It's a new dawn ......... it's a new day.

Speedy44

Tuesday :- 8.25mls easy. Tried, and more or less succeeded, to keep the bpm below 150 with tomorrows track session in mind. Still, average pace was 7.17 so happy enough with that.

Wednesday :- Alternated 5 x 1k & 5 x 400m. Felt good going into this and ok doing it. The legs felt a wee bit ropey but still felt like I was running well within myself. Finally invested in a new pair of runners so broke them in tonight.
Times were:

3:28
1:19
3:29
1:20
3:30
1:17
3:29
1:19
3:29
1:16

Happy with the consistency too.

Distance = 8 1/2mls

Speedy44

Thursday :- Started the day off great by going for a lovely 4ml run in the early morning sunshine. Was origionally going to do 8mls+ but I decided to break it up and do another 6.5mls in the evening - I didn't :mad:

Friday :- Our weekly killer session of 3 x 20mins. Felt good at the start of the first one but was hurting by the end of it. Kept bpm between 17-175 though which is the plan. Its amazing though the difference between running at 168bpm to 173bpm.
The second one had me hanging on the the lads, every so often they would get a few yards on me and I would have to really dig in to get back to them. Not sure what was going on with the hrm as it was hitting 188 at times, and even stayed at 180 for a bit as well ! Wrecked at the end of it.
And the last one I felt fine again , funny how you can recover so quickly. I think that is why this session is so good cause it mimicks the race experinces so good.

Distance = 13mls

Saturday :- Started off with some circuit training, then cut the grass for an hour or two, then moved some furniture, then finally ran 6.5mls......... can this be considered cross training

Sunday :- Was 5mins late getting to our 9am group LSR and by the time I caught up with them at 4mls they were turning off to do a shorter loop. Reached the 4mls in just over 28mins which is way faster than I would normally start. Beautiful morning for running through the wilds of Connemara and although I got a wee bit tired towards the end, I still had plenty in reserve.

Distance :- 16mls @ 7:28/ml

Week Distance = 62.75mls

Speedy44

Woa, hadn't realised its been so long since I've been on, not too much has happened running wise thankfully. Basically taking it easy ahead of tomorrows 10K 'stroll in the park'

Mon - 6 1/2 mls easy
Tues - Decided to take it off, would probably do me good.
Wed - Missed my run due to kids been very upset when our family cat died.
Thur - 8 1/4 easy
Fri - 6 1/2 easy
Sat - 5 1/5 really easy with my 13 yr old nephew, threw in a few strides for good measure.

As far as tomorrow goes, well, I'm hesitant about predictions what with the crowds and the course. A buddy of mine headed up on Thursday and he has given me the 1st hand news about the hills in the 2nd half.
I did 38:02 in Athenry in Jan, so lets say somewhere between 36:45 & 37:15 :eek:

Best of luck to everyone else running it, I know there are loads of you that will be up there.

Speedy44

I think you can probably guess that I'm not a happy camper.

37:42 :mad::mad::mad:

1K - missed it
2K - 7:11 (average 3:35.5)
3K - 3:49 (what the fudge)
4K - 3:36
5K - 3:46 (18:22 halfway)
6K - 3:51
7K - 3:54
8K - 3:53
9K - 4:00
10K - 3:42 (19:20 second half)

Think I left a fair bit in the tank, don't feel like I tried hard enough. Think I was to scared of the hills and tried to run relaxed and easy in the first half. The plan was to maybe go through halfway in 18:15 and do the 2nd half in 18:45. Then I didn't really push on the hills as planned for some reason !

Not really sure why I didn't have any fire in me today. My training partner kicked my ass by over 90secs, this is a lad that I have been going back & forth with a bit recently. He is definitely getting stronger but there's no way I should have been that far behind him.

On a positive note, I beat my Athenry time by 20 secs and I beat some other guys handy enough who would normally either beat me or be closer to me.

At least I have another race in 9 days to rectify matters .............

Speedy44

6.5mls 'easy' to recover from yesterday. At least that was the plan setting out. Was running in a good comfort zone, bpm was in the high 120's though so picked up up a little.
After that bpm was fluctuating from 141-164 :eek:.

Was running comfortably and not pushing it in the least. Yesterdays race was still in my head though, and maybe the fact that I am still pissed off about it made me go faster than I probably should have for a recovery run (7.08/ml aver). Felt good though

Speedy44

Tuesday - Had to go to my nephews confirmation in the afternoon so ate 3 dinners in 1 sitting . Had planned to run it off but slept it off instead

Wednesday - 4 x 4 x 400m on the track. 30 sec rec between reps and 2:30 secs (1 lap) between sets. Tough, tough session, especially after Sunday.

