Week Five - February 2025 - 02/02/2025

 

Hello! Another week of 2025 down!😯💜

Thankfully, I had a week off so it was nice to not have things planned and just do what I felt like each day. 

I was actually due to stay in York at the Milner with my parents this week, however, specialists re-arranged a health appointment for my Dad that they have arranged and cancelled 3 times so far (causing us to cancel a holiday in November for the appointment and they then proceeded to cancel the appointment that time as well!). This week, they of course cancelled again.

Initially they tried to arrange another appointment for him next month which was just not on. Dad has been waiting for a year now since he was initially referred to these specialists.

Thanks to my Mum complaining (we shouldn't have to), they found him an appointment which will be happening this week. Shocking. But I know so many others are going through the same. I had booked time off this week to be there for my family but we will face whatever is next with positivity.💖

Monday, we went for a family walk which ended up being quite eventful (!). We saw a beautiful sunset.

  

Monday evening, I had a Hyrox workout class booked which was really fun (as always)!

 

After my Hyrox class, I did a PAP training session in the gym I wrote for myself. PAP training is Post-Activation Potentiation which uses the body's neuromuscular system to temporarily increase power output so in my session I would go from a heavy lift like Barbell Romanian Deadlifts into pogo hops because the heavy lift fires up the nervous system ready for a larger power output. I would repeat an exercise like that 3 times (3 sets) and then move from one group of muscles to another. I covered quads, hamstrings, abductors, adductors, core and glutes. I was worn out after those two back-to-back workouts!

 

Tuesday 28th January, a few years ago on that date I shared these quotes on my Facebook. They are so true today too!

This week also marked my 36th birthday 🎂🎈🥳🎉🩷

 

My Mum and I had our hair cuts done together at Thornton Hall Hair Spa, where I used to go to Thornton Hall Gym. It was lovely for us both to have a pamper together and feel good.🩷

This was my hair beforehand. I felt so much better getting a proper fringe put back in. I hadn't been for a hair cut since October so I was pleased with how much it's grown! I am still on a hair growing mission to get it as long as I can get it!

Mum and Dad absolutely spoilt me and bought me this beautiful Clogau pawprint necklace!💖

We all stayed in North Wales together in September 2024 and when we were walking in Llandudno I saw in the Clogau shop display, their beautiful paw print range and admired the jewelry to my Mum.💜

I have always absolutely adored animals and I have loved the stray cat boys we adopted and the jewelry reminded me of them so for them to remember me admiring the jewelry in passing and how much it meant to me was just incredible.💖

 

In the afternoon, my family and I went to a pub we really love to dine at and had a birthday meal.💖

I had a proper treat and enjoyed a cheese burger with bacon and chips and floral birthday cake!🎂

On Thursday, I did a 3k tempo session at a target pace and then 5 x 200m reps.

Wow!! The 3km was my first Tempo session which is a session which is comfortably hard and usually a 6 - 8 rate of perceived exertion out of 10 and teaches your body to get used to having endurance and speed over longer distances. For this particular tempo, my coaches wanted my RPE to be 8 out of 10 effort. My target pace was around a 6 min km for the 3km, however, I managed to hit 5m 36s per km pace!🔥😍

I won't lie though, my first Tempo session was a baptism of fire. I felt comfortable in myself running at this pace for this distance which pleasantly surprised me and gave me a load of confidence but by the last 300 metres, I was breathing so heavily and so hard. 

I was really feeling that old feeling for the first time in years where your lungs are straining and you can feel your heart gargling at the back of your mouth! It sounds strange but it was good to have that feeling again! I haven't had it since I competed a very long time ago. It made me smile after as I thought,

"Ahh I'm starting to get back into the bottom end of my old fitness".

 

Smiling through the pain after the tempo part of the training...

The 200m reps were painful after the tempo but I had a decent rest period in between them both so it was ok. I really pushed the pace on my last rep as I just mentally figured, "Just give it everything, nothing to lose" and I try to get into that mindset.

