Obsession growing- Week 8 Half Marathon training.

• Monday March 7th Inferno Hot Pilates. 

• Tuesday March 8th Running Chicks 5km at 31:14.

• Wednesday March 9th easy swim laps for 45 mins. 

• Thursday March 10th run to the track 4.3 km at 25:12, group run 5km at 31:10,  run home 4.5km at 27:08.

• Friday March 11th Moy Canoe club training.

• Saturday March 12th Strandurance group run 12km at 71:52.

In exercise induced hysteria I decided to join a second running group (determination or stupidity?). The Running Chicks  group is part of Ballina Athletic Clubs Fit4Life programme and it was advertised to women looking to hit the 10 km mark with the Mayo Mini Marathon as then end goal.
As well as helping get some extra short runs in a week, I'd get to meet some more people and hopefully improve my technique.

I started my training week with Hot Pilates on Monday figuring it would be pretty much the same as my normal Tuesday class. I should've known better. The repetitions were agonizing! We were doing crazy ninja moves that had no business being done by my weak body, planks into push ups and burpees into mountain climbers, all around were muffled curses and red faces. By the end of the class I had the muscle shakes and basically hobbled for the door.

My Strandurance group run at the weekend was going to be a long 12km, so we were instructed to do some shorter runs leading up to Saturday. With this in mind I started off in my new running group on Tuesday evening down at the track, just a gentle 5 km to see our speed and running style. I didn't know any of the group beforehand but everyone was super positive and chatty which always makes training easier.  It was however the  slowest 5km I had done in ages at over 31 minutes, but loop track runs are definitely not my favourite and I had also hurt one of my toes on my right foot on the Kinvara run and it was really starting to irritate.

On Wednesday morning I hit the pool to do some nice steady laps. I had planned to go out for a short run but my foot was looking worse for wear so I choose to rest up until my group run the next day.

I ended up having to take the insoles out of my Asics to make more room in the shoe and it gave great relief. I decided to run from my house to the track, do my group run and then run home again. The group run was a nice easy 5km track loop and we were able to keep chatting while keeping a steady pace. Since the start of my training I had been getting slight shoulder pain, and while not overly sore it was extremely annoying and I felt it was having an effect on my ability so I mentioned it to Michael our coach and he showed me how to  adjust my arms and shoulders while I run (a week later and I have had no shoulder pain at all!!!).

On Friday I decided to try something a bit different and I went along to the Moy Canoe club training session in the swimming pool. I was a bit apprehensive as I have only been kayaking twice before and my co ordination is terrible but I really wanted to give it a go. Before I even got into the boat I was shown all the equipment, how to position myself correctly, paddle and the capsizing technique. Once on the water I realised how rubbish I actually was, most of the others were experienced and whizzing around like pros but everyone was over to me offering advice in between so I didn't feel too much of a loser! Part of the training included games of water polo so I had to be shown how to capsize properly in the water as it was inevitable my boat would over turn. While pretty straight forward it was also the scariest part. I did over turn a few times but once I knew how to exit the boat it was grand. The night was a lot of fun and everyone was super friendly and supportive!

I was wrecked by the time Saturday morning rolled round, and I knew we had a planned 12km run. I had done 12km before so I knew I would be able but I was worried about keeping the pace and pushing myself. The run itself was a little hilly and I knew once we hit 8km we would have to loop around and see some of the hills again (always soul shattering) the group was also running faster than ever before so I did find it difficult to keep up, but I swore I wouldn't stop for anything and I tried to use the down hills to my advantage. We finished the run on the track and in pretty good time too. I was absolutely shattered afterwards but felt like I had had a pretty productive week.

The Running Chicks is incorporating speed work next week and  I am NOT looking forward to that, but its all in the goal for the half. I have also decided to run the Moy Half Marathon in aid of Ballina SPCA, they do absolutely amazing work for animals and deal with some heart breaking cases. If anyone would like to donate to the cause I would be grateful, I have another post up soon with more details!