Don't get injured and go from there

tipping

So running about a year and made pretty much every mistake in the book. Too much too soon etc... All went really wrong from November and from there couldn't go more than a few weeks without some injury.

About to give up and got a good recommendation for a Physio here from rom and things have improved greatly from there. Got the niggles sorted out, got through ballycotton 10 despite not being able to run a mile the week before and since then making progress again. Running slowly pretty much most of the time and mixing it up with some gym work when sore. Balance and strengthening exercises helping too and I'm up to about 20 miles now pain free and more importantly feeling good.

As part of keeping the discipline trying to start a log and not get sucked into old habits.

So my rules are don't run when the legs are sore and do something else instead. Resist the urge to run faster than I should and aim for steady improvement through getting months of running in.

PBs (mostly soft)

5k 22.30 (August 14)
5m 33.57 (May 2015)
10k 46.30 (Nov 14)
10m 80.30 (Mar 15)
1/2 1hr 50 (Nov 14)

Aims injury free and sub 20m 5k, reckon I'm pretty close at the minute off last 5m time. We'll see after that. Will try some 10ks and up after. 1/2 marathon at some point.

Saturday. 10m lsr 82minutes ish

Monday. Warmup plus 6 * 800m club session. Reps 3.20, 3.10, 3.16, 3.09, 3.13, 3.06. 1st speed session post injury so felt good. 1st was too slow, last felt really good though.. 6m total.

Tuesday. 30 minute circuit type class gym

So any and all advice appreciated, especially of the slow down kind!!

Murph_D

5 mile time looks v good compared to the others so looks like progress is being made, well done. But your LSR is still too fast. Probably should be more like 9:00. Slow down!

tipping

Wednesday 4.5m 37m ish run easyish pace but didn't feel great the whole way though it. Calf a little sore so spent a few minutes working it that night and found a fairly decent knot. Sorer after to touch but felt better after.

Friday. In the spirit of not getting injured did a 30 minute spinning class to give the calf a little longer to heal.

Sunday. Wife away but organised a drop off so I could run the Emer Casey 10k in youghal. Not much of a warm up with all the dropping off but went very well. Strange race as 1st 2 miles were downhill so banging along at the start

6.28 mile 1
6.14 mile 2 ( more downhill)
6.43 mile 3 into the wind with no shelter
6.51 mile 4 same again. Starting to feel the early pace now
6.51 mile 5 but turned at least
6.58 mile 6 good uphill section
5.58 last .2 for a good finish

41.36 on my watch for a big Pb and a good day.

Single parent for a week so nice easy week of recovery ahead..

tipping

Mon 25th:
3m recovery @ 9min/mile pace. Started with a mile uphill which was good for ensuring that I slowed down to recovery pace. Legs felt good, no soreness in calf (which was a bit tight last week) after the race which was good.

Tuesday 26th:
30 min pilates (at home from YouTube)

Wednesday 27th:
5m lunchtime run in 39m.
8:02,7:58,8:00,7:49 and 7:28
Was supposed to be easier (8:30 - 8:45 pace) but ended up moderate as I was a bit pissed off with the world today and it helped get the frustration out. No after effects from Sundays race which is good.

Adding a bit more history..

Getting notions of trying to follow a 5k or 10k training plan recently but looking back through my scribbled handwritten log (now below) I am really only running more than twice a weekend
and pain free since since the 1st of April and am only at 4 consecutive weeks in the 20m per week range so I think some more base building is called for (and also probably less races although tis the season down here). I suppose that's what writing it down on a log is all about..

Week
30/3 - 5/4 12m in 2 runs + 2 x gym
6/4 - 12/4 13m in 3 runs + 2 x gym
13/4 - 19/4 16m in 3 runs (including Ballitotis 4m in 27m25s)
20/4 - 26/4 9m in 2 runs
27/4 - 3/5 18m in 3 runs + 1 x gym
4/5 - 10/5 18m in 4 runs + 1 x gym (including Midleton 5m in 33m57s)
11/5 - 17/5 21m in 3 runs
18/5 - 24/5 18m in 3 runs + 2 x gym (including Emer Casey 10k in 41m36s)

tipping

Thursday 28th
3.5miles in 27m16s
Very random splits of 7.47, 7.04, 8.22,8.08
Was even more pissed off with the world today and when the watch beeped at 2 miles and I was at race pace or thereabouts at least I had the sense to slow down. Followed up straight away with 30 minute circuit class in the gym. Felt better after but will not run to get rid of frustration tomorrow..

tipping

10 mile lsr in about 1.30. Went with a group so few hills and couple of sprints thrown in which made it all a bit more interesting. Nice to go a bit slower too. Right hamstring a little tight at times so must get on the roller later and loosen out a little.

