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I can see the sun in wintertime
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Final update for 2017
Ran easy Friday and Saturday - 4.1 miles both days, nothing fancy. Cold pretty much gone but breathing still not great. Felt ok this morning so decided to do the Clonliffe Christmas Cracker. Jogged up to Morton Stadium to collect my number - a cold morning but the 2.1 miles up warmed me in no time. Got my number and hung around for a while trying to stay warm. Met BungyGirl and LauraAC and said hello. A couple of laps of the track and a few toilet stops and it was time to go. We started with a lap of the track and then out onto the Swords Road. I hadn't decided on a pace or goal for this - initially, because of the breathing, I thought I might do well to finish in 27 mins but I felt ok when we started so I thought I'd play it by ear a bit. Left turn into Northwood and into the wind. It was fairly blustery so I tried to keep a steady pace and not fight the wind too much. When we came out of Northwood we were on the Ballymun road and the wind was still strong. I knew we only had a bit to go before we turned onto Santry ave and the wind would be behind us, so again, tried to keep it steady. When Santry Ave came it was a big relief - things definitely felt easier. I seemed to be keeping a steady pace but I wasn't really watching the clock. At 4k, the steward said 19:!0 and I was pleasantly surprised. Final turn onto Swords Road again and back into the stadium for a final lap of the track. As I was coming down the finishing straight I could see the clock and it ticked past 24 mins. I think it was 24:10 on the clock when I ran over the line, my watch said 23:57 (or so I thought; it was actually 24:02). Anyway I was very happy with that, much better than expected. Caught up with BG and Laura afterwards and we all thought the wind was a bit of a killer Time to head home with an unexpected goody bag. BG offered to take it home for me but I said nah I'll be grand, I'll jog home with it. A good idea until it split open, the chocolate Santa smashed and the bottle of shampoo bounced down the road 
Walked the rest of the way, juggling the contents (and possibly snacking on the broken santa - I'd just run 5k, of COURSE I needed chocolate 
)
So 2017. Not a bad year. A great marathon experience, a new 5 mile pb, 1690 miles covered - that's the most I've ever covered in a year. I'm not sure what 2018 will hold - first race up is the Raheny 5 at the end of January. The Boy is doing his leaving cert and Middle Girl is doing her junior cert so I'm guessing I will need the stress relief a run brings quite a lot in the next few months
Happy New Year to all and may all your runs be pbs 0 -
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My Raheny program has sorta gone out the window because of being sick over Christmas, so I'll try to catch up again over the next week or so. This week wasn't too bad.
Monday
5.3 miles in just under 53 mins to start the New Year.
Tuesday
6x400s with 2mins recovery. 400s ok - probably not fast enough but ok anyway. 10 min warmup, 10ish mins cooldown. 4.5 miles in 40:42.
Wednesday
Up to the Phoenix Park for a group session with Gary O'Hanlon. I was there too early (of course) so did just over a mile for a warmup. There were 7 of us in total, so a nice group to run with. Did a bit of a warmup, a few strides and stretches and then a bit of a session - 5 reps of 0.5 miles at 5k pace, aiming for consistency. Each of mine came in around 3:15-3:17. A few cooldown stretches and home I headed, with a little happy smile on my face. Back for more next week.
Thursday
Felt like absolute crap today - probably because from 6pm the previous night, I ate non stop. I was like the hungry caterpillar - I started on a few grapes but quickly moved onto chocolate, icecream, crisps... Anyway felt horrendous the following morning so the 4.5 miles in 46:36 should be best forgotten.
Friday
Slightly better, 6 miles in 59:51.
