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The second coming of a runner

witnessmenow

After several years of basically 0 exercise, I started a couch to 5k last summer (and I was a true "couch" in this title) and got myself back to 5k. Life kind of got in the way for the few months before Christmas, but I've been determined to get back into since Christmas. And I have been doing some running since.

Last Tuesday I weighed 103.4Kg, this is possibly the highest I've ever weighed myself (I'm 175cm, so I should be 75kg ish) and this has kind of kicked me into gear. When I started getting into running again last year I just wanted to get to 5k and then from there maybe go to a 10k, but to leave it at that. But a friend asked would I be interested in doing a half marathon during the summer, I decided maybe it would be good to have something to really work towards and focus on.

I know you can't run from a bad diet, so a lot of my challenge will be getting the diet right. 20s me lost 2 stone at one point from counting calories and being more active. But 20s me lived on his own mostly and had less external factors that add stresses and temptations, but now that I have kids, time is more constrained and also there will be more temptations with food available at home.

I used to run a bit when I was in my 20s, never too seriously but when I compare me then to me now (mid 30s) I think of 20s me as some athletic God! I was generally active from playing soccer and Tag rugby, and being 20Kg lighter than I am now obviously made the running easier!

Prior PBs

20s Me 5K PB was 25:13

20s Me longest run was the 8k Streets of Galway (don't remember the time)

30s me, who I nearly consider a different person in the context of PBs:

5K: 32:XX

longest distance: 6k (just training)

So the overall goal is to run this half Marathon in Kilkee at the start of July. I have good bit of work to get there, but I'm determined.

I hope to update this weekly to give myself some more public accountability of how I'm doing!

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T-Bird

This is only my second full year running after completing c25k August 2020 after losing a bit of weight. I started halfs last year and can't remember how many I have done of the top of my head without consulting with Strava lol. But I guess you could say that I'm hooked on them lol. I finished off last year with a knee injury, probably by over doing it in my first year running, which took around 3 months or so to fully recover from. Kilkee would be my 6th HM event of the year including a virtual one. I've also ran 2 10 milers, 2 10ks and the Belfast marathon for my 55th birthday lol. I do them mainly for enjoyment and I normally finish in the second half of the finishers list.

I fully understand what you are saying re Kilkee and Dublin taking over, as Kilkee is now seen as a stepping stone. The experience itself will be valuable and you will probably feel like you have made a huge mistake signing up for Dublin 😄. But that is where your training plan will pay it's part.

witnessmenow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120791247#Comment_120791247

Cheers @T-Bird! Oh cool! How's your training been going? Have you ran many half's before?

I must say in kind of a strange way, signing up for Dublin has taking a little bit away from the half next week for me. Kilkee was the goal since February, but now I kind of feel like Dublin is the new goal and kilkee is nearly a milestone along the way rather than a big achievement. I'm still looking forward to it, but I'd be lieing if I said Dublin wasn't on my mind a lot!

T-Bird

Great reading your training log and very relatable to mine. I'm actually traveling to do the Kilkee HM next weekend as well and have also signed up for Dublin.

witnessmenow

Week 20 - June 19th

Pre-Week Plan: As I mentioned in the other post, I made some change to my plans given that I've missed 3 weeks of the Garmin plan, my worry/fear of speed working aggravating my Achilles and the fact I really need to get some mileage into my legs. So I decided to drop the garmin plan last weeked and spend the week focusing on easy runs and recovery.

Monday: Easy 7K. Legs still pretty tired from the 10 mile race, but take it pretty easy (avg: 6:55/km). Felt ok after it.

Tuesday: Easy 7K. Almost identical to Monday, same avg and everything. These runs feel like so long ago, I barely remember them! I did need to get up early for this (started the run at 6am) as I was going to Dublin for work

Wednesday: Easy 6K (6:40/km). Was staying in Dublin (temple bar) for work, so I headed out to the north side of the quays, down to ringsend and then back up Pearces street. Another early start (started at 6:20)

Thursday: Easy 11K (7:00/km). Still up in Dublin. I have a buddy who runs who lives near Harolds cross, so I ran out to meet him on his loop, so 3.5K out, 4K loop with him and then I had planned to just walk back, but I felt fine so I continued the run back. Another early start (6:20)

Friday: Back at home now. Rest from a run point of view, but I had a family wedding in Clare. I had to do the school run solo (which is unusual for me) so another early start! We drove down the wedding and left shortly after midnight to go home. I don't drink anyways so no issues with that, but I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the night. Got home just after 2am.

Saturday: Easy 6K (6:45/km). I haven't ran with the run group in a good few weeks at this stage between injury and the events so decided I'd go down and show my face. My original original plan was to do my long run this morning, but when I actually thought about the logistics of running a long run on 4 or 5 hours sleep, it didn't really make sense, so I decided to push my LSR to Sunday.

Sunday: Easy 18.5K (7:06/km). This is my longest run before Kilkee in two weeks as I'll be tapering next week.

My goal at the start of the week was to run between 18 and 20K, but with doing the extra 6K yesterday I said the lower end of that scale would be better. I was targeting to do 7:00/km, but it wasn't set in stone on that so not at all bothered by being a bit slower. I was happy that I felt like I could have done more.

I also picked a relatively hilly route to do the run to try match what Kilkee will be like.

Overall it was a very enjoyable run. My longest run to date.

It was a nice morning for a run this morning, not as hot as it has been other days. I felt really good after the run, my hamstrings and calves were really tired, but I felt good. My wife said I've often come in from shorter runs in much worse shape than I did today, and she's right.

I also took the opportunity to try out the new run belt with two water bottles and to also try out the high5 Aqua gels, as I didn't really enjoy the regular ones. I would say both worked well. I put high5 zero tabs mixture in the water bottles and it felt good, took a small bit every couple of KM and it seemed to work well. The packaging of the Powerbar gels I've used before are probably a bit better than the high5 ones, but the powerbar ones are basically double the price so I'll get over it :) I also ate a protein bar (nuts basically) shortly before the run. Not sure which helped the most, but overall I felt good so will stick with this.

I'm also pretty sure I've locked in what gear I'll wear in Kilkee. I was finally brave enough to wear these as my outer shorts, having only previously used them as under shorts. Under shorts are basically a non negotiable for me, but it can be a bit much to have multiple layers in this weather, so these work well. But I always just felt like they looked like I forgot to put on my actual shorts :D

Weight: Depends on when you weigh me! Somewhere between 90.1 and 91.7kg. It wasn't a great week food wise with work dinners and the wedding, but other than that I was pretty decent.

Summary: 56K for the week. A decent step up in KM from my previous max 4 weeks ago (47KM), but that included two speed sessions while this was all easy. It was a tough week to fit everything in with the traveling for work and then the wedding, but I'm really happy to get back into it. First time running 6 times in a week.

