Time to put up

Clearlier · 17-10-2011 1:03pm #1

I've been fairly free with advice for others recently so I think it's probably time to put up what I'm doing. Hopefully some will comment and provide their insights because while I'm often clear about what others should do I sometimes lack that clarity for myself. Perhaps even just logging my training here will help me with that process.

Having read some thoughts of other posters I've realised that it's time for me to go back and work on my speed a little. I pretty much ignored it for the past couple of years as my weakness was definitely my endurance. I'm not saying that isn't still a weakness

but my speed is arguably equally bad now. With that in mind I set myself the target of PB's at 10k, 10 miles and half marathon before spring marathon preparation sets in.

Goals for the next 6 months or so are:

Half marathon PB - Currently 1:27:11. I'm running a flat one in Gosport on the 20th of November. This is currently my strongest PB and I'd actually take any kind of PB gladly at the moment.

10k PB - Doing a local one on the 11th of December. This PB is relatively soft at 41:03. sub-40 has a nice ring to it and should be achievable.

10miles - this one is unlikely to happen now as it looks like I'm on babysitting duty. A pity as my PB is 69:40 and due a substantial revision.

Spring Marathon (hopefully London but I need a club place for that):
Current PB is 3:24 and DCM '10 (first marathon)

The main goal here is sub-3. A dream goal would be 2:49:38 which would represent a 1 hour improvement on my disastrous experience at London '11. My fallback goal is 3:10 and guaranteed entry to London (assuming they don't change the standard).
Obviously as I get closer to the day these goals will narrow.

ecoli · 17-10-2011 1:08pm

Great to see this log put up.I find the logs can give great perspective on training both from a person point of view but also others contributing. Am interested do you train yourself or are coached by someone? Given the advice you have given over the last while you do seem to know your stuff but I know myself,I have been a victim of being able to give good advice to others yet making mistakes in my own training because sometimes training yourself is the hardest thing to do objectively

Clearlier · 17-10-2011 1:31pm

ecoli wrote: »

Great to see this log put up.I find the logs can give great perspective on training both from a person point of view but also others contributing. Am interested do you train yourself or are coached by someone? Given the advice you have given over the last while you do seem to know your stuff but I know myself,I have been a victim of being able to give good advice to others yet making mistakes in my own training because sometimes training yourself is the hardest thing to do objectively

You've hit the nail on the head ecoli. I'm not coached by anybody. My primary sources of information for training theory are Lydiard, Hadd, P&D and increasingly Daniels. There's no club coach for the road runners although the more serious guys do get together and draw up a training schedule for the marathon which is made available to everybody. They got input from Liz Yelling last year which provided a few more creative sessions however they're targeting 2:30 or better which is on a slightly different level to me

.

Aside from the racing goals I've mentioned above my current training aim is to start running more than 50mpw with a view to taking on either the 55-70 or the 70-85 P&D schedule. If I do the former then I should be able to push the effort of the runs a little higher which may not be a bad thing. The latter is heading towards the kind of mileage that I think is required to run a serious marathon and I'd like to do one of those in a couple of years. A middle ground that I'm considering may be to pick the 55-70 plan but do short (3 - 4 miles) doubles 3 - 4 days a week. My schedule by the time I start the plan will make that relatively feasible. I'd also use those to make sure that I did strides and drills a bit more regularly than I have been doing. Actually just writing this is telling me that the 70-85 idea is stupid:o so this log has already been useful.

Clearlier · 17-10-2011 2:02pm

So a little bit of training news. I'll start from Friday because I ran a 5k on Bournemouth promenade that evening. 3 miles to warm up and another couple to warm down afterwards. The gun time was 19:24 - no idea what my time was as I forgot to stop the garmin. Conditions were relatively tough as we ran into a strong wind for the outward half and the path was largely covered in mini sand drifts except for a path that had been made through it. This made overtaking a bit more difficult than it should have been and a slight mis-timing of my warmup left me near the back of the 250 runners. The biggest mistake I made though was slowing down when I caught up with a couple of people from my club. One of them is slightly better than me, the other a bit worse. I should have copped that the better one was running steady into the wind and hard back because that's how he has been running the last 2 club sessions that I've been to but when I saw him I backed off and went from 6:10 pace to 6:35 pace. Stupid error that I'll try not to make next time. I had been hoping that I might be close enough to going under 19 mins. There's another 5 in this series though and if I run a few more and don't go under 19 at some point I'll be very disappointed.

Saturday was a 0, I had the kids all day long and the youngest is still keeping us awake at night which left me pretty tired. The earliest I could have run at was about 8pm so I decided to let it slide in favour of my planned 17 mile run on Sunday morning.

Sunday - I was feeling ok but not quite 100% and when I took my pulse in the car before I set off it was 41-42 which is too high for me so I just did an easy 9.5 @ 8:40 and 125HR

Clearlier · 17-10-2011 7:44pm

3.15 miles (according to mapmyrun) at a very easy effort in 27 mins. Had been hoping for a bit more but a mixup with the other half left me short of time. Still, probably stopped me from doing too much after yesterdays shorter run. My HR was back near normal at 36 so hopefully it was just a hangover from the race on Friday followed by relatively little sleep. I still woke up in the middle of the night though which is totally unlike me (my wife says she has go give me a good kick and even then I'll often not remember getting up when the next day rolls around) so I'll be keeping a closer eye on my body for the next while though to make sure I'm not overdoing it.

