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Monday, 16th Nov: 1300m swim, half the glut&leg strengthening exercises
Was still in Dublin and had gone to bed with the alarm set for 7am, and the idea of getting up and heading straight to Swan Leisure for a swim. I managed to delay getting out and it was 7:20 and I was thinking maybe I wouldn't go at all (and if I delayed just 15mins more it would be too late anyway). Out of nowhere I found the mental strength to kick myself out and head for Rathmines. 800m breaststroke, then 400m of the "catch-up" freestyle drill we did in class a couple of weeks back. Was planning to finish with 400m of plain freestyle but they started breaking up the lanes 10mins early so I only got 100m of that done.... The advantage was that I had time to grab myself a latte and till got back in time to base to help my Dad bring the old dishwasher up to Crumlin for recycling. Was preening myself for the rest of the morning for having got the swim in early. But just as well, because I never got to the pool Tuesday or Wednesday.
Had a spare half-hour in the afternoon and instead of dossing I got stuck into the first half of the strengthening exercises, lunge-dips and sideline-leg work. Hoped to do the rest that evening in Edinburgh but didn't get to it.
Tuesday 17th Nov: 41mins easy (3.62miles @11:16 avg pace)
Mission was to do a run that was very definitely *easy*. I've been pushing it a bit on most of my recent runs because of trying to be somewhere in the region of my old easy pace. Have read that one way to be sure it's really easy pace is to only allow yourself to breathe in through the nose. So I did that and kept it up most of the way round even though I was making a bit of noise and felt like an idiot. Was definitely "easy" pace. Was only looking at the watch after the mile beeps and was surprised to see the first come in at 11:05 and the others similar. The mile beep came definitely early on the 3rd lap round, so I ended up having to subtract 0.08miles from the final total ... and making the avg pace even slower.
Only headed out for this run late at night, and the advantage is that all the rain had gone and it was a nice cool dry evening. Running after 11pm isn't that rare for me, but it's less usual that I end up mopping the kitchen floor after midnight (or that I end up doing sets of calf stretches at this time). Buffed up my halo before I went to bed.
Wednesday, 18th Nov: half the glut&leg strengthening exercises (plus extra)
Tried to get into Pilates to make-up the class I missed on Monday but they were full so had to skip that. Also had the strengthening exercise on my list so did some of those ... again the first half (lunge-dips and sideline work). Couldn't bear to do the single-leg squats and to be honest there's been so little strengthening in past weeks I'm probably better not re-starting those yet. It's just a long battle trying to get through them and would be worse right now. The other exercises are targeting some of the same stuff so if I keep this up for a while I should get to a point where I'm able to make a better fist of the squats. For the next week or two though I will be doing the sets of bridge leg-raises to make it "three-quarters" instead of "half". Also did some sets of calf stretching and also tried out a new stretch for the adductors. And went out onto the stairs and did 3 sets of 10 double-leg stair drops. Not sure I got lots from these, so will move up to the single-leg ones.
Thursday, 19th Nov: 46mins running with 15mins fartlek (4.57miles)
The plan was 10mins w/u, 25mins fartlek, 10mins c/d. Couldn't do it. The first 10mins went fine, started very easy, and picked things up towards the end, average was roughly 10min pace. Then the fartlek and it was *tough*. The first 5mins went ok but after that it was getting harder and I already had to stop for a few breaths at 8:30 mins after a fast burst. Knew then there was no way I'd make it to 25mins and negotiated a discount to 15 with myself. Average pace for fartlek and the recoveries was about 9:15 or so average over the 15mins. Not as many bursts in the final 5mins but I did my best. Then ran a final 21mins at a fairly comfortable 10:24 avg and back to the office.
Was doing this as a lunchtime run in my usual venue, so most of the run was grass (in fact I was complimented on my use of the grass by another runner during the warm-up). Had come out of the office and felt a chill, and gone back upstairs back to take my windcheater and gloves. But of course I was warmed up within 5mins, and ended up taking off my outside layer and typing it to a lamppost before starting the fartlek. Beautifully sunny, dry and not-too-cold, and I enjoyed the lovely clear view to the mini-mountain once I'd stopped doing the fartlek and my breathing had calmed down
.
Then when I was back at the office I did a full set of both types of calf-stretches, plus the new adductor stretch, and even a bit of quad and hamstring stretching ... even before I took my shower. Could really feel the benefit of these walking around in the afternoon. The adductor stretch from the internet is just perfect, giving enough stretch but not pulling too hard.
Swimming class tonight. Plan for the rest of the week was 40mins Saturday and 50mins Sunday, but I'm hiking Saturday so will move that run to tomorrow instead.0 -
Great to see you getting back into it:). Never heard of breathing through your nose to see if it was easy
I can't see that being right though. The less air you are you are getting in, the slower the pace would be but your heart has to work harder to use that limited oxygen. The effort would be the same but the pace would be different I'd imagine. I could be wrong but that's my logic, doesn't make sense to me.
Edit: maybe I'm wrong, a quick bit of research says I am anyway, interesting:)0 -
I swear by the 'in through the nose' breathing. Think it's a Pilates thing
. No idea of the science/theory behind it but I feel like I can get a lot more air in because it allows me to breath deeper. If I'm going fast e.g. in a 5K race I end up shallow breathing through my mouth but from about 10K upwards I'd aim to breath in through my nose and out through my mouth.
