PROJECT ROTTERDAM 10.4.11

Speedy44

Well, after beatin' myself up these past few days trying to find out reasons why DCM didn't happen, wondering whether or not I would tackle Clonakilty in Dec, or maybe even San Sebastian in November, I've decided that I'm going to finally put this damn thing to rest once and for all on April 10th in Rotterdam.

I had been planning to follow P&D's 18 wk/70-85mls per wk schedule, but with all the recent posts in favour of Daniels, I may have to check that out first. I have a little bit of time anyway, the schedule starts on December 6th, with a 65ml/wk :rolleyes:. I have time to have a bit of a rest first and build up to that.

I have always been a believer of high mileage, and used to run 70mls+ a week as a teenager. I've been lucky enough with injuries and know that my body can handle it. I think whats most important in doing the high mileage is making sure that the recovery runs are just that.
I actually think that one of the reasons that Dublin didn't happen was that I took too many days off coming up to it, where I should have ran 4-5mls easy instead. Although was fighting the damn cold for the last couple of weeks so thought that taking them off may help to shake it.

Anyway, onwards & upwards ..........................

kennyb3

hit edit, then hit go advanced then edit the title. Best of luck with it

misty floyd

Brilliant, you sound like you mean business. Will be following, best of luck with it all.

BeepBeep67

Good luck with. The training Speedy - looking forward to the journey.

Sosa

Best of luck with it speedy,75-80m a week...i will be very lucky to do that in 2 weeks.....

smmoore79

Best of luck Speedy. Glad to see you've put Dublin behind you. Im hoping to bee injury free by the end of November, who knows hopefully sooner. Might have a go at Rotterdam myself if Im ready to start training. Bring it on

Speedy44

smmoore79 wrote: »

Best of luck Speedy. Glad to see you've put Dublin behind you. Im hoping to bee injury free by the end of November, who knows hopefully sooner. Might have a go at Rotterdam myself if Im ready to start training. Bring it on

cheers smmoore. I'm starting to get excited about it already :rolleyes:
I'm going to go for a run later today, sun is finally out as well so its a good day for it. Legs feel good too. Had a few beers this week but think I'll knock it in the head again, at least until Christmas.

Best of luck with getting over the injury, hopefully you'll be back pounding the roads again soon.

tunguska

Daniels' program A will have you in great nick for Rotterdamn speedy. Just make sure to follow it to the exact. The elite plan is top aswell.

village runner

tunguska wrote: »

Daniels' program A will have you in great nick for Rotterdamn speedy. Just make sure to follow it to the exact. The elite plan is top aswell.

I agree with Tungska 100 per cent. I done the A plan and found come the big day I was strong as an ox. There are some great sessions in it. My marathon pace felt easy on hte day. Even got a negative split out of it.

Having done Rotterdam it would be ideal to have a person on the course. The energy drink was like water and make sure to take out the sponge out of the cups as I left myself dehydrated drinking through the sponge.
From 34k its lonely in hte wood so if you have a friendly face out there with a drink it would be spot on.

Best of luck.

seanynova

tunguska wrote: »

Daniels' program A will have you in great nick for Rotterdamn speedy. Just make sure to follow it to the exact. The elite plan is top aswell.

village runner wrote: »

I agree with Tungska 100 per cent. I done the A plan and found come the big day I was strong as an ox. There are some great sessions in it. My marathon pace felt easy on hte day. Even got a negative split out of it.

+1, i favour the daniels plan....you can even work it with big mileage also!
DCM for me was actually a lot easier than i thought it would be and i ran the last 5miles as the fastest block of miles of the race....finished really strong! i think due to tempo miles late on in LSR's,(even after all my maoning about not being fit enough at the end)

best of luck with the training speedy, ill be following with envy!

Speedy44

Finally got out to 'try' to run. Felt great, for the first 100-200mts.
Legs were really, really sore. Think I remember this feeling from last year though, I imagine I'll be ok in a couple of days.

