Back in the Game

MiNdGaM3

Hello all.
A little back story. Started running around the end of 2010 and had built up to 8km by early 2011. Around February of that year I started getting knee pain which fit the description of runners knee and by the end of March I'd stopped running completely. With that, I decided to do some strengthening and took up cycling instead until I could get back to running.
The cycling was going well, had managed over 100km a few times without pain so I signed up for a charity event whereby we cycled from Cork to Killarney, then climbed Carrauntoohil. Unfortunately, half way through the cycle, the familiar pain returned to my knee, but being stubborn and having collected the money, I kept going, got my knee wrapped before the climb and finished the event, trying to put as little pressure on my right knee as possible.
It did some damage.
The pain didn't fade much over the next few weeks and I couldn't even cycle for 5 minutes without limping for several days. The injury had affected my gait, and I developed problems with my SI joint on the left side too!
Around October, I think, I began seeing a physio. That ended in January of this year but yielded no change, still in near constant pain. My doc then arranged for me to see a rheumatologist. The next week I recieved my appointment date, SEPTEMBER 2014!
I had to try something else and so started seeing an osteopath in April, which finally began to help! My knee is about 75-80% better, whilst my SI joint has improved too, but not quite as much.
The improvement was enough so that I got the go ahead to start running again at the beginning of June and have gradually built up to running my first 10k on the road today (did it on the treadmill on Monday, which I don't really count:D), which felt great and surprisingly easy.
I'm finally beginning to feel excited about getting back to running and cycling again, and have the goal of doing a half marathon in September, and possibly a duathlon, depending on how things go.

tl:dr- Did a little running, got injured early last year, only recovered enough to start again last month, managed 10k today, aim to do a half marathon in September.

Last week

Monday
10km on treadmill, 55:30

Wednesday
Intervals (1km HIIT- 500m incline jog-repeat) 8km total

Friday
10km on the road, 53:06

MiNdGaM3

Saturday Light Recovery
5km on treadmill, 28:35

Rest tomorrow and then an attempt at doing 10k in under 50 minutes on the treadmill on Monday

MiNdGaM3

Just added up how much I've run since starting early June and realise I passed the 100km mark today, currently at 102km.

Also if anyone happens to be reading and has any suggestions for some realistic goals I should aim for or anything like that, do feel free to mention them! If it matters at all, I'm male and 24.

MiNdGaM3

Managed just 6km today in about 31 minutes. The muscle on the outside of my left shin started tightening up and getting a little sore so I stopped early.
I then cycled 10k in around 15 minutes to try and make up for the lost running time. Ah well.

MiNdGaM3

Wednesday 18th

Treadmill: 4km run + 1km 5% incline walk, 35 minutes total.

MiNdGaM3

Friday 20th July

5km run in 25:40. Will get under 25 minutes next time!

career_move

You could do the jogforjockeys in Limerick racecourse Sun week. Its only 5km so wouldn't be too much of a strain for you:D

MiNdGaM3

Sunday 22nd
13.7km on the road today in 75 minutes, my longest run so far!

Sorry career_move, €25 for a 5km run is a bit steep for me. Good luck with it though.

MiNdGaM3

July 24th

5km this morning in 24:36. My aim was sub 25, so I'm happy with that, twas tougher than I'd expected though.

RayCun

MiNdGaM3 wrote: »

Friday 20th July

5km run in 25:40. Will get under 25 minutes next time!

MiNdGaM3 wrote: »

July 24th

5km this morning in 24:36. My aim was sub 25, so I'm happy with that, twas tougher than I'd expected though.

Stop racing yourself

MiNdGaM3

RayCun wrote: »

Stop racing yourself

I'm using the excuse that my osteo told me to really push myself over the next while to see if any of my knee problems flare up, so, yep, that's what I'll say I'm doing...
Having looked through the "Best of 2012" thread and realising how much faster people are than me doesn't detract from my motivation though! Damn competitive streak:pac:

RayCun

MiNdGaM3 wrote: »

Having looked through the "Best of 2012" thread and realising how much faster people are than me doesn't detract from my motivation though! Damn competitive streak:pac:

You'll notice that all of the people in the Best of 2012 thread achieved their times in races. There are no prizes for 'fastest 5k in training'.

