Running Blob

positron

No, that's not a typo.

My story so far isn't all that exciting. 40 yead old. Sedentary desk job, very long commute, love food, especially anything sweet etc. I have been overweight for at least a decade. Also have a bad back (herniated disk) that causes a lot of pain - my desk-bound Software Engineer job doesn't help.

Some three years ago my back popped and seized up completely, and I finally went to a physio friend, and he casually asked me to start saving for a wheelchair. :eek: That was the trigger I needed. I started walking - I couldn't walk far initially - but over the months / years I started walking 5-10 kms semi-regularly.

Earlier this year I started C25K. Everything started hurting immediately. Back, knee, shin, left ankle (old injury)! Took couple of weeks off and tried again. Finally finished C25K in June; running 5k non-stop was such a big deal for me. And I was getting hooked on that post-run sense of achievement. So I started running Parkruns (Oldbridge mostly) around 33 mins to 5k... and over the weeks it has slightly improved to just over 29 mins. I also ran a 10k which was another serious morale booster for me.

I doubt if I would have anything useful for anyone out there as I am coming from such a bad situation - but I will write down my goals / struggles here anyway, even if it's just for me to look back and re-live them.

5k: 29m 04s
10k: 63m 37s

Goal 1: Sub 25m 5k.
Goal 2: Half Marathon finish.

The Muppet

Congratulation on your progress so far and the best of luck with the log, Having a log is definitely a huge bonus, there are lots of knowledgeable people here only too willing to help with advice etc.

Ososlo

Excellent progress so far and well done for getting started. I will be following with interest and looking forward to seeing how you go.
Good luck!

gypsylee

Best of luck with your log. I have gotten great advice from the runners here and no doubt you will too.

Well done on your times so far.

positron

Thank you for the encouraging comments.

I did Roissin Rover's 5k Heritage run around Newgrange Stone Age passage tomb last Sunday. Beautiful part of the world - I would love if I could live in a little hut by the river somewhere there (with internet of course). I was hoping to do it in under 30m, as I had already done that the day before at Oldbridge.. but I didn't anticipate the hills.. and long downhills.. sore thighs.. and a finishing time of 30m 20s.. although I don't think they factored in the time it took me to get to the start when the race started.. Anyway it's a 30m 5k in my mind. Cool t-shirt, and to run taking in all that fresh air and around something that's been there for thousands of years... Bliss.

So far I have been a morning runner - out first thing in the morning, shower, breakfast and off to work. I couldn't run yesterday morning as I had other stuff to do - so I tried to have a go at this 'evening running'. I also needed a decision on if I should run the Dublin Half Marathon, so I said alright, go out and do another 10k and then decide based on that. I struggled the first 5k even though it was mostly downhill. Perhaps the evening running, with all that traffic, is not for me after all? But at the far end I took a 60 second break, stretched and set off back home. I am embarrassed to say this but kept my mind busy fantasizing about amazing stuff I am going to do at work (and here I am on boards ).. and that really helped. I ran the second 5k uphill, perhaps slightly slower, but absolutely no hassle and enjoyed it too - so yeah, running is as mental as it is physical. I now firmly believe that if you can train your mind, you can run better or longer. Anyway, 10k done in around over 70 minutes. Got home to news that Dublin Half Marathon is sold out. Oh well, that's decided then. I guess I can focus on more 10k runs for now. And perhaps focus on speed. When I say speed... this is "speed"

gramar

positron wrote: »

I doubt if I would have anything useful for anyone out there as I am coming from such a bad situation - but I will write down my goals / struggles here anyway, even if it's just for me to look back and re-live them.

You blog will be useful for plenty of people. There are runners out there of all sorts of abilities and the great thing about it is the sense of achievement as you progress no matter level you're at. You're a great example to anyone starting off or anyone having to overcome a bit of adversity.

I'm envious reading your mention of the Newgrange run. Had wanted to do it but couldn't make it last weekend. Twice as sorry now I didn't!

positron

Since I started this log, it seems I've been running even less. Lets see my list of excuses - work, rain.. yeah rain, work, laziness too. Mostly laziness.

