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Moving on up ...
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02-11-2014 4:12pm#1Woo hoo! Just back from a slow untimed 3.2mile run on a bright, sunny, cool-but-not-cold autumn day (possibly one of the last of these we'll see in Edinburgh this year :rolleyes:).
Very happy to have done this after five weeks of absolutely no running at all
. I managed to injure my right calf at the peak of marathon training, just 4 weeks out from DCM2014. The physio's instructions were no running whatsoever until the leg was perfect and two extra days had passed. And even without those rules I wouldn't have wanted to run anyway - even a week ago I was having twinges doing tiny 50metre jogs. But felt pretty good on today's run.
About me: I've been running on-and-off since 2000, with the offs sometimes being a couple of weeks, sometimes a few months; once or twice an entire year. Over the years I did about 10-15 organised half-marathons and a couple of 10ks. The half-marathon times were usually about 2hrs, so nothing too impressive. For the past couple of years I have been a bit more consistent with the running, and last year I *finally* decided I was going to try to get faster. Really if I'd been planning my running career, I would not have waited till over-forty to make this decision:rolleyes: .... but unfortunately I stayed a very large number of years in the comfort zone. In this past year, I've introduced a bit of speed training in the way of occasional interval training and the occasional parkrun. Apart from the running I do Pilates every week and the occasional dance class.
marathon?: The biggest difference to my training came after I made a decision in early August to have a go at taking up my mileage/LongRunDistance and see if I could get in shape to run DCM 2014. The carrot of a full-marathon in Dublin, not to mention the wonderful support on the "DCM2014 novices" thread, had a great effect on the consistency of my training. I was very happy, not too mention a bit surprised, that I was able to bring my long run distance up to 22.5miles just by dropping the pace a small bit. But unfortunately I had a knot/niggle in my calf that I didn't diagnose and after running on it for about 10 days it eventually turned into a real injury. So I've been off the pavements for 5 weeks, and have had plenty of time to plan my next mission which is "marathon de Paris" on 12th April 2015. It'll be my first marathon and I'll be doing it properly with a good consistent 18-week plan.
My PBs so far:
5k: 23:29 (Sept 2014)
10k: 49:02 (July 2014)
HM: 1:49:31 (Sept 2014 - DCHM)
this log: I've been lurking on the Athletics/Running sub-forum for about a year, and got a bit addicted to the "DCM 2014 Novices" thread over the past few months. Got some brilliant advice from Ososlo there, in particular I finally accepted that Long Runs shouldn't be run close to goal pace (I'd read this on the internet many times but never took it on board before). So I'm starting my own log to help keep me going towards Paris over the next 6 months. Apart from the advice, it'll stop me boring "real friends" with details of my training. For some reason non-runners don't seem so interested in intervals versus Long Runs, or why I'm so disappointed to have ran 1:58 instead of sub 1:50, or the details of how black toenails eventually detach
the plan: I'm going to use the next three weeks to build up running again to 25miles a week. Then on 24th November, I'll start into my 18-week marathon plan. I've based this on the "Boards" plan from the novices thread, but there are slightly more "proper Long Runs" and slightly higher mileage. The mileage is quite a bit higher than I'm used to, starting around 30 miles and getting up to 50 - also 5 runs a week which is a lot for me. But I'm going to try to do it. When I get the chance I'll put the plan on Google Docs to have it online and update it with my progress as the weeks go on. I also really want to get my parkrun time under 23minutes and I'm hoping that I'll be able to do this before the end of January. The only other race I'm planning along the way is the "Lasswade 10" south of Edinburgh on the 1st March - a hilly 10mile road race (or the meadows half-marathon the same day, if Lasswade sells out).... so plenty of weeks for the "proper long runs" and I hope a sub 4hr in Paris.22
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Saturday 8th Nov: 5.25 miles @ 9:49, 9:36, 9:24, 9:24, 8:52, 8:53equiv
The excuses, the rain, the dithering, the mind games I played to get out of this.... over the five weeks off I have laid a solid base of laziness. Didn't head out till 9pm, and of course it was lovely, soft, cool-not-cold weather and a very enjoyable run. Not an easy one though - this would have been a very comfortable pace for me 6 weeks ago, but this evening was definitely "steady" on the effort level. Have definitely lost a bit of fitness ...
