If I didn’t log it, it didn’t happen

passinginterest

Out of curiosity, just having a look back at where I was this time last year. Fitness levels actually seem pretty similar based on HR data, pace, distances etc. Garmin VO2 is better at 49/50 versus 47. It’ll be interesting to see the difference in having a much more solid base year behind me and with a focus on 5k - 10k for at least the first half of the year.

I had started my Wicklow half plan at this stage last year and my main focus was slowing the easy stuff right down and building endurance. It was a big step up in mileage and I ended up taking nearly a full week off in Feb after going from 50 miles in December to over 100 in Jan. Similar step up from December to Jan again but should be able to manage it more comfortably this year (32 to 80 something).

Slight concern with shin splints flaring up. I know I should get to a physio and get a sports massage. Playing football in astros seems to be triggering it and it used to be a big issue for me when I was still playing ball. Had to take 6-8 weeks off and get some intense physio on the calves to get it sorted previously (if a physio ever suggests using a golf ball to massage your calves be prepared to bite the table and shed tears!!). It hasn’t been a problem since, must be about 7 or more years ago now. Trying to make myself do some activations before and static stretches after running to keep it at bay, I had gotten very lazy with them.

Treviso

passinginterest wrote: »

Slight concern with shin splints flaring up. I know I should get to a physio and get a sports massage. Playing football in astros seems to be triggering it and it used to be a big issue for me when I was still playing ball.

Gotta agree and say that playing football on astro is a major strain on your shins, ankles, feet etc. I used to play every week before I started running and it used to cause me all sorts of injuries.

I still really miss it though :(:( But I know I wouldn't last 10 minutes on the pitch before I got injured

passinginterest

Treviso wrote: »

Gotta agree and say that playing football on astro is a major strain on your shins, ankles, feet etc. I used to play every week before I started running and it used to cause me all sorts of injuries.

I still really miss it though :(:( But I know I wouldn't last 10 minutes on the pitch before I got injured

Yeah, I gave up football completely for the marathon training last year. There’s a casual lunchtime game on Mondays with work and I’ve played 3 times now since December, I missed the craic and different type of fitness, with no marathon plans this year I’d like to keep it up. The flat astro turf runners seem to be part of the problem, even though I have insoles in them. I might switch to just wearing normal runners (which increases the chance of other injuries with slips etc). If it keeps up I’ll probably just knock the ball on the head again.

Lambay island

passinginterest wrote: »

Yeah, I gave up football completely for the marathon training last year. There’s a casual lunchtime game on Mondays with work and I’ve played 3 times now since December, I missed the craic and different type of fitness, with no marathon plans this year I’d like to keep it up. The flat astro turf runners seem to be part of the problem, even though I have insoles in them. I might switch to just wearing normal runners (which increases the chance of other injuries with slips etc). If it keeps up I’ll probably just knock the ball on the head again.

I am the exact same as treviso here. I'd love to be still playing but i know i would be injured after first game back. I think you should keep it up playing at something like a 70-80% effort level, but as you say, id be wary wearing normal runners especially if there is a slick surface.

passinginterest

Not much to update on last week. Shin issue wasn’t going away after football on Monday. 5k on Tuesday and 4mi on Wednesday but not feeling right. Didn’t run Thursday or Friday and was going to try a 90 minute long run on Saturday. Felt ok first mile but things were feeling wrong again and abandoned just over 2mi in. Rest ever since. Planning to head out shortly and see how things are now. Have done a reasonable amount of stretching etc and no football this week. If it starts to act up again I’ll bite the bullet and book physio.

Week miles: 10.93
January miles: 79
Year to Date: 79

mister paul

Fingers crossed the run goes well for you.

passinginterest

Managed over 4 miles, had company so helped not to focus on it too much. Still a little bit uncomfortable but not painful, so going in the right direction.

passinginterest

As the title says...

January wasn’t too bad, shin splints flared in early Feb and most of the month was a write off, even when the shins were feeling ok the motivation had dipped and the bad weather made it easy to not go out.

First week in March got in 3 runs and felt ok, played football the next week and was still good, but didn’t manage to get out. Work was busy, but motivation just seemed to be gone. Later in the month the Covid stuff was kicking off and things were manic trying to figure out if we could manage work from home, made it easy to just forget about trying to get the runs in.

Into April and second week got out for a couple of runs. We got a dog just before the crisis so she’s been getting walked and that takes up time so running in the back seat. Ordered some new runners so got out for another couple of short spins, unfortunately did something to my knee and it’s been stiff sore and started clicking a lot for a few days after.

