Be still my beating heart

jake1970 wrote: »

So there will be PB drinks tomorrow night

Im back running about 5 weeks now, a lot of slow miles at the start but i think im getting there. This week i have started week 2 of Myles's training plan on the Graduates thread, its great to be able to do some faster miles again.

ha ha you never know!

Brilliant news jake! Delighted to see you're back at it with a vengeance! Now get that log going so we can all keep an eye on what yer up to!

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Have a great time tomorrow! Sounds like you're going to enjoy every minute .

I did. I had a damn fine time thank you
It just wasn't long enough:pac: Bring on 39.3!

Had a big post composed on your log a few days ago but Boards ate it up so in a nutshell big congrats on that shiny new pb! Dubgal better watch her back this year:D

wowzer wrote: »

Delighted you PB'd yesterday Aoife, and without really trying too.

Excellent stuff, just goes to show a little bit of determination and dedication pays huge dividends.

I think your log is probably one of the only logs on here when even on the bad weather days/sick days you look for excuses to run when so many look for excuses not to run. Fair play and there's plenty more to come off that time yesterday.

Cheers G! I agree with Laura though. What I do is nothing special. It's people like yourself who have full time jobs and small kids and still manage to not make excuses, who deserve the real credit. And especially the people who do crazy sessions and long runs in the wee small hours, before work, so as not to impinge on family life. If my only choice was to run at 5 or 6am well, that would be the real test of my dedication.

laura_ac3 wrote: »

Any more details for us??

Absolutely!!! Gimme time!

Bungy Girl wrote: »

We are so different

lol I KNOW! I was only thinking the same thing myself after reading your 3k pb report:D I'm sure we'd get on great IRL, but in running terms we're like chalk and cheese:)

Wild Garlic wrote: »

FFS woman give us something will ya!

Barry, you need a Strava account!


ps - It was only a training run so no big deal!!! When the week's training is complete, I shall log it

Monday 19 January
pm: 7 miles easy @ 9:38
Felt fabulous this evening and just wanted to run and run. The morning off obviously did me good!
About 4 different old men with dogs who are always in the park have now befriended me and each one has to have a motivational few words for me EACH TIME I PASS! Trying to think of something witty to retort with keeps me busy!

Tuesday 20 January
am: 4.9 miles easy @ 9:57
Run to work to 'other' job (I have 3). My morning runs are always quite slow. I'm just not a morning person at all but once I got going I really enjoyed it.
pm: 5 miles easy @ 9:46
Return leg net uphill. Feeling good on the inclines with the backpack.

Wednesday 21 January
am: 6 miles easy @ 10
Felt like shight this morning. Fell into a really deep sleep with lots of very vivid dreams and only woke twice all night which is far from normal which you'll know all about if you read this tripe! I've noticed before that when I sleep like this I feel awful the next day. Wrecked and in very poor form. Took it very handy on the run. Didn't let the heart rate climb much over recovery effort (by feel) until near the end.
pm: 6.2 miles easy w/6x45 sec strides - 9:30 pace
Trip to B2R in afternoon and got yet another pair of my Brooks Racer ST5's. I've gradually transitioned from wearing stability shoes on all my runs to wearing these much lighter shoes for the majority of my runs with no ill effects. I'm wearing them for nearly everything except recovery runs when I wear my stability Mizuno shoes. I wore the ST5's for all the long runs up to 28 miles and am rotating 3 pairs. Even though I have about 600 miles on one of my current pairs of Brooks, Garry said that they still look ok and I must be quite light on my feet as there's only a little bit of wearing on the soles. The new pair do feel extra cushioned though.

Thursday 22 January
pm: 9 miles easy @ 9:36
Run to car in Whitehall, dropped the bag and intended to do 2 more miles to bring it up to 6. I don't know what happened, but before I realised it, I had 9 done.

Friday 23 January
Took the day off. Hadn't slept and was just feeling a bit weak during the day. Onset of the female affliction which we shall not speak of Debated all day in work about whether or not to run in the evening. Checked in with 'himself' and he said no, don't run. So run I didn't.

Saturday 24 January
Staplestown marathon @ 9:27
4hrs 10 mins (24 mins pb)
Trying to find information about this run was like trying to unearth the 3rd secret of Famita or trying to infiltrate the Secret Service. The only information I had was that the race started at 9 in Staplestown somewhere...
There was a FB page but I'm not on FB and it was a closed page. It's hard to give out when it's only 25 quid though...

