Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try

Saturday 12th Sept cabinteely parkrun, 5K @ 26.46 course PB by nearly 2 mins. Have never raced this PR so wanted to do just that today, got chatting to another girl that volunteers there who said she was going for 8.22 min miles and thought I'd keep her in my sights for the run.

Splits 8.02, 8.40, 8.44. plan was not to look the watch and just run as fast as I could, remembered to take the inhaler before hand. Lap one felt ok, I passed said fellow volunteer on the hill the first time up to the bench but knew it would come back to bite me later, I didn't care Second lap was a little less comfortable, hills starting to hurt this time around but just pushed on. M had passed me again so I was keeping her in sight and playing tag with another runner on the ups and downs. Last lap, one more time up the hill, slowing a good bit here thought I might be over 9 min miles but pleased to see I wasn't. Legs gone now, quads burning, lungs burning and didn't have anything to give to sprint finish, I guess thats a good sign!

Very happy with this and actually enjoyed it, now I know how aquinn feels . Lovely home made rice krispie buns afterwards and a very nice coffee. N its just as well you left, or you'd have been outnumbered 4 -1 women

tang1 wrote: »

Well done FD, great running. Sub 25 there for the taking in Rathfarnham or Longwood.

we'll see! whatever about Rathfarnham I'll be all right in Longwood if you're pacing me giving me a piggyback

it was quite windy this morning, I haven't run that course since July and I felt it today in the legs, more hills needed in the next few weeks for sure..

Sunday 13th Sept 75 mins easy @ avg hr 131 max hr 143 (couple of hills)

did this with a friend who, like me, tends to run all her easy runs too fast. Luckily she's just coming back from a cold (not lucky for her!) and was happy to keep this very slow. We started on the trails in the PP, out the Ashtown gate and down the canal. I've wanted to do this run for ages, it sound lovely, and it was. Except when we met Anna's swans..... we decided it was time to turn back anyway :eek: (I know, I'm a big scardy cat, I'm not afraid to admit that!) one of the swans was giving us the eye and when we tried to pass flapped his wings and made lots of angry noises. Thinking about it coming back they must have people passing them all day every day :rolleyes: next time.... My running partner was treated to a lecture about the recruitment of slow twitch fibres that Ecoli would be proud of I've convinced her to dig out her HRM - I'm sure she was thrilled to have gotten out of bed this morning

Followed by 30 min swim: lovely, the foot was ever so slightly niggly this morning but is grand again now after a swim/sauna.

This day next week my HR will be through the roof #coybib

Monday 14th September 3.5 miles easy, a few hills on this route so the paces in order to keep the HR down were pathetic and for some reason had less success with the numbers this eve. avg hr 125/134/129/131 max hr 143/141/137/138. At least some of them were under 140..

Tuesday 15th September solo session 8 x 200's with 200 recoveries. Jogged up to the bypass for this, a phone call from work just as I was heading out the door messed up my schedule & ended up forgetting the inhaler. Also meant it was dark when I was jogging home and I'd no high viz on. Anyway, session was:

warm up 1.68m @ 11:03

Splits  Moving Time Distance Avg Pace Best Pace
1 00:52 0.13 06:47 05:41
2 00:57 0.13 07:20 07:22
3 00:53 0.14 06:28 04:42
4 00:57 0.14 06:49 05:44
5 00:53 0.13 06:40 05:24
6 00:53 0.13 06:32 05:49
7 00:53 0.13 06:48 05:38
8 00:56 0.13 07:17 06:13

cool down 1.79 miles @ 11.24

Turned the watch to KM again for this and GC has converted back to miles on upload. Happy enough with this I think, deliberately held back on the last rep to an effort I thought I could maintain over a longer distance (not sure how long though!!). Was surprised to see the pace on the jog home as it felt faster than the warm up. Jogged some of the recoveries but walked most to make sure I was fully recovered & not hanging around as the temperature dropped.
Ever so slight niggle in the foot/ankle so will spend lots of time foam rolling & stretching this eve.

