Keep Improving

Thursday 27/01/11

Cross Trainer = 7.92K = 40 Minutes (Level 15).

Done some stretches after this. Feeling a little stronger as i get used to this piece of equipment.

Thursday 01/02/11

Cross Trainer = 8.34K = 40 Minutes (Level 15).

Done a few weights after this.

Physio had asked me to start running again this week. Decided against it last night as i can still feel a sensation in the left leg where the injury is. Was afraid to try it last night, so stuck to the cross trainer. Decided to give it couple more days and plan is to run either Thursday or Friday (4 miles). Will be seeing physio on Saturday morning to give him feedback on how the run goes. Hope to do another run on Saturday morning after physio session.

Tuesday 08/02/11

Treadmill = 8K = 48.05

Easy run on treadmill. Could feel slight pressure on left shin area.
No real discomfort/pain with it. However, will need to monitor over next 24 hours.

Saturday 12/02/11

5.20 Miles = 44.39 - (Pace = 8.35)

Again, first time in a month to do this loop. Found it a little tough at times and again it is very hilly in parts. Find that i'm constantly thinking about the leg whilst i'm running at the moment, trying to see if it's any better.
Can still feel pressure on the shin area when i'm running but no pain.
Applied ice to the leg for half an hour after the run and continuing with the strenghening exercises. Feeling a lot more positive about the leg at the moment.

Thursday 17/02/11

Treadmill = 8K = 48.00

Felt good running this yesterday evening. Leg sore for first 1k, then never noticed it. Outdoor run on Sunday.

Tuesday 22/02/11

5.20 Miles = 44.54 - (Pace = 8.38)

Same route as Sunday, found it very tough today. Since i started back from few weeks off from injury, finding the road run's tougher. Calves seem heavy, hamstrings a little tight. Not noticing these problems when running on the treadmill.
Could be that the legs haven't been used to running on the roads for about two months and are getting used to it again (hope so). Found today very tough, even though my times are roughly what they were before injury.
Also only home from work at 3.30am this morning and up at 11.00 straight out to run. Maybe the body wasn't up to it as i would be a bit groggy after the evening shift.
Ah well, i'll see how Thursday's run goes.

Tuesday 01/03/11

Treadmill = 8K = 48.05

In Brussels at brother's stag last weekend, so no long run done.
Also three days of beer, fags and Mcdonalds food.

Back in gym, after abusing meself for the weekend, found this workout ok.
Need to start kicking on now over next 8 weeks and build up the long run's.

Sunday 06/03/11

6.88 Miles = 1.02.51 - (Pace = 9.08)

Very nice run yesterday morning in decent weather. Fairly hilly route so plan was not to run hard but to try and complete distance feeling comfortable. Managed to acheive this and happy enough.
Left leg was a little sore afterwards. Not sure if it's the same area that was injured before. Need to keep a watch on this.

Went to physio saturday, gave me some Omega Oils, (two month supply). Will take them and see how it goes. He said it was ok to up the mileage now and go back to speed work.
Little concerned though after yesterday's run, seeing as leg was sore last night. Tomorrow's 5.2 mile run will tell a lot.

Thursday 10/03/11

Treadmill = 8K = 48.06

Chickened out when i saw the tornado outside my house this morning and went to the gym instead. Easy 8k, left leg bit sore. Not sure what the story is with this at the moment. Last three run's ive done, it has been a little sore afterwards. Think injury may be back.
Probably make a visit to the physio next week. Also looking at possibly running next couple of runs on grass (around the local GAA field). Won't know what distance i'm doing, but may just run for a set period of time.
Will decide on Sunday as i'm due a 7 mile run.

Busy few days. All in all happy enough with progress.

Tuesday 15/03/11

Treadmill = 8K = 48.06

No real problems with the leg, found this quiet easy.


Thursday 17/03/11 - Portlaoise 5K Run. --- 21.25 PB

Decided to do this race as this was my first ever race last year. My PB for 5k was 21.27 which was acheived in the Jingle Bells 5K in December. Didn't hold out much hope of getting near this as i hadn't ran in January due to injury, only back 6 weeks and also hadn't done any tempo/interval type training since last November. Aim was to beat 22mins and build on that later in the year as my target is sub 21 before year end.

