Diary of a middle-age runner

gerard65

Tues 21st July
3.27mls in 27min

Sun 26th July
34mins easy.
Due to a flare up of my Morton's Neuroma I was out for a few days. Think its OK now. Got till next Fri to decide if I'll do the DCM. I'm leaning towards this as having joined the ranks of the unemployed I'll have loads of time to train. I can get to know whats it like to be a full time athlete:P

Krusty_Clown

gerard65 wrote: »

34mins easy.
Due to a flare up of my Morton's Neuroma I was out for a few days. Think its OK now. Got till next Fri to decide if I'll do the DCM. I'm leaning towards this as having joined the ranks of the unemployed I'll have loads of time to train. I can get to know whats it like to be a full time athlete:P

Hope the flare-up is just a blip. Day-time training rocks!! You have the parks to yourself (bar the odd granny) and most of the runners you'll meet are also part of the great unwashed unemployed running fraternity. I'm back to evening training soon (after 8 months of day time training). I'm really going to miss it.

gerard65

Mon 27th July.(am)
7mls in 60mins. Out before 9am. Never ran this early before so did'nt know what to expect, but it went fine. Your right Krusty, had the local park almost to myself, who needs employment getting in the way of training;)

gerard65

Tues 28th July.
8mls in 71mins.
Kept this at 9min/mile. Just about building time-on-feet.

gerard65

Wed 29th July

30mins very easy. Recovery run.

Thursday 30th July.

10.3mls in 90mins. Wanted to keep the pace between 8:45 and 9min/mils. Good to pass another milestone. Will rest tomorrow and put a LSR in on Sat morning.
Took the plunge last night and entered the DCM. Put myself in the sub 3:30 bracket. Commited now for the next 12 weeks:eek:

TheRoadRunner

gerard65 wrote: »

Took the plunge last night and entered the DCM. Put myself in the sub 3:30 bracket. Commited now for the next 12 weeks:eek:

Best of luck. How is the calf these days ?

gerard65

Sat 1st Aug.
12.9mls in 1hr 53mins.
Very enjoyable run this morning. Joined Woddle, Ultraman, Figs and Kevinkilbane at 7:30. Stuck with the pace for 90mins before tiring very quickly. Left the lads to it and made my way slowly home. Was delighted to stick with it for the 90mins as my fitness levels is not up the mark yet. Enjoyed running with company this morning, think I could get hooked on these early morning LSR's.:D
Thanks Roadrunner. Calf seems fine now.

gerard65

Sun 2nd Aug.
3mls in 26mins. Legs a little tired after yesterday as expected. My biggest week this year with 44mls. If I average 4mls per day between now and the end of the year I'll complete the 1000mls challenge:)
Tomorrow is the start of my 12wk DCM training program. It contains a bit of interval training, a bit of tempo and a few LSD's so I hope to be in good shape for the XC.

figs

Good to see you've no ill effects on the calf from Saturdays run, and a good weekly mileage considering you're only just back. A good 12 weeks and with a bit of luck to stay injury free you should be great for the DCM.

gerard65

Mon 3rd Aug.
Imile wp. 5x800m with 3min rec. 1mile cd.
Out before 9 this morning, over to bushy. This was my first interval session of the year and by God it felt it. First 800 in 3:14, went swiftly downhill from there. Finished on a 3:31. But its only day 1 of week 1 so things can only get better. From past experience I found once intervals and faster running is added to the mix improvement tends to be fairly rapid.(I hope).

gerard65

Tues 4th Aug
5mls easy/recovery run. Kept the pace slow at 9min/mile.

Wed 5th Aug.
5mls tempo. 1 mile easy, then 2.5 at just under 7min/mile. This was tougher than expected.

Krusty_Clown

That is some comeback. Are you not worried about doing too much too quick?
Sub 7min/mile is very quick for someone who's been off for quite a stretch.

gerard65

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

That is some comeback. Are you not worried about doing too much too quick?
Sub 7min/mile is very quick for someone who's been off for quite a stretch.

I was asking myself the same question over the last .5 mile this morning. I maybe pushing it a bit too quick. I'm backing off for the rest of the week with rest and easy running.

gerard65

Fri 7th Aug.
Rest
Sat 8th Aug.
15.3mls in 2hrs 10mins. Avg 8:32.
Boring. Beginning to think I made a mistake in entering the DCM. I find the LSR's very boring, after 90mins I'm ready to quit, not so much physicial fatigue but mental. I'm just not a long distance runner.:(

asimonov

gerard65 wrote: »

Fri 7th July.
Rest
Sat 8th July.
15.3mls in 2hrs 10mins. Avg 8:32.
Boring. Beginning to think I made a mistake in entering the DCM. I find the LSR's very boring, after 90mins I'm ready to quit, not so much physical fatigue but mental. I'm just not a long distance runner.:(

hi gerard, been following your log since before you're injury. you're doing great over the last month or so, well done.

