Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try

Firedance

Saturday 24th January 45mins @ avg 10.36 & 143hr - 4.49miles

My first run in 27 days, went out with 3 friends and it felt great to be back on the road again. Took it easy, never felt like I was pushing it and thoroughly enjoyed it, that’s the good news - the bad news is my foot was quite sore on Saturday evening and again on Sunday morning...

A little about me., I've been running a couple of years now and I'm a graduate from last years DCM thread, I thought I'd give the logs a go, apart from all the fantastic advice we get on here I'm hoping it will keep me disciplined. Its a bit nerve wracking starting off though!!

Firstly just to say I've been injured with plantar fasciitis since mid December, no running at all since 28th December which has been really frustrating but am getting back into it now and fingers crossed I have the injury under control. I have been doing Assisted Isolated Stretching and also a strength & training workout given by my physio who has agreed I can return to running as long as I keep it easy and start with a low mileage base. While my foot was quite sore after Saturdays run the stretches, foam rolling & work outs have brought it back to just a twinge quite quickly so I'm hopeful.

Monday 26th January: Swimming lesson - I can swim but need to improve form so I can use it as a fitness tool, lesson was great fun, delighted I finally took the plunge (:P)

Tuesday 27th January : Up to the club for the first time since December but stayed well away from the session. Did 1 mile easy on the track followed by 30 mins on the road, I had no watch but took it reasonably easy.

Wednesday 28th Jan: Tri Dive, my first dip into the scuba diving world, enjoyed it. The pool swim in fins really seemed to help the foot too.

Thursday 28th January: AM: AIS. PM: 2 mile run followed by 30 mins strength & training workout

Friday 29th January PM: strength & training workout. AIS before bed.

Saturday 30th January 35 mins @ 9.24 & 150bpm
This was too fast, I ran with a friend and even though I could keep with her I knew it wouldn't do my foot any good. It was brilliant to be out though, thoroughly enjoyed this run.

Sunday 31st January Foot was quite sore this morning after yesterday. Went for a swim and then did AIS and foam rolled the peroneals (?) made a big difference. I then headed off to St Catherine's park with the dog, did a jog/walk around with him which I thoroughly enjoyed and no ill affects afterwards, pace was very slow, and HR was in zone 2 so I knew I was doing something right. Absolutely beautiful day to be out and about.

Week one was overall a success, it feels like there's still a way to go before I can get back to any kind of pace/distances but that's ok in order to get things right..

annapr

Welcome back Firedance, and mind that foot!

Ososlo

Great to see you start this. Impressed with your AIS dedication:D
Your training approach seems very sensible and staying away from the faster stuff with the club for the moment is definitely the way to go. Baby steps and all that and you'll be back to where you were in no time.
Best of luck Firedance!!!!

Firedance

Ososlo wrote: »

Great to see you start this. Impressed with your AIS dedication:D
Your training approach seems very sensible and staying away from the faster stuff with the club for the moment is definitely the way to go. Baby steps and all that and you'll be back to where you were in no time.
Best of luck Firedance!!!!

Thanks boss! I learned from the master I never liked stretching but am enjoying AIS, its simple to do and I can feel the difference every time I do it.

laura_ac3

Great to see you back at it. Good luck with the recovery!

Firedance

Monday 2nd Feb: Strength training & AIS AM, Swimming lessons PM - first time ever jumping & diving into the deep end of a pool, complete endorphin buzz! Got in good number of laps swimming properly too so well chuffed.

Tuesday 3rd Feb: Strength training AM, PM AIS / foam rolling 20 min run - 2 miles, avg pace 10.30 140bpm - couple of twinges in the foot but nothing unbearable. Fab evening to be out, cold but lovely.

Wednesday 4th: had to skip snorkel session in the pool due to horrible head cold which steadily got worse throughout the day. Didn't do strength training either

Thursday 5th: PM Strength Training, AIS & walk/run with the dog. Wasnt feeling 100% still so didn’t want to do too much even though it was warmer today then it has been.

