How ITV helped eliminate Ireland and France from RWC 2015

Someone wrote a letter to the Irish Times detailing annoyance about all the endless TV adverts etc. around the rugby world cup coverage. A reply the following day explained that a huge part of the ability to stage such a tournament emanated from TV money. If we wanted the world cup, we had to take the ads. That’s the way of it, I thought……little did I know, alas…..

In 2012, when the Pool draw for the RWC 2015 took place, Ireland’s pool was generally accepted as reasonable, doable from our perspective. France and Italy were the main opposition. Winning the group offering us a reasonable chance to progress to a semi final by way of beating Argentina. Coming second offered us less chance but nevertheless a crack at the legendary All Blacks, best team in the world and current world champions.

Roll on 3 years and on the eve of our ‘easier’ QF against Argentina things are looking less than assured, a lot less. We are missing 5 players, not any players but our best players and leaders. After the French match alone, 3 are injured and one cited for a week . There is concern about the emotional and physical toll the France game has taken on the rest of the team also. We know what subsequently happened to Ireland and we know what happened to France in the quarters, but why had it come to this? Were we unlucky with our missing leaders? Isn’t that just the luck of the draw though, don’t other teams have to deal with what we dealt with? Why had a manageable draw suddenly started to look so incredibly difficult?
Strangely enough, it turns out that in this world cup other teams didn’t have to deal with what we (or France) had to deal with, and it was a lot less to do with luck than you might imagine……

Lets look first at why so many players were unavailable for Argentina:

Pundits seem to suggest that Ireland’s playing schedule was a good one, a kind of slow build up of increasingly harder matches leading to the final French match. It actually was a good schedule for a good performance in the French match. However, it was a diabolical schedule for a good performance in a quarter-final. Why was that?

1. The pool D decider between the top 2 pool seeds France and Ireland is the week before the QF. This means that players wont get a chance to recover fully.

2. In rugby, 6-7 days is generally not long enough to get injured/cited players back and available for selection.

3. As both teams know they will be weakened for the QF, the need to win and get the easier QF becomes more imperative. That means a more intense match between two rested teams able and willing to hit hard. Potentially more injuries as per point 1. above.

4. Little time to specifically prepare for the Quarter finals in question, a window of two training days realistically, just one for many of the tired players.

These issues can be compounded by specific factors to Pool D:

1. We are playing France who are a supremely physical team using brute force to break teams and even targeting key players for treatment. You will get more injuries etc and that will affect the team able to start the following weeks QF.

2. The loser faces the All Blacks. Whatever chance there was beating them when rested is gone once this match is scheduled a week before. This France-Ireland battle is de facto a knock-out match. You lose this physical battle and you face elimination…the Black death. This game MUST be won. NOTHING is going to be spared here.

All of these issues emanate from the 6-7 day recovery between the final group game and quarter. Ireland or France simply could not recover in time from injuries, citations, fatigue as others could before their quarters.

No wonder the Irish sporting greats were called in to the team hotel to inspire a huge performance. That’s why it was easily the most intense, brutal physical game amongst all the pool games. But what of our quarter-final opponents. What was their situation? NZ and Argentina had played their top seed pool tie 3 weeks before. Argentina rested the A team for the Namibia match the day we played France and had been preparing for the quarter-final for 3 weeks.

Just to pin it down. What was the effective difference between the two schedules for Pool D and Pool C leading to the QFs?

Pool D:
Fra/Ire are relying on luck to determine how many players will be available to start the quarter finals. Any injuries or citations in the Fra/Ire showdown will most likely miss it. They are definately going to be a fatigued team, no luck will help there. They will only have 2 days to prepare for the QF (some players less), no luck can help them here either.

Pool C:
NZ/Arg can target the QF well in advance. They will be rested: that’s guaranteed. They wont have any injury from the top seed clash in their pool as that happened 3 weeks previously. They wont have any injuries from Namibia the previous week because the A team did not need to play and was correctly rested.