Thursday 17th Sept Plan: Tempo 10/10/10 Actual: 4.5 miles with aquinn had planned to do this at lunchtime anyway with loose idea of running easy to Ringsend park, doing the tempo section there and then easy back to the office. Met A at our usual spot and jogged down easy to the park, mercilessly abandoned her and headed off for the tempo section. She very wisely stayed with her easy pace in prep for Saturday. I don't have the time breakdown as my watch USB is at home, the watch beeped mile 2 as I started the tempo so decided to keep it to a mile. Ended up with this:

10:22, 10:16, 8:19, 10:35

Was too fast for the first 1/4 mile at least, looked at the watch at one stage it was reading 7.34, pulled back a bit / ran out of steam so the overall avg is perfect but how I got there is far from that. Met back up with A and we headed back to officeville. Was feeling very banjaxed after the tempo mile, twas hot hot hot out there again and I'd say my legs are still tired from Tuesday but job done I guess. Didn't get near my foam roller or my kettle bell yesterday eve so zero strength work done this week, will see if I can squeeze in a half an hour later on.

Thanks A as always for the company & see you Saturday!

FRIDAY(whoohoo!)18th September 4.18 miles easy

late night last night followed by 5:30am wake up as my brother, sister in law & niece headed off for their flight, sob so feeling tired today, this was a bit of a slog from the off and not entirely sure what was going on with the HR, the readings are:

avg max
132 171
137 161
133 140
134 138

have eaten some amount of rubbish in the last 2 weeks so fairly sure I've undone the recent weight loss, I'll have to start again today tomorrow Monday

Managed to get in 30 mins strength & some foam rolling last night but the right calf is feeling a bit tight today so more stretches on that later.

Lovely busy running themed day tomorrow starting with some parkrun volunteering. Best of luck to everyone running the half tomorrow, see you all afterwards.

Sunday 20th Sept 70 mins easy avg Hr 131, max hr 151

Woke up about 3am this morning not feeling great & considered canning this but was 'okish' this morning so headed up to PP to meet a friend. Did the canal route again, tried to keep hr under 135 but figured it was raised anyway due to not being 100% so not overly concerned. First few miles was fine, the last few were a struggle as my stomach was doing somersaults.

Monday 21st September 4 miles 4.20 miles @ 10.18 avg hr way to high... (144) Lunchtime run with aquinn. A hangover and a bar stool related hamstring injury (no I didn't fall off!) meant this was never going to be pretty. I'm reminded why I don't go on the tear :rolleyes: Enjoyable nonetheless

With one eye on Sundays race, there is no taper in the plan I'm following as this is scheduled as a test race so the speed and tempo runs are still there and the only adjustment is rest day on Saturday. The A goal is still sub 25 though.
Having done a recce of the course the first Km is very fast, then there's a small hill up to Terenure village followed by a long road that has a very slight drag and back around to springfield ave again and a fast finish. I'm thinking I'll take advantage of the fast start, hold on for the long drag and hopefully push on again for a fast finish. If this doesn't work it's not the end of the world as I can try again in Longwood so I reckon it's worth a shot? I know a couple of you have run this in the past so advice would be much appreciated.

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Hey FD, it's a while since I've run the Rathfarnham race but your strategy sounds right. I suppose the main thing would be to not get too carried away in the first Km. You could bank 5-10 seconds or so there. I don't think the hill and then the drag will throw you off pace all that much but it would be nice to have a bit of a buffer in case the wind is in your face for that long section. Then let fly for the last Km and take full advantage of the hill the second time around .

thanks BG yes will check the watch at KM 1 to make sure I haven't gone too crazy and then run by effort the rest of the way around, what I should have done in Blessington, these are the things I need to practice more!

Myles Splitz wrote: »

With regards the course for Sunday I agree with using the first mile (mile mark just at the bus stop on the little climb into Terenure) to gain a buffer, but make it only so slight (i.e a couple of seconds per km).

I have seen plenty (including myself) go out too fast to capitalize on that start and you will be surprised just how much the wheels can come off on the drag.

Best to gain a little time but be fresh for the drag and make your time on the downhill the second time round IMO.

thanks L, would 5 (or 10?) secs over race pace be a reasonable balance? I'm not planning to go all out or anything but use it as much as possible to my advantage without blowing up.