Once more from the top...

Aaaaaaah! I'm so annoyed!!!! :mad::mad::mad:

Monday 29/11/2010: Went to the gym - it was closing an hour early. I had left it pretty late though and the weather was terrible so I put it down to experience and gave myself a night off

Tuesday 30/11/2010: Headed to the gym as soon as I got home from work (7.30pm) - IT WAS CLOSED!!! Lights off, gate locked! It's supposed to be open til 10pm! I was out the door this morning at 6.30am and only home at 7.30pm; if they start this malarky I could be missing a lot of sessions over the winter. There was another guy driving in at the same time as me, and I'm sure others trekked through the snow to get out for an hour for a swim etc. It's fricking ridiculous - If we get 2 weeks of this weather now and another 2 weeks later in the winter I'll have paid a months fees for nothing.

So no sessions at all done so far this week and I'm fit to scream! I hate the snow - I'm going stir-crazy. Had a physio session today and he said to try 20 minutes on the treadmill tomorrow so I'll be ringing up the gym tomorrow and making sure they're open!

That was a bit ranty, I think the lack of exercise has me a bit grumpy!

claralara wrote: »

I love your rant, it saved me having to write my own!!

Good luck with the physio, hope it goes well and you'll make Waterford. At this rate I'd say half the field will be running it with 2 weeks off!

Thanks Claralara, I had an unsettled night sleep, and I was dreaming about waterford and that I hadn't left my house 15 minutes before it was due to start - you know one of those panicky dreams! I need to get some exercise this evening and get back into the deep sleeps!

I heard on the radio this morning that this weather could go on for weeks rather than days - it'd be so disappointing if the half was called off at this stage.

Thursday 2/12/2010: Not a good day

Gym again and tried to run on the treadmill but my legs just wouldn't move. They were screaming at me, and my hip was pinching and my heel was sore. I had 3 goes at it but I just couldn't get moving. Did a 15 minute session on the elliptical trainer just to try and ease out my legs then a little strength session and headed home in dismay. I'm just so disheartened; I don't know whether to give up on the idea of Waterford or plan to do it in 2:30-3:00 and just try to enjoy it. And to think I was hoping to stick with the 2:00 pacers for as long as possible!

Not sure what's going on with me or what to do, maybe I should just draw a line under 2010 and do gentle training and start again in the new year.

claralara wrote: »

I think if Waterford goes ahead, we should all just bail in and have the craic with it anyway. I'll give it my best shot on the day but it won't be a pb. Plenty of time for pb's though

I've never completed a half marathon race so it will be an "official" pb anyway. Though when training was going well I had completed 13.1 miles in a decent time which I don't think I'll be beating next weekend!

Friday 03/12/2010: Nowt... seems pretty familiar these days!

Saturday 04/12/2010: Finally free during daylight hours, so went to the park for a run. The snow was still quite thick in some parts, the paths were like ice-rinks and I nearly killed myself trying to cross the bridge! On the far side though, which is nearer the sea, the thaw was on so it was a little easier to run in some parts though there was plenty of slippy mud instead of snow. It felt very hard, and very slow. Not very confidence-building struggling through 6 measly miles when I have a half marathon a week later!

6.25 miles, 1:04:54

Emer911 wrote: »

I was in the park yesterday too. Took one look at that bridge and decided it was a no go area! I'm impressed that you managed to make it up and over.

Well it wasn't easy and the only reason I kept going was that I met someone on it who told me it was much better on the far side so worth going over. And it was! I came very close to falling twice though - I stuck to the rough ground but it was still slippy.

Sunday 05/12/2010: Went down to the park again this morning , nearly crashed my car on black ice which was great :rolleyes: Thankfully no harm done. Running through the snow was hard again but I went straight to the bridge and over to the "thawed" side. Again it felt very hard and my hip was really hurting so after 2 miles I had shortened my planned 6-miles to 3-4 and had decided waterford wasn't happening. But I just kept going and it did get better, my hip cleared up a bit too. I actually enjoyed the last mile or so! So I got the 6 miles done, 1:03. Slow slow slow...

I'm completely undecided about waterford, I don't know what to do. I'm going to wait until later in the week to make my decision I think.

runrabbit wrote: »

“he had a feeling the weather would make my decision for me” – I’m not convinced!

Of course I was wrong - the half has been cancelled, and rescheduled for the following weekend when I'm away. Physio 1 Runrabbit 0

claralara wrote: »

And the Gods have spoken!! Not sure if I'm relieved or not... Can't help but think I should still get myself out for a 13miler (albeit a far slower one than a race) on Saturday anyway. Hmmm... we'll see!

I'm taking it as a sign to take it into recovery mode for the remainder of 2010 and concentrate on my hip exercises, a couple of short runs during the week and an hour at the weekend!

I feel like a lot of pressure has been lifted off - it's out of my hands now. I'm already in lazy mode - I'm so tempted to skip the gym tonight - it's bitter outside!

Wednesday 08/12/2010: 40minutes on the elliptical trainer, followed by my physio-exercises. Quite a nice relaxed session actually.

Waterford half has now been rescheduled for 15th Jan so it's back on for me. Not the best time of year to be trying to get out for long runs but we'll see how it goes.

