...you enjoy long runs?

This week again was a mix of runs as I am heading to Birmingham and Wales for the long weekend. With the rain that is supposed to drown us this weekend I thought it best to get my long run in during the week. This seems to be becoming a habit! Anyway after my awful run in Newark at the weekend (got sunburnt and could not keep myself going at all for the 5.7miles) I was in no mood for my long run Tuesday. I started on Tuesday not Monday for 2 reasons:

1. Monday was journal club at 9am. There was no way I was getting up at 6am to go for 9miles. 

2. I was still slightly sick from the weekend. I am not liking these 2 day hangovers!

Anyway Tuesday morning off I set with a grumpy face on. Though I changed my route up a bit thinking this might help and it did. I actually ended up doing the route twice instead of a long route along the canal towards Nottinghill. This was nice and different and not too bad elevation wise. It was a quieter part of the canal which I liked a lot. Though I was at 8.2miles with another .2miles to go before home so did have to run around some housing estates to get my miles in. But starting slow again meant I felt fine for the whole run and actually really enjoyed it! Was half considering only doing 5miles but pushed on and felt great! I managed a nice slow 9min/miles which was great. Finally slowing myself down to enjoy the longer distances. I don't want to go much slower then this (if I want to PB) but we'll see.

Another part of this week was my bite for the triathlon/duathlon. I think I really want to do one! It'd be fun and I can actually swim which will be handy. I think I'd prefer to do a triathlon then a marathon any day. It's more versatile and man running for 4 and a half hours does not sound appealing right now! So maybe a sprint marathon to get me going? With this in mind I set off for the gym last night to get some recovery miles in and a cycle. My recovery miles were shit. I did 8min/miles for 5km. Yeah that's not recovery but I always get confused on the treadmill and just kept going with it! I did do a nice 6minute 9.30min/mile cool down at least. I then hit the bike straight away and decided to just do a 30minute cycle to see how it felt. 7.4miles later I was done and not sweating that much. The next step in this is to head to the pool next week and see if I can still keep my head above water. 

The downside to this hour and a half in the gym (did core as well) is that my legs are a little stiff and sore today. Thank god it's a rest day! Going to have to remember to treat my body nicely! Tomorrow is a maybe 3miler around Birmingham and then a 5miler while in Wales? Let's hope they get completed!

So far 20miles of exercise in! Boom!

....motivation is key!

So I have been recently unmotivated since my last race and I decided not to moan about it on here but put my head down and rest for a week and then pick myself back up for the next training session. This has only been my second week this year that I took off due to lack of will to run. I think next year I will either block my races closer or not do so many! The next race is 7 weeks away and it is a half marathon! Uh oh! So lesson learnt! Training all year round isn't fun. Make it more fun in 2013!

 So half marathon talk..... normally I pick a schedule and stick to it rigidly (or try). This year I started into my training late and was running longer miles then I normally do when I start so I thought it was okay to slack. Now slacking means only running 3 times a week so far but I really wanted to be up to 5 times so my speedwork would really count on race day! Anyway runnersworld.com your sub 2hour half marathon schedule is hard! I am managing the intervals and one normal run from their schedule. I am then using the long run distance from my old schedule and then throwing in short runs with my house mate here and there ( I know that means 4 but I switch around sometimes). So with 7 weeks to go I am up to 8.2miles on my long run at a 8.45min/mile pace! I'm quite happy with that but still feel underprepared. Time will tell! I think I'm going to treat this as a fun run rather then a beatmyPB race.

Running this week has been nice and different to most summer runs I've been doing. This is with regards to how runners interact with me. In winter time people are very vocal and friendly however when the sun comes out it seems the unfriendly runners come with it. I saved a poll from fetcheveryone.com as it didn't seem to represent my area well. Yesterday on my long run surprisingly the cyclists were more friendly but I did also get a "hello" and a friendly wave from a toddler!

This is a blog topic I've been wanting to cover for a while and would love to know other peoples feed back on this. Do you say hello to fellow runners or keep your head down/ to the side to avoid any interaction. The first time I had a friendly hello from a fellow runner it made me really happy and I vowed every morning each runner I passed would also get a "good morning!" no matter how tired I felt!

So other then that! Royal Parks Half marathon training is in full swing! My 8 miles were great. Turns out if you start slow and continue steady (as I had been told) you can actually get a lot further and feel great! 

I am going to take that advice again next week on my 9miler! 

...it's about the milliseconds!

So this week ended with yet another race! My house-mate had been training for the last 8 weeks from couch to 5km! And last Sunday at Clapham common he had his first taste at racing! My boyfriend and I decided during one of our long 10k training runs that instead of standing on the side line cheering Sean on we'd sign up and run with him! Though there was a little change, I did the 10k instead of the 5k with them.

http://www.innovationsports.co.uk/

The week leading up to this wasn't a great one for training or preparation. Following the British 10k on Sunday I took a rest day Monday followed by intervals on Tuesday. I have begun my 13week training program for the Royal Parks Half Marathon so I changed up the intervals to 4x600m at 13.5kph. This was a little different as I was used to longer reps of a shorter distance. I kept it up and got a great 4miles done. Though that was it for my training. Due to a lot of mismanagement of time (not from me) at lab I had to come in really early a couple mornings to run experiments which meant run in the evening ( I don't get out til after 7) or not at all. I went with the latter unfortunately. I was supposed to do a little 2-3miles on Friday evening with the boyfriend but we both worked late and it was too late to do anything. BUT I did run the .5miles to the tube station when I got a phone call about a lost oyster card. So that counts right? Got my blood pumping so it must count? Saturday also was spent walking around London instead of resting and eating a hell of a lot of meat at a BBQ that evening. I think I had 5 baby potatoes...protein loading? Oops. At least I didn't drink! Off to bed rather late after downing a pint of water and we were up at the crack of dawn.

Me and my protégé! 

The day was gorgeous! Sun was shining and we were ready. Well Sean was. The two boys started 2 minutes before me in the 5km heat. I was slightly nervous as I felt under prepared but off I went. There were a lot of runners and the paths were narrow but everything seemed okay for the first 2km. That was until I saw the amount of trail we had to run on and the muck from the last month or so of rain. The route was lovely, if it had been dry. There were a couple of moments where I thought I would slip around corners, especially when some unkind woman elbowed my and pushed me out of her way. But even with a silly 8min/mile first mile I was on track. I had a pacer and was following their nice 8.20pace. I saw the boys at their 4th Km which was great (not due to catching up but a meandering course)! They looked good! They got to turn off the track and finish while I carried on for a second lap.They finished in a great 27minutes though Reis beat Sean by 2/10s of a second! Wowzer!

 I was conscious of the fact that ~1,000 runners had already ran on the mucky track so I kept an eye on the mud. I felt quite tired around the 8k mark which was annoying but I slowed for about 2mins and then got back up to speed. At the last 300m I saw the boys cheering me on. The words sprint were being screamed so I felt I had to. I paced out 2 guys in my effort and got across in a great sub 55 time!

Clapham Common had a great race! I would recommend it to anyone! Pity about the muck but the marshals were great and the atmosphere for a small race amazing! I would do this again but maybe checking the weather first....

New shoes?