Clearlier · 18-10-2011 9:52pm

13 miles in about 1:40. Still haven't found the garmin. I did find my (very) old polar HRM though but forgot to actually start the thing so didn't accurately record my time. Ran with the club initially but they were doing intervals which after a race and an intervals session last week was not really what I needed. It ended up being a pyramid progressive run with HR at approx. 130 - 140 - 150 - 140 - 130. It wasn't planned and it's probably not ideal but 13 is long midweek run for me and I have a leaking filling which is making me feel a bit ill at the moment. Looks like the dentist on Thursday :eek:

Clearlier · 21-10-2011 8:24am

Day|Training|Distance|Pace|BPM|Time
Friday|Easy Run|4.05 miles|8:37 mile pace|1025|34:54

Hope you don't mind ecoli but I've copied your table. Seems like a good format to me.

BPM if anyone is unfamiliar with it is Beats per mile. It's assesses how hard my heart had to work. With some exceptions it's useful to allow comparisons of different types of runs. If I can get below 1000 in the lead up to my half then I'm confident I'll get a PB. 1025 is probably the lowest I've ever had which is good however it reflects two unplanned rest days, a short run (the first 10 minutes of running usually give me a low number) and the fact that it has gotten much colder here.

I may get a chance to double up this evening but it'll be difficult to find a window tomorrow unless I get up at about 6 again.

Clearlier · 21-10-2011 10:28pm

Day|Training|Distance|Pace|BPM|Time
Friday|Tempo|8.81 miles|7:17 mile pace|1076|64:07

So the plan was 20 mins warm up, 40 mins at tempo pace and a few minutes to warm down. I target a specific heart rate for tempo runs because I'm a bit lazy and I can convince myself I'm working hard when I'm not so 160 is what I look for although I'll give myself the first mile to get there. I did the warm up and the first 10 mins of the tempo into the wind with the last half hour with the wind. It felt like I was working really hard for the tempo into the wind but this wasn't reflected in my heart rate I put it down to taking a while to get going and started pushing it to get my HR up to 160 after the turnaround. I soon found myself floundering though, unable to get enough air in, HR and pace dropping. I pushed through as best I could but was down to 7mm and 155 HR by the end. It too me a while but I've realised that it's stiffness in my back which hinders the speed at which I can move my shoulders. It's an old problem for me courtesy of a rugby injury I picked up 15 years ago. I've worked on it with my physio for a long time now and I'm miles better than I was but it still comes back if I don't diligently do all the stretching exercises. As it happened I did do them this afternoon but this probably caused everything to stiffen up again. Anyway, disappointing because I was looking forward to a half hour of 6:30 pace but I'll do the exercises, do some reps which I had planned for Thursday before life got in the way, maybe some hills and build back into this session. I'll aim to do it again in 3 weeks time - hopefully a nice confidence booster about 10 days before my target race.

Woddle · 22-10-2011 2:06pm

Clearlier wrote: »

BPM if anyone is unfamiliar with it is Beats per mile. It's assesses how hard my heart had to work. With some exceptions it's useful to allow comparisons of different types of runs. If I can get below 1000 in the lead up to my half then I'm confident I'll get a PB. 1025 is probably the lowest I've ever had which is good however it reflects two unplanned rest days, a short run (the first 10 minutes of running usually give me a low number) and the fact that it has gotten much colder here.

I hadn't heard of that before. Do you have software that does the maths for you or do you do it mile by mile?
I suppose it could be a good indicator of fitness aswell as comparing different runs?
Have you any links you could share, I wouldn't mind reading more about it.

Clearlier · 22-10-2011 8:31pm

Clearlier · 22-10-2011 8:44pm

Woddle wrote: »

I hadn't heard of that before. Do you have software that does the maths for you or do you do it mile by mile?
I suppose it could be a good indicator of fitness aswell as comparing different runs?
Have you any links you could share, I wouldn't mind reading more about it.

Hi Woddle,

I use excel, easy way to do it is to multiply your average heart race by your average mins per mile. N.B. You have to decimalise the time, so 7:30 pace needs to be 7.5, 7:45 is 7.75 etc..

Yes, it's a pretty good indicator of fitness although like all heart rate related measures you can only compare your own runs, you can't compare yours to anyone elses.

When comparing runs you do need to take into consideration the terrain, temperature, gale force wind, etc.. Sessions of intervals and reps will also show a relatively high result compared to easier runs. It's something that I think is worth looking at and I do use it to gauge my level of fitness over a long period of time - day to day values fluctuate a bit but 6 weeks ago I didn't have a single run below 1100 bpm whereas my recent runs are in or around the 1050 bpm. That said, it's just one way of looking at your fitness and I'd be wary of relying too much on it.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I picked it up from a guy in my club but it's also automatically calculated on this training site.

Clearlier · 23-10-2011 8:40pm

Day|Training|Distance|Pace|BPM|Time
Sunday|Long Slow Run|16.85 miles|8:45 mile pace|1162|2:27:20

Emphasis on the slow as I lost concentration a bit and was dawdling along for a while on my second loop. It's a very hilly course but I still should be running 15 to 20 seconds a mile faster.

Felt a bit tired towards the end which I suppose shouldn't be a surprise given that I haven't run beyond 14.5 miles in a couple of months but still slightly disappointing.