I did a really decent 2 mile warm up and cool down Thursday as I had the time so I think this training run has really helped my fitness.

 

 

I ended up doing an hour and a half gardening after my run as well so by the time it came to put my feet up in the evening, I needed it! These Percy Pig biscuits were much needed as well!

One of the many amazing birthday presents my best friend gave to me was this wristband with pockets which was so handy for my runs to put my keys in! 

I also love my snood and gloves for cold Winter runs. They're my essentials as are my Coros running watch and Shokz head phones which are lightweight unlike my normal headphones for at home and the Shokz Open Run allow for me to hear what is going on around me. Such a good safety feature for peace of mind.

I got into my cosy pjs and wore my new Pulsio compression sleeve on my calves and thighs a few times which helped me feel a lot better. If you run or workout a lot and trust me, I get it, compression boots cost so much, the sleeve is a great, affordable alternative.

Logan did not approve of the noise of the Compression Sleeve...

I can tell you though the day after my run and gardening, I felt sore all over and in my lower back which isn't like me.

Friday was a much-needed recovery day so I visited the North West Wellbeing Hub for contrast therapy which was amazing as always! You do 40 minutes in the infrared sauna and I got nice and sweaty and then a rinse-off in the shower and I did a ten minute ice bath plunge.🧊⛄❄

I seriously love how I feel after having a plunge in cold water, honestly. I feel so refreshed and invigorated and it feels so healing on my muscles and it did the job for me. I try to do cold showers as much as possible and any opportunity to get into cold water, I will go for it!

I used the Harrogate Turkish Baths for the first time recently and their cold plunge pool is a proper pool you can swim in and so worth it!!

  
After your contrast therapy at the NW Wellbeing Hub, you get offered a mushroom coffee and you can choose whether you want one for focus, energy or relaxation so I went for relaxation on Friday as it was my day off. I always go for almond milk with it and I love the effects these Nootropics have. I have tried the focus/ energy ones before work after I have had contrast therapy and it really helped as I am sure the cold water did too!

After my contrast therapy I popped to Morrisons and got a decent shop in with some My Protein microwaveable meals and pancakes and later on in the day, I got more goodies at Sainsburys like My Protein 0% Greek Yoghurt and Gym Kitchen Protein Yoghurts and I did a food shop for my parents as well. I found this high protein chocolate cereal from Surreal in Sainsburys and I have seen adverts for them and always wanted to try it. If you ever had Weetos when you were younger, these taste like that - winner!

My chicken satay from Morrisons were winners as well! I am pretty chicken-obssessed.

In the afternoon I had a Thai Fusion massage at Chokies Massage with the lovely Dee which was just what my sore muscles needed.💜 I had planned in this recovery day a while back into my training schedule knowing I had my first 10k race back in years on Sunday 2nd February! 

If you want to try adding in massages or recovery to your training schedule, if you have the equivalent of my Thai Fusion massage where I prefer full, firm pressure as hard as possible, the equivalent being a firm pressure sports massage, bear in mind that the level of pressure in those massages is so intense it does cause release of muscle tension and it's own damage which needs 2 - 3 days recovery from before your next intense training session or a race. This is a mistake I made early on when I started back running last year, I had a Thai Fusion massage the night before an interval speed session and didn't understand why my legs felt like lead. They were basically still recovering like you would from DOMS or muscle soreness and you need a good 2 - 3 days, in my case, probably 3 days, before a big session or race.

 

 

On Saturday it was time for my last run before my Sunday 10k race. It was an easy-paced 30 minute run with 4 x 100m strides at 5km race pace. The strides felt really good and it was a sunny, lovely run that you get that good feeling afterwards.

This week, my fancy dress for some of my races this year arrived! Have a look at my fundraising page for the Walton Centre here 💙

I am dressing up as a skeleton as the surgery I had at the Walton Centre in 2023 was spinal surgery and I hope this outfit draws attention to their spinal work as well as all of their amazing work! I chose not to dress up for the Sunday 10k as this race was where participants were raising money for other charities and it was also my first 10k race so I wanted to see how it felt for the first few times in just normal race kit and feel out the distance.