This is not luck. These are tangible advantages/disadvantages between having such a top seed pool match scheduled within a week of the quarter-final, and having a top seed pool match scheduled 2 or more weeks before the quarter-final. We were guaranteed to be at a disadvantage in our QF: luck will only determine the scale of disadvantage.

Now lets quickly look at what then transpired knowing the difficulties: Ireland don’t get the luck. Understatement. We get a perfect storm of bad luck, a hurricane Catriona if you will. The team seems to be emotionally and physically fatigued from the huge effort against France.
Argentina have been lining us up now for 3 weeks. They have our measure. They have worked out potential weaknesses, have an intelligent and solid game plan. Their eagerness to get stuck into Ireland is bordering on manic ferocity. They are very rested and have no recent injuries or citations.
Match starts. Argentina are ferocious, magnificent, lethal in attacking our weaknesses. Ireland are blitzed in the first 15 minutes…huddling together behind the posts after Argentinian tries provides the only respite to frantically working out what is going wrong ….during the break for Tommy Bowe’s injury we seem to eventually work out how to plug the holes. But we are 17 points behind. The team battles heroically but it’s just too much for them……

Meanwhile France are annihilated. One of the worst defeats in French history. The worst QF defeat in history. A combined score of a massive 105 for the pool C teams. Does this huge total really signify two seriously bad teams seriously outclassed? Perhaps some of these totals can be explained by the mismatches in fatigue and preparedness of the opponents? Tired teams tend to ship big scores. Look at Japan leaking 55 points to Scotland.

Just to repeat: There are tangible advantages/disadvantages between having such a top seed pool match scheduled within a week of the quarter-final, and having a top seed pool match scheduled 2 or more weeks before the quarter-final. We were guaranteed to be at a disadvantage in our QF: luck determined only the scale of disadvantage.

But there is more……Q and A:

Is this scheduling fair?
It doesn’t seem fair and it’s certainly not. QFists who have played a top seed Pool decider the week before a QF are at a distinct disadvantage to QFists who haven’t.

Doesn’t seem to make sense to have matches scheduled this way in World Cups…
Actually, the previous 2 World cups did not schedule top seed pool games close to quarter finals.

But that’s the luck of the draw isn’t it?
Actually no it’s not. The pool groups were drawn out of a hat in 2012. The schedules were ‘agreed’ months later in 2013.

Who on earth bloody ‘agreed’ to this then?
The organizer: England 2015, World Rugby, and… ITV amongst other key stakeholders.

ITV? Why are they involved?
We kind of knew they were involved anyway…..they were able to change the Ireland-Argentina kick off time to avoid a clash with the X-factor.
ITV actually have the local and world TV rights to the World Cup. They basically massively fund the tournament and in return (IMO) they want a schedule that helps maximize their revenue. That means a big top seed pool match every weekend. In previous cups, the last pool weekend didn’t have a top seed pool match probably for rugby reasons outlined. The schedulers clearly felt that in this Cup, they could get away with scheduling this match on that weekend. It seems they were right.

OK, say this world cup was scheduled as previous world cups. What difference would scheduling the Ireland France match say a week earlier have made?

Potentially a lot. For starters Ireland would have been able to start with Sexton and Sean O’ Brien. The Irish team would be rested and able to attack the match hopefully with the emotional and physical intensity approaching what we saw against France. Ireland have also 2 weeks to look at how to target Argentina and make ourselves less vulnerable to them.
Also, Knowing there was time to recover from injury and fatigue for a quarter-final meant that even the loser in the Fra-Ire match could have an honest cut at the All Blacks. That would take the Ire-Fra encounter down a peg or two. Perhaps less injury, who knows?

And this doesn’t just affect Ireland and France it may affect how the later knock out stages transpire:
The All Black walk over against France was one less hard depleting match on the way to the final. Argentina’s relatively easy match with Ireland, may have meant a more depleting semi for the Aussies on the way to their final. Who knows for sure?

OK, so the draw turned from doable to diabolical once the schedule came out?

