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A life in the day..

  • 30-01-2016 11:03PM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭


    I meant to start this log a little earlier but I moved house just before Christmas and sorting and sticking to my resolution of at least a mile a day has been higher priorities.

    Keeping a public log has never really worked for me before so I've set the goal of keeping it for the full year so that I don't give up the first time that I hit a sticky patch.

    I'm pretty pleased with how January has gone. Typically I tend to hibernate in the winter months, waiting for the freezing cold and howling wind to give way to a more gentle climate. Moving to West Kirby (Liverpool) from Bournemouth won't do me any favours in that regard!

    The imperative to get out every day has been a big boost - driving up and down from Bournemouth to Liverpool several times before Christmas triggered some sciatica and in the past I would have just worked on sorting that out but this time I've continued to run through it. It's still a pain but it's a manageable one and I've managed about 127 miles so far this year. That's according to the Strava app on my phone which is anything but consistent but I haven't located my garmin since the move and I reckon that it's got to be in the ball park of accurate.

    I'm cautiously building a base with lots of fairly easy running interspersed with a few pickups and some steady stuff. So far that's meant weeks of (approx.) 30, 35, 40 and back to 30 this week once I've run tomorrow.

    I guess that I hope that plenty of people will jump in and comment as I keep this log. I usually end up being fairly conservative in my approach but I enjoy thinking about some of the more esoteric ideas.


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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,009 ✭✭✭Firedance


    Will be following with great interest :) do you have any goal races for the year M?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    Firedance wrote: »
    Will be following with great interest :) do you have any goal races for the year M?

    Not yet. A lot depends on whether and which club I join. There's nothing very local and I'm currently starting to look for work a full time athlete so I'll probably wait until I'm settled into a longer term routine to make a decision on which club to join.

    I'm probably a natural 800m runner but I'd only train for that seriously as part of a group and there's an argument that at 38 I might be better off focusing on longer distances. I'd really like to do DCM again. I really enjoy half marathons. I'll probably end up running races at a variety of distances. If I can run consistently without injury I'd expect to be able to PB at everything over 1500m without the need to specifically target a race.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,272 ✭✭✭Dubgal72


    Deadly stuff and about time :D
    So from 'a natural 800m runner' to "really enjoy half marathons"....the (running) world's your oyster! Looking forward to following this.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,272 ✭✭✭Dubgal72


    Deadly stuff and about time :D
    So from 'a natural 800m runner' to "really enjoy half marathons"....the (running) world's your oyster! Looking forward to following this.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,420 ✭✭✭Ososlo


    Delighted to see you start the log Clearlier.

    Good luck with the base training!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,304 ✭✭✭Chartsengrafs


    Good luck with the log and continued training!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    Sun: 8 miles
    Monday: 3.5
    Tuesday: 7 with 12*30 second bursts (probably about 800m effort)
    Wednesday: 3.5
    Thursday: 7

    The pace varies from day to day, if I feel good I go a bit faster, if I feel tired I go a bit slower.

    Found my garmin and brought it along with my phone and the strava app today and found that the Strava app isn't as far out as I feared. It still over measures a bit but it had my 7 miles today at 7.1 which isn't anything worth getting worried about. Might stick with the phone as it's a bit of a pain to check on how far you've gone so I don't check it as often as I do with a watch.

    I've been quite fortunate to move to a place where there's a former railway line running about 2 mins jog away and that's where I've been doing 90% of my runs. Here's a couple of pictures from a nice day!

    24702424322_e509bc07e0_c.jpg


    and this one of the actual trail/old railway line:

    24726789571_748800cbe4_c.jpg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 329 ✭✭mbarr


    Great to see this log, really enjoyed your contributions to the novice thread last year. Looking forward to reading :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,355 ✭✭✭Bungy Girl


    What a lovely place to run! That trail looks great. Wishing you many happy miles on it :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,199 ✭✭✭denis b


    Best of luck with the log. The old line looks like it provides a nice bit of shelter.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,921 ✭✭✭Kennyg71


    Looking forward to reading yor exploits, and having public log does help with commitment, best luck with where ever it takes you.:)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    Friday - 3.6
    Saturday - 6.2 although Strava had a moment, measuring it at 6.5 including an impressive 72 second half mile! I'd struggle to do that on a bike.
    Sunday - 9.3

    The week came in at around 40 miles which was bang on target. I probably did about 5 miles at something around marathon pace effort (others might called it AT) over the weekend as well as the 12*30 second pickups on Tuesday. Happy with the week.