Just two weeks to go now, I feel much better about it today than I did this day last week. I am happy with my decision to drop Garmin for now at least. Running at a pace based on how I'm feeling on the day is just so much more enjoyable that having to be between x and y pace.

Strava has popped up a run from this week last year, I was 4 weeks into couch to 5K. I ran/walked a total of 3.9k. I added this to the description: "... really had to push myself at times and the final 5 minutes run finished with me jogging as slow as I could", I struggled to run a 5 minute segment (16 minutes of running in total, with walks in-between), today I ran for 131 mins. If that's not progress, I don't know what is!

I also signed up for DCM23 this week, so my running adventure is not stopping in two weeks anyways!

~~10th of June - Hell and back~~
~~17th of June - Athlone 10 mile race~~
~~24th of June~~
1st July
8th July - Kilkee

witnessmenow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120743156#Comment_120743156

I definitely didn't expect hell and back to be as long/hard as it was, so something to note for the future! I think that along with being not able to train as much in the previous few weeks definitely played its part.

The "chatting" thing I said might be over stating it a bit, We weren't talking too much other than me complaining about the heat, but just that I was not going at a pace where I was struggling for breath or anything.

It's probably a terrible thing to do as I'm breaking the golden rule of "stick to the plan", but I've fired Garmin as my coach. I haven't followed the plan in 3 weeks up this point anyways, so I'm readjusting with what time I have left. To be honest I'm a bit worried to do any speed stuff at moment due to my achilles and I don't care about time, so I'm just trying to get myself in decent shape to do the distance. I'm just focusing on doing easy runs and getting my recovery right with stretches, exercises from the physio and foam rolling.

Murph_D

Sorry the 10 mile race was a struggle. I have not been following this closely, but probably not a great idea to do a 3 hour Hell and Back event the week before a race - that alone would explain any race difficulties, not to mention the Achilles issue. Also, if f you are chatting to other runners during a race (unless just the odd grunt), you are not racing! Chatting requires considerable extra effort and it’s best to save the energy for the second half of the race (unless you are just out to enjoy the day, in which case chat away as much as you like). 😉

If Kilkee is the goal race that you are building this log around, you really need to focus on that and training specifically for that. You’ve built up more resilience than you are probably feeling at the moment but you have to get those last few weeks right, including getting it right in the day. I don’t know the Garmin plan but hopefully it includes a good taper over the final stages. In the meantime, hydrate, eat and sleep as well as you can. And continue to practice your in-race nutrition, which needs to be nailed down really soon.

Good luck!

Kellygirl

The High 5 aqua are more liquidy so you might prefer them. The stickiness of them puts me off though. I prefer Maurten gels now or Tailwind but that needs to be mixed with water. You’ll need to practice a lot more with hydration prior to Dublin!

witnessmenow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120731242#Comment_120731242

Cheers for the video, the Pyhsio exercise are somewhat similar other than the ministry of silly walks :D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120734804#Comment_120734804

Oh yeah, I took a gel around the 7.5k to 8k mark. I did plan to take a protein bar before the race, but I forgot. I had a fairly decent breakfast of porridge though so I wasn't exactly running on empty.

I have only tried two types of Gel, Powerbar Hydro and High5 gel, it was the high5 gel I used on Saturday. Although it wasn't my first time using the high5, I definitely prefer the more liquid nature of the Powerbar Hydro, it's closer to a drink than a gel. Especially in the heat I found the high5 un-pleasant to consume! I also apparently didn't quite finish it it because my phone was fairly covered in gel at the end of the race!

High5 sell a "aqua" one that I'm after getting to try out, hopefully it will be more like the powerbar Hydro one. The powerbar ones are very expensive so just testing the high5 ones.

I also bought a belt that I can take water with me as Saturday was actually my first time consuming water while running. I didn't take on too much liquid at the two water stops, but definitely some at the first . The second stop I took on very little as, maybe TMI, but I was starting to get the feeling like I needed to pee (I wasn't bursting or anything, but I definitely didn't want to take more water!). So definitely for my last two longer runs before Kilkee I'll take this with me to get the feel of it.

Kellygirl

Well done in the 10 miler. Did you take a gel or any fuel on board? With the heat and the faster pace you would have burnt a lot more energy than your long run a few weeks ago. Taking a gel at maybe 60 mins in maybe have helped?

Glad the injuries are on the mend.

Lumen

Obvs physio advice rules, but I found this video invaluable for sorting my Achilles issues recently.

A few weeks of this (plus avoiding hills and speed, and keeping cadence high) totally sorted me out.

https://youtu.be/PSefuPB6zkU

witnessmenow

Week 19 - June 11h

Monday: Still very sore from Hell and back, planned to walk but decided when I got out to do an easy 6k, went ok

Tuesday: Was meant to do a speed session according to the watch, but I was still way too sore. I just decided to give it a rest.

Wednesday: Easy 7.5K, starting to get back to normal muscle soreness wise

Had physio later in the morning, although I haven't felt any issue with my achillies since the last physio session, the problem is still there. When the physio pinches my heel there is a huge difference to how it feels on my left heel (the bad one) and the right. Ultrasonic therapy on my achilles and sports massage on calf, tough!

Thursday: Meant to have stride repeats, but my calf is quite sore after the physio so i just rest.

Friday: Rest

Saturday - Athlone 10 Miler:

Pre Race:

First race to do in a year. My training/prep has not been good for a few weeks now, I haven't ran over 8k in 3 weeks and I just wasn't as confident as I could have been! Even thought this was really un-important in the grand scheme of things, I was genuinely stressed about it! Even down to when to eat for a 11 race start. There was also a lot going on at home with the rest of the family getting ready for the day that in future I probably need to separate myself from if I felt the same as I did yesterday. Good to get some practice/experience for future races though.

The race is only about 15/20 mins from where I live so I was a bit lax about leaving the house and arrived not late, but not as early as I should have.

It was pissing rain where I lived so I was expecting similar at the race, but it was actually very sunny. Thankfully had some suncream in the car so threw some on after parking the car.

Went and got my number and basically had to go straight to the start line. A buddy of mine decides she'll at least start the race running with me so we'll see how it goes.

Race :

It's absolutely roasting, I was hoping we might get rain, but it never came! This was by far the hottest weather I've run in. I normally run at 7am, so even during the nice weather it not this hot.

