Ain't nothing gonna break my stride....

I bought a pair of water proof socks in Aldi a couple of years ago, they are also brilliant for keeping my feet warm, no need for cling film or tin foil! I hate overshoes but do wear them when there's torrential rain..

Am chuckling here, "I wanted to do 100k"

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Did you not wear them on the bike when you were doing AR?

No I think I only wear the waterproof socks when I'm trekking. Although the mountain bike shoes are bigger than the road bike shoes so I might have done

Dec 23rd - Dec 29th

Monday:

Run 41:45 7.45 km (5:36 / km)
Up early to do this as I was flying to Scotland for Christmas. My cousin is still in hospital. Felt good.

Tuesday:

Run 1:04:08 11.5 km (5:35 / km)

All my runs in Edinburgh were along the Leith river. All on trail. The weather was very mild. I was expecting it to be much colder.

Wednesday:

Run 1:07:00 12.2 km (5:30 / km)

I skipped out for this run while my aunt had visitors. Christmas day was fabulous in Edinburgh. The sun was shining and there was no wind. Loads of people were out on the trail walking and running. The second half of this run was a bit faster than the first.

Thursday:

Run 1:01:10 10.2 km (6:00 / km)
Core 5:00

I was really stiff this morning around my hips and pelvis. There's a really steep climb at the end of the run and I think combined with the overall increased volume it's just made me a bit sore. Slowed the pace right down and did some hip related core work afterwards

Friday:

Core 5:00

I did more core work this morning. Hips were much better but I took a break from the running because I'm doing a parkrun tomorrow.

Saturday:

Run 27:00 4.4 km (6:08 / km)

Run race (Parkrun) 22:31 5.0 km (4:30 / km) vdot: 43.3
(4:44, 4:52, 4:45, 4:38, 3:32)

Run 40:07 6.0 km (6:41 / km)

Back in Ireland. Woke up and thought ugh I don't want to do a parkrun but luckily I knew my brother was going and he'd be expecting me so I had to drag myself out of bed. I warmed up at home. I did 1 mile really slow. Didn't feel the love to be honest but then I did one mile fartlek and felt much better. I was a bit out of breath when I got home so I waited 5 minutes then took two puffs of the inhaler before driving to Templemore. Did another small jog with my brother and then we were ready to go. There was about 70 runners and I lined up near the front. A couple of women passed me in the first kilometer but I kept them in reach so it was fine. I told my brother at the start I was going to go at 4:40/km pace but my watch autolaps after a mile so I wasn't exactly sure of my pace. I don't really find the watch much use in templemore because it keeps losing the signal with the trees but I did the first mile in 7:40 which was I was happy with. I felt really comfortable and I'd overtaken the two women who had passed me earlier. Second mile was 7:45. Bit slower but I was still comfortable. I passed a few more people. I kind of felt like I should be working much harder in a 5k but at the same time I've over 35 hilly kilometers already in my legs this week. I did quicken up for the last mile (7:04). There was a guy in front of me who had a 100 parkrun t-shirt on. In the last kilometer he was encouraging me to get up beside him which I did. We quickened up a good bit but then he dropped off me and I sprinted the last bit to try and catch the next guy but he finished one second in front of me. It's a 6 sec course pb but what I'm most happy with is how good my breathing was and how comfortable it felt until I really quickened. I did another 6k when I got home at a super slow pace mostly because I wanted to add on a bit more mileage.

Sunday:

Bike warm up/down 44:24 16.4 km (22.2 kph)

Bike 2:36:02 67.28 km (25.9 kph)
ahr:131 max:161

Legs were fine at a slow pace but when I tried to put some power down there was downright rebellion. Luckily one of the guys in the club is just back from being sick so I was able to stay with him when the others sprinted. My legs were very tired at the end.

activity|#|time|miles|km
Run|5|5:23:41| 35.26|56.75
Bike |1| 3:20:26|52.0 |83.68
Core|2|10:00||
Total |8|8:54:07|87.26|140.43

shotgunmcos wrote: »

The 2:xx:xx marathon might be there if you stop messing with bikes, track spikes, horses, fighting etc..

