A 2.30 Marathon

myflipflops

Following on from this thread - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056013145 - I will attempt to log my training towards the goal of running a mile in 4.59 or quicker. The challenge is really part of a general attempt to lose weight and get out running again.

Bit of background - i ran competitively from about 16 - 20 with some success. I drifted away from competing and running and my job (and general laziness/fondess for stout) led me to a sedentary lifestyle, large weight gain and just seriously unhealthy habits.

I'm now 26, living outside Ireland and have a work schedule, social life and environment that has led to me trying to get fit again. I'm 230 lbs (was 240 2 weeks ago). While I am heavy, i am a big guy generally - 6'2 and quite stocky. The weight is an issue but hopefully will be easy enough to shift.

Goals:

Short term - be the first Irish person to run the Montserrat Volcano Half Marathon (www.volcanorunner.com) at the end of November. No time goal for it, just to get fit enough to run the race without stopping or walking.

Get weight to 14 stone at biggest within the next 3 months.

Run 4.59 or quicker for the mile.

Long term - Run the DCM in 3.30 or quicker and (very unlikely one) make my 5k PB on the track respectable.

For the moment, my training schedule will be focussed on losing the weight and getting my body used to running again. In a couple of months, I will start looking at training more specifically to achieve the goals.


31st August 2010:

10k run in approx 60 minutes. This is my longest attempted run in years (literally, maybe 3 years) and it was no problem. Temperature was about 24/25 so sweating a lot but never out of breath or hurting. It was very slow though as the guy I'm training for Montserrat with struggled horribly and I didn't want to run off on him as he helped me through tough runs when i first started back. I think a moderate estimate would be that i could have been 10 minutes quicker. I'm happy to get through the distance so easily though and will up the long run to 12/15k next week i think.

Also did my fortnightly weigh in and i have dropped 10lbs in the last 2 weeks.

Swim in the sea in the morning to stretch out and then gym tomorrow evening.

Tristram

Nice. The weight is just dropping off you! Cut back on the stout?

christeb

myflipflops wrote: »

Short term - be the first Irish person to run the Montserrat Volcano Half Marathon (www.volcanorunner.com) at the end of November. No time goal for it, just to get fit enough to run the race without stopping or walking.

Wow this looks great. Have you booked the trip?

Good luck with your goals, I like running logs that have specific goals.

myflipflops

Tristram wrote: »

Nice. The weight is just dropping off you! Cut back on the stout?

I live in a country where you wouldn't want to touch the stout!

I've made big changes to my diet. I'm now eating a good, healthy breakfast every morning which probably last did as a child when it was made for me! White bread has been completely removed and red meat replaced with chicken and fish for the most part. Lots more fruit and water all the time too. I;ve also cut down on drinking a fair amount but I like a beer so a still go for a couple every week. I need some release!

christeb wrote: »

Wow this looks great. Have you booked the trip?

Good luck with your goals, I like running logs that have specific goals.

Thanks.

I live on the adjacent island (Antigua) at the moment so the trip will just be a short ferry ride or sailing trip across. I have registered already and as the this is only the second running of the event (and only 13 ran last year), it looks like no other Irish will be present and I can fulfill the goal. If any other do arrive then I guess I'm in a race! Montserrat is known as the 'Emerald Isle of the Caribbean' due to the Irish heritage of the people and is the only other country in the world apart from us that celebrates St Patricks Day as a public holiday so i think it will be a pretty cool experience. It was also a great motivator to get me started.

myflipflops

1st September:

Gym Session. Standard session at the moment is 35 minutes on the arc trainer and then 20 on the bike or soemtimes vice versa (depending on what machines are available). Then stretching, exercises and some light weights. Until this session changes, i won't waste time describing it again.

I didn't like the gym when i first started going but I enjoy it now. It allows me to keep losing weight and getting aerobically fitter without putting pressure on my joints. I'm well aware that running too much at my weigh would almost certainly result in injury.


2nd September

8k in 42 mins. Had planned 10k but was going a little quicker than expected so knocked the last 2k loop off as my legs felt a bit stiff. Breathing was fine so aerobically I'm getting fitter and could have gone on but my body isn't use to it and that extra 2k could potentially do a lot more damage than the tiny bit of good it would do.

myflipflops

Friday 3rd Sept

7km

Sunday 4th

5km


Saturday was a rest day after a few beers on Friday night. 30km for the week.

myflipflops

Monday was a scheduled rest day

Tuesday 7th
10k in 55 mins. Decent run considering my rotundness.

