Running with the birds or for the birds?

kit3

jonny99 wrote: »

Word of warning..Dont let Kit3 fool you Marthastew,theres a serious hardcore there beneath that exterior..Her baking, i cant vouch for..

Ha ! Don't know about that ! Can still remember that hurl after I crossed the line, the finishing video just managed to capture it nicely too - was watching it thinking stop now...... Come to think of it, might have been the baking :rolleyes:

Emer911

Best of luck in Kildare tomorrow girl!

Dory Dory

You running Kildare tomorrow?? (half or full?) I don't think I remember reading that in your log. Unless I missed that post (which is possible), seems like being under the radar is a bit in vogue right now. Good luck!!

Marthastew

Emer911 wrote: »

Best of luck in Kildare tomorrow girl!

Dory Dory wrote: »

You running Kildare tomorrow?? (half or full?) I don't think I remember reading that in your log. Unless I missed that post (which is possible), seems like being under the radar is a bit in vogue right now. Good luck!!

It was the half.... PB of three minutes; 1.35.XX for me, I am VERY HAPPY:D:D

DD, as all good Catholics know, the month of May is very busy with communions, confirmations and the subsequent family gatherings.... Proper log posting and race report will resume (briefly) tomorrow before next weekend's round of Holy Moly parties and ferrying of sons to and from important matches......

belcarra

Marthastew wrote: »

It was the half.... PB of three minutes; 1.35.XX for me, I am VERY HAPPY:D:D

DD, as all good Catholics know, the month of May is very busy with communions, confirmations and the subsequent family gatherings.... Proper log posting and race report will resume (briefly) tomorrow before next weekend's round of Holy Moly parties and ferrying of sons to and from important matches......

Good woman!!
1:35:??

I'm not worried...!

RacoonQueen

Well done again. I wasn't very enthusiastic for you and CL when I finished too wrecked from that wind. Excellent running, you're both leaving me with some serious chasing to do.

Marthastew

belcarra wrote: »

Good woman!!
1:35:??

I'm not worried...!

No need to worry... I'm pretty sure it was 1.35.5X, the clock was 1.35.55ish I think when I finished and we started up near the front just two rows behind the 1.30 pacers.....

I'm basking in the glory of 1.35.XX until the official results:D:D

belcarra

Ahh, sure we're all part of the same team anyways!!

Dory Dory

Serious congratulations on your PB!!! And thanks for reminding me about the month of May being so jam-packed full of Hail Marys and Our Fathers for I must've been working on my rosary beads and distracted in holiness when I wrote my note to you and not thinking about what month we were in. Enjoy your celebrations - both church and non-church related.

DigiJem

Congrats on the 3 minute pb, looking forward to the race report

digger2d2

Well done on the tasty PB but more importantly on chicking Senor Stew :)

Marthastew

Friday May 11th
endorphin run 5.83 miles avg pace 8.45 min mile
After horribel weather all week, the sun returned and I jumped at the chance of a run for fun, I headed out the door for the hills of Killiney and was rewarded with the most spectacular view on the Vico Rd; the dolphins were back! If I hadn’t been in somewhat of a rush I think I would have headed down to the beach and swam out to them, they were happily swimming and playing the bay. I stopped for a few minutes to watch them and I was on a high when I got in the door from this run:D

Saturday May 12th
Rest day
More GAA matches and a communion party. I took advantage of the buffet and carb-loaded on delicious food, I was very close to over indulging in the wine also but I sensibly switched to coffee and water before any real damage was done.

Sunday May 13th Kildare half marathon, 13.18 miles avg pace 7.16 min/mile:D:D:D:D
I woke bright and early delighted to see the sun and had my usual pre-race breakfast of bagel with peanut butter, honey and banana. I ran a mile down the road to collect the car (Although Mr Stew and I hadn’t overindulged too much at the communion the day before we were both over the limit to drive). As I sat into the car I realised I had just completed the Claralara patented lucky one mile easy run the morning of a race:p
Mr Stew and I collected my friend Karen who has only ran a couple of times since Paris marathon, she wanted to get her running mojo back so she felt a race would do the trick.
Traffic down was no problem and we parked and on opening the car door I was nearly blown away, the wind was unbelievable and I was wondering how this would affect our race time. We headed up to meet a friend of Mr Stew’s who had collected our numbers and we also bumped into lots of other familiar faces including CL who was worried about her sinuses (but of course the sinuses were no match for superwoman CL and she had nothing to worry about:), 1.33.XX).

