Weekly Workout Recap: 7 - 13 July & an Explanation!

So I disappeared for a little while. Just as everything was looking so good, I vanished from my blog for a whole week - why? What happened?! 

I got food poisoning. Yep, Friday night before my race, trying to carb up for the morning, I ate some rice that it turns out was both undercooked and had been sitting in my press for way longer than you should keep anything. Long story short, I had to take five days off running, because as well as the standard food poisoning symptoms I also got these awful stomach cramps that took ages to properly ease. Not fun :(

So we're going to do a very quick, short workout recap and then move on! And I do still have a Clontarf 5 Mile recap coming up for you guys very soon.

Monday: 6km easy, core
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 5km speed, weights
Thursday: 5km hill work
Friday: 5km speed, Keiser air resistance
Saturday: rest
Sunday: rest

Weekly Workout Recap: 30 June - 6 July

This is so late, my bad! I've had way too much going on recently, and the past few days were a crazy intersection of work deadlines, missed sleep and some medical issues, which just left me incapable of getting posts up. But everything should be more or less sorted out now, with a bit more balance, and I'm excited to post way-too-much as usual ;) So here's my (belated) weekly workout recap to kick things off.

Monday: 6km recovery run, core
Tuesday: 5km speedwork, weights, core

Wednesday: rest (this picture is from my walk to Clontarf to get my race number!)

Thursday: rest
Friday: 6km speedwork, weights 

Saturday: 8km (Clontarf 5 Mile) + 2km, core

Sunday: 2km run, weights, core, Keiser air resistance 

This was one of those weeks where you feel like you didn't do much until you write it down. I've got a training plan written out for Dun Laoghaire but every week I seem to swap days around or combine workouts differently. I'm hitting all the basic components of my plan each week though so that's good! And I really am noticing a difference in what I can do speed-wise, so that's exciting. Here's to being another week closer to my "goal race"...

Holland & Barrett goodies!

This morning after the Clontarf 5 Mile - amazing race! recap is coming up soon - I dropped into Holland & Barrett to find some new goodies. I think this is the most I ever bought in a H&B trip... must have been the post-race hunger telling me I needed all of it! But I'm really excited about everything I got, so why not share?

Vita Coco coconut waters in Acai & Pomegranate and Pineapple

Coconut water is a great post-run drink because it's so high in electrolytes. I hate the plain kind, but tried the orange flavoured one a little while ago and liked it a lot, so I thought I'd pick up a couple of new flavours to try. If you're concerned about the flavours adding artificial crap to these, don't worry - the flavour just comes from pure, natural juice, with nothing funny in there.

Zero High5 Electrolyte & Magnesium Sports Tabs

My absolute favourite purchase of the day - I was so excited to find these! You might know I've been trying to find a good way to get my electrolytes back after long, hot summer runs. I wanted something calorie free, just because I'd be drinking it after a run with my post-run snack, and I wanted something with all five essential electrolytes. These tabs look perfect! You put one or two tabs in 750ml of water, wait for them to dissolve and off you go - they're citrus flavoured. I haven't tried them yet but I am soooo excited about these!

Peanut Protein Blast Ball and Maxi Recover & Rebuild bars

You guys know I love these peanut protein balls for my post-gym protein. So yummy and filling and the best part, all natural! So I picked up another one. I also decided to try out these bars - I do sometimes eat Maxi protein bars because they can be easier to find, and they always taste so nice, like a treat almost. I've never had these flavour but all their others that I've tried have been great so I thought buying two was worth the risk! I know these have some odd chemicals and things in them, but they make me feel so good that I don't mind that little bit of artificial sweetener and funny sugars. 

Nakd bars

I love Nakd bars! I decided to get a bunch of different flavours and try them out as my afternoon snacks at work this week - I've been looking for something more natural for my snacks but it's just so hard to find properly healthy snack bars in Ireland that aren't super expensive. I've juuuust discovered that Tesco sell boxes of Nakd bars though, so I'll definitely be picking those up in future! For now though I just got five different flavours.

