Here we go again...!

belcarra

Having (almost) officially announced the end of my marathon running days after Dublin this year time has managed to twist my arm. I found myself signing up for Connemara again next year so here I am again, back in training..."and I was only 1 week from retirement!"

belcarra

I recently spent 5 days in Lisbon on holiay where plenty of booze and good food was enjoyed but as each day passed I could feel myelf getting more and more out of shape! So I made a promise to myself (Early New Year's resolution, if you like!) that I was going to have to get back into the swing of training, etc!
So with that, I've taken up playing squash, which I'm hoping will mean two evenings a week. In a normal week I'd have two games of five a side (on Fri & Sat) as well. So this will potentially leave three days for doing runs. My aim will be that speed work and some short runs will be substituted for the squash and football. Therefore, I intend one or two 7-8 mile runs a week with an extra LSR thrown in for good measure.
So lets see how this approach works out! Connemarathon is on Mar 22nd and I did it in 4hrs 35mins last year. At this stage I'm down for the half but hopefully I'll be confident enough with my training by end of January to transfer into the full.
Watch this space!!

belcarra

4 mile run. Easy. Untimed

belcarra

Five a side for 1 hr. Irishtown.

belcarra

Five a side for 1 hr. Sportsco.

belcarra

Five a side for 1 hr. Sportsco.

belcarra

Rest Day.

belcarra

1 hr squash.

belcarra

40 mins treadmill.

belcarra

4 mile run. Untimed.

belcarra

1hr squash.

belcarra

30 mins treadmill - 6km.

belcarra

Rest Day.

belcarra

Afternoon = 1hr squash.
Evening = 8.5 mile run in 1hr 20mins.

I was at a friends party last night so I thought I did well to manage a game of squash in the afternoon. By 7pm I was still feeling ok though so I managed to do a loop of 8.5 miles in approx 1hr 20mins. Time is a very rough estimate though as I had no watch with me. I feel that was the first real run now that I'm back doing a reasonable amount of training.

This brings me upto date for the training log so as I progress I hope to have some extra feedback on how the session went, even if it's something as trivial as my squash partner smashing his racquet into my forehead on a follow through!!:mad:

I plan either another squash game tomorrow or else a 5-6 mile run. I'll also be wearing a stopwatch from now on so I can accurately gauge my performace.

belcarra

Well the planned run for this evening went out the window early doors!:( I'd a slightly sore back last night going to bed but after having a difficult nights sleep with it it was much worse this morning. I struggled into work with it but didn't get much better though the day. I've done some stretched for it this evening and applied deep heat to the area and this seems to have helped it somewhat but it's still not perfect. Hopefully it'll be much better in the morning in order to let me go for my run seeing as I'm off now for Xmas.
We'll see...!

belcarra

My back is still at me so I've decided to rest it one extra day and travel back home to Mayo for Xmas.

Plan to go for a few runs over the next couple of days when the roads are quiet!

belcarra

Back out today. Went for what I expected to be just 3 or 4 miles but ended up being 9.3 miles. Back seemed a lot better. Happy Days!

belcarra

Happy Christmas!

My back is still better but not yet 100%...more like 75% I'd say.
Myself and my Brother went for our annual Christmas Day run and we stayed out for 10.25 miles. The run seemed to pass very quickly even though we were out for 1hr 32mins. We made a dash for the last 200yards and boy did I feel it! Pipped at the line so I'll need to get him next time!!

belcarra

Had the first of our annual 5 a side matches today (We usually have 2 or 3 around Xmas). It was 5 v 6 on a pitch that is suited to 7 v 7 so there was plenty of running involved. Especially loads of 20m-30m sprints which I'm hoping will cover the need for me going out and doing specific speedwork in running sessions (...much easier to motivate to get on the end of a cross than to race to the next lampost!!).
We played for 90mins without a break so by then end we were pretty knackered. On again tomorrow, so we'll see just how fit we are!
...Oh and I'm meant to be climbing Croagh Patrick in the morning as well...! I might take Sunday as a rest day I reckon!!
This could well be the first XMas I lose weight as opposed to put on 6 or 7 pounds!!:D

belcarra

Arrived at Croagh Patrick a little late but still had to wait for one straggler(!). About 30mins later we began our ascent but two of us had to turn back having climbed less than half way due to our five a side later.
And a good job we did too as we just made it i time for kick-off. Similar game to yesterday but this time we had 7v7. Played for 90mins again and by the end of the game I knew all about it!
A few relaxing pints later in he evening were enjoyed!!

belcarra

The remainder of the XMas was a bit of a disaster!!:(

Pretty much did no sport and socialised a bit heavily.
Ths pretty much negated everything I'd done before XMas, but sure I suppose it's the season for it! Roll on the new year and now that I'm back at work I'll find the daily routine will help guide me no end!

