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Berlin or bust...
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Spoke too soon on the foot thing. Thought it was grand on Wednesday and stupidly wore my heels on Thursday (but I was wearing a dress so...
) Knew by lunchtime it wasn't a good idea and when I eventually got home and got them off it was a wee bit swollen and feeling very tender - again :mad:
So back to the sandals and the anti-inflammatory stuff.
And no running.
Sunday 2nd June
Went for a walk with mini-me up Bray head in the sunshine. First time I put a shoe on since Thursday, so this was a bit of a tester. No pain, so we trotted back down the hill for good measure. Really enjoyed that - brief, though it was.
PM we headed over to the climbing centre with some friends. Their first time, so meself and himself were belaying, mostly. Still got some nice climbing in.
No running, but a good day, all told.
Monday 3rd June
Did my time 'giving back' by helping out at the mini marathon today, marshalling at one of the junctions in Donnybrook. I think it was as tough a job marshalling as participating! We were in place at 1:30 and finished up at about 4:45 or so. My poor handies were falling off me after 3 hours of clapping, but it was a great afternoon. Lots of great participants that were very welcome of the support - and well done to anyone doing the 10K today -it was a warm one! Spotted a few boardsies and some other familiar faces along the way too.
P.M. When all the dust had settled, the shopping had been done and the dinner was on, I decided to throw on the runners and go for a wee run in the park. The foot was feeling ok, so it was a case of fingers crossed and easy-peasy grassy running.
The goal was just to do 30 minutes. Did that. Felt good. No swelling or any signs of problems with the foot, so hopefully I can draw a line under that one.0 -
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Marthastew wrote: »10 miles more than I've run so don't feel too bad:)
Look on the bright side.....
It's a good thing getting all the niggles etc. over and done with before marathon training starts (you are doing DCM aren't you?)
Ah yea - but you have a MUCH BIGGER base than me to start with!
The plan is to make an assault on DCM - hopefully... but I'm just taking it day by day, and try to get the mileage back up to a consistent level.
Hope you're back to form soon. It must have been bad when you gave up the lot for a few days?! :eek: MarthaStew on the sofa for a day is not something we're used to
Get better soon! 0 -
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Tuesday no running
Wednesday
4.1 easy miles on the grass. This felt tougher than it should have, but the sunshine was obvious to my poor body, and I probably was not hydrated enough to start with. Will I never learn? But I still followed it up with an hour of bouldering
Thursday
Pilates at lunchtime. Sweating buckets during this one!
P.M. Club run. First time at the club session in almost a month. About 5.5 miles in total with the warmup and cooldown.
This weeks session was fartleks. About 12 of us in the group with the group leader calling the 'go' and 'stop' at various random intervals, and we all had to stay together, so the faster runners were calling the pace:eek:.
I did say 'stop', but stopping was not allowed, of course!
I found this one pretty tough - especially with the stitch that developed on the last loop. That'll teach me for having a (mini) snack before going out running.:rolleyes:
Looking at the garmin the faster bits were all at sub 7min/mi pace, so I guess it was a good session, and I'm really glad I did it.0 -
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Tuesday
Lunchtime pilates. Squats and plank and pushups and other things that make your muscles shake and shudder.
Lovely
P.M. No climbing - just didn't fit into the schedule, so threw on the gear for a 3 mile jog around the park. First mile was really slow, so tried to just relax into it and pick up the pace slightly. It felt a bit tougher than it should have. Ah well, it's all mile building (my mantra for the next few weeks :rolleyes:) 0 -
Wednesday Bouldering for a bit in the evening.
Thursday Came home from work with a splitting headache and couldn't get to the club run. :mad:
Friday 3 miles before heading over to support the mad fools running the beer mile in the typical 'irish summer' weather. Lashing Bucketing Pi$$ing rain (there's no other way to describe it!) and about 8c - though it felt more like 2c! Madness! But it was gas.
...why did I not do it, I hear you ask? Because I've more sense :rolleyes: and I couldn't drink 4 bottles of beer in an hour, never mind less than 10 or so minutes AND run a mile!? :eek:
Saturday 4 miles in the morning before the madness of the day kicked off. Headed to Slane Castle with some of my best girls for the best gig of the year 'Living on a prayer' baby! :cool:
Sunday Too much alcohol, crap food and out till 2 am was NOT a good way to prepare for a run, but I had committed to doing the Laois 10K, which kicked off at 12, meaning we had to leave the house by 10:15 at the latest. I did try to wrangle my way out of it, but to no avail.
Got to Abbeyleix in time, and I decided to do it but just to get around. A friend was doing it to beat her 1:03 PB so I said I'd run with her (yeah, yeah, cop out). So what started out being a certain disaster turned into a very enjoyable trot around Laois. And she smashed her PB by 3 minutes to come in at 1:00:09. Pity I couldn't get her under the hour, but I think she was very happy with that.