 
That's everything, and I'm sooooo excited about it!

What's the most exciting food you bought recently? :)

First Friday Five of July!

Friday Five time again... it literally seems like I wrote the last one yesterday. Where is my summer going?! Come baaaaaack....

1. Fruit adventures

I wanted to mix up my fruit a bit this week - I tend to stick fairly rigidly to apples and bananas but I wanted something a little bit more exciting, so (as well as a tray of apples and a bunch of bananas, because I'd miss them too much!) I picked up a little packet of blueberries and a punnet of peaches this week. Soooooo yummy! I've been eating the blueberries as a pre-dinner snack because I'm always ravenous when I get home from work, and I had a peach for breakfast this morning with a protein bar. Hopefully next week I can pick up some more awesome fruit! I'm thinking maybe blackberries or raspberries...

2. Speedwork

I know - who am I?! Normally I'm all about the long slow distance, but recently I've just been getting such a huge kick from doing speedwork. It gives me such a sense of accomplishment and I've been hitting goals I didn't think I'd make, which is fantastic. Plus you don't need to be out there forever to get that lovely tired-out feeling in your legs! Which brings me to my third favourite...

3. The treadmill

I know. You think I've lost my mind. I can see where you're coming from! I've been dodging the treadmill for ages now - it's literally months since I last used one - but I got on one to do my speedwork on Tuesday and I'm hooked. I used to really enjoy the treadmill a couple of years ago and I'm now sort of remembering why. It's convenient, it's easy, and the miles just slip away without needing too much effort. No traffic lights, no awkward pedestrian crossings, no dodging bikes... it's lovely. I know it's counterintuitive in summertime but I might actually do a bit more treadmill work.

4. Bagels

Wholemeal bagels are right up there with my favourite foods of all time, and I've been adding them in all over the place recently. For breakfast, lunch, snacks, as a side at dinner, and with cream cheese, butter, turkey, chicken, or peanut butter. I've already had two today...

5. Nutri-Grain Raisin Breakfast Bakes

Remember when these used to be Nutri-Grain Elevenses? Much better name - I wouldn't ever eat these for breakfast really, but they make amazing snacks. And yes, I know they've got a decent bit of processed crap in there and aren't really that much more nutritious than a regular treat bar, but they're like a pre-packaged cake and I'm obsessed. I literally need to buy these one at a time because I'll devour a box if it's in my house! I like them for evening snacks, or sometimes for that mid-afternoon kick at work when I'm slacking a bit.

 

Running Survey: Would You Rather...?

I was reading blogs earlier and came across this survey on the lovely Jesica's blog rUnladylike. It looked like so much fun and a great way to tell you a little bit more about me, so I figured why not?! If you'd like to answer the questions too and leave them in the comments that would be awesome! Here goes...

Would you rather run a 5k or a marathon?

Hmm... I'm going to say a marathon because a) I've never run one and really want to, and b) I much prefer long slow distances to trying to be speedy! We all know I'm not all that fast.
 
Would you rather run a flat race in the heat or a hilly race in the cold?

Flat race in the heat, always always always. I do fine in the heat - to be honest, I'm such a sweaty person that I'll be drenched by the end of any run even if it's cold - but I hate hills!

Would you rather get new running shoes or a new running outfit?

I need new shoes at the moment but I've already lined up to buy them, so if I was going to get a gift or something I'd always go for the outfit! I love getting new cute running clothes, it's so motivating. 

Would you rather run a marathon without headphones or a Garmin?

Without a Garmin for sure. I think I'd die trying to run without my headphones!

Would you rather choose a race because of the convenience (location, price, travel) or the swag?

Shallow as it is, I'm going to say the swag. I love everything about races - the atmosphere, the sense of community, the shared energy, everything - but at the end of the day I can run the distance by myself for free. I want something physical to show for my efforts if I'm going to pay money for the privilege! (Maybe this will change when I stop being a broke student...)

