Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try

August 8th-13th
Bike 79.4 miles
Runs 8.1 miles including my 50th parkrun in Cabinteely park
Had a lovely day in Cabinteely for my 50th. The usual crew were there but also a few friends including fletch (who brought cake he'd made himself!) and some of the Hartstown parkrun crew . Fletch was first finisher too just for good measure, have been telling him for ages he'd love our hills. Lovely to be surrounded by good friends and a lovely post run coffee & cake afterwards too.

August 14th-20th
Bike: Zero
Jogs 5.2 miles.
Decided to take a break from the bike this week, have been finding it hard recently with strong winds and less than summery weather and knowing I was heading away next week I thought 2 weeks break from the bike would do me some good. Did some short lunchtime jogs instead.

August 21st - 27th
Bike: Zero

Runs x 4 total 14.5 miles + Open Water 'dips' x 2 (230yards each)
Was in Donegal for the week, have never been and completely underestimated a) the sheer size of the place and b) the absolute breathtaking beauty. Every corner you turned, either walking or in the car, another stunning vista revealed itself. I'd go back in a heartbeat and while I did do a few runs and had a couple of wonderful dips in the North Atlantic I really did take it easy, had a few epic lie ins and am feeling very refreshed. So refreshed in fact that when it came to getting up at the crack of dawn this morning to do the Boyne Adventure race I turned over and went back to sleep. A wise decision - perhaps I got sense in Donegal... I haven't done a swim session in a couple of weeks either, partly due to an ongoing shoulder issue which I'm having treated with massage. Runs this week were mainly on the local beach which was not only stunningly beautiful, but also a perfect half a mile long so up and back 3 and a bit times for a gorgeous 5K run two days and 4 miles another. Two of the runs were followed by a dip in the sea, one skins, one with wetsuit. The water was cool but not Baltic and was very refreshing after the runs. Woody had a blast too, tearing around the beach off lead . Headed out this evening then to round up the week for 4.1 miles local loop around Dunboyne, a warm evening but thoroughly enjoyed it.

Yoga x 7 days, yes that does say 7! I brought a yoga DVD with me and did 25 mins of flow yoga which included sun salutations, warrior poses and hip openers - looking out the sitting room window at the sea below *sigh* perfect! The body was very stiff the first few days but loosened out as the week went on.

Hike x 1: 4.6 miles brisk hike through Glenveagh National Park yesterday. Stunning. Got a good look at Mt Errigal - will stick on the bucket list to climb next time .

denis b wrote: »

A great holiday choice AM. If you ever decide to have a go at Mt. Errigal then give me a shout. There are a number of alternative routes at the back that are positively Alpine in character and are stunning any time of year.

You had a great year on the bike so the break will be useful to recharge the batteries for the next cycle (no pun intended)

Well that's really piqued my interest now Denis it looked truly awesome, will bear that in mind for the next trip!

I'm only catching up AM Sounds like the idea holiday in stunning Donegal

Is Run the Line next on the cards?

Annie get your Run wrote: »

How's your training going?? Your log has cobwebs on it I hope you're off composing an update!

Yes RTL although it'll be jog the line for me :pac:, I was out of breath walking the dog up the hills around magazine fort in the PP yesterday so need to get a bit of practice in before November!

Delighted to see your reviews of Donegal . Don't mind DenisB, there's an easy way up Errigal too, well worth it for the view.

I signed up for RTL too, so I'll jog it with ya if I'm still in one piece by then

Darndale parkrun 5K 27:18 avg pace 8:29 4th female and 1st in my age category.

Made the trip over to one of Dublin's newer parkruns this morning and luckily it wasn't one of the ones affected by the possibility of storm Brian (who never really arrived...). 46 runners lined up to take part with a lot of visitors who were attending the conference close by but nonetheless it was a very welcoming community despite the heavy grey skies. A very quick pre run briefing and we were off. The speedies shot away and I could see two women in the group ahead putting me in third place, not a situation I've ever been in before. It's a 3 lap course with a couple of twists, a lake of swans and the onlookers included 5 horses at various points in the park . Not long into the first lap the rain started, not lashing though, nice and cooling actually. At one point a girl passed by at a great speed so there was 3rd place gone!, quickly followed by another girl in a pink top running much closer to my pace I wasn't looking at the watch but figured I was doing maybe 9:30 min miles. Towards the end of the first mile when we pass the start/finish area for the first time I was feeling the effort a bit and no wonder when the watch flashed up 1 mile @ 8:27! I can't remember the last time I saw an 8 on the watch! Oooh okay lets try and maintain that effort and see how it goes.

