#Runstreak Week 1 in Review

A week can seem like a long time.

 It doesn't seem like a week since I was running in the dark with a dead headlamp
or indeed running around in circles like a hamster but as the week went on myself and Edel fell into a pattern of pushing each other to get out and complete the daily run task.

There were no records set. I'm definitely struggling with elevated HR and slow pace at the moment. I have been snuffling and coughing for the past fortnight or so, so there is a bit of seasonal adjustment and dietary adjustment going on. I've cut back on the junk and processed stuff now that the training mojo is coming back and a couple of those ill-gained kilograms have shifted again, so happy days.

#Day1 - 6.5k, PaceAvg 05:23/km
#Day2 - 5.3k, PaceAvg 05:40/km
#Day3 - 5.0k, PaceAvg 06:00/km (treadmill preset, hill interval)
#Day4 - 6.95k, PaceAvg 05:45/km
#Day5 - 6.11k, PaceAvg 05:01/km, HRAvg 146bpm (treadmill)
#Day6 - 6.95k, PaceAvg 05:20/km, HRAvg 148bpm
#Day7 - 12.13k, PaceAvg 05:38/km, HRAvg 142bpm 

Total for the week 55.76km

Now onto Week 2 and more of the same though I might stretch this week to a 45 minute minimum for myself.

#Runstreak #Day2 - Ever Decreasing Circles

Okay, so I promised yesterday not to give you a blow by blow account of the #runstreak so I
apologise up front for this update. I just had to tell you.

I knew that Day2 was going to be an awkward one. Edel is away with +adidas in the UK so I'm minding the fort. Home, kids, fed, watered, played with, cuddled and off to bed for a story. Looks like it's me and the treadmill.

I spend the next 2 hours looking for the safety key. It's not where I normally leave it (out of the kids reach) and the room looks suspiciously tidy. Has someone sabotaged my #runstreak?

A message to the boss and I get suggestions of a couple of places to search. However my searches are interupted by tears from a 4 yr old missing her mommy. So a couple of trips up and down the stairs cudding and reassuring a child has me at stupid o'clock contemplating options for a run.

I knew I couldn't just bin the run and abandon the idea of a streak. I also knew if I completed this, today, there would be little to stop me in future.

So.

With every curtain open downstairs (to easily spot any wayward children) I proceeded to run around the house. Outside. Laps around a house!

If the neighbours spotted me I'd be hauled away in a padded van!

Anyway 30 mins later #Day2 run done!!

Pretty please make #Day3 be uncomplicated.

#Runstreak #Day1 - Until the Lights Go Out

My Kilcornan training ground

Now I'm not going to bore you with #Day1, #Day2 etc for the next 31 days.

It'll be a weekly summary at most, unless something worthwhile happens.

We've started a Runstreak for the month of December and invited everyone to join us for 30 mins (minimum) every day. Its a great way to get yourself in the habit of time-out everyday and does wonders for clearing your head of life's stresses.

Out yesterday with the family to see Santa in Oranmore, the kids loved it too! It was getting dark when Edel headed out so I was persuading her to bring a light. It was only afterwards when I caught the kids playing shadow puppets that I realised she'd only the flashy red lamp which would be useless in the dark for running Kilcornan.

Cue loading the car to go find mum. She arrived back as we went out the gate, typical!

My turn.

Gear grabbed, light on and out the door I went. As I went down the avenue through Kilcornan ready to start the first loop back around my lamp suddenly dimmed. 

Oh dear! Of all the running I'd done through the evenings it had to be this evening that my batteries run out!! I'll never live this down!!

That was the end of that, 18 mins down the avenue turn around and head right back where I started. No way was I chancing the woods with low batteries as I'd be stumbling around with a broken ankle in no time.

Home with my 'wear a headlamp' tail firmly between my legs for a brief 36min run.

Ah well, run 1 done, another one makes a #runstreak.

Going for a #running streak.

Its been a week of nothing.

No training, no running, no cycling. Nothing.

After running the AK Clarenbridge 10k last Sunday an irritating, annoying niggle started in my left foot. It feels very similar to the one I had in the right foot the week before.

Unususal as I rarely get niggles or soreness from running. Even with my volume greatly decreased in the past month or so there would be less chance of a niggle developing. Anyway been a busy week, tiring and with a lapse in my normal well behaved diet, I feel low in energy and have developed a bit of a headcold. So a week of rest.

New month starting this weekend so going to have a bash at being disciplined and running for 30 mins each day through December. Be sure to join in.

Post by Amphibian King West.

AK Clarenbridge 10k - in aid of Irish Pilgrimage Trust

Literally on my doorstep so no excuses for missing this one!!

I was busy in the morning dropping down race banners and setting up on the route. Back up home, change and a nice easy jog back down to the starting area at Kilcornan pool. Meeting with some of the guys we arranged an quick warmup which would take in part of the middle section of the race.

The trails are lovely at this time of year, and with 5/6 km of the run being through the woods it is hard not to get too distracted by the woodland.

Back around to the start area and we lined up in a group of roughly 200. I've no idea how I ended up in the front row, but I wasn't there for long! :)

Bang on time the race started and there was an explosion off the front with local man Timmy Glavey leading the charge out. Knowing I was in the wrong I moved to the side rather than blocking the much faster people coming through but still raced.