Great work on your s&c and your cross training!0 -
Notwork Error wrote: »Great to see you getting back into it:). Never heard of breathing through your nose to see if it was easy I can't see that being right though. The less air you are you are getting in, the slower the pace would be but your heart has to work harder to use that limited oxygen. The effort would be the same but the pace would be different I'd imagine. I could be wrong but that's my logic, doesn't make sense to me.
Thanks NE, I spotted your post (without the edit) before I went off to swimming and as you might guess I was delighted to read it (phew, off the hook) ... anyway I can't remember where I got the suggestion from but read somewhere that "easy" corresponds to being able to have a comfortable conversation, or else get by with nose-breathing only. Thought that I'd raise slightly less attention with the nose-method than running round the pavements in the middle of the night talking to myself. But I did not enjoy it!
I did feel the pace was easy ... in my running, even the slightest challenge causes an increase in breathing, so by only having my nose (which is like breathing through a straw tbh) it forced me to slow down a lot.
Links online are disagreeing a bit. The discussion on reddit is talking about it being a useful training method to increase lung capacity (!) .... the fellrnr link is closer to your theory.
https://www.reddit.com/r/running/comments/yak79/breathing_through_your_nose_or_mouth_while_running/
http://fellrnr.com/wiki/BreathingBungy Girl wrote: »I swear by the 'in through the nose' breathing. Think it's a Pilates thing. No idea of the science/theory behind it but I feel like I can get a lot more air in because it allows me to breath deeper. If I'm going fast e.g. in a 5K race I end up shallow breathing through my mouth but from about 10K upwards I'd aim to breath in through my nose and out through my mouth.
You're an outlier, BG, for *sure*. I've been doing pilates for a decade now and know the in-nose, out-mouth method but I couldn't even run HM pace (... or marathon pace ... or right-now 10:30 pace) by only having my nose .... will give it a go on one of my easy runs each week to see if it will boost my lungs though.0 -
Thursday, 19th Nov, pm: 150m w/u, stroke development class
Definitely seemed to have lost ground with the others on freestyle this evening ... maybe the session at lunchtime had an effect. Again a few corrections. Then some drills for backstroke and I was doing a lot better on these. Good drills except came spluttering up from under a wave a few times as the others went past in the opposite direction, especially from the guy who kicks like a wave engine ...
Friday: nothing
Bit of late night working and I didn't get Saturday's run in after all.
Saturday, 21st Nov: 40mins easy run (3.82miles @10:28 pace)
Went hiking during the daytime as planned - lovely low-level 11miles loop near Loch Long in the hills north of Glasgow. We didn't have to climb too much but still we got high enough to see little dustings of snow and experience a light snow shower. Lots of iced-over puddles on the way round. **no wind**. It was lovely clear weather and we could see some great views of the mountains around.
Then back to Edinburgh but in the end I didn't get head out to do my run till after 11:30pm .. so I did 40mins round the neighbourhood. Nice comfortable run. It was so late that on the second loop I decided I'd let myself off the hook with the stretching, and have a go of it on Sunday morning instead
Then I changed my mind after I came in at 12:15: 4x 20/30-sec holds each side for each of the calfs/calf-bent/adductor/hamstring stretches :eek:
Sunday, 22nd Nov: 50mins "L"SR (4.75miles @10:32 avg pace) then 5x100m strides
Had to go to work for the afternoon so didn't get the chance to do this time I got back home, and it was coooooold outside. Was delaying over it but read a few boards postings, and listened to a Bonnie Tyler track a couple of times ... then *out*. Turned out to be a very enjoyable run in the frosty air, pace was comfortable. Did 5 100m strides afterwards and that was great.
Stretched straight after I came in: 4x 20-30-sec holds each side for each of calfs/calf-bent/adductor/quad/piriformis/hamstrings.
weekly total: 16.78miles0 -
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Monday, 23rd November: pilates, half the glute/leg strengthening exercises
Ok as trailed, the aim was to move up to "three quarters of strengthening exercises" ... but it was fairly late when I started these ...
Tuesday, 24th November: 40mins with 20mins "tempo" (8:35 avg pace)
Did this one out of the office in the early afternoon in lovely clear cool sunshine, only light wind. One warm-up mile on the grass that started slow but ended up coming in at exactly 10mins, then I moved onto the cement for the 20mins of tempo: first mile in at 8:51, then kept the effort up and managed to bring the second one in at 8:36. I had been thinking the reason the second one was faster was because I had a little bit of wind on my back, but the last .33 came out at 8:17 avg even though I'd turned direction again. Average of 8:35 for the tempo section. Back onto the grass, and back-to-base, for 10mins c/d which turned out at 9:41 pace (4.38miles total). which is too fast for cool-down.
stretching: Did 3 holds each-side of calf/bent-calf/adductor after the run.
[10:00, 8:51, 8:36, .33 @8:17, 1.05 @9:41]
Was *delighted* with myself after this one ... ok 8:35 will be too fast for my current 10mile. But the pace was close to "comfortably hard", and I could definitely have continued on for a bit longer, maybe even at 8:17.
