41+1 to 42.2...

rainbow kirby

Me again. :pac:

Nearly 8 years since I started my first log, I'm back over here from the dark side because with a small person around it's a lot easier to fit in one discipline than three! (Swimming outdoors is still damn fun at this time of year though)

I also happen to have the Golden Ticket of a deferred ballot spot in the 2017 London Marathon.

The basics... I'm 32 :eek:, nursing mammy to an incredibly cute 3 month old boy, carrying about a stone and a half extra of baby weight and I've been running again for around 8 weeks. Living in north London and off work until Christmas so as good an opportunity as any to get going!

I'm building up quite slowly and did my first Parkrun post-baby on 18th June, time was absolute garbage (29 minutes and change) but things can only get better from there. The plan is to build to around half-marathon distance by the winter, and to use Higdon Novice 1 to get around London in April. I won't be anywhere near my PB but I'd like to think I could do it in 4:30. It will be my fourth marathon. Most weeks while I'm building up will probably be 3-4 runs, one gym session and one swim, with a bit of open water because I also have a place in Swim Serpentine in September.

Younganne

Best of luck with the training for London and the return to running.

rainbow kirby

Well Murphy's Law strikes again - first run on Monday evening after starting this log and thanks to an oul lad's inability to walk in a straight line I tripped and fell about 1.5km into my run. :rolleyes: Mangled my favourite capris in the process and have an incredibly ganky left knee now.

aquinn

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Well Murphy's Law strikes again - first run on Monday evening after starting this log and thanks to an oul lad's inability to walk in a straight line I tripped and fell about 1.5km into my run. :rolleyes: Mangled my favourite capris in the process and have an incredibly ganky left knee now.

Are you ok Is knee very swollen?

How's the little lad doing? Fair play for getting back running so soon.

chickey2

Hope the knee is alright!

Well done on getting back to the running. If you haven’t already, I'd definitely recommend seeing a physio who specialises in women to check you out. I had problems with my abdominal muscles post birth but luckily my physio sorted me out and it's not a problem now.

Best of luck with the training!

rainbow kirby

aquinn wrote: »

Are you ok Is knee very swollen?

How's the little lad doing? Fair play for getting back running so soon.

Little lad is fantastic - growing like a weed and a great little sleeper! Had his first trip back home last week and handled all the travel really well.

Knee is quite grazed but seems to be moving ok for squats in the gym. More annoying than anything else tbh! Strength session at the gym this evening, gotta get that core a bit sturdier.

Chickey - core still feels quite soft but abs seem to have come back in ok thankfully, if I do the finger test for diastasis recti there's almost no gap at 13 weeks postpartum.

chickey2

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Little lad is fantastic - growing like a weed and a great little sleeper! Had his first trip back home last week and handled all the travel really well.

Knee is quite grazed but seems to be moving ok for squats in the gym. More annoying than anything else tbh! Strength session at the gym this evening, gotta get that core a bit sturdier.

Chickey - core still feels quite soft but abs seem to have come back in ok thankfully, if I do the finger test for diastasis recti there's almost no gap at 13 weeks postpartum.

That sounds good alright, I had a 4 finger gap for ages

rainbow kirby

5.6km run this evening - Strava crapped itself a bit on timing though, I certainly didn't do the 5:12/km pace it says! Was breaking in new Kayanos too, my birthday present Felt pretty good throughout, longest run since the little fella arrived.

rainbow kirby

Sunday - very pleasant 6.9km run in Regents Park, 5:53/km average pace. Lovely day for it, nice and warm and felt good throughout.

rainbow kirby

Monday - baby swimming with the little fella in the afternoon and then grown up swimming once himself was home from work. 1,200m as 300 swim, 180 kick, 180 swim, 180 pull, 180 drills (2 * 30 catchup, 30 finger trail, 30 6-3-6), 180 swim. Felt like I could have gone further but still building relatively slowly.

aquinn

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Monday - baby swimming with the little fella in the afternoon and then grown up swimming once himself was home from work. 1,200m as 300 swim, 180 kick, 180 swim, 180 pull, 180 drills (2 * 30 catchup, 30 finger trail, 30 6-3-6), 180 swim. Felt like I could have gone further but still building relatively slowly.

Ah here, none of this tri stuff. You've only time to run, remember.

rainbow kirby

Tuesday - 4km run close to home, fairly time crunched trying to get it in before hubby's swimming lessons. 5:50ish/km pace.

Have missed the last 2 days - right boob got extremely pissed off with the little dude deciding to sleep the night most nights and I'm now on antibiotics. Grr.

rainbow kirby

Useless body is useless. Haven't run in a week and a half - got an infection in my boob and ended up on a week's course of pretty heavy-duty antibiotics and felt like ****e for the whole thing.

Got back exercising on Thursday with a trip to the London Aquatics Centre, plopped the little fella in the creche and had a very pleasant 40 minute swim.