Now onto my question of the week. Does anyone else find this when using a stopwatch or some sort of timer. I know that there are lots of times when routes are longer/shorter then they should but what do you go with? This happened last week and this week again. My chip time was 54.53 but my watch.....measured a 53.54 as the route was longer...annoying in a way but could be worse! Could be shorter!

Next up is the Royal Parks but I'm sure a 5k and another 10k will be shoved in there! :)

...you love spectators cheers!

So this week ended with The British 10k in London! 2months of hard training for Reis and me and we finished the wet race with a great sub 60 time! But before this race we had a couple more miles to clock up and long runs to smash.

This started with last Sundays 5.8mile run where we decided to run the same distance as the week before but avoid the massive hill and pace better. The week before I was not very nice and forgot to check my watch often and most of the time we were doing 8.50min/miles which wasn't very fair on my novice boyfriend. This week we started at 9.20min/miles for the first 3.5miles and then boosted to 9.15min/miles for the last bit of the run. This proved to be good and we finished our training with a great long run!


A week of tapering commenced where we kept the mileage low but not too low. I had a Royal Parks training workshop on the Wednesday where we were taught about how to avoid injury, nutrition, stretches and better running form. This got me all pumped for a run Thursday morning where I decided to try new said techniques. Not a very good idea as the new leg movements meant I had a very sore inner thigh on Friday. This got me worried for the race but I decided lots of rest would get me through. Just to say quickly as well, thanks to Royal Parks for the event! It was great and I am already enjoying this half marathon experience! Roll on October 7th!

We then relaxed on the Saturday and carb loaded for lunch and dinner with copious amounts of water so we were race ready.


Training miles - complete
Nutrition - complete
Bag packed - complete


We were ready! 6.30am the alarm went off and we were up and ready for this wet race. Along with  30,000 other runners we made our way up to the starting point of the race. The race started 10minutes late and there were so many walkers within our first 1km that we had to make up our pace by ducking under the barriers and run with the other serious runners on the other closed off road. We got our time right though 9.20min/miles and that's how it continued. Apart from some negative splits and loss of GPS in the tunnels we were keeping a great pace! The rain was quite refreshing in parts and the atmosphere amazing! We slowed a little for the 7th and 8th kilometre to 9.35min/miles but all was good as we were on time to finish well. I had told Reis to tell me when he was tired so that slowing in the middle would mean he would 1) finish strong and 2) not stop. This was true. For the last 2kms we rocked another 9.20min/mile pace. That and out photo sprint finish meant we got a great time of 58.29! Well to be honest that was my time. Reis beat my by a second as I shoved him through people onto the mat to make sure he got his time. So again, he beat me technically ;) 

10k finishers! 

This was a great route and great race but I don't think I will do it again as I came across quite a few problems. 

1) I got my race pack on Friday (I actually got 2 and 3 numbers were registered to my name). Some people had to collect theirs in London on the Saturday which is not very fair.

2) The baggage area was more a cornered area that wasn't covered even by plastic when rain had been forecast for the last week. 

3) Nike were not very good at contacting people who had problems and I heard there were more then I experienced. 

4) There were no starting pens which meant even though Reis and I were in the front (about 1,000 from the front out of 30,000) we had to dodge quite a few walkers!

5) We had to collect our own goodie bags and medals from a cardboard box on a table in the baggage area not at the finish line. There were spectators in this area also and many people took more then one bag/medal and this meant that some people did not get medals. Not nice to finish a race and not get a medal (you know I only run for the medals!). 

Overall I really loved running through London and we had a great experience but I am unsure if I will do this or any Nike event again (Run to the Beat organisation was very similar). 

On another note.....next Sunday at Clapham there will be 3 of us running! Me and my two protege will be running the Clapham Common Series. I will be tackling another 10km while Reis and Sean battle it out at the 5k! Hopefully we'll stay a little drier and there will be smiles all around!! 

...you hate to rest

It has been a long while since I posted in my blog! Lots has happened since...well not really. I've been running a lot is all but had a few events to contend with also.I finished off May with a 45mile total which was nice as it included a weekend of a wedding. Into June with one month left of my running-fast 10k training! First week I lost a little motivation with going home for a couple days. Was nice to run at home but was hard to get the time to do it!

Then I got back in really well last week with a total of 23miles in one week! The best thing to have happened to me was interval training. I love it. I have started gradual and increased my reps but am now on 8x400m at 14kph! I beat my PB today in the gym with a 5km of 25.14mins. That was with the interval training! I saw the full effects of my interval training last Saturday when I got out for my long run of 7miles. It was the nicest 7 miles I've ever done!

1) I didn't check my watch for pace or distance the whole run. This meant I thought I was going slower then I was but I didn't care. It felt good so I went with it!

2) I had my fantastic new brightly coloured shorts! I've never had shorts before for running and now I don't think I can live without them. I love them.

Result: 6.9miles in 59minutes

I felt so great! And if I can sub 60 in over the mileage I will be okay for race day! I hope... just have to break out those shorts!

I finished off the 3 day running session with a 5miler with the other half on Sunday which was nice! He'll be well able for the 10k just gotta get some more long miles in his legs!

But then disaster struck. My left foot hurt. It hurt after the run but I'd been feeling these pains for a while so thought it'd be grand. Standing in the tube heading home from the Science Museum there was a sudden warm feeling on my left arch. Like someone had sprayed deep heat on it. Uh oh....I've needed new shoes for a while but this was a wake up call. So...you're supposed to change your shoes every 300-400 miles I hear...Mine were on 539miles. And they were prob more as I didn't know for a while that you could track your mileage on your shoes on fetcheveryone.com.  I was an eejit and I went online Monday and bought some shoes. The exact same pair as I have already but I do love them! Strapped my foot Tuesday as it still felt bad and the heat feelings weren't going away. My new shoes arrived today and the pain had gone so decided to treat my shoes to some interval training and guess what! New shoes make such a difference! Didn't realise how bad my other shoes were.. oops. Thank you Saucony!

My Beauties

So going to finish this week with my long run Saturday (7.5miles) and a recovery Sunday (4miles?). At least will get some mileage in for the week I hate resting but know it's important too!

you love to PB!

To PB or not to PB, isn't something I planned on doing twice this week but it happened! So this week was a busy busy week of exercising! I thought I was on fire with the amount I was planning to do and getting done! I think I might break it down into days. The running streak started on the Sunday with the really nice 3.56miles I did with the boyfriend in Gunnersbury Park. I really really like this park which is something I say quite a lot while we're running around which is probably very annoying. But that was the start of my running streak for the week.

Monday
I decided to sign up for the Battersea Park Self Transcendence 5k race (http://uk.srichinmoyraces.org/races/london) that started at 7pm. This was the first time I was doing an evening race and all I spent the day doing was thinking about running and how I could PB. This race was a very clubby race. There were club shirts of all different colours getting ready to run fast. I was slightly nervous about this but I got myself right into the middle of the pack ready for the 2 laps of Battersea. This was a really nice race and route. I got myself into a great metronome pace and along with the heavy panter behind I plodded onto PB with 26.10! I was delighted and so was my heavy panter. She used me as a pacer and came up to me after thanking me for getting her a PB. She was so happy which made the not getting a medal an okay thing. So not getting a medal meant, I needed one....sign up for another race, sure why not! Bring on Sunday.