Have a follow up session with physio tomorrow and will be getting a new program from him no doubt, looking forward to seeing the improvements from the last 2 weeks of work. Foot feeling quite good.

Firedance

Friday 6th Feb: 2 miles @ 9.30

jogged to the physio at lunchtime. great session, gold star for me on strength gained from previous work he gave me the downside of this is I now have a bloody hard workout for the next 3 weeks :eek: I'm sure it'll be worth it in the end!! He's advising that I keep with the low(ish) mileage and intensity until after our next session when I'll learn to take the strength gained into my running. My biggest problem is very weak glutes - so apparently size does not equal strength . Anyway, feeling optimistic about my running future even if I didn't get a place in the Royal Parks Half Marathon...

Firedance

Sat 7th Feb AIS followed by run 1:09hr @ 10.43 HR 145- 6.43miles - lots of uneven numbers there! went for a run with some friends in the phoenix park, had not intended to run that far but was enjoying the company. We ran the last 4 miles of it on trails which is very good for my foot but very tough on the ole legs! It kept the paces nice and slow though.
10.06, 9.52, 10.28, 10.59, 10.46, 11.27, 5.15

Sunday 8th Feb: new (much harder..) strength training followed by 40 min swim. Really starting to get the hang of the breathing in the pool now resulting in much better workout. Topped off the day with a 3 mile walk in the park with the dog.

Firedance

Monday 9th Feb, AISam, Swim & foam rolling PM. Swim technique really starting to come together, thoroughly enjoyable session.

Tuesday 10th Feb Club session followed by strength training. The session was 4 x 1 mile at 10k pace. My first session since December. I only did 3 laps for the first 3 and 4 on the last, kept it slow & ran without the watch. Foot felt ok going around but I really feel like I've lost all my fitness from last year frustrating. The sooner I can get back to full throttle the better.

Firedance

Wednesday 11th Feb AM AIS PM snorkel session in the pool. I was wrecked after this! I'm no career move in the swimming stakes it was late when I got home from this and I still had to eat so skipped my strength session.

Thursday 12th Feb lunchtime run with aquinn, very enjoyable! not too fast (sorry A!) I did just over 4 miles which is perfect distance while still recovering and we picked apart Marathon day all over again :-)

splits were pretty consistent 9.45, 9.54, 9.59 9.45. Foot feels good and its great to get my run done this early in the day.

Firedance

Saturday 14th Feb AIS pre run. 45 mins easy - 4.45 miles @ 10.24 & 146hr

I'm planning to start the graduate plan properly on Monday so this was a test of one of the easy runs to see if I could keep my HR where it needed to be. Mistake no 1, I forgot to look at the sheet before I left the house, I had an idea that my HR needed to be somewhere in the 140's. Unfortunately the correct range for 'easy' for me was 129-149 so with my splits below I was at the upper range and when I looked at the max HR per lap they were just too high. But that's what test runs are for! now I know :-)

10:10 avg HR 138, max 152
10:31 avg HR 146, max 161
10:13 avg HR 148, max 154
10:30 avg HR 150, max 150

It was a beautiful morning for a run and lots of other runners about.

Sunday 15th Feb 40 mins strength session. I never put down what this consists of so here it is:

Squat with overhead press - 12kg bell 3 sets of 8, 10 & 12 reps. For this I have a band at my knees that I need to push into on the squat
Push up start position, touch left then right shoulders, push up then rotate to side plank = 1 rep 3 sets of 8 reps (4lhs 4rhs)
Crab walk - band at knees, squat position and crab walk (sideways) 10 steps left, 10 steps right = 1 rep - x 3 reps
Single hand row with 12KG bell 3 sets of 8 (4 each side)
Bridge on heels 3 sets of 10 secs each
Deadlift with 12kg bell 3 sets x 8 reps
Single leg deadlift 3 x 8 reps (4 e side)
KB swing 12kg bell 3 x 12

This is a tough enough workout, for me anyway! but I really am feeling the difference its making which makes it easy to stick to it.

