The Peds Peddler - 400m & The Mile

Tbf to my coach, none of the silly stuff I've done over the last few weeks was prescribed by him. The group have just been building a base, 2 sessions a week plus miles, i was throwing in too much extra.

It seems spot on above and I think my training is close to that outside of building base. I just decided myself to boost my mileage while we had nothing to train for. And I think it was fine, a combination of some silly runs mixed with lack of sleep I think has burnt me out. I didn't intend on keeping up the mileage it actually hasn't been high for a few weeks now.

The 2 time trials in a supposed down week, the 4m hard after a time trial, couple of easy runs ran harder than usual, 5 hours broken sleep, lots of beer and chocolate. That's my guess!

With the session suggestions, I guess I feel I have to go all in with my coaches training. I ****ed around a bit cause of the quarantine, felt it was a good time to try things and it was for the most part. I can guarantee I have more chance of sub 2 following his plan than I ever will messing with it or doing it by myself. Its never let me down to date which is also important to note, its likely i would've been pushing for sub 2 this summer had things kept going like normal.

Just need to recharge and go again, if it takes a few weeks I'll probably just get ready for cross country/winter, if I'm back in a week or two I'll try and run a decent 800 in September

I like how it explains why I have to run my easy runs so slow

Mon - Rest

Tues - 3 x 10m @6.30 , i just done the first 2 sets

Wed - easy 4

Thurs - 6 x 1k, I did 4

Fri - the day got away from me so ended up with a full rest

Sat - hills, 3 sets of 4. I took it easy, not that i had any option really the body still not there yet.

Sun - 65min easy with Jonny


So i'm not quite there yet, my mood is good, pins & needles have gone, but still left with tired legs, particularly the calves. I'm massaging them myself and have another sports massage booked for Wednesday, drinking buckets of water, eating better. Going to keep my training at 70% until it clicks. I'm not overly concerned, I think I will slide back into normal over the next couple of weeks, if not i'll have a rethink about what to focus on, maybe a break and then xc. Hopes still pinned on track for now.

Struggled tonight again, first mile was slow, 6.45 and I was already dropping off the group. Ran another slower mile or two on my own before stopping. Getting fairly fed up of it at this stage. A full rest from running is the only thing left at this stage. I'll keep tipping away for another 2 weeks just to be sure. We're doing the kosmin test then so that might be a good way to see if its worth continuing. That's 4-5 weeks of half sessions and tired legs, sigh. Going to try some light swimming, keep off the legs a bit more. Onwards, or backwards i should say!

MY BAD wrote: »

Keep ticking over nice and easy for a while, don't go cold turkey on it!

Ha thanks, I won't, even just for my head id have to do something. If I jack it ill be looking to recover and build for indoors, just a bit more sensibly. I can kick myself for doing too much but I do recall being absolutely desperate to get out for a run every day during lockdown so I guess it helped me a lot then

overpronator wrote: »

You were flying/comfortable Thursday on the track so I dunno that you even need to go cold turkey. Maybe just focus on the sharper stuff for a while in a block? You've 2+ months of straight up basework done and it won't have gone away, might be time to just change focus now. Its either that or i guess find a pace that allows you to just complete a tempo session or two and get the ball rolling from there? The boss will tell you anyway no doubt!

Thanks Shane. Thats an option alright, just go straight into 400 training and see where it takes me. Probably injured :pac: I feel like i was flying last Thursday more so cause the session suits me, still had that dead feeling in legs but could complete the reps with ease. Plenty to think and moan about, no better man

Sensible thing to do is probably do nothing or just run easy, neither of which sound very appealing.

Had a chat with the coach and while we initially decided to train 2 days a week, fast stuff, ive come back and said im taking a break. I just feel worse now than when it started about a month ago. Its like 1 step forward 2 steps back every time you have a decent session because it takes the whole week to recover. I feel a bit more relieved now that I've just accepted it. Forget about competition, get healthy, if things return to normal soon can review it then but no pressure. I'll keep up some swimming mixed with some easy runs/strides and just see what happens.

