Don't get injured and go from there

tipping

Tuesday 12th
35 minutes turbo.

Friday 15th
6 miles easy at 9:15 pace. Very cautious and had 3-4 sharp bangs of pain from that knee. Mostly at the end of the run when I could feel a bit of fatigue in it.

Sunday 17th
5.5 mile easy. This was much better. Tried to run it on the pitches but one lap quickly let me know it was far too wet. Out on the roads but just did loops of a really flat and even road and had 1 solid twang on the knee after a mile but it really loosened up after a while and by the time I stopped I felt like I could have kept going a lot more.

Was a crappy week until today which felt a lot more positive.


15 miles for the week.

tipping

Monday 18th
Went to the club session on nice side surface but skipped the season and just did my own thing around the sides. 6.5 miles in 50 ish minutes starting very easy and finishing pretty strong. Legs felt good and didn't notice I was doing 7 minute pace at the end.

Tuesday 19th
35 minutes recovery on the turbo.

Wednesday 20th
Club session. 30 minutes mixed drills followed by 30 minute tempo. Tempo was a little on the sharp side so when I got tired in the last half mile just drifted away off the back. Felt like a good workout though.
No watch but guess around 7 miles total.

Then got really sick all of a sudden Wednesday night (including a trip to A&E) which kept me out of work and exercise for a few days. Reckon it was probably just all the stress, early starts, late nights and weekends working recently that caught up with me. It just put my digestive system all out of sorts so I just need to keep a bit better care of myself for the next few weeks.

Sunday 24th
Didn't feel great still but decided to do 30 minutes of keeping my wife company on her C25k. It felt fine so i followed it with 4 miles easy. Actually really glad I got out.
Total about 6.5 miles

Weekly Total: 20 miles

Have a decision to make whether to do dungarvan or not next weekend, I won't be on great shape but I'll see how the week goes.

tipping

Monday 25th

Club session. Got there early so 3 mile warmup and felt fine so joined in the session on the astro. Session was 2x3, 4x2,1x1 minutes off 2 minute recovery. 1st rep was way to hard (5:4x pace) as I attempted to keep up with my company but after that settled into my own pace (6:0x pace) for the rest of the reps and felt hard but not too hard. Another mile cooldown for 8 miles total.

tipping

Tuesday 26th
35 minute recovery on the Turbo at 135HR

Wednesday 27th
Lunchtime: 30 minute gym class with mix of upper body,legs and cardio.

Evening: Club training, 30 minutes jogging, running, drills etc followed by 30 minute tempo, gradually got quicker as we went along but effort felt pretty hard even at 7:00 pace, I'm blaming dinner an hour before
7:46,7:10,6:50,6:32
About 6 miles total.

Legs feel good so I reckon I'll have a crack at Dungarvan on Sunday but won't quite leave it all out there.

tipping

Thursday 28th
4 mile easy at 8:30.
Bit of a pointless run. Should have put this off till Friday

Sunday 31st
Dungarvan 10
68:18 watch time so would expect chip time to be a few seconds better. Delighted with this, 2 weeks ago I couldn't see myself running this after a few niggles and had anything sub 70 as a good result in my head. I didn't want to leave it all out there today so said I'd go with the pacers for the first few miles and decide what to do from there.

Miles 1-3:
6:53,6:55,6:52

Strangely congested at the start. People were going everyone and had my heels clipped and clipped others. Was a bit all over the road. Thought it would even out but the big numbers and the crowd around the pacers weren't helping so I just moved on a bit and left the pacers earlier than planned just after 2 miles.