I spent the afternoon up in Athlone IT at their indoor track supporting a club mate who was doing the 60m sprint and 200m race in the masters category. Fantastic facility and great excitement watching actual athletics as opposed to our easy peasy road races LOL. In fairness, I don't think I'd have the guts to go out and do that when there really is nowhere to hide....

Firedance

Monday 16th Feb 30 mins easy @ 10.29, avg HR 125bpm

10.43, 10.13, 10.34, 1.06

Absolutely beautiful day for a run although very windy :-) Legs felt very heavy during this, I was making an effort to keep the HR in the low 130's but this turned out to be quite hard to do. Looking at the watch a few times I was seeing 122, 125 etc, at one stage I saw 111! but the effort felt consistent throughout. I stopped a couple of times to re-wet the HR sensors as I hadn't done this properly before leaving so I'm hoping that’s where the anomalies were coming from. I didn't look at pace at all during the run so I was very surprised to see those figures, given the HR readings I was expecting to see them up in the 11's somewhere.
Anyway, thoroughly enjoyed the run. Points to note: no AIS pre run, this could be the reason for the heavy legs so note to self I need to try and get a session in on Monday mornings if I'm running Monday lunchtime. Sleep could have been better last night and lastly, I need to drink more water..



Tuesday 17th Feb 5*2mins @5k pace with 3 mins recovery.

In contrast to yesterday my legs felt much better today doing this session. Did a 5 min warm up first then got stuck in to the first speed interval. I was never going to reach or try to reach my best 5K pace as I'm still minding my foot but also my fitness is just not back fully yet. Glancing at the watch for the first couple of these the pace was somewhere between 8.20 & 8.30 which was fine by me. I jogged the recoveries, pace averaging around 11 or so.

Found this run exhilarating. It was hard work but I absolutely loved it. I've done speed sessions in the club before but usually when I'm out on the road its one steady pace, so I'm looking forward to trying the fartlek runs when they come around on the plan too. I used the run/walk facility on the watch to start each segment so the paces per mile are a mix of the speed and recovery, I'm sure there's a better way to do it.

Total distance was 3 miles, avg pace 10.18, best pace was 7.57. avg HR 143, max was 168

No time so far this week to do strength training which means I'll end up doing back to back sessions. Thinking of getting a KB for the office so I could at least do some of the workouts at lunchtime - it would also keep me out of the shops...

Firedance

Thurs 19th Feb 45 mins easy, 4 miles @ avg 110HR

Ran this with a couple of friends and it was very slow, also we had to stop a couple of times as one of the others is carrying an injury and was struggling.

11.02 HR 116, 11.05, HR109, 11.52 HR112, 11.44 HR 100

Still it was very enjoyable and delighted to be getting out.

Friday 20th Feb
Warm up 1.8 miles followed by 6 X 8 sec 'hill' sprints with full recovery

The warm up was a lap of the village with the dog, then home and used the stairs for the hills. I was supposed to do a set of drills with this work out but was very tired after a very busy week and just couldn't convince myself to do them.... also couldn't go back out and do a warm down! I did do my strength work out though which I'd been neglecting all week.

Saturday 21st Feb 50 mins easy, 5 miles @ 10.29 ave HR 151.

fab day for a run, yes it was a bit cold but the sun was shining, really enjoyed it & was buzzing afterwards. I threw in some strides going up a hill and again for the final stretch home.

10.38, HR 166, 10.18 HR 159, 10.31 HR 142, 10.11 HR 148, 10.04 HR 141

followed this with 3 miles walk in St Catherines Park and 40 mins Strength workout. Knackered now!

no running tomorrow just a swim and long walk & strength session

really looking forward to the Boards Djuce run next weekend, if the weather plays ball the views will be fab. Better go rooting out recipes for something sweet & tasty :-)

Firedance

Just in from a lunch time run in that rain, lashed sleet on the way back, LOVED IT! totally buzzing & exhilarated now whooohooo!