Tuesday pm: sports massage visit
Decided to take my 3 niggles off for a sports massage this evening. I'd started a bit of stretching this past week, so they were already improving a bit, but I'm desperate not to lose any more weeks to injury. Had bought a session as a deal on the internet a few months back so this was a new therapist: a big very-Scottish guy, extremely informal... I asked him what his technique was early on in the session and the answer was "none really", then he saw the look on my face ....
Niggles were the tight right achilles, the tight left adductor (really hamstring it turns out), and a twinge on the right of my lower back ... the only surprise of the session was that when he was working on my back, he came to the conclusion that I probably have a extra vertebra on the left side of my lower spine. He even called the chiropractor up to take a look. I don't know whether he's right or not, but other massage therapists have been bewildered by this area of my back in the past. Anyway, he said it's nothing to worry about.
For the tight right achilles, same advice as from TbL - calf raises on the stairs.
For the tight left hamstring, one more strengthening exercise to add to my set (if I want!).
For the back, I have stretches from ecoli which work fine when I do them.
Wednesday, 25th November: pilates
My leg was feeling better after the massage, but the twinge in the back was temporarily worse (the same thing happened the last time I got a therapist to work on it). Then at the class we did loads of back stuff and I was a bit worried, until I came out of the class and the twinge was gone ...
Thursday, 26th November: 46mins easy run (4.52miles @10:11 avg pace), most of the glute/leg strengthening exercises
Another daylight run (swoon). Did this mostly on grass at lunchtime in lovely warm weather. There are still some autumn leaves on the ground to run through and today they were dry and crisp instead of stodgy and mucky. Pace was fairly consistent apart from the first mile being a bit quicker. It was a pretty comfortable run. Maybe not fully Myles/DG easy but not far off it.
Went straight to the stairs after coming inside and did 2 sets each-leg of straight-leg calf raises, 1 set each-leg of bent-leg. At the moment can only do 7-8 reps each set instead of the 15 given. stretches: 2holds each-side for calf/bent-calf/adductor/hamstrings.
no swimming: was in the changing rooms at the pool this evening for my swimming class when I discovered I didn't have my swimming togs with me. Had been aiming to swim before work on Tuesday so had taken them out of the bag to leave with my clothes and they never found their way back in ...
Came back home with the mission of doing the strengthening work. And successfully forced myself to do everything except the single-leg squats which are off the table for another week or so. That's 4-out-of-5 exercises since I also did the new hamstring exercise from the therapist.
Two easy runs at the weekend to look forward to. Maaaaaaybe a swim tomorrow evening.0 -
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career move wrote: »This struck me as curious. I never run on cement - it doesn't exist much in the bog! but I've often read that it's supposed to be much harder on your legs/joints than grass and even tarmac. I know a tempo is much harder work on grass but tempo's are all about effort so even if you're paces aren't as fast maybe it would be worth staying off the cement especially given your injuries?
The grass was fairly mucky on Tuesday so I preferred to do the tempo without worrying about navigating the slippery bits ... it wasn't about trying to cling to a higher pace. I did most of the fartlek section the week before on the grass I think.
Overall, I know grass is softer on the legs (though harder work) but I always think there is one advantage of tarmac and cement and it's that they are smooth, so less chance of ankle or foot injuries I think. Anyway I used to exclusively run on roads and path until last spring when I started 7hills training. I got to enjoy the trails doing that. And especially after the injury I decided I'd do a couple of my runs on grass each week to mix things up. So that's the plan. I'd be worried about training mostly on grass and then doing races on harder surfaces.
What was your big injury?
I'm not too worried about my stress fracture site any more, it's 3 and a half months since I came off it, and there hasn't been a peep from it in the past few weeks. Am monitoring a few niggles but to be honest I think my main mistake is *not stretching*
... and the runner-up mistake of increasing the LSR too fast in the past. So am trying to take both of those in hand. 0 -
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Friday, 27th Nov: 1300m swim (800m breast, 500m free)
Had been thinking I might go for a swim after work and as things happened I had nothing else on that evening so no excuse to skip it. Nearly changed my mind when I opened the door of the building and got hit by a blast of cold air, but pushed my feet in the right direction. Applied some of the ideas we've been doing in class (for freestyle) to my breaststroke and this went better/faster than usual. Then into the freestyle and again the experience that I've gotten worse, slower and needing longer to rest between lengths. Probably partly because of trying to fix various bits of technique, but also might be due to the swims being a bit random lately. Last few lengths were a bit better. Was supposed to be 800m of free but only got up to 500m, but I was wanting to ditch from 100m in, so amazed I stuck it out that long really.
Saturday, 28th Nov: 40mins easy run (3.8miles @ 10:32 avg pace), then 5x100m strides
Got this one in round the neighbourhood in the afternoon. Goal was to keep it properly easy, so did a good bit of the nose breathing throughout (had to take a few breaks). Then 5 strides to finish off. Could feel a little bit of achilles stiffness on the final couple of strides, a a tiny bit of slight hamstring tightness, but nothing severe.
calf raises: 2 sets (8reps) straight-leg, 2 sets (10reps) bent-leg calf raises on the stairs straight after coming in. stretches 4x each side for calf/bent-calf/quad/piriformis/adductor/hamstring.
