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Target Practice

Dubgal72

Hi boardsies, Ososlo (blame her) pointed me in the direction of Training Logs and suggested that I might like to add one. So here I am.

You can probably guess from the log title that I am shooting for some targets. You might also guess from my user name that I am female, with affiliations to Dublin and am aged 32. I am also not a mathematician.

Back in the 80s my 'previous life', I ran a lot for a teenager. Skip a few decades and I am again running a lot. The interim, not so much. My twenties I spent running away from running, my thirties were spent running back to running, away from running...and mostly drawing to a standstill.

In many ways, I feel like a dinosaur or like I have entered a different century in my reincarnation as a runner (ok, actually I have. Push comes to shove I have entered a new millennium...).
I only found out what a Garmin is this last August, I have no idea what VO2 max is, my HR Max is uncharted territory and I am still sketchy re aerobic and anaerobic fitness details.......
I am going to relearn how to run 'by feel/effort' (actually that's going well, slowly but well) so won't invest in a gps watch just yet. I will get a HRM and definitely buy a stopwatch. The other details I hope to fill in via you guys.

I picked up my asics last Jan and decided (cue eyeball roll) to....run the marathon. As a bucket list thing. So yeah.

I'm glad I did, me and running are back together (*violins*).

And of course the marathon bit me. In the bum and badly. 23 minute positive split anybody?! But along the way I hope I have banked some endurance and have definitely dipped my toe into the beginnings of some quality session work.

For 2015 my targets are:

5k sub 20 mins (Current 21:38)
10k as near to 40 mins as I can (None official)
10 miles as far below 75 as I can (Current 78:04)
HM 1:35. (Current 1:41:08)

Would also like a crack at the track, 800m, 1500m and 3000m for old time's sake.

All advice and suggestions very welcome, thanks in advance. Nagging 'have you done your core exercises this week??' especially welcome!

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Kennyg71

Best of luck with tomorrow's swim&#55357;&#56860;

Murph_D

All the best, A. All you can do is do the best with what you have. I'm sure you'll leave it all out there either way.

tang1

Best of luck tomorrow DG, I found patience & a tennis ball worked best with the PF.

Dubgal72

Thanks everyone!

RayCun wrote: »

What's on Sunday?

Vvv thanks BG

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Welcome back!

County Seniors XC tomorrow, yes ?

Well the pool running will have prepared you for the weather anyway Best of luck !! Go kill 'em all.

Thanks...Hehe (that was said in a very sinister and evil manner, did you get that?)

annapr wrote: »

Best of luck tomorrow A, you won't give up that crown easily anyway!!!!

Thanks anna, nope, I won't indeed

Firedance wrote: »

+ 1! the very best of luck A, bring home some scalps....

Thanks FD, I sure will, am sharpening my tomahawk as I type

laura_ac3 wrote: »

Good luck and I hope that injury is on the mend.

Thanks laura, it's better than it's been. I'm sure tomorrow will change all that but the reward is worth risk....

Singer wrote: »

Kick some ass tomorrow! :cool:

Will do

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Best of luck with tomorrow's swim��

Thanks G, am packing my flippers alongside my spikes!

Murph_D wrote: »

All the best, A. All you can do is do the best with what you have. I'm sure you'll leave it all out there either way.

Thanks D. I just have to tell myself that I'm not in planned peak shape but am still in significantly better shape than last year.....

tang1 wrote: »

Best of luck tomorrow DG, I found patience & a tennis ball worked best with the PB.

Thanks tang, yeah am using a hockey ball after every run and when I think of it too... Bucket of chilled water works a treat too. The patience am working on.....

jake1970

Best of luck tomorrow A.

This Fat Girl Runs

Good luck at the race!!!

Dubgal72

A good day at the office. No spoiler this year, there were only two goals for this race: B goal, to medal; A/Platinum goal, to win/retain title.

Got the B goal: medalled: bronze and we got team silver :cool:
It tells me that last year was not a fluke (well, it was but not to the extent I've had reservations about if that makes sense?).

Overall I am just as happy with this race - if not happier - than last year. Small field again but the quality was there this year. The top 5 had their game faces (and legs on), it really was a well-run 'poker style' race. Coachy even had a smile on his face at the end and praised it as 'a true cross country race'. Yes, really. It doesn't get much better than that! (He has a few national titles at XC)

Well done to our men's team, we saw a really really nail-biting sprint up the hill to the finish...we won, sorry Timaaay, but what a finish....Pretty sure the men got team gold too.