No running tomorrow (going to stick to the physio's "every second day only" rule for a couple more runs). Which means the weekly total will stand at a measly 9.47miles for this week. Planning for about 20 next week.0 -
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Regular stretching for Monday and Tuesday, and today - 4 very comfortable miles in lovely mild, calm conditions: 9:52, 9:55, 9:39, no time for the final mile because my Garmin ran out of juice at 3.15 miles. A very enjoyable run with only a tiny bit of calf niggle. I am not banking on anything yet though, just crossing toes, fingers etc and will be doing the stretches before bed again! 0
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happiness is ... coming down five flights of stairs the day after a 4-mile run, and feeling no twinges from your calf.
That was Thursday at work. I'm sure people wondering why I looked so cheerful! Leg was not quite as perfect for the rest of the week but they were minor grumbles and I was able to get the runs in.
Wed 19th Nov: 4miles as reported above
Fri 21st Nov: 6.02miles "progression run" in light rain, 9:24 avg pace.
This was never planned to be a progression run, but things were going well after 4 miles so I decided to take the pace up a bit. I wanted to know what it would feel like to run faster than 9:30 pace again .... Anyway mile splits were 9:44, 9:47, 9:50, 9:26, 9:05, 8:19. Last mile was difficult especially as the last 400m or so was up a hill, but was good to know I could do it.
Saturday No running but I did a 15mile hill walk of the "Seven Hills" route around Edinburgh. I am hoping to do the race in June (14.3 mile race where you have to run between the tops of the 7 city hills), so this was a very early recce for that. I knew it was not a good idea to be doing this with a less than perfect leg, but had arranged it with a friend and his two kids 2 weeks ago and didn't feel I could back out.... not to mention it had been my idea in the first place. So I headed out at 8:30am with some misgivings. It was a gorgeous day for a hike, and I picked up some good shortcuts and race folklore. I was getting a bit of sensitivity in the leg at various points, but on the positive side it was feeling good again by Sunday. Think I was lucky there.
Sun, 23rd Nov: 8.23 miles @ 9:29 average pace
This was pretty consistent apart from 10:01 for mile 1, and two faster miles (a downhill mile, plus the final mile) at about 9:05/9:10. Happy I was able to do it!
weekly total: 18.25miles
Plan for the week ahead is to do 4 runs, with a slightly longer Long Run, to make a total of 23miles. And lots of stretching. I might introduce a little bit of fartlek and strides too ...
(god, all the smileys in this post :rolleyes:)0 -
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positives and negatives ...
Wed 26 Nov: As reported, 5.32miles at average 9:30 pace
Sat 29 Nov: 9.11miles at average pace 9:15 (LR ... but not a LSR)
Did this run as the dusk set, as 6 laps of a fairly flat 1.5mile loop. Was a lovely afternoon for it with perfect conditions of 9C or so, and no wind. The splits were:
9:31, 9:24 9:27, 9:21, 9:16, 9:19, 9:16, 9:11, 8:41, with the .11 @8:32pace
Definitely lost the run of myself with this one .... I knew full well that my current fitness is not good enough for 9:15 pace on a long run, but it was a lovely evening and the leg was feeling strong, so I picked it up as the run went on. Proof that it was too fast came this morning: had to drag myself out of bed, and I spent all morning yawning.
Had a 5.7mile easy run pencilled-in for this evening, and by now I have the energy to do it! But now I'm feeling a small niggle on my ankle of the bad leg (which was good this morning), so I'm skipping it.... and instead I'm going use this evening to finish some of the work I've been complaining about ... plus a second batch of stretches :rolleyes:
weekly total: 14:43 miles
The big story in my running is that next week is week-1 of my 19-week Marathon schedule: 26miles including a 10-mile LSR is the plan. I'm not in perfect shape for this schedule - but I'll start, and if I have to drop runs because of niggles so be it.
From a bit of surfing online over the past week, it seems that my injury (soleus, plus a bit of shin/ankle stiffness) is one which really needs the stretches done regularly. For sure I was not the ideal person to pick this injury up .... anyway I am focusing on the stretches now, and if I'm still having trouble by Friday, I'll make another visit to the physio (have been afraid to go before now, being worried about the questions that might be asked
).
Apart from watching-the-leg, I am massively looking forward to the marathon training 0 -
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Thursday, 11th Dec: 5.74 relaxed miles 'cross-country' (ie, running on the grass to avoid the slush):
splits were 10:03, 10:11, 9:56, 9:58, 9:54, 9:31pace (for the .74).
