Just Do It

crisco10 wrote: »

Sh!t luck, I always think its mad how injuries can be like dominos. one knocks into the other.

Were the pop up races seeded or something? Just looking at results, and the odd numbered races seemed to be a lot more winnable. maybe just coincidence!

July 26th - Aug 1st - 45 Miles

Increased Long run to 15 miles. I'm using Orthodics for most runs now, bar the long run due to blisters etc . 4x8mins at 6.25-30 was the workout session during week

Aug 2nd -8th - 47 Miles

Steady 10 mile run on the Monday before a few days down in Cork staying with friends. A couple of runs shared with a fellow 2019 Boards Novice was nice. Long run was 17 Miles with a friend who helped pace me for my virtual marathon last year. He is in good shape and I felt like I was holding him back a bit. He is tuning up for Belfast. I finished up as was goosed and he went on a bit further to make the 30k.

Monday Aug 9th

7.28 Miles @ 8.14 around Marlay - Nice easy enough hour

Tuesday Aug 10th

7 miles @6.51 - 3 x 1 mile at approx 5.45 pace followed by a several 30 seconds bursts later on in run. This was due to be 4 x 1 miles but was tight on time. I felt really strong after this. I could feel the fitness building.

Wednesday Aug 11th

6.14 Miles @7.57 followed in the evening by my now weekly game of Astro. I go very easing playing the ball, barely breaking out of 2nd gear to avoid injury. Sometimes, the competitive edge gets the better of ya though and you do a needless sprint for no real value. Enjoying the bit of craic of it more so than anything else. I was thinking I would only play possibly one or two more as the marathon training was becoming a bit more intense.

Thurs Aug 12th

6 miles @8.25

Sat Aug 14th

18 Miles @7.15 -About 8 miles of this were in and around marathon pace. 3miles on 1 off, 2 on 1 off x 2 finishing with 1 on and 1 off. This was my longest one since last Oct, but felt strong most of the way through it. I was off before 6am as was working after. After sitting down at desk for a couple hours afterwards, seeing me trying to get up would have been a sorry sight. An epsom salt bath defo helped ease me out of the stiffness stage.

Sun Aug 15th

4 miles @8.29 - A little clip around marlay. No ill effects from previous day run

48 Miles for week

Due to my plantar fasciitis issues this year I couldn't plan much beyond 50 mile weeks in marathon training. This time last year, I was up in the mid 60's with a peak of 70. I'm now taking a day off and cutting down on an easy mile or 2 on most runs v last year. I've been watching the fitness build, V02 go up and really happy with how I have been managing the body. I came off this week confident to a certain degree that I could still run a sub 3 marathon with the far reduced mileage. This marathon is due to be Galway Bay. if its not on, I may look for another alternative but I wont be doing a virtual again. They seem to be still posting positive vibes about it but who knows with how decisions have been made in Ireland lately. Due to the uncertainty of it all, I really wanted to race so I signed up for 5k in Celbridge next Thursday. My midweek session was planning to be something with that in mind. Sub 17 may not have been realistic this time but I was hoping I could go sub 17.30 anyway.

Monday Aug 16th

6.21 Miles @8.38 - easy miles around Marlay

Tuesday Aug 17th

8.15 Miles @6.57

I'm not 100% sure what my MP was. I obviously want to train to where I'm at, as opposed where I want to be. I was testing the HR guide and legs for approx 6.30 pace. This was 5 miles at that pace with relative comfort. In my mind, I was thinking I could currently do a half at that pace alright but possibly too hot for the full right now. It definitely gave me food for thought anyway as I eased into my last cool down mile. About 50 yards ahead, I saw an excited looking dog off his lead. I was happy with my pace so didn't want to break stride to potentially have to deal with the dog(don't get me wrong I like dogs, but wanted to avoid). At this stage I decided to do a hard left and cut between two football pitches on the grass. Within about 30 seconds, I was flat out on the ground. I had inadvertently put my left foot in a rather large hole in the ground. The surface was covered by grass so it wasn't visible at all. I could immediately feel the pain in the ankle and took me a good 3 minutes to get back up on my feet. Test one was I could walk, albeit gingerly the half mile home. As the day went on despite the constant icing and elevating, the throbbing continued. This morning I have woken up with significant swelling with added bruising for effect.... F**k.. .... 😃 ....

