Week 15- Reaching a 10km Personal Best.

Mini Marathon Medal

• Monday April 25th HARDCORE Inferno Hot Pilates. 

• Tuesday April 26th Running Chicks  group run 5km at 29:36.

• Wednesday April 27th group run 16km at 93:19 and  Inferno Hot Pilates. 

• Thursday April 28th Running Chicks  group run 5km at 28:14.

• Sunday May 1st West of Ireland Womens Mini Marathon 10km at 53:46.

As I had the 10km race on Sunday I decided to take it easy this week and focus on keeping my body strong with 2 Inferno Hot Pilates sessions. I rolled up on  Monday expecting the usual tough but fun class, little did I know I would be doing the most INTENSE HARDCORE class I have ever done! People are still talking about THAT Mondays class. 

The first thing I noticed was that there were way more people than ever and the class kept filling up. We are usually ready to go just after 7 but the door kept opening and people kept coming.

Eventually we were ready to rock, and we started out the session with an easy warm up but even at that stage I could tell the temperature was hotter than usual, by the time we were a third way through I was dying!

THAT Monday

I was struggling to finish even some of the easier moves and I was sure I was sweating out half my body weight along with my mascara which was flowing down my face  now stinging the s**t out of my eyes. Eventually Barry did something he has never done before he turned off the heat and opened the door! Hallelujah! We finished on burpess and and my "oh so favourite" mountain climbers before we all collapsed in a collective thanks be to God sigh! 

Not put out by the most intense class the night before I met up with the Running Chicks on Tuesday to do an easy 5km loop ahead of the mini marathon. At that stage we had done all the training necessary to get us to 10km and now it was just a matter of keeping the feet going and our mind frame right. 

I had decided that I wasn't going to do a long group run on Saturday but when one of the girls said she would do the 16km on Wednesday, I said I would go for it. I thought I would have plenty of time to conserve my energy for Sundays race. So off we went on 2 loops of Belleek. We started off getting pelted by hailstones but once we were half way through the sun was shining and we were happy out. 

Even after that crazy Pilates class on Monday, I booked myself in for that evening hoping I could stretch out my muscles after the long run. Luckily for me it wasn't as extreme and I left feeling energized and relaxed. 

Thursday was our last Running Chicks group run. After 8 weeks of hard work the ladies and I were ready to race and our final run was really a pep talk with some info on what to eat and drink in the days prior to the race. Unfortunately for us it was freezing AND snowing, but we showed up and did our 5km. Ann gave us a helpful tip, to not end our runs in the same place, as the  brain automatically thinks you should stop when you see your usual stopping spot.

 This is extremely relevant for me because my typical stopping spot is actually about 3 km from the finish line of the half marathon and I can imagine at that stage I will be tired anyways so the last thing I need is my brain tricking my body into wanting to stop. 

As I wasn't doing a group run on Saturday I volunteered at the Ballina parkrun instead. I have done the parkrun a few times and I have wanted to volunteer for ages but it always conflicts with the group run time. I was a bit apprehensive about the equipment but its was all straight froward and easy to use and I got to meet some of the familiar faces I always see down there. 

Running Chicks

I was all prepared by the time Sunday rolled round. I was hoping to beat my Kinvara 10km time (57:37) and try to finish under 55 minutes. I forgot to mention that earlier in the week I washed my Fitbit in the washing machine by accident! Disaster! I tried putting it in rice in the hotpress and it was resurrected briefly, but alas it is dead for sure now.

I just wore my regular wrist watch so I would have a vague idea of where I was at on the course. I was absolutely delighted to see that the gun time at the finish was 54:10 and I had started in the middle so I knew I had a few seconds to spare,  I was hopeful I would make it in under the 54 minutes. I had to wait until Wednesday to get my official time and was stoked at the 53:46 I was clocked! 

  I am going to do a separate post detailing in depth the the actual event. Even though the weather was less than favourable it was a terrific event and was organised so well! 

I just want to say a HUGE well done to all the ladies I have been running with for the last 8 weeks especially the girls from the Ballina Athletic Club Fit4youth programme. They all did so well running their first 10km! 

Unfortunately Week 16 will be blank, as I am currently struck down with a stomach virus and I can't even think about doing any running right now and I need to rest up for the Half next week! 

Finger Crossed I will be over it soon!