miserable day for me at this wednesdays hill race.

you can´t race without passion. you can´t race with fear. today exactly this two things were missing in my race setup.

the weather was shitty as always. after 4 days of pure sun it had an end today. wind, fog and rain were the layout for the Three-Rock Ticknock. 207 mountain runners lined up.

right from the start i felt something was wrong today. i didn´t had the “head” to race. i couldn´t push and i feared to crash on that technical rocky course.

this sunday i´m running the half-marathon in my hometown heilbronn where i need my a-game. i had this always in my mind and the fear to hurt myself on the rocks or crash in that slippery environment never went out of my thoughts.

the course was class. perfect mountain running environment. not for me today.

44:53 h for 10k in the mountains and place 39. my training run today – good night…

OK. this is a running related blog. but this monday runssel cinemas give credit to friend and madman sebastian kienle with his classic superman move on the bike.

second win in buschuetten last sunday!

congrats bro – nice one!

thanks to racepix365. for racereport visit le cheile AC

after 3 races in 5 days i didn´t run today. the weather was first class so i got the bike out and went to the wicklow mountains for an easy spin.

i enjoyed the sun with an 3,5 hour tour.

beautiful day.

the sound of rain and wind woke me up on this saturday morning. i opened the curtains and the weather i saw was just crap. but what can you do? nothing! so i got the usual light breakfast in and headed out into that lousy environment.

leixlip is just down the road for me. so it was a quick drive and i was there. got registered and went on to warm-up directly. the rain stopped but the wind was still there.

the organisers, le cheile AC, lined up the bunch of 350 runners and the gardai closed down the street for the start. the race was on and i sticked into the little leading group. drafting was the moto for me. i wasnt the only guy watching out for a bit of protection against the heavy wind so the start pace was relativly slow.

i hang in and the field headed on towards the first little climb, a bridge. the downhill then saw the first tempo increase and i couldnt really follow. i tried to find my own pace and someone to draft. the route turned into leixlip town so the wind wasnt to heavy. i had couple of good runners around me so i stayed in that little group. after a turn back to the finish they also increased the speed and i couldnt respond.

the way back to the finish on the athletic track was a very tough one as i had to fight against the head wind on my own. i reached the track, where you had to run an additional 400 metres without anything left in the tank. sprinted with the last power to the line where they told me my time of 17:42 (20th). for the conditions and the fact that this was my third race this week i think the result is OK.

i really start to like those shorter distances and i still try to get as much races in as i can.

now it´s time to recover. hill-race next wednesday and then i´m really looking forward to run the half-marathon in my hometown heilbronn.

What can i say? “It was good craic!”

My first experience with hill running was tough as expected. i met up with my clubmate shane and we drove up to the startpoint of the race in the Hell Fire Woods in the outskirts of the wicklow mountains.

a fairly good crowd lined up at the registration. shane and i inspected the course with a little warm up. the first ramp after 400 metres was the highlight and true killer. very steep 250 metres up to the hellfire club.

i didnt know what to expect so i lined up defensively and just waited what´s gonna happen. after a very detailed course description by the race director the stampede was on.

the brutal ramp was reached very quickly. i really had to fight up that steep thing. very hard run through the forest. the ramp ended and the next enemy was the heavy head wind on the plateau. followed by a long downhill the excitment was a mud trail that worked it´s way past the forest and again up and down on slimy trails. really good fun. like little kids playing out in the dirt.

the hill running playground went on and again up to the hellfire club on top of the hill again. i was really struggling. the uphills were alright but the lads where destroying me on the downhill sections. amazing speed by some of the guys. especially on the last steep downhill, the ramp again, i was amazed how fast some guys went downhill. to tell the truth i feared to crash on the rocks so i took it handy.

i ended up with lots of mud and dirt on my shoes and clothes and a brilliant experience. 25:15 said the clock and the result list showed that i came in at 23rd place.

the price giving was in bugler´s pub where i stopped with shane for pints and the usual chit-chat. good day out. see ya next wednesday.

My first hill race will be tomorrow evenning – the infamous Hellfire is on the list.

as the IMRA runs races every wednesday im up to join the 6k with 260 metres of climbing.

looking forward to that one.

decent jogging today in the belfast marathon. as written earlier on i was lucky (?) enough to run 3 stages in the relay competition.

the race started of at the city hall and made its way out of the city. i paced my colleague on the first 6 miles. he was running for a team and i was starting off for another. it was his first running experience. we went out easy and he did a class job on his first run.

the second leg was interesting as the route went through the famous falls and shankill roads. the 3,8 miles were flying by and i reached the 2nd changeover point quickly.

i met some colleagues but had to wait pretty long for the next runner of my 3rd team. eventually she came along after 30 minutes and i carried on. 7.1 miles was the 3rd stage and it was a pretty tough one as it went uphill for 70%. it was the toughest part of the course. the waiting cooled me down so i started of fast to get a bit of heat back into my “machine”. i really liked the hilly route so i tried to hold that speed. i cruised through the field and handed over to another runner just a couple of minutes later.

after that the route was just flat back into town and to the finish line. we drove that way with the bus.

nice event up there. the relay was fun. a good workout for me.

as my company entered several teams for this mondays belfast marathon relay competition there is always the same old problem. people are injured or booked holidays “by accident” = free spots.

finally i end up running 3 legs for 3 teams – long run for monday sorted so.

the weather should be still nice so its good fun to run the streets of belfast togehter with several thousand people.

The picture tells the story! tough day for me at the RTE (Radio Telefís Éireann) 5 miler (for the kilometer heads: 5 miles = 8.04672 kilometers) in dublin.

i arrived pretty late at the race site at the RTE company area. registered and got changed in seconds and warmed up on the way to the start. the start signal sounded and the fight began for me. my legs were everything but NOT fresh. i couldnt stay with the leader so i just hang in. got the head down and fought my way through the 5 miles. the race took place on a 4 lap course through donnybrook and the RTE area.

Everytime i passed my car i was thinking of dropping out. but i kept going and fought on. that would have been the positive output of that race.

i came in with a 28:47 time. just by seconds the same time i was clocking earlier this year in raheny over the same distance. but races like this are just part of my “get races – get faster” programm.

i cooled down with an easy jog and enjoyed the great food and the nice ceremony at the RTE sports club. really well organised race and great weather. more of that combination please!