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If I only could, I'd make a deal

crockmac

All right let’s do this thing!! I’ve met a bunch of the folks on here, and enjoy reading the logs. Would love advice and tips along the way. I’m mostly using a brute force approach to training.

Who am I?
41 year old male runner. After a couple of false starts I’ve been running pretty consistently for about two and a half years.

How did I get into it?
I was looking for some form of regular exercise. I’d done some cycling over the years, but pretty inconsistently. Young childer at home also meant that 4 or 5 hour Saturday cycles were probably off limits!

2015 - 102 miles
My initial goal was to run for 30 minutes without stopping, and to not hate it. A lofty target! I listened to the Guardian’s “Beginners guide to running”, completed the 6 week course and went from a completely unfit mess to a moderately unfit mess. I’d also unexpectedly started enjoying it. Unfortunately my initial enthusiasm waned, and I didn’t keep it up past February

2016 - 43.8 miles
Start of the year was basically a repeat of 2015. New years resolution, get up to running a two or three times a week and pack it in. Boo! I had another go in November, but I think I got shin splints and had to stop.

2017 - 803 miles
This is the year it clicked. I started again in the new year as I had done the years previous. I’d put on a bunch of weight the year before and I was determined to lose it in time for my wedding later that year. Nothing like a bit of vanity to motivate you!! I started the year by repeating the pattern of the 2 previous. Jan and Feb I ran 2/3 times a week, then bugger all in March.

But... I picked it up again in April. Ran 3/4 times a week then pushing the distance out a bit more each week. Then on holidays in west cork ran the marathon distance for the first time… on my own with a bottle of water and a couple of bananas. It was a terrible idea, but somehow didn’t put me off. I signed up then for the Dublin marathon.

Ran Dublin in 3:54, enjoyed every step, bug had completely taken hold at that point.

2018 - 1345 miles
Trained through winter for Connemarathon. Ran it in 3:49. Beautiful place. Miserable wet windy weather. And that hill at the end.

After some gentle encouragement from Singer, I joined Crusaders then in May, and loosely followed their Marathon plan targeting 3:30. Made a bit of a bags of it and went out too fast, finished in 3:32. Ran Jingle Bells, and Christmas Cracker in 20:30, and 20:07 respectively. Pretty happy with both, left nothing behind, they were both decent PBs

2019
The end is in sight \o/. This year started with 33:08 in Raheny and then straight into training for the Rotterdam marathon. A gang of us from the Cru went out to it. Training went well, and I ran a respectable 1:33 in the Bohermeen half.

In Rotterdam I targeted 3:20 on the day, but fell apart a bit at mile 22 due to heat(that’s what I’m blaming anyways), and had to actually stop and just take on a lot of water. Still managed a 3:28 PB and got the 3:30 monkey off my back which was the original aim anyways.

Most recently(this week) I got my first official sub 20 5k at the Bob Heffernan, finishing in 19:34, feeling very happy with myself

I’ve upped the training a good bit this year as well. We moved house last September and the now longer commute is a great way to get plenty of volume in. Doing 50 miles plus most weeks. Mostly made up by commutes but with a session Tuesday, Parkrun Saturday, and a long run on Sunday.

Targets for rest of year
Sub 19 5k
Sub 40 10k
Very optimistic Sub 3:10 marathon, happy with anything between 3:10 and 3:20

If anyone read this far, I salute you

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crockmac

Sunday 3 hours, 32.2km 5:36/km
Closed out the week with a reasonable effort at the long run. Got up early(6am) and ate some porridge I'd left soaking in water overnight with peanut butter and apricot jam. Left at about 7:15.
Pace was consistent if maybe a little slower than it should have been. Felt fine though, and could maybe have pushed on a bit for the last hour. Met up with a couple of the cru folks at 9 and ran with them for an hour before turning home.

Next week
I'm roughly following the cru plan, and it's an easy week next week which is good. I'll probably do the short V02 session on Tuesday all the same to keep the sharpness. Doing the half marathon on Saturday, and I'll give 1:30 a shot but more in hope than in expectation. Be interesting to see how much, or if I've come on since FD. I'll also run the commutes, but a few less, and just one way on Friday as a mini taper.