Also great news from Hyeres, the pa was texting and a calling with updates, Caroline Crowley 23rd...WOW...and Lizzie and Fionnuala. So proud of women's XC at this level, they are producing year after year.

Foot currently in ice bucket, glass of bubbly in hand, hot bath on the way.

Race report later but it will mostly involve 'that bit was a blur' :eek:

aquinn

Brilliant, well done. Foot is ok?

Ed Mc Groarty

congratulations, well done.

Dubgal72

aquinn wrote: »

Brilliant, well done. Foot is ok?

Thanks. No, pretty sore now but that was in the plan: "deal with the consequences after"

Didn't bother me during the race, I deliberately locked all that out.

Dubgal72

Ed Mc Groarty wrote: »

congratulations, well done.

Thanks thanks thanks

Firedance

fantastic! well bloody done girl, enjoy the bubbly and the hot bath, we are so proud (and yes, I have a lump in my throat)

Singer

Woop woop! Enjoy the bath & bubbles

Bungy Girl

Fantastic! Can't wait for the report.

And I have no idea how that icon attached itself to my post !

FBOT01

Great going. Well done!

Notwork Error

Well done DG, well deserved!

tang1

Great stuff DG, class is permanent as they say.

hillsiderunner

Great stuff DG. Look after that foot!

annapr

Delighted for you A! Well done and enjoy the well earned bubbly!

This Fat Girl Runs

Congratulations!! Enjoy the rest and the bubbles! Well earned!

KielyUnusual

Nice one DG. I hear that Avondale course is tough and with the weather we've been having recently i.e. shed loads of rain, it can't have been easy. Great strength shown there and backed up last year's result big time.

Re: Running track events when still drunk. There's a specific event for that, which might suit you

nop98

Well done, A!

<refreshing anxiously for the race report>

Kennyg71

Well done, two medals in one day always a good day At the office

chickey2

Fantastic! Hope there's plenty of bubbles!

Ososlo

And back with a bang!
Big congrats today DG. Really looking forward to reading all the details! And welcome back! Hope the foot will be ok.

Dubgal72

Aha. Here it was. That time of year :eek:

This was a target race, no doubt about that. It had been incorporated into the schedule - a tricky schedule: the aim was to peak for this, the county masters in early Jan and fully peak at the end of Jan for the national masters. This latter remains 'the main thing'.

A bit of background: I won this last year. It was a big surprise but although I think/know I gave it my all, it was not against the usual county suspects. Looking back, it was a brave ****ing race. I took the lead with 2k to go and ran on pure fear from then on but there was an absence of a significant number of athletes which cast a pall on my win. Sometimes though, I hear myself echo my words 'you only have to turn up...'

The build up to this was slightly interrupted. A general nagging in my heel from possibly the beginning of November became a more persistent and chronic nagging mid-month. Looking back on my diary it may have stemmed from the build-to phase 2 changeover to faster stuff, a 12x400m session on slippy, wet, leafy road in my racing flats at the beginning of November. However it also coincided with the need to replace my very very worn out shoes. I use Asics GT 2000s which support the arch. I am flat footed and dropped arches are prone to plantar fasciitis....I had also been neglecting stretching, sports massages and supplementary strength work to counter muscular imbalances. It all catches up.... :rolleyes:

So there were quite a few moments of internal panic due to lack of complete preparation. There was also the cacophony of voices from my coach "you won't lose any strength" and later in the week "you are fast, use this at the end" alongside club captain "keep the bigger picture in mind, this means nothing in two years time" and my own "you're fvcked, SL ran 3:05 in the marathon, SF (my training partner) slaughtered you in the Open, AK is on top form, AMK is bloody strong, CC could damn well surprise all and SOB - county novice winner - is hungry and able for this.....arghhhh!

However, writing this down underlines the difference a year makes. This time a year ago (and even two weeks later in the county masters race), I had no idea of names, or form or tactics....or anything!! Knowing all this, this year, made me an older and wiser and better racer. It's all coming together, the racecraft is bubbling...

But I have to confess, I am moving over to 'the superstitious side'. About a year ago, I bravely - and maybe a bit sillily - wrote that I 'was putting all that superstitious nonsense aside and telling myself that hard work etc brought the results'...however, I don't think you can so easily discount voodoo....

