Running with the birds or for the birds?

eoinín

belcarra wrote: »

What happened?? He simply gave up taking photos once his Missus crossed the line? I would have been in the next few photos!:cool::)

Yeah, the important job was done so I scarpered to grab myself a goody bag and some of the tea and biscuits meant for the runners! No I actually only had time to sort through and upload the first few hundred photos. More will follow tonight!

Marthastew

eoinín wrote: »

Yeah, the important job was done so I scarpered to grab myself a goody bag and some of the tea and biscuits meant for the runners! No I actually only had time to sort through and upload the first few hundred photos. More will follow tonight!

Thanks so much to you and all your Raheny clubmates for a great day Eoin:D
You must be very proud (and maybe even a little envious?;)) of Helen, she ran a superb race. It's lucky for me the course wasn't long or she would have caught me!

eoinín

Marthastew wrote: »

You must be very proud (and maybe even a little envious?;)) of Helen, she ran a superb race. It's lucky for me the course wasn't long or she would have caught me!

The real reason I wasn't running was that I was afraid she would beat me! She's beaten me twice in a row! I don't think I could handle a hat-trick of defeats!

Marthastew

Perhaps you and Mr Stew could set up some sort of self-help group;)

that was mean and nasty of me but I know Mr S would find it funny:) and I also know he's out to right some wrongs at our next race.

RayCun

Marthastew wrote: »

Perhaps you and Mr Stew could set up some sort of self-help group;)

Great idea, could you sign up all of Bros Pearse please?

(it was going to be said, might as well say it first :pac:)

HelenAnne

Marthastew wrote: »

Thanks so much to you and all your Raheny clubmates for a great day Eoin:D
You must be very proud (and maybe even a little envious?;)) of Helen, she ran a superb race. It's lucky for me the course wasn't long or she would have caught me!

If the course was longer I probably would have stopped and walked! No way was I catching you! Also, Eoin has failed to point out that the only reason I beat him in the Tom Brennan was that he is better at celebrating New Year's Eve than me

Belcarra, he actually stopped uploading photos BEFORE my big finish. He has some of me falling across the line that I'm sure will go up in due course.

Well run, everyone!

belcarra

HelenAnne wrote: »

If the course was longer I probably would have stopped and walked! No way was I catching you! Also, Eoin has failed to point out that the only reason I beat him in the Tom Brennan was that he is better at celebrating New Year's Eve than me

Belcarra, he actually stopped uploading photos BEFORE my big finish. He has some of me falling across the line that I'm sure will go up in due course.

He added a few more since and yes I am included.
Have to admit though it was a bit of a wasted effort as I'm doing the bauld action of stopping my Garmin AND I look fooked so all in all not exactly one for the mantlepiece!!

ps: All the blame lies with the subject not the photographer!!

menoscemo

belcarra wrote: »

He added a few more since and yes I am included.
Have to admit though it was a bit of a wasted effort as I'm doing the bauld action of stopping my Garmin AND I look fooked so all in all not exactly one for the mantlepiece!!

ps: All the blame lies with the subject not the photographer!!

Stopping your Garmin well before the line. tut tut

belcarra

menoscemo wrote: »

Stopping your Garmin well before the line. tut tut

Preparation Niall! The button was not clicked until across under the gantry.

Now, as for the start...:rolleyes:

