Making Mitochondria

chickey2

I decided to start a new log in the hope it would give me a bit of motivation. Excuse the title, I'm a science nerd and I've always liked mitochondria. When I got in to running I read a lot about the importance of slow running as it increases your mitochondria so sometimes when I'm out doing a long slow run I think about all those lovely new mitochondria I'm making! Sad but true.


Anyway, I'm a 43 year old mother of two and I've been running on and off since 2013. I'm lucky that I don't tend to get injured but I reckon that's because I tend not to push myself. So I'm going to try and set a few goals, try my best and see how I get on.


Here's my current PB's

5K-24:00 Day of Pbs 5K July 2018
5 mile- 39:18 Raheny January 2018
10K- 49:12 Lakes 10K September 2015
1/2 Marathon – 1:49 Race series September 2016
Marathon – 3:58 Dublin marathon October 2016


I'm signed up for “Run the Line” in November (short course) which I've done before and loved it. It's just for fun but should get me out training so I don't embarrass myself. Then I have a 10K in London in February (http://www.londonwinterrun.co.uk/). My PB for 10K is my best as per Vdot but it's old too. The plan is to do some base building for the next few weeks and then start a 10K plan 12 weeks out from the race. I'm not sure what time I'm targeting yet, I'll decide closer to the race day. I'm in the 45-50 minute wave which won't be changing!


As cross training I've taken up gymnastics! It's such good fun and I reckon it's beneficial to running too. The warm up includes cardio, stretching and lots of pylometrics. There's plenty of core and balance work too.


This is my second week basebuilding which is just 4 easy runs per week 5-10km so far. I'll build up to 48km per week (30 miles) and then start the plan. This is always the hardest part for me as I haven't officially started the plan so I tend to lack motivation and get lazy. I'm hoping logging will help with that so here's hoping it works!


All paces are in min/km and my general aerobic HR range is 147-168


01/10: 5km @6:34 HR 152


03/10: 6:[EMAIL="35km@6"]35km @6[/EMAIL]:15 HR 159

eyrie

Welcome back! Delighted to see you back logging, I was wondering how you were getting on
Gymnastics sounds amazing. Had you done it when you were younger at all?
Good luck with the training!

OOnegative

Best of luck with the training & new log, will be following.

Huzzah!

chickey2 wrote: »

I decided to start a new log in the hope it would give me a bit of motivation. Excuse the title, I'm a science nerd and I've always liked mitochondria. When I got in to running I read a lot about the importance of slow running as it increases your mitochondria so sometimes when I'm out doing a long slow run I think about all those lovely new mitochondria I'm making! Sad but true.

Yesss! Delighted to see you back logging, even if your log title will give me unpleasant leaving cert memories! Some of your PBs are ones I could definitely aspire to. Others, maybe if I keep running into my 50s

chickey2 wrote: »

This is my second week basebuilding which is just 4 easy runs per week 5-10km so far. I'll build up to 48km per week (30 miles) and then start the plan. This is always the hardest part for me as I haven't officially started the plan so I tend to lack motivation and get lazy. I'm hoping logging will help with that so here's hoping it works!

Me too. Awful when I'm not on a plan. Runs are too fast or not done at all. Will you follow any particular plan for the 10k?

chickey2 wrote: »

All paces are in min/km and my general aerobic HR range is 147-168

Yay, I can understand without looking at Strava to translate for me

RayCun

I'll drop in regularly to tell you to join the club

Wubble Wubble

Welcome back, and best of with the new log (and making mitochondria!)

Murph_D

Great to see this. Look forward to reading about your adventures!

denis b

Out of the shadows and onto Boards. Had noticed the Strava traffic so all the very best with your plans. See ya at RTL, short course.

OOnegative

denis b wrote: »

Out of the shadows and onto Boards. Had noticed the Strava traffic so all the very best with your plans. See ya at RTL, short course.

Says yer man, know another log needing an update!! Hope your keeping well.

Pomplamousse

Looking forward to following this, as a fellow science nerd:)

denis b

OOnegative wrote: »

Says yer man, know another log needing an update!! Hope your keeping well.

Not bad B and your encouragement was noted

chickey2

Thanks for all the welcome guys. I was working Thursday and today so no runs but will be up and out in the morning, I promise!

eyrie wrote: »

Welcome back! Delighted to see you back logging, I was wondering how you were getting on
Gymnastics sounds amazing. Had you done it when you were younger at all?
Good luck with the training!