So to tick that box, to repeat last year's ritual, , I had a nice glass and two of red but only an okish dinner (left over veggie stir fry). Instead of dancing around the floor in my new spikes (Brooks and Mach are now promoted to Focking Hard Core), I spent 45 minutes expending much-needed energy on extracting my bloody track spikes from the f¥cking shoes to replace them with sucky-mucky xc spikes.

RESULT
XC spikes: 8
Track spikes: 2 (forever stuck)

However, I started to go to bed at 8pm so was smugly (and snugly) in bed by 10.

Let's fast forward to the thing, shall we?!

THE THING

We arrived early and already my feet were frozen. The beauty of the woods (Avondale) didn't entirely distract from this, however I did realise why Charles Stewart Parnell was so taken with this neck of the ahem woods. (I also wondered how the heck he managed to fulfil a regular parliamentary schedule and then realised he actually did far better than many of the present TDs....)

After a deal of faffing we started to warm up. Myself, AM, JO'K, Emer911 and SF were our team. I had discussed with coachy the fact that I preferred to warm up alone (after trying the group warm up thing) and given his advocacy of 'team is family' I was somewhat pleasantly surprised when he said 'go for it, no offence will be taken, a warm-up is a very personal thing, get into your zone etc etc' or words to that effect.
But anyway, today, a group warm-up worked out fine. I kept quiet, got into the zone and listened (mainly to the course overview as we jogged around) more than talked.

Then, I slipped off to the bushes but on the way (outside the bushes and not up a tree) was halted (literally) in my tracks by this beardy hatted fecker hissing 'ashliiing'. Yup, you guessed it, the master of disguise, TAFKA BON

Had a brief chat and discussed PF techniques.

Once my heart had calmed down

I did 5x80m strides on the driest, straightest stretch I could find. And my spikes got soaked. Felt damn springy on these so all good. Had been doing a good deal of PMAing over the last few days, telling myself
1) "You are fitter than last year"
2) "You are strong"
3) "You are fast"

And so on....

Attempted a few drills but felt my left arch (the PF one) sharply twinge on a more plyometric one so stuck to a few butt kicks. Had already done a few limbering hip swirls and arm swings so knew the body was ready.

STILL HERE? WELL DONE, YOU GET A FINISHERS MEDAL

So, to the actual bleddy race...

Well, it was all pretty much a blur.

THE END

Ok ok ok.....

Here goes:

THE PLAYERS:
- SF sub-40 10k, sub19 5k, training partner and 'team is family' member. Also multiple winner of this. Injured last year. Very strong and very competitive.

- SL (3:05 marathoner, gold medal in the national marathon o/35) DNS, injury. If she had run, I would have classed her as 'a great unknown'.

- AK very close rival and also family friend. Both myself and her (same name) took 'this thing' up seriously around the same time. We have different strengths but I consider her very formidable. I keep a private tally of our wins/losses. Prone to going out too hard.

- AMK another formidable and gritty rival, also around the same level as me. Have probably beaten her more than she has me but she has been racing and training haaaard this season. Prone to surging too hard mid race, usually comes back.

- CC, another formidable rival although has had a lot of injury woes in the last year. Nonetheless raced a very convincing 5k in early autumn. DNS

- SOB, a new talent, freshly emerged from junior ranks. Won women's county novice strongly earlier in the season. One to watch although wet and mucky conditions do not seem to suit.

- Me. Last year's winner. Flukey. Good form although interrupted. Only second xc race this season however xc 'part of the bone marrow' due to previous life. Not fazed by atrocious conditions. Last bit of mental breakthrough still pending.

THE CONDITIONS:
Wet, wet, wet, cold enough, no wind. Heavy rain changed to light drizzle on warm up. No rain - I think - by race. Going: firm in long grass but boggy and sucky in others. Puddles also. Big uns.

THE THING. FOR REALZ.
And off we went. Orders were to sit in, not do ANY front running or breaking early on and only to cover any breaks. Let rip at 1k to go. Programmed myself with 'you are strong, you are fast'.

THE COURSE
Course was a 1k loop followed by a roughly oval 2k loop which dipped evilly down and up at each end, bisected on the far diameter of each loop by an extending 'arm corridor' of about 500m. Confused? Try running it in full pelt and delirium. By somewhere in the first full lap, I was fully in the zone and 'came to' with the realisation that I had no frickin idea where on the course I was, or which end :eek: Focused on orientating myself and even solidified which lap we were on....The poor men had to run five...FIVE...of these laps!!