Not sure what I'll do at the min.

I'm deluding myself a little now thinking sure this might be okay in a few days when the swelling subsides. I've done ligaments in ankles before and I know they can be slow burners,so I should know better.

Ideally, I'd like my first crack at a foreign marathon to be at a stage when I'm fully prepared and invested in it. I dont think I would be invested in it at the minute. If I booked a flight to Spain right now, I'd probably end up having a boozy wkend :)

It's easier (in my mind anyway) to justify some smaller local event this year for me. Thanks for the suggestion.

quick update..

After the ankle injury, I slowly built back up. I was always bearing in mind that It still wasn't 100% and I wanted to keep the milage low so I wouldnt aggravate the Plantar. I think I have managed this so far anyway although nursing in the orthdotics has led to a massive increase in blisters which is fun to look at if your into that kind of thing.🙄

I have managed just one 20 mile run(compared to 5 last year) in this "block" along with several other runs in the high teens. Most of them, I have added "stuff" and I have kept a midweek session albeit shorter than previous ones I would have completed. I am relatively fit, but not race sharp at all.

I plan to run Galway Bay marathon in 2 weeks but I have no real target in mind which is a bit frustrating but also refreshing at the same time. Next two weeks will consist mainly of a few easy runs and may do a parkrun this weekend as part of a longer easy run if I can get out at that particular time. It's a bonus to be in a position that I can tow the line in Galway after the injuries. My main aim here is to enjoy the experinece of racing the distance with the crowd again. If i feel good enough on the day, I will let the legs make the decision of where they take me.

I'll be honest, it never even dawned on me about using body glide. One foot took to it like a duck to water, while my dodgy right side took to it like a duck to ice. I'm building resistance the hard way 😀.

Bibs getting sent out early next week I think. You won't miss the bald head with the farmers tan anyway.

Galway Bay Marathon

Where do I start... not to be stealing Coach Kavanaghs line but the theme here is very much "Win or Learn"

A First time DNF for me.

It's interesting - I thought I'd be annoyed ,frustrated, disappointed to name just a few emotions,if I was to DNF at any stage, even more so when there was no injury involved. I'm not at all though, as this was probably inevitable.

The race :

Mile 1 -5

Kept this to myself but target was sub 3. If I could match the 2.57 virtual of last year I knew the exact splits I needed .

Route starts on the pier and heads up and does two loops of South Park in Claddagh. I felt relatively comfortable here but at the same time legs started feeling heavy after the first small loop 👀. The field was already getting quite dispersed and I was conscious not to get isolated for a long period.

6.52, 6.47, 6,44, 6.44, 6.45

Mile 6-10

After been alone for a mile or two, I managed to bridge a gap to 2 guys. Shortly after we reeled in a 4th member to our group that stayed intact for some time. Last week, I finished 2 seconds behind some chap in Marlay Parkrun. I briefly got chatting to him after, and coincidently he informed me he was taking part in Galway. Low and behold, I was now running next to him again and we shared a smirk as we reacquainted.

6.46, 6.51, 6.45, 6.43, 6.45

Miles 11-15

What was a group of 4 now became a group of 3 again. I went through the half marathon mark at 1.28.?? A mile or so later, everything was starting to just irritate me a little. The low blinding sun, the slight increase in wind and then a group of young lads abruptly crossing in front of me going to the sea. This forced me to briefly fully stop which resulted in me in losing a few yards to the two lads. I tried to get back in contact with them but the harder I worked to do so the more I was feeling the pinch. I let them go. I'm not using the young lads as an excuse, as Im fairly sure I was going to get spit out the back of that group anyway sooner or later. Mile 15 became a slog and the demons were already setting in. The lads were now like a boat on the horizon and I looked back and all I could see was empty road too.