Weekly total 21.5 miles.

tipping

Monday 1/6: No way I was going out in that and looking out the window was really glad I didn't impulse enter the Cork 1/2 a few weeks ago. It was €65 at the time and I thought it was too expensive, but in reality I was nowhere near prepared enough.

After LSR I needed a bit of foamrolling on both hamstrings. Felt the right hamstring tight the last day but found way more knots when rolling on the left. Both sets of knots were high up on the hamstrings and tight around the glutes too so must do better and keep them loosened out.


Tuesday 2/6 7.13m in 58.07 (8.09 avg)

Went out with no particular plan to do 5ish miles, got a little lost in the woods so ended up doing 7 and quicker than I would have like as I had to get back (I'll be gone for 45 minutes turned into an hour:)), splits were all over the place so let's call it a progressive run or something like that!. Felt awful for mile 1 (turned out I'd climbed 240ft) but fine after that.

Wore the HRM for the first time in a long time and averaged at 157bpm and about 165 average for the faster 3 miles, but I don't even know what that means.

1. 9.28
2. 8.41
3. 8.09
4. 7.32
5. 7.31
6. 8.06 (at this point I'm lost and deciding whether to go back or keep going)
7. 7.34 (know where I am again)

tipping

Wednesday 3/6

5m easyish run in the sunshine, about 8.30ish pace. Legs tired that night (but not sore) which is probably the increased mileage this week. Aiming to get to 25 miles this week, by adding about a mile onto each of my runs, and no races for the next week or so to reduce any stress on the legs.
Hopefully will start a training plan in the next 2 weeks with all still going well. Thinking something with 1 session, 2 easy, 1 lsr, session most likely to be speed work 400s or 800s or whatever the club are doing that evening.

tipping

Friday 5th
Hammed in a bit is a session when I didn't really have time in between drop offs etc. 4.25 miles on grass. Coach was recommending to head into the long run on tired legs so this was an attempt to do that
7.28, 6.26, 7.33, 6.58
Glad to hit my target 5k pace and amazing how easy 7ish pace feels after a race pace effort. Felt good after.


Saturday 6th
11.35 miles in 1,37 for 8.38 pace. Had a full belly and had tired legs but they loosened out after a few miles and kept a nice solid pace throughout at easy effort.

Big mileage increase this week to 27.5 miles. Slightly more than I had planned but feel fine after.

Also going to pick out some target races during the week and put a training plan in place rather than the current slightly random approach.

Anyone know of a nice 10 mile or half near cork between the middle of July and early august??

tipping

Was sore/tired all day yesterday and trying to figure out which was it. Probably a bit of increased mileage plus a lack of sleep over the weekend. I'll happily run on tired legs but don't really want to run on sore legs. Little bit of twinge in right kneecap when doing single leg squats so hopped on the foam roller and felt like it loosened me out a bit, again right hamstring was tight as were quads..

Really need to use the foam roller as precautionary rather than reactive but just not in the habit of using it every night yet.

Monday 8/6/15
5.21 miles in 45m
Decided to skip the club session tonight to allow extra recovery time. I know that if I went I'd keep going even if I was sore so went for an easy-ish lunchtime run instead. Decided to do 5 minutes on the bike to warm up and some squats and stretches to loosen out before running which seemed to help. Felt good after 2m and no pain so threw in a mini hill session to up the intensity a bit.

2 miles warmup 8.45, 8.07
10 x short steep hill reps (about 100m on gravel) in 22-23 seconds with ~50s recovery
2 miles warmdown 8.49, 8.07 (Downhill)

It was on a quiet trail and reckon one walker thought I was a weirdo, sprinted past her on the way up the hill, then few seconds later turned and slowly started jogging down after her breathing heavily, didn't get to pass her as she suddenly started jogging. No chance to explain even..

tipping

Wednesday 10th:
Cork BHAA 6k Merck Millipore Road Race in 24.04

So felt so good after Monday and having missed the sesion decided to get in a race this week and this one was 10 minutes down the road. Very warm tonight but felt pretty good all day. 15 minute warm up with some stretching.

Mile 1: 6.33 Pace
Started too far back. Spent the 1st 1/2 mile ducking and diving with a chopped up stride. Felt like a put in a whole load of effort for little return. Always do this and really need to just push a little closer to the front.

Mile 2: 6.31 Pace
At last some free road, into my stride and passing plenty of people still. Someone before the race had said it was pretty hilly between 2k and 3k so was being a little conservative here expecting some big drags. Turns out it was bumpy the whole way.

Mile 3: 6.19 Pace
At this stage had turned so realised it was just generally a bumpy route. Picked up the pace a good bit and was really running at threshold now. Was holding my own on the flat and picking off people anytime we hit a hill.