Marthastew

Sunday January 26th
Axa Raheny 5 mile
Total 11 miles including w/u and cooldown
My training has been very interrupted over the past few weeks due to a niggly calf issue (thankfully about 95% better at this stage) so I wasn’t overly optimistic heading into this race but I had a nice relaxing day on Saturday followed by a good night’s sleep. When I woke early on Sunday morning to driving rain against the bedroom window I was even less optimistic:rolleyes: Junior’s rugby was cancelled due to the pitches being flooded so I enjoyed the morning at home relaxing. By the time Mr S were heading over to Raheny in the car the rain had more or less stopped and I was feeling a bit better about the task ahead. Mr S was complaining of a sore leg, telling me he was unfit, didn’t want to race etc. etc. and I told him he was spending too much time with Meno;) I reminded him that although we haven’t really completed any consistent speed sessions over the past 2 months we have gotten in plenty of quality long runs and that we just might be ok.
We arrived nice and early to collect our numbers and the good folks of Raheny AC gave us a warm welcome and wished us well. After catching up with Careermove, Cleanman and lots of club mates some of us headed out for a nice easy warm up. We were pleasantly surprised when we all warmed up fairly quickly and we remarked that conditions weren’t too bad after all. We did notice the windy section of the 1st mile and I told Mr S I’d be tucking in behind him here! Back into the hall to drop off our tracksuits etc. and it was great fun catching up with lots more pals, I headed off to the loo and told Mr S I'd see him at the start. Careermove and I moved up towards the front of the corral, no sign of Mr S:eek: I usually have no trouble spotting him as he’s so tall but it was mad busy, I told CM I’d be chasing her instead. It was only when we were tucked in nicely that we noticed the sub 35 sign up ahead and we remarked we were probably too far back, a quick look around confirmed this fact although there were also plenty of runners who looked like they’d be running at our pace. I usually move up towards the front as there is often a chance I might place in my AG however the standard at Raheny is very high and last year I only placed 5th so I had no eyes on a prize today and I was happy where I was.
Bang on time at 3pm we were off and it was very, very congested for the first 800M but things began to even out a little after that. I spotted Mr S up ahead, CM behind him and I kept my eyes on them and settled in as best I could. I was actually glad we had started further back as I really enjoyed picking people off to overtake and before long we were at the first mile marker. My Garmin had frozen before we started and I somehow had turned off the satellite but I had a stopwatch so I hit lap at every mile marker. I wasn’t tempted to look at the time, I felt I was working as hard as I could and Mr S and CM were still in my sights. I did my best to tuck in behind people as it was quite windy along this section and I was glad to see the arrival of the 2nd mile marker. At this stage somebody asked “Time?” and someone replied “13.30” and I smiled as I knew things were going well. I caught up with Mr S and asked him to stick with me but he told me to push on, I was feeling good so I ran on up alongside CM and managed to keep with her. Soon we passed Meno out supporting, he gave us a great shout out. The 3 mile sign appeared and I told myself “Only 2 miles to go” I was really starting to feel it at this stage so I took a few deep breaths and pushed on when we came to the hill down towards the coast road. Again I kept picking off runners and occasionally I’d be overtaken. I was feeling strong, most likely because the wind was behind us but I knew the last mile would be tough so I resisted the urge to pick things up too much. As we turned the corner back up from the coast I noticed most of the runners in front of me cut a huge corner onto the path, a Tallaght runner ahead of me also noticed and said exactly what I was thinking “what the f*ck?”:eek: The 4 mile marker should have cheered me up but I knew that the toughest mile lay ahead and my legs were starting to hurt at this stage. I pushed on trying to catch the group ahead and I managed to overtake 2 runners but with about 1K to go I could hear a runner catching up on me. Not only could I hear this runner but so could the 3 guys in front of me because one of them actually turned around and looked….. Without even having to turn around and look I recognised the runner that was catching up on me, Mr S and I heard him in Marlay Parkrun in November and suffice to say that I’m pretty sure he was either a female tennis player or a porn star in a former life:rolleyes: For about 200M all I could hear was “ooh aah, ooh, aah, ooh, aah” as if things couldn’t get any worse we were catching up on another runner who was also a heavy breather and it was almost as if they were working in unison to pi$$ me off:eek: (turns out it’s not just carol singers that annoy me, it would appear that heavy breathers in a race are also a pet peeve of mine;)) Luckily “serious heavy breather” overtook me and at the same time I overtook “not so serious heavy breather” and I was now back concentrating on the finish line. I could hear the sound of the tannoy at the finish line and a club mate gave me a big shout-out which gave me a bit of a boost, this was followed by a very welcome shout-out from Murphd and before I knew it I had the finish line in sight. I picked it up as best I could, I saw 33.XX on the clock and really pushed it in the hope I’d better my time from last year and I was thrilled crossing the line. Here comes the National Over 50s champion, that made me giggle but the announcer quickly corrected herself (I’m old, but I’m not that old:D) and I was so happy to be finished.
Chip time 33.07, 340th finisher, 31st female
Mr S's chip time 33.46 and rather bizarrely we BOTH recorded the exact same chip times as last year:)
I felt a little sick after finishing but was fine in a few seconds. I was very glad to see Mr S, Helenanne, CM, Belcarra and another pal finish right behind me and we collected our well-earned goody bags. Mr S and I planned to run the course backwards (not backward running, retracing our steps on the course;)) as a cool-down and we were joined by Meno, belcarra, CM and some clubmates. The cup of tea, the mars and snickers bars tasted even nicer after 4 easy miles and since we weren’t in a hurry we decided to stay for the prize-giving as we were still catching up with friends. The hall looked like a 70s Game show with toasters, kettles, hairdryers… Congrats to clubmates Kielyunusual, smmoore and JM; 2nd men’s team. and 8th female finisher IM. I am delighted to say that I am now the proud owner of a new hairdryer AND some new headphones…….
2nd in F45 category
3rd ladies team; Crusaders (3rd scorer)
(Mile splits from my Garmin 6.32, 6.38, 6.32, 6.27, 6.54)

This was the 30th runing of the Raheny 5 mile race and it is easy to see why it goes from strength to strength, this year they had a record number of 2,285 finishers. The organisation was spot on and the local support and involvement make this a race we will do again and again.