Saturday
Middle Girl has decided she'd like to run so asked me to bring her to parkrun. Even though Fairview is closer, she decided St. Annes was the spot (because she reckoned she'd know less people :rolleyes:) I told her that she would determine the pace and I'd follow her. She's always been fit - up till a few months she was training and competing in gymnastics at a very high level and she's recently joined the local gaa team (her new mentor told me she loves getting ex-gymnasts because they have super strong cores and they're afraid of nothing ) Anyway we warmed up and headed off. I kept my eye on her and she seemed to be doing ok. We ran until we hit the avenue at the end of the first lap and then we walked. She had a bit of a crisis of confidence so I told her we'd walk/jog the rest of the way, and we did. Run for 10 trees, walk for 5, etc. She finished by running most of the avenue for the second lap so I was delighted for her. Of course she forgot her barcode so she didn't get a time for her first run :rolleyes: But I'll make sure she brings it next time Said a quick hello to MrsMc and brought Middle Girl home for pancakes and hot tea.
Sunday
Long run time. Plan was for 1:30-1:45 on the roads. Twas fierce cold this morning when I headed out but it was lovely. Headed out the coast towards Watermill Road and the wind was in a different direction - it's normally behind you going out towards Raheny and in your face on the way back in. Headed up Watermill Road and meandered my way back home via Artane, Killester and Beaumont. All in all, an enjoyable 10.2 miles in 1:41:23.
37.6 miles for the week, a grand start to 2018. Will hopefully get at least one session from the Raheny program done this week; at the very least, I'll have the session from the GOH group run. Off to Prague next Friday for OH's birthday weekend (big birthday back in October; New York and Christmas meant he finally gets his birthday trip next weekend). Will bring my runners to see if I can get out for a few miles 0 -
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2 week catchup.
Monday 8th Jan
Trip into and out of town so 5.7 miles in 57ish mins.
Tuesday
5.1 easy miles in 50:13
Wednesday
GOH session in Phoenix Park. It was a hill session - warmup, followed by 3x400s and then 7 short hill repeats. Cooldown back to car gave me 3.5 miles in 35:37. The hill repeats were tough enough - a short sharp hill which was quite mucky and slippy, and that made it tougher. Anyway, quite enjoyed it.
Thursday
10.1 miles in 1:38:40. Did Sunday's long run on Thursday as we headed to Prague on Friday.
Friday
No run but lots of walking in Prague.
Saturday
3.1 lovely early morning Prague miles in 29:48.
Sunday
3.1 miles in 30:14. Had a look at this on Strava; one of the people I follow had covered some of the segments and I was within 8 secs on one segment, one sec on another and the same time on a third - about the only time I will EVER be close in time in anything to Krusty
Total of 30.6 miles for the week.
Monday
3.6 miles in 35:30, covered while dropping Middle Girl's phone in for fixing.
Tuesday
7 windy, cold and wet miles in 1:06:21. Loved this run (but hamstring felt a little bit tight afterwards.... hmmmm).
Wednesday
Sick Middle Girl, horrendous night's sleep, tight hamstring. So no trip to the park for GOH session. 3.3 miles in 32:41 instead.
Thursday
Took the day off because of sore leg.
Friday
4.2 tester miles in 42:04. Leg ok...ish.
Saturday
Middle Girl wants to do a bit of running to help her GAA training so we went out in the rain for 2.5 miles. She ran most of the way, so she was happy. Left her back at the house and did another 2 miles on my own. Leg still ok.
Sunday
7.3 mlles in 1:13. Got drenched twice by stupid a$$hole drivers, one of whom definitely swerved into the puddle as opposed to away from it. OH said I should have taken his reg and reported him; unfortunately the muddy water was still in my eyes and dripping from my nose so I couldn't see it :mad: Anyway, leg felt ok and I got some miles in so silver lining to the (very rainy and muddy) cloud.
Total of 30 miles for the week.
Raheny 5 next Sunday and not feeling particularly good about it - although, to be honest, I'm actually not really bothered about it either. Being sick over Christmas pretty much scuppered the program and I got a 5 mile pb last year during New York marathon training so.... I'll run it for the goody bag and the plaque
Looking at Autumn marathons - OH wants me to pick a foreign one so we can all head off for a holiday :rolleyes: So I entered the ballot for New York again and I'm throwing an eye over Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Fun and games 0 -
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How are you finding the Gary O'Hanlon sessions? Is it any different to a club session (apart from the cost!) Are there many in each group and do you get any one on one advice?
