Here goes...again!

Bally8

Thoughts of the gang in Barcalona today making me so excited and motivated to really get back into training. I want to be there someday too:)

Anyway this week:
Tuesday 1st March: Aerobics class. Lots of work on core, thighs and ass. Hurts so good:D

Wednesday 2nd March: Biggest Loser Yoga session + a 20 min interval session on the treadmill. Trying to do 2 speed sessions a week in the hopes of getting my mile times down. 2.12 miles.

Friday 4th March: 6.38 miles. Went on the flat route but realise now that I shouldnt be avoiding hills. Every race seems to have hills and they usually knock the wind out of me. More hill training needed in future I think. Biggest Loser upper body work out when I got back.

Sunday 6th March: 7.7 slow hilly miles. Took me 1:22:29. Slow but glad to be getting the hill running started. I know it will benefit me in the long run. Biggest loser challenge on wii when I got back. Then weigh in. Another lb lost. Woohoo!

Summary:
This week: 16.2 miles, 3 runs
This month: 16.2 miles, 3 runs
This year: 111.5 miles, 22 runs.

Bally8

Tuesday 8th: Aerobics class- god she really tortured our backsides tonight. So painful - great.

Wed 9th: Did a quick 1 mile warm up (9is min/mile) then my hubby joined me (yippie- I miss running with him) and we ran/walked 5.56 miles together. Really enjoyable to have someone to run with. He is doing the Cork relay with me so started his training this week. We should get the chance to run together maybe once a week from now on now that Im back on a 3 day week at work.

Friday 11th: 4.43 miles in 45 mins on the treadmill. I was a total wuss- didnt want to go out in rain so took the soft option of the treadmill. Felt good though and would have done more if I hadnt a race on Sunday.

Sunday 13th: Adare 10k. This was my 4th time running this race. Unfortunately it might just be my last. Organisation was very poor today. Lots of little things added up to make me reconsider my annual trip there.

Met my sister there, I found it easy to park as I knew where to go but she found it much harder as there were no clear signs anywhere of where to park, or to register or that there even was a race on for that matter. No t-shirts left for us either (not a problem though as I have 3 others). So we lined up at the start but were kept waiting there for ages as they let car after car pass through the crowd.

My main goal from today was just to beat 64 minutes from 2 weeks ago in Castleconnell but when the race started (eventually) and I took off at a much faster pace then I usually do and decided to heck with it- I was going to try for my sub60 today! It wasnt to be though- I was tiring after 3 miles and thought that I would maybe walk a bit when I got to the water station and collect myself for a big push for the last 3 miles. However there was no water left at the station:eek:. I was pretty annoyed as it was very hot and I got there 28 minutes in. This is the first race ever where there was no water at all on the course. Very poor. Anyway I got over that and pushed on. Between cars and walkers spread 4 abreast across the road there were many close calls and times where we almost had to stop to keep safe. No water at the end, refreshments very poor. Very few marshalls. Really gone downhill which is a pity as I have been a champion of this race in the past.

Finished in 1:00:54. Thrilled with this- not a sub60 obviously but a PB by 2 minutes.

Dont want to sound too moany about the organisation of todays race but it was a bit of a shambles and there are so many races these days offeriing better.

shazkea

Congrats on the PB

Bally8

Shin splints :mad::mad: AAGGHHH. Im so sick of being injured!!!

Bally8

This week:

Tuesday 15th March: Aerobics class today- the instructor was all over the place with the cardio section. She couldnt remember what to do next and had to skip some songs and make it up as she went along. Dont know what was going on there. The floor section was a million times better- we must have done 100 squats and lunges. I really felt the burn. Also she is making me do stage 2 pushups as she calls them and boy do my arms feel it.

Wednesday 16th March: Biggest loser yoga session- got the sweat pumping believe it or not. Had just enough time to run out to the treadmill after and do 12.5 mins. Covered 1.32 miles. Shin was hurting a bit but I thought maybe it was from the race last Sunday or all the leg work on Tuesday night's aerobics.

Thursday 17th March: 6.76 hilly miles with my OH. My shin was very sore for most of this run and I probably made things worse by running the last 10 minutes at top speed because I was bursting- I mean bursting- to go to the toilet and thought I might have an accident at the side of the road if I didnt sprint home.

