Just Like Starting Over…

ronanmac

As some of you know, I’ve had a less than stellar few years when it comes to training and physical fitness in general. Through much of 2012 and 2013, I had various diagnosed illnesses and undiagnosed symptoms and did pretty much no training or racing whatsover. I was in a position to start back again at the end of last year, and training was going well until I was hit by a car while out training on the bike at the end of May.
Finally, I can begin seeing some light again after that incident but after such a long time out, I’m not entirely sure what direction to go in terms of starting back. Hence this post and my seeking counsel from the brain trust that is the TDAR forum.
My plan for 2014 had been to focus on the half marathon, using three or four races to try to get close again to my PB or beating it (I have no idea, however, what chances there is of that any more following the long layoff and the fact that I’m a few years older and slightly more battered!) and sprinkling in a few sprint triathlons over summer to keep the cycling and swimming active. Long term, the plan had been to try a spring marathon in 2015 if I had gotten the half marathon time down to something approaching 1:26 and putting in two or three half Ironmans for the remainder of the year.
The accident, as I’ve said, put paid to that. Now, however, with much of the brain injuries cleared up and while the shoulder, neck and back still feel crumpled up, the legs are fine and I’m looking to start back training.
With time constraints (new busier job that involves more travel, three month old baby to add to the other two lads) and the starting from scratch element (I’m a stone and a half heavier than I was in May, my physical conditioning is atrocious and I’m still beat up after the accident), my inclination is to focus on running and running only for 2015. Throw in a few unstructured cycle sessions during the week but leave the swimming aside except on a casual basis when I happen to be beside a pool!). Within that plan, I would start back running, after putting some sort of base in, with a 10k plan and look at building upon that in March, maybe a half-marathon, maybe a marathon, I guess I’d have a better idea when I’d get to spring.
That’s what my head tells me. My heart, however, tells me that I have unfinished business with my brief interaction with triathlon, particularly the half-Ironman distance, and eventually that I’d like to go longer.
I’m not getting any younger (40 in two months time), I’m not getting any less busy (family, job, writing, other stuff) and my gut feeling is that I should leave multi-sport to one side, get back to decent running fitness for 2015, and reassess where I am when I turn 41!
For some reason, however, I can’t take a clear decision on this and I’d really welcome any opinions, counter-arguments, or ridicule!
Cheers,
Rónán

catweazle

ronanmac wrote: »

, my inclination is to focus on running and running only for 2015. Throw in a few unstructured cycle sessions during the week but leave the swimming aside except on a casual basis when I happen to be beside a pool!).

Is this not the same plan you have every year?

Good to hear you are back at a level where you are considering training - if your shoulders, neck and back are still fecked I suppose you are as well off forgetting about swimming and cycling for a while.

Run a bit for now and take it easy. Take stock and re-evaluate how you are getting on early in the new year perhaps. A late season 1/2 Ironman would be possible too if you were able to get moving in the new year

I certainly enjoyed the The Lost Sheep last year and thats late August early september

sconhome

Ronan, good to hear you are doing better.

I've no advice other than to mind yourself, ease your way back with nice comfortable running and biking till you are happy with weight and then go for it.

joey100

For me the heart always wins! As much as I try follow what my head says is the best more often than not I always end up doing the opposite, usually in a much more roundabout, stressful way. I've learned now to just go with what I feel I want to do rather than think about it too much.

griffin100

The simple answer from me is to do whatever gives you the most enjoyment and still allows you to spend time with the family.

shotgunmcos

100% agree with the guys. Welcome back and glad to hear you on on the up.

Take it handy as AKW advised. Set one goal and phase the approach. Break it down to key benchmark races and fun races. Plan how you will celebrate success

Oryx

I just want to wish you all the best with your return.

Do whatever you feel like. Whatever gets you out of bed in the morning. But include a healthy dose of strength and mobility work to get your body right for the stresses if swim/bike/run

BTH

Fáilte ar ais Rónán. We're just all glad to see you on the mend and hungry to get back doing something. Definitely ease back into it slowly. Running is your background, so start there, three months you'll be approaching something close to what you'll be happy with, then if time permits you can add more. Next season is still a long way off, no need to make any tri decisions for six months yet.

Dory Dory

Yep, agree with what everyone else has said....and I'll add: don't get hung up on your age, it's just a number (trust me, I know!!!), so don't let that influence a proper, safe, enjoyable, and rewarding return.

ronanmac

catweazle wrote: »

Is this not the same plan you have every year?

Lol! Sometimes, it takes someone else to point out the plain obvious stuff! I always start off with a plan but inevitably, it ends up with sticking to the running part, beningly accommodating the cycling and coming up with multiple excuses to avoid swimming. Pretty much what I had planned for 2015 minus the pretence

ronanmac

Dory Dory wrote: »

Yep, agree with what everyone else has said....and I'll add: don't get hung up on your age, it's just a number (trust me, I know!!!), so don't let that influence a proper, safe, enjoyable, and rewarding return.

Thanks for the advice, Dory! I think I'm pretty comfortable with the whole age thing... I think that it's just that I feel less 'young' since the accident, less sprightly, more beat up. Also, I think that the further away I get from fitness and physical conditioning, the harder it is to imagine being in semi-competitive condition again.
Hopefully, by the time my 40th comes around, I'll be in tip top condition again, "ag dul in aois na hóige"* as we say in Irish!