Mile 4 (0.75): 6.12 Pace
Was just hanging on. Nobody getting by me and hanging onto a guy maybe 2 yards ahead of me. Reckoned when we turned the last corner for the finish line I'd sprint and try to catch him. Unfortunately he sprinted too and left me for dead (he took 3 or 4 positions in the last 200m), the sprinting motivation left and I just kept going same pace to the finish

So 24.04 on my watch (no idea of the gun time but definately 10-15 seconds more at least). Really happy with finishing strong, negative splits, every mile being faster than the previous and reckon I'm in sub 20 5k form. Not happy with all the time and energy lost at the start but that's all my own fault.

Now just need to pick a nice race in 2-3 weeks time and get a lot closer to the front for the start. Hopefully I'll have one entry on the 10 round numbers then.

tipping

Dead legs on Thursday. Couldn't quite get out for a recovery run though more through circumstance than anything else.

Friday 12th

Lunch
30 minute gym class. Mostly upper body stuff or so I thought.

Evening
5m easyish run 43minutes in the evening on grass/trails. Didn't feel at all easy though and probably went a bit quicker for the last 2 miles just to get it over and done with. Added 15 minutes core work waiting for kids training to finish.

Saturday 13th
Overdone it a bit yesterday.
Sore all over, upper body and especially quads, started remembering the squats with weights yesterday. Put off lsr until tomorrow and might make it a bit shorter.

tipping

Lovely 12 miles this morning in the sunshine. 1.43 total for 8.36 pace. Left the house at 7.30 met a total of 7 cars and back for 9.45 with all the kids just out of bed. Took it easy on downhills where I could feel the quads but nothing other than that. Must try these early morning runs again.

Weekly total 28 miles

Dubgal72

Interesting log! I think we're roundabout the same level. You're progressing really well, wonder how long we'll stay that way

tipping

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Interesting log! I think we're roundabout the same level. You're progressing really well, wonder how long we'll stay that way

Thanks, feeling very good about it all at the minute and have learnt a lot lurking on here for a while. Making good progress and it is all just doing to running more and easier and getting a few months without injury.

I'm following the DCM novices thread with great interest too. Very tempted but there are lots if reasons to give it another year until I try. Also you'd give out to me a lot for running too fast on my lsrs.

tipping

Was tempted to skip the club session tonight as quads was still not 100% (damn gym class) but they improved enough over the course of the day so went anyway. Interesting development of a timed mile in training over the next few weeks which I really enjoyed as had never raced that distance before. Was 4 laps on grass and went with the 6-7 minute group aiming to just dip below 6 but felt good and having no idea of splits just cracked on after the first lap and led my mini group from there. There will be more timed miles in a few weeks so will go with the 5-6 group next time and see what improvement can be gained.

1.5m warm up
1 mile in 5.42, wish I had timed the laps here. My first ever sub 6 mile so very happy
400,300,200 x 2 session (totally forgot to time any of these splits but the 1st set were hard when still recovering from the mile, 2nd set felt good.
Warm down

Total about 6 miles.

tipping

5 Miles today in 39.36. Was supposed to be easyish but went way too fast on mile 2, think it starts a bit downhill and probably got into a fastish rythm, thankfully it was so hot/humid I had to slow down but felt really dead for the next few miles. Did not enjoy this run.
Splits 8.29,7.14,7.58,8.03,7.52

tipping

6 miles in 44.52.
8.16,7.37,6.20,8.04,6.40,7.43
Another poorly executed run on a hot and humid night. Although I'm not following a plan at the minute I said I'd do a tempo run tonight so 2 mile warm up, 2 mile at about 6.50-7.00 pace, 2 mile cool down. When the watch beeped at 6.20 pace i decided to add in some recovery before mile 2, problem was needed 1 mile recovery due to a stitch (damn dinner before leaving). Anyway ran the second faster mile still too quick but not by much.

Anyway I need to get following a training plan sooner rather than later and need to get better at gauging my effort levels during the quicker stuff.

tipping

Hectic day and first ever double run(although not by choice). Wee man's birthday party with 20 screaming children in the afternoon. Then dropped the car up to a garage at 6 and nice 3 mile recovery run home at 9min pace.
Then three hours of cleaning, clothes organising etc ahead of heading off on holiday tomorrow. Everyone gone to bed so followed by 2.5 miles in 20 minutes run back up to get the car for 10pm. Funnily enough legs felt great on the 2nd run just 3 hours after the first. Might be something to this recovery run lark.

Anyway another 5.5 miles on the clock and will try to get out on lsr Sunday morning all things going well, but won't let running get in the way of a good holiday..

Notwork Error

Hey tipping!

A few observations if I may, just after seeing this log now. You are doing an awful lot of the simple things wrong imo, they are easily fixable so bear with me on this.