Now usually I'd be feeling kinda tough after a run in the sleet and wind ... but unfortunately I forgot to pack my running-hat this morning ... so I ended up having to use a slouchy beret with pink hearts and a fluffy pompom instead - nothing dilutes that badass feeling quicker. I was looking around hoping I wouldn't see anyone I know (but it's very unlikely I escaped since I was doing laps of a route near work).
I've been quiet on this log lately. Anyway there was a second 5mile run last week... bringing last week's mileage up to a total of 10 miles.... ahem.
Also last week there was a trip to the physio, who was a bit blase about the mild recurrence of the calf issues. In a way that was a bit of a disappointment, but I know it's a good thing overall. She massaged the leg, & explained that I've been doing the calf raises the wrong way (and I got a couple of extra exercises ...zzzzzz).
Then from Sunday to Tuesday a cruel few days & nights deadline-chasing at work. Less said about that the better, but certainly no running
.
For now, running every two days, and building up the distance 2 miles at a time.0 -
Woke up this morning feeling a bit rough, and didn't pull myself out of the bed till 10:30. But felt quite happy about this ... and maybe a little bit of *pride* in there too ... because this morning the cause was a night out and a few glasses of prosecco, and not the result of working into the wee hours.
I was feeling a bit sharper by afternoon, so at 3pm I headed off for my "long run" of the week (whatever that means these days) .... the result:
Saturday 13 Dec: 10.14miles at 9:43 avg pace
[9:55, 10:49, 9:39, 9:41, 9:42, 9:36, 9:34, 9:36, 9:39, 9:19, .14 @8:58 pace]
There was a decent uphill on mile2, and also the final mile-and-a-bit had some downhill on it; so the effort was very consistent. I could have kept going, and the leg was feeling pretty good throughout. Lovely weather for a run, cool 3C-4C, not too much wind ... and by now most of the paths have been sanded, so I didn't have to do the cross-country thing, just once or twice had to avoid a patch of ice. Felt great and only remembered my headache when I was coming back home on the final mile....
*most* important - did a complete set of the stretches when I came back to the flat, even before I took my shower. Where is the halo icon? 0 -
Had a bunch of Christmas events all through Sunday, so fortunately I didn't get tempted into sticking another run in there. Anyway that meant I was able to start this week's running a bit earlier.
Monday 15th Dec: 5.04miles "not a tempo" run, average pace 8:58
The plan said 5miles tempo, but after the time off I'm not sure what my tempo pace is now, certainly not 8min pace any more. Was considering many different adaptations as I started out - to use 8:40pace instead, or maybe just do an easy five miles. Then I had the idea to run the middle 3 miles with bursts of fartlek - so I could get a bit of speed in without having to plan paces....
splits were 9:25, 8:50, 8:35, 8:31, 9:31
This was not an "every second lamppost" session or anything, I just threw 3-4 bursts of different lengths into each of the 3 miles. Think I got the balance right because miles 3 and 4 were fairly tough and I only got mile 4 down to 8:31 by doing a biggish spurt at the end. The 5th mile was very welcome:).
Think it was the right way to go and I'll probably do next week's "tempo" the same way before I start with sustained paces.
Tuesday 16th Dec: 4.2miles easy, fairly consistent, avg pace 9:43
Took a while to push myself out for this one because of the rain and I dithered a fair bit, stepping on my calf to see if it would twinge etc :rolleyes:. But pushed myself out and enjoyed the run rain or not. In fact there *was* a bit of twinging from the calf, but I'm stretching .... and since the most recent physio visit I have a better understanding of how to manage it anyway.
Tomorrow's a "rest" day including lots of calf raises and Christmas shopping :rolleyes:.0 -
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Foam rollers are great for carrying bottles of wine in, in your suitcase though;)
Yeah you can do a lot with your fingers and a tennis ball alright!
At least time is on your side so if you need to back off now it's no huge deal but I know you're dying to get stuck in to the long runs and the higher mileage.
Fingers crossed for you!. Have never seen the hollow foam rollers in fact ...
Am a bit mad about the lost pace. And I was dreaming of a complete 18-mile schedule of solid mileage with lots of long runs and a glorious performance in April ...