Shin was very sore after so I iced it and did some stretches and stressed myself out by reading all about shin splints on the internet and giving out to myself for never learning. I always try to come back with too much mileage.

Saturday 19th March: Biggest loser full body workout. It was challenging to say the least. I discovered sumo squat jumping jacks- they are my nemesis. I could only manage 5 at a time before my legs turned to jelly. Finished up with a trial run on the treadmill so see if my shin was better:D (Im either very optimistic or maybe impatient). It was fine for 1 mile actually but then started to niggle so I gave up at 1.78 miles.


I was supposed to do 8 miles today but I didnt do anything other then walk the dog as I know I should rest for a few days. Plan is to try not to run until Wednesday and then fingers crossed Im fully healed and ready to get back on track with my training for Cork.

Summary:
This week: 9.86 miles, 3 runs
This month: 43.32 miles, 9 runs
This year: 138.7 miles, 28 runs.

hollypink

Cool, another yoga practitioner!

Bally8 wrote: »

Shin was very sore after so I iced it and did some stretches and stressed myself out by reading all about shin splints on the internet

I have a tendency to google my symptoms sometimes if I'm feeling ill, it is really stressful alright! Hope the shin recovers soon.

What are stage 2 pushups? They sound difficult! I can hardly do 10 modified push-ups (the ones where you're on your knees)

Bally8

hollypink wrote: »

What are stage 2 pushups? They sound difficult! I can hardly do 10 modified push-ups (the ones where you're on your knees)

The instructor showed us 3 types of push-up. Stage 1 is on your knees with your bum up in the air (very easy really.) Stage 2 is on your knees with bum down (I'd say these are the ones you do maybe?) and Stage 3 is the full on ones. Before the classes I couldnt do one push up on my knees so I was doing the easiest type for the first few weeks. I think the instructor saw how easy I was finding them so pushed me to the next level. I can do about 4 sets of 10 then my arms start to hate me:)
Cant imagine being able to do full push-ups.

Bally8

Tuesday 22nd March : 1 hr aerobics class. Really pushed myself tonight. Im hoping all the squats, lunges and core work will be a help with my running. I had big hamstring aches when I did my long runs training for Dublin 2 years ago so Im hoping that these kind of exercise will strenghten them in case I decided to do a marathon this year.

Wednesday 23rd March: 4.32mile run in 45:55. Happy to say the shins didnt give me too much trouble. I hadn't ran in 4 days and was dying to get out to see if I was better. I wouldnt say they are 100% but definitely not painful like last Friday. Iced them when I got home. Feeling pretty happy with myself. Please please god let me get back running injury free from now on:)

Bally8

Friday 25th March: Ran round the corner to my sisters house where we started off on a 7.72 mile walk. Then ran home again. Not a big fan of this walking lark. We were out for over 2 hours as it was very hilly and my sister is only getting back to exercising after a lay off. I much prefer running I have to say. Still it was lovely to have company and I am trying to do other things than running. My feet had blisters afterwards which is weird and I actually think I wouldnt have gotten them if I had ran for 2 hours.

Saturday and Sunday were a disaster running-wise. Didnt manage to get out at all. Busy all day Saturday and today I was too hungover and sleep deprived to get off the couch let alone run. Hopefully these unplanned rest days will be of benefit to my shins.

Back on track next week hopefuly.

Bally8

Tuesday 29th March: Didnt get to my aerobics class:( Had no one to babysit so I sat on the couch and ate a big golden crisp and a bag of taytos instead!

Wednesday 30th March: 9.3mile run in 1:44:56. This was one of those terrible runs in which I got the worst case of paranoia ever. After 2 miles both my shins hurt. Then at mile 3 I felt a very familiar pain in my achilles and then at about 6 miles my ITB flared up to say hello. I tried to talk sense to myself and say that the niggles were not real, only fear. Im so scared of being injured again that when I feel the slightest niggle I start freaking out imagining the worst. By the end of the run nothing hurt, I was just unbelieveably thristy and hot. So who knows if any of those parts are actually injured again. For safety sake I did lots of stretching and then iced various body parts.

My excuse for the very slow time (apart for the fact that Im very slow:D) is that it was a very very very hilly route. In fact I had to stop and walk 3 times as it was just too steep. Not the best route for injuries caused by too much hill work. The problem is I live about a 10 minute drive from any flat roads and I dont want to have to drive in order to go for a run.

