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Berlin or bust...
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Wednesday
Got a lift to work in the morning and had to make my own way home so brought my gear to run home. It was a bit wet and miserable in the morning, so if I was getting wet anyway sure it might as well have been a useful dousing! Turned out the sun came out in the afternoon and it was a fabulous evening, so I had a lovely run home. Kept going past the house, over to the park and finished out the prescribed 7 miles without too much stress.
Thursday
800mt intervals in the plan for today, which is the 1st time I was attempting fast(er) stuff since the hip niggles. I was a bit nervous about it, and wasn't quite sure it was a good idea, but I threw on the gear and headed to the track in Kilbogget anyway. The sun was out (is it summer?) and I did an easy 1 mile warmup to get the blood flowing. Decided to aim for about 8min/mi pace, so about 4 mins per rep. the 5 reps came in at:
# | Time | Distance| Pace/mi
1| 3:58.4| 0.51| 7:51
2| 3:58.7| 0.51| 7:51
3| 3:54.6| 0.50| 7:45
4| 3:49.8| 0.50| 7:37
5| 3:43.6| 0.51| 7:22
Very happy with that. The first rep was sub 8min/mi so decided to try to keep that pace for the rest. Tough, and the recovery between each had a good bit of stretching going on (just in case!), but felt good to be going fast(er)
Finished up with a bit of a cooldown to bring the miles for the day to an even 5.0 -
Friday was a rest and travel day, heading to my mammy's house for a big family weekend.
Saturday
6 miles. Ran with my SIL who had been away for a week and was feeling a bit out of form. We set the pace at about 9min/mi and headed off for a 3 mile out and back run. It was muggy and humid, but breezy too, which kept the mugginess at bay for most of the run.
Really enjoyed this. My SIL struggled a bit in the second half of the run so we did the last mile slower as a bit of a cool down. Lovely run. Great to have company too. Found the pace comfortable and no niggles <phew>Summary 6 miles in 55:03
Avg Pace: 9:11 min/mi
Sunday
Long run day. I had 14 to do and my SIL said she'd join me for some of this. She's training for her first HM and this was her first run over 15K. S-L-O-W was the goal and we decided on a pace of 10 min/mi. I ran the first 3 solo, doing a bit of a circuitous route to her house, and had to keep a good eye on my pace as it kept creeping up towards the 9 min/mi. Doh!
Got to the house and my brother had also decided to run with us, so the three of us hit the road and headed for the leafy lanes of Moate Park. It was warm and humid but nothing too unmanageable. I'd taken a half packet of sports beans with some water when I picked up the guys, so was feeling good. It wasn't quite as quiet and peaceful as usual on our route, as there was a clay pigeon shooting competition on in the area so a few more cars and trucks on the road, and lots of Bang and Boom resounding around the forest. Lovely :rolleyes:.
Great to run with company and the miles flew by. The pace was held at a steady 10 min and any time it started to creep up we were brought to task by my bro... the human garmin. Who needs GPS? It was 4 miles out and back from their house, and then my SIL accompanied me back to base for the last 3, bringing my run to 14 for the day and hers to 11. And we chatted the whole way around. Aside from one kamikaze fly that nearly choked me with less than a mile to go, it was a great run and I really enjoyed it.Summary 14 miles in 2:19:39
Avg Pace: 9:58 min/mi0 -
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Saturday
LSR. THe plan for the week had me doing 15, but Krusty suggested we do the Kilomarathon in Kildare, so I ended up with 16.3mi (26.2k) as my LSR today.
Very very warm and sunny at the start, and despite a stiff breeze it stayed very humid for the entire thing. Lots of water stations though (TG!) so I found myself running with a bottle for most of the race, and must have poured a litre of it down my back during the course of the run. Ah lovely!
Did this as a training run (obviously) so the pace goal was around the 10min/mi. Met someone before the start that was planning on a similar pace, so we ran together. It was brilliant to have the company and she was a hoot, chatting and entertaining me the whole way around. With about 3 miles to go though, I did up the pace a tad, and she fell behind. Caught up with her after the finish and she was just a few minutes behind me so we were both happy with the run.
All in all, a nice way to get the long run in. I know there were some problems with the crew at the front (something like 12 people sent the wrong way (including Leading woman Pauline Curley and a very pi$$ed off KC)! Big Oops! :eek:) but I had a good run, lots of very helpful and enthusiastic people out supporting and the kids helping out at the water stations were fantastic. Nice goodie bag (for the females anyway) with lots of sample moisturiser cream/ etc. and useful stuff like a toothbrush, listerine mouthwash, band aids and a blister plaster. Cool!
