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Turning a mule into a race horse.
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08-01-2014 10:13pm#1It's time for me to venture back out into the world of boards.ie training logs.
In running terms I am a mule.
A slow mule and an overweight mule at that but we are making progress on this front.
Mules of course tend to be slower than horses and are stubborn creatures however in some circumstances can actually match and beat horses. Here's an old story about a pacing mule I found interesting. For the moment I don't mind being the mule but I do intend to race with the rest of the horses here some day.
History To Date:
I've made all the beginners mistakes - (and am ready to make the graduating to intermediate ones
but am hoping a log here might help me avoid them) Ran like a lunatic every run, tried to beat my PB each run and was disappointed if I didn't. Set my goals too high, changed my goals too often etc etc.
I started running early in 2012 from a zero base. Literally off the couch. I was overweight (still am to be honest but we will get to that shortly ) I originally started off with a time goal for a 5 mile race following the couch to 5k program but as time progressed turned my sights to the 2012 Dublin marathon. Why you ask ? I fell into a trap where I equated distance with success. After getting to 5k I wanted to be able to run 10k at a time - then a half marathon and ultimately an ill fated go at DCM. It never sunk in that progress could be made dropping times on shorter runs too ! An injury sustained about 6 weeks out knackered my training at a critical point but I went ahead and ran anyway (ran / walked to be more accurate) covering the distance in 5 hours 36 minutes. Realistically this injury was caused by doing too much too soon, off too little a base and carrying too much weight.
An attempt to restart things early in 2013 was also scuppered by injuries and personal circumstances changing but I eventually got back out there in August and have gradually brought some fitness back - starting off with the smallest of runs 2 or 3k at a time and bringing things up to a LSR of up to 12k.
Current Official PB's are:
5k 28:24 (Remembrance Run Nov 2013)
10k 1:02:51 (DLR Bay 10k 2012)
Half Marathon 2:18:30 (Race Series 2012)
Full Marathon 5:36:53 (DCM 2012)
So most definitely mule standard at the moment.
The Goal:
I want a proper crack at a marathon and am targeting DCM 2014. In perfect hindsight jumping into marathon training so soon and carrying the weight I was carrying was a mistake which led to the injuries I sustained so DCM 14 is the goal to give me plenty of time to build a solid base before embarking on marathon training. I will know by August if it is feasible this year but if I need to push that out to spring 2015 then so be it. Along the way I need to shift some weight. Back in 2012 I was just shy of 17 stone. Weight has fluctuated since then - had gone down to 14 Stone pre marathon, back up over 16 stone (to my shame) when I was off injured and currently stands at just under 15 stone.
Getting there:
I'm joining a club at Fit4Life level. I wanted to do this last year but couldn't get a club training at a time that suits. Good news though is circumstances have changed a bit and I should be able to commit to at least one day a week at a club. I will continue to gradually increase distances and improve paces, keep the diet in check and hopefully will see some good results later in the year. Shouldn't be too hard to improve on the current times.
Between the guidance and support of a club and you good folk I know I will be in good company along the journey.30
Comments
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Wed 8th Jan
8.3 k - Avg Pace 7:15 km
First run of the year. Slow / easy pace.
(I've always tracked myself in kilometres but am giving a lot of consideration to changing to miles as most people here log in miles and I'd like to be speaking the same language as such ) I only went with kilometres in the first place as when I started off I was using a phone app that gave feedback every 1km or mile and picking kilometres meant more regular feedback. Plus 26 miles sounds less than 42 kilometres. ! 0 -
Great stuff! Good luck with the club.
What kind of running are you currently doing?
Best of luck
Thanks Ososlo
Generally aiming for one LSR a week which is in and around 10/12k. Two maybe three smaller runs of anything from 3k to 6k. Pace varied on these - mixing between recovery, easy and 10k race pace. No great plan there - just enjoying the running and doing what came naturally. These distances are gradually growing. At one point the LSR was the 3k
I will knuckle down into a proper plan in the next few weeks when I nail down what races I will be aiming at this year.0 -
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Took the plunge and converted to miles - First run tonight.
Legs were still a bit tender from Wednesday so this was done at easy / comfortable near recovery pace. Turns out my easy pace is 10:30 / 11:00 minute miles.
Splits were
11:02
10:54
10:14
reflective of the fact the first half of the run is uphill (overall climb of 45ft) and therefore the last half is a bit of a gradual descent. Effort level was constant throughout and I made a point of not pushing too much.
