Chapter 2 - Finding Nemo

Thanks again to everyone for the kind words and messages. Yer a grand bunch in fairness. As AMK would say you don't meet many as*hole runners. Based on a good chat with coach, we decided to step back a bit. I was hesitant but in hindsight it helped.

Monday - Easy 7M at 8.04.

Tuesday - 7M starting out easy and progressing to steady (6.40).

Splits: 8.05/7.35/7.24 /7.11/ 7.00/6.50/6.26.

Wednesday - Easy 7M at 7.55.

Thursday - Easy 7M at 7.57.

Friday - 5M Steady (6.45ish) - 3min Jog - 2x1k at 6.10.

Splits for 5M: 6.48 / 6.41 / 6.36 / 6.42 / 6.42.
Pace splits for 1k: 6.16/6.09.

Saturday - Easy 14M at 7.57.

Sunday - Rest

Felt pretty good this week mainly due to the step back sessions. Tuesdays session was enjoyable. Last split was a little on the quick side but no harm.
Fridays was just as enjoyable. Running at steady pace was a nice change. Big difference from the XC sessions I've become accustomed to!

Legs were fresher than usual for Saturdays long run. As fresh as I've felt on the long run in quite some time.

Still working on addressing the factors outside of running. Making a conscious effort to fuel better and the mood has definitely improved. Work is still pretty hectic but making a conscious effort to try and not let myself get overwhelmed. Mind is a work in progress. Lots of opening up and chats with the missus and family has helped.

Finding it hard not seeing myself push on with the running. I have 50 odd weeks of solid work behind me. The competitor in me wants to push on but as a wise man once said, one step back for two steps forward. Incase anyone ever wonders, when I say a wise man it's usually coach. Haha.

Duanington wrote:

Rest and recovery, both physical and mental are vital parts of pushing on with your running. The down weeks can be hard to swallow when you look at the numbers but they are so important to building the bigger picture.

To be honest I think deep down I know. Probably just being a little negative. Felt unbreakable in the Summer. Went from that to a pretty humbling cross country block haha. One thing about the XC is it certainly makes you realise where you're really at. Takes a strong person to do well at it and I mean that both physically and mentally. I'll take solace in the fact you came out all guns blazing this year after your step back last year.

Little bit of catching up to do on the log here...

Last week;
Was given the freedom to run as I liked with the condition of at least one steady run and one long run no more than 10M. A mental break week. Had thought about running a session but figured I would be sensible and take the break when offered.

Monday - Easy 7M at 8min/mile
Tuesday - Easy 7M + Strides
Wednesday - 2WU/2@6.45/2@6.35/2@6.25/CD
Thursday - Easy 7M at 8.07/mile
Friday - Easy 7M at 7.53/mile
Saturday - Easy 9.7M at 7.53/mile
Sunday - Rest

Lots of easy running and enjoyed the steady effort. Enjoyed the week as a whole. Lots of stretches but I must say I was still feeling a bit out of sorts. Nothing about my running feels as smooth as it did earlier in the year. Hard to know if im overthinking or not. Had a chat with coach and asked if I could draw a halt to XC training for this year. I just dont think I have the love for it at the moment.

This week;
Monday - Easy 7M at 8.13/mile
Tuesday - 4/3*2/3/4*1min at 5.50 (Off 2mins)
Wednesday - Easy 7M at 8.06/mile
Thursday - Easy 7M at 7.55/mile
Friday - 3x(1k at 5.50/1M at 6.20) off 3min
Saturday - Planned 13M
Sunday - Rest

Had to head to Ashbourne with work. Passed through Dunshaughlin on the way to the test house. Liking the looks of those roads for June