The hardest part about this training run BY FAR, was getting up at 6am. I went to bed and fell asleep about 11, but woke at midnight and was awake until 4. Slept from 4-6 when alarm went off. Nearly cried. Absolute torture getting up. My stomach was in ribbons too. I wasn't nervous or anything but I was apprehensive about getting there on time etc so maybe that wasn't helping matters. I considered skipping the race, but then thought to myself, sure people like dintbo would have a hard session done and dusted by this hour and it's after 6am now and lots of normal people get up at this time 5 days a week, so move your lazy arse you fcuking biatch! It worked:D
Eating was very difficult. I couldn't manage more than a few mouthfuls of bagel. I had some nuts and some of a banana and a bit of a breakfast bar. Puke.... not quite, but almost...
I never normally eat until mid-morning. Even when I run to work I don't eat until I arrive in work at about 10am when I'm settled in to the desk. My stomach tends to be a bit sensitive I guess so need practice with eating early as I'm gonna have to eat before Connemara.

When registering I heard someone saying that the slower people had started an hour earlier and that everyone heading off now would be looking at sub 4 hours. ****!!! No way was I going to be running 4 hours today!
Met Ultraman and had a nice chat.
Stayed at the VERY back but even that pace felt too fast for me starting off. I love to start at recovery effort and gradually ease into it, but everyone was tearing off ahead!!! Was in a little group at the very back, but I told them I was going to hang back as there's no way I was going to race a marathon today. I hadn't even tapered and this was not part of the plan! I was getting very worried as the gap widened more and more and that this would be a complete embarrassment, and I'd leave all the organisers waiting around for me to finish WAY after everyone else had gone home
I considered opting out as it was loops I could just sneak back to the car without anyone seeing me. I know I'm a slow runner but I've never actually been last in a race since school, and don't know if I could handle it in such a small field.

So I let them all off and gradually got back into my normal comfortable stride, and stopped panicking and just said I'd do a loop and see what happened. Well lo and behold within a few miles I started passing people and passed people who had gone out too fast the WHOLE WAY home. The only people to pass me for the rest of the race were the 2 leading guys who lapped me and then the 3rd place guy a bit later.
I felt so strong and comfortable throughout. I felt strong on the hills when everyone around me seemed to be walking, and I felt strong into the wind. Nothing fazed me. My legs felt like they could go on forever and my breathing was lovely and relaxed and easy. My stomach was a bit iffy here and there though.

Loved the lapped course. It was fairly challenging with long long uphill drags into the wind which was fairly strong at some points too, but it was exactly what I needed from a training run point of view as Connemara will be very exposed and hilly so it was good practice for that. I was on my own for large parts of it but could always see someone half a mile ahead or behind. It didn't bother me that I was on my own for long periods. I like being alone
It was great to be able to just hold back as much as necessary when my stomach felt a bit dodgy, compared to if I was racing and panicking about the pace and time on the clock.
Picked it up a bit towards the end, and when entering the village I picked it up a few notches more toward the finish. Stomach felt sick at the end though when I upped the effort. It was bad all evening and had absolutely no appetite.

So I was prepared for no fanfare at the end which was absolutely fine but I didn't know exactly where the finish line was and had to ask a girl who was supporting! I presumed the race was being hand timed or something as we had no chips so got my bag and started heading back towards the car. Then I saw some people wearing medals. I asked about the timing thing and they said that I was supposed to give my watch time to the official when I finished. Walked back to the finish and found him and showed him my watch. I didn't know about how all this worked so now that I know it'll be easier for the next one. I appreciate the low key approach with the low cost etc but when you're new to all this how are you supposed to know how it works!

I think I'll do Lusk Marathon at the end of February as another long slow run. Oh and I got a medal! I don't hold much interest for medals but I guess it is nice to get one for a marathon pb. And then I got some goodies and had a nice little chat with some folks and the organisers one of whom asked me to join his club, and was offered a lift back to my car by a very friendly car load of people so went home in very good form indeed! Lovely bunch of people! You do feel like a bit of an outsider to start with as everyone knows everyone else but they couldn't have been more welcoming.
Pleased with that effort today and delighted that I ran every single step and not once did I even consider walking, just like for my first marathon!
It'll be interesting to see what I can do by DCM in October with a taper and specific marathon training.

Splits:
9:18 9:15 (out and back section before the 4 laps of the course)
9:24 9:46 9:33 9:419:37 9:44 (lap 1)
9:52 9:46 9:26 9:19 9:17 9:19 (lap 2)
9:23 9:40 9:27 9:12 9:14 9:14 (lap 3)
9:16 9:42 9:39 9:28 9:09 9:05 8:44 (.47)

Sunday 24 January
am: 1 hour recovery @ 10:42
Everything a little tender starting out but felt wonderful as the run progressed. My new motto is 'Don't force it: just let it happen... naturally' stolen from the boss man. It's working for me!
Terrible night's sleep again last night but I expected that as it's always the same the night after my lsr. Tonight will be the night that I sleep soundly for 8 blissful uninterrupted hours. I know it will happen
pm: 34 mins recovery @ 10:54
Had a nice walk on Portmarnock Beach in the afternoon followed by another few recovery miles.

73.5 miles weekly total