New runner

Juniorhurler

To give you the background
I am 31 years old, 6'2" and weigh 15st5lbs as of half an hour ago.
I played senior club hurling and football up to 3 years ago and due to work and family commitments, 2 young kids and a promotion in work, @ the time I dropped down the levels to intermediate (playing with the second teams in both codes). As I went down the levels so did my training. Last year as the kids were a little older and I had got on top of my role in work, I started to play just hurling at senior again but struggled for fitness.

To rectify this I have started running since mid December. Here's the thing, I love doing it. I want to keep up the running as well as the hurling training which is back next monday night. I will probably be training 3 times per week for hurling plus a match. I would hope to get in two runs of about 5-6 miles per week as well.

I only started timing myself in the last week and a half as I stared to really enjoy the running. A few times from the last week,
5 miles 21/1/12 in 43.01
5.5 miles 27/1/12 in 43.58
4 miles 29/1/12 in 33.01
4.5 miles 31/1/12 in 34.20
4 miles 2/2/12 in 29.57
3.2 miles 3/2/12 in 22.17

My first goal this year is to run in the hope and dream 10k in April. I hope to go sub 50 mins. How am I doing so far?

Juniorhurler

5 miles in 37.11 this evening. 10k is roughly 6.25 miles so at 7.26 per mile is 45.23. I am delighted with this as a sub 45 10k is the aim.

RayCun

45 minute 10k is 7.14 a mile.
See the McMillan calculator

Juniorhurler

RayCun wrote: »

45 minute 10k is 7.14 a mile.
See the McMillan calculator

Thanks for the link RAycun. Advice and links like that are why I started a training log. Took a night off last night. Time will be tight tonight too so I hope to just get in a sneaky 3-4 miler.

Juniorhurler

Got out for the run tonight after. 5 miles in 38 minutes dead. I would like to have done this in about 36 but hey it is a 5 minute improvement in a fortnight so I suppose I am happy enough.

Patrick_K

Juniorhurler you're well on track to hit a sub 45 min 10K in April at your rate of improvement but you'd want to be careful ....
Are you trying to beat your own times everytime you go out?
If so it's a sure fire way to get injured.
Really you should be running at an easy pace for ~80% of your runs and maybe do one faster run per week.
It's probably worth your while taking a look at a training programme to see what you should be doing, e.g. - http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51123/10K-Intermediate-Training-Program

PK

Juniorhurler

Patrick_K wrote: »

Juniorhurler you're well on track to hit a sub 45 min 10K in April at your rate of improvement but you'd want to be careful ....
Are you trying to beat your own times everytime you go out?
If so it's a sure fire way to get injured.
Really you should be running at an easy pace for ~80% of your runs and maybe do one faster run per week.
It's probably worth your while taking a look at a training programme to see what you should be doing, e.g. - http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51123/10K-Intermediate-Training-Program

PK

Yeah I kind of have been doing this as in training with GAA teams you kind of go flat out when you're at it. The old saying gets used, "sport hurts, go hard or go home". Thanks for the link Patrick K. I might use the GAA training as speed work and use the rest of that Hal Higdon programme for stamina and some tempo runs.

Patrick_K

I know what you mean, I came to running from a GAA background myself and struggled with not doing everything at 100% until I learned the hard way.

To be honest the two of them don't really sit together that well but your suggestion of GAA training for speedwork and running for stamina and maybe tempo is about as good as you can do.

PK

Juniorhurler

O.k,
last night was hurling training so no run per se but lots of running if you know what I mean.

Tonight I did 5 miles taking the advice from Hal Higdons training programme and running at a conversational speed or a little stronger and clocked 40.09. I am happy with this tbh taking Patrick Ks advice on board.

Juniorhurler

O.k last night I only did a 4 mile run and didn't get a time on it as I had to make a stop en route and I had left the stopwatch at home:rolleyes: rookie mistake.

Tonight is hurling training and again tomorrow at 4 so I won't get out til Sunday for a run. I am hoping to build up the distance a little to maybe 6-6.5 miles on Sunday and see how I go.

drnchdfitness

Good that you've started running. Keep it up! Stay fit!

Juniorhurler

O.K just back in from a bit of a trot. Did just under 6 miles in 44.57 after a day where I drove 320 miles in the jeep and felt really stiff in the first mile or so. Really happy with how I feel and happy with the time too.

Juniorhurler

I haven't posted for almost a week. The reason for this is depression on a grand scale. I went out on Monday 13th (unlucky for some) and pulled my calf muscle a mile and a half in. Have been with the physio a couple of times and am hoping to be back into it in the middle of the week.
I will post updates in the middle of the week.

alitoast

You'll be back (they always come back!!). Don't worry too much about the injury, I'm similar to yourself, 32 and running now instead of Gaelic football and love it. Funny enough I had problems with my calves tightening when I started too, may be something to do with swapping the field for the running?