Thankfully it’s nearly back to normal now, so maybe May might be the month the mojo returns. The extra weight probably didn’t help the knee, was a bit surprised to find I’d hit 13 stone, was 12 doing the marathon and 12 and a half around Christmas so need to get more active to get that under control at least. Still think back to being 11 doing the marathon in 2014 and thinking that, about my ideal weight!

Feb miles: 9.99
March: 13.19
April: 10.17
Year to date: 110

passinginterest

It’s funny reading back. 2019 was such a success in the end but i was struggling to keep things going and putting too much pressure on to keep running, to a point I wasn’t getting much joy from it. Jan/Feb 2020 had some highlight like the BHAA cross country races but then things went off a cliff.

A few things conspired to grind running to a halt. Shin splints faring a bit, getting a dog, then lock down and the stress that came with that. 2020 started with 73 miles in January and ended with 148 for the year. June, July, Sept and December were all donuts. Because of the 2019 base I was “getting away with it” to an extent and the odd bits of running I did it felt like I’d get back to a similar level fairly quickly if I got some consistency, but it never came.

2021 started out on the same path, nothing in Jan, a mile in Feb, 16 in March and 28 in April. I did a 5k a day challenge for seven days in April and most of the mileage was that week. I was sensible for the most part but pushed the pace a bit the last day and I more or less seized up after. That killed any momentum and I didn’t record another mile until September. It was in the period that I felt thinks really go downhill, even my step count was way down and weight really started to creep up. Just another 2 miles in October but the second week in November I decided I needed to start doing something consistent or my health was going to start suffering.

So November I set into a very basic “Garmin Coach” 5k plan. Just 3 days a week of light jogging to start. 5 then 6 the 7 mile weeks. I realised that as poor as fitness was I was probably able for a bit more, so I switched to a plan with a very basic time goal, which brought some sessions and a bit more time on the feet as well as a fourth scheduled day. 23 miles recorded in November over 11 days “running” (plodding). December stepped up a bit and brought 10, 11 and 16 mile weeks before a 9 mile week including the Goal mile in Tallaght on Christmas Day.

in 2018 and 2019 I’d also taken part in the Tallaght Goal mile so it was a useful exercise to get an idea of how fitness was looking. A 7.45 mile was about as much as I could manage, might have been another 10 seconds max if I’d paced it better. That compared to 7 flat in 2018 and 6.41 in 2019, so obviously a long way to go. Slipped over 50 miles in December with a 3.5 miler on New Years Ever. Pleased with it although only 2 days running the week after Christmas.

Had planned to run on New Years days too, but slipped into old bad habits and somehow it was 11th Jan before I got out again. 12.65 miles for that week and follows up with 4 days last week and 17.95 miles including a 70 minute long run that brought me over 10k for the first time in very nearly 2 years. I’ll effectively have 12 weeks of the plan done this week (albeit with a 10 day hiatus in the middle). So the plan is to make parkrun on Saturday, set out around 9min mile pace and see how it goes. Anything under 28 will be happy enough.

It was useful to look back over the blog, so I think I’ll try to get back to posting updates again. For myself if nothing else. I’ll be looking to do another 8 or 12 week plan, either just 5k again or maybe 10k. I might even just repeat the Garmin coach one. 3 to 4 days is probably as much as I’ll commit too. Part of the reason I stopped was feeling like I “had to” run 5 days a week and it wasn’t for the love of it, I was actually resenting giving up the time to an extent. So for now it’s run when it suits my life and not organise life around running, which is what marathon training felt like at times.

For my general health I need to be doing something, I’m not a gym bunny and can’t see myself going back to playing football, so running it is. Turning 39 next week gives me some motivation to get fit before I hit 40 too! We’ll see how it goes.

marathon2022

Been there a couple of times, 12 weeks(three times a week) seems to be the sweet spot for me if I'm starting from scratch to a comfortable 10k.

*Of all the changes and alterations I tried during the periods of returning to running I found that when I was eating well I was able to achieve a quicker level of consistency; improving my overall wellbeing. Focus on your diet and the rest will come good. 2c

passinginterest

Thanks for the comment. I agree on the diet. I was always on the skinny side but eat like a horse. Something you get away with when you’re young and active but not so much as you get older and a bit more sedentary. I was never more than 11 stone for most of my 20’s. Started to creep up in my 30’s but after DCM in 2014 I was a shade under 11 again. That crept and I was around 13 starting training for DCM 2019 and got down to 12. Recently I probably went over 14 (afraid to stand on a scales!) and since staring back I’m down to around 195 pounds so not much under 14.

