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Finding Shotgun

shotgunmcos

This is a hard log to start as some will know me from another time when I was fit. I guess the wheels started to come off about a year ago. I had a bike accident a broke a few bones but did a 5 day Adventure Race 5 weeks later. It hurt but it was awesome. I needed a few months of straightening out and rebuilding my shoulder though afterwards.

Along came baby Evan and he had a rough start to life. Enough to shove exercise way down the list of priorities. The weight crept up. Not like the few extra off season pounds but proper weight. I'm the heaviest I've been in my life (90kg+) and I have a belly, like a full on over hanging, wobbly belly! Life is busy with a baby, a toddler, studying for an exam and a new job but excuses was never my style. My trusty team mates are on their own adventures. Kate just did Expedition Africa, Sean is out in NY working.

I did a 10k recently which was sponsored by work and it took 49 long minutes. Its all I had. I did get out to Connemara in March for a couple of days of glorious trekking for a Mountain Skills 2 course Caz got me for my birthday. That was fun. I've just not managed to escape for a weekend since. The mountains call me. My gym membership ran out ages ago so I've not seen a pool. I miss swimming but I'll get back to it. Not to train for stuff but just because I like to swim. I dusted the cobwebs off the roadie recently as I have a work cycle thing coming up. 2x40 minute turbo is the sum of my cycling since last July. The work cycle thing is going to feel even worse than the work 10k but its in Cologne and will be a bit of craic.

So why a log now? There is no specific goal (I have nothing entered) but I needed something to get started again. This place has always had something to get you going! I should know, I started it all. There are a couple of things in mind but all are a stretch too far for planning. I just need to get fit to train. Its as simple as that. Anything goes. I'll give it a month. By the end of June I'll either close the log with shame or be in a position to enter something to train for. Suggestions welcome!

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shotgunmcos

Weekly weigh in at 86.4kg so a total of 2.1kg lost

Monday to Sunday
Diet Quality Score/Net Kcals
M +4/+35
T +10/-1
W +6/-282
T +9/-367
F +9/-491
S +7/+566
S +2/-55

Average/Total for the week
+6.7 DQS/-595 Kcals

A drop in weigh but apart from running a short distance in and out of work, no exercise. By the time I get home and the kids are down I start studying for 9pm through to 12 or 1am. Usually one or both wake up during the night then the new day starts between 5:30am and 6.

My bike is being shipped off tomorrow without me getting out on it. Next week it will be 331km cycling over 2 days in Cologne, based off a training diet of 3 short turbos. Oh well...

shotgunmcos

Right Exam done and passed. WOOP! 3 months of slog to get it so happy with that. Now I can start to get some rhythm into getting fit to train.

8km running with a backpack yesterday circa 5:40 pace. Just a run to and from work commuting but burning kcals. I detoured into the little figure of 8 wood behind my house to run up a small hill twice. Had company and it was enjoyable.

Shamefully my bike has been shipped over to Germany without me getting a single km on the road. The broom wagon for the event is 15kmh. Surely even with all the cake stops I'll stay ahead of it!

pgibbo

Congrats on the exam.

Your doggedness will keep you well ahead. Best of luck next week.

Kurt.Godel

Well done on the exam Mike- effort begets rewards!

Neady83

Nice one, well done on passing your exams and with just enough of the summer left to enjoy getting out and about

Hope you enjoy the cycle in Cologne, no bother to ya, you're a crazy tough nut who did a 5 day adventure race last year with a broken collar bone - this will be easy in comparison

shotgunmcos

Was all set to do a run today but life took over. Big family Fathers Day BBQ much better anyway :-) Beautiful sunny day. Not so beautiful are the millions of fruit flies
Managed 11km running Friday. 6km commuting in/out of work with backpack then dropped the backpack and tacked on 5km after work in the humid cloudy evening.

Went and saw Wonder Woman last night. Gal Gadot.. oh Baby! Probably trumped my favourite yummy female kick ass character, Seline (Kate Beckinsale) in the Underworld series.
Packing up for a couple of days cycling now.

shotgunmcos

The work cycle thing. Flew over to Cologne Monday and got everything sorted.