I'll get over it though. My brother (also in Dublin for Christmas) had to give up running in February this year because of cartilage damage, so I'm not whining too much. Fingers crossed.0 -
hillsiderunner wrote: ». Have never seen the hollow foam rollers in fact ...
Am a bit mad about the lost pace. And I was dreaming of a complete 18-mile schedule of solid mileage with lots of long runs and a glorious performance in April ...
I'll get over it though. My brother (also in Dublin for Christmas) had to give up running in February this year because of cartilage damage, so I'm not whining too much. Fingers crossed.
You can still get lots of long runs and have a glorious performance by April:) lots of time to get it sorted out.
Your poor brother. That must be very tough for him:(0 -
Your poor brother. That must be very tough for him:(
He was very disappointed when he found out. This brother is the owner of the sofa in Paris, so I didn't get such an enthusiastic welcome when I first told him I'd be coming over for the marathon in April. Can't blame him, he's done that marathon a good few times in the past, as well as the Dublin one. If I'd been able to find a city marathon in early spring in Ireland/Scotland I wouldn't even have asked him.... Anyway, he seems to got used to the idea now though, and the way things are going with my leg, his times are probably safe! 0 -
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Week of positives and negatives on the running front. The main thing is that I'm off marathon training and that will continue for another fortnight - shortish runs (<1hour) every second day is the rule for now. Also gave my left toe a massive bash and will lose the nail .... All the same I did end up getting to do some running so it's not a total disaster.
Tuesday 23rd Dec: A trip up to Walkinstown for a examination and some very thorough efforts to switch-off the offending muscles in the leg. No running of course.
Hoped to get to an elliptical on Christmas Eve, but a cute little relative wanted some help with the Lego so I didn't make it. Then late that evening, I was putting glasses into a cupboard and I dropped one onto my big left toe ... oooowww! Even more embarassing because I hadn't drunk any alcohol all day... I have a bit of history with this kind of thing & have not been allowed to touch the Waterford Crystal in my parents house for a few years now. This particular glass was not expensive at all, but it was heavy.
Christmas Day was taken up with cooking in the morning, then I spent the evening icing my toe and drinking wine. "Food for the Fast Lane" and "Born to Run" among my presents.
Friday 26th Dec: 4.8miles @10:07 average pace. Slow but didn't feel slow, probably the wine from the day before to blame for that. Compared the Christmas trees & lights while I was out and about, a few streets definitely seemed to have a competitive thing going on.
Saturday 27th Dec: 45mins on the elliptical (zzzzz...), covered 3.96 "miles".
Sunday 28th Dec: 6.25 miles @9:36 average pace (60mins total).
Ventured out onto the frosty pavements at 8:20pm with a careful stride and set off through Kimmage, Terenure, Churchtown, Milltown and Rathgar. Had to spend a bit of effort dodging patches of frost in the first couple of miles, but after that I had better luck with dry stretches of pavement. Was a lovely run through the deserted streets - I only spotted 3 runners and less than 10 walkers while I was out. As I came in towards Rathgar, my watch hit 60 minutes ... my guesses for distances had been quite a bit off. I stopped the watch and stopped running, and walked the last mile back to base as a 'cool-down'. I discovered a new running shop in Rathgar while I was walking, and they were advertising a sale, so I might go back to check that out...
Pace overall felt very slightly faster than comfortable, and splits were 9:44, 9:55, 9:40, 9:19, 9:27, 9:33, plus 9:33 pace for the .25.0 -
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SamforMayo wrote: »No point walking if your not window shopping! Hope toe is on the mend!
The toe was very sore on Christmas Day but after 4 sessions of the ice pack it had deflated and it was fine by the time I headed out on Stephens night for my run. Will definitely lose the nail in a few months, I know the signs, but that's happened before .. not quite the same method as usual though! 0 -
Not a lot of running this week because the right leg has decided that even 60mins is too much for it. Another sports massage on NYE morning, including a bit of education on recovery runs.
In the pub after the Christchurch bells a guy in the pub worked out that our table had a 'spare' woman and came over to chat. Took an interesting turn when he started talking about his marathons & the Race Series & DCHM 14 .. let's just say it's not often I can say I was miles ahead of someone
. In fairness it sounded as though he hadn't done much training for it...
Thursday 1st Jan: First recovery run of my life: 2.05 miles (paces 12:11, 11:51). Very gentle run in gusty weather.
