Going it alone

Solobally8

Yes this is another Tri log

I have been running for 6 years now (well plodding actually) but I get regular injuries so last September/October I started swimming and cycling and joined a tri club. Trained hard throughout the winter and so far this year I've completed 3 duathlons, a 10k, 3 5k races, 3 Triathlons, 2 adventure races and did the ROK cycle last weekend for the first time. It's been a great year so far and I'm getting close to the fittest I've ever been.

That said I've decided to leave the tri club and continue my training on my own. As with all clubs in every area of life I presume when you're in you're in but boy when you are out- you are most definitely out! Last night I pulled out of a race for the first time in my life. I am so stubborn that in the past no matter how hard things got, I wouldnt give up. But after being treated badly by a club member yet again I mentally wasnt able to keep going and just left.

__________________________________________

So I'm drawing a line in the sand under that experience and moving on. I LOVE the world of running and triathlon and I'm now excited about what I can do on my own when I put my mind to it.

Next on the agenda is the Brian Boru Sprint on the 5th August. Training for that starts in ernest tonight

RacoonQueen

Welcome back and well done at the weekend. Hope you went for a run afterwards, great ironman training that!

Solobally8

Thanks M. But how did you know it was me?

I was joking about the Ironman after Saturday- I know I can run a marathon, now I know I can do the bike leg- all I need to sort is the swim and Im sorted...not!!

Pity you couldnt make it down to Kerry, it was a very enjoyable day. There's always next year.

shazkea

Welcome to the logs SoloBally8...still waiting for those reports

Hope all is ok with you and good luck with the training.

RacoonQueen

Solobally8 wrote: »

Thanks M. But how did you know it was me?

I was joking about the Ironman after Saturday- I know I can run a marathon, now I know I can do the bike leg- all I need to sort is the swim and Im sorted...not!!

Pity you couldnt make it down to Kerry, it was a very enjoyable day. There's always next year.

Didn't even click the name till I read about the club and ROK. Glad you enjoyed it, definitely on my radar again for next year.

Solobally8

shazkea wrote: »

Welcome to the logs SoloBally8...still waiting for those reports

Hope all is ok with you and good luck with the training.

Thanks shaz, I'll get those reports as requested done by tomorrow I promise:)

littlebug

When I saw the name first I was thinking sol- obally rater than solobally. didn't click for a while
Welcome back to the logs

Younganne

Welcome back to the logs and best of luck with the training solo, Solo;)

RubyK

Wow, you have had a busy 7 months! You've really taken to this tri lark, best of luck with the new log, and going it solo

Solobally8

Thanks ladies, it's good to be back

So as requested Shaz I'l going to write a bit about my last few races to get people up to speed with how things have been going for me this summer.

Hell of the West Relay - 23rd June
This is one race I'm definetly going to do next year-it will be my first olympic I reckon. Anyways this year I went along as part of a relay to see what's involved in this famous race. It's hard to describe the feeling that surrounded the place, huge anticipation, excitement and nerves maybe. Although for me it was quite a relaxed day. There really is no pressure when you're in a relay team that just wants to be part of the experience not compete for places.

The morning started off windy and dull and for a while it looked like we might get away with being dry. Wrong!! When the rain came, it came like a monsoon!

It was fun to be in transition with all the pro looking people and I managed to have a good view of the swim starts. The sea scared the sh1te out of me though- dont know how I'm going in there next year! Our swimmer was out of the water in 39 minutes I think and then it was my turn.

I had cycled the route two weeks before and I think that was great help. I knew those hills were coming and found I was over-taking lots of people from the beginning. The wind was tough and once or twice it felt like it lifted me across the road a bit. Weirdly enough I really enjoyed every second of it and I hit the turnaround bit (its not a turn around course I mean the bit where I knew I was headed back towards the town:)) way sooner than I thought I would. The final hills were a killer but the last bit of a descent into the town was fun. 1:28 for a tough hilly 44k. I was very happy with that as I had set 1:30 as my aim.

