On Your Marks ...

Sosa

Its all relevant stmochtas ....i bet you enjoyed every sip of beer and drip of grease ....my mouth is watering !

stmochtas

It was much more enjoyable than a 2k interval session. I was thinking Xmas is a bad time to be off your feet as there is the danger of putting on a few extra Ibs. Must remember to supplement running with some equivalent calorie burning activities should I not get back out this year.

stmochtas

Evening:

Weights, stretching and strength.
15 mins on the bikes
15 mins cross-train

Hoping this week of taking it easy might finally get me back on to some light running but we will see.

stmochtas

Took the opportunity to head west this weekend as I knew I wouldn't be up too much running wise. Calf is starting to feel normal again however I have a tightness in my hamstring on the same leg which I am not liking. Managed a 30 minute jog over the weekend and plenty of strength and stretches. Planning to go for a massage this week and do a few more 30 min sessions. Hopefully by the weekend I might be able for a long one again.

** Congrats to the Boards team on another great win and to all the lads who achieved some great times. I hope to back out there with them in 2009.

MCOS

Staying smart with the approach back in... good stuff out of you

stmochtas

The gods are against me starting to run this week. Got a bad flu last night so although I have the gear with me to go to the gym, I think I will have to give it a miss as I am feeling very weak.

Maybe the extra rest is a blessing in disguise

stmochtas

Sports Massage this afternoon.

Decided to go and get one based on some of the threads on Boards, plus the fact that I am a bit flu-ish and wont be doing any training.

Glad I did now because my legs seemed to have a lot of stiffness, but feel great now.

I will introduce a regular massage into my training schedule once I get going again.

One thing that was demonstrated to me was a lack of elasticity I have developed in my leg muscles over the last 9 months of running which may have resulted in the injury or cause future ones.

I have been given some more effective stretches and I am going to work on the elasticity of my muscles over the next few weeks. The stretching I have been doing doesn't seem to have been effective enough. The stretching I was demonstrated was called PNF stretching and I will practice along with my current regime. A quick search gave this information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNF_stretching

stmochtas

I was on page 2 so I said I better make an entry

Well things have not been going to plan and my leg shows very little improvement which is very frustrating. Anytime I go for a jog I seem to go backwards.

I plan to take a few weeks of total rest with some bike, strength and stretching. The problem with resting around Xmas is the temptation to eat and drink too much.

Visit to the Physio this week is due.

Also well done to the Boards BHAA team. I so want to get back out there. Will aim to return for some of the Feb BHAA races I think. I really wanted to do Raheny but I think it may come to quickly for me.

Need to plan the New years resolutions for 2009.

stmochtas

AM
Core Class

PM
Strength and Stretches

Not much more to report.

stmochtas

Physio this afternoon.

Painful session has he went very deep. This hopefully removed the tightness that has built up from the first few jogs.

Don't know at the moment as calf is very tender from the rub-down.

shels4ever

Sounds like your almost back now, My calf isnt too ba more of a strain so will only be a few days . Run yesterday may have been a little to much.

stmochtas

Haven't made an entry into my log in a couple of weeks as I got a nasty chest infection and flu which kept me in bed until Xmas eve.

Anyway the leg had been feeling good and I managed the following

26/12/2008 ~ 3 miles easy pace ~ stretching & strength
27/12/2008 ~ 4.5 miles easy pace ~ stretching & strength
28/12/2008 ~ 6 miles easy pace ~ stretching & strength

I didn't push the pace to much and it was all on grass the weather was great.

This morning I have a bit of tightness in the spot where I got my injury which is annoying. The plan is a 30 minute recovery run and a lot of stretching this evening to see how it feels.

I might go to the Physio tomorrow afternoon to get any tightness removed it is still present but I am not sure if you need to keep going back for Physio as the injury should be healed by now.

Planned a quality session for Wed or Thurs which I may have to cancel if this tightness remains.

stmochtas

Strength exercises followed by

5k Recovery run @ very easy pace (11 min/mile)

Leg is stiff and stretching is not loosening it so I may get the physio to go a bit deeper.

stmochtas

Physio today on the offending calf. He worked very hard on it and I was in agony to say the least but the leg feels quite good now and he recommended to continue the build-up.

Plan for the next few days as long as my leg behaves. No speed work as yet however if things are going well then I will look at the 8th for some reps.
Other wise I will rest until the 10th.

If my leg misbehaves totally then I will just stick to the bike.

30th ~ Rest
31st ~ Exercise bike (Easy) + strength + core + stretch
1st ~ Exercise bike (Work a bit harder) + strength + core + stretch
2nd ~ 4.5 mile easy run + strength + core + stretch
3rd ~ Exercise bike (Recovery) + strength + core + stretch
4th ~ 6 mile easy run + strength + core + stretch
5th ~ Exercise bike (Recovery) + strength + core + stretch
6th ~ 7.5 mile easy run + strength + core + stretch
7th ~ 3 mile recovery run

stmochtas

I have got the following runs which has been pretty much to plan

Jan 2nd ~ 5.12km ~ 30:36 ~ Pace = 5.58 / km
Jan 4th ~ 9.95km ~ 58.29 ~ Pace = 5.52 / km
Jan 6th ~ 12.86km ~1.13.54 ~ Pace = 5:47 / km

Slowly upping the pace and distance. Going to maintain the Day on/Day off approach for now and see how things progress.

Plan

Jan 8th 10k

Jan 10th 5k ** possible recovery run here on Treadmill as will be in hotel.

Jan 11th 13k ** This may not be possible due to commitments

stmochtas

7.4 Miles Easy. Right leg felt stiff but was happy enough.

2 days rest now as I wont get a chance to run.

stmochtas

1k easy followed by 10k at 8min/mile pace and then another 1k easy.

