The family were away overnight so I had a free house this morning.
A cup of coffee, pulled on my running shoes and I was on my way to do a steady loop of the point around from Renville. I haven't been running much lately and it is long over due time to get my distances & pacing back to where it should be.
I went out onto the Maree road and had a moments hesitation as to which direction to go, hence the meandering in the mapping. I went left towards Oranmore and turned down towards Maree facing to the oncoming traffic.
I always run back roads about 1 meter off the kerb or ditch line. This position not only gives you better visibility of the oncoming road users, it also allows you to be better seen. Should a car come at you too quickly the extra space you have given yourself gives you somewhere to go. If you give a car an inch, it will take two, so be sure to give yourself the option.
Another point, if like me you run with music, do not ever forget your lifesaver look. Before you step off a kerb or go to cross a road, or change position always check behind you for something that would hurt. A quick glance can save your life - "lifesaver look" don't forget!
I did the loop around by Renville and back into the park for a little recce of part of a route that I'm planning for a summer run. I think the wood lane up by the Tower and across into the woods by the Marine Institute is beautiful and will definitely be part of the run.
I finished up the run and got home to have a good breakfast and get organised to meet the gang at Craughwell for the club spin.
I drove out to Craughwell and got my bike gear organised. There was a decent sized group getting ready to head off and after a brief discussion a route was decided, the reverse of one that we did a couple of weeks ago, about 60-70k approx.
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| View from the top of Peterswell(?) |
There were plenty of options for interval training, with Enda & Diarmuid tearing off at every opportunity. When we got up around the wind farm area I got involved in a little bit of drag racing myself, using whatever downhill sections I could get to help push up the rises.
At one stage on the way back Derek pointed up off in the direction of a "shortcut" as some of us needed to get back for about 12.30. The short cut was maybe short if you were a flying crow, he definitely did not factor the hills into his calculations! Anyway it was a bit of fun as every now and then we stopped en mass to consult one or the other of iPhone / GPS units to see were we going the right way.
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| Peloton! |
By the time we finished faffing and found the main road there were the other lads on their way up the main road to meet us. So proof, it's not a shortcut!!
We took it nice and steady back into Craughwell and bar meeting with an ignorant hackney driver who bulled his way through on a tight road with an atrocious surface (no one was hurt) the spin went without incident and all arrived back safe.
Here's a summary of the climb information:
28.07 m Start Elev
274.0 m Max Elev
333.0 m Gain
-333.0 m Descent
| Distance | Elevation | Grade | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cat | Start | End | Length | Min | Max | Avg. | Max |
 | 17.27 km | 21.93 km | 4.66 km | 113 m | 225 m | 2.4% | -- |
| | 23.24 km | 24.79 km | 1.55 km | 219 m | 258 m | 2.5% | -- |
Sunday Spin 29/05/11
Back at Craughwell there was just about time for another run off the bike. Having checked the Map my Run website the route was 5km, leaving me back at the community hall with enough time to get home, showered and into work for 2pm, just !!
Not a bad mornings exercise with 3200cals disappearing before lunch time.
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