    Monday - 3.6
    Tuesday - 8.2 incl. 8*45s pickups.
    Wednesday - 3.8

    I'm rotating between 4 pairs of runners at the moment some of which should probably be in the bin - in fact I'm going to bin the ones that I wore today even though they're my newest as it's the second time I've had knee pain after wearing them recently. They've probably had 300-400 miles on them so they're not actually new by any means.

    Time to find a new pair of runners I think. Anyone any suggestions for neutral, reasonably cushioned runners that don't break the bank? Very happy to get old models that are discounted as I don't like buying the same pair twice in a row.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,355 ✭✭✭Bungy Girl


    Clearlier wrote: »
    Time to find a new pair of runners I think. Anyone any suggestions for neutral, reasonably cushioned runners that don't break the bank? Very happy to get old models that are discounted as I don't like buying the same pair twice in a row.

    Saucony Kinvaras ? Neutral, 4mm drop and nice and light. Most of the usual websites have the old models (4.0, 5.0) on discount. I think they're up to 6.0 now.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    Gone freezing over here the past couple of days. The thread about shorts and tights has me laughing. Tights (leggings) for me for almost every run these days and even then I don't always get warm enough - not trying hard enough maybe :).

    Thursday - 8.2 miles with 4 as a progressive tempo - roughly 7:40, 7:20, 7:00 and 6:40. Working pretty hard for the last one with the thought in the back of my mind that it includes a strava segment. Took 1 second off my personal record but even if I went flat out I wouldn't be near the guy who holds the record who did it as part of a ten mile tempo in 50 mins :eek: I dug out the HRM for this to find that my bpm is coming in at about 1050. When I'm below 1000 I reckon I'll be ready to break 40 mins for a 10k.
    Friday - A brisk 3.5 in the evening - brisk because it was freezing again. Did it around the marine lake that they have here for the sailing club. The sea/river around me is essentially a huge estuary. When the tide is in it's fine for water sports but when it's out you can walk to an island so totally unsuitable for water sports. Thus frustrated the locals (in 1901) built a wall which is low enough to let the water in at high tide but retains the water when the tide goes out. Very nice it is too.
    Saturday - 10
    Sunday 8.5

    Just over 45 for the week which was the target. Happy with that I went shoe hunting and ended up getting three pairs after I promised to get rid of all the pairs that I currently have.

    I got the Mizuno Mujin which arrived this afternoon and seem fine - they'll get a test drive tomorrow. I've never had a trail shoe before so I'm looking forward to seeing how they go.
    I'm now waiting for the Mizuno wave rider 18 and the New Balance 870v3. I was tempted by your suggestion Bungy Girl but I realised that I've never worn Saucony before and there aren't any running shops nearby so I was ordering online and I thought it best to order a brand that I know my size in (NB and Mizuno are a full size different for me).

    Monday - Half term this week so I have to fit in running like a normal person does this week. I took the boys into liverpool where they spent the entire day in a play centre called underwater street - recommended if you have young kids and are in liverpool. I got out relatively late for 4 easy miles that took me as far as the entrance to the Royal Liverpool golf club which is on the British Open circuit. I stopped for a moment to take a look at the clubhouse which even in near total darkness is pretty grand. As I started back I realised that somebody was watching me from the other side of the road a bit strangely. A little while later I realised that they probably saw someone dressed in black suddenly emerge from the entrance to the golf club and start running - probably looked a bit suspicious!
    Tuesday - Took advantage of the in laws looking after the two boys to get in 8 very hilly miles which was a bit of a shock to the system after the pancake flat old railroad that I've gotten used to. Enjoyed it but realised that I lost the remote for my car which must have fallen off my keys somewhere. I had visions of driving back with my alarm beeping incessantly but fortunately it stopped as soon as I put the keys in the ignition. Reminded me of a friend who is deaf that was driving along wonder why everybody was gesticulating at her to realise when she got to her destination that she had forgotten to turn off the alarm when she got in and had driven the whole way with her alarm going! Another freezing cold day - it took 45 mins before my hands stopped feeling like blocks of ice. Just found my running gloves so they'll be put back into service tomorrow.

    The body is creaking a bit but overall it's holding up pretty well.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    Wednesday - 4.3 - The other 2 pairs of runners arrived today. The New Balance didn't work out at all and I just sent them straight back. I ended up testing out the wave riders on this run and am a little disappointed that I can't send them back now tbh - they just don't seem to fit very well. I'll give them a few more short runs to see if I grow into them.

