Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard

Younganne

If you have compression socks or sleeves they are great for tight calf, i always wear mine after a run if the calf is feeling a bit tight and it works wonders.

Firedance

Younganne wrote: »

If you have compression socks or sleeves they are great for tight calf, i always wear mine after a run if the calf is feeling a bit tight and it works wonders.

+ 1 to this, I wear them walking the dog every morning ) can't wear them running but they def work for post run or recovery.

Well done on not racing today!!

chickey2

Younganne wrote: »

If you have compression socks or sleeves they are great for tight calf, i always wear mine after a run if the calf is feeling a bit tight and it works wonders.

Thanks, I only got some in lidl last week so I'll give them a go.

chickey2

Mon 2: rest but did my pilates again.

Tues 3: session was 2 sets of 5x200m @ 800-1500m pace with 200m recovery and 4 mins between sets. Had no choice but to do this on a commute so I was relying on the unreliable garmin to guesstimate the distance. Warm up went well and the calf felt OK so decided to go ahead with it. I'd no idea what my 800 to 1500m pace was but when I did these before I was doing them in about 43 seconds. Managed the first set in 47/48/47/46/50. Calf started niggling so decided to do the second set a bit slower. Did these in 54/55/55/50/53. Happy enough. I still need practice at these kind of sessions though.
Total 12.5km

Wed 4: 14km endurance. Run itself went great. Nice progression again and felt good. I really like these runs. Calf didn't bother me at all so I was in great form til I went to the bathroom. Sorry if this is tmi but when I peed it was full of blood. Not just a hint of blood, it was like I'd just poured a load of blood down the toilet. I'm well used to blood as I handle it at work but I don't like it when I see my own! I nearly passed out. Got myself together and consulted Dr Google who actually reassured me that if you run a long distance with an empty bladder it can cause bleeding. I made an appointment with GP anyway. I'm just back and he reckons the same as Dr Google but is sending me to have a bladder and kidney scan just in case. He didn't tell me not to run (I didn't ask!). Rest today so will run tomorrow and hope I don't have a repeat. It's typical that this happens just as the calf seems to be better!

I was going to sign up for DCM today but think I better wait.

Bungy Girl

OMG you must have got a fright :eek:. Sounds like it's not uncommon, although I must say I've never heard of it as a side effect of running on empty. Hope all turns out well with the scan.

Nice 200s btw. I did a similar session during the week, it's tough!

Murph_D

Ouch. I thought there would be a punchline involving beetroot juice but no. Good luck with scan.

Firedance

Crikey! best of luck with the tests, likewise have never heard of that - hope it turns out to be nothing.

laura_ac3

Same as the others, hope it turns out to be nothing.

chickey2

Murph_D wrote: »

Ouch. I thought there would be a punchline involving beetroot juice but no. Good luck with scan.

Ha, that would be embarrassing if that was the cause! I do drink it but hadn't had any in a few days. No reoccurrence so far so I'm not too worried.

Calf is totally fine now too. No stiffness or anything. So my body seems to be in good shape, unfortunately my head is not.

I had a very traumatic experience on Thursday evening, I went to check on my dad and found him dead. He'd been there for two days. I missed my Friday run as a result but managed to get out today for a slow 5k. I realised today how much I need to run. I'm still a mess but just doing that run helped a tiny bit. It's going to take a lot of running to get over this but at least I have something that helps.

El Caballo

Sorry to hear the bad news chickey. Look after yourself.

mel.b

Oh gosh chickey, i'm so sorry you had to experience that and i'm sorry for your loss

Firedance

Oh god Cara I'm so sorry to hear that, take care of yourself xx

Ososlo

So sorry for your loss C. Look after yourself x

adrian522

That's horrible, hope you are OK,

annapr

Jesus, C, that's a shocker. You are right that running will help you, but sounds like you are in shock. So sorry to hear that. Mind yourself.

Murph_D

What an awful week for you. Sorry, C. Condolences.

Hannibelle Smeeeth

Oh my god C. I was just reading your first post and thinking you must have got an awful shock and then i saw the second. I am so very sorry to read about your Dad. I cant even imagine how traumatic that was. If I can do anything, even a bit of company on a short trott up to Bohernabreena, let me know.

hillsiderunner

Sorry for your loss, and the shock of finding out. Hope you have some good support for the days ahead.

Bungy Girl

So sorry to hear this sad news, C. I hope that running will help you cope in some small way with your loss. x

RedRunner

So sorry to hear your bad news ! Be well.

chickey2

Thanks so much for all the lovely messages and support. Things are finally starting to get back to normal. I've been so out of my routine and so busy that running had to take a back seat but I managed to get out yesterday and today so I'm going to try and get back to the plan.

Sat 14th: 5.7km easy. Lovely sunny run which did me the world of good. Took it easy as I'd no idea what I was supposed to be doing and I hadn't run in a week. Slow pace of 6:23 but HR was 158 so not great, but I got out!

