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From Couch 25k To Where Ever

The Muppet

I've been toying with the idea of starting a log here for quite some time now and today's the day. I hope it will help keep me motivated and help gauge progression. if anyone else starting to run can take anything from it that would be great too. We all run for different reasons some for competition some for fun and others for the health benefits.

About me. I'm 51 year old type 2 diabetic. About 2.5 years ago I was obese , had a zero level of fitness and without going into too many details my illness was out of control. I had two Grandchildren then and my desire to see them grow up inspired me to make changes.

In February 2013 I started the Couch 25k (c25k) program. I used to go out early in the morning so that no body would see me struggle to run. I used to look ahead to the schedule for the next week and just laugh and think there's no way I will be able to do that but I did successfully completed the program in april 2013 without missing a run . Eureka I could run slowly, 2.5 k in 30 minutes non stop .

From April to September 2013 I ran a few miles a couple of times a week but I really missed the structure of the plan, In October 2013 I stopped running, I didn't make a conscious decision to stop I just started putting it of until the next day , that became a week and then the next month. I was out for 4 months.

In Febuary 2014 I started to notice that the benefits I had gained from running were starting to reverse , I really didn't want to go back there so I started up again. I found I could only run for 10 minutes at a time so I started on week 4 of the program and completed it again.

When I finished the program I knew I needed a plan to continued to run so I set a target to run 10k by my 50th Birthday I ran 3 or 4 times a week and ran the 10k with a couple of weeks to spare.

I then started the Hal Higdon intermediate half marathon plan and successfully completed that distance in November 2015 in a time of 2 hours 22 mins.

I lost focus again then and ran very little until April 2015. I started back then I have been running every week since. I am running 5 days a week an average of 26 miles a week . One long Run (8 to 14 miles), One Hill sprint session, and a 4 or 5 mile run three times a week.

Up to this week all my runs were solo efforts, I did the paced mile the other night and I really enjoyed the event. So now I feel I am ready to go to the next level which will involve more events, park runs, 10,ks , Half Marathon and hopefully the full Marathon in 2016 , that's the plan and I know I need a plan so I will see how that goes. I will be using this log to track my progress.

Clearlier posted a plan here following the 2014 Dublin City Marathon , I intent to follow that plan over the next few months to see where that takes me and then next year all being well I will follow the Boards Marathon Training plan.

My PBs to date

1 mile 7:22 Chip Timing Aug 2015
5k 29.14
10 k 1:04:20
13.1 Miles 2:22:00

With the exception of the mile all these times are from solo training runs and timed on my Garmin watch.

My Weigh Loss to date is 4.5 stone

My Diabetes is under control

Apologies for the long winded introduction but its been a bit of a roller coaster to date. Constructive criticism and advice will always be taken on board and appreciated.

Oh Re The Username: It seemed as good as any when I signed up to boards many moons ago for the crack on the soccer forum (*), I'm stuck with it now and as the saying goes I am not my username .

*(I don't even watch soccer these days I'd much rather go for a run.)

Thanks for reading

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Murph_D

Nice work! Excellent PB and sounds like you'll be doing it again soon.

FIFA2004

Brilliant! Congratulations on the pb, so well deserved!

Kennyg71

Well done nice big chunk off PB, great running.

Ososlo

Ya legend!!! Super stuff!! Woo hoo!

Singer

Very nice, well done! I think the trick to 5ks is to go out nearly-but-not-quite suicidally fast and then hold on for the rest of the race, so your paces sound about right to me

The Muppet

Thanks everyone

Ososlo wrote: »

Ya legend!!! Super stuff!! Woo hoo!

Go Easy now But thanks :)8

Singer wrote: »

Very nice, well done! I think the trick to 5ks is to go out nearly-but-not-quite suicidally fast and then hold on for the rest of the race, so your paces sound about right to me

Thanks singer. I think I might have been able to stick around the 7 50 pace for mile 2 if I had had the confidence to go for it, or a pacer to follow .

Mile 1 and 3 were 7:48 and 7:54 pace mile 2 was 8:31 pace so my thinking is I might be able to shave some time off mile 2 .

The Muppet

Thanks everyone

Ososlo wrote: »

Ya legend!!! Super stuff!! Woo hoo!

Go Easy now But thanks

Singer wrote: »

Very nice, well done! I think the trick to 5ks is to go out nearly-but-not-quite suicidally fast and then hold on for the rest of the race, so your paces sound about right to me

Bungy Girl

Well done TM, congrats on the sub-25 ! I always think the middle mile is the hardest in a 5K, that's where I usually feel the dip in pace. Great work going on here, keep it up

Firedance

Delighted for you! Sub 25 is so sweet & the rest of your times will start falling now too

congratulations!!

The Muppet

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Well done TM, congrats on the sub-25 ! I always think the middle mile is the hardest in a 5K, that's where I usually feel the dip in pace. Great work going on here, keep it up

Thanks BG . Definitely keeping at it though I may have to juggle things around for a while .

Sub 24 is my goal now. We are very lucky with the experience and advice freely given here by so many more experienced runners

I have been on myles splitz 2015 graduate DCM plan for the last 10 weeks and it has improved me no end. I just would not know how to train properly without this Forum.

tang1

Bravo TM, great time and great racing, very well done to you.

tang1

The Muppet wrote: »

Sub 24 is my goal now.