Finished off the day with some climbing and bouldering, and a lovely roast dinner with the in-laws. A perfect Sunday 0 -
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Monday
Summer seems to have back for a bit, so I got in 3 easy miles on the grass after work. Wasn't really planning on a run, but it was too nice not to
Tuesday
Day off work today for mommy stuff with my little baby :rolleyes: but got a chance to do 30 minutes in the early evening sunshine. Lots and lots of activity in the park this evening, which is great to see. Got just over the 3 miles done at a nice steady pace.
I think the consistent running is starting to pay off as the pace certainly seems to be getting easier / more consistent. Phew!
Registered for the Dunshaughlin 10K today too. I'm not in anything like PB shape, but I think I need to give this a go after the disaster that has been the last couple of months, just to put down a marker for myself before the DCM training kicks off 0 -
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Saturday
Had booked to do the Dunshaughlin 10K on Saturday evening, but I wasn't really looking forward to this, and was being a real negative Nancy on the way there. The wiser half suggested I leave the watch in the car, to take the pressure off, and just run it as a progression run - run the first half at a comfortable pace, then up the tempo from the 3 mile mark and finish with a sprint... Hmmmm... A good plan, and probably the best thing for my head at the moment, so I turned the watch to show distance only and decided to do just that.
We got to the village in LOADS of time and walked over to the race HQ to collect the numbers. The weather was 'changeable' (typically Irish summer weather - sunshine, wind, rainy showers, the lot!):rolleyes:. Met up some with some pals and jogged the half mile over to the start. And after that brief warm-up I realised I was wearing too much! I had a t-shirt under my singlet, so decided to ditch the t-shirt and do my first 'singlet only' run :eek:.
Gun went off and we sprinted off into the distance... ah, not quite
Nice crowd doing this one, but congestion wasn't an issue, and I eased into a comfortable pace fairly quickly. It was raining rather gently on and off for the first couple of miles, but nothing that I really noticed.
Lots of locals doing this so there seemed to be constant shouts of support as we made our way through the village and out into the countryside. The hosting club were calling out mile splits at each mile marker, but I really didn't want to know what pace I was running at (doing this blind, remember?) so I was going 'la la la la la' in my head I passed them. :P
First half was over before I knew it and I started to up the pace as the course rounded a bend into the first hill. I was keeping it 'light' and digging in. Knew the hill was short here, and someone had written a load of names on the road, which acted as a nice distraction.
Got through 4 miles and things started to feel a little bit more uncomfortable and I could feel the tightening under my ribs that usually indicates a stitch forming, so I eased off a bit and concentrated on the breathing until I felt it abate. Upped the pace again, but the 5th mile contained the only other 'hill' on the course, so the pace was not quite tempo.
The rain started to bucket down as I passed the 9k marker and with the accompanying headwind it made for a pretty tough time. I was SO happy to see the 800mt to go mark, then the 6 mile marker and the countdown to the final few hundred meters. The pace was pushed, but I was passed by one guys with about 400mt to go and I could hear (local) shouts for another runner that was obviously closing, but I'd be damned if I'd let anyone else get by me. All out sprint with 100mt's to go and I held them off to come in with 51:15 on the clock (51:07 by my garmin when I eventually checked).
Breathing very heavy, I had to hang onto the barriers for a bit until I gathered myself. Met some others at the finish - some nice PB's there - and strolled back to the comforts of the community hall for a shower and some grub to finish the day off nicely.
Mile splits for the race:
8:11(caught up in the start)
8:23(calmed down)
8:20( keep it steady)
8:05(push it for the 2nd half)
8:28(stitch/hill/wind)
8:03 (push it)
7:29(with 100mt sprint) (0.22) (best pace 6:02)
Not a PB for me but I'm still really happy with the race. I knew I wasn't anywhere near the shape I was in last year for this (when I got my 49:43, assisted by my very own personal pacer Meno) but I really surprised myself. At the start I was hoping to get in or around the 54-55 min time, so this was way better than I expected, and given that I ran it totally by feel and felt (fairly) in control for most of it, I really can't complain.
Onwards and upwards. :cool:
Kudos to the organisers - as always a very professional, welcoming, friendly, well organised race and the grub after was almost worth the 15 on it's own. Nice t-shirt too. 0 -
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Monday 3.15 mi at 10:00 min/mi
Very much recovery pace today. Warm and humid, but overcast. Legs were quite heavy after the hills on Sunday.
Tuesday Pilates at lunchtime
Wednesday 5 mi at 09:08 min/mi
Was supposed to be doing this while waiting for the little miss to finish her gym, but got caught up doing supervision. So this was a late start, but \t least I got out. For the last mile I decided to throw in some strides / pickups to work the legs a bit. Happy enough.