6.45, 6.48, 6.46, 6.53, 6.57

I was now at the stage of pi$$ing into the wind. The legs were really heavy, despite the heart rate still low. My brain had fully checked out this race now. I nearly dropped out at 16th mile but I gave myself a chance to see if I could get out of this "blip" . It simply wasn't happening for me today. I thought really hard over the 18th mile and ultimately made the decision to call a halt at 20 miles as I approached South Park again. I just couldn't put myself through another loop for various reasons. I had calculated in my head that I could prob still get home at a pace that would lead me to a 3.08-3.10. It would have come at a cost that I felt it wasn't worth. I have no regrets when it comes to the actual race or decisions made. As Johnny mentioned on my strava- it was a free hit as such.

7.23, 7.25, 7.45, 7.40, 8.02........done

I went back to the hotel with just my thoughts. I had an epsom bath and shower and felt brand new after. I made my way back up towards the finish line to cheer home fellow 2019 novice Jack cross the finish line. He's now impressivley completed 5 marathons since 2019.

....

Preparation didn't go well. My family were due to come down with me(Initially a surprise). My wife developed a nasty head cold though and they stayed in Dublin. I ended up rushing around on Friday and forgot my Garmin charger and brought the wrong gels 🙄. Breakfast started too late for me in Jurys and didn't organise myself on this front either. I wasn't comfortable from the start.

My training was sketchy due to injury so I'd say I won't attempt a marathon again without completing a proper block.

I have learned more from this than I will from any of the good performances I did at my peak fitness last year. I will probably make new mistakes but I won't repeat any of the above.

Well done to other boards members for some great results today.

2 months on from the Galway debacle, I was hoping to be in a slightly better place with the running. That is not really the case though. In hindsight, I probably should have taken a bit of a break, but my thought process was " Sure I didn't do a full marathon in the end, It will be grand"

Few mitigating circumstances has halted any kind of progression in recent weeks. I have put in a couple of faster efforts at the Marlay and shanganagh Parkrun and a few shorter sessions to keep things ticking over, but mainly easy running. I'm just ticking over more than anything else.

Ive been sticking to about 40 miles a week at the minute as when I tick over that, I get Plantar Facistis reminders. I'm learning what I can or can't get away it. Runners that I cant/don't use orthotics in tend to be the culprits when I tick over the 45 minutes mark. The other main culprit is when I am lazy streching out the calves. Reactive exercises here are no use to me. I need to be proactive and getting ahead of it if I want to build.

I'm simply not in the shape was in this time last year and I have finally accepted that now. I do plan to get back there but I have to patient.

Clontarf Half Marathon

I had signed up to this when it first went on sale back in August. I had long ruled it out though, as was thinking more of getting sharper again at the shorter stuff. Last week was a bit of a mess with a cold circulating around the house along with a busy week in work. I had hardly any sleep then on the Friday night but still woke up feeling far healthier than I had been all week. I needed the release of endorphins and no better way then to try my hand at a race. I had picked up my number a couple of weeks ago anyway, as I tend to be impulsive like this. I jumped in the car and parked in work leaving a nice 2 mile warmup.

It was nice to bump into a couple of familiar faces at the start. I positioned myself just in front of the 1.30 pacer. I ended up running first few miles out the promenade with a Marlay Park run regular . I had previously ran 1.24 in Bohermeen March 2020 and a sub 60 minute 10 mile this time last year, but I knew I wasn't near that level presently. 6.35-6.40 was the target pace. I just wanted to finish today after the DNF, so didn't want to be too aggressive. The first two miles were nice and smooth.

I had never ran at race pace on a beach before and found this part challenging initially. Entering and exiting the beach, the sand is soft and involves some skipping about to find the harder sand . The surface for running the main stretch of beach isn't too bad but found it takes a lot of concentration to get your feet placing right. There was a cross wind here but didnt effect me too much at this stage. I naturally slowed up for similar effort through this section.

6.32,6.33, 6.39, 6.48

It was nice to get back on the flat bike line out towards Howth and felt the legs responded well been back on the harder surface. I remained in a group of about 4 or 5 here for a good few miles. I enjoyed this section both going out and coming back and felt comfortable sharing the workload at the front of the mini pack I was in.

