Keep on runnin’…Pole Vaulting Granny

After completing the Great run in the Pheonix Park on the 6th of April, I looked around for my next challenge. I picked up a copy of the Irish runner and saw that the Sportsworld running club 5 mile classic was on  Sunday 18th of May. This provided me with an intermittent goal to get me to the half marathon in September.

The Sportsworld 5 mile classic became a 7 mile classic for me that day. Two miles in heels, after the bus driver dropped me two miles from the race headquarters in St Peter’s secondary school in Walkinstown… and the 5 mile classic itself. I had just enough time to get changed before legging it to the end of the group as the whistle blew.

 

The 5 mile Classic course is pleasant enough, most of the running is on residential streets of the Terenure/Templeogue area. It is well organised, with plenty of race marshals along the way and plenty of refreshments at the finish. I was happy enough with my time, considering I had done my pre race warm-up in heels.

It was at the prize giving afterwards that I met the amazing women who I have named this blog after – pole vaulting granny.  She is to say the least, a very inspiring character. At 70 odd, she has been a member of the Sportsworldrunning club for the past 25 years. She has a true passion for running. Despite having two strokes in the recent past, she still trains with her running club two times a week and also finds the energy to do some pole vaulting. Yes I said pole vaulting. She is an inspiration to the lazy person in us all. Anytime, I’m having difficulty getting off the couch to go for a run… I think of my pole vaulting granny and how she has overcome so much to keep on runnin’.

Dublin Fun Runs

Its eight months now since I took up running as a hobby. I have slowly but surely build up my distance, my stamina and have gained a little speed. When I started out last January, I set myself the goal of the Dublin half-marathon in September. That’s less than two weeks away now…will I be fit for it?…will I complete it?…will I complete it in a decent time?…will I complete it in a decent position?

I have taken part in a number of fun runs over the summer and my confidence has grown. I’m no longer asking myself – will I be able to complete the half marathon more like – will I be able to complete it in a decent time. 

There are a large number of fun runs on in Dublin over the summer. These are great to keep you motivated, each setting you to run faster or for longer. And its good to know that there are others like you out there running for no other reason than the love of it.

The Irish Runner Magazine is a great source of information with regards to upcoming events and fixtures. But here are my top ten summer fun runs which you can bear in mind for next year.

Name	Length	Location	Month	URL
Great Run	10 Km	Pheonix Park	April	http://www.greatrun.org/
Sportsworld 5 Mile Classic	5 Miles	Terenure	May	http://www.sportsworld-terenure.ie
Docklands Fun Run	5 Miles	Dublin Docklands	May	http://www.dublindocklands.ie/funrun/
Flora Women’s Mini Marathon	10 Km	Dublin South	June	http://www.womensminimarathon.ie/
ESB Sandymount Beach Run	5 Km	Sandymount Beach	June	http://bhaa.ie
Irish Runner Challenge 5 mile run	5 Miles	Pheonix Park	July	http://adidasdublinmarathon.ie/race_series.php
DCC 5K	5 Km	Iristown	July	http://bhaa.ie
The Frank Duffy 10 mile run	10 Miles	Pheonix Park	August	http://adidasdublinmarathon.ie/race_series.php
The Zurich 2 mile Track Race	2 Miles	Irishtown Stadium	September	http://bhaa.ie
The Dublin Half Marathon	13.2 Miles	Phoenix Park	September	http://adidasdublinmarathon.ie/race_series.php

10Km Running Playlist

In my previous post on running music, I described the theory behind selecting good running music to improve your running performance. In this post, I would like to share my 10K playlist with you . It has kept me company on many the lonely mile, spurring me on when I lose momentum and reminding me I’m out for a run not for a jog when my pace slackens.

I start off with Whatever you Like from Nicole Scherzinger of PCDs. The beat is uplifting but not too fast so you can ease into your run gently.

To complete my warm-up I follow this with Don’t Cha -The Pussycat Dolls. All warmed up, its time to pick up the pace with Pump it (Radio Edition) – Black Eyed Peas. With a BPM of between 135-155, this is a great song for pumping up hills. It really puts some pep in your step. Increase the BPM again with Out of Control (State of Emotion) – Kenna.

Keep the momentum you’ve build with the previous two songs with an old style powersong Jump -The Pointer Sisters (140BPM). This old style powersong will keep you going, just when you begin to slow.

At this stage, I generally ease off the accelerator and slow it down a little, with wait for it even more PCD Buttons – The Pussycat dolls at 105BPM. You might have started to notice that I like running to PCDs. Rest over pick up the pace again with The way I are (Radio Edit) – Timbaland (115BPM).