Distance :- 4mls
Time :- 36:48

Speedy44

Sosa wrote: »

Best of luck with it speedy,75-80m a week...i will be very lucky to do that in 2 weeks.....

just read your words of inspiration on d'pops' log Sosa, wise words indeed.
Thanks

Speedy44

Monday, November 1st, what else could we expect except high winds, dark grey sky and driving rain ............... at least it wasn't cold :rolleyes:

Another 4mls on the road to recovery, at least this time I wasn't in severe pain. Still a bit sore alright, but I'm almost down to an earth shattering 8min/mls

Time :- 32:11

Speedy44

Lovely 6 1/2 mls in the warm rain through the city streets. I've missed running regularly this past week.

I love running through the city at night time, hardly used to get a chance to do it, but now that I'm working in town and with the winter coming in, looks like I'll be doing it a lot more frequently now.

Last few miles were 7:36 so getting back into the swing of things again, and like I said, definitely have the appetite back.

littlebug

Good to see you enjoying running again Speedy Good luck with your new plan and goal. Will you be in Athenry in December?

Speedy44

littlebug wrote: »

Good to see you enjoying running again Speedy Good luck with your new plan and goal. Will you be in Athenry in December?

tx LB. I'll be there alright, will have to go easy with the dinner the day before :rolleyes:

Have your legs recovered from the your exploits yet?

littlebug

Speedy44 wrote: »

tx LB. I'll be there alright, will have to go easy with the dinner the day before :rolleyes:

Have your legs recovered from the your exploits yet?

just about. I did an easy 3 this evening with no problems thankfully

Speedy44

Getting a bit few up with this now, could do with a wee bit of sunshine

Anyway, 5.5mls at about 7:50 pace. Thats 2 days in a row, I'm on a roll

Speedy44

8.25mls with my 13yr old nephew. Aver pace 7:51, last mile was 7:03, and it wasn't me pushing the pace ! Kids these days :rolleyes:

Felt pretty good, especially considering the few pints I had last night, which were followed by a few more :eek:

Speedy44

another 5.5mls with the nephew this morning, a little bit easier today, averaged 8:0+.

Almost 30 for the week (29.75mls) in 5 days. Good to be getting some consistency back in there again. Will just do another 5 this week but probably get up to 38mls. It will still be mostly easy running but may throw in a few pmp's during the week.

tisnotover

Good stuff getting the mileage back in Speedy and all the best with the new log, will be following as usual :-)

Speedy44

Monday
Some light work in the gym.
3 x 10 sit ups, push ups, bicep curls & 1 arm tricep extensions.

Tuesday
Just 5 1/2mls nice n' easy, 8:06 pace. Legs felt a bit heavy towards the end.

Wednesday
Decided to head to the track session at the club.
Did 800m, 4 x 6mins on the road with a minute recovery, and one more 800m on the track.

Times were:
800m - 2:55
6mins - .98mls (6:10 pace)
6mins - .98mls (6:10 pace)
6mins - .93mls (6:28 pace)
6mins - .93mls (6:28 pace)
800m - 2:53

Felt ok doing them. Weary that the marathon was still in the legs. The first 100m of the first 800, I felt like I was almost sprinting :eek:

Felt better once we got on the road for the 6min efforts, especially on the first one. Started to tire on the third one so didn't push it too much.
Felt good again once back on the track.

Nice to get the first decent session under the belt.

Total Distance = 9mls

Speedy44

8.25mls easy in 60:17/aver 7:17.

Well, it was supposed to be easy but I think I pushed it a little too much, although I did feel pretty good, and could have gone on for a few more.

1ml - 8:05
2ml - 7:33
3ml - 7:20
4ml - 7:17
5ml - 7:16
6ml - 7:13
7ml - 7:08
8ml - 6:38

Once I start Daniels on Dec 6th I'm definitely going to take my easy runs very easy, no matter how good I feel.

Speedy44

Well, not really a long run, or not really a slow run for that matter.
Did the 11mls with the club at 9am. Forgot to start the watch but the last 7mls were at 7:08 pace.
Felt ok, was probably a bit overdressed, and started to get a bit tired on last few mls.

