Murph_D wrote: » Came across a few stouts myself the other day. Cheers!
Laineyfrecks wrote: » What exactly are you hoping to get from the 5k race? Is it an option in the plan as a session or just something you want to do?
ThebitterLemon wrote: » Had hoped to break my 5k PB at an actual race. No it’s not on the plan, I’d be swapping it out with a session TbL
Laineyfrecks wrote: » If it was me i'd go for it, a 5k isn't too demanding on the body & the fact that it's a real race would seal the deal for me! But I'm no expert, so I'm sure you will be well advised here
Start of week 6/12 of Hanson’s HMP
Mmmmm…
Things starting to derail a little and had a bit of a psychological blow on the session.
Mon 5th: plan 10 miles easy.
Actual: 5k easy my daughter provided a bike escort. The physioterrorist visit was painful, I’ve hammy, hip flexor, glute and piriformis tightness that even after a week and treatment hasn’t gone away. Apparently my internal hip rotators are being also stressed. Drove to Dublin later in the evening and was staying in a hotel near the airport.
Tue: meetings in Dublin and a visit to my functional strength guy (went well said I’m making progress) but he advised me against doing anything too strenuous afterwards so that put the kybosh on the planned session.
Plan: wu/cd 4 x 1.5 miles @ hmp minus 10 sec, off 400m.
Actual: 9 miles steady. Horrible running weather, lashing rain and loads of traffic. I took a detour into Santry park (used to run there a lot when travelling with work a few years ago) and did and couple of laps. Had to dry my new runners with the hairdryer when I got back to the hotel!
Wed: plan: rest
Actual: 5m very easy.
Was up at 4am to get a flight to Barcelona. Airport very quiet and I couldn’t get anything to eat as almost everything was closed. Managed to get a nice breakfast in the W hotel in Barcelona before my first meeting. Also had a great late lunch in a fantastic restaurant, beside the Olympic diving pools, overlooking the city. I’m staying in Tarragona in Le Meridien, great hotel right on the beach! Once I checked in I got the gear on to get a stiffness reliever NHS in. There is a promenade that goes for a couple of miles which is great but it’s a concrete surface that’s a b1tch on the joints :(. Very very warm for a choc ice eating hanky wearing bogger!
Finished the 5 miles roasted like a pig on a spit and immediately jumped into the sea for a cool down swim.
Thur: plan 10 miles easy.
Actual: epic fail. Got up at 6am to get the Tuesday session done, 4 x 1.5 miles @ 6.30. It was warm but there was a breeze so can’t use that as an excuse. Didn’t take long to warm up so after a mile I hit the quicker stuff. Hammy and other niggles have eased out but the left glute med/piriformis is still very achey. Start felt awful but I settled into it and hit the first 1.5 mile rep bang on 6.30. Walked for a few seconds before jogging the rest of the 400m recovery. Started the second rep and was labouring big time! The mile binged at 6.34 and the fight just immediately drained outta me and I came to a full stop and sat down! After a couple of mins I tried to go again but was on 6.40 pace after a quarter of a mile and stopped again. Tried convincing myself to salvage something and get another fast mile done but again after half a mile at around 6.35 pace, I’d nothing left and just capitulated to a slow drudge back to the hotel. Jumped into the sea again before having a nice breakfast al fresco.
Thur: pm: 5k very easy with work buddy
Starting to get concerned and doubtful now. I’m supposed to do 6 miles at 6.40 pace on Saturday and there’s a cat in hells chance that I’ll be able to manage that. Running out of time and not baking a contingency week into the plan looks like it’s coming back to bite me!
TbL
I wouldn’t panic, you have to write off the week and go again when recovered. Not the end of the world (yet). Shows you the risk of an off-plan tune-up race if nothing else. I’d consider a few rest days or at most recovery days and see how you are on Monday.
Thur 8th: pm. Another easy 5k in the late afternoon sun.
Fri: another 5k double. Early morning very easy followed immediately by a sea swim and out again in the afternoon. Niggles not getting any worse but not much improvement either, frustrating.
Trying to get a PCR test to get home was a pain in the ass. Mainly antigen tests being used where I was and they couldn’t believe I needed a PCR test to get home despite being vaccinated :(. Eventually had to travel to a clinic to get it done and thank got my work buddy tagged along for the spin. I’ve no Spanish and they’d no English so I’d have ended up getting an STD test if he wasn’t there :) Handed over my passport and got the form, short wait and got done, it was only when handing over the form that my buddy noticed that they’d my name as “Conor Eireanach”!!!! (she used the nationality section as my surname!!). Took an age to get it bloody sorted!!
Sat: up early for the planned 6 miles at hmp, wasn’t looking forward to this as I’m still rigid. Spent a while stretching and got out around 7am in the 21• for this. Everything was annoying me on this run and I was right crotchety! The heat, the concrete, the bloody pidgins that didn’t move till the last minute, the lads cleaning the street…
First mile 6.40, hey ho let’s go, mile 2, 6.40 you can do it put your back in to it, mile 3, 6.50, slip sliding away, mile 4, 6.54, it’s the end of the world as we know it, and the auld surrender soldier make a reappearance, I died to a walk/jog back to the hotel for a swim.
Spent the day on the beach/pool eating like a lord and trying to chill.