Ran Tuesday evenings session in Ashbourne. I dont really know the roads in that area so ended up basically heading up and down the town. Was great to be on the roads for these sessions again. Could feel the love coming back.
Splits were 6.02/5.51/5.56/5.47/5.52/5.31/5.33/5.32/5.29
One thing I noticed was the ability to dial into effort a bit better (excluding the first split which is always a bit off as the watch and body take a bit of an adjustment). The 4x1mins were funny in fairness. It was pretty dark and looking at the watch wasnt really an option so I completely lost track of which split i was on. Ran them a little too hard as part of me thought each one was nearing the end of the session. Recovery paces were decent - 7.29-7.53. Cooldown was a little quick as I was in a rush to get back and chat with baba before she went to bed. Felt as stiff as hell the next day to the point where the right knee was jarring a bit at times.

Todays session was another good one. Surprised at how easy I found the 6.20 pace.
Splits were 5.54/6.21, 5.49/6.24, 5.47/6.22. Still feeling a bit wonky.

Solid session and happy to be back on the roads.

Priority is to get a rub down as soon as I can. Physio of choice is getting married today but hoping to get her next week.

OOnegative wrote:

Good to see some positivity again here P, I worked in Ashbourne for 18 months, an absolute disaster of a town to have a run in.

Unless running back and forth in a straight line multiple times is your thing. Haha. It was so bad that I literally needed to run a split, turn back the other way run the next and repeat.

Reeling in the Year - 2018

January started with a bang with my first race since my little girl was born. Limerick Country Club 5M with a monster hill. Felt great to be back. At this stage I had just over 7 weeks of coaching under my belt. I had contacted Luke and given my background in November 2017. Up to that point I had some decent pbs. The main one of interest was 37.4x for Tralee 10k the previous August. I had found I was really falling off a cliff as the races wore on. So prior to the January 5M Luke had me doing quite a lot of aerobic easy running and slowed me down compared to what I had been doing. Instructions were to run the sessions hard but controlled. Up to that point I had been busting a gut in all of my sessions, some of which were big chunky sessions like the McMillian ones which I really wasnt ready for. So I was in decent enough shape for January and ran 30.07.

I had highlighted Ennis 10k in March as a race I wanted to target. Since then my mindset towards target races has changed somewhat. Being encouraged to race regularly has taken the pressure off individual races and I have since leaned towards long term gains, consistent mileage, consistent running week on week, month on month. Barefield 5k was next up in Jan with some nice 5k specific sessions prior. Ran 18.05 in what was an official race pb (I had run 18.02 in a time trial before).

Back to back races in Feb with Lahinch 5M and Adare 10k. Lahinch 5M was a lesson. Had run decent enough in Barefield and was in the mix for positions. Went hard in Lahinch and just made a balls of it. Stopped twice. Finished in 30.32. A good lesson. Adare was much better although probably not quite where I though my fitness was at. 37.11. A 30s pb.

I now had a decent 4 week block to Ennis 10k. A lovely mix of sessions in the buildup. The type of sessions I will be getting back to early in 2019. Ennis was probably one of the highlights of the year running 36.05 (on a slightly short course). 1.06 knocked off previous pb. The results from the coaching was telling. Very strong race and ran very smartly. I probably havent ran a race as well as that since.

Tuamgraney 10M was two weeks later. I didnt really have much interest in doing anything spectacular here. Very little 10M specific prep although the 10k training would have me in decent shape anyway. Ran 63.08 on a very tough course and came third. My first and only podium to date.

Three weeks later I ran Limerick HM in 81.43. A massive pb from 91.30 previously. Was delighted with that on what was a hot day in the city. Most of the Summer was spent in a very good 5k block of training with a lot of faster stuff. Drills were introduced. It was in this block that I really started to feel springy. One of the best blocks of the year. Three races in this period. Shanagolden 5k with a pb of 17.41. Ballyheigue 10k with a time of 37.34 and 4th place and Borrisoleigh 5k with a pb of 17.36 in desperate heat. My first race as a Limerick AC member. Had joined the club with a view to running XC in the Winter with them.In July I ran Killarney 10k in 36.44. Felt like crap and still pulled out a decent result finishing 9th. By now I was in the thick of a good HM block in prep for Charleville. I felt the 5k followed by the HM block really suited me and felt great going into Charleville. I should say, with Luke theres never really a clear line of one block starting and another one finishing but you do notice some more race specific training starting to get introduced. For example in the build up to Charleville there was a lot chunky sessions but still a lot of 10k stuff and even 5k speed type sessions. A good mix. Charleville was one of the highlihts of the year after Ennis although it didnt feel like it at the time! Ran 79.48. Another pb.