The runner did a great time too for a crazy hilly course and we finsihed with a time of 3:01. If I come within 20 minutes of that next year I will be thrilled.
Oh yeah one more thing- the goodie bags were brill. I've used the sun glasses on every cycle since and the jacket rocks. Talk about taking care of your athletes- well done Limerick Tri Club:)

TriAthlone - 30th June
My first open water triathlon and my second tri of the year. (I've also done one club ow tri but that was with 28 other people in the lake I train in every week and a shorter distance)
To say I was terrified would put it very mildly. I dont know what has happened me but for some reason I have become very scared of the water even though I have at least 15 swims done in ow this year. I think it was the fact there would be 125ish in my wave and that the river was flowing at a crazy fast rate.

Hubby and I drove up the Athlone and arrived in car park at 12ish. First person I meet-RaccoonQueen. The heavens opened as we walked to transition and my hair got all curly already:p. Registered and racked my bike, hung around a bit but I was anxious to get back out as hubby was not allowed into the barracks area and it wasnt fair to leave him standing out there for ages like that.

We wandered down towards the boat club so I could see where the swim exit was. I thought that if I could see what I was aiming for I would calm down a bit.

Back into transition for the race briefing at 2.30 then I had 2 hours to pass as my wave wasnt until 4.28. All the hanging around was pretty annoying but at least I had plenty time for my lunch to digest.

Back at the boat club at 4. I was unsure of what to do then- did I wait to be called for my wave or did I walk to the start then?? After a couple minutes I decided to head up to the start- better be early and wait there. As we walked up someone shouted 'You'd better run' and next thing I see all these green hats in the water:eek: Wtf my wave wasnt supposed to start till 4.28 and it was only 4.13! Ran to the start- wetsuit open, hat not on, flip flops hurting my toes. But yes they were gone and I had missed my wave.

Tried my very best not to have a huge meltdown but one of the marshalls very calmy explained that the guy had let them off too early but not to worry that I could go in the next wave which wasnt starting for 24 mins. Thank god I wasnt the only one caught out- there was about 40 of us moved to the next wave in the end.

By now I was shaking with nerves. I just wanted to be finished the swim and on my bike, my race would start then. Soon we were called to the pontoon and it was just chaos, starter guy shouting just go go go trying to get everyone in the water near the kayak before we all got washed downstream by the current. I jumped in and went under swallowing water. I just panicked, I couldnt breath and I wanted to get back out. I only manged to swim about half way to the kayak in the middle of the river when the starter sounded and I had to turn right and go. People everywhere and everyone seemed to be passing me out. I couldnt catch my breath and I was near tears.

I ended up doing the breastroke for about 95% of the swim and had decided to quit once I got out of the water. However my hubby was at the timing mat and I thought I heard him shout '13 minutes' I couldnt believe it- 'did he say 13 or 30?' ' I think he said 13:eek:' 'Well fck it- Im going to keep going so':D

The run into transition was long and it took me a while to get the wetsuit off but I was happy now I was out of the water. Onto the bike no problem and started to over take people which always makes me feel better:). The cycle out to the turn around was tougher than I expected, I knew I was slower than I wanted to be but the wind was strong and I couldnt pedal any faster. I got a few minutes relief after the turn around where the wind was at my back but it seemed to be at my front again within 3 minutes. Bike time of 42:42, I had hoped to go sub 40 so was very disappointed with this.

Another long slow transition had me loosing way more time and I headed out on the run with no watch which meant I had no idea if I was flying or crawling. I never run without my garmin so I have no idea how to run by feel. This run compunded that- I thought I was motoring along at a good enough pace- I totally wasnt. 31:52 - worst 5k ever!

Finish time of 1:31:04 which is a 4 minute improvement on my first triathlon but you cant really compare triathlons as the distances and conditions are so very different. I really hoped to do it in 1:26:xx or even just sub 1:30. The disappointment I felt was huge. I wondered why I put myself through so much training all to suffer through a race.

My comment to that effect on facebook drew lots of replies mostly telling me to train harder and keep going. And after a day or two of sulking that's what I decided to do

I'll crack this triathlon thing some day- I just need to get faster:D

Solobally8

Ring of Kerry 180km cycle - 7th July
When I told Stephen about this cycle a few months back he thought I was mental and even more so when I said I wanted the two of us to do it together. It's alright for me. I only work part-time and so can train a lot more than he can. I also go out with the club for long spins most weekends and I had the 120k Tour of Lough Derg and a cycle to Lahinch and back under my belt. He on the other hand works 12hr+ shift work with very little regular time off. He still managed to get a nice few 50k spins in so we knew we would be in good shape to do the cycle.