Couple of 5k runs. Last one was this morning - 5k around 30 minutes again (running without phone or watch). Sometimes I bring my 5 year old daughter out on the bike with me - she stays close enough on the footpath and mostly out of the way of other footpath users.. mostly - she has only getting started on pedal bikes and she's really too young to go on the road with cars. On the plus side we get to do a lot of makey-uppy races "race you to next lamp post" type thing where I usually give it all I got but she wins anyway. "fartlek" of sorts I suppose, while getting her more and more into biking (and hopefully away from her asthma). This however seems to have some positive effect on my "default" running speed, you know the one where you are just running comfortably.

Anyway, this Parkrun and upcoming Grant Thornton corporate challenge 5k (Dublin Docklands) will set me straight on if I have any false notions about my "improvements". Fingers crossed!

Younganne

Welcome to the training logs, congrats on the progress so far. Keep it going.
I find the log is a great inspiration for the "lazy " days, as at the beginning, for me personally when i felt lazy, i just thought of what i would say on my log and it kept me motivated.

Maximus Alexander

Younganne wrote: »

Welcome to the training logs, congrats on the progress so far. Keep it going.
I find the log is a great inspiration for the "lazy " days, as at the beginning, for me personally when i felt lazy, i just thought of what i would say on my log and it kept me motivated.

Yeah it's great. Even a year on and in marathon training when I have those days where I just don't feel like it and want to drop the last mile and go home I think "Ah but then I'd have to explain that on my log..."

positron

Just finished SOSAD 5k in Drogheda, and thought I would write down my thoughts before I forget (Friday night after all, I am planning to kill some brain cells).

Mrs and kids dropped me off at the race with just 15 mins to start, dash to register and straight out to the starting area where they had kicked off the warm up routine. Good crowd, great friendly atmosphere and overall a very positive vibe. Couple of quick showers didn't dampen the spirits and the sun came out as we started off with a personal target of 28 minutes.

Knowing Rossin Rovers 5k didn't factor in the time it took to get to the start mat, I was kinda stayed close to the front of the pack, and I think I got that right this time - because once we started I overtook about a dozen runners, and were overtaken by perhaps five. Not bad. Route was very good, and very well marshaled (should be too, we were running on busy roads). Around 2km mark, quick turn around inside IDA business park and with the wind nicely behind and pushing runners up the tiny tiny elevation towards HomeStore/Renualt/Tesco/Flogas - up to this point I was going good and strong and then gpa started increasing with the pack of girls that I was running behind (they clearly were very good, they were chatting all the way as if this is a walk in the park), just when I was starting to get really tired, route turned down hill towards Lidl, so I kept going and then a quick turn left for some 200 meters against wind, and then I gave it all for the last 500 meters or so. It felt like a good strong run - and the clock said... cue the drumroll... 26m 30s!!

26m 30s!! That's full 90 seconds quicker than what I wanted to do. That's 2m 15s better than my last PB.

Bummer though, Titan Results site says my race results as N/A. I guess that means the chip didn't read? Haven't had this misfortune in all of the TWO timed runs I've ever done. Oh well, at least I kept an eye on the clock as I went thru it. And possibly it could even be below 26:30 given where I started, but I don't care. It's way quicker than I have ever been.

At this stage I was still 5k away from home. So I jogged back slowly and got home just in time to tuck kids into bed. Good day. Good run. And a good charity. I wish them the very best!

Now, on to more important matters...

Ososlo

Excellent! Congrats! Pity you don't have an official time, but as you say, you've knocked a huge chunk off the pb and that's all that matters!

Enjoy the well deserved drinks!

positron

Did the Grant Thornton Corporate Challenge there a few hours ago. I have never seen so many fit people in one place before!!

With some 5000 runners, it was as crowded as a suburban train in Mumbai - yet bag drop off / pick up, waves, food, music everything worked pretty smoothly - fair play to the organizers. I was in the 25-30 minute third wave, which in itself was probably 2000 strong. They had a wave within wave that made sure that not all 2000 were trying to jostle for space at the same time. Yet there were plenty of walkers, slow-starters, wrong-groupers etc etc right from the start - first kilometer was all about dodging people, squeezing past sideways thru gaps etc. It didn't really improve further down either - I kept overtaking and slipping past folks for about 3 kms and then ran out of steam and then got overtaken by couple of dozen people in next km or so. Last KM was a struggle - legs felt heavy and it was hard work - and didn't have kick left to finish in style either.

But.. I don't mind any of that because I got a shiny new PB for 5k: 26m 16s!!