Sunday, 29th Nov: 55mins "L"SR (5.21miles @10:33 avg pace) , most of the glut/leg strengthening exercises
Happened to wake up at 6am and took a look out the window, snow on the ground! Went straight back to bed and by the time I got up at 11am it was pouring rain So Clodagh had finally made an appearance. All the same it had cleared away, and the sky was blue by 1pm ... and it was still nice and dry when I headed out a bit later for this run. Had a special route in mind for today, to do my first run round Holyrood Park since the injury - on the road, so less hilly, about 80m climb. Ran into the park at a comfortable pace and then took the road upwards for the second mile ... I took the pace down for this, and in the end the mile with the climb came in at 11:50, but who cares (anyway, I'm supposed to be going slower, right?). Was really very comfortable going uphill & not sure if this was only the slower pace (or maybe the hill-training in spring) but I was wondering why I'd ever thought this was steep. Then into the wind for the exposed section after the climb for mile 3, nothing worse than usual though, and after that a couple of relaxed miles downwards and back home. Was very enjoyable and comfortable throughout, effort was consistent .... I stopped the watch at 55mins even though I wasn't home yet, and walked the final few 100ms back as the sun went down (at 3:30pm).
calf raises: 2 sets (8reps) straight-leg, 2 sets (10reps) bent-leg calf raises on the stairs straight after coming in. stretches 3x each side for calf/bent-calf/quad/piriformis/adductor/hamstring.
Strengthening (pm) did all of the strengthening exercises except the single-leg squats. I know you wouldn't expect it ....
weekly total: 17.9miles
4 runs, all in daylight.
But a much bigger deal was the 2-and-a-half strengthening sessions this week.
Good week on all fronts, except swimming: the strengthening was done, the flat is almost tidy, I had 2 proper nights out, and even caught up with the past few weeks of Strictly (would have tipped Jay at the start, but I think Georgia may shade it ...)
monthly total: 62.5miles
Month|2013|2014|2015
January|55|85|70
February|69|9|96
March|53|57|134
April|85|61|85
May|65|71|145
June|51|43|89
July|25|99 |79
August|84|120|26.5
September|18|131|0
October|83|0|15
November|78|3|62.5
December|53|56
Total|719|735|8020 -
how do you keep count of your pool lengths M? I never bother, preferring to just make sure I"ve done *30 mins* swimming, I'd forget too quickly which one I was on Assuming its a 25M pool and bearing in mind I've already made a mess of maths on this forum as recently as yesterday (!) is that 52 lengths? I must try and count mine next time but I can't imagine I do more than half that. Your way looks far more impressive!
Great to see the mileage working its way back up again.0 -
how do you keep count of your pool lengths M? I never bother, preferring to just make sure I"ve done *30 mins* swimming, I'd forget too quickly which one I was on Assuming its a 25M pool and bearing in mind I've already made a mess of maths on this forum as recently as yesterday (!) is that 52 lengths? I must try and count mine next time but I can't imagine I do more than half that. Your way looks far more impressive!
Great to see the mileage working its way back up again.
You planning to replace xc with swimming?
I count the lengths but the pool is 50m so that makes it easier. Aim is usually to do 16 lengths of each stroke, ie 1600m (=2x16x50) overall, but as you might have noticed I don't always achieve. Going to try and sort out some drills for one of next week's swims ....
Your maths is right tonight, Friday's swim was 26 lengths (which would be 52 of a 25m pool) 0 -
hillsiderunner wrote: »You planning to replace xc with swimming?
I count the lengths but the pool is 50m so that makes it easier. Aim is usually to do 16 lengths of each stroke, ie 1600m (=2x16x50) overall, but as you might have noticed I don't always achieve. Going to try and sort out some drills for one of next week's swims ....
Your maths is right tonight, Friday's swim was 26 lengths (which would be 52 of a 25m pool)
mmm yes well a 50m pool would make it easier to count, but harder to swim!! I"ve yet to try the aquatic centre here, funnily enough, its closer to me than the pool I use but they charge a fortune to use at the weekend. Will definitely do a count next time, just out of interest 0 -
mmm yes well a 50m pool would make it easier to count, but harder to swim!!
Am having a bit of trouble with it myself lately it seems!
Had my eye on the National Aquatic centre on my sister's wedding weekend (Clontarf Castle has discounts for their guests) but it was daft to think I'd ever get to it. We are spoilt here as the 50m is one of the City council pools, so is quite reasonable, but it's not exactly jammed in the evening I have to say. 0 -
Have been getting to know more of my neighbours these past weeks. Anyway I was out on the common stair doing my calf raises Sunday a week-past, and this time it was my next door neighbour that came past. I hadn't seen her since our mouse summit a couple of months back, so I was telling her how there'd only been one, and we were saying how good it was that he'd been sorted. Then the morning after I somehow managed to kick myself out of the bed at 6:45am for a trip to the swimming pool, and when I switched on the kitchen light a little dark patch scurried along the wall into the skirtingboards ....
So it starts again.
