Blog extract from Sonia O'Sullivan as she prepares for the Great Island 10 mile road race #2

The Great Island 10 mile road race in Cobh is coming up on Sunday the 13th of April and all proceeds from the race go towards the Irish Cancer Society. There is also a 5 km fun run/walk option for anyone not up to the longer distance. More details in this earlier post.

One of those taking part in the race this year is the former World champion and Olympic silver medalist Sonia O'Sullivan. She has written a blog extract for the organisers as she prepares for the race. The first part can be seen HERE and the second part is shown below...

Blog extract from Sonia O'Sullivan..Pt 2...I was back at Ferny Creek this morning, banking another 90minute run around the hills and really enjoying the challenge each week as I notice I am able to attack the hills and look forward to them which is always a good sign .

As I was running through the forest I had time to reflect on the past week of training and look forward to an easy week coming up as I will be flying to Ireland this week, so will need to take it easy for a few days to recover from the flight and use my training runs as a way of helping get quickly onto the Irish time zone.

Monday was once again a recovery day, I got up early to go to the pool as I know the group I train with will definitely be there on Monday morning to get the week off to a good start. The motivation for me is to help my body recover from the weekend of running . I really believe the swimming helps me to relax and ease out any aches and pains I may begin to accumulate after a week of consistent training.

On Saturday I had a run at the local Parkrun 5km and took Snowy with me, he did really well to run around in 20minutes, but really needs to work on his pacing as the first half I thought he was going to pull my arm off, then towards the end he was dragging his heels, a finish line and ticking clock doesn't seem to register any urgency for Snowy .

The easy run on Monday with my friend Niamh turned in to a bit of a treasure hunt. As we were just about to pass through the golf course Niamh realised she had dropped her car and house keys so we retraced our steps a few times before giving up and hoping some decent person might've picked them up and they would somehow be returned. Thankfully a good deed was done and the keys were dropped in to the local police station.

Tuesday was a little more interesting than my normal Tuesday session. Comedian Jason Byrne is in town for the Melbourne comedy festival! He tracked me down as he is training for the New York Marathon looking to go for a run. Interesting for him, he choose my heart rate session day, so we warmed up to Froghollow reserve and I encouraged Jason to join in and tried to explain the rational behind the session. As someone who normally just runs out the door for time and distance Jason really enjoyed the session and I really enjoyed the company and sharing a little bit of running knowledge.

Wednesday was long (75minutes) and slow to wattle park, snowy once again the faithful training partner as Niamh was resting up in preparation for a club race on Thursday.

I decided Thursday should be a day off as I had run for 2 weeks without any day off. But like most days off I still had to find some activity to get the day started. After Ciara and Sophie left for school, Snowy was hovering rather impatiently near the door wondering what was on the schedule for him today. After a few warning barks from Snowy I picked up the Hurley and Sliotair and headed for the park, this kept ups busy for awhile and as we were heading back I found a very nice sheltered spot outside the local cricket club, perfect for a quick 30minute TRX session.

There are always boxes that need to be ticked each week, so always happy to get the swimming and TRX done as these are the extra bits that keep my body happy and free of any aches and pains that make running uncomfortable and less enjoyable.

It was back to the Parkrun this week, I feel like I am becoming addicted now, but it really is a great way to get the Saturday training out of the way early at 8am . Saturday can be a really busy day with kids sports all over the place . Ciara plays netball, Sophie has Volleyball for school, mixed in with little athletics and basketball in the afternoon.

This week was a bit easier with state championships athletics and no netball, so logistics were easier as the track is also at Albert park.

I had set out the challenge to Jason Byrne and Des Bishop whose show I went to during the week to

come along and join me for 5km around the lake . It's an early start especially when the boys decided it might also be a good time for a promo picture while the comedy festival gets into full swing this week in Melbourne.

No snowy this week so I decided I should have a good fast run, still hovering around the 19minute mark surely I can get back running 18mins sometime soon.

Parkrun is great motivation each week and it was a pleasure to introduce Des and Jason to this very convenient training tool to keep in mind each week wherever you are in the world.

Just sitting at the the track now waiting for Sophie to run the 400m final of the Victorian Championships, It's been a long day but the race is only just starting for me, I'll have less than 2 hours to get home, sort dinner and race back into town to catch Jason Byrne on the stage at the Athenaeum theatre in Melbourne. I hope I laugh as much as he enjoyed the session earlier in the week . After this week, I'm ready to get on the plane sit back and relax and watch some movies. See you next week when I'm sure the temperatures will be a bit cooler, the evenings a bit brighter and the runs a bit easier as I blend into Irish time and begin final preparations for Great Island 10 2014.