Tuesday
Now for something new-yoga. 1hour of yoga at 6pm....was a bit boring and I think I'll be doing it from home in future. I need to make a promise to myself that I will set aside some time for yoga at least twice a week! After yoga I did a nice 2.5miles of intervals. I have tried this once before but this time I feel like I aced it. Maybe it was that yoga.....hmmm...

Wednesday
Up in the morning and 3.2miles at 8.28min/miles of a general run was tracked! I felt great running it and I had another metronome pace. Maybe this yoga thing isn't so bad after all.....So did about an hour of yoga and foam rolling later. I have decided to try and take care of my left leg and IT band that started to ache at the last couple of weeks of Prague training.

Thursday
Day 5 of the running streak and due to the race being on Sunday I decided to do my long run today. 4miles turned into 4.63miles at a 8.30min/miles. I felt great and like I could keep going but going to stick to my training and was conscious that I have done a fair bit of running this week. Note to self...more yoga.

Friday
Day 6. I finished the streak with a tempo run. Now these comfuse me a bit so decided to go on the treadmill to help me time it better. 5 mins warm up (I have finally come to the conclusion that I should warm up a lot more!) and then 20minutes of 7.5mph running followed by a cool down of 5 minutes brought my pace to 8.16min.miles of a 3.63mile run! I think this fast training is working.

Saturday
Rest Day (finally!)

Sunday
Race Day. http://www.breastcancercampaign.org/page.aspx?pid=767 Boys v Girls 5km race around Southwark Park. This was the first race my boyfriend was ever undertaking and I was so excited for it. It also happened to be his birthday which probably made me a very mean girlfriend buuuuut he was going to get a medal right? :) So we kept a great metronome pace of 8.26min/miles which meant I may PB again but wasn't hoping on it. Reis kept the pace which was great and even when he got a little tired at about 2.6miles he kept going. Enough that when I yelled sprint his long legs took him right across the finish line ahead of me! Well I had to let him win on his birthday right? Yeah that was it.... ;) But even with being beaten by a boy we  had got fantastic times! My Garmin recorded 25.36! PBing twice in one week, yay! For a first timer as well I thought this was a fantastic time! Well done Reis!

Reis and Me after the race!

Week 1 of sub 1hour 10k went fantastic! 20miles logged in. The second longest mileage week of the year!

Roll on week 2! Have the gear bag ready and may do a tempo run tonight. :)

....safety pins!

So training has begun for the 10km I'm running in July. I know I can run 10km's comfortably but would love to ace this with a really cool PB. I am trying a new training schedule that means I do lots of intervals and hill work so I will really improve my running. I hope anyway! My only ever 10km best was a 61minute time which was really annoying as I know I could've done better if I'd prepared myself for those hill sin Greenwich park but all that is behind me now and a nice flat route with a couple friends is what lies ahead.

Last week ended with a measly mileage of 6.8miles but it all goes up from here. Starting with the Battersea Park self-Transcendence 5km tonight at 7pm. I have never ran a race in the evening or around Battersea. It will be full of fast people but I don't mind. I know I'm not as fit as I was back for the Prague race but I'm not going to let that stop me! My PB for a 5km is 28.16 and this was at the first ever race I did! Roll on the horrible weather and travel to the place and show me the medal!

P.S. I have forgotten safety pins! One thing I've learnt in the UK is that due to health and safety reasons they don't give these out. hope my friend brings some or else I'll be carrying my race number with me! :)

Week 1 of sub 1hour 10km training begins!

....you finally encourage someone else to run!

I finally got a running partner! On Saturday it rained and rained and rained. There was no run planned today as my boyfriend and I were off to the shops to buy him some new running shoes as he has signed up to do a short race with me! Yay! Off we went to Sweatshop off Oxford Circus as I was recommend the place from a great German friend. Here they put him on a heated light step where they could see how his feet looked for potential insoles. Then it was onto the treadmill with different shoes to test them out. He has big feet so there weren't many shoes to choose from but he got a nice green pair of Brooks. Green for Ireland! It was late when we got back and still raining so we decided that Sunday would be test day for the new babies.

Sunday morning there was no lie in! I was asked if setting off before we realised we were running was best and I definitely think this is so. Off we went to Gunnersbury Park in the rain. It is such a gorgeous park, loads of different routes so you can get your mileage up really nicely! We had a nice steady pace of about 9min/miles for up to 2.5miles where we slowed to a 9.25min/mile pace. After 3.22miles the boyfriend was done but so happy! I turned around to double the mileage while he went back home to start on the breakfast. 6.4miles later I was back home too!

Really great run but I fear I've created a monster! I was asked on Monday had I run? No. Did you run Tuesday? No, it was wet and I got home from work late! So I gave in Wednesday and did a great 30minute run and decided today was the day I was going to do my first double run. I hit the gym later on and did 2.7miles worth of intervals on the dreadmill which was so much fun followed by core training!

Thursday morning text...so did you run today? Aaaah no! Rest day!

Maybe I should've stuck it out solo! ;)

...you enjoy passive running!

So there were two big events this week. The major one being my really good running friend completing her first ever marathon, the Virgin London Marathon! A fantastic blog about this can be found at..... http://hongeontherun.wordpress.com/ She did a fantastic job of 1) not stopping at all and 2) not even going to the loo for the full 4hours 44mins!

My Sunday was a little different to Hollys but similar in a couple of ways...

• I got up early
• I was nervous
• I had 2 packs of sweets and 2 bananas stuffed in my bag 
• I was really really tired and hungry by the end of the race

The only difference with this list is that I didn't get a medal as I didn't run the 26.2miles. I did however run around like a crazy person though with the help of tfl. Our Sunday started at mile 7 just past the Cutty Sark where about 10minutes after James, Paola, Reis and I arriving we spotted Holly. Well James did and me and Paola scanned the crowds until we finally saw our blonde haired friend with her short shorts running in the middle of the pack. We screamed her name so loud making sure she saw us. That she did and for a split second I thought she was going to turn around but off she went. Paola and I were very emotional at that point and were eager to get to our next stop, mile 14.
 Mile 14 meant walking past mile 21 so we got to see some really fast runners pound the ground getting amazing times! We set up post just along a really narrow street around mile 14 and I broke into the first packet of jelly babies. I didn't really know what to do but two really friendly men just told me to stick them in my hand and wait. That I did and it worked! I felt so happy to help people out while yelling encouragement. We got to mile 14 really early for Holly so it seemed ages until she came along and again James was the first one she saw. At this point she was over taking people so again we screamed encouragement at our favourite VLM runner and turned around to get to mile 21.
 We were going to try for mile 19 at this point but thought that we seeing Holly at 21 was more important and we shouldn't risk missing her. We tried to get a drink while we waited but the pubs in that area were a little dodge to say the least so we parked up at mile 21 and started clapping and yelling again.
  People I saw at this point were; a barefoot runner, a fetcheveryone.com runner, 2 Irish flag runners, an Aine, a Cookie, a star, a horse, a man in a leopard print outfit, Pierre, and many many more! This was also a point were people started to walk and I wasn't sure whether encouraging these runners would just annoy them. We got to see Holly again at this point where she muttered "It's so hard" but we wouldn't hear any of it and just kept screaming!

