Running with the birds or for the birds?

Cleanman

Hey Marthastew, well done on all your progress from the "NY marathon" to Donedea to last Saturday. Yourself and Mr. Stew are flying. I have to say I was gobsmaked with Junior Stews performance. I was telling my girlfriend about it last night. She was out supporting on the course and she said she remembers a wee lad whizzing by her not long after me!! He must be a pure natural. I'll be watching out for his name in years to come!

Marthastew

hot to trot wrote: »

Awesome training , awesome running. Can't even imagine what you will pull out of the bag in London.

Congrats on Tralee;) You seem to have recovered well after your wonderful 24 Hour race. I sent you a couple of messages, not sure if you got them?

rasher_m wrote: »

Ive been telling my family about your amazing training and racing. Its fantastic.

Thanks A, I'm delighted with how the year is going so far

Dory Dory wrote: »

This food obsessed log is getting harder and harder for this detoxed-gal to read with all its chit chat about steamy hot chocolates, heavenly banana muffins, extreme Rice Krispie treats, and crazy choco-choco-yum-yum-cocoa-caffe-o'le-frappe-mocha-chino-with-whipped-cream-and-tiny-little-decadent-sprinkles-on-top. If you start posting pics of your vices, I may have to ban myself from this log until after May 5th! :)

May 5th! I thought the sugar-free madness was ending when you crossed the Finish line in Boston:eek: I may have to consider it myself, you seem to be reaping the rewards with super training

jcsmum wrote: »

You are so predictable missus! Amazing race..check. PB...check. Placing in Age Category..check. MrStew amazing run..check. Super race report...check. Insane run the day after amazing race..check. My need to lie down after reading said report....check!

You probably need to lie down because you are training so hard:)

The_Boy_Wonder wrote: »

Fixed that for you!! :D



F'ing unbelievable stuff. My feelings of inadequacy reading your log are unwavering!
Congrats to all the Stews

Coffee is my EPO:)
I really hope you are on the mend, I know only too well how frustrating it is to be out with injury, stay positive, heal well and you'll be back stronger than ever (I'm living proof of that:))

pgmcpq wrote: »

Congrats on the 5k - 2nd still earns a cigar. And a nice 22 miler warmdown .

... but wow, and double wow...congrats to junior stew - that's amazing. You must be feeling the pressure a bit !!

It's only a matter of time before he catches me, I can't wait:)
I'm waiting on a report on Lalaland.....

Cleanman wrote: »

Hey Marthastew, well done on all your progress from the "NY marathon" to Donedea to last Saturday. Yourself and Mr. Stew are flying. I have to say I was gobsmaked with Junior Stews performance. I was telling my girlfriend about it last night. She was out supporting on the course and she said she remembers a wee lad whizzing by her not long after me!! He must be a pure natural. I'll be watching out for his name in years to come!

Thanks a million.
You must have had a great race on Saturday also, well done. We were lucky the hailstones stopped:)
Junior does appear to be a natural runner, he loves the longer stuff and has already asked when he can race his next 5K. He plays with the local GAA and rugby clubs so that keeps him busy but he's really looking forward to getting onto the track in Ringsend in the summer.

Pronator

Mighty performance in the 5k. Should give you great confidence for London. And jnr Stew.............now thats incredible:eek:

T minus 32 days...........................

claralara

I could have sworn I posted in here after your weekend updates...hmmm puzzlement!

Anyway I had all my heartiest congrats and usual awe expressed in a typical beaut of literary prose as you can only imagine! Well done to all of you guys in the 5k - such great achievements all round! Between the Krustys and the Stews and all over the other mini-me's around, there are some names to be looking out for in the future!

Secondly I really enjoyed reading about your long run on Sunday (in a sick / guilty pleasure sort of way...). I had quite the tough 20 mile hilly long run myself (8:59 pace after 10 miles!!) and nearly died when i got home. I had a nightmare on Saturday night wherein I re-lived it - got to 10 miles, realised i had to get all the way home and ended up crying on a country road in the middle of nowhere with nothing to hear my sobs apart from baby lambs!! Actually nite sure what part of the above was real life and what part was nightmare... :-/

hot to trot

Yes indeed , thank you .I Sent you PM thanking you for your sponsorship and your message which I still have at home. I have all the little messages and intend to put them up in a poster frame with my certificate.:o

pgmcpq

Marthastew wrote: »

It's only a matter of time before he catches me, I can't wait:)
I'm waiting on a report on Lalaland......