Thanks eyrie, I'm loving the gymnastics. I'm pretty rubbish at it, just not very flexible and my upper body strength is shocking. The teacher is very patient though and I can already see some slight improvement 4 weeks in. I last did gymnastics when I was 8 so I'm not sure it counts!

Huzzah! wrote: »

Me too. Awful when I'm not on a plan. Runs are too fast or not done at all. Will you follow any particular plan for the 10k?

I think I'll stick with my P&D plan. I've started it a few times but never finished it so I'm determined this time!

RayCun wrote: »

I'll drop in regularly to tell you to join the club

I'd expect no less!

chickey2

06/10: 11 km @6:07 HR 166. This was my "long" endurance run which is supposed to be slightly faster than easy. I headed up to the water works which was glorious! I love running in autumn, especially up at the water works. As its uphill on the way and down hill on the way back its very easy to do a negative split!

08/10: 5.7 km @6:17 HR 163. I found this hard. I was waiting for a plumber who never showed so I ended up heading out late and pissed off. I ran around the park in front of my house just in case the plumber showed up. He didn't (and still hadn't!). It was supposed to be 6km but stopped at 5.7 and went home.

09/10: 6km @6:04 HR 162. Its funny how two runs in a row can be so different! It was a lovely evening and I loved this run, it just felt easy. I ran a good bit faster than the day before but HR was lower. I'm running with HR only showing on my watch and just glance at it to make sure I'm in the range. I've found i can guess my HR pretty accurately by how hard I'm breathing.

Younganne

delighted to see you back posting. Best of luck with the goals.

gymnastics:eek: fair play!!

chickey2

10/10: Gymnastics. I was really rubbish today. The conditioning is great though and I do think my core is getting stronger.

11/10: 6km@5:52 HR 165. I really need to start logging more regularly as I don't remember this run! Garmin says I did it though!

13/10: Parkrun with my niece. She was doing it with her school. I'm not sure was it the school or parkrun who arranged it but a load from the school showed up and didn't have bar codes so fair play to the volunteers who did a great job and made the kids feel welcome. My niece took off like a rocket, stopped a few times, walked for a bit then sprinted to the finish!
5km@6:36 HR 156

14/10: the plan had me off on Saturday and 10km on Sunday. I was short of time Sunday and had done parkrun the previous day so just did 5km. Headed up to the water works.
5km@6:05 HR 164

15/10: had to give my sister a lift so popped into tymon on the way back and did an easy 6. It's gorgeous in the park this time of year.
6.2km@5:58 HR 160.

17/10: had to drop the car to be serviced so rather than paying for a replacement I just ran home! Plan was 8km and the garage was 8km from home so happy days! It was all uphill though Threw a few strides in at the end.
8km @6:13 HR 164

20/10: took 2 rest days as I had two long tiring days at work. Missed gymnastics for the first time thanks to a first communion meeting.
Today was like a summers day so dd came with me on her bike. Lots of stopping and starting (have to wait for the green man when dd is with me!) but it was nice to have the company. She never stops talking!
5km@6:19 HR 158

21/10: lovely morning for a run. Got up early and headed to tymon and back. First half went great but felt the uphill and head wind on the way back.
11.7km@6:08 HR 166.

So that's it, not much of interest as its all easy but the important thing is to try and be consistent and get out. I wish the weather could stay like this, its just perfect for me. Heading to Florida the week after next where its currently over 30 degrees! I'll try and keep up the running even if I have to use the dreaded hotel treadmill.

chickey2

Ugh just lost a post, hate that. Just back from holidays so jet lagged and lazy. Still base building and was lazy on holidays so not much to log but will anyway.

23/10: 8km@6:07 HR 161

25/10: 10k @6:02 HR 168

27/10: 5.5 km@6:06 HR 164. I was in Kilkenny for this run and hadn't a clue where to go so headed down a river path near the castle. It was a glorious evening and I thoroughly enjoyed this run. Had to cut it short as needed to be back in time for dinner.

02/11: packing and transatlantic flights meant I didn't get out for a few days. We were staying on site at Universal Orlando so headed out early along the pedestrian paths. I passes a few groups of people in full wizard robes heading to Hogwarts! Even at 8am it was about 23 degrees and humid so took it easy. HR got quite high towards the end, probably the heat plus jet lag.

5.4 km HR 171 don't know pace as watch got confused and said I did the first km in 3 minutes which I certainly didn't!