MiNdGaM3

RayCun wrote: »

You'll notice that all of the people in the Best of 2012 thread achieved their times in races. There are no prizes for 'fastest 5k in training'.

I realise that, but it's nice to have something to aim for.

RayCun

Sure, I know, and it's nice to get the feedback on your progress when you run a faster time. But it's a short-term boost that hurts your longer term accomplishment. It's not the best way to get better at running 5ks.

You'll make more progress if you run most of your runs easy, at about the same pace you went on your longer run. Running easy means you recover faster, can run more often, and are in better condition when you run faster... perhaps in an interval session once a week. There are a lot of faster sessions you could do -
10 x 400m
6 x 800m
2 x 20 minutes
in each case, go as fast as you can while doing each interval at the same pace. Better to do all 10 400s in 90 seconds than to do some in 85 and some in 95. Jog, walk, or rest completely between each faster interval. Don't worry about exact distance, a loop in your local park is fine. Don't do the same session every week, mix them up to improve different elements of your running fitness.
And sign up for some races! You will run faster in a race than on your own, and it's much better feedback on your training.

MiNdGaM3

RayCun wrote: »

Sure, I know, and it's nice to get the feedback on your progress when you run a faster time. But it's a short-term boost that hurts your longer term accomplishment. It's not the best way to get better at running 5ks.

You'll make more progress if you run most of your runs easy, at about the same pace you went on your longer run. Running easy means you recover faster, can run more often, and are in better condition when you run faster... perhaps in an interval session once a week. There are a lot of faster sessions you could do -
10 x 400m
6 x 800m
2 x 20 minutes
in each case, go as fast as you can while doing each interval at the same pace. Better to do all 10 400s in 90 seconds than to do some in 85 and some in 95. Jog, walk, or rest completely between each faster interval. Don't worry about exact distance, a loop in your local park is fine. Don't do the same session every week, mix them up to improve different elements of your running fitness.
And sign up for some races! You will run faster in a race than on your own, and it's much better feedback on your training.

Cheers for that! I actually do some interval work, but only put down the average speed and distance on here. I'm gonna do some cross trainer and bike stuff tomorrow, and then on Thursday I'll be doing intervals around a football field, the perimeter of which is about 470m.

My training up to this point hasn't been very consistent due to still having some slight issues with my knee and back during the beginning, but my general plan for the next few weeks is for a short fast pace run on Tuesday, intervals on Thursday and then a long slower run on either Saturday or Sunday. Does that seem ok?

RayCun

MiNdGaM3 wrote: »

my general plan for the next few weeks is for a short fast pace run on Tuesday, intervals on Thursday and then a long slower run on either Saturday or Sunday. Does that seem ok?

I would do either the pace run or the intervals, but not both, and replace the other with an easy run. Even better, replace the other with two easy runs. Your time spent running/distance run will increase, which will improve your running economy and aerobic fitness, for the same cost in fatigue.

MiNdGaM3

RayCun wrote: »

I would do either the pace run or the intervals, but not both, and replace the other with an easy run. Even better, replace the other with two easy runs. Your time spent running/distance run will increase, which will improve your running economy and aerobic fitness, for the same cost in fatigue.

How about replacing the fast paced Tuesday run with a slowish 10km on Monday and maybe have the Tuesday as a slow 5km recovery run?

RayCun

MiNdGaM3 wrote: »

How about replacing the fast paced Tuesday run with a slowish 10km on Monday and maybe have the Tuesday as a slow 5km recovery run?

Yep, that would work. You still have your intervals on Thursday but you've increased your weekly distance by 10k (about 20-25%?) and you shouldn't be any more tired than usual.