Spent a lot of time time trying to release the nerves going down my left leg, made for a pretty funny looking gait for a while but it helped and there were even a few small sections where I got my back working properly. It looks to me like this was the culprit for Fridays poor run.

ecoli · 24-10-2011 8:49am

Clearlier wrote: »

Day|Training|Distance|Pace|BPM|Time
Sunday|Long Slow Run|16.85 miles|8:45 mile pace|1162|2:27:20

Emphasis on the slow as I lost concentration a bit and was dawdling along for a while on my second loop. It's a very hilly course but I still should be running 15 to 20 seconds a mile faster.

Felt a bit tired towards the end which I suppose shouldn't be a surprise given that I haven't run beyond 14.5 miles in a couple of months but still slightly disappointing.

Spent a lot of time time trying to release the nerves going down my left leg, made for a pretty funny looking gait for a while but it helped and there were even a few small sections where I got my back working properly. It looks to me like this was the culprit for Fridays poor run.

Wouldnt get too hung up on the pace. Run by feel thats why i think its always better to have a range of atleast 30 secs for your easy runs (and even as much as 45 for LSRs) 20 sec per mile means you heart is still working at the right level (the heart is not a garmin after all so pace doesnt have to be exact) as your BPM was higher than last few days you were obviously still working hard enough so after that it simply a case of time on your feet

Keep it up

Clearlier · 24-10-2011 7:11pm

Clearlier · 24-10-2011 7:14pm

ecoli wrote: »

Wouldnt get too hung up on the pace. Run by feel thats why i think its always better to have a range of atleast 30 secs for your easy runs (and even as much as 45 for LSRs) 20 sec per mile means you heart is still working at the right level (the heart is not a garmin after all so pace doesnt have to be exact) as your BPM was higher than last few days you were obviously still working hard enough so after that it simply a case of time on your feet

Keep it up

Thanks for that ecoli. What was in my mind was that I did the first half in about 8:30 pace and the second in about 9mm pace and I was thinking that I did that because I just wasn't concentrating. In reality of course I spent several miles of the second loop doing drills and other strange machinations to try and release the nerve in my left leg so it's no wonder I slowed down a little. Feeling better today than I expected so maybe it helped a little.

Clearlier · 26-10-2011 10:16pm

Day|Training|Distance|Pace|BPM|Time
Wednesday|Upper Aerobic Run|8.41 miles|07:08|?|1 hour

After carding a 0 yesterday due mainly to a big deficit of sleep but aided and abetted by my sciatic nerve sending a few warning signals up my left leg I wasn't really feeling up for heading out after I had put the kids to bed - am I glad that I did though.

This is one of my favourite runs. It's around about marathon pace intensity for me. I aim for 8 miles at a HR of 150. I managed to get the Garmin working but have temporarily mislaid the HR strap (think I gave it to the 1 year old to amuse him in the car but couldn't put my hands on it:o). Fortunately I keep an old Polar HRM in the car so I dug it out and used it to check on my intensity. I needed it too because I wasn't able to dial into the effort level like I would expect to. Part of that was the need to navigate through the odd sand dune but part also because I haven't run this pace for too long and my body kept pushing me towards tempo effort.

For anyone who has read the Lydiard presentation I put this at his 1/2 effort pace. I think that anyone who can follow his base schedule would be in absolutely fantastic shape. For variation I sometimes run it at 155 effort. I've been focusing on getting in a medium long run up until now instead of this but for the next few weeks I'll be doing this type of run instead. They help me with running form and they also make tempo runs easier to manage. In the past this type of run has been key to my best performances (need to remember that!).

Clearlier · 27-10-2011 9:17pm

but had nothing left on the last one

.

Easy run tomorrow - I may end up doing a longer run on Saturday rather than Sunday to fit in with family.

Clearlier · 29-10-2011 9:11pm

Clearlier · 02-11-2011 2:50pm

. Felt good and had to hold myself back a little.

Day|Training|Distance|Pace|BPM
Tuesday|Intervals|10.3 miles|08:05|n/a|

The club session was 3 * 4/3/2/1 mins with 90s between reps and 3mins between sets. I wasn't quite sure how to go about this session to be honest - not sure what pace you should run it at or what you should be looking to get out of it. I decided to run most of the reps at 10k pace and throw in a few really fast ones. The 10k reps I took at 40min 10k pace which looking back at the HR no.s was too easy, except when I did a faster rep they were coming in at <150 for the rep and I doubt that I was maxing out much higher. Happy at that as it hints (vaguely) that I might be in sub-40 10k shape. For the faster reps that I did I picked out the same guy that I had raced up one of the hill reps on the previous Thursday and followed him. The first one gave me a 5:45 3 min rep into the wind feeling pretty comfortable, the second I made the mistake of telling him I was going to try and follow so he took off like a scalded cat and I like an eejit tried to stay with him. It was a 4 min rep with the wind and I was about 5:25 pace after 2 mins and 5:40 pace after 4 mins so a bit of a blow up there! The other guy told me he blew up too just not as badly as me. I think he's afraid that I might be catching him! I am aiming to but he's not in my sights yet. He has gone under 59 mins for 10 miles and I haven't yet done a 5k @ 6min mile pace yet. Anyway for the last rep my Garmin switched to the default screen away from the training screen which meant I couldn't press the lap button which annoyed me and I set off like a demented rabbit. I quickly realised that I was going way faster than normal but decided to see how long I could hold it. I held it until the end so slightly disappointed not to get the lap data. More importantly though that was probably (I didn't notice it until about a mile into an extended warm down when I hurt the tendon that holds the arch of your foot up, It hurts around my ankle but I was able to get a physio appt. for lunchtime and she was able to pinpoint it as it's a bit swollen.