Tuesday was 167km with over 2,200m ascent (not longs climbs but hill after hill after bleedin' hill) and it was 33 degrees. I had a sum total of about 3 hours turbo in preparation for this. It was a Big Corporate event and brilliantly organized with soup, bread rolls and everything you need and 3 pit stops. The first 67 km were grand, maybe a bit pacey in a group. Then I got a real stitch under my right ribcage and it took 50 minutes to shake it. I lost the groups and then spent 100km cycling mostly on my own.

It was hot. Cycling up hills in that heat was making me take out my inhaler every half hour. the countryside was beautiful through forest on lovely roads across a huge dam etc.. The 2 bottles of water on a 66km segment was not sufficient to even ration so I called into a farm house and had enough German to blag to water and a bit of fresh apple straddle! My asthma was getting a bit tricky to manage so at about 130km I found a shaded spot in a field, threw the bike down, set the alarm on my phone and had a snooze for 20 minutes. It was all quite tough but I sort of enjoyed it. All 7 hours of it. If I was just fitter it wouldn't have hurt as much.

Another thing the popped up on the bike was an issue of some pain and passing blood. So after seeing a doc a few times during the day sitting on the saddle again the next day was not likely to fix that. She also put a kibosh on the beer which sucked.

Next day Wednesday, I laced up for a run instead of the bike. A trail half marathon with over 500m ascent. I ran easy because I knew there would be no "freewheeling cooling effect" like on the bike. Running uphill is hard enough. Running up hill in 30 degrees carrying 10kg extra weight than usual and having no training done is much harder. Thankfully there was plenty of shade in parts so I had a chance to cool and drop the heart rate. Just one use of the inhaler was better than the bike. The route was very enjoyable. Single track, roots forestry trails, some steep shale descents and gorgeous views. The last 3km was back into suburbia with sticky tarmac and relentless baking heat. As I was running into the finish there was a German guy in front of me with earphones and he was clearly in a zone as he ran straight passed the finish (entrance to a castle)! I roared after him but he obviously didn't hear me. I didn't have the legs to sprint after him so I roared at the marshal who almost leaped traffic to leg it after him. I trotted into the finish in a shade, and a shade over 2 hours happy to be done early. Saw the Doc again and the issue was much improved. Woohoo, green light to the next 15 hours of food, beer, sing songs, mingling and a whole lot of fun!

mossym

fair play. at least it was an offical half marathon. until i got to the end i thought you had created your own after being told not to bike!!!

El Director

Good man Mike, well done!

shotgunmcos

4.3km run commute home with backpack. 5.45 pace. I forgot to pack a tee and was wearing a jumper in work. What the hell. On with it. Picked up the car and was still sweating by the time I reached the creche. Had a bug yesterday and felt rubbish. In bed for 7pm. Better today good energy.

So I've 204km run this year at avg 5.37 pace. That's less than 8km a week. So logically I'm ready to train for a marathon right?

pgibbo

DCM?

shotgunmcos

pgibbo wrote: »

DCM?

Yep!

Just needed a goal of some sort to motivate me. A Marathon is simple. Get out and run. Whatever I have on the day is what I have. Enjoy it.

So I started a program today. Sure, I'd ideally have a foundation built up to start it but I'm not concerned about pace. I'll just follow the plan as close as I can and stick to the effort bands. Whatever the pace is will be. Hopefully I'll speed up a bit as I get fitter.

10.42km tonight including 5x 80m strides in 52:12 (5.00 pace). A flat (55m ascent) uncomplicated 5 laps of the block. Running past my house 4 times gave me an option to bail if the body had enough. It was cool, windy and a misty rain stopped after 20 minutes. The battery was low on the Garmin HRM (so long since I used it) so I thought it was slow to pick up. Maybe the effort was over for the first lap. I settled into Z2 though and wound the strides up to a sprint. I mainly focused on cadence and trying not to drop to a plod. 165 average is not too bad. 170+ would be better but loads of time. My last run was in 30+ degrees heat up hills so this felt very comfortably cool by comparison.

I need to buy longer or tight shorts though as the running shorts constantly ride up and as a result the inside of my upper thighs are chaffed.

shotgunmcos

Plan called for 8km easy today. Both baby and Caz have a bug so I knew there would be a slim chance to get out in the evening. 7km run commute with backpack instead. Slow, but something

shotgunmcos

Family stuff on tomorrow so out once kids down to get first long ish run done. 17.9km general aerobic in 1:30:33. 5:04 pace. Had to slow to a near walk on little hills to stay in the right zone.