Two posts ago, You said you were aiming for 6:55-7:00 on the tempo sections, your most recent 10 miler was done in 80 mins or 8min/mile. Even at 7 minute pace is way too fast for you to be doing tempo miles, it's faster than your 5k PB pace but you ran one of them under 6:30 pace which is ridiculous overkill. A decent tempo range for you would be in the 7:45 range or slower judging by your PB's and that is taking in to consideration that they are soft but you are nearly running your easy runs at that pace which are way too fast again. An easy run should in most cases for someone at your ability level about a minute and a half slower or more than the tempo run pace I mentioned above.

And running a 5:40 mile in training is only looking for injury and fatigue. I have no doubt that these things are massively contributing to your injury woes and constant muscle tension. The body isn't made to handle being hammered everyday and something will always give when you try to hammer it.

The thing is, You've obviously got some speed and plenty of room for improvement if you just calm down a lot on these training runs. There's no glory in lashing out a quick training run and I think from what I've read, that your approach to training is seriously hampering your ability to race to your potential. I don't mean this in a bad way but more to make a point, there are guys on here who have run 6:51(42 minutes per 10k) pace for a whole marathon who run their easy runs slower than you.

You've obviously got some potential, train smart and just reign it on training runs. Best of luck with the log and goals!:)

tipping

Notwork Error wrote: »

Hey tipping!

A few observations if I may, just after seeing this log now. You are doing an awful lot of the simple things wrong imo, they are easily fixable so bear with me on this.

Two posts ago, You said you were aiming for 6:55-7:00 on the tempo sections, your most recent 10 miler was done in 80 mins or 8min/mile. Even at 7 minute pace is way too fast for you to be doing tempo miles, it's faster than your 5k PB pace but you ran one of them under 6:30 pace which is ridiculous overkill. A decent tempo range for you would be in the 7:45 range or slower judging by your PB's and that is taking in to consideration that they are soft but you are nearly running your easy runs at that pace which are way too fast again. An easy run should in most cases for someone at your ability level about a minute and a half slower or more than the tempo run pace I mentioned above.

And running a 5:40 mile in training is only looking for injury and fatigue. I have no doubt that these things are massively contributing to your injury woes and constant muscle tension. The body isn't made to handle being hammered everyday and something will always give when you try to hammer it.

The thing is, You've obviously got some speed and plenty of room for improvement if you just calm down a lot on these training runs. There's no glory in lashing out a quick training run and I think from what I've read, that your approach to training is seriously hampering your ability to race to your potential. I don't mean this in a bad way but more to make a point, there are guys on here who have run 6:51(42 minutes per 10k) pace for a whole marathon who run their easy runs slower than you.

You've obviously got some potential, train smart and just reign it on training runs. Best of luck with the log and goals!:)

NE Cheers for the feedback, it's all welcome and agreed I'm still doing a lot of things wrong. All part of the learning experience I suppose I'm figuring it out as I go along. (You'd have a right laugh altogether if i was doing a log last year, must worse shape, every run faster and injured every 3 weeks). Working out training paces is pretty hard as I've made some pretty good progress lately and have really only tried a few speed sessions, most of them badly, partially due to lack of experience and partially due to lack of a plan. Also the mostly easyish runs with increased mileage (for me) is delivering a lot so I'll probably stick with it for now.

I suppose you should take the pbs with a pinch of salt, since the log started I've done a 41.36 for 10k and 24.04 for 6k , so I'm trying to set training paces off these times as they're a better indication of where I'm at right now. The 10 mile was done injured with pretty much no training and very conservatively as a result. Learnt an awful lot from the disastrous buildup though in terms of not rushing back and listening to the body a bit more..The 5.42 mile was just a bit of fun in training and is a nice confidence booster to know the speed is there, I think there will be one every 4 weeks or so and I don't see the harm.

At the minute the target is a sub 20 minute 5k and target race is either the 8th or 9th of July. No races between now and then.

Current planned training paces in my head..I know i regularly run sessions faster than these but these are the latest goal paces. The rest is down to discipline..

Recovery: 9.00 (I can't run any slower and still enjoy it)
Lsr: 8.30-8.45
Easy 8ish (stop running fast miles in the middle here)
Tempo 7.20-7.30 (knew I made a balls of this earlier in the week but anything slower would seem too easy but slower than I was thinking)
Session pace: No idea obviously. Just run by feel.

Notwork Error

tipping wrote: »

NE Cheers for the feedback, it's all welcome and agreed I'm still doing a lot of things wrong. All part of the learning experience I suppose I'm figuring it out as I go along. (You'd have a right laugh altogether if i was doing a log last year, must worse shape, every run faster and injured every 3 weeks). Working out training paces is pretty hard as I've made some pretty good progress lately and have really only tried a few speed sessions, most of them badly, partially due to lack of experience and partially due to lack of a plan. Also the mostly easyish runs with increased mileage (for me) is delivering a lot so I'll probably stick with it for now.