Since I didn’t get the “closure” I wanted for 2010 from the Waterford Half Marathon I think a little review of my year is needed! So I looked back through my log – and wow – the year just flew! It’s great to look back; I can so clearly remember the good days, and the bad!

My History: I was not terribly fit in January 2010 and had been limited in what exercise I could do due to a medical problem. However I was a healthy weight and regular (if unenthusiastic) gym-goer up to September 2009. September 2009 I had surgery, and when I found myself fully recovered in mid/late January 2010 I hit back to the gym. However I just found I couldn’t face it anymore, so I needed something different, and the surgery meant I could actually do vigorous exercise at last!


In Jan/Feb 2010 I started the C25K programme but moved through it quicker than advised and skipped a number of sessions. After around 3 weeks I managed to run the full 5k and it felt amazing! Shortly afterwards I had my first setback with a hamstring/hip strain, and felt like I was starting from scratch a couple of weeks later. It was then (mid March) that I started my log. Here’s a summary of my year from then on:

• My first thought is that I felt I was horribly slow at the beginning - but in actual fact I haven’t improved that much. That’s depressing.
• When I first started I thought I’d be much faster on the treadmill (it always feels like I’m going fast) and I therefore deduced that the distance must be in miles. It wasn’t! Thankfully a boardsie cleared that up for me very quickly, and needless to say I have never liked treadmills since! The upside is that I’ve enjoyed running in the great outdoors!
• I joined the club at an early stage and it was the best decision I ever made. Even though I’m still pretty much the slowest there I still love it!
• I had my first race of 5k in April – it was a great experience! It felt hard but I enjoyed it. My stomach was sick during and after it – a problem that would persist in all races to follow it. I also hurt my foot and that lasted a couple of weeks
• I bought myself a Garmin 110 in May – the obsession had really kicked in! I still love my toy!
• My first 5mile race in early June was great BUT immediately afterward my hip/pelvis issue really surfaced for the first time, and thus followed 2 weeks of agony. All the muscles from my lower back to the back of my right knee went into spasm – it was horrendous. Another couple of weeks off running here.
• I was back for the Irish Runner 5 miler in July – it was a fantastic race for me apart from t he short course! I loved it!
• I hit the magic 10 miles in training shortly afterwards – I was chuffed! Looking back my time was good too! I then hit the 13.1 in training, in another good time! Things were going great!
• A 10-miler the following week (mid-August) was when my blood-pressure issue first reared it’s ugly head – though I didn’t realise it at the time (the benefit of hindsight)! I think this was the turning point of the year when things started to go wrong
• The Frank Duffy 10-mile race was hell. I was overheated, and started out too fast. My blood pressure was causing me problems too (again – in hindsight, now that I know the symptoms). It was a horrible experience, but at least I finished it.
• I covered another 13.1 miles in training but my confidence was really knocked fro the Dublin Half. A slightly better 9-miler the week before it made me feel a little better.
• The Dublin Half Marathon in mid-September. I’d been working up to it for months, and words can’t describe what an awful experience it was. Well; the first 11 miles were great, I was flying around with the 2 hour pacers and chatting away and feeling good. I started to feel bad on the hill out of the glen, and lost the pacers then. I kept going, but started feeling very bad, and very cold. I passed the 12 mile marker and told myself to keep going, but my race ended there. I woke up in the ambulance. :eek:
• Things went downhill from there, while I attended specialists and eventually found out it was just low blood pressure and I would have to be very careful. I put together a new hydration/nutrition plan for LSRs but was nervous about getting back out for any length of time.
• I was inspired watching the DCM to give the half marathon another go, and get that monkey off my back. I signed up for the Waterford half, and started a new training plan which went great.
• For the next few weeks things went well, I upped the mileage and the sessions. I hadn’t got any faster though! My new hydration/nutrition strategy for LSRs was keeping me upright, but leaving me with a very upset stomach for the rest of the day. I was spending the rest of the day after a LSR in bed, and I was starting to worry how I would make the drive home from Waterford after the half!
• My pelvic/hip injury resurfaced (to a degree) at the end of November. Another new physio, and this time I think we’ve got to the root of the problem. However this, combined with the snow, meant my training fell apart.
• I’m seeing out the last month of 2010 doing slow and short runs and working on my bad hip. But I’m still enjoying it! Bring on 2011!

Highs of 2010

• The Irish Runner 5 mile race
• My first 10-mile LSR
• Getting involved in the running club

Lows of 2010

• The Dublin Half marathon (hopefully a low of my running life)
• The Frank Duffy 10-miler, so disappointing
• My hip injury in June, it was hell
• 15-minutes ago, looking back through my log and realising I’m no faster than when I started!
• Unpacking my kit back for Waterford, and looking at all the medication I had packed to get me though the day (nurofen for the hip, PPIs so I could take the nurofen, domperidone for the nausea, loperamide for the unpleasant after-effects of the isotonic drinks, dioralyte sachets to try to keep the blood pressure up, and a medical alert card). It just shouldn’t be that hard!

I’m yet to set my goals for 2011, but I will be back with a new log, and I will be keeping an eye on the forum in the meantime! I’m going to enjoy my few little 30-minute jaunts in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully I’ll be back and pain-free in January!