when I posted my marathon predictions this morning I felt quite positive....shooting for the stars!! I have fallen down since then. I am not sure what it is. Is it work? I am madly busy...end of term and all that. sure. but I should also be quite happy as all my work with my students has finally been rewarded. is it that I have missed my run today and I have been eating more than normal and I feel a bit heavy?

dunno!

I came back home from work at 9pm today and I was starving. then I sat on the sofa and stared at the void in front of me. I got to think about stuff. about things that just touch us imperceptibly. things that should leave no sign on us 'cause insignificant...only to find out that they made an impression that cannot be shaken off.

I feel without energy, lethargic....not sure how I will run a marathon on sunday!

I have been a bit quite on here, but work commitments are taking its toll on me and I cannot feel the excitement for the marathon yet! and that's very unusual!

I'll be busy with work until tomorrow afternoon, then it will be dinner with my irish fetchie friends :-) and on saturday morning I am off to Padova. I'll be meeting lots of new peeps, from the italian running forum and from my contacts through my italian blog! I should be very excited but I am just concentrating too much on the million things to do before that day ....bohoo! but I am sure that tomorrow evening I'll be buzzing with excitement!!! (poor fetchies!)

now...let me do a something that I saw on RW, that is, to set my three goals for the marathon:
dream goal: the time you think you could achieve if the running gods are smiling down on you on race day 3h59'59'' (yeah...right!)
main goal: your core target 4h06'
that'll do: 4h15'
I know, I am being a bit optimistic with my prediction, but I believe that we always need to 'shoot for the stars!!!'...wouldn't you agree??

strange week this week. very busy preparing a paper for a conference which, then, went quite well but slept only 4hs in 2 days. interesting and exciting gathering of people. new friendships but also new wounds to try and heal. I did NOT feel like running yesterday. I felt quite distracted and unable to focus on the marathon ahead even though it's only a week away.
Anyway, I went for my run: last LSR before padova marathon!! 15k (9.32 miles) in 1h24'40'' with an average pace of 9.04
I was faster that I should have been but this week I only managed 2 runs with a total of 22k (more or less 13 miles). my legs felt light and willing to go and I thought to folllow them. I really felt good and I hope it's a good sign for sunday!

2nd week of taper madness!! went out today for a 40 min run and I managed to do 4.5 miles. I found the first mile hard going but then, as a miracle, I felt great and I think I had THE perfect run (as you can see from the graph!)....i know, it's only 4.5miles....but who cares!

I got up this morning at 8.15 and I sat on my sofa to watch the 5 and a half hours of FLM!!! I laughed and cried and screamed at the TV. I remember very well my FLM in 2006 and it was very hard and emotional. I hope to run it again one day.

it's finally taper time for me. I planned 19k, more or less 12miles, at marathon pace or at what will supposedly be my marathon pace: 9.15 and I finished bang on time. My legs were fine, just a bit tired on the last k. I won't be able to keep this pace for the marathon, that's for sure. But let's focus on the present: this is what I was supposed to do today and this is exactly what I did!

this is the graph of my run. the splits are in k not in miles....sorry :-)

I have read many complaints about connemara on the connemara forum. most of them are quite appropriate, but to me the beauty of the place makes me forget everything else!
Having said that, the 20minutes wait outside the tent just after the finish line to get the medal the t-shirt was a real drag and I'm still paying for that now. I am also paying for not having being able to change right away which meant waiting for the bus with my wet cloths on. and it wasn't exactly a warm day.
I am paying becasue I've had the flu since monday and I had to miss a run this week.
On thursday I did 5 miles and my legs felt very weak. Today 9.50 with 3X3k at a pace of 9:30 The last 3k were really tough!
Tomorrow I should do 12 miles at MP, but only AFTER WATCHING FLM ON TV!!!! Hopfully everything will go well :-)

- 2 weeks to padova!! YAY!!

after my almost 22mile LRS last sunday I started to feel a niggle in the area between my ankle and my calf. I haven't being training much this week, feeling kind of down, but everybody keeps saying that it's nothing serious and I just want to believe them.

tomorrow morning I'm off to Galway and on sunday morning the buses will take us to connemara for the race. I'll be meeting up with hippo and shades from RW and Fetch and I cannot wait to see them again! Not sure what type of race i'll have considering the niggle and the awful weather conditions they have predicted: rain wind and cold. great!!! just what you need!!! I am just hoping that they're wrong... as usual!