We arrived in Kerry full of excitment for what lay ahead. Pity the weather didnt co-operate and we got soaked while queueing to collect our bike numbers. We were blown away by the efficiency for the organisation- thousands of people moving through a very small space very rapidly. Really impressive. Found a lovely restaurant for dinner. I ordered lasagne thinking it would be good to get the carbs in. Suffered huge food envy for Stephens chicken noodle stir-fry though:(

Up bright and early next morning- 6am alarm, instand porridge and a banana for my brekkie. 6 lemon buns from lidl for Stephen:D. We had planned to start cycling at 7 but it took us way longer to pack up the car and get ready so we didnt get to the car park area (which was full) until 7.30. Nowhere to park so we drove around a bit while I started to huff head towards a tantrum (Stephen is well used to me by now) when we finally saw a spot down a lane in front of some houses.

Bikes set up, food in pockets, garmin on and off we went. The first few kms were a very slow pace as the road was so crowded but we happily floated along as we knew a nice easy warm up would set us up for the day. Soon it thinned out and we were able to pick up the pace and soon found ourselves going along at a surprisingly fast clip.

Some light rain, some near misses with people swerving out in front of us and in no time we were at the first food stop in Cahersiveen. Wow:eek: I have never seen so many sandwiches-it seemed like thousands. Plain turkey and ham- my fave. Woohoo.

Next onto the climb outside Waterville. It had been built up to be this monster climb- it's not. It probably is if you havent cycled on hills ever before but we had so it was grand and wow the views from the top were amazing. It is so beautiful along the Ring of Kerry- it was great so see it from the bike.

Anyway we trundled along until Kenmare for the next food stop and the sun even came out. The worst part of the day was not Molls Gap it was the few kms from Kenmare to the start of the climb- the road was like velcro, at times we were doing less than 15kms per hour on what looked like a flat road:eek: It was soul destroying. The climb up Molls Gap was lovely in comparison!

The descent though was terrifying, but strangely exhilerating at the same time. I can say now I enjoyed it- actually I want to go back and not pull my brakes so much!!

The last few kms to Killarney came and went suspiciously fast (its definitely not 180kms ). And we crossed the line together. (My competitive instincts didnt kick in this time )

Great day, great experience and amazing organisation. We will 100% be back next year.

Younganne

2 great reports and well done...you're flying!

shazkea

Worth the wait SB8 . Although you've scared the life out of me about tri but happy to report ROK is now firmly on hit list for next year...see you there

Nules10

welcome back missus solo. No bother to you.:D

Solobally8

Friday saw the beginning of my solo training exploits. A 2k swim. How come I can swim for an hour in the pool now and not even 2 mins in the open water? My hubby thinks its a mind thing and I know he is right but how do I fix it? Anyways I decided to just take it easy today and just swim fc. I timed the first 60 lengths- 41:37. That's now my time to work off. I will re-time this distance every few weeks and try to beat it each time. All with the aim of being able to do an olympic tri next year.

Saturday was my first outing on the bike since Kerry and my first time cycling alone in months. I had an aim to have an average speed of 27kms per hour by the end of the cycle and for the first 65k I was at 28.5kph average. Then I hit the hills and my average speed just fell from there. 72.67kms total in 2hrs 39 mins. 27.1kph average speed.

Sunday= LSR day. I've started a hal higdon half marathon training plan for Charleville in September. Havent been doing too well getting the runs in so far. I'm in Week 2 and have missed 4 out of the 8 runs so far:eek:. Anyway today's run was a nice 5 miler. It felt long as I did it nice and slow and used a hilly route. It was great to get back to running. I miss it. 5.35 miles in 55 mins.

Micilin Muc

Solobally8 wrote: »

A 2k swim. How come I can swim for an hour in the pool now and not even 2 mins in the open water? My hubby thinks its a mind thing and I know he is right but how do I fix it?

It definitely sounds like a mind thing! What's your lake like? What happens when you get in?

I was very uncomfortable when going out of my depth at the start, but concentrating on reaching the buoy and having good form pushes the fear out of my head.

Solobally8

Micilin Muc wrote: »

It definitely sounds like a mind thing! What's your lake like? What happens when you get in?

I was very uncomfortable when going out of my depth at the start, but concentrating on reaching the buoy and having good form pushes the fear out of my head.