    Thursday - 9 miles with an attempt at 4 at aerobic threshold - I say attempt because I never quite got going particularly for the first 2. Still had miles ranging from 7:01 to 7:21 which is a good deal faster than my easy pace so far from a wasted session. I also gave the Mujin a go. The sensible option would have been to wait for a short day but they felt very comfortable. They're light and they provide noticeably better traction on the muddier parts so they're looking like a good choice at the moment.

    Friday - 4.2

    Saturday My eldest had his 9th birthday today and we bought him a bike. The weather was absolutely horrible but he insisted that he wanted to come out with me while I ran and he cycled. Even the Strava app gave up at one stage and cut out. It was a half mile before I realised and set it to start again. Lots of stopping and starting as he got used to the bike. We were both glad to get back to the house after this one!

    Sunday - 12 very slow miles - My last run before a down week and the fatigue had really caught up with me by this stage. In contrast to the previous day the weather was lovely with temperatures touching the teens. I didn't quite believe though and still insisted on leggings and a jumper which in hindsight was a mistake as I was a bit hot. Whatever the reason I averaged 9:15 pace for this one and it was hard hard work. I spent the vast majority of the run ignoring other people on the trail and telling myself to hold good posture.

    51 miles for the week which is a nice little milestone to reach.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,237 ✭✭✭AuldManKing


    Clearlier wrote: »
    Wednesday - 4.3 - The other 2 pairs of runners arrived today. The New Balance didn't work out at all and I just sent them straight back. I ended up testing out the wave riders on this run and am a little disappointed that I can't send them back now tbh - they just don't seem to fit very well. I'll give them a few more short runs to see if I grow into them.

    .

    I wear both DS Trainers & the NB 870v4 and while the NB took a while to get used to, I love them now - they are my goto long run shoe - not so much for a session.
    If you are looking for a neutral runner - why the NB 870's as they are a stability shoe?
    I agree with the wave riders - I also bought a pair and sent them back as they didn't 'fit right' around the ankle (I bought them in a shop and had tried them on).


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    I wear both DS Trainers & the NB 870v4 and while the NB took a while to get used to, I love them now - they are my goto long run shoe - not so much for a session.
    If you are looking for a neutral runner - why the NB 870's as they are a stability shoe?
    I agree with the wave riders - I also bought a pair and sent them back as they didn't 'fit right' around the ankle (I bought them in a shop and had tried them on).

    It's around the midfoot that the wave riders don't fit me very well. They were better on their second outing but still not good enough for anything other than a short recovery run.

    I thought I'd try the 870's because they were described as a mild stability shoe and I know that I do move around a fair bit to the point where AK and other running shops would recommend a stability shoe. I decide a while back to stick to neutral only and should have stuck to that. Hopefully I've learned my lesson this time :).

    I've just received the Mizuno Wave Ultima 6 (I had the 7 before) and it seems comfortably enough if a little chunky.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    I'm well overdue an update at this stage! Mostly because I've been away skiing. I'm going to break this down into two posts I think.

    I don't remember many details of the individual runs but I do remember being pretty wiped and totally ready for a down week. Ideally it would have been a week later to fit in with going skiing but doing another 'up' week would have just been inviting illness/injury. I did consider front loading the week as I was leaving on the Saturday but my legs made it very clear that wasn't going to happen :).

    Monday 22nd - 3.5
    Tuesday 23rd - 7.1
    Wednesday 24th - 4.9 - I have been doing back to back longer runs at the weekends and I thought that I might be able to get away with doing it midweek instead but the body just wasn't up for it so I cut it short.
    Thursday 25th - 7.1
    Friday 26th - 3.7
    Saturday 27th - 1.8 - I struggle to get loose enough to run early in the morning but I didn't think that I would get out for a run that evening so I took 10 mins or so out and did a quick run - 6:26 pace so reasonably quick for me at the moment.

    Sunday 28th - Day 1 of skiing. I've been paired with someone who can definitely ski but who goes at a pace that I find very straightforward. Afer we get back I ask one of the hotel owners where I can run. Some comedy ensues as her English is at about the same level as my German but my running clothes give a good hint as to what I want to do and after a few hand signals I work out that there's a path by the river which is about 5 miles long if I take a left turn when I reach it. I take said left turn but less than a mile the path is blocked off for some kind of building work. With the river to my right and the main road to my left there's nothing for it but to find out what was in the opposite direction. 2 miles later I ran out of path as I arrived at the edge of the Salzach river. 2 miles is enough though and I go back and forth until I get to 9.6 miles. Surprisingly I realised that it's warmer here than it was in Liverpool and I could easily have worn shorts (if I had brought any).