Bally8

Friday 1st April: 3.1 easy miles on the treadmill. Im running the Plassey 10k on Sunday so this run was just to see if there were still any niggles. Luckily I felt quite good for this run. No achilles pain anyway which is the greatest relief. I am doing Plassey for fun with my husband. We will be going at his pace so it wont be an attempt for a sub 60. Emer Casey in May will be the next attempt at that goal.

metamorphosis

I might see ya Sunday, I won't be running but if i see ya ill shout!

Bally8

Tried to update my log last night but my laptop died! Boo!!! :mad: All my work stuff is on it- big boo!!! However my lovely husband went and bought me a netbook today- yippie:D and a work colleague thinks he can recover everything from the laptop hard drive - double yippie:D!!

So to update - yesterday was the Jacinta O'Brien 10k- this used to be the Plassey 10k which I've ran twice before even though the route changes slightly each year. I loved this race. The atmopshere was great, marshalls great- so many of them and so enthuastic. Weather lovely, t-shirt very nice even, lots of water in little bottles. started on time, chip timing. A much much better experience than Adare a few weeks ago.

I hadnt any time goal for this race as I was doing it with my husband who hasnt ran in 2 weeks and is only starting to train again. I wanted to just run/walk it with him and forget about the sub60 as I didnt want to put undue pressure on my shins. We took off very quickly and as usual for my hubby any plan for a set run/walk schedule went out the door and he just took off. Thing is his legs got such a shock his shins went mad and he was in a lot of pain from very early on. After a few painful miles of run/wallking 3.2 miles in he came to the very difficult decision to drop out. We are doing the Cork marathon relay in June and he couldnt afford to cause himself a big injury that could prevent him training for that. So I decided to carry on without him and get to the end as quickly as possible.

I actually really suprised myself with the pace I was able to muster and took great joy in passing about 20 people on my way to the finish. Did it in 64 minutes which is the same as my time in Castleconnell in February which I ran the whole way:eek:

I take great confidence from the latter half of this race. I always believed that I am a plodder. Destined to be a plodder for the whole of my running career. Now though I am starting to believe that maybe I could actually get faster. I dont have to run 10.30/11 minute miles - maybe I can do 9-9.30 minute miles. That would be amazing!

Bally8

Tuesday 5th April: Aerobics class. Really enjoyed it tonight. She did a bit of Zumba with us which just made me laugh a lot - great fun if you leave your self-consciousness at the door! We also did lots of core work which I hate and love in equal measure.

Wednesday 6th April: 6.55 miles in 1 hr 15 mins. Did the first 2 miles 3 min run/2 min walk with the OH then left him and ran the last 4.55 miles on my own. I decided to keep as slow as I could to just get the miles in and see what my lsr pace would feel like. I reckon if Im going to do 10 minute miles for Cork, my lsr should be 11-11.30 minute miles.Its tough going that slow though so I ended up doing about 10.30minute miles instead.

Im not really following any training plan for Cork yet. So at the moment Im just getting the miles in and hoping that I have no long lasting injuries.

Bally8

Sat 9th April
10 mile lsr in 1:50:26. Wow it was hot out there today. I drove to the Nenagh by-pass where I did lots of my runs when training for the Dublin marathon. Its very flat so easy on the old body. I was aiming for 11 minute miles as plan for Cork is 10 minute miles. I was going a little faster than this for first 6 miles but then I stopped for water and never really got my pace back again. I slowed to 11.20ish miles for the last 4 miles. Managed to pick up the pace for the last mile and tried my best to get it done in under 1hr 50 as that was my time in January for the Dungarven 10 miles. Failed though.

My achilles was giving out to me at the end, fingers crossed its ok. Its my most enduring injury and I cannot afford to go through the amount of physio I did last year in order to fix it.

Back at home I discovered I could use my frozen pea ice pack to ice my right shin and my left achilles at the same time:D Woohoo that will save me 10 minutes a day:D

metamorphosis

Just ease off for a few days and you will be grand. ice. Would you consider wearing comp socks on long runs and after it for a few hours. Help with the blood flow to the achilles, which it needs as the tendon gets little blood flow in general hence why it takes so long to heal.

