Mum on the Run

denis b wrote: »

Fair play G. Great result and the 1:30 split is at the "right" end of the mile this time

Ha ha, yes I learned my lesson! It was a much better night for it than the previous week so that was an advantage but I did pace it better this time .

Thursday – Recovery

This was supposed to be a rest day, BUT, I’d the morning off so it would have been wrong not to. A nice relaxed jaunt up to the Wooden Bridge and back, interrupted only by canine incident #pickanumber where a greyhound/lurcher type decided to run straight for me at speed and it took the owner at least 3 attempts to get it under control and on the lead. At least when I went by on the return leg the mutt was still on the lead but I still gave it a wide berth. Back to the gym for a Jacuzzi/steam room/plunge pool combo. Back to reality next week, but it has been lovely to run in the daylight this week and get some value out of my gym membership for a change

• 4.4 miles @ 9:09 (grass)

Friday – S&C, Speed

Pilates this morning, felt a bit bleurgh even though it’s an easy class. Probably still have the mile TT in the abs and legs.

I re-read the plan to check the instructions for this session and realised that the paces should be faster than target mile time not target mile time, so I inadvertently got it right last week. Today’s session was the same format just 30 secs fast/1:30 jog recovery for 20 mins. As with last week I’d figured out the minimum distance I needed to cover (135m) to make sure of hitting at least 5:5x. So I didn’t have to keep looking at the watch to check when the 30 seconds was up (I don’t think I can programme the Forerunner 10 to beep at the end of intervals ?) I counted my strides on the first one and aimed to hit that number each time. Worked out well, very happy with paces and distance covered. Made sure to focus on form, posture and quick feet. Tough but good. Cool down and a few stretches to finish.

• 6.0 miles incl. drills, strides and 10 x 30 secs @ < mile pace

(30 sec paces: 5:05, 5:26, 5:28, 5:25, 5:41, 5:36, 5:48, 5:47, 5:24, 5:19)

Saturday – Easy

A naked run on a familiar route just using the stopwatch on the phone so I didn’t get carried away and run out to sea! Cold evening but little wind so a very pleasant run. Threw in some strides for good measure. Jacuzzi, steam and plunge pool combo to refresh the legs for tomorrow’s XC.

• 4.5 miles @ 9:05 approx (grass)

Sunday – Meet & Train Winter League Rd.4 (Cherryfield Park)

The last and most hotly anticipated race of the winter league! We were in second place overall going into this, 14 points down on the leaders, with the third placed team hot on our heels. No pressure then :eek:.

I’ve done lots of races in Cherryfield Park but this course was slightly different. 2 laps, with each lap containing 3 fields, a couple of hills and some tight turns. It was more or less dry underfoot, so not the muck I would have hoped for but the course would suit the faster runners on our team. We were determined to get a better start this time so our top 3 lined up at the front and I hid behind them. I’d decided to go out hard and hang on and tried not to think about the fact that I’d raced the previous Sunday and Wednesday and done a speed session on Friday. Bang, we were off and I found myself at the back of the leading group of maybe 20 or so runners. The pace was hot enough, but the stakes were high, so I kept on telling myself to just hang on and it’d be over soon. Our club supporters seemed to be everywhere, giving a much needed boost at various corners. The nature of the course meant you could see what was happening ahead so I knew two of our team were hanging out in the top 10 and myself and another team mate were in the mid-teens. My watch beeped for the mile lap split (6:34 :eek:) and I vaguely noted we were nowhere near the halfway point on the course :rolleyes:. More on that later. Back to the race and it was starting to hurt. Talked myself out of stopping, focused on my team mate just ahead and hanging on to her for dear life. Midway through the 2nd lap I dug in, and remember thinking this was the hardest race I had ever run, because no matter what happened I had to keep going and had to hold on. Every place counts! Prophetic words as it happened….Anyway we’re still there, still running, still hanging on. I’m running with my team mate, maybe slightly ahead, and we’re playing cat and mouse with a runner from a different club who keeps overtaking, then falling back, overtaking, then falling back. We did a bit of a surge to get by her because it was really annoying. About 400m to go and I notice a runner from one of the rival teams catching up. Aagh, I’m tired, leave me alone. I had absolutely nothing left at this point. 100m to go and she puts in a sprint (encouraged by Firedance :rolleyes:). My team mate always has a strong sprint so she held off this late challenge but despite my best efforts she got by me. My legs buckled and thankfully there was no one close behind as I had to stagger across the finish line. Joined the team all collapsed like dominoes and agreed we had just run the race of our lives. Regardless of the outcome we could not in a million years have done any better.

Fast forward a few hours later and the sketchy preliminary results show that maybe, just maybe, we’ve done it but we have to wait until around 11pm for official confirmation. We have won the league! By the narrowest of margins. Our rivals tied in second place, both those teams only 3 points behind. After 4 races it really couldn’t have been any closer.

There’s something about being on a team that without a doubt makes you push yourself beyond what you could ever do as a solo runner. It just matters more. My pace for the 2.5 miles XC (4Km or near enough) was the same as my recent 3K PB on the track. So the body can do it; I just think most of the time the brain doesn’t let it.

• 5.0 miles incl. 2.47* miles XC @ 6:43 (grass)

*No wonder I was tired. It’s supposed to be 2 miles!

The stats:
14th place
4th scorer for the team
110% of winner
Overall 1st Team of the League – Winners!

Monday – Easy

40 minutes easy up and back along the promenade. Very mucky after all the rain today. Wish it was like that yesterday .

• 4.3 miles @ 9:21 (path, grass)

Month 2016 2015 2014 2013
January 141 101 86 0
February 134 109 75 0
March 124 109 0
April 129 101 24
May 133 95 81
June 110 86 72
July 181 2 101
August 208 31 37
September 133 83 43
October 155 93 64
November 170 107 69
December 113 119 94
275 1666 987 585

Firedance wrote: »

Let me be the first to say, congrats and very well done! you earned that placing on the team, your team earned the no 1 spot. Apologies again, this divided loyalties thing is hard! but like you I knew every single place counted. You were brilliant - see you next year

Thanks a million FD, it was hard earned but worth it! And congratulations to your team, they all had a super race on Sunday. And no apologies necessary (although if we'd lost by 1 point I might feel differently ).

FBOT01 wrote: »

Another excellent showing in the XC on Sunday, G. Well done and congrats to you and the team.

Ta, M.

FBOT01 wrote: »

Curiosity question for you....Do you think the fact that you'd raced the previous Sunday and Wednesday and done a speed session on Friday was a help or a hinder? That is do you think this run in helped sharpen you for the race or could you feel it in the legs in the latter stage of the race?

Good question and I'm really not sure, but I don't think it did any harm. I think this race was 80% mental to be honest and I don't think going into it with extra fresh legs would necessarily have helped (although I might have held off that rival sprint :rolleyes:). I guess the races were so short there was plenty of time to recover from them and the session on Friday was short enough too. I'm doing another XC on Saturday, and it'll be on much fresher legs. It'll be interesting to see if I can match Sunday's pace even though there's less at stake. My guess is I'll be a lot slower!

FBOT01 wrote: »

BTW 06:43 is sub 21min 5k pace....just saying

That didn't escape me, I just don't think my legs will bother if there isn't a team trophy at stake .