A little tight for a finish but happy to get the first one under the belt. 20 mins long stretches after. Felt good. Nice calm mild evening for it.

Weighed in at 85.8kg this morning. So 2.9kg lost. Progress..

shotgunmcos

9.42km recovery effort run in the rain in 49:12.
Pace 5:14
Hr 140
Ascentry 63m

Basically a short run capped at 145hr. I had to slow down to a near brisk walk on some drags and short hills. Calves and hammers a little tight but then I actually cannot remember when I last ran 4 days straight.

Another of the week's little goals was to bake bread (for the first time). Banana bread in the oven now. Smells ok. I'll see how it tastes in the morning after a weigh in.

shotgunmcos

Well the banana bread was delicious and moist. I didn't put nuts or chocolate chips in as it was my first attempt and wanted to get the texture right first. Successful start. We all had for breakfast this morning and Zoe wanted to bring some in to her class mates.

Didn't get the weigh in done this morning but trackers scores on the doors for the week
Diet Quality Score: Average +8.2
Net Kcals for the week: -2,995

The negative kcals is mainly down to the take up of the running plan. Hopefully as I get fitter and lighter, I'll start to get quicker too. I know it will need some speedy/interval work so I have some of that built into the plan

shotgunmcos

XT today. Very late session. Rowing 8km on the Concept 2 erg in 33:40. Pace 2:06.2/500m. HR 141. Capped Z2 session and a shock to the body. I did a little on the erg back in Jan at the end of my shoulder rehab but that was months ago. Felt a distinct lack of power and legs a little jelly like afterwards. Body out of shape and core soft but this is good for it. Must do more often.

Weigh in this week at 84.9kg down another 0.9kg and 3.8kg overall. Lightest I've been year to date. Progress...

El Director

shotgunmcos wrote: »

XT today. Very late session. Rowing 8km on the Concept 2 erg in 33:40. Pace 2:06.2/500m. HR 141. Capped Z2 session and a shock to the body. I did a little on the erg back in Jan at the end of my shoulder rehab but that was months ago. Felt a distinct lack of power and legs a little jelly like afterwards. Body out of shape and core soft but this is good for it. Must do more often.

Weigh in this week at 84.9kg down another 0.9kg and 3.8kg overall. Lightest I've been year to date. Progress...

Nice work on the weight loss dude, it's not easy!

shotgunmcos

Terrible run but done.
14.2km in 1:08:08 as 3.5km commute with backpack, 1.5km easy, 6km in threshold zone, 3km easy. Probably a bit much too soon but oh well

Finish the erg at about 12.30 last night. Up with Evan for a while at 4am then up with Zoe at 6. Long day at the office and drank no water save for a few swig going out the door. The backpack part was ok but I knew my energy was not there. Muggy clammy conditions. Dropped the pack and up a hill to start the work. I found it hard to keep going up at LT. I was overy heating, back and quads were tired from the erg and my breathing was short. I stopped a few times to get through it then plodded 3km back to the car wrecked. At least it's done and I can get an earlier night. I need to do some stretches back is pretty stiff.

Conditioning will be more Important than ever for this one. Can't believe I ran my first Marathon in Dublin 10 years ago. Ha I remember wearing rowing shorts and carrying Mars bars for fuel!

shotgunmcos

Better run. I was sort of dreading it. A midweek medium long run within 12 hours of the LT run. Plus it was a 5am alarm.

Anyway out and on with it. Beautiful dawn. A little sun, then a fog descended. Its going to be a summery day. 18.28km done in 1:28:57 and I earned my 3 course breakfast :-) After a sleepy first few kms I felt surprising good. Amazing what 5 unbroken hours sleep can do. Overall pace was 4:52 so that was unexpected. As usual I labored up hills and I flagged in the last few kms with form dropping but not bad. My cadence held at 83 which was positive. A couple of quick stops to pee and stretch my back. I broke the run into 4 segments, town, country, industrial estate, suburbia and it helped mentally to check them off and "transition" between each. While it was a medium long run on the plan it was a long run for where I am now.

