An 18 Week Sabbatical

pgibbo wrote: »

All the best with Rotterdam. Mojo or not, I reckon the training will be done anyway.

P.

Thanks. You're right, barring injury or the apocalypse, the training will be done. I've decided to do it and I'll do it. It's as simple as that for me really. Sub 2:35 in Rotterdam is the motivation, so I already have that and it's more the enthusiasm for the training I need to find. Waiting until 8 p.m. yesterday to start my medium long run is symptomatic of that appalling lack of enthusiasm, but hopefully there'll be enough positive signs over the coming weeks to change this.

Kurt, I don't think I'm be logging details of my swims. Typing up my long winded, unwieldy weekly posts is already onerous enough without lumbering myself with another thing to moan about.

Monday 4th December
78.7kg (I've never publicly tracked my weight before, but I'll do it with this log. I want to get it down to 70.?kg. I don't think I afford to go any lower and I've never succeeded in getting under 70kg before, but we'll see. I weigh myself upon waking and after a trip to the toilet. Doing it everyday might seem a bit OCD, but it's what I've done before and I find it works.)

Recovery Run - 8km I'd set my alarm to do this before work, but I was knackered when I woke up and forwent the run for an extra hour in bed. Then it took a lot of resolve to get it done before a club swim session at 7 p.m. I was very close to leaving it until after the swim, but I knew if I did that, it would have been ten times harder to get it done circa 9 p.m.
Not that it was supposed to be, but the run itself was nothing hectic. Although it was just one second under the mark, the best that can be said for it is that I got 8km done in under 40 minutes. I'd displayed a poor attitude all day and although it was an inconsequential run, I was happy to successfully complete the first step on this journey. Still it was a pretty poor start to the 18 week program.
Totals: 40:00 - 8.01km


Tuesday 5th December
77.5kg

Lactate Threshold Run - 14km w. 6km at HM Pace My target pace for the threshold paced segment was :30/km, which I did round The Playing Fields in The Phoenix Park. I was very doubtful about my ability to run this fast for 6km today. I considered allowing myself a much softer target of :40/km, but just before starting, I thought 'F*ck that!'; No point accepting defeat on only the second day of an 18 week program.
Once the harder work started, I kept it steady for the first lap and figured out the slow parts of the route in the process. I got the first lap done at an average pace of 3:29/km, but this had drifted out to 3:30/km 500m later. I realised my steady state approach to holding tempo pace wasn't going to work, so I dug a little deeper from there on. As the 6km mark approached, and I got nearer and nearer the end of the effort, my confidence grew that I was going to finish on target. I pushed even harder for the last 500m just to make sure of it. I was going above the called for level of effort, but I wasn't prepared to accept missing my target when I this close to finishing.
On paper, this was the hardest run of the week and I'm very satisfied to have ran it in the manner I did. Being so massively above racing weight makes it all the sweeter and hopefully I'll be effortlessly cruising along at :30/km pace in the new year.
Totals;
Time: 0:57 - Distance: 14.01km


Wednesday 6th December
76.8kg

Medium Long Run - 19km It was after 8 p.m. when I started this, which is ridiculously late for me, considering I finish work at 2:30 p.m. I'd a few other things to do, but the late start had as much to do with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, than the few errands I had to do. The pace zones I've set myself for my long runs and medium long runs is 4:02-4:24/km and for the first few weeks, I'm going to do my runs towards the slower end of this scale. My fastest kilometre split was 4:15 and my slowest 4:23, so I felt I managed to hold a consistent pace throughout. It was surprisingly mild when I started, but it started raining before I finished up. My nether regions started to chaff off the wet clothes and I began to regret the procrastination that stopped me from starting this run early. But I never remember being completely miserable, and it felt good to back up yesterday's tempo run with a run like this.
Totals;
Time: 1:22 - Distance: 19.01km


Thursday 7th December
76.5kg

Cross Trainer A 10km recovery was scheduled, but fearful of what can happen when suddenly ramping up mileage, I decided to hop on a cross trainer in lieu of the run.