Monday, 31st Nov: 1600m swim (800m breast, 16x50m free), pilates
Morning swim. Breaststroke went better than usual, with no stopping at the wall whatsoever, and did the whole 800m in 29mins which is a slight improvement. Freestyle lengths on the 1:45 clock, with a few reps getting 15secs extra. Only ok and I think maybe I'm going out too fast & losing my technique. But was relieved to finish all the freestyle. Did the last two a bit faster and as I was getting my breath back at the end the lifeguard asked me was I all right
.
Was delighted with having got this in before work, but I was yawning all morning and early afternoon in the office (low concentration, good bit of internet surfing). Might have to re-think the morning thing.
Tuesday, 1st Dec: 45mins easy (4.19miles @10:44pace)
Should have dug out my shorts for this one. Was doing this in the evening in lovely mild weather.... passed lots of other runners, and also lots of little 6-7year-olds playing a football match under floodlights.
calf raises: 2 sets straight, 2 sets bent, each leg
stretching: 3 holds each side for all-the-stretches
Thursday, 3rd Dec: 45-46mins with about 25mins fartlek (4.75miles), swim class
Did this one on the meadows in the muck, just getting it in before the rain started up again. There'd been 24hours of dryness but it hadn't been enough to drain the grass. I had forgotten to pack my Garmin today but there's an outdoors digital clock near the start, so used that to estimate. Fartlek went better this time, and by distance covered I'll have done around 25mins. Just a couple of slips on the mucky bits. I was probably pushing less today, didn't feel flat out, only stopped once for a few breaths near the end.
calf raises: there is one step on the side stairs at work which does not have evil hard plastic grooves at the edge (ouch) ... on the flight heading up to the roof. Headed for "my" step and there were two maintenance men standing right on it. Did have a go on another stairs but it was a cursory set of each-type.
stretching: 2 holds each side for calf/bent-calf/adductor/hamstring.
swim class: Ran out of the office to do the class, and was already wet before I got to the pool. 600m of freestyle at the start, then drills for butterfly legs of all things. The teacher says my freestyle arms are improving. After the class walked back (to the office) with the sleet falling...
Saturday, 5th Dec: 46mins easy (4.5miles @10:14 avg pace)
Would have preferred to eat my breakfast but the forecast was for high winds by 11am, so I did this early. Bit blustery. Towards the end of the run the wind was picking up pace, but nothing serious & I got a push on the back a few times. Realised later this was supposed to be 40mins not 45.
calf raises:2 sets straight, 2 sets bent, each leg
stretching: 2 holds each side for all-the-stretches
Sunday, 6th Monday 7th Dec: 61mins easy run (5.73miles @10:38 avg pace)
Back to my bad-old-ways again letting the LSR slide into the next week ... I didn't get my run in Sunday morning, and was out to lunch after that, and then was in work (*scowl*) all of Sunday evening finishing a piece of work. One of my least favourite tasks, working to a deadline, and had been going on for 5 or 6 days ... anyway was in the home stretch last night. Had been thinking I'd finish by ??? and go home to run, and the clock ticked on .. in the end I didn't leave the office till 11:30pm and by then I just wanted to go to sleep then. But at least that's off my desk, yippee!
Did the run today instead round Holyrood and thereabouts. Nice comfortable run in lovely mild (dry!) weather, with the sun peeping out to light up the side of the hill from time to time. Used the grass whenever there was some around and it wasn't too slippery, so about half-the-time. Comfortable run.
calf raises: No one near my step today. 2 sets straight, 2 sets bent, each leg
stretching: 2 holds each side for all-the-stretches
weekly total: 19.2miles
Massive fail on the strengthening, 0 sessions. Had let myself off doing it on Tuesday night, and was late in work the 5 nights after - trying to finish this work with howls of wind coming in through the window (and reading JB posts, and "poor" TbLs work stresses in NZ to break up the boredom) ....
Next week will have strengthening.
Will set the traps tonight.0 -
Monday, 7th Dec, pm: pilates
Tuesday, 8th Dec: 45mins not-so easy (4.33miles @10:24 avg pace)
Lunchtime run from work into Holyrood Park, and a near-lap of the circuit. Was a bit too breezy today, I had a headwind for a long stretch on the exposed higher section. Didn't feel so easy despite the pace. Was a bit mucky, so mostly did this on the path.
calf raises: 2 each-type, each-side, on the stairs ... In a bit of a rush because I had a talk to get to.
stretching: took a chance and stayed in my tights and windcheater for the talk ... And worked my way through 2-each-side for each of the 7 stretches while the speaker was going through her slides. Did extra of the hamstring stretch. Was able to follow the talk as well so a great way to save 20mins. All the same not 100% sure it will fly on a regular basis, will try it again and if there's no raised eyebrows I'll try get the Tuesday run done just before this slot on a regular basis
Wednesday, 9th Dec: nothing
Can't remember for sure but think this was planned and not accidental ...