The pre-race atmosphere was good fun and time flew by, we headed towards the bag drop and I wanted to go to the loo one more time before the start and the queue was horrendous, luckily a group of ladies in front of me decided we should go use the men’s loo, so I followed them. Most of the guys didn’t seem to mind and I was back out looking for Mr Stew before long. Karen joined up with meno and the 1.45 pacers and Mr Stew and I positioned ourselves about two rows behind the 1.30 pacers.
A few minutes delay and we were off. We passed a few people to start then things evened out with us being passed (CL passed, head down with a mission in mind) and also passing the odd runner over the first mile. I was shocked at how windy it was to start and I was hoping that we would eventually have the wind at our backs. We had planned to run together but he was complaining of tight calves and at about two miles I left him to his own devices (all’s fair in love and races:)). I managed to tuck in behind two guys from just after mile 2 till the wind miraculously disappeared about mile 3. I thanked the guy, telling him I would return the favour (knowing full well that he would be long gone before long) and we had a chat for a while, he’s running Cork in 3 weeks and I’d say he’ll do well, we caught up after the finish and he was thrilled with his 1.32 finish. My average pace at this stage was only 7.20 but I realised that the wind had taken a lot out of me and I eased back a little so I was very surprised to see mile 4 pace as 6.55, I hadn’t noticed just how downhill it was. I slowed again for mile 5 and picked it up for mile 6. The support from the locals was super and I’m not sure exactly at what stage we joined the Full runners but after a while I noticed I was passing people who weren’t in great shape. I chatted with a local guy for a small bit, he had done the full last year but only had time to train for the half this year, it was nice to have the company for a while. I gave every single Full marathon runner an encouraging word, a lot of them were on their own and were happy to get the support but quite a few were understandably only interested in getting to the finish line. I picked things up a bit at this stage, after all, I was only doing the half.... it was the least I could do for all those poor Full runners I was passing:) When we ran into Kildare town at about 10 miles I actually even felt guilty accepting all the cheers from the crowds although I’m sure they could have cared less what distance I was running.
At this stage I realised that I would have to pick it up a bit to get my goal and I put the head down and gave it my best. I was encouraging all the full runners that we only had 5K to go and a few of those runners came up to me after the finish to shake hands. As we turned into the racecourse I felt the wind at my back and I knew the running gods were smiling on us:), wind at our backs! I was running alongside a guy who had been overtaking me and me overtaking him over about the last four miles and he very kindly told me to try and pick it up, he spotted the luminous pacer’s t-shirts and asked could that be the 1.30 guys? I knew it couldn’t be and I said it was probably the Full but I told him to try to catch them, off he went. I started picking off runners to overtake and a guy running the half told me there were hardly any women ahead of me, I knew there were a good few (in fact there were 10) but it was so nice to get the encouragement at that stage. I soon caught the 4.30 pacers and was delighted to see the wonderful Aimann surrounded by a few runners holding on for dear life, I pushed on and was very happy to see the finish clock still had 1.35.XX, I just about sprint finished, it was great fun with all the crowds and I ran across the line into Ultraman who had had a very eventful morning to say the least but he was still smiling and shaking hands with us all. I had finished 102nd out of 1288 finishers, 11th female, chip time 1.35.50, a three minute PB:D:D:D


I waited for Mr Stew to finish, I didn’t gloat I promise:) and we used our friends in high places (Meno, Aimann) to join the pacers for tea, sandwiches and RQ’s legendary chocolate biscuit cake…. what a perfect way to end a race.
We queued for a good while to get out of the car park.. the perfect opportunity for post-race analysis; Mr Stew didn’t PB but left Kildare full of resolutions on how to get back on track, Karen was happy with her race and is also planning her comeback.

