Time flies!

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I updated this! Lots has been happening and I think it's safe to say that I need to go to the track on a Wednesday night whether I feel like it or not as my mood is so much better after. I was doom and gloom central this day last week!

Thursday was an interesting running day. I turned up on the curragh plains and a couple of the other girls were doing "easy" runs as they had done the track session or tempos the day before. Meanwhile I had a tempo on my training plan.
I decided to use my frequently bemoaned lack of speed to my advantage and let them drag me around in their wake.  Surprisingly this actually worked really well!

We started off with a 9 minute mile but quickly dropped to 8 min/miles for the rest (bar the last one where it was requested that we slow down. Newsflash....that was not me asking!) There were definitely a few segments where I looked down and saw my 5k pace on the watch and freaked out a bit. I stopped checking it and that resolved the problem. What? Is that not how all news you don't want to know should be treated?The takeaway from it was that I was fine and I nailed my first really challenging tempo run.  Yay me!

Friday was a bit of a disaster. I was driving down to Kerry with my kiddos to meet up with friends and climb Carrauntoohil early Saturday morning.  After a refuel I hit the motorway and within about ten minutes knew I was in trouble. You are not meant to be able to actually see the fuel gauge drop. Not while you are looking at it. Not on a tiny diesel anyway! Thank god for breakdown cover is all I can say.

So we spent the night in a hotel and needless to say didn't manage to get the car repaired on time to join the climb.  We did however make it to the evening refreshments though so all was not lost.
I did get to do a 1.5 hour hike with the kids while we waited for the others to get back so that sufficed instead of a run on Saturday.

Sunday morning was difficult due to an amazing self-filling wineglass the night before. Must make sure to never get one of those.
A long walk on Banna beach blew the cobwebs away and was followed by some seafood chowder and my very first raw oyster! The verdict? Not too bad actually.

I hummed and hawed over my longish run all day and pretty much had an excuse made up for myself but then I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do either so I just got out and did it!. It was a slow burner this one. The legs felt fairly crappy for the first couple of miles and I was having problems hitting 10 minute miles. It was fairly hilly but that's no excuse! And then I just started feeling better. I finished really strongly and felt a kind of power in my legs I haven't felt in quite some time. Due to my total lack of navigation skills this run ended up being 9.5 miles instead of the intended 8, but who's counting? (Me)

I rested on Monday and went for a pretty good 6 miler yesterday and then today I had track. I didn't bring my watch but I felt like I was in a different gear this week. Maybe it's just the day that was in it? Maybe I've just strung together some strong training sessions and it's a coincidence and doesn't mean anything? Perhaps though I have finally gotten off this damn plateau I've been on? A girl can dream can't she?

Study and a rest

I awoke yesterday with the full intention of doing some form of recovery run at some point.  It was apparent by the time I walked down the hall to the kitchen that my body disagreed.  Maybe I had overcooked last week with all that mileage? (Relatively speaking....it's high for me!) What to do?  

I've been getting better recently at discerning when I need to listen to my body and rest, and when I'm just being a lazy old sow and get out the door.  My hip flexors were sore, especially on the right, my glutes ached and most worryingly I had no interest in running despite it being quite a nice day.  Also my stomach was upset and didn't want me to stray too far from my apartment.  So I didn't!

I foam rolled and tidied, and foam rolled and ate, and foam rolled and studied for an exam.  Then I ate some more.  Then I cooked for my daughter so she had something delicious waiting for her when she came back from doing exams.  Then I ate again!  I ate a ridiculous amount actually so that needs to stop.  Mostly salad and veggies with hummus (and quite a few spoons of peanut butter.  And a granola bar)  Maybe it's my body getting used to the higher mileage but it's the other direction I need to be heading on the scales so I need to cop on.  I easily have the highest BMI in my running club which is not something I'm about to go off the deep end about but I do know that the fastest way for me to improve my speed would be to lose a couple of stone.  With my history with food I'm unwilling to start counting calories or cutting out food groups but I do have to stop taking the mickey completely too!  Anyway back to work tomorrow so that kind of takes care of itself there as I can only eat what I bring with me.

Anyway I felt much better today and did a lovely easy 7 miler with not too many hills for a change.  Felt brilliant after it (but hungry again FFS!!)

Still miss this place :(