Weekly total 121.4km(75mi)
Monthly total 252.7km (157mi)
Yearly total 2743km (1704mi)

crockmac

Log early, log often. The weeks started well, running wise. Which is good cos work is pretty stressful right now. Mini taper plan for the half is as follows. Limit commutes to one per day, VO2 max session on Tuesday, and a few HMP miles on Thursday.

Monday
7.2 km 5:24/km
Commute home from work. Nice evening for it. Quickest run home yet which isn't really saying much.

Tuesday
Total 14.2km
12x400m with 45 seconds static recovery
1:33 1:31 1:31 1:32
1:29 1:27 1:26 1:26
1:25 1:28 1:27 1:23
This was, by a distance the strongest session I've done down at the track. Started with a group but pushed on a bit about 6 reps in. Felt strong through the session and finished it well. I'm not sure if it's ideal prep for either the half on Saturday, or the Marathon, but it was nice to go fast and a good sign that things are going in the right direction.

crockmac

Wednesday 18th
Bog standard commute 7.3km 6:01/km

Thursday 19th
7km round the Phoenix bark with my brother. A few strides here and there. This was good fun. The homebrew beers afterwards were also very tasty. Dangerous having a brother who makes excellent beer live at the other end of the road:eek::D
7km 5:26/km

Friday 20th
Rest shmest, who needs rest days. Easy commute into work, bumped into colleague on his way to the Luas, and then when he was getting off at the other end. He then gave me abuse on Strava!
7km 6:18/km

Saturday 21st - Dublin Half Marathon - 1:36:24
Short version.
Tried to run with the 1:30 pacers, and failed.

Slightly longer version whingefest!
Took off with the 1:30 pacers. Was careful to not try to chase them too hard. I tried to keep to the racing line as much as possible just focus on having them in sight. First 5km felt ok, but not easy and started to get that sinking feeling that my 1:30 hopes were pretty unrealistic.

Predictably, I fell off the pace properly just after going around the zoo, at about 9km in. Generally unpleasant for most of the rest of the race as I went backwards. Particular lowlights were the hill up past Farmleigh, and the wind blowing me back up Chesterfield Ave.

Picked up a bit coming towards the last hill when I realised that a course PB was still on the cards. A few people passed me at the bottom of the hill, but I caught up and went by some of them including a clubmate who looked pretty rough. Managed a bit of a sprint finish, and got in about a minute under last years time.

Looking back at the splits and given the course, conditions and preparation it's actually not a bad run. Looking at my notes from last year where I was really happy with the race, I'd rested properly in the week before.

PS: Apologies to anyone who saw me after the race and had to listen to me giving out about it.

21.14km @ 4:34/km 7:21/mi

Sunday 22nd
Party for the kids cousins on Saturday and my daughter's birthday on Sunday meant no early run, and that I'd eaten my own body weight in cocktail sausages and cake. Crashed out on the couch then watching the little mermaid, before putting the kids to bed. All in all this meant I didn't get out until about 7:30pm. It was lashing rain, and I almost walked straight back into the house after heading out... almost.

I didn't and ended up having a really enjoyable run around the PP. Ran one inner loop, and then went out of the park at Castleknock and ran round the outside. Rain stopped about an hour in, and conditions were pretty perfect. I got into running initially heading out around this time and I still really enjoy it. Felt particularly good coming round the bottom of the park. After Saturday's moanfest this was a good boost.

33.1km @ 5:26/km 8:46/mi

Weekly total 98.1km(61mi)
Monthly total 350.8 (218mi)
Yearly total 2841km (1765mi)

Murph_D

I enjoyed your giving out about it!

20 miles the next day? Ouch.

mister paul

I wasn't far behind you on Saturday and may well have passed the same clubmate near the top of the hill, just as he started walking. Tried to give him some encouragement but to no avail.