So, I have to ice it and take it easy but keep the range of motion in my foot. If in 3 days time I can do single leg heel raises with a bent knee then I can start easy running, if not wait until I can. I should still be ok for the target half in Gosport but I'm probably done with anything faster than a tempo run until after that. Annoying but I've had far worse injuries in the past.

Clearlier · 06-11-2011 1:18pm

Did the prescribed exercises with no difficulty on Friday and yesterday so went out for a run today. I got about a mile and a half down the road before it started complaining. Initially tried to run through it but it quickly became clear that it wasn't just some residual stiffness.

My thoughts are turning towards my orthotics at the moment which were reheeled over the summer somewhat inexpertly. I've put another pair on that I know aren't right but don't give me this problem and I'll try running tomorrow. If I don't have the problem then I'll be confident that it's the orthotics.

Clearlier · 09-11-2011 1:58pm

Went to see the physio today who looked at me run in both orthotics and strongly advocated staying with the ones that I have been using. She confirmed that the injury had gone and couldn't see anything wrong with my gait - well nothing that would cause this particular problem.

We did notice that I was cramping ridiculously easily in my foot which she linked to tight hip flexors. She also thinks that it may have been that the initial healing caused adhesions which were the source of the pain on Sunday. I don't think that's the case (although she's more often right about me than I am so I'm keeping it in mind). So I'm under instructions to loosen out my hip flexors particularly on my right side.

I'm more inclined to think that some of the changes that have occurred in my gait are the source of the problem. I haven't actively tried to change my foot placement but I have been doing exercises which resulted in a slightly straighter foot (previously stuck out at a 45 degree angle). I'm convinced that these are a good thing long term but they may have been part of the source of this problem. I've started doing the exercises detailed here and it does feel like they're making a difference - also to the nerve pain/sciatica that I've had on my left side. I also need to do my core work a bit more consistently and I suspect that losing a little weight would help.

I'm about 30/70 for my half marathon on Sunday week. I'll do a short run tonight and build it up over the next few days. If I am trouble free between now and Sunday week I'll probably do it. Finger, toes, legs etc. crossed as I'd like something from the training even if not quite a PB.

Clearlier · 10-11-2011 1:28pm

3.2 miles this morning. Really easy. Very focused on my form. I seem to have made it through the run.

Now 35/65 for the half marathon

Clearlier · 11-11-2011 11:45pm

Did another slow controlled run this morning. 3.8 miles @ 8:45 pace. I was very stiff and struggled to get moving at all well. Going to try and do longer runs than this on Sunday and Monday. If they go well I'll do the half. If not, I'll have to pass.

Clearlier · 13-11-2011 10:51am

4.5 miles @ 7:56. Started feeling my ankle/foot after about 3 miles so headed home early. The half marathon next Sunday is looking very unlikely at the moment.

Clearlier · 15-11-2011 10:19am

It's probably obvious if you've been reading my logs that I'm not going to do the half marathon on Sunday but it's still bloody hard to say it. I'm reasonably confident it's a problem with my orthotics and I've just made an appointment to get them adjusted but the earliest I can get is next Tuesday. I could run in my 'spare' pair but they're not quite right for me and my physio could see a noticeable difference in my gait when I was switching between them last week with my normal pair giving me a much better gait. I could also try running with no orthotics but there's a decent chance I'd tear my hamstring and looking at the bigger picture it's not worth the risk.

Even as I'm writing this I'm thinking that I could try a few miles tonight in the spare pair and get my physio to take a look at me tomorrow. I might do this but I suspect the sensible option will be to knock it on the head. Am surprising myself with how difficult I'm finding it to let this one go. I'm almost certainly not in any chance of a PB now anyway.

Clearlier · 16-11-2011 10:13pm

So, the physio took a look at me running today in the old orthotics and I am pronating a little more than she'd like but not enough to stop me from running on Sunday provided I can fit in a 6 or 7 mile run before then. This shouldn't be a problem except that I've picked up the cold my two sons have and it's gone straight to my chest. Even though it's not too bad, running with a chest cold is a bad idea in my book so I'm having to be patient.

On the plus side this past week or so of virtual non-running has meant that I've refocused on my core which while a long way from perfect is better than it was. I found my old dumbbells from when I used to play rugby. I purposely haven't lifted any weights in a few years as I wanted to lose some of the muscle I had. I managed 3 sets of 12 reps doing standing bicep curls with the last couple being a real struggle :eek:. All the stabilising muscles in my back are complaining today:o. I think that it may be time to look at reincorporating some weights into my training plan. Not sure how though so if anybody has anything they can recommend please let me know.

On the weight thing - I may be weaker but I'm not any lighter and as I mentioned near the start of my log one of the key factors in me achieving my running goals over the next 6 months will also be me achieving some weight goals. The weighing scales we have broke a few months ago and I finally got around to replacing them today with this. I plan to post some numbers on a weekly basis so that I can compare progress over time although I'll probably find myself looking at it more regularly than that. It gets a bit stupid if you start trying to chart daily variations though as there are so many factors that can cause short term fluctuations.

To set a benchmark my numbers at the moment are:
Height 175cms (5"9')
Weight - 87.7kgs
BF% - 16.7%

Ok, I'm having doubts about these scales. The weight seems about right but the body fat % is much lower than I expected to see. I have a 37 inch waist and when I stopped growing taller I weighed about 75kgs. Allowing for 3% body fat as the lowest you could ever go (doubt I'd ever want to) this would suggest that 75kgs is about the lightest I could hope to ever get to as reducing my current body fat % to 3% would bring my weight to 75.7kgs.

