...and back to Connemara.

meathcountysec

littlebug wrote: »

not the end of the world as long as I'm enjoying it.

You can put this to music.:D Keep trucking on. Targeting a race too soon can put you under pressure, create undue disappointment and take the enjoyment out of what is supposed to be a hobby.

Nice Spring weather this week. Take the pooch out for a trot

littlebug

:o
and I haven't run since....:( I've a list of reasons excuses the length of my arm but I won't bore you with them.

So... Connemara won't be happening obviously and it's too late to defer so if anyone is looking for a place so that's a bit of a pain. Talk about an irrelevant thread title :rolleyes: Maybe it'll give me something to aim for next year.
The (loose) plan now is to get back to basics and aim for a 5k in Athenry on 3rd april and 10k in Castlebar at the start of May. I'll stick to short distances for now rather than making any grand plans.
So now that I've embarrassed myself by updating this log I will do 3 miles tomorrow.

rainbow kirby

littlebug wrote: »

So... Connemara won't be happening obviously and it's too late to defer

This is a huge pain in the arse, particularly because I broke myself 5 days after the closing date for deferrals :pac:

ronanmac

That's a bummer, littlebug. You'll soon be up and running (:o) again. Perhaps an autumn marathon to focus the body and mind?!

littlebug

rainbow kirby wrote: »

This is a huge pain in the arse, particularly because I broke myself 5 days after the closing date for deferrals :pac:

I know... if I had just admitted it to myself a few days earlier....:(

ronanmac wrote: »

Perhaps an autumn marathon to focus the body and mind?!

:eek: I'm having trouble getting myself motivated for a 5k Rónan, marathons are far from my thoughts at the minute!

BeepBeep67

littlebug wrote: »

The (loose) plan now is to get back to basics and aim for a 5k in Athenry on 3rd april and 10k in Castlebar at the start of May. I'll stick to short distances for now rather than making any grand plans.

The short stuff is fun - I personally feel too many head straight for the longer stuff - race every week through the Summer and have fun

maria74

Seems to be a few of us at the moment backing it all up.

Here's hoping we can all get mojo back and get a few short runs in at least over the coming months.

Doing it for the joy of it!:D

RayCun

There's no point in forcing yourself through a marathon training programme if you're not enjoying it - stick to the shorter stuff if that's what you're in the mood for.

littlebug

3.1 very enjoyable miles this morning. I took the dog with me and she didn't try to trip me up once though we did have a few pit stops (the dog not me:p). I ran my ususal route in reverse which meant going up the big hill rather than down it.
It felt like I was keeping a reasonable pace up though I didn't time it. It was quite funny though when I was huffing and puffing up the hill and the dog beside me had slowed to mere stroll :rolleyes:
Right thats me started again..... I'll aim do that same run 3/4 times this week and next and see how I get on in Athenry (on Mothers Day!). There's not much info online about it yet. I wonder if it's the same route as the 5k series one?

BrokenMan

Good to see you back running again. Enjoy the short races over the next few months and get the love back again.

5k in Athenry is over the same route as the 5K series alright.

ronanmac

Fair play, littlebug. All you need is the momentum that comes with consistency and you'll be flying again soon. It's a good idea alright to focus on enjoying running rather than picking looming targets! What's the 5k in Athenry?

Bally8

Glad to see you back littlebug, had missed you around here. Im in the same kind of headspace as you right now- trying to run just for the enjoyment of it and not because a big training plan is telling me to run. Im finding it tough though as I feel like Im constantly being pulled towards longer distance races and then I put pressure on myself to get a certain mileage in each week and now Im injured again:( Sorry for the long winded ramble:)

meathcountysec

Glad you're back out with us again. Try to get into some sort of a habit/routine, then build on that consistency.

That's what I'm trying to do anyway:rolleyes:

littlebug

ronanmac wrote: »

What's the 5k in Athenry?