Firedance

Monday 23rd Feb 30 mins easy @ 10.08 avg pace & 153bpm hr - 3.25 miles

lunchtime run, started out cold but sunny and as I discovered quickly, very windy! I was surprised to see the pace on garmin connect as it felt slower than this when running, but as it felt easy we'll go with easy! I know my HR is higher than it should be for easy pace though. I wasn't looking at the watch at all during this. Felt amazing to be running in those elements, it lashed sleet on the return leg I normally hate getting wet but for some reason was loving this.
PM: 40 mins strength session

Tuesday 24th Feb AIS pre session. Session said 60 mins easy with 20@ tempo. I knew I wasn't going to do the full 60 so set out with 45 in mind. Ended up with 45 mins @ 10.25 & avg hr 149. 12 mins temp @ 9:00 avg hr 160. Felt tough but good, nice to be pushing a faster pace mid run.
Finished up with 40 mins strength session.

Firedance

Wednesday 25th Feb Pool swim, am always amazed how good my foot feels after a swim, zero niggles.


Thursday 26th Feb: Decided to go to the club and try a session. Tonight's was 2 x 15 mins @ HM pace

15.15 @ 8.18/mi HR 161 - 1.84 miles

15.02 @ 9.00/mi HR 158 - 1.67 miles

followed by 40 mins strength training.

absolutely loved this. I always feel exhilarated after a track session. I did take the second session a lot handier than the first once I saw my pace though, the trouble with the track is its very easy to go too fast as it never feels as tough as the road. Kept much closer to a HM pace I'd be happy with for the second one.

Friday 27th Feb: I won't have an opportunity to run hills this evening and as I had physio at lunch time I did a run there and back. Total 2 miles, avg pace 10.05, I wasn't wearing my HRM today but effort was very easy.

He reviewed my strength work out and as promised showed me how to convert that into running. Turns out its by doing drills, very similar to the ones Clearlier gave us on the graduate thread. He pointed out though that I need to have strength before I do the drills otherwise they wont have the right effect. Amazingly, after doing some glute firing drills he sent me off skipping and for the first time ever I could feel that my movement was being powered by my glutes, it felt very weird indeed but brilliant to be finally getting somewhere with this! I still have a lot of work to do but the fact that I can see it having a positive effect will keep me motivated.

Ososlo

Nice work! What was the recovery on the 2 x 15 mins?

Firedance

Ososlo wrote: »

Nice work! What was the recovery on the 2 x 15 mins?

I think it was 2 mins but I'm not certain, enough time to stretch a little and have a quick chat but we were not hanging around ages - it was very cold!

annapr

glute firing???

sounds like you are making great progress!

Firedance

annapr wrote: »

glute firing???

sounds like you are making great progress!

firing/activating/engaging, he uses the word firing :-) my gluteal muscles don't engage when I run, along with my core and QL's, apparently they're supposed to so he had me do exercises that got them working first and I'll need to do those before every run. Possibly I belong on the old age scrap heap instead of running around the place

Firedance

Crappy weekend runwise

Saturday 28th 30 mins @ 10:40 3 miles - forgot the HR monitor but this was mostly a jog round the village on Saturday morning before heading off to Tipperary for the day, knew I wouldn't get another chance so just got up early and got a short run done.

Sunday 1st March took advantage of driving into work and stopped off for a swim on the way. Really happy with this, about 20 laps in total. I brought my running gear in too thinking I might get out after the meeting was over but it was not to be. By the time I got home I just brought the dog for a long walk and left it at that.

I won't get out for a lunchtime run today either but hopefully the snow will be gone from the paths at home later and I'll go then instead. They were very slippy this morning...

