Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Hey AGYR! Thought you and any other Yoga enthusiast might like these.

I've posted links to YWA plenty of times and still on day 8/30 of her breathe program.

However got these Yoga Flow cards as a pressie at the weekend and they are cool. Take 1 card to hold poses for a minute each as 5min away from the desk. Or combine cards to create your favourite flow..

Fantastic idea, any idea where they were purchased? Google gives me a few options but they don't look like yours.

March 9th 7am Strength class

Mostly crunches, obliques, plank with hand/leg raises, side leg raises, some work with arms/weights and finished with 3 sets of 10 burpees.

March 10th 7am, 2.54 miles

Went out for a morning run but wasn't feeling the love, stopped and walked the last half mile home.

March 11th 5pm 3.52 miles

This was a brisk walk, plugged in the earphones and enjoyed being out in the fresh air, no judement.

March 12th 7am HITT

Jesus! The ante was certainly upped this week, lots of squat jumps, deep squat jumps, jumping lunges, deep lunges + more, about 4 rounds I think - legs have still not fully recovered from this one, the BURN :eek:.

March 13th, 10am 1.86 miles
Another walk, had planned about 4 miles but just under half way the beautiful sunshine disappeared and I was Asterix! Sheltered in Lidl and waited to be rescued. I don't mind getting wet but this was biblical and actually I'd have been better off if I'd been running :rolleyes:

March 14th, 10.30am, 5.05 miles hike, 785ft
The wind was a little chilly for parts of this but thoroughly enjoyed having the cobwebs blown away and the views were epic.

March 15th, 7am, 3.15 miles avg hr130
Felt refreshed this morning so decided to walk the dog first and then go for an easy jog. Put in the earphones and listened to my new playlist courtesy of everyone on the playlist thread that threw up loads of super suggestions.

I am being coached by a health and wellbeing coach who is also a nutritionist and a runner and we've been talking about attitudes, comparisons and compassion when exercising. I've always been hard on myself, ever since I can remember I've compared myself to others and come up short (literally!), too fat, too slow, too short etc etc and I'm still doing it 40+ years on. Starting now, I'm going to be kinder to myself. I want to able to go for a run because I love running and relax and not worry about paces or what other people will think of those paces. I'll also walk bits every now and then if the HR goes over 140 which will also help with the foot/achilles/general aches and pains. So everything will be by feel, if I'm feeling good, i'll go with that, if I'm tired, I'll take it easy, no plan, just feel it. I had made some good progress with the Garmin Coach plan I was doing for the last few months so those gains are still in the background. I won't be doing the March challenge though.

I also cleaned up my strava list, turns out there were a few people following me that I didn't recognise, took myself out of multiple cubs too as hadn't considered that people in there could see my runs even if they weren't followers. Holly Ryan's story as told on Susan Keogh yesterday shocked me, mainly because she did everything I'd have done and she was still attacked, which means what? We can make ourselves as safe as possible, all the little things we do like not run in particular areas in the dark, look around regularly to see who else is out there, cross the road or go into strangers driveways to avoid potential danger, talk to 'noone' on your phone, carry your keys in your hand so you have something sharp and the list goes on, and still not be safe. I don't scare easily and I'm not a nervous type but I do do all these things and more. Holly speaks very articulately about what we need all men to do to help keep us safe, have a listen if you didn't hear her and stay safe folks.

Monday 15th March

7am run 3.15 miles 36 mins avg HR 130
Nice morning recovery jog, legs a bit tender after the hilly hike yesterday

8pm, Strength workout, 55 mins
Warm up then 3 x 10: Squats, curtsey lunges, pressups, sit ups, oblique sit ups, mountain climbers elbow plank and burpees.

Tuesday 16th March

7am Strength 40 mins
3 Circuits, 40 sec each exercise: Burps, Reverse plank, V sits, mountain climbers, elbow plank with arm taps, dead bugs, plank crabs, criss cross

Walk 6.50pm: 3.34 miles, 57 minutes
Beautiful evening, sun was setting down by the river. Also had done 2.30 miles earlier in the day with Woody so 5.64 miles in total

Wednesday 17th March Off work for the rest of the week yay!