I suppose you should take the pbs with a pinch of salt, since the log started I've done a 41.36 for 10k and 24.04 for 6k , so I'm trying to set training paces off these times as they're a better indication of where I'm at right now. The 10 mile was done injured with pretty much no training and very conservatively as a result. Learnt an awful lot from the disastrous buildup though in terms of not rushing back and listening to the body a bit more..The 5.42 mile was just a bit of fun in training and is a nice confidence booster to know the speed is there, I think there will be one every 4 weeks or so and I don't see the harm.

At the minute the target is a sub 20 minute 5k and target race is either the 8th or 9th of July. No races between now and then.

Current planned training paces in my head..I know i regularly run sessions faster than these but these are the latest goal paces. The rest is down to discipline..

Recovery: 9.00 (I can't run any slower and still enjoy it)
Lsr: 8.30-8.45
Easy 8ish (stop running fast miles in the middle here)
Tempo 7.20-7.30 (knew I made a balls of this earlier in the week but anything slower would seem too easy but slower than I was thinking)
Session pace: No idea obviously. Just run by feel.

I can't laugh at anyone's training, I was all over the shop about 2 years ago. The thing I learned and try to think about now is that I get more benefit from slowing down and hitting the right intensity which seems to have worked.

My bad!:o Didn't see those races and jumped the boat on that. I was wondering how you could run sub 7s in training but not in a race*facepalm*. You're nowhere near as overdoing it as I thought, just a few slips that you can easily fix.
Sorry bout that.

Best of luck with it and staying consistent, will follow with interest!

tipping

11.5 miles lsr this morning at 8.18 average pace.
8.40 ish pace for the 1st half and just loosened out the legs and let them go a bit quicker on the way back, 8.15ish pace. Last mile was a bit quick at 7.30 with the wind at my back.

Legs felt great, not a single niggle ache or pain and felt really fresh at the end of the run like I could have done another few miles. Love days like these..

tipping

Thinking about it after few notable things for me this week.

First ever week running 5 days.
First ever double (car trouble)
Highest ever weekly mileage at 34 miles.

Happy with all of that..

tipping

Monday 22nd. Supposed to be session day but on holidays and fell asleep at half 6 so put it off until Tuesday

Tuesday 23rd. Early morning session, changed the watch to km and popped in a 5x1k with 400m recovery.

2 miles warm up with strides. At this point decided not to run the session on the beach as there was a bit to much give underfoot.
Reps were

3.45 (2.19 recovery)
3.49 (2.29 recovery)
3.54 (2.36 recovery)
3.53 (2.28 recovery)
3.49 (2.18 recovery)

Bit less than a mile cool down for 7.11 mile total.

Happy enough with the session bar body not used to working that hard at that hour of the morning. Started rep 1 too hard but checked the watch and dialled it back a bit after 300m. Rep 3 was the hardest effort wise with the longest recovery. Also damn hard to run these sessions on your own.

Only other thing was some times I found myself getting too tense and rigid during the reps while trying to increase the pace, much easier to run when relaxed.

tipping

5 mile recovery on lovely Inch beach at 8.40 pace. Lovely day but really felt the session yesterday. Felt dead in general and a bit of a twinge on right shin/calf that gave me a lot of bother 6 months ago, so will be working on that tonight.
I suppose the road session is a good bit harder on the legs than the usual grass session. Very easy for the rest of the week for me I'd say..

Notwork Error

tipping wrote: »

5 mile recovery on lovely Inch beach at 8.40 pace. Lovely day but really felt the session yesterday. Felt dead in general and a bit of a twinge on right shin/calf that gave me a lot of bother 6 months ago, so will be working on that tonight.
I suppose the road session is a good bit harder on the legs than the usual grass session. Very easy for the rest of the week for me I'd say..

How did you feel with the recovery length yesterday? Too fast? Usually if you are finding the session difficult and using distance as recovery, you want to slow it down and not speed it up, the session should be all about the effort on the speed repeat and not going fast onthe recovery jog. Jogging the 400's in 2:30 and probably closer to 3 minutes would probably be better. You want to be controlled in your effort on the actual pace repeat and running fast recovery makes that harder.

I see it so many times on the track where guys run the recovery too quick only to start to really really hurt on the rep. If the recovery is jog, just ambling along is the way to go. I've often taken 45-60 seconds to cover 100m between reps when the it was a recovery jog.

