Mum on the Run

Tuesday – ‘Long’ Run, S&C

Wasn’t feeling the love for exercise at all today. Definitely a cold brewing, but managed to convince myself to get this done as I wasn’t sick, just a bit bleurgh. Spent most of the 65 minute run alternating between reasons to and reasons not to go to the gym. Was still undecided but a timely HTFU reminder from another boardsie was enough to make me get my ass in gear and off I went to the gym and did the usual programme.

• 6.8 miles @ 9:37 (path)

Wednesday – S&C, Easy Run

Pilates, which was good and seemed to help the sniffles, followed by 40 mins run up and down the promenade. Another plod, not helped by the gusts on the return leg. Did some strides but they seemed a bit pointless as I was barely moving against a wall of wind.

Time for a rest – it has been 13 consecutive days without one including 3 races and 2 sessions :eek:.

• 4.1 miles @ 9:44 incl. 6 x 20 sec strides (grass)

TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 35.1

Murph_D wrote: »

I see from the club round-up you've been up to some more XC exploits?

Last XC exploits of the season. There'll be a report at some stage, about 20 logs to catch up on first!

Saturday – BHAA Maynooth XC (2 miles)

The last XC of the season! Not a huge amount to say about this really. After the excitement of the Dublin & National Masters and Meet & Train league this was never going to compare, but it’s always nice to visit NUI Maynooth - it makes me feel like a student at Hogwarths .

The course is 2 and a bit laps and today was probably the softest ground I’ve ever experienced here, but of course no where near mucky enough for me. Felt good on the first lap and passed a few, then started to feel it during the 2nd lap and the aim was just to hang on to my position. With about half a mile to go I recognised the runner ahead as being in my age group, and also realised I was gaining on her ever so slightly but would probably run out of ground before I could catch her. I think I managed to talk myself out of making the massive effort that would be required as I had never beaten her before (& never will with that attitude :rolleyes::o ). In any case the decision was made for me as she put in a sprint with 100m to go to try to catch the runner ahead of her. She got the 2nd F40 prize and in typical fashion there were no prizes for 3rd. On the occasions when the organisers offer 3 prizes per age group, I generally tend to come in fourth :rolleyes: .

Happy enough with that, a bit quicker than last year on softer ground and took a few scalps from people who’d normally be ahead of me. Only 6 months before the next race. Can’t wait!

The Stats:
14:00
15th F, 3rd F40 (8 seconds short of a prize )
117% of winner (same winner as National Masters so it’s an improvement down from 119% for me*)

*although I strongly suspect she was pushed a lot harder for the win in Dundalk.

• 5.5 miles (grass) incl. 2 miles XC

Sunday – ‘Long’ run

Mothers Day. I got a lovely cosy blanket “because your hands are always cold”. Business as usual apart from that (although I believe there may be a bottle of proscecco chillin’ in the fridge), so Junior parkrun this morning which seemed to be extra busy. Plenty of other mothers there wondering what had happened to their lie-on and breakfast in bed.

Didn’t escape until about 4 and didn’t have the car so stayed local for this. Up the promenade, out to the end of Bull Wall and into the Bull Island nature reserve. It was so peaceful and quiet in there. No traffic noise or even any sound from the beach. Lovely. Trails were a bit soggy but lovely to run on. Back home the same way.

• 8.5 miles @ 8:58 (grass, path, trail)

Monday – Easy

Busy day with no opportunity to run outside but managed 20 minutes on the dreadmill in the gym while BG Jr. had a swimming lesson. Ugh. I think I did 2 miles, I’m not sure as it was in foreign metric.

• 2.0 miles @ 10:00 approx. (treadmill, 1% incline)

Tuesday – S&C, Easy

A simple out and back along the promenade including some strides on the way back. It was wet and cold but oddly enjoyable. Made myself go to the gym for the usual routine.

• 5.0 miles @ 8:59 (grass, path)

Wednesday – S&C, Speed

Good Pilates class followed by a track session except the track wasn’t available until late so I did this along the promenade. Warmed up as far as the Bull Wall, did some drills and strides, then planned to run the faster sections with the wind and the jog backs against the wind. No point in making it any harder than it has to be, right ? Really enjoyed this and happy that they’re all sub-6 pace bar one, given that it was on the grass, was dark and I had some unexpected canine company on a couple of reps :mad:.

• 6.5 miles (grass) incl. drills, strides and 10 x 30 secs @ < mile pace

(30 sec paces: 5:16, 5:59, 5:58, 5:58, 5:54, 5:41, 6:01, 5:39, 5:51, 5:41)

TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 32.2

Neady83 wrote: »

Shoot, fixed it

Awesome! Now THAT would make me run faster

Sunday – Easy

No long run this week, what with the recovering and all :rolleyes:, so followed the plan which said 35 mins easy. Did this in Fairview Park for the most part, admiring the daffodils and enjoying the daylight after 6pm.

