Mum on the Run

Wow, thanks all for the lovely messages! Much appreciated. I'll cobble a report together over the next day or two (if I can remember any detail at my now advanced age ). Huge congrats to Mulberry and Dubgal on their performances and medals at the Nats. #teamWTF

Thursday – REST

A second rest day this week :rolleyes:. I’m all fidgety .

Friday – Easy

Just 30 mins on the plan for today. Waited for the rain to stop and had a lovely run on a shortened loop of St.Anne’s in the sunshine.

• 3.3 miles @ 9:04 (grass, trail, tarmac)

Saturday – Easy

20 minutes..Threw in some strides at 800m race effort to feel like I was doing something useful :rolleyes:. On a positive note at least I didn’t have to run that 10 miler .

• 2.2 miles @ 9:16 incl. 4 x 100m strides (grass)

Sunday – National Masters Track @ Tullamore
(Nats for short. Or Aul Wans and Aul Fellas Sports Day )

I was looking forward to a nice relaxing train journey but the train was jammers and my fellow passengers seemed hell bent on testing my patience by painting their nails (ugh, the fumes!), invading personal space boundaries and generally being annoying :mad:. Distracted myself with a running magazine and practised some PMA.

Arrived at the track in time to witness Mulberry’s bronze medal performance in the 200m and to hear the super news of her gold in the 100m. Just awesome! Well done, R! Hard to believe she has been sprint training less than a year, no wonder Bolt is retiring.

My 800m race was scheduled for after the men’s 200s so I figured I’d have plenty of time to warm up. Did a few laps of the grass area the other side of the stadium and a few half-hearted drills. It was colder than I’d expected, a bit grey, drizzly and quite windy too. Meh. I strolled back to the track to the news that they were merging my race with the F35s because there were only 3 runners in the F45s. Cue a mad panic to get my spikes on and do some strides before the start – not the best preparation ever. I knew from my stalking research that I was the underdog by a big margin in my category and I wasn’t going to be taking on any young uns from the F35s so there was no surprise to merge after the first bend (I was in lane 7) and be bringing up the rear. The plan was to go for a PB and not disgrace myself, especially as a couple of clubmates had gone to the trouble of driving all the way from Dublin to cheer me on. Felt ok on first lap and went through in 77 seconds I think. Plan was 77-79 secs so on target so far. The wind was fairly strong on the back straight and as we turned into the bend with 200m to go it started to get really REALLY tough. Nothing for it but to keep moving and keep pushing. Just get to the finish, you can stop then I promised myself. Focus on the runner in front and keep putting one foot in front of the other. Almost there. Almost. There. PB by the skin of my teeth and bronze medal by default. Job done. Winning time in my category was 2:31.xx :eek: . Feck these aul wans are fast.

I’d a few hours before the next race so settled down to watch the track and field events from the grandstand with a nice cuppa and some snacks. I was quite cold and starting to stiffen up so tried to do some stretches. My right quad had tightened up and was pulling on the knee a bit, I’m fairly sure the track spikes are causing this recurring issue (or at least not helping it). Met up with DG at this point and had a running-related chat. Sure what else would we be talking about ?

Fast forward a couple of hours. Another few laps done on the grass and some dynamic warm up exercises. Headed to the 1500m start and did strides in between the remainder of the 400m races. Turned out there would just be one race for all masters women (19 in total I think) which was grand. Safety in numbers and all that. We were lined up by age (:rolleyes:) and introduced to our category rivals. Again my stalking research had placed me in the underdog/nothing to lose position out of the 3 of us.

Toes to the line, bang, here we go again. Plan was for the first 300m in about 67 secs and 90/91 sec laps after that. Went through 300m in 67 but think I was a couple of seconds off pace after 700m. Focussed on one of the runners in my category during the third lap. She had taken off initially but seemed to be falling back a little. At the bell I had caught up sufficiently to think it might not be unreasonable to think about overtaking. I remember thinking to myself that I wasn’t going to settle for another default bronze. If I was getting bronze it would be after a fight for silver. Lol, I sounded like a loon, even if I was only talking to myself . I also remember thinking that if I was going to go, I should go decisively (someone famous said that, I can’t remember who but I will give them full credit when I remember). So switched into 6th gear and accelerated on the bend to get in front. Aaaaagh, what do I do now ?!? Keep going. Fast as you can. 300m to go. Ouch, this hurts. Don’t let anyone overtake you now. Oh, look, another runner. What age is she ? Who cares. Overtake. 200m to go. This is hard. Can I have a rest ? Just for a second. Please ? 100m to go. Someone coming behind. No fecking way is anyone taking my bling from me now. Keep going. All the way to the line. You got this. Yay! I can stop now. PB and silver medal. Happy days.

The race was won in 4:48.xx by a F50 runner and there were 5 or so under 5 minutes. My category was won in 5:20.xx. Congrats to DG on her bronze in a very speedy category.

• 3.3 miles incl. 800m / 1500m races

800m 2:43.72 (PB) 3rd (bronze) in category
1500m 5:38.77 (PB) 2nd (silver) in category


TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 16.5

Not a bad conclusion to Operation HTFU/WTF?! The timing was just right as I was in a heap for a couple of days afterwards. I couldn’t have run even if I’d wanted to – I was physically and mentally shattered. Got to physio on Wednesday evening and feeling much better now. I’ll extend the running break until after the weekend and keep it easy(ish) in terms of miles and pace for a further week before getting into XC training. It has been a great six months I have to say. PBs from 100m up to 5k, no injuries to speak of, and some provincial and national bling. Still chasing the elusive sub-6 mile but with any luck I’ll get close to that by the end of the year. For now, back to the R&R :pac::pac::pac:.

laura_ac3 wrote: »

Congrats again BG. Nice to take off more with those pb's and the silver especially to cap a very productive training block. I'm sure your xc will benefit too! Enjoyed the report, especially the comment about having no notion who the other woman was. Good luck with the recovery.

Thanks L. Yeah it's funny the way the races are set up depending on numbers and you could have several races within one race and no way of telling who's who. Hence the 'when in doubt, overtake' strategy .

Younganne wrote: »

Big congrats, great training and well earned, no stopping you in CC now!!

Cheers, A. Might we see you venture into XC after the marathon ??

Mulberry wrote: »

At last, I've been checking all week for your report! And thanks for the kind words (and to FD) - I really must start my own log and stop hijacking yours

What a thrilling 1500! And a 3 second PB which is massive! We were shouting you on from the stands and my heart was in my mouth when we saw that girl gain on you in the last 100 and try to reach but it was clear you'd suddenly sensed her there and then you started to accelerate very determinedly. Big phew. Top drama. OK it was hard for you but how do you think myself and Ciara felt in the stands watching that?! Lol.

A great finish to the season - roll on the Indoors - though yes will definitely see you at the odd XC between now and then

Of course you must have your own log! Haven't FD and I been saying that to you all along!?! But feel free to hijack in the interim - I'd love to read a 100m race report .

I could hear you and C shouting from the stands all right (prize for most vocal supporters :pac::pac::pac:) and it really did spur me on, so thank you both. Glad to provide a bit of excitement :cool:.

Indoors are in the diary .