You were disappointed on Saturday no doubt, but good that you're getting some perspective on it and seeing the positives.

crockmac

Monday
Run home with Singer, up along Griffith Avenue. and through Tolka Valley Park. No burning trolleys this time. Felt good still after the half and long run in the previous days. I'm taking encouragement from this in that I was too tired to run a fast enough in the half to necessitate a long recovery.
11.1km @ 5:49/km

Tuesday
Various runnings. Ran the Crusaders marathon session which was a 5/2 fartlek at HMP / HMP + 30s. 6 reps making it 40 minutes in total. Ran the HMP at ~4:15/km which was my attempted HMP on Saturday. Felt manageable, and kicked on to sub 4:00/km for the last rep.
Total 14.2km

Wednesday
Half of it anyway, I'm still at work right now:eek:. Run in to work, had to pick up the phone on the way so it was a bit shorter than it might have been.
6.3km @ 6:14

According to Strava I'm just shy of my highest ever fitness score. I recorded that just before probably my best race to date, the Bob Heffernan 5k back in May. Not sure how much faith to put into that, but I am feeling pretty good. About 3 weeks of proper training left to push that up a bit more. Starting to get excited about 27th October. I feel like 3:20 should be achievable given training times, even after the poor show at the weekend.

crockmac

Wednesday 25/09 part 2
Felt pretty sh1te on the run home in the rain. Got home and noticed a recurrence of a bursitis on my elbow. It's an inflammation on my elbow that fills with fluid. I've had it a few times now, and usually clears up in a couple of weeks with anti-inflammatories and antibiotics.

Thursday and Friday
Went to the doctor, who reckoned my immune system was probably low due to training load. Got anti-inflammatories and antibiotics. Took them and felt awful

The anti-inflammatories were particularly bad this time round.
Didn't run Thursday or Friday, breaking my 5 week streak.

Saturday
With the rugby on, I knew there would a low turnout at the local parkrun. So I reckoned I might have a chance of winning it. Went out into the wind at about 20 min pace. Some crafty fecker from Lucan sat in behind me and then sailed off about 2k in. Was feeling effects of pills, so took it easy after that myself and slowed up a lot in the last 1 km. Finished 3rd.

Sunday
Long run with the cru folk. Took it handy enough what with still being dosed up. 32.4km @ 5:40/km

Weekly total 87.5km(55mi)
Monthly total 438.5km (273mi)
Yearly total 2928km (1820mi)

crockmac

T minus 3 weeks to DCM 30/09 - 06/10
This was a reasonable week again. Volume still a bit down partly on account of being a bit under the weather and on antibiotics, and partly due to the storm on Thursday evening. Ran club session Tuesday, progression run on Friday, and then long run sunday with MP bits. All felt hard, but doable. I still have no idea if my 3:20 goal is at all reasonable, but I guess I'll find out somewhere around/after Crumlin

.

Monday
Run home with Singer. Lashing rain. Fell over on way home :eek: Running through Tolka Valley Park there was a 90 degree bend and the path was flooded. I tried to turn on the grass but physics said no and I fell. Not on my inflamed elbow thank fook! Escaped with a few scratches. Last run for September and closed out the month on a satisfyingly round 450km figure. About 100km more than my previous record \o/. Felt good.
11.5km @ 5:31

Tuesday
Cru session, Pyramid Fartlek 3,4,6,8,6,4,3 minute reps with 1 minute in between. Quick bits were at HMP(4:15/km) and the slower bits were about 4:50/km. Not an easy session, but not that hard either. I've been finding the pace at the Tuesday sessions much easier than I ever did in previous training blocks which is a nice sign of progress.
16.9km total for day

Wednesday and Thursday
Storm dodging and rest. Still on antibiotics, so taking it a bit easier.

Friday
Did my Thursday night session on friday. It's the long progression run. In the cru plan it's down at warm up, then 40 mins @ 90% MP and 40 mins @ 95% MP. Ran it at MP(4:48/km), then a few seconds faster than MP(4:43/km). Not easy, but hit the paces. Note to self: I really need to buy a headlamp for running around the park at night.
21.1km @ 5:05/avg 131m elevation

Saturday
Another soaking, nice easy run. Ran it against HR rather than pace.
12.7km @ 5:53/km