Lap 1 (1k) settled down in group of 5, all of the above minus SL, and CC, DNS. Working hard enough but feeling strong. Conscious of place in group and analysing position in relation to others.
And it's all a blur....

Lap 2 (2k)
Group still there in first half of lap. Found myself briefly in the lead rounding a sharp corner but consciously pulled back. Working hard and feeling it. Striding out on downhills, myself and SF covering this etc etc. still trying to figure out where on loop...
And it blurs....

Lap 3 (2k) ouch ouch ouch. SOB and AK fallen back at this stage...I think. AMK in the lead now, probably took 10m but myself and SF covered it. In this lap, they started to pull away, AMK retained lead. Remember, I said above, she is prone to surging mid-race and coming back. I was hurting but ready to cover this. She never came back

Have to say, this woman ran the bravest, gutsiest race I have ever seen. She was really strong today. Gave myself a pep talk at this stage, told myself not to lose them and definitely exhausted every effort to stay in touch. Maybe a bit more to come there? However, felt sick on this lap, so knew I was running to the edge.

With about 1k to go, AMK was still leading SF quite convincingly and both had gained 40m on me. I was in trouble here, really hurting and invoking my mantras, relaxing and producing 'the wand'. The corridor stretch enabled me to see that AK was a good 50m behind me which took the pressure off slightly. On the other hand, I know she is capable of a strong finish (she finished second last year) so couldn't afford to lose or concede any ground. So instead, I focused on trying to reel in SF and AMK ahead.

Coming out of 'the corridor', we still had the top half of the oval to negotiate which comprised a sharp downhill, across a boggy small path and stream, up a grassy sharp incline and down a very muddy and leafy woodlands decline, helter skelter complete with loose twigs and roots

My vision was seriously blurring on this descent :eek:
The course then finished with a sharp uphill all the way to the finish. This actually makes me smile, writing it. A really tough, beautiful course. Testing in all the right ways.

I could see SF making her perfect attack here. She drew ahead and won. So well-earned. I was reassured to hear she in no way found this 'easy', was hurting badly and also was quite 'worried' at all stages. She told me after, she was screaming to herself at this final stage 'who wants this more, who wants this more...'. Must remember that.

With 250m to go and a 50m gain, I wasn't going to catch AMK. I was still worried about AK behind me but Club captain cheered me up the hill, telling me to 'relax and just enjoy the run in'. Don't know about the enjoyment but....
This is a tough, lovely course and deserves every respect. Looking forward to coming back. Congrats and big thanks to Parnell AC for hosting this. No wonder you guys are so hardcore with this loop and the forest trails.....

So there it is. We came, we ran, we conquered. Each one of us today conquered something. Kudos to our team: JO'K who reeled them in to gain us the team silver, AM who does not enjoy XC or racing but does this every year to support the team and Emer911 for giving AM such relief for turning up at the 11th hour, literally

Well done to my cuz Bill for slogging it out over a gruelling 10k and also to Wild Garlic. Days like this reinforces my belief in being a woman

As I said earlier, we won team silver. Our club won both women's and men's individual and men's team gold (Neil, Stephen, Abhainn, Krusty and BeepBeep) Not bad for a club of auld ones

So, the good, the bad and the ugly:

The good: I feel I consolidated from last year. Also am gaining on my clubmate in tiny increments, but gaining nonetheless. Not as quickly as I would like but patience can be trained too. Mine needs training

Racecraft is building.

The bad: this is the second time this year my body has 'broken' approaching peak. Lessons have been learned. Move on. Move forwards. Move upwards. Anywhichwaybutbackwards :eek:

The ugly: this is running. There ain't no ugly.

Thanks for reading

tipping

Great performance, great report and good luck with the PF recovery, it sounds painful but like you know what your are doing.
Are we still on for the rematch in Ballycotton?

Dubgal72

tipping wrote: »

Great performance, great report and good luck with the PF recovery, it sounds painful but like you know what your are doing.
Are we still on for the rematch in Ballycotton?

Thanks tipping!
No, unfortunately not. Other plans in place to build for track (not sure yet what they are....). Sorry, so you win by default I think!

yaboya1

Surely you get promoted to second by default considering AMK is a man?

Well done on the podium. Good racing.

Duanington

Congrats DG - really enjoyed reading your report, big performance today, well done !