Can I really do this?

chickey2

Best of luck on Sunday!

gypsylee

Ran the Wine on the Line 5 km run yesterday.

It did not go as well as I had hoped, just an off day. Beautiful morning for it though and it was nice to do a local run.

And I got a bottle of wine at the end instead of a medal so happy days!

Chip Time: 31.52. Distance: 5 km.

Splits: 5.40, 5.38, 6.12, 6.36, 6.47.

ariana`

Sorry you were disappointed with the race yesterday. It was quite a warm day for it which probably didn't help. Enjoy the wine!

gypsylee

Started the Hal Higdon Half Marathon Novice plan this week. My goal is to complete the half marathon, the time is not important to me, I just want to know that I did it. I am hoping to complete it around 2 hours 30 minutes which I know is a very slow pace but it means I will manage to finish it. This means keeping my splits consistent between 6 and 7 minutes per km.

Week 1 of the 12 Week Plan:

Tuesday, 28th March.

Distance: 5.1 km, Time: 33.20
Splits: 6.16, 6.34, 6.37, 6.39, 6.41, 6.30.

Wednesday 29th March
Day 2 was either a 2 mile run or cross train. Decided to go with the run this evening.

Distance: 3.3 km. Time: 21.20
Splits: 6.08, 6.28, 6.29, 6.14.

Thursday 30th March

Distance: 5 km. Time: 32.45
Splits: 6.06, 6.21, 6.30, 6.43, 6.38.

This was the first time I ever ran three days in a run so felt it a bit in the legs this evening. Glad to get it done though.

Saturday 1st April

Plan called for a cycle so got the bike out. First time out on it in months. It's a lot tougher than running! A bit of walking was done during it! Not much quicker than a run!!

Distance: 6.5 km. Time: 32.45.

Sunday 2nd April:

Distance: 6.4 km. Time: 41 minutes.
Splits: 5.58, 6.13, 6.15, 6.32, 6.44, 6.43, 5.47.

Was very warm this morning but enjoyed the run.

Delighted to have completed week 1 of the plan successfully. Only another 11 weeks to go!

Sunny Dayz

Best of luck with your half marathon training, I'll be following your progress! You've had a good start to the plan.

gypsylee

Week 2 of the 12 week Half Marathon Plan

This week's plan is the exact same as last week. Rest days are Mondays and Fridays. Running on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Run/Cross on Wednesday and Cross on Saturday.

Tuesday 4th April

Distance: 5.1 km. Time: 31.08.
Splits: 5.40, 5.50, 5.49, 6.25, 6.42, 5.46 (0.1)

Was late getting out for this run and it was getting dark on an unlit country road but I really enjoyed this run. Perfect weather for it.

Wednesday 5th April

This was a run/cross of 2 miles session so I did a 3 km walk with my daughter.

Thursday 6th April

Same route and distance as Tuesday night.
Distance: 4.9 km, Time: 29.50.
Splits: 5.41, 5.57, 6.03, 6.08, 6.12.

Delighted with these splits, really feel like I am getting stronger on the 5 km runs. Was a lovely evening again for the run, really calm conditions.

I am really enjoying the structure of the half marathon plan. I am beginning to feel like completing the half marathon in June might not be such a pipe dream after all.

Woke up with a very painful shoulder this morning, I must have pulled something in it. Smothered it in Deep Heat and took an anti-inflamatory. Hope it eases soon.

Plan for the weekend is a 30 minute cycle tomorrow morning and then I am doing the Great Ireland 5 km run on Sunday morning in the Phoenix Park. Getting below thirty minutes might just be on the horizon. I will give it a good shot anyway.

Younganne

Great start to the plan and best of Luck Sunday. Enjoy it.

gypsylee

Great Ireland 5 km Run


Beautiful early morning run in the Phoenix Park. It was worth getting up at 6 o'clock on a Sunday morning to make the trip! Course was lovely and flat, great atmosphere and lovely medal and t-shirt for finishing.

I felt confident and strong before the start. Started at a quick pace as I really wanted to finish in 30 minutes! Felt great until between 3 km and 4 km when I felt I was slowing a bit (although the splits say otherwise). I felt the 30 minute goal was slipping away. Heading for the finish line and I could not believe it when I saw a 27 on the clock in the distance. Gave it my all and finished with an official time of 28 minutes and 5 seconds! Smashed my previous 5 km PB of 30.02 minutes by almost 2 minutes. Absolutely thrilled. It has given me a big boost now in relation to my half marathon training. Saw the official run stats afterwards and I was the third female home in my age group. Doesn't mean much but I was impressed!