My main weight goal for the next 6 months is to get to <80kgs by the time I next run a marathon. If I get there then I expect that I'll have done the training to go under 3 hrs.

Editing again to say that it seems that I can raise and lower the results by being dehydrated or over hydrated. Wikipaedia are also saying that a device made by the company that made mine significantly overestimated body fat in one study!!!!!!!!!! All I really wanted was a scales and I've got that but I had hoped to get a little bit of interest out of the BF% measurement. Somebody told me that they had become reasonably reliable over the past few years. I've got a large pinch of salt between my fingers!

Clearlier · 01-12-2011 12:00am

A warning to anyone who might be reading this. I'm not sure that it's that interesting as it's mostly a summary of my injury problems over the past couple of years leading into what's caused my current difficulty.

Two weeks since my last update. I've had a chest cold which stopped me in my tracks. I've been able to do enough though to discover that the problem with my ankle hasn't been resolved. I have been consistently feeling pain between 2 and 3 miles. To add a little wrinkle to the mix I also hurt my neck/upper back

So, physio today and we had a good long think about it which ended up with her putting on some new kind of tape which is supposed to provide more feedback than the traditional zinc-oxide. I was sceptical but it worked and I managed to run for 35 minutes which is the longest I've done in a while. More importantly it told me what's wrong.

I've mentioned/hinted before that I do a lot of work to improve my stride. My physio was horrified at the state of my stride when she first saw me. My essential problem is that I was running mostly on my left leg. This meant that I wasn't pulling my left arm back, the muscles in my upper back on that side were pretty wasted away, I was using my shoulder instead of my torso for balance and was experiencing some pretty severe neck/back pain. Mostly it stems from an injury I picked up in rugby training 15 years ago which wasn't treated very well. I hadn't a notion of how to look after myself - otherwise put I was 19!

Anyway, I've made a lot of progress over the past couple of years but it really only clicked into place over the past couple of months. The key change I made was to deliberately shorten my stride with my right leg and deliberately push off on it so that impetus is coming from both sides. Previously I would have gotten most of my forward motion from my left leg which is reflected in various weaknesses in my back and persistent ITB niggles in my left leg.

Obviously the improvement in my stride is a good thing and my physio professed herself amazed at the difference in my running (not sure I could spot it to be honest but I could definitely feel it). The problem is that because I haven't been using my right foot to push off, the muscles used to do that are weak and unable to handle what I'm asking them to do. The taping that my physio put on today told me that if I went back to running my old way that I could probably continue to run relatively pain free (in my foot but with the other niggles).

Going back to the old way doesn't seem like a sensible option for any number of reasons so I'm going to persist with the 'new' way of running which means as many strengthening exercises as my foot can handle and short runs - I have to stop before the pain hits which could be tricky. Neither the physio nor I really know how long this is going to take at this stage. It could be a few weeks or it could be a lot longer. I've joined a gym again so I may end up using the treadmill mixed in with the cross trainer and maybe the rower if I can persuade my hip flexors to comply. It also gives me a great place to focus on doing some of the core exercises I know I need to do but too often let slide as part of the problem is a relatively weak core on my right side which is putting a little extra stress on my foot.

So it's great to have an answer to the ankle problem - it even has a name - posterior tibialis syndrome.

Time to move forward again.

Clearlier · 02-12-2011 12:37am

15 mins on the treadmill - focusing on maintaining form, could feel the strain my foot was under without actually straining my foot. Also got on to the rower for the first time in at least 10 years. I still can't do it! Nearly killed myself just doing 2k in 8mins. Lower back is crying out but the clunk that I've had in my right hip area has gone (probably temporarily) almost certainly as a result of the stress I put on the area trying to get myself in the right position for rowing. Also, did a few drills and was shocked at the difference in power between my left and right foot when doing bounding sideways.

It's all good!

Clearlier · 12-12-2011 11:12am

Time for a little update. The ankle/foot/arch hasn't recovered and I still can't run. Both my physio and podiatrist think that the problem is with the orthotics so I'm bowing to the inevitable and getting new ones. A little bit nervous about it but it seems like the only way forward. I certainly can't keep going as I am now. I've been told that I'm second reserve for a club place for London but I'm going to write it off now.

I need to start thinking about some new targets.

Clearlier · 24-12-2011 12:08am

Still not training which is frustrating the hell out of me. I've let my discipline slide a little in a bout of self-pity and need to snap out of it!

On the plus side I picked up a new pair of shoes yesterday and allied to a couple of changes made to both my previous pairs of orthotics my injury has eased off a little. I'm alternating between each of the orthotics and none at all at the moment as each set up gives me different problems. I should have my new orthotics early in the new year - there'll be an adjustment process and then I'll start building my training again.

I've been thinking a little about targets and my thinking is heading towards getting some of my times down at the shorter distances before doing another marathon. I also need to decide whether I'm going to seriously address my weight or not. I simply can't get to the level of running that I think I can get to carrying the weight that I'm carrying at the moment. I'm pretty certain that it's a mental thing as I've read about nutrition to have a pretty good idea of what my diet should look like. I wonder if a fear of failure isn't part of the problem. Ridiculous as it sounds there's a part of me that says you've ran x time at x weight when you weren't exactly at the pinnacle of fitness so if you got down to your optimal weight you could probably run y time which is pretty impressive. However, there's a voice at the back of my mind saying 'what if you can't run that time?'. I need to move on from that and seize the opportunities that I have. If nothing else this injury is a reminder to strike while the iron is hot.