Bike 11am, 13 miles.
Beautiful day although misty and cool earlier on so waited for a bit of heat in the sun before heading out for this, very enjoyable with a quick stop in Dromahane to join the Axa group zoom call briefly.

Walk 2pm: 3 miles
Still had to get my steps in for the day, can’t let the team down (being the captain n all) and 13 miles on the bike = zero steps :rolleyes:


Thursday 18th March

9.50am Yoga with Adrienne 35 mins
Walk: 12pm 2.67 miles running errands
Run: 3.20pm 3.16 miles, 34 mins avg hr 138.
This was intervals of 4 mins on, 1 min off, no prescribed pace, just by feel @ steady effort. Was bitterly cold starting off (me, not the temperature) so was overdressed for this, had the part mostly to myself, enjoyable and nice and warm by the time I was done!

Friday 19th March

7am HITT class, 45 mins
Ski jumps, side jumps, JOS, squat side jumps, deep squat jumps, JOS x 3 rounds 40/20
Plank to elbow plank, Criss cross, V sit, Mountain climbers, push ups x 3 rounds 40/20
Back was niggling a lot this morning driven by the straight arm to elbow planks and had to take a few mini breaks during some of the 40 sec sets. Found this harder than it should have been.

11am 4K hike, 525ft 58 mins
First 1.5 miles 100% uphill, beautiful views though and not another sinner on the mountain today. Tired though, came home and snoozed on the couch for few hours with the dog, couldn't get warm.

Niggle update: foot / Achilles still niggling away, some days it's better than others. Neck also still causing me issues, have stopped doing the neck rolls at the start of the strength classes and just move it from side to side which is better. The foam roller is out! I might even use it.... :pac:

Runs: 2,
Strength/HITT: 3
Yoga: 1
Walks/Hikes: 4
Bike: 1

I was told a while back that neck rolls are a 'no no' now. Instead we're supposed to do:
head down and hold.
head back, hold
head over to left shoulder, hold
head over to right shoulder, hold.

Pausing in between, rather than rolling from to the other.

I'll be interested to hear what your physio says (and to see if I have it right!). I have't neck rolled in a few years.

Interesting also to hear you're with a wellness/nutrition/running coach! Sounds just fab

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Yeah the coach is very interesting, she is challenging all the things I think are right and true and showing evidence to the contrary. Will see what the results yield . Hope all good with you R!

Wow! And you generally know your stuff! Hopefully you'll report back in due course.

All good here in Dunboyne thanks, the town is flooded with people running and walking all the time. The footpaths are a pure danger, you either risk splatting your sweat on someone as you pass or risk getting splatted by a passing car as you jump out to avoid them! It's gotten to the stage where I've had to pick running routes purely based on footpath traffic! Not a bad complaint though #fittown

An update of sorts.

I have on and off, over the last 10 years been interested in health and wellbeing but more recently have taken a deeper dive through coaching, books and podcasts. Some of these learnings might be interesting or useful to others and if nothing else, it’s a place for me to log and remember stuff I want to focus on in the coming months. The two topics I’m most focused on right now are:

Breathing..... Something we all take for granted, and sure there’s no right or wrong way to do this right? Wrong apparently! I’ve been reading James Nestor, Breathe. Some cultures (American Indian’s for example) believed that breathing through the mouth brought disease and harm to the body. Orthodontists have found evidence that mouth breathing causes crooked teeth and many scientific studies have shown how our skulls have changed in the last few hundred years directly related to how we breathe. In case I’ve lost ye, there is evidence to show that Athletes can improve their performance by staggering amounts if they move from mouth to nose breathing. I’d highly recommend the book, it’s full of amazing studies and facts around breathing and is something we can all do better. I’ve taken to taping my mouth at night - before tang get’s in with a smart remark that it should be taped when I’m awake too I’m aware... . I’m also focusing on nose breathing when I’m out walking, jogging or hiking - if I jog, it means keeping the pace nice n low which is exactly what I need right now. I managed to jog most of the trails in Doneraile recently 100% nose breathing and it felt amazing.

