But its cold outside

So back to structured training, well that was the plan anyway!!:mad:

Monday 10th July
Plan 4m easy
Actual 4m easy

Headed down the main road for this as i had to drop a message into a neighbours half a mile away so 2 birds and all that.....decided to do a loop I should be doing more regularly as it has plenty of hills. Pace was easy, hills not so much so.

9.42, 9.38, 9.37, 9.35, 9.48(.34)
Total 4.34m in 41.49 @ 9.39.

Physio in the evening and hip/back much improved so he worked on it and the left one which was quite tight and then on my right shoulder. This is a very old injury but rears its head about twice a year and builds up over a period of time. So he worked on my rhomboid muscles that were causing all the grief, what a difference a half hour can make.

Tuesday 11th July
Plan 5m Progression
Actual Rest

Body very sore from physio and first day back in work after 3 weeks off, so by the time i got home i was shattered from the physio and the very early start, that I'm not use to, so no run.

Wednesday 12th July
Plan 4m easy
Actual 5m Progression

Park was so busy it was not funny Orange day!!:eek:
Left this until as late as possible in the evening as body still tired and sore.
Headed off down the main road just after 8.30 after returning from young lads football training.

Had to pull back a bit on the first mile as plan was easy to 8.20ish pace and was just too fast for the first mile. As i ran i could feel the implant of the Physio's elbow in my left glute and it took 2 miles before the sensation disappeared!!:eek:

Second mile felt slower even though it was about 30 secs faster. Each mile didn't feel any fast but glancing at the watch i knew it was. 4th mile and the stomach started to let me know i had eaten an icecream about 2 hours previously and it was not pleasant. I had to fight to keep going as i though i was going to spew!!!:eek:
The minute the watch beeped for 5m i stopped and crawled the last bit home. The intense heat didn't help and even though there was a strong wind at times, I was fairly dripping by the time i got home!!!

9.51, 9.21, 8.54, 8.32, 8.08, 10.18(.16)
Total 5.16m in 46.23 @ 9.00

Thursday 13th July
Plan Rest
Actual 4m easy

Still playing catchup but in hindsight I should have rested as legs were very heavy and this was not a pleasant run. Strong wind blowing which had a lovely cooling effect and I managed to miss the rain. It rained as got ready to run and rained when i was finished but i had sun for the full run.

10.08, 9.52, 9.42, 9.45, 9.42(.10)
Total 4.10m in 40.27 @ 9.52

Friday 14th July
Plan Session
Actual 4m Easy

Had arranged to met a former Boardsie at 7am for this run so swapped out the session with Saturdays 4m easy and off we went. Lots of catching up to do so the miles flew by and we chatted the whole way and paid no attention to the pace. Lovely morning and great to get it done early.

However by 8.30 my hip was sending pain shooting through my legs and I'd no idea why. No issue on the run, and none after. Within 20 min of sitting at my desk it started. I tried to do some stretches but wasn't able to because of the pain. Took a painkiller and although it took the sharpness out of the pain it didn't get rid of it entirely and it got worse as the day went on. Physio due to go on hols early next week so he had a cancellation for Friday evening and fitted me in.
H reckoned that the hip flexor was in spasm and gave it a good stretch out for me and taped up the hip again and part of the leg where the pain is running. Great relief but again after a while the pain was back and hasn't gone since.

10.12, 9.50, 9.48, 9.38, 10.19(.20)
Total 4.20 in 41.33 @ 9.53

Spent Saturday in Portlaoise with the Meath Ladies U14 football teams at the Leinster Blitz and after the drive down, the hip was not good( and daughter ended up not playing as her 2 knees are giving her trouble again)
So there's a pair of us in it at the moment!!!

No run Saturday and not sure if one will happen today!! :mad:

WTD: 17.80m
WTD: 22.48m
YTD: 775.96m

Update

Sunday 16th July
Plan 7m Easy
Actual 7m Recovery!!

Pain meds kicked in, Sun is shining and Tyrone & Down match was boring so headed out for a short run!!

Started off very easy so suddenly a new plan formed. 5hr pace is between 11.15 & 11.22 depends on 26.2 - 26.6 mile in the marathon so decided to see if i could maintain this pace and at the same time benefit from a recovery run.