Thursday, 10th Dec: swim class, 45mins with 25mins @tempo pace (4.82miles)
swim class: When I got to the pool I discovered that the main pool was being taken over for the National championships ... but maybe one of the teenagers was not keen to compete, because I was just changed and about to get into the water when the fire alarm went off. We did not get kicked out into the freezing cold - I guess there is plenty of water around to quench any flames :rolleyes:. Instead we were herded off to the side to wait it out - so no warm-up, and a shorter class. I think we did about 600m of freestyle with some drills, and then something else (?), but at the end I got to ask for a bit of breaststroke advice and she picked out two errors with my stroke - had been deliberately *working* to develop one of those mistakes, good to have it pointed out, can start trying to undo it now over the Christmas.
run: No free time during the day to do this one. And really cold out. While I was walking home from the pool I'd been working out various restructurings of my schedule so I could skip it. Managed to kick myself out though. Round the neighbourhood, another "not a tempo" run ... this time I ended up with a progression run with the 2.82 fast miles having paces 9:14, 8:45, .82 @8:30. Think I would have been better behaved if the first mile had been a bit quicker, was trying to bring the average down (8:52 over the 25mins). I could not have continued much longer with the 8:30 pace, I even took a few breaths walking before starting my c/d mile. Achilles and hamstring a little bit tight towards the end.
[10:21, 9:14, 8:45, .82 @8:30, 9:43. 4.82miles total over 45mins]
calf raises: 3sets straight-leg, 2sets bent-leg each side. Another chat with another neighbour.
stretches: 2x all-the-stretches, each side.
Saturday, 12th Dec: 46mins easy (4.09miles @11:14pace), then 5x100m strides (4.39miles)
Another cold run. Ran the 1/2mile to Holyrood Park, and then stayed on the grass until it was time to run home. Aim was to just run easy and not pay much attention to the watch. Did the strides on the flat section round the corner after getting home. Don't usually bother adding strides-mileage in but the weeks mileage has taken a hit from the slower paces so ...
calf raises: 3 straight-leg, 2 bent-leg each side.
stretching: 2each side for all-the-stretches
Sunday, 13th Dec: 65:30 mins easy incl (mostly) 6k international xc route (5.48miles @11:57 avg pace)
The European championships in France gave me the idea of trying out the route of the womens's international xc champs that happens every January in Holyrood. It is three times round a 2k loop that starts on flat grass, heads round for 1k till St Margaret's Loch, then does a bit of weaving, then along the side of the Loch and up-and-down a small hill called "Haggis Knowe" ... then a final stretch with a jump over a brook, round to the start again. Have never ran even one of these laps even though this is home ground. Can remember bits of the route from spectating, but had a check online to get a better idea.
1mile into the park and to the start, then the first lap: took a wrong turn to the side of the Loch and ended up facing a "flooding" sign, with three swans having set up an outpost on the pool of water behind. At this stage I hadn't yet realised this was a wrong turn, but there was no way I was going near that flood or the beasties, so turned around and found what was the right path. Weaving around was fine, and up the Knowe was fine, down the Knowe - not so fine! Very steep downwards trail and ended up on my bottom twice. Had felt it coming each time so had my hands out and they were only minor slides.
Did a second lap trying to work out do the runners really take that descent. Seems they do, as I couldn't find any alternative except for retracing their steps and I'm sure they don't do that. Can't imagine how they can do anything close to running going down that bit. Did most of the third lap but when I was a bit over half way round, I worked out I wouldn't have enough minutes ("unfortunately") to finish the whole lap and run home so skipped the Haggis. It's not ideal anyway as I wasn't really running properly on the descent.
Then back home. Average pace 11:57. Look at *that* for not caring about the watch. Fortunately the European team won't be relying on my efforts. Will be out to watch Fionnuala and Lizzie and the rest (and Mo if he shows up) in January.
It's not nearly as wet here as Dublin sounds, so we weren't too many mucky bits. But it is *freezing* - literally, was loads of frost around. Even just 5-10m up there was quite a bit of ice. Runners and socks were wrecked, and feet dirty too (can hear the laughs of hardened xc runners as I type). Had to wash my feet before doing my stretches or the carpet would have suffered.
stretches: 2 each side for all-the-stretches
weekly total: 19.02miles
5 extra mins but less miles than last week. I'll get over it. Did a good job on the pacing this week, and though the tempo was (again) "not-a-tempo", that's the only one I'm cheating on these days.
Ok, ok, and the strengthening .. terrible. There were a couple of nights when I had excuses, but a couple of others when I just couldn't be bothered .... For example, see below for last night's (not an) excuse:
Am writing this on my iPad so excuse spellings ... had knocked a cup of coffee on my laptop last weekend when working late, and it turns out it's not worth repairing. Is there any way to stop it automatically bringing up " touch"' anyone know?0 -
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you should be able to choose 'full site' at the bottom of the screen? have to say though, on mobile certainly touch is just easier to navigate, not sure about ipad though.
good on you doing the XC route, as myles says, it builds strength in the legs hope it was enjoyable? would you do it again? 0 -
you should be able to choose 'full site' at the bottom of the screen? have to say though, on mobile certainly touch is just easier to navigate, not sure about ipad though.
Aaaaaaaaah ..... *home*
Can't find subscribe lists, or even new posts, in the touch setting right now. To be honest it's mainly the nuisance of the touch screen that's annoying.