Bit bushed now. I'd love to curl up for a sleep but life goes on. Early night tonight after some attention to core and flexibility.

career move

Look who I found

Good work. Looks like you're getting into a consistent routine with the running. Make sure you keep up the stretching!!

P.S I envy you your 3 course breakfast!!!

P.S.S But then I expect you envy my 3hr afternoon naps

shotgunmcos

Recovery run. Objective is to finish feeling better than you started. Felt rubbish starting so that wasn't hard. 8.9km in 47:47. Cadence a plodding 80, Hr 141, pace 5:23. A few other runners out and lots of dog walkers all on a very humid evening.

Note on shoes: 2 current pairs are New Balance 1080s. A white pair and same in blue. I got them about 3 years ago. There is 900km+ on one and 800km+ on the other. I rotate every other run. I haven't bought new runners (apart from trail shoes) in 3 years so a bit out of the loop. I'll keep going with these until I feel I need new ones but I know I won't be using either in October. Any suggestions for similar neutral shoes much appreciated? Last pair before those were Asic DS trainers and a pair of Adidas Supernova cushion which were lovely (although bright yellow).

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Brooks Asteria is worth a go Mike, I would go half a size up

shotgunmcos

Thanks JB. I'll keep those in mind. Never worn Brooks.

14km General aerobic run today. Watch on charge so ran by feel. 7 laps of the block in 69 mins. Felt ok. Very humid out so maybe effort felt a little high. So far so good on the program. Although pace is well off where I'd like it to be there is a danger of some actual consistency!

shotgunmcos

So first few days of the program all good. But then hurt my back doing house jobs yesterday and missed the first long run today. Crap crap. There are only 15 of them between now and DCM. I can't miss another one. Really annoyed. Poor start ðŸ˜¡ Just a muscle tweak though. Feel a bit better today and if OK, back to it tomorrow.

shotgunmcos

Very late start again. Cross train. 15x250m on the Concept 2 erg with 90 secs active recovery. Shock to the system. HR hit 178 which is red zone. Been so long since I did any kind of short intensive reps. The session looks innocent on paper but it's akin to doing 15 very hard 100s in the pool.

This session is a staple of my Brothers. He is at 48.8 sec average vs my 51.1 sec. It's seems pretty close but he is way ahead.

shotgunmcos

13.17km general aerobic run in 1:03:24 including 10x100m fast strides. Average 17secs for the 100m ranging from 15.6 to 18.3secs. Another shock to the system but lots of these in the program so I'll get used to them eventually.

Warm and humid evening. I was parched with 4 to go. Long night with Evan teething and long day too. Just didn't drink water. Not good enough. Feeling it now.

shotgunmcos

No update here the last few days as I hurt by lower back again. Playing 18 holes of Foot Golf with Alex this time. Great fun but missed runs now. 2nd week of the program and its going even worse than week 1! Tomorrow will happen. A very careful inaugural long run. Rain or shine

Neady83

shotgunmcos wrote: »

No update here the last few days as I hurt by lower back again. Playing 18 holes of Foot Golf with Alex this time. Great fun but missed runs now. 2nd week of the program and its going even worse than week 1! Tomorrow will happen. A very careful inaugural long run. Rain or shine

How's you're back M?

p.s. foot golf? That's be an interesting leg of an adventure race

shotgunmcos

Had to take some time out due to back. @Neady its ok now. Yeah Foot Gold was be a cool discipline in some AR!

First 3 weeks of program. Just 7/18 runs done. Poor start but today was the restart. 9km yesterday too fast (4:44..) and was parched. Need to hydrate. Today then grinded out 18km before breakfast. By 11km I was exhausted. Couldn't keep my heart rate down and couldn't relax my breathing. Close to another asthma attack. My Chest was raw foe a week after the last one. Had to stop and walk nearly every 300m but breathing never came down to fast shallow until I got home. Over the last year between medical issues and injuries, I've just lost my shape and my way. I should have walked home but my stubbornness made me run against the body's will. I'm paying for it today.

I have a 100 day plan. Leads me up to DCM. No time target but I'm not going to blow up the last time I did it either.

On a more positive perspective, the diet has been decent. Apart from a couple days off the rail the weight has dropped from 88.5kg in April to 84.2kg now.

Had a few days off on the East Coast last week. First holiday in years I didn't get into the sea for a swim. Nice over there, Wicklow, Wexford etc..