Success, however it felt difficult at times and if my concentration waned I was suddenly running at 10.45 and getting faster so had t concentrate for the full run to keep it slow. It is definitely something that will have to be worked at and i presume its the same as ordinary marathon training and just build it up at the correct pace!!! Had to stop a few times today, talk to a lady, traffic jam ie milking time cattle crossing and a learner driver (age 88 had been warned she would be on the road and to step in off the road):D An amazingly beautiful day and delighted I went out.

Also discovered this morning that although i didn't put on any weight while spending almost 2 weeks in Italy, I have managed to put on 5lbs in the 2 weeks we are home!!:eek::eek: Bet into my shorts today so operation #young&slim starts tomorrow (well, I've chocolate & sweets to eat first)

Delighted to get the 7m on the plan done today and I will continue to take the prescribe meds to avoid being in the pain I've been in the past 2 days!!

11.14, 11.14, 11.09, 11.15, 11.22, 11.22, 11.18, 11.23(.20)
Total 7.20 m in 1.21 @ 11.16

WTD: 25.00m
mTD: 32.04m
YTD: 783.16m

Week of 17th - 23rd July

So Sundays recovery run did me a lot of good, but hip issue still making itself felt and so the 5hr Pacing gig is off the cards and I'm back on the Sub bench, hoping to get a Pace group that is kinder to my gammy hip (ie that I can run nearer to my easy pace or faster, 5hrs @ recovery pace will feck hip for good!!!:eek:)

Plan for the week is easy runs until a session on Saturday and LR of 9m on Sunday

Tuesday 18th July
Plan easy run
Actual 5m easy

Very disappointed that I forgot to bring my run gear to work. I was looking forward to an easy run in the beautiful sunshine.
Ended up running this later after dinner settled. After 8pm when I got out and the sun was well gone and there was a good wind blowing but there was no air iykwim, so this felt harder that it should have!!

10.18, 10.16, 9.58, 9.55, 9.49, 10.32(.11)
Total 5.11m in 51.22 @ 10.03

Wednesday 19th July
Paln easy run
actual 4m easy

So after 9 before I got a chance to get out for this, OH walked in the door from work and I legged it out the door. I will have to ban the eldest one from going anywhere as shes my current "childminder":D
So after a horrible day of wind and rain, it was only misting rain as I left but it stopped soon after and I managed to avoid getting soaked.
Definitely noticed the fading light and there was a slight pull in my calves so left it at 4m.

10.12, 10.03, 9.54, 9.58, 9.46 (.10)
Total 4.10 in 41.07 @ 10.02

Thursday 20th July
Plan Easy run
Actual 3.2 easy

Car was booked in for a service so dropped the kids to my mams, dropped the car in for the service and ran back to mams. 3.25m
The plan was to run back in about 3 hours to collect it. However, the left calf was giving me trouble and it was running down into the Achilles for about the first 2m of the run and then it settled. But it was very sore when I finished the run and very sore to touch so iced it but no major improvement. So did the sensible thin and got a lift back for car.

9.50, 9.38, 9.37, 9.45(.25)
Total 3.25m in 31.32 @ 9.42

If its not one thing, its another. :rolleyes: Calf guards on since getting home last night and its definitely improving but will rest today and hope all improved by tomorrow.

No move on the "weight" front but if nothing changes, nothing changes!! :o I'm still eating badly!!!

WTD: 12.46m
MTD 44.50m
YTD: 795.62m

Monday 31st July

So after a lovely Parkrun on Saturday with my younglady we spent the rest of Saturday watching the son playing in a Soccer tournament. While this was a great event and a great experience for the lads it didn't do my sore legs any good, nor my older daughters bad knees. :eek:

Anyway Sundays 10m run got pushed out for a day while I gave the legs a chance to recover and headed out today instead.

Headed out in beautiful sunshine and felt it was very warm. Kept it slow and easy and was determined to keep it that way for the run. I headed down the main road as I was to avoid hills until calf healed fully and this is relatively flat and a straight forward out & back would get the job done!!