Total miles for the week 49.6
Lower mileage this week but I feel I'm getting stronger and I'm looking forward to lots more hard work over the next few weeks.:)

ecoli

Congrats on the category prize. I am pretty sure you got the loudest cheer of the day when you went up to collect your prize:D

AuldManKing

Congrats MS, well done on the prize.






Now, Paragraphs woman. paragraph's.

KielyUnusual

Congrats on the double prize winning. I say we must have looked some site heading out of there in our running gear, laden down with kettles, hairdryers, toasters and other assorted kitchen paraphernalia.

I was sort pf expecting you to finish up your 'A/Rist in the spotlight' slot with a life video conference given the new gear that you got. I was a little disappointed when it never came to fruition:(.

Murph_D

Gritty run, gripping report. Well done, ma'am.

Dory Dory

I see you're still as awesome as ever and racking up the prizes. Loved the report - congrats to you and your serious heavy breather!!!!

RayCun

Marthastew wrote: »

Mr S was complaining of a sore leg, telling me he was unfit, didn’t want to race etc. etc. and I ...

... saw a good opportunity to secure the household bragging rights?

There was some serious corner cutting at the turns on and off the coast road all right, and at the turn off Watermill road, some tape there would be good.

RedRunner

Great report, well done. I laughed at the 70s game show remark. It's a bit of a regular joke with clubmates on the prizes that appear at the Raheny race series too:pac:.

career_move

Super stuff MS Well done on the AG prize AND the team prize ..... bit greedy no?! :D

Aimman

Well done on the race.

Marthastew

Monday January 27th
16.24 miles @ 9 min/miles
more and more stretching and rolling
My legs were feeling surprisingly good after Raheny, I’m assuming tis because it's the first time I’ve ever done a proper cool-down after a race. A nice easy run along the coast (again!) to loosen out the legs and get some miles in. I had a chance to mull over my Raheny result and I’ve decided I need to downgrade my A+ result (the one I awarded myself in order to be allowed eat the goody bag;)) to a B-; I ran a great race EXCEPT for the last mile, I know lots of people slowed on that mile but I feel I let myself down by losing focus and not concentrating enough on really working hard, I should have dug deeper and shaved 8 seconds off that mile (which would have given me 32.59;)) I only felt a little bit sick at the finish line, I should have been about to hurl;)


Tuesday January 28th
Dip in 40 Foot
8.4 miles @ 8.55 pace; with 7 X 20 second strides
45 minute Pilates
Rain, rain go away:mad: A nice few easy miles with some strides to wake up the legs.

Wednesday January 29th
45 minute Body Pump class
Tempo session, total 11.21 miles @ 8.21 pace
4 X 10 min w 2.30 min active recovery
Paces for 10 min intervals 7.29:eek:, 7.05, 7.10, 7.16
Even more stretching and rolling
I stupidly chose to run along the coast and around Blackrock park for this session, windy, windy AGAIN (although all the time I was out in the wind and rain I was thinking of poor pcmpg and Dory Dory who are on the East Coast of the US and training for Boston, now that is weather to complain about!)
The first 10 min interval was VERY slow, not because of the wind or rain (although I did nearly land on my ar*e in the muck) but because I got distracted by a cute dog who ran along beside me for about 400M, a Golden retriever who was SO Cute! And yes, I know this distraction is ironic given the fact that I had promised to be more focussed after Raheny;) A tough session in the wind, I put in a solid effort.

Thursday January 30th
5.32 recovery miles @ 9.45 pace
45 min Hot Ashtanga yoga class
Legs feeling tired and creaky at the start of this run so I took it very, very handy. A lovely calm morning (would have been perfect for a session;)). Feeling brand new after yoga

Friday January 31st
7.1 miles @ 8.38 pace (w 8 X 200m strides)
I possibly picked the worst part of the day to run, headed out the door into driving rain and wind but I had stuff on later so no choice but to get on with it. After the blustery conditions along the coast on Wednesday I decided to head away from the sea today and check out just how bad conditions were down at the track in Kilbogget. Within half a mile I was soaked to the skin but the temperature wasn’t too cold. Not surprisingly the park and the track were flooded and all I did was squish squelch my way round the park and try to get some strides in. I met one person out walking and the council workers were clearing up after the building work (it’s safe for you to return now Krusty, after the water features disappear:)) I started this run not feeling the love but bounded home in the last mile (this last mile was downhill with the wind at my back;))

Gong Hei fat choi to all:D

Murph_D

Re your downgrade - you certainly looked like you were putting the effort in when I saw you about 400m before the finish. So maybe you're being just a little hard on yourself!

