Running 100km in a month for Women’s Aid: Day 11

Rest day -> 30.27/100km complete

With football trainings yesterday and tomorrow, today was an important rest day. I have a couple of days off work as I was going to fly over to the Ireland soccer match that’s on today, but with only finding out the location country on Thursday, and a couple of other things going on, I opted to watch it in a pub with a couple of friends instead. So I spent a lot of today decluttering my room, and got a massage, in which my massage therapist noted that my quads were very tight. Which is accurate as I did have a mild quad strain recently from all the running. I then had the joy of watching Ireland beat Scotland 1-0 to qualify for their first ever World Cup.

Running 100km in a month for Women’s Aid: Day 10

1.81km run, 2.34km training, 1.97km run -> 30.27/100km complete

Covered 6.12km in total today, which was needed to get closer to where I should be after 10 days. I ran to football training, trained, and ran home. I ran much less than usual during the training session, around half or a little over half what I often do, but this was probably due to having run there, and also having low numbers at training and it getting dark early so we couldn’t do a longer session. Fun session though!

Running 100km in a month for Women’s Aid: Day 9

Rest day -> 24.15/100km complete

As planned, took today to rest up!

Running 100km in a month for Women’s Aid: Day 8

7.14km run, 0.67km run -> 24.15/100km complete

Big progress today but it was needed. Wasn’t sure how much I’d be able to do without getting blisters so aimed to do at least 5km and see how I got on. My feet felt fine after a few kilometres so I ran a kilometre or two on grass to ease the impact on my feet and knees and finished the run at 7.14km, which for me, is a long-distance run. Later I needed to go pick up my new folding bike so as I was still in my running gear and pre-shower, and couldn’t wait much longer to get my new toy, I ran to the shop to collect it to get my total for the day up to 7.81km.

Running 100km in a month means doing about 3.23km per day, so after 9 days I would want to have 29km done. I’m taking tomorrow as a rest day as I have football training on Monday, so I’ll still be at 24.15km after 9 days so a little behind schedule, but after being able to do that 7km run with no blisters, I’m more confident I should be able to rack up the kilometres and complete the challenge.

Running 100km in a month for Women’s Aid: Day 7

Rest/cross-training day -> 16.34/100km complete

I had hoped to do the Croí 5k today but was too last minute about it to do it. Ended up cycling to where I thought the start point was, turning back, missing the start, and realising I hadn’t brought my bike lock key with me anyway so couldn’t park up the bike and do the run. By the time I got home I’d cycled 8km so I decided I’d be better to not run today after all, and try a long run tomorrow. Not so much a rest day as a cross training day but my feet should benefit from the rest even if my calves didn’t get much of a break.

Running 100km in a month for Women’s Aid: Day 6

Rest day, 0.5km run (to a bus) -> 16.34/100km complete

Rested up today after my match and to help the legs and feet recover more. Did sneak in a half kilometre running to a bus however. Every little helps, I’m sure I’ll be glad to not have to do that extra half kilometre another day on a long run.

Running 100km in a month for Women’s Aid: Day 5

0.41km run, 3.6km football match -> 15.84/100km complete

Added a few hundred metres running to a local takeaway for lunch today, upping my distance by 0.41km. Every little helps.

My legs were still not full recovered after Saturday’s 8km run, but I cycled 3km out to my challenge match, warmed up (0.83km) with some dynamic stretching, and played all of what ended up being a very short match due to it getting dark very early now, and there being no lights at the pitch. The whole match was only 34 minutes, as we started late, but it was all very relaxed and a lot of fun with plenty of competitiveness still even in a friendly game. Was happy that I covered 2.77km during the match considering it was only half the length of a full game, and I racked up a few scores, assists and interceptions too. Cycled home after, did a tiny bit of stretching after my shower, and rested up. I was delighted to see my blister was totally fine after it – it’s healed quite well, the skin has toughened up and flattened out, and it’s just red now as a reminder or warning to not get it again, but it dealt well with the soft grassy pitch with a thick layer of Vaseline on it and a little cushioning either side of it.