Holly at mile 21

At this point we got ourselves to the finish area where we waited until we could either call Holly or see her. We managed to find her and she was so happy! A little tired and achey but she looked great! She did such a great job and I have never had as much fun not running a race! Passive running is the best fun ever!! I would recommend it to anyone :)

Now my second event of the week is minuscule compared to Holly's feat but this morning I reached 200miles logged for this year! I think I may try to get 600miles for the year....we'll see. Last year my grand total was 292miles so I'm hoping to boom past this number and make it a bumper running year!

Roll on my long run Saturday!

...you can't function without a race in sight!

First half marathon medal of 2012 is hanging on the wall! Best race of the year ;) but the medal is lonely and I need motivation! So for the last week I have been searching hard for races in the London area. Little 5kms or 10km races. Something to keep the medals coming but there seem to be less this year! I blame the Olympics! The Olympics will be great but they are messing up my medal addiction majorly. But I can now breath again as I have signed up for 2 great races this summer and I plan on having a look at some abroad or further afield to keep me entertained.

So the first race to be had will be on July 8th in London town. The British 10k which will bring me around many of the famous sites of London! Yay! A nice 10km race to kick start the training again. Just a side note for anyone thinking of going for this one. It's expensive but you get to run through London and get a nice t-shirt. I think this should make up for it.
http://www.thebritish10klondon.co.uk/

Second race that I signed up for today.....The Royal Parks Half! I finally got my butt moving and emailed MNDA ( http://www.mndassociation.org/ ) again to ask about running for them and they were delighted to offer me a place. I love this charity as it is really close to me heart but love that they can help me out by letting me run. I will be fundraising like a mad woman for these two races now! So excited as I've wanted to do this half marathon for a while!
http://royalparkshalf.com/

Now to get back into training and maybe find a nice 5km somewhere along the way so I can pick up another medal for that length ;)

..you love medals!

Hervis Half Marathon Prague 31st March 2012


First half marathon of the year and I love Prague! I picked this half marathon last year as I wanted to go abroad for a half marathon, I loved Prague and the route was not hilly. One of the girls from my lab decided to join in on the action too and she managed to persuade a novice to join also! So off we went to Prague on Thursday the 29th. I had had horrible dreams of forgetting shoes, not turning up in time and dying so to say I was nervous is an understatement.

Getting into Prague the forcasted rain began. I had bought a had the Tuesday before for this reason and so that I could be easily spotted along the route. Night before the race we carb loaded, drank lots of water and got an early enough nights sleep. The race began at 12pm which was nice so there was no early morning rush at all! We had already collected our race kit which was fantastic! We were given a race bag with a choice from 5 colours and in the pack was sports bars, our race number with your country's flag on it (Go Team Ireland!) and lots of other small treats. Race numbers on and ready to go we got to our start area! The weather in Prague was cold and windy. Make that extremely blustery! I went on with my t-shirt deciding that I do get hot while I run and I don't want overheating to make me tired along with the gale force winds.

Race started with a prep call from the organisers calling out a lot of the countries that were racing and announcing that the president of the Czech republic would be firing the starting gun. And with that we were off to the sounds of Smetana's Vltava ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwd51vB7Uow ). Well unlike the Run to the Beat they walked us to the start line so there was no one running before the start line which was nice!

Onto the cobbles we went....

The crowds were amazing at the start line you couldn't not smile and be proud of yourself as you began the race! We ran down along the river passing through new town and the dancing house. Here I passed the elite runners for the first time which is always fun to see! We carried on into residential areas were there wasn't really any crowds but that was okay. There were teenage bands sprinkled around the place to give us some Czech music to listen to. We crossed the river at about mile 4 to do a little u-turn to make up miles. Along this part I did spot a huge beer sign which lightened my spirits! At this stage I was running 8.50min/miles and I was on top form! Even with the cobbles nothing was hurting and I was doing great time wise! Crossing back along the river before mile 6 brought us back to the start of the race (and more cobbles). Here I got to see the female runner finishing. That was both great and funny as I was only half way through and she was at the end! We crossed the river again and began the second half of the race. I was on time for my sub 2 hours and everything was going well. I had managed so far to not fall on any cobbles and keep up my pace. In this race there were relay racers as well as full half marathon runners. This meant that they only ran 3 miles with someone taking over their spot at a specified relay location. There were a lot of relay racers and they did not prepare that well it seemed. When you saw someone walking or slowing down it was more then likely a relay racer. Anyway this part of the run became very boring as there was nothing to see but river and bridges. Bridges we weren't crossing and slowly I was getting tired. I decided I wasn't going to refuel with my gel until mile 10 as this was where I normally took it. Coming up to mile 10 I was exhausted though and needed extra energy fast! I only ate/drank half of it as it seemed extra sugary today. My stomach did not seem happy with me and at mile 11 my pace slowed awfully. I was down to about 9.30/10 min/miles here. I decided I wanted to finish happy so sacrificing my pace and potential sub 2 was worth it. My stomach was in bits! I wasn't sure if I was dehydrated again or if I had drank too much water. The weather was warmer now it felt but the winds hadn't died down. There was a part at mile 11-12 where there was a huge gust of wind where the whole crowd groaned due to the force we had to exert to push against it!

This is when things were to change, I decided at mile12 to pick up my pace slightly and to not loose sight of 2 of my 3 goals.

1)Finish happy! (last race wasn't that happy a finish)
2) PB!
3) Sub 2hours (this was fading)

I got happy and began to try and encourage other runners again. I forgot to mention that I had decided to do this along the route and had been met with lots of stares of "why-are-you-trying-to-encourage-and-talk-to-me". Oh well. It made my feel encouraged. My lab friend nearly killed me by surprising me at mile 12.5 or so before she bounded off again. My feet were tired, my stomach wasn't happy but I got myself up to the last bridge were I couldn't not smile with all the people screaming encouragement from the side line! Random English people yelling made it all the better! My boyfriend was supposed to be waving an Irish flag somewhere at the end so I kept smiling, even if I couldn't see him I was not going to let him see me unhappy! Turning the corner for the last 200metres I picked up pace and "sprinted" (as best I could) across the finish line racing past some other runner to pip him at the post!

2hours 1min and 3seconds  

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face! I had completed the race with a smile and PB's by over 6 minutes! I walked over to get my medal with a handshake, congratulations and her putting it over my head. All the volunteers at the end were fantastic! They seemed so proud of everyone who had finished. There were oranges, bananas, warm tea, water, orange juice and sugar cubes at the end. The post race atmosphere was great! We even met a running friend from our plane from London that we had started chatting to en route. This man ~40years old had finished it in 1hour and 40minutes (from what I remember), fantastic!

This race was fantastic! I may have lost a toe nail to the cobbles and not got my sub 2 hours but I would recommend this race to anyone! The atmosphere was great, the route lovely (bar a couple miles) and the city itself a great place to grab a post race beer!

So what's next?! Think I'll grab a 10km to see me through the end of April :)

...location doesn't matter!