6.36,6.27,6.25,6.28,6.23,

Our group had fractured as we entered the beach. One lad had kicked on and the others had fallen off as I was distracted by the water bottle I had just grabbed then nearly dropped instantly. This meant I was on my own for the whole 2km on the beach which wasnt ideal as the cross wind felt stronger now as the sand glided pass at ankle height. My legs were still reasonably good and was looking forward to getting back on the consistent ground again. Well that was short lived ! As soon as I turned off the beach, the initial belt i got from the wind felt like someone was pulling me back with a bungee chord. I now knew this section was going to be very difficult until I could turn back towards town. I looked at the watch and the pace was slowing up at some rate so bascially stopped looking at it. I just put the head down and tried to keep the form. Somewhere over the wooden bridge, I went by the first woman who seemed to be feeling the pinch from the wind also.

6.33, 6.50, 7.01

Turning back towards clontarf was a welcome relief. I was happy that there was enough energy there to pick up the pace again. The Trim runner who had pulled away before the beach was in my sights again. I got closer to him but didn't quite catch him in the end.

All in all, I was content with the morning work. It was nice to finish a race again for starters and still feel there was more there.

6.34, 6.12 pace for last bit

1.26.41 chip

Easy enough week again this week as out the door with work. Plan to give jingle bells a rattle on sat and hopefully see a few faces from these parts too.

Cheers

Mon Dec 6th - 5.06 Miles @8.18

Evening run around the local loops

Tues 7th - 5.52 Miles @7.15

4 x 1km bursts here in the later evening - Calmer end of the storm

Wed 8th -

Playing an hour of astro in some serious winds didn't allow for the the greatest quality of matches. I did a mile warmup and 2 mile cooldown here too. That defo helped alleviate some of the stiffness I get from the ball on the Thursday morning.

Thurs 9th - 6.21 miles @8.13

Some lunchtime loops around Marlay, The wind had finally died down by this stage.

Friday 10th - 5.41 miles @7.24

Had just 40 minute window here so basically just increased the effort a bit. I'm not on a plan at the minute so enjoying the freedom of just ad hoc picking my runs at the last minute.

Saturday 11th - 6.21 miles @8.10

Similar to previous day with no real plan before I set out bar doing around 10k. Ive seen a few do it before but to keep me intereseted, i wanted to see how many parks I could go through in a 10km run. 6 was the answer although 1 or 2 may get big headed when they hear themselves referred to as "parks" 7 is possible I think, so will give that a go over the xmas. Lucky to have so much green space near me when i thought about it.

Approx 30 miles for week

Mon 13th - 6.21 Miles @8.27

I didnt run on the Sunday as was flying over to Malaga to spend 3 nights with a couple of friends near Marbella. My better half was encouraging me to do this as hadn't really been my full self recently to be honest. I had a rake of pints the night before on arriving and wasn't in the mood to get out of bed, let alone running. I'm delighted I did though as felt much better after exploring some of the hills in the local area. Tuesday's semi planned run was canned then as woke up feeling ropey again after a hard day at it on Monday and was due on the golf course within the hour anyway. Some shocking golf, plenty of local beers and some bad jokes were exactly what was needed for the little break.

I came out of the gated appartment complex on the Tuesday night with my friend and let the gate close behind us. We were walking in the other direction so never looked left when we came out, but heard what could only by described as a grunt behind us. We both stopped and looked back to see 2 wild boar's bout 20 metres away from us staring us down. We both just stood motionless for what seemed like an eternity before they decided to turn back and run off the other way. I'm not entirely sure what we would have done if they charged towards us. My 400 metre PB would have been smashed though 😀 There had been a couple of reports of boar attacks recently I found out after.

Wed 15th - 4.34 Miles @7.43

Arrived back home in the afternoon here and had a brief period before the family were about. Went straight out for a detox progress run up in Marlay that did me the world of good. Swerved the kickabout later that night.

Thursday 16th 5.08 Miles @7.55

Back working today so got out at lunch for a jog around Marlay and Ballinteer

Friday 17th 6.22 miles @8.13 - Pretty similar to above

Saturday - about 6.5 miles in total including a solid effort at Marlay Parkrun 18.45.

I had planned to run it around the 19 - 19.30 min mark but got into a nice consistent pace after the first 1km so kept at that pace then throughout.

There was a good crowd up at this parkrun with some very good runners on show. I think it was won in a sub 16 time and my time wasnt good enough for a top ten that day.

