Becoming a Real Runner

So i visited the Physio today and the diganosis is the same as the last time I went to the Physio (about a month before the marathon), posterior Tibialis muscle strain (except in the other foot). The strain is in a slightly different area but the stretches and excercises are basically the same before as recovery. It is not a bad as the last time, so I am allowed a few runs on Grass before next weeks follow up visit.

Lessons to be learnt:
1.My physio (Ciaran Fitz- excellent by the way) once again commented that my legs are as stiff as a poker. I really need to do more stretching regularly. I have already made up a home-made foam roller with a camping mat and 5 spaghetti tins and intend rolling the clafs out after runs.
2. I possibly need a bit more support from my runners especially when running over uneven surfaces (footpaths and the like). I am a very slight under-pronator and while My Nike Pegasus are perfect for park running and racing, I need a bit more support when running round the paths in the dark of winter. I will look to invest in a pair of Asics 2140 or similar.

Anyway it is going to be a quiet week running wise, but with the slightly longer days I hope to get in a few short runs over the gras pitches in Tymon and hopefully a slightly longer one on saturday. I have already paid for the KBC 5k on the 14th, so I will probably run it, but the one in UCD a fortnight later will be more of a target race.

I brought my gear to work and arrived at Tymon park at about 6pm all togged out. Did 35 minutes gentle jogging on the grass around the park before it got too dark. I estimate about 4 miles (forgot my Garmin). The ground was very heavy, My pegasus are not much good for those conditions. I probably need a pair of trail shoes aswell as a more stable pair for undulating footpaths. I am beginning to realise why the people on the main forum have so many different pair of shoes. Up to about a week ago I thought that Pegasus would be all I ever need!!

Just spent the last 10 minutes foam rolling my calfs and quads. I could feel my ankle wasn't 100% today but also realised it is much more noticeable on tarmac than mud. Will have to stick off road for a while.

Cheers Gerard, I'll check tha out at the weekend.

Tonight was lovely and bright, so I got a slightly longer run in. I had the Garmin this time and I was surprised at the pace as I was really taking it quite easy over the very sticky, heavy grass in Tymon. After a slow first mile (9 min+) all the other miles were 8'30 or less including one steeply uphill one. I did the last half mile or so over a path and was cruising along at 7:40 pace for that. So overall quite happy as I don't appear to have lost much speed. I can still feel the ankle quite delicate, I am leaning more to the left side, but for the first time in a while I didn't feel it 'tweak' at any stage.

Overall 5.3 miles in 45 minutes, 8:30/mile av Pace

Yesterday I want back to the Physio for a follow up and after explaining about the new shoes and a further gruelling session I got the tentative thumbs up to get back to normal training.

I took the new Lunarglides out for a spin after work today and am delighted to say they really did the Job. 5.4 miles around tarmac paths and I didn't feel any niggles for the first time in weeks. Bset thing about the shoes is that they look pretty groovy as well. Judge for yourself:



On top of that the pace was quite quick though I felt I was keeping it easy overall 42 minutes for a 7:49 av Pace, I went at 7:15 for the last mile. Really happy with all that. The plan is to get a run in for the next three days and rest up saturday for the race on sunday. I am not taking the race too seriously so I will probably run into town before and run home afterwards as well to make a 10 miles long run out of it. I hope to get back to normal mileage as I've slipped back from early 40's to late 50's in the 1000 mile challenge over the last few weeks.

I was planning a run yesterday but came over all weak and Nauseous yesterday afternoon and was wondering if I was out for the MSB 5k on saturday. Thankfully today I felt much better and got out for 8 miles after work. 1hr 8 minutes total, pace about 8:35/mile.
I have to say it felt a little tougher than it should have, legs were a little heavy, I will put it down to the illness.
Touch wood, the ankle has been feeling great since I have been wearing the new shoes.

I guess I will get a light jog in tomorrow ahead of the race on saturday, just to loosen the legs and get back into the habit of doing 5 runs a week. Already nearly 20 m iles for the week, which is more than I have done for well over a month.

Recovery run this evening. I decided to let the legs dictate the pace and it was deadly slow.
4.7 miles in almost 46 minutes. thats over 3 minutes per mile slower than yesterday's race , but I don't care !!

Plan tonight was 5 miles easy so I was surprised when the first k clicked on the garmin at 4:37. I felt like I slowed down when I saw that so was shocked when the scond k came up at 4:21 :eek: I really had to slow to a crawl at that stage but the rest of the run was still in and around 5min/ km (8min/mile) pace.