Report ? Well we went out to Santa Monica on Saturday where I alternated between being "smouldering" but "aloof" and handing out my movie script. I am waiting by the phone. Mrs P, her brother and nephew ran the marathon and had fine time ! Seems like a fun event, lots of support. As ever in California every one is so .... "nice" ... it's just creepy.
Arrived back to snow :mad:.

Marthastew

Monday 18th March
8.59 easy miles @ 8.20 pace
2 of my running pals were heading out on their LSR so Mr S and I joined them for a few miles. We had planned to run 3 and turn back but we were so busy chatting that we were shocked to see 4 miles beep. Legs felt fine, a little stiff to start but nothing a yoga class and some foam rolling won’t sort out.

Tuesday 19th March
45 minute lower body class
45 minute mat Pilates
45 minute reformer Pilates
Like much of the country I woke to a blanket of snow (well, maybe a sheet not a blanket) The little Stews were over the moon and Junior was out jumping on the trampoline throwing snowballs:)I was less than enamoured with the snow as the road surface was too dangerous for cycling and running wouldn’t have been that easy either. Decided a running-free day would probably do me some good so I headed to the gym for the morning. Like a Hard reset for my body:)

Wednesday 20th March
Hill repeats, total of 10.28 miles @ pace 8.25
A pal of mine was really keen to run with me and I was keen to do some speed/strength work so I suggested hill repeats, she was not remotely interested in the idea but came up with a great plan; Killiney has no shortage of hills so she decided she’d run the route as normal and I’d run up and down each hill twice. It actually worked really well, there’s no way I would have run each of the hills twice and it made it more fun as I was chasing after her.

Thursday 21st March
6.84 miles @ 8.37 pace
75 minute Ashtanga Yoga
30 minute spinning class
I was joined by a friend who is running Paris marathon for this run, back to Killiney but I only ran each of the (5) hills once this time. Strong gusty winds make for a great sea view but not so good for running:eek: Legs feeling tired and sluggish but they felt fine after yoga and spinning.

Friday 22nd March
10.28 steady miles @ 7.50 pace
I had a late night on Thursday (only a thimble full of yummy red wine;)) and I woke sniffling and coughing and was glad that the horrific weather cancelled our track session. I spent the morning in a cold damp Polytunnel in the school garden helping kids plant seeds and by the time I finished I was blue with the cold and ready for a nap. I initially decided not to run but woke up after a 10 minute snooze and decided I’d head out and try a few miles just to see if I was suffering from Old Dear Flu or just a head cold:) Verdict; head cold. I would have enjoyed this run were it not for the driving rain and sleet and the cars on the Rock Road flying by spraying puddles all over me.

Saturday 23rd March
Unplanned Rest Day
My run on Friday might not have come back to bite me in the ass if I had gotten to bed early but I was on duty on Friday night collecting my oldest son and some of his friends from a social. Got to bed after 1am so I woke shattered and even snifflier on Saturday. I was also busy with family stuff and out again on that night so I made the wise decision to have an honest to goodness rest day.

Sunday 24th March
LSR 20.02 miles (4 @ PMP) avg pace 7.54
Poor Mr Stew is suffering with manflu (he was hacking and coughing all day Saturday) and an irritated ITB so he rather wisely told me he’d be giving this week’s run a miss. I was delighted meno had recovered enough from his manflu to join me as there is no way I would have run 20 miles on my own in that horrific cold and wind, I am getting sick of this weather:eek: you know the weather is bad when even Marthastew is complaining about it (Racoon Queen, I can be a whiner:rolleyes:)
We had hoped to do a quality run along a flat route but all notions of that disappeared when we saw how strong the wind was. We had brain freeze running by the sea in Sandycove:eek: Our plan was to head out to Bray and back and to pick the pace up as soon as we finished the Bono Hill (after 14 miles) The hill was tough going and we bumped into Emer911 looking fresh as a daisy on Vico Road. When we started to pick things up Meno told me to run on and I felt fine so off I went 7.09, 7.06, 7.10, 7.19 were my next 4 miles but they had lots of downhill and not much uphill and I was helped along by the wind at times. As 18 miles beeped on my Garmin I turned round into wind that nearly knocked me over and I felt like I was running at 5K effort (7.56 for that mile:eek:) I recomposed myself a little on the last mile @ 7.30, isn’t it amazing how getting to the last mile of a run gives you a mental boost:)


Total miles for the week 56.01
I had hoped for another high mileage week but the 5K and subsequent LSR took a lot out of me so I decided to be sensible. Only 4 weeks to London and I’m feeling tired but confident, today’s tough LSR was a good confidence booster. I plan to gradually drop the mileage over the next few weeks, keep the legs ticking over and do a few PMP runs to try and let my legs know what they need to be doing on April 21st:)

RacoonQueen

More miles than me O, I think I maxed out with about 40. Gone are the days when 40 miles was my easy week :eek:

digger2d2

RacoonQueen wrote: »

More miles than me O, I think I maxed out with about 40. Gone are the days when 40 miles was my easy week :eek:

You're not getting any younger though RQ

RunningKing

Your log both energises me and makes me tired!