Best I have felt in weeks. Looking forward to the next run.

shels4ever

Great so you going to race on the 25th , looks like your getting back into shape now.

stmochtas

Well the leg is about 90% at the moment so I have to be careful. I am going to go to Physio tomorrow as a precaution but I felt good about yesterdays session.

Plan in my head is to run the BHAA race at my own pace on Saturday just to get some points on the board as I am languishing mid-table in our division.

I wont be around on the 25th but will be definitely there for the 31/1 in swords if all is going to plan.

stmochtas

AM

Core Class

PM

3.1 Miles XC. This run had 2 purposes, 1 as a recovery run and 2 to test out the XC shoes that have arrive. I got Mizuna Kaze 4 ones using 12mm spikes.
Not sure if these are two long but they felt good.

Used a head torch for the first time also which was interesting especially when I came upon a groups of deer eyes. Moon was amazing as well.

stmochtas

Today was down for a rest day. Decided to go for a Physio session and just get the calf worked on. Very happy with how it went and therefore will give the BHAA race a blast this weekend. Probably keep it to an easy pace though and see how things are for the second half of the race.

Did my strength exercises this evening.

For information here is my routine

~20 push ups
~3 sets of 20 leg squats
~3 sets of 30 calf raises on both legs using a step for extra difficulty
~3 sets of 20 leg lunges on alternating legs (10 on each leg)
~3 x 1 min raising alternating feet on to heels exercising shin muscles.
~ 3 sets of 10 side leg lifts (on each leg)
~20 push ups

Woddle

Great to hear, look forward to seeing you on Saturday.

stmochtas

Last night I took to the Threadmill for a session of 2k reps. It went something like this.

2k easy
2k in 9:50
2k in 9:50
2k in 9:50
2k in 9:40
2k easy

This was easily achievable last November but with the break I didn't want to push things so baby steps. Didnt go to bad and something in the tank for the last one. If I come close to this pace for the 5 miles on Saturday I will be very happy but I am not going to push it as I still feel like I should be just building my base fitness.

Today is a rest day but I will need some stretching as legs are tight after last night. I have to go to the pub tonight but I have offered to drive to keep myself in good stead for tomorrow.

stmochtas

Went down to participate in the BHAA race this morning. It was my first effort at a race since the start of Nov. due to injury. Decided to take my time and just get around and push it for the last mile. The conditions were not great and ended up doing a 39ish time. Forgot to start the watch so not sure of the exact details yet. Lots of work to be done to get back to where I was last year. The IT team of which I was a part picked up a second place so that made all the effort worth while. I think the next race for me will be the 7th Feb BHAA race so time to knuckle and do a good 3 weeks training in preparation.

shels4ever

stmochtas wrote: »

Went down to participate in the BHAA race this morning. It was my first effort at a race since the start of Nov. due to injury. Decided to take my time and just get around and push it for the last mile. The conditions were not great and ended up doing a 39ish time. Forgot to start the watch so not sure of the exact details yet. Lots of work to be done to get back to where I was last year. The IT team of which I was a part picked up a second place so that made all the effort worth while. I think the next race for me will be the 7th Feb BHAA race so time to knuckle and do a good 3 weeks training in preparation.

Well done today think you crossed the line around 39:30 ish . Good running and you will be back in form in no time. Would have liked to be running today myself think I might have had a nice little battle with you .

stmochtas

Well after getting through the 5 mile BHAA race on Saturday. I feel it is time to start back into the original goal to get under 45 for 10k. This is of course only for starters but with PB of 48:54 in September (1st attempt) and 2 months of injury I will have a bit of work to do.

I am not going to go mad just slowly up the quality sessions so that I don't get any re-occurrence of injury.

Anyway today only called for an easy 5k to loosen the legs after the weekends exertions.

stmochtas

10.25k easy run and stretches not much else to add. The pace was definitely easy as the park was very dark so pace was enforced even with a head torch.

stmochtas

Day 3
Rest

Day 4

2k repetitions with 2 min rest.

2k easy
2k in 9:40
2k in 9:40
2k in 9:40
2k in 9:35
2k easy

Session was achievable so I think the fitness levels are picking up

stmochtas

Day 5

Another rest day as I don't want to push things to quickly. Long run tomorrow.

I also have been once again noticing that my right leg is just not 100%. After a session like last nights it feels like it has taken a right battering. Both my calf and the under side of my foot feel tight along with the outside of my right leg. Strange when compared to my left leg which feels great. All my issues to date, tendonitis etc. have been in my right leg too.

I decided to setup a lunch appointment with the Owen in the physio centre in temple bar (I think Greenplain recommended him) for a bio-mechanical assessment as I felt something was not 100% right.

After examining me for a half-hour he demonstrated some interesting things to me. Firstly my left leg and foot are neutral where as my right foot severely overpronates. This pronation may not even corrected by my footwear fully. He then showed me that I had an issue on my right foot with toe-alignment. Comparing right and left I think my right foot is deformed He described it as a dropped toe or something like that. Surprised my feet were so different though.

Anyway I am actually going to get a custom orthotics assessment done with Owen on Tuesday as he believes with my symptoms I am probably a candidate. I am aware of the cost but if they got my right leg feeling like my left then I would be very happy. And I know that a few guys on here Peckham, Cfitz found these to be the answer.

Anyway not injured so training as normal and then see what happens in Tuesday's assessment.

stmochtas

Today was a 13k easy run which went very well. Kept the pace around the 6-6:30k pace but want too concerned. As the trail I run when down in Sligo had some fallen trees and flood water to avoid so I had a few stop-starts.