Ok ... now the plans for the year ahead:
Goals for 2015- Do everything possible to stay injury-free (back-off on niggles, increase the amount of stretching & strengthening I do, increase mileage slowly)
- Maintain 25miles/week as base mileage throughout the year
- sub-3min 800m
- sub-22min 5k
- sub-47:30 10k
- sub-1hr 45 half
- run a marathon
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quick report from rehab central.
Friday 2nd Jan: 39:08 mins steady run: 4.08 miles @9:36 avg pace
Splits were 10:29, 9:51, 9:01, 9:01, had a gentle push from the wind for the second half. Found this run quite tough, not sure why.
Then on Saturday I couldn't get away to the gym during the day, and it was shutting at 6pm, so unfortunately (not sarcastic) no elliptical. Don't like the machine but wanted to do the workout....
Sunday 4th Jan: 45:00 mins easy run: 4.53 miles @9:54 avg pace
Splits were 10:27, 9:55, 9:38, 9:43, and 9:37pace for the .53. Wasn't all that much slower than Friday, but it felt very different. Headed out at 11:30am when the frost had melted and the sun was beginning to warm up ... and the conditions made for a very enjoyable run. Felt quite comfortable too. I was on a 45min time limit but I set up the run as laps close to home ... so even though I had to stop at 45mins, this time I was only 15 metres away from base.
Week of careful running, stretches, and some elliptical work coming up next week (polishes halo).0 -
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Brave doing the laps? It must of been tempting to stop a few laps early and go back to the nice warm home?
Not at all! I was disappointed that I had to stop, I'm dying to fully banish the injury & get stuck into 10mile+ runs. Laps were set up so I could get as close as possible to my 45min limit! 0 -
Not the most exciting weekly report ... bit of running, bit of elliptical, bit of stretching, bit of niggling. Had a cold for most of the week but didn't let that affect the training too much (Mo Farah take note).
Monday, 5th Jan: 70 mins elliptical, 6.28miles @11:08 average "pace".
Not my favourite pastime, not to mention that I spent the entire 70mins staring at a *wall* (the cardio hall was in the final stages of a revamp, and they'd shoved a few machines in various corners to tide things over). Kept the strides/min up at around 180 as is recommended. Only thing of note was that when I got back to my flat that evening I felt kind of wrecked. I had been pushing it a bit. So I guess there is hope that there might be some contribution to fitness!
Rule is that I can run every second day, so I was allowed to go on Tuesday. But I was flattened that evening and negotiated a delay-to-morning with myself. Am a bit stunned that I did go out and do the run the next morning, it's very rare I do any running before 4pm.
Wednesday, 7th Jan (8:30am!!!): 50:03 mins steady run, 5.45 miles @9:11 average pace.
Splits were 9:28, 9:13, 9:17, 9:12, 9:04, .45 @8:25. There was a bit of a wind factor for this run, so I pushed when I had to and recovered when I had the wind to my back. I was doing laps of a 1.06 loop (plus a tiny detour at the end), so the wind didn't affect the splits. It was nice to be running near 9min miles again
So after Wednesday I'd been arguing to myself that Thursday evening would be 36hours ... and that's equally close to 2days as to 1day .. so maybe I could slide out in the dark on Thursday night and do a run, and it would nearly fit the 2-day rule, I wouldn't really be cheating too much :rolleyes: ....
Anyway the leg was niggling on Thursday, so I was saved from breaking the rules.
Friday, 9th Jan: 45:01mins easy 4.52mile run @9:57 avg pace.
The rules are that every 3rd run is a 'cutback' of minutes, so 45mins for this one. Miles times were 10:02, 10:01, 9:59, 9:59, and 9:44 pace for the .52. I'd decided to pace this as an easy run after the niggling the day before, and just tapped my feet as gently as possible. It was lovely weather, bit of rain but not a puff of wind - obviously I got this in between the two weather fronts that we've been getting all the warnings about. To make things interesting I tried to get the mile splits as close as possible to each other .. did quite well except for the final .52 where I overcompensated for expected slowdown on a slope at the end.
The gentle pace worked fine for the leg during the run. Small bit of twinge that evening ...
Saturday, 10th Jan: 70mins elliptical, 6.14miles @11:24 avg pace.