6th - Rest
7th - Failed tempo
8th - Rest
9th - Lunch swim
10th - Lunch swim
11th - Rest
12th - Rest
13th - Lunch swim
14th - Lunch Swim. warm up and 6 hard-ish strides, felt pretty good but noticeably out of breath during and bit sore today, will try again in a few days
15th - Lunch Swim

how exciting :rolleyes:

19th - rest
20th - rest
21st - Special Endurance

300 @39 30s rest 100@15 15 min rest
150 all out, 30s rest, 150 all out 15 min rest
200 @ 26

Probably a risky session to do but it went pretty well considering. The 100m should be faster so I gotta work those lactic sessions

22nd - rest
23rd - rest
24th - rest
25th - Speed

2 x 30m from blocks, 2 x 50m from blocks, 6 x 60m, 5min rest between all reps

I left it at 4 x 60m, felt it was enough, and the session is too long. Id probably drop the shorter stuff next time as you'd be there all day

8.03
7.72
7.91
8.00

Slight wind on my back, standing start, decent times, I don't think I have to worry about speed, its the last 100m i need to worry about.

26th - hangover
27th - Rest


Id love to say i feel good again but i really dont. Going to continue 2 sessions per week and race the 400 at leinsters. Will decide then whether to continue. It would be nice to have some closure to the season after the months of training. I'm a little concerned that this issue is going to persist into next season.

Sacksian wrote: »

Would you consider even doing 10-20 minutes on the off days? Easy/fast, however you feel? Or do you have no appetite even for that?

I go for a swim some days. Its not that i dont have an appetite for it, i just feel like I need the rest. I get pins and needles in my legs/arms, tbh its worrying that i still get it all this time later despite the couple of weeks off and now only training twice a week

Dubh Geannain wrote: »

I have an un-diagnosed condition that comes and goes going as far back as 2013. The symptoms involve weakness/fatigue but mostly dizziness which is a real motivation sapper. It's resulted in me taking lots of breaks over the last few years. Eventually I just started running through it once I realised it didn't appear running related and so the exercise did not aggravate it.

I did the whole rigmarole of health screening though. Examinations, MRIs etc. spoke to few different GPs and a Neurosurgeon. Never got to the bottom of it but for peace of mind you should get a check-up.

I went to doctor and they took my bloods, everything they checked for was clear. Not sure what else I can do? I think I took 10 days off with just some swimming, like i wonder was that just not enough. Its so hard to know what to do! As it is i can train, rest a few days, train again, and ill feel perfect for those sessions, but in the few days in between theres a recovery process that usually involves pins and needles. Strange

Dubh Geannain wrote: »

That's good. Hopefully you're correct that you're simply looking at a burn-out. Came across it a lot in my time in GAA with young lads pulled between county, college and club commitments. Some played through with ever reducing performances. Not always ending up injured but they got no thanks from hard to please supporters who thought they weren't interested in their club. It probably happens less now with workloads being managed a bit more.

One or two smart ones took some time out though. If I remember rightly it was more than 10 days. Definitely a couple of weeks but possibly more.

God i hope it is just burnout and nothing more sinister. i think i'll race Leinsters and then decide if whether or not i want to keep going until masters then take a full break.

Sigh.

Yep maybe. I guess my options are to stop now for an extended period. End season at leinsters just to give some closure. End season after Masters/Seniors. The last one is ideal but then i run the risk of bringing this issue into next season. Will have a think...

IvoryTower wrote: »

So I'm going to take a break for as long as it takes, for real this time! Thanks everyone who's supported me throughout the season, appreciate it. Life is pretty busy at home with the baby that never sleeps, buying our 120 year old home that is being renovated top to bottom, getting married soon, missus's health isnt great, its not a bad time to for me to step away really. I may need to go back to the doctor but first things first I'm just going to rest for a couple of weeks, there's no point wasting more money on doctors if i haven't fully ruled out OTS. If i find after 2 weeks doing nothing im still getting pins and needles I will certainly go looking for answers. For now im just going to assume i havent let myself recover enough. All going well I will start back with some easy running and swimming in a few weeks.

