Faster, Lighter, Stronger - the diary of a reluctant runner.

KillianByrne

Evening, I've seen many experienced posters recommend keeping a training log in order to keep me 'honest' in my endeavours. so thats what I'll do.

a little bit of background...

My main goal for the year was to run DCM 2012 which I did, in 4hr30.

I started 2012 off as a couch potato just under 19st7. I started to lose weight as a leader on the RTE tv programme Operation Transformation. Over the year I lost over 5 stone.

I was disappointed with my DCM time, I had aimed to follow the 4.15 pacers in what I thought was a conservative strategy. but reached 15 miles and started slowing up, I dropped pace and finished running so I was happy with that. I am delighted to be a marathoner but there is certainly some unfinished business left and I aim to put that right in 2013.

I have a number of races planned to date for 2013...

Malta Half Marathon 24th February
Great Limerick Run - Marathon - 5th May
Tri Athy Sprint Distance - June 1st
Marathon race series
DCM 2013

I will certainly add to this as time progresses.

My aim is to improve my current PB's by 10%, stay injury free and if I lose weight in the process then thats a bonus.

I am following a 'Runners World' training schedule geared specifically towards my 10% plan for the Great Limerick Run. I think one of my downfalls to date was not to consider the importance of the LSR (I ran them too fast) and benefits of restraint. This time around, I will always understand that I need to train slower in order to race faster.

I'm hanging around with the novice class of DCM 2012 on their 'What to do next' thread as well.

In the rest of my life, I am a small business owner working from home, and am married with 2 young children.

I'd welcome any interaction that experienced or novice athletes want to offer and I'd be happy to answer any questions or posts about my experiences on running, weight loss, TV or whatever you want to throw at me!... Thanks KB

KillianByrne

I'll start back one week. I felt good after DCM 12 - so much so I wondered if I really did try hard enough! my first run back was on saturday morning with a group I occasionally run with in Dun Laoghaire.

5.11miles
47min39sec
9.19per mile

I've already started off too fast!

ultraman1

best of luck with your training log and next years goals....

KillianByrne

10 mins core work done last night - tough but can see them getting easier. I'm up to here (see virtual hand at head) with planks, bridges, sit ups and the like. but aim to get them in 3 times a week before bed.

I've signed up to adult swimming lessons as well; I can swim, but I want to be able to build up endurance to swim for a long time both to prepare for TriAthy & to include a couple of hundred meters a week in a Xtrain session.

This weeks plan by the way is

Today - Easy Run - 6m @ 11min pace
Thursday - Speedwork - 1m warm up - 3x1m @ 8.50 pace (800 jog in between) - 1m warm down
Friday - Easy Run - 6m @ 11min pace
Sunday - Long Run - 14m @ 11min pace

BrokenMan

Best of luck with your goals and well done on the last year.

Just one thing I notice on your plan for the week is the speed work on Thursday. You need to be careful here, even if your legs are feeling ok after the marathon there will be a lot of lingering tiredness and micro damage still being repaired. Rushing back into speedwork too fast can lead to problems. Most people I know would take at least 2-3 weeks off speed trainig after a tough marathon to let the body recover. The last thing you want now is an injury.

LarMan

Well done Killian, I've often wondered how people on OT or other programs geton once the TV cameras dissapeared. I remember on the show you seemed to always have the best results. I suppose the fact that almost a year later you are still running and getting fitter is proof that you have the staying power to keep getting fitter an maintain your weight loss.

Since you said we could ask, what about the other leaders do you know how they are getting on, have they maintained their weight loss or did they regain it. As a yo yo dieter myself Iknow the hardest thing to do is keep the weight off once you lose it.

menoscemo

BrokenMan wrote: »

Best of luck with your goals and well done on the last year.

Just one thing I notice on your plan for the week is the speed work on Thursday. You need to be careful here, even if your legs are feeling ok after the marathon there will be a lot of lingering tiredness and micro damage still being repaired. Rushing back into speedwork too fast can lead to problems. Most people I know would take at least 2-3 weeks off speed trainig after a tough marathon to let the body recover. The last thing you want now is an injury.

+1, Speedwork will have it's time and place but I think it is too soon after the marathon (especially being a first time Marathoner). I would also question the value/wisdom of a 14m LSR this Sunday, I'd say 7-8 miles would be more than enough for now.

If you want to keep sharp I would recommend strides for now. Strides would typically be 5-6 bursts of 100m at the end of a run. You could do these on any of the easy days. If your target is to build up miles i would recommend adding a 5th easy day rather than adding speedwork/extending the LSR (for now).

KillianByrne

Thanks for the pointers and My general thoughts on the runs were that the times set on the plan are well off my traditional training pace (Marathon pace was 10.12per mile) and I assumed that the slow pace compensated for the distance. The speedwork required this week, would be at my traditional training pace - so no real extra effort required there.

I'll reassess the plan for the next couple of weeks, I'm new to this lark and having caught up on a couple of other posts elsewhere on boards, I'll throw in a few miles for the LSR at the weekend and just build up to the Waterford Half in december. - I'm not planning on pushing myself around that, just a decent run out.

Thanks for the input folks.

KillianByrne

LarMan wrote: »

Since you said we could ask, what about the other leaders do you know how they are getting on, have they maintained their weight loss or did they regain it. As a yo yo dieter myself Iknow the hardest thing to do is keep the weight off once you lose it.

Thanks LarMan, while on the programme it is easy to be focused when theres hals a million people watching you every week! afterwards, i just made sure I had goals to aim for, I got into the running and raced regularly, There was one period where I did 5 10k races in 4 weeks. When I ran while I was away on holidays I knew I was able to keep it up and the goal to run the marathon certainly kept me on the straight & narrow! I was also lucky enough that while running so much, I was able to keep the eating up (albeit healthy food) as I was expending so much in training.

The others are all good, Adrian & Natalie both walked the marathon & are keeping the weight off, Grace couldn't make it but is still about her finish weight but Kayleigh seems to have gone underground a little, I haven't heard much from here so I'm not sure where she's at.

Theres talk of the cameras coming back but who knows, theres not a lot of money sloshing about RTE at the moment so I don't know if they want to see us again!

KillianByrne

So I'm still fighting my food demons it seems, a week off after the Marathon makes it very easy to slip back into old habits! However at least now I've learned how to handle it. Missed yesterdays 6miles after feeling a bit low following a huge lunch & treats.

I'm definitely a morning runner, if I get up and get into the frame of mind then its OK, if I leave it, I'll slip & not get anything done.

Anyway, got up this morning, pulled on the tights and did yesterdays 6.2miles after dropping the kids to school.

My Runners World plan has it at 11min per mile which just felt like walking but managed to do 10.10 per mile which still felt too slow.

Another tick in the box.

DONE
6miles @ 10.10 per mile - 136bpm - 1018cal

KillianByrne

Taking your advice on board (kind of) I skipped a full on speed session on Thursday and instead did some work on a treadmill instead. Applied the same kind of reasoning (fast/slow) it was good to get the legs stretched out again. All in all, the machine said I covered about 5miles.

LSR on Sunday was great, 7 miles with the dog at 10.41mpm. felt at that pace like I could go on forever. It was great to run without fighting a watch or thinking about breathing, sweating, niggles, bumps or thinking how I would feel at the end.

I'm on the road a bit this week so fitting in runs will be fun, but generally hope to get out tonight & back to Dublin for the Mark Pollack run and out again on Friday & Sunday.