Splits were
75, 80, 78, 78
79, 78, 77, 80
80, 78, 79, 80
80, 78, 78, 77

Distance = 10mls

Thursday - 6.5mls easy. Garmin is still bust and battery was gone on hrm so was running blind so to speak. Was a bit sore after yesterday, especially right hip for some reason

Friday - Supposed to do my 3 x 20mins but have a 5K race on Tuesday so thought it might be pushing it a bit. Ran 8.25mls instead and after doing 2mls in 15.08 as a warm up, did 2 x 2mls with an 8min/ml in the middle as a recovery. Did them in 13:17 & 13:03. Didn't over exert myself, mainly because I wasn't able. Breathing was fine but legs were killing me, sore all over, shins, calfs, hip. Think it must be the new runners, and the tough sessions.

Started taking multi-vitamin today as well as my recovery drink. May look into taking a couple more minerals & vitamins too. Its tough getting old :rolleyes:

Speedy44

Didn't run over the weekend. Had exams on Sunday morning (!) so spent all Saturday studying, and all Sunday recovering after 2hrs sleep.

Ran 6.5mls on Monday, felt more tired after a few miles than I should have, put it down to still been tired from lack of sleep.

Tuesday - Galway 5K series #1

Was determined to really get stuck in today after last weeks lack of effort at the National 10k. Also, I planned to stick with the lads who blew me away last week.

A real scrammble at the start due to the large numbers and small country road. Reached 1k in 3:16 feeling ok. I had decided before the race not to get hung up on the time & pace as I normally would. Usually going through 1k that fast would have been the signal to apply the breaks. I have found though that due to the tough tempo & track sessions over the past couple of months I have become stronger and should be able to handle a fast start without blowing up.

There was a lead group off ahead and then a bunch on 5 or 6 of us running together. Heading towards 2k we hit the first hill (which we wasn't supposed to be there!) and I found that I was now hanging on. Got to 2k in 6:50 (3:34). At this point my brain let me down, when I tried to figure it out in my head I though that the split was 3:44, I knew we were clipping along so I deduced that the course was off.

I was now alternating between wanting to slow down and then feeling good n' relaxed for a bit.

Hit another hill at about 2.5k and knew that this one was supposed to continue to 4k. We were now a group of 4, including 2 clubmates. My body was now hurting and I was just trying to get to the 3k point and still be in contact. Reached 3k in 10:25 (3:35) and I got a momentary surge of satisfaction in thinking that if I can just hang in there and not fall off the pace too much, I could pb. We managed to catch another lad on the hill which was another positive as he had beat me by 10secs in Dublin.

I was now really hanging on and looking, looking, looking for the damn 4k mark. Just get there and I knew it was downhill, and that even with all the hurt I knew in the back of my mind that I wouldn't blow up too much.

4k in 14:28 (4:03), what the fcuk ! Again, did the quick math and thought that the course must be off, there's no way we had slowed down to that. I was confident that we were going well under 18min pace.

Last k and the moves were made. First my training buddy got a gap, then my other clubmate who got me by 1 sec in Dublin, took off. I was dying but managed to pick it up and overtake some other guy. I wasn't gaining on the lads but in hindsight wasn't fading much either.

"Where the hell is the finish" I was thinking. I could see everyone ahead of me but for some reason thought there was one more turn to come before the finishing straight. The last few 100m weren't marked unfortunately so I was taking glances at my watch (no garmin) to see what was left.

"16:03, gotta be only 400-500m, just hang in there". My training partner wasn't pulling away any more, infact he may be coming back.

"There's the finish, just hang in", should have been saying, "go for it". There's the clock ....... 17:55, 56, 57 ........... "its definitely long".
Came across the line in 18:03 (3:35) , 2 secs behind my buddy who had beat my by 90secs in Dublin.

Turns out it wasn't long. Still, road pb by 13secs so I'll take it. Still not sure what happened on that 4th k.
My buddy was dissapointed in his run, probably rightly so, there's no way I should have gained that much on him, even though it was half the distance. Last week he went through 5k in 17:50, so he definitely had a bad run.

So, dissapointed with my time, and the fact that I weakened mentally in last k and didn't kick but instead just hung on, but overall, very happy with the effort compared to last week.