My strategy is to try do a ~6min pace as a practice for Kilkee. It's a much flatter course than kilkee so not great practise, but it will at least give me an indication if it's realistic

The race for me can kind of be split into 3 sections

First 5K: This goes ok, its very warm but i'm still chatting with my buddy so feeling fine. New 30s me PB for a 5k at 29:46

5K - 10K: Still going generally ok for most of it, but I decide I need to reduce the pace as I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up the pace. Still chatting, but I know I'm running out of gas! New 10K PB for me at 1:02:30

Last 6k: Struggle, At this point my legs are talking to me. I walked a for a few hundred meters to try give them a rest with the plan of running the rest of it. I ran for another 20 mins before I needed a break again. Nearly all the muscles in my leg are tired at this point, even my oblique (I think, between abs and pelvis) is sore at this stage! I walk a few more times before running the last ~1.5Km.

Finishing Time: 1:48:28 (ish, Based on my watch, but I didnt stop my watch on the line so I'm basing this on when my pace dropped). Edit: 1:48:22 is the chip time, a solid 169th out of 186 :D

Splits:

1 5:53.6

2 5:51.2

3 5:52.6

4 5:59.8

5 6:08.4

6 6:29.4

7 6:31.0

8 6:31.9

9 6:37.5

10 6:34.4

11 7:42.8

12 7:02.7

13 6:54.1

14 7:52.5

15 9:05.2

16 6:56.9

17 (0.11km) 1:42.0 (I didn't stop my watch right at the line so I'm not sure how much extra is added on here)

Post Race:

My legs are the most tired they have ever been after a run. The cup of tea and getting out of the sun was much appreciated! Stomach was feeling a bit weird, so get a luccuzade sport and a bag of crisps on the way home and feel a good bit better.

Go for lunch with my buddy and get a 99 (my first of the year!). Spend most of the rest of the day resting

Post Race Thoughts:

I'm a bit a disappointed to have to walk some of it, I know I didn't have anything left in the tank so I don't really think I could have done anything more on the day (other than start slower).

3 weeks ago I also ran 16K as an easy run and I actually ran this slower than that. But what I feel worse about is the fact after the run 3 weeks ago, I feel like I could have tired for another 5k, while yesterday I'm not sure I could have done another 1k! I think that really illuminates where I'm at for Kilkee, that I need to adjust my goal to be focused on finishing it more than any thoughts of 2:00, it's not happening.

Sunday: Going to go for a short walk withe kids and probably go visiting the grandads. I did a bit of stretching/massaging with the gun and foam rolling yesterday and my legs are tired, but they don't feel awful.

Weight: 91.8Kg yesterday evening. still struggling with this a little, at least its not going up!

Summary: 30K for the week. I'm traveling for work this week so not exactly ideal for training, but sure we'll see how it goes. Just 3 Saturdays left...

~~10th of June - Hell and back~~
~~17th of June - Athlone 10 mile race~~
24th of June
1st July
8th July - Kilkee

witnessmenow

Week 18 - June 5th

Monday: Full time hen house builder these days

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday: Easy 5k - Decided to ease myself back into it, ran Tuesday with no issues (couldn't feel my achilles being an issue at all), decided to repeat the same on Wednesday and Thursday. Came through with no issues. Played some doubles tennis on Tuesday too.

Friday: Rest

Saturday - Hell and Back (8k): This really has nothing to do with running, but I guess there is no way I would have done this without the running!

I'm based in Ballinasloe so its about a two hour drive to hell and back. Left the house at 11, got there at 13:00, got changed and was out for the start time of 13:50.

I didn't have my watch on so I'm not sure of times exactly, but I think we were about 3 hours doing the course. I was definitely one of the slower ones in the group, but I'm not sure they were itching to go any faster either to be honest.

I didn't do a huge amount of prep for this specifically other than my running. I also did some rows (a step below a pullup) fairly regularly in between meetings and stuff at home to do some upper body work. I remember reading on boards that someone with an average level of fitness would be well able for it, my body obviously didn't get that memo! I'm not the fittest person in the world, but I would have though being able to run 10 miles would qualify me for having "average" fitness. But I am not that tall and I'm still quite heavy so the obstacles were hard work for me! I also think running fitness, while obviously better than no fitness, isn't that beneficial for it. You would be much better off training for this by finding a high wall and climbing it as many times as you can!

The last 30 minutes or so I was absolutely gassed, there is a straight with a load of wall obstacles in a row and towards the end of that I just wasn't able for it anymore! One lad had to give me a boost over the last lower one and then for the final tall one, despite getting a boost I wasn't able to get over it, just didn't have the power in my arms to pull myself up.

I also skipped the second last obstacle where you need to go up a pipe. I could just see everyone struggling with it and needing to get a lot of help, and to be honest I just felt conscious about the amount of help I was going to need to get up this thing, especially due my weight, and I was so wrecked! I'm also not super fond of tight spaces so I just decided to give it a skip.

Worst obstacles for me in terms of what I found hard, the rope ones where you were crawling over the the rope, they were ok at the time but my shins are bruised to bits! I'm also not great with heights so I was probably extra cautious with rope ones.

Worst obstacles in terms of just not really being a challenge but still sore was "Sniper alley" (where you get shot in the arse with a pellet gun) and the electric fence crawl thing, it was more of a shock than I was expecting!

I kind of have mixed feelings about my "achievement" of doing it. I didn't do all the obstacles, so definitely an asterisk around it, but I am happy that I was able for most of them. There is not a hope I would have been able to do it last year.

One mistake I made for sure was not eating enough. I had breakfast at about 10am and didn't finish til nearly 17:00. Like if I was running for nearly 3 hours I certainly would have had a gel or two! I'm not sure gels would be too practical for it as your submerged a couple of times, I'm not sure about eating a gel after it had been in that water! I had planned to bring a protein bar to eat before the start, but I forgot it. They were giving out ones there that I should have had but I didn't think of it.

Major positive for me is I came through it without injury, it was one of my biggest worries about doing it, even prior to the achilles issue.

Overall I enjoyed it, but I would be a lot more positive about it if it finished 30 minutes earlier! I could see myself doing it again if the group were doing it. I definitely would be better prepared for it if I did it again.

Sunday: Be sore all day. I guess the things that are the sorest are a good indicator of what I need to work on for next year!

Weight: 92Kg, wasn't the best with food this week. Busy with life and work. I also fairly did the dog on a dinner and desert after hell and back on Saturday.

Summary: 15K for the week. Good to be back doing some running and to get through Hell and Back. 10 miler at the end of the week so I need to get myself back into the swing of things!

~~10th of June - Hell and back~~
17th of June - Athlone 10 mile race
24th of June
1st July
8th July - Kilkee

Kellygirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120689365#Comment_120689365

It really helps. My achilles were really tight last week from living in flip flops and it helped no end. Good news on the running.

witnessmenow

Thanks @Kellygirl , I've ran 5k easy the last 3 mornings and have had no issues so at the very least it's definitely improving as I couldn't walk without feeling it last week.