Overall 5 miles in 39 minutes. Pace 7:48/mile.

Funny how yesterday I couldn't speed up past a crawl yet today I couldn't get my legs to slow down!!

GYm night tonight. 1 hour weights and a 5 mile run on the treadmill at very easy pace. 43 minutes. Still hated it though.
Hopefully will get a 10miler in tomorrow.

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Just catching up here menoscemo. Nice running last weekend. Always good to see PBs.

Thanks SJ, as long as I can keep the training consistent I really should be knocking out PB's every race as I have only been running a year now and started from a very low base. I guess the plateau will come later in the year, but as the title says, I hope to be a real runner by thhen

I have been out for a few days with a bit of a chesty cough and cold. I was feeling better today so headed out to UCD after work for a few laps. I was planning 5 x 800m at 5k pace which should be about 3:20. They felt grand and knocked out very consistent reps of 3:17 (164 av, 170 hi) 3:19(168, 174) 3:19 (169, 173), 3:19 (170, 175). I called it a day at 4 reps as I could feel the chest wheezing and it was starting to spit rain. Since I am planning to race the UCD 5K on saturday, I would like to be my best.

I did a lap of the saturdays race course (just over a mile) as well to get a feel for it and it seems grand.
Including warm up and cool down for the laps, Overall 5 miles in 42 minutes, AV pace 8:25. av HR 152.

I planned a run yesterday and was actually all kitted out and off running when it started to bucket down. With my present cold/chest infection I decide to call it a day straight away and just got in half a mile- quarter of a mile joggin off and another quarter sprinting back to the car.

I got out today and in my head it was really a trial to see if i'm fit to race tomorrow. Immediately I realised I am not, my breathing was still pretty restricted, my pace was slow and the effort felt realtively high for the slow pace. The legs also felt like lead. I am not really at the races so i don't think running tomorrow would do myself any justice. I think I will run the Leixlip 5k at the start of May instead, no harm done as I never had to pay the reg fee or anything (it was reg online and pay on the day).

Anyway got in 6.8 miles with 5 x 100-200m strides (or fartlek or whatever it's called) in 59 minutes. Av pace a measly 8:42, HR 151.

I hit the track at UCD this evening and the plan was 5x 1km at 10k pace. My next race is the great Ireland run, so I want to get some 10k specific training in. I hope to run sub 44 minutes :eek: so the plan for the intervals was 4:24 or less.
Anyway after a few laps warm up I went off on the first interval and hit it in 4:20, perfect. My right leg was a little stiff especially up round the hip, so I stopped for a minute to stretch it out a little and went off on my second interval. This one felt a little tougher but then again it was a little fast, clocked it a 4:14. The right leg was really stiff now and the stiffness was spreading down to the calf. I stopped again and tried to stretch it out but the next interval the pain was still there so it was a little slower than the others 4:25. I decided to run in the opposite direction to see if that made any difference, so I did a few slow laps anti clockwise and the right leg was still so tight (from hip to calf) it felt like something would snap at any minute. The left leg (the one where I have had the ankle trouble recently) was absolutely fine. Reluctantly I called it a day before I did any damage. This is a little frustrating as I felt the intervals themselves were going fine if it wasn't for the leg.

I think I will give the UCD track a miss from now on. I have always found the surface tough to run on and it normally gives me really sore calfs, but nothing like today. Infairness the track was very wet tonight which probably didn't help. I think next week I will do some mile intervals on tarmac round the park instead of the track. I will probably try to do something like 3x 1 mile at 7:00 pace later in the week as well to make up for todays aborted effort.

Overall 3.4 miles in 27 minutes. 8:00 pace.

I have just spent about 20 minutes rolling out the leg from top to bottom and I am sure it is fine and was just the surface tonight.

kennyb3 wrote: »

hope your okay, i find the track very tough on the legs too - gave my achilles a scare few months back. i wonder if there are any softer track surfaces around? Im thinking a footy pitch might be best way to do intervals myself

Thanks man, I think I'm fine, the legs always get a bit sore on it and a combo of the news shoes and the wet surface (you kind of subconsciously try to 'grip it') probably provoked the reaction. I'll definately get out for a few miles tomorrow to loosen up. The track was great through the winter months for the speed work, but with the strecth in the evenings and the use of a garmin, there is no reason I can't do the speedwork in the park from now on.

Back to form tonight!! I have a nice 2 mile lap around tymon park and the plan was to do 3 x 1 mile at 10k pace (7min/mile) and use the the other half of the lap as warm up/recovery. I was really surpirsed with the splits: 6:37, 6:52, 6:49. They really didn't feel that hard at all and I certainly never ran any of the miles flat out. Av Hr for all 3 was 162-163 and a high of no more than 171.

