The Four Year Plan

spaceylou

Pre-race: arrived in plenty of time with himself in tow for his first race ever; found the Sanctuary Runners gang including the lovely AnnaPR from these parts, got my t-shirt and said all the hellos etc.

Neither G nor me were really sure what we were capable of doing so we decided to start out with the 55min pacer.

KM 1 - KM4: These felt okay and pace was nice and steady although I didn't love that drag up from the KCR. Said hello to some other SR that were walking as I passed them and G deserted me somewhere around there as well.

KM 5 - 8.18: At 4km mark I moved closer to the pacer and was pretty much on her shoulder for the next km, once we hit 5k I pushed on as planned although that drag the second time did slow me a little in the 7th km; finished strong with a final push in the last km, passing far more than passed me and across the line with a finishing (chip) time of 52:48

Splits: 6:29; 6:42; 6:42; 6:42; 6:37; 6:25; 6:32; 6:15

Post-race: Once I caught my breath and got some water I was good. I don't think I could have run that final few 100 metres much faster, not built for sprinting, but with a little more training and a bit more confidence I think I could have run a faster average pace and maybe gotten south of 50 minutes. Overall I was happy with the efforts though as it was 2 and a half years since I raced anything.

spaceylou

Time for the monthly summary table

Month|KM|Pilates Classes
January| 89.94| 4
February| 0| 1
March| 19.6| 1
April| 23.44| 1
May| 66.52| 3
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

spaceylou

The goal for this month is to remain consistent, ideally running 5 days a week with one pilates class and maybe introduce some strength work in the gym.

Week Monday 3 June - Sunday 9 June

Monday: Rest - after the bad reaction to a 60min LSR the day before I thought this best
Tuesday: Pilates class - new instructor for the summer and must say I much prefer her. Can definately feel it in my abs and arms afterwards.
Wednesday: Plan - run with strides but forgot my running gear going to work and then in the evening I just didn't get out.
Thursday: Plan - easy 30 min but slept late and was due to go away for birthday treat so never made it out. Did have a lovely massage in spa though.
Friday: Rest - although did about 15 laps in the hotel pool. Haven't been swimming in ages!
Saturday: Tramore parkrun, unintentioanlly ran this as a progression run, finished in 30:17, fastest time this year - aim to get back under 30 min before the end of the summer.
Sunday: 75 min LSR @ avg. 7:11min/km Ran this is Waterford with G, rather enjoyable although we probably ran this a little fast at the start. Had only intended 60 minutes but we misjudged the distance and added a bit but no ill-effects and no hitting walls like last week

Totals: 2 runs incl LSR and 1 pilates class.

Wubble Wubble

Glad to see the updates L. You seem to have the right approach, building back up slowly. Best of luck

spaceylou

The past few months have been up and down.

My dodgy back flared up in July resulting in a week of nothing but lieing on the floor, very slow, very short walks and frequent physio visits followed by many more weeks of trying to get back to where I had been.

The infamous PhD pounds are piling on :eek: and while I ran my fastest parkrun this year last Saturday (30:13, thank you Marlay Park Pacers), today my back is not happy and I'm having to be very careful - definately no running for a few days.

The next few months are likely to be hectic: I'm writing up PhD with a view to having a decent final draft for supervisors sometime in February but I'll also have a full teaching load from 1st February because I thought I would have it submitted by then. And then there is regular life stuff cause contrary to what it sometimes feels like - world does not revolve around writing PhD :D

So, (and here's the running bit) running, moving and a healthy diet are essential so that I loose some of the weight, get some me time, and survive PhD and hectic semester. I am never going to be the fastest runner out there but I love the buzz from running and the people I meet at running events and the way that being fit can make other parts of life easier too.

I log my writing and have a writing accountability group (nerdy I know) but it works so I'm going to start logging here again and hopefully it will help. Also going to lay out some goals, mostly they are SMART but there is one sort of intangible which is hard to measure but is very important to me.

Medium - Long Term Goals

• Dublin Marathon in approx 4:30 (Good - <5hrs; Better <4:40; Best <4:20) Have entered lottery for 2020
• Weight: <65kg
• 5k pb<24:59.9
• Feel strong and capable in my body

December Goals

• Run/Walk min 3 times a week (walking if back is still not happy)
• Build easy runs up from 35 min to 45 mins gradually
• Drink avg. 2litres water/day
• Eat at least 5 fruit/veg portions/day
• Do not put on christmas kgs to go with the PhD kgs
• Parkrun <30min 28th Dec (subject to back being happy)
• Log weekly progress here