I had trouble with the first 35mins, took me ages to get the balance right and even after that it didn't feel 'right' .. and I couldn't get the strides up above 165/min (with the same settings as Monday). Anyway the workout cut out at 35mins and when I got back on for the next 35mins, it went straight to 190 strides/min. I think my legs were cycling 'backward' in the first half, I've had that impression once or twice in the past ... even the 'right' way doesn't seem so natural so it's hard to be sure. Anyway another 70mins done.
Earlier on Saturday I'd done about a km of running as a spectator at the Edinburgh cross-country, jogging between viewpoints of Fionnuala Britton and the other runners
Hoped to do 50mins running this evening (can hear lovely blustery weather outside just now ...) but the leg was niggling a bit ... so I left it. No HTFU at the moment, "don't be an idiot" the rule for now.
weekly total: 9.97 miles, 12.42 elliptical "miles"
Have an appointment with an ecoli-substitute early tomorrow to give my muscles a workout tomorrow morning. I'll pick up the running Tuesday I hope.0 -
"Careful now"
Had a sports massage on Monday morning (she gave me the full-strength post-race going-over) so I had an excuse to dodge the icy air till Wednesday. And since I'm doing what I'm told these days, I followed instructions...
Wed, 14 Jan: 50 mins 'pyramid-tempo' run, 5.53 miles @9:03 avg pace.
The individual splits were 9:47, 9:01, 8:37, 8:32, 9:00, .53 @9:27 pace. Felt fairly comfortable for a tempo run and I was happy to see 8:xx coming up on my watch again.
Fri, 16 Jan: 55:06 min steady run, 5.9 miles @9:20 avg pace
Paces were 9:48, 9:17, 9:21, 9:14, 9:12, 9:04. Did this run in the late afternoon in 1C, coooooold. There was only a light wind but it felt very icy on the face when I was coming from the wrong direction. Passed a few lunatics who decided to keep their legs icy by wearing shorts-only. I'm not so tough after all...
Sat, 17 Jan: 70mins on the elliptical, 6.49 "miles" @10:47 avg pace
Done, not much more to say. Kept the strides/min up around 180 all the way through this.
Sun, 18 Jan: 50:01 min easy run, 5.13miles @9:45 avg pace
(Backing off on the minutes as per the rules) Just did this one as laps of a 1.06mile loop round my neighbourhood this evening. The leg was complaining a small bit during this one, but I knew that that was likely, it had been a little bit stiff earlier in the day. Didn't feel quite as easy as 9:45, probably down to the cold. Consistent pace except for a little surge at the end.
I live near Holyrood Park here in Edinburgh and in normal times a lot of my runs go through the park, and I often do a lap or two of the 5k circuit going round Arthur's seat. But I haven't been doing that loop for months because it has a 80m+ ascent & descent and I don't want to challenge the leg ... Anyway, I've been thinking that it'll soon be time to test it out. Had thought I might do it today but the leg was grumbling a tiny bit, so I stayed on the flat in my neighbourhood. But I'm hoping that maybe I can try it Tuesday or Thursday. There is a great view of Arthur's seat from the local Sainsbury's, and it was looking gorgeous in the afternoon sunshine when I was doing my shopping today.
weekly total: 16.56 miles running, 6.49 elliptical "miles"
Have been more disciplined with my stretching in the last week or two, I'm spending more time on that than the running :rolleyes: (or the running+elliptical). Added some strengthening too - calf raises when the leg feels good enough, and I did double-leg squats a couple of nights this week. It's just as well I live alone because I don't know how someone else could put up with it... doing the gluts stretches in the hall where there's carpet, hockey ball in the kitchen for my foot, etc etc
"day off" tomorrow (ie, only a load of stretches to do), then the week starts with 55mins running on Tuesday.0 -
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First run of the week out in the frosty weather. Did this one from work in the late afternoon so it was my first daylight run for ages. I wanted to put a bit of hill into this one, so I set out in the direction of Holyrood Park ... it was 0C so I was watching the pavements carefully. But no problems at all, dry pavements everywhere with a little bit of ice in the gutters and the corners. After 1mile I turned into Holyrood Park and started uphill onto the circular road ... the hill was looking every nice, with the landscape just a tiny bit silvery from the frost. This first half mile of uphill was slightly tough, but the rest of the run was comfortable. I took the downhill easy so as not to stress the leg, and took the later uphill easy too. The top lake inside the park was frozen, and all the ducks and geese that are usually there had vanished ... except for two swans on the bank, and one duck/goose stuck between two sheets of ice. I'm not 100% sure he was alive, but probably he was, he was upright in the water. Very few people out and about, only passed two other runners; few people out walking their dogs, and I got more smiles than usual for being tuff :cool:.