The road was unusually busy, even for a weekday, and I had to step in off the road a few times where the hard shoulder narrows and two lorries were meeting. And then I got to 4.5 m and I discovered that the main road to Kingscourt was closed and all the traffic was diverted along the N52 where I was running. I turned off here onto smaller road to get up to 5m, as the main road is not suitable further on towards Ardee for running on and I did contemplate continuing on and going home the back roads, but this would involve lots of big hills and I'm not familiar with the road and don't know where there are dogs etc. I already had 2 dogs run at me from a side road a few miles back and I wasn't looking forward to meeting them on the way back.(Thankfully they were gone when i was returning)

And then the rain and hailstones started!!:eek: This was heavy and it was not nice but I ploughed on!!! I got soaked through and the road was flooded during the 10 minutes it rained for but then the sun came out . . . for about 3 minutes before the rain started again. I couldn’t see as it was hitting me straight in the face and my eyes were almost closed against the rain so then I had to put back on the sunglasses . This didn’t help with visibility but at least I could open the eyes again. Continued on but had to step in again a few times as the spray from the lorries was driving me backwards if they didn’t pull out a bit and some of them didn't and they seemed oblivious to me running along the side of the road.:eek::mad:

The sun came out for the last 2 miles and I’d say there was steam coming off me but at least it meant I didn’t get too cold. Had put on my new runners for this and they were soaked through and not so shiny by the time I finished!!!:eek::eek:

10.04, 9.52, 9.52, 9.52, 9.42, 9.49, 9.43, 9.53, 9.51, 9.46, 10.00(.16)
Total 10.16 in 1:39:56 @ 9.50

WTD: 10.16
MTD: 79.24
YTD: 830.36

So that brings July to a close with 79.24 miles, just over 100m less that last years July total!!!:eek:

Year| 2017| 2016
Jan| 171.79| 151.68
Feb| 102.30| 161.56
Mar| 151.41| 176.41
Apr| 149.00| 103.52
May| 124.21| 112.38
Jun| 52.41| 80.48
Jul| 79.24| 179.29
YTD|830.36 | 1662.16


The weight has started to go in the right direction finally with 1.5 lbs off this week but the youngest latest craze is baking so we've done sponge cakes, buns & cookies this weekend!!! :eek:

annapr wrote: »

Hailstones :eek: worst running conditions possible... well done for getting through it!

had no choice really, was 5 miles from home!!!;)

Monday 7th August - Rest
7th August last year I hit 1000m so i'm a bit behind this year but that's just the way it is!!!:(


Tuesday 8th August - 4m easy

Dropped the young lad to soccer training and headed to Navan to Blackwater park to get this done. The eldest daughter walked(against her will:rolleyes:, give her a football and she'll run for an hour but try get her to walk for half an hour!!!) and the youngest one went on her scooter. I had a window of 45 mins to get this done as had to get back at 8 to collect from Soccer.

Set off nice and easy on the first lap, bumped into a friend I haven't seen for ages and is training for her second marathon and couldn't just run by but only problem was she was walking. I walked for a bit and had a quick chat but stupidly stopped the watch, so after getting 4 & a bit laps done which should have been 4 miles, I'd only 3.6m done so had to keep going!!
Had the youngest one for company for the last half mile so slowed it down slightly. Beautiful sunshine this evening which was lovely after some very heavy showers earlier.
Got back to soccer at 8.05 and they were just finishing up!! PHEW!!!
No issue with the calf at all but the quads were tight. Physio was cancelled but rescheduled for Wed with a home visit, now that's service!!!

9.39, 9.34, 9.31, 9.49
Total 4.01 in 38.39 @ 9.38

Wednesday 9th August - session
1m wu, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mins @ HMP off 90 sec rec, 1m cd.

Morning appointment in Monasterevin with Mike Davis, followed up with a trip to the National Stud & Japanese Gardens. Mike is making me 2 new sets of insoles and he has to add the lift back in as this is whats causing all my problems at the moment. I also have to get back to my core exercises as my muscle tone is disappearing and we all know we need to protect the core!!!

Got home and headed out for the session before the physio called. The HMP definitely felt better today but still think its a big ask to race on Sunday. I had sore hip yesterdays & this morning but after the addition of the temporary lifts in my runners, which I wore all day while walking today (3.5m according to garmin!!!) I could feel the improvement this evening.

