Odysseus's Journey

Odysseus

30th Oct.

Dublin City Marathon 3.44.23.

Well now I can have a six week break from running, it sounds nice at the moment as I suffle around my house in pain, however, I know I'm going to miss it. I subscribe to the theroy that you should have two months a year off from running, in the last year the longest break I've had is two weeks, so a break is needed. I'm going with six weeks as the Sahara Marathon is on the end of Feb, so I also need to be back in shape for that.

It was nice to do the Dublin Marathon again, though this is only my second time. I was hoping to beat 3.40, but a mixture of a very slow start, there were something like 10,000 running, and psychologically I was'nt as strong. I knew I would finish, but found it hard to push muself that little further, I kept thinking of excuses, such as you were ill recently it effected your training etc. However, don't get me wrong it is still a very good time for me. As for the 2000k mark I should still be able to hit that with the last two weeks of the year. Its more a question of what I'm going to do for the next six weeks, I pity that punch bag of mine!

Odysseus

2nd Nov.

One hour of bag work, followed by heel-palm/push-up drill in 4.28.

Odysseus

Saturday 3rd Nov.

One hour of bag work, followed by heel-palm/push-up drill in 4.24.

I hope this journal doesn't become too boring over the few weeks asa it will mostly be MA and bag work. I skipped MA training this Wednesday as I was still a tad sore after Monday, so I start back next week. I forgot to add up my distances for Oct so here goes:

Total K for Oct 137.

Total K to date. 1810
137
1947K
So with starting back running in mid Dec, that leaves 53k to be don by the new year, that should be achievable.

Odysseus

Sunday 4th Nov.

One hour of bag-work, followed by heel-palm/push-up drill 4.30.

I had the heating on today whilst training, even though it was only 19 degrees I can feel the difference. I generally use between 1.25 and 1.5 liters of water when training at home, which is a lot within an home. However, I think i am going to have to start using electrolyte drinks before and after. Especially as I plan to start wearing those Hally Hansen thermal tops or something similar to get me use to training in the heat. The push-up drill was a tad slower today, however, I think I may have repeated the six shots/push-ups.

Odysseus

Friday 10th Nov.

One hour of bag work, followed by heel-palm/push-up drill in 4.21.

Missed my MA class again this week, I woke up with a cold on Monday morning and needed to take a little rest from training. Quite annoyed about this as I am very busy work-wise so I can only go once aweek at the moment. Training tonight was with the heating on, over the coming weeks I will start to increase the temp.

Odysseus

Saturday 11th Nov.

One hour of bag-work followed, by heel-palm/push-up drill in 4.03:)


It is really noticable today how a negative issue [row with girlfirend], can have a significant impact on ones training, as well as easing the psychical tenision. In psychoanalytic terms I was working through my jouissance. I noticed I was getting more hits in on during the bag-work, however, I was really surprised with my time for the push-up drill.

I have also decided that I start back running on the 10th Dec, I registered for the Port Tunnel 10k last night, so this will be my first run. I was hoping to just use it as a gentle re-introduction, however, some of my mates who never do organised runs have entered; so a bit of healthly competion is entering the picture;)

Odysseus

Monday 13th Nov.

One hour of bag work followed by heel-palm/push-up drill in 3.53, once again:)

Once again great bag session, as I haven't been training with other people for a few weeks, I have been missing it; but I think I am also pushing myself becuae of this. When doing the push-up drill I knew I was doing well, by the song I was listening to. I always finish up on the same song whether I training at home or running a race. It my way of telling myself its time to push it, your almost done. During the drill I knew I was slightly ahead and though, if I got 4.03 on Saturday, wouldn't it be great to get under four mins. So I went for it, after the last push-up I leap off the floor to gap my stopwatch, thinking every 100th of a sec was crucial. I was amazed when I saw 3.53. If I remember correctly, that is almost one minute of the time it took me to complete the drill when I started doing it again. So well pleased:)

Odysseus

Friday 17th Nov.

One of of bag-work, followed by heel-palm/push-up drill in 3.47:)



Due to a last minite work committment I missed my MA class again this week:mad: So I have made a decision that since I'm so busy work wise at the moment, that I'm not going to start back until Dec. That will give me a bit of an extra break until i start running again. On that note I went for a gait analysis yesterday, first time I ever done this. It was suggested to me to chage my type of running shoe, so I have a brand new pair of trainers waiting for me when I start back, I miss running, but the bag-work is keeping me ticking over. In relation to the push-up drill, I was faster again tonight. I have noticed that I need less recovery in between which is speeding my time up. Whereas previously on the end scale like 7,8,9,10,9,8,7, after hitting the bag I might be in the push-up position, but would need to take a breath or two before I would commence, whereas now there is little or no recovery, just straight into it.