I do, I need to use it more though! Thanks for the suggestion

Kellygirl

Hopefully nothing will come of the achilles pain. Have you a foam roller? Foam rolling my calf helps my achilles. I’d say do a couple of easy runs and see how you are after them for a start anyway.

witnessmenow

Week 17 - May 28th (looks like I forgot to update these last week!)

Unfortunately nothing for running as I am/was injured, kind of.

I actually forgot about it when I was writing the log for last week, but when I was running on the Saturday, I could feel a bit of a dull pain at the bottom of my left calf, didn't really feel like a muscle strain, but more like something digging into me. I was only doing a 6k loop to start with so I said I'd see how it felt, and after 3k or so, the issue was completely gone

After my log, I went to that tennis open day and even just walking around I could feel it a bit again.

Monday: I was feeling ok, got up, did my stretches, went out and as soon as I started running I could feel it again, so I just went back home without doing anything. Not a strong pain at all, but I just didn't want to make anything worse.

Tuesday: did a few KM of walking, could feel it a little still

Wednesday: Feeling fine in the morning, went to go out again and similar to monday, could feel it almost immediately so I gave up on the run and just walked 4k instead.

Rang the Physio and got an appointment for Saturday.

At this point I've self diagnosed myself as having an achillies tendon issue. The risk factors of it read like a biography of my life and the symptoms match up

Thursday: I'm not even going to chance running til I see the physio. 4k walk, don't remember how I felt

Friday: Feeling fine again. Walk for 4k, but the feeling comes back about 2k in. It's not sore to walk through or anything

Saturday: Go to the physio and after some checking he confirms my Dr google diagnosis that it achillies tendonitis, but it seems to be pretty mild. He got me to do some activities and motions to strain it, like jumping and heel raises, but I didn't feel any issues with it. He then did some stretches on my ankle and I couldn't feel anything either, but when he did a pinch type thing on my heel I could feel it was a lot worse on my left than my right.

I actually forgot to ask am I ok to go running again now (Such an obvious question to ask, but I just didn't think of it!) , but I mentioned that I had a few races coming up, including hell and back next weekend and he said he didn't think there would be any issue doing it. I was kind of feering the worst of being out for weeks, so it caught me by surprise.

I even mentioned that I wouldn't be super disappointed if I had to miss the next two weekends, that my main goal was the half marathon and he still said I should be fine. He said it's a chronic thing that probably building up for a while so I just need to do some specific excercises to build up the tendon.

So my homework is:

4 sets of 12 eccentric heel drops per day
As many calf stretches as I can fit into a day (I think was his basic gist of that quantity!)

Weight: 92Kg earlier in the week. Since I wasn't fueling for anything or eating for recovery, I decided I could be a bit more aggressive with my food intake. I also felt like if I was going to be injured for a while (which thankfully it doesn't seem to be the case), the best way I can help myself with the half is loose more weight

Summary: 0K for the week. My first week since the start of February where I didn't run at least 3 times, kind of sad to lose this streak, but I wanted to err on the side of caution.

At this point, I'm not sure what to do with my Garmin training plan. I'm after missing a full week of training and I'm not sure speed sessions are a good idea at the moment. I also really don't care about my time in the half marathon. Would sub 2 be nice?, sure, but it's just an arbitrary number, I have no PBs to beat. Just doing it is my main goal

My plan for next week is to start small and slow and build back into it. Hell and back is pretty stop and starty waiting for obstacles so I don't think it will be too much issue from a run point of view so we'll see how it goes. I can see how I'm feeling after that

10th of June - Hell and back
17th of June - Athlone 10 mile race
24th of June
1st July
8th July - Kilkee

witnessmenow

Week 15 - May 15th

Weight: 92.7Kg earlier in the week, didn't weigh myself yesterday. Food was pretty average this week. Was back in the office this week so it makes things more challenging

Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) - Easy 40 mins, ( 50 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:34 All good

Tuesday: G.C - Progression Run - Easy 30 with 10 mins fast- A repeat of Thursday's run from last week that, got it done this time though. 10 mins of 5:06 pace

Wednesday: G.C - Easy 40 mins, (50 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:29 - 50 minute runs are the new 45 I guess! I really don't remember these "short" runs anymore (wouldn't have said they were short before I started this log!)

Also walked at lunch time (not sure the distance, but a decent enough walk) and played tennis in the evening.

Thursday: G.C. - Speed Repeats - 6 x 1min @ 4:50 pace, 6x 30 sec @ 4:10 - Quickly becoming my least favorite type of run! I find it difficult to find the correct pace and by the time I do, the repeat is over (especially the very fast 30 second ones). I'm sure I'll get more used to, but it I'm relying on the watch and it just feels like its a constant bounce between "too fast", "too slow". The run went ok, needed to walk some of the in between intervals.

Friday: Rest, except I'm helping my wife build a hen house so it wasn't very restful!

Saturday: G.C. - Run easy for 95 mins, (105 mins inc warm up & down) - 16Km @ 6:39 . Was happy to have chance to make up for my mistake a couple of weeks ago!

Ran 6k before the run group showed up. Did about 4K with some people and then did the last 6K on my own again. It was fairly warm, but a lovely day for a run.

16K is a new record distance for me but still felt like I could have done another 5K if I had to, which gives me confidence for the half. Although when I did stop my legs felt a little bit like jelly, but they felt fine when I was running.

My reward for all this effort, more hen house :D

Sunday: Plan is more hen house, followed by a bit of tennis (its an open day, so I can't imagine I'll be actually playing much)

Summary: 47.2K for the week. New record for distance in a week. I definitely prefer the longer slow runs over the speed sessions, but I did enjoy the progression run on Tuesday. Next saturday is a progression run after 1 hour of running so we'll see what thats like. Still very unsure about the pace. I feel like I can do the 21K at the easy pace ok, but the thought of doing that for 1 minute faster per km just seems too far

One thing I don't like about the Garmin plans is I can't see more than a week out. Like in two weeks I have hell and back on the Saturday, but I won't know what I'm missing til next week.

It's only 6 weeks til the race now, so 5 Saturdays left between now and then, two of which I'm at races, when I lay it out like this, it seems very close!

3rd of June - 85 min progression run
10th of June - Hell and back
17th of June - Athlone 10 mile race
24th of June
1st July
8th July - Kilkee

witnessmenow

Week 15 - May 15th

Weight: 92.5Kg after the run on Saturday. Decent food week this week, since I started running 5 times a week I'm finding it a little harder to get the balance of how much to eat!

Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) - Easy 35 mins, ( 45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:24 Don't really remember this run, seems fast though!

Tuesday: G.C - Speed Repeats - Went ok, find the faster tempo fairly hard but was able to do them, but I took a couple of walk breaks at the slower parts. First 3 were 5 minutes long, then the last 5 or 6 were at a faster pace , but only were 30 seconds or something, found these kind of hard to judge what speed I should be going.