05/11: dreadmill run. It got too hot to run, even in the morning it was high 20s so I headed to the hotel gym. I really hate the treadmill. I set it for 4 miles. The pace was in mph which means nothing to me. I felt like I was running fast but it took me over 43 minutes to run 4 miles so it was slow enough! Hated every minute.

So that's it unfortunately. I found it hard to get out for runs as the days were so jam packed. I did plenty of swimming and walking though, most days about 25k steps so hopefully I didn't lose too much fitness. One day the kids and husband were tired so went back to the hotel. The parks were quiet though so I did a jog from ride to ride. At Island of adventure I went on Hulk twice, Spiderman, King Kong, then ran over to Universal studios and did Rip ride rocket and Revenge of the mummy then ran back to the hotel. Best run ever! I'd no watch on so no idea of distance but it was great fun.

I was signed up to do run the line today but unfortunately had to cancel due to a funeral. Looking at the weather I wasn't too upset to miss it! I'm looking forward to getting back to a normal routine from tomorrow.

Murph_D

Ah - pity we didn’t get to see you at RTL. The weather improved and was fine for the run, although there was plenty of slippy ground after the rains.

You didn’t do too badly at all on the holiday runs - anything at all is a bonus, really. Good stuff! No quidditch available? That’s a good workout.

chickey2

Murph_D wrote: »

Ah - pity we didn’t get to see you at RTL. The weather improved and was fine for the run, although there was plenty of slippy ground after the rains.

You didn’t do too badly at all on the holiday runs - anything at all is a bonus, really. Good stuff! No quidditch available? That’s a good workout.

Oh I did do a bit of quiddich alright! It's not quite the same when you're strapped to a seat with 3d goggles on but great fun!

chickey2

Last week wasn't great, only two runs done thanks to a combination of sickness and getting work done on the house.

12/11: 6km @6:37 HR 159

18/11: 6km@6:15 HR 167

Felt much better this week though so getting back on track.

20/11: I didn't think I'd get out but my sister said she'd take the kids swimming so I ran out the door before she changed her mind! It was cold, dark and pouring rain (even a bit of hail) but I loved it! It was one of those runs that reminded me why I run. Came home buzzing.
9km@6:27 HR 165

21/11: no run but back to gymnastics.

22/11: Struggled a bit on this one. I was tired after gym the night before and aching all over!
6km@6:29 HR 167

23/11: I signed up for Jingle bells next week so thought I'd better do a bit of speed work. I know it won't make me faster at this stage but it's so long since I've run fast I thought I should check I still can! I hadn't time to set up a session on my watch so just used a pre programmed one which was 6*4mins @5k pace.
It went fairly well. Pace was about 5min/km which is more like 10k pace but that's all I had.
Paces for the splits were 5:01/4:57/4:52/4:58/5:00/4:56
Total 11.15km HR 171

25/11: Took my 11 year old out with me so ended up doing a brisk walk instead of a run. We had a great chat though so worth missing a run!
5.5km @9:01 HR 125

Happy enough with this week. I'm still a bit all over the place and not following a proper plan. The 10k in February is my goal so jingle bells is just for fun. Looking forward to it though.

Huzzah!

chickey2 wrote: »

20/11: I didn't think I'd get out but my sister said she'd take the kids swimming so I ran out the door before she changed her mind! It was cold, dark and pouring rain (even a bit of hail) but I loved it! It was one of those runs that reminded me why I run. Came home buzzing.
9km@6:27 HR 165

Me too. It was such a rotten night but I was buzzed after running in it.

chickey2 wrote: »

Happy enough with this week. I'm still a bit all over the place and not following a proper plan. The 10k in February is my goal so jingle bells is just for fun. Looking forward to it though.

Hopefully I'll get to say hallo at JBells. You'll have to keep an eye out for me, though, as I've no idea what you look like!

chickey2

Huzzah! wrote: »

Hopefully I'll get to say hallo at JBells. You'll have to keep an eye out for me, though, as I've no idea what you look like!

Ha, I'm always saying I'll see people at races when I haven't a clue what they look like! I'll pm you a photo!

Huzzah!

chickey2 wrote: »

Ha, I'm always saying I'll see people at races when I haven't a clue what they look like! I'll pm you a photo!

I'll be wearing the pink carnation :cool: I'll keep an eye out. Good luck if I don't see you.

chickey2

Can't believe it's two months since I last posted. To be fair there wasn't much to post. Apart from a pb at jingle bells and a few easy runs I did very little thanks to sickness. I got a bad cold which turned into bronchitis so I could barely walk let alone run. All good now though.

