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From zero to ???

hot to trot

Finally after 7 months of zero exercise, I am ok to go .

Tuesday 24.01.2012 Walk 3 mins: slow run 2 mins.+W/U and C/D
4 miles. About an hour. About 9 reps. All well.

Thursday 26.01.2012 Walk:run 3:2 etc did 10 reps 4.5 miles. All well.

Plan:
Going to stick with this for another week and then go 3:3 before dropping to 2:3.

Hope to be ready to do a 5k Parkrun on March 10th even if I have to take walk breaks.
Back for good

and it feels

:D:D

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hot to trot

Friday 12.5 Miles, on treadmill.

Few miles powerwalking. Gosh ! Found this very hard on calf muscles and feet. Better practice a bit more of this as I certainly wont be doing a Val or Ruthann on it and running it all .

Saturday 26th January 31 miles

Killeigh marathon +5M. Marathon time 4:19 and extra bit to bring it to 5:10 . Still missing cutoff for Donadea :rolleyes:
Legs very heavy after the power-walking but eventually loosened up and managed to get moving. Feet getting very tender again .

hot to trot

Monday 28th 6 Miles so far but hope to do some more later. Just didnt get free til after 11pm last night , trying to help daughter get ready for mock leaving cert exam today.

hot to trot

The pain of training is nothing compared to the pain of not reaching your potential.

Josh Cox, US 50k Record Holder

Marthastew

hot to trot wrote: »

The pain of training is nothing compared to the pain of not reaching your potential.

Josh Cox, US 50k Record Holder

I got this today and was remembering it as I did my LSR in that driving wind and rain:)
What date is your challenge?

RacoonQueen

Ah theres notihing like those runners world daily emails eh?!

Wooooo Finn. It's nearly heeeerrrrrrrreeeee

hot to trot

They usually disappear into the abyss but I wanted to keep a few of them to put on little cards that I can look at when the going gets tough on the day.:o

February 23/24. Four weeks of training left :eek:
I am getting busier at work , which is great as I had been dreadfully quiet ,but finding it a bit of a struggle now to get out as much as I would like. Just need to suck it up for another couple of weeks and get on with it .... like the man says :P

Well done marthastew for lsr in that wind. My car was rocking something shocking today when parked in a sheltered spot. Was nearly blown off the path , so stuck to the treaddie until the Wild Wind in the Wesht abates a bit

hot to trot

Tuesday 29th 31km on Treaddie in 3 hours

Managed to eat a banana, a cereal bar and a chocolate rice cake during it . Heavy girls working away on the various gym stuff couldn't believe I was scoffing while doing my run

hot to trot

Wednesday 5 miles I think, If I dont log them I forget them almost immediately :-(

Anniversary this week. One year since I started running from scratch

Was worse than beginning initially as at least I wasnt trying to recover from an injury then.

Thursday , 15 miles 2:25. avg 9:40mm

hot to trot

Saturday. 34 Miles 5:35 avg 9:50mm 11am

Reached marathon at 4:12. 2nd fastest in a calendar year.

Tried hi5 powder mix I got in a goody bag but it was so strong I just couldnt take it . Got to a shop at 20 miles and they dumped most of it and put in water. Was gasping with the thirst at that stage and stayed thirsty til the very end. Was supposed to practice eating today but only managed a jam sandwich and a nutrigrain bar as I was too thirsty to eat. Not sure how I will manage for blowing my nose on race day -which I seem to do every 5-10 minutes. Maybe its just the cold weather.

Also dont know how I will get past 12 hours. Feet had enough today at 5.5 hours :-(
Worried ++++

The_Boy_Wonder

hot to trot wrote: »

Wednesday 5 miles I think, If I dont log them I forget them almost immediately :-(

Anniversary this week. One year since I started running from scratch Was worse than beginning initially as at least I wasnt trying to recover from an injury then.

Thursday , 15 miles 2:25. avg 9:40mm

How long had you missed with injury before last Feb? Good going to be back at Ultra distances within the year

hot to trot

I put a big hole in my achilles in early June last year. Couldnt swim bike or walk without a llimp for 6 months. I started with walk /run in January and am pretty much still doing a lot of that , especially as it doesnt make you any slower than run only, recovery is faster and its less strain on the leg .:)

Sunday 9pm 16 miles.