I really enjoyed the sessions so far. I've never done a club session so I can't really compare it - still have to bite the bullet and join a club! Yes it's a bit dear but it's a fairly small group - around 10 people I think? GOH is very good and will answer any questions and give advice as required. I'll certainly keep them up for another while - the fact it's a morning session suits me, evenings are gone again with the kid related driving and the crochet classes I give - it's all glamour. 0 -
Yes it's been quite a while.... but I ran the Race Series Half Marathon today and I wanted to work out some of my thoughts about it so here I am
To recap on the year to date: I didn't run the Raheny 5 in the end because I was sick. I've managed to run every day since February 1st - even during the snow in March and on hols in Lake Garda. A few months ago Wottle took me on and has been sending me training schedules every week, with the intention of getting me to the start line of DCM in the best shape possible. So that brings me nicely to today and the Half Marathon.
Got to the Park a bit later than intended so didn't get to park in my usual spot; no bother, space in the pub across the road. Lots of time for the usual toilet stop and then into the crowd, waiting to start. Wottle had told me: A goal, 1:50, B goal 1:52, C goal sub 2:00. So I decided to stalk the 1:50 pacers for a while (or for as long as I could).
Got started in the 1:50 convoy and off we went at the start of Wave 2. Got into the pace fairly quickly, miles 1,2 & 3 all coming in on pace. Mile 4 got a bit tougher with some uphills and the first time my head decided to cause a bit of trouble. Got past it by doing DubGal's body check - head ok, shoulder ok, tummy ok, legs ok, all ok. The 1:50 balloons got a bit away from me but I got back to them. Mile 5 & 6 a teeny bit slower but still ok. Mile 7 brought us back to Chesterfield Avenue and the up and down that always annoys me a teeny bit Head a bit funny again but got past it by telling myself we were past half way. Mile 8 was a bit tougher, Whites Road wasn't fun for me but then we got the nice downhill on Tower Road which gave me my second fastest mile of the day. Balloons had got away again on Whites Road, but Tower Road brought them back to me
Mile 10 confused me a bit because we were on Chesterfield Avenue and it felt like the final sprint (because it was the final sprint in the 10 mile), but I knew we had a parkrun left. Head definitely getting a bit funny and started dry retching a little bit as well - time for the body check again. When I passed the 10 mile marker, I had a look at the watch and realised that even if I ran 10 min miles, I would still pb. But I thought to myself, shag that, if I can keep the balloons in sight I can get home in 1:50. That jolt of positivity gave me my fastest mile for mile 11 (7:59). Caught right up on top of the pacers during mile 12 and Claralara told me, keep it steady, it's in the bag. Mile 13 was all about getting home and over the line. Ran as fast as I could for the last few hundred metres to get over the line before the pacers and there it was, the finish line. Watch stopped at 1:49:35, chip time was 1:49:30. Sooooo happy!
Initially I thought it was a 5 min pb but checking back, my HM pb was 1:55:20, so it was close enough to 6 mins on the same course. Absolutely delighted with it. Met up with the coach afterwards and he told me that he knew I could do it, I just had to prove it to myself. Mentally, I had to do a lot of kicking myself in the ar$e. I'm quite sure that I couldn't have done any better today, I definitely left it all out there. And I'm more happy with that than I am with the time - something MurphD said in his Boardsie spotlight struck a chord with me: something about training better than he raced. I've definitely done that before, the head goes before the legs do but the head is so powerful, it shags everything up. Today it didn't.
Anyway, enough navel gazing for now. I'll come back and update before DCM arrives, if anyone is interested 0 -
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Your training has been amazing - chill out for the next couple of days and you will be fine.
Best medicine now is being positive and trusting in the work you have done. Lets all cross fingers and hope its a 24 hour thing...