Now, make sure you look after Mr Stew. Both Digger and TRR are testament to the reserves of HTFU needed to recover from such a disease.
Be it on your head that he recovers.





:-)

Marthastew

digger2d2 wrote: »

You're not getting any younger though RQ

none of us are getting any younger;)

RunningKing wrote: »

Your log both energises me and makes me tired!

Now, make sure you look after Mr Stew. Both Digger and TRR are testament to the reserves of HTFU needed to recover from such a disease.
Be it on your head that he recovers.





:-)

Mr Stew's return to full health is my number 1 priority:) Unfortunately the poor man has to travel to London for work this week so he'll be relying on the kindness of strangers:( On the plus side he's collecting my London Marathon pack from our friends so his trip isn't in vain:D

RacoonQueen wrote: »

More miles than me O, I think I maxed out with about 40. Gone are the days when 40 miles was my easy week :eek:

You managed very well this week with 40 miles M, fantastic result for you in Dunboyne:), now as everyone keeps telling you..... HTFU and do yourself proud in London

RacoonQueen

Marthastew wrote: »

now as everyone keeps telling you..... HTFU and do yourself proud in London

What's this? I'm very confident about my sub 3:40

Marthastew

News I forgot to add from last week
Good: As TRR pointed out Crusaders' Ladies team won the team prize at the MSB 5K, I was the proud recipient of a nice cash prize:) Also the postman delivered a €40 gift voucher for Amphibian King as my category prize for Bohermeen Half.
Bad: Meno and I nearly got knocked down by a car during our LSR:eek: We were happily running along on the footpath when a car pulling out of the Tesco car park in Shankill pulled out in front of us, Meno actually made contact with the bonnet, the driver barely noticed us… He was chatting on his phone:mad: I've possibly made this sound a little more dramatic than it was

Monday March 24th
45 Minute Body Pump Class
Still smothered with the head cold and the boys off school I decided to give the recovery run a miss and do Body Pump instead.

Tuesday March 25th
10.19 easy miles @ 8.20 pace
Some of my London-bound pals were doing their long run so I joined them for the first 5 miles of their run before turning back, into the cold and wind AGAIN. Legs felt fine and the head cold is disappearing but I now have a mild tummy bug, I’m just happy all this sickness is happening now and not in a few weeks’ time. Interesting that I get a bad head cold in the week I don’t swim in the sea Meanwhile poor Mr Stew is smothered with manflu and away in London for work, I will have to administer copious amounts of TLC when he gets home.

digger2d2

Marthastew wrote: »

News I forgot to add from last week
Good: As TRR pointed out Crusaders' Ladies team won the team prize at the MSB 5K, I was the proud recipient of a nice cash prize:) Also the postman delivered a €40 gift voucher for Amphibian King as my category prize for Bohermeen Half.
Bad: Meno and I nearly got knocked down by a car during our LSR:eek: We were happily running along on the footpath when a car pulling out of the Tesco car park in Shankill pulled out in front of us, Meno actually made contact with the bonnet, the driver barely noticed us… He was chatting on his phone:mad: I've possibly made this sound a little more dramatic than it was

Monday March 24th
45 Minute Body Pump Class
Still smothered with the head cold and the boys off school I decided to give the recovery run a miss and do Body Pump instead.

Tuesday March 25th
10.19 easy miles @ 8.20 pace
Some of my London-bound pals were doing their long run so I joined them for the first 5 miles of their run before turning back, into the cold and wind AGAIN. Legs felt fine and the head cold is disappearing but I now have a mild tummy bug, I’m just happy all this sickness is happening now and not in a few weeks’ time. Interesting that I get a bad head cold in the week I don’t swim in the seaMeanwhile poor Mr Stew is smothered with manflu and away in London for work, I will have to administer copious amounts of TLC when he gets home.