yesterday I forgot to post the route of my 35k or 21.7miles.

according to sporttracks I stopped for 8'17''...damn it...does this mean that this LRS doesn't count?????? :-)

this week has been weird. I had 2 good runs and 2 terrible ones. well...at least it's an even game, innit?! throughout the week I was thinking about today's LSR: 35km, 21.7miles. very importat for the moral!

the whole thing started on a couple of positive notes: a friend was willing to join me and run @ my pace for the last 10 miles or so; another friend gave me a gel to try and I was convinced that it would have helped me along the way - even though my first and last experience with a gel was eeek! but then this morning I woke up completing forgetting of the clocks change, my garmin was flat and I thought, oh crap!

I left home with no money, no music 'cause I was meeting my friend and he has a car and i thought i don't need these things, i just bring my mobile in case we miss each other. plan: i run 10 miles on my own and 10+ with him. on my way to our appointment I stop at a pub for a wee and when I get there, there's no sign of him. I wait for a while, I run up and down, I call him a couple of times but NOTHING! it turned out that he was there and started to run looking for me, following all the ladies with a bright yellow jacket risking of being arrested for harassment but he DID NOT HAVE HIS MOBILE ON HIM! great, we totally missed each other and, as usual, I run the whole bloody thing on my onw WITH NO MUSIC.

after 2 hours I take the gel. I was a bit anxious 'cause I thought that I was going to puke, but it was actually quite nice. I wasted 2' to take the bottle of water out of the belt and drink and put the bottle back in the belt. but then I picked up the pace, I kept it, I slowed down, I picked it up again. I think the gel had some kind of effect as my legs did not feel like stones but just like wood :-)

I finished in 3h31' with a pace of 9:44. I could have done a lot better if it wasn't for all the breaks but I am quite pleased with it.

now....it's CONNEMARA TIME!!!! BRING THE FUN (NOT) ON!!


week 12

runs: 4 out of 5
miles: 43,75
calories burnt: 4,500
hours on my feet: 6h40'
good runs: 2
bad runs: 2
lost friends: 1

don't really know where to start from.

I was feeling very well and I was very confident about my 18+ miles (30k) LSR. maybe just a bit apprehensive because of the new approach to the LSRs, but my legs were great and I thought that I could have done it.

the new approach, just in case you are wondering, is to do my LSRs keeping an eye on the pace. on top of that the idea is to do them 'in progression', that is faster than how they started. before I changed my training plan I just aimed at finishing them, no time no progression in mind.

I managed only 16.16 miles and I struggled .... a lot. at mile 9 I was already thinking of going home but I kept going without looking at my garmin anymore. I took long walk-breaks (which I normally don't take) and I dragged myself home. my legs were made of stone, my breathing was difficult and I don't know what to make of this:
was it just an off day? is it my pace that is too fast and I can't keep it up for so long?? (actually I managed to do 2 25ks (15+miles) at that pace so...I am not really sure about this).

Now there's only time for a 22 miler next weekend and then connemara half before my marathon. have I done enough to attempt and improve my time? what if I fail the 22 miler too? it feels like a big step to take right now....

lots of doubts...feeling a bit down right now.

i hope you all have some words of wisdom for me guys :-)

this week's runs: 4 out of 5
miles covered: 41.25
hours run: 6h28'43''
avarage: 9:25
calories burnt: 4,434
good runs: 3
bad runs: 1

yes, I went out today despite the wind. once out I actually felt very good and my legs were fine. my speed was better than normal and I thought to stay with it 'cause I knew that on the way back the wind would have been against me and it would have been slow slooooow!! I did 8.70 miles and the first half was faster than my long intervals on wednesday with an average pace of 8:26...whohooo!!! but the second half was bliddy slow. I finished in 1h20'55''...not bad for a windy day :-)

when I got to sandymouny it was very surprising to see the high tide and the water getting very close to the street...quite unusual. but at one point something more unusual caught my attention and I had to stop: there was a guy in the water with a wet suit and, I guess, water skies. he also had a kind of kite. because of the wind the kite was high in the sky and the guy was actually flying on the water....it was amazing....I just wanted to join him.

when I got home it started to rain....crazy day really!

today, all the pubs in ireland will be closed...they really respect good friday over here!!! well...maybe not..a friend of mine told me that there's always a queue on thursday night outside the off licences so that they can get hammered on good friday anyway!! so civilized, isn't it??? :-))))

yesterday evening the weather was crap and my legs felt kind of heavy after the long intervals of wednesday. I had a 8miles+ run planned. I waited for the rain to stop even though what really really bothers me when I run is the wind which was showing no sign of easing off. quite the contrary. it was blowing and blowing.....the rain wasn't stopping either so I decided to eat instead.