Miles 4-8
7:01,6:54,6:54,6:45,6:50

Just did my own thing. Was never struggling but felt a few seconds a mile more could put me in trouble so just made my way from group to group gradually. Anytime a gap opened I'd surge a little and grab some shelter from the next group, a bit of experience helping there. Was very comfortable come mile 8

Mile 9-10
6:46,6:25

Hit the bottom of the hill and found myself making a lot of ground all of a sudden. Decided to up the effort levels a bit and picked off maybe 10 people pretty quickly including someone I had my eye on all race about 20 seconds up the road. Suddenly there was a nice gap to the next group so I relaxed back a little again. Found myself still gaining though so increased the effort again for the last mile and caught another 10 or so. Turned into the finishing straight and saw another 6 or 7 people ahead and put in a decent sprint to pass them all in the last 100m.

Very happy with the time considering training hadn't gone well recently (12 minutes off a very soft pb over the distance), could have gone a bit quicker but leaves me in a nice place for ballycotton where I might look to improve on that a little more.

Weekly Mileage
Good week with 30ish miles.

tipping

Monday 1st

4 mile recovery with the club at 9ish pace. Legs were ok. Left calf tight and right calf less so. Bit of foam rolling and massage helping a bit

Tuesday 2nd
15 minute warmup followed by 30 minute spinning class. Again little tight on the left. To be honest felt totally dead and only did this to get out of work for an hour where the current workload and stress levels have me at breaking point. The exercise helps manage it a little.

Wednesday 3rd
Club session 30 minute mixed drills followed by 3.5 mile subtempo. Went off with a group who I expected to take it a little easier (around my easy pace) so this was quicker than I would have liked, starting at 8 minute pace and ending around 7. Still comfortable throughout or I would have let them go.

Total about 5 miles.

tipping

Thursday 4th
5 miles easy untimed.

Saturday 6th
5 miles easy at 8:02

Sunday 7th
10 mile lsr at 8:25 pace.
Didn't feel great for the first few miles but warmed up into and felt fine. Picked up the pace a little for the last 3 miles.

Nice recovery week with 5 runs and about 30 miles. 4 weeks left to Ballycotton so hope to get consistent running and a few nice sessions in between now and then.

tipping

Monday 8th
Club session, warmup plus 1x3,5x2,2x1 minutes off 2 minute recovery. No idea of pace as no watch but felt pretty good. Cool down brought it to sbout 6-7 miles total.

Tuesday 9th
35 minutes turbo

Thursday 11th
5 miles easy. Had planned a tempo but felt terrible so changed it on the fly to easy. Work and real life stuff still crazy and something had to give so mind kept inventing niggles as the body wanted to just stay at home. Anyway got through it and felt a little better by the end.

tipping

Friday 12th
10 minutes warmup
30 minutes tempo @6:55 pace.
10 minutes cool down
6.5 miles total

Saturday/Sunday
Real life stuff meant the LSR was missed

So only 3 runs this week and about 18 miles but nice but of quality in there.


Monday 15th
Club session
1 mile warmup then 8,7,6,5 minutes off 2 minute recovery. Went off too hard on the 1st 2 reps so dialled it back for the last 2. Found this hard probably as a result of going too quick at the start. Overall good session though.
8 mins @ 6:13
7 mins @ 6:15
6 mins @ 6:31
5 mins @ 6:32
1 mile cool down for 7 miles total

tipping

Tuesday 16th
40 minutes turbo at 135bpm

Wednesday 17th
Club session. 30 minutes mixed drills followed by 4 Mile sub tempo 7:46,7:11,7:30,7:12. Felt pretty awful after another terrible day in work and really ran to clear the head a bit. Was in no form to go with the usual faster group so picked up a bit of company and ambled along a bit slower but felt better the further I went.
Total about 6 miles

tipping

Thursday 18th
Planned ready

Friday 19th
Unplanned rest. Just couldn't drag myself out after another crazy work week. Think this was the right call

Saturday 20th
Unplanned rest, more real life stuff.. This time moving house

Sunday 21st
11.5 miles easy at 8:13. Busy day moving but negotiated a few hours off in the evening. This felt good all the way around. Was supposed to be 12 but stopped for a chat with a few people close to home

Weekly total: 25 miles. Need to do a bit better but can't see that happening next week either.

tipping

Neglected log and neglected running due to house moving and busy work.