The hard bit, in my mind is now done. You have overcome the inertia of staying on the counch. You’ve warmed up, picked up the pace and you haven’t given into the temptation of walking up that hill. It’s time to get into the zone and freeflow to the end. I like to keep the music steady and upbeat at this stage. Maintain a good balanced pace to the end with :

• Round Round – Sugababes (126BPM)
• Tambourine (Radio Edit) – Eve (103BPM)
• Crazy in Love – Beyonce (100BPM)
• The Final Countdown – Europe (130BPM)
• Bite the dust – The Pussycat dolls (100BPM)
• Call me – Blondie (142BPM)
• Wait a minute – The Pussycat dolls (136BPM)

Rhythm in your feet

If you’ve read any of my previous posts you will have heard me gush about my Ipod Nano and Nike+ chip and how they have redefined how I run. To my amazement, I have found that listening to music whilst running has helped me run faster more comforatably, for longer. The right song at the right time can give me more energy and push me further even when fatigued.  As I’m a scientist and a bit of a curious cat, I was interested in learning how and why certain music helps me to run better.  To my surprise I found various studies into music, exercise and atheletic performance.

Music has been described by many researchers as an ergogenic aid—an external influence that positively affects your physiological performance. Ergogenic aid benefits can be divided into 3 facets:

1. Performance improvement – Music tempo regulates movement and thus prolongs performance
2. Minimization of distraction – narrow attention and divert your mind from sensations of fatigue 
3. Increased recovery.

So what songs should you put onto your playlist in order to maximise these benefits?

Dr Karageorghis of Brunel University in the States who seems to be one of the leading lights in the area has said:

“That the best workout songs have both a high B.P.M. (Beats per minute) count and a rhythm to which you can coordinate your movements”

Generally speaking this includes most rock and dance music and excludes any music with abrupt changes in timing, like free-form jazz or hard-core punk, as well as music that varies widely in intensity, like much of indie rock.  In saying this though it has to be said that music preferences are as idiosyncratic as workout routines. So the right music for you may not be the right music for me and different intensity workouts benfits from different song selections.  The table below provides examples of different songs from different music categories for different workout intensities.

Exercise Intensity	Music Style
	Rock	Pop	Soul / R ‘n’ B	Classical
55% Max HR	The Best – Tina Turner	Lifted – Lighthouse Family	Back to Life – Soul II Soul	Spring from “The Four Seasons” – Vivaldi
65% Max HR	Keep on Running – The Spencer Davis Group	Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson	I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor	Radetzky March – Johann Strauss
75% Max HR	Born to be Wild – Steppenwolf	Movin’ Too Fast – Artful Dodger & Romina Johnson	I Feel Good – James Brown	Troika – Prokofiev
85% Max HR	The Heat Is On – Glenn Frey	Reach – S Club 7	Everybody Needs Somebody to Love – The Blues Brothers	William Tell Overture – Rossini

These are just examples to illustrate how there are good running songs out there no matter what your music preferences are, to suit all workout levels. There are a number of websites that have databases of songs categorised into genre and BPM groups. TRY

http://www.runningmusicmix.com/

A ‘Great Run’ in the park

After gradually building up my distance and stamina over 4 months, I decided I needed to put my running to the test, so I entered the Great Run previously the Bupa run in Phoenix Park. On Sunday, April 6th, me and 10,000 other runners braved the elements to run the 10K course. Bertie honoured us with his presence to get us under way. It was to be one of his last public engagements before he stood down from being Taoiseach. I’ve never seen Bertie in the flesh before so as I glanced up at him as I crossed the start line, I have to confess to being a bit star struck. A little older and shorter than I thought he’d be, but impressive all the same.

On with the race in hand – no time to be awstruck. I needed to seek out a pacer to keep me on track throughout the race. I found my man as we rounded the first bend short and shout. At about 55 his legs looked like they had a fair few miles in them and he’d knew how to keep a steady pace. Onward bound with ‘Pacer Pete’ in sight I counted down the Km markers 2Km, 3Km, 6Km,7Km. Still feeling good, despite a hail shower at the 8Km mark. 9Ks down and ‘Pacer Pete’ fades out of sight. Alone, I’m left to pace the last 1Km by myself, 600m, 400m, 200m the line is in sight. Lets see if there is anything left in the tank. I picked up the pace to sprint across the finish line.

Bad idea, I had misjudged the distance and my ability to sprint to the end. I started to wretch at 50m to the line. With hundreds of spectators cheering the runners home I didn’t want to stop so close to the line. So I picked up the pace again and hurled myself across the finishing line into the arms of the Order of Malta who duly handed me a sick bag. But before I had a chance to use it, Tiger as if on cue talks to me through my head phone.