 

I went into Sunday feeling quite a few nerves. Honestly, I felt a bit apprehensive even though I have covered the 10km distance for a couple of months on my Sunday easy, long runs and at least 15km during the week. But I haven't raced the 10km distance in a very, very long time. I think it was a confidence thing for sure as I felt like after I put on all the weight and was ill with my spine, that I felt like I had lost all of my fitness and at times, my health, for good.

But I had faith that having had my return to running since April last year and such good progress in 5km (which is such a long distance to me a former 800m runner👀😂) and I knew that doubling up on distance would feel tough. I asked my coaches lots of questions which helped put my mind at ease and asked my Mum for positive things to think about during this race (I do this before every race as I like having positive mantras from myself and loved ones to think about to push me to keep going when I struggle). This all helped.

My coaches reminded me as well that every race I do I am picking up learning from each one. The night before I went through my kit and charged up my Coros heart rate monitor, Shokz head phones etc so I felt prepared and packed my rucksack with the food I'd want after etc. I laid out my clothes and having these routines helps centre me and make me feel calm. I used the massage chair at home and used my compression sleeve on my legs and I used my massage gun on my glutes and leg muscles (I have a cheap one from TK Maxx which I think does the job well).

On the day I got up early and I had a coffee and I had some beet juice too (there have been studies that show beetroot juice helps improve endurance taken 2 - 3 hours before exercise). I had porridge oats and a protein bar and hydrated as much as possible. It was baltic when I first got there so I sat in my car a while as I had got there early and by the time I got out to get my race bib and do my warm up, dynamic stretches and strides, the air was a bit warmer thankfully.

Going into the race, my coaches and I discussed pace and thought I would be capable of a 60 minute 10km for my first one, if the conditions were right, so I went into the race with a plan to stick to a 6 minute per km as much as I could. When the race course took us around the park there was a hill for one end of the park so I did have to consciously fight to get up that hill and not lose too much pace. But I did it.

When going up the hill I only let the pace drop to about 6 min 11 secondish per km pace for that stretch of the course and for the straighter, flatter parts of the course I would pick up the pace and try and make up for the slower hills and hit around 5 minute 45/50 second per km pace. This strategy worked a treat and shows that on race day you have to try and be flexible to whatever you come across while on the course. 

On the last 2km of the course I planned to pick up the pace in my head beforehand and I think I did stick to this. I really did pick up the pace and I absolutely bombed the last 400 metres or so. I always approve of a negative split!

My time in the end was 59 minutes 9 seconds which I was absolutely over the moon about!😍💖💖💖

I couldn't have asked for more for a return 10k and my first one! It felt a very positive first step towards my Great North Run Half Marathon in September which at this point, is of course, daunting, but of course any big goal feels daunting especially in the earlier, more unfamiliar stages. But you grow and learn by doing. You can think things to death and as someone who was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder aged 6, I know this better than most and I honestly think, the best way to achieve your goals is to forget waiting for the perfect timing or for things to be right, you've just got to throw yourself into things and do the work!

You pick up the learning, enlightenment, fulfilment and achievement as you go!

My goal for Sunday was to finish my 10km and I felt like I did that and then some!💜💜💜

It was so nice that when I finished one of the organisers asked had I done many 10kms and I said no, I was just starting learning this distance and it had been a really fun experience (I loved the banner a lady held up on the laps saying "Runners are hot!" 😂) and he said to me if I kept at it, I could really get my time down. That encouragement and positivity meant a lot to me. I love the Athletics and Running Community!

I finished the great day with some amazing refuelling! An amazing roast, birthday cake and M & S chocolate biscuits - cannot beat it!

 

And incase you need this reminder, like I do, that lighter nights are finally on the way!

Hold on to that thought and remember it when training on these cold days and nights!

I hope your goals and days are going really well!

Have a belter week six of the year!

I have my second 5km race of 2025 this Saturday! Excited to try out some pace at the weekend!😉

Much love,

Mairead xoxox