It might be something to remember for the next time as it's all about getting your own personal feel and that takes practice but the best advice I ever got for running workouts is, when the workout is finished, you should have the feeling that you could do at least one more on the longer sessions and two more repeats on the shorter ones without falling apart. And always start slower than you can finish a workout.

You'll lock it in yet, it just takes a bit of time.:)

tipping

Notwork Error wrote: »

How did you feel with the recovery length yesterday? Too fast? Usually if you are finding the session difficult and using distance as recovery, you want to slow it down and not speed it up, the session should be all about the effort on the speed repeat and not going fast onthe recovery jog. Jogging the 400's in 2:30 and probably closer to 3 minutes would probably be better. You want to be controlled in your effort on the actual pace repeat and running fast recovery makes that harder.

I see it so many times on the track where guys run the recovery too quick only to start to really really hurt on the rep. If the recovery is jog, just ambling along is the way to go. I've often taken 45-60 seconds to cover 100m between reps when the it was a recovery jog.

It might be something to remember for the next time as it's all about getting your own personal feel and that takes practice but the best advice I ever got for running workouts is, when the workout is finished, you should have the feeling that you could do at least one more on the longer sessions and two more repeats on the shorter ones without falling apart. And always start slower than you can finish a workout.

You'll lock it in yet, it just takes a bit of time.:)

Cheers for the advice. Recovery length I thought was fine, similar to what I've done before but going a little slower wouldn't do any harm. I just put down the times as they were there but do recovery entirely by feel. Walked a bit of the recovery on rep 3 but was fully back to normal breathing etc by the time the 400 was up for each. Probably rep 3 was a little into the wind which may have been why it was harder. Definitely feeling fatigued on the 5th rep, could have done another but would have taken a longer recovery.

Overall I found it hard but at least some of it was due to doing it by myself, some of it doing it on the road and just waiting for the beep to know I was finished. Still learning though..

tipping

Lovely big knot on inside of my right calf. Exactly the same spot as gave me lots of trouble before.
Physio had said (at last trip in March) to do some ongoing maintenance on this spot and I did for a month or so but neglected since. It must have been back there for a while but only flared up after the session.
It seems to be a weak spot so must keep an eye on it more regularly from now. Anyway good bit of work on it with a sliotar had it sore last night but much much better this morning.

Will go easy for a few days and book a sports massage when I'm back home next week. Need a step back week anyway in terms of mileage.

tipping

Friday 26th
4.25 mile tester @9.08 place on banna beach in glorious sunshine again. Calf better than wednesday but still not near 100% so took it very easy.
Today i learnt that I can run recovery pace slower than 9m pace as a few of them were 9.20ish. Just a matter of deliberately slowing down and getting into the rhythm.

tipping

Sunday 28th.LSR 9.17 miles in 1.15 for 8.13 pace.
Nice morning and with a bit of calf trouble for the last few days just went out with the I'll do a few miles and of it feels OK I'll keep going attitude. It all felt fine but kept to shorter loops so I could pull up if needed.
Dialled back the distance a little this week so weekly total of 25.5 miles.

tipping

Monday 29th
Club session
2 miles warmup
8x400 off 400 recovery
Splits
1.35 (2.07 rec)
1.28 (2.13 rec)
1.26 (2.22 rec)
1.26 (2.29 rec)
1.26 (3.16 rec)
1.26 (2.28 rec)
1.24 (2.33 rec)
1.24 (2 something rec)

About 1 mile cool down for 7m total. Legs felt good. First rep took a lead but went a bit too easy so paced myself from there and really happy with the rest of the reps. No calf complaints either which is great.

tipping

Making progress, went back and worked out monthly mileages today. Kinda looks like to much too soon but December through to march were injury plagued and legs are fine at the minute. No plans on increasing mileage any further though.

Dec: 26 miles
Jan: 22 miles
Feb: 32 miles
March: 29 miles
April: 48 miles
May: 82 miles
June: 120 miles


Wed 1st
7m easy in 56.31 for 8.05 pace. Very warm out there, started slow 8.40 and ended a bit faster. 7.40. Legs a bit stiff at first but eased out after a few miles.

Still working towards a 5k target race next Thursday 9th so plan is a tempo tomorrow, 10 mile lsr Saturday, club session Monday and then mini taper with a recovery run on Tuesday.
That sound sensible or a bit much?

tipping

Thursday 2nd.
Due to do 20 minutes tempo and it was hot so did a bad thing and went down to a local 4 mile race instead to run it at training pace. It worked surprisingly well, planned for mile 1 easy (8ish pace) then the next 3 miles @ 7m pace.

Mile 1, 7.29 (a little quick)
Started well down the back to ensure I'd be in traffic and have to go slow for the 1st mile. Kept trying to go slower and getting passed at lot but couldn't dial it all way back.