Thursday Club - 5K time trial
A damp evening, so the turnout for this was not as big as expected. One of the coaches was pacing for '24 mins' so I tucked in behind him and sat on his heals for the most part. Tough run, and I was finding it difficult from about 1 mile, but kept the concentration and the pace. Got to the last km and just didn't have anything left so dropped off the pace slightly. He (and 2 other) finished about 15 seconds ahead of me. Official finish time was 23.44, so a pb by 7 seconds. Happy out!
With the warm-up and cool-down it was about 4.8 mi for the day
Friday Rest and Recuperation (i.e. Beer)
Saturday 4.1 mi at 9:24 min/mi
After the excesses of my Friday night in town I wasn't really feeling up for it. Himself was registered for a 10K race, so I just went along and ran a few miles on my own, then assumed the role of support crew. Hot and sunny.
Sunday 10 mi at 10:06 min/mi
Miserable, wet and windy day out west, I did a few miles solo and then met up with my bro for 6 miles, before finishing off to take me to 10 for the day. He was dictating the pace, so the middle 6 were very leisurely (for me). Really enjoyed this one (despite the weather) and we had a great natter along the way.
Weekly mileage |27.07
Monthly mileage |94.16
Year to date | 434.470 -
Monday Nada
Tuesday
Lunchtime - Pilates - the usual beautiful torture :P
PM - Steady 40 minute run. Ended up as 4.39 mi at 9:07 min/mi
PM Later - Top rope climbing for an hour and a few minutes bouldering to finish (me) off
Wednesday
3.2 mile recovery run - felt very tired and recovery pace was just about manageable (9:44min/mi) Very warm and humid for this too.
Thursday
Club run. Hill repeats were promised, but there's not much by way of hills in the local park :rolleyes: so it was more of an interval session (with an incline) 6 loops with faster bits twice per loop. No stopping allowed. I found this very tough, but doable. I did feel like throwing up in the towel after the 4th loop but kept going for all 6. Would NOT have done that if I was doing this session solo. The benefits of running with a club...
Faster reps were:
Lap|Time| Distance | Pace /mi
1 (hill)|1:19.3| 0.18 |7:21
1(flat)|:59.7| 0.14| 6:56
2 (hill)|1:12.7| 0.16| 7:29
2(flat)|1:02.0| 0.14| 7:08
3 (hill)|1:13.9| 0.17| 7:21
3(flat)|1:02.2| 0.15| 6:54
4 (hill)|1:16.6| 0.17| 7:36
4(flat)|1:02.2| 0.15| 6:47
5 (hill)|1:17.3| 0.17| 7:39
5(flat)|1:02.3| 0.15| 6:58
6 (hill)|1:13.3| 0.17| 7:17
6(flat)|:56.4 |0.14 |6:48
Total for the day was 5.5 miles0 -
Friday
Rest Day
Saturday
5 miles at pace.
Hot and humid and not as easy as it should have been. But at least I did it and it was on pace.
Sunday
11.3 slow hilly miles
Was out west for the weekend so finding a route with hills was a challenge. On advice, I headed over to the local woodland park where there is a nice bit of an incline. 11 miles was in the plan and the park was not that big! So loops it was then :mad: Oh well, can't be helped.
I wasn't quite sure how long the park path was (in miles) but reckoned it wasn't more than 2 miles so I was probably going to be doing 5 or 6 laps - not a pleasant thought. Parked the car and headed to the start for the first loop. Top of the top of the first hill (0.7mi) and took a right for a couple of more inclines. Got to the back gate to turn around for the return leg and the distance was 1.85. Good - longer than I'd thought, which means less laps. Back along the trails and took a right again to take me to the other perimeter and back to the road. Got back to the car and had 3.9mi on the watch. Yay! So 3 laps was all I needed to do - phew.
Sip of water and off again for the 2nd loop. Tough going, as the day was getting warmed and the hills (inclines) seemed to be getting bigger.
Back to the car for another sip of water and the 3rd loop was underway. The legs were definitely getting tired on the uphills but once I turned around the last 2 miles were grand.
Sweated a small bucket once I stopped, and of course the damn bugs took a bite out of my poor little leg, but no real after effects other than an itch :rolleyes:
Total elevation gain for the run was 243mt.0 -
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Monday & Tuesday
Got a massive midgey bite on my calf on the run on Sunday. It was mad itchy (really really itchy )
!
and had to resort to the antihistamines. The bite spread to cover most of my calf by Monday :eek: so the instruction from the pharmacist was to double the dose for a day or so and see if that helped. If not, trip to the doc was next.
So to say I was wiped for Monday and Tuesday would not be an understatement! Could barely move, never mind go for a run - yawn
Wednesday Went bouldering with mini-me and ended up landing hard and wrenching my shoulder. Still went for 30 minute trot after.