That and seeing where in the UK or Ireland has a marathon you can enter in a few weeks time [just in case!!] 0 -
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So it wasn't the best week getting ready for DCM. Cold kyboshed me and threw all my well laid plans out the window. No sleep on Friday night so planned to rest as much as possible on Saturday after a very quick trip to the Expo to collect my number. Got in and out in about 20 minutes, no hanging around. Spent the rest of the day with my feet up.
Managed to sleep for a few hours on Sunday night and got up bright and early. Head very blocked and legs felt heavy - ah well. A few mouthfuls of weetabix and half a cup of coffee was all I could manage. There was a note from Middle Child on the door that reduced me to tears - all about how proud the whole family was of me and that no matter how long it took me, they'd still be proud (but that if I didn't come in sub4, I'd be cooking dinner) OH dropped me in as far as Holles Street and I headed to the start.
It was fierce cold so I held onto my outer layers for as long as possible. Had a quick chat with Chinguetti at the baggage area and then got myself sorted. Headed towards the start line after a toilet trip, then I started to shake. It was so bad that I couldn't put my pace band on. I tried to breathe deeply and gather myself as much as I could. The man beside me told me "you'll be grand, don't worry". The ten minutes before the start seemed to take about 2 hours to pass by but they did, and soon enough we were off. Before the cold hit, the coach had said A goal was 3:53, B goal was sub4, C goal was pb (previous pb 4:07:23 from 2012). After the bad week I wasn't really sure what to do. So I decided to print out the pace band for 3:55 and see how I got on till halfway.
First few miles were grand. It was very tight at the start and took a while to loosen up. My feet were freezing and it took a half mile or so before I could feel them properly! My heartrate went very high very early but I ignored it. Saw my gang at the church on Aughrim Street and my parents were around the corner on North Circular Road so that gave me a nice boost heading into the park. My time was fairly steady at this point, I was doing ok. My head still felt blocked and my chest was a bit tight but I was ok. Through the Park and into Castleknock was good. There's such a great atmosphere in Castleknock village, it's fantastic. There was a band playing just opposite Myo's and they started singing Livin' on a prayer just as I was running by - I love that song! Around the corner and into the climb up to Castleknock College. Spotted Wubble Wubble supporting around here and got a shout out. Back towards the Park and starting to feel a bit crap - legs feeling heavy and head tight. Gave myself a bit of an a$$ kicking and kept going. Through Chapelizod and up the short sharp hill into Ballyfermot. Heart rate lashing up again *fingers in ears, lalalala I'm ignoring it*
The dry retching started popping up going through Rialto and out onto the Crumlin Road but again *lalalala ignoring it* I was taking a glucose tablet every couple of miles or so and they were managing to stay down so I wasn't going to change at this stage. I was starting to drift from 3:55 at this stage but I wasn't upset by it. I told myself if I could get to halfway in less than 2 hours I'd be doing ok. Sure enough half way came in at 1:59:15. Ok, I'm still alright. I held onto the 3:55 paceband for a while longer, just to see how far off I was. Crumlin Road and into Walkinstown was long but not as windy as usual so all good (ish). I kept doing body checks and accepting that my legs felt like crap - of course they felt crap, I was halfway through a marathon. So I kept repeating, my head is stronger than my legs. I'm sure I looked like a mad woman but hey, how else am I going to look running a marathon
The miles were passing ok. 3:55 was long gone at this stage; I'd dumped the pace band and took out the 4hr one instead. I was keeping an eye on the 5k markers and telling myself, that's another one marked off. I decided to run the marathon this year as a fundraiser for St. Francis Hospice. They looked after my cousin's husband when he died in February and they're still looking after her and their two kids. When he died, his 11yr old son Aaron decided to run a "5k for Jay" to raise a few bob for the hospice. I ran it with my cousin and they raised a load of money. So I decided to run 8 and a half 5ks for Jay, and each 5k ticked off was a step closer to home.