Played tennis in the evening, was good for the first hour but I really hit the wall after that.

Wednesday: G.C - Easy 35 mins, (45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:32 Don't really remember this run either

Thursday: G.C. - Progression Run - This was scheduled for Saturday, but it doesn't really gel well with going out with the run group on Saturday so I just swapped them around. Again, faster pace a little bit of a struggle was meant to run 10mins @ 5:00/km ish, I could only do 9 mins though.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: G.C. - Run easy for 35 mins, (45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:18 . Was meant to do 45 mins but there was a person doing 5 miles so I decided to join in with them which ended up being a 50 min run. We did the first 4k at easier pace but picked it up a bit on the way back. I felt good doing it though.

Sunday: Jobs around the house, so kind of rest.

Summary: 37.6K for the week. Decent week. Am a little bit curious/wondering if my 2:00 goal is achievable. I dont think I'll have any issues with the distance, but i do find the faster pace stuff hard, and its hard to image running the distance at a decent bit faster than my easy pace. Still a bit of time left so I won't throw in the towel on the goal yet, but im not sure if its realistic

witnessmenow

Week 14 - May 8th

Weight: 93Kg after the run on Saturday. Decent food week this week, not the best last week (when I was sick)

Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) - Easy 35 mins, ( 45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:29 I had lost the lethargy from the previous week, got up early in the morning and went for a walk with my daughter so I said I would give the run a go in the evening. Went fine. Walked some of the cool-down, probably didn't need to but I was being cautious

Tuesday: G.C - Goal pace run 20 mins, (+ 15 mins warm up & 15 cool down) @ 5:36 Still feeling ok, I said I'd give this a go too. Did it in the evening to allow extra recovery time. Went pretty well. Was able to stick to the required pace for the 20 mins so was happy with that. Again I did walk some of the cool down, again if I really pushed myself I probably could have avoided it, but I decided to be cautious again. Hard to imagine I need to run 6 of these in a row to meet my goal....

Wednesday: G.C - Easy 35 mins, (45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:24 First day I'm feeling fully back to myself. Legs are kind of tired from yesterday, but im ok. Even time run again for the additional recovery. Pissed rain at the end of the run so no walking this time!

Thursday: G.C. - Stride Intervals (10 min warm up, 10no. 20 second fast followed by 45 second easy, 10 min cool down) was pretty good. My legs were a little tired before hand and were certainly tired after it!

Garmin coach lost this activity somehow though. my phones bluetooth was off and I noticed in the morning, synced it up then. Garmin connect has it, but Garmin coach doesn't recognize it.

Friday: Despite being a glorious evening for tennis, I avoided it to rest up for my long run.

Saturday: G.C. - Run easy for 95 mins, (105 mins inc warm up & down) - I ran 95 mins total @ 6:47 . Clerical reasons meant I only ran 95 mins, wasnt a physical reason! Several mistakes were made!

I tried a different approach to be more social with running with the run group. I went to the meeting point early and do a run before everyone else shows up, so that would leave me with a more appropriate amount of distance for the people I usually run with. (There is probably people who were running enough distance for me, but they run too fast)

Mistake 1: I was a little late in how early I arrived, I had planned to do 30 mins and I only managed to do 23 mins

So I set out with someone I usually run with to do a 10K with them, which at this slow pace would be just over an hour. I said I'd add on whatever the watch told me I needed to at the end of it.

Mistake 2: I pushed the lap button on my watch at one point to wake it up, this is something that is fine to do when not in an activity, but it basically ended the long portion of my run. You can continue on an activity when its finished manually so this is what I was going to do

Mistake 3: I expertly deduced while running that 105 mins is 1:35, (spoiler, its 1:45), so 1:35 was now my target.

My run buddy got their 10km done and I still had a few minutes to reach my now incorrect target time of 1:35 so I ran on a head. Feeling very proud of myself when I finished. Mainly happy that I was definitely over whatever stopped the running the week before.

I ran 14K, which is the longest I've ever ran, but it did sow some doubts in my mind, because two weeks ago I ran 90 mins and I ran 13K, I just assumed I ran at a slower pace (which I did intentionally try to do)

About 2 hours after the run I was at home sitting down and it just dawned on me, 105mins = 1:45! I actually felt pretty good after the run, could have easily done the additional 10 minutes. My feeling of pride legit turned a bit sour despite being my longest run for making such a simple mistake. GARRRGGHH!

Next Saturday is a shorter progression run so I can't even make amends for it!

Sunday: Nothing today so far, might play tennis later

Summary: 41.3K for the week. Happy to be back at it again, new longest run and the most distance I've ever ran in a week. That 14K is 2/3 of my half marathon, so slowly getting up there.

Moved to new runners, Asics Novablast 2 and I am noticing a difference in them. They are way more cushioned to what I was used to. They came at an awkward time to really tell the difference as I got them when I was feeling sick so I didn't have a great day to day comparison with them. I feel way better today than I did after my 13k run two weeks ago, my legs and feet were pretty sore after that, im not sure if thats all the shoes or the fact it was a hillier route, or maybe that I was already starting to feel sick.

14 weeks done, 8 weeks to go, getting real now...

witnessmenow

Week 13 - May 1st

Feeling unwell this week so I think this week has come to an end already. Wasn't feeling great last weekend, but other than my ear being blocked and a runny nose, and being really tired, I couldn't really put my finger on it. Didn't seem to have a temperature and nothing particularly bad. But i've gotten worse as the week went on so I'm going to give it a break til I feel better.

Weight: Haven't weighed myself this week

Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) - Easy 35mins, (45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:38 Feeling very tired, normally I'm up at about 6:30 to get my run in, but took advantage of the bank holiday and slept in. Went out around mid day and it was quite warm. Took it a little easier cause i wasn't feeling great. Was much tougher than the same run last week. Even though I ran at a 15 second slower pace, my average heart rate was 10bpm higher

Tuesday: G.C - Speed repeats Still not feeling great, but mainly just tired. Measured my temp and I was normal so I said I'd give it a go. It was ok, was able to do the speed parts but I did take some walking breaks during the cool down portions towards the end. First time doing these so I don't have anything to compare to. My wife was gone early in the morning so I had to stay with the kids in the morning, so did this in the evening (which I wasn't complaining about the extra time in bed!)

Wednesday: G.C - Easy 35 mins, (45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:34 Checked my temp again in the morning, still ok Evening run again cause mornings are hard! Went out and did this and it was even harder than Monday. After my shower I checked my temperature with a different thermometer and there was a 1c difference between them, with the second one showing I had a 38.2, so a bit high.