I came back out of the park and added a bit of a detour on the way back to the office to get the time as close to 60mins as possible; even managed to hit the garmin at the exact time, with no extra seconds.... then when I got back inside and went to write the times in my file I realised it was supposed to be 55mins ....
So I cheated ... but not deliberate. Will make Thursday's run 55mins to compensate.
Tues, 20 Jan: 60mins comfortable run, 6.18miles @9:43 avg pace
Splits were 9:41, 10:21, 9:09, 9:19, 10:26, 9:14, .18 @10:03pace. All over the place because of the hill. Effort was consistent.
Was a great day for a run, frosty air but hardly any wind. I had a great buzz after this one!
Was hoping I might get back on the 30-day challenge this evening but too late now, I'm just going to do the stretches, squats and calf raises and leave it at that. Going have to to start going in to work a bit early in future to compensate for the time I spend stretching in my office.... 0 -
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Sounds like a gorgeous run and tuff
Ps do we have to wait til Thursday to find out the fate of the duck/goose??!!
He'll probably have gone to Siberia by then! Though I did meet a bunch of geese later down on the grass on the lower side of the park ....
Running minutes are being rationed right now so I couldn't stop to check him out (not much I could have done about it as he was in the middle surrounded by "thin ice" (signpost))0 -
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Thanks - didn't realize those machines were "ellipticals". I'll give one of them a go at some stage!
I wouldn't rush to them .... (can be useful when you're injured thoug,h as they don't have impact)
The basis of 180 strides/min ("cadence") people talk about is because some studies have shown the best runners have this rhythm. I never count my strides when running but definitely my running pattern is slower than than 180 sessions I've done on the elliptical. I have noticed when doing intervals that it helps to think about moving the legs through more quickly (rather than increasing stride length).0 -
hillsiderunner wrote: »I wouldn't rush to them .... (can be useful when you're injured thoug,h as they don't have impact)
The basis of 180 strides/min ("cadence") people talk about is because some studies have shown the best runners have this rhythm. I never count my strides when running but definitely my running pattern is slower than than 180 sessions I've done on the elliptical. I have noticed when doing intervals that it helps to think about moving the legs through more quickly (rather than increasing stride length).
I gave one of those yokes a go for a couple of minutes. I'll have to practice a bit before I'd be able to do that cadence! Managed to hit 140/150 only. Naturally quite a low stride-turnover (if that's the right lingo) so it might actually be a good alternative workout. Thanks again!0 -
I gave one of those yokes a go for a couple of minutes. I'll have to practice a bit before I'd be able to do that cadence! Managed to hit 140/150 only. Naturally quite a low stride-turnover (if that's the right lingo) so it might actually be a good alternative workout. Thanks again!
Snap, I'm just back from a session on the yokes! You might have had incline/resistance a bit higher than me; anyway just getting the balance and rhythm right can be a bit of a struggle in the beginning. I think it's a very unnatural movement myself.
Think I'm going to maybe switch it up next time and try one of the hill workouts for a change.0 -
"Careful now" (con't)
So after the lovely hilly run in the fresh air of Tuesday, I had a delay of 1 day before the next one. Unfortunately I was having some little twinges in the leg on Thursday, so I held off an extra day (polishes halo).
Fri, 23rd Jan: 52.5min easy run, 5.41 miles @9:42 avg pace
Did this one as loops of the neighbourhood just-in-case of any leg grumbles, and made it an easy run; didn't even stretch it to its 55min limit. No point giving the mile splits as it was pretty consistent. Anyway a bit of tightness at the back of the calf in the last mile (not at the injury site), but otherwise all was well.
Sat, 24rd Jan: 90 mins Yoga/Pilates fusion in the morning... oh why did I book it! Crawled out of the bed to get to this and was close to dropping-off at the end when we were doing the peaceful centered wind-down.
65mins elliptical workout, 6.31miles @10:18 avg pace
Only 65mins instead of the usual 70 because the gym was closing and I didn't want them to actually come over and ask me to get out (was the last person off the machines). Despite being wrecked I kept strides/min up over 180 at a bit higher resistance than usual.