Would probably go for the XC again, not every week though, the trainers would be a state....good on you doing the XC route, as myles says, it builds strength in the legs hope it was enjoyable? would you do it again?0 -
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Monday, 14th Dec, pm: pilates
The Achilles was making itself felt a little bit during the day. Annoying because it'd been better towards the end of last week. Unfortunately think the bits of hills yesterday were probably to blame, it might have been a bit too soon.
Tuesday, 15th Dec (morning!): 50mins easy (4.36miles @11:28 pace)
Up early and off to the Holyrood playing fields in the dark, and did a few easy miles on grass before turning for home. Few soggy patches there still, but it was great to get the run in early. Arrived back home as daylight was coming through.
calf raises: 2 sets straight-leg, 1 set bent-leg, each side (in a rush, dodging neighbours coming down the stairs on their way to work)
stretch: 2 holds each side for calf/bent-calf/adductor/hamstring
Wednesday, 16th Dec: 1200m swim:
Swim broken up as 400m breast, 400m free, 200m breast, 200m free ... and this is not C_M's log, so not a "session" of any kind. Was finding it hard to motivate myself, so it helped to switch between strokes. Tried to work on unpicking my breaststroke errors. I had been planning 1600m but let myself leave early because I had the idea of Wed/Thurs/Fri swims in my head.
Thursday, 17th Dec: 45miles with 20mins fartlek (4.7miles total), swim class incl 1000m
run: Done mostly on the grass again. The achilles and the ankle of the same (right) foot were both feeling a bit tight, but not so noticeable on grass. Started with the plan to do 25mins fartlek but was finding it tough as 20 mins approached so I left it at that. The mucky autumn leaves were being piled up to the side of the path, so hopefully that's the last of them for the year (they seemed to be leaving the nice crisp leaves where they were )
[1mile w/u @10:24, 20mins fartlek (2.16miles @9:11 avg), 1.54miles c/d @10:16 avg.]
calf raises: 2 sets straight-leg, 2 sets bent-leg, each side
stretch: 2 each-side for all-the-stretches
swim: 1000m + "stuff"
Did 400m w/u by myself as a mix of breaststroke and free. Then at the class we did 600m stamina as a mix of styles... then because it's Christmas we finished up with tumble turns, and some underwater swimming through hoops.
Went out to a birthday get-together after swimming class and left the pub at around 10pm with the view of going home to do a strengthening session. Too tired when I got home. Same on Friday morning, so I didn't bother taking the swimming gear when I left the house....
Saturday, 19th Dec: 43mins easy (4.05miles @10:37 avg pace)
Have the startings of a cold but not bad enough to skip running, so headed out in the afternoon. So warm! Got out onto the pavement and felt a bit silly wearing tights. Had already decided I'd skip the strides today to give the achilles a break, but I let myself have 3mins extra of running to compensate. All very nice and comfortable, and even included a 5min break for a chat halfway through. Bit faster than recent runs because I was on the pavement and not the grass. Felt the cold had improved after the run.
The Achilles was fine at the beginning, started niggling at 0.5miles, then calmed down after a bit .... but after the run and the stair-drops, stretches were all done, it was niggling a bit just walking round (*scowl*).
calf raises: 3 sets straight-leg, 2 sets bent-leg, on each side. The big toe of my right foot (the bad one) has been niggling occasionally over the past month, and was a bit weak on the first set of bent-leg reps, but was able to handle a second set.
stretches: 2 holds each side for everything (and 3 for the important ones)
Sunday, 20th Dec: 71mins LSR (6.63miles @10:43 avg pace)
Got up at 8:30 and the achilles was niggling so spent about an hour tidying round the house until it felt ok again. Then out for 70mins of a grass/path medley taking in one lap of Holyrood and some extra round the playing fields. A bit of rain, some serious headwinds, but mild throughout and I got to run home under a blue sky with the wind to my back. Achilles/toe/etc held up well with a bit of stiffness in the final mile. Came back to the flat and did all the stair drops and the stretches before brunch with scrambled eggs and chocolate brioche.
Again the run seemed to improve the cold symtoms but unfortunately that didn't last all day.
calf raises: 3 sets straight-leg, 2 sets bent-leg, on each side.
stretches: 2 holds each side for everything (and 3 for the important ones)
weekly total: 19.74miles
Bit of a milestone this week as it's the first run I've done over 10k since early August ...
The achilles has been feeling good walking around this afternoon. Very happy about that as I was a bit unsure whether to do this morning's run. Now I just have to knock the cold on the head.0 -
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Bungy Girl wrote: »Parts of this log beginning to sound like synchronised swimming training never mind the dark side. Tumble turns and hoops!
.career move wrote: »Very jealous of your tumble turns!!! Nice work on the lsr. Hopefully your achilles will behave and you can keep extending it
Jealous!!
(they're not too hard to have a go at alone tbh)
Achilles is pretty good today, and while I've been worrying about that I forgot to say the hamstring and back niggles are under control. Stretching is incredible! And sooooo wonderful to bend down for the hamstring stretch and be able to get my hand round my foot straight away.
What a day to be out of Lemsip though. Off to post some last-minute cards (in fact it might be the first set entirely ) and will make a stop at the supermarket. 0 -
What else would you be doing on the 23rd Dec but making a run schedule and planning an early night.... this is going to look very lame given the current state of running, but here we go.