The Muppet

Congrats on the pb , sounds like congestion cost you some time too .

positron

I really don't have much to update, other than I am still jogging, and Mrs P is catching up (W6 of C25K).

Still sticking to the three runs per week format, and the last run of the week - Saturday - is my long slow run. Saturday also being Parkrun day, I have to fit it around the Parkrun. When I finished C25k and started increasing the distance on Saturday runs, I started running back from Parkrun to kids playground, library etc (various pickup points), and then lately I have been doing Parkrun + 7k run back home. Last week I volunteered at local parkrun, so, I ran 7k to Parkrun + 4k back to library (Summer Stars medal thingee for kids). I guess next couple of weeks, my long run would be 7k to Parkrun + Parkrun + 7k back home... although I can imagine the last leg of is going to be a crawl / walk. I wonder if it can still be technically considered as "one long run", but this just suits me better.

So current plan for the week is one really fast short run (5k speed, about 5k distance), one 6-8k run of 'mixed' effort, and one long run as above. Fingers crossed for winter.

With DCM 2016 preparation and posts in full swing, I am starting to get this totally crazy idea to try and work towards DCM 2017. Ah, dreams will keep me going.. at least until I wake up.

The Muppet

The run to parkrun and back can be classed as a long run . Did that today myself as part of a long run . Some runners stop at shops and stop to eat during their long runs .

positron

Still running.. occasionally.

Over the last two months, I somehow managed to improve my parkrun PB by a couple of minutes to around 27 minutes, and then I went away on holidays to hot & humid tropical Kerala (India). Giving body time to get used to the 30 degree + humidity, I only got a couple of good runs there, longest was about 12 kms, at a very leisurely pace (Actually I was tracing the route my grand father would have taken from our ancestral home to the ancestral temple where he was tax collecting for the local rulers, although only to find out that while it was 12 kms by paved road, I was later told that back in the day grandad would have been walking thru cutting across paddy fields etc and sure enough, looking at the GPS, it's only about 3-4 kms as crow flies.. Oh well).

Anyhoo, mentally preparing myself for my ultimate dream next October, won't mention it as I don't want to jinx it, but for now, I am kicking off a half marathon traning plan that I found on Garmin Connect. Targets for next six months are to have my 5k under 25minutes, 10k under 55 minutes and to be able to run a half marathon all the way, no walking.

Fingers crossed.

ariana`

Good luck with your plan and your goals. I only started my 1st plan recently, it helps a lot, it's a crappy feeling drawing a big red X through a session on the plan that i didn't complete :eek:

positron

You were absolutely right ariana, I didn't do anything towards the half marathon plan this week!

I did my Parkrun today, first one after a month of being away, and while I got a shiny new PB, it's only by seconds - I am still around the really slow 27:30 mark. I think I should be honest to myself about my limits and aim lower perhaps. DCM or even half might be a stretch too far perhaps... Yeah, you can probably tell, I am bit lost about what I should realistically aim for in the next 12 months or so. Perhaps I should train for a 10k first and see how it goes. And may be join a gym and focus on core strength (which is seriously lacking at the moment). I probably should also go to a physio and get my left inside ankle checked out - it's sore to touch no matter how many days it's been since last run.

Hmmm... "to be continued" I suppose.

Maximus Alexander

There's no reason to sell yourself short at all, nor 'aim low' as you put it. If you want to target a half or even the big one in Dublin next year you absolutely can do it. Look how far you've already come; I'd argue the gap to those targets is smaller than the steps you've already taken.

What it will require though is a commitment to being pretty serious about getting your mileage in. You've plenty of time to build gradually, but you need to be pretty firm with yourself and brook no excuses.

And yes, using shorter distances as stepping stones is a great idea. Train for a 10k, then a 10 mile or half, and then finally the marathon if that's what you want.

positron

I have been a sitting blob thru the holiday season and but I did go back to it couple of weeks ago Oldbridge parkrun - 31:xx minutes - back to where I started.

I am back to 3 runs per week in last few weeks, and last Saturday I scored my shiny new Parkrun PB of 26m 36s (although it wasn't made official as I had no barcode with me). My 25m goal looks probable, and fingers crossed I can do it during Boyne10k (April 30th). I have booked myself into the 'Over 55m' category but I am hoping to try and stay ahead of the 55m pacer the whole way.

positron

Still running 3 days a week when possible, trying to up the weekly mileage with Boyne10k in mind, and that resulted in a new Parkrun PB - 25m38s, first time getting into <26m territory (previous PB was around 26:xx at Grant Thornton Run).