To understand how bad the pool/scheduling combination was for both France and Ireland just imagine swapping pools with Argentina.
Ireland play out a decent controlled loss to New Zealand in the first match. We now have 3 weeks to use the pool matches and training to prepare for a massive QF. The biggest game ever for Ireland.
We have all our leaders and best players on board. We rest our boys for the Namibia match.
Meanwhile Argentina play out a bloodfest with France a week before the QF. Lobbe has been cited. Creevy, Hernandez, Sanchez and Imoff are injured. The rest are tired….some have eyeballs missing….those who are able to train have 2 full training days to prepare for the Irish challenge……

Back at the ranch.. and Sonia, Tony, Henry, Roy and Mother T have visited the lads…riling them up…..inspiring them…..by the time QF comes around our boys are snorting fire trying to get at them…….

Feeling more confident of an Irish win in these circumstances?

But Argentina were too good, surely they would have won anyway?

Maybe, maybe not. They were certainly better in attack. Game management is huge in rugby, maybe there was opportunities there……
But it doesn’t even matter. France and Ireland should be able to contest a QF reached on merit on an equal playing field to other QF-ists and without one hand tied behind their backs unnecessarily. Let the best teams win in those circumstances. The scheduling should be fair and beneficial to a fair tournament.

What can be done?

The IRFU needs to make sure we aren’t put in this position again. In fact while they are at it, the French and Irish could exert enough pressure to help the scheduling for Tier 2 nations.

If you believe there is an issue here please contact the IRFU at info@irishrugby.ie
When you see all those annoying ad breaks around the TV coverage for the world cup final remember…..there is worse that TV companies can get up to.

Warriors Run 2015

Queen of Hills

It seems that as long as people have been around you’ve had tests of strength and endurance. Probably held as part of a summer festival to mark a harvest or some other annual milestone in community life. A test of strength could have involved a bit of wrestling. Id imagine if there was a hill or mountain nearby the test of endurance would be taken care of. The course would be too. Who is the quickest to get to the top of that hill yonder? Or better still, who is the quickest to go up and back down? The community can see the start and finish that way, and only need for one person to be up there to make sure there was no shortcuts. The concept is so simple, so natural that either challenge could be explained to a child in one line. How long is it? Who cares? It’s up to the top of that yoke there and back, can’t you see?

And there is something completely natural about people wanting to come out and watch a big group of eejits running up and down a hill. Of-course there is pressure in that too. You might not be fastest up and down the hill but you have to be seen to do it at least once. And you might have your own reasons for doing it at least once too. And the race would be unique of course. As unique as the old mountain that supported it.

It seemed that the memories of these races seemed to have faded when roads, tracks and Jones counters rolled into town. But in 1985, Sligo remembered, and once again the warriors had to face the old hill. And what a hill! The Queen of hills!

The first year they got it 3/4 right, but made the age-old (probably) mistake of finishing at the top. The TV helicopters didn’t like filming in white out clouds. Lenihan was up so fast that the RTE cameras missed him, the poor man was made come up again to be filmed while the other lads had to hide freezing out of sight behind the cairn. Great craic, but the people couldn’t see it. The year after it was right. The finish would be in Strandhill. The organisation has been right ever since. Better than right.

It seemed the spirit of Queen Maeve favoured the race because for the first 5 years we had the champion of champions. Not just of Knocknarea but of any mountain, in any country. Because on that first day
the world mountain running champion had made the trip from Cumbria in England. But he was defeated. Not by a Sligo man, but by a Kerry man. But by God he was a Strandhill man after that day! And he was a man of the people, bringing the trophy first to Strandhill when it was his turn to be crowned world champion.

30 years after that first race and we have the current iteration. Unique as Knocknarea and unparalleled in Ireland. Luck had shone on the race with a special committee over the last decade and longer. Some members very sadly no longer with us.

The race, this near perfect blend of nature and nurture meant that in 2015 the race sells out in 30 mins and there is a spectating community of thousands at the village canon.

