Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard

Huzzah!

Good luck on Sunday

chickey2

18/01: headed out after dropping the kids to school and realised that in the rush I hadn't checked the plan. Not that I've actually been following the plan really. So while I was doing my warm up I had a quick scan of the workouts already on my watch and picked a 3*8mins@LT as I reckoned I was due an LT session. I headed to a local park with a one mile loop for this. As usual the wind was pretty awful in one direction. I was half enough though and felt great once I was done.
8 mins @5:07/5:21/5:22 pace. Not quite my hoped for 5 mile race pace but under the conditions it was OK.
Total : 10.8km

19/01: 5.8km easy@6:08 HR 160. No memory of this!

20/01: I was due to run the imra Hellfire run but due to my head being elsewhere I missed it as I was sure it was on the Sunday! Really annoyed with myself as I was looking forward to it.

22/01: 12.6km easy @6:17 HR 161. Headed up to the reservoir again. Loved this.

24/01: 10km with strides and 1200m@race pace. This session was on the plan so despite not following it for several weeks I thought I'd do this one as I'd not done any race pace runs. The headed to tempo park again but the wind in one direction was really bad. The strides went great but the 1200m@race pace was very tough as half of it was right into the wind. I felt like I was hardly moving but my HR was almost at max.
Total:10.3 km average HR 170 max was 212 but I'm ignoring that!

25/01: I was hoping to get to the NIA but unfortunately couldn't make it (despite being reminded what day it was on!) I reckoned I'd be able to give more to Raheny I didn't do this anyway so no harm.

27/01: 5k easy.

chickey2

28/01: Raheny 5 mile
This had been a target race for a while and the goal was to beat my pb which was 40:00. The plan started off well but took a back seat during Christmas when we had a family disaster (house fire), I got the flu and there was a couple of unrelated trips to A&E. Worst Christmas ever. Thankfully we're all alive and well now. It sounds like I'm making up a load of excuses but I really couldn't make this stuff up! Anyway, rather than giving up I managed to keep running to a cobbled together plan. I guess the important thing is to just keep running.
I was unsure whether a sub 40 was possible. I'd done a 24:04 parkrun before I got sick so I knew I should be able to, but two weeks of not running didn't help.
I got to the start about 2:30 but need the toilet. After a long wait I was late getting into the corral so was quite far back. As a result the start was very slow with a lot of congestion. Eventually it started to thin out and I got up to speed. First km was 5:19 which was way off my 5:00 plan. I actually relaxed a bit at that stage as I thought a pb wasn't going to happen so no stress.
Before I knew it I was at a nice comfortable pace and feeling good. As I kept overtaking people I started to think I might make this pb. An ambulance kept driving alongside me which was annoying (not as annoying as the people who ran out in front of it!) I saw fbot and Mrs mac giving lots of encouragement, thanks guys!
By the time we entered the park I was flagging but then I saw Daniel tighe and his dad pushing him in his wheelchair. I often see him and his mum around Tallaght and they always give me a boost. A big grin makes all the difference so I pushed on.
I thought I'd never get to the finish line. There seemed to be more corners than last time! I kept thinking I was nearly there but it was another corner! At this stage I was gasping for breath and really pushing. Crossed the line in 39:17 (official 39:18) and I was so happy!

Splits 5:19/4:54/5:05/4:42/4:50/4:52/4:51/4:44
HR 185

Collected my weighty goody bag and headed off. Unfortunately I didn't see anyone I knew but I'm really bad at spotting people in need a crowd so apologies if walked past anyone. I was so wrecked I don't think I'd have been any company anyway.
I'm enjoying pb wine now so will leave future plans til tomorrow.

Murph_D

Congrats C - must have felt great to have something go right after that xmas horribilis. Well done today!

Annie get your Run

Absolutely fantastic!! Well done C, you certainly deserved a break!

Hannibal_Smith

Sounds like you've been through the wars and some pretty scary stuff. Hope all is settled now and the buzz from today keeps you smiling. Congratulations on the pb.

diego_b

Congrats on the pb, nice reward after a tough time there over Christmas.

Huzzah!

Sounds like a really horrible time of it. Well done on the PB. Fantastic running.

ariana`

Brilliant PB well done, I'd be thrilled with that time! Sorry to hear about the disastrous Christmas, you did well to keep anything going at all.

eyrie

Well done!! PB wine well deserved Sorry to hear about the tough lead up

OOnegative

Great going on the PB, fantastic racing.

chickey2

Thanks everyone! Didn't mean to turn it into a sob story!
Did a 5k recovery yesterday and felt great. Will have to sit down and have a proper think about what's next while I'm still feeling enthusiastic.

skyblue46

Wow that's some backdrop to Raheny. Great job in holding it all together. Well done!

Bungy Girl

Well done C! I was cheering in the park but didn't see you. How fab to get a PB after all that you went through :cool:. Glad to hear all well again and looking forward to hearing your plan for the next phase. Hope you enjoyed the well deserved PB wine!

Younganne

Congrats on the PB C, Well deserved.

chickey2

29/01: Recovery. Legs felt a bit tired after Raheny but recovery pace was nice and easy so felt great after. A few years ago I wouldn't have run the day after a race but I now i appreciate the difference a nice slow recovery run makes.
Total:5.4 km@6:30 HR 146

31/01: 10k easy. Cold morning but nice run.
Total: 9.8km@6:20 HR 155

01/02: This was supposed to be 10km but a combination of tiredness and lots to do shortened it.
Total: 5.4km@6:04 HR 156

03/02: IMRA Ticknock. I missed the Hellfire run so was determined to do this one. OH dropped me off to Lamb Doyles (and headed for Dundrum to hang out!) and I did a brief warm up to the start. It was pretty damp but not actually raining. The start was very steep and I was out and of breath very soon while still at walking pace! I wasn't the only one though and plenty of people walked the uphills. It was really mucky and I was glad of my trail runners (although I must admit I was one of those going out of my way to avoid the worst of the mud). There was lots of twists and turns and paths through the forest but it was very well marked and several marshals around. I felt particularly sorry for the poor guy up at the aerials which was covered in cloud. It was really good fun and I'll definitely do another imra race. I've no idea where I came but it really doesn't matter.
Total (Inc wu/cd): 8.5km

04/02: My legs were quite achy today and I had my son with me so instead of a run we went to seapoint for a swim! When I say swim, I really mean a flounder about in freezing cold sea water for about 5 minutes! It really helped my legs though. I'm going to try and incorporate a post run swim every now and then as I really enjoyed it.

Low mileage week but I did 4 runs so I'm happy. I've decided I'll concentrate on 5k for now so looking at plans and races.

Annie get your Run

A sea swim in February :eek: fair play to you both!!!!! Would love to do an IMRA event at some stage, well done for getting out in the damp and cold