I see you....

On this blog there is a section that I can get too called stats and in stats it gives me lots of information. The stats are saying that lots of people are reading the blog from far and wide. It also says lots of people are reading quite regularly also. So whether you are here in Ireland or abroad reading I hope you're enjoying.

They tried to make me go to rehab but I say no no no.....

Recovery week is also check up week. Today Mark did a few little tests on me. Not the fun tests that I love like jumping and max lifting. The annoying tests like stability and core. The results of the tests kinda decide where I do and don't have weaknesses and this then decides what extra rehab exercises will be put into the programme for the next three weeks.

Lets just say I did not nail all the tests which means I'm off to rehab. Rehab for me is all the usual lifting but with added minor exercises to correct the weaknesses. It's been nice to have recovery week. I was really tired at the end of this first phase so it's good to have a rest. Running was really relaxed all week. I ran with Ian on Tuesday and Thursday.

In the spirit of Halloween we made a scary pumpkin today. It's sitting in the window just waiting to give any passer byes dirty looks. Berlino is pretty unfazed by it though. Maybe I need to work harder on making my pumpkins more evil.

Hope you all have a fun Halloween weekend.

D

Recovery week and Keano

This week is recovery week. I still train this week but it is at a way lower intensity and the gym work is more core based. For example today in the gym one of my exercises involved lying on the floor and rolling onto my belly but keeping everything really straight. Sounds easy peasy but it's awkward. I kinda look like a turtle that has been put on their shell and can't get back. Running is focused less on time targets and more on running technically well.

Due to it being recovery week it means I have time to do other things. Unfortunately most of these things are pretty boring. At the moment I have to do my tax return which just makes me wanna go to sleep.

In other news I have something really really exciting coming up. I'm going to be interviewing Roy Keane for RTE radio 1. I have a huge amount of respect for his achievements and I'm really looking forward to meeting him. I'm trying to decide what to ask him at the moment so if you have any suggestions put them in the comments section and I'll see what I can do.

Thanks,

derval

If I used Twitter I would tweet....

rest day is spent bringing dog to dog park, reading papers, napping and going to Templestreet fundraiser. Lovely.

Saying no...

I find it hard to say no to things. Even if I know that there is no way that I can do something or if it will be bad for me. Right now for training I train 6 days a week either once or twice a day. I have 1 day a week off which I usually spend trying to recover from the other days spent training. When people request me to do things I have to make sure that they don't effect training. Most of the time I would love to do everything that is requested of me but because I'm only one person it's just not physically possible.

A friend of mine called Declan Lee organises appearances etc for me and he is super at it. He understands about training and about my lack of time so he is great at knowing what he can and cannot commit me too.

The whole point of this blog is that I had to say no to doing something for a running club today. I hate saying no to people and because I know how hard people in running clubs work it is extra hard for me to say no. This particular outing would have meant a long time in a car and it would have affected two days training.

All in all now I feel shite about it!!!! Even though I know that I do lots of little extra things that make a difference, this one no makes me feel crappy.

On a positive note something that I am doing is a Q and A in aid of Templestreet children's hospital tomorrow night. Triathletes Alistar Brownlee and Bryan Keane are also taking part. There will be an auction on the night and they are auctioning off a pair of my saucony racing spikes. It is a fantastic cause and hopefully the turn out will be really good.

Bye for now

Derv

Oh no

Today the best way to sum up how I feel is "oh no". This week training has been tough. I was back on the track (as opposed to running on the grass). Track is just tougher, the reps are faster and they are more tiring.
Today's session was speed endurance. We had to run a little bit longer and lots of reps. Anything over 200m kinda pushes me into the bad place so today I was in the bad place. I feel I'm just a short and fast kinda girl not a long and fast girl. All you 400/800m runners out there I have respect for you because I just could not do what you do. Anyway back to the point today was a long one. I survived the running but then to make it worse Mark met me at the track to do weights afterwards. This is a new part of training, normally I don't do weights after this session. Legs felt battered from the running so the weights were hard. Now I'm just lying on the couch hurting.
In other news a friend of ours has a puppy called Runty. Runty is super cute. He was abandoned and found in a bag with all his brothers and sisters. Now he is doing great and just really playful. On Wednesday Runty was in our house for the day. Him and Berlino played all day. Then we went to the dog park in Marley Park and the two of them just ran around playing with loads of other dogs.
I need to peel myself off the couch and make some dinner.
later.
D

busy bee

Hi All,

This week I was really busy. There was actually so much going on that I'm just going to blog about a few things of this week.

1. Cushionstown A.C awards night

I gave out the awards at the cushionstown a.c awards night. This was the second year I've given them out and just like last year it was a really big pleasure to do. There are so many people down there who give their time in a voluntary capacity and who really make a difference to grassroots athletics. Then of course there are the athletes. There were loads of kids there who I met last year and then there were lots of new faces. It's always good to see kids still staying in the sport and of course new athletes are great to see too. The athletes have had a great 2010 season and hopefully they continue on for a super 2011.