Intuitive Eating. I’m sure if I could ask my grandparents about this they’d be like ‘well duh!’ (okay, they would speak properly or tut, no one tuts anymore!). I’m learning a massive amount about nutrition, specifically for women of my age like NOT running on empty but also general things like how to fuel your exercise properly and not trying to run off what you just ate, the importance of protein in recovery and just eating mostly really tasty, healthy nutritious food without restricting, calorie counting or judging.

All 10 principles of Intuitive Eating make sense to me but one resonates with where I am now.
Movement—Feel the Difference Forget militant exercise. Just get active and feel the difference. Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie-burning effect of exercise.
This is about tuning into the body’s innate wisdom relating to hunger, fullness and satisfaction. I have a lot of bad habits going back over many years including the guilt I attach to pretty much anything I eat. I would run in the morning and say to myself “now you can have breakfast as you’ve already worked it off”. If I didn’t run then I’d only ‘deserve’ a small breakfast. Reframing my attitude is already making a massive difference and the breathing work I’m doing means I’m more relaxed (deep breathing before I sit down to eat a meal, giving thanks for the food, taking my time eating it).

I’m not running much at the moment but I’m still very active every day between The Five Tibetan Rites every morning, strength workouts a few times a week, long brisk walks including long hikes in the mountains and a couple of hours on the bike once or twice a week with one of the club members or solo. None of it is being counted, not the pace, nor the heart rate or the distance or the number of sets and reps - I do still turn on the watch so I can see the history of what I’ve done over a week on Garmin Connect but just out of interest really. I’m definitely more relaxed. That’s not to say I won’t go back running regularly, I most definitely will when my body has healed itself, hopefully in a few weeks. The foot is improving although the Achilles still gives out occasionally and the neck pain is also on the mend following some very painful physio sessions! Great to see some fantastic training goin on on other logs, not at all jealous :pac:.


I have four books on the go at the moment so the path to knowledge stretches out long before me :pac:
Breathe, James Nestor
Beating Brain Fog, Dr Sabina Brennan
The Book of Joy, Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
Atomic Habits, James Clear

Annie get your Run wrote: »

An update of sorts.

I have on and off, over the last 10 years been interested in health and wellbeing but more recently have taken a deeper dive through coaching, books and podcasts. Some of these learnings might be interesting or useful to others and if nothing else, it’s a place for me to log and remember stuff I want to focus on in the coming months. The two topics I’m most focused on right now are:

Breathing..... Something we all take for granted, and sure there’s no right or wrong way to do this right? Wrong apparently! I’ve been reading James Nestor, Breathe. Some cultures (American Indian’s for example) believed that breathing through the mouth brought disease and harm to the body. Orthodontists have found evidence that mouth breathing causes crooked teeth and many scientific studies have shown how our skulls have changed in the last few hundred years directly related to how we breathe. In case I’ve lost ye, there is evidence to show that Athletes can improve their performance by staggering amounts if they move from mouth to nose breathing. I’d highly recommend the book, it’s full of amazing studies and facts around breathing and is something we can all do better. I’ve taken to taping my mouth at night - before tang get’s in with a smart remark that it should be taped when I’m awake too I’m aware... . I’m also focusing on nose breathing when I’m out walking, jogging or hiking - if I jog, it means keeping the pace nice n low which is exactly what I need right now. I managed to jog most of the trails in Doneraile recently 100% nose breathing and it felt amazing.

Intuitive Eating. I’m sure if I could ask my grandparents about this they’d be like ‘well duh!’ (okay, they would speak properly or tut, no one tuts anymore!). I’m learning a massive amount about nutrition, specifically for women of my age like NOT running on empty but also general things like how to fuel your exercise properly and not trying to run off what you just ate, the importance of protein in recovery and just eating mostly really tasty, healthy nutritious food without restricting, calorie counting or judging.

All 10 principles of Intuitive Eating make sense to me but one resonates with where I am now.
Movement—Feel the Difference Forget militant exercise. Just get active and feel the difference. Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie-burning effect of exercise.
This is about tuning into the body’s innate wisdom relating to hunger, fullness and satisfaction. I have a lot of bad habits going back over many years including the guilt I attach to pretty much anything I eat. I would run in the morning and say to myself “now you can have breakfast as you’ve already worked it off”. If I didn’t run then I’d only ‘deserve’ a small breakfast. Reframing my attitude is already making a massive difference and the breathing work I’m doing means I’m more relaxed (deep breathing before I sit down to eat a meal, giving thanks for the food, taking my time eating it).