Distance: 5.1 km. Time: 28.05 (official time)

Splits: 5.16, 5.36, 5.33, 5.38, 5.41, 5.45 (0.1)

Week 3 of the Half Marathon Plan starts tomorrow, looking forward to it.

Sunny Dayz

Wow that's fantastic, well done!

HigginsJ

Fantastic performance, well done on the PB.

Younganne

Woo hoo, delighted for you, that's some chunk off your PB. and congrats on 3rd place in age category.

ariana`

Fantastic result. Well done. You'll be chasing sub 28 next time. No stopping you

gypsylee

Thanks everyone. I'm over a year trying to get under 30 minutes so delighted to finally do it.

ariana`

gypsylee wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I'm over a year trying to get under 30 minutes so delighted to finally do it.

And talking about doing it in style too, not just sub 30 but sub 29 and not far off sub 28 :pac:

gypsylee

Week 3 of the 12 week Half Marathon Plan

Tuesday 11th April

Distance: 5.7 km Time: 37.30
GPS took a while to kick in so average splits of 6.35.

Early morning runs cos of no school. Was a lovely morning, took it handy after my PB on Sunday. Felt good.

Wednesday 12th April

The plan called for a two mile cycle which I did and which was very enjoyable.

Friday 14th April

Same route and distance as Tuesday. Did not enjoy this one at all. Ended up walking up a couple of hills as just could not get my legs to move well. Felt very tired. A bad run but it's over now.

Monday 17th April

This run was supposed to be on Sunday but I was away for the weekend so did it a day later.

Distance: 8.4 km. Time: 1.01.30

GPS did not kick in until I had ran 2 km but pace was the same throughout.

Splits (from 2 km): 7.26, 7.21, 7.27, 7.23, 7.23, 7.22, 6.57.

Going on advice here I had intended doing 8 minute splits. Did not check Strava til I got home and saw I was a wee bit quicker than I had intended. Ran some of the half marathon route and I love that road so really enjoyed this run. Will run each run on the route so I will be very familiar with it by the 18th of June!

HigginsJ

Best of luck with it.

gypsylee

So I have decided to postpone my half marathon debut. The race I had intended doing on the 18th of June is a local run with smaller numbers than the bigger national events. There is certain part of the course which goes through private property and access will be cut off after a certain time. Both these facts have been stressing me a bit as I am not sure that I will reach the private property by the cut off time and I will be running a lot of country roads on my own with no spectator support. Running is supposed to be fun, not stressful and so I have decided to do the 10 km run on the 18th of June and run my first half marathon in the Rock and Roll event in Dublin on the 13th of August. The course is open for 3.5 hours so failing a complete disaster I might manage it in that time! Hoping for a 2.30 or less time.

I will continue with the half marathon plan for the present as I am enjoying the structure of it and hopefully it will help with my 10 km time.

Sunny Dayz

Sorry to hear that. Do continue with the plan you are on, you're doing great so far and it will have you more comfortable with the prospect of doing a half.

HigginsJ

The HM plan should be of good benefit to you for the 10k I would say, you are also only talking 8 weeks from the 10km to the HM so allowing for some reduction the week before and after the 10km you will be in great place for the HM.

Harika

Rock and Roll event in Dublin is really fun and you will enjoy it, should be also some decent crowd there. All I see, 2:30 should be a reasonable goal.

gypsylee

Thanks for all the support. Feeling more positive now about the half in August.

Back to the plan tonight.

gypsylee

Still following the Half Marathon Plan

The GPS on my phone is really acting up so I decided to treat myself to a Garmin Forerunner 25. It's a basic running watch but it should be adequate for my needs. Looking forward to being able to see my pace on my wrist instead of trying to get the phone out of the arm holder to check! Waiting on delivery.

Tuesday 18th April

Distance: 5.5 km, Time: 36 mins.

Average splits of 6.30. Nice evening run.

Thursday 20th April

No time or splits recorded tonight but same distance and time as Tuesday.

Saturday 22nd April

Plan called for a 40 minute cycle so I drove to a closed road on the Curragh and had a lovely cycle with no traffic.
Enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Pace was probably a bit slow but its a start!

Sunday 23rd April

No Strava recording for this but I ran as a lsr. 7.6 km (was supposed to be 8 but I got the distance wrong!) in around 55 minutes. This was a tough run mentally as I ran part of the June half marathon route and it was on this run that I decided to postpone my half marathon run until August. Was glad to get this run over.

Tuesday 25th April.