I know well that a bit of discipline in the diet and shedding a stone will make a huge difference even without a massive step up in training volume. I do have a bad habit of rewarding myself with food for everything and anything so it’s a hard one to break.

passinginterest

Week all went to plan. Not very heavy mileage wise.

Monday was 40 minutes easy. 3.59 miles covered at 11.08/mi.

Tuesday was goal pace repeats (6x1min with 1min recovery). Aim was a fairly conservative 9min mile pace and the repeats were 8.11, 8.21, 8.51, 8.57, 9.22, 9.08. They got slower because I was trying to find the pace rather than because I was tired. The GPS delay always makes these a bit tricky too but was happy enough. 3.08 miles at 10.23/mi total.

Rest Wednesday and Thursday was just a half hour easy. 2.78 miles at 10.47/mi.

Rest Friday and “race” Saturday. Tymon parkrun was the venue for the race. Tried to take it fairly seriously, hydrate properly, sleep well, get up at a decent time and arrive in time to warmup etc. All that went well.

Arrived in nice time for a 10 minute jog before the pre run briefing. Felt good although conditions were blustery and showery at that stage. The route direction meant the wind was more a help than a hindrance for the actual parkrun.

Goal was to be somewhere under 9min mile pace. I was confident enough I could manage that, but not sure how much I could push under it. Start was the usual for parkrun, lots of runners sprinting away, the main challenge was not getting caught up with that, knowing plenty of them would be going backwards within a few k’s.

Wind helping at the start too, I was sub 8.40 pace and feeling ok about it, had to consciously hold back which was good. Was happy to ease off a bit more as we got into the wind and the climb to the top of the course, I know Tymon well enough to know it’s a deceptively tough climb and going to hard on lap one will kill lap two. Pace dropped to around 9.15 here for a while but I was happy with how I was feeling. First k clocked at 5.29 and second at 5.30.

The drop from the top of the course back to the start finish is mostly in the 3rd k, I let gravity do it’s job and the shelter meant the head wind was limited too. Tipping along nicely now and passing loads of the fast starters looking back and pace hit 7.50 for a bit. 5.03 for the k.

Cool back down for a bit after the 3k point. Knowing it’s basically climb to the 4k mark then downhill to the finish. Still cathcing people, including a lad who passed me just before the top of the course on the first lap. He was a big target now to keep the pace solid. I was working pretty hard but keeping the breathing ok and not getting too ragged.

Through 4k and nearly at the top of the hill, 5.17k and now it was time to push. Caught and passed the man with the target on his back before we came out of the trees and picked up another few places. Could hear someone getting encouragement behind me to sprint for the line with 300m or so to go and a girl passed me and I couldn’t lift the pace to her level. One of the few to pass me after the first k or so. Because it was a Garmin plan the watch had a 5k workout programmed in for this, so it stopped about 100 meters or more before the actual finish. It clocked 4.56 for the last k, giving me a time of 26.16 for the 5k. Well inside my target. Crossed the line and was handed token number 50. Official time of 26.41 and 50/129 runners.

I was tired but probably not fully maxed out at the end, so there’s a bit more there to take off it. Looking at the HR after, my max would be low 190’s but I never hit 180. Probably not fit enough to really hit it yet, but another sign there’s more there.

Week miles: 14.16

Year to date: 44.76

passinginterest

In terms of what next, for now I’m thinking just restart the same Garmin Coach/McMillan 5k plan, with a target of 24 mins and see how it goes. I missed some key sessions the first time around with the unplanned 10 day break, so I wouldn’t mind following it again. The other option is something like the Boards base building 6 week plan. Will have a think about that today.

passinginterest

Ah great plans. Amazing how easily they all come unstuck.

Anyway, I have an entry for Dublin marathon again. So motivation to get moving at least. Did very little at all since the last update here so effectively starting from scratch. I’ve gone up to Tallaght AC for a few sessions to try and help get things kick started.

Over 20 miles for the week this week and over 10k for the “long” run. First target is to manage a parkrun at 9 minute mile pace and to work from there. Tallaght 5k on Paddy’s day is the next target. Would love to be sub 25 by then.