I am off to Prague tomorrow! It has been 3 long months of training through snow, rain, ice and sunshine but the day is nearly here! I am very nervous as all my twitter friends have experienced but I think I've finally calmed those nerves and am in a happy place where I will be okay. I have a slight headache and sniffles but I had this before the Run to the Beat (which opened today if anyone is interested in a boring run around east London?) so I think I should be okay. I hope! Next run update I will let you know sure ;)

I have decided against running before the race now. I am taking 3 days off which Holly (@hollycall01) told me to do as she felt great before her Lancaster when she did this. I have practiced running with my baseball hat so I hope this should be okay for if it rains. All I have to do is pack now!

Aiming for a PB which would be anything below 2hours 7mins. Still not sure about chasing the pacer but we'll see! I love Prague so looking forward to getting back to the old city and relaxing on Saturday evening!

173miles of training this year so far so lets see if all that practice can help me in the next 13.1miles! :)

...tapering can become boring!

So last week I began tapering. I always worry about this part of the training as I think I should be running as many miles as I can up to race day and that I'll forget how to run! I know I'm mover reacting but what if?! My longest run last week was a nice 5mile and to make things better I actually got all my training done this week! No skipping out on the CT or pushing a little 4mile into the next week until it's too late. I did them all and all at about 8.30min/miles. I know I should be running at race pace or slower but I tend to run fast with short runs.

So the week summed up was 3.5miles, 4miles, 5miles, 2.5miles with a CT thrown in for good measure. The weather has been great with the sunshine but I do hope it gets cooler for Prague. I'm starting to make a list of everything I need to bring and water will be top of that list from the lesson I learnt last year! The worst run of the week was my 2.5mile as I went through the Wormwood scrubs which was a bit wet from the cool night. I was sure I was going to fall and break my leg in either one of the many holes or along the wet grass. Last year my good running friend Holly's best friend injured herself the week before the Run to the Beat. She still completed it in 2hours 5mins but she went straight to A&E after and basically, I don't want to be in that situation!

Last final days before the race now....have a gentle (I'll try) 3miles tomorrow and Wednesday and then 20mins run in Prague on the Friday and then it's The Race (it does need capitals!). Flying out to Prague on Thurs and picking up the race pack Friday. Very nervous even typing about it now :/

One thing I will or might be doing differently this run is maybe taking pain killers before the race to stop any aches during the run. I'm still not sure about this one. My twitter family has told me that they do it all the time and it's normal but my head is telling me that so far with all my training I haven't needed any help so maybe stick with what I know? Will let ye know what happens anyway and at which point I collapse ;)

T - 6days!

...you hurt

I don't want to moan but  I hurt. So long run this week was supposed to be maybe 14miles but I got bored where I had to make my run longer and only ended up doing 13miles. I think the main reason I hurt, well 2 main reasons was 1) I ran fast for 13miles and 2) I didn't get my 5miles done on Tuesday. I think now that I definitely needed those 5miles to loosen my legs and get me ready for my long Thursday run. They didn't happen because I was impromptly invited to a dinner with all the most amazing people in my field of research which meant I was not missing it for the world! So no 5miles....oops!

I did get out for my 13miles. I didn't want to but I had to. Started off really well and I thought I was going slow enough and the usual aches were from doing a longer run. Hitting the canal was nice. Went earlier then normal so there were fewer people including those damn bikes about! I did however pass a guy who decided he could make it to the loo to go for a pee but oh well, the swans were beautiful! Went .5miles longer down the canal then normal and then turned back to begin my little loop of my house. All along the canal my legs were okay until I hit about mile 9 and my left IT band started to hurt but I pushed on. Turning some corners would mean my leg screamed but for most of the straight flat parts I was okay! I wasn't too hot or dehydrated at all so at least that was a plus! Coming up the wormwood scrubs hill I was wrecked. I was at mile 11/12 and going uphill. I did run faster then a guy on a bike up the hill but I was trying to not compete with him as I knew it would hurt. Back down hill then for the last mile and I could feel my IT screaming at me a lot! As I came to an end at my house I couldn't take another step. My legs were sore! Lying on the bed and waiting for  the rush of completing 13miles to come over me I realised it wasn't. This was mainly due to the fact that all I could think about was...."This is going to be me in 2 weeks! Who will be at the end to give me a hug and make sure I don'e collapse?!". I do have a friend coming with me to Prague but right at the end of the race I'm pretty sure we'll be no where near each other! I stretched a little and then after my shower headed into lab where my legs were not happy with me!

During the evening my legs were very tight and I hit the foam roller to try loosen them out. My legs weren't that painful on the foam roller and didn't try too hard. This morning getting up told me I should have tried harder...oops. 2.5miles of a recovery run sorted most of the aches but my quads are still a bit moany. Rest day tomorrow (plus lots of alcohol, roll on Paddy's!) will mean they will be in better shape for a quick run Sunday.

Now this means....no more long runs until the half!! Oh and my pace for the 13miles yesterday....8.56min/miles. Where did that come from?! Just need to make sure my IT doesn't snap and my sore toes heal....

..you are addicted to "The Runner's High"

Hi my name is Aine and I am an addict. Though I think this is one addiction I'm not going to fight! I think most runners can agree with me that whether your long run is 6miles or 16miles while out on the trail/road each pound into the ground can be tough! You're sweating with enough salt for a large portion of chips coming from your face. Climbing that hill at mile 11 you sound like a tennis player with each step. And just when you think you haven't an ounce of breath left you reach home. Then one of the greatest feelings rushes over you! The feeling that yes you did it! You ran that crazy distance and didn't die! Well that's what it's like for me. I get so happy and won't stop talking if there's someone near me. I may look like a gross sweaty red tomato but at that moment it's all about the power you didn't know you had to keep going and achieve that mileage goal you wanted for the week!

So getting back to running not the high. I have ran a bit this week. I started with a nice 4miler on Tuesday to stretch everything out and get my speed up. I've begun to do my long runs during the week so I can actually enjoy my weekend without passing up on every alcohol opportunity or late dinner due to the "long run I have in the morning". I began this a couple weeks back when my mileage was lower so I am used to now getting back from my long run, a quick 5min pat on my back, stretch, shower and back out the door to do my days work. I do crash about 8pm but that's normal really and allows me to run when it's less busy and plan my weekends! So this week it was the turn of 12miles take 2! There was one little minor detail about this run....I did go for 2 cocktails the night before but carb loaded with www.runnersworld.co.uk fettuccine alfredo and 2 pints of water before bed. Out I headed at about 8am to pound the ground. The run went really well. Felt I was going at a nice pace. Stretched an extra .6miles (Garmin you aren't my friend when you tell me it was only .3miles.....) and headed for that dreaded hill at mile 11 with a better pace! It was hot! But I felt great. Managed it all in 1hour and 48mins and 30secs. Big whoop!! I am hoping to keep this up for Prague coz that would mean breaking my PB. Fingers crossed no injury or slip up! 


This morning I woke up at 6.30am thinking it was Saturday and turned over and went back to sleep coz I didn't need to run on Saturday. 20mins later I woke realising I actually hadn't done Friday yet so up I got and pulled on my running gear. 3.2miles later in a respectable 8.40min/mile pace I was back in the door grinning from ear to ear. The slight aches I had walking out the door 25mins before were loosened up and feeling good. I read somewhere that recovery runs don't do much for you...I think they are great to be honest. I think they really loosen you up and fix any aches that may have come about from your long run the day before! I do love recovery running!