Had a lovely run this evening on the June 10 km route. Was a bit windy and chilly but felt good doing this run.

Distance: 7.5 km. Time: 45 mins or so.

Splits (from 2 km!) 5.56, 6.07, 6.39, 6.24, 6.12, 7.08 (0.5).

gypsylee

Thursday 27th April

Distance: 4.4 km. Time: 29.30.

Splits: 6.07,6.39, 6.52, 6.57, 6.36.

Thought this run would have been longer. I started from a different location and got the distance wrong. Legs felt tired this evening so was glad to get this one done.

Bank holiday night out and tiredness the next day meant that the cycling did not happen this weekend. Got out early on Monday morning for a LSR though. Had intended doing this at 8 minutes splits and felt I was going slow enough. Checked strava after the run and I was quicker than I had thought. Turns out I ran my 2nd quickest 10 km so not slow at all! Really enjoyed this run, conditions were great.

Distance: 10 km. Time: 1.09.45

Splits: 6.37, 6.51, 6.58, 7.00, 7.06, 7.04, 6.50, 7.11, 7.03, 7.05.

Wednesday 3rd May

Distance: 5.1 km, Time: 33.45.

Splits: 6.26, 6.21, 6.35, 6.53, 6.48, 6.40.

This was a struggle the whole way around. Don't know why but was not feeling the love at all. Nothing more to say, did not enjoy it.

I hope to get out for a cycle on Saturday as per the HH plan. I am doing a 5 km run in Blessington on Sunday which is partially on grass/trail so that will be interesting. It is not chip timed which is a bit annoying but I am doing this one for the bit of bling, the medal is lovely.

gypsylee

Rith na Lochanna 5k - Sunday 7th May

This run was held in Russborough House grounds. Beautiful setting but I did not like the terrain. Mainly grass with a gravel path some of the way. It was a two lap course and I struggled near the finish, ended up walking because I was so warm. Lovely medal though!

Distance: 32.41. Distance: 5.1 km.

Splits: 5.57, 5.57, 6.36, 6.09, 7.18, 7.12 (0.1).

Hope to get out for a 7/8 km run tomorrow evening and then there is a 10 km run in Castlecomer on Sunday which I am doing.

gypsylee

Wednesday 10th May

Distance: 7.7 km. Time: 49.45.

Splits: 6.11, 5.53, 5.56, 6.25, 6.47, 6.41, 6.26, 6.55 (0.7)

Very warm this evening but I really enjoyed this run.

Searlait Tywang Memorial 10 k Run - Sunday 14th May

Distance: 10 km. Chip time: 1.05.07.

Splits: 5.58, 6.27, 7.18, 6.28, 7.31, 6.26, 6.07, 6.26, 6.27, 5.24 (downhill!)

I found this run very tough, very hilly for the first few kms which left me wrecked for the second half. The down hills in the last kilometre helped greatly and I ended up getting a PB of 50 seconds for a 10 km!

Delighted with the time which sets me up nicely for a good PB in my next 10 km on the 18th of June on a road that I have ran many times and which is flat!!

Going to start focusing on the half marathon in August now as it wont be long coming around. Planning a nice LSR for next weekend.

RunnerGarf

Congrats on the 10k PB! Looks like your training is going well.

Sunny Dayz

Well done on the 10k pb, great time!

ariana`

Great stuff, well done on the PB

Younganne

Well done on the PB on a tough sounding course.

gypsylee

Last weekend did not go as planned. My father is seriously ill and the weekend was spent in the hospital with him so the lsr did not happen. I am just happy to have got out at all over the past week. Glad I did though as the runs really helped to clear my head.

Wednesday 17th May

Got absolutely soaked. The rain milled down after 1.5 km. It was quite refreshing though.

Time: 31.20. Distance: 5.1 km

Splits: 5.53, 6.03, 6.00, 6.14, 6.36, 6.13

Friday 19th May

I don't usually run on a Friday but I was itching to get out for a short one after work. Delighted with the splits for this one, didn't feel that fast.

Time: 17.50. Distance: 3.1 km

Splits: 5.25, 5.55, 5.42, 5.56.

Monday 22nd May

After missing my lsr on Sunday I was happy to get out for a run after coming home from the hospital. Beautiful evening, really enjoyed this one. Didn't push myself at all, just enjoyed the peace and quiet. I think the running is keeping me sane during this difficult time.

Time: 34.05. Time: 5.4 km.

Splits: 5.50, 6.07, 6.15, 6.35, 6.36, 6.18 (0.4).