Next weeks race is in Tuam but I may have to miss it. Hadn't planned to run it actually as I don't think its a good idea to race every week, and I want to concentrate on keeping the quality training sessions going. On a bit of a high though and eager to get another go at sub 18.;)

Distance = 10mls

tisnotover

still a PB though, take it, sounds like you ran a good race+raced well within the different groups, you'll be well under 18 next time, sounds like a hilly coruse as well you ran.

P.S. I like the "on and on we carry on..." bit

Speedy44

Did some circuit training in the morning.

6.5mls recovery run. Felt fine starting off, energy levels well up. At about 3mls though my right hip area started to hurt. It was hurting on the warm down after the race as well, and has been for a few days. It just got worse and worse yesterday to the point where I was visably limping and hurting a lot by the end.
The pain is kinda in my right butt cheek and then goes around into the front side of my hip. I don't think it extends down to my legs so I'm not sure what the hell it might be. The only cause I can think of is the runners and/or lifting the weights incorrectly?
May call a physio later, now that I'm getting into some decent race shape and into the racing season, the last think I want is to be laid up.

Speedy44

well, hopefully.
Did a pyramid on the track this evening. Found out off physio that its probably my IT band thats been giving me the problem. I stretched it out a bit this afternoon and again after the warm up.

Took 2mins (200m) rec, pyramid consisted of:

400m - 73.3
600m - 1:59
800m - 2:41
1k - 3:26
800m - 2:42
600m - 1:58
400m - 72.7
200m - 30.3

Happy enough with it, was feeling it from the start. With the longer rec than usual, we were concentrating more on speed than strength. That been said, I didn't feel very fast. I'm sure the 5k on Tuesday was still in the legs. Still though the times were decent enough, during our recent 4 x 4 x 400m with 30sec rec/90 between sets we were averaging 78+ secs.

Distance = 8mls

Speedy44

After only 5hrs sleep last night and a few beers, and working this morning, I attempted my first speed session on the track.Had planned 12 x 300m off 90secs. Turns out giving the conditions, that was a tad optimistic ! Managed 8, and had to take to break them up into 2 sets of 4 with a 5min/rec. Times were 51, 52, 52, 52 - 53, 52, 53 & 52. Was hurting bad, lactic acid was kicking in big time. Still, its a start, and great to shake off some cobwebs.Distance = 7mls

Speedy44

14.5mls easy with club. Weather started off a bit damp & cold but sun was shining by the end. Felt pretty good overall, pace was easy enough, 7:45-50, 135-140 bpm. I.T. band was sore at the end, again, HAVE to stretch it out more.

Week Distance = 51.5mls/6 days

smmoore79

Speedy44 wrote: »

14.5mls easy with club. Weather started off a bit damp & cold but sun was shining by the end. Felt pretty good overall, pace was easy enough, 7:45-50, 135-140 bpm. I.T. band was sore at the end, again, HAVE to stretch it out more.

Week Distance = 51.5mls/6 days

A decent pace for 14.5 miles. Would be careful with the ITB, maybe resting could be on the cards or cross training? i had a bad case of that nearly 2 years ago. Pretty sore on the knees and it took about 2 months to clear it properly coz i kept runnin and aggrevating it more..

Speedy44

smmoore79 wrote: »

A decent pace for 14.5 miles. Would be careful with the ITB, maybe resting could be on the cards or cross training? i had a bad case of that nearly 2 years ago. Pretty sore on the knees and it took about 2 months to clear it properly coz i kept runnin and aggrevating it more..

Appreciate the advice, I decided though that I'm just going to bury my head in the sand and ignore it :rolleyes:
Well not entirely, I'm going to stretch it out a lot and hopefully that will help keep it loose. The idea of having to take a long time out freaks me out tbh (I admit it, I'm an addict!). I know, I know ............ better to take a few days or a week now than a few months down the road, but I've been training well recently and starting to get some pb's so if at all possible I want to try and keep it going.

Speedy44

ITB is gone.
Last 4 days:

Tues - stupidly attempted a 1K timetrial on Tuesday after a very rushed warmup and 2hrs sleep. Had hoped to do 12 x 200m but had to head to Dublin so was stuck for time. Ran 3:04 I think.

Wed - 8.25mls easy. ITB sore but runnable

Thur - 2 x 4 x 600m, aver 1:58. ITB getting worse, breathing very hard for some reason.