Congratulations on your longest workout

Cheers Tiger

As the ordeal of crossing the finishing line dissipated into a distant memory I happily followed the other finishers to the goody bag station – where we were handed our medals, a bottle of Lucozade sport and a packet of Tayto ‘LIGHT’. The Great Run is a Great Run and the fun doesn’t stop when you cross the finish line. All the participants were chipped and their start and finishing time recorded. Eager to see how close I got to Sonia I logged onto the Great Run website on the following Monday morning to find out where I came. To my amazement I came 2288th. Out of 10 thousand I think that is fairly impressive but how did I compare to Sonia. The Great Run organisers had teamed up with Nike+ to allow you to compare your run to other competitors. Just pop in the name or number of the competitor and hey presto you are racing across the screen with Sonia. So I’m not quite Sonia pace yet ….

On the road again….

In January, I joined all the other hopeful resolution makers and made my own resolution to get back running. 

 

Not that I was ever a great runner in the first place, I never ran competitively or even joined a running club. But, up until 4 years ago (before I took up full time employment) I used to get up religiously every morning at 7am and run 3 miles around my local park. For years I would plod for 3 miles, no longer, no shorter, with my only aim being to get up the next day and do it all over again.  After a series of change in my life including a change in job, I decided that now would be a good time to start running again. But this time I decided to set myself a goal. The obvious one was the marathon, but going from 0 to 26.2 miles in a year seemed a bit too ambitious for me. I’m more of a realist than a fantasist at heart. So I set myself the goal of running the Adidas Dublin half marathon in September. 

Goal in mind and under the cover of the dark January evenings I strapped on my new ipod nano and slipped my Nike+ chip into my runner and started running…or at least my interpretation of running.  I’m not the most graceful of efficient runner in the world. I don’t run at any great speed or for any great distance. In fact if I were a horse, I’m sure they would have shot me years ago but I was up and out, that was the main thing.

Seven months on and I’m still running. So whats kept me going? – the vision of one day being on Sonia’s shoulder as she crosses the finishing line…or even the idea that I could someday look good in lycra?

No its my trusted iPod and Nike+ chip.

Good  running music enables you to concentrate and focus – if you have the music loud enough it will drown out the noise of your weazing and the sound of your pounding heart.  Having the Nike+ means you can also track your progress. Or you can have Tiger Woods or Lance Arstrong do it for you. I can’t tell you of my excitement when after a particularly greuling run Tiger congratulated me on completing my fasthest mile.

I first saw the Nike+ chip at Barcamp Galway in September ’07 when Ina from DERI presented it, as one of a growing number of social tools. Like a child in a sweet shop I turned to himself and said I wanted one. I don’t know why as I hadn’t even contemplated getting back running at that stage. In December, we were over in Silcone valley in the home of the iPod and himself asked me if I would like an iPod nano and Nike+ chip for Christmas. He had remembered what I had said in Galway in September and thought what better place to purchase my first ever iPod. I can honestly say that this was the best Christmas present ever.

A running joke….

I recently took up running again after an hiatus of 4 years…..That was the opening line of my first blog post that I wrote (but did not publish) back in February, when it was suggested to me that I should write a blog about getting back out onto the road. This was a great idea back in February when I was full of New Years resolutions and good intentions, I even went to the bother of writing a few blog posts but didn’t take the next step to set up a blog.

Its now August and I’ve finally taken the finger out. I’ve set up my wordpress account, choose a design theme and came up with a name….Pole Vaulting Granny. I will tell you why ‘Pole Vaulting Granny’ in a later post, but for now I think I’ll tell you about how I got back on the road after sitting on my arsh for 4 years. 

I had lots of excuses for not running over the last 4 years like,

Favourite Excuse # 1: Work………..”Ooh I’m too busy or to tired to run”

Favourite Excuse #2: The Weather…… “Its too wet to run” or “Its too cold to be wearing shorts” 

Favourite Excuse # 3: That old injury is playing up again…I’m a bit young to use this excuse with conviction but I used it anyhow.

or even

Favourite Excuse #4: I don’t have the right gear…….this has to be the poorest excuse in the book. All you need is a pair of trainers. In my head I was telling myself I couldn’t go out running without matching lyrca running shorts and vest and ….. the body to put into this lycra ensemble of course.

The truth was that after using up all the work/weather excuses and faining injury I had grown to a size where my ass needed its own support system to prevent it from wobbling out of control and knocking out any poor unfortunates who may be passing at the time.