Sunday
Treated this as a bit of a dress rehearsal. Got up early to eat, wore shorts I plan to wear and took gels(5) for the first time in this training block. Also had a hit of the beetroot juice in the morning. The session was 30 mins easy, 20 mins @MP, 30 mins easy, 30 mins @ MP, 20 mins easy, 40 mins @MP. The last section was made tough through my own masochistic desire to throw a run up the Khyber into the last MP block. Still I got through it, and hit the paces. This is my third go approximately doing the crusaders plan and I've never come close to doing this session well in the past. I'm a little worried about HR which was fairly high, but it's hard to know given I'm on medication, and all that
35.2km @ 5:07/km avg (MP sections run at 4:48/km avg or so)

Weekly total 97.6km
September total 450km(281mi)
October total 86.5km (54mi)
Yearly total 3026km (1874mi)

Next week
Cru plan tapers next week, but that feels a little early for me. I'll do a speed session on the track on Tuesday, and 16km @ MP on Thursday. Commutes the other days during the week and a shorter long run at the weekend. We're getting close...

crockmac

October 7-13
Date|Distance|Avg pace|Notes
7th October|11.1km|5:51/km|Usual Griffith ave, Tolka Valley park monday runmute with B+A
8th October|14.7km|Mixed|4*8 mins @ HMP. Started this one a bit quick for the first rep. Slowed down for second rep, and picked up as the reps went on. All paces are a little approximate. 4:15, 4:28, 4:20, 4:09. Very much enjoyed the session.
9th October|7.2km|6:06/km|Weird one, very easy run along thee canal but HR shot up to >180. I didn't feel any different, and can't explain it.
10th October|Rest
11th October|Rest||Think this was because of the storm

12th October|20.5km|Mixed|10 miles-ish at race pace. I was a bit nervous going into it with my weird HR readings which had stayed 20 or so above average over the 3 days previous. Even tried someone else's watch to make sure it wasn't some weird glitch. Set out for the run and averaged about 166, which is about normal for me at that pace. Ended up doing 17.2km around Phoenix Park @ 4:46/km and felt reassuringly comfortable. Resting heart rate went back to normal after the run too.
13th October|20.2km|5:36/km|Had to make a somewhat trip out to SF for work which isn't ideal 2 weeks out from race day. Went for a run in Golden Gate park though which is always nice. Worked pretty well for getting a good nights sleep too

Weeks total: |73.9km

Not a bad weeks running considering transatlantic flight and a Hurricane

October 14-20
Date|Distance|Avg pace|Notes
14th October|8km|6:01/km|Gentle canter over the hills in GGP
15th October|14.9km|Mixed|2 * 15 Minutes @ MP off 2 minutes AR. Headed up to Kezar Stadium in GGP to do my session. It's a nice, if pretty busy track. Pretty cool that it's open to all though. Mostly stuck to MP(4:47/km), but did the last 10 minutes of the second rep @ 4:08/km because I have no discipline
16th October|||Rest
17th October|8.64km|5:26|2 * 15 Minutes @ MP off 2 minutes AR. Ended up being more like marathon effort bcs there were a lot of hills involved. Didn't have time to go to/from the track.
18th October|||Rest and flight home
19th October|5km|4:29/km|Tolka Valley parkrun. Ran round Tolka Valley around at a slowish HMP. Good fun if a little tired after flight and naughty post flight beers. Bumped into misterpaul which was nice too, and there was much sandbagging on both our parts

20th October|11.3km|5:17/km|An hour on Sunday evening up the canal, into the park and home. Very pleasant.
Weeks total: |47.9km|| A bit low on the mileage for my liking

crockmac

Anticipation building now. Feeling excited but paranoid about every pain, tightness, and boil water warning going.

Spent a couple of hours this evening putting together a race plan. Be interested in folks thoughts on it if any. My goal is to try to run a 2 minute negative split. (btw I don't expect to remember the individual km splits :eek:), but I'll follow the 5km split times.

Dublin marathon pace plan spreadsheet

OOnegative

crockmac wrote: »

Anticipation building now. Feeling excited but paranoid about every pain, tightness, and boil water warning going.

Spent a couple of hours this evening putting together a race plan. Be interested in folks thoughts on it if any. My goal is to try to run a 2 minute negative split. (btw I don't expect to remember the individual km splits :eek:), but I'll follow the 5km split times.

Dublin marathon pace plan spreadsheet

Sees good to me C, totally agree with being conservative till Myo’s then upping the pace, get to the RDS or before and let rip man. Nerves are good, embrace them, shows you care & want to do well.

