Donadea 50K and other stuff.

John O'Regan & Jim McCormick

Training has gone very well over the past few weeks and included one long training run of 55K which I used as race prep for the Anglo Celtic Plate and practiced my pacing and fueling while keeping a close eye on my Heart Rate.

 Had planned on peaking this week with a 60K run at same pace (4:37 per K) but instead I ran the Donadea 50K at a slightly faster pace to make up for the shorter distance.  Based on previous training runs my race plan was to finish the 50K in 3hrs40 mins (4:24 per K / 7:04 per mile) which was based on my Heart Rate and if it went to plan I should manage to keep it under 150 bpm.

This was the first running of the Donadea 50K and had a limited number of competitors all running on invite and among the entrants was my Team Mate for the Anglo Celtic Plate Keith Whyte and Jim McCormick a training partner from Belfast and close friend of Marty Rea.  Jim was also using this race as a long training run so we decided to run it together and use it as an opportunity to catch up on what we were both up to and swap war stories.
We started off at a decent pace to break away from the crowd which was decided on the walk to the start line as  we noticed the track was a bit too narrow for a group of 25 and would be a bit like a cross country race start.  We were cautious not to get outside our comfort zone although we soon realised that after 2K we were a bit too close to Keith Whyte and that meant our pace was a bit too fast.  We had a quick chat with Keith and politely told him we were dropping back.

Long story short,  Keith Whyte went on to finish in 1st place quite comfortably in 3hrs26:27 with Jim and I finishing 3rd in 3hr41:30 having ran an almost perfect race.  We went through the Marathon split in 3hrs04:30 as planned but then I made a toilet stop in the 2nd last lap and I reckon thats what cost us the additional few seconds.  We could have pushed a bit harder to make up the time but for what?  It was a training run and I know from experience that a sprint finish could have made all the difference to my recovery and it's a bit too close to my goal race to let my ego decide what I do.

Aisling, my daughter & support crew.

During the race I wore Skins A400 running tights and my Le Cheile running club singlet.  My daughter Aisling was there as support crew and kept us supplied with Powerbar Energize which was mixed and contained in 250ml bottles.

Crossing the Finish Line in 3rd place with Jim McCormick

With Keith Whyte at the finish.

In other news John Byrne finished 2nd in the Bramley 20 miler with a very impressive time of 1hr52:19 as part of his prep for the ACP and when you consider that along with Daniel Doherty's recent 50K result I think we have a strong team for this year's ACP.