Sun, 25th Jan: 54:56min steady run, 5.93 miles @9:16 avg pace
Mile splits 10:07, 10:10, 8:58, 8:43, 8:52, .93 @8:39pace. Despite the times the effort was fairly consistent ... it was an undulating run with a decent wind factor as well, and the first 1.5 miles had uphill and wind-in-face in sync. Almost all at same effort, except the final few minutes when I decided I'd try to get myself all the way back to the flat under my 55min limit (and I did!)
weekly total: 17.51 miles, 6.31 elliptical "miles"
Stretching continues, and the calf raises, and the occasional set of squats to improve my weak bottom. Going to try to get into work for 8:15 next week so I can get a full batch of the stretches done before starting work. 0 -
Most significant development here is that I reconciled with James Dunne this week and will be keeping it up, but on a 60-day clock in my case ... I know my limitations :rolleyes:. Will be adding squats to the challenge. Running has been continuing according to the every-2nd-day script.
Monday 26th Jan: No running. Day-1 of the 30-day challenge
Tuesday 27th Jan: 60:00mins run, 6.54miles @9:10 avg pace
All over the place this one ... Have been hoping that I'll soon be able to think about heading back to "Tuesday intervals", so I thought I'd do this run with the middle section as fartlek to give my body some experience of "speed". Nice conditions for the run. I had 60mins for this one, and the middle miles would be faster, so I was planning for 1mile w/u, 4.5 miles or so fartlek, and 1 mile c/d.
Headed out onto my nice flat route (set up as laps) and ran the first mile as planned at 9:36, then into the first fartlek mile. But found this very tough, came in at 8:51 which seemed slow ... and I was already thinking of ditching the fartlek after this first one. 2nd fartlek mile was a bit faster but still difficult and I still was thinking of just ditching it. And similar difficulty *again* on the 3rd fartlek mile when I ended up having to stop and walk at around .7 mark after a longer burst .... anyway that was it, 3 miles of fartlek, and I finished the run at a more comfortable pace.
Splits were 9:36, 8:51, 8:24, 8:29, 9:37, 9:48, .54 @9:37pace.
Was looking back at some of my records from 2014 and it was a bit depressing to see much better paces than I'm doing now - even from earlier in 2014 when the mileage was relatively low. Looks like I've a while to go to get the fitness back. Attendance at Tuesday intervals is mostly club runners and other speedy people, so it'll take a couple more weeks before I show my face there I think ...
Wednesday, 28th Jan: No running. 75mins Pilates class.
Made a big mistake on Tuesday night by not doing the stretches after my run... or later that evening. Have been pretty good at stretching (and the calf raises, and rolling my foot, etc etc) in recent weeks, have been doing this during the day and after a run. So am not beating myself up about Tuesday eve .... but the leg was feeling stiff on Wednesday and also this morning, and maybe that's the reason why. Was not sure whether I should do the run today, but the leg felt better after a bunch of stretches and foot-rolling at lunchtime, so I gave it a try.
Thursday, 29th Jan: 61:00mins easy run, 6.23miles @9:47 avg pace
Headed out from the office before it got dark, exactly same route as Tuesday's run, lovely conditions, 1C but hardly a puff of wind. This was going to be an easy run, and could well be getting interrupted after a mile or two .. but the leg held up fairly well. Nice comfortable run and the paces were pretty consistent around the average. The paths were just beginning to frost up in the final couple of miles, and it was getting dark, so perfect timing to do it. Did the stretches before I had my shower.
For a good while I had been hoping to run a 10-mile hilly race on the 1st March, famous for its undulating route, its views, and the notorious spread of cakes after the run. Had not signed up but have been watching the entrycentral details over the past couple of weeks, and considering the state of the leg & the fitness ... anyway today the "Places available" slipped down to 2 ... and then to 1 at 5pm. Am *not* going to look again, I've decided it's gone. I'd only be going for the cakes, and to "get around", and I'd prefer to get myself into shape for a better performance.
Know this is loooooong, not to mention the stretching theme running throughout, so apologies to anyone who might still be reading the log. Am working late to make up for the hour and half of running & stretching & showering, so better get back to it. Then back home for day-2 and the double & single-leg squats. Very exciting life here :rolleyes:0 -
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