Thursday Cinema evening so didn't go anywhere (and the shoulder was a bit knackered so I was minding that a bit)
Friday 4 miles with some hill intervals - 5 x about 250mt. Well, a baby slope rather than a hill, but I found it really tough. Very warm out there this evening too (not that I'm complaining!)0 -
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Sunday
Long run day. We all woke up late <gasp> so the long run was going to have to happen in the sunshine. I was originally going to run over to Dalkey via Killiney and back, but given the heat and the conditions I changed the plan and decided to run loops instead. 3.7ish mile loops. 3 of them, with a bit of a diversion to take me to 12 miles for the day. They were slow, they were sweaty, they were damn tough! I am NOT built for temperatures over about 16c
But they got done.
Heading out now for a nice walk and a beer in the sunshine 0 -
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The Swissalpine weekend is a fairly major event in Davos. There are a total of 8 different events happening on the same day, all finishing (more or less) in Davos at various times of the day.
The ultimate hard-man race is the K78 - a gruelling 78k Ultra up and down the mountains. The first man home clocked an amazing time of 06:13 and the first woman 06:53, with over 800 people completing it (in up to 13 hours!)
Krusty was doing the K42 (trail marathon up into the mountains...) and I walked him down to get his train to his start at 08:40. It was already over 25c and I was not feeling very positive. Me, sun, heat, altitude, hills - these things do NOT generally go together.
So I wandered back to the hotel, pottered about and put my running gear on anyway. Loaded up on sunscreen and water I headed off to catch my train to Klosters for the start of the K21 at 14:30. I guess I'm committed now (or maybe I need to be
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21.1 km + 860 m / - 330 m
The experience of the start on the majestic Sunniberg Brige is rivalled only by the marvellous scenery. The new half-marathon route is exciting and full of variety and attractions.
It was 30c. :eek:
803 runners and 122 walkers were dropped off by train and cowered in the shade until the announcer called us to the start. We lined up on the bridge and with the sweltering sunshine it was thankfully only a minute or so to the gun. BANG and off we set.
Once across the bridge the route turned onto a trail which went up, and up, and up and everyone was suddenly in single file and - more importantly - walking. Thankfully the trail was tree lined up through the forests. Whenever it levelled off the line picked up the pace again, but it was more or less walk-run for the entire thing. 2 miles uphill, then another 2 back down to Klosters for the first water stop.
We left the town and headed out and up again on the mountain trails. The trees kept the route sheltered, for the most part, and when there was a gap, the scenery was spectacular. But it was hot, and the route seemed to just keep going up!
Great support all along the route. On the mountain trails there were people out cheering us on and even 2 sweet little girls with water guns blasting anyone who called to them. (Me! Me! Me! :P) Then there were streams, and water pumps / butts full of cool mountain water - I didn't drink from them but I did use them to cool off a bit every now and then. When we went through anywhere with houses the occupants were all out cheering us and offering water - or a hose down - as required.
Got chatting to a few people along the way too. One lady from Germany had completed 9 of the Swissalpine events! Another guy (older) was doing his first mountain race. When I asked him if it was a stepping stone to the K42 he just laughed and said that though that would be on his wish-list, it was unlikely to actually make the bucket-list.
As the path narrowed and widened there was some overtaking and as I stepped to the side to let a lady pass me the girl to my left heard me speak and asked where I was from. Turned out she was the (only) other Irish person doing the race and we ran/walked the rest of it together.
It was hot, and very hilly, and towards the end the altitude was playing silly buggers with me.
We stopped once at the last of the water stations to take a few extra sips. Someone was handing out some flapjacks too - they were only awesome! On again and we were finally in the home stretch with only about 2 miles to go and the town in sight. But we were still going up! I couldn't really understand that. We didn't actually start on the down until 12.9 miles! Legs were burning, but as we neared the home stretch and the crowds around the streets grew, we had to keep the legs ticking over - no walking allowed.
Turned a corner and there was a bridge to navigate across the road: a rickety thrown-up gangway. :eek: I could hardly focus on the steps but I made it across.
Last dash around the corner and into the stadium for the final lap of the track and... Finished!
S L O W E S T half marathon E V E R
Official Finish Time 02:57:58
Garmin Stats:
Distance: 13.45 mi
Time: 2:58:00
Avg Pace: 13:14 min/mi
Elevation Gain: 952 m
Elevation Loss: 455 m
Min Elevation: 1,012 m
Max Elevation: 1,636 m
Start elevation is 1006 mt at Sunnibergbrücke Bridge
Highest point is 1631 mt
Finish elevation is 1538 mt
(with lots of ups and some downs in between)
I did it. The temperature was about 30c. I survived with no sunburn and no injuries. Job done! :P
And - yes - I would do it again - but don't tell Krusty!0 -
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