Sunday - 8 miles @ 8.07

Another last min decision here. It was a nice calm day so decided to do the mountain loop up towards Ticknock forest and bring me back down towards Kilmashogue. I was going to do the final 1km climb up to Fairy castle but the clouds were a bit low and visibility wasnt great. There was enough climbing done anyway and put the brakes on on the downhill as the suface was a bit slick

Approx 37 miles for week

Much the same planned over the christmas period id imagine and may do the xmas day parkrun depending on what times kids are up etc. January then, I will hopefully kick into something a bit more structured.

Cheers

Potentially. I really need to make a call on that in the next 10 days actually. Good to see you back running.

Right now no ...as I glare into my half empty glass of vino. Couple of weeks clean living and I wouldn't be a million miles away I hope. Not to tempt fate but I'm running injury free at the minute for the first time in quite a while. I even joined a club the other night.

I have been a bit lazy on the updating the log front.

I have been keeping in and about 50 mile weeks and feel the fitness edging back towards 2020 levels,

Raheny 5 Miles

I arrived early enough and got one of the last spots in the Church Carpark. I chilled out in the car for a while but was conscious not to let the eyes close. In 2020 I fell asleep in car and wasn't a million miles from missing the race. I had entered this race prior to joining DSD and haven't been able to source a singlet as of yet so I was without club for this one.

I completed this race in 29.34 in 2020 so the goal was to improve on that and potentially get sub 29 if the legs allowed. I did a 15 minute warmup in St Annes.

I placed myself about 15-20 rows back in the pen next to a Dunboyne runner I know. He asked me the target and I think I gave a vague enough answer but mentioned sub 30 when pushed. He was planning about 6 min or 6.10 miles so In my head, I was thinking I'll pace myself for the first mile close to him. The usual fighting for positions for the first 500 metres avoiding dangling legs and parked cars. I wasn't pushing here and kept myself out of any potential bother. The first mile clocked in at 5.56 so I was content with that as hadn't really worked as of yet. It was time to edge the pace up a bit and see how the legs responded.

I slowly made some ground up on the 2nd mile and edged past a few and worked from group to group. Mile 2 - 5.51.

I was still feeling relatively strong here and did some maths in my head to see if the sub 29 was on. Mile 3 is a kinder mile in terms of elevation so for similar effort or even slightly less, going by my HR, the pace would naturally come down a bit. I continued to work from group to group and mile 3 came in at 5.44.

I'm not a huge fan of the section in the park simply due to the hairpin really. I love running in parks in general but my dodgy knee doesn't like sharp right turns. It was becoming a little more dispersed at this stage so found 2 or 3 guys and worked with them up the drag in the avenue. I was surprised to see Fionnuala McCormack coming down the other side as I figured she would have been further up the road. The drag was definitely feeling longer than I remembered and into the wind was making effort levels hitting the max to keep the pace. I had an ingling at this stage that something may have been off and then my watched beeped for mile 4 at the 4 mile marker(5.45) but that marker was after the hair pin and I still had a couple of hundred metres to run before I turned. I let it drift out of my mind though as I love the last section of this race.

I released as much as I could going down the hill and out of the park. Approaching the last loop, I heard someone shout from crowd just 600 metres left. A few seconds later my watched beeped for 5 miles which added to the confusement (5.43). I momentarily lost my composure as someone kicked on past me. That gave me the impetous though to finish strong and reeled him in as we approached the last straight. I crossed the line at on my watch at 30.24(5.17 avg pace for last 0.28) but had completed 5.28 Miles. That took me a good minute to figure out what was going on before I saw lots of others comparing their garmin distances after the race.

I was a bit miffed initially at the distance error but these things can happen and it was simply an unfortunate situation for Raheny AC as it is a fantastic race and setting. I'm already looking forward to returning next year. According to Jebuz calcuator on the the race page, my time would have been in and around 28.40-45 which would have been a big PB for me. I will be taking the positives out of this one anyway and go into Trim this week in a positive place.

Cheers

To be fair you should. 10 mile is a great event IMO. I cant speak for Dungarvan but Trim is so well organised and a very fair route. The wild wind all weekend just made them that bit more difficult this time.