u/Disastrous_Book6791

Hi all, sorry if this has been posted on here already but I just had a quick question regarding jobseeker's allowance during the Summer.

I'm a PME2 so as of now, I will not be paid over the summer months. I submitted my application for jobseeker's allowance two weeks ago in person at my local intreo centre. I'm aware that you can track applications/receive updates via the MyWelfare website, so I've been checking that as well.

However, I still haven't received any update. I don't even know if my application has been processed because nothing has changed on the MyWelfare page. I have tried to call intreo to get a clearer idea of what stage my application is at, but they seem to just leave you on hold indefinitely.

I was just wondering from anyone who was in a similar situation, how long did it take you to hear back on your application? Thanks!

Hi all. So I've recently got back into road running after a few years of predominantly training on the treadmill. This was just for convenience sake but to say it's thrown me completely off in terms of how to pace myself would be an understatement.

For reference, I ran long distance pretty consistently from the ages of about 17-21 before switching to a treadmill, and my 5k pace time was always around 25 minutes (I usually ran significantly more than 5k, I just liked to use it as a benchmark time).

Now that I've gotten back into running outside, I'm really struggling to maintain my pace consistently. I'm doing about a 27-28 minute 5k which, whilst not seeming like massive drop off, is really grating on me. Admittedly, I haven't been back to running outside for very long (about three weeks at this stage), but I really want to know if there's anything I should be incorporating into my training to improve my pace (both in terms of consistency and speed).

The first three kilometers I run are usually pretty consistent in terms of pace, but after that, it seems to go a bit all over the place. I can't really give an estimate of my splits because my runs are a bit inconsistent at the moment. Some days I'm running closer to a 27 minute 5k, whereas others, it's tethering on 29.

Initially when I began running as a teenager with no prior athletic background, I found that just going out and running improved my pacing gradually. But reading up online, there's so much mixed information about incorporating interval training that I just don't know if my typical "strategy" of just getting out and running is applicable anymore.