Mens’s report:

That’s the background: But who would win our hill race in 2015? With Corkman Brian MacMahon absent and a flying Emmett Dunleavy with a major track race abroad, it seemed that the race was between Offaly’s Barry Minnock and Dubliner Ian Conroy. From Sutton on the slopes of Howth head, Conroy is a specialist mountain runner and a prolific climber. In the shape of his life and peaked for racing, he would be the in form man, his only weakness might be his speed on the road. He was also up against a tough, clever, racer in Minnock. Having run his first Warriors in 2006 with a 6th place finish, he was now a veteran of the race with a few top 3 finishes since and a win in 2012. Crucially it seemed, with a 2:17 marathon PB, he was in a good position to chase Conroy down should Conroy lead at the summit. Conroy had often used the tactic of blasting out hard to kill his opponents early but such a tactic worked best in short races and could backfire badly here. Also in the field was Brian Furey of Tuam. Brian had won the Irish mountain running championships several times and had finished third twice previously . A solid climber, flying descender, and fast but maybe not the speed of the other two. That said if the chance to catch one of the lads ahead presented itself he would not have a problem taking it. He was a likely lad for third. Realistically, the other hopefuls in the mens race: Sommers, Brennan, McMoreland, Condon, Sands, Conway were contending the remaining spots with a chance of knocking Furey off the podium.

Off we went. Seamus Sommers took the lead. Seamus usually goes out hard but he maintains it and races tough all the way. After a mile, the chasing group of Conroy, Minnock and Furey eventually caught and passed Sommers. A cluster of other runners followed in chase of Seamus. Conroy had sensed that he might be the stronger runner and set a sustainable pace for him towards the mountain. Furey fell off at this stage occupying third spot alone. It was now a two-horse race. Onto the mountain and again Conroy now kept the pace sustainable, swapping the lead with Minnock. They were neck and neck at the summit and neck and neck after the descent. The mountain split was a very fast 17:50, similar to MacMahons split the previous year. That was going to be attritional. The Warriors run rarely if ever is decided by a sprint finish. The old test of strength is decided before then.

After the mountain descent the course turns left and cruelly up to Primrose Grange, before a downhill and another left turn uphill passed the old Ransboro church. After that, if there is any strength left in the legs, there is good running to be had. Conroy’s legs had been hardened by recent European hill races and were still fresh. He sensed the time was right to strike. He started to put the pressure on and started surging to his full climbing pace up towards The Grange. Minnocks head and heart were willing but his legs had just run the mountain in under 18 mins and were expecting some recovery. He fought for his life, but the onslaught continued as Conroy blasted down the hill passed Parkes’. Conroy turned left and took the next uphill at full speed and the contact was broken. There was nothing Minnock could do and the race was effectively over. Once onto the main road, Conroy powered home emphatically, no doubts about road speed: the fastest man on this section by over a minute. The pictures of him crossing the line show how much the win meant to him which he believes was the greatest race of his life. ‘A tremendous race in a tremendous place’ he also impressively got out very late into a rocking the night in the Draft house chatting to half of Strandhill.

Minnock was pleased with his efforts, had given himself every chance and couldn’t have done any more. Furey held onto third comfortably in the end to make it the third time finishing in third place for the county Galway man. Conway took first local and 4th place overall after early pressure from Martin Brennan. It might sound like an obscure category but with 2 locals in the top 10 most years it clearly means a lot. Seamus finished in 5th after another strong and hard effort from start to finish, under some late pressure from the fast finishing Gary Condon.

As the dust settled the guts of 900 more people could say they ran to the top of that special hill, for the entertainment of the local community, and for their own personal reasons. All part of the community for the day. What a race!

John Lenihan, present again after 30 years to promote the book chronicling a great life, mentioned that every race organiser in the country should look at the race. it’s crowds and learn from its organisation.

How right he is.