When I got home is when the fun started. I bent over to take off the runners and then got an excruciating pain in my gut. There was a big lump sticking out just below my rib cage. It was killing me and I was taking shallow breaths just to stay upright. After a few minutes it subsided a bit, but then came back even worse. At that point I could barely talk and had all sorts of things going through my head. I told the wife to dial 999.

The ambulance took about 20mins to get to the house (the joy of living in the country!) and by then I wasn't feeling as bad. Still, the loaded me and and hooked me up to all the machines.

Anyway, this is getting longer than a race report, so to cut an even longer story short, I'm home again. The doc said it was trapped gas in my colon

Probably didn't help that I had a few kebabs for dinner last night

misty floyd

Jesus, thats mental. Glad it was nothing in the end, you must have been worried.

littlebug

Speedy44 wrote: »

There was a big lump sticking out just below my rib cage.

:eek:

The doc said it was trapped gas in my colon

:eek::eek:

That sounds horrible ....I didn't think gas could do that! Anyway I'm glad you're ok... go easy on the kebabs!

Speedy44

misty floyd wrote: »

Jesus, thats mental. Glad it was nothing in the end, you must have been worried.

yea, a bit :rolleyes: I think I was more in dis-belief than anything, I kept thinking that an hour earlier I was running in the prom on a beautiful sunny morning and now here I am in a bloody ambulance :eek:

tisnotover

Only just read this now, wow, sounds wierd, glad its ok now though!

theboyblunder

+1 sounds like a bit of a scare. glad you are ok

Speedy44

Mon - Day off

Tues - Just an easy 6.5mls at about 8min/ml pace. Stomach is still a bit tender so conscious of that. Rest of me felt ok :rolleyes:

Wed - Decided to attempt the track session. Plan was for 1200m, 1min/rec, 400m, 200m jog (90secs), repeat 5 times.
Felt ok doing them. 12's were about 6min pace and 4's were 80, 82 & 83.
Legs felt ok, but was breathing heavier than I normally would so decided to call it a day after 3 sets. Didn't want to force it too much.

Was pishin & blowing a gale on the track, but I loved it, wish I could have kept going for the full set.

Thur - Had planned to get out and probably should have, but I got lazy and used the excuse that I was feeling drowsey from the meds

Speedy44

Friday

8.25mls, with the last 6 steady'ish. Didn't want to kill myself with this, just wanted to open things up a bit and get the heart pumping.
Splits were:
7:47
7:25
7:05
6:59
6:41
6:38
6:40
6:27
1:51

57:37/6:59 average for the whole run.

Saturday
Just did 6.5mls easy. Felt a bit tired at first, then I felt really good and even had thoughts about doing my long run today instead
Think the weather had something to do with it.Took it nice & easy, 8:04 pace.

Sunday
13mls by myself in cold, calm & sunny weather. Beautiful morning for a run. Could have done with the gloves though. Took it easy again, 7:51 pace. Just wanted to get my first long'ish run out of the way while feeling good at the end, especially after last week.

Week Distance = 41.75mls/5 days

smmoore79

It looks like youre back on form Speedy, thats good news!! Solid tempo splits. Havent run since the marathon myself but think I'll risk an evening jog later.

Speedy44

smmoore79 wrote: »

It looks like youre back on form Speedy, thats good news!! Solid tempo splits. Havent run since the marathon myself but think I'll risk an evening jog later.

cheers smmoore, good to be back into the swing of things again alright, and enjoyin it as well
A buddy of mine took 3 months off after running 2:59 at last years DCM, and ended up getting 7 pb's this year ! So maybe a rest is a good thing

Speedy44

8.25mls easy (7:50'ish). Had to really push myself to get out the door this evening, really wasn't into it at all. The fact that it was a beautiful evening tipped the balance. Once I got warmed up (man it was cold out there ) I felt fine. It was virtually dark by the time I finished.