Mile 2 I was trying to stick with girl no 2 in the pink t-shirt, not to let her get too far away, the support around the course was great from the volunteers. At one stage girl number one who'd shot off ahead was now walking so I passed her hoping she wasn't going to come back again. Mile 2 flashed up at 8:30, yay! I was maintaining pace and not dying!! Girl no 1 shot past me again in the early stages of mile 3 :rolleyes: only for me to pass her again about half way in :rolleyes: I was gaining on pink top lady but she heard me coming and pushed on herself. I was also temporarily joined by one of the horses on the last lap who I could hear for a while before I approached, he was making it known he wan't too happy with all these visitors in his park and as I approached he rared up and shot off in the opposite direction!! The excitement!! I'm halfway through the last lap when my lace comes loose - a very quick stop to tie it meant I had no hope at all now of passing 3rd place lady and then I heard the other girl coming for me - no way hose, I pushed on and had a good strong run down the finish straight the last mile beeping at 8:39 (damn lace).

I really enjoyed this parkrun, it's fairly flat apart from bit of a bump in the middle but the bump goes down too! It is quite exposed so the wind today was against us in some places but behind in others. '

Having recently been given the go ahead to start training again I wanted to test the boundaries and see where I am, 3 mins off my PB it seems but that's fine. I'll work slowly towards building up the mileage again and hopefully that will improve a bit even before the year is out

I'll be back to Darndale again and I wish them every success with their event.

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Darndale parkrun 5K 27:18 avg pace 8:29 4th female and 1st in my age category

Having recently been given the go ahead to start training again I wanted to test the boundaries and see where I am, 3 mins off my PB it seems but that's fine. I'll work slowly towards building up the mileage again and hopefully that will improve a bit even before the year is out.

Congrats on the age cat first finish! Great report to read and even better to hear you've gotten the all clear to start training again. The fitness won't be long in coming back.

Nicely done, you're motoring now.

Always nice to pick up an OAP 1st place too

TbL

Well done AM, delighted for you to be back at it. Great start to the return. Now you can base your training around these paces ans watch the times tumble(in the right direction).

Great run and report AM, glad you enjoyed Darndale, horses and all

Well done AM, fine running and report too. Best of luck with getting back into training!

Fantastic! That's a great performance too, and sounds like you had fun out there! Looking forward to reading what's to come

Chuffed for ya

All the best on Sunday AM.

Annie get your Run wrote: »

if you saw me here with pages and lists and maps you'd know I"m gonna need it am so gonna F*ck this up :rolleyes:

I meant in McGrattens after, seeing as your a self-confessed lightweight when it comes to the gargle!!!! Take it handy on the vino.

31 Oct - 5 Nov

Bike: 81.1 miles, 3 x days @ 24 miles 1 x day @ 8.2 miles. Making an effort to take these bike commutes easy and no more chasing after anyone who overtakes me

Running 12.6 miles

Thursday 2nd Nov 3.2 miles @ 11:13 avg HR 133 splits 11:12, 11:12 11:13. Lunch run down to Ringsend and back again. Took this very easy, think it's the first time I've run between cycles. No ill affects and thoroughly enjoyed it even if a little chilly.

Saturday 4th November 3.1 miles @ 9:42 avg HR 147 splits 9:41, 9:43, 9:45. Cabinteely parkrun, I really thought I was taking this very handily until the first mile beeped (the watch was displaying HR data only). Gorgeous sunny morning for a parkrun.

Sunday 5th November 6.3 miles @ 11:09 avg HR 133 splits 10:34, 10:31, 11:05, 11:09 11:50, 11:32, 11:27. Up early on Sunday so headed up to the Phoenix park, it was chilly but I always find long sleeves sweaty around the elbows so opted for two t-shirts and a hat & gloves. Perfect, only took the gloves off in the last mile. I parked the car at Castleknock gate and headed off down Chesterfield Ave, turned right at Monument roundabout to head into the s-bends. Kept a close eye on the HR all the way around hence the lower paces on the hillier sections. Another fantastically enjoyable run.

Have been very remiss with the diet over the last few months and the lbs have been creeping back on - I know a lot of that is muscle that had wasted away from the Graves disease but not all of it and a horrendous photo from last weeks parkrun jolted me into action - so from this week gone is the bread, biscuits, crisps, popcorn etc etc and I'm going to make a real effort to stick to a Banting diet for the rest of November.