    A total of 37.7 miles for the week which I'm happy enough with.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    Monday 29th - 3.6 – Fitting in with the warmth I noticed the previous evening the snow was a bit slushy and the person that I was guiding had gone off with an instructor to improve their turns so I help to guide my wife. Unfortunately whilst waiting for a slope to clear someone skis over the back of the skis of the person that I’m guiding for the week and they have a minor but awkward fall which results in being brought off the mountain on a skidoo and to the hospital. Fortunately there’s nothing serious wrong but she’s put out of action for a few days.
    Tues 30th - 4 – It snowed overnight and the temperature has gone back to what you might expect in February up the Austrian mountains. The skiing is a bit more robust as my wife wanted to work on technical stuff and while I’m told that I ski reasonably well I haven’t a clue how to instruct people on improving their skiing. I headed off with a few of the more adventurous skiers acting as sweeper to pick up anyone left behind. A very straightforward job! My legs were pretty heavy so I just did the 4 miles.
    Wednesday - 4 - Much better skiing as there's a layer of powder above the ice now. I was back with my wife and others this day. She really enjoyed the challenge of getting down a slightly slushy steep slope but it was hard work and my legs still heavy that evening so again I left it at just 4.
    Thursday - Streak broken - The day started off really well. It had snowed through the night and the skiing was just fantastic although many of the blind/VI skiers struggled with the different environment. I got a tip to lean back a little to negotiate powder and it worked a treat although my quads were quickly killing me. I was skiing with the more adventurous skiers again but I bumped into my wife who wasn't feeling great so I accompanied her back to the gondola's where she headed for home with an instructor who wasn't enjoying the very snowy conditions and had decided to pack it in for the day. After dropping her off I skied for around for an hour in search of the others without finding them but enjoyed the great conditions. It wasn’t long though before I start feeling a bit off though and head back towards the gondola's myself.
    My throat quickly got sore enough that even talking was painful. Someone gave me some strepsils but 3 of them had no impact so I headed to the pharmacy who quickly directed me to the doctor who took one look at my throat and prescribed antibiotics. It was astonishing just how quickly I went from feeling fine to just wanting to curl up in a ball and die :(. I went to bed for 24 hrs and ate nothing other than pills until the following night. I did consider seeing if I could jog a mile but the short walk to the pharmacy and doctor told me that it would just be stupid. I had resolved to be a bit stupid in pursuit of my goal to run at least a mile every day this year but I wasn’t prepared to be stupid enough it seems.
    Friday was spent in bed. I eventually surfaced in the evening and as it was the last night I headed over to the bar for an hour or so. I was in bed by 10:30 though which is totally unlike me.
    Saturday was travel day and I was thankfully beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Swallowing was beginning to be feasible without huge discomfort.
    Sunday I could probably have run and would have if my streak was still intact but on this occasion I decided to give it a rest for one more day.
    Monday – 1.7 – I was feeling much better by this stage but still a bit weak and 1.7 was as much as I could do. Even though it has only been 4 days it’s almost like my body has forgotten how to run.
    Tuesday – 1.7 around marine lake. I slightly misjudged the tide and got a bit wet. I was definitely getting stronger and felt able for more but I was still feeling pretty stiff and un-coordinated. I’m doing a squat matrix and myrtle routine most days and this was helping with co-ordination.
    Wednesday – 4.5 – Time to lengthen it out a little so back onto the Wirral way and it went absolutely fine.
    Thursday – 7.7 – Felt great today, first time that I’ve been normal since I fell ill. This was done at a relatively quick 7:47 pace. I noticed that my posture has gotten pretty poor so something to keep working on
    Friday – 4.6 – Back to a normal pace and it feels like I’m back to normal.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    A quick clarification - the reason that I was guiding is because I was skiing with a group of blind skiers. It's a rare nice story coming out of the troubles in the north where 30 years ago the Army decided to do some community outreach by bringing a group of blind people skiing, half from the north and half from the south. The original funding has long since dried up and I think that only one of the people involved this year is actually in the army and many of the guides like me have never had anything to do with the army but the group grew and evolved to the stage where 32 people came this year with about 14 of them blind or partially sighted. This is the fourth time that I've gone on the trip and it's a great way to meet a very diverse bunch of characters.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    So I ran a race.

