Its been a long time since I post here, and its been about the same amount of time since I have been on plan. The summer seems to have just disappeared in the blink of an eye, but that did not stop me doing as much damage as possible. I weighed myself last Thursday in absence of going back to a meeting and I managed to gain 10 lbs over the summer, and was weighing in 1 stone over my goal weight. It could have been worst, but not surprising my clothes are all very tight on me. I'm not going to lie, I have had a great summer, but its time to get serious again.
It started back at the start of June and a little trip to London for the June Bank Holiday. The last weigh in before I had finally got myself back within the 5lbs of goal and I felt great at the weekend. The heatwave had already started in Dublin and I had been living in shorts and feeling fabulous and London was no exception. The problem was I went a bit mad that weekend. Ate and drank rings around myself and when I got back I was in no mood to stop. We went for a lovely tasting dinner on the Friday night, spent all of the Saturday at a music festival and just had a nice day on the Sunday exploring and eating/drinking some more. It all would have been fine if I got back to class that week but for some reason I skipped it and that was the beginning of the end.
The rest of the summer was fun, lots of drinks in the sun, BBQ's, days out and everything in between. I had a great time but I also suffered a lot with anxiety. Being totally honest I was desperate for a real break from work and it was all getting on top of me. The past couple of years we had been saving for our house so had forgone summer holidays and this year I was sure we would managed to get away for a week or 2 this summer but it just wasn't to be (though I now have something booked for later in the year), so up to now I have just taken a few random long weekends. I think the lack of a real break got to me and during the week I was all over the place and eating whatever was in front of me. For the most part I didn't notice the weight gain and it was only in the 2nd half of July that it really started to get to me. I tried a few times to get myself back on plan but it just wasn't happening.
The closer the Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon got closer and closer and I knew I needed to do something about it. At the start of August I made the decision the be as mindful as possible but I would be waiting until after the half to properly get myself back on plan.
I was so nervous about the rock and roll, my pace during training had not been great and I had been hit and miss with my stamina for the past year. Then I found out they had changed the routes and there were some terrifying looking hills to contend with and I started to get myself worked up about it. In the few weeks before I decided I was not going to concern myself with my time and pace and my aim for the weekend was to get out and cross the finish line. the last thing I needed was to get in my head like I had for the Clontarf half 3 years ago.
I seemed to be cursed for the weekend; I fell on my last training run and ripped all the skin from the palms of my hands, the luas was delayed on the way to the 5km on the saturday and I got the time wrong for the half on Sunday and ended up having to drive rather than get the luas as planned. Despite all this I ended up having a great weekend. The 5km on the saturday was a lovely easy run and it was a great atmosphere. The change of route was nice as other years its been in the Phoenix part and it was nice to run a different route.
The change of the route for the half the next day was not as nice. It usually starts at the Point (or 3 arena if you must) and ends in the Phoenix Park going all through the city on a lovely flat route. This year it started and ended in Royal Hospital Kilmainham and the route took us along a lot of narrow country back roads. The organisation was not as good at RHK and queueing before and after for baggage and toilets was a total disaster. It also felt a lot more crowded than it does which was a little bit manic at the end.
Anyway, I set off at the start of the race a good steady pace and I was surprised by how it was going. My plan was to try and get a bit of space between myself and the 2hr15min pacers until I hit the worst of the hills and hopefully by the end of that I would be back with them again. It was all going to plan until just before the hill I needed the toilet and managed to lose my lead in the few minutes it took to queue and have a wee. The hill was then so much worse than I thought and even walking up it was a serious struggle. I was hoping I could make up some time on the downhill but the next few miles were all up and down and a real struggle. The downhill was almost worse than the up, the road was slippy and with my hands still in bits I was so nervous of falling I was very apprehensive putting a lot of pressure on my thighs. My toes also got a battering being pushed right to the top of my shoes.
I came out the other side of it and it was mostly flat then for the last few miles. I was seriously waning around the 11km mark and out of nowhere a lovely lady gave me the push I needed to keep going (and I returned the favour a little further up). I was delighted to finish with a time of 2hr19mins in the end, far faster than I thought would be possible halfway through. All that was left to do was celebrate with lots of beer and some greasy fried food!
So since the Tuesday after I have been back on plan in a big way. As mentioned I finally have a holiday booked for just after Christmas and I want to try and get myself under goal before that so I have a little to play around with during Xmas and the holiday. So I'm back to tracking and meal planning and have no intentions of taking such a long break again in the future.
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