Mile 2 and 3 7.00 & 6.59
Nice uphill section at the start of this. Picked up to target pace and held it fairly effortlessly, passed a good few people on the hill, got to the top and then was passed by everyone again as I religiously kept to my pace. Felt great and was nice to concentrate on form and easy breathing.

Mile 4: 6.23
Was finding it all very comfortable so let myself loosen out a bit for the last mile. Good bit of downhill so not as fast as it seems but held target pace for next week with no issues.

Watch time 27.57 and a nice confidence booster for next week. Session that didn't feel like a session.

Total for day about 6 miles.

tipping

Friday 3rd
2.5 mile recovery at 9ish pace.


Sunday 5th
12 miles in 1:39:40 for 8:18 pace
Supposed to do lsr yesterday but was tired after being out on Friday night so put it off to this morning. Found it tough today, last 3 miles I had just run out of energy and was thirsty. Result of lots of moving the run around today. Was supposed to go this morning, then at 11, finally got out in the heat at 12.30. Should have turned at 5 instead of 6 given the conditions.

Weekly total 34.5 miles

tipping

Monday 6th
5.64 miles on 46:53 for 8:19 pace
Club session
2 miles or so warm up then 6x300 off 200 recovery, another 1.5 mile cool down. Slightly easier session with race coming up on thursday and legs a little tired from yesterday but fine once warmed up.

Splits very rough as 300s weren't marked so all a bit guesstimate.

59 (1:08 recovery)
62 (1:17 recovery)
59 (1:19 recovery)
61 (1:22 recovery)
59 (1:19 recovery)
64 (into cool down)

Nice session, easy run tomorrow or early Wednesday with race Thursday.

tipping

Tuesday 7th
4.04 miles in 32:38 for 8:02 pace

Plan was for 35 minutes easy so said I'd run a 4 and a bit at 8m pace. Felt awful though from the get go and a real struggle and I should have just slowed it down to recovery pace. Usually run to feel but tonight was running to pace and it was a bad idea.

I suppose 12 mile lsr on Sunday followed by 5.5 mile club session on Monday makes for a tired tipping. Anyway lesson learnt I hope and no damage done.

tipping

Thursday 9th

Youghal AC 5k
19:15 on the watch, no idea of gun time, chip time or placing and really don't care.

Sub 20 5k has been the goal since coming back from injury and feeling pretty good the last few weeks so very confident going into this. Last 5k was nearly a year ago in 22:30 ish. Telling everyone sub 20 was the goal but had 19:30 in the secret place in the back of my head. Got down nice and early, lovely evening, good crowd and nice warmup with some strides. Caught up with some club mates most of whom had the same target in mind. For once lined up near the front around 3 rows back and off we went.

Mile 1, 6:04
Took off and straight into my stride, held a nice steady pace as people raced off all around me (or so I thought) . About 2 mins on checked the watch for 5:30 pace so backed off the pace a little. Very nice and comfortable, slightly quicker than expected but had decided to go hard and hang on rather than the usual more conservative approach.

Mile 2 6:03
In a nice little bunch of runners, passing a few guys here and there, picking the next target and going again. By the end of this though was starting to suffer...

Mile 3 6:16
Longest mile of my life. Suffering now, on my own, 2 guys 1 in front of me but no catching them, no one beside or with 10m behind me. Mental games begin, just 1 more mile, about 7 mins. Pace noticeably dropped, all ideas of a sprint finish gone out the window.. Watch beeps for 3 miles but the 3 mile marker is still 20-30m away. Passed by 1 guy no possibility of responding..

.15 mile 52 secs, 5:59 pace
Magically picked up the pace a little and made it over the line. Immediately sat on a wall and dry retched for 30s, checked the watch.. Very happy..

Absolutely delighted and smashed my target for the year only about 3 months into training. 1 mile warm down and Immediately set next target of sub 19. Runners are never happy..

Total about 6 miles.

tipping

4.15m recovery run in 38 mins for 9:09 pace.
Legs felt good and loose after last nights efforts. All good. Shorter lsr 8-10 miles planned at some point over the weekend depending on how the legs feel.

tipping

10.12 miles lsr in 1:23 for 8:13 pace
Uneventful. Legs felt good. All very easy.

Edit. 30 miles for the week.

Dubgal72

Wow, just catching up. Loved your race report, well done, fantastic race! Little bit big bit jealous of your time. It's exactly where I'd like to be if I hadn't had a lay off the last few weeks. I'll be chasing your heels now Well done again!

Edit: ps, have you seen this? Welcome to The Table

tipping

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Wow, just catching up. Loved your race report, well done, fantastic race! Little bit big bit jealous of your time. It's exactly where I'd like to be if I hadn't had a lay off the last few weeks. I'll be chasing your heels now Well done again!