    Saturday 12th March - 1.7 - just a shakeout before tomorrow's race although I got a little more shaken than expected when a dog made a sharp turn into my path as I passed him causing me take a tumble, fortunately nothing more serious than a few scrapes although it certainly got the adrenalin flowing!

    Sunday 13th - Liverpool 10 mile road race

    This was a new event introduced as an add on to the Liverpool half marathon. The half was already full by the time I went looking but in truth a ten mile race suited me much better as I haven't done any longer runs and I could have a go at my PB which is probably my softest one at 69:40.

    I arrived in plenty of time and went searching for a car park only to discover that everyone else was parking on the very wide footpath along the docks. There was still plenty of space for wheelchairs etc. to pass so I joined the crowd and got changed in the car. I jogged down to the start and went looking for some pins. I had only warmed up for a mile or so but it felt like enough so I joined the queue for the toilets and did some standing Myrtl stuff while waiting. The queues took forever and when I eventually got out there was just 5 mins to the start. The ten mile race and the half were starting from the same place at the same time so with 5,000+ people there was a bit of a crowd. My plan was to take the first two steady using my HRM to hold me back and then to push on. I had envisaged joining the 1:30 pacers but that took a back seat to just getting as far forward as I can when I saw the congestion at the back. I jogged down as far as I could and hopped the barriers and made my way forwards. I had gotten as far as the 1:40 pacers when the countdown started which left me worried as I didn't want to head out at 8mm pace. I shouldn't have worried though as everyone took off like a bat out of hell and I was quickly doing 7mm pace around the outside including hurdling a dog which a spectator briefly lost control of.

    The course was described as flat with one hill which over the first few miles seemed a bit generous as it went up and down quite a lot. The first mile in particular was mostly uphill and the second mile included the hill. I did take a look at my HRM but I clearly hadn't wet it enough as the readings were higher than they should have been. According to my Garmin (which measured the course slightly short as it often does) Mile 1 came in at 7:08 and mile 2 at 7:28.

    For whatever reason I didn't get myself going here at mile 3 as planned. The course was still pretty undulating and there were a lot of people but I still should have put the foot down a bit more for what was more a downhill mile than anything else. My HRM was working by now and it says that I ran 6:42 but with a HR of 152 which is well below the 160 I was planning to limit myself to. I was still trundling along lacking focus during mile 4 when the turnaround point for the ten mile race was. I could see 7 runners heading back along the road who were ahead of me and it was like a jolt of electricity hit me. I decided that I was in 8th (9th when a runner just in front of me turned too) and my racing head came on. I went straight past the guy in front of me and set about chasing down the other 7. Mile 4 came in at 6:48 and 158.
    I quickly caught and passed 8th, 7th and 6th as I enjoyed the quietness at the front of a race.Mile 5 was my quickest of the race at 6:27 and 161 but I had stopped looking at my watch at this stage and was just racing the other runners.
    5th took a little longer to overhaul and then on a long straight I could see 4th, 3rd and 2nd stretched out ahead of me. Mile 6 came in at 6:51 and 160.
    4th was closing in on 3rd and took a while to catch and pass but I went by 3rd very shortly afterwards. I could still see 2nd ahead but had no sight of 1st.

    The course was pretty twisty with a few sharp turns and some diversions in and out of car parks. I was closing on 2nd slowly during mile 7 which came in at 6:43 and 162. Mile 8 was more of the same for 6:52 and 162. I still thought that I'd catch 2nd but hadn't seen first until we turned onto the seafront and I thought I could see two runners in the distance ahead whom I initially thought must not be part of the race but of course I wasn't in 3rd place which was confirmed to me by a marshal who told me that I was in 9th.

    I think that mentally I must have been a little disappointed to hear that I was in 9th as my edge went a little for a while with mile 9 coming in at 6:53 and 161. I was woken up again though by the winner of the half marathon coming past me accompanied by two cyclists. I sped up a little and set about catching the guy in front of me. I was passed by 3 more half marathon runners who were notable for how much smaller than me they are and just how still they hold their upper bodies. I'm back down to 81kg from the 86.5 I was after Christmas but there's still plenty of scope to improve on that.