Thanks again, good luck with the rest of your seasons :cool:

I can't believe that was July!! I've really been out of the game a while now. I ended up going to see a neurologist who reckoned it was stress. To be honest even after speaking to him I was in denial for quite some time, I continued to pile work on myself and the issues continued to happen. Feeling much better now, not 100%, but definitely feel like I'm getting there, slowly. Got married last week, bought our home a few weeks before, still renovating but now I'm paying people to do the work! I got out for a jog this morning after a couple of weeks completely off and damn it felt good. No fancy goals next year, just get fit and healthy first. Lots of chilling the **** out. Maybe some club training for the social element. We'll see, 2021 gonna be great :cool:

Dubh Geannain wrote: »

Congrats IT. Three major life milestones in one year! Sure what'd be stressing you

I was tempted to post a couple of times for an update but sometimes it's best leave sleeping dogs lie so it's good to hear you're getting back to yourself. All the best in 2021.

Thanks Dubh, look forward to following your 2021

Sat - wanted to do hill but after a few reps decided it wasnt going to happen

Sun - 5mile crawl

Mon - rest

Tues - 3 x 10min @7.45

Wed - Rest

Thurs - 7 x 800 @3.37-3.40

Friday - Rest

Saturdays - Rest, not ready for 4 days just yet

Sunday 6miles crawl

A good week, things improving slowly. Will add an easy run soon hopefully, I just want to make sure the feet, Achilles etc are ready for more.

Tues = 40min tempo 7.50 pace

Wed, Thurs, Friday = rest

Sat = 400 on 400 off, light session

Sun = 5k easy

Finding the tempos exhausting and don't suit me so having done a bit of research I stumbled across the EIM, easy interval method which sounds ideal for getting me back fit without much stress on the body.

It goes something like this, (but swap one out for a rest day)

Mon - 200 on 200 off intervals

Tues - 1k on 1k off intervals

Wed - 200 on 200 off intervals

thurs - 400 on 400 off intervals

Fri - 200 on 200 off intervals

Sat - something hard like a time trial

Sun - should be another interval session but ill do long easy run with friends

Everything apart from Saturday is done light enough so that you are fully recovered for the next day, it will be something like 200s at mile pace, 400s at 5k pace, 1ks at half marathon pace.

Starting this week, going to be cautious until i get a feel for it. I should never feel like im fighting to get a rep done, always within myself

Hey Dubh, good to be back!

Thats great, ill have a read through so, might have some questions

Thanks Lainey excited to try it.

Wed -10 x 200s on threadmill. 40s on, 1 min off, walking the first 20s of rest. This felt very smooth and feels like the only session im doing right at the moment.

Thurs - 7 x 400, 400 recovery with 20 second walk and start and about 10 seconds before next rep. These just feel too long for 400s with my current speed/fitness.

I've joined the EIM running group on facebook and Klass actually posted changes for people who are unfit, slow, coming back from injury etc. He says to run for time instead of distance until fit enough. So for 400s do 90sec on, 2min off. This sounds better for me right now, when the 90sec starts to look like 400m ill switch back.

Fri - Rest today

Edit - Weight - 201.5 pounds

Time to lose the covid weight. Down from 210 since i started back but its stalled now so going to start recording it to remind myself to lay off the mcdonalds

I had read about it before, there's not all that much you can read about when Googling eim, you'd have read every thead and article in an hour or two! Some good letsrun conversations

Missed a week, between toddler and work, also think i was pretty tired from the previous week training so i have to keep an eye on the load.

This week

Tues - I jumped in with a club group doing mile repeats, this was at a comfortable pace for me so while not exactly EIM, it keeps in line with being able to recover for the next day.

Wed - Threadmill, 30s on, 60-90s off. Really enjoy this, feel like its already having an impact on my form

Thurs - 800 repeats with the club, again within myself, stopped at 6 when i started to feel tired.

For now i like this idea of running comfortable sessions with the club, it helps me get out of the house to meet people, allows me to recover pretty well like EIM, allows me to do my easy 200s the next day. When they are doing longer tempos ill stick to a traditional EIM session. I will hopefully stick to this now for a few weeks and start to see some fitness.

Entered the Irish runner 5k this Sunday, just want to set an early comeback time that i can chip away at over the next few months to give me a boost. I have absolutely no doubt I will go out way too hard and die a death but I'm here for it.