Messed up my half way turn though and got back home at 2.85 miles meaning a lap of the local block was required to tick the 3 mile box. Runners OCD 0 -
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Deedee2012 wrote: »Welcome to miles, I can understand what your runs are about now :-)
I'm now bilingual 0 -
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6 miles (ish due to gps issues)
Really enjoyed today's run. Was in the mood for it right from waking up. Sundays are the only day of the week I am not up at 5am for work so Sunday morning is a chance for a little lie in time. By 8 though I was half asleep fighting an urge to get up and go out running. Not much resistance put up As I posted in the rave thread I recently discovered Spotify and today I hit The Doors on random and headed off reconnecting with songs I hadn't heard in years.
Idea was for 6 miles of a LSR standard. Set off but got confused by the pacing on the watch which at one point had me at 20 minute miles (I'm slow but not that slow!) then 4 minute mile pace (sadly not likely to ever be that fast ) so I figured the GPS signal had been screwed up a bit. Looking at the strava data afterwards I was probably a little short of a full first mile but due to moving time adjustments Strava gave me a way off split.
Very comfortable pace as would be expected of a LSR. I decided to open it up a little for the last mile and aimed to do this at around current target 10k pace (not knowing what that would be in minutes per mile - I was doing the maths of it but in the end just upped the pace to not all out but a little uncomfortable) The last half mile of this would have been back downhill with the first third or so uphill so the split is not 100% indicative of the pace for effort it should be but is thereabouts for a sub 1 hour 10k which is the next short term goal.
Splits:
8:46 (my watch had me at 10 minutes at the split which would have been short of a mile anyway)
11:02
11:01
10:41
10:39
9:310 -
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Thanks very much for the suggestions.
First up will be the FIT magazine 10k in early March. It's 8 weeks away which will give me a chance to follow a 10k plan into it. Mrs Mule is banding together a few of her friends to start running and they are going to aim for the 5k on the same day. The 10k race here if last years reports are anything to go by is more geared up for beginner / slower runners and this will suit me perfectly
The Rock N Roll half is perfect timing for a realistic assessment of the chances of a decent time (for me) for DCM 14 so that's a near cert at the moment.
I will definitely slot in a few of the other races along the way too.
Goal time at moment is to break 1 hour which would be a PB. From a personal perspective versus my 2012 tilt at things achieving this target would put me ahead of the fitness level I had in August 2012 which would be a big confidence boost for what is to come.0 -
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Recovery run tonight.
4 miles at average pace just under 12 min miles.
I set out to do a recovery run as things were a bit tender from Tuesday. I ran a lot slower than normal, hardly broke sweat, breathing was near normal everyday and muscles were all grand. However I got a really bad stitch 2 miles in which made the run quite uncomfortable. Couldn't shift it at all although it eased off when running faster or slower (which was walking!) Sign of dehydration I think so must get religious on water intake.
On the way back in a local scumbag coming towards me thought it would be funny to roll a football at me. I wasn't meant to do this - I was meant to just kick the ball away in frustration but my toe punt / balloon effort smashed him in the face. Went on my way with a healthy smile. 0 -
Sometimes the running Gods conspire against you.
Got up this morning full of enthusiasm for a LSR. I had a 10 minute DIY job to do beforehand - taking down some shelves in the playroom. Mrs Mule is on a mission to overhaul the house ! These shelves were put up by yours truly 6 years ago. And it turns out that 6 years ago a screw went through a hot water pipe
which duly started gushing once said screw was removed today. 10 minute job turned into a 4 hour nightmare.
Wasn't in the mood for it at all after this. I only got to go out at 4pm and even at that was squeezing time out between other things that were on todays schedule - time that wasn't really there. Left the house in a dilemma - do the planned LSR anyway or shorten it down. Reasoning here was that the intention is to take in a session with a local club tomorrow evening with a view to joining up and I'd normally have taken a rest day after a LSR. So an early morning LSR would have been reasonably ok but a late evening one could be a bit too late. Once I got out though I felt good, was enjoying the run and reasoned to myself that it is only 7 hours of a difference. Go ahead and run the LSR. At that point I eased it off a little bit bit as I had gone out with one eye on a half pace run.
1 non running observation from the run today:
Horses are far friendlier creatures than dogs. Passed two fields / gates with horses in them and got a friendly nod and gallop beside me down the road. Passed three gates with dogs who all seemed intent on ripping me apart.
7 miles avg pace 10:330 -
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Tonights lesson - everything is relative
Got down to the club for tonights run. The way the club works is Mondays are for either hills or track sessions and Wednesdays are for a straightforward run. Didn't make it down last Wednesday so tonight was my first run within the group. I had a choice of 5,6 or 8 mile groups but was warned the 5 mile would go out at a bit of pace. I felt 8 miles was too much for me personally for a midweek run so went for 6 at "gentle" pace.
