Here we go again

I'm packing the bag for yet another trip this summer. I spend so much time traveling during the season. I fly to Zagreb tomorrow. I fly Dublin-frankfurt-Zagreb. It means I will spend a lot of the day traveling. It's something I'm used too at this stage. I will probably spend most of the day watching series 5 of "House" on my laptop. I love that tv show.

It's weird to be in the last week of my 2010 season. It feels good though. I wasn't supposed to be racing in Zagreb, it was a last minute decision. I would rather go off and race than spend the next few days at the track training. I'm at the stage of the season where I just don't relish the thought of training. It's almost time to have a break so rather than being on a track in Santry I'll get my bum to a racing track in Zagreb and give it a lash.

Everything else is fairly quiet, I can't really relax and have the craic until next week. But then I will really have the craic.......countdown is on!

Years ago I found this quote and it has lived in my training diary ever since. In the last week of my 2010 season I think it's a good quote to throw up on the blog. I hope you like it as much as me...

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or gazelle - when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

Bye for now,

D X

"That's not my name that's not my name"

I've been meaning to write a blog about my name for ages. So when I race abroad nobody ever gets my name wrong it's all "Hi derval/How are you derval". You see foreign people have no idea about this Dervla person. Alas when I'm in Ireland there is a whole lot of Dervla going on. A few things people (You would be surprised how many) have asked me about my name over the years:

Are you sure its Derval?

Did you say Gerbil?

Do you mean Dervla?

Is it Dervla on your birthcert but you prefer Derval?

Sure is Dervla not the same?

So to clarify my name is Derval. No I'm not named after a small rodent. No LA at the end. Nope I didn't change it and no Dervla is not the same name.

I used to get cranky about the whole Derval/Dervla thing but now I kinda find it funny. There are a lot of people who have known me for years and no matter how many times I tell them they still say "How are ya Dervla?"

That brings me to the point of my blog title. Any time I get called Dervla instead of getting cranky I just kinda sing the ting tings sing "Thats not my name"

So this blog is dedicated to all of you who get called the wrong name too!

Enjoy!

Derval (Not LA!!!!!!!) xox

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN4YMli-Esw&ob=av3e

PS Sorry for lack of video and just link but I'm not technologically advanced enough to upload the video!

Baby steps!!!! Roll on split...

Brrr it's Brussels

Here I am in Brussels and let me tell you it is cold outside. It's really windy and cold. I'm hoping that the weather gods take some sympathy on me and make the weather a little bit nicer for tonight.This meet is super and there is one big reason for that.....
SHINKINS!!!!
Those of you who don't know who Karen Shinkins is shame on you (former 400m runner 51.07) and for those of you who do know her you can understand how exciting it is that she is here. Shinks is one of my best mates but alas lives in America so we don't get enough time to bond. She is here to pace make the women's 800m. I arrived last night and we have been catching up on all the news. She talks as much as I do so as you can imagine that is a whole lot of talking.
My race is 9.20 tonight. After Zurich I started feeling a bit worried about this but then I gave myself a bit of a kick in the arse. I need to enjoy it. It's diamond league final!!! Hurdles were better in training this week. I started to feel like I was finding my rhythm again so fingers crossed I can show that tonight and do myself some justice. Good thoughts to be sent this way please!
I handed in my thesis yesterday, I'm so relieved. It feels great to have it done. No more study for me. Hooray.
That brings me on to a new topic though. My masters is over I'll need to find something else to do. I always like to have two things going on running plus something else. Any ideas feel free to post them in the comments section!!! Random thoughts gladly accepted.
I'm posting this whilst in the hotel lobby on my laptop. Lots of athletes are wandering around. Lolo Jones just walked past I wonder is she nervous? It is between her and Priscilla Lopes Schliep for the overall diamond league hurdles winner. As always I'm sure the hurdles will be a dog fight.
Gotta go have some lunch and get ready to race,
Bye for now,
Derval xoxo
PS Ray I hope you like the new background. No more pink for the moment!!!!!!!

Mood for Pink

Just changed the blog to pink. I know not everyone loves pink but it's the blog of Derval so I get to decide!
I went to the cork v dublin match yesterday. i'm loving that Cork won and are now in the final. Up the rebels!!! I was asked to walk on the pitch at half time with Grainne Murphy (Swimmer who won silver at europeans) so that was fun. It was great because there were so many Cork fans there.
I had a hurdles session yesterday. I'm having some technical problems at the moment but I'm getting there. I was kinda like this before Europeans and then when things clicked it felt great. Alas thats the way things are in the world of hurdles. Sometimes things are a little off and it makes you slow, slow, slow. I need to have a bit of patience and make the most of my next two races.
In other news my Mum was up in Dublin with me for the weekend. We had a lovely time and it was great to spend time with her. Then my Dad came up for the day on Sunday so it was lovely to see him too.
Peter is finally back from his racing. It's great because we are starting to plan our holidays in September. I can't get excited yet though. There is still some business to take care of this season.
The thesis is almost done. Thank goodness. I submit it on wednesday and it will not be a moment too soon!
bye for now,
D xox

Best meet in the world but ran like a fat cow!!

