent lost anthing with respect to strength, its still in the legs and the rest seems to have done me some good. Should be full on for the 11th, barring any other problems. Thinking I'll do 20miles this weekend, and cut back heavily from then on.

Anyone that has asked me this week I've said, "the day was beautiful, Connemara was fantastic and it was the hottest day of the year, when all my heavy training  was running miles in the snow" (Remember the snow?)
Overall it was a strange day for me, first Ultra after having 3 marathons under the belt. Myself, wife, brother and his family had taken a self catering cottage in the middle of the Maamturks, fantastic place and it ensured we were as close to the start as you could get (and consequently as close to home as possible after the race).
Up and out early after the breakfast of porridge and headed straight for Peacocks. My brother was coming with me to cycle the course and hold my drinks and food and also to drag me along when I needed it. Something my preganant wife didnt feel up to on the day:)
Peacocks was unusual for me because I never had to go to a briefing before a race and all the Ultras were crowded into the ballroom, complete with the whiff of fear, excitement and deep heat. Ray got up on a table to wish us all luck and announce a few illustrious runners, one girl from NI who had done Everest, Mick Rice of course, and then some Italian (apologies for not remembering the name) who came 7th in the world 100km in 5 hrs something, a time than 90% of those there would have take in a flash to do the 63 that was ahead of us.
Anyway for us lesser mortals, we patted each other on the back, talked about the unusual glorious weather and what it would mean for the runj. I had prepared three sets of gear the week before...hot gear : sleveless compression top, short sleeve tshirt and the flourescent orange shorts, cold gear : long sleeve thermals, long sleeve tshirt and again the flourescent orange shorts  and a middle road, but I wasnt greatly prepared for the heat....something I realised when half the guys were coating themselves from head to toe in mixtures of vaseline and sun screen.
Took buses to the start line, about a mile from MAam Cross and lined up ready to go. Ray then announced that the current holder of the Ultra record, Dennis Walmsley, was standing on the line, waiting to burst out and take down his record, but we had all heard the calibre of the competitiors at the elite end of the race so it should have made for good tv if anyone was up with the front runners, something I didnt expect to be for any longer than say 500m.
Actually I didnt feel that nervous, cant say why, normally I get wound up a little before a race. You never know what today is going to bring until you are actually out and running. Come 9, off went the gun and we were off. Whizzed into Maam Cross again without noticing it. Wife and brother were there to cheer me on and it was hard right and out into the wilds of Connemara.
I had arranged with my brother to sit for an hour and then chase me down on the bike. I wanted to get myself into my rhythm and relax into a nice steady pace, then when he'd catch me I'd be coasting. That was the plan.
Really quickly the field broke up, I suppose with 200 runners and many mile of open country that was very easy. By mile two I was on my own mostly and everyone seemed to be operating at their assigned pace. For me, I had hoped to come in under six hours with a great day goal of 51/2. I run about a 3:20 marathon and in training I was doing marathons in about 3:30-3:50. I knew I had missed some long runs due to injury and had to taper down 10 days before I had planned because I hit a serious wall 3 weeks before race start when I crashed out after running 5 miles two days in a row. All energy was gone and maybe I'd got to the point where I'd overdid it a little.
Anyway couldnt be thinking about that, today was the day. Miles three and four were very easy, just warming up really and was looking forward to the first water stop at mile 5. The day was sparkling and with little loughs and lakes to left and right, you could see the flat blue glass of the water reflecting the mountains towering over them. I've seen a few photos of the day and there are some incredible pictures of Connemara, Ireland is the best place in the world to holiday, if only we could roof the place.
There wasnt much passing at this point, though every now and then little groups of twos and threes went by me or me by them. I guess it was others settling into their own pace. Mile five and the first water stop. I had being keeping a close eye on the Garmin because I know I have a terrible urge to run at 'my comfortable pace' which I knew wouldnt help me today as its too fast. I had 12km/hr as a target, 8 minute miles and at mile 5 I was spot on and feeling good.
This part of the course is not very up and down so there was no hills or obstacles of that sort to contend with. Instead of looking around me I generally pick a tshirt somewhere in front of me and focus on that, see can I catch up or at least maintain the distance, so I picked 'little boy blue', no idea of who he was but he was wearing a blue top and looked little or maybe he was just far away :) Somewhere around this part of the course some southern ladies, sounded Cork like, cycled by, shouting me on with"Go on Jaffa", the orange shortscoming to the fore again. My brother caught me before we swung right again to head towards the marathon start and it was good to get the company. He checked me out, getting me to assess how I was feeling, did I need something to eat, drink and telling me I was flying along. I was looking forward to getting to the marathon start as I expected to see some activity, some supporters and secretly hoped to catch some of them befopre too long.
