Break the rules. Ignore conventional wisdom. Look long-term. This was pretty much the approach when Jason Kehoe and Paul Tierney looked to return from their injuries in 2012. This weekend Paul Tierney secured victory in the Lakeland 100 mile race in the second fastest time ever of 20 hours and 42 minutes, making him the first Irishman to win the race. Only a few hours earlier Jason had soared across the line first in the Log na Coille Irish Championship race. As I leaned back into my chair it was hard not to feel like this guy:
Both Paul and Jason had a few things in common:
- Both burst on the scene with lots of promise and had a memorable 2011 which included a Carrauntoohil race win for Jason and a Wicklow Way course record for Paul
- Both got injured in late 2011
- Both began changing their running technique in 2012
- Both adopted Natural Movement over traditional strength and conditioning in 2012 and both are now MovNat Certified Trainers
- Both are BTR coaches and have attended workshops with the famous Ido Portal and his Movement Culture
- Both use Lydiard-based training plans developed by us for their training
- Both had seen a few poor performances mar otherwise great performances in 2014 as things were still coming together fully
- Both follow a Primal3 template for lifestyle, daily movement and nutrition (how they eat, train and live) including the ‘fat adapted’ strategy of nutritionist Barry Murray
After working on these principles, and ignoring most mainstream opinion, for the guts of 3 years, pressure was on to deliver results. Jason had missed out on the Irish Championship in 2014 and finished 2nd on 5 occasions throughout the season. Paul had to drop out of the Kerry Way Ultra and the recent World Trail Ultra where he represented Ireland, despite having finished 2nd in the Wicklow Way Ultra and delivering several solid performances on the British Fell Running scene including breaking his own record in the Old County Tops challenge.
So pressure was on but the lads duly delivered, and here are their reports:
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Paul Tierney’s report (Lakeland 100)
Paul worked his way through the race from 6th position to Building a lead midway. By the end he had a 63 minute cushion and broke his personal best time on the course by over an hour.
René and Jason,
Thank you both for the words of wisdom in the build up to this race. It is only a race and on the grand scheme of things doesn’t figure too highly but boy did it mean a lot to me. Doubts about whether I had the bottle to go that distance again were trying their best to get the better of me for the last 18 months and while I know I get more enjoyment from fell running, I would have felt like I chickened out and took the soft option if I didn’t give it an honest go again this year. I had many different things ringing in my ears throughout but it was mostly words you both will have spoken or written to me in recent times and they really helped. I’m not sure if you guys really realise what an influence you are on me. I look at what you are both doing (coaching, business, moving, racing, knowing a serious amount of useful stuff etc.) so it was ammunition for me at the weekend to know you both would be keeping an eye on things.
The race itself went pretty much to plan. Any time I let my wind think of the distance as a whole I quickly recited the mantra “think of the process, stay in the moment” and that was the key for me I think. Just focusing on eating, drinking and sometimes form (although this is starting to feel like it’s subconscious now thankfully) meant the time passed away nicely and I never even considered or worried about winning until Pooley Bridge (mile 61). I felt pretty crap through the night section but again wasn’t too worried as I wasn’t losing too much ground and as soon as the sun came up I started to feel a bit better. A little bit later, maybe in the way to Howtown I could barely keep my eyes open. I’d pop a gel with caffeine in it but this seemed to compound the problem, instead of reviving me so I decided to leave the caffeine off after that and for the last 20 odd miles I sucked on a few jellies and drank water. Nothing else was palatable. I kept asking for updates about Marco (red: Consani) but I was getting conflicting info so I could really relax until the top of the last climb with only the long downhill in to Coniston to go. What a relief it was to see the finish and a huge weight off my shoulders. I can look forward to Copenhagen and Ido Portal now and change focus a bit. Again thank you both so much and René thank you for having the patience to help me. It can’t be easy when my goals change like the wind!!
Learn more about Paul on his own page ‘Missing Link Fitness’
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Jason Kehoe and the long search for an Irish Championship win
It was 14:35 when a Whatsapp message popped into my screen:
‘1st place on Lugnacoille! 56:16. 1 min or so ahead of Rob and Stephen Cleary. Bernard then Tom.”
A big sigh of relief followed. Jason lost the Irish Championship last year because of navigational errors and this year he has looked doomed to repeat it despite Jason being in the form of his life. The season started conservatively with a 4th place at Slieve Donard although Jason was first of the IMRA contingent. Having set personal bests on 1 mile and 5 km (4:51 and 16:44 respectively) we knew things were going well. All looked rosy when Jason arrived to the top of Carrauntoohil with a good lead to Diarmuid Collins which he immediately extended on the difficult ridge back towards Caher. But then the season began to come undone as he got lost and only narrowly recovered to 2nd place. Mweelrea came up next and once again Jason summited first. Another mistake and this time a costly drop back to third position. Sigh.
In the Djouce Leinster League race, Diarmuid Collins edged Jason out on a day when the wheels didn’t quite spin before we finally got some relief when he claimed his first win the in the same league at Trooperstown two weeks later beating Niall Lynch of Donore in a hard fought race.
At Trooperstown, Jason got the jump on the opposition by going out extremely hard on the very steep early section through the woods. Although many would call it ‘suicide’ rather than ‘strategy’ he opted, spur of the moment, for the same approach at Log na Coille up the infamous Camarahill. The effect of this early work was immediately seen as he built a huge early gap:
Jason’s early lead on Camarahill – easily a suicide tactic!
For the third time in a row he summited first and secured the ‘King of the Mountains’ title for 2015 (his third KoM title in four years) holding a good 30 second cushion on Rob Cleary which he built to over a minute on the descent. Jason now leads the Irish Championship with 6 points to Tom Blackburn with 9 and Bernard Fortune with 10. As it is ‘best 3 of 5’, he needs to either 1) beat Tom or 2) win outright to secure this first title. Down to the wire…
‘I asked myself “how many Irish Championship races have I actually won. And realised ‘not too many!’ so this was a great relief.” – Jason Kehoe
In the coming weeks, we will be speaking to both lads about the changes and tweaks we made to their training in 2015 and why it has made all the difference. Stay tuned!