I then entered the fabled XC block. Looking back it was probably the wrong time for me to go into a block like this. Things were unravelling a bit in my personal life. Found it very tough but as always with me I was thinking long term and the determination took over. Even at the right time the XC training would be tough. I think people who are good at XC are a different breed. Its a different type of running and I have a new appreciation for the lads that do well at it. Ran a few XC races and had some manners handed to me. Haha. The last month or so has seen me take a little step back and recover mentally and physically. The hunger is definitely back and the return of some of the 10k specific sessions has helped. Turns out I seem to like the rhythm running. Back to the roads with me!

Summary of monthly mileage;
Jan 194
Feb 190
March 212
April 207
May 174
June 190
July 195
August 245
Sept 207
Oct 229
Nov 207
Dec 161 (so far)
Total 2410 miles (so far)
Average weekly mileage was 46.3.
Highest week was 61.2 thanks to my shenanigans traipsing around DCM.
Lowest week was 24.6 (a down week after Limerick Half).
79 sessions.
15 races.
10 pbs.
6 cramps (all in Charleville).

Personal race related highlight: Ennis 10k
Non personal race highlight: My buddies first sub 20 5k.
Personal non race related highlight: Meeting the Boardsies in Dublin and at Charleville.
Biggest lesson learned: Good running needs more than just good training. Nutrition, mental health, stress levels, sleep etc are all as important. Seems obvious but its not so obvious when youre in the depths of neglecting most of those things.
Low point: Munster Masters quitting on the race. Turns out to be one of the most important parts of the year.

Although it hasnt felt like it in the last few weeks as Ive been feeling sorry for myelf its been a great year. I always remind myself that running is a patient mans/womans game. Big gains are made long term with consistent running (although I would argue I made big gains this year). I know I already posted in the Goals 2019 thread but to add some to those, Id like the same level of consistency in 2019. Consistent days, weeks, months. Would like my mileage to be in or around 2500 again. I think thats probably close to the max I can manage with work and home commitments. 5k/10k/HM and everything in between. Maybe a bit of indoor. No marathon. As for XC next year I wont look that far ahead yet. Lol. Would like to run more club races for sure. I probably will avoid the more commercial races. Dunshaughlin and Adare are the two Ive highlighted so far. Would like to do some of the County and Provincial road races too.

I will be moving to a new log in the new year. Id like to capture each year separately. Will link it here when I set it up. Thanks to everyone for following this year. Its been emotional. Haha. Hope everyone has a great new years. Onwards and upwards in 2019.

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments. As always you're a very supportive bunch and one of the only reasons I'm on Boards these days!

I decided against starting a separate log for "Year 2" so instead I will be re-titling my log for 2019. I didn't like the thoughts of asking people to go to another log and start following when they've gone to the trouble of following this one already.

So the first post of this log will be an index of sorts (assuming I manage to keep this running lark going) for each year.
You might wonder why I consider this year as "Year One" of my running when i've actually been running for years. Well thats simply down to coaching. Not to be dismissive of the previous work I did but Nov 2017 in my mind is truly when my running journey kicked off.

Anyway I'm rambling, I shall end Chapter 1 - The Day that Never Comes with a status update of sorts.