It's in Newcastle rather than athenry, in aid of Scoil chroí Naofa. There's no info up on it yet. http://www.athenryac.com/2011-newcastle-school-run-5km. Going by last years results it'll be a fairly small field with quite a few at my end Might be a good one for MrsMac?;)

Bally8 wrote: »

I put pressure on myself to get a certain mileage in each week and now Im injured again:( Sorry for the long winded ramble:)

Same.... i put pressure on myself to up the mileage and everytime I go over 5 miles the itb plays up I'm sticking to 5k for a few weeks before attempting anything longer.

meathcountysec wrote: »

Glad you're back out with us again. Try to get into some sort of a habit/routine, then build on that consistency.

That's what I'm trying to do anyway:rolleyes:

I know... getting from no or sporadic running to regular/ routine running is the hard part
anyway... reading reports from Craughwell yesterday had me back in here, reading about and thinking about running again so hopefully that means I've got my mojo back!

rainbow kirby

littlebug wrote: »

Same.... i put pressure on myself to up the mileage and everytime I go over 5 miles the itb plays up

This scares me

littlebug

rainbow kirby wrote: »

This scares me

yikes sorry Rk
Lets just say it's probably my age.... in which case you'll be fine
I do think it's a game of patience with the itb and just not pushing it too far so at the minute I know I'm good for 3 miles but not for 6 so that's what I'll do for another couple of weeks. There's no point in pushing it.

shazkea

Great to see you back running and hope you get your mojo back soon

rainbow kirby

littlebug wrote: »

I do think it's a game of patience with the itb and just not pushing it too far

Now this could be a huge problem :pac::eek:

littlebug

3 miles in the woods this morning in 10.52/9.25/9.19 (total 29.37), average pace 9.53 after which I was rightly pooped I don't think there'll be any pbs anytime soon:p. The woods, though lovely to run in, always feel a bit harder than road running for some reason, maybe it's the varied surfaces and dodging branches and tree roots etc

littlebug

4 miles in 39.26, ave pace 9.51, ave hr 168.
10.45/10.15/9.13/9.15

The stats are a wee bit misleading as I stopped after 3miles and took the last mile as a sort of interval type run, first by trying to keep a decent pace up the hill with a bit of a break at the top.
An enjoyable run overall. I wore the hrm for the first time in ages.... interestingly my hr for the first .1 mile was 56/57 and that's after having walked a bit while waiting for the gps to kick in it didn't take long to skyrocket though I must figure out my resting hr properly.

littlebug

3 miles this morning with the dog. Average (moving) time 30.01, pace 10.01, hr 171. Miles 10.17/10.28/9.41. I used moving time and pace due to the numerous pitstops. The dog behaved reasonably well despite a minor incident with another dog :eek: In fact I was sitting at 9.45 for the last mile with a half a mile uphill drag to go and the dog actually pulled me to run faster uphill bringing the time down
HR a bit higher than it should have been but that may have been due to the lack of breakfast + yesterdays run.

Emer911

littlebug wrote: »

3 miles this morning with the dog. Average (moving) time 30.01, pace 10.01, hr 171. Miles 10.17/10.28/9.41. I used moving time and pace due to the numerous pitstops. The dog behaved reasonably well despite a minor incident with another dog :eek: In fact I was sitting at 9.45 for the last mile with a half a mile uphill drag to go and the dog actually pulled me to run faster uphill bringing the time down
HR a bit higher than it should have been but that may have been due to the lack of breakfast + yesterdays run.

...but isn't that cheating?:D :rolleyes:

littlebug

Emer911 wrote: »

...but isn't that cheating?:D :rolleyes:

Shhhhhhh don't tell. I'd take her to the next race if I could except for the fact that she's likely to trip up anyone near us..... .....oh hang on :D

littlebug

slow quick quick slow.

A night-time better than nothing treadmill run. Slow 11 min warm up, then two miles @ 9.17 and a slow slow cooldown mile, slowing down to a walk by the end, so over 12 mins. I only intended a half mile cooldown but my thoughts ran away with me and I found myself at .8 so carried on.

littlebug

Fri. Slow 3m.