Monday 22nd
6 miles easy at 8:29

Wednesday 24th
6 miles easy at 8:34

Whole week off. Far from ideal prep for ballycotton but felt great to get back out there today.

Thursday 3rd
5 miles easy at 8:03

tipping

Sunday 6th

Ballycotton 10 in 67:07 (chip time) and a little over a minute off last month's dungarvan pb. Very happy with this especially with a little less training than I'd like. Freezing cold beforehand and lots of debating with myself on layers or not, warmed up sufficiently just before the start to abandon the extra layers. Pretty mini warmup of about a mile and just tried to stay dry and warm as possible.

Miles 1-2, 6:31,6:23
Lined up at the sub 58 minute line. Had been standing at the 65 minute line but figured out that nobody was obeying the start signs even remotely so pushed up a bit. Still took 18 seconds to cross the start line but found it not as congested as last year.
Anyway decided to take advantage of the downhill for the first few miles so they were a bit quicker than planned but pretty comfortable

Miles 3,4,5, 6:34,6:37,6:42
Settled into pace here and decided I only wanted to see 6:4x on the watch. Had drifted off pace on mile 4 but gave myself a little kick to get going again. Was feeling the pinch but OK. Took on a little water and a few jellies around at mile 5.

Mile 6,7,8, 6:40,6:40,6:46
Starting to feel the hurt but maintaining the pace OK. Was getting passed by a lot of people with the go out hard and hang on strategy which is a little demotivating. Mentally easier to go out conservatively and finish strong i think.

Mile 9. 7:06
Really started to hurt here. Got a horrible stitch around 8.5 miles coming down the hill. Mentally I was beat for about 10 seconds and decided to walk for a bit but just as I was stopping something else kicked in and I managed to keep going. Stitch went away just as I was turning back up the hill into the village and got a bit of a second wind to keep going. Damage limitation was on my mind and I just kept going.

Mile 10 and a bit, 6:53,6:02
The second wind kept me going until about 800m to go and I promptly ran out of steam again. Pure misery to the finish line, the 400m took forever to come, the 200 even longer and a pretty limp finish over the line. Propped myself against a railing for 3-4 minutes to recover before scurrying off and getting lots of layers on again get warm.

Delighted with the time. Probably went off a little fast but didn't want to leave anything out there today. Predictably ran out of steam in the latter stages due to the recent lack of longer runs but felt strong until the crash and limited the damage in the crash pretty well I think. Ran a 10k pb too on the day at 41:03 which was a nice bonus. Great race again with fantastic organisation and support on a miserable day for spectators.

tipping

Monday 7th
Rest

Tuesday 8th
30 minutes recovery on surprisingly bouncy legs

Wednesday 9th
40 minutes easy

Thursday 10th
45 minutes easy

Saturday 11th
50 minutes easy, was going to do the hour but both general fatigue and calf fatigue kicked in so called a halt a little early.

OK week of all recovery post ballycotton. Legs weren't up to doing anything more. Left calf tight all week and spent a good bit of time trying to work out the various knots. It's always the left calf that flares up so would like to resolve it now. General fatigue kicking in this week also probably combination of the race plus poorly sleeping baby.

Was going to do a bit today but had one of those run out of buckets nights last night as half the house including both parents came down with a tummy bug.

Other than that need to pick some new targets to focus on for the summer. Was considering cork Marathon but if I am going to run a marathon I might as well wait till Dublin and take advantage of having more company while training, so probably going to look at 5k-10k type distances for the moment.

tipping

Not much training last week. Crappy week all around, took a few days to get over tummy bug and then a mixture of laziness,work and real life stuff meant only 2 runs.

