Send in the Clowns - BAC 10K Challenge

Kurt Godel

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

After a brief visit to Dwyers Rock we settled into the pub for an evening of pints, demonstrating that while we runners can't organize a piss-up in a brewery, we are happy to attend one, when it is kindly laid on for us by our triathlon buddies.

To be fair, once its organized, you runners take full advantage of the brewery; over half the triathletes were on water, tea, or zero% beer. Darn lycra-pussies:D

Krusty_Clown

Today: 8.6 easy miles

The pattern of post beer cobwebs and poor sleep continues (when are the holidays going to end?!), so again, run enthusiasm was low, but the body needed exercise to exorcise the demons, so I headed back once more to the muck and slop of Shanganagh Park with my spikes. I switched over to auto-pilot and followed the senior XC route, which has become even more sloppy than it was during the race. The run helped loosen up some tightness in my back/glutes, which is probably the result of carrying a back-pack in the hills. Backpain gone. Cobwebs gone. Result.

Summary: 8.64 miles in 62 mins, @7:15/mile

Krusty_Clown

Today: 4 easy miles

Well, after an incredibly hectic running year, I finally ran out of steam today. The hedonistic christmas carnage finally caught up with me and I was laid low, after catching someone in the family's cold/sore throat/man flu. Perhaps one too many dips in the freezing waters, one too many beers, or one too many late nights. One advantage though, was that I finally managed to catch-up with some lost sleep. I couldn't exit such a good running year on a whimpering note, so I headed out for one last short easy 4 mile run around the local neighborhood. Possibly ill-advised, but the running gods demanded their tribute.
Summary: 4 miles in 28 mins, @7:13/mile

End of year stats:
Total miles: 3,385 (25% increase on last year).
Average daily mileage: 9.2 miles
Average pace: 7:24/mile (4:35/km)
Number of races: 24
Number of rest days: 13
Number of minor injuries: 2
Best Performance: 34:51 in the Blessington Lakes 10k
Worst performance: a hungover 5th place in the Wicklow Masters XC
Number of PBs: 16 (though 5 of those were in new distances)
Number of podiums: 3
Number of top 10 finishes: 13 (it's all about picking the right races ).
Pairs of shoes: 7 and change
MP3 Players: 1 (survived three spin cycles and two bouts of torrential rain)
Sets of head-phones: 2
Number of outdoor emergencies: 3
Number of core sessions: 74
Number of skipped/postponed hard sessions: 3
End of year weight: 11.5 stone (73 kgs)
Biggest regret: Not breaking 60 seconds for 400m / not breaking 3 hours in Boston
Biggest surprise: Finishing 4th in Kildare marathon
Greatest strength: Massive stubborn streak mixed with a dusting of OCD
Biggest opportunity: Finding out that I could push myself significantly harder in training and finding Jack Daniels training plans
Biggest weakness: Massive stubborn streak and a fondness for good beer
Greatest threats: Tendon problem at back of right knee
Would most like to achieve in 2013: Sub 2:40 marathon

Finally, thanks to all who provided support and wisdom throughout this and previous years. Without that wisdom, I'd still merrily be trying to scrape 3:20 for the marathon. Sláinte!

Solobally8

Excellent round up of your year krusty. Happy New Year to you. Best of luck with that sub 2:40 goal in 2013.

TRR

Great stuff Gary. Happy new year and I have no doubt if you get the overdue luck you deserve in a marathon, you will absolutely smash 2.40

Krusty_Clown

...and the Lord Batman did appear to me in a dream and he did say:
"Clown, though has been found guilty of pride and gluttony. Thou last post was narcissistic and egotistic. Celebrate not the top 10 finish in a race of 50 people or less. Measure thee not by thy annual rest days. For some day, both shall be gone and where will thy self worth be then? The plague shall not be thy punishment. Nor even the Black Lung. For thy transgressions, an evil befitting of the crime. For fourty days and fourty nights, thou shall lie in the death grip of the man flu. Bins shall not be taken out. Light bulbs shall not be replaced. Civil unrest will surely follow".