Tomorrows race is all about getting the feel for races again. My 5k pb is "about" 27 mins... I won't even get close to that . My time for this course last time was 27.55 I think. To be honest I don't think I'll touch that either :o. I'll be happy to break half an hour:rolleyes:

rainbow kirby

Good luck tomorrow

maria74

Enjoy it tomorow, hopefully the am weather from today will return.

meathcountysec

littlebug wrote: »

Fri. Slow 3m.

Tomorrows race is all about getting the feel for races again. My 5k pb is "about" 27 mins... I won't even get close to that . My time for this course last time was 27.55 I think. To be honest I don't think I'll touch that either :o. I'll be happy to break half an hour:rolleyes:

Don't think about pace. Don't cut a stick to beat yourself up with.

Your racing again. Plenty of time next time out to target times.

Best of luck.;)

littlebug

Newcastle (Athenry) 5k Race Report.
Since I haven’t been running anything resembling regularly since October and really only getting some motivation back in the past couple of weeks I knew a pb wasn’t going to happen but based on very recent runs I reckoned 9.20/mile was a reasonable estimation of what I could expect. That would see me finish in about 29 minutes but having run the route before I knew the long uphill drag from 2 to nearly 4k could change that... you know... me’n’hills..:rolleyes:
I was awoken this lovely mothers day morning with a cup of tea, lots of cuddles and many many home made cards ... I’ve only got 2 children I mooched around for a while getting myself ready but couldn’t find my garmin ... not got a clue where it is! So I resigned myself to having to do it the old fashioned stopwatch and k signs way which would mean challenging my brain to have to think in kilometres and do sums along the way. I reached Newcastle early, registered and said hello to the very nice MickRice who was the man in charge. Time ticked on and I wondered why no one was turning up for the race. At 11.50 surely we should be off to the startline? The penny dropped..... I was early early rather than just early as the race was at 1, not 12. So, more mooching, tea (on Micks insistence) and chatting with the nice Newcastle people and I was ready to go (again) an hour later.
Off at the start without a clue of pace, into a nice downhill/ flat first kilometre. I hit the first k marker at 5.30, grand, happy with that, the aim was to keep it between 5.30/6 mins. From there on it was a long drag, not steep but unrelenting up to about 3.8k. The second k was done in 5.50, the brain stopped working for the next two but I was happy I was within my target. I never felt the need to stop or walk and the hill didn’t feel bad at all:). Once we hit 4 k after a bit of a plateau it was all downhill and I was happy to see 28.xx on the clock as I approached. I put the boot down a bit and finished the last k in 5.20 with (I think) 28.45 on the clock so about 28.40 for me. (yes I started the stopwatch too soon and then forgot to stop it:rolleyes:). Now my brain is functioning again I’ve done the sums and that equates to 9.13 min miles. I’m happy with that... the fact that I didn’t find it too hard, was feeling grand and talking away within seconds of finishing tells me I probably had a bit more to give. In fact I know I did... but hey it’s grand for my first race of the year and gives me an indication of what to aim for in the Castlebar women’s mini marathon 10k on 1st May.
Said hello and had a quick chat with Magnet but had to hotfoot it in to Galway to meet up with the clan (an hour later than planned:o) so I didn’t hang around.
Lovely race, lovely route, nice people, nice tea

Bally8

Nice running there littlebug. Sorry I had to laugh, you poor thing being there so early!:)

jcsmum

Well done LB, great run!

BrokenMan

Well done, nice controlled race. Wouldn't worry about being htere early there isn't a better place in the country to put down an hour.

