Sometimes I just need to get out and run

tang1 wrote:

Great stuff Dave, sounded like tough course.

Duanington wrote:

Congrats on the PB Dave - tough going out there by all accounts

overpronator wrote:

Great stuff with the big PB on that course Dave. I wonder who the 90 min pacer was?

Cheers lads was a tough day but have to say I enjoyed the course and the challenge it posed.

I'm not sure who the pacer was but he was some lad from up north. One of the lads in the club was with the group until the 12 mile mark and came in at 1:28:00 but closer to 1:29 on the clock so I'm assuming that's what he was basing his pacing off even if he didn't start at the front.

07/08/2014 Thurs: 5.09 miles @ 8:20 min/mile

Skipped the club session as I knew the legs weren't fully recovered. An easy route through Castletown, into Leixlip and back into Celbridge. Not particularly interesting.

08/08/2014 Fri: 4.01 miles @ 8:43 min/mile

Kept this nice and short as I was all too aware that the weekly mileage was going to be high with the race on Monday and LSR on Sunday. Just a handy route around the village and back home again.

10/08/2014 Sun: 20.01 miles @ 7:59 min/mile

Was dreading this run a little as the coach had us down for 2hr 40 mins which I knew would be about 20 miles. Knowing it was going to make this week tough with the legs still tired from Monday I met with a couple of the lads from the club. There were fewer of us than normal which wasn't going to bode well as I knew the lads that were there would go off at a pace a little too fast. One of the lads had run on Monday so I banked on him taking it easier today.

We stuck to our usual route for the first 12 miles, going up into Maynooth and back into Leixlip via Carton House and Kellystown lane. At the 12 mile mark we jumped onto the canal and heading down towards St. Catherines park then back into Leixlip. The pace kept creeping up for the first 13 miles as the legs seemed happy to match whatever the lads were doing. A couple of the miles dropped into the 7:30 region. By the 13 mile mark I made a conscious decision to drop off the pace and let the lads go on ahead as I knew if I tried to hold on for my longer I was going blow up. I gave the lads a quick shout and dropped the pace back down to a more comfortable level. I headed back towards Celbridge and then up through some of the estates to make up the remaining 7 miles. Those last 7 miles were tough as the body was beginning to hurt but I kept the pace in the 8:15 ish region. I considered calling it quits but the thought of getting a 20 mile run in with 11 weeks to go got me through the past couple of miles.

Finished back at the car at the same time as the lads as they finished up 21 miles. Took a rest and some more water on while we had a chat and I was glad to see the end of this week. As I got back in the car I could feel my left leg seize up slightly and I've a small pain in my glute which has been there all day. Its faded a lot so I think its just a bit sore from the tough week. Weekly mileage is actual the highest of the year so far.

Plan for the next few weeks is to race the Celbridge 5k in 2 weeks and use that week as a chance to ease off the training to let the body rest a little. Main goal is to not get beat by TJ.

WTD|52.40
MTD|61.92
YTD|1288.29

11/08/2014 Mon: 4.12 miles @ 9:06 min/mile

The glute loosened up a good bit by yesterday evening. I avoided doing any stretching or foam rolling as I knew the muscles were tired and didn't want to aggravate the issue. By this morning I'd pretty much gotten full movement back in it and it was only mildly numb. I held off going for a run until the afternoon by which time it wasn't giving me any issues. I opted for a short recovery run. Headed down to the football pitches at work and just did loops as I wanted to keep the run on grass. The glute was beginning to stiffen up again so I headed back to the gym in work for some stretching. Still a little stiff now but no pain so I'll make a decision in the morning on if i should skip the club session.

WTD|4.12
MTD|66.04
YTD|1292.41

Mon: 40 mins on bike
Tues: 50 mins on bike

God I hate the bikes but I'm still not able to run pain free so I'll happily take what exercise I can. Felt like the injury was getting worse on Sunday and Monday until I realised the discomfort I had was the surrounding muscles compensating. Since then I've made sure to pay attention to stretching those surrounding muscle (mainly lower back). Today I feel like it's making some progress and I'm more comfortable. Back with the physio tomorrow so will see what he says.

Wed: off/physio
Thurs: 12 mins v. Easy run, 50 min on bike

Was in with the physio on Wednesday lunch. There is definite improvement, the range of mobility of the hip and upper leg have improved greatly. The issue now is that the glute isn't firing. Physio did some work on the glute and lower back is its a bit tender from compensating. Was given some more exercises and some work to do with a resistance band to get the glute firing before a run.

Tried the exercises today and did a short (12min) run. Was a lot more comfortable but didn't want to push it too much as the leg was a little tender. Jumped on the bike to get a good 50 mins in.

Leg a little stiff now but that's to be expected after the physio yesterday and today's work out. May try another run tomorrow but outside on the grass and see how I get on, assuming no issues from today's run.

Injury update:

Since making the decision to give DCM a miss I've been a lot less stressed about the injury. I'm in no rush to get back out there and get the mileage back up.

The hip has felt good all week. No issues with walking and minimal discomfort. The plan had been to try a run tomorrow morning but since I had yesterday off I decided this morning would be a better opportunity. Spent yesterday on the in-laws allotment harvesting some veg so took it very easy but was moving about enough not to be too stiff. I had planned to go to the club track for this and run on the grass. When I got there the nearby school was using it so had to make do with running on the roads.

Ended up getting 22mins in (was supposed to be 20). No pain at all and the only discomfort was in my left quad and groin which faded as the run went. The whole left leg felt a little weak but hopefully that'll pass as I get back out more.

The plan now is to build back up the duration over the next week and then I can get back into the training properly. I may run a local 5k on the 28th and after that I'll aim for the novices xc on the 5th of October and maybe donadea 10k if I'm feeling good.

Have ran 7 of the last 8 days. All very easy. The legs had no desire to go any faster than 8:30-9min miles. The legs have been feeling progressively better as the week has gone on. I kept building the duration up but after running 50mins on Monday the legs didn't feel great so I dropped the duration back down to 40-45 for the rest of the weeks. Legs felt good today so I joined some of the club lads racing at the weekend doing an easy run. Was surprised to see the 30mins I ran with the lads around 8 min\mile so making some headway. Will try get a long run of sorts in over the weekend, maybe try somewhere between 60-90mins.

50 mins yesterday. 70 mins today. Back home to track a few runners in the half. Looks like a favourable course judging by some of times, gutted I didn't get to run it.