A long winded way of saying, it's been a pretty sh1te year so far. After a decent start on the 1st January, with an 11 mile easy run, everything went rapidly downhill. First came the man flu, then the sinus infection, and the one I'd be trying to hold off, the chest infection. Having learnt from previous mistakes, I gave up all ideas of running for a few days, but after four days, I could stand it no more, and headed to the warmth and safety of the gym and the dreaded treadmill. I surprised myself by enjoying the run, relieving the tedium by increasing the speed by 0.5kms every 2.5 minutes, until I hit 18km/hour before dropping it back down to 12km/hour and starting over. I felt well and healthy doing the session, and even 18kms/hour felt comfortable enough, but as soon as I finished, my illnesses had a chance to regroup. So I have to take a few more days off, until I'm well again. Better to take a week off, than a month. London marathon is but 15 weeks away, but right now, I just need to get back to health first and worry about running second. Back in a few days, when I can put the training back in the training log.

pgmcpq

Been there with the man flu. Frustrating as heck ...But it does not amount to more than a step back week and this is not a terrible time for it. Loved the annual report ! Any plans to re visit Boston.

Dory Dory

Warmth and safety of the gym?? :eek: Egad Clown, don't you know that the warm, moist environment of a gym is like a petri dish full of ripe bacteria??? And not only were you a taker of that bacteria while your immune system was shot to hell, but you were also a giver. I, myself, would have chosen the cleansing therapy of a highly chlorinated pool to purify the body if I had been in your shoes.

Get well soon. Make Emer and the kids take care of your every need.

wrstan

Get well soon Gary!
I know the feeling. Got an absolute bugg3r of a dose myself over Christmas. Lost 5 kg's, but worst of all lost all desire to run. It's coming back slowly, but motivation is at an all time low
I am just taking the time is a great healer approach and trying not to get too stressed over it.
Anyway take it EZ, you'll be clicking those heels again before too long!

Emer911

Dory Dory wrote: »

Warmth and safety of the gym?? :eek: Egad, Clown, don't you know that the warm, moist environment of a gym is like a petri dish full of ripe bacteria??? And not only were you a taker of that bacteria while your immune system was shot to hell, but were also a giver. I, myself, would have chosen the cleansing therapy of a highly chlorinated pool to purify the body if I had been in your shoes.

Get well soon. Make Emer and the kids take care of your every need.

...so nothing new there then :D

TRR

Emer911 wrote: »

...so nothing new there then :D

jfh

wishing you a speedy recovery Krusty, TBH i don't know how this has not happened before now, fitting those JD runs in though a hectic schedule will take it's toll after a while, i did the whole running during lunch breaks lark & found anything other than an easy run too stressful, plus my work colleagues weren't too keen sitting next to a guy still sweating after a tempo run.
you'll be all the better for the rest.

Krusty_Clown

pgmcpq wrote: »

Been there with the man flu. Frustrating as heck ...But it does not amount to more than a step back week and this is not a terrible time for it. Loved the annual report ! Any plans to re visit Boston.

Heading into step-back week number 2, I'm getting very disheartened! Itching to go running, but I suppose this is the break I should really have taken after Dublin marathon. Up until Christmas though, I felt I was in really good shape (with no race to show for it), so having to take a break now is all the more frustrating.

Would love to revisit Boston some time, but cost and holiday days would make it a pretty selfish pursuit (so may need to wait a few years until the kids no longer want to go on holidays with us!).

Dory Dory wrote:

but you were also a giver. I, myself, would have chosen the cleansing therapy of a highly chlorinated pool to purify the body if I had been in your shoes.

I was working from the book of 'creche', that states that once you are 1+ days on antibiotics, you can go and play with the other kids. :rolleyes: Swimming just doesn't provide the same drug-hit as I get from running. And don't listen to Emer_911. She could swim 750m tomorrow if she wanted to. She forgets that for an OW sprint triathlon, she'd be wrapped up in a massive buoyancy aid/wet-suit. Just not too sure how'd she'd fare on the bike!

