The Sub 210 London Challenge

Wednesday 4th Feb

57 mins easy

Avg Pace: 8:54

6.46 miles total

Had an appointment with physio yesterday evening with shin pain. Just a bit of tightness in lower leg leading into foot. Switched to take rest day yesterday and back at it today. Still a bit tender but fine for running. An evening to wrap up but lovely once you get going. Just easy runs this week after the race to allow recovery. Legs feeling fine apart from shin.

Was back with cardiac consultant yesterday morning as well. CT scan all clear. Now wants to do an MRi along with a stress test and wear a monitor for 24 hours before seeing him again in March. In his words I'm not telling you not to run at the moment but if any of these tests show anything up you won't be running anymore. Hard to get head around that to be honest but hopefully all will be ok.

Month|Mileage|Missed Runs
October | 106.44| 0
November| 148.11| 1
December| 145.47| 4
January| 209.19|1
February| 24.04| 0

Time to update this again :rolleyes:

Mon 9th Feb

57 mins easy

Avg Pace: 9:12

6.2 miles total

After 3 days rest it was time to try out the legs again. Whilst this was mostly ok and there was no issue with running there was a lingering pain in the shin area. This flared up again after I stopped and the next morning I was gradually getting worse and hobbling again. :mad:

Tue 10th - Mon 15th Feb

Got to see the PT on Wednesday morning and she worked on it again. Said that the muscles were well loosened out now but that the tendon just needed a bit of time to heal. She ranked it as a kind of 3/10 injury in the overall scheme of things, but advised no running at all until the following Mon/Tue :eek:

Tue 16th Feb

27 mins easy

Avg Pace: 8:39

3.11 miles total

Back at it last night with an short easy run. No issue with the shin and no pain afterwards or this morning. Hopefully can put a few days together with no problem now and get back on track. Have missed a good chunk of training which is annoying, but what can you do. At least things seem to be going in the right direction (touch wood).

Easy runs for the rest of this week gradually getting longer.

Month|Mileage|Missed Runs
October | 106.44| 0
November| 148.11| 1
December| 145.47| 4
January| 209.19|1
February| 33.35| 12

Ososlo wrote: »

Delighted to see you back. Was wondering what had happened. Is the shin thing what had you out before?
A week ain't so bad in the grand scheme of things. Really hope it's behind you now.
Tread softly!!!

Thanks A. Never had it before. Thinking back I felt it after last session before Trim but thought it was cramp from rushing to a meeting after the session. Was fine during the race but when I stopped it acted up.

Will still be treading on eggshells for a few days yet, don't worry. Good to have someone keeping an eye from afar

pistol_75 wrote: »

Thu 19th Feb

57 mins easy

Avg Pace: 9:02

6.38 miles total

Club run last night, first couple of loops horrible enough but legs woke up then and was holding the legs back towards the end. Legs had that sort of tired feeling that comes with getting back into consistent running.

Month|Mileage|Missed Runs
October | 106.44| 0
November| 148.11| 1
December| 145.47| 4
January| 209.19|1
February| 43.99| 12

Mon 23rd Feb

40 mins easy

Avg Pace: 8:35

4.65 miles total

Motivation was low this evening as our Mon night group that would be up to 5 people all bailed out of running. Had the gear on already so it was just a case of getting out the door.

Blustery and rainy but not too bad all told. Have been thinking the last few days I could be training my ass off for the next few weeks and be told then to forget about the Marathon. It's making it difficult to keep the motivation up if I'm being honest.

A good week of training will help, followed by a stag in Galway on Sat night ;-)

Month|Mileage|Missed Runs
October | 106.44| 0
November| 148.11| 1
December| 145.47| 4
January| 209.19|1
February| 65.70| 12

Wed 25th Feb

20 mins w/u @ 9:05

2 x 15 mins @ 10 mile pace w/5 min jog recovery (7:14, 7:14)

14 mins c/d @ 9:18

8.28 miles total

Bit of speed thrown into the mix tonight. Legs felt a bit stiff setting out which I suppose is pretty normal in advance of a session. Got to the usual wind tunnel anyway and disposed of hat and gloves. Got going into the wind and tried to judge the effort accordingly, reached the turnaround point after a mile and had a glance and the time was 7:20. Back into the wind for a bit before a bit of help for the last few minutes. Got back to where I started with about 30 seconds to go so continued on till the 15 minutes.

Jog recovery and then set off again, same type of effort but feeling a bit harder obviously. Think it was 7:24 when I reached the turnaround point. Upped the effort slightly as I think I had switched off a bit. Was working but never on my last legs or anything like that, finishing more or less in the same place.

Hadn't done this workout in a while but I think when I did them the pace was around the 7:30 mark so nice to see a bit of improvement.