    Coming towards the end I decided to use the finishing line as my friend. I knew that the other runner in the 10 mile race had also been passed by the half runners so I used the noise of the crowd so that he wouldn't hear me coming and went past him quickly enough to make him think that I was a half runner. Sure enough he didn't respond. The last mile was incomplete on Garmin but had me at 6:33 pace and 164 bpm. I had measured from the first timing mat to the last at 68:04 which was rounded down by the organisers to 68:00 chip time. The guy I passed coming up to the finish line had crossed the start line nearly a minute ahead of me so any feelings of guilt at my subterfuge were quickly washed away.

    I enjoyed the novelty of finishing a big city race near the front, watched the winners get their photos taken and was the first into the massage tent. I wasn't impressed by the massage at the time but given that the only places that don't hurt today were where they massaged it seems like they got it spot on.

    I did a couple of tired miles along the docks afterwards to warm down and came back to a text from the organisers telling me that I had finished in 68:00 for 7th place.

    68:00 is a 100 second PB which I'm happy with given the training that I've done. I'll hope to improve on that if I run another one this year but so far it's one race and one PB.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    Another long delay between posts signals nothing good in anybody's log!

    Monday 14th - Legs were pretty sore so just 1.7 miles to get things moving.
    Tuesday 15th - Legs still very sore so repeated yesterday
    Wednesday 16th - Very disappointed that the legs were still sore especially as although I did race it I didn't throw the kitchen sink at it. 1.8 miles at a slightly frisky pace.

    I started considering why my legs were still so sore and concluded that: it's not sore legs so much as sore quads that I have and I ran down the downhills in the race which puts a lot of stress on your quads. Add in that all of my training has been on the flat and that's a significant portion of the problem. I also haven't been running long in training so 10 miles at a good pace was always going to be pretty demanding. Finally there's an outside chance that the antibiotics had an impact. I don't really think so but it's a possibility.

    Thursday - 2.1 miles and the quads while still are finally showing signs of improvement.
    Friday - Sick again, back to the doctor, more antibiotics, more crawling under the duvet.
    Saturday - Thursday - No running. Back to my over-cautious self.

    Friday 25th March - 2.6 - feeling fine again
    Saturday 26th - 4.6
    Sunday 27th - 3.6
    Monday 28th - 4.5
    Tuesday 29th - 6.2 incl. 9*1min. I decided to re-establish my resting heart rate in the morning as I hadn't been monitoring it. It was a little higher than I expected at 39 but I put this down to the fitness that I've lost over the last few weeks. The aim was to run the 1 min segments at 5k pace effort and looking at the watch afterwards they came in at:
    6:17
    6:14
    6:17
    6:14
    6:36 (don't know what happened here)
    6:21
    6:12
    6:00
    5:56

    The last two were a bit quicker because I stopped trying to run quickly and instead tried to focus on good form. Overall the session felt a bit strange. I was quite uncoordinated but I just put it down to the lack of fast running.

    Wednesday 30th March - sick again - getting a bit annoyed with this but I started getting a high temperature again and various other signs of infection. I'm hoping that I've nipped it in the bud though and I'll be able to run again tomorrow.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,968 ✭✭✭aquinn


    Clearlier wrote: »

    Wednesday 30th March - sick again - getting a bit annoyed with this but I started getting a high temperature again and various other signs of infection. I'm hoping that I've nipped it in the bud though and I'll be able to run again tomorrow.

    I'm thinking maybe, maybe, one days rest isn't enough. If you've a high temperature today then a few days rest will be of more benefit and have you back on the road for longer.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    aquinn wrote: »
    I'm thinking maybe, maybe, one days rest isn't enough. If you've a high temperature today then a few days rest will be of more benefit and have you back on the road for longer.

    Thanks A, you're right and I will be cautious. I wasn't clear about it but the temperature actually happened last night. I was achey this morning but no temperature. If I have any symptoms tomorrow and/or my resting heart rate isn't a bit lower I'll give it another day or more if necessary. If I do run it'll be a short easy one.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    Nearly 4 weeks since my last update :(

    On reflecting on my last post and aquinn's timely comment added to a pretty high resting heart rate I decided to take a step back. For all that I didn't think that I should have been run down I clearly was. I have a few theories as to why but I'll not bore you with them.

    As sometimes happens the lack of running lead to a general stiffening up of my body and an old rugby injury flared up again which leads to all kinds of loss of spinal mobility. The first physio that I saw was a total waste of space but the second guy really knows his stuff (used to play football with John Aldridge at Tranmere) and really got to work on it yesterday.

    There's still a lot of work to do but I felt miles better this morning and did my first run in about a month. 1.4 miles at about 7:30 pace - it's a start!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    Fortunately another long gap between updates is not this time a reflection of nothing but bad news. I picked up a chest cold immediately after my last update which put me out for a week and have been rebuilding since.