Me? Well, I’m just as happy as a pig in sh**e:D

digger2d2

That was like a short story relative to what I expect we'll see on CL's log come lunchtime :eek:

Well done again! By the way, running out your front door and considering swimming with Dolphins in the sea sounds amazing, I ran down to the Dodder last week and got in for a dip with a shopping trolley and two bicycle wheels :D

menoscemo

Sounds like you had too much fun on the course. there must be another minute or two if you sufferred a bit more

kit3

Congrats on a great pb. Well deserved.

Emer911

Fantastic running Marthastew. A whopping 3 minutes off your PB AND with a wind too? Awesome stuff!
I don't think you've topped out yet though.

Younganne

Congrats on the PB, and lovely report as usual.

Thats a magical picture you paint of the view from the Vico, with the Dolphins playing in the bay. I must pop back up that way and visit the views again sometime!!!:D

Marthastew

kit3 wrote: »

Congrats on a great pb. Well deserved.

And you too! Congrats on your PB, I'm delighted your race also went so well.
I can recommend Brown Soda Bread (home-made of course) with Nutella as the perfect celebratory snack:)

Marthastew

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Well done again. I wasn't very enthusiastic for you and CL when I finished too wrecked from that wind. Excellent running, you're both leaving me with some serious chasing to do.

Well done you and your top 10 finish:)
and we don't mind how enthusiastic/unenthusiastic you are when you have your home-made choccie biscuit cake:D

claralara

Well done again super model!! Have I told you just how wonderful and attractive you are?! awesome pb - delighted you had such a good race!

racheljev

Congrats on the pb, well done! Great racing and reporting. What's next on the horizon for you?

jcsmum

Well done. Amazing time

Marthastew

Early in the week, I know but I'm going to wish you VERY, VERY best of luck in Lux this weekend, you will be amazing!

racheljev wrote: »

Congrats on the pb, well done! Great racing and reporting. What's next on the horizon for you?

I'm very much enjoying the no-plan life at the moment but I'm in the process of trawling through the bible (P&D) and will draw up a plan of action this week.
I have a great few months ahead, the main goal for this year is Berlin at the end of September with a few races throughout the summer and then New York in November:)

Marthastew

Total miles for last week 47.64,
Brings my total for the year so far to just over 900… I hope to reach 1,000 by the end of this month:)


Monday May 14th
6 mile recovery run, avg Pace 9.07 min/miles
45 minute Body Pump Class
I found it tough cycling down to the gym as it was so windy so I decided to run this on a flat route into the wind for 3 miles and then turn round and enjoy the push back home. Having felt great and not at all stiff after the Half on Sunday I did feel the race in my legs a bit at the start of this run but that could have been because I hadn’t stretched at all. I felt great after the run and the Body Pump Class perfectly topped off my active recovery.

Tuesday May 15th
45 minute lower body class
Foam Rolling, stretching and core work 15 mins
Intervals on treadmill; 2K warm up at 10 min mile, 4 x 1 mile @ 6.58 pace with .4 mile rest at 9 min/mile pace for total of 6.4 miles
Half hour spin class
It was still very windy out so I decided to do my intervals on the treadmill again, and like the last time I started to relax once I got the hang of it. My 2K warm up was because I spent so long trying to figure out the settings… turn it into pace per mile, set the speed etc… I had planned to do 1600s but had to make do with miles instead as I was afraid to mess up my system, I must get a little tutorial on these new treadmills, and yes, I know, this makes me sound ridiculously stupid:o
I’m starting to enjoy speed sessions and I’m very optimistic for my Berlin goal of Sub 3.30 now that I’ve properly introduced them to my running repertoire:D
I hopped off the treadmill and then headed into spinning. I’m hoping to get as much done as I can during the week since this coming weekend will be as hectic as the last few with communions, Hurling Féiles etc.... Dory, it's time to get the rosary beads out and start your Hail Marys and Our Fathers;);)

Dory Dory

Rosary Beads out and Hails and Ours are being recited in a sing-songy lyrical fashion with a few dance moves to emphasize the Amen and the Halleluja!

shazkea

How can you chat your way around a half and still PB . Congrats on a great race.