Nice medal too.
Tea and barn brack galore at the finish line, to top off the water and bananas. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my morning.Summary 16.31 mi in 2:39:33
Avg Pace: 9:47 min/mi0 -
Sunday
A bit tight and stiff this morning, so after the Olympic marathon was over (won by a very surprising - and surprised? - Ugandan athlete) I headed out to do some slow recovery miles. 5 miles on the grass around the park while the gentle Irish mist dribbled off my chin. Feels like home
Nice and slow.
Did some rolling on the hips when I got back - still a bit tight, but nothing to worry about (I hope:rolleyes:)Summary 5.00 mi in 49:49
Avg Pace: 9:58 min/mi0 -
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Tuesday
OMG! Woke up with everything sore this morning - my ribs & tummy were in bits, my forearms were even aching! I guess I was really engaging with the pilates yesterday
Ouch.
Got home this evening and even though my tummy area was still tender and my legs were tight and achy, I still had some miles to do. Got out for 6.5 before I had to dash home for some mom's taxi obligations. Of course, when I got back it turned out I wasn't needed anyway... ah well. Should probably have gone out for the last half mile? :rolleyes:
But it's done, even if it was slow and painful.
It's all worth it though, right?Summary 6.55 mi in1:02:53
Avg Pace: 9:36 min/mi0 -
Wednesday
Tempo run planned and I had decided to fit this in during lunch time, but by the time it came to 12:00, the rain was thundering down and the wind was howling, so I had a chat with myself and decided a 'rain check' was in order <sorry!:P>
By 5 the rain had stopped and the sun was actually peeking out from behind the clouds. I wasn't kidding myself that it wouldn't rain again, but I was very happy to have caught the break in the weather. First mile was nice and handy and then upped the pace for the second mile (to 8:34/mi) Turned at this point, just as the rain was starting, but at least the wind was behaving. Kept up the pace increase for about a half mile (up to 8:20/mi) before the wind (now a fairly stiff headwind) and the rain (cats and dogs :rolleyes:) put a halt to my gallop - literally. I was almost being blown backwards, so didn't try to maintain the pace and just relaxed (?) into it for the rest of the run back to the office. Of course, by the time I was a quarter mile out the rain stopped, the wind died down and the sun was out again. Irish summers - always surprising
Happy enough with this, given the conditions.Summary 4.00 mi in 36:53
Avg Pace: 9:14 min/mi0 -
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Wow - I haven't updated this in a bit... oops! :rolleyes:
So
Saturday 18th - Long Run. 17 miles
Pre-airplane, pre-holidays run. The run was OK, but wrecked afterwards.
Sunday - Saturday : Lazing by the pool, dossing on the beach, sipping long cool frosty beer and eating WAY TOO much tapas...
Yeah I brought my gear and had fully intended to get some running done, but at a steady 34c+ all week and really high humidity it was not an option (for poor white skinned, freckle faced, red haired, heat intolerant me:rolleyes:) Anyway... I had a nice restful week instead.
Sunday 26th Aug
Back to lovely cool home turf for a slow 12 mile LSR. Warmer than I'd expected and the legs felt heavy and sluggish throughout. Not a great run, but OK and done, so back on track again.
Monday
Pilates at lunchtime - and yes, I felt this one too
Tuesday
4 miles steady. Slow to start but felt comfortable once I warmed up and the last few miles were all well under 9m/m pace. Happy with this one.0 -
Wednesday
Should have been 8 miles, but rushed for time (again
) and had a mom's-taxi run to make, so managed to get 7.7 in before I had to dash back to the car. Steady run and was comfortable (enough) through it. I did have to deal with a suicidal midget that decided to end it all in my gullet - had to stop and try not to throw up my lung , but other that that excitement it was all good. Lots of friendly runners out in the park this evening too. And I missed the rain as well, which was nice
Summary 7.70 mi in 1:11:28
Avg Pace: 9:17 min/mi0 -
Thursday
Disastrous hill session this evening. Supposed to do 6*400 but went out way too fast on a pretty steep hill and only managed half the first rep before I had to stop. Feck. :mad: Did the next one and same again.
So decided to slow it down and just get to the top for the 3rd. And the 4th. Called it a day at that and just ran the cooldown home.
I'm not even going to mention what the rep distances or time were.
Gaagh...
Time to brush this one under the carpet and move on. :rolleyes:
Summary 4 miles. That is all.0 -
Saturday
After the disappointment of Thursdays aborted hill session, I was hoping this one was going to go ok. If it didn't, my ego was going to be severely dented. :rolleyes:
The plan was 8 miles with 5 at PMP.