today's run can't be skipped and the wind is still here aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!! yes, ok, the sun is out but, really, who cares???? when I run against the wind I just feel like fighting against monsters, like being at the beginning of a very very steep hill which lasts forever. my breathing goes mad and my legs freeze.....the joy of running!!!!

right...I know I'll have to go out there at some point today. I'll be strong and brave and at the end I'll be exhausted I know but the hard work will pay off in the end...or so they say!

on the exhaustion bit: is it only me??? it's 6 weeks to my marathon, 10 weeks into my new trainign routine and I constantly feel tired! is it really only me? I read other blogs and everyone seems kind of fine... I am so NOT!!!

oh guys...I am really pleased tonight. I went out to do some long intervals: 2x5000. that's the same session that I tried on saturday and miserably failed :-(

but tonight I was on fire babe!!!! not only did I finish the all thing and didn't rely on a taxi to go home eh eh, but I did it keeping the pace I really wanted: 9:00min/mile!!

bring connemara and padova on !!!

strange week this week. I do not understant what has happened :-)

I went to durham for 3 days and I felt soooo lethargic and tired. I went to sleep very early and slept for more than 8 hours per night, which is very unusual for me! I didn't have the strength and will power to put my shoes on and go for a run.

when I came back to dublin, on thursday, I did a very good run: 4.97 miles in 41:23 with a pace of 9:07. I thought, strange, I just got off the plane and I am shattered...maybe it was just a sign that my energy was finally back. but, no!! on friday I felt sleepy and sluggish again and decided to postpone my interval sessions to saturday morning.

saturday, 8.30 in the morning I start my intervals feeling quite well and optimistic: 2x5000 plus warm-up and coold down, with a total of 10miles. The first interval went quite well, yay, but at the second one my legs packed up big time and so did my head!!! after 7.46 miles I took a cab and went back home. what's wrong with me, I thought....really....I just don't get it!!

I felt really down, so down that I skipped my 5k this morning and I thought to give a miss to any type of run for today. my legs were heavy, my mood was baaaaad!!!

but the mind is strange and suddenly I felt like going out and try to run the same distance as last week and maybe a bit more....and so I did!!!! 15.5miles in 2 minutes less than last sunday: 2:26.37 with a 9:22 average pace. Isn't it strange how mind and body work??? I still don't get it!! one day is totally crap and the day after is just perfect!! plus, how is it that I always get in wrong??? I feel fine and my run is crap....I feel crap and my run is goooood!! I am SO confused!
The thing that would have made this run perfect: 2 more miles....but once I reached my target my legs dediced that, no, they were not going to move anymore....boohooo!!! how I am going to run 20 and 22 miles in the next 2 weeks is beyond me....not to mention a MARATHON...but then, WHAT DO I KNOW????????????????

I am going to do what jogblog does...I really like...I hope she doesn't mind

this week's runs: 3 out of 5
miles covered: 28
hours run: 4h23'55''
avarage: 9:25
calories burnt: 3,048
good runs that I thought were going to be crap: 2
crap runs that I thought were going to be good: 1
times I knew how my body was going to react: NONE!

I had a horrible week at work with a news that really hurt me and depressed me. but I cannot do anything about it and I don't think it's worth crying over it. so, I've decided to pick myself up and move on.

training is going well and even though I managed to go out 3 times out of the 5 planned I still did 38miles this week, so not too shabby :-)

today I did 15miles and I had the stupid idea to go out without bringing anything to drink with me. On Fetch there is a thread where they are discussing whether to drink or not during LSR and some of the peeps said they don't take anything on their runs. So I just wanted to try as I hate bringing stuff with me when I am running. It, obsviously, didn't work and the last 4 miles were very tough. I stopped and bought something to drink but it was too late so I had to drag myself to the end of the 15 miles. anyway, I finished in 2h28 which is almost 30 minutes less than the last 15miles I did. So, this should mean that I am going somewhere, right? the pace was very uneven but the average was 9:33

tomorrow I am going to durham, if the storm which IS SUPPOSED to arrive here does not prevent me from flying, that is. but I cannot hear any storm approaching ..... I should be there until thursday and I will bring my running shoes. there is a gorgeous countryside around durham and I'll take advantage of that :-)

week of low milage due to a flu and horrid weather!! I went out 3 times instead of 5 and I did 28miles instead of the planned 40, but there you go!

