Two weeks to the Dublin City Marathon Oct 26th

[Travelgal08]

Have you got enough muslce on the legs? I did a load of Hindus and my upper legs held out great for my marathon. I didn't do much on my calves and were aware I have little muscle there. They were my problem for several miles. Might be worth thinking about.

Good question. Will give it some thought. Thanks Papaya.

[runner]

Do you have any half marathon planned?

How did you feel after the race?

do you think you can improve your time in the ext months?

4,15 might be a tough goal if you have 56 min on 10k.

good luck!!

[Travelgal08]

Do you have any half marathon planned?

How did you feel after the race?

do you think you can improve your time in the ext months?

4,15 might be a tough goal if you have 56 min on 10k.

good luck!!

Yes I have a half marathon this weekend and another one in September. I felt fine after the race. Yes I think my time should improve in the next few months with consistent training. Thanks Runner, I don't really mind about time on the marathon as long as I can run the full distance well. It will be my first so it's ok if it takes longer.

[Travelgal08]

Ok a new week. Onwards and upwards.

Monday 6th July
10M easy pace. Feeling much better, really enjoyed the run. Lashed rain at about 7 miles and I got absolutely soaked, puddles in my trainers, but feeling much better than the weekend. Stomach still slightly off but way better.
Upper body weights at home plus some core work.

Tuesday 7th July
4M recovery run

Wednesday 8th July
8M with 4M at half marathon race pace
Upper body weights plus some core work

[Travelgal08]

Hmm, well let's just say that a combination of an amazing 4 day music festival, plus serious recovery time plus a very traumatic phd viva which did not go according to plan has put a rather large dent in my training log. I haven't done any running for 8 days now

Not sure about this marathon business, feeling quite demotivated but hoping tomorrow will be a brighter day (today was officially the shittiest day I've had in quite some time! ) and I can get back into the swing of things.

[Travelgal08]

Saturday 18th July
5M run

Sunday 19th July
5M run

[Travelgal08]

Monday July 20th
Feeling quite unwell so no training today. I've decided to change training programs for the marathon as the one I was following was just too advanced for me. Now using one of Hal Higdon's intermediate programs but I'll throw in some fartlek/interval training here and there too.

Tuesday 21st
3M in the rain. Lovely.

Wednesday 22nd
6M

Thursday 23rd
3M

Friday 24th
Rest day.

Saturday 25th
6M. Ran early this morning as it was due to get pretty hot later on. Seems lots of runners had the same idea, lovely to see so many out running next to the river.

Sunday 26th
12M as per schedule. Felt easy which was great as I haven't run that far in 4 weeks!!!!!! Have been feeling off generally for almost a month I now realise was due to medication I was taking, took me a while to figure that out, so I've stopped taking it for a week now and my running and overall well-being is waaay better so hoping for better training weeks ahead.

27M this week.

[emm7]

hi travelgirl really sorry you've been unwell and your viva was traumatic! Not surprised you skipped a few days' running.
Yes do listen to your body, if you push too hard you could end up injured like me and be out of running for ages.
I think swapping to the different marathon schedule is a good idea.
Sending you healing wishes!

[Travelgal08]

Thanks Emm. You're very kind. Yes the new programme is much more manageable. It's a balancing act, I'm under a lot of stress at the moment but the running is helping as an outlet. Keeps me feeling sane And it's nice to have a goal to aim for that isn't work/study related.

Well done you coping so well with your injury. When I hurt my ankle a few months ago I nearly went crazy not being able to run. That wobble board sounds great. Do they sell them in sports stores?

[Travelgal08]

Monday 27th July
Should have been crosstraining but was at my desk all day trying to sort out thesis stuff.

Tuesday 28th July
Supposed to be 3M but very long day in Dublin, straight to bed when I finally got home. Will do it on my rest day.

Wednesday 29th July
5M. Desperate sinus pain but just got on with it.

Thursday 30th July
3M

Friday 31st July
Should be my rest day but did the 3M I missed on Tues plus upper body resistance work/core work
87M this month


Saturday 1st August
6M pace - 56.16

Sunday 2nd August
9M. Lovely run in the rain. Took it easy.
Upper body and core work afterwards.

26M this week

[Travelgal08]

Ok I've decided I need to lose a few lbs. My BMI is in the normal range but at the high end and I could definitely could do with losing 10lbs. All this studying/time spent at the desk is making me eat purely out of boredom. Otherwise my diet is great, lots of variety. So I'm continuing to eat well, just cutting out junk/unnecessary snacks. I think it would probably help with the running too. I've been disciplined for 6 days so far and doing fine. So hopefully I can keep it up.

Monday 3rd August
Supposed to be my cross-training day but I have yet to do any cross-training! I want to go swimming as I haven't swam properly in years and would love to improve at it. Next Monday hopefully.

Tuesday 4th August
Supposed to do 4M. Spent the morning throwing up. Must have some sort of bug. Yeugh. Seems to be going around.

Wednesday 5th August
Feeling ok so did yesterday's 4M.

Thursday 6th August
7M. Ran 4M followed by 7x 60sec hill sprints. Then continued with the run home. Felt great. Really enjoyable.
Upper body resistance work at home.
After about 1.5 miles these two kids started running with me. They were about 10 years old. They were so cute. They wanted to carry on but got sidetracked when they passed a shop! Plus they were dying!! Then on my hill sprints I was running past a man doing some work in his gardening who offered me some words of encouragement after each sprint. Sweet

Friday 7th August
4M scheduled. Should have been a slow recovery run but my heart rate was way up. It was much warmer than it has been and it really made it hard work for me. I probably needed a rest.