Singer

crockmac wrote: »

Anticipation building now. Feeling excited but paranoid about every pain, tightness, and boil water warning going.

Spent a couple of hours this evening putting together a race plan. Be interested in folks thoughts on it if any. My goal is to try to run a 2 minute negative split. (btw I don't expect to remember the individual km splits :eek:), but I'll follow the 5km split times.

Dublin marathon pace plan spreadsheet

Looks good apart from the use of kilometres

mister paul

Best of luck tomorrow C. Keep me a seat in McGrattans.

Murph_D

Best of luck C, see you after (and possibly before). Run well.

crockmac

It’s taken a bit of time to get the report up and I’ll try to do the day justice. It was easily the best days running I’ve had. I massively enjoyed the race, the support was phenomenal and I’m ecstatic with the results. The two big differences between this block and previous ones were 1) shedloads of miles in September (450km total), and all year. I also added running long progression runs into the routine.

I set out with an A goal of 3:15, B goal of 3:20 and C of anything better than the 3:28 I finished with in Rotterdam in April. 3:15 felt doable give I was kicking off marathon training having put in nearly double the mileage compared with the previous year. Life however had other ideas, and I ended up missing most of the first 5 weeks of training. Reset goal to sub 3:20 and I eventually kicked off properly the week of Frank Duffy. Cobbled together some kind of plan based loosely around the crusaders plan and a bunch of advice from Singer. I think I thanked him a bunch on Sunday in McGrattans, but if I didn’t, I’m doing it now.

So the race itself...
Before the race
The night before the night before the race I got an awful nights sleep. 3 year old daughter decided she didn’t fancy sleeping and ended up getting about 3 or 4 hours myself. Did mean that I totally conked out the actual night before. On the morning I got up about 5AM cooked 100g pasta and 2 scrambled eggs. Washed that all down with about 4 espressos worth of coffee. Family then kindly dropped me down to the Luas where I bumped into a former work colleague which was good for taking my mind off a bit of a foot niggle that I’ve been ignoring for the last couple of weeks. Hopped off the luas and bumped into Singer and after dropping off bags in Fitzwilliam square, we walked, and occasionally warmed up our way over to the wave 1 pen and start.

I was pretty glad to be starting. I’ve put a lot into the race and running in general this year, and I’d been pretty nervous all week about how it’d go. I set up a good bit back from the 3:20 pacers content to let them go a couple of minutes ahead of me to give myself a target to aim at if things were going well later on. Chugged a couple of gels and was ready to go.

kms 1-10: 5:00, 4:46, 4:38, 4:54, 4:58, 4:52, 4:51, 4:58, 4:56, 4:52
Pre-race plan said to run this conservatively, and I stuck pretty close to it. No choice for the first kilometre in the crowds, then got up to pace in the second. Chugged along up through Stoneybatter and up to North Circular road, where I had to dodge someone who took a tumble. He seemed to be OK and got back to his feet. Got a nice shout from aquinn in the park, and then from my family up the top of Chesterfield Avenue. Think I looked down at the HR at this point and was happy that it was hanging around the low 170s. Had another gel at 10k. Based on plan I was 15 seconds behind at this point.

kms 11-20: 4:54, 4:56, 4:25, 4:34, 4:22, 4:32, 5:06, 4:42, 04:42, 04:45
This was where some of the fun began. Ran past Myo’s up to the peak of the Castleknock mountains and let rip a bit. Knocked out 4 pretty fast kilometres on the way down through Phoenix Park and down to Chapelizod. Feeling great and passing lots of people on the downhill. Stuck to advice going up to kilmainham and slowed to a snails pace going up the hills. Nice chats with a club mate around there, and a geezer from the Isle of Man over doing his first marathon. Kept the gels coming every 5k. I use the high 5 aqua ones and find them easy enough to get down, and they mean I don’t need to take on too much extra water. Still 15 seconds behind planned time. Not overly worried though.