I’m not running much at the moment but I’m still very active every day between The Five Tibetan Rites every morning, strength workouts a few times a week, long brisk walks including long hikes in the mountains and a couple of hours on the bike once or twice a week with one of the club members or solo. None of it is being counted, not the pace, nor the heart rate or the distance or the number of sets and reps - I do still turn on the watch so I can see the history of what I’ve done over a week on Garmin Connect but just out of interest really. I’m definitely more relaxed. That’s not to say I won’t go back running regularly, I most definitely will when my body has healed itself, hopefully in a few weeks. The foot is improving although the Achilles still gives out occasionally and the neck pain is also on the mend following some very painful physio sessions! Great to see some fantastic training goin on on other logs, not at all jealous :pac:.


I have four books on the go at the moment so the path to knowledge stretches out long before me :pac:
Breathe, James Nestor
Beating Brain Fog, Dr Sabina Brennan
The Book of Joy, Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
Atomic Habits, James Clear

Really interesting update, will definitely look forward to reading more as you continue with all of this. I know nothing about breathing (apart from how to do it ) but am very familiar with the intuitive eating approach and I'm a big believer - it's powerful stuff. Good luck with it all - seems like the new approach is suiting you.

Last 8 days

3 runs, 7.5 miles
3 walks, 1 hike 11.1 miles
3 yoga sessions 35.19 minutes
2 bike rides 28.4 miles
2 workouts 65 minutes

The hikes were in some fairly spectacular places, last weekend I went to Castlefreke Woods and Long Strand with Woody, the views were breathtaking. The 5k restrictions meant I hadn't been to Doneraile Park in far too long so headed there last Sunday for a slow jog, nasal breathing all the way round. The two bike spins were with company, Wednesday's faster and longer spin with one of the lads from the Axa bike group, the craic is unreal given he's #purecork and I'm definitely still a Dub with a capital D . Friday we had the company of one other girl so we took it easier and was thoroughly enjoyable. Is there anything better in this world than genuine belly laughing with other people!

This weekend we headed to Bantry Bay and walked the new promenade which has views of Glengarrif, the mountains of Beara and many other beautiful sights, it was worth the 90 minute drive.

The walks were mostly solo very brisk with the earphones in, I don't put the watch on for the morning/lunch walks with Woody so there's probably another 4/5 miles over the week of those but they are gentle easy strolls.

Today's 5KTT Report here, was hard but enjoyable (well, once I finished it!). I'm not feeling any worse for it so that's a good sign.

I'm doing really well on the easy runs, much slower than I had been running and it's making a difference, I might get the hang of this yet..

Happy Sunday all

Good to read your summary of 2021. They do say strength training is better than running for women of our youthfulness . You seem to have taken very well to it!

You are very active - hopefully this stands for you as you get your running kickstarted again. That book was the first running book I read - must pull it out and have a look again !

Thankfully I can still have wine - I do have to be prepared though to have a rubbish night sleep after it though .

It might be worth having a look at Jeff Galloways book - with regard to run/walk schedules if you like structure around your training . You may get back to form using this method .

Best of luck at mallow - hopefully you will update your log before then and let us know how your getting on !

The trip where you gave me dogs abuse for 2 hours in the car? That trip?!! 😀. Me too, the good ole days 💙

Fitness improving, am able to run for longer without stopping to walk. Have loosely been following a Hal Higdon beginner 15k plan.

Monday Jan 10th

Monday's are officially Strength & Stretch but I felt like I wanted to get some air, so did 30 min walk before my workout, 3.26km then home and 20 mins of Kettle bell squats, lunges, swings, overhead press and 3 rounds of Sun Salutation as my stretch.

Tuesday Jan 11th

Plan said run 3 miles so I did about 1/2 mile warm up walk then into the run - 3 miles no walking then a cool down walk for another 1/2 a mile. Strava says nice morning, no wind and not too cold. Think I really enjoyed this :)

Wednesday Jan 12th

Wednesday's on the plan say 30 min walk so that's what I did. Did some yoga and stretches before I left the house then walked 3.12km. Strava says chilly!