Sun 15th: Headed up to the reservoir for a "long" run. I eventually found the long lost plan which had me down for 18km but I thought it better to do a bit less. Really busy up at the reservoir as it was such a gorgeous day. Happy with 12.8 km although HR was high again. I guess it's just stress although my resting HR is fine.

Firedance

just take it easy C, enjoy the runs and don't put any extra pressure to do sessions etc for now, mind yourself x

chickey2

Well my return to running was a bit premature and I ended up taking another break. I'm back in work now so the incentive is there to run in so hopefully I'll get back in to the swing of things.

Tues 24: I'm going to have to completely reassess my plan so the goal of today was to get to work keeping my HR in the easy zone. Felt alright although I did get a but of tightness in the left side of my groin which I've never had before. Finished the run OK but it got worse as the day went on. I iced it when I got home and took a neurofen before bed and the pain vanished and hadn't returned. Very strange.
Total 11km @6:24 HR 160

Thurs 26: Another commute. Felt a bit sluggish gong out and then it started raining, but it really picked me up and I ended up doing a progression run https://www.strava.com/activities/588322667
I was delighted with the splits. My average HR was 163 so not much more than yesterday but average pace was 6:09. I felt great after.
Total 11 km

I'll try and get out my plans and calendar and come up with a new strategy. I'm going to miss the race series 5mile unfortunately but will do the 10 mile and the half.

Murph_D

How does that HR translate to HRR, C? Is it within the GA/Easy range? Seems a little high but depends of course on your max/min. Do you carry much with you on your commute?

chickey2

Murph_D wrote: »

How does that HR translate to HRR, C? Is it within the GA/Easy range? Seems a little high but depends of course on your max/min. Do you carry much with you on your commute?

My resting is about 50 and my max is 205 so my HRR is 155. The general aerobic range is 62-75% HRR which for me is 146-166. I usually do end up on the high side of that but I try an aim for about 160. Sometimes my resting HR does drop below 50 but I don't bother recalculating!

I'm lucky I don't need to carry anything with me on my commute as I wear scrubs at work so don't need to bring in clothes. My OH works in the same place as me so he brings in my bag later on. I leave a change of underwear/towel/ snack in my bag to put in my locker for the next day. Who says work romances are a bad idea!

chickey2

PS I'm so excited I've learned to do smilies on the tablet :)

Murph_D

Ah right, so you have a high max HR. As do I - I find those "rule of thumb" calculators useless. Great to be able to commute so lightly!

chickey2

Murph_D wrote: »

Ah right, so you have a high max HR. As do I - I find those "rule of thumb" calculators useless. Great to be able to commute so lightly!

Yeah, if the calculator was right then I must only be 15! I wish.

So I did three runs this week, then I'll do 4 next week and back to 5 the week after.

Third run this week was Sunday. I headed out early and decided to run around tymon. The plan was 14 km. Felt great on the way there and was happy enough for a while. Due to running in circles I managed to pass raycun three times! He probably thinks I'm stalking him. About half way I started feeling rubbish. My HR was very high and pace was decreasing. At just over 12k I started walking as my HR was approaching 180. In hindsight I was probably a bit dehydrated. No niggles though and I felt well enough later to climb the sugarloaf with the kids. In fact I barely broke a sweat while poor OH almost passed out at the top!

chickey2

Tues: commute to work. 11km @6:13 HR 162. I can't remember much about this now!

Wed: another commute but I decided to do 6*3 mins @ 5 k pace. Thought I needed a bit of speed and this was the first workout that showed up on my watch. It went really well, paces for the intervals were 5:03/4:54/4:55/4:57/4:44/4:45. Happy with that. Total 11.8 km

Supposed to run Friday but had other stuff that took precedence. I decided that night I'd do a parkrun on Saturday instead. I normally can't do it as the kids have swimming, but they didn't this week so I took the opportunity to test my fitness. My original plan had targeted the race series 5 miler next week but I can't do it now and training had been rubbish so I thought a 5km would do the job. Also, I have to have a general anaesthetic next week so once again I'll have to take days off

Sat: 2.9 km warm up, 5 km parkrun in 24:50, 2 km cool down. Pretty much what I expected from the intervals on Wednesday. My pb is 24:13 but I knew I wasn't in shape for a pb so I was happy to go sub 25. I decided to take Dubgals advice and run without looking at the watch (I still wore it though!). I was surprised at how even the splits were 5:00/4:57/4:53/5:00/4:59. All the fast women must be saving themselves for the mini marathon on Monday as I was the fourth female finisher! One thing I learnt was I really need to race more (yes I know parkrun isn't a race!) It's the first time I've run with others since the half marathon last September. I really should be able to go sub 24 for a 5 k at this stage.

denis b

Welcome back racing Chickey2 and nice to have a working target.