Before I discuss the utter slowness of my run tonight I need to give you a little background to the title of my blog. There is a lady that I have known since I was 17 and first starting running in serious races. She is Latvian and her name is Ludmila. I have always thought she was a cool lady. In the 80's she ran 100mh. She is brutally honest which I have always found refreshing (even if she was telling me that I ran crap) Yesterday I arrived in Zurich which is the best meet in the world outside of championship running. I had lunch with Ludmila and I was asking her if there was any news or gossip going on. She went on to tell me a story about an athlete that isn't doing very well. At the end of the story I asked "so why is she doing so bad?" to which I was told "Because now she is a fat cow!!!" I laughed so hard. Only Ludmila could say this and get away with it. I bumped into her at dinner after my race and told her that I raced like a fat cow.

Ok enough blabbing on. So the race. It was shite I was shite. I felt really flat. I hurdled 3 pretty bad and then couldn't get myself back into it. I think it's a combination of loads of things. Euro's, college etc. I've planned for racing well in the next two weeks so I need to keep focused on that.

I fly back tomorrow morning and then go straight into the gym with Mark for a session and physio.

Night night,

(temporarily) The fat cow xox

Packing the bags

I'm off to zurich I kept that rather quiet eh. Well not really it was a last minute decision. Doyler got me a lane and rang me with the option of it. The irish track season is pretty much shut down now so the track is a lonely place. Ailis is done for the season so no one to run with. I train all year for races so why not get my bum on a plane and go jump some sticks??? Rather than stay home and do a session on my own. Plus Zurich is a fantastic meet and there will be many years in the future that I won't have these opportunities. Sometimes you gotta just take the good opportunities and appreciate them.
This brings me on to packing:
The essentials:
Racing kit
Spikes
Runners
Tracksuit
extras:
cumfy pajamas
some casual clothes
Laptop
snacks
Vitamins
Make up bag.
measuring tape
i think I have it fairly sorted but I will get up an hour early to do a quick panicked run around to make sure I have what I need.

My race plan is to concentrate on a couple of things that I've been working on and run like hell! Surely this plan will bring me only good things.

Ah yes this seems familiar..

ok so as of late I have become way more familiar with business journals than hurdles. My thesis is my main focus at the moment but today I got some joy back by going to the track and doing hurdles. For all the hurdlers if you ever get bored of hurdling just try to do a thesis and all of a sudden the hurdles seem very very exciting!!!
I met Sean today for my little session. It was runs over hurdle 1 and building up to hurdle 5. I was fairly ropey at the start and then I got a bit more into it. It was really lovely to be back doing some hurdles. I was feeling a bit out of the running thing with all the boring boring college work but today it was all nice and familiar back with the hurdles.
Thats all for now.
D.................

Great Day

today was a great day. My boyfriend sails the star and he had a really big event this week (I was over for the first day of it). It was called sail for gold and was in the Olympic venue for 2012. All the guys who will be in the hunt for medals in 2012 were there for the event. He was sailing from Monday to Saturday. He has been winning all week but today was a huge day because it was the medal race which meant double points. End result was he won, Yay. I'm so delighted for him. We are currently a very happy pair.
In other awesome news the Irish swimmer Grainne Murphy won a silver medal at the European championships today. She is only 17! What an incredible achievement. Plus you know what they say silver is the new gold (ahem ahem!!!!!) I've been reading about her all week in the papers so I was delighted to hear about her doing so well. I think she is going to have a fantastic future and I hope she enjoys every bit of her silver medal.
I went to the track today and had a little session. It was some sprints without any hurdles. I was there on my own so I had the Iphone for company. I'm loving the new Rihanna song hard so I just threw that on repeat and sang away happily to myself. This time of year is so relaxed at training because the work is done and its just about maintaining some form and enjoying it. If you can't enjoy this part of the year then there is something wrong.
In non sports news the thesis is not so awesome. I swear 100 words takes about an hour. It's like my brain is on strike. It has picked the worst possible time to strike and I'm gonna have to have a serious talk with it to kick start it.
Ok gonna go have a talk with the brain.
Later
D
P.S. yes that is berlino wearing my medal from euro's. Please note I am stuck in the house because of the thesis and its the little things that keep me entertained!

A nice award

I was awarded with the Irish times/Irish sports council sportswoman of the month award for July. I'm really excited about this because there are loads of women doing great things in Irish sport so it's an honor to win it. In 2006 I won the overall award and I was super excited about it.

July was a big month breaking the Irish record and winning a silver medal. It's really lovely to have my achievement recognised and I appreciate it.

Here is a link to the story

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/0811/1224276548468.html

Thank you Irish Times/Irish sports council!