Thursday Jan 13th

I didn't hear the news on Wednesday so went to bed unaware of the awful events of that day. I was going into the office today so up early to get my 2 mile run as per the plan. No time for warm up and cool down additional mileage. 3.23km in 23mins. Still unaware.

Friday January 14th

With a heavy heart I went for my walk, bringing Woody which I don't normally do. I didn't feel like speed walking, I just wanted to get out. So many of us don't verbalise the things we do to stay safe. I do run in the dark but I'm hyper alert of who's around, who just passed me, who I just passed, cars coming down the road, other people in general. I don't carry my keys in my hand when running but I would if I was walking home from the pub. Just because I don't allow the fear to stop me doing stuff does not mean that those who are too afraid, don't have a right to be. Something needs to be done to make the world a safer place.

Saturday Jan 15th

I volunteered at parkrun this morning and like so many other parkruns around the country we had a minutes silence for Ashling Murphy. Some chat on Twitter about a run for Ashling, people wanting to remember all the women who've died violently (Urantsetseq Tserendorj's anniversary is next week I think).

Went for my own run after volunteering, 5km in 35 mins, I did stop twice to walk in the last km - the legs were quite stiff from standing around for the previous hour in the cold and I struggled to get going. Later in the day I went to Doneraile Park at attend a community vigil for Ashling and we did a short walk together as a group, just 1 mile.

Sunday 16th

Definitely off plan, cycled 33km from Mallow to Doneraile Park and back with a quick pitstop for coffee in Doneraile. Did this with a friend on lovely, quiet country roads enjoying the nice morning and peace and quiet. Not many cars on the backroads which is one of the reasons I love this route.

RIP Ashling Murphy #shewasgoingforarun

Total mileage for the week 16.70 (including both walks and runs)

6 weeks to race day

Moved things around a bit this week. I was tired on Monday so decided I'd swap Friday's rest day to Monday and did nothing.

Tuesday 1st Feb, 16,000 steps (5.56 miles) walking

I was in work today and planned to run the 4 miles when I got home, even managed to leave work a little earlier and was fine in the car on the way home but had no water bottle to sip on so between that and having walked 16,655 steps while in work I was tired. Made the mistake of sitting down 'for a minute' and that was that! No aerobic gain from this obvs but plenty of time on feet...

Wednesday 2nd Feb, 4 mile run

I was still feeling tired when my alarm went off at 6.10 and immediately had thoughts of binning the run but one step at a time! Got dressed and told myself I could walk the whole thing if I really didn't want to run. There are some benefits to living on a hill - the run starts downhill and sure once you get going ☺️. This was slow but that's fine, one brief road crossing stop and two very short walk breaks in the last 400m (back up the hill home). I was delighted with this. It's progress. Splits were 11.29, 11.19, 11.05, 11.55 (uphill) avg HR 136.

Thursday 3rd Feb Strength and Stretch

Today was supposed to be 3 miles + strength but was once again in the office. I'm finding this very tiring between the drive, the 1 mile walk from the car to the office, talking to real people! Exhausting 😀. Anyway, got a 10 min work out in which is better than no workout at all. In fact, I need to remind myself that doing small bits regularly is more beneficial than trying to fit in longer workouts and failing.

Friday 4th Feb 3 mile run

Cold and a bit wet this morning, luckily I missed the heavy rain. Nothing to say about this really, found it harder than Wednesday. Splits were 10.39, 11.08, 11.28 + .23 cool down walk uphill home. Avg HR 137. Did a 2 mile walk at lunchtime.

Saturday 5th Feb 5.13 miles run + 1.27m cooldown walk

Back to parkrun this morning, first time in a while Sanctuary runners were together again as a group, we were also having a cheque presented from the Runners Annual team who donated the proceeds of sales to SR Cork. I knew I'd be hanging around after parkrun and didn't want to break up the 5 miles so decided to run a longer route down to the park, 2 miles done arriving at 9.27am, dropped the bag and listened to the las of the briefing before setting off again. I really enjoyed this, I never felt like stopping to walk at any point in the 5 miles. The legs were feeling a bit stiff in the last 300m of the parkrun but otherwise all good. Even managed to pass a few along the way. Effort and HR were probably in the steady range (actually the watch says 'tempo'). Had a good chat with some of the crew organising the IMRA race checking to see if there's an early start for the juniors/slower runners. Turns out there's not but apparently they don't mind waiting....Still have two more weeks training so should be a little fitter by then too. Paces were: 10.24, 11:00, 10:17, 10.21, 10.41. avg HR 149, then walked 1.27 miles home in the cold.