Bob Heffernan 5k 17.5.16. A race where runners are nearly guaranteed to PB, might not suit being on a Tuesday evening but a seriously competitive race where your almost dragged to a PB by other racers. Give it some thought if you can.

The Muppet

Thanks i certainly will consider it . Competitive Racing is not something I've given any though to up to now.

tang1

The Muppet wrote: »

Thanks i certainly will consider it . Competitive Racing is not something I've given any though to up to now.

Think about it now after today's performance.

tailgunner

Brilliant stuff, well done!

The Muppet

106 minutes @ 131 bpm for my lsr this morning

9.51 miles @ 11:02 pace

Went out to clontarf for this, my favourite route along the coast . Slight miscalculation on the route as a 90 minute run was scheduled . Took it really handy after yesterday's exploits. Lovely morning if a little cool in the shade .

Week 10 of the plan completed though I missed two midweek runs . Week 11 starts tuesday

jake1970

Congrats on the PB!

Maximus Alexander

Only catching up on this now. Great work TM, well deserved PB!

The Muppet

Nice and easy 58:31 @ 128 bpm this evening

5.26 miles @11:08 pace.

The Muppet

60 minutes steady was the plan this evening. I went to my local park for this which is flat and there's a path that is around .75 mile long , My plan was to run up and back 4 times which I figured would get me to my 60 minutes. I calculate that my steady now should be between 9:20 and 9:45.

I'm very happy with the session , The splits are nicely consistent and I felt quite comfortable throughout and my breathing was nice and steady.

Myrtl and a good foam rolling after the session.

6.55 miles in 60:20 @ 9:13 pace AVG Heart Rate 148

Mile splits

1 @ 9:22
2 @ 9:21
3 @ 9:10
4 @ 9:10
5 @ 9:10
6 @ 9:08
.55 @9:03

The Muppet

50 minutes easy today . A little heady today and feeling quite tired so I took this very easy .

50:44 @ 130 BPM

4.33 miles @11:35 pace.

slower than usual today. I struggled to keep the hearth rate under 132 at times when running uphill and into the wind.

Hope the heady felling is not the onset of something nasty. Rest day tomorrow so hopefully I will be good to go Saturday.

The Muppet

Another session today consisting of 10 minute warm up followed by 7, 6 and 5 minutes at 10 k pace (8:05 minute miles) with 3 minute recovery and 3 , 2 and 1 minutes @ 5k pace (7:48 minute miles) with 2 minute recovery and 10 minute cool down.

I found this tough enough especially the 10k paced runs, I did my best to stick to the proper paces as I know the purpose of these are to get used to running at race pace and I plan to do a 10k race as soon as I find one that suits.

Just looking at my splits to post and I noticed I ran for 7 minutes for my 6 minute repeat, I'll put it down to a senior moment but perhaps I was just so focused on keeping pace I didn't notice running over the time.

10 k pace splits
7 minutes @ 8:02 [.87 miles]
7 minutes @ 8:06 [.87 miles]
5 minutes @ 8:05 [.62 Miles]

5 k pace splits
3 minutes @ 7.46 [.39 miles ]
2 minutes @ 7:21 [ .27 miles]
1 minute @ 7:09

That's April done, 110.7 miles in total . I missed 2 scheduled runs for the month and had a 5k pb so all in all its been good on the running front.

Month|2016|2015|2014|2013
jan|94.78|46.2|8.31|0
feb|61.68|13.9|30.35|0
March|111|4.64|47.37|7
April|110.7|21.08|42.23|25.01
May|-|65.69|36.37|33.78
June|-|97.03|52.69|33
July|-|108.73|25.33|49.74
August|-|110.42|57.9|29.42
September|-|94.12|58.37|13.87
October|-|125.17|95.32|3.01
November|-|100.78|88.95|0
December|-|63.16|23.83|0
Totals|378.16|851.69|567.02|194.83

tang1

Nice session, solid months running to, well done.

The Muppet

Nice and easy 100 minutes @ 128 BPM this morning on tired legs followed with Myrtl and a good foam rolling .

Week 11 of the plan completed. I found the 2 session challenging enough so I'm happy to have completed the week .

Rezy day tomorrow Week 12 starts tuesday

The Muppet

50 minutes easy tonight @ 132 bpm

Enjoyable run felt very easy . 4.4 miles in the 50 minutes.

In other news I will be one of the novices running the 2016 Dublin city marathon once I stay fit. Sure why not.

Firedance

The Muppet wrote: »

50 minutes easy tonight @ 132 bpm

Enjoyable run felt very easy . 4.4 miles in the 50 minutes.

In other news I will be one of the novices running the 2016 Dublin city marathon once I stay fit. Sure why not.

why not indeed! best of luck with it

The Muppet

Thanks FD

tailgunner

Great to see you're entering DCM, best of luck with the training!

The Muppet

tailgunner wrote: »

Great to see you're entering DCM, best of luck with the training!

Thanks, I'll give it my best and see where that gets me. Really looking forward to it now. As Elvis said it's now or never.

chickey2

The Muppet wrote: »

In other news I will be one of the novices running the 2016 Dublin city marathon once I stay fit. Sure why not.

Best of luck with it, you're in good hands!