• 3.9 miles @ 9:01 (grass, path)

Monday – Tempo (10K pace)

I’ve managed to avoid all the tempos on this plan so far, substituting them with XC races but there was no escaping this one. Warmed up as far as the promenade, hit the lap button and ran like heck ignoring the watch and trying to run by feel. First mile beeped at 7:14 which was a little slow but when I turned around for the return leg the wind was behind me and the second mile came in at 6:59 at the same sort of effort. Continued on until the 15 minutes were up for an average of 7:07. Target was 7:06 min/mile or thereabouts which is my 10K PB pace from The Lakes last September, so I’m happy with the night’s work especially as the prom was quite busy with walkers and dogs, which made for a lot of weaving and dodging.

• 4.4 miles incl. 15 mins @ 10K pace (path, grass)

Tuesday – Easy

Legs feeling a bit heavy today, no surprise really, so kept it short and easy and made sure to do some stretching when I got home. Loose dogs everywhere, and one owner seemed genuinely astonished that someone might not appreciate Cujo charging towards them, growling, in the dark :mad:.

• 4.0 miles @ 9:08 incl. 6 x 15 sec strides (path, grass)

Wednesday – Raheny Shamrock AC Winter League – 1 Mile (road)

A ‘practice mile’, the plan said, and the Raheny Winter league mile race slotted nicely into the schedule. I was feeling a bit heavy after a late lunch, but perked up a bit after the warm up and strides. Met Red Runner and Mrs. KennyG and lined up in a crowd of about 40 runners. Instead of a minute’s silence to remember Jim McNamara, Pat Hooper suggested a round of applause which was a lovely tribute.

Bang, we’re off and the pace was hot enough but the legs felt like they were moving well (loving my A6’s!). The course is a triangle shape, familiar to many as the lap for the road relays. The first segment is slightly downhill and I think the breeze was behind us so I thought I was going well, then see RR coming up alongside and glide by effortlessly like he was on a training run. What a comeback, and a super run by him! At this point there were about 5 or 6 women ahead of me, including one who was running a similar pace to me, so I was giving myself instructions (as you do :rolleyes:) to stay with her and hang on. Still feeling pretty ok at this point, working hard but not dying. Felt I was moving quite fast but in control at the same time. We turned the corner into the second stretch and into a slight breeze. There was great encouragement from one of the marshals on this section and it really helped at this point. I was still holding onto the runner in front and we had overtaken another woman and were working well together. Talking to her afterwards I think we had kept each other going on the tough middle section. I was paying no attention to the watch at all and was in race mode now, rather than TT mode. Plan was now to kick at the final corner with about 300m to go. Turned, and was feeling quite strong, so went for it and ran like heck, overtaking another woman, who had been ahead of us both. I could see RR up ahead but there was no catching him – he had 10 seconds on me in the end. I raced to the finish line and thought initially I might have been 2nd F, but realised from talking to people than I was probably in 3rd, just ahead of my ‘co-runner’. Happy days. As a time trial it didn’t work out exactly, and if I'm honest I'm a little disappointed with the time, but as a race I couldn’t be happier with it. Maybe the track is more conducive to time trialling ? Given that you get your quarter mile splits and there is more predictability ?

I have a choice for the ‘final’ mile at the end of this training schedule in 4 weeks: the mile at Alsaa on the track (Tues) or another mile on the road in Raheny (Weds). I’m undecided which to go for. Doing both would be crazy I guess……………

Well done again to RR, and to Mrs. KennyG who looked like she had a great race, not sure if it was a PB ?

The Stats:
6:18 (equal to road mile PB, 4 secs slower than track PB)
3rd F
20th overall

• 4.8 miles total including warm up, drills & strides, mile TT and cool down

TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 29.2 (‘Recovery’ week)

Thursday – Recovery

Should be a rest day but after a busy day keeping a patriotic BG Jr. amused it was good to escape, if only for 30 minutes. Also handy to have this in the bag in case I need a rest day later in the week.

• 3.0 miles @ 9:50 (grass, path)

Friday – S&C, Speed

Good Pilates class, a level 1 which was perfect as my back was a bit twingey after Wednesday and an easy class always helps to reset it.

Then to the track for the first of many scary sessions in the second half of the HTFU schedule. Today called for 10 x 300m @ mile pace ‘or a shade quicker’ with 400m jog recovery. Of more concern than the session was the amount of bird sh** on the track (What are they eating ?!?) and the constant and very real threat of getting pooped on the head :eek:. Found this tough, but doable, and I’m happy with the splits and the effort. I did it in lane 7, in my A6’s, and switched direction after each one so 1,3,5,7,9 are into the wind and 2,4,6,8,10 are wind assisted on the straight. Hard to know with the Gamin how accurate the distance is so I erred on the side of caution and went a little over the measured segment. Target was <67.5 per lap and <6 min/mile pace.

Shattered now, and really feeling the cold today. Maybe it is just cold, and hopefully not the start of something. More likely I’m just not used to this level of training and the body is starting to protest. Can’t say I wasn’t warned by one or two wise posters on here, so I’ll have an early night (lie-on already negotiated!) and see how I feel tomorrow.

• 7.2 miles total incl. 10 x 300m @ < mile pace, drills and strides.

Pace/Time for 300m (+/- 10m) segments were:

Pace5:42, 5:31, 5:53, 5:27, 5:52, 5:36, 6:00, 5:45, 6:03, 5:38
Secs 64, 63, 65, 62, 66, 64, 68, 65, 68, 65