This week hasn’t gone to plan but I’m glad that on day 5 I’m at 15.84km. Unsure of how to work the rest of the week. There’s a charity 5km run on Friday that is tempting to do, so I might rest tomorrow as I won’t have much time for a run, and then try the 5km, and potentially get one last soccer kickaround in on Saturday, which is usually only a kilometre or two of running as it’s very relaxed.

I have a one-way flight booked for Monday to go work and holiday abroad a bit, and to see an Ireland game if it ends up being played in Vienna, which it will if Austria beat Scotland tomorrow, and am unsure if I’ll get on the flight. Mainly due to it relying on the match result tomorrow, but also, various factors such as a cousin I haven’t seen in four years having a last minute visit to Ireland around the same time. I have no idea where I’ll be this time next week, but I will hopefully have plenty more kilometres run by then.

Running 100km in a month for Women’s Aid: Day 4

Rest day -> 11.83/100km complete

Today was a much-needed rest day. My quads are still sore after not getting a full break yesterday, and my blister is healing slowly but surely and the skin is starting to toughen up a bit at last. Didn’t put shoes or socks on or leave the house to maximise the rest and recovery and hopefully be ready to play a football challenge match tomorrow. Hoping this is not needed many other days this month.

Running 100km in a month for Women’s Aid: Day 3

3.83km football training session -> 11.83/100km complete

My quads were still sore today, and the blister was looking better, but still definitely there and ready to come back if put under too much strain. I put a solid amount of cushioning around the outside of it so that it would be less likely to meet friction with my shoe when walking to an appointment and training. I opted to cycle to training, as there was no point doing much more damage.

I was glad I could at least kick the ball at training and kick with a decent amount of power too even if I had to hold back on full power shots. I covered 3.83km bringing me up to 11.83km in total. Less than I’d have liked, as I usually cover 4-4.5km in a session, and if I’d been able to run there and back that would’ve added another approximately 3.5km which would have had me flying it. Not too bad though for a session where I was both in a terrible headspace, and injured. I’ll be resting again tomorrow, which will leave me behind schedule early on, but I’ll try to add to it a bit on Wednesday and later in the week.

Not too much time in the month has passed yet, so I’m staying optimistic about the challenge. Worst case scenario I’ll need to have my feet up doing zero kilometres for a few days once November arrives, but that would work better than needing to do that during the challenge.

Running 100km in a month for Women’s Aid: Day 2

Rest day -> 8/100km complete

As planned, today was a rest day for the legs. I decided to do a core workout because I had no great plans for the day, had the time to what with not working, and don’t get around to core work (or any additional exercise outside of football and soccer trainings) as often as I’d like. I’ve also read that it can help runners to have a strong core, especially if they want to avoid lower back pain when running, which is the dream really. I went for my usual, which is a 20-minute core workout for soccer players. I like that it’s tailored a bit more towards soccer players even though it may well be much the same as a lot of core workouts. And I like that I can complete it and know what to expect.

I drained my blister last night to try to help speed up the healing. It looked better this morning but definitely needed a lot more rest. Took two more foot baths with hot salty water to try to help it along further. It still looks a bit angry but hopefully the rest will help and it’ll be okay to run on tomorrow. I even cycled the very short trip to the shop to save walking on it a bit. Will not be leaving the house again before training tomorrow, so it’s going to be rested and aired the maximum amount possible until then.

I’ve definitely felt some mild quad and hamstring strain in both legs today, slightly more so the right one which is my kicking leg, so I’m seriously hoping the rest helps with that too and it’s not lingering too much for too long.

If I haven’t recovered enough to train tomorrow, that throws a large enough spanner in the works early on, but at this point I’m hopeful. My plan was to run to training, train, and run back, to clock up about 7km or 8km in total. I may need to cycle there instead and just do the training, which would alter my mileage plans significantly, but which could be fine and would be much better than having to rest it for the entire day again. Fingers and/or toes crossed my feet and legs are back in action tomorrow!