Access to the other category and full results on Warriors website HERE:

Links to Pics on Warriors webpage HERE:

Cooley Legends Half Marathon

Woke up to a beautiful morning In Giles’ quay near Carlingford, with an orange glow over the East, in a brilliantly clear sky. The temperature was warmer than the close to zero recent dawns also. Getting a lift over to race start I could see both the Cooley mountain ranges on either side of Glenmore were crystal clear and looking splendid. The race route involves an off-road traverse of both ranges: bookended and connected by tarmac roads.

Lots of people were milling about at the meeting point at the Foy centre in Carlingford at 8:30, half an hour before the race briefing. I had registered the evening previously, a quick no-nonsense 2 minute affair meaning all I had to worry about this morning was listening to the race brief and boarding the bus.

I had driven the final few kms of the route after registration and now I had time to stretch the legs and jog back up and down for another look. There was a very slight difference to the normal route I’d be used to coming down for the last 2km: for this race we used a trail to duck behind the church. Truth be told the roads were so well marked: with a mark indicating a turn was being approached and another mark at the turn, that going wrong wasn’t likely.

Good friendly instructive race briefing, Half marathoners were instructed onto the bus (there was a 10k race also), buses were checked for stray 10kers and off we went to Lumper’s pub in Ravensdale.

We arrived there a good 30 minutes before race start. Again this was flagged on the website so I knew there would be adequate time for a warm up. There was a facility, flagged also, to leave a bag in the organisers van for transport back to Carlingford. The temperature was warming up, so I decided it was warm enough to race and warm up in my singlet and dropped the bag in the van at that stage.

The race started on the Ravensdale Rd North of Lumper’s and headed south for about a kilometre before taking a left at Lumper’s onto a boreen and a slight incline. After most of another km the road veered left and then we turned right onto a forest road and the first climb proper. A few km of forest road and things levelled out a bit. The course now took a detour on top of the open mountain. We ran 3 sides of a rectangle, long-short-long, on mountain paths before descending to Glenmore valley with 8.5 km achieved and a refreshment station signals were about to go back onto the tarmac. We now need to get across the Glenmore valley to the next mountain range and climb, and this is achieved by first going North 2km on to the Windy, at the gap the two ranges converge so then we run South on another Tarmac road for another 4.5 km to another refreshment station where we turn left and off-road for the second significant climb, 2km, to Goylan Pass. When we gain the pass its 4km down to the line, 2km off road and 2 km on-road.

I jogged off in the direction of the first forest climb during the warm-up. Jogged up a bit and ran down. Good to get those muscles warmed to the task in hand! A jog back past Lumper’s with a few strides and it was time to go. I was chatting to a big strong looking man called Maciej at the race start and he was hoping to go well. I was hoping to run under 90 minutes. I was 4 weeks back from an on-off, calf injury followed by 2 full weeks out with a cut knee.

 

Training was going better than expected though. I was starting to suspect I might be able to run closer to 85 than 90, and that would put me in with a shout of a top 3 finish. I am a fairly experienced hill runner, so with a 2km climb and 4km descent to finish I might have a good chance of taking a sneaky win in a close race if I was lucky enough that things panned out that way in the race. Best to have the head prepared for that to take full advantage, but primarily I was looking for, and would be happy with, a good run here. I wasn’t fit enough to go flat out over the distance, or to attack the first climb without losing significant time after. The plan was take the first climb steady, and start racing then. It’s actually probably a good strategy for any longish hill race with more than one climb.

Anyway, off we went. I wasn’t going to lead or push the pace under any circumstances. Nobody else was either it seemed, so the pace was steady enough, a Newry City vested runner taking it out as far as Lumper’s. Around there a strong looking guy in Tri Rig-out took the lead (later discovered his name is Shane Tobin, a local Glenmore Athlete). Tri Athlon guys are dangerous. The cycling strength gained directly helps climbing strength. The nature of Tris/duathlons means they are running hard after fatiguing these muscles cycling, developing strenght endurance for flat running too….exactly the attributes that this race requires.