kms 21-30: 4:50, 4:40, 4:41, 4:44, 4:27, 4:28, 4:27, 4:30, 4:21, 4:25
The good times. This started tough with the climb up to Dolphin’s barn, and then the run up to Walkinstown. This was where I started to suffer last year and there were a few negative thoughts creeping in as I went through halfway in 1:40:56. This was only about 3 seconds behind where I’d planned to be but the drag up Crumlin and the wind in my face made it feel hard. I went after a couple of guys for wind cover but they were a bit quick so I let them go. Once I got to the turn at Walkinstown at about 25k I knew I kind of had to go for it. Picked up the pace and ran km 25 in 4:27. Felt great. The rest of these kilometres and to be honest up until about kilometre 34, are a bit of a blur. The euphoria I felt between Walkinstown and Clonskeagh was unlike anything I’ve experienced running. I honestly had to hold myself back from jumping up and down and cheering. Amazing!!! Finished 20-30km a minute ahead of planned time having made up 1:15.

kms 31-end: 4:21, 4:27, 4:35, 4:55, 4:57, 4:47, 4:19, 4:31, 4:23, 4:42, 4:35, 4:51, 1:17

I eventually “came down” to earth a little before clonskeagh. I’d asked my sister to meet me there with a couple of gels there in case I needed them. Took the last one I had in my belt shortly before meeting her and almost threw it straight back up. Got to dump the belt there too which felt liberating. Slowed it right down up the hills again, and started to feel the first real twangs of tiredness. Nothing terrible but definitely not buzzing the way I had been not long before. Still had enough to take advantage of the downhill by from Fosters avenue all the way down to the Stillorgan road, but I was wrecked by then. The last 3km then were spent banging out the mantra I can run I can… to keep me going. Sped up a little in the last few hundred metres to get in for 3:17:56. So so happy with the race. I’m literally beaming in almost every photo on the finisherpix website

The day was amazing, support from friends, clubmates and everyone who turns out to watch makes it a really special experience. It’s amazing to think that so many of us get so much from it all, and I’m very grateful to have discovered this passion for running. 11 minute PB on Rotterdam in April, and 15 minutes on Dublin last year. Also ran a 4 minute negative split. For anyone interested, all the projected and actual numbers can be found here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_HV4VQBlMW3rPoJBMI679QgBq_QXAIKxKVwZe7ARaD4/edit#gid=0

Afters
Good craic in McGrattans afterwards, nice to meet a few more boards folks and celebrate so many awesome results with them and the folks I already know. As usual post marathon, I was completely wired, until I eventually crashed out at about 11pm.

Murph_D

You were still beaming afterwards, and rightly so! Well done again, super race.

crockmac

Been laid low with a bit of the dreaded plantar fasciitis. Do folks have any advice for dealing with it?
Been doing exercises from physio and rolling the foot on a spiky massage ball. Very slow to improve though. Also trying the night splint, but find it hard to sleep with it on. Been limiting running mostly to the odd slow commute the last couple of weeks.

OOnegative

crockmac wrote: »

Been laid low with a bit of the dreaded plantar fasciitis. Do folks have any advice for dealing with it?
Been doing exercises from physio and rolling the foot on a spiky massage ball. Very slow to improve though. Also trying the night splint, but find it hard to sleep with it on. Been limiting running mostly to the odd slow commute the last couple of weeks.

I suffered with it myself and took over 4 months for it to completely disappear, I used a tennis ball for rolling the foot. Also got a couple of sessions of laser treatment on the feet to break down the issue. Might be another consideration. It’s an injury that takes time to clear.

Younganne

crockmac wrote: »

Been laid low with a bit of the dreaded plantar fasciitis. Do folks have any advice for dealing with it?
Been doing exercises from physio and rolling the foot on a spiky massage ball. Very slow to improve though. Also trying the night splint, but find it hard to sleep with it on. Been limiting running mostly to the odd slow commute the last couple of weeks.

Took me 12 mth to get rid of mine fully. I had it for 6 mths before I started getting treatment. The first thing I was told was to get back running.
Calf stretches, calf dips on the stairs are the major one. tennis ball and icing are another 2 important things to constantly do.
I got needles in my legs & feet and it definitely was the turning point for me.