Great times too, but I agree with previous poster, I used to go out and try and beat my time every night but i find varying it up helps a lot. Some experienced boardies on here with some great advice

Juniorhurler

Hurling training at 9 this morning so the team physio rubbed out the calves and I got stuck in. There was a good bit of sprint work, various distances from 60-120 metres. The calves are a little stiff now tonight. Using a foam roller and ice n them all day. Hope to get out for a 5 miler or so after work and putting the kids to bed tomorrow. Will update this log then.

Juniorhurler

O.k so I got out tonight for a run and am just back and out of the shower.
I did 4 miles. I decided to stop at that cos 1. Hurling training tomorrow night and 2. I really missed the weeks training from the calf muscle injury and 3. I think the sprint work really took it out of me yesterday, I was stiff as a post and sore too. With all of this said, I covered the 4 miles in 30.45 and the calf muscle held up so I suppose not too bad.

The other good news is I hadn't jumped on the scales since starting this log and I have lost 3lbs so now weigh 15st 2lbs.

belcarra

That's a common theme for GAA training and to a lesser extent Soccer training - 110% from the first training session back regardless of recovery times!
It was the same when I used to play GAA down home and may never change but it might be worth having a word with the trainer to say you are doing all this other stuff on the side and that it would be appreciated if there was a bit more thought put into recovery, and building up sessions more slowly through the early part of the season rather than trying to get max 'bang for your buck'! (Of course he's unlikely to do this specially for just yourself, but the other guys may be in a similar boat...)

If you weren't as sore from GAA you would have ran further tonight and would be fitter getting to training tomorrow night. As it is you may still be suffering muscle soreness tomorrow instead so the full-on sessions are leading to poorer overall fitness levels.

Maybe a more holistic view of training and season build-up would be worth a go from the gaffer?!

Juniorhurler

belcarra wrote: »

That's a common theme for GAA training and to a lesser extent Soccer training - 110% from the first training session back regardless of recovery times!
It was the same when I used to play GAA down home and may never change but it might be worth having a word with the trainer to say you are doing all this other stuff on the side and that it would be appreciated if there was a bit more thought put into recovery, and building up sessions more slowly through the early part of the season rather than trying to get max 'bang for your buck'! (Of course he's unlikely to do this specially for just yourself, but the other guys may be in a similar boat...)

If you weren't as sore from GAA you would have ran further tonight and would be fitter getting to training tomorrow night. As it is you may still be suffering muscle soreness tomorrow instead so the full-on sessions are leading to poorer overall fitness levels.

Maybe a more holistic view of training and season build-up would be worth a go from the gaffer?!

Belcarra, you are talking to the converted. I am working hard on the side doing other training as are about 10-12 others from the panel of 25. Problem is the Gaffer always sees the half that need to be driven on.

I have decided that the best way to approach this is to mind myself as best as possible away from training and on recovery i.e doing loads of stretching on days after training, use of ice baths after GAA and running training and just generally eating really healthily and getting loads of sleep (up from 6-7 hrs to 8-9 hrs), drinking loads of water, avoiding alcohol bar special occasions and generally being disciplined.

belcarra

No doubt you are doing everything right indeed, it was just a general view on the fact that so much of club training can be counter productive.
It seems that for putting in 110% effort players only get 75% reward when if they put in 'just'(!) 100% effort they'd be much closer to getting 100% reward!

Keep up the good work yourself!

Juniorhurler

O.k,

I haven't updated this since Monday so day by day,

Tuesday
Hurling training, again with a lot of sprint work so was quite sore on Wednesday.

Wednesday
Calves were quite tight so decided on a terrain change and ran laps of a football pitch. I didn't count them but ran for 40 minutes.

Thursday
Hurling training. A lighter session than tuesdays but did include 14 sprints 80m long and a 40 minute match.

Friday
Calves felt really loose and I felt good so decided to up my distance a bit. I ran 7.8 miles in 1hr00.42. I still felt that I could have done another couple of miles and was really happy with the run.
A mate from work was transferring to another office after yesterday so I then really treated myself like an athlete and went and drank about 12 pints of Carlsberg so todays log is very short, on the couch eating rubbish but doing it in record times.:D

Juniorhurler

No run yesterday as we had hurling training again. Really looking forward to getting out tonight. Have been stretching and drinking loads of water all day in anticipation of doing about 7-8 miles. Hope nothing happens to get in the way of it now!

