Another first

Not that long ago I had my first ever DNF(did not finish.)  Yesterday was my first DNS(did not start.)

I hadn't really thought about doing the Flora Women's Mini Marathon until a friend contacted me a few days after the closing date to say they were reopening registration briefly and would I think about entering?  I thought "Why the hell not!" and duly entered.

Entry was a reasonable 19 euro and I figured I wouldn't be doing anything else that weekend.  For some reason though I never really got that enthusiastic about it.   Probably a combination of the logistics and the 10k distance.  If I'm doing a 10k I sort of want to turn up, warm up and do the thing as quickly as possible. I could imaging entering a half marathon or marathon for the spectacle, city, scenery etc but not a 10k.  It's just not long enough to be worth the hassle.

After Sundays 5k pb recapped here I had absolutely no notion of running a fast 10k.  I didn't even know anyone who I could have jogged it with so it seemed a bit silly to go to all that hassle so I didn't bother.  As it happens I'm glad I didn't as I went for a very slow 8 miler on the Curragh and my legs were like lead for the first 5 miles.  In fact I stopped three times in the first 2 miles which is really not like me but the outsides of my calves were burning despite doing a good warm up and going very slowly.  Anyway I'm sure it was good training to run on tired legs but it wasn't pleasant at all and I'm glad I was on my own and was able to stop and try to stretch the cramps out without too many people around.  I probably looking a bit nuts to the dog walkers.  My legs finally starting feeling capable of more than a shuffle after mile 6.  Also I saw puppies at this point so all was well in the world.

Today I rested from running and did some strength and stretching.  A good start to June so far!  Tomorrow evening at 7pm is our club 4 mile handicap.  More racing!

Recovery run? Ha! Who needs 'em!

Me.  I need them!  Could have really done with an easy run on Monday after bargaining like mad with my body the day before to force it over the finish line.  I sort of feel like I shortchanged it with the last few days shenanigans.

I should have known when I heard a group from the club were meeting to run the new course of the planned Carers 10k on Monday evening that they weren't going to run it at 10min/mile pace.  Not going to happen!

I think a lot of the faster runners probably ran it in about 47 minutes while chatting and talking throughout. Meanwhile myself and T are at a similar level (depending on the day!) and dragged each other through for a 51 minute hilly 10k which I'm pretty sure is a couple of minutes under what my 10k PB was last year.  My legs feeling very heavy by the end.

Well at least tomorrow is a rest day I said to myself on Monday evening........

But then I woke up early and the sun was shining and the forecast was good for the rest of the day.  Plans to do a spring clean of the apartment were shelved and I decided to take advantage of the glorious weather and the kiddos Easter break.
Before they knew they were awake I had them in the car and off to Glendalough for a lovely three hour plus ramble.  Lets just say it was a bit hilly.

My eldest came home and proceeded to sleep for fourteen hours so it may have been a bit more physically arduous than I had planned for a rest day!

I sort of knew I had taken the piss out of my poor old legs by yesterday evening and tried to head the muscle aches off at the pass with lots of foam rolling and yoga.  This was moderately successful in that I could walk today.
Strictly speaking I should be at the track by now but I've taken an executive decision to skip this one.  In all fairness if I went tonight I would deserve to be out for a month injured!

Back in the running groove

This week I certainly felt more like my usual self.  Well physically anyway.

My appetite is back and I'm back to relatively normal running mileage.  I'm not building my mileage up again yet, but maybe next week I'll bring it over thirty all going well.

This weeks workouts

• 4 miles Monday up at the curragh camp.
• A long walk on Tuesday with some core work, squats and yoga.
• 5 miles including 4x800m at the track on Wednesday.  
• Skipped Thursday as I slept badly the night before so was wrecked and went to bed early.
• 7 miles around town and briefly onto the curragh itself after work on Friday.  Gorgeous evening with the sun just beginning to set as I was turning back.  
• Sunday 8 miles pacing a friend at a 10k

Saturday I tried something new and volunteered at Naas Parkrun which was altogether very enjoyable.  I was as per usual extremely anxious beforehand but everyone was very friendly and I had nothing to worry about.  Except fucking up I suppose?  I did have to worry about that but I think it went ok. I suppose I will find out if they refuse to accept any more of my volunteering efforts.

In other news I badgered encouraged my eldest to participate and he finished in a very commendable 27 minutes and more importantly was absolutely delighted with himself.  He is a wonderful character but slow to make friends that he sees outside of school since we moved.  Naturally anything I can do to boost his confidence makes my day.

Today we got up bright and early and picked up a friend and colleague to enter her very first 10k!  Luckily she has a similar aged son to mine so they stayed behind to attempt to communicate via computer games as teenagers do.  Meanwhile myself and T registered, peed, warmed up, ran and cooled down to a total of 8 miles for the day.

So all in all a successful weekend of forcing both myself and eldest slightly out of our comfort zone and into the company of other people.  Not an altogether bad idea for either of us. Personally I do badly need to broaden my horizons here and have a good pool of contacts to ensure I continue to leave the house.  Why do I say that?  Well if I said the black dog of depression hadn't reared it's ugly head recently that would be a lie.  Staying very active and busy certainly helps although sometimes it's as if that's merely masking what is underneath.  Fake it 'til you make it?

Back to the grindstone

So I didn't die obviously.  Nasty dose of the flu though so I'm only feeling back to normal now. Went for a slow 2 miles yesterday and it was unnecessarily difficult.  I was sweaty throughout and slightly nauseous so the smart thing would be to rest today.

But I'm doing a race instead! 

Can't help myself!   It's the inaugural running of my hometown 10k and as I'm home for the weekend anyway it would be a shame to miss it.

I have no idea how this is going to go. I can't use my 5k in slane for comparison as it was on trail.  Also if it goes badly it might be due to the illness.

What I do know is I'm well trained for the distance and I know to expect pain and execute my race plan anyway. What I don't know is if the unquantifiable "it" will be there today. Judging by yesterday,  no.. But then when is there ever a correlation between a final training run and race day? Wait and see I suppose! 

I'm really excited though. Proper butterflies and everything!

Ooops!

So I sort of forgot to write anything for the last few weeks...a combination of laziness and lack of access to a computer. My phone is banjaxed too and that has been my backup. Must try harder young(ish) lady! Training for the marathon continues and I'm now officially on taper. Yay! So so delighted about this as the last few weeks of running have been quite tough, just never really felt rested on a run and my longer races have been really really tough to the point where I questioned my level of fitness. Anyway it's done now so no point worrying too much about it until race day. Time to recuperate and focus on shorter quality sessions and staying healthy. Now is not the time to catch a cold! In other running news I have another new pb over 10k! 47:40 which is also a full 5 minutes faster than I ran the same race last year. Absolutely delighted with that. This is even more impressive when you consider that we ended up in the pub Friday night for more beers than was a good idea at any time and definitely not the night before a race. Not very clever at all! Anyway it all worked out ok in the end so no harm done. Next big goal is sub 45 but I'm not holding my breath for that for a while. It took me so long to get under 50 minutes that I can't believe I'm actually considering sub 45 at all. I'm starting to feel like I might have some real speed in my legs (relatively speaking!)