Ballycotton 2005 (6 March 2005) was my 4th attempt at its
famed 10M obstacle course. 2002 was taken semi-seriously and
I trotted around in something over 74 minutes. 2003 was more
serious and a few additional training miles were committed
beforehand to clock in the mid-71s. Yet more miles,
relatively speaking, were piled on in the months before
Ballycotton 2004 to push my time (and PB!) down to 70:31. I
was bitterly disappointed with this time as I really funked in
the last two miles, clocking an angst-filled 7:55 & 7:33 last
two miles up that dreaded final hill.
I decided at the start of 2005 to give it a real "go"! Get
out every second day, I resolved, as well as tucking into a
greater number of longer runs in the run-up to the race. All
went well. My first ever 100+ mile month in January, followed
by another 100+ mile month in February. (Not quite Mick Rice
territory but a substantial improvement on my previously
patchy training record.) Eight solid ~25 miles weeks with a
slow 15 miler (2:00:00ish) and a fast 10 miler (71:00ish)
thrown in two Sundays beforehand had me set up nicely.
The prevailing tiredness of training every second day, my
inability to walk around not looking and feeling like an old
man, very much tightened hamstrings and the loss of most of my
lunchtimes were going to pay off...I hoped...I prayed. I was
also losing my lightning turn of pace with all this additional
slow training. No going back to indoor soccer after this ;).
Got a top-up massage from Gerry Reilly the Thursday night
before the race. He was very confident that I'd do it -
69:30, he said - but I still wasn't so sure. Much of my miles
were run around the racecourse in Ballybrit, Galway. Much of
it on grass too.
All my training this year had been much slower than previously
(7:40 vs. 7:23). I analysed my average pace and compared it
to Rice's and noted that his average pace and mine were too
close together when compared to our racing pace, all other
things being equal. Basically, I was going too fast in
training or not training enough or, most likely, both.
Would I be able to run the equivalent of 7 laps of Ballybrit
in an average of 10:08 per lap? I had trouble enough doing
two at that pace the Thurday at lunchtime before the race with
my training partner, David Dunne, who was also travelling down
to Ballycotton.
Taking two days off work, 10 days before the race due to a
slight illness wasn't going to make much of a difference
either, I was told.
I would be more nervous before the start of this race as I was
before the start of the Leaving Cert in nineteen-eighty-X.
Travelled down with Rice on Saturday and saw Cragg and Gillick
score gold in the Euro Indoors there that evening. Broke some
bread with all the other Athenry AC runners that evening in a
nice Chinese across from the Crawford Gallery in the city
centre. Associate AC member, Andy Talbot, joined in too.
The usual hedging about how the various characters were going
to do was in evidence. Johnny O'Connor was going to be happy
to break 70. Read 65! Peter Delmer wasn't going to be too
far away from Rice on the road. Probably true but highly
unlikely to beat him due to their relatively training
programmes and their general fitness levels. Both Rice and
Delmer were targetting Top-100 again.
Tony Harrington was very hopeful of breaking 70 and had been
doing some serious training. It was also his first
Ballycotton and this fact, eventually, was to be his downfall.
Even though I did tell him about the logistics of the start,
which have to be carefully considered when going for a target
time, I don't think he fully understood. He does now! Dunne
and myself have been very close in previous races. I felt
that he would probably beat me on Sunday but felt that I'd
keep him honest on the road. Beating 70:00 was much more
important than beating each other or so the story went...
Got some good news on Saturday night - won €5000 in an Athenry
hurling draw! - but I didn't think much of it at the time as
any old mucker can throw a few hundred in the pot to win a
prize like that but not everyone can run sun-70:00. I had to
remain focused :)!
Stayed in The Decies B&B on the Youghal Road out of Midleton
and had a good breakfast Sunday morning. Half a box of
Weetabix and a half a pig i.e. Irish breakfast. Washed it all
down with a Luzocade Sport on the road out to the course. The
weather felt more like summer than the middle of spring with
the sun splitting the rocks on the way.
The butterflies started when we got to the crossroads just
after the 5 mile marker, next to Ballymaloe House, I think.
All sorts of medical professionals opine that the body cannot
remember pain but that five mile marker always brings me out
in a cold sweat. Halfways on the road but the pain has only
really begun...
Got into Ballycotton itself before 11:00 AM and parked in the
usual carpark. Memories of/marks from Rice's handbrake turns
in 2003 are still fresh in my mind/the field ;). Strolled up
towards the school and then onwards towards the finish and
down to the harbour. Still relatively quiet at this stage.
Even got to have a few words with 'Mr. Ballycotton' himself.
As a result of this encounter, I have a full set of
Ballycotton mugs again! My 2002 mug went missing during the
last year but no one at home knows where. Hummm... All four
have now disappeared into the attic after this weekend.
Time passed along quickly and it was almost 1:00 PM already.
Togged off and went for a little warm-up. Suddenly realised
that I was still a mile from the start and it was already past
1:10 PM. 1:20 PM and I was still half a mile away but fully
pitstopped. This was a little, nay a lot, tighter than I
wanted it to be. Got diverted up and around about 300 metres
from the start. Without divulging the hows and whys, with two
minutes to go before the gun went off, I was a few yards from
the starting line. Perfect! I looked around and couldn't see
Rice or Delmer. Neither could I see Harrington or Dunne or
O'Connor, all of whom were wetbacks at this game in comparison
to Rice, Delmer and myself.