I was sitting in about 4^th and keeping it steady. As we turned off road Shane started working into his climbing rythm and pulling away. Maciej went after him, and myself and another guy (Graham Hopkins) climbed steadily in 3^rd and 4^th. Grahams pace looked strong and under control. I got into a good rhythm and took 3^rd after a few minutes. At this stage the race was between the 4 of us I felt, as we had a sizable gap back to 5^th. I saw I was gaining on Maciej and opening a small gap on Graham. I sensed Graham wasn’t tiring but just running at a sustainable pace, as I was. I had a bad feeling that the leader was doing likewise.

I passed Maciej and could at last concentrate at focusing the evil eye on the race leaders back. To keep me focused I started taking time checks on the gap. He passed a bush: take the time….check when I pass it….35 seconds. I also knew the elevation of the 2-3 high points here. With elevation displayed on my GPS it easier to know how much climbing remains etc as useful to know if nor more so, as distance for these longish climbs. As the climb levelled out I took the time again….36 secs. Not bad..Keep it going, I thought. When we get to the open mountain stuff I should have an advantage…particularly on the down. We now went off forest road on the first long side of the open mountain rectangle. Sadly, from my viewpoint the leader seemed to take the rougher ground confidently. I kept the effort up, and we passed a mountain biker marshall at the end of this side. I asked him the gap, he said 34 secs and I was happy with that. I’m ashamed to admit I hadn’t been taken Johnny McCabe’s pre-race instruction to plough through the first mud puddle. I had packed my brand new pair of racers; not the runners I had intended using but they were perfect for the course with decent grip. The only issue with them was that they were shiny and new! I assumed only the one mud puddle: I ended up skipping around 3, and the 4^th one was not accepting any shortcuts so in I went. As a hill runner, I bow my head in shame…..should have ploughed through them all.

Anyway, before I knew it we were descending and the road was visible. I had gotten a little tired over the open mountain section and I could see the leader exiting onto the road at the refreshment stop, into Glenmore valley, in good shape with what looked like a bigger gap. A descent descender as well as climber. I took 2 cups of water, drank half of one and dumped the rest on my neck and head. Put the cups in the bin provided, (leave no trace!) and headed out onto the tarmac in pursuit.

There is a few dips and climbs on the way to the Windy gap with little net increase in altitude. These were starting to hurt a little and I wasn’t able to really attack here as I had hoped. Another gap check put the deficit at 55 seconds and this was bad news indeed. I saw the leader turn at the windy gap and look over to check the pursuers’ positions. After turning myself, I tried to run as close to the red line as possible. Looking across for anyone behind me….I couldn’t see anyone at all back the road…just concentrate on the man in front so. If there was someone close behind at the pass I might not have seen them though……

I wasn’t gaining though and when we started catching 10k runners I started losing sight of Shane behind 10k runners. As we turned off-road at Goylan pass, although I was told the gap was only a minute, I felt looked more like 90 seconds. Again on the first zig and zag the leader was able to check the pursuit. I was still there, just about, but the race was firmly under his control. My plan was to get to the pass as quick as possible and descend all out to the line. A couple of minutes can easily be gained by a very good descent and anything can happen in a hill race. I struggled with the climb though; managing it in just less than 12 minutes…I was hoping for 11… I kept my promise and descended very hard…..the route descends through Carlingford Commons, north around a few large boulders before zagging back South. After the boulders I struggled over a rough section of a couple of hundred metres……looking up it was clear that the leader was off the mountain safely, a big lead still intact with only a mile or so of tarmac to negotiate to the line. I realistically had no chance anymore. I eased right back to steady effort in order to knock a couple of days off my recovery time. I covered my posterior by checking behind before each turn, as I went back on-tarmac and through the boreens above the town. Same strategy as entered Carlingford itself. I saw 84 mins on my watch and wondered if the leader had beaten the excellent record set by Ryan Maxwell last year.

I eventually made it onto the main street and crossed the line. I congratulated the leader, inquired after his time low-ish 83 and the record. I turned around and was stunned to see Graham Hopkins, cross the line less than 30 secs after me. I had covered myself and didn’t think I’d slowed down so much, but Graham had run what looked like an excellently paced race.