Sun: plan 16 mile LR. Still very achey and niggly but managed to get 15.2 miles @ 8.23. The body can handle plod but it’s not liking the faster stuff at the moment.
Only redeemer for the week was the mileage at 57, biggest week in years.
I’m not going to push things next week as I feel like I’m on the edge of an injury, and I’d prefer to keep the show on the road rather and not hit my HM target rather than risk injury. Thanks to Phisto for the pointers.
I’m on the wait list for Valencia but unlikely to get in as I’m # 1520 on the wait list.
Thanks D.
yep unfortunately this week has seen minimal improvement, no session so far. Niggles slightly better but I started a session today and stopped immediately.
I’ll try the HMP session on Saturday and just try and redo this weeks session next week.
Not panicking just frustrated, but it was never going to be plain sailing so I’ll keep going even if it means I’ve to adjust my target.
Not jealous at all of that pic😎
Do you regret racing the 5k? Do you think it is the reason you are having these few issues?
The break was great, sun and great (sensible) food.
id love to buy a place there as it’s not very touristy and it’s amazing
No I don’t regret running the 5k but I did learn some lessons
the deep tissue massage the day of the race was a bad idea.
the race obviously didn’t help but I actually think the holiday two weeks before were the root cause of the flare up.
out of a routine, 3 big sessions, no weekly physioterrorist, little stretching and no strength sessions when added to all the driving I was doing was never going to end well.
it’s unfortunately a fact of life that I seem to get waves of flare ups every now and then, I can handle the mild daily discomfort but the flare ups push me to the edge of injury.
I was on the phone with the physioterrorist today and when doing a muscle self check, the muscle from the inner knee to the top of the groin was so tight it was sore to touch. Either it was missed initially or it came on over the last week, but if that’s the issue I’ll be happy out as I should be able to ease it out over the next few days.
you’re flying, keep it up.
Ah thanks a mill, I'm ticking over nicely & enjoying it!
Ok cool always wonder if it's worth racing something fast when you are training for something else...is it a recipe for disaster?
Hopefully you have sourced the root of it & as you say it would be great if you can work on it yourself:D
Yeah that's the dream isn't it, heading off into the Sun to enjoy an easy life!
Oh man. What I wouldn't give for a view like that and meal handed up to me!! Sorry... Nothing constructive to add running wise. Other than.... You were on the right road and hope you get back on to it.
Jazus over a month since I’ve posted.
Horrible horrible new site format (don’t know how they can get it so wrong!) and not great on the training plan front.
Just as my injury issues were starting to improve we got the heatwave and I’m unable to run fast in the heat. I tried to jump back into Hanson’s plan with a confidence boosting 3x2 miler at HM pace. The only thing I remember about this was the heat and a complete and utter blow up.
I did manage to get a few of the long runs and the paces on these were ok and improving but everything else was mainly short and easy.
I did manage a 6 miler around targeted HM pace (6.40) and I still had a glimmer of hope for a decent result.
Went up North for 2 weeks holidays and during the first week I managed a decent 13 miler and, what I felt like was, a excellent run with 8 miles at 6.40 average finishing the last mile in sub 6.30. The weather was so bad that for the second I booked flights on a whim and dragged the family to Tarragona for some sun. Lovely weather but doesn’t suit an old Bogger for running, so just tipped along with very short and easy stuff.
Last Sunday I then attempted what I thought should have been an attainable run (especially after the 8 miles at 6.40 the 10 days previous), 10 miles @ 6.40.
Dear Lord whatever happened here is a complete mystery but I died a horrible death and what was most shocking was that I blew up from 3 miles in. It was horrendous and I ended up slowly jogging home.
The glimmer of hope was well and truly extinguished and I was back to thinking I’d struggle to break 95 mins in Antrim.
Went out this Wednesday evening and felt ok so I decided I’d try do miles @ 6.40. Felt ok so I kept going, first 5 went very well and I only really struggled when I got to mile 8 where I started to tire but I finished out 10 miles @ 6.41 average.
Antrim half is next week and I genuinely haven’t a clue what set of legs, lungs and head will turn up on the day
I'm not even sure how to approach it.
A sub 90 would be ok after coming back from years out but I’ve done it a fair few times before so it wouldn’t have me break dancing!
The plan all along was to go around at 6.40 pace but I’ve no quantity or quality done to justify that. The 6 miles at HM base was a pleasant surprise the 8 miles had me believing I could possibly do it the 10 mile blow up had me thinking I’d just jog it with my daughter and last Wednesdays 10 @ 6.41 has just left me confused.
Balls out for 6.40 or conservative to ensure the sub 90?
Rather than toss a coin I thought I’d ask the collective 😃
Thanks
I think it's worth just taking a step back and seeing how far you've come in the last while. You've come from almost writing off your entire running career save for maybe shuffling a few sub 25 min 5k's, to thinking that another craic at the Sub 3 holy grail might just be a runner.
Like you said, the sub 90 half may not be a milestone for you as you've done it many times before,but I reckon that what's more important is that you have a positive race experience that leaves you in a better place and with a better mindset for future races, whatever and wherever they may be.
I reckon 5 miles @6:50 systems check, 5 miles creeping towards 6:40, and then see what's in the tank. If you leave a minute or two out there, so be it, you'll have other days to right that.
That's my two cents anyway 😁