Mountain running will help though. Hopefully I can keep up with you in Ballyhoura this time!

I have a short attention span

I'm sure you'll have no problem considering that the longest run you'd done before the last one was 8 miles or something :pac:

OOnegative wrote: »

100% in agreement with M, well capable of the win and the 2.xx.xx Kate. Take your fingers out of a few other pies and it will happen but I think you’d get bored to quickly with just running!!

Thanks for the vote of confidence Barry. Boredom might be an issue alright but also it's hard to say no if people ask me to do stuff

IvoryTower wrote: »

They're very nice and polite posters. I'm not! sub 3 would require insane dedication to running, cycling would barely be acceptable for a recovery session, everything else should be running. 3.30, bit more flexible, doable in first year, sub 3 would take a few years imo.

I've never ran one, but just from my marathon friends and reading logs on boards that would be my take! Big commitment.

Absolutely. Can't argue with any of that. I think it's a good goal for me to have though

Annie get your Run wrote: »

I was driving through Ballyhoura country last week and realised I'd only heard of it before from this log

I've no doubt you could achieve a sub 3 marathon if you put your mind to it but at what cost? As the others have said, you'd have to give up everything else and focus entirely on running - I think you enjoy the variety too much for that but hey, who knows, a lot can happen in a decade!!!

Happy new year

Happy new year AM Hope you enjoyed the scenery on your drive!

Thursday:

Run 34:00 5.9 km (5:46 / km)

Run 26:20 4.5 km (5:51 / km)

Core 5:00

I didn't think I was going too fast on these runs but it might have been better if I went a bit slower after the long run yesterday. Both hamstrings were a bit niggly in the evening so I did some targeted core work. If I think of it, I'll try to make this part of my daily routine because my hamstrings seem to be giving me regular reminders that they need looking after!

Friday:

Walk 1hr
Core 10min

Right lower hamstring still a bit niggly.

Saturday:

Run warm up 18:16 3.58 km (5:06 / km) +76m

Run race 35:13 7.19 km (4:54 / km) +153m

Splits: 4:43, 5:27, 5:13, 6:04, 3:54, 4:47, 4:32 (4:02)

My first IMRA league race! This was in Glengarra Woods near Cahir. There was a massive crowd. Haven't seen the results but I'd say there was well over 200 runners there plus the kids who had their own race. I wanted to do a similar warm up to last week when I did the parkrun so I did just over a mile uphill at a steady pace with my brother and then I turned around and did some sprints on the downhill. When I got back to the car I took the inhaler. I think it had enough time to work before the start.
The start was uphill. I saw the woman who won this last year go off in front of me. She runs with Clonmel AC and I don't think I've ever been near her at the finish of a xc race or on the road so I had no intention of trying to stay with her today. Also in front of me was a woman who I ran a good bit of the Ballyhoura HM with back in May. We climbed Seefin together but then I dropped off her and she finished a good bit ahead of me that day. I don't think I've improved a significant amount since then so I didn't mind her either. When everything had settled down I saw that there was a woman from Mooreabbey Milers about 10m in front of me after the first mile and I thought she'd be a good target. I was working hard even at this stage but I gradually closed the gap up to her and on a technical bit I went past her. Shortly afterwards she passed me again. This might have happened 2 or 3 times. I'd pass her and immediately she would pass me again but I thought by her breathing that she was definitely working as hard as I was. I was really in the red, thinking I have gone off way too hard so I decided it would be in my best interest to sit back off her a little. Kilometers 3 and 4 were really tough climbing. In fact, we'd hadn't stopped climbing since the start. We went down a little hill and through a river crossing and I closed the gap to the MM lady to about 5 metres. She was running with a male clubmate but there was a few other men around as well. After a steep drag uphill we started descending. I had noticed previously that I was a better descender than the MM lady. When we were doing the SEMRA long way round with Conor in November he had advised us to run downhill like we were flying with a slight tilt forward. I found this very effective today and I went past the MM lady and opened up a bit of a gap. I didn't have any chance to get my breath back though and I nearly fell climbing over a stile. I recognised the trail from my warm up and I thought/hoped we were running straight downhill to the finish but sadly for me we were diverted back up onto a trail running parallel. There was a bit of climbing again here and although I didn't feel like I'd slowed, the MM lady went past me with about a km to go and I couldn't stay with her. It was a good race though

activity| # | time| miles| km
Run |5| 5:45:11 | 38.67| 62.24
Walk |1| 1:00:00|| 4.0| 6.44
Core |2| 15:00||
Total |7| 7:20:11 |42.67|66.64