    On my first day back I set out to do just 20 minutes. A couple of minutes into the run I stepped over a bumble bee that appeared to be walking across the trail and was reminded of the myth that bees shouldn't be able to fly. I considered it apt as I didn't feel like I should be able to run. But running I was and my body has started to loosen out as I've gotten out regularly and started to lengthen my runs. Weekly trips to the heavy fingered physio and the loss of a couple of kgs of the weight that I gained during my period of inactivity have helped too.

    I'm on a 2-1/2-2 schedule at the moment in an attempt to recover some of my fitness. The two runs that I've done with a HRM have me needing about 1150 heart beats per mile which is about 60 higher than when I ran the 10 mile race which was in turn about 40 higher than what I was hitting before I fell ill. So I've lost about 100 beats per mile which put me back more or less where I was at the start of the year.

    On the plus side it should come back to me more quickly than it took to gain it hence my schedule at the moment which aims to do successive longer runs followed by a very easy day or two depending upon how well I recover. I did 70 mins today and plan to do 90 tomorrow, then 80/100 and next week I'll probably slip into a more varied plan that I had hoped to start back in March.

    Overall I'm a little disappointed at just how much my fitness dipped but given that I did very little running for the best part of two months I shouldn't be terribly surprised.

    The week before last I ran 14.7 miles, last week I ran 35 miles and today I ran 8 miles. If things progress as they usually have done in the past I'll see a small improvement after about 3 weeks and a bigger one after about 6. By that stage I hope to more closely resemble a wasp than the bumble bee I felt like a couple of weeks ago.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    so i did the 70/90 then 2 easy days and 80/100 over the weekend. I had planned to do a little tempo/marathon pace in the 100 but was struggling to get going until a bunch of teenagers passed me in the opposite direction and almost immediately turned around. I upped the pace to try and keep ahead of them for a while. They were going a lot faster (6:15's I'd guess for the first guy) but were stopping so I did a bit of leapfrogging. End result was about 3 miles at about 7:20 pace albeit that the pace varied from about 6:40 to 8:40. Job done though as I'd got a little bit of faster running in. I ended up with 44.2 miles for the week.

    This week so far there was an easy run yesterday of about 25 mins and a small session today of 5*2 mins with 3 mins rest. Pace was a bit quick for the first one at 6:11 but I settled down and the rest were all coming in at a more appropriate 6:40 moving down to 6:30. The warm up and down plus a few strides and drills brought the total to 5.7 miles for the day. I felt a bit awkward but I expect that the paces will get a bit easier as I complete a couple more of these sessions.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    Well overdue an update again :o

    25th May was 6 miles in a bit less than 50 mins that included a bit of unplanned marathon pace as I experimented with a shorter stride.
    26th May was a more sedate 5.5 miles also in 50 mins
    27th May was my first hill session. These were very short hill sprints. I warmed up for a couple of miles out to a reasonably steep hill. A busy road which wasn't ideal but it worked. I ran the first one using my watch and from then on just ran from one point to where I ended the first one. It was quite a lot of fun to run fast uphill but I was a bit surprised to find that I had used up all of my fast twitch energy by the time of the last one as I could feel the muscles just not recruiting properly.
    28th May - 29 min recovery run
    29th May - 11.1 miles in 98 and a half minutes. 50 mins out and a bit quicker back

    39.6 miles for the week which with the addition of the two sessions for the week was exactly where I wanted it.

    Week beginning 30th May
    Monday - 28 min recovery run
    Tuesday - 5* 3 mins with first one too fast again (6:11, 6:39, 6:42, 6:31, 6:33)
    Wednesday - I ended up doing a hilly marathon pace effort type run today as my time was limited. 6 miles
    Thursday - Easy 6.4 miles
    Friday - Long hills - 8*30 seconds. I thought that I had cut this one short but looking at my garmin shows me I didn't so I must have miscounted. A really enjoyable session but my legs were feeling it towards the end.
    Saturday - easy 30 mins
    Sunday - 12 miles

    Current week
    Monday - recovery 20 mins. Legs were beginning to feel the accumulated fatigue
    Tuesday - 4* 4mins (6:33, 6:28, 6:37, 6:34). I wanted to try and make sure that the first rep wasn't too hard but I may have overdone it and I ended up with a session that's fine but a bit short of what I think that I should be hitting
    Wednesday - Ran an unplanned race today but the report will have to wait for tomorrow.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    So, shortly after my attempt at a speed session on Tuesday I logged onto the computer and discovered that there was a 5 mile road race taking place the following day a few miles down the road from me. Even if it was unplanned and the day after a speed session I felt that it would give me a reasonable marker as to where I am fitness wise.