Wednesday 16th
Club session
1 mile warmup
30 minutes mixed drills including circuits
30 minute run at 8ish pace
1 mile cool down

This felt wrong, circuits were tough and had a few days of hangover in the legs after, the 30 minutes was supposed to be sub tempo at 7ish pace but body wasn't willing or able so ended up at 8ish and left calf got pretty tired on the way home. Clearly not recovered from ballycotton/illness/general fatigue from busy v work and poor sleep.
Got back on the foam roller though and eased out the calves a little

Thursday 17th
30 minute recovery which was slow but felt OK. calves improved and bit more rolling,

Rest of week
Nada due to real life stuff, probably could have made it out once or twice if I really wanted to but I didn't. Kept working on the calf though and it does finally seem to be better.

Monday 21st

Club session
Warmup then 1x2,3x3,3x2 minutes off 2 minute recovery and a short cool down. Hit just sub 6 minute pace for the all the reps and felt pretty good.

Hopefully a fresh start this week with a bit more consistency. Figured out that my asthma was troubling me a little so took the inhalers for the first time in months and made a difference tonight. Also just got to find the time and get out, too often lately I've taken the I'll just skip this run option and just got to get back into the habit.

tipping

Tuesday 22nd
30 minute cross trainer at 130HR. Right knee tightened up a little after session on Monday so ditched the recovery run for the gym.

Wednesday 23rd
5 miles easy. Knee much better but little fatigued at the end.

Then off to Dublin for the weekend to spoil the small man so no running but did manage to pick up some new shoes.

Sunday 27th
90 minutes easy to break in the new shoes. 45 minutes in the company of the OH who is just getting back running and then 45 minutes a bit less easy just for myself. Experienced all 4 seasons in the 90 minutes but was feeling good and loose by the end.

Better week but still not fully right. Chest still tight and still on the inhalers.

Dubgal72

Have you thought about actually mapping out or planning a periodic break rather than it all just catching up on you? Would be a shame to let things slip as you have been working hard as well as very consistent. How's the knee?

tipping

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Have you thought about actually mapping out or planning a periodic break rather than it all just catching up on you? Would be a shame to let things slip as you have been working hard as well as very consistent. How's the knee?

Knee is fine. Felt fine during the session and cool down and just tightened up afterwards. I'll keep it easy for a few more days to be sure though but absolutely take the point, there's a niggle in almost every post although for once glad it's not the calves

As regards needing a break I'm absolutely struggling for balance in general life at the minute which is clearly catching up with me. I do feel like I'm not being consistent due to things outside of my control although happy with progress all things considered.

Mini rant coming up but work is 90% of the problem. Massive workload, long hours, 24-7 x 7 days on call and a lot of pressure and general stress. Lunchtimes are non existent and end up bringing work home every night. So if anything is dragging me down work is it. Nearly quit multiple times over the last few weeks but it is somewhat seasonal so should cool down a bit over the next few weeks and then I'll consider my future then.

Adding to that moving house with 4 small ones and a baby who doesn't Iike sleeping at night but is starting get a bit better:) it's been a tough few months.

The whole combination of stress/long hours/less good diet/less sleep is affecting me but the thing running gives me is a bit of me time and more importantly some clear headspace so I think it's doing more good than harm. Would love to find more time for some S&C/general maintenance which make some of the niggles go away and I do beat myself up a bit for missing runs but if you start with at 8am and finish at 9:30pm it's hard or stupid or selfish to drag yourself out the door afterwards so I just need to be OK with that for a while. Had thoughts recently of trying to squeeze in runs before work (would be up at 6am) but that would be even more silly.

Apologies for the random thoughts with no real conclusion but that's where I'm at. I'm glad of the running for the distraction it brings but just have to be OK with it taking a distant 2nd place behind all the other things, and sort out the work stuff that needs to be resolved regardless so I'm not grumpy coming home every evening.

Dubgal72

Ah no, completely understand. Running is my headspace too and I would be lost without it, not to mention a grumpy demon. I suppose what I was trying to say was that it's better to plan a seasonal/end of target break rather than have one forced on you through any of work, physical breakdown or mental stagnation.