No major marathon goal. Using it more as motivation to get moving and we’ll see what happens. Ideally this time around I’ll keep running and not do a solid year and give up completely. I might even let the marathon entry go if I’m being consistent and enjoying the shorter stuff. Longer term primary goal is to get to sub 20 5k shape. 20.18 is my pb from almost 10 years ago so would love to get back under that.

Laineyfrecks

Very best of luck😊

passinginterest

Update time I suppose. Hard to believe it’s nearly the end of May already. On the positive side, I’m still running pretty regularly, but there’s been a lot of ups and downs.

January finished with 47 miles for the month, so something to build on. And a parkrun test on 3rdFebruary brought a solid enough 27.05 result. Throughout Feb I was consistent in heading to TAC for the Thursday track sessions. Although I was well off the pace of the group I was with, I was enjoying the challenge. Looking back I can see I was struggling to recover after the sessions and that was impacting on really building the number of days running. Overall thought, I was seeing some good short term results. Another parkrun on the 24th produced a 26.03 and I was on track for a sub 25 Tallaght 5k effort on Paddy’s day. Ended the month with the longest run edging over 8  miles and a total of 74 miles.

I wanted to get the long run up to 10 miles, so the Nass 10 mile on 3rd March looked like a nice way to hit it for the first time since 2019. I had done just over 8 miles at 9.47/mile a few weeks earlier, so plan was take it relatively handy and aim for 9.45 pace. I got caught up in the race atmosphere and found myself feeling surprisingly good. I ended up running 1.32.38 or 9.16/mile with 5k splits of 29.31, 29.11 and 27.58. Considering I had only just got back under 27 minutes for a stand-alone 5k to be finishing a 10 mile with a sub 28 5k was a very happy surprise.

passinginterest

Not sure if it was a consequence of overdoing it, or just generally being busy but I only really had two days running with eight consecutive days off before the Tallaght 5k. I did 2 miles the day before so that I wasn’t racing on 10 days of no running at all. Again, the race went better than expected. It was a near perfect day, although a head wind up the Greenhills road hill (the clue is in the name) made the last mile hard. I was delighted to get home in 24.47 and back under 25 for a 5k for the first time in a very long time.

On paper, the following week looks ok. Just the 3 days running but over 20 miles for the week. In reality, it was a bad week. I officially joined TAC before the 5k and headed out on the Tuesday for an 8 mile “easy” run. I mentioned I was pushing myself with the track session with a group that was a good bit faster than where I was at, so I hadn’t really been doing any of the group runs other than sessions. I decided I might be able to keep up on this one and it really set me back. I dropped off the back after 2 miles, then hung on as much as I could to the 6 miles and then struggled to the end. Tried a track session on the Thursday and was still wrecked so abandoned it. A planned 10 mile long run became 8 and I was generally wrecked at the end of it.

Started the following week ok, but another bad track session and possibly a virus meant it was a poor week overall. Ended March with just 58 miles and decided I needed to step the pace back and try get out more often and focus on easy miles.

passinginterest

Maybe the effects of whatever bit of a virus I had but tummy issues were becoming a feature of most runs now. But I was happy to ger out 5 days and hit over 25 miles the first week in April. The second week was very similar, with long runs sticking to around 8 miles both weeks. Just a mini session the second week with a 3 miles pick-up that went well (8.44, 8.45, 8.41).

The following week again started well. I was away for work and got in runs on two of the three days. Then the wheels kind of came off a bit. Flying always messes me up a bit and muscles were very tight, especially achilles, so I abandoned the weekend long run.  Attempted a 5x1k session on the Tuesday and managed 3 at sub 5 minute km pace before abandoning. Wasn’t the end of the world as I hadn’t been doing many sessions. But then that was it for 12 days. Terenure 5 mile was looming on 12th May. April ended prematurely with 69 miles on the clock.

The plan for May was to hopefully be in shape to run the Terenure 5 mile at a similar pace to the Tallaght 5k. But with almost no running (the 12 day break was followed by runs of 1, 2 and 3 miles in the week leading into the race) expectations were very much scaled back. Ideally, I’d have been running with the 40 minute pacer and hoping to dip under, instead I was lining up behind the 45 minute pacers on the day.

It was another warm one and I wasn’t sure 45 was even realistic given how much the training had dropped off. I found myself a bit back from the pacers early on as the race spread out, so I gradually caught up to them in the first mile on the downhill. I wasn’t feeling too bad and I knew that if I stuck with them from that point I had a little lee-way on the sub 45. With the heat, it quickly became a battle to just maintain that 9 minute mile pace and if it wasn’t for the pacers I don’t think there’s a hope I’d have managed it.