Was tempted to do the extra 5 to bring it to 100 miles for the week but I just had too much to do at 11.30pm on a Sunday night :-(
Kind of on taper now I think. Not really sure how to structure my next 3 weeks.

hot to trot

Had an awful dream last night. Dreamt that I was about to start the 24 hour race and was told by the race official that the only rule was that we had to stay on our feet for 24 hours. It didn't matter where we did it but we couldn't sit or lie.
So I decided I had so much housework to do that I would do some of it at home and clock up some of my hours there. Conveniently my house was across the road from the arena. :rolleyes:

When I got tired and feet were sore I looked at my watch and saw that 10 hours had passed but - that I had only covered 2.8kms :eek: Panic struck when I realised that I was doing loads of time on my feet but that I wasn't clocking up any distance and the panic that I now only had 14 hours to do almost 100 miles. SO I chased back across the road to the arena where everyone was running around and tried to join in , running frantically trying to catch up . Then I hit the wall at 4 hours and couldn't run any more.

Maybe tapering is a bad idea. My mental state is obviously in crisis !
Haven't run since Sunday , so going out for a 6 mile run shortly when I get home from work. Am going to stick with 5- 6 mile runs from now til race day apart from the marathon on Saturday. Sn make a meaningful effort to do some stretching. I Hope this is the right thing to do

menoscemo

Haha, that's gas. Are you still doing Donadea?

hot to trot

no. its just 7 days before the 24. Anyway, not sure Id make the cutoff even if I did have enough taper time:o

hot to trot

Saturday 9th February.10 deg heavy drizzle and rain .

Connemara Marathon. 26.2 Miles 4:27.

Hadnt run a step all week and had massage yesterday. Legs like lead and struggled to get any kind of comfort with them. Feet tender towards end and dont know what has suddenly happened to toenails and toes? After months of painfree toes I have massive swelling on side of toe and about 4 nails are very bruised and sore.I guess its the new runners . Tempted to go back to worn runners and put soft insole in them ?

Would rather put up with sore feet than have to keep stopping to stick needle under toenails.

Not going to do anymore until I can get feet healed and calf as good as I can manage. So will be quiet here for the next 2 weeks :eek:

hot to trot

Monday 11th feb. Early swim in wussy swimming pool. Too far away from the 40 foot :rolleyes::eek::o

Was on my feet for about 14 hours yesterday and feet really tender today. Dont know how I will get them to ease up , unless I start cutting my work to half days. NO running at all , I will see what happens.

Cant wait for the Donadea race. Wish I could go and help out but I have to be in Galway Saturday am

Marthastew

Are you all set? Feet on the mend? When do you travel over?

You've got some fantastic training in your legs and you'll reap the rewards this weekend. Is there a website we can keep track of you on?

I came across this quote by Australian long distance runner Benita Johnson recently and I thought of you

"Across the board you can run up against 10 athletes where we're the same physically. They've done the same kind of training; they are in the same kind of shape. But the one that wins is the person who really believes they can win."

Very, very best of luck:D

RacoonQueen

Best of luck Finn

hot to trot

Marthastew wrote: »

Are you all set? Feet on the mend? When do you travel over?

You've got some fantastic training in your legs and you'll reap the rewards this weekend. Is there a website we can keep track of you on?

I came across this quote by Australian long distance runner Benita Johnson recently and I thought of you

"Across the board you can run up against 10 athletes where we're the same physically. They've done the same kind of training; they are in the same kind of shape. But the one that wins is the person who really believes they can win."

Very, very best of luck:D

(Dont know about being the same physically/ or in the same kind of shape and there wont be any win LOL ) But thats sweet. thank you Champ

I havent run a step in three weeks apart from Saturday week. Havent done anything at all , The heart rate hasnt been above 90 since then and I feel like I have lost a certain amount of fitness.= I feel like a slug
Foot still sore but I got some orthopaedic felt and am going to make a pad for it . I dont really mind the sore foot as they will get sore anyway so its just a matter of when :rolleyes:.
Its the calf that will determine whether I can continue or whether I will have to stop before target. IF I think that I am going to be out for 6 - 12 months again , I will stop . Not prepared to risk it . Have been putting ultrasound on it this week so fingers crossed it will behave. The fact that its a flat race will make a massive difference to it .

The world record holder ( who just beat Magnet last time ) and about 11 elites will be running so will be like a whole heap of fab boardsies spinning around me .I'm just going to stick with my own little humble plan and see how it goes.

Website is www.endurance.fi
I think on the day there is a live feed and updated results and message facilities but not sure if it is available before that.