Cycled on Friday - probably would have preferred a run but the bike was still in hubby's car because we'd been hiding them from a landlord inspection earlier in the week so a bit of a spin it was.

Weekend in Paris - too hot and humid to train, but loads of walking.

Going to be a sticky one when I head out this evening, forecast 29c today and 32 tomorrow which means I'm probably going to be feeding all day to keep the little one cool... :eek:

Chivito550

I hear there's a beer mile near you on Sunday week. Ideal opportunity to get back into the swing of things! :cool:

chickey2

Good luck this evening. Make sure you drink loads too so you have something left after the little guy has his fill!

rainbow kirby

A bit stop-start really here! Swim on Thursday thanks to the creche at the London Aquatics Centre, weekend off apart from one short run because we were at the athletics on Friday night and Saturday afternoon (I didn't see a lot of Saturday though due to trying to keep the little fella cool when it was absolutely roasting in the stadium).

Monday - swim @ Parliament Hill Lido, very busy but quite pleasant and it's always nice to be swimming outdoors in relatively warm water (23c after the heatwave!).
Tuesday - 4.7km run, lots of hills!
Wednesday - 4km run, 5.50/km average pace, felt pretty good overall but need to start going a bit further!

rainbow kirby

Thursday - rest day, C had his 4 month jabs and wanted to keep an eye on him.
Friday - comfortable lap of Regents Park outer circle, 4.6km @ 6:10/km average pace.
Saturday - rest day
Sunday - laps of the very pleasant Clissold Park - 6.1km @ 6:07/km average pace. Brought back a few memories because the last time we were there was Easter Sunday and we were trying to get things moving! Bit of a change now
Monday - 1,200m swim, weather was garbage so ended up indoors rather than the intended outdoor one.

rainbow kirby

So, August was a bit crap. Was ok for the first couple of weeks, then was back home with the little dude to visit family and friends and barely got any running done, then flew back to London into a heatwave and wasn't able to get out again until hubby got home from Rio because we don't have a running buggy yet. Little guy is 5 months now and he doesn't handle the heat well so kept him inside mostly on the hot days.

Last week was ok though, 4 runs (3 4-5k ish ones and a long run cut short by a heavy rain shower) and a swim at the London Aquatics Centre (1,400m in the training pool in 25m configuration... no fancy pool because Paralympics GB had the whole thing booked out). Did one outdoor core session on the outdoor gym equipment in a local park one of the days too. Going to chance a longer one this evening... we'll see how that goes!

rainbow kirby

...it went pretty well actually! Was briefly interrupted early on when I got chatting to a local mammy friend who had her adorable 6 month old with her, but chugged on anyway to Hampstead Heath and ended up getting 8.5km done on a very sticky evening. 6.21/km average pace so no great shakes but was nice to get a *slightly* longer one in

rainbow kirby

Got in another nice short run on the Tuesday - 4km ish at a relatively comfortable pace.

Rest day Wednesday and swim Thursday, out to the London Aquatics Centre, plonked the little one in the creche and had a lovely 1,400m swim in the competition pool.

Nothing Friday or Saturday - I meant to get down to Parkrun on Saturday but the weather was pure muck and I couldn't find the rain cover for the buggy. Other half was at a wedding in Ireland so little one had to come with me regardless.

Sunday I took the little fella down to Highbury Fields and jogged 3 laps of the Parkrun loop. Decided it was time for a proper running buggy as there was a little too much jittering and bouncing around in his Baby Jogger City Mini.

No workout yesterday - hospital appointment for little fella in south London took up most of the day.

Thanks to the wonders of Gumtree and a lovely Irish family who were decluttering we as of last night are the proud owners of a nearly new condition BOB Ironman

rainbow kirby

Yesterday's run was a total grind - absolutely roasting hot (peaked at 32 but was probably 28-29 at 6:15 when I started my run) and just felt like there were a load of small niggles going on. 4.8km @ 6:32/km pace anyway, it felt even slower.

rainbow kirby

Wednesday - buggy run, 4 laps of the Highbury Fields Parkrun loop. 27c when I started so a total sweat fest! 3.9km @ 6:38/km pace.

Thursday - outdoor swim at the ladies pond in Hampstead Heath, did around 900m before the lifeguards cleared the water because they heard thunder. Lovely swim apart from the six fairly substantial bites on my right arm and shoulder!

Friday - indoor swim, just over 1000m followed by 20 minutes having the craic with the little fella while hubby swam.

Saturday - Highbury Fields Parkrun with the buggy, 31:48. Sub 30 next time!

Sunday - long run, 11.1km @ 5:57/km pace. Felt good throughout even if some of the hills were a shock to the system! Last time I did 10km or more was the London Triathlon 2015...

rainbow kirby

Monday - rest day, a bit stiff from Sunday's efforts! :eek:

Tuesday - 5km buggy run at Regent's Park (6:38/km average pace) followed by Benugo's finest Earl Grey tea

rainbow kirby

Wednesday - 4.2km @ 6:02/km average pace. Felt good and it was a lovely warm evening for it

Thursday - lazy!