I really appreciated my couple of weeks off (just easy running every other day or so) after the cross country season and hopefully I'll have another five days or so in late April /early May. Damn just realised I won't :eek:

It certainly sounds like you have a lot on your plate....is that five little ones or four?! I'm just out of the no sleep period myself, it hurts! Is a run-commute an option? Or are you too far out from work? Could you drive, park then run to work? It takes a bit of organisation but it kills two birds with one run.

As for the niggles, S&C certainly helps but my coach made me aware that frequently, niggles can be the body adapting to a new workload. The hard part is telling the difference..... My tight and sore knee was something as simple as a tight hip flexor but yes, you need to get that diagnosed first.

New baby and house move....two of the 'big things'. Be kind to yourself and definitely be kind to your body! Feed it nicely and it will thank you, especially as you are probably going to be sleep deprived for some time yet. And breathe, all these things pass

tipping

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Ah no, completely understand. Running is my headspace too and I would be lost without it, not to mention a grumpy demon. I suppose what I was trying to say was that it's better to plan a seasonal/end of target break rather than have one forced on you through any of work, physical breakdown or mental stagnation.

I really appreciated my couple of weeks off (just easy running every other day or so) after the cross country season and hopefully I'll have another five days or so in late April /early May. Damn just realised I won't :eek:

It certainly sounds like you have a lot on your plate....is that five little ones or four?! I'm just out of the no sleep period myself, it hurts! Is a run-commute an option? Or are you too far out from work? Could you drive, park then run to work? It takes a bit of organisation but it kills two birds with one run.

As for the niggles, S&C certainly helps but my coach made me aware that frequently, niggles can be the body adapting to a new workload. The hard part is telling the difference..... My tight and sore knee was something as simple as a tight hip flexor but yes, you need to get that diagnosed first.

New baby and house move....two of the 'big things'. Be kind to yourself and definitely be kind to your body! Feed it nicely and it will thank you, especially as you are probably going to be sleep deprived for some time yet. And breathe, all these things pass

Only 4 little ones thank god unless the missus hasn't told me something yet..

Run-mutes aren't really an option unless i want to run along alongside 3 lanes of traffic at 120km/hr carrying 3 boxes of equipment and a laptop with me. Used to be able to get out for 2 lunchtimes a week which made a big difference so hopefully will get back to that again once things settle down.

Get what you're saying on the planned break but I'd probably need to have a plan first. And I'm really bad (to date) at following plans. I suppose this time may be an unplanned break as such. Really interesting on the bit about niggles sometimes just being signs of adaptation as opposed to anything wrong as such.

As you said the main thing is keeping a bit of perspective. Fit in what I can, enjoy what it does for me and things will settle eventually. That may or may not be far away.

Anyway back to the training
Monday 28th
60 minutes easy (about 7 miles) on a hilly old route taking advantage of the in laws. Liking the new runners and much like yesterday felt stronger the further I went.

tipping

Wednesday 30th
5 miles easy at 8:39

Friday 1st
50 minutes easy on the treadmill. Wore the hrm to make it more interesting but bit surprised to have to run at 9:40 place to keep the HR below 150.

Saturday 2nd
11.5 miles lsr at 8:45. Felt great the whole way through this and could have kept going a lot longer.

Better week all round. Missed a planned run on Thursday due to real life stuff and generally took it a bit easier. Much more maintenance in the form of foam rolling etc going on which is making a big difference and legs generally feel a lot better. Chest starting clear up a bit too.

tipping

Sunday 3rd
35 minutes on the turbo at 135HR. Despite feeling great after the run on Saturday legs had tightened up a bit so hopped on the bike to loosen them out a little.

Monday 4th
Club session. 8 miles

2.5 Mile warm-up, then 4x3 and 3x2 minutes off 2 minute recovery, 1.5 Mile cooldown. Felt good bar the last one where I was starting to struggle.
Splits were 5:58,5:57,6:12,6:06,6:04,5:57,6:16

tipping

Tuesday 5th
5 miles easy at 8:45ish pace. No hangover in the legs from the session which was nice

Thursday 7th
1 Mile warm-up, 3.5 Mile tempo on mixed trail and road, 1 Mile cooldown.
Splits for the tempo bit were 6:56,7:01,7:04,6:53 which wasn't bad given the the terrain. Found the new Brooks 16s very slippy in the wet though and struggled for traction at various bits.