Marthastew

Wednesday May 16th
90 minute hot Yoga class
Medium Long run 10.09 miles, with last three miles at PMP (7.55) avg pace 8.35

Thursday May 17th
Dip in the 40 Foot
45 minute boot camp class,
45 minute lower body class.
I had considered doing a recovery run after this (1,000 mile challenge on my mind:)) but it was raining and I I was tired and hungry so I had lunch and read the paper instead. I should have gone for a run....the economic doom and gloom is almost overpowering at the moment, it could be worse I suppose, we could be in Greece….. although at least the sun shines there:cool:.

Friday May 18th
MLR 11.09 miles avg pace 8.50 min/mile
I needed to be in town again so I decided to run in the Phoenix Park as I only ever run there during races. The gym I’m a member of has a branch on Aston quay so I dropped in my bag and headed down the quays, before long I was at the park and happy memories came flooding back. I love the section of DCM that runs through the park, it’s still early in the race so everyone is happy and the views are always spectacular; amazing autumn coloured leaves, mist rising from the grass….
A different view today but equally enjoyable in spite of the not so perfect weather. The deer seemed happy to see me, I crossed paths with a few runners who all returned my Hi, the soft ground was a joy to run on. I followed the route to Chapelizod gate and then retraced my steps back to the gym for a shower. I really enjoyed this run.



Today we’ve Hurling Féile for my oldest boy and another round of communion parties and of course the Heineken cup Final where hopefully the boys in Blue will Triumph once again…. Life is good

Marthastew

Sunday May 20th
Energie Rathfarnham 5K
I was happy to see they accepted entries on the morning for this race as we weren’t sure whether we would be on the side of a GAA pitch this morning. Luckily;) my son’s team didn’t make it to the hurling final, he wasn’t at all disappointed as they had been placed in a very tough division.

We were at a family communion yesterday and having taken things fairly easily last week before Kildare I decided that I would treat this race as a sort of a time trial and still enjoy the hospitality, the only problem is that very little wine gives me a very big hangover nowadays…. When I woke this morning extremely thirsty with a splitting headache I briefly considered not heading into Marlay park. I dragged myself out of bed and left a sleeping house behind. A fab morning and a perfect location, the volunteers were extremely friendly at registration and had obviously not overindulged in wine yesterday. I went and got myself coffee and a lucosade sports drink and started to feel human again. A nice easy mile warm up and I headed to the start feeling much better. I’ve only run two 5Ks before, 22.XX in 2011 and 24.XX this year with my son, I was optimistically hoping for 21.XX but that was before I drank so much wine:p I looked around and decided to line up in the second row and off we went… The first mile was lovely 6.53 and I was full of hope, Second mile my concentration drifted and I started to feel a little nauseous 7.13 but I was sticking to a younger female just ahead of me and suddenly got the strength to push on and pass her, I was sure she would overtake me but I just put the head down and kept going. Last mile 6.38:), My Garmin has the course a little short at 2.98 miles but other boardsie Garmins had it bang on so I'm taking that as my new 5K PB,

20.37, First in my category and finished 15th out of 225 runners:D:D


I’m under no illusions… this was a pancake flat 5K in perfect weather conditions with a very laid back atmosphere, I’ve a lot of work to do but a sub 20 minute 5K will hopefully be mine someday!

Dory Dory

Awesome job! Congrats on the first place win and the smashing PB! Looks like you are in top form. Woo hoo!!

menoscemo

Marthastew wrote: »

[

I’m under no illusions… this was a pancake flat 5K in perfect weather conditions with a very laid back atmosphere, I’ve a lot of work to do but a sub 20 minute 5K will hopefully be mine someday!

Well done today. I'd say your garmin probably lost coverage in the trees, it happens to me a lot when I run in Marlay.

By the way, I saw the route map for that race and it definitely is not flat. There'll be a lot more to come in terms of time on a flatter, faster course