Emer_911 wrote:

...so nothing new there then..

I don't think you're taking this seriously enough. Have a look at TRR's link. To paraphrase: "If women could get the man-flu, sure they'd only last a few hours". It's a very real condition.

wrstan wrote:

Lost 5 kg's, but worst of all lost all desire to run.

Hey, that sounds like a draw to me! Glad to hear you're on the mend.

jfh wrote:

plus my work colleagues weren't too keen sitting next to a guy still sweating after a tempo run.

Keep at it. Eventually they will build up an immunity.

Krusty_Clown

Time to pull the sheets from the furniture, sweep away the cobwebs, open the shutters and let some air back into this training log. Finally, I'm back... I finished the various courses of antibiotics last Thursday, but was still not better. I had decided (as difficult as it was going to be) that I would not return to running until I was close to 90% healthy, only breaking my exercise fast for some core strength and weights (to ease the withdrawal symptoms and try to maintain a shred of fitness dignity). Fast-forward to Saturday 12th, and complete with dirty hangover (a necessary evil, from entertaining some US colleagues/friends) and then this happened...

Saturday: 11 miles easy
This was my third run in the last fortnight, so despite the dirty hangover, I was just wrapped up in the joy and freedom of being able to run again. I had planned a short easy run, but every time I spied an unfamiliar lane-way or shortcut, I grabbed it greedily, gorging myself on each new mile. Sheer delightful gluttony. Despite the hangover, I ran too fast for someone on the road back to health and the legs were quite stiff when I finally disentangled myself from my running frenzy. To my credit, I stretched properly afterwards and finished up with 5 minutes of plank variants, for the first time since Dublin marathon. Too late, the damage was done.

Summary: 11.25 miles in ~1:21

Training plan thoughts:
The last few weeks of non-running have left me in a bit of a quandary. All my previous plans for London marathon were thrown up in the air. A consistent period of 5k training had largely been unwritten by three weeks of interrupted training (one week of xmas, and two weeks of illness), so I was at a loss as to what to do next. I couldn't go back to the 5k plan and hope to jump back in where I had left off. I couldn't look at the elite marathon plan without getting stressed. It took me a while to figure out that the best course of action would be to revisit the Jack Daniels Plan A, jump into week 11 of the program. It served me well not so long ago, so it seems like the best/wisest course of action.


Sunday: 20 mile very long, very slow run/hobble
...and this is where the log departs from mere foolishness, and descends into pure stupidity. I had decided a couple of days previously, that in order to do a marathon training plan any kind of justice, I would need to get my endurance back in order. Give myself an endurance boost so to speak. Very stiff from the previous day's run and stubborn as a mule, I headed off with the same plan. No food or water since breakfast, I figured (I'm smart really), that running lean would accelerate that endurance boost. After 8 miles, I had to make a mad dash for a shopping centre toilet, and during the intervening 5 minute break, my quads and calf muscles all tightened up. Not one for changing plans based on useful information, I forged onwards, now dehydrated.

By mile 10 I was 10 miles from home and feeling like crap. By mile 15 leg muscles were in agony and instead of running, I was hobbling (particularly on the downhills) and I was still a good distance from home. A brief wave to Meno, Mr and Mrs Stew (any other day I'd have loved to join you guys for a couple of miles, but on this occasion I couldn't see past getting home via the shortest possible route) and I was onwards towards Killiney Hill. Pace had dropped to 8 minute mile, and I felt like I was at the tail end of an ultra-marathon. I suffered all the way home, greedily scoffed some food as soon as I stepped into the house and shortly afterward, fell asleep for most of the day. I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere, but I'm pretty sure I'll have forgotten it, by the time the next opportunity comes around to use that information.