Overall 6.75 miles in 57 minutes, pace 8:25 av HR 152.

It was really cold tonight and I had no gloves, after 1 lap my hands had lost feeling. I went back to the car and lucklily found a couple of old golf gloves which staved off the frost bite. But I must have looked a right sight wearing two golf gloves, one whote, one black and one of them back to front!!

Plan is a recovery run tomorrow and an LSR on friday. I hope to get a new pair of trainers tomorrow begin to alternate them with the current ones, though in fairness the legs were 100% tonight so maybe the last few days niggles were just apparitions.

I spent the day baragin hunting for new trainers. I have had the feeling that while my current Lunar glides are great, soft and supportive, they have a rather large heel and I don't like the feel of landing when I am doing a speed session, it feels like my heel lands before it should. After much browsing and deliberation I purchased a pair of Asics DS trainers in Elvery's in dundrum. The have a very low heel and still offer me enough protection. The salesman flimed me on the threadmil in them and they looked good.

I Decided to give them a spin tonight to break them in. 6 miles easy in 50 minutes. Pace 8:25, HR 150. The difference in feel between these and the lunar glides is huge, the nikes are very very soft and these feel almost like my feet are touching the ground. I think they will suit me better for short stuff and speed training (especially on a soft track) and the plan is to rotate these and the nikes on a day on day off basis.

rainbow kirby wrote: »

I'm tempted to get a pair of DS trainers myself for the faster stuff, they really are a very nice shoe. Only problem is that the womens one is barbie pink :mad:

Would you not consider a pair of 1140's or 2140's? there were some decent offers on those in the various sports shops in Dundrum. I assumed with your insistence on Kayanos that you were a sever over pronator??

I have a few Doms from the run in the new trainers, nothing troublesome I guess they'll just take a few runs to break in.
Went to the Gym this morning and did just over 3 miles on the treadmill afterwards as a kind of recovery run.

That's 6 Days straight running for me now, something of a record. I'm heading up home (north) for easter now, so I'll deffo have a rest tomorrow. I'll maybe try to get some kind of run in on sunday when everyone else is at mass :P, before gorging on crisps and easter eggs. We'll see.

So despite saying this time last week that I would do the speed work in the park from now on, I headed back to the UCD track with the new DS trainers to see if they would make a difference. The plan was to finish the session that I had to abort last week i.e. 5 x 1km at planned 10k pace (4:24/km or 44 minutes total) with 400m recoveries.

I finished the session this week with very little trouble. These shoes are much lower to the ground and a little harder in the sole than the Lunar Glides. I am pretty sure that it was a combo of the Softness (and high heel) of the Lunar glides and the softness of the track that was causing the stress on the legs and particularly the right hip.
Anyway todays splits were: 4:09 (av HR 166/max 171) 4:14 (166/171) 4:19 (166/171) 4:24 (164/170) 4:18 (167/171)
The first was obviously a bit quick so I consciously slowed down in the next 3 and then upped it a bit on the last one. Pretty pleased that all the HR's are amazingly consistent and that the max is only 171 as I am sure I can push to an Average HR of around 175 for 10k in race conditions.

The legs were a bit tight after the run so I had a good strecthing session after. Overall (with a 1k warm up and 1k warm down) 5.6 miles in 44 minutes, pace 7:55/mile HR 157.

Gym day today.
Went on the threadmill after weights. I set the machine for 10km though I knew I was being very optimistic. I finally gave up the will to live at 4 miles or 6.5km in sheer boredom so I called it a day at that. Not to worry, it was only a recovery run anyway so I am sure the 4 miles served the purpose. I am thinking a handy run tomorrow and a good long LSR on saturday, maybe 12 or 13 miles. There I have said it now so I'll have to do it!!

Well, the legs were really stiff and tired this morning, so I am hoping the recovery run does some good. What a day today!! Summer is definately on it's way, I was sweating all the way despite the Hr never really rising and my Lidl sunglasses got their first ever outing.

I was thinking about doing exactly 5.7 miles to complete the 35 for the week, but heading home I looked a little short. I really couldn't be bothered doing a lap to make upthe difference so quit at 5.1 miles. Time 47 minutes (pace 9:14, HR 143)

That's 5 runs and 34.3 miles for the week - Happywith the increase (it s actually over 40 miles for the calendar week, considering I ran lst sunday).