Friday 8th December
77.8kg

General Aerobic Run - 16km My pace range for these general aerobic runs is going to be 4:15-4:35/km, but just like the long runs, I'm going to run at the slower end of this scale for the moment. I'd a club swim on in the evening and I'd also promised to drive my brother to the airport after work. So it was crucial to get this done in the morning. I drove to Porterstown Park and did the run before work. It was dark when I started and the headlight I was wearing was a must.
The paths were frosty and I ran about 80% of this on grass. This was partly due to a fear of slipping and partly to lessen the impact on my legs. The grass was chewed up in parts and the muddy ground was way slipper than any slightly frosty path would have been. It was rounding a bend on grass and mud, that I came closest to losing my balance, but at least had I fallen on grass, I'd have bounced straight back up, whereas a slip on the path could have led to a broken wrist, so needless to stay I stuck with the grass.
I got faster as the morning got brighter, which may or may not be a coincidence, but I was very comfortable throughout and the only bad thing is once I was finished, I had to go straight to work, where there's no shower or bathing facilities and baby wipes are all I have to wash with.
Apart from that, it was a good start to the day, but as these Friday morning aerobic runs are due to get longer, I'm not sure how realistic it is to get them all done before work.
Totals;
Time: 1:12 - Distance: 16.01km


Saturday 9th December
75.7kg
Recovery Run - 8km

I'd forgotten my Garmin and tracked the distance using the Strava app on my phone. It made an absolute balls of the recoding and is telling me I only ran 7.5km in 57:23, for an overall average pace of 7:38/km.
I'm going to log as 11km, because even 10 kilometres in 57 minutes would be off the charts slow for me. Apart from recovery, the main reason for the run was to try out a new pair of runners; Hoka One One Challenger ATR 3. It's my first my time buying a pair of Hokas. I was a bit sceptical about them to be honest, but they were very comfortable and I was quiet happy with my purchase.
Totals;
Time: 0:57 - Distance: 11.00km


Sunday 10th December
Long Run - 27km I said it somewhere else in this post that I'd intended on running my long runs towards the slower end of a 4:02-4:24/km pace range. So the average pace I finished with, might make it look like I forgot about this resolve. Only 500m into the run though, I unexpectedly bumped into a friend I often run with. He had half an hour left to do and he was running at a pace that he told me wouldn't be much faster than my intended pace. So as we could have a chat, I decided I'd join him.
It wasn't a wicked fast pace he was running, but when 3:42 flashed for the first full kilometres we were together, I had to do a double take. I was being taken outside my comfort zone. It's a little bit scary to think I'm supposed to run 13km even quicker than this next Sunday. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it and use it as even more motivation to lose weight. I was starting to wonder if my friend's company was worth it, but thankfully, things settled down and although we stayed moving at a pace towards the faster end of my pace scale, at least it now was within the acceptable parameters of MP +10% to 20%.
After completing about 8km together, we bid each other farewell and I continued on my own, glad that at least in theory, the rest of the run should be comparatively easier than the opening 5 miles had been. I'm not sure if this is how things transpired, but I definitely finished up running faster than I had planned and I didn't have to pay too high a price for it.
It grew colder as the run progressed and a few spatterings of sleet and rain made things even more miserable. I managed to keep moving though and apart from making me wish I'd started an hour earlier, so as I'd have avoided the inclement weather, the showers didn't slow me down or alter my pace in anyway.
Totals;
Time: 1:53 - Distance: 27.01km



Weekly Totals;
Running: 7:01 - 95.05km
Cross training : 3:20 (2½ hours swimming & Thursday's 50 minutes on cross trainer)
S & C: 3:35 (Two Bikram Yoga Classes & one token weights session

The first week has gone better than expected. Bar subbing out a midweek recovery run, I did everything I needed to do. And while there might have been a few occasions when things should have felt easier than they did, I was never seriously struggling. I'm more confident now than I was a week ago that I'll get through the 18 weeks uninjured. Hopefully it's all systems go from here until April 8th.

Monday 11th December
77.2kg

Cross Training A 10km recovery run was what was in the plan, but I thought it would be safer to stick to the cross trainer. I've no niggles and it was just purely precautionary.


Tuesday 12th December
No morning weigh-in

General Aerobic Run - 13km w. 10 x 100m strides I did this on the footpaths around Clonsilla and used three painted bikes symbols, 50m apart, on an adjacent bike path to measure out the distance for the 100m strides. I was wearing new shoes for this; Hoka One One Clifton 4, and they caused bad blisters on the soles of my feet. Although not the same pair, they've a similar raised arch on the insole, to the other new pair I wore on Saturday and Sunday and I was probably just further aggravating an already tender spot. I'll change back to an old pair of runners for my MLR tomorrow and hopefully I'll be fine. I hope it won't be a recurring problem once they're fully worn in.
I felt good throughout this and was very comfortably holding my desired pace for each kilometre split up until the time the strides started. I doubled back on myself after each separate 100m stride and inevitably lost a bit of time here.
Hopefully tomorrow's run brings a similar sense of satisfaction and I'll be facing into Sunday's long run with its 13km at MP with a lot more confidence than I have right now.
Totals;
Time: 0:56 - Distance: 13.01km