    I arrived in plenty of time did a lunge matrix, myrtl and about a mile of jogging/striding to warm up. A bit short but I was conscious of not overdoing it given that I was still a little tired from the day before.

    The start was a bit funny. I lined up 4 or 5 rows back and there were a good few wondering when it was going to start when without warning somebody said in a none too loud voice "Ready" and simultaneously fired the starting gun. Took off at what felt like a reasonable pace but let plenty stream past me. A few hundred metres in I glanced at my Garmin which was showing 5:33 pace. I just assumed that it was off because it felt very comfortable but I eased off a little anyway, glanced again a minute later and it was saying 5:40 so decided to back off even if I was feeling grand and after about a half mile it had settled down to 6:12 pace. The first mile was a short loop and the easiest mile and it came in at 6:11.

    The rest of the race was over 3 longer loops and included a surprisingly steep hill. Surprising because it just didn't look steep but my pace and that of everyone around me slowed noticeably. I was aware here that I had gone out too fast and was feeling the burn so trying to manage that whilst maintaining a decent pace. Mile 2 came in at 6:46.

    I wasn't too worried at this stage as I felt that a PB (33:01) was still a posibility. The mile 3 marker came in at 2.91 on my garmin and here I made the classic error of assuming that my garmin was measuring the course short (as it often does) and that I was actually ahead of where the Garmin was telling me. On my garmin this came in at 6:40.

    I started getting a stitch at this point. The combination of that and the mile 3 marker lead me to slow down a little and do lots of belly breathing. The hill was just at the start of mile 4 and a glance at my watch showed 8:17 which illustrates it's impact. I picked up the pace on the downhill but this was the slowest mile of my race at 6:58.

    The mile 4 marker came in much closer to my garmin than mile 3 had which made me a bit concerned that I wasn't in fact ahead of where my garmin thought. The stitch had gone though and I worked hard up the hill and was starting to pass people. I focused on short strides and maintaining form. About a half mile from the finish I realised that the course needed to be short on my garmin if I was going to get a PB. I threw the kitchen sink at it but in the end I measured the course at 5.04 miles. The 5th mile was 6:34 with the .04 coming in at 4:45 pace as I passed people all the way down the finishing straight.

    Official times haven't been published yet and the actual finish line wasn't entirely obvious but I stopped the clock at 33:21 which left me 20 seconds off my PB. My initial reaction was one of disappointment firstly because I was so close to my PB and secondly because I had made that error with the mile 3 marker but on reflection given that it was the day after a session and it was pretty warm I'm reasonably happy with it. It suggests that I'm almost back at the level of fitness that I had before I fell ill and if I can keep training away there's another 5 mile race in Liverpool in the middle of July which I should be able to PB at. It's also telling me that my speed sessions are a touch slow but not that far off where they should be.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,454 ✭✭✭Clearlier


    So I felt fine if a little tired after the race. I let the following day get away from me though and ended up as a day off.
    Friday was 3 easy
    Saturday was 5 easy.
    Sunday I started to realise that a hip niggle was beginning to get to me. I'd had it for a week or 10 days at that stage following a slightly over aggressive stretching session and it was typically bothersome for the first mile or so and then would settle down but it started annoying me just walking around the house.

    I took the Sunday and the Monday off trying to work out what was causing it. Experimenting going up and down stairs I started to realise that I wasn't using my glutes and was overstriding on my right side again.
    Tuesday - 5 niggle free miles on a new route put the spring back in my step.
    Wednesday - 6 easy
    Thursday - 6.8 easy
    Friday - 2.7 incl. 6 hill sprints. A double sports day at school limited my time for this and I only took 2 instead of the recommended 4 minutes rest between reps. Reasonable effort nonetheless.
    Saturday - My wife is away in Galway at the moment but we were going to my in-laws uncle's 95th birthday party and the in-laws kindly suggested that I head over early and they'd look after the boys while I went for a run :). 5.2 miles in 45 mins.

    So, last week ended up at just 21.3 miles but my hip is 90% ok now so I'm hopeful that I've managed to avoid any serious problems and I'm already at 26.2 for this week. Back into the 40's next week and continuing with 2 sessions a week is the plan.


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