Hit all the targets and felt much better on this session. Beautiful sunshine out there which always helps!
9.46, 5 mins, @ 7.58, 4 mins @ 7.56, 3 mins @ 8.01,
2 mins @ 7.57, 1 min @ 7.59, 9.38
Total 4.70m in 43.18 @ 9.13

Physio gave both legs a good rub out and worked on both my hips which were tight and causing problems in the IT on both sides. Quads very tight too. A week to 10 days should see a huge improvement in all the niggles once the lift sorts everything back out!!! or else I'm retiring!!!:o:o

WTD: 8.71m
MTD: 39.64m
YTD: 870.00m

Week 14 - 20th August

A bit of mismash going on this week with people interfering with my schedule!!

Monday 14th - rest day
Body & head needed the day off:eek:

Tuesday 15th - Easy Run
Dropped the young lad at soccer and headed to Navan to run the local parkrun route as its much safer than the busy narrow roads of Kilberry where the soccer pitch is.
Beautiful sunny evening and really enjoyed this. Hip was very tight this morning and I could feel it loosening out as i ran. The left calf slightly tight but nothing compared to recent times.

9.54, 9.48, 9.46, 9.41
Total 4.10 in 40.08 @ 9.47

Wednesday 16th - Easy run

Youngest 2 are at Culcamps all week so are pretty tired in the evenings and with girls training done on Monday evening, I told they youngest she could have the evening off, but a last minute decision by her to go to the mixed training left me scurrying to get my running gear on.:o

I knew we'd be a few minutes late but no worries. Grabbed my phone as i was about to run out the football ground gate only to discover a text stating that training was finishing early due to a match. :eek: Feck, no session for me so this evening, so headed off for my 4m easy.

Knew time would be tight but squeezed in the 4 mile albeit not at easy pace. Beautiful evening and very warm, i was in a t-shirt & half leggings, but could have done with shorts & vest, sweating buckets!!!l

9.35, 9.27, 9.08, 8.55
Total 4.03 in 37.19 @ 9.16

Thursday 17th - Progression Run
Had planned Wednesday's missed session but between dropping daughters friend home, dropping eldest to footy training in Rathkenny, passed athletic training that was about to start and back to Castletown with younglad for his training, i ended up tight for time and no phone to text anyone else to do pickup as hubby wasn't home from work. So swapped the session for Saturdays 6m progression run ending at 8.30 pace.

Headed out the road with a plan of 10.00, 9.40, 9.20, 9.00, 8.45 and 8.30, that will do nicely!!:rolleyes:

Had to pull back on mile 1 to get it nearer to target, and then on m2 it felt like i was crawling, although watch was showing 9.05 pace, so had to pull back to get nearer the desired range. Had to do a bit of making up the route as the road had been chipped and some cars were not slowing down so took off onto a side road, back to main road and then to another side road.
Started to feel the pace as the sweat was dripping off me and had the right gear on tonight as in shorts & vest but roasting!!! Kept telling myslef i ran 13.1 mile at similar pace on Sunday so should be no bother.

Plan was gone out the window from m2 as it had come in too fast and I had to progress each mile to fit the purpose of the run. Got back just as the lads were finishing up.
Session would have taken another 10 minutes but then I had to go back to Rathkenny to sit for 15 mins and wait for eldest!!:rolleyes:

Sooner i get back running at lunchtime in the park the better!!!

no problem with any niggles on this run thankfully and it was fine, when finished!!:D

10.00, 9.32, 9.10, 8.54, 8.37, 8.21
Total 6.08 in 55.18 @ 9.06

WTD:14.21
MTD: 70.17
YTD: 900.53

Week Aug 21 - 27

Monday 21st Aug - Rest Day
Few days with the kids in Donegal so rest day Monday but did a bit of walking and "swimming"- well i was in the water but wouldn't be counting lengths!!!:eek: makes me want to get back to swimming lessons and get the technique right again as it would be great for non impact fitness.

Hip was very sore today and so I transferred my orthotics to my walking runners. Things improved immediately.