Friday - splashing around with my son at the pool and a short swim when hubby took over baby duty.

Saturday - Swim Serpentine in Hyde Park, 1 mile open water. Finished in 39:00 (yes, my :00 curse strikes again!). Enjoyed the event, well run and a good day out. Was a bit weird doing a proper event for the first time in ages but good to be back.

Sunday - Eton Dorney Triathlons, super sprint distance (400m swim, 10km bike, 2.5km run). Finished in 48:47 overall, 9:43 swim, 22:46 bike, 12:24 run. Considering I've cycled once all summer due to having a ganglion cyst on my left wrist that makes long cycles painful I'll take it I'm happy with the run and there's swim room for improvement. The fact that I've still got baby weight on doesn't help either, I was quite thankful that I could still get into my trisuit and wetsuit! :pac:

rainbow kirby

And I'm still crap at logging. Whoda thunk it :pac:

October was very up and down - we all got a stomach bug early in the month and it was more than a little rough for a while. Picked up a bit towards the end though - have done 2 sub-30 buggy Parkruns now, hopefully sub 29 next time. Also in honour of the day that was in it this morning I threw on my most recent DCM finisher t-shirt (2010!) and did my longest run since before getting knocked up, 13km. Felt really good to get back to doing a longer run

Have entered my next race too, I'm doing the Perivale 5 on 4 December. Planning to do the Caherdavin race on Dec 26 when visiting the inlaws over Christmas and then after that get the head down into marathon training. Most likely Reading half in March.

rainbow kirby

Have tried to chip away as much as possible over the last while - I've been getting in 4 runs and a swim most weeks, long run usually 10-12km. I did the Perivale 5 despite the fact that the small fella decided that being awake half the night before it would be the absolute craic, finished in 43:40. Was pretty happy with that and felt like I ran reasonably well. One of those nice club races where you get a lot for your unaffiliated £14 entry!

I set a buggy 5k PB of 28:34 about a week and a half ago at Highbury Fields, then the next week without the buggy ran 26:02, which is my second fastest Parkrun ever. It was really funny to see my son practically bouncing out the window of the car to see me on each lap! (Highbury Fields is a very short loop and is five and a half laps)

And so... Marathon training properly starts here. :eek:

18 week programmes start this week, I'm using Higdon novice 1 - taking me back to my days on the 2009 novices thread, but it does the job I want it to do which is to just get me around. Shifting a few runs around this week to allow for travelling but should get it all in - started yesterday by running the 6km home from work.

Murph_D

With your experience, would you not consider Novice 2? The extra mileage isn't huge but the addition of MP gives it a bit of edge which can be very motivational. Best of luck with it.

rainbow kirby

Honestly hadn't considered that as an option! I'll have a think about it

rainbow kirby

Week 1 down, pushed the long run to Monday as I was planning on doing the 10km race on St Stephens Day near the inlaws in Caherdavin. Despite quite a bit of Christmas Day red wine, hills on hills on hills and my son deciding that staying up until midnight would be the absolute craic, I had a decent run and got around in 53:32. I was expecting something in the 55-60 range so I'm delighted tbh!

rainbow kirby

And week 2... actually hit all my runs as planned in spite of travelling and all that fun stuff. Engaged in a bit of Parkrun tourism at the weekend - did Conwy parkrun (#17) in north Wales on Saturday morning, it was close enough to where we were breaking the journey after the ferry and before driving to London. Lovely out and back course along the river, very flat if a bit narrow in places. Got around in 27:16 which considering the Christmas indulgence, starting too far back and getting stuck behind a couple on a narrow section with two way traffic isn't too bad. Did Highbury Fields (#18) on New Year's Day as part of my long run, ran down, did it and ran back for a total of 12.3km - aim was 7 miles according to the programme so that's fine

Week 3... 2 short runs down, run commute this evening to pick up miniKirby from nursery and buggy long run at some point. Hubby is away for the weekend so it's either buggy or nothing!

Breaking in two new pairs of runners too - hubby got me a pair of Mizuno Wave Paradox for Christmas, my inner bargain hunter pounced on a pair of Brooks Ravenna in TKMaxx. All good so far - the Wave Paradox feel like the old Alchemy but less bricky/a bit more flexible.

rainbow kirby

Week 3 done. Run commute ended up being scuppered on Thursday when the creche called to say that my son had a fever and needed to be collected. That meant taking Friday as annual leave too. I ended up doing that run on Friday around Finsbury Park with the buggy, did 7km on a cold but sunny morning.

Hubby is in Ireland this weekend so Saturday morning meant buggy Parkrun plus whatever I decided to add on. Ended up doing 5 miles with the buggy - didn't push it because the hills yesterday had left my legs feeling a bit dead, got around in 30:16. Done now anyway

9 mile long run next week, this is where we start entering "here be dragons" territory! It will be the furthest I've gone since before miniKirby was a twinkle in our eyes.