I'm not going out on the club bike tomorrow. I need to recover. Hamstrings seem good thankfully but I have county senior xc next Sunday and I want to do my best in that. I might get a long run done on Wednesday but I'll only do it if my legs are feeling good next week.

Monday:

Run 30:32 3.0 mi (10:11 / mi)

Core 2 x 10min

Left hamstring was a bit tight. No worse than before the race but it's a thing I need to stay on top of. I have a plan for the next 17 weeks . I need to keep my easy weekday runs super slow if i want to complete the plan because there's quite a lot of racing in there!! Today was a good day to practice the slow stuff. I also did some hamstring work morning and evening.

Tuesday:

Run am 36:20 6.09 km (5:58 / km)

Run pm 25:00 4.23 km (5:55 / km)

Core 10min

I was using my phone to record my weekday runs in Dublin but it's cheating me out of quite a bit of distance so I used my watch today. For instance the morning run on my phone usually only measures 5.6k I had 10 minutes to spare in the morning so I go some more hamstring exercises done.

Wednesday:

Run 1:34:00 16.63 km (5:39 / km)

Core 15 min

Early morning run at home. It was dark. I don't wear a head torch but I do have a high vis vest on. I was happy for the first half until I turned on to a busier road. Then I was not so happy because there was way too much traffic. I decided to change my route so I could get on to quieter roads. My easy run pace is between 8:45 and 9 min/mi. I had my watch programme so that after every 9 minutes I did 1 minute fast and I did this 9 times with 4 minutes cool down at the end. Paces were between mile pace and 3k pace so it was a good workout.

OOnegative wrote: »

Best of luck with XC tomorrow Kate, run well!!

Thanks Barry. Looking forward to it. Hopefully the rain will have stopped by then

IvoryTower wrote: »

I was just on my way to the indoor arena today thinking thank **** I dont have to race outside until may!

(Shakes head) Track fairy

OOnegative wrote: »

Well done Kate, sounds horrendous & congratulations on county team bronze!!!

Thanks Barry

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Nice one Kate! Congrats on the team podium. Take a couple of puffs of your inhaler before and after races!

Thanks Mike. I was going to take it after as well but I didn't bother because I wasn't coughing

Thursday:

Run a.m 48:48 8.76 km (5:34 / km)

Run p.m 38:00 6.71 km (5:40 / km)

Two very similar runs in Dublin. I find these run-mutes a really efficient use of my time. The only disturbing thing is the number of homeless people I run past

Saturday:

Run 2:10:00 22.28 km (5:50 / km) +239m

Woke up around 8 but it was freezing and there was a thick mist hanging around so I fed my cat, ate some porridge and went back to bed. Got up later and my garmin was out of battery so figured I may as well jump back into bed while I was waiting for that to charge. Finally dragged myself out the door around half 11. There was a lovely winter sun but the roads were still slippy in places and in the shade it was still cold so I was glad I'd put my gloves on. I really enjoyed this run. It's not fast but a lot of the time I felt like I was floating along effortlessly. There's still a bit of tightness in my right glute but it's slowly improving from day to day. I must remember not to take iron tablets the day before a long run - my tummy was complaining a little. I felt a bit weary on mile 12 but I wanted to add on an extra loop because next week I'm racing the county novice road and the week after I want to do an IMRA race so I won't get to do a proper long run for a while. Also I want to take two days recovery to give my glute a chance and I needed to add on a bit to reach my target for the week.

activity| #|time| miles| km|
Run |4| 5:25:36 |35.5| 57.13
Walk| 2| 2:20:00 |8.5 |13.68
Core|2|40:00||
Total |8| 8:25:36| 44.0 | 70.81