Thursday: Meant to have a progression run, but I'm leaving it off. Still have the temp (with the second thermometer, the other one needs to go in the bin!) and I actually have a bit of a chesty cough now. Definitely time to give it a rest for a few days. I am frustrated to miss out on the training, first one to miss, but what can I do!

Meant to do an Easy 90 min on Saturday, but unless I feel much better than Wednesday, thats not happening, so we'll see how long im out for.

witnessmenow

Week 12 - April 24th

Weight: 92.9Kg after the run on Saturday. Decent food week this week.

Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) - Easy 20 mins, (30 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:23 Do not remember a single thing from this run, so it must have been fine!

Tuesday: G.C - Easy 30 mins, (40 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:25 I had to get up earlier to do it because I was back to the office this week. I did find myself having to pull myself back a bit when I got into the rhythm of things, which I guess isnt a bad complaint (my watch lets me know when I'm going too fast)

Wednesday: G.C - Easy 35 mins, (45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:25 Included a pretty decent hill in this run and was happy enough to be able to keep the pace fairly consistent

Thursday: G.C. - Stride Intervals (15 min warm up, 8no. 20 second fast followed by 45 second easy, 15 min cool down) was pretty good. My legs were a little tired before hand and were certainly tired after it!

Friday: Doubles tennis for a little bit.

Saturday: G.C. - Run easy for 80 mins, (90 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:37 . Even more out on my own with the run group this time! No one was doing over 10K and I knew a 90 min run would bring me between 13-14k so I just did my own thing.

My legs were a little tired and sore, and this didn't fill me with confidence for doing my longest run yet!

Once I got started though, the run went pretty well. It was a pretty hilly route and after about 12K my calves were really tired and were starting to tighten up a bit.

Once I ran the required 80 mins, I mostly walked the 5 min cool down as my calves were pretty tight and my car was up hill. Didn't think there would be much point risking an injury. Might need to incorporate some lower body workouts into my schedule to work on this!

I ran 13.3K including the cool down (just under 13K without) so it was my longest run yet, I also apparently PB my 10K with a 1:05:58

I felt pretty ok energy wise afterwards, but my legs and feet were pretty sore, probably the worst they've been after running. I took an ice bath to try aid them in recovery. I felt find for the rest of the day, but I didn't do a whole lot.

Sunday: Nothing today so far, maybe I might go for a walk later to stretch the legs

Summary: 38K for the week. A step back up again, pretty much all just want GC said to do.

A more challenging week this week as I was back in the office. I also have had a blocked ear for the last week, which isn't overly pleasant, I'll have to go doctor for this at this stage. Hopefully its nothing more than just waxy ears!

Some new training on the cards this week with speed repeats and a progression run. Also 100 Mins easy on Saturday, so hopefully another longest distance

12 weeks done, 10 weeks to go

witnessmenow

Week 11 - April 17th

Weight: 94.4 KG after the run on Saturday. Wasn't the best week for me food wise, I'm a bit under the weather and thats when I struggle the most with food. Also had a few family activities and parties, it wasn't awful but I need to get back to it.

Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) - Easy 20 mins, (30 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:38 Was still a bit tired and achey from a tough week the week before. This was fine, but I was happy to have an easy easy run.

Tuesday: G.C - Easy 20 mins, (30 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:30 Was feeling better than Monday, not quite 100% but good.

Wednesday: G.C - Easy 20 mins, (30 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:21 Was feeling back to normal again now. All good.

Thursday: G.C. - Easy 20 mins, (30 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:22 . Similar to Wednesday, all good. Had a family trip today, so did lots of walking later in the evening aswell

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: G.C. - Run easy for 40 mins, 8K in total with warmup and cool down @ 6:17 . Out with the run group again, sort of! It was the groups weekend away so a lot of people were away, and a miserable morning which would have reduced numbers even further.

I knew I had to do about 8Km for G.C. so I tagged along with 2 people doing 10K for 2KM at their sub 6 pace and then let them off and ran the last 6Km on my own.

Despite the weather, it was a nice run. Felt good after it.

Sunday: Did 45mins walk on the treadmill at a pretty slow pace (3KM I think). I was just messing around on my phone and thought it would be a better use of my time then just sitting there!

Summary: ~26K for the week. A step down in KM this week but I just did exactly what Garmin Coach said to do. I was happy to kind of run myself right at the start of the week, obviously they weren't exactly hard runs, but the fact I was recovering while still getting out was good.

Decent step up from G.C for this week, 30 easy, 40 easy, 45 easy, stride repeats and then finishing with a 90 easy on Saturday.

This also marks about the half way point in my journey to the half marathon , 11 weeks done, 11 weeks to go

witnessmenow

Week 10 - April 10th

Weight: 94.7 KG later in the evening on Saturday. Not worried about it, had a decent enough week food wise and did plenty of exercise, so I probably just weighed myself at a bad time. Loads of people are telling me I've lost weight (not that you can always trust them!) and my wife thinks im shrinking so I im heading in the right direction still.

Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) Easy 30min @ 6:38 Went running with the friend who convinced me to do the half, so this is all her fault! Was good though

Tuesday: G.C - Easy 20 mins, (30 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:40 Was good

Wednesday: G.C - Easy 30 mins, extended to 10k @ 6:38 It rained fairly heavy the night before so I decided last second to no run my usual route and go the opposite way from my house because the normally way sometimes floods a bit. Was running it and feeling good so I kept going. I was happy to do the run I should have done Saturday too.

Thursday: G.C. - Easy 20mins, extended to 7k @ 6:30 . Again, felt good so I extended on this run.

Friday: 1.5 hours of tennis (doubles). Was more tactical with the tennis this time, didnt play as long, ate afterwards. My legs were definitely feeling the last 4 days of running so was happy enough to have the rest day.

Saturday: G.C. - Run easy for 70 mins, 12K in total with warmup and cool down @ 6:50 . Better managed than last week in some ways at least! My usual run group crew were either not there or nor up for the 12k, which I kind of predicted so I assumed I'd be on my own. There was a group running a longer loop that had the same start so I decided to tag along with them.

This was a bit of a mistake as I did kind of miss judge how long I'd be with them. I ended up running the first 4K at a sub 6 pace, which is definitely too fast for me when there is 8k left after it! The next 4k were also the hilliest, so a bad combination. I walked a couple of times during that section, but I wasn't anywhere near as bad as the week before, a much hillier route too. There is one hill in particularly which is the worst I've ran on it!

After the worst of the hills I got back into swing of it and ran the last 4k or so at a fairly steady 6:45 kind of pace.

I felt tired after it but ok. Some chaffing in new places for me. I may need to re-evaluate my shorts strategy going forward. I need under shorts for my inner thighs, but all my shorts have lining, hasn't been an issue so far, but was on Saturday! Might have to perform surgery or pick up some new pairs.