February totals:

Mileage 50:35
avg Hr 166
avg pace 10.49
calories 5381

That is quite low mileage for a month but I need to remember my instructions were short slow runs and that's pretty much what I stuck to. When I started back there were days when my foot ached and I wondered whether I'd ever see an improvement. Between the swimming and the strength training and the AIS there has been a massive improvement. I'm even wearing heals in work today! So, roll on March, I aim to increase, slowly, the mileage and get out running 5 days a week.

Firedance

Monday 2nd March 30 mins @ 10.25, avg hr 150 3 miles
AIS & drills pre run. Enjoyed this, it was jolly cold but I was happy to be able to get out. Followed by 40 mins strength session.

Tuesday 3rd March AM AIS and Strength - couldn't bring the dog out this morning (he much prefers his cosy bed to snow filled streets!) so decided to do a session instead.
PM went up to the club to see what the session was. 4 x 1 miles @ 10k pace. Decided to try it and see how it went - it didn't.... almost right from the start the foot was niggling at me and the further into the session the sorer it became so I threw in the towel after the 2nd mile. My watch didn't kick in either until half way through the first mile so I don't have paces but the coach was calling lap times and mine were between 2:04 and 2:09. I wonder if running around a track as opposed to running in a straight line on the roads aggravates my injury, I can feel the muscles in my ankle working overtime! I also hadn't done the pre run drills before I left the house.. Came home and iced my foot and its feeling much better today.

I will get out for a lunchtime run today as have to get over to Ringsend so might as well jog there and back.

Edit
Wednesday 4th March 32 mins @ 10:37, what a beautiful day out there! took this handy, foot feeling a little tender but much better than last night, had no HR monitor with me but felt within my 'easy' range.

Firedance

Thursday 5th march AIS & Strength session.

Friday 6th March I was due to do a hill session today but I went for a sports massage at lunch time, which I have to say felt amazing although quite sore! but when I got home in the eve I noticed my ankle was quite swollen, its not sore or anything, just swollen.. very odd. I've iced it, put volterol on it and elevated it but decided to play it safe and not run today.

Saturday 7th March Ankle still a little swollen but not as much as yesterday. Iced it again and it felt fine to walk on etc, no pain at all so decided to go for an easy pace run with a friend. 50 mins @11.02 HR 133 5 miles. Felt good the first few miles but towards the end my ankle did start to niggle so we slowed even more and just jogged home. Will ice it again this eve & just keep an eye on it. On the upside my foot itself is not sore at all! enjoyed the run. Will take a rest day tomorrow and just do a pool swim.

Firedance

spent the afternoon out in Bohermeen supporting my clubmates, we had a great number out running today and the ladies team won gold, they were brilliant. Got to meet Pacing Mule too so have another face to put to the name :-)

Feeling very sorry for myself now though, at the start of the year this was one of my goal races and I'm wondering if I can ever shift this injury fully and get back racing Anyway, tomorrow is a new week so will start over again and keep chipping away. I'm in two minds whether to do the club race in 3 weeks though, I could run the distance but could I race it? I dont want to let myself down by having a crappy result but the atmosphere today reminded me how great it is to do a local race.....

annapr

Firedance wrote: »

spent the afternoon out in Bohermeen supporting my clubmates, we had a great number out running today and the ladies team won gold, they were brilliant. Got to meet Pacing Mule too so have another face to put to the name :-)

Feeling very sorry for myself now though, at the start of the year this was one of my goal races and I'm wondering if I can ever shift this injury fully and get back racing Anyway, tomorrow is a new week so will start over again and keep chipping away. I'm in two minds whether to do the club race in 3 weeks though, I could run the distance but could I race it? I dont want to let myself down by having a crappy result but the atmosphere today reminded me how great it is to do a local race.....

Sounds like it was a great event, FD. Keep the faith, you'll get there.

Firedance

New week new start! after my little pity party yesterday I'm a new woman today :-D I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the logs from Bohermeen especially Lauras as I hope to one day break the 2 hours as well so I'm totally inspired by her hard work paying off, well done again Laura!