belcarra

Back into the squash this evening.
Played for an hour but had a couple of niggles with my back and my left knee. Didn't enjoy the games so much. At least I'm back being active though...first step and all that!

belcarra

Was meant to go to my first 11 a side training sessions tonight in DCU but my back is still sore so I declined at the lat minute. My knee seems to be much better though so at least that's positive.

belcarra

No Training tonight.

belcarra

Came home from work wrecked and feeling the onset of a cold so hit the bed at 8:30. If you knew me that would say a lot about just how wrecked I felt!!

belcarra

I finish work on Fridays in the early afternoon so it's a great chance to go out and get some miles into the legs.

So, feeling guilty about not having done anything serious for quite some time I decided to just run and see how far I could go. 13.5 miles later I returned to my apt. I took a steady, easy pace although in the final mile or two I could feel it in my legs. It took 2hrs 11mins to complete but this included waiting at traffic crossings, etc. which would easily have accounted for upto 5 mins. I would normally expect a training run of this distance to be 1hr 58mins or so (Excluding the stoppages) so I'm fairly happy about todays efforts. Especially given that it was particularly cold out there.

One comment about my current weight.
Before heading out I weighed-in at approx 13st 11lbs, which is about 11lbs heavier than normal circumstances. This was probably down to a good Xmas. As a result I'll be tracking my weight on this from now on also to record the amount I lose over the next few months.

After the run I weighed myself again. This time I was 13st 6lbs! That's a loss of 5lbs on the run today. Most of this is water loss through sweating. However it still makes me feel appreciate the merit in exercising! As I continue to train this weight will hover for a week or two before reducing further as I'll initially be rebuilding muscle causing weight gain and reducing fat leading to weight loss. These two factors generally balance each other out for the first week or two, as I say.

belcarra

I was up early for a game of 5 a side at 10am. An average game with the usual amount of running. I was feeling the strain of yesterdays run for the first 10-15mins but after that it got easier until again at the end when I was feeling knackered!
Weight: 13st 5lbs.:)

Hopefully, I'll be going for a 5 or 6 mile run tomorrow.

belcarra

Planned on going for a run in the afternoon but got a request for a game of squash instead so had an hour of that. Was contemplating going for a 40min runafterwards but had to get dinner out of the way before the ManU Chelsea match!
I'll make up for it tomorrow though!

belcarra

First of all...I just fixed the sequence of dates on this...I was a day ahead of myself!

Went for a run this evening. Two laps of my local 2 mile loop. For the first lap I pushed it reasonably hard although I could still feel the 13.5 mile run in my legs. Managed to complete the first loop in 16m 21 secs or 8:10min/mile. When I get into the flow of things I'd be expecting to keep this pace for 7 or 8 miles before dropping off but for today two miles would have to do!

I basically recovered and jogged around for the second loop which took 18:08 or 9:04m/m.

Overall, 4.15 miles in 34:31 which averaged out to 8:31mm.

Weight:13st 7.5lbs.

belcarra

No running for me tonight.
Instead it was my first day of training for 11 a side football that I've done in about 7 or 8 years!

Training involved an hour of work in total with the first half being taken up with drills and warm-ups and then the second half was a game of 5 a side.
I felt I gave a good effort and it was enjoyable.
It helps to take the boredom out of pounding the streets on your own all the time by mixing it up with a bit of variety!
My first match is due to be on Saturday at midday. Hopefully I'll get to see a bit of action at some stage...

So my typical week is beginning to turn into the following:
Mon: Squash - 1 hour.
Tue: Football training - 1 hour
Wed/Thurs: Medium Run - Approx 8 miles/80 mins. Alt day = restday.
Fri: Run - Long run if no match on Sat, otherwise maybe a 6-7 miler/1 hr.
Sat: Either a football match or else an hour of 5 a side.
Sun: Possibly another 4-5 miler/45mins.

There's a reasonable amount of effort and variety thrown in there so hopefully this should work:)

belcarra

Did 3 laps of local loop for a total of 6.2 miles. Thats almost a perfect 10km. Well in distance at least...my time was far from perfect:rolleyes:
Lap 1 = 18:48
Lap 2 = 19:27
Lap 3 = 17:41
Total = 55:57

Weight (After run) 13st 6.5lbs

My legs were really heavy for most of the run tonight and it was a real struggle. After about 4 miles it began to get a bit easier and that can be seen by the last lap being the quickest. Having said that I was in no way pushing myself today but I should have been able to do the 6 miles much more effortlessly.

Tomorrow I'm in England on business but should be home at the usual time so will try and get out for a run and go for as long as my legs will take me...