Dory Dory

:eek::eek::eek:
Downgrade.....let yourself down...should have dug deeper.....felt a little sick but should have been about to hurl????
:eek::eek::eek:

And I thought I was hard on MYself!! Sheesh. :)

Marthastew

Saturday February 1st
LSR 20.38 miles overall avg pace 8.15 (splits for PMP 7.35, 7.20, 7.14, 7.27, 8.01, 8.02, 7.23, (.38 @ 6.50 pace)
Thankfully Mr S and I had company for this run as the weather was yet again particularly character-building. Our plan called for 20 w/9 @PMP (7.20 pace) but given met eirinn's amber weather warning we decided to adapt the run. We were joined by Meno, PaulieC, Belcarra and my pal Mike (he is also Barcelona-bound). After a brief discussion of wind direction etc. (at one stage we were considering taking the dart Northbound just so we could have the wind at our backs!) we decided to head for Kilternan via Rathmichael and then do 7 @ PMP home. This was cheating somewhat as those 7 miles would be mostly downhill and with the wind at our backs but we all agreed the effort running uphill and into the wind before that would somewhat cancel it out. Also, this is Ireland and on our return the wind somehow was into us on parts of the route! After a disastrous LSR with meno and claralara 2 weeks ago that left me channelling my inner Pharrell Williams I paid great attention to my nutrition on Friday and Saturday morning and this time round I also got a good night’s sleep; as the saying goes “control the controllables” (the weather most definitely NOT being controllable) I’m delighted to say that my plan worked and I finished this run feeling strong and in control. Mr S went tearing off @ HMP, meno and Paulie chased him (Paulie caught him, he’ll do our club proud in Donadea:)) Belcarra and I stuck together for a couple of the PMP miles but we stopped to wait for Mike to make sure he wasn’t lost and then I headed off on my own. I had 2 slow miles into the wind and uphill but I kept the effort constant and I caught up with meno who was likely still a little tired form his 3.18 marathon the week before. I was delighted when I knew all that was left was one downhill mile to home so I told him I’d leave him and go and put the kettle on.
Another great LSR in the training bank:D
(and another chnace to eat chocolate, YUM; Cadbury caramilk)


Sunday February 2nd
Rest
Dip in 40 Foot
More stretching and rolling
With my total mileage just under 70 and the weather was so glorious I seriously contemplated heading out for a recovery run but the new and improved Marthastew sticks to her plan:) I really enjoyed a high-tide sunshiny dip in the sea; the ducks were in great form, waddling off the pier into the high water and there actually was some heat from the sun.
Total miles for the week 68.66

Another good week for me, I’m paying particular attention to my recovery after hard workouts; lots and lots of foam-rolling and stretching and I’m also eating plenty of good healthy food.

Marthastew

Monday February 3rd
10.48 easy miles w 8 X 100M strides, overall pace 8.30
45 minute Body pump class
more and more stretching and rolling
“You wouldn’t put a dog out in that” is what I heard someone say in the gym as I headed out the door for my run:eek: Windy, wet and cold, again:mad: but all I had planned was 10 easy miles with some strides so I was happy enough heading off. I had Graham Norton for company (podcast of his BBC radio 2 show) so the miles ticked by nicely, I’m sure I looked a right sight; not just because of the weather but because I was laughing a lot at the podcast. My legs felt great after the rest day. I popped into Body pump as a cool-down after, I was STARVING in the class, I'm finding I'm hungry all the time with the increase in mileage.