How am I going to look back at this period in my life. Will it be a series of missed opportunities and ducked challenges or will it be a time I can look back at knowing that I gave it everything I had? Who cares what I achieve so long as I achieve all that I can?

I need to find a way to be the best that I can be.

Clearlier · 18-01-2012 10:20pm

So it's a new year but not yet a new start for me. I got my new orthotics today but a mile walk this evening tells me that they're not where they need to be. That in itself isn't too worrying because I'm used to and expect new orthotics to require tweaking but what seems to be a high heel and lumpy inner heel cup have me worried. In short I haven't much confidence in this orthotist (she's covering a period of maternity leave). She made a right mess of replacing the heel posts on my previous orthotics and in my discussions with her she hasn't shown me that she really understands what she's doing. It feels like she's a bit of a hit it and hope merchant. It probably doesn't help that the podiatrist who employs her and does know her stuff is off sick at the moment.

Anyway, orthotics aside I had a think about a few things over Christmas and the upshot of it is that my physio has agreed to put together a programme for me to get me fit to run. She is going to go on maternity leave shortly and she's in the process of handing over to a colleague which is handy for this as we get a fresh pair of eyes to look at what I'm doing, identify all my weaknesses and areas where I lack flexibility. The idea is that we set some targets for every different part of my body, spend the next few months getting myself to the point where I hit those targets and then move into a maintenance mode where I spend less time on strength and conditioning but also have some markers to tell me when I've let things slide. Up until now I've tended to be diligent enough at doing the work when I'm injured but ease off on it when I'm back running. The plan with this is to catch it before I get injured.

The assessment is on Friday and in he meantime I've been getting into the routine of early starts. I'm using the treadmill to warm up because it's so easy to stop if my ankle/arch/foot starts telling me that it's hurting and I seem to be managing 15 minutes consistently. I went for 30 minutes towards the end of last week but had to cut it short at 28 mins. I also had an unplanned 20 min tempo to pick up the car last night where my foot told me to watch out a few times but didn't actually give me any trouble in the end.

I should also note that I recognised over Christmas that my groin area and the part of my hamstring that's on the inside of my knee had gotten very, very tight and I suspect that may have been a contributing factor to the original injury.

So the plan for the next couple of months is to strengthen my core, get rid of all the imbalances and inflexibilities and run just a little. I'll maintain the 15 mins I'm doing each morning - maybe upping it to 30 mins at the most. Once I've got my body to where I want it to be I'll start introducing evening runs although I may introduce short ones to warm up for the evening session of S&C that I'm planning as well.

Clearlier · 05-06-2012 9:52am

A nice unexpected breakthrough yesterday!

An unplanned 3.7 to the gym and 3.5 back from the gym yesterday. I had planned to cycle but had a flat tyre so I thought I'd try and jog and see what happened. Fortunately there was no reaction. I struggled a bit with my form on the way back and I think my next run will probably just be 4 - 5 miles in a few days but I haven't been able to run beyond 3 miles since October IIRC so this was great.

To be honest it has been a testing few months for me. I took stock a few weeks ago of where I was and realised that I was focusing too much on flexibility and changed the emphasis of what I was doing to focus a bit more on strength. I still have a very long way to go but this gives me some evidence that I may finally be heading in the right direction!

Clearlier · 20-06-2012 1:03pm

5 miles in 44 minutes yesterday. It struck me on Monday as I was walking that I had stopped using my toes to balance myself as it helped get rid of shin splints however I was pretty unbalanced so I consciously started to use them again. Am immediate benefit in terms of balance. It's not a long term solution because even after the five miles my shins are grumbling a bit. Hopefully if I can keep working on strengthening my back I'll be able to do a bit more. I'm a bit tempted to go back to the orthotist again especially as there's a decent chance that the one I saw first will now be back from maternity leave.

Clearlier · 05-12-2012 2:00pm

So I'm thinking about reviving this log again. Do I write it for me or for people who might read it? I'm not entirely sure what I get out of a log and am afraid that it might actually be counter-productive for me but I'll give it a go and see what happens.

I'm running reasonably regularly again. 3.75 miles to the gym at a snails pace (c. 35mins) and the same back although usually a little quicker. I spend about 40 minutes in the gym mostly stretching and a bit of core work. I need to do more core work but I also need to do the stretching and I'm already waking up at 5:35am which is early enough for me.

The aim is to be going to the gym 6 days a week with a longer run on the Sunday. I did 9.5 miles last Sunday but immediately came down with a bad chest cold - fever, dizzy etc. so I haven't run since. If I get to that stage I'll be running about 55mpw which is about as high as I have ever got before (albeit with a bit more quality). At that point I can pick out a couple of races to target to set some new benchmarks or I can go down the road of trying to do serious mileage.

I'm going to take my time about getting there. The causes of my injury are by no means fully resolved and if I run while tired I tend to fall back into old bad habits that cause the injury.

It'll be a few days before I'm over this cold so I shouldn't expect any training news soon.

Clearlier · 11-12-2012 3:26pm

Nearly a week on and I'm still coughing my lungs up. I can feel the cold going through the various stages though and hopefully I'll be able to train again next week.

Ray's 'chopping block' thread has got me thinking. My primary aim has to be identical to Rainbow Kirby's which is to get my back/hip sorted and be able to train consistently again without discomfort and the need to constantly think about my form. From a training point of view that does mean limiting the amount that I do to what I can maintain concentration for though and rather than focusing on getting the miles in I'm considering spending a little time doing some faster stuff.