To finish my week I have a 5miler to do on Sunday which will leave me with one more week of long runs before tapering!! 3weeks tomorrow I will know if all this hard work has paid off....until then, enjoy your high!! :)

..you hate cyclists!

I hate cyclists! Okay I don't mean every single one of them as I know lots of very nice cyclists. I just hate some of them as they are mean to me when I run! But more about that later. Long run update! According to my training it was supposed to be a shorter long run of 8miles but I decided I wanted to do the same run again as last week the 10.4miles. I thought it would be better for my training if I mixed it up a bit so that I actually did 14miles before the half. Psychologically know I can run more then I need to. I dunno thought it might be a good plan.

Ate a nice pasta dish last night courtesy of runnersworld.co.uk  and drank 2 pints of water before bed. Yes this meant I got up in the middle of the night and staggered my way to the loo but it also meant I was hydrated! Weetabix this morning and another pint of water and I was ready to rock and roll! Brought a bottle of water this time but still wore my long shirt as it seemed cold out. Forerunner 110 logged into the satellite though I didn't trust the first mile anyway. Off I went! The miles beeped on as I ran comfortably along to ASDA. I thought I was maybe going at a slower pace as I felt so good but kept it up. No point in wasting myself in the first couple of miles. I went an extra .3mile down the canal before I turned around and retraced my steps so I could maybe push for 11miles. I really wanted to do 11miles. My legs weren't sore, the weather was great. I was greeting runners, moving out for pedestrians and letting bicycles go ahead of me in short spaces. Then I met Mr. I'm-going-to-yell-in-your-face. I know I may be being a bit dramatic but there was lots of space for this cyclist and I was on mile 6 (I later found out that runners have right of way on the canal!). He cycled fast towards me and didn't change his path at all until I was in the ditch and his face was beside mine yelling "NO!". I wasn't pleasant with what I yelled back but really, was it necessary to shove me into the ditch just to prove he thought he was in the right. I ruined about a mile of my run as I was grumpy and then glaring at every other cyclist in case they were about to do the same thing (they didn't because they were nice :)  ). But I kept pounding along until I got to Scrubs Lane where I decided it was mile 10.4 and I could push myself. I felt tired and could have gone home happy then but I would've known I didn't push myself to the limit. I went uphill....slowly back to the canal. 11.7miles later I stopped. I couldn't stop smiling and the runners high was great! My house mate was just about to leave and I was like a giddy school girl telling him about how I had pushed my body and won! Plugging my Forerunner in I found out I had a 9.08min/mile pace which meant I would've finished a half marathon in 2hours! Wowzer. I wasn't that tired and everything was not aching. I hope this is a great sign of things to come! After some stretching and showering I made it into work where I am still managing to get work done.

This day 4 weeks I will be in Prague and I cannot wait! Please let me stay injury free and motivation don't leave me!

Long run? Check! 4miles more then I was scheduled to do? Check! :)

...you manage to fit in a run while on holidays.

Well I wasn't really on holidays but my Mum was over and she really wanted to get out to exhibitions and museums early and we did! And I still got my runs in! Yay! So my week last week was a bit higgildy piggildy as I needed to fit in my long run around my Mums visit. 10miles....dun dun daaah!

Thurs: Wake up early and eat breakfast. Check. Change into running gear. Check. See how hot it will be....um no. Ooops. The big mistake of my 10miler. So I put on my forerunner and stood outside for a minute until it found a satellite and then pounded my way along the road until I reached the canal. I had foam rolled so thought this would make me feel looser. It didn't really and my calves felt tight but kept going. Got to the canal and decided to add just over half a mile to my route taking the left and doubling back on myself. This was okay until about mile 6...mile 7.... I needed water. I had worn my flipping long sleeve top and it was warm! Run to the Beat warm! I was gasping. I decided I would stop in a cafe to ask for water. They were all closed. Yes all. The bar I was going to pop into was being refurbished. So asking the builders I thought? I wasn't brave enough so instead ripped open a gel and took the tiniest gulp of liquid sugar. Gross. Ah well I was nearly home. The ground was wet and all I wanted to do was roll around in it until I had soaked up enough moisture. But I kept going...10.4miles later in 1 hour and 31mins I got back to the house and downed my pint of squash that was waiting for me at the door! I know it was silly to not bring water. I just didn't have my head screwed on. If anything I didn't hurt from anywhere lol. 10miles ran. Check!

This just left recovery and tempo. Recovery didn't happen as I ended up doing a fast 4miles on the Saturday. My Mum wasn't really in the mood for waiting for me as she gets up the crack of dawn so getting those miles in was great! Felt great on this run as my Mum is a massage therapist/physio. Yes! Massage the night before my run. Check! Gotta keep her around more :)

Getting back on track this week I started with my 4mile today. Did I say 4 mile...it ended up 6miles. But a really great 6miles. No pain except the usual muscles-need-to-loosen ache at the start. Did it in 54mins and felt fantastic! I can't believe the half is so close now!!

Think I may run a little 3mile tomorrow to get my Feb mileage up a bit more...we'll see was thinking gym too. Oh the exercise options! That means though I have no motivation problems yay. It may also be because I'm going to be cooking 4 meals from the new runners mag that came last week. Will keep you updated on how they go!!

Happy running :)

...if your friends are starting to get annoyed by all your running talk!

So yesterday after reading my womensrunning magazine again (I got it Saturday morning!) I was politely informed that "Yes Aine, you do talk about running a lot!". Ooops. I was trying to inspire my housemate to start running home from work and I was told that it would be nice if I could take a break from talking about running for about an hour. I'm kinda glad to hear this though coz it means I've got the running bug again and am enjoying running!

This was mainly due to 2 things. 1) I got my awesome high5 gel pack in the post on Wednesday. It has so many gels and bars in it I didn't know what to do! You can check out the picture on my twitter feeds @trillionblue
And number 2) was the fact that I had a really nice 9mile run. Not my legs I must admit weren't as great as the first 8miler I did this year but I did really enjoy my 9.5miles on Friday morning! I took a gel with me and ran past ASDA and onto the canal. My IT band hurt for a bit so going to stretch is quite a lot before my next big run (10miles Thurs) as I really don't want to get injured. But yeah a 9min/mile pace on Friday and straight into lab. My legs did give up at about 6pm where they really really didn't want to walk home but putting my feet up on the couch for a couple hours sorted that!

A bad thing that did happen was I noticed my toe hurting even more. Now it seems like a really silly injury but my middle toe on my right foot is killing me! I think planking for a week without shoes hurt my feet and then not resting or icing it meant it got worse. But I'll delve into that in a but. Recovery Run!

Recovery run turned into a 4.5mile tempo run coz I met my friend Holly along the canal (@hollycall01). We talked about her sore Achilles tendon which held up for all her 12 miles and about running watches. I'm thinking a year on and it's time. Time to invest in a garmin GPS running watch. I think I've decided to go for the forerunner 110. Hope it's worth it!! Kinda scared coz they're expensive and feel it's a big commitment! Ran with Holly anyway for 2miles in the wrong direction for my recovery so hence the longer miles but felt great so didn't mind.