A little visitor

Today I got lots of thesis work done. Hooray. But by far the highlight of the day was a little kitten arriving in our house. I think the kitten is about 6 weeks old. He/She was very hungry and kinda a bit scared. Myself and Oppy (buddy who is staying in the house for the summer)fed the kitten and named him/her Chaz Micheal Michaels. Chaz is currently sleeping in the kitchen and we need to figure out a plan for Chaz. Berlino is not in any way concerned about Chaz and is happy to have Chaz around for the moment.

I took this little picture of Chaz earlier.

Updates will follow...

D

New design? Yay or Nay?

I'm using every excuse possible to avoid college work. Anybody liking the new blog design? Mini makeover...

So much work so little time

I have loads of work to do for college. Honestly it is now officially hell. I'm hating this. i just wish it was done. I need to just get it done and stop being so depressed about it. I swear once this is over I am never ever studying anything again. I need about 100 more hours in the day!

On a positive note Peter is sailing brilliant at his event in England. He is currently leading so fingers crossed he stays ahead for the week. It's kinda exciting to see his results coming in, especially when they are so good.

I'm back doing a fair bit of training. I was really tired for a few days but the body is starting to come around. I haven't been doing any hurdles, the body needed a break so I'm back hurdling tomorrow.

Gotta get back to work.

D x

Sneaky peek London 2012

By the title of my email you would be forgiven for thinking that I had jumped on a plane and broken into the venue for athletics London 2012 (think DOR balaclava on scaling a fence and running down the home straight). Alas no I am at a London 2012 Olympic venue. But I'm at the sailing venue, Weymouth. Peter is doing a competition here this week so I jumped on a plane and came over for a couple of days to support. My weights coach Mark coaches the Irish olympic sailors so I can do a session with him during my little trip. He is here for the week to do physio with their team. It's good to catch up with him and have a little chat and plan a few things.

I love coming to Peter's events (I don't get to do it very often) It is so much more chilled out than athletics. Whilst I love all the drama that is track it is sometimes nice to be in a totally different domain and soak it all up. It's fun to be his plus one supporting him. He is so relaxed at meets and is always in a great mood. I'm way more stressed when I race than he is.

Tonight we went to an amazing seafood restaurant and had a fantastic dinner. It's so nice to spend a little bit of time together. In the morning Peter will be out on the water racing and I'll be in the gym with Mark training. Fingers crossed he does well.

On a totally different note i appeared on Miriam O Callaghans Saturday night talk show last night on RTE. I had a great time. She is such a lovely lady and completely wonderful at her job. I was a little in awe of how great she is. i was a little nervous beforehand but during the interview I felt really good and the nerves disappeared.

Time to go to sleep..

D X

The Plan

hi guys...

I thought I would do a quick blog update with my plan for the next little while. in other years I have tended to go straight into races after a championship and see what happens. But this year I plan on taking a little time to get ready for the last meets I will do in 2010. I want to finish the season strong rather than tired and cranky. Also I have college work to get done.

Rough plan:

next 3 weeks- do a mini training phase. Thesis.

Races-hopefully Brussels meet at end august, Continental cup 4th & 5th September.

Recover- September 6th for 3 weeks rest rest rest...

Hope that answers peoples questions...

Over and Out,

D X

Back in the game

I went back training today. I was in the gym with mark. It was a small little session but it was nice to get back doing something. I'm a bit busy at the moment but it's nice busy.

Tomorrow I'm doing a track session with Terrie. I haven't seen Terrie since Barcelona so it will be nice to see her and get some work done.

That's all for now.

D x

Are we really sure it wasn't GOLD??? Only playing!!!

Brain does not switch off...

Hi Blog readers,

My stupid brain has decided to not switch off which means it is refusing to sleep. I can only assume the reasons are as follows:

*Winning a shiny medal and all the excitement that follows it

*Realising how close I was to the shiniest medal of all and trying to change the result by said brain picturing winning gold not silver over and over....

*Having loads of people to text back but needing to find time to sit down and do it (apologies to all I will text back but it's been busy busy busy)

*Being too tired to sleep, sounds weird but I am definitely at that point

*The knowledge of a 16,000 word thesis hanging over my head

*Eating very randomly the past 24 hours which is unusual for me. 1 McDonalds and 1 Burger King ( I don't discriminate between fast food restaurants)

*Missing my puppy Berlino but excited about returning to her. Also missing the other half.

*A big desire to get home to my own bed. I miss my bed.

*Still a little overwhelmed by all the support and trying to take it all in.

It has been almost 2 nights since I last slept for more than 3 hours. I fly home early tomorrow but that means I get back to my bed soon and hopefully the blissful state of snooze...

Over and Out

D XXX

Silver Lining

Yay, I won silver at the Europeans. The same medal as 4 years ago. It feels really good. I also broke the national record second yay. To all those people who supported me, thank you so much. It means a lot to me. My coaching team of Terrie, Sean and Mark have done a great job. I'm a lucky girl to have them

I am absolutely wrecked and its 4 a.m here in Barcelona. So thats all the blogging for tonight.

More to come........