The lesson: one persons gentle is anothers all out
I wore my watch but couldn't see it in the dark of the park so only got to look at splits later. What did happen though was 2 miles in I was struggling. It was going to be a huge effort to maintain this and I felt it would be stupid to do this tonight. (Now you can call that wimping out or you can call it smart - might be a bit of both but I've been feeling tender since last week and the last thing I want is to cause an injury) I let the group go on a bit and dropped my pace back and also cut a bit of a short cut back ending up at 5 mile run.
A look at the splits afterwards had the first mile at 9:00 with a grade adjusted pace of 8:38, second mile at 9:30 - much too fast for me at the moment As was mentioned before by Quirky run with faster people and get yourself faster so all is good. My plan now is to move training around to target Wednesday as a longer run / harder session. Give me a few weeks and I will be able to keep up all the way ! 0 -
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I don't think you were wimping out at all. Sounds like it's a bit aggressive for you. Is this a Fit for Life group? I've read a few times on Boards about relatively new runners (running just a year or two) joining clubs and end up getting injured as they're trying to keep up with a pace that's just too fast for them.
Is everyone else in the group finding the pace fine? Were you told when you joined that it was for your level? Were you told what kind of mileage/pace you should be capable of running prior to joining?
Yeah it's Fit for Life but at same time the standard does appear to be above Fit for Life level. On the first night I was asked about my current running times and distances and the response was I'd be well capable.
Was chatting along way tonight (also a first for me and not helping me keep up :pac:) and afterwards and I asked about the standards there. The club website mentions 3 levels of Fit for Life - Walkers, Walk / Joggers and then Joggers but from what I can see everyone there is at Jogger / Runner level. There was mention of walkers having joined and left. In contrast another local club had warned me off joining their group as being more at couch to 5k level and I would obviously be well above that. If anything I suspect the club is a victim of it's own success in that the Fit for Life group is nearly too fit. I'm happy enough though. I'm experienced and strong enough mentally to know when I need to hold back / run to my own paces but at the same time having a target a little above me to aim for is good for progress. 0 -
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Had my first ever track session tonight.
1 Mile warmup. Then 12 x 400m at circa 90% effort with 200m walk / gentle jog in between.
1:53, 1:54, 1:56, 1:57, 1:55, 1:54, 1:53, 1:57, 1:58, 1:54, 1:55, 1:48
Didn't really know what to pace these at. Went out quite fast (for me) but kept a little back knowing there was 12 reps to do. The fastest lads in the group were running these a little faster but I would catch them by taking a slightly shorter / faster rest. I think I had the pacing right for me as by lap 10/11 I had to really work to hit the target time. For the very last lap I picked the fastest guy and stuck like glue to him ...... for 200 metres at which point lungs were exploding and legs were aching and I had to let him go. Still a 5-7 second improvement on the lap.
Thoroughly enjoyed the session.0 -
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I was originally going to sit down and throw down a very quick nothing fancy or remarkable, happened, just logging it, post about tonights run but looking at it now I am actually seeing some improvements - improvements I would have to credit to joining a club. Even though this was only a few weeks ago.
Yesterdays weather was a write off running wise so I organised to run home the 5.3 miles today from Dunboyne. This involves a 100 ft climb mostly done over 1 mile. I don't get to do this route too often so it's an interesting comparison point. The idea was to do this comfortable. Not 100% easy but comfortable. Off I went comfortable but a glance down at watch said I was running faster than my normal easy pace. My last run was a club session where I was running 400m strides and I think I was still in tune with these. Things slowed down slightly for the rest of the run partly because it was uphill. When I got to the 100ft over 1 mile climb mile I powered up it with not much problem at all. Over the past few weeks at the club I've been doing hill specific sessions and running on hilly routes too and I found today that the hill just wasn't scary anymore. Scary does sound over dramatic a word though.
Splits were:
9:35
9:58
10:06
9:53
9:52
9:08 (pace for .3 of mile)
The climb coming from approx 3.5 - 4.5 miles in.
This was a good 30 seconds per mile faster than my usual comfortable pace and on an uphill route. The particular climb has a strava segment which I smashed my PR on today by over a minute whilst not really racing. Small signs of progress being made and a happy Mule I am. 0 -
Indulged a little bit last night so scheduled a recovery / punishment run for this morning.
I'm normally up at 5.30 every saturday for work but am off this weekend so I had a good morning ...
Up at 8 = 2.5 hour lie in.
No work to go to.
4.5 mile run at easy recovery pace.
Spotify with a rock cheesefest classic ....
Hearing "Wild is the Wind" for the first time in years whilst running into a gale.
Carlsberg don't do Saturday mornings etc
10:25 avg pace - again a bit of a step up pace wise than previous recovery runs but it was at recovery pace effort.0 -
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