Singer

I think you should not listen to Dr. Singer on this one as his general "just run it off" advice probably won't work here

crockmac

OOnegative wrote: »

I suffered with it myself and took over 4 months for it to completely disappear, I used a tennis ball for rolling the foot. Also got a couple of sessions of laser treatment on the feet to break down the issue. Might be another consideration. It’s an injury that takes time to clear.

Younganne wrote: »

Took me 12 mth to get rid of mine fully. I had it for 6 mths before I started getting treatment. The first thing I was told was to get back running.
Calf stretches, calf dips on the stairs are the major one. tennis ball and icing are another 2 important things to constantly do.
I got needles in my legs & feet and it definitely was the turning point for me.

Appreciate the advice folks. Good to know you kept running. Did you just run easy or were you doing sessions too? I have an entry for Rotterdam in April, and am trying to figure out if I could/should start proper training.

crockmac

TL;DR
December was a write off, January got better, then worse, then better and February has me feeling pretty good

December - 95.9k

Last post was just before Christmas, at which point I'd pretty much written off the rest of the year. I got a couple more in, bug the foot was consistently sore after about 9 or 10 miles of any run I did. Only one of note was getting out at about 8pm New Years evening for a lap around Phoenix park. Nice clear evening with a beautiful view over the city and it's lights. Lots of fireworks going off randomly around the place too.

Closed out the year with 3644km done, which was in and around as much again as I'd ever run in the years previous. 2019 saw PBs in 5k(19:34) Half marathon(1:33:02) and Marathon(3:17:56). All in all a pretty successful year.

2020
Early target races: Raheny 5 miler(Jan), Bohermeen half(March) Rotterdam Marathon(April)

January - 203.9k
6th - 19th

Rested up most of the first week in Jan, with the plan to get back into it once work kicked off again. This started off well, and I put in 64k in the first week. I was in SF (for work) for most of it, so plenty of ridiculous hills in there too. Not sure why but I didn't run wed-sat that week

. Brought the young fella for junior parkrun in St Anne's on the Sunday. On the run home I bumped into misterpaul, and we made our way round Raheny, back up to Glasnevinish. Good chats and a pleasant run.

20th - 2nd Feb

I was starting to feel pretty optimistic about the foot. The fitness nowhere near where it had been, but a good start had been made. My body unfortunately had other ideas, and I woke up on Wednesday morning with a knackered back. Booked into physio, crossed fingers that I'd be able to do Raheny. This did not happen and spent most of the weekend in bed in agony, physio having not had much effect.

I don't recommend it, and I don't normally like just taking stuff, but I dug out some anti-inflammatories on the Sunday night. Mostly bcs me, wife and kids were sick of me complaining about my back. By Monday morning, I felt better, and by Tuesday I was back running. Go figure... The rest of the week went pretty well. Still feeling behind but closed it out with my first >20k run in ages, and a total of 73.6k for the week.

February - 328.6k
Plan for February was to run every day in an attempt to recreate my very effective September training block from before Dublin last year. It ended up being kind of a month of two halves. The first two weeks were frustrating and difficult. I was trying to run some sessions, but not having much success. The second two went a lot better, and I'm starting to feel like a similar result to Dublin might be possible.

The big difference has been fueling. But I'll wind back a little. The injury over Christmas plus it being Christmas meant I started into the year about 5kg heavier :eek: than I had been. So obviously the thing to do was to cut back on carbs, run more and watch the weight fall away. Running in any way hungry really doesn't seem to work for me unless it's easy miles. This lead to some pretty disappointing sessions, and me feeling pretty demoralised. I even bailed halfway through a club session one evening. I guess this is pretty basic stuff, but sometimes you have to learn the hard way.

After that I decided to eat more appropriately for someone running up to 100k per week, and things have improved rapidly. Two weeks of decent track sessions on Tuesday, and long progression runs on Thursdays. A great long run on Sunday that included 50 minutes @ 3:20 MP has me feeling really positive now about Rotterdam. As long as the poxy coronavirus doesn't throw a spanner in the works...

That just about brings us up to date. Happy to be getting the log going again. Happy to be a bit happier about the running too.

Next week
Track Tuesday, I'll probably skip the session on Thursday to leave something in the tank for Bohermeen on Sunday. I'm not chasing any specific target but it'd be nice to run a decent time on home soil.