Also, keep up the eccentric exercises even after you're healed. I do weighted calf raises still to this day. It will prevent it getting injured again in the future. I know its a pain to do when healed but its worth alone to not get injured again. Prevention is better than cure and all that.

good one in the run yday.

Bally8

Thanks for the advice meta. I will definitely look into getting the compression socks. I'll try anything if it keeps my injuries at bay. In saying that I really have been haphazard in doing my eccentric exercises since I've came back from the achilles injury. More often than not I forget to do them. I really must just make them part of my running routine- as much as ice has become recently.

I didnt see your post until after I had ran today but I wont be running until Wednesday again and then probably Saturday or Sunday and then no running for 2 weeks as Im off to Vegas and very busy with work until the end of the month. Im hoping that the time off will help with any niggles Im having right now.

So the wise thing to do today was to probably rest but I was driving myself mad worrying if I had injured the achilles again yesterday so decided to do a short run on the treadmill to see how it felt. 3.6 miles in 37 minutes. All felt good thank god.

Total miles this week: 20.15 (the highest weekly milage this year so far)
Total this year; 182.4

Bally8

Didnt have much time for running this week but I dont mind as it was time to give my legs a bit of a rest anyway. I really would love to avoid any serious injury this year. Im getting more and more interested in aiming for the Dublin Marathon. However I would need to be injury free for a months on end in order to do that and I dont think Im capeable of that. So for now its a best case scenario dream and if it doesnt work out I have plenty of other goals to keep me happy this year.

So I missed aerobics this week- the girl I go with couldnt make it and I was wrecked so I didnt go either:(. It was a total cop out because if she was going then I would have gone and enjoyed it. Wednesday was a hectic day so I didnt manage to run until 8.45. I have to say Im very proud of myself for doing it at that late time. I dont think I have ever ran that late in the evening before, I always made excuses. 4.66 miles on the treadmill in 48 minutes. Felt fantastic, no niggles or pains, felt like I could run for miles but I had paperwork waiting so had to stop.

No running or exercise till today. I had planned doing 11 miles as part of my training for Cork but ended up doing 8.53 instead. I didnt manage to get out until 12.45 and by then it was pretty hot already. I thought this was possibly a positive thing as warm weather training for Cork in case its a scorcher like years gone by (last year excluded obviously:)). But then from about 2 miles in all I could think about was water. I had left a bottle back in my car and couldnt wait to get back for some. I was all I could think about water...water...water As I came to my car at 6 miles I thought I would just stop and have a drink and a gel and then carry on but instead I gulped back the full bottle, hopped in the car and came home. I had a splitting headache and just couldnt face another 5 miles.
At home I got on the treadmill and did another 2.5 miles to make myself feel better. In total :)8.53 miles in 1:32 something. Im ok with that, not a good run but not a total disaster. I have plenty of time to prepare for Cork.

Summary:
Total this week: 13.19 miles, 2 runs
Total this month: 42.65 miles, 7 runs
Total this year: 195.61 miles, 38 runs

littlebug

Fair play for getting the extra 2.5 miles in B8. I'm not sure that I would have

I'm like you I think, in that thoughts of another marathon are most definitely there but I'm taking it week by week at the minute and will just notch up the distances as I go and if injury sets in along the way I'll move back a step and take that as my limit for now. I refuse to even think about marathon seriously until I have a half marathon I'm happy with under my belt.

Bally8

Ok so I'm back. I had a ball in Las Vegas. Wow its amazing there. So much to see and do. I much preferred it to New York. Hope to win the lotto soon and go back again. We did so much walking, my feet were so sore and I had blisters on top of blisters. My calves ached and on the last day I thought I felt my achilles niggle so I was worried in case I had done some damage to myself. Even walking from our hotel room to the street was a 10 minute journey. Fab week though- had our vows renewed by Elvis himself!

Yesterday I did a 22 minute run on the treadmill just to see how the body was holding up after 11 days of no running and total over-eating. Everything felt fine except for a slight niggle in my right heel and the over-whelmning urge to puke. Covered 2.18 miles and sweat buckets.

Today I decided to do the same again just to ease myself back into it before my planned 10 miler on Monday. Felt good so I did 42 minutes in the end and covered 4.11 miles. Real reason I ran today was to reach my goal of 200 miles by the end of April. My total is 201.9 - happy with that.


