Training Log Archive: RobB

Early morning run from camp site / B&B. Glorious day, with amazing views across the peninsula.

Long warm up (3k) up a hill. Really hot and glad took water up with me.

Fun race, where I pushed way too hard. Having found a really good flow the day before felt that today, because there was perfect visibility, I could just worry about the running and not the navigation. As a consequence felt that I was bouncing off the terrain and map rather than flowing. Learnt my lesson by the end but by then it was too late...

A dog (retriever?) from the village came and befriended us in the morning, and provided us with much amusement (to start with) as it did laps of the field and generally made a fool of itself. Clare was not so impressed when it came over to shake itself dry next to her after having had a dip in the nearby stream.

No one worked out who the dog belonged to, but it had been reported to have followed someone (but not the owner) to the start (3k up hill) and around their course!

Early morning run in the rain. Got soaked by a car who splashed me with a HUGE puddle when it drove past...oh how I laughed about it...

WU/WD in pouring rain - welcome to the Shamrock!

Really fun run on complex open moorland. The mist was down reducing visibility to about 30 m or so, which made the orienteering really tricky. Was slow on first 1/3rd , but by end felt that I was flying, really got into the map and spiking the controls perfectly.

Camped in the garden of a B&B (which was also a restaurant). They had taken pity on us (Marcus, Jase, Clare and I) and said that there was no problem with us camping there and making use of their facilities - for free! Had a slap up dinner at the restaurant (which we paid for) and Clare had the biggest portion of fish and chips ever.

Easy day today.

Went for a run with Cath and Jase up the nearby hill. Left them at the top (after having added to the poor looking cairn) to go and do a few strides and efforts.

Orienteering around Shrone Hill - the campsite we were staying on was on the map!. Really tough on the lower parts of the hill (open moorland) but great and runnable (well for this part of Ireland!) on the top.

Run from the B&B (we decided to treat ourselves) at Allihies - up over the old copper mines and then on to a nearby hill past some satellite receivers. It was an ace run with some amazing views. Felt that I had earned my Guiness by the end of it.

Orienteering again - this time in the wet and pouring rain. Again it was tough open moorland, with lots of rocks and stuff. Really enjoying myself by the end.

Warm up and down.

Intervals along flattish rocky paths. With all the mountain running I wanted to do something a bit faster to get my legs turning over.

4, 3, 2, 1 then 1, 2, 3, 4.

Felt tired but satisfied at the end of the session and it made the blackstuff taste even better that evening.

Running around world cup courses (plus getting to start and down again). Really enjoyed this, but found it incredibly tough. Did most of it with Markus.

What a fantastic run / day. Magic the mountain goat lead about 15 of us on a 18k run over he MacGillicuddy Reek’s, containing Carrauntuohill, the highest mountain in Ireland.

We had a number of groups and Markus, Jase and I started about 40 minutes after the others. Once we caught them up with did some other hills and some scrambling. Views were amazing - this was one of the best days I have ever spent on the hills (and I have been up Bleaklow).

Total time on the hills was 4.30 but about 2.00s was walking scrambling.

C • obviously... 2