Odysseus

Saturday 18th Nov.

One hour of bag-work, followed by heel-palm/push-up drill in 3.44.

Another three seconds off the push-up drill, whilst I'm really pleased with this, as I know I'm keeping on form with the push-ups and doing good ones; I know I can only get so fast at it. So the plan is too continue like this until the end of the month, and then add some burpees into it. I know this will really slow down the time and make it a lot more difficult.

Odysseus

Sunday 19th Nov.

One hour of bag-work followed by heel-palm/push-up drill in 3.53.

Tried out some new kit today, I got some of those Canterbury long sleeved base layers. I was wearing this and had the room temp at 20 degrees, I could feel a notable difference. It was strange in that the t-shirt wicks away the sweat so I didn't feel sweaty around my torso, however, with the heat escaping out of my head, it was dripping off me. I'll will need to keep an eye on my hydration, I had some dioralyte after to counter that, as well as having a liter of water whilst training.

I'm at the stage now where I want to go for a run, but I said I was'nt starting back until Dec 10th, and it is wise to have a good break. So I have been working on the planning for next year, I signed up for the Commemara Ultra Marathon this morning its 39.3 miles, so that works out a little over 60k. As it is in April its ideal for preperation for Lapland in June. So that's the plan for the next seven months. As my girlfriend told me this morning when I told her about the ultra, her reply was the sooner the better you start back running, it will stop you finding new races;) So that's me sorted until July now, plently of goals there, and it should help keep me out of trouble.

Odysseus

Tuesday 21st Nov.


One hour of bag-work followed by heel-palm/push-up drill in 3.50.

Trained using the base layer again, however, I bought a blow heater yesterday specifically to heat my gym room, [I must be off my nut, to use a technical term]. The temp ranged from 20 to 26 degrees, from start to finish. Drank 1.5lt of water, followed by a dioralyte after.

I got an e-mail from the organisers of the Shara Marathon yesterday stating that they were adding a 190km ultra this year, to be done over three days. I'm cracking up over this, I won't have the time to prepare for this, a pity I would have loved to have a go at that. However, there are plently of other races out there, and to be fair I have enough on my plate until half way through next year. Still though it would have been nice;)

Odysseus

Thursday 23 Nov.


One hour of bag-work followed by heel-palm/push-up drill in 3.51.

The temp ranged from 20 to 26 degrees. Drank 1.5lt of water followed by a dioralyte afterwards. I haven't noticed the temp effecting me in a physical way, in that I don't feel physically tired, however at times I have noticed that some of my usual power in missing in my strikes.

Additionally on a psychical level I have noticed my concentration is definitly effected. There are certain combinations of strikes I like to focus on in different rounds, I have found myself having to stop for a sec to work out what I was doing next. It will be interesting to observe the effects of training like this, as it is new to me, I don't know what to expect.

Odysseus

Saturday 25th Nov.

Attended a day long MA seminar, it was good to be training with others again, as it highlighted a few bad habits which were creeping in. Additionally it was nice to put a few more faces to some of the people who post here. A big thanks to Jon for organising today.

Odysseus

Sunday 26th Nov.

One hour of bag-work followed by heel-palm/push-up drill in 4.02. Temp ranged from 24 degrees at start to 28 at the end.


Man this was a new experience for me, it got notabley more difficult after the 26 degree mark, at rounds 7,8,9, I just felt drained. I am used to doing endurance drills which push you to give everything you have; but this was different. It was'nt that my body hurt or that any part of it felt tired, it felt like I had no energy. At this stage I gave myself an extra 30 secs break between rounds, bringing it up to a full two minutes rest.

The rational behind this was I noticed how hot my head was, with the base layer keeping my torso warm, all the heat from my body was escaping out my head. I was just a tad concerned that I might over heat. With the room this warm it feels like your not getting enough oxigen, I know I am, it just feels difficult to get your lungs full. For the last round I was able to dig deep and give the bag a good work over, a performance cue for me is palying Wagner Ride of the valkyries, which I alway finish on whether its a marathon or bag-work. Its interesting the psychological boost that something like this porvides. I know its time to dig deep when I hear it as I have trained myself to do so, it just automatically happens now. On the fluids front I had 1.5lt of water and a dioralyte.

justsomebloke

hey good to see all is going well, just a quick query I was just wondering if you are going to run the sahara run with a hat on , to keep the sun directly off your head and if so would you train every so often with a hat on, as the hat will prevent some heat escaping during the run making you feel even hotter it may be best to try train with one on to see if it may effect your performance. Also what does the girlfriend think of your energy bill from having heated training sessions:D

Odysseus

Tuesday 28th Nov.