Tuesday 22nd Aug - 4m Easy
I went to the local forest behind the hotel to do this before the kids woke up. Garmin playing up but tree cover probably didn't help either. Very humid out and legs were dead but got it done

10.31, 10.27, 9.58, 9.35
Total 4.04 in 40.51 @ 10.07

Wednesday 23rd - session Rest day
I had planned on another run while kids were having a sleep in but workmen in the room opposite meant that i wasn't comfortable to leave the kids and so planned to do it when i got home. This didn't happen as it was far later than expected when i got home and the evening light was gone. Body was tired after the drive and walking for guts of 3 hours at the Omagh Folk museum, fab place!!!

Thursday 24th - Yesterdays Session
1m wu, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, mins @ 7.45 off 75 sec rec , 1m cd

Headed off down the main road at 5pm :eek: should have done it earlier but physio session was cancelled so i just put it off and then couldn't do it later with kids activities!! Really disappointed about physio being cancelled as legs were feeling very heavy but nothing i could do about it..

Garmin was all over the place on this. the warm up mile was done at the usual 9.40 ish pace and the first 2 reps were started too fast and then slowed a little too much. At the time the garmin was showing correct zone but finished up off pace, that's what recorded.
anyway by the 3min rep I was more consistent in the pace and not starting too fast, slowng down etc. Short & sweet session

9.02, 7.55, 7.50, 7.35, 7.43, 7.31, 9.44
Total 4.18m in 38.00 @ 9.05

Friday 25th - easy run
very easy 3m easy run on the back road but didn't do the usual "big " hill and went along a different road, hill here too but not as steep. I wasn't paying attention and went a little too far!! Fab evening, lovely cooling breeze... could have run for miles more!!!

10.20, 10.18, 10.07, 9.46(.27
Total 3.27m in 33.24 @10.13

Saturday 28th
Frank Duffy 10m Race(incorporating the Garda 10m Championship)

I parked up in work , used the facilities, into my race gear and off for a 1.8m warmup to the startline. I was sweating quite a bit by the end of this so knew this was going to be tough.
I set off at the back of Wave 1 (sub 80) as that was plan A. Mile 1 cane in at target for matching the PB of 1.21.57 and mile 2, down hill came in better with mile 3 back at 8.12. I wasn't worried as i always pick up for the last few miles.:rolleyes:

My breathing was very ragged and all over the place so I stopped at the water station at end of mile 3 to get water into me but straight away my tummy felt sick, this passed but i found it hard to get back in the grove and i found the uphill of the S-Bends very tough.

Things didn't get any better as we were running straight into the blaring sun. I usually love running in the sunshine but not today!!! Found it very difficult going up Wellington road and onto Chersterfield ave and it was only 4miles done but felt like mile 20 in a marathon!!
I was now really having a horrible time and legs were dead. Then the mind games began and i was fighting the urge to stop all the time. At about 4.5m mile in, I got a really bad stitch and breathing was bad again and for the next few minutes I fought the urge to walk but it wasn't going away so so i walked for 30 seconds and this got rid of the stitch and got the breathing under control.

I took the one gel I had with me just before the next water station. I walked through this again and got the water into me. A friend caught up with me and she was having a tough time too and we ran together for a bit but i sent her on as i was struggling again. The gel began to work and i started to feel a little bit better here and i still felt that i could get in a small PB and i upped the pace but couldn't get near to the 8 min miles i needed. Plenty of people around me seemingly in the horrors too and some very bad breathing going on from a few!! At this stage I decided that I was quitting racing and never racing again but would continue to run at easy pace and enjoy the race atmospheres!!!:D

Still calculating in my head but couldnt get the legs to go any faster. The final hill sapped the last of the little energy I had left and there was to be no big speen up for the last mile!!! But I just hung in to the end. A slight dart for the line to get me in under 1.25 and was very disappointed to come in almost 3 mins outside my PB.
However chatting with others I began to realise that I wasnt the only ne to have a tough day, lots of people had tought days. Congrats to those who got PBs on a tough course. Delighted to see soooo many faces and to meet a few more from these parts!!!
Did the cool down run back to work after, showered, had s snack and away home!!

Decided to listen to my own advice I was giving others and got over myself.
The injuries are clearing up and I get to run!!! Many don't.
It is where I'm at at the moment but will move on from it and hope thing get better!!

Found out later that i was the first O45 female in the Garda Championship and that I scored 2nd place in O40s and will get a prize for that category. So sliver lining & all that malarkey!!!