It was a major mental battle not to step off the course as we went into the second lap as I really didn’t think I had it in me to stay with the pacers. I must have got a bit of a second wind, because somehow I was still there with them, having pushed ahead for a short and very ill advised spell, coming into the last km. Now it was just a case of trying not to tie up too badly to get home sub 45 and I just about managed to keep the legs moving. A final time of 44.50, not where I wanted to be, but a fair reflection of where the weeks off had left me.

Maybe the best thing to come out of the race was bumping into a few faces from another group in TAC. I had been struggling with the faster group, and as much as I was enjoying the sessions at times and the craic with the group, the overall paces, especially on easy group runs is just out of my league at the moment. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there’s a good few in what’s now my new group who were sub 45 in Terenure and are aiming for sub 4 marathons. With paces much closer to my current fitness it’s definitely a better fit for now.

So, I had my first session and long run with the new group the following week. Over 10 miles for the long run and with company for the first time ever on a long run, which was a great experience. Just under 25 miles for the week and followed that up with a Tuesday track session and Thursday tempo with the new group last week. Back to solo for the long run, but over 10 miles again and biggest single running week, getting out 5 days and hitting over 28 miles. Hopefully, that’s a sign of things to come and more consistency leading into marathon plan season.

passinginterest

No harm adding a little update I suppose. Got to the end of May with 80 miles on the clock for the month.

June started well, enjoying the new group in TAC and the club summer race series was run over the month as well as running the Corkagh 5 Mile. First club race was a no watch predict time 3 mile. I predicted 23.30 and finished in 24.06. Got the pacing a bit wrong but was happy enough. That Sunday was Corkagh. First event in a club vest and starting with two club mates with similar time goals. 41.16 was a 3.30 improvement on Terenure just 4 weeks later. I was happy but did die a death in the last mile.

Next club race was 3 miles Cross Country. It was a few days after Corkagh so decided to just tempo it. Found it very tough anyway, definitely fatigued from the hard efforts the week before. Hit the half marathon distance for LR that weekend and all still going well.

4 miles at the waterworks was next club outing. Took it as a session, running the outward climb steady and picking up on the downhill return. Always enjoy running up there so while time wasn’t spectacular it was enjoyable. Another half marathon LR too.

Next up was club 5 mile in Brittas. Started feeling a bit dodgy just before with mild cold symptoms but run went ok, apart from another smack into the wall in the last mile or two. Almost the same pace wise as Corkagh so wasn’t too worried. That was the start of a bad few weeks though. Looking back now, despite what seemed to be very mild symptoms, I think I probably had Covid and not fully resting was a bad idea. Took most of the week off but did a medium distance 7 miles on the Saturday.

That brought June to an end with 111 miles on the clock. A step up on its own but with added intensity with the club series races.

The next club run was 5.5 miles, two laps of most of the original 3 mile course. Still wasn’t feeling 100% but refusing to really acknowledge it. Considered stopping as felt awful at the half way but kept going. Hit the wall after 4 miles in a way that’s only happened once or twice before. Struggled to maintain a light jog and wouldn’t have finished only I knew there was people waiting for me. Tried a run on the Thursday and abandoned with stomach issues. Managed a 10 mile on the Saturday but heart rate was way up looking back now.

Continued to try and ignore symptoms so went and ran the final club race. A repeat 3 mile no watch prediction race. Still in denial and predicted 23.30 again I think. Gastric issues caused an absolute nightmare and after a few trips to the bushes I limped home in 27.32. Managed a short run on the Thursday and then club had a track relay/awards on the Friday. Was finally feeling more normal and ran the 400m relay leg in 76 seconds. No ling run at the weekend thought and it was effectively 3 weeks of poor mileage and ill advised running.

Following week was much better and managed to hit the planned runs. It ended with the Irish Runner 10 mile. Plan was aim for 90 minutes in the hope it would be comfortable. While I did manage 1.29.21 the last two miles were anything but comfortable. Again, I was probably guilty of ignoring 3 weeks of fatigue and gastro problems and assuming I’d be fine somehow!

The remainder of July was solid enough. Came in with 105 miles so just a bit down on June. 543 miles completed to end of July. Trying to ignore illness probably the biggest mistake.