One hour of bag-work followed by heel-palm/push-up drill in 3.38:) Fastest time yet. Temp ranged from 21 to 26 degrees. Usual fluids intake.

jsb wrote:

hey good to see all is going well, just a quick query I was just wondering if you are going to run the sahara run with a hat on , to keep the sun directly off your head and if so would you train every so often with a hat on, as the hat will prevent some heat escaping during the run making you feel even hotter it may be best to try train with one on to see if it may effect your performance. Also what does the girlfriend think of your energy bill from having heated training sessions:D

Cheers mate, yeah your right it's the next thing I plan to add. I just want to talk to one of the GPs in work first to check it out. My head was so hot when it was 28 degrees I was a tad worried. As the base layer would have my body tem even higher. I don't know whether it would be an idea to keep an eye on my body temp as well.

Just to give an update, I can't get the idea of the ultra out of my mind, I have spoken to my girl friend and she has no objection. I requested the info on it, its 140k to be completed within 35 hours, one stage fully self suficient, so your carrying you world on your back. I need to get some clarity on some question I have about it. However, were I am now is I'm looking at ways to make this happen, so watch this space. Finally the heating bill is all mine as I live on my own and spend half my week down with her, so no probs there:)

Odysseus

Friday 1st Dec.

One hour of bag-work, followed by hp/pu/mc drill in 9.01:eek: Man that was hard. Fluid intake as normal. Temp ranged from 21 to 26 degrees.

I have added mountain climbers to the push-up drill, so to save space its now hp/pu/mc drill;) I said I was going to change the drill at the end of Nov, so this is what I came up with. I was going to add burpees but I think the jumping would have my cd player skipping.

Now that its Dec its time to start focusing on my running, nine days and counting til I start back. I am still in contact with the organisers of the ultra, my place on the marathon is safe, but there is a qualification for the ultra that I'm trying to work around. They want you to have done a "100k, some 50milers, and some marathons". I have never done an organised 50 miler, so I'm waiting on them to get back to me, I hoping that the 100k which I trained up to 70k for [I told them 80;) ] will get me through, but its out of my hands now. Also I got the distance wrong its 160k bang on 100 miles, it would be a great achievement.

Odysseus

Saturday 2nd Dec.

One hour of bag-work, followed by hp/pu/mc drill in 8.45. Fluid in was 1.lt of water, followed by a dioralyte. Temp ranges from 26 to 28 degrees.

I'm still using the base-layer, however, at the moment if the temp is 26 degrees or over I'm taking a 2 min rest between rounds, I did'nt feel like I needed it today, however, I was talking to a GP in work and who advised my to take note of my core temp. My understanding of it is that the base-layer may bring my core temp up too much, thereby running the risk of a heat seizure. So the next item on the shopping list is a good thermometer, I'm just waiting on a pharmacist in work to order me a good one.

Odysseus

Tuesday 5th Dec.

One hour of bag-work, followed by hp/pu/mc drill in 8.23. Fluid intake was 1.5 lt of water followed by a dioralyte. Temp ranged from 23 to 26 degrees.

I am pleased with the rate that I am acclimatising to the new drill, it does go to show you the psychological barriers we break when we try something new. This is only my third time to try this drill and I have knocked 38 seconds off it. I kept to 90 sec breaks between rounds as the temp didn't go above 26 degrees. On that point I think I will have to get a second heater to try heat up the room quicker as it took 90 mins to heat the room to 23 degrees before I started. Got my race number for the port tunnel run today, so I'm looking forward to a nice gentle run on Sunday to kick start my running again:D

Odysseus

Friday 8th Dec.

One hour of bag-work, followed by hp/pu/mc drill in 7.51:D Fluid intake was 1.25lt of water followed by a dioralyte. Room temp was 18 to 24 degrees, whilst my core temp was 36.1 the same at round 6 and 37 after the drill.

Really enjoyed pounding the bag tonight, great stress buster after a ****ty week. Had to call the AA out twice to bring my bike to a garage:mad: Which meant I also missed my MA class on Wednesday, which was due to be my first night back. However, now that the rant is over:) As can be seen I was keeping an eye on my core temp, first time for me to try this. The room temp was lowish as it was cold when I got back after work, and it took over an hour to get the room up to 18 degrees.

I went with checking my temp at round 6 as it was nearer the halfway mark as I do the push-up drill at the end. However, since the first and second check were the same, I think I will now check it at the beginning, round 5 and the end of the bag-work, as well as after the drill. I interested to see if the exertion involved in the drill was responsible for the difference in my temp atr the end. Finally I am well pleased with my timing for the drill:)

Odysseus

Saturday 9th Dec.

One hour of bag-work, followed by hp/pu/mc drill in 8.02. Fluids 1.5 lt of water, followed by a dioralyte. Room temp ranged from 24.6 to 28 degrees. My own core temp was 36.2, 36.4, 36.4, thats at the start, round 5 and round 10. Following the drill it shot up to 37.7.