After walking around all day and sitting through a how-to-be-a-tutor seminar my foot felt a little sore. But what do runners do? Ignore the pain and that's what I did. It's only a toe! I took my shoes off though and all my toes bar my big toe were swollen including the knuckle area. Ooops. And that's when the icing began! 2hours later though and my toes were fine. Don't know what's happening but going to ice again this evening I think. It's sore when I bend it certain ways but not sore enough to be anything major. Will just keep in eye on it.

This weeks runs are being chopped and changed as my Mum is in town but got me 10miles on Thursday and may bring a gel again. It was very sugary but did give me an initial boost. Sure we'll see how it goes!! Getting closer to half marathon time!! :) Oh and booked my flights to it is official now!!

P.S. I love that I am excited about running again and it's funny the little things that can get you going again! :D

..you've lost a toenail. And you tell people, "It's not that bad."

Well I didn't loose a toenail but I had my first major fall during todays recovery run. The rest of the weeks training was cold and I did miss my Thursday 3.5mile tempo run. My hamstring was really sore from the treadmill on Tuesday night. I was hobbling while walking so I thought I should prob take it easy and get the long run done rather then push through and potentially hurt myself.

So going to sleep Friday night after staying in coz I decided not to drink to prep myself for a good run I knew it would be a cold night! I checked alternative routes in case the Grand Union Canal was completely frozen over as well that night. That worried me as I was slightly nervous of the alternative route. It was -4C when I woke up! Oh my gosh. I waited until about 12....It was only -1C then. So off I went. Fast unfortunately....it was cold. 4miles in I was on 8:40min/miles. Ooops, wasn't sure what the pace was but knew it was fast. I kept going though. And I was delighted to know the canal wasn't frozen! :) Yay! My legs were a little tired and sore but after 5miles I felt great. 8.1miles later I polished a 9min/mile run. Was glad to get home as I found it really hard to get out of the warm house. I decided as well to have a bitter cold shower after. It was cooooold on me legs but was nice and knew it was good for me. I then finished with about 30mins of planking, side planking, squats, butterfly sit ups. Felt fantastic!

So what about todays run?! Umm....complete opposite. Didn't sleep well so wasn't that excited about it but off I went. Tight legs, ah sure yeah grand, normal! Needing the loo really bad....not normal......and the pain didn't go away. Emergency toilet break was needed which was really annoying! But off I went and put it behind me. Was feeling a but tired and wasn't thinking then all of a sudden I was on the ground. Sprawled out after tripping on a cracked pavement. Damn! Grazed leg and both heels of my hands. I should have been paying attention but thought this is it, I need to push through. What if this was my long run or half marathon? So I picked myself up, my right leg was pounding and I began again. Wasn't the best but as me and my friend said, it could've been worse! It could've been my long run, my half marathon. I have fallen now and have pushed myself after. It hurt but I pushed myself :) No broken bones just bruises. Note to self! Pay a bit more attention :)

This weekend finishing with 11.65miles in about 1hour 43mins.

I'm going to kick ass next week! Already looking forward to it. What knocks you down only makes you stronger :) Running harder on that mean pavement!

xx

...you know all the roads back to your house in the area!

Week 4? What week is this now? It's the week anyway that the snow hit us in the UK! The weather outside is awful as many other runners will know! But I can't start about my long run last week without apologising for no blog last week due to me being sick! I was hungover sick and proper sick. It was not good. I had had such a good week of running and cardio and I went out for one little drink on Friday. One...I kept saying over and over again I have  to run 6miles tomorrow. For some reason this worked any other time I wanted to spend the night out with my friends when I had a lovely long run the next morning. This wasn't to be one of those nights though. Waking up with a sore head and sniffles Saturday meant pulling on my running clothes was going to be harder. I decided though that I would try and sort my head out in the morning and run in the afternoon before my house mates birthday party.....yeah...birthday party. This meant making 150 vodka jelly shots, decorating a whole room with balloons while she was out and baking 36 chocolate cupcakes that also needed icing. Sure I'll do the 6miles tomorrow....this is far more important! If anything my house mate, Kate, loved everything! She was so surprised at all the effort we went into and celebrated by forgetting the night with the help of alcohol. Waking up for my 6/3miles on Sunday wasn't great. I was actually sick now, everything hurt and I couldn't get warm. This meant that I was stuck in bed all day Sunday feeling sorry for myself. I do aplogise as I know it was half self inflicted but one weekend of running wasn't so bad! As long as I could beat this cold and get back out during the week!!

Monday and Tuesday were even worse. I had to take a day off lab and all! I love Science, that never happens! Though by Thursday I was feeling myself again. I decided to kick start my training again was going to be with my long 7mile run Saturday! The weather was cold. Wait, bitter. It was 10am and -2C outside. I decided to wait until 12pm....it was only -1C then! 3 layers of clothes on and a new map routed on fetcheveryone.com and I was out the door! Up I went to ASDA and then met the canal on the opposite side of the shop. It was completely frozen over! I didn't believe the hype but it was! There were birds and people walking on the ice it was very different to any run I'd done before! Halfway through the run I forgot my route and couldn't remember if I going one way would make it longer or not but I was feeling good so went for the "longer" route. I was sure I was headed for 10min/miles the way I was feeling. I didn't feel like I was running slow I just felt so good! As I was turning up the road to my house I thought about pushing for another mile but thought better of it. Don't want to injure or stress myself. Logging into fetch to see how far I ran I was delighted to see instead of 7miles it was a nice 8.11miles with an overall pace of 8:55min/miles!! I can't believe that I am still able to run under 9min/miles at the moment and not feel like crap. My twitter friend Running_Bucky told me to believe in myself and it seems I may be able to get this half done in a good time!

Recover run? Um....no. The 4inches of snow stopped that. Oh well. I think next time I'll try get to the gym for it even though that stresses me out a lot!

So for this week, this bitter cold week I've been forced into the gym. I hate the dreadmill. As in I would prefer to run 10miles outside then 1mile on that thing. But I don't want to hurt myself since the council aren't clearing the paths so I had to run 4.23miles on the dreadmill last night. I did it in a good time though of 37mins. My shins hurt for the first mile but then they got used to the boring black floor beneath me.

Tonight is cardio night, which means cross trainer, stepper and rower! May do some weights but depends on how many people are in the gym ;)

8miles this weekend and I think I'll do the same route. We're supposed to get snow on Friday but I think I'll run on the roads if it comes to it. My motivation is back and with 8weeks to go I can really get into shape for the half! Getting excited about it!!

Oh and finally, the title of this thread does have significance I promise. So with the bad weather on Saturday and 4inches of snow falling in about 4hours, the transport in London was an issue. So much so that the train I was on back from my friends died on the tracks twice. This was after there was a fantastic electrical show thanks to the traction, ice and electricity under us. Quite scary so after the train driver had 1) rammed into the ice twice to try and break it with the trains force so we could keep going and had 2) moved everyone from the smoking carriages up front to ours, we decided it was time to get off. There were no buses running, obviously and this meant walking 30minutes home. But this was okay! I had run here this very morning so I knew we were safe and near home. I was so happy even with the wet gloves and freezing temperatures. Running saved my butt that night! Thankfully for me and my friend I know my area pretty well now after running all over it! Phew! This just means trying even more new routes in future!!