Would you rather run a PR that results in an injury or finish strong and miss a PR?

There will always be other PR opportunities, I'm going for finishing strong and missing the PR. Injury is so awful I couldn't possibly pick it.

Would you rather do 100 squats or 100 push-ups?

Funny question given my July challenge! But definitely for me it's SQUATS no question, I suck at push-ups. Although I'd probably benefit more from doing the push-ups... 

Would you rather run without socks or without a sports bra?

Without a sports bra - I don't have enough up top for it to be a problem :P Besides, wearing running shoes with no socks is so gross - and wouldn't you get heaps of blisters?

Would you rather run on a treadmill for an hour or run around the same street block for an hour?

Definitely treadmill, I think I'd get dizzy running the same block for an hour! You could always watch a movie or something on the treadmill to make it less boring. 

Would you rather run a Ragnar Relay or be part of a marathon relay team?

Definitely a Ragnar Relay, it looks like so much fun! Someday, someday...

Would you rather run naked or take a naked yoga class?

Definitely run naked - the thought of doing all that stretching and bending and wiggling around with no clothes on makes me squirm. Besides, if you're running you'll get past people before they have a chance to really see much, right? :P

Would you rather come in 4th at the Olympics or 1st at the New York City Marathon?

1st in New York for sure - I can't even imagine coming anywhere decent in any race, let alone first in New York. Imagine knowing you were the fastest person that day. Wow...

Would you rather give up running for 3 years to get a BQ (Boston Marathon qualifying time) or never BQ but run as much as you want?

Much as I want to BQ someday (and I want it so bad I can't even explain) I don't think I could handle not running for 3 years so I'll have to go for not BQing. Besides, there's heaps of amazing things you can do in this sport that aren't BQing!

RACE RECAP: Funlavin 10k

It's been a couple of days since Sunday's 10k, and I'm still on a bit of a high.

Before you get too excited, I didn't PR (and wasn't expecting to!). But I did have an amazing, very inspiring race that has me super optimistic for my PR attempt in Dun Laoghaire in August.

So I guess we'll divide this recap into sections and make it a bit easier to read...

Travel, Registration & Pre-Start

My dad walk/jogged the 5k that was happening at the same time, so he drove me over to Dunlavin. We left at 8.30am knowing we'd be stopping in Tesco (I wanted coconut water for afterwards) and hoping to make it by around 10am. 

....At 9.15 we were pulling into Dunlavin town square. Note for next time - it's definitely not that far from my house to Dunlavin! 

We picked up our race numbers and timing chips - this was actually the first time I've ever had a separate timing chip to tie to my shoe. Every other chip-timed race I've done had those timer strips on the backs of the race numbers. I was actually pretty excited to have a proper timing chip for once!

Sign-in was a breeze as there was a very small number of pre-registered runners, and we mooched around for a while - stopped into the shop, read the paper in the car, found a bathroom - while waiting for the 10.45 warmup. The organisers arranged to use the town hall both pre- and post-race, meaning we could use those bathrooms - a wonderful and very welcome change from porta-potties!

At 10.45 there were a couple of short speeches and then we were offered a group warmup by a lovely lady whose name has unfortunately escaped me. It was a nice dynamic warmup, and although I'd done a little warming up myself first it was still great.

At a couple minutes to eleven the 10k group was led off down the hill (the 10ks started further along than the 5ks, to prevent the two groups getting mixed up on the section of route we shared). The timing mat was rolled out (it had to be carried from the 10k start back to the 5k start after), there was a quick shouted countdown, and we were off!

Kilometre 1

I was feeling good but not great in this kilometre. I was passed by tons of people - loads were left behind me, but I still felt like I was dropping back and must be going really slow. I felt like I was working decently hard, but at the same time it didn't seem like huge effort. So when my Garmin beeped in the first kilometre at 5:39 I just about passed out on the road.

