Donadea 50km

Thursday, 14th February – 8.9km Recovery Run
Another slow recovery paced run where the main aim was to not do myself injury in advance of Donadea. In fact, the pace was so comfortable that while running down Griffith avenue I failed to notice a piece of footpath sticking up out of the ground and proceeded to clip it with my right foot, which in turn sent me flying to the ground!

A quick sheepish look around to see if anyone saw me (thankfully not!) and I was on my feet again. After a few strides I did a quick check and noticed that I’d grazed the side of my knee on the path but apart from that no damage. 

I may have cursed Dublin City Council for the state of the paths/lighting a few times during the remainder of my run…!

Friday, 15th February – Rest Day

I was still feeling tired from last weeks run so I figured the best thing to do would be endure a rest day in the hope that tomorrow would run smoothly, so that is what I did.

Saturday, 16th February – 42.5km - Donadea 50km Race

I took part in Donadea 50km last year as a training milestone for the Connemara Ultra 6 weeks later. Then in Connemara itself because I was wearing the Donadea finisher’s shirt I was rewarded by the organiser – Anto – with a free place in the 2013 edition which I was more than happy to accept. 

The muddy route.

Last year a group of us ran the race to simply complete the distance but this year most of that same gang were planning on a fast April marathon so everybody’s paces were much more important this time around. There was a big gang going for sub 4hrs which I thought was a bit too fast for me at this point in my training and on the back of my 42km run last weekend, so I hatched a plan to start slowly and build up the pace throughout the race and finish strongly. The course itself was pretty muddy due to Coillte felling trees in the weeks beforehand. However, on the day itself the accumulated mud wasn't really a huge factor. 

En route to the race I collected Philip in Sallins and, timing it perfectly, we arrived in Donadea at 9:15am. Next step was to pick up our race pack. There were only 4 packs left by this stage so it was pretty straightforward to collect ours. After a bit of mingling with a few familiar heads it was time to stroll down to the start line. 

Fergal and myself on lap two.

Shortly after 10am we were off. Weather conditions were pretty much perfect with temperatures of 9°C and a gentle breeze so as we passed by the aid station shortly after the start I ditched my jacket. I was wary that most people were passing me for the first few hundred metres but I was intent on not starting out too fast. By the end of the first km I was averaging 5:10/km though so still a little too fast for my plan. 

Each lap was approximately 5km, however by the end of lap 1 the average pace had dropped even lower to 5:07! A bit more discipline on the second lap and the fact I was now running alongside Fergal (Izoard) meant the pace eased back to 5:18 for the second lap. 

Kevin, Fergal, Jarlath and myself.

About half the way through the third lap a few more runners (Jarlath, Kevin and a couple of others) caught up to us but instead of just tucking in with the larger group I found myself pushing on within half a lap. I was feeling good at this point so I brought the pace down steadily until I was running at 5:00/km. Jarlath mentioned the increase in pace as I passed him but I replied that I was sure I’d be seeing him again soon enough!

Now, where did I leave my bag...

Laps 4, 5 & 6 were pretty much on my own. Anybody I passed (and I passed about 15 people in this period) I said hello to and often ran with them for a couple of hundred metres before pushing on again. Everybody was so friendly and the atmosphere so positive that these laps just flew by. During lap 7 I was lapped by Philip who ran with me for a couple of minutes. He seemed fresh for a man who was close to marathon distance so not wanting to delay him I told him to kick onwards. 

Myself and Kevin complete lap 7. 

Later during lap 7 Kevin from the earlier group caught up to me again. We had a good chat over the course of the next lap where I discovered his boards.ie alter ego was Sideswipe and that he’d be doing Chicago in October also, so no doubt I’ll run into him again if you’ll pardon the pun! Halfway around this lap we met Philip again who was walking back to race centre after having grabbed a marathon time of 3:11:40 which gave him an 8min marathon PB during a training run. Unbelievable! He is sure to blast that out of the water in Rotterdam!

With about 38km completed and less than a lap remaining for the marathon distance a lump of mud containing several pebbles got into my runner. Nothing for it but to take off the shoe and remove the offending grit and stones. At this point I realised how stiff the limbs were and the near cramping when taking off and putting the shoe back on highlighted to me that perhaps it’d be sensible to call it quits at the 42.2 km mark. I had to let Kevin kick on ahead so by the time I got back into stride I was about 100m behind him. These last few kms were tough due to a few reasons such as last Saturday’s long run taking it’s toll, the 40km accumulated already and I was now left to my own thoughts and the resulting mind games of bargaining with yourself! If I’d managed to avoid any one of the unholy trinity then perhaps I’d have seen out the 50km distance but I reasoned instead that there was no need to go the full distance when I had no Ultra on the horizon. 

Ladies winner - Olwyn Dunne

So, after a final 3km of tough running I crossed the marathon finish in 3:41:41 and announced to the marshals that I was taking the marathon time (i.e. that I was unlikely to complete the remaining 7.8km for the 50km race). They pointed me in the direction of the shortcut back to race centre but I opted to continue along the course instead so that I would still have the option of finishing out the race if the body freshened up. However I made the fatal mistake of walking for the first few hundred metres and before I knew it it was like I’d lost all ability to even trot along! Eamonn the back marker/5hr pacemaker unlapped himself along this stretch and I tried running with him but even that slow effort was too much for me – my mind had turned blind to the concept of running! – and I had to revert back to walking again within a couple of minutes. But I didn't mind as I’d already done a great day’s training. Not long afterwards Olwyn passed by on the run-in to claiming the women’s National 50km title. I shouted encouragement at her and knew it was gonna be close to her achieving the sub 4hr time she’d been targeting  In the end she crossed the line in 4:00:29 but in fairness everyone agreed the course was 30 seconds ‘long’! 

Men's winner - Barry Minnock

And what of the men’s winner? Barry Minnock managed to avenge last year’s second place to my fellow Mayoman John Byrne by reversing their finishing positions this year in a winning time of 3:05:02. It was very impressive to see the pair of them fly by as they lapped me twice in the race and it won’t be too long more before the sub 3hr mark is broken! 

So, that’s Donadea 50km (ok, 42.2km for me!) completed for another year. Thanks again to Anto for the free entry and the great organisation around the whole race. It really is a great event and the camaraderie throughout the whole day was amazing and like no other race in Ireland. Roll on Donadea 2014!

Summary – 42.5km, 3:41:41.

Sunday, 17th February – 14.5km Recovery run

After a few beers too many last night with the Donadea gang I ended up lounging on the couch watching TV for most of the day. It was only after reading Eamonn’s log and his 10 miles today on top of his 50km yesterday that I managed to push myself off the couch and out into what was a nippy night with a reasonable breeze. The fresh air did me the world of good though and 80 mins & 14.5km later I was done for the evening. The body was a little tired and achy but nothing too bad and the longer I went the easier it felt. 

Week 7 Summary:

RTW:   6 from 7 days

DTW:   96.1km

DTY:    533.0km