2. The Wright Venue

I'm not a big clubber but I found myself in the wright venue last Friday night. The gym where I train (Sportsmed) had a night out as a celebration of how well the year has gone. It was a great laugh and really fun to see everyone out of tracksuits and in normal gear. Plus it was entertaining to see everyone dancing. The Wright Venue is an awesome nightclub. It is huge and has loads of different sections. Great place for a party.

3. Training

This week I was really back into the swing of things with training. There was plenty of weights lifted and lots of running done. Gym work was really enjoyable. I'm a bit better than I would have expected at most of my lifting. Running is good but it's very relaxed so far. Today I was out in Meath with Ailis and Sean doing hills. Ailis and I haven't been running together since the end of the season. I can report that Ailis is as fast as ever and the hill is still nice and steep.

It's starting to get cold now so it will be time for hats and scarfs soon. Brrrrrrr. That's all for now.

D x x x

P.S All week the Eliza Doolittle song 'Pack up' has been on the radio and I'm loving it. It's on repeat in my head!

No more chocolate monster

Tomorrow is D-day. It is the day that the good professional athlete type diet begins. I've just polished off my final Mars bar (from the freezer and dipped into a cup of tea Mmmmm) and I'm ready to face the world of good healthy eating.

No more baking cakes and muffins. Only healthy run fast food from here on out. I will keep you all posted.

Night night.

Derval

where did you run today?

Hi guys,

Hope everyone is in wonderful form. Most Fridays I do weights and then I have to do 50m runs on the grass. The running is really relaxed but needs to get done. What I normally do is walk down to the Trinity college campus from the gym and run on the grass there. It's really enjoyable. There are loads of people who run around the grounds and it's beautiful down there. This brings me on to the title of this blog, while I was down there running I was thinking I wonder where everyone else is running today and I wonder is it as pretty as here.

I've been watching a bit of the commonwealth games. It's kinda nice to watch a championship normally I'm running in them. It's a bit of a shame that all the top athletes from the commonwealth are not at the championships because some events don't have many people of a high standard in them. But I love to watch sport so it's entertaining regardless. Last night there was serious drama in the women's 100m. The aussie Sally Pearson (a fellow hurdler) and Laura Turner both appeared to false start but only Turner got DQ'd. Then in the final Sally ran super to win but a few hours later she got DQ'd for the false start. I think it's quite unfair on her. They let her run and she won the race so for her to have her medal taken away is very harsh. If they wanted to D.Q her for the false start they should have done so on the track.

Tomorrow I'm going on a roadtrip with Ailis to see our nutritionist. I'm still eating whatever I like so it will be good to get a kick in the arse!

No more typing the dog needs to be walked.

Later

derval

Day 1-Weights,DIY & Vomit!!!!!

Today I started back doing a little bit of training. It was weights with Mark. Things are always kinda interesting with Mark in the gym because I never know what he is going to do with me. Today was fine. Now lets be honest I wasn't exactly looking like a lean mean fighting machine but I did ok.

The most exciting part of the day comes from the house. I have a lot of clothes, shoes and accessories. I'm a typical girl and love clothes but add all the sports clothes I have to this and it makes for a whole lot of stuff in the house. I've had this theory that I can't possibly organise any of this unless I have a shoe rack to put all my shoes on. Today after my weights session I took a stroll to Argos and bought a shoe rack. This presented a major problem, it was flat packed and needed to be assembled. DIY is not really the way I roll I'm more a fan of others doing the DIY. But I was home alone and had to man up. I had a screwdriver and a lot of metal to figure out. I got down to it and before I knew it I was the proud owner of a new shoe rack. How very exciting. Now all I have to do is start tidying all my stuff up.

On another note I must apologise to the Ryan's. Deirdre Ryan (Irish high jump record holder) and I went for a little walk with Berlino today. Afterwards we went into her house to have a cup of tea and say hi to her Mum. They got a nice new carpet in the living room and as I was admiring it Berlino decided to have a look too. Rather than just look though she vomited on the carpet. Oh the shame!!! Thankfully the Ryans are dog people and were far more concerned about Berlino than the carpet. Both the dog and carpet are now fully recovered. Carpet crisis diverted.

Catch ya later.

D

Back in the office

Hi Everyone,

It has been ages since I have blogged. But a break is always a good thing and I definitely needed to switch off for a while. September was a blissful month. It was wonderful to be able to eat anything I wanted and be able to get to do things I don't normally get to do when I'm in season. These included visiting schools to chat to kids, going on holiday, spending time in Cork, doing some media stuff and socialising a lot more than normal.

Now I'm back in the office. I got my first email today with the first training schedule for preparation for 2011 season. October is a month of getting fit again and putting everything in place for a smooth 2011. For the next week I will still eat loads of crappy food and socialise a bit more than normal but I will start doing a little bit of training again.

People often think that the hard part of athletics is the racing but for me that is the easy part. The hard part is the next three months. The next three months will be putting all the building blocks in place. There are two words that come to mind when I think about it SUPER EXCITED!!!!!!! I know it's going to be tough and really horrible at times but I feel like I have so much to improve on and I can't wait to work my bum off for 2011.

Hopefully everyone is in great form.

Talk soon,

Derval