Summary: 20 miles in 2:32, @7:38/mile

Monday: 6 + 5 miles recovery
Stiff as a board, the plan was to try and force some flexibility and recovery into those muscles (yes, the stupidity continues), but I ran at a pace that seemed to offer some benefit. First run was 6 miles around a nearby field, with Keith123, followed by a dark torch-lit mushy run around Shanganagh. I even managed another core and weights session (overdue from last week), before calling it a day.
Summary: 6 miles + 5 miles

Tuesday: 7 miles easy
Finally some positive signs that things were returning to normal. An easy lunch-time run that was as comfortable as it was enjoyable (but for a mad dash to the bushes). Running optimism improving slightly.
Summary: 7 miles in 51 mins, @7:14

Tuesday evening: best core session evah!
Headed to AwesomeWalls in Finglas, with my daughter and those same US colleagues/buddies (one of whom is an experienced climber) and spent a couple of hours climbing the walls and bouldering. Fantastic experience and I literally cannot wait until I go back and do some lessons (to learn to belay) and hit those walls again. Unfortunately, it's one of those activities best done in pairs, and while I can happily hold the rope for my young 'un (who would be delighted), she cannot reciprocate, so will need to figure out how I can work in some climbing for myself. Definitely beats the hell out of a yoga mat and some dumbbells. My daughter climbs like a monkey (she swings from here tail) and would scale the wall in half the time that it would take me. Will have to drag the entire family down the next time, so that hopefully, I'm not the worst. :P

Krusty_Clown

Today: Jack Daniels - Plan A - Week 12 - Session 1: 2 x 2 Miles at tempo + 1 hour easy

Hummed and hawed all morning about doing a session. Discarded the idea about 10 times, before finally committing mentally. The legs felt much improved, but still, the tempo sections sounded very threatening, particularly with reduced lung capacity. I figured the 1 hour of easy running afterwards would be a cinch.

2 mile warm-up: 14 mins, @7:00/mile
2 miles Tempo: 11:31 mins, @5:46
2 mins rest
2 miles Tempo: 11:32 mins, @5:46
2 mins rest
1 Hour easy: 7.93 miles @7:34/mile

The tempo sections were tough. I felt very rusty after the three week hiatus, but thankfully, the wind was behind me on the climbs, and in my face on the gentle drop back to the start. Just a few weeks ago, I was lashing through three of these, and finding them relatively easy. 'It' disappears very quickly.. However, it was the hour of easy running that nearly killed me. 20 minutes into the easy section I bonked completely and slowed to a near stand-still. Dizzy, shaky legs, all I could do was put one foot in front of the other. Made it to the nearest shop and rescued my emergency fiver from the safety of the plastic bag (that also houses the emergency paper), and invested in a toffee crisp and a bottle of Powerade.

The healing powers of a toffee crisp cannot be under-stated. Truly, it is the king of all rescue foods. When I'm stranded on that desert Island, I'll be taking my Garmin, a years supply of Toffee Crisps and some home brew equipment. By the time the bar was finished, I was moving again (albeit rather slowly) and managed to stomp my way around Foxrock for another 40 minutes, before arriving back to work. It was not pretty. It was not elegant, but it was done.

Over the last few days, I couldn't help but feel that I was at a junction. The easy path lead to an acceptance that the good running times were behind me. The hard path lead to renewed commitment and an on-gong pursuit of faster times. Yes, highly over-dramatic, but when the frustration of not being able to run properly hits, it hits bad. Just glad to have opted for the hard path one more time and glad to be back.

Summary: 14.33 in 1:43, @7:12/mile

PaulieC

There goes my lofty position on the 1000-mile spreadsheet

Oh we'll, I lasted a good 7-8 days above you

TRR

madasaboxoffrogs.com

BeepBeep67

I tell yiz, ye later day runners are all soft, a few cross country races for yourself and Abhainn and yer both fcuked
Guess we're on a similar plan so - I've that 2 x 2 on Sunday.

theboyblunder

good to see you back KC. I wouldnt worry about not being sensible - after all, we all volunteer our spare time towards a goal of running 26.2 miles in such a way that we squeeze every last bit of discomfort out of the final mile of the race as possible. We are not sensible people by nature

Best of luck with the plan.