Wed 8th
Gym Session

Thurs 9th
5k at 8am. As Montserrat starts at 6.30am, we decided to start acclimatising to both running early morning and running in the predicted weather conditions.

This was not fun. Rolled out of bed at 7.40 and was running by 8am. Where i got through 10k on Tuesday easily, I had no energy for the 5k today. My legs were fine but I was just dead. The gym last night was a bad idea (time to switch rest day from Monday to Wednesday) and also, I should have gotten up earlier to wake up and get my body going.

Still, i got through it whereas my training companion threw in the towel after about 3k. 2 hours since finishing, I actually feel fine. Tomorrow is another 8am run so I will get up at 7am and prepare as I want to get 7km in if possible.

These runs would be easy at home, conditions just make it hard when you are hauling my weight around!


Gym song of the week: "La Tristesse Durera" by the Manic Street Preachers

myflipflops

Friday 10th
5km at 8am. Worse than the day before. Struggled really badly again, walking a couple of times. Finding out how to solve the morning issue is now top of the agenda. The run in the morning was just a complete waste so I went out for 7km in the evening to avoid two days in a row of basically zero aerobic work.

Saturday was an unscheduled rest day to allow for alcohol consumption and gambling (compulsary work event)!

Sun 12th
7km in 35 mins

Mon 13th
5km. I played tennis for about an hour before the run

Tues 14th
13km. Ran the first 8km with Rob at a slow pace (6min per km) as this would be his first 10km without walking and I wanted to help him through most of the way. Picked the pace up a fair bit (he had a watch, I don't so don't know times) for the last 5km. Very encouraging run. Getting closer to 10 miles in training and have set up a good week of running.

Today was also a landmark for another reason. It is a day off for me and early this afternoon, I had 3 people trying to get me to go drinking in preparation for the Champions League and 1 trying to get me to play golf. Three months ago, I would currently be drunk. Today I choose the golf, went for a swim to cool down afer (golf in 30 degrees is not easy!) and got in my best run yet. I guess the motivation to get rid of this gut is really there this time.

Tristram

Good going myflipsflops!

How long are you awake before you try your morning runs?

myflipflops

Tristram wrote: »

Good going myflipsflops!

How long are you awake before you try your morning runs?

Thanks.

First day, I rolled out of bed 15 minutes before starting. That was stupid!

The second day I got up at 7am and started an hour later. I had something small to eat, got some liquids in and stretched out. Still struggled horribly.

I will try the same on Thursday and see what happens. It could just be a case of getting my body used to running in the mornings. It took me a while to get it used to running again at all! ANother thought is to head down to the sea and do a 15 minute stretch there before going out for the run.

myflipflops

Wed 15th

5km. Again, played tennis before going running

Rest day Thursday

Fri 17th

10k in 52 mins. Felt like i was running a bit quicker than the end time told me. Set up to top 40km for the week now though which is good progress. Over-heating still an issue, I need to start putting water out somewhere on my loop.

myflipflops

Sat 18th

7km

Sun 19th

7km

47km for the week. Will look to be over 50km next week and will be trying 15km as my long run on Tuesday. A water station will definately be put out.

myflipflops

Mon 20th
10km

Tues 21st
12km
Had planned 15 but had time issues and had to finish early.

myflipflops

Sun 26th

12k at a decent tick.

End of a bad week. missed 4 days due partly to work but mainly lack of discipline. Need to get the head back down.


Haven't seen the Rathfarnham 5k results but I read on RTE that Joe Sweeney was 2nd in 14.15. I believe he will have a huge season if he stays uninjured. One to watch for, a massive talent.

myflipflops

mon 27th
7k

Tues 28th

10k


Struggled the last 2 days and woke up this morning with my neck feeling very sore. Can't turn my head and running would be a major mistake. Will try to get a physio/chiro appointment for tomorrow. Quite annoying. After a good start, I'm stuttering a bit.

dna_leri

Hope you recovered from sore neck and are back training.

I will keep an eye on your log for progress and the location is something different especially as we head into an Irish winter. You are a bit ahead of me for now but I hope to give the 5 min mile a go next year too.

myflipflops

dna_leri wrote: »

Hope you recovered from sore neck and are back training.

I will keep an eye on your log for progress and the location is something different especially as we head into an Irish winter. You are a bit ahead of me for now but I hope to give the 5 min mile a go next year too.