I vary my routes often to break the boredom - or pick somewhere to run to or to explore, even driving somewhere scenic to run - just to get a sense of doing something and not just ticking off time and miles - life (& a weekend specifically) is too short for that.

shels4ever

I used to do the same split my run into two sections, usually got my road section out of the way first, then got into a more enjoyable park section somewhere. It's also mental training been out there for 2+ hours and something that does get easier in the end you might actually enjoy the long runs

gerard65

Sun 9th Aug
4mls in 34:40.
Nice and easy recovery run. Expected a hangover from yesterdays run but this felt easy, a good sign in itself.
Nearly 40 miles this week which I regard as my first real week in a long time. Interval session in the morning and two races next week.

gerard65

Mon 10th Aug.
20x200m with 30sec recovery.
5x100m hill sprints.
Only 'real' session this week due to two races. Find it hard to get the legs up to pace in the mornings but I take the effort above the watch time.
Don't know what time I should aim for in the 3000m on Wednesday, will play it by ear.

shels4ever

gerard65 wrote: »

Mon 10th Aug.
20x200m with 30sec recovery.
5x100m hill sprints.
Only 'real' session this week due to two races. Find it hard to get the legs up to pace in the mornings but I take the effort above the watch time.
Don't know what time I should aim for in the 3000m on Wednesday, will play it by ear.

Misht see you at the 3000m race on wed then.

stmochtas

Gerard any tips on clearing up a touch of Mortons Neuroma I noticed you are a sufferer. I picked up a minor case on holidays, probably strolling for miles in the heat in the wrong footwear?

gerard65

stmochtas wrote: »

Gerard any tips on clearing up a touch of Mortons Neuroma I noticed you are a sufferer. I picked up a minor case on holidays, probably strolling for miles in the heat in the wrong footwear?

In my experience loosening my shoelaces down around the toe box of my shoes relieves the pressure. I have to leave the lace on my left shoe fairly loose or it causes hell as my foot expands. Icing and elevating the foot helps to get the swelling of the nerve down. Remind me next time we meet at a race and I show you exactly what I mean about the laces as it hard to explain, just make sure your foot has loads of room to expand, including in you day to day shoes.

gerard65

Tues 11th Aug.
7mls in 60mins.
Took this very easy with one eye on tomorrows race.

gerard65

Wed 12th Aug.
BHAA 3000m Irishtown.
11:36 watch time.

Did'nt know what I was getting myself into this evening. 20 odd years since I've run on a track and very little training behind me this year. For my best 5k McMillan put my time at 11:02 but to be honest 12mins seemed daunting. Because of the handicap system I found myself in last place for the first 2 laps. Went through 800m faster than I've run any 800m this year. Slowly made my way through the field and managed a good finish.
A 2mile in 2weeks and McMillian puts me at 12:27 from tonights time and 11:52 from my 5k pb.
A great night for racing and looking forward to the 2mile in 2 weeks. Of course a little 10miler on Saturday.

BeepBeep67

Nice running last night - hope to see you in the 2miler.

asimonov

Well done, the track races will really stand to you on the road.

gerard65

Thurs 13th Aug.
5.3 in 44mins.
Nice run this evening, kept it relaxed. Last session before Sat's race, looking forward to it. I think I'll aim for 75mins but I'm not expecting much. I think I'm about 4 weeks behind in training so today I put together a rough training plan for the next 4 weeks, I'll tweak it over the next day or 2. Looking back on my diary for this time last year I've certainly more structure this year coming into the xc season.
Tonight I relax with a few cans of Guinness extra stout and mega builders on discovery;)
Roll on Saturday!

gerard65

Sat 15th Aug.
RACE: Frank Duffy 10mile Phoenix Park.
Place overall - 682, Place in Cat. M40 - 86, Chip Time - 1:15:41.

Woke at 7am to the sound of heavy rain. This was supposed to have cleared over night:(. Out to the Park by 8:30 and sat in the car watching the rain. Remember I had a bin liner in the boot so fashoned a 'rain coat' out of it. Meet up with a couple of boardies around the start area. The start seem much better than the last race. My first 2 mile were way too fast and I was trying to slow down as I knew I'd pay for it later. Passed woddle who seem to be struggling. The second 5 mile were very tough although my mile splits between 4 and 8 miles were very even. Mile 9 nearly killed me, took alot of mental strength to keep going, started counting in my head to try keep the mind occupied. Had nothing left at the finish and was never so glad to finish a race. My FR measured 10.1 with an average pace of 7.27min\ml.
Meet a few more boardies after the race although can't really remember who as I was still 'out of it'.
Despite this really hurting I'm happy with the run (both 5mile splits faster than the 5 mile a few weeks ago) And I feel I'm regaining fitness and strength as the weeks go by. A run like will stand to me for the coming XC seasion.

gerard65

Sun 16th Aug.
Feels like someone has been using my legs as a punch bag so I'm resting up today. A low milage week, just under 30, but high in quality, with two races. No racing next week so I hope to get in a good weeks training.

gerard65

Mon 17th Aug.
45min easy. Still feeling a bit beatup this morning after Sat race so I swapped todays and tomorrows sessions.

gerard65

Tues 18th Aug.
6x1000m with 2mins rec. Avg pace 4:05.
This is a tough session both physicially and mentally but its done. Slower than I'd expect but hopefully an improvement in the next 3 weeks. Slept better last night and the legs felt more normal this morning.