Sunday 6th Feb Hike 3.26 miles elevation 545ft

Back up to Rahan for a hike taking in the 'hidden' forest that I didn't know about until yesterday. It's narrow, and muddy! An odd day in that it's mild enough but the wind would cut you in two. Still enjoyable especially with company.

Yoga 30 mins: I haven't actually done this yet but will do later!

Totals:

Walk: 6.54 miles (not counting dog walks which are much slower affairs generally)

Run: 12.39 miles

Strength x 1 session

Yoga x 1 session

Tuesday 15th February 3 mile run

Tiredness lingering, lots of aching muscles etc but got out early for this. I wasn't sure how I'd feel and it was a bit miserable (wet & windy) so I just ran around an nearby estate, railway road and part of the N20. Job done 3 miles avg hr 134, 11:13, 11:11, 11:34.

Thursday 17th February Yoga, Strength + 3 mile run

Another wet morning so I opted for 30 mins yoga with some strength work in the morning followed by a lunch run, in daylight! Which meant I could do the river walk and into the park and back again. Struggled a bit on the hill out of the park and turned left along Nav road instead of continuing uphill home to get to 3 miles. Knocked off the watch and walked the last 500m home as a cooldown. It was nice to get out in daylight and a nice break in my workday. 3 miles avg hr 141 10:26, 10:41, 11:13.

Saturday 19th February 3 mile walk

Headed down to parkrun to catch up with the Sanctuary runners gang, a lovely morning although still a bit breezy.

Sunday 20th February, A Race! 5.45 miles in 1:05 945ft elevation avg HR 158

Woke to more wind and rain which had started late Saturday afternoon, yuck. Had the whole 'sure I'd be crazy to go up and race in that weather' talk but decided to proceed as planned. Watched the Seville marathon while having breakfast and working on my tight hips with the massage gun, was delighted to see AMK having such a great run up to 30k and then still coming in under sub 3 despite a very tough run - inspiring! Got a lift up to Rahan and parking reasonably close to number collection. The rain had eased at that point. I was trying to size up the other runners to see if anyone else might be as slow as me but it's impossible to guess. Decided I start anyway and if I felt I was way behind I could just turn around.

Mile 1: 10:31 elevation 31 avg HR 155. A flat start that goes downhill after 100m, feeling ok, sticking with those around me trying to just settle in and relax, a right turn brings you immediately uphill and I was already feeling the heat here so took the hat and jacket off and tied it around my waist, a few people walking already I pushed on slowly knowing it would level out soon enough.

Mile 2: 12:05 elevation -24 avg HR 157. Most of this was down a forest path and then into a very narrow, very muddy single trail. I knew this was going to be rough going, on a dry day I would gain time here as I like running in this sort of terrain but those that had gone before me had literally left their mark with large deep footprints that made it very slippery underfoot, any advantage that could be gained on the downhill was lost.

Mile 3: 9:25 elevation -269 avg HR 160. Out of the trail and flatish for a while before we get back to a junction we had gone through in mile 1, turn the corner and downhill all the way to junction 1 where S was supporting, got a shoutout and lots of encouragement from the crew as I belted down - enjoyed this bit! Round the corner and was expecting to be very quickly into an uphill here but we took a turn off into a different single forest trail that I wasn't expecting.

Mile 4: 14:49 elevation 209 avg HR 159 ouch....all my reckies up here had not prepared me for this bit (I didn't know it was part of the route), a slight downhill and around a corner into a mountain climb - who knew there was a mountain on the hill?! Not me 😳. Up we went, walking all of this as way to narrow and steep to attempt a run. Met one of the regular parkrun volunteers out taking photos, I laughed and told him he'd picked the worst spot for pics, no he says, she did (pointing upwards) at the crest of hill another photographer!

