Cyclists Marathon Plan: ADVICE WELCOME!!!

dave_o_brien

The Black Oil wrote: »

Football - are you winning? :cool:

Last night was the end of a 4 match winning streak. Devastating...

dave_o_brien

Week 12 Roundup:

Monday: Football (hammered...)
Tuesday: 41min17 run.
Wednesday: 12 min warm up, 4 x 20 sec high tempo with 2min10 recivery between, (2 min easy, 2 min tempo, 2 min threshold) x 3, 12 min cool down.
Thursday: 37min recovery run.
Friday: I had a burger.
Saturday: 135km cycle.
Sunday: 27min run.

Finding recovery is easier and the workload on the Wednesday run's is increasing... I've the Great Ireland 10km this weekend to look forward to now, looking forward to it!

dave_o_brien

Week 13 roundup:

Monday: football
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 44 min with strides
Thursday: 42mins easy
Friday: 45 mins - 35 steady and 10 quicker at the end
Saturday: 25 mins super easy
Sunday: Great Ireland 10km - 51.28

So it was all going so well until Saturday. I'm the best man at my coaches wedding later this year (her future husband is my best mate), and we went suit shopping on Saturday. After that we all met up and went for a lovely meal, with wine and beer flowing. Was great craic. Endorsed by my coach. Nay, encouraged by my coach.

Needless to say, I was a bit worse for wear Sunday for the 10k. I felt grand until I started warming up, but immediately felt tightness in my left leg generally. Was cramping for the first 7km, and got through the 8km mark at just over 42mins, but starting to feel better. Was picking the pace up, and felt much better finishing than I did starting it.

A shame, but still. Worth it. They're a great couple, and really a 10k vs the Saturday with them? No difficult choice.

dave_o_brien

Week 14 roundup:

Monday: football
Tuesday: Some weights, some kettle bells
Wednesday: Physio
Thursday: rest
Friday: 38min easy run
Saturday: 35min easy run
Sunday: 20mins easy run and 20mins stretching.

Easy week after the heavy last few weeks. The physio and good long stretch over the weekend were needed! In general this week I felt tired and stiff. Went for a run yesterday and feel much better for the relative rest this week. The plan is to start increasing the length of my weekend runs from here on.

dave_o_brien

Week 15 roundup:

Monday: 30 minutes, 10 easy, 10 steady, 10 easy
Tuesday: 10 min warm up, 4 x strides, 6 x hills (from the dropping well up to towards Rathmines, each effort done as hard as can be maintained for the duration of the hill), 12 min cool down. About 45mins total.
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 45 mins easy
Friday: 45 mins easy, 4 x strides
Saturday: 13min warm up, 2 x strides, 3 x 1km efforts with 3.5 min recovery between, (1 min easy 1 min medium 1 min hard) x 3, loads of stretching.
Sunday: 60mins easy.

Tuesday and Saturday were especially tough... I have to say that on Tuesday, I felt good. Legs felt loose, and felt like I was running well. While the last 2 hills required me to dig in, I had the ability to keep the effort levels consistent. I did the Saturday with my coach who reckoned I had sub 4 min km efforts in me, identifying 3.50 as a target. I've never ran that fast before, and was hugely sceptical, but she's the boss. I said that she was to set the pace and I would go as hard as I could until I couldn't do anything. Amazingly, I managed 3.53, 3.50 and 3.55. It was horrible, but I did it! The legs yesterday felt ok too. Took a few minutes to settle in to it, and took it very handy, but felt fresh enough finishing that I easily had plenty more running in me.

Today, however, is a sore day! The DOMS are real! My hip is sore, my calves are tight, my neck is stiff! Fortunately, today is a day off. Back on the road tomorrow!

dave_o_brien

Week 16 roundup:

Holy crap. I've been doing this for 4 months...

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 45 mins and 4 strides to finish
Wednesday: 12 min warm-up, 4 strides, 4min hard, 4 min easy, 3 min hard, 3 min easy, 2 min hard, 2 min easy, 12 min cool down.
Thursday: 40mins easy:
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Marlay Park Run (24.23) plus a warm up and cool down of approx 10min either side.
Sunday: 65mins easy

Started the week with a monstrous pain in my hip that made walking painful, but weirdly felt absolutely fine once I got through the first few minutes of running every time. I've been focusing on stretching it out more and it seems to have subsided a good bit... The Wednesday work out was tough, I really tried to push myself after doing the efforts last weekend better than I expected. Tried to hold an uncomfortably high pace throughout all of them; not sprinting, but definitely above my comfort barrier. The parkrun was great fun, but less of a resounding success; didn't sleep great the night before, and while I ran solidly, I was hoping to be sub-24. Still, happy enough. The 65min run on Sunday was fine, and felt like I could have comfortably done another 30mins at the effort level I went at without trouble.

