13miles/21k done and dusted, a race Report or .....

It's done it's dusted, I have finished a 21km/13mile Half Marathon and I got my finisher Medal to proof it.
That makes me actually really happy, my internal Couch potato was once again proven wrong, I was able to do it and I did it.
So how was it? Tough , really tough, I knew upfront that I had not trained enough and had hoped that I could hold it together at least until km 16/17 and it kind of worked out like that, at least that was my feeling. The last 4-5 km was just about getting through and that's what I did. I did fight my way to the end, I felt quite lightheaded the last couple of km's and I realized that my Body was desperately looking for food which I did not have.
So had to walk for most of the last bit's or when I tried to run it was more like a shuffling the feet along.
After I finally had passed the finish line, somebody did put a Medal around my Neck and gave me water  and a Banana , I did not need the Water but the Banana was in that moment the most important thing on this Planet ,I think I inhaled that Banana, I was ravenous.
Anyway did I mention already that I did finish last ? If not then here it is again I finished it , yes last position but I did not give up.
So today I dutifully uploaded my Tracking Data up to Endomondo and was very surprised when I saw the results, firstly I had done 2 personal Bests , one for 10km and one for 21 km , secondly I had a quick look at my heart rate Data, I know my Heart Rate is still a bit too high because of the lack of training but in general it stays stable, this Heart Rate Graph from the Race is actually amazing ,it shows a stable Heart rate until roughly 12km but then it completely is jumping up ad down, clearly a sign for me of lack of distance Training.
That explains why I felt light headed and ravenous later on.
So the last finisher is a very happy finisher right now, I finished it and I know that I need to train on distance and a bit more speed.
 I never will be speedy Gonzales, I don't even plan to be, but I hope the next Half Marathon will be a bit faster and easier.
Yep next Half is already in the planning , plus loads of other running, Triathlon and Cycling events

Nervous about upcoming Half

I'm really nervous about the upcoming half Marathon in just over a Weeks time . I did last Weekend a 15K Trail  Training's run and thought I would die , it did hurt, actually it really did hurt and my Hamstring nearly gave out.
I had on purpose chosen to run a Trail because I wanted to run slow and steady, but also because I like the Scenery of that particular trail run , it goes along the Cliff path and it is just stunningly beautiful, but on the other site when I had finished the 15K I was very disappointed with the time I had done it and also I was not sure if I could add on to this another 6 km for the Half Marathon.

My mind keeps on telling me that the Day before I did this Trail run I did a really intensive 40K Bike Trip through the Wicklows and the Trail I had chosen for the run was really tricky and boggy , so my mind knows I should not judge this Training's run to harshly , another small voice in my Head calls me looser and tells me that I will not be able to finish this Half marathon.

Had not heard that Voice for a while ,so took me a couple of Days to recognize  that Voice, it was my good old Couch potato, the small Voice which was once quite a big and loud Voice that kept telling me I can't do this and can't do that.
So now I have recognized this Voice I need to be firm with myself, I can't listen to that Voice so my plan is to start and finish this Half marathon , and if I finish it last, that does not matter at all .
I have on Saturday another small Trail Race , it's a 8km in a local park , i have done this Race over the last 2 Years and I really love these Events , just hope now it will not start to snow on Saturday otherwise I plan just to enjoy it and see how it goes.

So last Words to my Couch Potato : Keep quiet , don't need you !!!

First 10k Fun Run/Race of 2013 done and ......

Yesterday finally the Racing Season of 2013 had started, I really had looked forward to this , for several reasons first of all I really enjoy these Events secondly I wanted to see where I'am for my Half Marathon in not even 3 weeks time. I know that I don't have enough Mileage under my Belt to make the Half Marathon pretty but I'm rather stubborn as well.
So what have I learned from yesterdays Event, firstly that I don't really like to run on a Beach at 5 Degrees Celsius in the Rain, secondly that those 10km did hurt quite a bit more than I thought it would.
I did run those 10km hard , I wanted to do these even in those bad conditions in 70 min, it took me 75 min and I don't think I can blame the bad Weather for it.
 Also today my Legs are pretty much in bits, which they shouldn't,  it was "only" 10 km. Lets face it I see a lot of pain in my near future , especially on the Day of my Half Marathon

Guess have to adapt my Half Marathon Goal and get away from the Idea that I can do it in 2:30 hrs, I know this is really slow for loads of People for me that would be flying. I have to change my mindset, I still want to do the Race as fast as I can, but at the same time as safe as I can. I don't want to get injured the Season of 2013 just has started and I'm positively drooling looking at my upcoming Triathlon Races and there is also one Adventure Race in May and before that a Cycle around Ireland where I plan to do a couple of stages .
I want to those these things because I love to do them not to win anything.
Which reminds me, I need to get more cycling Kilometers into my legs, which is really tricky because the Weather has been bad for a while now.

Rather Bleak looking Beach for our 10k Race