Speedy44

Wednesday
I AM SICK OF THIS DAMN COLD :mad: ........and I don't mean the weather. I feel like I've had a bad head cold since before the damn marathon, and I just can't seem to shake it. Some days its ok but then a day later I am sneezing my damn head off.
Anyway, decided to head to the track anyway. Did 6 x 1k, but the legs just weren't there.

Times were:
3:30
3:35
3:40
3:52
3:56
3:45

Total Distance = 8.65mls

FRIDAY
8.25mls with a 4ml tempo throwing in.

Splits were
6:25
6:25
6:24
6:16

Felt ok after havig to take yesterday off. Stil don't feel right though, cold is still lingering, and stomach feels bloated and sore , nothing like it was a couple of weeks ago though.

Not sure what I want to do these days. Today on my run I thought maybe I'll just take a whole month off and to hell with it, but I don't want to. Feel like I am running ok, even with been not 100%.
Havn't been very dedicated since the marathon either, eating more sh*te than I should and drinking a bit too much, well, for an 'athlete' anyway

Speedy44

Saturday - 4mls
Sunday - 4.5mls
Monday - off
Tuesday - 8.25mls

Will have to come up with a plan to run during this weather :rolleyes:

seanynova

Speedy44 wrote: »

Will have to come up with a plan to run during this weather :rolleyes:

i know how ya feel.....i dont have much time for running at the mo, but when i do, id to be able to run!!!.....

sounds like you well and truely recovered from DCM, best of luck with the new training, you will enjoy daniels plan, be nice to get the 6 weeks of speed work done too, i only had 3 weeks of that, but the rest was tempo running.....

smmoore79

At least your running which is the main thing. And keeping in good shape for any marathon plan that ya may take up soon. Ive only done 2 small runs since the marathon so am dying to get out and run injury free:rolleyes:

Speedy44

Well, it was supposed to be a track session, but since the track was frozen over we had to use one of the rugby pitches. Have to say it looked fairly surreal with the blanket of snow & ice under the floodlights

It was 3 laps around the pitch to make a mile, so I did 6 laps for a warm up. After a couple of strides to get going, we got into it (too cold to be hanging around).

Session was laps of 3-2-1-1-2-3.
Times & distances were:

3 laps (1ml) - 6:41
2 laps (.67ml) - 3:57
1 lap (.33ml) - 1:45
1 lap (.33ml) - 1:47
2 laps (.67ml) - 3:50
3 laps (1ml) - 5:50

Happy enough with that,once we got going. First Wenesday session I felt halfway decent since before the marathon.

Did a mile warm down for a total of 7.25mls.

Speedy44

seanynova wrote: »

i know how ya feel.....i dont have much time for running at the mo, but when i do, id to be able to run!!!.....

sounds like you well and truely recovered from DCM, best of luck with the new training, you will enjoy daniels plan, be nice to get the 6 weeks of speed work done too, i only had 3 weeks of that, but the rest was tempo running.....

cheers Seany. Ya, looking forward to getting stuck into it. Hopefully this weather will have thawed a bit by then :rolleyes:

Speedy44

smmoore79 wrote: »

At least your running which is the main thing. And keeping in good shape for any marathon plan that ya may take up soon. Ive only done 2 small runs since the marathon so am dying to get out and run injury free:rolleyes:

Only 2 runs :eek:, man I would be climbing the walls by now. I think this whole running lark is a combination of mental & physical benefits for me, so if I can't get out, the wife & kids start leaving subtle hints around the house for me, like putting my runners on while I'm still in bed

smmoore79

Speedy44 wrote: »

Only 2 runs :eek:, man I would be climbing the walls by now. I think this whole running lark is a combination of mental & physical benefits for me, so if I can't get out, the wife & kids start leaving subtle hints around the house for me, like putting my runners on while I'm still in bed

Yep, thats the joys of being injured, feck all running. And yes, Im losing it at this stage!!! Its like detox or something The worst is the paranoia about losing fitness and seein other lads at the club pushing on and gettin faster

littlebug

Speedy44 wrote: »

we had to use one of the rugby pitches.
.