There's an argument that faster running helps running form although I sometimes think that it's more that faster running hides flaws than fixes them. Either way it has been quite a long time since I did any fast training. I have a PB of 2:04.6 for 800m which was set 20 years and 20kgs ago. I'd like to see how close I can get to that again. I know squat about 800m training so I've been taking a look at Jack Daniel's book and am contemplating following his plan. It'll obviously be hard work but it will provide a significantly different training stimulus to what I have been doing for a while. It should give me back the basic speed to knock significant chunks off my more recent PB's when I'm able to switch to more of an endurance focus.

I'm not going to do anything before I can get myself running to and from the gym every day plus a longer run on Sunday. Once I'm there for a few weeks I'll see if I can add in Daniel's plan from phase 2. Logistics will be a challenge as a track makes it easier to do the reps but I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit in track times to the rest of my life. I've got a few weeks to try and find a way to make it work....

Clearlier · 02-01-2013 11:42am

2.57 miles in 24 mins on Tuesday 1st
2.57 miles in 24 mins on Wednesday 2nd

Plans for 2013 are to:
- run at least one mile every day (ala Ron Hill)
- run at least 2,000 miles in the year
- fix the weakness that lead to my injury for most of 2012
- as a result of the above run p.b.'s at every distance I race with the possible exception of 800m.

Clearlier · 03-01-2013 2:07pm

3.82 miles to the gym in 33:58
35 mins mostly stretching with about 5 mins of it core strength work
3.75 miles back from the gym in 35:43

Only Garmin can explain the discrepancy in the distance of the runs given that it was out and back.... My ankle was giving me grief on the way back but a couple of adjustments to my posture/gait and it eased off.

I still need to be very careful to avoid injury. I also need to switch around the amount of time I spend stretching with the time I spend on core strength. My current program is good for lengthening muscles but most of them have reached the length that I'm looking for. Scott Jurek mentioned something called Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) in his book so I might look into that as well as discussing it with my physio.

Clearlier · 04-01-2013 4:25pm

3.74 miles to the gym in 36:39
35 mins mostly stretching with about 5 mins of it core strength work
3.78 miles back from the gym in 36:00

Focused on keeping a wide stance in my stride today - need to keep working on my core!

Clearlier · 05-01-2013 10:20pm

4 miles progressive in 33:56 with splits of: 8:49, 8:27, 8:24 and 8:12 at an old hunting ground. A reminder of just how unfit I am as the last mile was at least half marathon effort and possibly a little harder.

On the plus side I was focusing on pushing off on my right leg today (part of my injury is related to my failure to do this) and I felt as balanced as I have done since I started running again. Not actually balanced mind you and totally inefficient but a step in the right direction.

There's a 10 mile race on the 17th of February. I did it two years ago in 69:40 (still my official PB I think) supposedly at marathon pace but actually a bit faster. If I think I can break 80 mins I might do it. Entries are available on the day so I'll wait and see.

Clearlier · 06-01-2013 12:00pm

4.19 miles in 35 mins exactly. The 'faster' running that I did yesterday clearly woke up my legs as I did the first 2 miles in 8:08 and 7:55 at a steadyish effort but my recent lack of sleep caught up as I knew it would. Still good to get out, yesterday and today are the kind of runs that I would have missed in the past

Clearlier · 10-01-2013 10:17pm

I continue not to get enough sleep but so far have run every day even if it has only just been the single mile I committed to.

Monday 07/01
1.58 miles in 15:42

Tuesday 08/01
1.2 miles in 10:25

Wednesday 09/01
3.84 miles in 35:54
30 mins gym including 15 manipulating my spine on the foam roller
3.78 miles in 34:45

Thursday 10/01
1.23 miles in 12:14
20 mins manipulating my spine with the foam roller.

I'm waking up extremely stiff in the mornings hence the foam roller. I've also got sore feet which I think is because I need a new pair of runners although I've dug out my least used pair to see if they give me any more joy tomorrow. It doesn't help that I've taken the insoles out of all of them to accomodate my orthotics and now that I'm not using the orthotics and I'm as heavy as an elephant I could do with the little bit of cushioning they provide. Hope to try and find the time on Saturday to get a new pair. No idea what I'll be looking for though. I have the mizuno wave rider 13's which are well worn out now, the 14's are what I'm wearing tomorrow but I never liked them plus I got those when I was still wearing orthotics. Wishing I had gone to Amphibian King when I was home at Christmas now.

Clearlier · 12-01-2013 9:04pm

Friday 11th January
1.21 miles in 10:07. Not enough sleep again

Saturday 12th January
6.64 in 1:00:10 including 6 * 1k reps. Reps were (with wind) 4:00, 4:02, 4:05 (against wind) 4:18, 4:24, 4:22. Fairly consistent drift in times except for the last where I put in a bit more effort to get below 7mm. Slower average than my HM pb which is no surprise but a reminder of just how far I have to go. I might take a leaf out of my own advice book and start including a little marathon pace and tempo pace work over the next few weeks. Need to get more consistent in the mornings though!

Clearlier · 13-01-2013 3:26pm

9 miles in 83 mins this morning. Forgot to bring the Garmin so not certain on distance but the loop is 9.5 and I stopped a little short as my right hip was getting a little sore and I didn't want to push it.