Jan 27th - Feb 2nd

Tuesday:

Run a.m 48:21 8.58 km (5:38 / km)

Run p.m 33:35 5.73 km (5:52 / km)

Core 20:00

Did a few minutes of core work on Monday but took a rest from the running. I wasn't working in Dublin so didn't even walk. My legs were tired from the novice race so it was probably just as well to give them a rest. Today's morning run was goodish. I seem to remember that my legs felt good at the start but tired at the end. I think my right leg might have been a bit niggly at the end too. The evening run was a bit of a drag - I was tired and I was late leaving the office!

Wednesday:

Core 20:00

Run a.m. 37:40 6.57 km (5:44 / km)

Run p.m 59:26 10.46 km (5:41 / km)

I have to do the core work every day to keep the niggles away. Morning was fine. In the evening it was late when I left the office again and I wasn't going to make the 6pm train and the next train wasn't till 7pm so I had a good hour to get a run done. Legs felt better today.

Thursday:

Run a.m 34:46 6.44 km (5:24 / km)

Run p.m 30:55 5.6 km (5:31 / km)
Core 5:00

I thought I was tired today but the paces look good so it must have been ok. I didn't do any core in the evening because I wasn't running on Friday.

Saturday:

Run 32:00 5.02 km (6:22 / km)

Didn't feel great when I woke this morning although I had a good sleep. My head felt all bunged up. I went out for a slow jog to clear my head. Legs felt heavy. Didn't do any core cause my legs felt good.

Sunday:

Run warm up/down 35:38 5.76 km

Run race Castlecomer IMRA 44:48 [5] 8.0 km (5:36 / km) +138m 5:09 / km
Splits: 5:30, 5:29, 5:32, 5:44, 5:17, 6:43, 5:59, 4:34

Core 10:00

Warmed up at home with a mile jog followed by a mile fartlek. My breathing was crap but I was going to use the inhaler anyway so it didn't really matter. I did another couple of km when I got to Castlecomer discovery park. We were really lucky with the weather. It was perfect conditions for running. I met Conor at the start which was a nice surprise and also a woman I was in college with a long time ago who lined up beside me!! The start was fine. I got into my rhythm pretty quickly. My tendency in races is to go out too hard but I think I got it right today. Once things had settled down there was a woman in an Art O'Neill t-shirt right in front of me and 3 women further ahead. I find in the IMRA races that I make up ground on the technical stuff or if it's uphill/downhill but I lose places on the flat stuff and today was no different. I was tracking AON and we passed one woman going by the lakes. I think we passed a few men as well and then after about 3k I passed AON going up a hill. I was wondering at the time if maybe it would have been better to stay behind her but sometimes my competitive streak gets the better of me. AON passed me and the two woman in front of me. They were actually swapping places a bit and I was going through a bad patch. We exited the forest and were entering the quarry section when the leading men came back past us. The quarry was tough. Lots of short, really steep hills and boggy, uneven ground conditions. AON had overtaken the two woman again and had gapped them a bit and going down one of the hills I passed them too. The next hill was a bit longer and the ground was really soft. I saw AON walking ahead of me and I took that as my cue to walk too. One of the women came upsides me shortly after this but I left her on a downhill section and exited the quarry with a little gap. My legs came back to life on a short section of fire roads and then there was some technical stuff in the forest where I was able to extend my lead on the two behind me. Back onto more fire road for the sprint to the finish and I felt strong which I was really happy about. Also happy that my right leg was not at all niggly today. Results are up: 6th woman 36/86 overall

Weekly totals:
activity|#|time|miles|km
Run|5|5:57:09| 38.62| 62.16
Walk |1|1:00:00|4 |6.44
Core|5|1:00:00||
Total |7|7:57:09|42.62|68.6


Monthly run totals:
Week #|Miles: |Km|
1|32.43|52.1
2|35.5|57.13
3|31.42|50.56
4|38.62|62.16

Feb 3rd - Feb 8th

Monday:

Run 18:36 3.36 km (5:32 / km)

Wasn't planning to run but I wanted to make an earlier train. Legs must have been feeling ok.