8.13, 8.00, 8.12, 8.27, 8.48, 8.58, 8.22, 8.18, 8.21, 8.31, 7.36(.09)
Total 10.09 in 1.24.48 @ 8.24.


Sunday 27th August - Easy Run
Was delighted to have the company of 3 of the girls from the club while the daughters were football training. Never looked at the watch during this as we dissected yesterdays FD 10m race. We all had horrible runs. but I'm over the disappointment now!!
Extremely humid morning but the lovely rain came and it was that misty rain that I usually hate but really enjoyed it.
Made it back in time for the second half of my sons match and by 12 midday we were home with football training, football match & run all completed and finished for the day!! Relaxed and watched the horrendously boring All Ireland Semi final!!!

10.05, 9.49, 9.58, 9.49, 9.15, 9.47
Total 6.03 in 58.57 @ 9.47

WTD: 31.52m
MTD: 118.81m
YTD: 949.17m

Annie get your Run wrote: »

indeed, that will never happen!! Sounds like a tough day out for a lot of people, figured there was something amiss when I saw your time on Strava. Well done on the category wins, and for toughing it out when you could have quit! Onwards and upwards

Thanks AgyR but Don't pay any attention to the Strava time & avg pace,:eek: it added 30 mins just to make me look bad, but splits work out right.

denis b wrote: »

Oh they certainly will Anne. This log, over the past year and more, is proof of that. Your enthusiasm and consistency are hallmark features of your approach to success and one difficult race will not change that.

And I thought that I was the only person who questioned the meaning of running :eek:. Always a feature of my early race mental experience. Think I always need to meet that point up to mid race which seems to stimulate some deeper resolve that pushes me on and embraces the physical and mental toughness. Maybe this is what we have chosen to see who we really are.

See ya at the next race

Thanks Denis b, yes i just have to toughen up and wait out the difficult runs. As I said I'm lucky to be able to run and this was never more clearly brought home to me on my run on Wednesday evening. More details in my weekly update shortly.

Mrs Mc wrote: »

Congrats on the age category, every cloud has a silver lining as you say. think everyone found it tough Saturday with the heat and the hills well done good to see you after.

Thanks Mrs Mc , thanks and its was great to see you again and all the gang..

Saturday 2nd September - Session
wu, 3 x (4, 3, 2, 1, mins @ 7.45 pace of 75 sec), 4 mins between sets, cd

Sorted a few things for the younglads birthday bash and headed out in the very muggy but sunny afternoon. Down the main road and after a mile warmup, went into the first of the intervals...settled into the pace relatively ok and got the first set all completed. I was fairly dripping after that and lucky i had brought a bottle of water with me, i was tempted to pour it over my head but felt i needed in internally more!! Ended up drinking the full 750m of water by the time the session was over!!!:eek:

Second set and the 3 mins rep was an uphill drag and I was working harder that the previous reps and this really wrecked me. Had to walk a lot of the recoveries after that, Made an about turn here and worked towards home into a fairly stiff breeze. I definitely found the 3rd set harder for the 4 & 3 mins and i was too fast for the 1 min.

Legs were feeling the effects of Day 1 of the Kinetic Revolution which i started on Friday so overall a tough enough session but glad to get it done before the madness began!!!:D I'm determined to get to day 30 of this challenge as I've stated it previously but never got too far!!!

Set 1 - 7.43, 7.44, 7.39, 7.37
Set 2 - 7.40, 7.56, 7.39, 7.31
Set 3 - 7.43, 7.45, 7.42, 7.27

Total 8.10m in 1.14 @ 9.13

Sunday 3rd September – 10m Easy
After a football match and watching the end of the Hurling All Ireland, I headed out the back roads for this and legs were failry wrecked. After about 2 miles they eased ut but overall body was tired and it didn’t feel easy at all. Got it completed and know the running on tired legs will stand to me. Lovely cool breeze blowing but I was still fairly sweating ont his run!!

10.19, 10.26, 10.01, 9.57, 9.46, 10.08, 10.09, 10.04, 10.03, 10.11, 9.42(.11)
Total 10.11m in 1.42 @ 10.06

Day 2 completed later.

WTD: 32.47m
MTD: 18.21m
YTD: 981.64m