Presuming that was at Dangan were you running on the trail around the pitch or on the grass? Any idea what the lane from nui up to the pitches is like? I'll be in on Saturday so it might be a good alternative for me.

Speedy44

littlebug wrote: »

Presuming that was at Dangan were you running on the trail around the pitch or on the grass? Any idea what the lane from nui up to the pitches is like? I'll be in on Saturday so it might be a good alternative for me.

Havn't been on the land up from nui recently. Was up there again this afternooon and a lot of the ice has broken up, but you still need to be careful on the bends, and of the hard, uneven grass.

Speedy44

Thursday

8mls easy on grass (and ice & snow!). Felt ok, average 7:59 pace

Friday
Plan was for 2 x 20mins, made it as far as 1 x 20 & 1 x 15mins. Felt pretty good and strong on the first one but started to feel it on the 2nd, hence the 15mins.

Splits were:
20mins - 3:01mls (6:38 pace)
15mins - 2.27mls) (6:36 pace)

Pace wasn't the quickest but the conditions underfoot weren't the best, had to slow down on all the bends. Hard effort though, which is what it was all about.

Total Distance = 7.5mls

Speedy44

Damn it, tried to run, made it a whole half mile, and almost killed myself.
At least I got out the door I suppose and made the effort.

Figured out that I've past the 2000ml mark a while back, think I'm closing in on about 2200 now.

seanynova

Speedy44 wrote: »

Damn it, tried to run, made it a whole half mile, and almost killed myself.
At least I got out the door I suppose and made the effort.

Figured out that I've past the 2000ml mark a while back, think I'm closing in on about 2200 now.

i feel your pain speedy, did intervals today myself and one section of the track was icy, so as i was doing my laps i had to walk for 50-70m each lap.....lol
but the session was time based so a quick pause of the clock and start again when running....its better than nothing, that all i can tell myself!

Speedy44

Managed to get out at 3.30pm. Did 5 laps around the pitches at the NUIG grounds at Dangan, then went out onto the road to do a couple more. The lad I was running with twisted his ankle badly at the end of the last lap, and when we went out on the roads, the black ice was coming in fast, and even with gloves on, my hands were really starting to feel the cold.

By the time I got back to the car, the were completely numb to the point that I could barely open the car and turn the ignition. They were really killing me, and on the drive home I didn't feel the best :rolleyes:

Anyway, very happy to get it done. With this weather, any run is an achivement, so to get 12.5mls in, I have to be happy. Not sure about pace, havn't checked it yet. Easy enough anyway.

Distance = 12.5mls

Week Distance = 44.75mls/5 days

topcat77

Hi Speedy44,

I’ll be following your log with interest as I signed up for the Rotterdam marathon a couple of weeks ago. I’m not near the same level as you, it’ll only be my second marathon and I’m aiming for a sub 4hour run. Ain’t got the balls to run in the conditions we had lately. I’m of the inclination of leave it and catch up on the training rather than picking up a serious injury or catching the flu/cold. Good luck Speedy44 and I should see you pounding the streets of Galway with the mileage you’re putting in. (I live in Renmore)

Speedy44

topcat77 wrote: »

Hi Speedy44,

I’ll be following your log with interest as I signed up for the Rotterdam marathon a couple of weeks ago. I’m not near the same level as you, it’ll only be my second marathon and I’m aiming for a sub 4hour run. Ain’t got the balls to run in the conditions we had lately. I’m of the inclination of leave it and catch up on the training rather than picking up a serious injury or catching the flu/cold. Good luck Speedy44 and I should see you pounding the streets of Galway with the mileage you’re putting in. (I live in Renmore)

cheers Topcat, good to see a fellow Galwegian with lofty ambitions

Tbh, I have to get out, even in this weather. I get cabin fever very easily, and if I miss a few runs, feel like I've gone backwords again.

Best of luck with your program.

topcat77

Thanks Speedy44,


I might be asking you for advice in the next couple of weeks. I'm not a big milage man as i'm also traing for thr Galway 1/2 ironman in Sept and the girlfiend will kill me if i spend more time away. If i drop you my training plan you might be able to look over it?