Today - Tried to run 6.5mls. Was sore enough that I thought of turning back after a few metres. Kept going and was able to run through it, but after about 4mls I had to walk. Jogged/walked & limped home.

Totally pissed off now.

pgmcpq

Speedy44 wrote: »

ITB is gone.
.....
. Kept going and was able to run through it, but after about 4mls I had to walk. Jogged/walked & limped home.

Totally pissed off now.

I'm not at your level (but about the same 'vintage') but I have done that walk home - last November in fact. I know how you feel - I found the chiro pretty useful. Don't know if you've done the IT band before but it can be beat -- (and you don't want to hear this ) with patience. I learned a new found respect for post run stretching. Good luck - and take it easy - at least for a few weeks.

tisnotover

hope you recover soon lad, you've been flying lately, rest and take it easy !

Speedy44

Well, after been reduced to a walk last Friday, I took a whole day off :eek:

After consulting with a physio, I don't think its my IT band. The pain is in my right butt cheek and then comes around to my hip area. Been stretching it a lot since then.
On Sunday I ran 1.25mls with my 9 year old daughter just to see if there was any pain. There wasn't.
Yesterday I got adventureous and did about 2.5mls with some strides thrown in. I wanted to see how it held up before I made a decision on the race today. It was a bit sore but I was able to run on it.

So, 3rd race in the Galway 5K series in Craughwell.

Started off with the idea of staying with the lads I finished within 4 secs of 2 wks ago, bad idea. Then, we ran 18:00 -18:04.
Last week the lads ran 17:27 & 17:31, on an easier course than wk 1.

First K tonight, 3:12 (downhill). Felt like it was fast but felt relatively ok.
Hit the first hill around 1.5k and I decided to ease back a bit and 'let' them off (it was more like I was starting to feel it).
Got to 2K in 6:46 (3:34). Struggling now, but going ok'ish. The lads were still in sight at least.
3K was reached in 10:32 (3:46), really hanging on now. All sorts of thoughts creeping in "pull out, you can blame the injury" etc. Thing is, the leg was holding up, I was just wrecked.
4K in 14:22 (3:50). Quick math, I need a sub 3:38 to go under 18mins.
"I don't have it, I don't care, I just want to get to the finish"

One or two people pass me and I can't go with them ( I don't try).
I'm just plodding along. I head another person closing. I reach a point where I know there's only about 100m to go.
He catches me, we turn the corner, 70m to go, there's the finish. He is from Craughwell, the cheers are for him. I see the clock, 17:50-51-52, damn, "I could get it". I kick 55-56-57, "****, I'm not going to do it". I'm flat out 58-59 ........

I clocked it at 18:00:00 ! I'm waiting for the official chip time to see if I somehow made it under the 18mins, but I don't think so.

Happy enough with it. Once the lads got that gap I felt my race was run and that I was going about 18:30 pace. I think I have missed too much training recently to warrent a good run. So I'm glad I ran 4secs faster than 2wks ago on a tough course. My buddies blew me out of the water though, 17:00 (or maybe under!) and 17:13, brilliant running. How on earth I lost that much time on them in 2 wks though, I don't know. Think if I had ran it more even, I would have got under the 18 comfortably.

Re the injury, well, I don't want to think about it. I just want to get stuck into training and racing. But of course reality sucks, so I'll wake up tomorrow and see how it is. It was very sore once the race was over. Did about a mile warm down and a few stretches, so we'll see.

smmoore79

Wow, considering your injured, thats an impressive time. I'd say you'd get a scarily fast time fully fit :rolleyes:

Speedy44

smmoore79 wrote: »

Wow, considering your injured, thats an impressive time. I'd say you'd get a scarily fast time fully fit :rolleyes:

tx, fingers crossed that I'll get the chance and that it won't come back to bite me in the ass.

token56

Great log and well done on the race despite the injury.

Just want to say despite how hard it feels no being able to run or train because of injury the prospect of doing yourself more damage is just not worth it, I know this from experience. Rest is always a great healer despite it being very boring. Dont want this to come across a lecture or anything, just be careful is all I guess.

Also have you tried a tennis ball or something similar to try rub some of the tension out of the area? Can often be good, especially for the piriformus and other muscles in the area which often gives people trouble.

pgmcpq

Glad to hear the news - and great race .... still <curmudgen mode> you might want to ease off ... just a little ? Really really just a smidgen ? Some part of your body is delivering some kind of message ....</curmudgen mode>

Speedy44

token56 wrote: »

Great log and well done on the race despite the injury.