dave_o_brien

Week 17 roundup:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Football
Wednesday: 12min warm up, 4 x strides, 5 mins hard, 3 mins easy, 5 mins hard, 3 mins easy, 2 mins hard, 2 mins easy, 12 min cool down.
Thursday: 40mins easy
Friday: 25mins easy
Saturday: 10min warm up, 2 x strides, 4 x kilometre repeats at 4min/km, 10 min cool down, 4 x strides.
Sunday: 70mins easy (8 miles almost exactly)

All of the fast efforts this week were horrific. I felt like I had no speed whatsoever. All of the easy runs felt very comfortable, and I feel like the strength the speed work is giving me is really going to stand to me, but every time I tried to pick up the pace this week I felt empty. In addition to that, a sock mishap gave me pretty serious blisters this week and running in an old pair of runners gave me a bit of tightness in my achilles. All in all, an extremely mixed week. Saved by yesterday's long run through Dublin in glorious weather.

I'm off to Geneva this week, so training will be curtailed somewhat. Such is life...

dave_o_brien

Week 18 roundup:

Some personal difficulties combined with the trip to Geneva meant all I got done was 2 90min runs in Switzerland. Both went fine, but were very easy.

The ongoing personal issues mean this week will also be curtailed. I hope to be back into a routine in the next couple of weeks, as much to distract me as anything.

dave_o_brien

Mid-week update: Used my new Adidas Ultra Boost ST shoes last night for a 40min run. Amazingly comfortable... Feel so smooth compared to the Mizuno's I've been using.

The Black Oil

dave_o_brien wrote: »

Week 16 roundup:

Holy crap. I've been doing this for 4 months...

It flies it, doesn't it?

What's your focus for the summer?

dave_o_brien

I've the Frank Duffy 10 mile in August and the half marathon in September, but will likely pick one or two additional races to get used to the event side of things.

Week 19 round-up:

A bit of a hangover from last week with some personal issues taking priority over the running.

I managed 2 x 45 min midweek runs, 1 physio session and a 90min run yesterday covering approx. 17km. I hope that this weeks sees the reestablishment of something resembling a better structure. Football tonight, and let's see.

In terms of how I feel the running is going, I felt very comfortable on the 90min run, definitely had an extra 30mins in me provided I kept the pace controlled. New runners are a dream, delighted with them.

dave_o_brien

Week 20 roundup:

Monday: Football
Tuesday: 50 min easy, 4 x strides to finish
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: uh oh...

I left to do a hill repeat work out. I got 10 mins up the road uncomfortable, feeling stiff but assuming I'd warm up ok when I felt a sharp pain up my left leg. I stopped and stretched a bit and started jogging slowly after a couple of minutes, but no, really painful. Felt like I was hobbling. I went home and stretched fully with a load of foam rolling.

Friday: I limped to work. This isn't a tightness, it's an injury.

Saturday and Sunday were off.

Physio planned this evening to evaluate what's gone wrong, but still uncomfortable walking too fast.

Injuries suck.

dave_o_brien

Week 21 roundup:

Very little to report!

Rested from Monday to Wednesday and got some physio. Light run on Thursday for 25mins followed by a stag weekend. The stag included 1hr of zorb football, which was exhausting.

Bit of a write off...

The last few weeks have been disappointing, and with 2 more stags between now and the end of July, the structure is going to be a bit choppy. I will be focussing on getting a few good quality sessions this week to get things back on track.

dave_o_brien

Week 22 roundup:

Monday: Nothing
Tuesday: Stretched and did some strength work
Wednesday: Easy 35min run
Thursday: Warm up, hill repeates (7 of), cool down
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: Some yoga and weights
Sunday: 1hr run. Was meant to be longer but I got a bad headache (dehydration I think...)

Hip felt better, but appreciate the need to build more strength and functionality work into my routine. I can't rely on running for everything!

dave_o_brien

MAJOR STUMBLING BLOCK HIT:

I broke my ankle playing football last night. Hmm. Just what I needed...

Neady83

dave_o_brien wrote: »

MAJOR STUMBLING BLOCK HIT:

I broke my ankle playing football last night. Hmm. Just what I needed...

Oh man, really sorry to hear that. Disaster. Do you need surgery on it?

The Black Oil

Sorry to hear that, Dave.

Gavlor

dave_o_brien wrote: »

MAJOR STUMBLING BLOCK HIT:

I broke my ankle playing football last night. Hmm. Just what I needed...

Nitemare

Annie get your Run

Damn that's terrible news, sorry to hear it too.

dave_o_brien

Neady83 wrote: »

Oh man, really sorry to hear that. Disaster. Do you need surgery on it?

Don't know yet; meet the consultant next week. Instinct says no, it's a clean chip of a piece of my cuboid. Will keep people posted.

Thanks for the well wishes though to everyone!

My plan is to still do the marathon. I might need to revise the time goals, and accept the limitations of my training when recovering, but I'm doing the marathon if I have to crawl the damn thing.

I CANNOT LOSE THAT BET TO MY BROTHER.

While injured, I intend on doing lots of core stuff, yoga and as much cycling as I can get away with to keep the engine running. I also plan on continuing to walk to work (on crutches, well.. a crutch and a spaceboot) to stop my leg from completely atrophying. Obviously my ankle will be stabilised so am going to lose muscle strength in my calf. I'll be working on recovering that asap.

dave_o_brien

So update: I've managed to get a few cycles of a couple of hours each over the last few weeks. It's been better than nothing, but twisting my foot to release my shoes from my Look Keo's has been a bit sore. The spaceboot is off now, and there's still pain on the outside of my ankle and rotating it hurts, but it's far, far better. I plan on starting running this week, 10mins at a time and only what I can do pain free. Will be gradually building to get back to decent runs in the next few weeks. Time goals for the marathon have been heavily revised downwards, but sure finishing it is a win now!

dave_o_brien

1st week back:

Tuesday: 25 min run. I tested 2 x 1km at upper level tempo pace of 4.20ish. Was a struggle!

Thursday: 20 min easy run.

Sunday: 20 min easy run.

Ankle feels ok; fine on flats, but mobility and articulation is an issue. Uneven surfaces are sore... The muscles in both my calf and foot are noticeably atrophied, so additional functional work like one-legged squats and calf rises are underway.

Felt really good to get back out running!

RacoonQueen

Good to see you back at it. Ankles are a bit of a bastard because of the range of motion it has...so many options for pain. Would you consider pushing out your marathon to another one later in the year?

dave_o_brien

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Good to see you back at it. Ankles are a bit of a bastard because of the range of motion it has...so many options for pain. Would you consider pushing out your marathon to another one later in the year?

I am quite the stubborn sort... I've signed up, made my bet with my brother, and mentally committed. I know the smart thing would be to hold off and give myself an additional 6 weeks or so, but I'm in, y'know?!

dave_o_brien

I've read through the charter and have a noob question: I've decided to do the marathon for a charity (Focus Ireland); am I allowed post a link to the fundraising webpage for anyone here who might want to contribute, or is that deemed promoting an event?

dave_o_brien

2nd Week Back:

Tuesday: 26min easy
Wednesday: 36min 43sec easy run home from work with an extremely indirect route
Thursday: 27min run to work including a few laps of Merrion Square
Sunday: 43min57sec mostly easy, with 3 laps of grosvenor park: 1 x really easy, 1 x steady and 1 x tempo.

On the whole, my recovering foot is weak and stiff, calf is understrengthed but generally going fine. Feel like I had a good bit left last night, but I have lost a packet of speed...

dave_o_brien

I believe that linking a charity page is not in contravention of the charter, as I am not linking to a commercial event. If this is not the case, mods, I am happy to remove this link, and apologise if I have misunderstood the charter.

I am running the marathon in aid of Focus Ireland. Focus helps people at risk of or affected by homelessness. It will come as no surprise that this is a massive issue facing Irish society, and for all the tales of some kind of Celtic Phoenix and increased construction in Ireland, it is continuing to grow. I won't use this to get too political, however it goes without saying that any help would be massively appreciated.

https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/11365880_david-o-brien-s-focus-ireland-marathon.html

Thanks to everyone in advance.

RacoonQueen

Yes, fine with me to link one you don't spam it!

dave_o_brien

Random unsubstantiated hypothesis:

Dry needling only makes you feel better because of the two days of agony it causes. Once you're back to the same condition you were in before hand, it seems like bliss in comparison to the days of cramping, bruising and discomfort.

dave_o_brien

Weekly round-up:

First decent week in ages, and even then decent is a comparative term.

2 x 30min midweek runs and a 40mins weekend run. Everything felt fine again, which is a relief.

I also had a bout of dry-needling, which is a peculiar form of torture. I think it has helped by foot loosen up a bit though... More of that this week!

Scheduled for 5 runs including work outs this week. I no longer have time to be anything but disciplined. Except those 2 weddings I have to go to...