That manouvre will probably be the only time I got the better
of Rice and Delmer in my racing "career."
1:28 PM... 1:29 PM... 1:29:46 PM... Bang. And we were off!
Fast. (Note to self: Ironman watch is 15 seconds slow.)
First mile is downhill and was run at a fairly breakneck
speed. It has to be to make up for the mile 10. Mile two
fairly much likewise. I can almost run this course fully in
my mind now. Got to mile two in under 13:00 but wasn't
feeling at all comfortable. Hung in there for mile three and
the race video camera, but was starting to struggle badly.
Was passed by 'Mr Ballycotton' himself at this stage. Wasn't
able to talk to him. He also passed me sooner than he
normally would! Not good!
More worryingly, I was passed by my training partner, Dave
Dunne, around 3.5 miles and he said afterwards that he thought
I was fcuked, both how I looked and how I was running. Trust
me, I felt even worse. Didn't know what was going wrong. Had
I got out too hard, too fast? I had done the training and had
run the times necessary in training to get in under 70:00.
Still clocked under 7:00s for mile three and mile four. Got
to halfway in a similar time to last year but in much worse
shape. To say that I was gutted at this stage would have been
a gross understatement. All those extra miles were going to
count for very little and I still have five more to complete
before being allowed out of Ballycotton.
People were passing me hand over fist too. I had started very
high up, too far up Rice and Delmer muttered, and the natural
order was re-asserting itself as the miles wore on.
Down the hill and past the waterstation on the right. Around
the corner to mile 6 and onwards to the 10KM marker. 42:16
was very fast, less than 25 seconds off my PB. I now had to
retrace my steps and none of those miles were likely to be
covered in less than 7:00 pace, especially the last two.
The advantage accrued over the first five miles was beginning
to be clawed back, slowly but surely. Keep going, keep going.
Mile 7 and eventually mile 8 was breeched. Jim Maher passed
me out like a train coming up to the mile 8 marker. This is
where I felt my goose was well and truly burnt. Jim was
certainly going to break 70:00 and if I couldn't keep up with
him, I wasn't going to make it either.
Looked at the watch at that marker and was alarmed to see that
I was only 10 seconds faster this year than I was in 2004. I
needed to be the guts of 30 seconds ahead to make sure,
assuming my last two miles were going to be the same as
previous years. That was it: 70:00 was gone.
People were still passing me out as I felt myself going
further and further backwards... At this stage, I just tried
to relex, fairly safe in the knowledge that "it" was gone.
Jogged across the inlet and up towards the corner and onwards
to Mile 9.
Got to Mile 9 eventually. Wait a minute, looked at the clock
and suddenly realised that it was on again. What happened?
Wasn't quite sure at the time but I had just run Mile 9 nearly
30 seconds quicker than I had last year. Game On, again!
Suddenly, I now had the cushion of doing a 7:39 or less to get
in under 70:00...
That last mile, all of which is still uphill, wasn't all bad
any more. Not too many more passed me while winding my way up
to the finish. Even took out a few along the way, I think.
Got within sight of the finish and it was a really pleasing
sight to see the clock still registering 69:1X and no great
scramble to duck in under my target.
69:19 nett with a final mile of, amazingly, 6:57. Those extra
training miles had put a bit more into me than I originally
thought. It really counted in the last two miles, which I
covered over a minute faster than 2004.
Met up with the usual suspects afterwards. A few of the lads
thought I'd be more exuberant, considering how much stock I'd
placed on getting under 70:00 beforehand. I just possessed a
quiet satisfaction of a job well done, making sure I minded my
4th Ballycotton mug at the same time.
Mick and Peter both picked up Top-100 T-shirts again.
O'Connor, grinning away in the corner, much closer to 65:00
than 70:00, as predicted. Dunne skated home in the early 67s.
Maher in the low 68s. All happy!
Have to enjoy the good days as there will come a day, in the
not-too-distant future, in which real PBs will not be possible
any more. After that, the battles will be different.
Usual challenges to get home from there!
6:13.98
6:34.84
6:47.53
6:59.88
7:00.87
7:07.24 - 1:31.70 (10KM)
7:05.47
7:06.70
7:25.40
6:57.27
--------
69:19.18
Last mile (1609 metres)
609 - 2:41.84
600 - 2:36.75
200 - 0:51.09
100 - 0:24.53
100 - 0:23.06
++
2005 2004 2003 2002
6:13.98 6:27.51 6:39.29 7:55.11
6:34.84 6:33.56 6:43.85 7:25.59
6:47.53 6:43.47 6:59.59 7:46.51
6:59.88 6:55.15 7:05.15 7:31.82
7:00.87 6:56.38 7:15.03 7:19.08
7:07.24 7:05.42 7:23.21 7:21.60
7:05.47 7:08.12 7:06.78 7:20.55
7:06.70 7:13.87 7:12.34 7:14.66
7:25.40 7:54.81 7:43.64 7:32.03
6:57.27 7:33.46 7:16.68 7:06.87