Today I went to Phoenix park for a 12.43miler. weather wasn't bad at all...it was sunny and only breezy rather than incredibly windy...glad I am not a lightweight otherwise the wind in dublin could really carry me away. the park was beautiful as it always is on a sunny weekend. it was only 10.30 am but there were lots of runners around and people with dogs. the deer were enjoying the spectacle sitting in circle as the ususally do :-) but the nicest thing I was were two deer running in a very regal way .... chased by a dog!!

I did my 12.43 miler in 1h58'48'' with a pace of 9.35 and I am quite pleased with it even though it didn't always feel like a walk in the park :-) where
I train is not really what you'd call FLAT, quite the contrary and being allergic to hills doesn't help!

OMG! when I moved to dublin I wasn't aware that the wind was so strong. why nobody told me before I accepted this job, it's a mystery to me :-)

anyway, today is one of those day....and because I have some catching up with my training to do, I went out despite the miserable weather conditions. plus, considering that this misery is quite common I really need to get used to it! so I went out for my 50 minute run, the usual out and back route and as usual the wind is behind me when I go and is against me when I come back.

I started very well and did the first 2.5 miles with a 9:00 minute mile pace. when I turned it got so so tough, but in a way it was funny. I think I looked like a cartoon character who runs like a mad but stays in the same spot. In the end I did 5.24m in 50' with 9:32 pace. it's not bad....it's basically as if I did a hill session even though my route is as flat as a pancake! and hill sessions are good for you, arent't they???

I hope the wind will stop for my LSR on sunday.....

it has been a busy week at work: meetings, reading groups, seminars, classes, students etc. etc. But it has also been a week of movie thanks to the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. This has given me a chance to catch up on some italian movies. I enjoyed 2 out of the three I went to see which is not a bad thing really:
saturno contro
my brother is an only child
the unknown
the last two are exquisite, so go and see them if you have the chance.

as for my run, the week did not start very well and it ended even worse :-) on tuesday I had to skip it because of work. on wed I went out to do 2X3000m which I did, but it was tough going. on thursday i was supposed to do 1h. the first 20' went very well and then all fell apart. I decided to cut the run short and I only did 40' and thought, my body is tired it needs some rest. so i decided to take friday off. but on friday surprise surprise, I woke up with a bad flu and some temperature so the mystery was finally explained. I have decided to spend my weekend at home without running at all, even if today I am feeling a lot better. I think it would do me good and I will be very energetic next week.


now....BRING THE RUGBY ON!!

this week I run 36,5 miles. I went out 5 times but I failed to stay around the 9:00 minute mile. and today was really hard: 11.20miles in 1h45'16' with a pace of 9:24. I know that I shouldn't be disappointed as it's 1 and a half minute faster than I used to do, but still......

the only positive thing is that i kept going all week as well as today - even though I thought many time "well, that's it, I'm going home"

boohoo boohoo :-(

plus, my fridge is driving me mad....it's got noisy suddenly and i'm hating it right now aaaarrrgggggghhhh!!

if you have read all the other posts, you know already that my 5th week of training for the padua marathon has been quite tough. i felt tired and out of breath every time i went out and i thought at first that the change of pace wasn't working for me after all. quite depressing, really! the truth was that i was coming down with something (which 'exploded' on friday) and my periods were due.

week 5 ended today, one day later than usual. later because my periods were on time :-) and yesterday was a tough day. i was aching a lot so i gave up and decided to postpone my 'long' run to today. monday is my 'research day' so i am sligltly more flexible.

it was a glorious day today, and my pain was almost gone. so off i went in the afternoon for my last run of the week. the plan:
warming-up until phoenix park (2miles more or less)
6X1km with 400m recovery run
cooling down from the park home

total of 9.48 miles in 1h25'40'' with an average pace of 9:02!! the most amazing things are my splits 5:28 5:27 5:24 5:19 5:15 5:03, ranging that is from 8:46 to 8:08!!! not bad, not bad! this is the longest i've run since i changed my training and my training pace!

needless to say that i feel more confident now and the programme is built so that i could do my longer run with the same pace and now i feel that it can be done!!! i needed this boost of confidence after a crappy week, really!!

so....there is only one thing that I want to say now:

WEEK 6: BRING IT ON!!!!!