Month|Mileage|Missed Runs
October | 106.44| 0
November| 148.11| 1
December| 145.47| 4
January| 209.19|1
February| 81.22| 12

Fri 27th Feb

100 mins easy @ 8:50
20 mins @ 7:41

13.93 miles total

Sun 1st Mar

37 mins easy

Avg Pace: 9:30

4 miles total

Was heading to Galway on Sat so did long run on Fri evening. Headed out after work and did the first part with a bit of company and mainly on grass. Pace was a bit slower as a result but effort felt harder than normal. When I got out onto the roads the pace came down with the miles around the 8:30 mark and it felt easier. Was now getting dark and was time to pick up for the last 20 mins. I wasn't sure what effort this should be so just kept it steady enough as the surface wasn't too great with curbs and bad lighting in some areas. Happy with how it went and could have picked it up if I had to I reckon.

Saturday came and went. Resisted the temptation to head for a few pints to watch the match with the lads when I got home and headed out for a recovery run later in the evening. One of those runs where you're just ticking off the miles.

So February has come and gone and was a disaster of a month training wise. Here's hoping for no such trouble this month :rolleyes:

Month|Mileage|Missed Runs
October | 106.44| 0
November| 148.11| 1
December| 145.47| 4
January| 209.19|1
February| 99.19| 12
March| 4.00| 0

Tue 3rd Mar

20 mins w/u @ 8:44

3x15 mins (7:25, 7:24, 7:23) w/5 min jog rec.

16 mins c/d @ 8:56

11.21 miles total

Down to the usual location this evening with an extra rep thrown in from last week. The aim was to try and run them all under 7:30 pace. What was noticeable right from the start was the strength of the wind and I was fighting it straight away. Just kept it steady knowing I would have it helping me at the end of the rep. Turned out of it after around 600m and settled into a nice effort level before getting a bit of help towards the turnaround point. Pace was around 7:30 here so fine. Lost a few seconds with the turnaround but got going grand again. Kept it steady knowing I had another 2 to do.

Effort levels were slightly higher for 2nd rep but the wind picked up a lot on the way back meaning I had to push it just to keep on pace. Clawed back a few seconds in the last few minutes knowing I had it all to do again.

Wind was as string for the last rep and pace was around 7:45 after the initial part into the wind. Was feeling ok though and set about bringing it back in line towards halfway. Lost a few seconds again coming back into the wind but was able to pick it up for the last few minutes without flooring it

Happy with how the session went. Hit the paces and managed the wind well. Would be easy to flog yourself early on in the reps and make it torture. It was bad enough but I wasn't a wreck afterwards.

Month|Mileage|Missed Runs
October | 106.44| 0
November| 148.11| 1
December| 145.47| 4
January| 209.19|1
February| 99.19| 12
March| 21.41| 0

Thu 5th Mar

49 mins easy

Avg Pace: 9:22

5.24 miles total

Got a massage before this run so just kept it very easy to try and flush out the legs. PT said everything was good anyway so that was good to hear.

Fri 6th Mar

70 mins easy @ 8:39
38 mins @ 7:50
10 mins @ 8:50

14.02 miles total

With a day off today and college at the weekend I took the chance to get long run done. The easy part was ok as I ran along the coast and back. Wasn't working too hard but legs were feeling a bit lethargic. No doubt as a result of massage yesterday. There was a pretty horrible wind around and wasn't looking forward to battling it in the latter half of the run.

Reached the area I normally do my speed and got going. Was fighting it straight away to be honest at times feeling like I was hardly moving. The plan was to do 50 mins around 7:40 pace but I wasn't getting near this. Even where the wind was helping there was no life in the legs to pick it up. With the pace dropping off I couldn't face turning to face the storm again and called it a day after 38 mins and jogged home.

Not a good run for the confidence but I'm putting it more down to conditions as I have done this session in the past ok.

Time is running short now so expect long runs to be stepped up in the coming weeks.

Month|Mileage|Missed Runs
October | 106.44| 0
November| 148.11| 1
December| 145.47| 4
January| 209.19|1
February| 99.19| 12
March| 45.57| 0

Fri 13th Mar

36 mins easy

Avg Pace: 9:00

4 miles total

Late enough getting out and with long run the following morning I just kept it short & easy.

Sat 14th Mar

2 hour 20 long run.

Avg Pace: 8:31

16.5 miles total

First long run with no work somewhere in it for a long time. Headed from home in the direction of Drogheda with the plan of turning after 70 mins. Route is a bit dull along the N1 but serves it's purpose. Seemed to settle into a decent enough pace around 8:30 after a few miles but knew I had a slight breeze as well helping. At turnaround pace was 8:31.

Felt I was slowing up a bit on the way back with a few hills and the wind getting stronger. I was happy enough not to have to fight it. Was surprised when I checked with a few minutes left the pace was still at 8:31 avg.

Happy with how the run went. Took nothing during the run and although it got tougher towards the end I wasn't in a heap or anything.

Couple if short runs now before tough session on Tuesday. Better decide what MP should be at this point.

Month|Mileage|Missed Runs
October | 106.44| 0
November| 148.11| 1
December| 145.47| 4
January| 209.19|1
February| 99.19| 12
March| 85.71| 0

menoscemo wrote: »

Are you doing Balbriggan HM again and using that for your session?

Sure am. 3 before & 2 after.