Sunday: Tennis again today, maybe played 2 hours ish, was a tournament thing so hard to tell exactly. Got burnt stupidly! Was a little bit sore before the tennis after a hard week (I was also very busy in work), but loosened up ok.

Summary: 39K for the week. A good week stats wise, and I enjoyed the running, but this was the first week in a while where I felt a bit achey, so I'm going to dial it back a little for next week and just listen to Garmin and not extend at least the midweek runs to give my legs a bit of a break.

witnessmenow

Week 9 - April 3rd

Weight: 94.5 KG after my run on Saturday. A little bit cheating to weigh my self after a long run :) I had had breakfast and more than a litre of liquid at that stage so it wasn't completely cheating!

Monday: 5k @ 6:04 After a relatively easy weekend I decided I'd try a race pace 5k. Felt it a little bit at the end of uphill first half but was able to pick it up for the finish again. Nice to be somewhat close to the a sub 30 5k

Tuesday: Garmin Coach - run hard for 5mins (5 mins at @ 5:19 pace) Realised that I'm really not that far away from the half marathon in July, so I should probably start a training plan rather than just vibing like I have currently been doing. First thing it wanted me to do was a benchmarking session which was Run "Hard" for 5 mins. I don't normally only run for 5 mins, so its kind of hard to judge how hard is "hard"! I'm sure I can run faster than that, but can I do 5 minutes of it, I don't know!

Tuesday part 2: 5k @ 6:43. I mean i'm up early, I'm warmed up, I'm sweaty, it feels like a serious waste to go back home after exercising for 5 mins! So I went for an easy 5k after the benchmark.

Wednesday: 2 x 10 minute skipping sessions. I thought it might be a good idea to vary up what I'm doing a bit so I decided skipping might be a good way to work out my calves. Skipping is hard! I did 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening.

Thursday: Garmin Coach - Stride intervals . The local run group does track sessions on a Thursday so decided it would be a good idea to do the stride intervals at the same time as them.

15 min easy run,
8no 20 second hard, 45s easy
15 min easy run.

Was good, quite tough but it was nice to change it up.

I also went for a 3k walk with my daughter in the morning which was another nice benefit of moving to the evening session. I do prefer to run in the morning though as I find it a bit easier managing food etc.

Friday: 2.5 hours of tennis (doubles). Was a lovely evening for tennis so I played with the local tennis group for longer than I expected! Doubles isn't too taxing but I guess 2.5 hours of anything is a bit. I also ate dinner before tennis which might have been a bit of a mistake cause I didn't eat much after it.

Saturday: Garmin Coach - Run easy for 40 mins (40mins @ 6:36 pace) Extended to a 10k run. Oh boy did I manage this one badly! The 2.5 hours of tennis in between the last time I had a significant amount of food in hindsight was not a good idea! Mr Garmin was a suggesting a 40 minutes run, with an optional extra 10 minutes, add the 5 min warm up and warm downs, I reckoned that would be just shy of a 10K run, so thats what I set out to do with the group.

After the first couple of KM I ended up kind of in between groups, my usual group were probably going a little slow for what the watch wanted me to do, so I decided to keep up with the next group up. I kept up with them for about 6-7k but my legs were really feeling it, not sore or anything, just void of energy and I had to slow down significantly. I then had to even go down walk for a bit. A different group caught up with me and tried to get me going again, but after 100m I knew I just wasn't going to be to, so I let them off. I got jogging again but now at a much slower pace and ran the last 2.5k at that.

Overall pace for the 10K was 6:59, which isn't terrible for me, but this certainly wasn't the "easy" run I set out to do! I really must have looked shook going in for coffee with the group afterwards as they were offering to get my tea for me etc! Hopefully I've learnt some lessons from this!

Sunday: Rest day, other the business of it being an Easter Sunday and entertaining visitors!

Summary: 27.5K for the week. Other than the poor management of Saturday, I felt good to get back into it. I'm still determined. Being down 9KG is a nice boost too.

After a bit of a miscommunication with Mr Garmin, where I originally told it I don't have a finishing time for the half in mind and the training plan it was giving me was a big step down to what I was currently doing.

Setting a finishing time of 2:00:00 has brought it back in line where I feel like I currently am. Since I haven't even ran 5k at a pace that would lead me to do 21K at 2:00:00 I'm not so sure that is what I'm going to do, but maybe with the increased training load and hopefully another good few KG shifted, who knows! I don't care about a time, I just want to have tried hard.

witnessmenow

Week 8 - Mar 27th

Weight: 96.1KG during the week, post all my travels so I'm happy with that. Obviously didn't eat great, but doing the dog on it while traveling for me is probably now like eating normally for people :)

Tuesday: 5k @ 7:00 Ran in Dublin city, down by the North Wall Quay, down to ringsend (I think) and then back down Pearces street. Much busier both with people and traffic lights than I am used to out the sticks! Was fine though, got up a bit late to do anymore.

Thursday: 5k @ 6:23. Back at home for this one, again was pretty short for time so only did 5K. Was a lovely morning for a run, sun was shining, was maybe even a little too warm!

Saturday: 6k @ 6:52. Back with the run group, but the group were only doing 6k so that's all I ended up doing. I definitely could have done more, but thought I might make it up on Sunday.

Sunday: Thought I might get out for a run, but I was absolutely stuck to the bed in the morning! Played tennis for a couple of hours, but although I enjoyed the tennis, i really didn't get the post exercise buzz from it. Was considering going out for a run after, but decided to give it a rest in favour of spending time with the family

Summary: 16K for the week. Was a crazy busy week! Was in Germany til Sunday night, stayed in Dublin for work on Sunday and Monday, was home late Tuesday. Wife was away Wednesday and Thursday, so I was chief child minder. I also don't feel 100% with a cold or something, but it doesn't seem to be impacting my running. I haven't got my sleep rhythm back yet either, but since the kids aren't going to school, I don't need to run as early as before. Need to crank up the KM again this week!

witnessmenow

Week 7 - Mar 19th

Weight: 96.3KG this mornings, so going well

Monday: 7k @ 7:16. First what I would describe as a failed run. I very stupidly was too lazy to cook dinner on Sunday and didnt really eat anything, and I forgot about that fact til I went out! Ran for 3K, was not feeling great (kind of dizzy), walked the next K and then did a slow enough 3k to get myself home! Lesson learnt

Tuesday: 5.5k @ 6:49. Couldn't do my morning run for family responsibility reasons! So I when I was running in the evening anyways, I decided to meet up with the run groups session, Went fine

Thursday: 12k @ 7:20. (nearly an hour and half!) This was my last change to get out for a run this week so I decided I'd try go for 12K. New loop for me, it was a really nice day for a run. Felt pretty good after doing it, although my legs were pretty tired!