But then again I'm biased

shazkea

Good to see you back racing again LB, well done and glad to see you're enjoying it again.

ronanmac

Well done, littlebug... You're officially back now!

claralara

Nice one LB, plenty more where that came from over the summer!

littlebug

A sleepless week with a small patient in the house so a slow 3 on the tm was all I managed midweek.
Today, 3.25 miles with the dog @ 9.54 average pace.
6 mile route planned tomorrow... I'll keep it slow and see how I feel at 5 and decide then whether to walk or run the last one.

littlebug

6 miles slow and steady. The aim was to keep HR low (for me) and ignore pace, easier done in the first 4 miles.
6 miles in 1.04, ave pace 10.42, hr 169. I've only run this distance a handful of times since October and this was the first one where the ITB behaved itself:)

Bally8

littlebug wrote: »

this was the first one where the ITB behaved itself:)

Nice one, delighted to hear it.

littlebug

3 miles on the treadmill. My aim is to average no slower than 9.20 min miles in Castlebar in less than 3 :eek: weeks time though I think it'll be a testing enough course.
According to this table the equivalent treadmill pace is 8.49 min miles or 6.8 mph setting.
So I did half mile very slow warm at 5.5 (11mm), followed by 2 miles at 8.49 and slow warm down half mile. Total 3 miles in 28. 30.

By the time I was finished Mr was home so after a quick shower I went off out for a glorious leisurely 3 mile walk with the dog .

littlebug

Thurs/ Sat... couple of 3 slow miles with the dog. Didn't time them.

Sun... I didn't get myself organised to get a run in this morning so was stuck to the TM again. 5 miles in 48.30.... (11/8.50/8.50/8.50/11). Not bad... I felt better after the middle three than I thought I would. I know it's not the same as running on the road etc but still.....:pac
Kids will be at home for 2 weeks now. I can 't see myself getting out of bed early enough to run before MrB leaves.....hmmmm.

littlebug

3.1 miles with the dog. Pushed the pace a bit....average moving pace 9.18 BUT that's deceptive as there were a few (canine) pitstops and a couple of chat stops :pac: . Happy to have maintained 9.30 pace up the hill.

maria74

Enjoy keeping up with your log, and I also run with the dog sometimes. Only problem now is everytime he sees my runners come out he wants to come to. Good way to escape themadness of the kids home for 2 weeks tho for me..dog has to be walked/ran!!

Good luck with training for the run in a couple of weeks!

littlebug

Well with one child having just recovered from chickenpox now the other one and my husband :eek: both have it so this morning I left them in their sick beds and went for a run :pac: my time is at a premium so I have no choice but to double up dog walk + run even though she's a bit of a nuisance and doesn't make it easy.
so 3 miles... moving pace 9.44. Felt the lack of breakfast.

maria74

oh No! You will definatly need a run with all that going on...all in for the sake of yours and the families health (and safety) of course!:D
Fab morning for it.

littlebug

Friday 3 slow miles, didn't time it.
This evening 6 miles, average pace 10.19 with a short water break at 4m. It was hot out there !

littlebug

Busy week with not much time for runs. A couple of slow 3 milers is all

Speedy44

littlebug wrote: »

Busy week with not much time for runs. A couple of slow 3 milers is all

come on now LB, your better than that. You can always sqeeze in a run

littlebug

Speedy44 wrote: »

come on now LB, your better than that. You can always sqeeze in a run

2 back at school and one back at work next week after what feels like weeks of minding sick people.... I may not stop running once I get started again

Speedy44

littlebug wrote: »

2 back at school and one back at work next week after what feels like weeks of minding sick people.... I may not stop running once I get started again

not sure what age yours are at, but I managed to get my girls on their bikes this week so that I could get a run in :rolleyes:

littlebug

Speedy44 wrote: »

not sure what age yours are at, but I managed to get my girls on their bikes this week so that I could get a run in :rolleyes:

I've done that with the eldest (nearly 9). It's great fun "come on Mammy, hurry up.. run faster! ":rolleyes: They're only just better from Chickenpox so it may have been a bit much this week Husband has it too thus me being extra busy. Back to normal next week hopefully .... just a small matter of 10k race on Sunday first :rolleyes: