That feeling is back

MongoNet

First off a massive thank you to everyone contributing to this forum, I’ve learnt so much from reading here and I’ve no doubt I’ll continue to learn from this forum as long as I keep running. So hopefully forever


Background
I used to run a lot during my early teens but unfortunately, I just stopped doing it. A few years ago I started again and got about half way through the couch to 5K when I was asked to play in a local 7 a side game and once again running just kind of fell by the wayside. I did a few charity runs during this time and saw nice progression in my times and stamina but always knew I wanted to come back to running eventually. I stopped playing football just over a year ago and after enjoying being lazy for a while again decided I needed to get into the routine of running again so I signed up for the local winter running league.

Waterford Winter Running League
A weekly run for 12 weeks (5k and 5 mile options) should be a good way to try get back in the habit but I knew starting I’d never make all 12 weeks given Christmas is just too busy a time in work for me and my schedule can be a bit all over the place. I originally signed up for the 5 mile option but decided on opening night to stick to 5k.
5k times for weeks I ran:
Week 1 – 24:51
Week 2 – 21:53
Week 3 – 20:50
Week 5 – 20:57
Week 9 – 21:54
Week 11 – 21:24
Week 12 – 20:01
While I enjoyed the first half of the league, it was so tough to motivate myself to go back after the Christmas break but I am so glad I did. Those last three weeks were when something just clicked and all of a sudden I wanted to fit a run into every day again. 20 years later that feeling is finally back.


What next
Within a week of finishing the Winter League I had signed up for the Waterford Viking Half-Marathon at the end of June and the full Dublin Marathon in October and began trying to work runs into more days of my week. I know it’ll be a long road ahead but I’m looking forward to all of it.


To be continued…

MongoNet

February
I won’t spend too much time on this as I am now following a training plan from Runcoach that started on 1st March but the aim was to get out running more days a week and in that aim I succeeded. I managed to work in 2 short runs during the week and 1 longer run on Sundays. I also registered for the Castleconnell 10k taking place on March 11th as I really wanted to test myself in a 10k race.

March 1st-4th
Training Week 1
Storm Emma didn’t really help me get off to a good start on this. It did give me time to do plenty of reading here ).

March 5th-11th
Week 2
Still worried about ice I skipped the Monday run.


Tuesday
Plan: 6k with speed intervals
Actual: as I still wanted to test the roads I went for an easy run instead. 3.54km in 17:56

Wednesday – 30 minutes cross-training

Thursday
Plan: 5k easy run
Actual: 6.08km in 32:01

Friday – Rest

Saturday
Plan – 3k Easy Run
Actual – 4.06km in 18:37
Had to get out very early for this one as I was leaving straight after for a stag party in Galway. Managed to stick to my plan of behaving myself and didn’t drink too much and headed off to bed at midnight. Up early the next morning and off to Limerick for the Castleconnell 10k.


Sunday – Castleconnell 10k race
Had no idea what time to expect from this and my best time in a training run was 49:34 so decided I would be delighted with a sub 45 minute or to even come close to it. Had studied the course layout beforehand and was prepared for the very hilly route (or so I thought).


Start – 2k
Got stuck a good bit back at the start so the start was a nightmare trying to overtake to find space to run at my pace. Finally got this around the 0.5k mark. Kept working my way up the field and enjoying the flat start for the first 2k.


2k-5k
Then once over the footbridge the hills start. From then until the 5k mark seemed to be constantly uphill and so tough but I powered through doing plenty of overtaking on the way. Actually went too fast here and registered my joint fastest split of the race between the 3 and 4k markers. Around 4.5k mark caught up with another runner who’s pace seemed to be exactly what I wanted to do myself so decided to just fall in behind him and follow him to the finish line.


5k-8k
Grabbed a cup of water at the 5k mark and realised I need lots of practice at drinking while running, I’m still unsure if I got any into my mouth at all. This was a lovely slowly descending section and in particular turning the corner at the 6k mark to see the sun beaming down on you and see the Shannon off in the distance was a highlight.


8k-9k
Turned another corner at the 8k mark and nearly lost the will to continue. As far as the eye could see was one long steep hill. There was an audible sigh from myself and the three other runners around me. I knew there was to be one last hill on the course but had underestimated how tough it would be. It took all my energy and lots of telling myself I could get through this to not stop running at this point.


9k -10k
Still running after that hill it’s just downhill to the bridge and then flat all the way to the finish line. At this point I had nothing left in the tank to give any sort of dash to the finish so trailed back from the 3 guys I had been with for the last few kms. I crossed the line with a time of 45:19 and can’t believe I came so close to the 45 minute mark.


Despite missing the Monday run ended up happy with the week’s work and delighted with the race. Learnt a lot from the race so hopefully I can be stronger in the next one.

MongoNet

Week 3
March 12th-18th

Monday – Rest day after race


Tuesday
Plan: Easy Run 3km
Actual: 3.54 km in 18:49. Legs felt very stiff during this so was glad to keep it short.


Wednesday
Plan: Core Work
Actual: 30 minutes strength training.


Thursday
Plan: Easy 3km
Actual: 5.15km in 27:31. It felt good to feel the legs loosen again.


Friday – Rest day


Saturday
Plan: Easy 3km
Actual: 5.07km in 26:34. With everyone in the pub watching the match I headed off for a nice quiet run.



Sunday
Plan: Long Run 11-13km
Actual: 11km in 58:40. What a difference a week makes weather wise. From the sun shining down on me last Sunday to snow a week later. Was worried starting out about roads and paths being icy but thankfully they were fine. The first half of the run was great, the snow coming down and nobody else around is something I won’t forget for a while. The second half was absolute torture as I had to run into the freezing wind. I won’t forget that half for a long time either for very different reasons.

MongoNet

Week 4
March 19th-25th


Monday
Plan: Easy Run 5km
Actual: 5.12km in 29:18

Tuesday
Plan: Speed Intervals 8km
Actual: 7.42km. Had to skip the last 400m intervals from this as I had spent a little too long in bed this morning and had to get back to get ready for work. Was only too happy to cut it a little short as found this one really tough

Wednesday
Plan: Core Work
Actual: 20 Minutes Core Work – really wasn’t in the mood for this today.

Thursday
Plan: Easy Run 3km
Actual: 3.51km in 18:22

Friday – Rest day

Saturday
Plan: Easy Run 5km
Actual: Normally when starting a run my first km is too fast and it takes a conscious effort to slow to the pace I’m supposed to be doing. This was the first run I’ve done so far where that first km was at the right pace and the pace was kept quite steady all the way through. It finally feels like I’m learning to judge my pace by feel a bit now.

Sunday
Plan: Long Run 11-13km
Actual: 12.13km in 1:06:49. Original plan was to do this run early morning in Dublin but a combination of the clock change, and the early morning Formula 1 race meant I was too eager to go back to sleep instead of out for a run. Decided to wait until early evening when back in Waterford and I'm glad I did. Weather was great for it and it was a lovely steady run that just felt great.