Do you women not get it!? TLC is no good, you'll need a Doctor and a Priest :D

belcarra

digger2d2 wrote: »

Do you women not get it!? TLC is no good, you'll need a Doctor and a Priest :D

This could all have been nipped in the bud if proper help was sought in time!!

menoscemo

Another sub 20 this morning I see??
Congrats on the 2nd place, pretty impressive in the middle of a 20 miler :cool:

Marthastew

Update on Mr Stew:
I’ve failed miserably as a wife; poor Mr S continued to get worse all week:eek:
I think it’s a blessing in disguise as his ITB was flaring up and the rest will do him good.
Before all you menfolk start blaming me I’d like to point out I’ve been making soup, orange juice and generally being a saint;)


Wednesday March 27th
10.41 miles @ 7.51 pace (including 4 @ PMP)
No rain, sleet or snow on this run but with the wind still blowing strongly I knew the PMP miles would be tough, I ran 4 miles easy @ 8.20 pace, 4 miles @ PMP effort (7.08, 7.16, 7.14, 7.15) and 4 miles @ 8 min pace. is it just me or is the wind always in your face at the moment?:eek:


Thursday March 28th
5 miles easy @ 8.20 pace
75 minute Hot Ashtanga Yoga
My head cold was definitely clearing up but it had been replaced by a tummy bug, no vomiting just nausea and no appetite (serious stuff for me to lose my appetite) I spent the entire run concentrating on where the nearest loo was just in case I needed it, I was lucky enough not to have to stop. We headed into yoga after and I was in bad need of the stretching, I’m really starting to feel the miles in my legs now. Had a scary moment where I thought I might faint but managed to make it down onto my mat and was fine after a minute. The only bright side to the tummy bug is the weight loss, I’m pretty sure I’m at my racing weight (I’ve no idea what that weight is but I’m sure it’s lighter than I was:))


Friday March 29th
6.48 recovery miles @ 8.37 pace
Tired and weak when I started this but only because I hadn’t eaten but I actually felt much better after it and my appetite gradually came back throughout the day. Like a lot of crazy folk I used this Bank Holiday weekend to declutter the house and we had filled a skip before lunchtime:)



Saturday March 30th
Last LSR before London:D:D:D
20 miles including Marlay Parkrun:)
Up bright and early with Mr Stew who was heading off to golf for the day (he's doing much better) so I took a lift a mile up the road with him and then ran 8 miles @ 8.15 pace up to Marlay Park, I REALLY enjoyed this run, firstly I had a purpose (run to a race) and secondly the sun was shining. I had Marathontalk for company and the miles felw by. Before I knew it was in the gates to the park, had hidden my jacket and top and lined up and BOOM the race had started, it was actually quite bizarre, I’ve never started a race quite so relaxed or so suddenly. My initial plan was to run it at PMP and I lined up with about 50 people ahead of me and just started running. I really enjoyed the first mile as I overtook people and while I knew I was running fast I was surprised to see the watch said 6.33 pace when it beeped after the first mile. By now it had thinned out a lot and I just kept ticking along nicely. During the second mile (6.39) a spectator told me I was 3rd female so I started to think about maybe picking things up a bit (3rd mile @ 6.10), I was surprised at how much easier it felt than the MSB 5K (the course must be much easier) I spotted the 2nd female up ahead but I didn’t want to overtake her too early in case I couldn’t stay strong and with about 800M to go I overtook her and a guy. I really picked it up (last .1 of a mile @ 5.30 pace) but just missed catching the 1st female and the guy I had overtaken came charging past me just before the end, I really need to work on my finishing kick:D The guy was nice enough to thank me (I’m sure as bad as it is to be chicked it must be really bad to be chicked by an old dear:eek:) I crossed the line with a chip time of 19.53 and I was thrilled:D I thanked the volunteers grabbed a quick coffee, caught up with some pals and headed home before I started to get cold. My legs felt fine on the 9 mile run home and the pace was a nice easy 8.15. More marathontalk and more sunshine for company and I was buzzing when I arrived in the door. I spent the afternoon gardening and collapsed onto the sofa for the evening.
Mr Stew felt fine after golf so he headed out for 8 very easy miles, Praise the Lord;)

Sunday March 31st
5.35 recovery miles @ 8.43 pace
Up early to sing Happy Birthday to my youngest boy, Junior Stew is 10 today:D Mr S and I then popped out for a nice easy run but the last 2 miles were into strong wind (again:eek:) so we didn’t bother rounding it up to 6 miles.


Another solid week even though I wasn't feeling a hundred per cent. I'm starting to get very excited about London now. The next few weeks will be all about quality miles and workouts and making sure my legs start to feel a little rested.