Just want to say despite how hard it feels no being able to run or train because of injury the prospect of doing yourself more damage is just not worth it, I know this from experience. Rest is always a great healer despite it being very boring. Dont want this to come across a lecture or anything, just be careful is all I guess.

Also have you tried a tennis ball or something similar to try rub some of the tension out of the area? Can often be good, especially for the piriformus and other muscles in the area which often gives people trouble.

Tx for the advice, and I know your right, on all accounts, but :rolleyes:
I just ran 4mls after doing loads of stretching today ( and 3 circuits in the gym). Its still sore, and tbh got worse towards the end, but at least I was able to get around.
I may try the tennis ball, pain now seems to be isolated on the hip area.
I am planning one more 5K next Tuesday (damn you sub 18 !) and then may consider taking a rest.

Speedy44

pgmcpq wrote: »

Glad to hear the news - and great race .... still <curmudgen mode> you might want to ease off ... just a little ? Really really just a smidgen ? Some part of your body is delivering some kind of message ....</curmudgen mode>

damn body, what does it know
One more week, thats all I want (well, not really)
After all the advice I definitley won't be looking for any sympathy if the oul body does break down !

tisnotover

Great stuff speedy, mind yourself though !

Speedy44

Ran 4mls easy yesterday to see how the injury was fearing out. Was sore from the start and though about turning back, but decided to give it a mile and see then. I let my mind wander and before I knew it, the mile was behind me. Hip starting to get sore after a couple of mile but I was still able to run on it.Towards the end it got very sore so was glad that I only decided to do the 4mls.

Thursday May 13th
Went to the track and after doing 3mls warm up, lots of stretching and a few strides, set out to do 3 x 4 x 400m. Plan was for 90secs rec between reps and 3mins (400m) between sets. The long rec was designed to make it more of a speed session than a strength one.

Felt pretty good doing them at the start. On the 2nd set, I started to feel a bit weak on the home straight. I had only eaten poached egg on toast for breakfast and porridge for lunch so I think this was the result.
The injury was reminding me that it wasn't going away but I was able to push on. Until the 8th one!
Was thinking about cutting it short anyway due to the food issue. On the beginning of the back straight I went to pick up the pace and felt something like I was punched in the hip, or a pop or sorts. It was initially very sore but after a few strides I was able to keep it going.

Times were 75, 77, 75, 75 - 74, 74, 76 & 74.

On the warm down it felt like there was something moving in there? Anyway, got through it, may not have been the wisest thing to do, but I want to keep training for a bit longer.

Distance = 8mls

Sosa

Hey Speedy,only catching up on your log.
Thats bad news about the injury,i wouldn't push to hard if it was me.
An 18:00 5k is a very good time....well done.

Speedy44

Friday May 14th

This morning I did 3 circuits in the gym and lots of stretching.

This evening I ran 8.25mls easy, and felt no pain

Aver pace was about 7:15/ml, felt really easy, only slight concern was the the bpm's were hovering about 160 for some reason. Not sure why as it felt like there was no effort.

Speedy44

Saturday May 15th

Was going to do 3 x 4 x 200m but feeling the affects of a bit of a cold so dropped a set. Took a 90 sec rec between the reps and 3mins between the sets.
Times were 34, 33, 34, 32 - 34, 34, 33 & 32.

Wasn't a good session, well, it didn't feel good. I was struggling from the first one, just wasn't able to get going. I plan on a few more of these to get ready for the track season, want to try and bring my times down for the 800m & 1500m. Feel like though, with the injury, and now the cold and for one reason or another, that I have fallen behind where I want to be in my training.
I'll tackle the 5K on Tuesday and see how that goes. Then there is an 800m in Clare on Thursday but from the way I ran today, I really doubt if I'll do that.

Distance = 6mls

Speedy44

Well, long'ish. Have been doing 14mls on Sundays (when I am able to get out), but with the race on Tiesday, I didn't want too much in the legs.

Club run at 9am. Did a few stretches before hand. Only 4 of us this morning, think a bunch of the lads must have been racing.
Felt good from the start, forgot to bring hrm but there was no problems at all. Weather was beautiful and got better as the miles rolled on. Picked up the pace after about 6mls and coasted home averaging about 7:24's.

Didn't feel the affects of the cold or the hip.

Distance :- 11mls
Time:- 81:18

Week Distance :- 47.75mls (getting back up there )