All the same... its great having a country named after you

I hope you are recovering well and targeting the next race where you can come in number 1 again. What a fab race you had.Well done again .

hot to trot

It all started at the club marathon in August when Ray o Connor asked would I be interested in joining him in Espoo in February for the indoor 24 hour event. I was too late for entry but was put on a waiting list. As a result I didn’t really get stuck into any kind of serious training until December when I was accepted and this was probably a good thing. I finished the Eddie Murphy double marathon in November in 9 comfortable hours so that gave me a bit of confidence until I took off my sock after it and saw a lot of bruising on my inner calf down to my ankle. It felt like I had torn scar tissue from my previous calf/Achilles insult as the tight feeling I always had was now somewhat reduced and was instead just replaced with pain and soreness. So, perhaps it was a good thing after all.
And so I started doing more runs /more long runs and back to back long runs with my weekend mileage usually being half the total weekly mileage. Every second week was usually less overall also. Initially I kept one tempo/interval session but gradually dropped that. Didn’t do any cross training as I just couldn’t fit any in. I also ran most but not all of my long stuff in run:walk pattern to build endurance on a leg that still didn’t really allow much continuous running. It meant that I was never sore or achey or stiff the next day and so mileage was purely dictated by time available. Unless you plan on running it all, it’s no harm to do some walking in training as you have to get your shins and feet used to it. All the long slow miles had a massively beneficial effect on the tendon which has reshaped and remodelled itself quite a lot. I just need to work hard on flexibility now .It also meant I had no injury worries.
The last 5 weeks pre race had my feet in a very sore place from not changing runners or work shoes when they should have been replaced. I had to wear MBT’s to take the pressure off the balls of my feet and long work days were a nightmare. I took the advice given and didn’t run a step for three weeks apart from one run. I’m sure the rest helped the legs although the feet were still under a lot of pressure and even waking at night I was still aware of them. The only other worry I had was the calf/Achilles. It is sore constantly but it doesn’t bother me much as I am used to it and while I knew that everything would hurt sooner or later and I would just have to suck it up and keep going, I was anxious that the calf would give out and I would be forced to stop or risk another year off. Given that I had only started back 13 months ago with walk 4 minutes: jog 30 seconds, I just couldn’t face going all the way back to that again.

When I met Ray and Ruthann in the airport, Ray was feeling and looking rough after being ill all week with flu. What bad luck after all the hard graft he had put in. I wasn’t trained as much but at least I wasn’t sick. On Saturday morning we had a good solid breakfast and made our way to the fabulous arena In Espoo. Ray was still well under the weather and probably shouldn’t have even considered standing on the start line. We walked around the 390m circuit and I was immediately stressed to see that a portion of the loop was a kind of balcony overlooking about 5 sports halls on the lower levels. It was totally secure with no vibration but although I am doing well getting over a phobia of bridges and things that have nothing under them, this was still outside my comfort zone and I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of having to go over it many times in the next 24 hours.

At noon, we started together at the back of the crowd of about 120 but within a short time were separated as I stuck to my plan of run 5: walk about 40 seconds. I felt totally nauseous going over this balcony section each time, having to divert into the middle lanes for the first few hours before gradually being able to stay on the inside lane. It was about 3.5 hours in before I stopped fretting and dreading it on each lap, and the middle of the night before I could look down into the halls below.

Ruthann Sheahan, had come to crew for us and had printouts to monitor pace, fluids and food intake etc. I had read during the previous week that you didn’t need to try to replace calories burned but to intake only enough to stop you crashing. Ruthann had worked out our recommended calorific intake and encouraged us to get it into us. This was a big struggle for me in the first 4/5 hours as I am not used to eating much when running initially and combined with the balcony section I was feeling queasy for ages. I think I accused Ruthann of being the food police/Food Hitler as she persuaded us to keep fuelling right from the starting hours. She did a tremendous job single handed even gathering snow outside and making a DIY cooler to keep drinks and homemade buffs( amputated leg of her own pyjamas) to keep us cool in the hot stuffy environment during the night.
Thankfully my leg was doing really well with the surface being so flat but from about a measly 13km, the balls of my feet were already quite sore so it was just a case of get on with it, earlier than expected.
I stuck to the plan and I watched the laps on the screen, positioned at the timing mat, as I approached the marathon mark to bring me to my 50th marathon. I didn’t think to check the time so not sure what it was exactly but somewhere between 4.30 and 5 hours. Doh! Ruthann cautioned that I was going quite fast and that I was closer to 200k pace! By 7 hours I had covered 157 laps compared with a steady 200k pace of 149 laps. I had reckoned that to get my target of 100 miles that I would likely do 60 miles in the first 12 hours and 40 in the second. I tried to slow down but the extra pressure on my feet made it more uncomfortable so I decided to stick it out as long as I could. With the run walk routine I was used to over the previous months, it all felt very easy on the legs and I didn’t feel fatigued at all. I concentrated on various things throughout the day, keeping limbs relaxed, lifting heels, landing lightly, moving my neck about, thinking happy thoughts, thinking about people in pain and ill , trying to problem solve some difficult patients I had , and also how lucky I was with my health and life etc. There were a number of locals who seemed to adopt me and give me a huge cheer every time I went past them. They also emailed me regularly throughout the night as did Timo’s children, whom I had high 5’d for hours, when they were going home to bed.