I swim in Lough Derg at 2 different piers. I'm actually more comfortable strangely enough at the peir where I cant touch the bottom when I get in. I think its a more sheltered part of the lake or something. The barrel we swim to is closer too so maybe that's part of it.

The other place I swim starts off shallow but it is 350m to the buoy and can get quite choppy out there. Everyone else in the club used to power off and I just couldnt keep up. I think it knocked my confidence.

Actually I think it was TriAthlone and then the recent club Tri where I really lost my confidence. Swimming alone against the clock and feeling like I cant do it, losing my breath and breast-stroking, then giving up really. Definitely a mind over matter thing I'd say.

I just need to get back in there and have a few swims with no race pressure I'd say, to show myself I can do it.

Micilin Muc

Solobally8 wrote: »

I swim in Lough Derg at 2 different piers. I'm actually more comfortable strangely enough at the peir where I cant touch the bottom when I get in. I think its a more sheltered part of the lake or something. The barrel we swim to is closer too so maybe that's part of it.

The other place I swim starts off shallow but it is 350m to the buoy and can get quite choppy out there. Everyone else in the club used to power off and I just couldnt keep up. I think it knocked my confidence.

Actually I think it was TriAthlone and then the recent club Tri where I really lost my confidence. Swimming alone against the clock and feeling like I cant do it, losing my breath and breast-stroking, then giving up really. Definitely a mind over matter thing I'd say.

I just need to get back in there and have a few swims with no race pressure I'd say, to show myself I can do it.

The two lads I swim with are a lot faster than me but I don't feel compelled to keep up with them. I just go at my own pace and rhythm and it feels a lot more enjoyable.

How about taking all the time in the world to swim out to the barrel and forgetting about the watch?

Dory Dory

Yay!!! She's ba-aaack! :D:D
I wondered if that was who posted on my log. So glad you're back at it - you ALWAYS make my heart glow with your reports. Keep at it, you are a rare breed.

Regarding open water swims (and I am NO expert here), I think it's the lack of "immediately reachable visual boundaries" that can freak some people out. I would recommend that you always swim with someone and keep it relaxed and fun while you're out there, and as Micilin Muc stated, don't worry about speed....at least not yet. Another idea - if you have access to a kayak or canoe, have your hubby (or friend) go out with you with him in the kayak or canoe paddling next to you. I've done this in our local lake and it really brings a great sense of security to the situation.

shotgunmcos

Hey SB8 welcome back and well done on the first dip into tri world. Agree with your OH that its a mind thing. HDD makes a good point as usual too. Distracting yourself from the madness is a sure way to keep the swim start anxiety at bay. If you watch any clip of the mass IM starts you will see hundreds of athletes standing up waiting for the eager beavers to swim over themselves.

Love the velcro analogy haven't heard that before. Your reports are always fun to read!

Solobally8

Dory Dory wrote: »

Yay!!! She's ba-aaack! :D:D
I wondered if that was who posted on my log. So glad you're back at it - you ALWAYS make my heart glow with your reports. Keep at it, you are a rare breed.

Ah thanks Dory what a lovely thing to say:). And as for your suggestion re the kayak, my husband does kayak so he said no problem he will go out with me when he can so that will be a great help I'd say.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Hey SB8 welcome back and well done on the first dip into tri world. Agree with your OH that its a mind thing. HDD makes a good point as usual too. Distracting yourself from the madness is a sure way to keep the swim start anxiety at bay. If you watch any clip of the mass IM starts you will see hundreds of athletes standing up waiting for the eager beavers to swim over themselves.

Love the velcro analogy haven't heard that before. Your reports are always fun to read!

I'm definitely planning this for Brian Boru- staying away from the madness at the start but trying to at least have one or two sets of feet to hang on to as I think being left on my own is part of my problem too

Solobally8

Now this is going to take a while...I've been brutal at keeping this updated so I have a full week of training to log now.