The Inagh Valley was incredible, the sun was getting high in the sky at this stage, mountains to the left of you, mountains to the right and the sun shining off the lake. Again I had to keep an eye on the clock because you can forget yourself in situations like that, I'd speeded up a bit again. As I crossed the marathon line, chalking up the first half marathon and getting one third of the way, it read 1hr 43 on the clock, a fraction ahead of schedule but pretty much where I wanted to be and feeling good. Brother told me, 'thats grand, you've done the warm up, now just run your marathon", sounds easy!
Then disaster hit, and I still dont know what happened. Another 500m or so and I suddenly felt bad, really bad with what felt like a big lump or know in the top of my stomach and it wouldnt go. My pace dropped off fast and I felt like I should get sick but nothing moved. Went to a portaloo and threw water over myself, stripped off the tshirt and ran in the compression top for a while but things were getting worse. I couldnt run properly and had to stop, drink and walk for a short bit before starting up again.
I could try and go through the rest of the miles till the end but they were very similar and being so fopcussed on myself I didnt take in much of what was going on. My brother was a great help and kept me going, especially by stocking up on water, he had three 1L bottles on the bike and I needed it all. Worse came farther up the road as I got a pain in my midriff, an ache from my back all the way around that meant I couldnt take deep breaths, anytime I tried the pressure on my lungs got severe and I had to stop and walk again. It felt like a diaphragm issue but I dont know. What it meant was I couldnt breath and mostly then couldnt run. This got worse after hitting the half marathon start, which I'd got to at 4hrs on the nose. So I'd made the marathon in just four hours, which meant I'd lost a lot of time 1:43 for first half, so 2:17 for seconf half and I knew worse was to come.
Yoiu might think that I'd be devastated at this point but very quickly after getting low I knew that it wasnt a 'shake it off' thing and that it was going to be tough for the day, so I'd dropped any time goals for finishing the race. That was the only thing on my mind, even if it meant struggling down those lasy 13.1 miles. I headed up the hill outside Leenane, knowing that there was 'only' a half marathon to go and that it was going to be tough but bad and all as it was, at least I'd had my wife catch me at a few points to cheer me on, though she was (obviously) hiding the fact that she was upset that things werent going my way. Plus my brother was dragging me on, especially with the water situation, making sure there was even enough for me to splash on the head. Great stuff on that day.
Rather than giving a long string of misery tale, let me start again at the top of the hell of the west, where the end was in sight. Going down the hill my legs were biting with cramp, which was not easy to run/walk off but I could see the tower in sight and was aiming for the start line again, which I'd left hours before and then I'd know there was only one mile to go.
At this stage the people around me were people that had been there for the last two hours. At different times we'd pass each other and change over and back the positions over the few miles, obviously all travelling at the same pace just having to walk at different times. So I decided that the last little victory I'd have would be to come home ahead of two of these that I'd exchanged places with for the last ages. We'd said hello, complained about and extolled the weather, talked of pain and suffering and that we were still going and were going to get there.
AS I came down the last stretch the MC was calling out my name, cheering me on, and that was great because it was a spur to the supporters to clap and you feel its really all about you ! Which I'm sure is the same for everyone else.
Crossed the line in over six and half hours, slower than I'd hoped  by a good bit but it was about getting over the line from a long way out. I have the medal and tshirt, which is something that I'll always hold on to. The tough part of these races is the training, less about the day. To get to run the Ultra meant for me anyway, serious training starting in December, doing 20-28 miles of a long run for nearly 10 weeks and clocking 60+ miles a week most weeks. Regardless of how the day went, that will stick with me for the rest of the year. I was alwasy hoping that working on endurance would help with Cork, Lomgford and Dublin marathons this year so I wasnt too disappointed.
So even after feeling pretty ill for 26 miles or so, in the heat and getting sunburnt to match the orange shorts, it was a great day and I know you cant predict the weather so who knows what it will bring next year, but I'd love to give it another go. I'd really want to run the lot, start to finish and see what happens,but as I said, with a pregnant wife due in June, I mightnt get much sleep fopr the rest of this year :)
It was great to see Yvonne at the end, I flopped down on a chair after getting across the line and she came at me with a pliers. She was helping out in cutting off the timing chips, which was great because for certain I couldnt bend that far:) She was in great form, planning the assault of Portumna and other feats that sounded mad to me and I know I sound mad to others, so best of luck! And mybe Conn again next year

I wouldnt feel too bad for me, I got around which was the main thing.
 I think that there was a combination of things that meant I didnt do the time I hoped and a lot would have been to do with maybe doing a bit too much up to three weeks before. You shouldnt be as wrecked as I was, tired but not burnt out is the way to be, but still I rested a lot for the last three weeks. Whatever caused the blip after the first half, I dont know, but I couldnt eat for the rest of it which definitely had an effect in the last half, but in the end I I've learned a few things for later in the year which should help and there is always next year! Whats the course record again ? :)