Jingle bells went great with an unexpected pb (23:49). The course is great though and makes it easier to get a pb. The last time I did 5k specific training was for the day of pb's in July. I did it in 24:00 but it was waaay harder than jingle bells and in fact I felt worse immediately after that run than I did after the marathon.

I've just been doing easy runs the last couple of weeks to get back into it. HR was very high after being sick but it's coming down gradually. Today I did 6km easy and was doing great til I slipped on black ice and went flying. I felt fine after being helped up by a kind passer by and was able to run the 1.5km home but my knee is now very swollen and I can't bend it. It's fine to bear weight on so I'm hoping it's just bruising. I'm sitting here on the sofa feeling sorry for myself.

I have a 10k race in London on 3rd February which isn't long now. If my knee is OK I'll try a few sessions between now and then.

ReeReeG

That fall sounds nasty, mind the knee now.
Congrats on the Jingle Bells PB though!

Murph_D

You’re not having a lot of luck lately, C! I noticed plenty of salt and grit around the campus this morning which alerted me to the ice potential. Can only imagine it was a good bit colder up your way. Easy does it. Congrats again on the PB - back to back 5k PBs is impressive. Think you were one of the only PBs at at the so-called Day of PBs so not surprised you felt it immediately after!

denis b

Nice to see you back C. Hope some RICE helps with the swelling and that we see that strava feed ticking over tomorrow. A little drier on the northside helped for my run but nearly flew on a shaded corner at one point.

eyrie

Ouch! You poor thing, sounds nasty. How's the knee today?
Great going at Jingle Bells, congratulations!

chickey2

Thanks guys. The knee seems fine today, a bit stiff but I'm able to move it without pain. I was very lucky. In hindsight I think the gymnastics training helped as we're taught how to fall so I think I actually rolled as I hit the ground which reduced the impact.
When I logged on to garmin connect it told me I just earned a "frosty badge" for running in sub zero temperature! Not worth it.
I'm taking a break today but will be back running tomorrow.

denis b

Whew. Great stuff C. Nice to know that you are ok and ready to go tomorrow.

chickey2

I'm really not having much luck! Although I recovered the bronchitis and from the fall (got some knarly bruises though) now I've got a vomiting bug. Seems its just a 12 hour one as I've managed a bit of food this morning. No chance of running though.
I hadn't signed up for raheny as I'm on call this weekend which is a pity as I love that race.

I did manage a couple of runs
19/01: 11.6km @6:19 HR 167. The knee was a bit stiff but once I warmed up it was fine. Headed over to tymon and back. Happy to get a long run in at last.

21/01:6.3km incl 6*12s hills. Did the hills opposite the speaker Connolly pub which is perfect for short hills. I love this session and felt great after.

Was in my gear ready to run on Wednesday when I realised the youngest was sick so didn't get out. Then I got sick. I'm so sick of starting running, getting into it and then stopping again. Hopefully I'll be OK for London next week. It'll be more of a fun run than a race.

chickey2

I wasn't going to bother posting but I guess I should post my failures as well as my successes to keep me honest.
I recovered from the bug quickly enough.

26/01: 6.2km @6:10 HR 172. HR was a bit high but I did try and throw in a few strides so that could explain it, plus still recovering from the bug. Felt good though.

31/01: 5.8km @5:44 HR 174. 6*2min fast. This was a last ditch attempt at a speed session. I hadn't gotten out the previous few days thanks to work. I had hoped to do a bit more distance but was shattered so after the 6th rep I just went home feeling annoyed.

I was supposed to be running a 10k in London today but a perfect storm prevented me. Between extra events, child care, problems at work, accommodation problems and weather alerts I was almost relieved when my flight was cancelled so I could just get a refund and blame the airline.

So I'm back to square one now. No plan and no race goals. I think I'll start the grads base plan for a couple of weeks just to get me consistent and think about goals.

I've serious motivation problems right now. I keep telling myself how lucky I am to have no injuries or niggles but that's probably because I'm not running enough to get any!
Looking back over the last few years my best running year was 2016 when I followed a full marathon plan and ran a massive pb. I was working full time and it was one of the hardest years of my life but I stuck to the plan as it was the only thing I seemed to have any control over at the time. Now I'm working part time. I have way more time to run and way less problems and stress but I can't motive myself at all.
Sorry for the rant. I will run tomorrow and hopefully get my mojo back soon.