Juniorhurler

7 miles in 54.36

Juniorhurler

Got out tonight for a 7.8 mile route about home. It cost me 1:00:40 of my life. After playing the first hurling match of the year last night and doing twenty minutes training after the match I am happy with the run. Another match the night after tomorrow so I may take a rest night tomorrow night or maybe the feet will get itchy, who knows?

Juniorhurler

Feet got itchy. 4.1 miles 33.44.

belcarra

You may have been better off taking last nights run a bit slower and treating it as a recovery run seeing as you had a match 2 days ago and another this evening. The 8 mile run will have taken a little out of you as well I imagine. Basically it's the old adage 'choose your battles' and let your body recover in between.
Keep an eye on the energy levels tonight to see if you're lagging at all. If not then great, but if you are then perhaps take a re-read of the above.

I am a great believer in recovery runs as opposed to total rest days so as I say just take the runs that bit handier (Maybe something like 36mins instead of 33:44). However sometimes you will be just wrecked or have something on so total rest days have their place too!

Juniorhurler

belcarra wrote: »

You may have been better off taking last nights run a bit slower and treating it as a recovery run seeing as you had a match 2 days ago and another this evening. The 8 mile run will have taken a little out of you as well I imagine. Basically it's the old adage 'choose your battles' and let your body recover in between.
Keep an eye on the energy levels tonight to see if you're lagging at all. If not then great, but if you are then perhaps take a re-read of the above.

I am a great believer in recovery runs as opposed to total rest days so as I say just take the runs that bit handier (Maybe something like 36mins instead of 33:44). However sometimes you will be just wrecked or have something on so total rest days have their place too!

Yeah the 8 miler did leave me tired yesterday morning. I need to buy myself a gps watch to track my mile splits. I was aiming for about 9-9:20 a mile last night but ended up going faster.
I find that when I'm running my mind wanders and I tend to speed up. I also find that livelier music on the ipod causes me to move faster so maybe a recovery run playlist of slower songs might not be a bad idea. Has anybody else done this?

belcarra

Juniorhurler wrote: »

Yeah the 8 miler did leave me tired yesterday morning. I need to buy myself a gps watch to track my mile splits. I was aiming for about 9-9:20 a mile last night but ended up going faster.
I find that when I'm running my mind wanders and I tend to speed up. I also find that livelier music on the ipod causes me to move faster so maybe a recovery run playlist of slower songs might not be a bad idea. Has anybody else done this?

Personally, I used to listen to music when I started running first (And I'm into music anyways) but over the past few years I stopped listening to it when running as it causes too much distraction. This may sound like it's impossible as long runs especially seem so boring but you kind of get into it. I'm not saying don't listen to music but perhaps for the shorter runs like 4 miles, etc. give it a go for a while without music. This way you will take more notice of your running pace, form, effort, etc. which should lead to more improvement. You can stick with the music for the longer runs if it seems too boring:).

Aldi/Lidl do cheap HRM + watches if you want to keep an eye on HR. I use a Garmin 305 for my runs which I think can be sourced on the net for about €100-€130.

The temptation is to go fast for all the runs when you are starting out but this can be very counter-productive and lead to injuries often, so in future insist on yourself keeping at a nice easy pace on runs like last night.

Juniorhurler

Yeah I bought a watch in Lidl so timing is grand its just knowing where the mile markers are. I think I may just invest in a garmin, I had been putting it off cos I wanted to see would I stick with the running before I bought. Birthday very soon so I might requiest one of these as a pressie.

Juniorhurler

Hadn't got a run in since Thursday. Had a hurling match friday night, training saturday and had hurl shaped bruises all over me yesterday so I took a rest. I got back out tonight and ran 5.2 miles in 37:23. I have training again tomorrow night so hope to get out for about 8 miles on Wednesday night.

Juniorhurler

Hurling training on Tuesday night. Got out last night for a run but the wife had to get to a meeting so I only had enough time to stay out for a five miler. Did 5.2 in 38:22.

Have a hurling matxch tomorrow (Friday) night, one Saturday and one next Tuesday so I will give myself a night off tonight. Sunday I might try to get in a SLOW recovery run. Those who said hurling and running were hard to balance weren't joking.

Juniorhurler

O.k folks. Its a long time since I was in here to update this. However I have kept up the running and did meet my 10k target of sub 45. My best so far for this distance is 42:56.
I have also done a half marathon. Just the one so far. My time in this was 1:39:41. I found this distance reasonably easy, so wait for it, I am now targetting the Kildare marathon next April. I am currently doing between 30 and 40 miles a week and plan to follow the Hal Higdon intermediate training plan from January on. For the moment I plan to continue on with the current level of milage until the new year.
By the way, I am also the lightest I have ever been at 13 stone even. And I used to think I was fit at 14st7lb.