Saturday 8th August
7M pace. Ran on grass this evening which I should definitely do more. I'm on the road too much. Again really hot evening which seems to slow me down but I managed a good steady pace. Met my neighbour's son earlier who recently completed his second Ironman in Austria. He gave me some good advice re the marathon. Nice to talk to a fellow runner as I don't know too many.

Sunday 9th August
14M. Took my fuelbelt out for it's first test-drive. It might take a bit of getting used to. Really humid today so glad of the water. Tried to keep pace slow but really struggled after 10.5miles...I needed more water. The heat kills me. But happy to have completed it. Going to chill for the rest of the day eventhough I probably should be doing a bit of study

36M this week.

[Travelgal08]

Monday 10th August
Rest day

Tues 11th August
4M easy pace

Wednesday 12th
7M, mixed it up with some random sprints in the middle, varying from about 40 to 90 seconds.

Thursday 13th August
Supposed to do 4M and intended to but got home and realised I had ran 5M. It's a route I've run so many times I guess I just stopped thinking about it. Really enjoyed run tonight, feet felt like feathers and temp was lovely and warm but not as humid as it has been recently. Got some new trainers last week and seem to adjusting well to them.

Heading up to Galway for a 10k race on Saturday. Was supposed to be a fast flat run but just found out they've changed the course to two laps of a 5k route with a huge hill in the middle! Should be interesting. Looking forward to it anyway.

Friday 14th August
Scheduled rest day. Felt like going for a run but figured I'd see would it help energy levels to take the day off as recommended.

Saturday 15th August
10km race Claregalway.
Time: 55.59 which is 37 seconds faster than my last 10km just under 2 months ago. Plus this was a more difficult course but I struggled to congratulate myself. I guess I'm watching all these people race past me and I'm still plodding away. I know I haven't been at this lark for long, proper training only started in January and I am improving but I just wish I was faster.
The course was two loops of a 5K route often used for another race. I struggled the whole way. Basically the first 3km were uphill and got progressively harder with each kilometre. Then it evened out a bit and the 5th kilometre was down hill but at that stage I was totally wrecked. Then we did the loop again. I almost threw up towards the end of the hill the second time around, I felt dizzy and I had to use all the willpower in me not to just start walking. I really wanted to just walk and give up but I was shouting at myself in my head to keep going. My breathing was all over the place. I felt uncomfortable the whole way through. I was working really hard for me but was miles behind most of the runners which was a bit demoralizing. But it was a good training run and I'm glad I did it.
Max Hr = 99%
Avg Hr = 94%
1km - 4.53
2km - 5.07
3km - 5.40
4km - 5.49
5km - 5.31
6km - 5.42 (big difference considering it was the same as the first 1km)
7km - 5.46
8km- 6.13
9km - 5.44
10km - 5.28

Anyway, chalk it down to experience. Hopefully by this time next year I'll see a big improvement.

Sunday 16th August
15M scheduled. Went same route as last week and was going great. When I got halfway I felt in much better shape than last Sunday but I started to get a shooting pain up my right leg. Walked a bit, it improved so ran again...then it came back...jogged, walked, jogged, walked. Did 12M and said enough. Got a lift home the rest of the way. Hoping I just pulled a muscle or something like that. Fingers crossed.

34M this week.

[Travelgal08]

Monday 17th
Rest - hobbled around basically but nothing serious. Looking at Lore of Running, he says if you have changed your trainers in the past 2-4 weeks it could contribute to injury so back to the old runners and see if that makes any difference.

Tuesday 18th
4M scheduled. Ran 3 and knee/thigh started to hurt so stopped and walked rest of way home.

Wednesday 19th
5M scheduled. Knee didn't feel too hot so did nothing.

Thursday 20th
4M scheduled. Fell asleep after work and didn't wake til midnight! So no running for me.

Friday 21st
Nothing. Planned a run but it just didn't happen. Wasn't in the humour at all.

Saturday 22nd
7M. Went fine, knee/thigh started to act up for about a mile towards the middle but was fine again for rest of run. Did some extra stretching afterwards. My hamstrings are really tight which is probably contributing to the pain.
Upper body weights
Small bit of circuits in the garden.

Sunday 23rd
11M. No problem at all. Knee/thigh etc. seem fine. Lots more stretching afterwards.

21M this week.
Should have been 31M but at least the injury seems to have sorted itself out.

[Travelgal08]

Monday 24th August
Cross-training day. Went to gym planned to do spinning, no class so did some walking on the treadmill, some cycling and some upper body work plus some circuit-training on the legs.

Tues 25th August
4M

Wednesday 26th August
8M including intervals - 7 min/3.5 min/2.20 min/2 min

Thursday 27th August
4M

Friday 28th August
Rest day

Saturday 29th August
8M marathon pace scheduled - Done

Sunday 30th August
17M scheduled - Done. Longest run ever so very pleased

41M this week.

[Travelgal08]

Also worked out I've run 695.7miles so far this year. Probably not a lot for some but a huge achievement for me it's the most I've ever run and I've been fairly consistent