Edit: ps, have you seen this? Welcome to The Table

Thanks it was a good day and great buzz afterwards.
Hope the recovery is going well with you. I'm sure you'll be flying again in no time. Still enjoying the aqua jogging?? No idea of how you keep up with it all, with the novices thread and all.

Thought about adding myself to the table but pretty intimidating on a phone. Might see if I can figure it out someday next week on the laptop.

tipping

Monday 13th
Club session
2ish warmup
Then timed mile (2/3 in the series) in 5:35.
Went with the faster group this time and knocked 7s of my time from a few weeks ago. Had it in the back of my head to try 5.30 but watch had switched off at the start and no real idea of paces. Good fun though and a pretty good improvement. Will want sub 5.30 at the final installment in a few weeks time. Timed miles are hard though, very hard to judge pace and probably plenty improvement possible just from judging pace better.

Then 4x2 mins off 2 minutes recovery, no splits as the watch had given up and a mile warm down.

Total about 6 miles.

tipping

Tuesday 14th
4.1 mile recovery in 35:07 for 8:36 pace.
Miserable slog after yesterdays session, very dead legs probably should have gone slower but wasn't really checking the pace. Definately a rest day tomorrow.

tipping

Saturday 18th
4 miles easy in 32:18 for 8:04 pace.
Missed a few runs this week as came down with a bit of a virus on Wednesday and Thursday. Reckon the feeling miserable on Tuesday was the lead in. Didn't hop into the shower quickly enough after Mondays session which may have been the cause.
So did an easy run today to get back into the settings of things, might do a shortish lsr tomorrow if I'm feeling OK.

tipping

Sunday 19th
8.5 miles lsr in 1:12:16 for 8:30 pace.
Dead legs and felt a bit harder than usual, kept it easy though and a little slower than usual. Legs only woke up after 6 miles. Still not fully back to normal but getting there.

Weekly total of 22.5 miles was the lowest in a good while.

tipping

Frustrating few days with lots of missed runs. Right knee a little sore but no idea why so skipped the club session on Monday. Still a little off on Tuesday so did a spinning class instead, which I found surprisingly hard!!

Wednesday 4m easy.
No watch but all felt fine again.

tipping

Thursday 23rd

Churchtown south 5 mile in 32:31 (Watch time)

Wasn't sure about running this but went for it at the last minute. Started a bit far back (again), had lined up on the right spot but got pushed back with ask the late arrivals.

Mile 1 6:20
Limited the ducking and diving and all felt fine. Into a nice rhythm and decided to go for 6:20 miles and see from there

Mile 2 6:23
Not a bother, chasing down a big group in front

Mile 3 6:34
Good uphill drag here so a little slower. Caught and passed the group on the hill. Starting to feel the burn but still fine. New target club mate up the road

Mile 4 6:23
Still fine, suffering but in control. Caught the club mate and paced off them.

Mile 5 6:42
Got tired here. Hit the hill again and really started to suffer. Pace dropped a lot. With about 400m to go started retching. Kept retching while running and almost ground to a halt but with 100m left got going again for a mini sprint and eventually got over the line. Had people cheering and trying to push me on but horrible ending to e race.

Very happy with the time 90s pb but didn't enjoy the last bit. I should have backed off a little more on the hill and avoided the retching.

Need to work a bit on the stamina, the target speed is there. So thinking of adding hills or a tempo to my weeks as I feel it might help here.

Edit: 2 mile warmup and 1.5 mile warm down for 8.5m total.

tipping

Friday 24th
3 mile recovery real easy 9:30 ish pace. Legs felt good after race the night before.

Sunday 26th
6 miles easy at 8:10 pace. Busy busy weekend so couldn't squeez in the lsr. Snuck out for an easy 6 this evening the longest I could get away with.

Another week with a missed session and low mileage of 21.5. Hopefully will get back on track next week and hit 30ish.

tipping

Tuesday 28th
Missed the club session last night so did a mini session on my own to make up for it. Still not feeling 100% so kept it short enough.

1.6m warmup then 10x200 off 200 recovery, times were a bit inconsistent but it was windy. Overall effort felt good and concentrated on form.
39.7
41.1
39.7
38.7
38.8
38.6
40.0
40.1
37.0
38.4

Another mile and a bit warm down for 5ish total

tipping

30th July
6.59 Miles in 49:51 for 7:34 pace

Missed a planned easy run yesterday so was determine to squeeze one in today. Headed out planning on 5 miles easy but felt good so it turned out a bit longer and a bit harder more like moderate effort. Once I got past about 3 miles the pace felt pretty easy again.

Splits were 7:45,7:42,7:52,7:26,7:03,7:29,4:32 (for 7:40 pace)