MiNdGaM3

July 26th Intervals.

Ran around a football pitch, which I measured to be 470m on Google Earth.

Did 13 laps, with every second lap as the fast one.
The fast lap were as follow
2:05
2:01
1:50
1:53
1:55
2:00

While the slower laps were about 3:25 each (7 in total)
So all together about 6.1km in 34 minutes

MiNdGaM3

June 28th

15.2km, in 1:17:45
Average Speed 11.7km/h

Enjoyed that, felt quite easy, and much easier than last weekends long run. I do some form of exercise 6 days each week now, so I'll enjoy my day off tomorrow!

MiNdGaM3

July 30th

10km in 49:50. About 12km/h overall.
Did 5km around on the road and then 5km around the Mardyke pitch (11 laps). My left ankle was a little stiff while on the road so took it a little easy, but after 2-3 laps on the grass it felt fine. Bit of foam rolling after, hopefully 'tis ok.

My total so far since starting in early June has just reached 162km now, so that's the 100 mile mark broken.

EDIT: Just realise I forgot to log a run, just 5km, but that's my total at 167km or 103miles!

MiNdGaM3

After running the 15km the weekend before last, then 10km 2 days later, my Achilles on the left was none too happy! I took a few days off running then, did some cycling and cross trainer. Then had a session with the osteo on Friday, so had to spend the weekend recovering from that. But I've been gradually back at it since Monday.
A slow 3km on Monday, took about 20 minutes.
A relatively quick 5km on Tuesday, in 24:40.
Today I did some easy hill work on the treadmill, covered 7.6km in 60 minutes, most of which was light running, with a total elevation climb of just under 500m.

MiNdGaM3

15.9km today in 1:29:56

MiNdGaM3

12km on Thursday, and 3.6km of hills intervals on the treadmill today.

MiNdGaM3

5km of hills intervals on the treadmill yesterday.

5.2km run this morning on the road, in about 24:19, which included 23:30 for the 5k, so beat my old 5k time by over a minute without pushing too hard.

MiNdGaM3

Had numerous short runs, intervals and hills over the last week or so, totalling about 20km.

Today I had my last long run before my first half marathon the weekend after next.
Ran 16.1km in 1:21:19, averaged about 11.9km/h. Easy enough.

I'll aim to finish the half marathon in under 1 hour 50.

MiNdGaM3

Since the last update I've done a number of faily short runs and some HIIT sessions, leading up to the St. Finbarrs AC Cork Half Marathon yesterday, my first half marathon.

It was generally quite good. My initial goal for this was under 1:50. So I stuck with the 1:45 pacer without too much difficulty until about 2 miles to go. With that going so well, I'd hoped to speed up over the last 1.5 miles to finish in the low 1:40s.
Unfortunately, my right leg began to stiffen up, and over the last 1.5 miles instead of speeding up, I had to slow down and stop to stretch a few times as my quads started cramping!
Anywho, I finished in 1:47:05 by the chip (1:47:20 by the gun), which was under my goal time of 1:50. I can't help but feel a little disappointed knowing I could have probably knocked another 5 minutes off that quite easily.
A very well organised race, plenty of water stations, food and drink afterwards, lots of marshals and a pretty good experience overall!

MiNdGaM3

15 mins on the cross trainer and a 2km easy run on the treadmill this morning. I'm still limping a little but feeling much improved on yesterday!

My general plan is to work on low intensity cardio for the next month to reach my 10% body fat goal by early October, (have already dropped to 13.3% from 24.6% in May).
After that, I'm gonna start working on improving my 10k time with the goal of entering the Clonakilty 10k in December, with the aim of finishing in under 40 mins.
After that, I'll start working more towards half marathon distance again and hopefully enter one in March, goal of sub 1:30.
Then my plan is to work towards running a full marathon at the end of summer or early Autumn, with a preliminary goal of finishing under 3:20.