*getting younger with age!

ronanmac

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It's much appreciated. In a nutshell, it seems that the consensus is to take no decisions now but to use running to get back into shape and to assess things come spring.

I think I might get too fixated on targets, on the promised land, as a way of getting motivated and getting back into the groove. That can often be premature, as my stupid decision to sign up to Ironman Sweden, while still not fully clear of illness, showed. You would have thought that Ironman's refund policy would have taught me to keep the powder dry.

Thanks again, I look forward to getting back to doing enough to justify keeping a log.

Dory Dory

You signed up for IronMan Sweden??? August 15, 2015???? Am I reading you correctly???

ronanmac

Oryx wrote: »

I just want to wish you all the best with your return.

Do whatever you feel like. Whatever gets you out of bed in the morning. But include a healthy dose of strength and mobility work to get your body right for the stresses if swim/bike/run

Thanks for that, Oryx. I've often thought about (rather than doing) the notion of strength and mobility work, but this is the first time that I actually feel like I could do with it, rather than doing it because everyone says that it should be done.

It's one of those things that I keep not doing, and in part, I use the excuse that there's so much information and approaches out there that it's just easier to be confused and avoid it all together :rolleyes:

Any particular approach you'd advise yourself? What did you do yourself after being in the wars?

ronanmac

Dory Dory wrote: »

You signed up for IronMan Sweden??? August 15, 2015???? Am I reading you correctly???

Jesus, no! I can be delusional at times, but not quite that delusional!!!

I signed up in 2012 for 2013, after a run of four weeks of good weather and two weeks of uninterrupted training! My optimism came to a shuddering halt two weeks later with the return of random, mysterious symptoms.

RacoonQueen

Great to have you back Rónán. From my experience, listening to your body as you comeback is they only thing you can do. Sometimes telling yourself to just HTFU and get out the door is the wrong thing to do (I've learnt that the hard way, over and over again )

Didn't realise the bike accident was that bad!

Dory Dory

ronanmac wrote: »

Jesus, no! I can be delusional at times, but not quite that delusional!!!

I signed up in 2012 for 2013, after a run of four weeks of good weather and two weeks of uninterrupted training! My optimism came to a shuddering halt two weeks later with the return of random, mysterious symptoms.

Whew! You seem like a pretty optimistic fella and all...but this had me worried!

Oryx

ronanmac wrote: »

Thanks for that, Oryx. I've often thought about (rather than doing) the notion of strength and mobility work, but this is the first time that I actually feel like I could do with it, rather than doing it because everyone says that it should be done.

It's one of those things that I keep not doing, and in part, I use the excuse that there's so much information and approaches out there that it's just easier to be confused and avoid it all together :rolleyes:

Any particular approach you'd advise yourself? What did you do yourself after being in the wars?

I got help coming back to it, cos I knew I would do it wrong on my own. The coach turned my usual type of training on its head. For me, s&m was something you did if you had time, which I usually didnt.

I had to do specific exercises every day, before I could do any other type of training. They were targeted to my own particular needs (flexibility, regaining leg strength) and weren't all that hard. So for 20 minutes before every single session, I did squats, toe and heel raises, stretches, jogging on the spot, etc. I didn't realise how weak I was till I started them and they were HARD. If I hadn't approached recovery this way, I would have injured badly from pushing stiff and weak muscles too hard, too soon. Im now a bit of a zealot when I comes to this stuff, because I think it protects your body from the stresses of training.

ronanmac

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Great to have you back Rónán. From my experience, listening to your body as you comeback is they only thing you can do. Sometimes telling yourself to just HTFU and get out the door is the wrong thing to do (I've learnt that the hard way, over and over again )

Didn't realise the bike accident was that bad!

To be honest, RQ, I didn't realise how bad it was myself initially. It kind of came dropping slowly upon me! The physical stuff was fine, I knew I would get over it eventually, but the brain injury stuff, and the drip drip revelation of different symptoms as the weeks went by, scared the crap out of me :eek:

At the stage now, however, where I'm mentally much better, if not quite there physically.

Oryx wrote: »

I got help coming back to it, cos I knew I would do it wrong on my own. The coach turned my usual type of training on its head. For me, s&m was something you did if you had time, which I usually didnt.

I had to do specific exercises every day, before I could do any other type of training. They were targeted to my own particular needs (flexibility, regaining leg strength) and weren't all that hard. So for 20 minutes before every single session, I did squats, toe and heel raises, stretches, jogging on the spot, etc. I didn't realise how weak I was till I started them and they were HARD. If I hadn't approached recovery this way, I would have injured badly from pushing stiff and weak muscles too hard, too soon. Im now a bit of a zealot when I comes to this stuff, because I think it protects your body from the stresses of training.

Thanks for that Oryx. I would also be of the "something you did if you had time" mindset.
I was raring to go last week, but have since had a slight setback physically. The one lesson that keeps coming up during this entire phase is to be patient with it, and I sometimes forget that!

pgibbo

Just catching up on this now. I was going to write welcome back until I saw your latest post on another setback.

My advice is to see a physio or physical therapist. Get a full body assessment of your weaknesses and go from there. Once you've done that you'll have a better idea of what and what isn't realistic and in what time frame.

If I were you I'd be targeting triathlon with the view to going long once you nail the HIM.