Mile 5 12:36 elevation -45 avg HR 158. Off the top of the mountain back onto fire roads I hadn't a clue where I was now but a glance over at the view confirmed I still had a long climb to get back into the forest we came through in mile 2, found the turn and in I went. I had passed a guy about 1/2 mile back and he had passed me again coming off the mountain. I knew I wasn't last as I'd looked back on the first hill to see people behind me, I never saw them again though so they could have dnf'd and maybe I was last but at least I had 4 runners ahead in my sights so I wouldn't be keeping the volunteers out in the rain just for me. We ran/walked up through the mud we had come down earlier and were out quick enough and back in the open with all the elements at full blast now. My legs were almost completely sapped of energy from the climbs but I had no choice but to run as the wind and rain were driving right into us and I'd get cold very quickly. The jacket had gone back on a while back and now the hat was back on. Pushing pushing all the way I knew we had one more lovely downhill before the cruel uphill finish. Another shout out from S at one of the junctions, round the corner and downhill as fast as I could this time turning left to head for home.

The last .45 14:21 elevation 139 avg HR 139. The absolutely cruelty of finishing on a fairly steep uphill!! One of the marshals was on a bike and he was telling us nearly there, some of the faster runners were doing a short loop cooldown and encouraging along the way too. I know this trail quite well so I knew it would flatten out for the last 200m and a run to the finish line. I had figured it would take me an hour (5 miles) but the extra .45 mile brought me to 1:05. Fine by me.

I'm actually really happy with this, given the conditions today, very strong winds, lashing rain and the extra hills I wasn't expecting it shows me I could be faster on a dry sunny day. Also that there are plenty of people who are not speedy gonzales's in IMRA so it's okay to take part when you're at my level. Really well done to all the Mallow AC crew who organised this, marshalled it and made everyone so welcome. A run with strength work thrown in! Could feel the imbalance in the right side today on the steeper climbs so must get going with the single leg squats..

Are we there yet?

Monday 28th Feb S&C

Another of the cycling Ireland training hub workouts - lots of stretching in between squats, lunges overhead weights etc. Challenging but good

Tuesday 1st March 4 mile run - 4.14 miles @ 11:19 avg hr 133

Legs were a bit stiff after yesterdays workout but it's so wonderful to see the brighter mornings! Sunrise mid run so was able to run home through the town park and along the river, gorgeous. Splits 11:02, 11:19, 11:19, 11:40. Stopped the watch and walked the last .4 mile home.

Thursday 3rd March, 3 mile run, 10:55 avg hr 140

Did this after work, no comments on strava so can't remember much about it, splits 10:12, 11:16, 11:13. First mile downhill.

Saturday 5th March, Poppintree parkrun 3.09 miles @ 10:14 avg HR 157

Travelled up to Dublin early on Friday morning for my uncles funeral, the last of the brothers to go on my dads side. His 2 sisters are an amazing example of how to live a long and healthy life, one swims every day in the bull wall and has done for 40+ years, the other walks 4-6 miles every morning. There's a lesson in there somewhere. Anyway, a few things going on including an adjustment to my HRT by the gp earlier in the week which I think has impacted my sleep (awake from 4am on Wednesday and Thursday nights). Slept ok on Friday but awake from about 5.30. Up early, had a cup of tea and bottle of water in the hotel bedroom and one of those coffee biscuits they you and headed down to the Clontarf promenade to enjoy the gorgeous morning. Over to Poppintree waaaay to early which allowed time to find a bathroom and still get to the start before 9am. A large crew of Sanctuary runners arrived including Annapr, Bungygirl, aquinn, mrpaul and LauraAC. Lovely to see everyone and catch up. Ran the course with Anna chatting as we went, it's a lovely route and a really nice park. Some photos for #RunforUkraine some more chats before heading back for breakfast and a shower. Headed for home via Decathlon but bought nothing. Very enjoyable trip to Dublin (not home any more...)but had forgotten the sheer volume of traffic lights and how long it takes to get anywhere!!!

