Confessions of a never has been.....

AuldManKing

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Poor AMK, seems he is neither seen nor heard

Duanington wrote: »

Yeah, it was actually one of the other lads that mentioned AMK had said that to me in Dunboyne......don't remember spotting him there myself :pac:

I was going to be sympathetic, but not now.
After you F*(k up your next race, I'll have another diagnosis for you

In all seriousness, its an issue that we're all guilty of - we don't want to hear or admit to bigger issues.

I used to be great at taking iron supplements - our coach advocated that all athletes take them from time to time.
Must add them to the shopping list - my red meat intake isn't great.

And for that clip - I listened to it twice for old times sake. Loved that show.

annapr

Hey DD, I was nervous starting to read your update... relieved that you got to the bottom of the issue and you can deal with it. Good luck with the recovery!

Duanington

AuldManKing wrote: »

I was going to be sympathetic, but not now.
After you F*(k up your next race, I'll have another diagnosis for you

In all seriousness, its an issue that we're all guilty of - we don't want to hear or admit to bigger issues.

I used to be great at taking iron supplements - our coach advocated that all athletes take them from time to time.
Must add them to the shopping list - my red meat intake isn't great.

And for that clip - I listened to it twice for old times sake. Loved that show.

ha ha - no doubt you will A!

Yep, something that I used to be mindful of actually but just let it slip over the last year or so. Lesson well and truly learned there!

Great show, I'm currently planning the 2018 remake with L

Duanington

annapr wrote: »

Hey DD, I was nervous starting to read your update... relieved that you got to the bottom of the issue and you can deal with it. Good luck with the recovery!

Thanks A - I'll be taking time out of the recovery to get out and roar you on in a couple of weeks

Kennyg71

Good to see your on way back, nice to smell the roses for a while though.:)

Duanington

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Good to see your on way back, nice to smell the roses for a while though.:)

Thanks G

RedRunner

Good to see you got to the bottom of it D. Hope you are back on an even keel soon!

annapr

Duanington wrote: »

Thanks A - I'll be taking time out of the recovery to get out and roar you on in a couple of weeks

Good stuff, I'll need all the support I can get :cool:

Mrs Mc

Good to see ya back D take it handy

Duanington

Mrs Mc wrote: »

Good to see ya back D take it handy

Thanks A - handy is the name of the game for few more weeks !

Younganne

good to see you got to the bottom of it. mind yourself and we'll see you tearing around those races again in no time.

Duanington

Younganne wrote: »

good to see you got to the bottom of it. mind yourself and we'll see you tearing around those races again in no time.

Thanks A - fingers crossed I'll be back at it before too long alright

Back in Black

Good to see you back at it D and glad you got to the bottom of it!

Duanington

Back in Black wrote: »

Good to see you back at it D and glad you got to the bottom of it!

Thanks J - hope all is well with you

Duanington

19.10.2017

7th day on the iron supplements and there are definite little differences becoming apparent. In general terms, resting heart rate appears to be dropping ever so slightly day by day, concentration levels are improving ( I didn't actually realise they had dropped....but they had !), general energy levels are creeping back from the abyss.

As for the running, well....

Friday - 4.9 miles very easy around St Anne's....all well over the 9 min mile mark

Saturday - 3.5 sweaty miles around St Anne's, this was the kind of run that perfectly summed up the last 5 months or so....sweaty, uncomfortable, breathing way too fast, tired legs and no fun at all.....again, well over the 9 min mile mark.

Sunday - 4.2 easy miles up and down the coast, slightly less uncomfortable than the previous day's run but it was colder and there was a lovely hazy rain falling too.

Monday - couldn't get out in the morning and stayed indoors for the afternoon

Tuesday - Run home from work with a little extra thrown in in St Anne's. 6.2 easy miles.....no watch, I'd guess the pace was around 9 min\miles

Wednesday - Run home from work, bumped into FBOT and we headed out towards Howth for a little bit before turning for home. 7.5 miles ( guessing) at around 9 min\miles......definitely a very slight improvement in how I felt on this one....in that I enjoyed it !

Thursday - decided to throw in one of the light sessions that L has been sending my way of late, 6-8x 60 seconds with 2-3 minutes recovery.....focusing on form and turnover as opposed to really bursting out the gate.