 Maciej found some of the downhill sections tricky as a big man but reckoned he’d got great prep for a target Half Ironman.

 The good natured prize ceremony was conducted after the last runners had gotten in. “The last shall be first” declared Johnny McCabe as the last runners got a prize too.

 The winner was delighted with his win and rightly so. A very solid run, clearly the strongest in all necessary aspects: uphill, down, flat and strength endurance…. and I’d imagine nothing beats winning your local race.

I’ll be back next year for another crack. Thanks to the organisers for the excellent considered organisation, humour, refreshments (well done Dan’s Café, super stuff) and above all the obvious emphasis on safety.

A highly recommended race.

Great to have my wife Tina, young family and extended family in support including a few youngsters. Hopefully my nearly 3 year old daughter will get the bug if she sees enough races (or not!). My medium term plan is a sub 2:30 marathon attempt in Frankfurt this August. If I don’t make that target, it will be passed on to her. I haven’t told her yet.

The mud slingers return?

I remember running in a national 12k senior cross country when new to the sport, getting lapped (2k lap), and knowing for certain that the runner on his way to victory was better than me at running in an absolute sense and in every other sense. No training would ever bridge the gap in ability. This realisation was final and devastating. I reacted immediately, scanning the ground for muck ball making material, I intended to skull him on the back of the head while he was still in range. My dastardly intentions were curtailed; hopefully by some resurgent sense of fair play rather than realising I wouldn’t get away with it.

So what happened? Put simply, I seemed it looks like I held the conviction that if I practiced enough I could beat anybody at running (or perhaps anybody at anything). When this conviction was challenged unexpectedly and shown to be nonsense, I reacted with anger, like a petulant child might. Once I had identified the muck slinging culprit within, I assumed I had learnt my lessons and exorcised him for good!

My European mountain running trial race on Saturday seemed to say otherwise. More specifically my preparation for it which resembled more an exercise in sabotage than anything in focused preparation. Skipping training, especially poor nutrition, (no glasses of water for 3 weeks prior) an especially pessimistic outlook in the run up to the race and  on the start line…..

I lasted one lap out of 3 and my only concern when retiring was picking the right spot for it….

Had I sabotaged my preparation because I knew that I wouldn’t be good enough? Was I afraid to try my best and fail? Was I afraid to succeed? Seeing the cause as desperate, had the muck slinger returned, determined to give me the excuses i needed so that I wouldn’t be demonstrated to be inferior as I had been all those years ago. Was that old egoistic conviction alive and well and still needing protection?

No!

Hadn’t I trained and raced honestly all year (except when sick)? Yes.Hadn’t I tried my best and been happy with the results? Yes I had.Hadn’t I trained hard for 8 months last year with some sessions that got rounds of applause from the deer in the phoenix park? Some of that is true yes.

The truth is I have a limit to the amount of hard training and racing my head can take. I did a hard hill race 4 weeks after my marathon, ran well and had to fight hard but it drained me. I decided to do the trial off the back of that performance. Immediately, anxiety levels went up and training went down.

I was asking too much of myself to expect to be able to work through the very  hard training block that would be necessary. Deciding to do the extra hill race may have sealed my fate but I think rest was needed in any case. The mind ahd had enough for this racing time block.

A friend advised to try and take the pressure off myself leading up to the race. Look at it as a nothing to lose scenario. Expert, perceptive, correct advice.  I just wasn’t able to see through the hard training and malaise to make that mental somersault to make it work. Just a bridge to far this time.

Lessons learned?

Plan races well in advance especially post marathon races.

Plan to take into consideration mental as well as physical fatigue.

Try and switch off running when not training to avoid adding to mental fatigue specially if training is tough and or/body is tired.

If it’s not working and not going to work, let it go.

Don’t be too hard on one. Life is too short.

Be happy with trying your best on the training you are able to put in. That’s where real satisfaction through running comes.

Don’t throw muck balls at Irish cross country champions elect who lap you. Don’t throw muck balls at them when they are collecting their medals on the podium either.