Monday 16th July - Headed over to the UL Adventure Centre in to see STL and his Gotri coached group in action. I've been thinking of joining them for some of their sessions as I'm not sure if I like the idea of doing all my training on my own. I cant afford him as a full time coach nor do I think I'm in the kind of league that deserves a coach but these Monday sessions might be the way to get some help with my swim problems. It was such a sh1ty evening- lashing rain and I was running late and ended up using that as an excuse for chickening out of their open water session. I was really annoyed with myself once I saw them in the water as its so safe and relaxed with them and you get individual stroke attention while doing drills in the shallow water- just what I need!! Anyways once they were finished in the water I joined in at went off with the women for the cycle- the guys were starting a few minutes behind. We were doing the route for Brian Boru so I got to cycle this hill that I've heard all about- and it's not actually as bad at all as everyone is saying. I've definitely climbed worse. The cycle turned into a race once the lads started passing us out and I was very happy to be 2nd woman back with 51 mins on the clock for the 22kms. Delighted I went along- they are a very friendly bunch and very happy to have done the cycle route in driving wind and rain and realised it's not the hell I had expected it to be.

Tuesday 17th July - Met up with 2 girls from the club to show them the cycle route and then try find our way round the run route after. The evening was the exact opposite to Monday- sunny and dry and we had a lovely cycle not pushing the pace too much at all. This time I managed to really think about places where I should push the pace on race day and places where I should hold back a bit. After the cycle we got talking to some guys from Boru Tri Club and one of them very kindly offered to do the run route with us even though we were mortified about how slow we were going to be. I was very optimistic thinking the run wouldn't be as hard as everyone claims because the bike was but OH MY GOOD GOD it was sooooo forking steep. I thought I was going to have a heart attack and had to walk. When the guy said well done ye have got to the top of the rat run, only two more, I felt like bawling! We trudged on and finally made it to the downhill part which was heaven. 47 minutes for 6.5k-:o nuts- definite room for improvement on race day!!

Wednesday 18th July - Finally decided to bite the bullet and get back in the open water. My hubby came along to watch, with phone ready to call for help if I started to drown:) The water was the choppiest I think I've ever seen it and I really questioned the sanity of getting in. But I had decided that today was the day so in I went. Managed to swim about 200m well enough- there was a very strong current which pushed me along really. It was when I turned at the buoy to head back in that I started to panic yet again. Waves were hitting my face and I swallowed water again, started to breaststroke and even cried a little with fear. After a few minutes of bobbing up and down feeling sorry for myself I decided that now was the time to HTFU and I started front crawling back to the shore. My hubby was full of encouragement saying that if I could swim in that crazy choppy water I could swim anywhere. I felt a lot better about myself then and did a couple hundred metres more before hopping out delighted to have that monkey off my back!
Later on I ran 3.24 easy miles on the treadmill. It's been weeks since I had a tready run-it's still boring as hell!

Thursday 19th July - Hubby and I went to Castlelough with the dog so I could have another ow swim in a very sheltered part of the lake where its nice and shallow and not one bit scary. This was one of the nicest, calmest swims I've ever had (not including the bit where I was nearly hit by a speedboat!!). Approx 600m but probably more of easy swimming, no breaststroke,no panicking, no fighting for air. Brilliant.
3.2 mile run later on.

Friday 20th July - On a roll with the ow swimming we headed back to Castlelough for another try. This time it was flat calm and I did approx 800m if not more. Couldnt convince the dog to come in with me-he is a big scaredy cat:) Hubby is back to work next week so I wont have the chance to do these swims, delighted to have gotten 3 in when they were absoloutly necessary for me to get over my huge mental block.

Saturday 21st July - Crawled out of bed nice and early for my 6 mile lsr. Started off nice and slowly- 10:30min/mile pace then got faster for the last 2 mile in 9:30 min/mile pace. It was a lovely run. I havent ran 6 miles in a few months as I've been afraid of irritating my achilles. No bother out of it today. Did 10.1kms in the end. Week 3 of half marathon training complete- all 4 runs done.

And finally...
Sunday 22nd July - The local cycling club go out every Sunday morning and I've always been too afraid to join them. I've heard that they are very fast and that they drop you with no mercy if you cant keep up. I didnt think I would be able for them but I miss cycling with a group and I realised I need to do it if I want to improve. So fully of nerves I headed off. Of course they are a lovely bunch of people and all those rumours are totally false. I was the only woman there with 9 lads. And they took such good care of me. The pace was nice and fast from the outset but not too fast for me and I thought to myself that if it got too hard at any stage I would just drop back but they soon informed me that I would not be left behind no matter what. Turns out that I didnt really need them to slow down too much for me- except on the hills where they had to wait for me at the top of each one. Apart from that I dont think I held them up much at all. 100.64kms in 3:21. Loved it. Im off to pay my membership and buy the club gear tomorrow:D