A tad slower on the drill today, however, there a 4 degree difference, I'm sure that make a diference it the level of difficulty, though I could be wrong.

Odysseus

Sunday 10th Dec.

Ran 10k in 43.20.

It was great to start running again I had'nt ran since the Dublin marathon. Also I was pleased with the time because it was the first run back, but also the crowds, it was the port tunnel 10k, so all in all a good day out.

Edit

Forgot to add the important bit.

I was running with two mates that usually don't do organised runs and I came in before both of them:) However, afterwards we went to my mates gym on some free passes, spent 90mins in the sauna and hot-pool. I really enjoyed this social side to training, as alot of my training is done by myself, something that I miss. The only social aspect is my MA class and with silly season starting it looks like it will be Jan before I start back there.

Odysseus

Thursday 14th Dec.

Ran 10k 47.10. One hour of bag-work, followed by hp/pu/mc drill in 8.22. Room temp varied from 23.4 to 28.6, my core temp was 36.2, 36.8, 36.8, and 37.3 following the drill. Fluids were 2lts of water.

Enjoyed the run in a strange way, it was cold, dark and raining. When at home I run mostly on country roads so I had the added bonus of feckers either blinding me with full beams, or running me into a ditch. I found myself asking the question exactly what did I miss about this However, I was trying out a new bit of kit, I got myself a 3.lt Camelbak, I have to say I found this great and think I'll be using it a lot over the coming months.

Still finding the bag-work hard once the temp goes over 26 degrees. the push-up drill was very difficult at that temp, its a hard drill, but I think I'm getting used to it, however, I don't think I'll be adding anything else to it for a good while.

Odysseus

Friday 15th Dec.

Ran 12k 58.46.

Horrible day, horrible weather, nice run:) Enjoyed running today, it was cold and damp, but what are you going to do.

Odysseus

Sunday 24th Dec.

Ran 12k 56.14.

I have been avoiding training this week a mixture of feeling lazy and getting the house ready for Christmas. I was suprised by the timing for my run today, faster than last Friday but it felt more difficult whilst I was running, and psychologically my mind was'nt focused, however, something must of worked.

Odysseus

Thursday 28 Dec.

Ran 20k 1.42.08 Followed by one hour of bag-work. Fluids were 3lt of water, followed by a dioralyte. Room temp was 28-30.7 degrees, my core temp was 36.3 at round 1, 36.9 at round 5, and 37.3 at round ten.

The run was great, it was my longest since the Dublin Marathon, so really enjoyed it. It was great to get training as with the run up to, and xmas itself I've been slacking a bit.

The bag-work was hard, it was difficult starting off at 28 degrees today was the hottest I've trained in. I left the push-up drill out at the end, this was best on my core temp, and the drill always pushes it up be a degree. On top of this, I knew I was dehydrating. With the last five rounds my concentration was terrible by the end of the round. With two mins rest and some water I would feel better at the start of the next round, but by the end of it I would be in a sh#t state again. I hate having to leave something out, and a part of me wanted to push myself to do it, however, I was also getting a slight head-ache at the end of each round. It took me about 2hrs to get my fluids sorted afterwards.

Well this is my last post of the month, so even though I only started back running a little over two weeks ago, it time to count up the Kms.

Total Km for Dec 64km

Total Km to date. 1947Km.

Total to date 2011Km.

So that is that I got pass the 2000k mark this year, now I am pleased with that:)

Odysseus

Saturday 6th Jan.

One hour of bag-work followed by hp/pu/mc drill in 8.21. Room temp was 25.7 to 29.3. My own temp was 35.7, 36.4, 36.4, and 37.5 following the push-up drill.

I have been a tad lazy with training the last two weeks, but today was my start back day, so its back to normal again.

Odysseus

Sunday 7th Jan.

One hour of bag-work followed by hp/pu/mc drill in 8.29. Fluids were 2lts of water. Room temp was 25.7-29.2 and my own core temp was 35.8, 36.3, and 36.9. I was unhappy with the last temp reading as I know the drill pushes up my own temp by at least a degree, so I went downstairs for about five mins, when I finished the drill my temp was 37.5, that's the limit I have been advised not to exceed, so I'm doing my best to keep to it.

Odysseus

Monday 8th Jan.

Ran 12.5k 1.02.08.

Was a tad dissapointed with the time was doing this in under one hour a while ago, but there was a severe breeze today, and I have being a bit lazy recently, so that's the price you pay.

justsomebloke

ye the weather at the moment isn't the most ideal for fast running. any way just wondering if you have heard back from the organisers of the Sahara run whether they will let you compete in the ultra