Wednesday 13th December
74.9kg

Medium Long Run - 21km The weather forecast wasn't great and that's the way things turned out. It was windy and wet when I was out running, but I was well wrapped up and given the recent frost and ice warnings, I was happy I'd none of that to deal with. I ran from the NAC to the Phoenix Park, where I was hoping to run on grass. The grass was as soggy as fnck though, so I just stuck to the paths. There's more impact with this, but I felt fine and so far, so good on the old injury front. I was under no undue stress holding the pace and I could have given a lot more had it been required. Hopefully now the rest of the week goes as well as the last two days have gone.
Totals;
Time: 1:30 - Distance: 21.01km


Thursday 14th December
76.2kg
Cross Trainer Another short stint on the cross trainer instead of a recovery run.


Friday 15th December
No morning weigh in

Recovery Run - 10km This was scheduled for tomorrow, but I've planned a night out with friends then and if I stuck to the plan, I'd inevitably have to do the first marathon-pace run with a hangover. It's going to be tough enough without that added hardship, so I'll do it Saturday morning instead. As the plan has a 10km recovery run the day before the the marathon-pace run, even though it meant two recovery runs in a row, I felt it would be a good idea to do an easy day before a hard one. It now means I'll have to do the second MLR of the week in a hungover state, but once I get moving, I'm sure I'll struggle through it.
Totals;
Time: 0:48 - Distance: 10.00km


Saturday 16th December
Marathon Pace Run - 27km w. 13km @ MP I was very trepidatious about how I was going to get on with this. There's no way in my current shape, I'm fit for a sub 2:35 marathon, so trying to run nearly one-third of the distance at this pace was something I found quite daunting. I was expecting to struggle with this pace and if I made it, I thought it would just be by the skin of my teeth. In the end I succeeded in finishing the marathon paced section with an average pace a few seconds below what I'll need to run next April. From this point of view, I'm pleased with how I fared, but at the same time, I would have liked to have ran each single kilometre split at my hoped for speed. But cutting myself some slack, 90% of this slowest split was into a headwind, and I managed to get things back on track for the subsequent kilometre. So it wasn't a capitulation of any sort.
Totals;
Time: 1:44 - Distance: 27.00km


Sunday 17th December
Medium Long Run - 18km As I'd anticipated I woke up slightly worse for wear and it wasn't until late in the evening that I went out fir this run. My motivation was zero practically the whole way through and I was thinking of pizza throughout. So when I got home, I inevitability had a whole one for supper. Not exactly the diet of champions, but so far out from Rotterdam, I won't stress too much about such a poor choice of calories.
I wanted to keep all the kilometre splits under 4:24/km, but I wasn't willing to push anyway hard to do so, and there were quiet a few outside the ideal MP+20% I should have been running at. With a hangover and after a hard run yesterday, I didn't consider pace being all that crucial a factor in today's run. Still I finished up with an overall average pace just under my target, so all's good with the world.
Totals;
Time: 1:53 - Distance: 27.01km



Weekly Totals;
Running: 6:18 - 89.02km
Cross training : 5:00 (3:20 swimming & Two 50 minute stints on cross trainer)
S & C: 3:00 (Two Bikram Yoga Classes)

ReeReeG wrote: »

I've heard it said that Bikram is pretty dehydrating and therefore not the ideal side activity if running long distances... How do you find it??

You certainly sweat a lot in the classes, but as long you re-hydrate normally afterwards, I don't see how it could have any lasting impact on running performance. I wouldn't go to a Bikram Yoga class before a long run or an important session, but it's not that hard to replace lost fluids and salts if you leave enough of gap between a run and the yoga class. Running itself is dehydrating, but I don't think anyone would advise you not to do it. There might be other reasons as to why Bikram Yoga isn't the best complementary training for a runner, but I wouldn't think sweat loss is a legitimate one.

I've only been going to the Bikram Yoga classes for a month and my reason for starting was primarily to improve my swimming, in the hope that it would give me improved range of motion in my shoulders. But apart from that, I find it's improving my overall flexibility and balance. Improving those two things can only help my running.

I had been on an introductory offer in a studio in Coolmine. under the offer, I had access to unlimited classes for a month. That's now expired though, so Bikram Yoga might not feature as regularly in my training from here on, but it's only because of the expired offer and not because I don't see its value.

ReeReeG wrote: »

Yeah I was just curious how you found it along with running, but spacing it from the long runs and sessions makes sense. I do regular yoga myself at the moment which is totally fine, but wouldn't mind trying Bikram.

I'd never done regular yoga before, so I wouldn't be in a position to compare the two. But I definitely think you should try out Bikram. What's the worst that could happen? Just make sure you bring a drink.