Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Best of luck tomorrow FD. Remember that TA thingy and to pack the wand and you'll be grand Tang'll take care of the rest

crikey thanks I'd forgotten my inhaler, your wand comment reminded me

hillsiderunner wrote: »

Good luck , hope there will be no HRM shenanigans ... and for Tang - boards is watching, we'll know who to blame if the pacing doesn't go according to plan

ha ha ha I won't be wearing it for the race poor Tang! its still down to me to run the required pace, can't blame the pacer if that doesn't happen although I'm expecting the gossip chat to be so good I'll have to hang on to get all the gory details

annapr wrote: »

Jeez I looked away for a day or two and completely missed bra-gate. Thankfully

Don't be nervous, you're in great shape at the minute and you have those 5k results to give you confidence. Plus, Tang will be a great pacer (no pressure, B!).

Very best of luck, we'll be sending good vibes to Longwood (wherever it is).

Bra-gate

Thanks Anna & D, if you ask Aquinn she'll tell you what county its in

Right, am outa here!

52:18 unofficial - very happy with that that's nearly 2 min pb

Massive thanks to tang, I had absolutely nothing left to give in the last mile - for the record, much tougher course than Blessington or Dunshaughlin.

tang1 wrote: »

52.20 official time up on Core Timing. Massive well done this morning, it was all your own doing I just ran beside you.

Ha! A gent and modest to boot I could not have done that on my own, id have given up 2 miles from home when the going got (very) tough so thank you again, you're a star

menoscemo wrote: »

Well done FD.
I was talking to one of the organisers a few weeks ago and he was telling me it was a very challenging course, so it's great to get a PB in those circumstances. It's great to see the improvements happening here.

Thanks there were a few friends of yours there today all with their nice shiney headphones

Longwood 10k 52:20

The goal going into this was 52:xx although my pacer had said 51:59, if the course was flat that might be a possibility.

Up at stupid o'clock after a bad nights sleep and a very off day yesterday but I felt good this morning so hopefully no impact would be felt. Walked the dog, had brekkie and headed into the wilds of Meath countryside (Dunboyne is really just part of Dublin ) and of course was there before 10am for a race start of 11. Got registered quickly and back out to wait for Tang who arrived bang on time. Off for a warm up & a chat, just under 2 miles but nice & slow. Met 2 other clubmates running today at the start line. We lined up a couple of rows back from the start as there was no timing mat.

The Race:
We had agreed beforehand that tang would tell me if and when we needed to pick up the pace.
Miles 1, 2, 3, The first mile felt very easy, too easy almost and loads of people passing us and the danger here is going off to fast which I would have if I was on my own. First mile beeped and was told all ok, and I think things went ok up to around KM 4 when he said we needed to pick it up a bit, had hoped not to hear that until past the halfway mark

Miles 4, 5, 6.1
I don't know what miles the hills were in but it felt like the whole 2nd half of the race was one big hill and from 5K onwards I was struggling with my breathing, tried to relax it a bit but as the KM's went on I was fighting for breath and I knew we were slowing. At one point we got to the top of a hill, turned a corner and there was another hill :eek: not since Athlone 3/4 last year had I encountered such cruelty!! I told myself I had to keep going, it wasn't just my race today but the mental demons were there, telling me I couldn't do it. Luckily there was someone on my shoulder telling me I could. Just before we reached KM 9 the pain in my chest worsened and I had to stop, just for a few seconds, to get some level of oxygen back into my body. It worked, and I could breathe again.

The last KM home was pure torture, Tang was telling me it wasn't gone yet and to dig deep, I tried, I really did but there was nothing left in the tank, I have managed a sprint finish for most races but I really wasn't happening today, finally there was the gate of the gaa club & home, I knew though that I was on target for a PB with a 52 in the time and I was absolutely delighted with that.

Crossed the finish line & had to lie down!! just for a couple of seconds I left everything out on the course. I gave tang the good news that while we didn’t get 51:59 he'd been hoping for he had succeeded in getting me a big PB and a time I was delighted with . I've said this already but I could not have done that today on my own, I would have given up as I always do, when things got tough. It was a huge help to have someone there telling me to push on

splits: 8:09, 8:22, 8:24, 8.28, 8:47

followed by a couple of miles cool down - I think Tang might be a smidge off his daily miles Coach, that's my fault

Total of 9.?? miles (forgot to turn the watch back on for the cool down)

postmortem: an apt word! probably look like the walking dead, even now showered & fed am banjaxed, was feeling dizzy on the drive home.

Blessington was 5th September, 6 week ago with a time of 54:06 so the progress is there to see even if sometimes I feel like I'm going backwards.
The hips & foot held up ok today, while I could feel them both they weren't the problem. The inhaler is working but only gets me so far so I still have a lot of work to do in that area and I need to get some advice on how best to do that.

Will take a break from a 'training plan' for a while now and just concentrate on getting in lots of easy miles. I have one more goal before the year is out, would love to get 24:59/25:00 in Cabinteely I could attempt to bribe the RD with caramel slices but I suppose I'd better just work for it instead. Jingle bells is in the race calendar too but I don't have a target time.

Looking forward to a very large glass of PB vino later on. Terrible shame about the rugby, really thought we had it there for a few mins.

hillsiderunner wrote: »

Now was 52:20 under the target or do we need to take Tang to task? Ok, ok, well done Tang and FD

Nice to see the results of the training kicking in.

Nope, my target was 52:xx, anything with a 52 in it very happy it was under the :30 too

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Brilliant! Well done you and well done Tang. Hope yiz are proud of yizzer selves That's a big chunk off, especially on a hilly course. Cabinteely's there for the taking.

yup!

that might depend on who's operating the watch, you don't fancy volunteering out there the week before Jingle Bells do ya :pac: (I'm just kidding!!!!)