Let me be clear: this wasn't a good idea, but it made me so happy. It broke the 1km record on my Garmin - actually, it smashed it, by a full 20 seconds. I thought I'd always fight to run anything even fractionally below a 6 minute kilometre, and this was on the flat rather than downhill and didn't even feel that hard. I knew in that minute that a) I was a better runner than I'd been giving myself credit for, b) today wouldn't be a repeat of my Flora disaster, and c) I've got a real shot at PRing in Dun Laoghaire.

But still, running your fastest ever kilometre in the first of a 10k in the mountains is maybe a tad silly. So I got a bit antsy for the future.

Kilometre 2 -5

Surprisingly still going strong at this point, running in the low 6's (I think roughly 6:05-6:20) and not finding it horrendously hard. I'd looked at the race map beforehand and knew we started out with mostly flat and a bit of downhill but would move into uphills later in the race, so I was getting a bit worried at holding such a strong pace and knew it might come back to bite me. I tried to pull back a little, but we got a big stretch of downhill just after the 4k mark so it was tricky. I passed two water stops in this stretch - there were three total - but ran through without taking any as I was carrying my water bottle.

Kilometre 6 - 7

The hills hit just before the 6k point, and my god did they hit. I'm usually a fairly decent hill runner, and I ran up most of them, but I had to walk the hill around the 6k mark, it was an insane hill. I'd say I walked most of 6.5 - 7.5, which was almost entirely that big hill - not pleasant. The third water stop fell around the 7.5k mark and I got a cup of water just because it was nice and cold - my bottle was starting to warm up a bit in the sun and not be quite so refreshing. The cold gave me the kick I needed.

Kilometre 8 - 10

Not going to lie, this was tough. It flattened out a bit from about the 8k mark, but I was shattered, and just wanted to stop to be honest. I remember running down the last stretch, with only half a kilometre left and the finish line in sight, and still having to push so hard not to walk. But I did it! Mainly because I was coming in with a lot of the people doing the Family Fun Walk and didn't want to chicken out in front of them...

Final time: 1:08:56

This time sounds crappy but I'm actually thrilled. For someone who doesn't run hills, this was a tough course, and that first couple of kilometres just made my whole month. I didn't know I was capable of that sort of speed. Onward and upward!

Special Announcements for July!

Why hello there! Can you believe it's July already?! I'm a third of the way through my summer... *sob*

But it's hard to be sad when it is so gorgeous outside. Let's all just take a minute to appreciate how freaking beautiful this city is right now...

These are all from my journeys to and from work today. Weather like this just reminds me why I adore Dublin so much. I've started taking photos of everyday pretty scenes in the sunshine just to remind me how gorgeous it is.

Now that you're done indulging me and my random photos, for some special announcements! Not one, not two but three.

#1 - I FINALLY HAVE INTERNET!

The best thing in the world - we finally got internet in my new house. A month to the day since I moved in here. You are going to be inundated with blog posts now that I can blog all the time from the comfort of my own home :P

#2 - The July Squat Challenge

I mentioned a while ago how I've been forgetting to do squats, and how I really need to do them. Well, I decided to kick start my squats routine by making a commitment - 100 squats a day in July! I'm really excited - I've made a little note on my phone and everything and am checking them off in 10s throughout the day. 

#3 - HALF MARATHON!

Yep, you read that right. I'm DOING A HALF MARATHON! I decided a little while ago but was waiting for a good time (and a good internet connection...) to tell you guys, plus I wanted to be certain I really wanted it. I'll be running the Clonakilty Waterfront Half Marathon on the 6th of December. Why December, you may wonder? Because I'll be training for Dun Laoghaire, working on my 10k times, until August, and then I want two weeks of relative rest and a slightly longer training cycle (16 weeks). Plus I've never done a "destination" race before, and this one will involve staying over in a B&B for the night - so exciting! And besides, I prefer running in cooler weather. 

Training plans will go up here soon, as soon as I work out the kinks. But I'm EXCITED!