I Think I went through 100k between 11 and 12 hours? I was really enjoying this. Truly I was happy to stay out there all day and I was having a ball. All through the first 12 hours I had sang my little mantra to myself “This is fun/my legs feel strong/I can do this all day long “over and over and was enjoying the banter with other runners and admiring the relentless pace of many others. At this stage, poor Ray was close to coughing up a lung and to losing every bit of food that he had ever eaten and looked soaked with sweat and totally wretched. Not long at about 15 hours, he was forced to retire, although full credit for getting as far as he did in the face of huge adversity.
I started to have more stomach issues and eventually took a motilium and though I didn’t want to stomach any more food for a while I resorted to dry bread, mandarin segments and occasional sips of water and some actimel rather than risking the wrath of ‘she who knows better

’

hot to trot

In or around 14 hours ,something sudden happened to my knee. Instantly I couldn’t walk on it. Couldn’t take any pressure or stand on it. Funnily enough I could still shuffle jog but continuous running was just making me feel sick. Eventually I limped to our table where St Ruthann pulled it and twisted it and with a few clicks it was fine again.

Off i went again, trying to stay out of the loo and keep the legs moving. By about 17 Hours I was taking longer walk breaks to ease the stomach and the feet which were torture at this point. Regularly we were handed little pieces of white paper with printouts from home of all the messages which were emailed on the website. They were little treasures and it was a real treat to get any. Some made me laugh and others cry .I got a “Run Finn Run “ at about 17.5 hours when I had been walking for a bit. I tried to run again 3 or 4 times but the legs just buckled so I wussed out and ended up walking from there on in. I felt so disappointed, tearful and disheartened that I had let my buddy down so early and didn’t make more effort to keep running for longer, or make more effort to somehow get going again. I had been at 137 km at 17 hours but although I kept moving forward I had declined to a steady 5km per hour for the last 5 hours.

I came through 100 Miles at 22:00 give or take a few minutes and was happy with that, given how much I had walked. Shortly after I asked Ruthann to have a look at my feet to see if there was anything I could do to ease them or pop blisters or whatever. Off I went again with tears down my face ( how mortifying ) but they were more sore than anything I had ever faced before I and I wasn’t coping very bravely with them. In the last 20 minutes I just wanted it to be over and I was just hanging on. The legs still didn’t feel too bad, funnily enough, but the balls of my feet were miserable. When the final gun went and we left our little markers on the ground I went back to our table where I was pampered and cosseted by Ray and Ruthann while I had a self indulgent “sorry for myself weep” and relief that I could finally get off my feet. I didn’t know what my distance was. I knew it was over 160km but was happy regardless of distance achieved that I had given it my best shot. Anto had emailed to “leave it all on the track “and I felt I did. Final tally was 171.19kms (106.9M)
It’s awesome really how far people can go with incredible distances being covered in 24 hours. Many people had their own agenda with some deciding to cover a set distance regardless of time, others who were determined to stick it out to the very end run walk or crawl, some walking it all and a range of in-betweeners who gradually faded during the night only to revive after a rest and then those who never made it back onto the track.

It’s a great event which I would recommend to anyone as a challenge, regardless of whether your ambitions are humble or whether you have lofty goals. You never know what you can achieve unless you give it a try. There is NO fail, as there isn’t a finish line for you to cross. The line is the point where you have no more to give on that particular day. And there is always another day.....

menoscemo

Well done Finn, good stuff on beating all the lads PB's

woody1

well done,

belcarra

Fair play to you Finn, great performance and report!

It's probably still too soon to ask but any plans to do Energia 24hr??

ultraman1

belcarra wrote: »

It's probably still too soon to ask but any plans to do Energia 24hr??

loads of dudes sayin...please say no ,please say no......well done finn,#13;)
http://statistik.d-u-v.org/getintbestlist.php?dist=24h&year=2013&gender=W

hot to trot

I feel I learned a lot doing this race and I definitely want another go at it, if I can get the feet to behave and get training again .

DigiJem

Lovely report, that sounded bloody tough, hope the recovery is going well

hot to trot

Going to get started this week/weekend. Its a month since I did any regular running and am turning into a big fat slug. Sore Feet or no feet I have to get moving again

Legs have been fine since a few days post race.:)

Marthastew

Congratulations on such an amazing achievement, for once words fail me:)
I'm in awe of your determination and stamina.

Rest well and take some time to recover, you deserve it.
I loved your report and I know I'll come back to it again when I'm in need of inspiration

hot to trot

Forgot to mention a few great emails from an EMER. I thought it was from my Galway friend Emer but its not. Not sure I know any other girl who spells her name that way? So whoever you are , thanks an awful lot , for your wonderful messages during the 24 hours