I got the neck sorted on Wednesday. West Indies cricket team physio lives beside me here. I went for a pint with him Wednesday evening and he got me to lay down on the table at the bar and fixed the problem straight away! He has restored my faith in sports physios after some bad experiences.

I've been sick since then though (first time in about 3 years) so that along with flooding yesterday has meant another bad week. I feel better today so will be back down to business an update the training later this week.

My location is about to change. From an island of 70 thousand people I'm off to a city of 20 million in Asia in 3 weeks time! It means the Montserrat half marathon is off the agenda but I will find a race over there to focus on as a short term goal. Hopefully I can find a decent place to run over there.

myflipflops

Mon 4th
10km

Tues 5th
7km

Couldn't run on Wednesday due to rain. That may sound weak but it was crazy rain! Heavier than during Earl but without the accompanying wind.

Thurs 7th
10km

Nice to be back into a routine again.

myflipflops

Fri 8th
10km

Sat 9th
5km

Sun 10th
10km


Finally managed to top 50km for a week!

myflipflops

Another step on the road to being allowed to call myself a runner again tonight - bleeding nipples!

shels4ever

myflipflops wrote: »

Another step on the road to being allowed to call myself a runner again tonight - bleeding nipples!

I feel your pain, my first few long runs this summer resulted in bloody nipples, kept forgetting to cover them but not i've hard nipples.

myflipflops

Mon 11th
10km

Tues
21km (actually 21.3km) in 2.01

This evening was Robs idea. He reckoned we should run the half marathon distance before I leave on Saturday as it has been the aim. It actually wasn't too bad. Ran with Rob for 10k and he began to drop off and I went the rest of the distance alone. My legs were beginning to tire over the last couple of km but otherwise it was ok.

myflipflops

Wed 12th
10km

Thursday I had my leaving drinks with guys from work which started at 2pm! I played football on Friday then Saturday was a day of travelling.

Sun 16th
5 miles or so. Back in Ireland, so much easier to run without 25 degree heat!

Mon 17th
7.5 miles in 60 mins. Ran with a group of friends and former training partners. A 13.35 5k runner, 7.57 3k runner, 4.12 1500 runner (female), a 67 minute half marathoner and a fat bloke (me). Very nice to be back running with athletes again even if they did have to run slow so i could keep up!

Tues 18th
5 miles

Wed 19th
6 miles with a former national cross champion.

I will be packing and organising things today so I won't get a run and and I leave for Manila at 9am tomorrow. It's been a hectic week.

myflipflops

Arrived in Manila early on Saturday morning after a 12 hour straight flight from Amsterdam and 16 hours total travelling time. Jet-lag has been one issue. The second (and bigger) issue is that I'm in a hotel for the first 2 weeks and there is no running area around. Anytrip on the roads here would lead to near certain death. Luckily the hotel has a gym so it's cross training and treadmill for the next couple of weeks until my apartment is sorted and i have an area to run around. Gym work leads to very boring logs and considering mine was uninteresting before this, I probably won't update until i have a run to describe.

Well done to all who ran Dublin yesterday. It's a race i am intent on completenig in sub 3.30 at least one day.

myflipflops

FINALLY got out for a run yesterday after nearly a month of inactivity on the roads and less gym visits than I had hoped for.

Settling into the new envirnment but it is not a runner friendly place. I will be forced onto a pretty small loop (2km maybe) unless i can find elsewhere. It'
s actually a city with lots of organised races but I just happen to live in a bad place for training. Still, no real complaints, it's a great place to live.

I'm now considering making a commitment to running Dublin in 2011. I think I need a specific race and goal to focus on after Montserrat was taken away from me. I'll probably make a decision this week and then put a training plan together.

myflipflops

After much consideration, I'm going to pick up this log again. I don't want to start a new one as this is a remainder of the failure last time.

Last post was when I was in Manila around 18 months ago. Last September I was recruited to a job in Melbourne so I have been here since. I stopped running in Manila and apart from about 10 gym trips for the year, I let all fitness go. I got worse in Melbourne and put on a lot of weight, peaking at about 18 stone in early February. Physically, I was a complete mess.

After being roped into running a charity race on April 1st, I went out on Febraury 10th for my first attempt to run/exercise in nearly 9 months. I got about 1km jogging and almost died. It was embarrassing. I overhauled my diet completely, cut back on the beer and started running and going to the gym 5 times a week.