Clongowes 5k

I’m driving towards Clane to do a 5k in Clongowes College. Dermot Murphy, from IMRA (Irish Mountain Running Association) is a Clane man and has given me directions that lead me to the fancy stone gate at the ground’s entrance. A lovely leafy 1k drive up to the college building. I’m early enough; I see no reservation signs on the parking spaces outside so I swing the car in. I have to admit I’m not altogether comfortable in this environment. I went to a mixed gender, mixed religion state school. Wouldn’t change a thing. My car is a bit of a tip as I adopted a lazy strategy of postponing my gear and post-race clothes choice till closer to race time by firing several changes into the car. The petrol stop included coffee and chocolate too.

I open the car door and a passing serious, sharp and high ranking looking passing priest stares hard straight in. Probably shouldn’t have parked there. Who knows? Ah well, a crane won’t be moving it now till my business is done, I tell myself.

Nice people at registration. Got my number and a course description and I’m off for a warm up lap. Like to follow the course, particularly to make sure I know how the race finishes. It starts down the boulevard I entered and as it nears the college building it turns left down a leafy road sign posted “farm.” This is, I guess, one of these older style farms open to public viewing (was at one in Newbridge house recently) or at least available to students here. I start down this road and see the 1k sign immediately. My calves are killing me by the way due to a session of hill “springing” 3 days before which has tenderised the centre of each calf. Anyway moving slowly, left onto a dirt road which turns to grass. At 2k we hairpin back. £k near College building and its out to the back then for the last 2k. I don’t get the last 2k in but I’m told some is on grass.

A small crowd maybe 100 in total. A good few buggies and babies. It’s the first year of the event and it will grow. Event is in remembrance of a Fr. Cantillon who worked with the college Athletics team. It’s also a fundraiser for sports facilities there. A relation of this man says a few words and then we’re introduced to the organiser. I’m in the first row when he announces he’s going to recount a decade of the rosary!!!

I’m an atheist although not officially discommunicated from the Catholic Church. I’ve a keen interest in Science and astronomy. A part from a philosophy of living I would have no interest in religion especially Christian religion. He’s looking at me though…not praying….not joining my hands….im a boy again…and my hands slowly edge towards each other in a slow and begrudging manner until they touch in whatever it is when you hold both hands together in prayer. After the first Our Father I snap out of it and start looking down the road back to the college.

Calves are sore and wind is against. Need to start steady and best to not be taking that wind. Off we go, and I’m in the leading group of 5-6. Pace is hurting a little but I’m comfortable enough and ducked out of the wind. After 1k and I’m in second in what looks like a 3 horse race now. We are going to turn back onto the off-road section with the wind on our backs.

I’m a hill runner so don’t lose time unneccesarilly over uneven terrain. If I take the lead now passively I’ll lose some wind. (Runner behind will block).  The earlier I move the more uneven and wind assisted terrain I’ll have to establish a lead.

I push hard and get a gap. When we make the hairpin turn I have 20 metres. Out behind the college and the last 2k is all on grass around an enormous complex of grass pitches. It’s windy torture. I’ve a big gap but keep snatching looks behind desperately. Eventually it sinks in that I won’t be caught and I cross the line relieved that it’s over.

Shake the hands of the people following including Karen the female winner who is also a hill runner.

I’m starving and I enjoy the hot apple tarts and coffee at race end. A lovely cup for my troubles is the prize and I’ll be back next year for sure. Will the race give me the leg speed I need for the bigger target this Saturday? Hopefully.  Drove home tired and happy: body and both soles intact

Introduction

Decided to start blogging to put some of my musings to more productive use. This blog will recount my running experiences primarily but will also recount other experiences and some thoughts that I find interesting. Hope you will too. Running and racing can often mirror life: you must keep working at it trying not to settle. If you achieve this you’ll have a decent race and hopefully an interesting life. I have experienced some of the wastefulness of standing still: it is always tempting and a healthy aversion to it I have not. Have learned over time to push myself in my running and life seems to follow.