Two goal races for the moment:
- 7 hills on 26th June
- DCM 2016 at the end of October
Massive sense of déjà-vu writing that. Third time luc... no no, scratch that, planning for a very cautious build-up, regular stretching, obsessive watching of niggles, and the occasional pint of milk.
And the strength training (twice a week doing gluts&leg work, all through the year)
Perfect synchronisation of the two goal races, with exactly 18weeks between the two dates. Which will be very nice as long as I get to run either of them :rolleyes:
January-March:
Last week was 210mins of running with an LSR of 70min (this week will be a bit less because of having to skip a run).
For the next 13-14 weeks to end of March the plan is to keep the current format of mostly easy running with one tempo or fartlek/week (plus strides or hill sprints another day) and build up to 320-330mins with an LSR of 125mins. I've been running about half my minutes on grass lately and will keep that up.
There will be one little jump to 240mins next week by adding a 30mins run in on Wednesdays .. Then after that each week increases by 10mins at most (and the LSR by 5mins max). If I've got a little bit faster by the end of March I should be up to 30miles/week by then.
racing? Hope to try the first parkrun mid-January, and do one every three weeks (so four in this window).
April-June:
Priority is to get the miles up near 40miles/week in advance of 7hills, and of course for pre-DCM base-building. I will need to get the LSR up to about 180mins, with hilly sections, to be ready for the race on 26th June.
I'll be using Clearlier's base-building for at 9 of these 12weeks. Had previously been thinking I'd do base-building in March and April and look for a HM in May to test progress, but I'm going to delay the HM to the marathon build-up instead. But I will race a 10k in early April before starting base-building (aka 7hills training).
racing: 10k early April, 7hills 26th June.
July-October:
DCM training if the first 6months have gone to plan. Will be planning to include a HM and maybe also a 10k along the way.
As readers might be aware .... I have a marathon plan ready to go, but in the unlikely event I'm feeling strong I might consider the meno plan instead.
No goal times for any of the races yet. Have never raced the two main Targets before ... And for the 5k and 10k it's matter of getting back to where I was.
One of my Xmas cards was wishing me "a great marathon debut" for 2016. Fingers crossed.0 -
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Fingers crossed with the base building & strength/stretching you'll make both target races. Happy Christmas M
Thanks and same to you for Christmas and goal races (and to any stragglers still reading boards )
Cold improved here so I will leave my quarantine zone on the downstairs sofa and sleep upstairs tonight.0 -
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Got an extra-special gift of a cold like normal people have colds ... the symptoms started tapering off from Wednesday, so I didn't spend the Christmas coughing *and* Tuesday was the only missed run.
Thurs, 24th Dec: 51mins easy (4.92miles@10:20 avg pace)
stair drops: 2sets straight-leg, 1set bent-leg, each side
This one done in the evening round familiar HX, Kimmage, Terenure loop. Did the calf raises after but skipped the stretches and jumped in the shower so I could follow the others to town for the celebrity busking. Arrived just as the poet was finishing off....
Sat, 26th Dec: 70mins LSR(6.6miles @10:38 avg pace)
stair drops: 2sets straight-leg, 2sets bent-leg, each side.
stretches: 3holds each side for all-the-stretches
Another evening run, this one powered by Quality St. Was difficult to lift myself from the sofa, amazing how just two days of eating and dossing can get the laziness to set-in. Got my stuff on ready to leave the house but had to navigate a small lecture about "wit" (not having it...) and running after having a cold .... Headed out anyway and did the 70mins on paths around another familiar loop. Very quiet out with just a few owners walking their dogs. The big toe and achilles held up well (might have found the solution to these niggles in fact ..had been surfing earlier in the day and discovered they are possibly related, and also found a brilliant web page with lots of self-massage tricks to help release the tightness. Had been very tight up the side of my leg where I was doing this so I may have discovered the cause).
Was coughing a bit when I got in and was worried I'd jinxed myself but all was fine after an hour or two. Thorough stretching to compensate for Thursday.
Sun, 27th Dec: 14-15miles walk, 50mins easy run (4.46miles @11:13avg pace)
stair drops: 2sets straight-leg, 1set bent-leg, each side. Cursory stretching (calf stretches).
The plan was to walk the first section of the Wicklow Way this morning, and set off on the 16 at 10am as planned ... except with 2 people and not 4 (the other two stayed in their beds). Sun was shining as we started the trek. Passed a lot of walkers in the early section on the way to Fairy Castle, and quite a few trail runners too. Only a few months and I'll be among them I hope. Hardly passed anyone at all after we turned off the GlenCullen Road for the final section. One nice surprise ...we had been passing a lot of "Christmas trees" on the walk but we turned a corner and one of the pines had been decked out in baubles. Bit surprised it still had its dressings after the storms lately.
When we came out of Curtlestown Woods to take the road to Enniskerry, we realised we had 45mins to do the 3miles into town to catch the next 44. So there were some extra running minutes in there not part of the official count ...
Thought I was not tired after the walk so went out to do my 50mins later in the evening. But heavy legs and slower pace. Was wrecked when I came back in.
weekly total: 16 miles0 -
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