What an unexpectedly sunny morning - and it did make for a hot run, especially when the sun was head on. A very slow 1st warmup mile, then straight into the pace miles.
Found it difficult to maintain a steady pace - I was going too fast, then trying to slow it down ended up dropping the pace too much. Some work to be done on that me-thinks. But it did feel manageable, so happy with that. The 5 pace miles were all on target, or slightly faster, but within the permitted pace.
A big red tomato head on me when I got back, but at least the ego is intact.Summary 8.00 mi in 1:13:30
Avg Pace: 9:11 min/mi
Pace miles 8:56, 8:54, 8:41, 8:45, 8:390 -
Sunday
19 mile LSR :eek:
Longest run since the marathon last year, and I wasn't really all that keen... But it has to be done. I was over west for the weekend (OH was off to Athenry for the National Half Marathon), so the route was cobbled together at the last minute.
Sunny and warm this morning, but not too hot or humid. After some prep (water bottle drop off, gels packed, sunscreen on, salt tablets - just in case) I set off (a bit reluctantly, it must be said)
I mentally broke the run into stages.
Stage 1 : 5 miles and a stop at the big brothers house for a loo break. Took a gel at this point, and left a 250ml bottle of water for collection on the way back.
Stage 2: Out to Moate Park from there (4 miles) and I'd left another bottle of water there earlier so picked that up. Did a lap of the forest trail to add another mile to the tally before heading back the way I came.
Stage 3: Back to the big bro's house. Took another gel at 12/13 and a salt tablet shortly after. I swapped my water bottles over at the house and my niece gave me a 'poor you' when I told her I had 'only' another 5 to do. "Wait, is that 5 Kilometers or Miles?" "Miles" "Wha :eek:" Kids are funny.
Stage 4: The last 5 miles. These actually went ok, but I was definitely tiring by 17.5 and the pace reflected that. Still, I wasn't totally fooked, so that's a good sign.
Happy with this run, and even though the legs are a wee bit tired, I didn't feel any ill effects. I think maybe the icy cold bath I took after helped - now THAT was NOT fun!Summary 19.00 mi in 3:09:46
Avg Pace: 9:59 min/mi0 -
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Wednesday
Medium long run in the plan for today. Was fitting this in between finishing work and a moms-taxi, so was aiming to get 8 or maybe 9 done.
Lovely sunny warm evening and I headed to a local park about a mile away. A couple of laps in I started feeling a bit of a pull in the right hip (oh oh! :eek:) so stopped and stretched it out. Restarted at a slower pace and tried to keep it on the grass. Really thought I was going to have to cut it short, but it didn't get any worse so I kept going. Got to 6 OK so tried for one more. Still ok. Got to 8, and then finished up with a few strides.
Happy that I got through it and the hip still feels OK.
A spot of foam rolling called for now.Summary 8.8 miles in total
with 8.01 mi in 1:15:26
Avg Pace: 9:25 min/mi0 -
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Thursday
There was a 5k Fit4Life race in the local park, so I decided to ditch the tempo run that was in the plan to do this instead. The wee miss ran it too - the kids club encouraged the over tens to participate, so there was a nice little gang of them.
Got to the park in plenty of time to register and did a little bit of a warm up to loosen things out. It was a lovely evening for a run but after Sunday's 19 miles I really had no clue if I'd be able to sustain a fast(ish) run. Beating my PB (25.10) would be nice, so I was going to go out at 8:00 min/mi and just try to hold on.
Big enough crowd doing it, and it was a bit of a kerfuffle at the start until everyone spread out a bit. I settled into my pace and kept it comfortable for the first mile, making sure to keep an eye on the pace.
Second mile I was feeling good and started catching and passing people out. I don't actually think I was passed after that, but I might be mistaken.
Third mile I was still feeling strong. Breathing was heavy, but that's as expected. Concentrated on staying relaxed and keeping the legs pumping. Passed a girl with about a half a k to go and I she didn't want to give up the place. She pushed back but I stretched out the pace a bit to stay ahead, she tried again about 3 more times and pushed me all the way to the finish line. It felt really good to feel strong (if fooked) coming up the home straight.
And looking at my watch, I came home in 24:05, which is over a minute off my previous 5K time - hip hip hurray! :cool:
The young miss ran a really good race too and was just a few minutes behind me, finishing with great pace to the line.
So a good days running for both of us.Summary 3.10 mi (or 5k) in 24:05
Avg Pace: 7:46 min/mi0 -
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. I might try that ice cold Advertisement