Sunday 6th March - not 9 miles... 8 miles @ 11:12 avg HR 146

According to the plan I should have done 9 miles yesterday and 60 min walk today but I was not going to attempt a 9 mile run around a parkrun, had enough going on over the weekend. Also wanted to run most of the Mallow 10 mile route but having driven it last weekend I knew that wasn't wise as there are lots of country roads in the 2nd part of it - I don't mind cycling them but am not brave enough to run them yet! Up early, 2 pancakes with peanut butter, yoghurt, berries and bananas and 2 cups of tea and a few stretches while I waited for a new spotify playlist to synch on my watch. Another gorgeous sunny but cool day, I wore a long sleeve top and my Puma runners that I'm still not sure about. Two mistakes! The first 5 miles were pretty good with splits of 10:34, 10:49, 11:05, 11:11 and 11:16 I was consciously trying to slow down and keep the HR low - it was a bit too high for my liking in spots, then the footpath disappeared along a fast enough section of road with a bend where I knew I'd be invisible to oncoming cards so speed up a bit here and was struggling by the time I got to the top of that road and onto the hard shoulder of the m20. Stopped briefly to stretch my hamstring which was niggling along with my right foot, I knew I was in the wrong shoes and also feeling the heat of the sun by now. Got going again and mile 6, 7 and 8 became a battle of wits and an internal conversation about how far I could or should go today. Splits were 11:05, 11:08 and 12:25. In the 8th mile I was running along the Navigation road with a plan to run as far as the race track and then turn back, giving me 9 miles - but the road ran out and I was already taking walk breaks so that was excuse enough to turn around and head for home, walking the last .3 mile up the hill.

This was supposed to give me confidence that I could do the 10 mile distance and I didn't get that but, I've set some goals for the next two weeks that should make a difference and keep the fitness going in the right direction:

1) eat healthily and drink enough water

2) prioritise recover and sleep

3) walk lots on the days you're not running

4) more yoga/stretching to manage niggles

18 miles for the week but not enough walks on non run days. Am still very happy with that week.

Wednesday 9th March 1.79m walk

Out with the dog, lots of flooding so kept having to turn back and try a different route.

Thursday 10th March 3 mile run

In work today so packed the gear with the idea of running along the Lee Fields after work - forgot the leggings 🙄 so home and changed and out the door and then back in the door as it was a horribly windy evening. Decided I'd run tomorrow instead - checked the forecast for Friday which showed wind and rain, so back out the door with me.... Legs were a bit stiff, I really hate the wind so didn't enjoy this and was just glad to get this finished. Splits 10:39, 11, 11:16 avg HR 139.

Saturday 12th March 8.23 miles run including Mallow Castle Parkrun

Did a much better job with route planning today. Drove down and parked near the Castle park, headed out over the bridge and ran the first mile and 1/2 of the race route cutting up onto the M20 at the slip road. Was thinking I'd get to the top of Shortcastle street around mile 3 and I knew it was 2 miles from there to the park, perfect. I knew in mile 4 I'd be slightly too early for the start of parkrun so was trying to slow down so as not to be hanging around for too long. Stopped briefly at the car to grab a drink of water and a quick change into my SR t-shirt and stretch my right leg as the hamstring was pinging a bit. Into the park and a quick chat with a visitor from Cabo before we were off. Tried to keep this as slow as possible and not get carried away but went over my self prescribed HR a couple of times. In the last mile or so my right leg started cramping - possibly because I'd been trying to mind the hamstring I changed running gait and the rest of the leg wasn't happy! Had done some massage gun work before I left the house but no stretching.

Was very happy with this compared to the previous 8 mile run I did, better sleep helped for sure. Splits: 11:13, 10:39, 11:05, 11:05, 11:16, 10:26, 10:46, 10:41. I know they don't look consistent but they are given the rolling nature of lovely Mallow! Avg HR 146.

I'm starting to look forward to next Sunday now, if we get a morning like this morning (2 degrees and sunny starting at 8.25) it would be perfect, no wind! Lovely coffee and chats afterwards.

Depending on the weather tomorrow I might go for a hike. The plan for next week is 3 miles on Tuesday then 2 miles on Thursday with the option to do another 2 on Friday. I think I'd benefit more from the rest but will aim to walk Mon-Wed-Fri to keep the legs moving.