Krusty_Clown

TRR wrote: »

madasaboxoffrogs.com

Bag of cats? Box of frogs? Where will this madness end?

BeepBeep67 wrote:

I tell yiz, ye later day runners are all soft, a few cross country races for yourself and Abhainn and yer both fcuked

The musings of a grumpy old man. The form you're in at the moment, that session will be a breeze to you. This tempo pace might be a suitable pace for Dungarvan. What do you reckon?

Dory Dory

Yay!! You're not dead!! I had all sorts of crazy theories when I read Emer had gone running with the Stews and Meno.....a consoling run, perhaps...wink, wink....then Emer mentioned you taking the car...so, well, you know, I put 2 and 2 together and you're still amongst the living. :):D*

*Please ignore the endorphin induced high drama of the poster....

RayCun

You're not familiar with the phrase "easing back into things" then? :pac:

Krusty_Clown

Dory Dory wrote: »

Yay!! You're not dead!!

Not dead, but with man-flu, you're always straddling the fine line between life and death. I was just catching up with your crazy exploits from last weekend. Photos, or it didn't happen!

Ray wrote:

You're not familiar with the phrase "easing back into things" then?

The speed I'm running at the moment, I'm practically going backwards!

Dory Dory

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Not dead, but with man-flu, you're always straddling the fine line between life and death. I was just catching up with your crazy exploits from last weekend. Photos, or it didn't happen!

Man-flu...yeah, I've seen the informational video put out by your national department of health and posted here by a concerned citizen. Scary stuff.

Oh it happened....and photos are attached to the report...barf. Not my best look...trying to figure out photo shop so I can enhance and improve a few features but I'm so numb from writing way too much that I'm at the who gives a flying feck point.

Krusty_Clown

Thursday afternoon: 5 mile recovery run
Was heading out for a trail run with some of the Boards folks later that evening, so took it handy and went to the field across from work for an easy 5 miles on the grass, all the while checking out the worsening conditions in the hills.
Summary: 5 miles in 39:53, @7:54/mile

Thursday evening: 7 mile sloppy trail run (plus 1 mile to/from the meeting point)
I ran from home to the local pub (prescribed meeting point, honest!) and wasn't surprised to encounter only two runners with head-torches, given the horrific weather conditions. Shortly afterwards, we were joined by a further 5 runners, bringing our merry band of intrepid fools explorers to a group of 8. Sadly the trails around Carrigologan have suffered badly over the last 18 months due to a touch of MTB over-use, but in this weather, the conditions from the sky met their match with the conditions underfoot. Rathmichael Wood wasn't too bad, but once we ventured towards the smelting tower, the trail had more in common with a muddy stream as we slipped our way towards the chimney. Slightly better on the route towards the Scalp, but once we got close to the Scalp, the mixture of heavy sheet rain, slippy rock and mud made the conditions pretty treacherous, and we were more often than not, reduced to little more than a walk.

The views from the Scalp were all but missing, so after a brief stop to admire the sheets of rain, we headed back towards Carrigologan. Leaving the Scalp I found it very difficult to find the trail back through the forest as the poor visibility and darkness made it extremely difficult to pick out the trail, but we picked our way thorugh eventually and were back in Carrigologan, where you could run properly. We made our way to the top of the hill, where the wind was a suitable accompaniment to sheets of rain. Again, the views had been suck away by the driving wind and rain, and in the process of turning around a couple of times I got disoriented, and couldn't figure out where the trail back down to earth was. Thankfully one of the other hardy bucks had slightly better night vision, and could see the start of the descent. A mile and a half of decent running and we were back into the sloppy, muddy river bed, before making our way back through the Woods and to the pub again. Would have loved to drop into the pub for a warming pint, but I hadn't eaten since just after brekkie, so was famished. I bid the cold wet muddy lads farewell, and jogged home for a hot shower and a scrape. It was great meeting a group of new boardies, particularly a group brave enough to tackle a hill run in those horrific conditions. Ironically, if we had followed that route on any of the subsequent days, we'd have faced nice snowy trails and the mud would have been more hard-packed.