Summary: ~24K for the week. Early update but I'm travelling over the weekend so kind of a reduced week to try fit everything in! I also have a fairly hectic week next week, so it will be a bit of a challenge, but I'm determined to get out at least 3 times a week unless I'm injured!

witnessmenow

Week 6 - Mar 13th

Weight: Haven't actually weighed myself since earlier in the week when I was 97.1KG, but I know I had a good week with the food. Also avoided lots of "temptations" like cake and apple tart this week, but to be honest It really didn't bother me.

Tuesday: 7k @ 6:25. Pushed a little harder at the start. Trying to increase what is my comfortable pace. Felt pretty good after it.

Wednesday: 4k @ 6:42. Felt pretty decent so I said I'd take the opportunity to just increase the amount of days I was running. Didn't want to over do it and I left it pretty late, so I decided to only do the 4 even before I went out.

Thursday: 10.14k @ 7:15. Not letting Strava take my double digit KM away from me this time! New route, kind of. There is a 4.5K loop about 2K from my house, so when I did that and back, I was at 8.5K so I decided to keep going to make up 9, but I was feeling ok so I just kept going til 10. Was tired at the end of it, but nothing like the previous 10k

Saturday: 10.74k @ 6:58. Out with the local run group, went out to do 10K, but one of the people I was finishing with just had another small bit to make a round number so that explains the extra bit. Felt great after this run, could definitely went on further. Ate a spoonful of peanut butter about an hour before the run, superstitious me will probably do that for any longer run now :D

I do think increasing the pace of my solo runs is helping with the run group, where around 7 is the typical pace, so If I can make that a more relaxed pace for me, it should make those sessions easier

Summary: 32K for the week. Felt good this week, nice to see progress again! Also had a decent food week, so happy with the progress. I'm doing a bit of traveling next week, so it will be a disrupted one, but I'll do what I can, don't want to lose progress!

babacool

Only catching up on this now. Re last week I wouldn’t worry too much about the “slog”. Sometimes fatigue kicks in and it just isn’t there. That’s a normal progress and as long as you don’t force it, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

also re fueling before a run, think there is a massive debate on this 😁. I’m pro “not fueling” for a (long)run, workout and sometimes (if i don’t care about times or results) before a race. As long as you know how to read your body it doesn’t really make a difference if you fuel or not. The benefit from fueling is (at least that’s my understanding and I might be wrong here) that you can go faster and longer and need a bit less recovery afterwards. Same time, and that’s my believe and so far works for me, you won’t feel a massive benefit or positive performance surprise when it comes to race day and your body is properly fueled. I usually go by “if I can hit that pace and do that session on empty, I won’t have any issue going longer at that pace in a race". and if i struggle it is "no worries. to be expected and on race day i will be fueled!".

but what happens if you have an off day? as in you fuel for a run and still suffer? that will knock down your (or at least mine) confidence!!

so in short, my advice is run on empty as often as you can. it will be a struggle at first but after a few runs it will feel normal. the body will get used to it!

witnessmenow

Week 5 - Mar 6th

Weight: Today after breakfast I was same as last week 98.4KG. Didn't stray too much from the diet exactly, but I ate too much at times. Something I need to get back on top of

Tuesday: 7k @ 7:20. A bit of a regression from the same route as previous week. Despite it being cold I was sweating more than usual, at least I know I was trying.

Thursday: 7k @ 7:29. First time running in the snow, was relatively miserable morning for a run, but I got up and did it, so that's good! Maybe too much info but first time suffering from nipple chafing, will not be without vaseline the next time!

Saturday: 5k @ 6:37. Out with the local run group, but it was miserable wet morning so numbers were down, and the closest group to me ability wise were doing 5K so I did that. Faster than I usually do, and I felt I had more in the tank. Improvement on how I felt after the run the week before!

Sunday: 7k @ 6:38 Knew I wouldn't be playing tennis, and after feeling like I had more to give, I decided to go for an extra run. Felt good, first run in a while where I felt like I could see my improvements. Splits were:

1. 6:58

2. 6:50

3. 6:57

4. 6:45

5. 6:38

6. 6:20

7. 6:00

I was pushing a little, especially for the last couple of KM. Very happy to finish with a 6:00KM, If I can do one of them for my 7th KM, surely I can do 5 of them from the start!

I felt good after the run, even with the increased pace. Ended up being a really nice morning for a run too.

Summary: Really happy I went out Sunday, I kind of felt like I was regressing a small bit earlier in the week, but I was really happy with how the sunday run went. Food wise I need to do a bit better. I did attend a kids party today and avoided the cake and sweets, so that was good!

witnessmenow

Week 4 - Feb 27th

Weight: Saturday morning I was 98.4 kg. Pretty decent food wise again this week. Only issue I potentially had was as i start increasing distance I may need to eat something before runs. I normally get a stitch if I do, but maybe not even a proper meal, just a bit of fuel!

Tuesday: 7k @ 7.15. between 3KM and 4KM there is a quite a large hill so good to incorporate that into it. Felt pretty good after.

Wednesday: 6K walk, not even sure if its worth mentioning :)

Thursday: 7k @ 7.24. Same as Tuesday but a little slower. I ran exactly what I planned to do at the pace I planned, but for the first morning since this journey started I wasn't fully feeling it, Literally the first day where staying in bed seemed appealing. Wasn't particularly cold or wet, so not sure what it was. felt ok after.

Saturday: 9.99k @ 7.11. New longest distance ran. Out with the local run group again. Strava did me dirty with this, I definitely ran til it said 10k!

Goal was 10k and it was a struggle. This is the hardest run I've had for sure. Was feeling it right from the start. Looking back at the stats now. We did the first couple of KM a bit faster than we normally would (6:45 and 6:55 when usually we would be doing 7). We settled into a more typical pace after that but by 7K I was really feeling it. The last 3K was a slog. No joint pain, muscles felt ok, not particularly out of breath, just a slog. Walked maybe 50m around the 8.5KM mark, first time walking since the logs started.

This was the first run since the first logged 5k where I felt I probably over did it. A little frustrating as it wasn't even like the issue was 10K, I felt better after 9k last week than I did after the 7k point of this run! But I'm sure there will be days like this.

I'll be honest, was very tired after it. Like even 2 hours later I was still feeling the effects of it. Not out of breath, but I could just feel like I had been through something. As I'm writting this on Sunday, my shoulders are sore (I have **** shoulders!) but my legs feel fine.

Sunday: Will maybe play tennis later, not sure yet!

A good week KM wise, but I don't want to be doing runs like Saturday too often! So I think I'll stop the KM increase during the week next week as I guess I've reached my current limit. I am happy to be still losing weight too. My current diet seems pretty sustainable which I'm happy with.