First km is mostly downhill to the entrance gate, turn left and there's roughly 500m along the side of the road before turning left into the woods and up the main trail. From 1.5 you are running 2k on the rought uneven terrain of the woods with a bit of a sting in the drags (roughly 25m gain over 2k) before hitting the tarmac up and out the back gate.

Left onto the road after the water station, didn't bother, and took back a place here. I'd planned to go hard for the 1st k, steady for the woods and settle into a solid pace for the roads where the surface twists and does a roller coaster for a couple of km. Found my solid pace but not as fast as I'd hoped to hold.

Coming back in 7-8k I passed the guy that I was hanging onto, he'd gone through me earlier and I managed to sit on his shoulder for a little bit. I could hear him behind me and from 2k I wanted to push hard going down the avenue to the estate again.

There was no push. I stayed ahead of him and pulled another runner in as we went over the cattle grid. Straight run down, skip over the few ramps, around the corner, your man came past me through the arch and the last 200m were a slog I just could not bring him back.

Over the line for 43:14. 4 mins improvement on my last time round this exact same race in the same conditions. I was hoping for closer to 40 but I could really feel the lack of fast speed work and effects of a long season plus the extra kgs that piled back on in the past few weeks.

Still & all I'll take the positives.

25th November - Last Week in Review

An easy week of running last week. I've had a pain on the top of my right foot which is a new thing. Not sure if I tied laces too tight or what, but it's uncomfortable, so sort of a semi rest week to see how it heals.

By Thursday I was fit to burst though & just had to get out.

So did one of my usual loops and back to meet Mrs. AKW for a second loop before heading to work. These loops through the woords are definitely one of my favourite places to run and they are always guaranteed to put me in good form.

Not much for the week.

Thursday - 12.3k (6.1+6.2)
Sunday - 16.2k AK Clarenbridge 10k run with warmup and cooldown
Total: 28.5k

Eddie Murphy Memorial - Sixmilebridge Half Marathon

I got a call during the week, reminding me that my name was not on the entry system for the BMOH Eddie Murphy Memorial run at the weekend.

Maybe it was an oversight & I had forgotten to enter it?

Such are the privileges of working in a running store and being involved in the local running community that organisers sometimes call you to remind you that you are meant to be running!! :D

My first experience of running in Sixmilebridge was this summer during the 10in10 (Ten marathons in ten days) in blistering heat. Literally the tarmac was blistering & sticking to your footwear,31.5°C would do that to you. Anyway, back then I had the honour of running alongside some of the participants, I was running a half and it was a humbling experience to say the least to be in the company of people who were doing a full marathon every day for ten days.

That humbling experience returned on Sunday. In such esteemed company and among the hardship that some people were going through, one would feel like a fraud just doing a half marathon. At least that's how I felt as I passed some people with 'The miracle is not that I finished...its that I had the courage to start' on the back of their shirts.

We met at the marquee tent where registration took place. A no-frills event in that there are no goody bags, T-shirts, or any other fancy race items. There was water available and coke and presumably the long course runners had their own aid stations and needs looked after.

€20 entry fee and every penny of it going to Milford Hospice in Limerick at the request of the Murphy family. From the BMOH website: 

BMOH are proud hosts of the one of the most unique marathons in Europe which also includes Half marathon , 30 miles & Double marathon options all on the one mile loop with the infamous heart break hill to be tackled on each lap.
Due to tragic and Ultimately passing of Eddie Murphy , BMOH AC hold a multi marathon event each November in Sixmilebridge in Honor of Eddie which takes place on a unique one mile loop.
About Eddie Murphy: For those of us lucky enough to have known Eddie, he represented what endurance running is all about for many of us, Pushing towards new personal running goals while enjoying & making new friendships along the way.  Eddie, before his untimely Death in April, 2011, had completed over 45 marathons

 The one mile loop is a challenge, from the start you run downhill through the timing mats and down to the village of Sixmilebridge, left and left again brings you to the bottom of the hill which drags all the way back up and around again.

I bumped into a few familiar faces at the starting area, its not a race but you still check your markers ;)

Chatting to Frank, John & Chris among others and we were soon given the clear road and away we went.

I ran with Chris, chatting to the bottom of the first climb and I let him away on after that. He stormed up the hill & I knew I wasn't ready to go that hard just yet! I trotted around the next few loops, passing people and congratulating them on their efforts. 'Welldone 10in10' that kind of thing. Its hard not to sound like a tosser, congratulating people are you start lapping them. As I say, its a fraudlent feeling and humbling.

After 4 or 5 laps I heard a wheezing and panting behind me, Ah! that must be Mr. Wiggle!! :)

No, in truth he glided up alongside and we spent the next miles talking life. Bertie got a bit of smack talk going with the MC and there was a surge to the mat on each lap.

We got given out to for chatting on the hills, but honestly, I ran to the finish with a smile on my face the whole way round. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, the company was great and with no real pressure I ran one of my best half marathons.

We decided / agreed to finish together along with Charlie whom I met on the route (a friend of Frank) the three of us crossed the line together, the times show that. A great day out, hats off to those who ran before us and to those who were running behind us.

Delighted to be a part of this day and part of the memorial for Eddie Murphy.