Summary: 7.61 miles in 1:15 (including breaks and run home) + 0.5 miles

Krusty_Clown

Friday: run into and home from work - 11.5 miles easy

Really miserable conditions both into and out of work. Heavy rain turned into sleet as the ground got higher, but sadly never turned to snow, which might have offered just a smigeon of consolation. A power-cut in the area (with an estimated repair time of 5:45pm) meant an impromptu early trip home. Of course I had just enjoyed an outstanding Fallafel wrap for lunch which hadn't been fully digested, but not much point in staying in work with no electricity, so I braved the cumin and garlic burps and headed home. The previous night's gale was today's head-wind, and all said, made for a pretty horrifically uncomfortable run. Still, nice to get over 11 miles dusted on a workday before 4pm.
Summary: 5.5 miles + 6 miles @~7:40/mile

Krusty_Clown

Saturday: 9.4 miles + 5.2 miles + core and weights
Just racking up the miles and trying to take it as easy as I possibly can on the body. For my first run, I headed to the park, which was largely under a foot of freezing cold water, and threw on the spikes. It took around 6-7 miles before I settled into the run and could lose myself in the radio reports on the Rugby (Ulster), rudely awakened from my slightly hungover daze by the freezing cold paddling pools. Followed up with core and weights, and took a break to prepare dinner before heading out for a brief run around Bray, to tick off some of the week's required mileage.

Summary: Lots of miles

Krusty_Clown

Sunday: JD Plan A: 18.7 miles with 6 x 5 mins hard

On an icy sleety day, where better to do your session than a track made of grit? A three mile warm-up, then started on the reps of 5 minutes hard, followed by four minutes easy. Pace was a little up in the air, as I just started the 5 minutes hard when the watch told me to and just ran hard for the prescribed period. The watch says around 5:23/mile, but I figure it was probably closer to 5:40/mile, which is likely good prep for the 10 mile race in Dungarvan next weekend. Jack defines 'hard' as the pace you can race for approximately 15 minutes, which in my case would be a chunk faster than 5k pace (4k pace?), but I've really ramped up the mileage this week, so I figured a more sedate pace would be wiser, to avoid increasing the risk of injury. The wording of the workout is (as usual) also a little ambiguous, as it's not clear whether you should be doing 10kms of hard running, or 10kms of hard + easy running, so I opted for the more challenging of the two. Finished up with around 7 miles of easy running, to complete the week's mileage target.

So a good week of running, when inspected in isolation (90 miles and two sessions), but not very smart in the grand scheme of things. I know that increasing mileage in this kind of manner in slightly nuts, but I was prepared to back off on any telltale signs of injury and have started monitoring the HR, for signs of over-training. Next week will be a more accommodating 70 miles (with a race), so hopefully, I got lucky and have eased myself into the middle of the training plan without too much grief. Wisdom will prevail. Some day. Possibly.

Summary: ~18.79 miles, in 2:07, @6:47/mile, HR=~140

digger2d2

Krusty, I'm glad to see there is escape from the man flu as I've been suffering with it for a couple of weeks. If women could actually understand the severity of this hideous dose they'd be amazed at how we managed not to lose limbs

Krusty_Clown

digger2d2 wrote: »

Krusty, I'm glad to see there is escape from the man flu as I've been suffering with it for a couple of weeks. If women could actually understand the severity of this hideous dose they'd be amazed at how we managed not to lose limbs

Jesus... I'm so sorry.. I didn't know.. Is there anything we can do for you? Just bear-up man. Try and hold it together. You've got to think positive thoughts and just focus on the fact that someday, you'll be over all of this and you'll be healthy once again. Maybe. Be strong. You're in our prayers.