The weight has been coming off, fitness returning slowly and on Sunday I lined up for a 14.3km charity event (Run for Kids). The goal was 75 minutes and I managed to get around in 68.55 after spending the first 3km navigating through thousands of people. Literally thousands: there was 25000 or so doing the longer race and i seemed to be about one third of the way back on the start line.

I'm enjoying running again so the next aim is the Run Melbourne 10k road race in July with the stated goal of going under 40 minutes. I went through 10k on Sunday in 48.12 so it is a very doable task in 3 months without much risk of pushing the body too hard.

I will also have a crack at the sub 5 mile in a couple of months when I am less fat. I have until August 10th to do it within a 6 month training period.

Log will be pretty boring for the duration as I attempt to get myself back into some form of reasonable shape but hopefully it keeps me focuses and hopefully I don't slip back into old habits.

Pisco Sour

myflipflops wrote: »

After much consideration, I'm going to pick up this log again. I don't want to start a new one as this is a remainder of the failure last time.

Last post was when I was in Manila around 18 months ago. Last September I was recruited to a job in Melbourne so I have been here since. I stopped running in Manila and apart from about 10 gym trips for the year, I let all fitness go. I got worse in Melbourne and put on a lot of weight, peaking at about 18 stone in early February. Physically, I was a complete mess.

After being roped into running a charity race on April 1st, I went out on Febraury 10th for my first attempt to run/exercise in nearly 9 months. I got about 1km jogging and almost died. It was embarrassing. I overhauled my diet completely, cut back on the beer and started running and going to the gym 5 times a week.

The weight has been coming off, fitness returning slowly and on Sunday I lined up for a 14.3km charity event (Run for Kids). The goal was 75 minutes and I managed to get around in 68.55 after spending the first 3km navigating through thousands of people. Literally thousands: there was 25000 or so doing the longer race and i seemed to be about one third of the way back on the start line.

I'm enjoying running again so the next aim is the Run Melbourne 10k road race in July with the stated goal of going under 40 minutes. I went through 10k on Sunday in 48.12 so it is a very doable task in 3 months without much risk of pushing the body too hard.

I will also have a crack at the sub 5 mile in a couple of months when I am less fat. I have until August 10th to do it within a 6 month training period.

Log will be pretty boring for the duration as I attempt to get myself back into some form of reasonable shape but hopefully it keeps me focuses and hopefully I don't slip back into old habits.

Good luck with the log. Hopefully it wont be long til you will be revisiting the glory days! You have a decent chunk of natural talent on your side so you are starting at an advantage to most other people who have to tackle the weight loss.

When you get yourself back into good shape you should consider the AV Shield for next track season starting in October. I've harped on enough about it on my log so I wont bother going into it too much other than saying it's a great setup.

dna_leri

Good luck with the come back.

How much weight did you put on during inactivity and how much more to get rid of?

Its brave to resurrect the past and also set tough goals for the near future, I'll be watching with interest.

Pisco Sour

There was some Aussie swimmer who has been to a few Olympics, might have won a medal or two, not sure. He won gold in the Comm Games. He quit swimming and put on a ridiculous amount of weight. He made a comeback, dropped all the weight and came 5th in the Olympic trials recently. Not enough to make the Olympic team but good going nonetheless. Dont ask me his name mind you! No idea.

myflipflops

dna_leri wrote: »

How much weight did you put on during inactivity and how much more to get rid of?

I was probably about 210lbs (I cannot remember exactly) when I arrived in Manila in October 2010. I peaked at about 250lbs late January just gone which was a disgrace. I have not weighed myself since then but 215-220lbs. The goal would be 190lbs by the time I take on the 10km race in July.

04072511 wrote: »

Hopefully it wont be long til you will be revisiting the glory days!

When you get yourself back into good shape you should consider the AV Shield for next track season starting in October.

The 'glory days' as they were are long gone! I think racing properly on the track again is a distant dream. I will settle for being in good general shape and enjoying my running again.

myflipflops

04072511 wrote: »

There was some Aussie swimmer who has been to a few Olympics, might have won a medal or two, not sure. He won gold in the Comm Games. He quit swimming and put on a ridiculous amount of weight. He made a comeback, dropped all the weight and came 5th in the Olympic trials recently. Not enough to make the Olympic team but good going nonetheless. Dont ask me his name mind you! No idea.

Ben St Lawrence is a good story. He is off to London in the 10k.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/archives/old-sport-pages/the-resurrection-of-ben-st-lawrence/story-e6frfgkx-1225967864169