Born again runner...

6781

I've decided to do a log here. Hopefully it will keep me motivated for my medium and long term goals.

A small bit a background information. Back in the early 00's I first started running but stopped around 2009-10. I had a few back problems and other commitments seemed to take over. At the time when I first started running my aim goal was to loose weight but that changed when I got fit and just loved running. I would average around 50-60km per week but never entered into races which I now regret. Tried to get back running in 2012 and I did one 10km race in March my time was around 56:xx but completely stopped after the race and I didn't really do any running until September 2014 when I started running with a few friends. They have all since given it up but I've been gradually increasingly my millage and improving my times since. Except for January where I missed three weeks due to a groin strain. I'm 177cm and have dropped from 98kg to 84kg this year although it's not a goal the weight lose has certainly improved my running.

My race times so far this year.

February:
5km 22.01

March:
10km 44:17
10km 44:43

April:
10km 43:39

I'm going for my first half marathon in July and if all goes well I hope then to enter the Dublin City marathon later this year.

PaulieC

Good luck with it!

beertons

Best of luck. Great times.

6781

Thanks. The half marathon I'm going for is the Achill half marathon on July 4th. It's a hilly one but my aim is 1:36:00 which is a bit ambitious maybe but I may change my target time depending on my training. This is my plan for the next week.

Thursday or Friday: 30km easy cycle.
Sunday: 8km race/fun run
Tuesday: 9 km fast( 4:49-4:35 per km)
Thursday: Gym (core workout)
Friday: 9 km fast (4:49-4:34 per km)
Sunday: 13.5 km comfortable (5:04-5:37 per km)

6781

Missed out on that cycle I had planned for Thursday or Friday with late finishing work.

Saturday:When for a 3km or so on trail mountain run early morning but didn't have my Garmin with me. I would say 5mins/KM average. I would have went further but my left foot got slightly sore, it's a previous injury that seemed to flare up. Badly need to get a pair of trail shoes.

Sunday: 8km race. Mixed weather windy enough and sunny. Wasn't familiar with the route, it had a elevation gain of 66 meters with long up hills then short steep down hills. I wanted a average pace of 4:15/km but only managed 4:21/km average. Still happy with it as my left foot gave no problems.

Taking Monday off then a around 9 km Tuesday.

kit3

Just seeing this now. Best of luck with the log - Achill is tough but spectacular !

6781

I see on Strava it has a overall 200 meters elevation gain so I know it will really challenge me. Over the next few weeks I hope to get out on those hilly trails I have near me. I have to agree it's a breath taking place, I really love Achill.

kit3

Yeah, I love it too - spent a few days there last week - great place to run

6781

So typical when I start a log I end up getting a injury. Hurt my back at work last week so haven't had much to report here.
I tried a slow 3 km jog with a 6 minutes per km pace on Monday a week since I hurt my back. But unfortunately it didn't feel right so I'm going to give it a two week break. Ive back problems in the past and know how hard it can be to get over it. My job doesn't help when I get back problems as it's physically demanding. Really depressing as I was making good progress

kit3

6781 wrote: »

So typical when I start a log I end up getting a injury. Hurt my back at work last week so haven't had much to report here.
I tried a slow 3 km jog with a 6 minutes per km pace on Monday a week since I hurt my back. But unfortunately it didn't feel right so I'm going to give it a two week break. Ive back problems in the past and know how hard it can be to get over it. My job doesn't help when I get back problems as it's physically demanding. Really depressing as I was making good progress

Best of luck with the recovery - hope it doesn't take too long

6781

My back is not better yet but recovery is starting to see some progress. Taking it slowly. Went for my first run in 6 weeks on Saturday. Just a 3km but man did it feel so good to be back. Went out again tonight 3.5km felt great again. It will be a few more weeks until I can get back to full training and must be careful not to over do it. Maybe I should have put this in the rave thread.

6781

Haven't used this log much as I should but had another set back with my back after the last log. At the time I thought it was worse then what it was, thankfully I feel ok now and I'm back in full training.

I didn't do much training but there was a 8km race last weekend my time was 33:37. I used the race more as a training excercise then anything else. At the moment I'm training for the Warriors Run which is now my main target. I'll probably do one more race before it, but I will treat it as training excercise.

As I couldn't do the Achill half marathon I'm now aiming for the Athlone half as my short to medium term goal with a time of 1:36.

6781

This week's running.

Monday: 16.2km average pace 4:29/km
Tuesday: 7km average pace 5:11/km
Wednesday: 10.9km average pace 5:07/km
Thursday: 7.5km average pace 4:22/km
Saturday: 20.3km average pace 4:56/km
Sunday: 11.1km average pace 5:03/km

Happy with that week running except Wednesday. The lads I was with didn't want to push on. Maybe I should slow down a bit on recovery runs. Only a 461 meter elevation gain which I want to improve on