For some reason I have a bit of a mental block about tempos and my mind nearly always finds a way to skip them so glad to have gotten it done and hopefully will be a bit more consistent with them in the future.

tipping

Friday 8th
6 miles easy at 8:55

Saturday 8th
13 Mile lsr at 8:29.
Beautiful morning for a really enjoyable run.

Good week. Hit all the planned runs so hopefully can keep it up.

tipping

Monday 11th

Club session
2 and bit miles warm-up then 4x3,3x2 off 2 recovery. Same session as last week but felt better. Chest starting to clear up and a bit more life in the legs. Changed things a little as took a lead on most of the reps, forgot about pace and concentrated on a more relaxed form and it all felt a lot easier with jogged instead of walked recoveries.

Splits were 6:10,6:12,6:00,5:54,5:53,5:41,5:39

Mile and a half cool down for 8.5 miles total.

tipping

Tuesday 12th
5 miles very easy/recovery untimed on the usual lunchtime loop

Thursday 13th
1 mile warm-up, 4 mile tempo ,1 mile cooldown.
Splits for tempo were 6:44,6:50, 6:47, 6:43. Felt fine but possibly a little on the quick side. Still just getting used to these so will take a bit of time to get it just right, but losing the fear factor and just getting it done which is an improvement.

tipping

Friday 14th
7 miles easy at 8:23. All good.

Saturday 15th
Lsr 14 miles at 8:38.
Beautiful morning for a run and although it takes a few minutes for the legs to wake up its nice to get it done early. All felt good, with the reeling back on pace these runs don't seen to take too much of me

Another good week, all planned runs hit for about 40 miles.

tipping

Monday 18th
7 Miles easy at 8:54

Legs just weren't feeling the love after the long run on Saturday and away for the weekend so no chance of a recovery run. As I was missing the club session anyway I had notions of doing some kind of session but decided against it and went with easy. Legs were dead enough but loosened up towards the end.


Tuesday 19th
2.5 miles warmup, then 6 x short hill sprints just to mix it up a little then 1.5 mile cool down for 5 miles total

Hills were short on trail starting out fairly moderate and progressing to almost vertical on gravel so grip was an issue but happy enough and all were between 26 and 27 seconds so nicely consistent.

tipping

Thursday 21st
1 Mile warm-up, 4 Mile tempo, 1 Mile cooldown, tempo splits were 6:56,6:49,6:57,6:50. This was a bit harder work than last week but putting that down to 16 hour working day on the back of 2 hours sleep.


Friday 22nd
7 miles, 4 easy and then 3 steady around 7:40 pace. All felt good. Broke in some new asics gt-2000 i picked up earlier in the week, which I plan to wear on the wetter days. Love the Brooks bar the lack of grip so wanted an alternative.

Saturday 23rd
13 Mile lsr at 8:01 pace. Don't know why but it started quicker than usual and kept going. Nice run maybe a bit on the quick side but that's OK once in a while

38 miles for the week and a pretty solid week all round again I think.

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Monday 25th
Club session 8.5 miles

2.5 Mile warm-up
Then 5x1k (approx) off 400 recovery (approx)
Splits were
3:32 (pace 5:41) Too fast
3:38 (pace 5:52) Still too fast
3:42 (pace 5:57)
3:44 (pace 6:04)
3:43 (pace 6:04)

2 Mile cool down
All good and felt strong, went off a little quick but once I settled in it was fine.

Tuesday 26th
5 miles easy at 8:40. All good, had expected a hangover from the session but felt great.

Legs really starting to come around I think and I've a few races coming up in the next week that should set a good marker as to where I'm at.