I was very saddened to hear the news of Eddie's death while I was away. I never met him but had kept track of his log and like a lot of posters on here I feel we are all part of a community. Life is so short and we waste too much time procrastinating and worrying over the little things. So my new aim is to run more and worry less. I think that would have a great affect on my life.

Its my one year wedding anniversary today so going out to dinner later with the hubby. Its also my birthday tomorrow so I am waiting till Monday to get back on track with my diet. Then its all guns blazing in prep for Cork where I hope to be at least 7lbs lighter on the start line.

rainbow kirby

Bally8 wrote: »

Life is so short and we waste too much time procrastinating and worrying over the little things. So my new aim is to run more and worry less. I think that would have a great affect on my life.

Amen to that.

shazkea

Las Vegas...jealous!! Sounds like you had a great time and hope you enjoyed all the celebrations

Bally8

Thanks Shaz, celebrations were very tame in the end, we are just wrecked and broke since Vegas!

I was doing a year worth of paperwork for work on Sunday (great way to spend your birthday- not!) so didnt manage to get out to run again until yesterday. 11 miles in 2:00:54, it was my LSR but my legs were so heavy I dont think I could have gone any faster if I had to. I did a route that was 2.75 miles out from my house and back again. I was a bit worried that when I got back to my house I would just go in and not start out again for the second time. I found the first few miles tough but after a quick emergency pit stop at the house a drink of water and a gel and a 'see you later' shout to my mother-in-law who was walking up the drive for a chat, I was off out for the next 5.5 miles. Happy to get the long run in- no injury or niggles to report:).

Im very busy with work this week. I had 6 miles planned for tomorrow but I have to go into the office so wont get a chance to do it. Its now looking like next Sunday before I get a run in:eek:. I've 12 miles planned but will try my best to squeeze a few short runs in if I can before then.

A stupid fire across the road from my house yesterday afternoon broke my internet so I only have restricted access at work-I had withdrawls last night, how am I going to cope until its fixed??:eek::eek:

Bally8

Thankfully my internet was fixed in less than 48 hours so I survived!!

I tried to get out for a run last night but my daughters camogie training was cut short so I didnt get the chance. She has a match this evening and because Im a terrible mother, I decided not to go watch her and put my running first:o:p

So 40 minutes after scoffing a huge dinner of mash with chicken and peas I was up on the treadmill. Had a pain in my side and felt life puking after 1 minute of my warm up but had no choice but to carry on as I couldnt fit a run in any later today. I did my own version of interval training (well actually a bit of an adaption of one littlebug did yesterday!). I planned half a mile warm up at 5.5 mph then 0.3miles at 7.5 mph followed by 0.2 miles at 5.5. I niavely thought I might do this 8 times and then a half mile cool down.

A few minutes in and I realised that it would take me about 50 minutes and I only had 30 so 8 intervals would never happen. But then I realised even more that 7.5mph is bloody fast for me. I never run that fast- I usually run at 6mph the fastest sometimes pushing it to 6.5 or 7mph for a minute at a time every now and then to try convince myself I could run fast but I choose not to:p

So I managed to do it 3 times and by 20 minutes in I really thought my dinner was going to come back out! I managed 0.2 of a mile at 7mph then did a bit at 5.5 then back up to 6mph for another 0.2 of a mile when I knew the game was up. Cooled down then and almost fell in a heap at the side of my gym. 3.17 miles in 31 minutes- wow. How bad is that for all the bloody effort I put in!!!

Still the positives I can take from it are:
1- I was totally knackered and stuck for time but got off my ass and did it
and
2- For the first time ever I properly tired to do intervals. Now I have a base to improve upon. In a few weeks (maybe months actually) I will probably be able to do the 8 without dying!

littlebug

:eek: I was fit to collapse after 5 of those last night and that's without a bellyful of food! 7.4 is my max at the minute.
Until last night I'd been doing the intervals a bit slower than that and the recovery faster (6mph).. I think I also used to do it the other way round ie 2 mins fast and 3 slow so now I've made the recovery slower the fast bit is slightly easier. I think 5 reps is plenty with half mile or so slow either side. That still brought me to 4 miles.