The Christmas break has provided some much needed relief from the major stresses that have been worklife. A great time to get some perspective. In saying that, no sooner had I signed off at work when I started fighting a dose of something. Two weeks I've fought it on and off with various stages hitting me at different times. I had been saying I felt "wonky" lately. I think part of that was the body fighting something I thought was gone. Also being off work was almost like a taper for me - the body just went into recovery mode. I guess I didnt realise just how highly strung i had been for so long. Also, the XC block has taken its toll a bit on me. Some minor niggles from that I allowed become something bigger to the point that last Saturday after my long run I was in bits (I should say I ran an ill advised session on the Friday too. A session that would have been a breeze to me earlier in the year but my body wasnt quite ready for it). I always harp on to my running buddies - "Listen to your body", "Dont run when you shouldnt". But I'm one of those stubborn lads that cant take his own advice. So after last Saturdays long run I feared the running could be taking a back seat for a while. A bit melodramatic!

Visited the physio today and he reckons nothing serious - just inflammation that needs a few days to recover. Hopefully he's right. I have a history of issues on the left side - previously had shooting pains in the left calf and generally have a numbness in the left quad. When I overload, its that chain that tends to give out (hip flexors, glutes, hamstring, quad, calf). One of the big pluses of something like this is it resets you a bit. I've had a great year but in the past month or so ive struggled physically and mentally and the running has suffered a bit. When I came out of the physio today I just sat in the car for a few minutes and reflected on why I love running to begin with. I've gotten a bit too caught up in "long term gains" and "what will make me better" as opposed to , what do I actually like doing. I found myself saying to Luke a few weeks back, would he be willing to decide what will give me the most gains next year? What should I be doing? Please tell me what to do? Seems a bit silly when I think about it now.

So with my newfound enlightenment (I could feel different in a week!), all going well I'd like to start building on the good work from 2018. Adare and Dunshaughlin 10k are a must for me. I like the thoughts of a couple of ten milers (maybe Tralee in April). Not sure where I could fit in some 5k stuff but would really like to. Me and Mellow Yellow are keeping eachother honest on the 5k stuff. And I think Charleville HM might need to be revisited but thats too far away. When I think back on what I really enjoyed this year, I loved the 10k training - I loved the 5k block - just great sessions. I really enjoyed going from 5k into the HM block. I didnt enjoy the grit of the XC training (timing didnt help there).

In terms of all the other aspects;

Plan is to limit alcohol intake. Not to put hard rules on myself but definitely cut back on the "odd" glass of wine after a stressful day. Not an alcoholic by any means but I found more and more I was enjoying a drink pre dinner after a hard day.

Nutrition improvements are an absolute must and will be addressed. Food, especially chocolate cant continue to be a source of stress relief.

Work stress needs to be managed better. I have plans for that.

Sleep is good so no complaints there. Same with homelife. Missus has been a supportive saint as has baba.

Health is ok although I am awaiting some blood tests which will hopefully come up clear.

Mental Health is the biggest thing for me in 2019. Running and mental health need to go hand in hand and one cant rely on the other. What I mean is, to a certain extent running has been my escape from a lot of what has happened this year. I don't think thats healthy. You need to be mentally healthy for your body to be able to give you what you need. Asking your body and mind to deal with bad stuff and also then asking it to run 8x1k hard is really pretty unfair when you think about it. lol. SO in 2019 I hope to be a bit more in tune with how I'm feeling and when I'm being a bit obsessive with the running. Part of the issue is its the obsession that has yielded the improvements.

Anyway sorry for the ramble. Sometimes it just helps to get the thoughts on out paper and this isn't a bad way to close off Chapter One. I think it's too rare to see men, in particular, talk about this stuff and one thing I've learned this year is when you open up to people a bit it seems to remove that barrier of masculinity we seem to have. Ye ladies are much better at communicating feelings.lol

Anyway, so long Chapter One. Thanks for reading. Bring on Chapter Two.

P.S - Incase you're wondering this isn't a drunken ramble