Clearlier · 15-01-2013 9:16pm

Monday 14th January
1.54m in 16:23 (actually a little further because the Garmin took a while to get going). A planned easy day after what were hard days for me on Saturday and Sunday

Tuesday 15th January
AM
3.84 in 34:03
30 mins stretching and a tiny bit of core incl. 10 mins on foam roller working on my spine which is moving better than last week albeit a long way off where it should be still.3.76 in 34:13.

PM
Went down to the club for the first time in about 15 months. I didn't do the reps with them but did do a tempo run. Pace is about 70 - 75 secs per mile away from where I was before I got injured so another nice benchmark.
7 miles incl. 4.81 tempo @ a very consistent 7:35 pace.

Think tomorrow might be another easy day.

Clearlier · 17-01-2013 10:07pm

Wednesday 16th January
1 mile in 8:54 - just keeping the streak going

Thursday 17th January
1.44 miles in 13:07 - foot complaining a bit still. I reckon Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday may have been a little excessive at this stage.

So I have changed my plan around a little. The basis of my week is a tempo on Tuesday, a marathon pace run on Friday and a long run on Sunday. Everything else is easy with as much as I can fit in without pushing myself too hard. I need to let my body adjust to running regularly again and try to keep on top of the core work and stretching.

Clearlier · 18-01-2013 10:23pm

Friday 18th January
4.72 miles in 42:35

Health and safety got in the way of my attempt to do a marathon pace run today. We woke up to snow on the ground here. Cue delirious excitement from the eldest (5) as well as the youngest (although at 2 years old he didn't know why). My wife was pretty happy too as she knew that the university would close and she could work from home.

The plan had been to do my run while the other three were swimming and with rain forecast for lunchtime onwards this seemed feasible. Unfortunately the rain only sort of came and left a big slushy mess. I decided that instead of running from the pool I'd use the treadmill in the gym and as a council run facility I knew they did pay as you go.

What I had forgotten was that they would also have a fetish for 'Health and Safety'. In this case it meant that you can't use the gym unless you have had an induction. When I said that I only wanted to use the treadmill it moved on to a blood pressure test (this appeared to be the key thing). When I kept pushing I was told it was a legal requirement. My wife, who could see where I was headed, interjected to ask if they could do it straight away. She (the receptionist) looked at her screen, where it said I could and phoned down where they said I couldn't. She suggested that I go down and try anyway.

I got the rest of the family sorted out and headed off to the gym. I had a sniff of what the likely response was when I could see somebody having their blood pressure taken and the person in front of me was told to come back at 5pm. Sure enough I went through the whole process again albeit this time without my wife to stop me from saying something stupid so I told the receptionist that I'd been to 25 gyms all around the world and never been required ......., basically made a fool of myself. Blood boiling (wonder what a blood pressure test would have returned if I had been tested then) I walked away to consider my options.

This is where the resolution to run every day kicked in. In times past I probably would have changed back into my clothes and went to watch the rest of the family swim but I didn't see myself trudging around late at night in the sludge so I did the HTFU thing and went outside. My feet got soaked and other than a short patch of road I couldn't go much faster than an easy jog for fear of snotting myself but I got the run done and felt better for it. Also had time to wonder why I had to get so combative with the receptionists. It's a character trait I'm not proud of but I'm not sure that I'll ever change. Quoting (what I perceive to be) stupid rules at me is like a red rag to a bull.

Clearlier · 19-01-2013 8:02pm

Saturday 19th January
7.5 miles in 60 mins

Did the marathon pace session on a treadmill today. Debated whether to do it or not given that I felt I did a bit too much last week but thought better to just take the opportunity as the slush on the paths has turned to ice and can't be sure how much outdoor running I'll be able to do at anything other than a jog. The youngest thought the slippy paths were hilarious but it hurts a bit more when you fall from my height!

Clearlier · 20-01-2013 2:34pm

Sunday 20th January
4.53 miles in 39:30. Feeling a few aches after yesterday so took it easy. Think the treadmill was probably good for me in that I focused even more on my form than when I normally run.

Clearlier · 22-01-2013 11:27pm

Monday 21st January
1.12 miles in 10 mins - decided the night before that it would be too cold:o. It wasn't but I was too late to run to the gym so I drove and did 40 mins of stretching and core. Bit lazy.

Tuesday 22nd January
9.11 miles in 1:14:26
Tough run tonight. I was stupidly ambitious in trying to do a 42 mins tempo (to coincide with how long the rest of the club were doing an interval session before) and didn't manage to lock myself into an effort level with the wind where I didn't push hard enough.

Against the wind was just brutal with horizontal sleet. Having made the basic error of not bringing my rain jacket I got colder and colder and struggled to get my shoulders moving. I started seeing 8:30 pace instead of the 7:30 I had been expecting.

I wasn't hurting but every time I put some effort in it dropped off again very quickly. Afterwards I jumped into the warm down of the faster guys which is close enough to my current marathon pace partly to get a bit more work done but also just to try and warm up.

On reflection my long run is in or about this length so hoping to run that far and include a longish tempo was probably too optimistic at this point in time.

Got home and stood under the shower before I realised that what I actually needed was a bath. Haven't had one in at least 10 years but it hit the spot tonight.

Mile splits for the tempo (tell their own story) were: 7:21, 7:25, 7:43 (turned back into the wind during this one), 8:08, 8:28, 8:18 (0.71 miles).

Clearlier · 23-01-2013 9:05pm

Wednesday 23rd January

4.26 miles in 40:31. Just a little dawdle round. May have overdressed slightly to make sure I didn't get cold again.

Clearlier · 27-01-2013 3:49pm

Man flu.

Time to put up

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