Boyne10k under 55 mins would be dream come true, but I would be happy to finish under 60 minutes.

positron

positron wrote: »

Boyne10k under 55 mins would be dream come true, but I would be happy to finish under 60 minutes.

Well well well, so dreams do come true, once in a while!

I am on week three of a slightly modified (stretched out to match my laziness) Hal Higdon novice 1 plan. I was in Benalmadena/Malaga for Week 1, which meant constantly running up and down hills. Back in Drogheda, did 15k for Week 2 LSR partly because I wanted to try out the Boyne 10k route and mostly because I felt guilty for missing the Parkrun for a completely unnecessary hangover. Week 3 LSR was adjusted to today, Boyne 10k race.

Boyne 10k is fantastic race - the organisation and support is amazing, route is beautiful and challenging enough, but the finish area is spectacular - thousands of people cheering, music - the full works. Great t-shirt too.

In the end, it all came together today and I am genuinely pleased with my shiny new PB (54m 34s) - even if that's really slow by every measure. It's still over 9 minutes better than my last and my first ever 10k run from last August. So I am more than delighted with this.

Fingal 10k next. To infinity next 10k and beyond..!!

gypsylee

Well done on a great 10 km race and a PB to boot. You have every reason to be delighted.

positron

I signed up to DCM 2017 novices thread and it's as if I have decided that's enough hardwork, I missed two runs this week (out of four)!!

This weeks LSR was today - Parkrun + getting home (7km), which went well over all I think. Missed 25 minutes target by 4 seconds at Parkrun. Hitting 5k under 25m is one of my Goals when I started this thread last November, and now it looks very achievable. Happy out.

positron

Just to keep this from falling into that scattered underworld of "dead but not gone" electrons disperesed across the least accessed platters of the oldest disk in the dustiest rack at the back of the datacenter...

DCM training in on. Fingal 10k improved my 10k PB by a 20 second or so, but still firmly in the 54m territory. As soon as I started DCM training, I got distracted and got unusually interested in cycling. It's as if my best chance of doing DCM is to sign up to some cycling challenge - then I will be sufficiently distracted enough to actually do some running. Anyway, my summer break was spent cycling Drogheda-Donegal, wandering around Inishowen, and back from Donegal-Drogheda. With that many hours on the saddle, I have temporarily put that to rest, and back to running again, which was just in time for as LSRs are starting to get longer and longer in the DCM training plan (HHN1). So far I have done couple of half marathon long LSR sessions in around 2h20m - 2h30m region.

Frank Duffy 10m was last weekend - new 10m PB of 1h32m (1h31m according to Garmin, but sure that's not saying much). I have a half-marathon or more to run as training almost every week between now and DCM. Fingers crossed ankle, knee, quads, hamstrings all behave and I pull thru uninjured. I am getting crazy headaches after sessions like Fingal 10k or Frank Duffy 10m - which I am putting down to dehydration for now - planning to everything to rehydrate myself during and after the upcoming Half Marathon.

Keep jogging!

aquinn

Hey,

Hydration is extremely important, nutrition too.

Dialorite on race day I find great, blackcurrant.

Best of luck with DCM training. Stick with the running and right to ease off on the cycling as it's leg miles that will get you around on the day.

positron

Oh dear, what a sad thread!

Updates:

Dublin Half Marathon: 2h 7m 04s
Dublin Marathon 2017: 4h 55m 27s.

Okay, so the times are not amazing, but A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.. to me!

Top of this thread these were my targets:

Goal 1: Sub 25m 5k.
Goal 2: Half Marathon finish.

All done and dusted. Thanks to the wonderful DCM novice thread by Wubble, and the novices! In the process (not limited to but also due to running) I lost over a stone in weight (95 kg to 86 kg), and I feel better, and my lower back hasn't given me any trouble in months. Sh1ttiest days at work still stresses me out, but I feel I would have handled these days a lot poorly a few years ago. I am very happy.

New time targets:

Goal 1: Sub 23m 5k.
Goal 2: Sub 50m 10k.
Goal 3: Sub 2h half marathon.
Goal 4: Sub 4h 30m marathon.

and a sub 84 kg me.

gypsylee

Well done on running your first DCM. Great result.

Best of luck with your new targets, you will nail them!