Monday 9th March AM AIS, i have been neglecting this/only doing it half hardheartedly, no more though, back to proper sessions.
PM lunchtime run, it started raining just as I left the office but that wasn't going to deter me, spurred on by the wind at my back I flew down the quays first mile 9.26, I knew I'd be fighting it on the way back though, 2nd mile was 10:00 as I turned across the port and third mile home against the wind in 10:09 AVG hr 163 total 3.04 miles, time 30.14 mins.
I didn't look at my watch at all during this run a la some of posts I've been reading here recently about running more to feel. The effort down with the wind at my back felt much easier no doubt than the one home. I thoroughly enjoyed this run though and for the most part my foot/ankle felt great. Ankle was twinging a bit towards the end but I will make sure to ice it later as I've been neglecting that too..

This eve will be 40 mins strength session. Tomorrow is 60 mins with 30 @ marathon effort so will skip the club session and do this instead.

laura_ac3

Firedance wrote: »

spent the afternoon out in Bohermeen supporting my clubmates, we had a great number out running today and the ladies team won gold, they were brilliant. Got to meet Pacing Mule too so have another face to put to the name :-)

Feeling very sorry for myself now though, at the start of the year this was one of my goal races and I'm wondering if I can ever shift this injury fully and get back racing Anyway, tomorrow is a new week so will start over again and keep chipping away. I'm in two minds whether to do the club race in 3 weeks though, I could run the distance but could I race it? I dont want to let myself down by having a crappy result but the atmosphere today reminded me how great it is to do a local race.....

Hi firedance, sorry to hear the ankle has flared up. Just catching up on your log now from the last few days - seems as if the recent niggles coincided with the 10k speedwork from last week? Maybe stick with the slow, easy miles for now?

About the race, totally up to you obviously but don't undo your return from injury if you're not up to it. Unless you set out with the intention of treating it easy and enjoying it - especially if it's a local one?

I was the same when I had my hamstring injury last year but keep the head up - you'll be back to it all in no time!

Firedance

laura_ac3 wrote: »

Hi firedance, sorry to hear the ankle has flared up. Just catching up on your log now from the last few days - seems as if the recent niggles coincided with the 10k speedwork from last week? Maybe stick with the slow, easy miles for now?

About the race, totally up to you obviously but don't undo your return from injury if you're not up to it. Unless you set out with the intention of treating it easy and enjoying it - especially if it's a local one?

I was the same when I had my hamstring injury last year but keep the head up - you'll be back to it all in no time!

Yes your spot on Laura, I need to stay clear of the speed work, I took a chance & it didn't pay off.
I can register for the race on the day so will play by ear. Thanks :-) hope you're still celebrating!

laura_ac3

Firedance wrote: »

Yes your spot on Laura, I need to stay clear of the speed work, I took a chance & it didn't pay off.
I can register for the race on the day so will play by ear. Thanks :-) hope you're still celebrating!

Yeah it's hard to know sometimes, especially when you're so eager to get back. Sounds like a plan so, see how the next few weeks go!

Still buzzing after yesterday alright but will get the head back down and keep on with the plan, only a few weeks left on it.

Firedance

Tuesday 10th March AIS pre run. Session was 60 mins with 30 @MP. The watch was playing silly beggers tonight the pace V HR was all over the place, the first 30 mins HR should have been lower than 149 for a low pace but the AVG hr for mile 2 was 154, then when I increased the pace the HR lowered... anyway, I ran it by feel as much as I could trying not to focus too much on the odd watch readings. Running 60 mins around my village means loops otherwise I"d have had to go on the ring roads and I don't like doing that in the dark when I'm running alone.
Total distance 6 miles, 60 mins @ 10.49 HR 145. All felt ok for miles 1-4, in the last mile my ankle and foot started to pain a bit, I stopped and stretched and went on. Iced it when I got home.

annapr

How did you manage the 30 mins @ MP, FD?

hope the ankle/foot is ok.