The course was 3.5 laps of Portlaoise town. Started nearer the front than normal. i normally start towards the back as i like to be passing folks rather than being passed. However due to narrow streets and tight turns i was concerned that if i started too far back i would have trouble passing people. I needn't have worried as this was definitely not a problem for me as i passed hardly anyone but fortunately only about dozen people passed me during the race so i probably started in the right place.

Started slightly too fast following those speed merchants ahead of me. I settled quiet quickly and hit 1k mark approx 4.20 which i was happy with. Slight hill at start of the second k. Found this hill ok but was finding this race tough even at this stage. Second K was again approx 4.25. I say approx as there were no markers on the course which i was disapointed with to say the least. There was a map in the pre registration room with some info and i was going by this, but don't know how accurate it was. By the third Kilometer i was gasping for air. Few people passed me here and i thought i was slowing up. However, was surprised to see that i ran the third K in approx 4.05 (12.50) after 3K's.
I died a bit of a death here. As with all my other 5K races, for some reason the 4K is always my slowest by a long way. I trudged around this kilometer trying not to lose too many places and save something for the last kilometer. Completed 4th Kilometer in approx 5mins. Last Kilometer i kicked on as best i could. I must have had a bit of energy due to slow 4th K. Kept pace with those around me, however never passed anyone out. Completed last Kilometer in approx 3.40 which was my fastest of the race and i'd say i just dug in and hung on for the last 200 meters. Looked at my watch at the finished line and was pleasantly surprised that i ran 21.25, a new PB by two seconds. Found this much tougher going than Jingle Bells possibly due to the fact, that i have done any speed work since last november and about 5 weeks injury didn't help.
However, couldn't have hoped for better and hope to do some speed work and maybe try to beat sub 21 towards the end of the year at jingle bells. Have other fish to fry first.

Saturday 19/03/11

Carrauntwohill

One of my goals for last year that i failed to complete. So as i had a few days off work, myself and wife drove down to Killarney for couple of nights. On Saturday, we headed to Cronin's yard and parked up. Wasn't really sure of the directions, but knew how to access the mountain through the Devil's Ladder route. Headed through the Hag's Glen, passed Hag's tooth, up the tough, dangerous in parts Devil's ladder in wet and slippery conditions. At the top, visibility was poor, climbed on for another while to the top of Carrauntwohill mountain. Had small lunch at the top and headed back down the same route. All in all, took about 5.30 Hours from start to finish. Very wet, windy and have slight cold now.
But delighted to complete this as this was a target of mine for this year. Have reached summitt of four highest mountain ranges in ireland now. Can chalk this one off and concentrate on other running targets now.

All in all a good week.

Thursday 24/03/11

5.20 Miles = 45.16 - (Pace = 8.42)

Again, found this really tough again today. Absolutely beautiful day out, but found it hard to enjoy as legs were just not finding it easy during this run. Don't know why that is. Had the same problem on Tuesday.

Again got to bed at 3.30am last night after work and ran straight after getting up out of bed this morning. Maybe this has something to do with why i'm finding it so tough.

Also, this route is very tough with .56 mile hill near the end which is ooh so tough (never seen hill in connemara marathon, but it would want to be very severe to beat this).

Maybe i should consider an easier route, but hate given in. Anyway LSR on Saturday will be just under 9 miles. Hoping it will go better than last two runs this week.

pgmcpq wrote: »

Congrats on the PB. You're chipping away nicely at that 5k time.

Thanks pgmcpq - Hoping to go under 21 minutes before year end. Due to injury haven't been concentrating on any tempos/interval's, just trying to gain some mileage. Would love to do Dublin Marathon in October. Waiting to see if leg holds up.
Plan is to run Half Marathon in May/June (Maybe Wexford) and if happy with progress, then will jump onto a marathon plan.