Total mileage for the week 57.43
Total mileage for March 256. 2
Total Mileage this year 705.93

RunningKing

Happy B'day to the BoyWonder!.
Glad Mr Stew has recovered.
Great sub20 by you, again!

pgmcpq

(I’m sure as bad as it is to be chicked it must be really bad to be chicked by an old dear:eek:)

Technically speaking this is a 'chicked-old-fogied'. Congrats. A 5k in the middle of a 20 miler :eek::eek:. And a 2nd place finish :eek::eek::eek:. You're in great shape heading into London ... I think Mr Stew would forgive you for keeping him at arms length ( aren't household chores the main reason to have kids?)

jcsmum

You coming second in a 5k in the mdidle of a 20 miler doesn't suprise me in the slightest.
So predictable :rolleyes:;)

Marthastew

Monday April 1st
Rest/cross training
45 minute spinning class
45 minute Body pump class

Tuesday April 2nd
7.63 miles
Session; 2m easy, 2m @ MP (7.10). 1m easy, 2m @ MP, 1 M easy
I spent the day powerhosing the deck (taper madness comes in many forms;)) and I hadn’t intended to run as I was tired but Mr S got home from work and said he was feeling much better and the sun was shining. I had just eaten a huge dinner and didn’t fancy my chances of completing the session so I was pleasantly surprised when we completed it. The pace was too fast to start probably because we hadn’t run on Monday and we both kept telling each other to slow it down a little. We allowed ourselves to pick it up to HMP on the last mile (I won:D)
Splits 6.56, 6.58, 7.06, 6.51
Wednesday April 3rd
Recovery 6.7 miles @ 8.35 pace
Met up with my pal who is Paris-bound, great excitement and fun while we chatted and ran in the sunshine, probably a little too fast for recovery for me but she was chomping at the bit.


Thursday April 4th
Rest
Yoga 75 minutes (and more powerhosing:))
The boys are still off school so my time is restricted and there’s not much training going on but there is a plus side….. As pcpmg pointed out, one of the many wonderful reasons to have kids is their ability (but not necessarily willingness;)) to help out with chores; I’ve recruited them to help me out with the Spring cleaning and it’s safe to say that if you stand still for long enough in our house at the moment you will find yourself in a rubbish skip or powerhosed to within an inch of your life;)


Friday April 5th
Track session in Kilbogget Park 8 X 300M
Total of 4.35 miles covered
Body pump class 45 minutes
It’s STILL windy:eek: After a warm up run and some fun drills we started the session. I definitely dodged a bullet as Maria told me she had planned an extra 6 reps for me but I told her I didn’t want to overdo it as I’m planning 14 miles with 10 @ PMP tomorrow so she let me off:)
I was delighted with my pacing and I felt strong throughout. Splits
65, 64, 65, 65, 64, 64, 65, 62 seconds

Marthastew

Saturday April 6th
14.1 miles with 10 miles @ PMP
Sunday April 7th
5 recovery miles and then out of the blue my focus shifted from all things running, taper madness and London....

Junior Stew suffered quite a serious injury to his leg at rugby. He fell hard on a teammate's boot and somehow cut his leg just under the knee. Luckily I wasn't on a long run and was on duty in the Club coffee shop so I was there to comfort him. The coaches were fantastic and one of the parents bandaged his leg so by the time the ambulance came we were calm. Tallaght A&E took great care of him and he was up in surgery fairly fast. Mr Stew and I were obviously very worried but calm, how bad could a cut be? Turns out it was fairly bad, 11cm long, very deep, wide and full of muck so they couldn't stitch it up as they're worried about infection. He is in a full leg cast and they're dosing him with antibiotics. He is back into surgery this afternoon where they hope to seal the wound so we're really hoping to get him home tomorrow. I've been staying in the room with him which is tough going but he is so easy going and still as happy as usual. As rugby injuries go we got off lightly so we're definitely counting our blessings but keeping our fingers crossed that we get home soon. So in the meantime....

Mon April 8th
Rest
Tues April 9th
Rest

Dory, dig out the rosary beads and Rach start chasing the magpies I really need them this time:)

RacoonQueen

Jaypurs. Hope Junior is OK and you're not too stressed.

Dory Dory

Rosary beads are out. Thinking of you...and fingers and toes crossed. X

kit3

That sounds nasty - kids can really do it can't they ! Hope he bounces back and you get out of there soon - can really drain you.

jcsmum

Oh no, O that sounds awful. Hope everything is okay and that you are all home soon.

Younganne

MS, sorry to hear about Juniors injury, the worry of things like that! i'll be thinking of you this afternoon for his surgery. Mind yourselvs!

HelenAnne

Really sorry to hear that! that must be so worrying. I really hope he's feeling OK & that he bounces back soon.

RunningKing

if this is the same Jnr who I met, then he's a tough nut.
Probably more scary for mam & dad as well!!

Hope he recovers soon!

Izoard

Ouch! - sounds nasty - all the best with the recovery.