Kept on trucking towards Terenure. A friend of mine lives just past Terenure village and she's always out supporting so I was looking forward to seeing her. Sure enough I got an almighty roar from her and her husband and that gave me another boost. Mile 19 was grand, all about boosting myself before Milltown. Every year I've done DCM, Milltown has been my meltdown spot. I never liked it, it's always the spot where the wheels fall off the wagon. So heading towards it, I started talking to myself again - I'm not afraid of Milltown, Milltown is afraid of me I was repeating this to myself when, all of a sudden, on the side of the road I saw The Boy, Middle Child and Brother-in-law roaring at me. I wasn't expecting them at all and it gave me such a boost that I definitely kicked Milltown's a$$. Turns out The Boy had heard me saying how much I disliked Milltown and he was determined to get there. It was brilliant.
They were there a little while later on the Clonskeagh road and it was another boost that stayed with me onto Roebuck Road. Heartbreak hill was fine, one foot in front of another up to the top. Legs and chest feeling horrible but I was still doing ok according to the pace band. Ok, downhill now. I let the legs go down Foster Avenue to try to pick up a few seconds - let gravity do the work! Around onto the Stillorgan Road and still feeling ok. UCD flyover and there was my cheer squad again - one of the advantages of The Boy now being a UCD student means he knows what shortcuts to take I told them, 5k left, that's it.
From about mile 19/20, I was waiting for the fall. I was expecting the legs and head to pack up, because that's what's happened before. But it didn't happen. With 6 miles left, I said to myself, even 10 min miles will get me home in a pb. So instead of that, I tried to keep the pace steady and not drop. Down Nutley Lane and onto the long road to the RDS. It felt never ending but the pace was staying steady. A woman and man behind me starting talking about how they might miss sub4 - their watches said 3:43 and they were feeling tired. Mine said 3:42 and I thought to myself, jeez, I might just do this. Saw Chinguetti again around the 25 mile marker and he gave me an almighty roar and pushed me on. Saw the 40k sign and looked at the watch. Holy crap, I might do it. Head all over the place, breathing and heart completely mental. 26 mile marker and the finish line was in sight. I could see it but it seemed to far away. I could see 3:57 on my watch and thought, no, it's too far. I won't make it. So I went as fast as my tired legs and heavy body would let me. The crowd were amazing, the noise was incredible. Another step, another step, another step. And then that was it, the finish line. The clock over the line said 4:00:04.
I couldn't see my watch when I stopped it. My legs went from under me and I fell onto a barrier. Three volunteers were over to me straight away and I managed to tell one of them my inhaler was in my flipbelt. She got it out and the other two put me in a wheelchair. I got a blast of the inhaler and the volunteer kept saying to me, slow slow, take your time. The other volunteers wanted to take me to the medical tent but I eventually got the words "I'm fine" out and got out of the chair. I thanked them and apologised for the panic - "You're grand, you're grand!' I finally looked at my watch and it said 3:58. Holy crap, I'd done it. 9 years and 11 marathons later I'd finally gotten my sub4. Of course I started to cry :rolleyes: Another volunteer saw me and threw her arms around me for a big hug. She said she never forgot finishing the marathon in Seville and no one coming near her, so she made sure she was giving hugs to whoever needed them. I got my hug, I got my medal and I rang OH. He was over the moon, they had been tracking me and knew my time before I did - 3:58:30. Then I rang my Mam and she had me crying again by telling me how proud she and my Dad were of me. I met the coach and thanked him profusely for getting me there. And then I met my gang and headed home on a cloud.
So it's the day after and I'm still over the moon. If I hadn't got sick, I probably would've gotten closer to 3:53. However I left every bit of myself out there on the route and I couldn't have gotten anything else yesterday. I'm so happy with how I didn't let my head drop. I kept going and took 9 mins off my pb and 14 mins off my last DCM time. I had a great training cycle (and a great coach in Wottle). I ran as consistent a race as I could possibly run - first half in 1:59:14, second half in 1:59:16. I'm a very very happy bunny.0 -
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