Bally8

Sunday 7th May
12.2 miles lsr. I was aiming for 11:15 minute miles for this one ended up doing an average of 10:49 per mile. Not sure I could have gone any faster though so that worried me a bit on beating last years time from Cork. I was much faster and fitter this time last year even carrying my achilles injury. Still I know that slowly slowly will keep me running instead of constant breaks due to injury.

It was four seasons in one day out there today- windy all the time but cold for the first mile or two, melting hot for the next few then it rained for the last few. Rain was very welcome though at that stage. I did the same route as Monday with a mile added at the beginnng to make up the 12. My pit stop at home was much more successful today. I got in, took a gel and some water, quick bathroom break and back out the door with lightening speed:D. Felt good going back out for second loop and finished strong with a 10 minute mile. Took me 2 hrs and 12 minutes. No niggles or pains- woohoo!

Total miles this week is 25.27 thats the most weekly milage for me so far this year.

Bally8

Thursday 12th May
I took today off work- have had huge stress in there recently and just couldnt face it. Told my boss I was taking a mental health day because if I went in I would probably kill someone. She agreed it was best I stay at home:)

I knew a good run would get me somewhat balanced again so as my husband was off work too we went out together. I love having company on runs and it so rarely happens so I said I would go at his pace. He is using a 2 min run/ 1 min walk strategy at the moment and I thought this would be easy for me. How wrong can a person be!! I found it very tough, his running pace is too fast for me and my body didnt like the constant changing from running to walking to running. Injuries that have calmed down recently started to flare up and at about 3 miles in I have a big sulky fit:o. I gave out to my OH saying its his fault Im going to be injured again and that I shouldnt have ran again and that Im so bloody unfit- thanks for showing me up!!

I'm telling ya- Im gone mental recently. So anyway I told him I wasnt going to walk anymore and off I ran up the road ahead of him. About a mile later I had calmed down and I waited for him to catch up so we could run together again. Lucky he knew I was a bit mad before we got married:). For the rest of the 7 miles I jogged slowly while he passed me out while he ran and I caught him while he walked. I was happy to be able to turn on the motor at 6 miles in and finish strong with a 9:35 minute/mile, leaving him in my dust:D

So in the end it was 7.03 miles in 1hr 20 minutes. My husband is gone off now playing tag rugby- I think he needs a break from emotional meltdowns for a while- poor man:)

ILOVERED

Bally8 wrote: »

Lucky he knew I was a bit mad before we got married:).

Laughed out loud at this! So true for so many.
Well done for even trying to keep up with your husband. I wouldnt even try.

Bally8

Sat 14th May
Had planned to do this run yesterday but my shin was still at me so I took it as a rest day instead. I had less than 50 minutes to get a run in today while my daughter was at camogie so I decided to try my own shortened version of the McMillan 10k workout. I hope to do a sub60 10k at the Clare 10k at the end of June but have been focusing a lot on lsr recently in my preparations for the Cork relay.

I worked out that I need to be doing about 9:35 per mile to do the sub60 and even though that doesnt sound like a big deal to most on here, it is very fast for me. My long slow runs are usually over 11 minute miles and my fast runs are usually 10 minute miles. I often go faster then that but only for a minute or two and never for a sustained length of time. But in the three 10k races I've done so far this year I managed a mile or two in each of 9:15 so I know I can run faster but need to work on doing it for a whole race.

So back to today:)- I started off with a warm up mile that took 11:01 then tried to push it for the next one. I really thought I was running at my top speed but I failed to meet my target- it took me 9:44. next was a recovery jog (almost crawl) of 0.41 miles that took me 4:56. So then I tried again and amazingly enough the second lap was easier and I managed a mile in 9:25. Had to turn for home then so took the last 0.7 mile very slowly. In total I did 4.11miles in 43:31. Found it very tough going but with the chance to recover in between miles I think I could have managed a few more if I had the time. Have no idea how in the hell I can string 6.2 of those miles together but hey time will tell.

Bally8

No running since Saturday. I came down with a horrible bug Saturday night and Im only returning to some sense of normality today. Its totally shattered me and I've spent most of the last few days confined to bed. Had to go back to work today for an important meeting but surprisingly enough I feel much better since I got home this evening. There is no way Im strong enough to run tomorrow but hopefully I'll be back to full strength by Saturday.