Tuesday February 4th
Dip in 40 Foot
10 X 800 w 2 min rest, total miles 13.05
45 minute Pilates
Hallelujah! Sunshine:) and back up to the track in Kilbogget which had more or less dried up apart from one big puddle. I was rushed for time on the way there so my gentle warm-up wasn’t quite as gentle as I would have liked and I was really dreading this session. I had a big bowl of porridge 3 hours before and a good night’s sleep and conditions were perfect so I knew I had no excuses but to nail this session; no pressure then! I had company for 8 of the reps and this really helped; I was being chased by a pal who is running London and the guy who started with us a few weeks ago, he and I are quite well matched and he overtook me in the last 100M on every rep, this definitely helped to keep me focussed. I concentrated on keeping the effort consistent and staying in control on all of the reps and I was thrilled with how it went, particularly as the last 2 reps were on my own.
splits 3.13, 3.12, 3.11, 3.07, 3.10, 3.11, 3.11, 3.13, 3.12, 3.11



Wednesday February 5th
45 minute Body Pump class
7.11 slow recovery miles @ 9.50 pace.
45 minute mat Pilates class
Even more stretching and rolling
My legs were tired this morning after the session yesterday but they loosened out during the class. My calf is still niggly but with rolling and stretching I’m keeping it under control. This is a heavy duty week for me with another tough session coming up on Saturday so I made sure to take it very, very easy on this run. I had Graham Norton again for company but I turned off the ipod as I ran past Seapoint, the waves were crashing in and the sound was so powerful:D It occurred to me that my recovery runs should never, ever be less than 5 miles as it takes me that long to warm up and start to feel good, in fact it takes me 5 miles on most of my runs…... Donadea is the perfect race for me with 26 more miles to enjoy after I have done my 5 miles warm up:):)

digger2d2

Pretty nasty out there tonight, maybe bring Meno in and let him sleep in the kitchen!?

pconn062

10x800m??! :eek: That's a hardy session, well done!

belcarra

pconn062 wrote: »

10x800m??! :eek: That's a hardy session, well done!

Difference between track fairies and REAL runners!
Good work MS!

Marthastew

Thursday February 6th
MLR; 15.3 miles @ 8.32 pace
I was joined by a friend for 11 of these miles so the miles flew by. A glorious mild, Spring day with the birds chirping. I left my friend when I hit 14 and picked the pace up to MP (but it was downhill:))

Friday February 7th
Rest
Dip in the 40 Foot
45 minute Hot Vinyasa yoga
30 minute Rip 60 class
What a fabulous day! Again I was tempted to run just because it was so nice but I had a tough session coming up on Saturday so I knew I needed the rest.

Saturday February 8th
Tempo run; 2 miles w/u, 4 miles, 3 miles, 2 miles, 1 mile 2 mile c/d (with 4 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min jog recovery)
Total; 16.10 miles overall pace 8.08
Ordinarily I’d do my second session on Thursday/Friday but we decided that we’d fare better if Mr S and I had each other to work off. The forecast was once again grim for this session so we were pleasantly surprised to see the sunshine when we woke up. I’d be lying if I said I was looking forward to this run but I am enjoying these few tough weeks and I hope they pay off on March 16th. We are lucky enough to have a mile long path in a park just over 2 miles from our house (between Deansgrange Supervalu and Johnstown Road) so a very easy jog up and away we went. The wind was more or less in our faces or at our backs and it’s easy to see from the splits which miles were which. We were lucky enough to get the 4 miles and 3 miles done before the wind really, really picked up. All I kept thinking was I hope it’s not windy in Barcelona:eek: On the last rep, I was finding it hard to catch my breath the wind was blowing so strong, I’m sure that all around the country there were people out running also cursing the wind.
Splits; 6.53, 7.08, 6.54, 6.59; 6.55, 7.09, 6.54; 7.19, 7.04; 7.15

Sunday February 9th
LSR 20.01 miles @ 8.30
More stretching and rolling
Despite the late night on Saturday (but no drink) and the fact that I already had 62 miles in my legs heading into this run I really enjoyed it, Mr S and I joined 2 club mates in the afternoon and headed in along the coast to Clontarf and back. A few very windy sections but overall near perfect running conditions and the company meant the miles ticked by. I started to tire on the last 2 miles but I upped the effort to keep the paceup.

Total miles for the week 82.04:D:D:D
Another solid week for me, my highest mileage ever and I’m delighted with how I’m feeling, if it weren't on my Garmin I'd almost think I didn't run that much (and no, I haven't been sending junior out with my Garmin;))
Next up for me is Donadea 50K this Saturday and I’m really looking forward to it, I’m going to run it at LSR pace and my only goal there is to finish feeling strong and enjoy it. I’m wondering if Anto has some sort of ceremony planned where I hand over my National Champion Tiara from last year to this year’s champ:):) I must start writing my speech;);)

career_move

Woah 82 miles ...... that's a lot of miles! No wonder you're never on boards anymore

digger2d2

career_move wrote: »

Woah 82 miles ...... that's a lot of miles! No wonder you're never on boards anymore

That plus the Vinyasa, RIP 60'S and countless mocha choca frappa cinos