Tuesday:

Core 20:00

Run a.m. 51:00 9.0 km (5:40 / km)

Run p.m. 37:06 7.2 km (5:09 / km)

In the morning I did a lap of the station and then some laps of Stephens green. Was going to do similar in the evening but I ran out of time

Wednesday:

Run 1:15:00 [1] 13.04 km (5:45 / km) +160m 5:25 / km

Core 10:00

I was working from home today because I was giving a presentation in the evening so I got a longish run done at lunchtime. I'm still doing the core work to keep on top of my right quad.

Thursday:

Run a.m. 37:47 6.01 km (6:17 / km)

Core 5:00

Run p.m. 25:50 3.87 km (6:41 / km)

I promised one of the women that I work with that I'd get the early train and run with her this morning. I added on a couple of laps of Stephens Green. She forgot her bus ticket so we ended up running in the evening as well. Legs felt good

Friday:

Run 14:30 2.6 km (5:35 / km)

Wasn't going to run but I was rushing for a train again.

Saturday:

Run 2:20:48 25.0 km (5:38 / km) +309m 5:18 / km

Core 10:00

Decided to do my long run today to avoid the bad weather. After the first 3 miles I started to do a sprint at the end of each mile. Sometimes I counted to 30 or 40 seconds and sometimes I just picked a point. I tried to sprint properly with good technique and a nice high leg lift. I think this is a good thing for me to do in a long run because it doesn't take too much out of me and I have a bad habit of barely lifting my legs up when I'm going easy. Doing this also stops my right quad from getting sore. The wind was strong in places but overall it was a nice run. I might do an hour on the bike trainer tomorrow or I might just do nothing. I'll see how I feel.


activity| #|time| miles| km|
Run |6| 6:40:37 |43.55| 70.08
Walk| 3| 2:40:00 | 8.99|14.46
Core|5|50:00||
Total |6| 10:10:37| 52.53 | 84.54

Feb 23rd - Mar 1st

Monday:

Core 10:00
Run a.m 37:13 5.37 km (6:20 / km)

Run p.m 22:11 3.51 km (6:20/ km)

My usual commute into work. I was running with my friend which is good for me because it makes me go a bit slower than I would if I was on my own.

Tuesday:

Run a.m 59:10 10.7 km (5:32/ km)

I did this before my flight to Paris. The issues I've been having with my right quad/hamstring seem to be resolving. Arrived in Paris and discovered that I was supposed to book my own hotel/taxi for the conference. I totally did not read that email properly. Luckily my French is pretty good and my phone was charged so got everything sorted but the traffic into Paris was a nightmare and it was late by the time I got to bed.

Wednesday:

I was too lazy to get up for a run and I was short of time because the hotel I booked was the opposite side of the Seine to where the conference was. Spent the evening walking around the city with a couple of my colleagues from Malta and Bulgaria. We went to the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Musée d'Orse and then we had dinner. Loads of people out running and there's a lovely running track beside the Seine which made me sad I stayed in bed this morning.

Thursday:

Core 5:00

Run a.m 36:00 6km (6:00 / km)

It was spilling rain this morning and I went the wrong way and ended up slightly lost and a long way from where I should have been and very late. Estimated time and distance. Walked around Paris again in the evening. Went to see the Notre Dame. It was late by the time we got there so all we saw was the scaffolding. They have an interesting account of the fire on the barricades that are up to stop entry. Paris was wet and cold while I was there so I wasn't too sorry to head home on Friday.

Saturday:

Run a.m 30:30 5.2km (5:52/ km)

A tired run at home

Sunday:

Core 20:00

Run 1:36:00 16.64 km(5:46/km)

Another tired run. The blister on my big toe is much worse this week. I shouldn't have neglected it. It looks terrible and is way worse than anything I ever had doing AR.

activity| #|time| miles| km|
Run |5|4:41:04 |29.77| 48
Core|2|30:00||
Walk|3||23.61|38
Total |7| 12:56:52| 53.38 | 86

Mar 9th - Mar 15th

Monday:

Run 1:40:37 17.62km (5:43/ km)

I was trying to get up to the reservoir and onto the Pentlands but I ended up back in Colinton tunnel so I decided to just run to the end of the trail in Balerno and back again. Toe was really sore afterwards.