Tuesday 29/03/11

Treadmill = 8K = 48.08

Legs little bit tired for first 2k and last 2k, think, their probably still feeling the effects of longer run on Saturday.

Started reading 'Born to Run' a week ago now. Bout half way through. Enjoyable read.

Saturday 02/04/11

9.81 Miles = 1.28.01 - (Pace = 8.58)

Found this very tough on the legs. Shin's felt weak/tired on both legs. This is similiar to what i have found last year also when i have been running more regularly on the road's. Shin area on both legs seems to be weak/tired and find it hard to enjoy the run. Will stay off the road until this saturday and give this route another go.

Saturday 09/04/11

9.81 Miles = 1.26.53 - (Pace = 8.51)

Felt rubbish after bout 3/4 miles. Running this long run way too fast. Completed first mile in 8.11 which is way too fast for me. After bout 5.5 miles started to feel it and trudged home through the last few miles. Legs were pretty sore afterwards. At this stage, i should be able to do this run in my sleep and have cruised this particular loop before. Have to learn to slow down and try and be comfortable doing the LSR.......

Sat evening - took dog for a 3 mile walk to loosen up the legs.


Sunday 10/04/11

Beautiful morning. Up nice and early for a 8 mile hilly walk. Legs bit tight/sore at the start from the day before but soon loosened up.

Thursday 14/04/11

Treadmill = 8K = 48.06

Also done some strenghening exercises.

Tuesday 19/04/11

Treadmill = 8K = 47.37 (Tempo of sorts)

Again, lovely day for running in the gym :rolleyes:. Anyway done a tempo of sorts. 2K at 9kph, then 4K at 11.5kph, then back to 2K at 9kph. Found it easier than i thought. Fastest i've used the treadmill since last November. Think there's more there. Hopefully will help me some way towards getting a decent time in Rosslare.

Done some strengthening exercises after.

Cahir 10k - 48.11

Done this run on Saturday afternoon. They had a 5k and 10k set up. Route being one or two laps of the town, through castle park depending on which run you were doing. I decided on the 10k whilst my wife ran the 5k. The only 10k i ran was last july. My PB so was 47.58. I hoped to beat this today. By end of year my goal is sub 45. In no shape to get near there, but thought i could run 46.XX which would have kept me happy.

Run started off and first KM was through the town with a few twists and turns, sharp corners so slowish through this part of town. Route went out to the cahir partland through forest area. Absolutely beautiful route, best i've ever ran and quiet peaceful. Missed the first KM marker, but felt ok. Second KM went ok as well and hit it at 9.10 (4.35 pace). i was targetting 4.35 - 4.40 pace to achieve 46.XX.

This is where i noticed things not going my way. Third KM was tougher and slight uphills on the route through the forest. Hit 3k in 4.59 approx and not feeling great. At this point a 5k runner came up beside me and i stayed with him for the next 1.5km. The fourth KM was 5.00 and i knew now i was in trouble. This KM was fairly hilly and there was no way this course seemed like a fast course. The Fifth KM was 4.40 - i caught up with a couple of 10k runners and stayed with them for a while. At 5k i was at 23.49 which was about 30 seconds slower than at the 10k i ran last year and about a minute slower than where i planned to be. What's worse is that i was struggling.

The next km was a bit surreal - back on the second lap running ok with two other 10k runners i was after catching. We were running fairly ok but according to the watch we had ran the 6th KM in 6.20 which was definitely not the case. Don't have a garmin, but i would definitely think this was a mistake here. The 7th km spent most of the time battling it out with the other two guys trying to keep up.

8th and 9th km was fairly hilly and i was really struggling. The two boys were pulling away one of them was gone a good bit ahead. All negative thoughts running through my head. ' im not getting any faster'. 'why bother do a half marathon if i'm dying in a 10km' 'Going to be gutted after this race'. Anyway even though i wanted to walk, i wouldn't give in and kept running no matter what the pace. i managed to catch up with one of the guys in front who seemed to dying more than i. We chatted over the final 2km. Basically he was a local guy whom was training for his fourth marathon. His PB was 44.XX and he was also nowhere near it. He said that the course was too tough for PB and not too worry which cheered me up no end.