Week 3 and 4.....half check?

your first thought when you look at the weekly weather forecast is, "When can I fit in my runs?"

So this title is perfect for this weeks update as for some reason I timed all my runs perfectly with the nearest heavy rain shower! This was fine towards the end of the week as the weather warmed but earlier on it was rather chilling! This week was a great week for running anyway. Got all the runs in and even felt great about them and not as sore or tired as last week. Fitness is coming back!

So the first run of the week was during one of the icy days. This was fine as I set off later then I normally would have to avoid the slippy ice. The scrubs though that I run through were so bitter! The ice was hitting off the back of my calves as I jogged through which then meant the cold started to creep up my legs. Was not very pleasant at all! But got it done (3.24miles)!

Now I know I said I got everything done and it was a great week but I did kinda skip my cardio in the gym. This was only because I forgot my running shoes and you kinda need them for the gym! I will remember them this Wednesday. I may even make sure my card will let me in today so I can go to the outside gym instead if the access is denied.

Now back to how great the running was ;) This was supposed to be a 4miler run but I got the worst cramps in my stomach during the run. I didn't stop the running but decided to cut the run .7miles short. The rain didn't help either but at least I felt better getting home. And I felt glad that I went out anyway as well!

At this stage of the week i was starting to get a little worried about my silly fast pace. For the run to the beat, I ran a comfortable 9min 47sec/miles but for some reason my runs lately have been 8:40-8:55min/miles. I have been trying to slow myself down but for some reason I end up running the same pace. I need to get this sorted soon or else my long runs will hurt a lot!

Talking long runs 5miles was the set distance this week which was another nice one to get back into fitness. And what was so great about this run? The rain that began about 2mins in? Yep! The wind that was blowing me backwards while I ran forwards? Yep! To be honest though, I like to train with these conditions because I think if it turns out race day isn't great weather wise then at least I'm prepared. There is no way to make race day nice and cool with no wind so may as well be prepared. Makes ya stronger too right?!

Recovery run then was more like a tempo run and I honestly thought my time was going to be so much slower! I felt like my feet were dragging! Maybe the watch is broken or something....not me obvs but I need to sort this out soon before I burn out!!

So far I've ran 30miles this month which is more then 9months of last years total and we're not even at the end. So glad to be back into running just a little scared of the long runs again and trying to fit them in without passing out for the day afterwards.

Week 2! Check!!

your in work thinking about running.. and out running thinking about work ..

Prague Half Marathon here I come!! So at the end of last year I decided that I would love to run 3 half marathons this year. This was of course just after completing the Run to the Beat half in September. I was on a high after finishing in 2hours 7mins and 36seconds. I couldn't believe that I could 1)actually get there to the run, 2) finish the run and 3) get it in under 2hours 30mins. I was aiming for 2hours 15minutes on the day but I thought that I would never get under that! I think I need to recap on that day as I never did it on my other blog that will return to a normal diary of London life.

Sept 25th 2011.
Temp at 10am: A whopping 23degrees.
People there: thousands in purple!
Feeling: Nervous but excited!

So the day started with getting up really really early and having loads of water and porridge. I had my bag packed from the night before so not to waste time being nervous. Hoping on the tube at East Acton with my fantastic housemates the nerves were sinking. There were a couple other runners it seemed on the platform and I thought cool I may see some people going there too. Umm...no. I may see a couple hundred on the tube! Getting to Bond Street the central line I was on was full of runners and the platform was so jammed I was looking for people that were in the same colour band as me! I was lucky to get a seat on the tube as it couldn't fit anymore people there were that many runners. This did NOT help the nerves. I was shaking as I kept drinking the water I'd brought. Hydrate loads before the race I was told. Getting off at Greenwich was like entering a purple sea! There were purple shirted runners everywhere! Everyone was in such great spirits it relaxed me a little. A little...Remember this was the first long race. I'd only ever competed in a 5km, I accidently entered. This event was much different! So I met my friend Charlotte who was going to run the race with me at the top of the station. We nattered and ran off leaving my house mates to find a good place to view the race from. I had a loo stop and then headed to our coloured area.

Me and Charlotte after the race! 

The race began at 10am! I was ready! But then....we had to wait....watching the runners leave their pens was awful. I wanted to be out there running! And what was worse was I could feel the hydration I had packed up on needing to be released. I was not in a good place. But off we set about 20mins later to the roar of the crowd. Each mile was supposed to have a music station which I thought would be a small stage. It was a little chipper van and there were DJs pumping out music that was only loud enough for you to hear when you were near them. This was okay though, I didn't mind. I had Charlotte (the best running partner ever!). At about mile 4 I spotted out other friend Holly who was just about 3mins behind us! She was running with her friend Rach who was injured but still going strong. I didn't take on any water until about mile 9 where I decided that not drinking because I needed the toilet was a silly idea. I felt so dehydrated! Charlotte was worried too but I did not want us to stop and ruin our time (I know now that this should have been done and it was silly! First big race remember!). Things were tough from then on. I was finding it hard and the heat was really not helping me! At mile 12 I told Charlotte to go on without me that I was afraid that I would have to walk and didn't want to ruin her half marathon time. She felt bad but I insisted. She finished 2minutes ahead of me and waited at the end. Throughout the run though my housemates were fantastic! They were screaming at mile 3, which was early but really nice! Then again at about mile 8 where we had just come up the hill so it was tough. Then again at mile 11 were I really needed the encouragement. They were so great! I couldn't thank them enough for their support! Though right at the end when I thought I had nothing left in me at all I saw 2 Irish flags hanging off the barriers holding back the hundreds of supporters. I don't know what I was thinking but I think I thought if I heard some Irish voices or something it would help. It turned out that it was my mother, my sister and my friend Sean. I blurted out an "I love you" and slowly made my way to the finish line where I never felt so much relief in not having to run anymore! I grabbed a bottle of water, downed it, looked up at Calvin Harris and then met Charlotte who was waiting for me. We got our medals and my Mum wrapped the Irish flag around me and told me I was just like Sonya O'Sullivan! It was such an emotional end to a great run! I saw loads of MNDA runners who I waved and cheered on! The atmosphere was fantastic and I felt so happy to have ran the half and ran for MNDA.

Quick trip to Nandos for protein and a treat and then off to the pub for 2 drinks before I collapsed into bed. My legs were shaking and aching but was good!

So now to the next event! I finished the year with a 10km Movember run which wasn't great 61mins and 10seconds. There were 4 hills with an elevation of 200ft in 0.2miles (something like that). But I didn't mind. It was still a run for a good cause and the atmosphere at this one was so much better then the Run to the Beat.

Next event? This one has to be a half marathon. So I signed up for the Prague Half Marathon on the 31st March. It is a very level half and I love Prague. Why not sure?! So training for this started this week and maaan am I out of shape. One 3 mile, 4mile and 5mile run. There was supposed to be a CT in there but I didn't have time. Time is my biggest issue at the moment. Getting myself out of bed earlier to run is hard!! But week one is done! This means that me and my good running/Science friend Holly can continue to talk about running all through lunch, google running while we are in the lab and can now actually do the running! Bring on week 2! I am going to whoop it's ass! Now to find a 10km race before this half! Oh and Royal Parks opens on Wednesday, super excited!! :)

Stretch!!

Aine