Tuesday:

Run 1:11:35 12. 89km (5:33/km)

I ran down the Union Canal towards Ratho. After about a mile I was out in the countryside. It was very peaceful!

Wednesday:

Swim 50 min

Run 30:00 5.2 km 5:38 (5:46/ km)

Core: 15 min

Went for a swim in the local health club in the morning. It was a bit busy at first because they were doing an exercise class in the lanes but I had a nice swim. Toe was super sore but the swim helped. Lost count of the lengths. Tired run in the afternoon.

Thursday :

Run a.m 1:05:00 11. 42km (5:36 / km)

I ran the other way along the canal to Edinburgh Dock and back. The wind on the way back was awful.

Saturday:

Run 1:36:20 19 km (5:04 / km)

8:16, 7:37, 8:23, 7:34, 8:52
8:16, 7:18, 7:51, 7:12, 8:40
7:59, 8:20

Back in Ireland. My sister came with me on the bike. She's not running at the moment as she had an issue with her heart about a month ago. It's under control now thankfully. I love this kind of session. I did one mile steady, one mile hard, steady, hard, very easy twice then one mile hard which was a bit slow partly because of the wind but mostly because I was tired. Super slow recovery to finish.

Sunday:

Run 1:49:00 16.18km (6:44/km)

Core: 5 min

Hilly run with my brother in Cratloe woods. The car parks were packed and there was lots of people on the lower trails. Higher up we only came across a couple of mountain bikers. Really nice run. Especially the bits were we were on the bike paths in the trees. Toe sore after.

activity| #|time| miles| km|
Run |5| 7:52:33 |51.15|81.9
Swim|1|50:00||
Core|2|20:00||
Total |5| 9:02:33| 51.15 | 81.9

Mar 16th - Mar 22nd

Monday:

My right hamstring and calves were a bit sore so I decided not to run. I think I walked about 10km and did some core work in the morning and evening.

Tuesday:

Core 10:00

Run am 20:41 3.6 km (5:45 / km)

Run pm 19:52 3.73 mi (5:20 / mi)

More core work and some runs to and from work. Hamstring was still a bit tight.


Wednesday:

Core 10:00

Run 23:37 4.53 km (5:13 / km)

Run 21:10 4.02 km (5:16 / km)

Same as yesterday except I went the long way around the Green

Thursday :

Run 20:14 3.6 km (5:37 / km)

Run 23:40 4.67 km (5:04 / km)

Core 10:00

In the evening I was running along James' Street near the Lidl. There was 3 or 4 teenagers on the path and some shoppers so I jumped out into the road to give them some distance as there was very little traffic. One of the teenagers, a girl in a grey tracksuit, ran out at me yelling obscenities and asking me if I wanted to fight her :rolleyes: I just kept running.

Friday:

Run 20:46 3.73 km (5:34 / km)

Run 23:30 4.4 km (5:20 / km)

Core: 5min

Saturday:

Run 47:55 8.35 km (5:44 / km) +99m

2 local loops #2kmfromhome. I was tired

Sunday:

Run 2:15:11 15.0 mi (9:01 / mi) +288m

Powered by a 15 hour sleep and a brunch of homemade apple and blackberry crumble with Greek yoghurt, I headed out for my long run #2kmfromhome at about 4:30pm. It was quite breezy at times and I was glad of my long sleeve top. The time flew by. I was trying to cover every available road and path without doubling back on myself. (It's still ok if you use the same road but go in a different direction )I passed 3 adults and 2 kids out walking, 2 cars and 3 jeeps. Next week I might count the houses I pass.

activity| #|time| miles| km|
Run |6| 5:56:36 |41.66|67.04
Core|4|40:00||
Walk |5| 4:00:00 | 18.21 | 29.31
Total |7| 10:36:36 | 59.87 | 96.36