Trig1

And finally...
Sunday 22nd July - The local cycling club go out every Sunday morning and I've always been too afraid to join them. I've heard that they are very fast and that they drop you with no mercy if you cant keep up. I didnt think I would be able for them but I miss cycling with a group and I realised I need to do it if I want to improve. So fully of nerves I headed off. Of course they are a lovely bunch of people and all those rumours are totally false. I was the only woman there with 9 lads. And they took such good care of me. The pace was nice and fast from the outset but not too fast for me and I thought to myself that if it got too hard at any stage I would just drop back but they soon informed me that I would not be left behind no matter what. Turns out that I didnt really need them to slow down too much for me- except on the hills where they had to wait for me at the top of each one. Apart from that I dont think I held them up much at all. 100.64kms in 3:21. Loved it. Im off to pay my membership and buy the club gear tomorrow:D[/QUOTE]

What club is it, I'm looking to join a club and am in 2 minds between Limerick and Brian Boru, living in Newport- what time and where are the sunday morn cycles?

shazkea

Solid training SB8, well done on the OW swims. That run sounds challenging .

Just curious, what are typical rolling times for say a 50km and 100km cycle?

Solobally8

Trig1 wrote: »

What club is it, I'm looking to join a club and am in 2 minds between Limerick and Brian Boru, living in Newport- what time and where are the sunday morn cycles?

Hi Trig1 it's the North Tipp Wheelers cycling club. They are based in Nenagh and go from Peter Moynan bike shop at 9am on Sundays. They also do Tuesday evening cycles at 6.30 and club races on Thursdays.

Solobally8

shazkea wrote: »

Just curious, what are typical rolling times for say a 50km and 100km cycle?

Bimbo head on me this morning Shaz- not sure what you mean Is it how long it takes me to do 50k or the cycling club?

racheljev

Well done on the OW swims, you're brilliant. I get panicked in the pool if I can't see the wall :eek: Your training is going so well.

We arrived in Kenmare just as the Ring of Kerry cycle came through for a pit stop and I could have sworn I saw you cycle by me, just at the Centra on the Killarney road. I was tempted to let a shout but decided a roar of "ANITA!!!" in a thick Duuublin accent might have thrown you off your peddles

Solobally8

racheljev wrote: »

We arrived in Kenmare just as the Ring of Kerry cycle came through for a pit stop and I could have sworn I saw you cycle by me, just at the Centra on the Killarney road. I was tempted to let a shout but decided a roar of "ANITA!!!" in a thick Duuublin accent might have thrown you off your peddles

Ha ha that's gas I would have gotten an awful shock. Pity though it would have been nice to stop and chat

shazkea

Solobally8 wrote: »

Bimbo head on me this morning Shaz- not sure what you mean Is it how long it takes me to do 50k or the cycling club?

No sorry not your fault, question wasn't clear. Yeah how long would you take to do 50km/100km with cycling club? First 50km sportive on Sun and although I don't care how long it takes me to do it, I was just wondering what I could expect the average to be. Thinking of signing up for a 100km sportive also and again just wondering average times for that. Ta

Solobally8

I dont really have much experience of sportives Shaz but I learned from the Ring of Kerry is that there are people of so many different abilities cycling out there that there is no need to worry at all about times and stuff. I usually try to cycle at 28km/hour and the club seems to go about 30km/per hour ish you get pulled along much faster when there are other people around. I plan to do all my sportives with Stephen so our aim will be the same as Kerry, 25kms per hour. You are definitely able for that!

We are doing the Trip to Tipp 70k on the 18th of August- maybe you might think of joining us?

Solobally8

Tuesday 24th July
Took yesterday off, a long overdue rest day. 10 days of training in a row had left me wrecked.

Felt weird to not do anything so I was chomping at the bit to get my run in this morning. 5.22kms in 29:29. Started off nice and slow for half a k then upped the pace a little. First mile in 9:14, decided to go a bit faster as I was feeling good. Second mile 8:54 Third mile 8:57 then really eased off for the last few hundred metres.

My garmin measures in kms but laps in miles so I have this dual data thing going on which is totally confusing me. Alls I know it that today I felt good and really love running miles under 9 minutes- still cant believe that I can do it- am I not a 10 min+ mile plodder??:D