At the 9km mark we were at 44.30 approx and at this stage i was going to be lucky to beat 50minutes. The two of us decided not to race the last km and just go at our normal pace and finish together. Anyway i crossed the line and was surprised to look at my watch and see 48.11 (only 13 seconds outside my pb). Last KM clocked at about 3.40 which must have been short as we cruised in. I easily could have knocked off this 13 seconds if i had of raced the other boyo.

After the race was a bit gutted as this is the first race since i started running 18months ago that i never got a PB (seventh race in total). Trying to figure out what could have went wrong. Couple of things:

- Think the course was a hard enough course with some signicant uphill sections particularly around KM 3,4,8,9. From talking to couple of local lads this seem to be the case.

- Very warm day out and race was on Saturday at 3pm - i really felt the heat particularly on the second lap. There was one water station which i did not see and therefore i ran the whole 10k without water in what was a very warm day.

- In the six days before this run i had done a 11mile LSR, 5 Mile tempo and 5 mile run less than 48 hours before race and maybe this had some effect on the legs. Definitely they felt dead after a first few km. Anyway trying not to beat myself up about it, start doing some speed work if i want to improve times. Not been doing any of these and it's probably the main reason, i 'm not getting any faster times.

Tuesday 26/04/11

Treadmill = 8K = 46.44 (Tempo of sorts)

(2km at 9kph, 4km at 12kph, 2km at 9kph).

Found running at 12kph very hard. Done some strenghening exercises and some sit up's.

Thursday 12/05/11

Treadmill = 8K = 48.05

Back after two weeks without running. Due to sore shin picked up on dancefloor during brother's wedding, i was unable to run on this. Decided to wait until yesterday (exactly two weeks) before trying it out.
Past two weeks i've been doing:

Strenthening exercises for shin's (20 minutes per day).
Sit ups (25 per day)
Weight - upper body (3 times per week x 15 minutes).

Not a whole lot really. Anyway this run yesterday went surprisingly well. Couple of twinges in the left shin, nothing much.

Plan tomorrow 5.2 mile outdoor run with the wife.

Tuesday 17/05/11

Treadmill = 8K = 48.05

Just tipped along at 10kph. Not going to try Tempo's/Interval's for the minute until i have more confidence in the leg. Found this very comfortable, moreso than usual. Think it was because i ran my Saturday run much slower than normal (about 2 minutes per mile slower). Legs felt strong.

Sunday 22/05/11

8.87 Miles = 1.22.19- (Pace = 9.17)

Longest run in about a month. Found it fairly easy, but again ran it too fast. I just can't seem to slow down. Want to be running these approx 9.45 pace. Also today, left shin is a little sore. Going to watch this closely over next couple of weeks. If this continues, i'm going to physio to see what if anything can be done.

Thursday 02/06/11

Treadmill = 12K = 1.12.02

Lots of stretching all week before and after exercising. Done a couple of extra Kilometers last thursday as i was going away on a stag to Liverpool for the weekend (weekend of lots of alcohol and some smokes:mad:).
Back running today on Treadmill to see how it goes. However, disappointed with the run above as my left shin started to feel sore Thursday night even though i had followed physio's advice regard stretching. Bit disillustioned at the moment with injuries with my leg. I'll see how this week goes, if not it's back to physio again.

Thursday 09/06/11

Treadmill = 8K = 48.06

Again, just tipped away at this. Left leg sore throughout, not bad though. Done lots of stretching afterwards. Pain disappeared for the rest of the evening as it normally does. Then a bit sore this morning. No worse than it was the last few days. Am going to run outdoors tomorrow morning (approx 7.50 miles) and see how i get on.
Will make a decision on when to see physio based on outcome of this.

Tuesday 14/06/11

Treadmill = 8K = 48.05

Easy run on the treadmill. Lots of stretching before and after. Little niggle on the leg. No problem with it now after the run. Normally should expect pain to kick in sometime tonight.