Ran a few easy miles around St Anne's, feeling not entirely crappy along the way...then started out on the faster stuff.

I've done this type of session a good bit over the last while as we tried to figure out what was going on and each time I've enjoyed it but had that sense of anxiety with most of the reps...sometimes quite obvious and less so other times.....today was different, there was none of that, plenty of blowing hard and a distinct lack of fitness but it felt a teeny bit different to how the session felt last time ( or any other session since April\May to be honest).

Can't quite put my finger on it felt more like a mini session and less like a few minutes of torture....

Paces on each rep varied from 5.20 up to 6.....which doesn't really matter, it was windy and I'm not fit but this felt ever so slightly different to last time out

Finished off with some easy miles for home to bring the total to 8

Bits of core\weights throughout the week too, no point in going too heavy on that stuff while I'm trying to build up the iron stores though

Duanington

22.10.2017


Friday

Run home from work + a bit extra in and around St Anne's. The wind was pretty horrific for the first half but we managed to dodge it a bit in and around the park trails.

8 miles easy

Core\weigts



Saturday

Took the rare option of an extra hours kip then headed out in the early afternoon in the lashing rain. To be honest, I could have put this off until the rain stopped but decided I needed the little bit of mental toughness that comes with trudging around the muck in that kind of weather

6.1 miles easy

Core\stretching later


Sunday


Out and at it just before the sun went down after a pretty relaxed day. The mini session on the cards was really another strides\form\turnover based one:

3 x (6x30 seconds) - 90 second easy between reps and 3 minutes easy between sets


Ran some easy stuff through St Anne's before making my way onto the coast ( perfect evening for it) and getting started on the faster stuff.

Really enjoyed this one, I pushed things once or twice but in general there was control and good form at play. I could feel a little fatique building towards the end of each set ( by maybe the 5th rep) but nothing major to be fair.


Finished off with some easy stuff to bring the total to 10 miles

Just over 46 miles for the week.

Some very small signs of improvement on the iron front this week which is encouraging, its going to take time and patience to build the system back up though so I'm not getting carried away.

ThebitterLemon

Jazus you're running at my level now, definitely time for a running date

Best of luck with the return to fitness

TbL

Duanington

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Jazus you're running at my level now, definitely time for a running date

Best of luck with the return to fitness

TbL

If by running at your level you mean gasping and spluttering through most runs then yes, yes I am :pac:

Thanks C - the fitness recovery won't happen overnight but I'm fairly sure once the iron levels start to normalise it will happen soon after

( I'm waiting eagerly by the phone now by the way)

Duanington

26.10.2017


Monday

4.6 easy miles, in and around Ringsend

Tuesday

Orders were for no more than 80 minutes running this evening so I planned to meet Yaboya on his runmute home and divert somewhere along the way back to Clontarf. Took a wrong turn after leaving Yaboya so ended up running a bit longer than planned, felt fine though and bumped into Murph and FBOT....both lads in tip top shape ahead of this weekend.

Anyway, I ended up with just over 11 miles for the lot


Wednesday

Runmute home - 5.5 easy miles

Thursday

First session of the week and a chance to test the system a little;

Plan was for 5x4 minutes @ 6.30-6.40 with 2 minutes easy recovery ( with the option of extending that if I was gasping)

Ran this in and around St Anne's and it wasn't as bad as I had feared it would be, had to push a little bit towards the end of the last 2 reps but other than that it was just a case of finding the rhythm and holding it.

Paces worked out as :

6.26
6.28
6.33
6.23
6.28

Effort wise, this felt tough..ish ...certainly not easy or steady but not lung bursting either.
Another small step forward

9.1 miles for the day


A sprinkling of weights and core work thrown in this week too

Duanington

03.11.2017


Friday

5 miles easy - runmute from work, can't remember this at all but kept the pace way down


Saturday

Session time again - with plans to help get some friends into the marathon the following morning, spectate\support and then celebrate\commiserate afterwards...I knew I'd be stuck for time so went back to my old routine of Saturday morning sessions


Plan for today was 3x(6x30 seconds - 60 seconds recovery and 3 minutes between sets)

Decided to run this on the grass in St Anne's, again just like the good old days and instructions were to focus on form\turnover for the duration of each 30 second rep.

Flew through most of these, hitting good paces along the way but there was a bit of fatique in the legs by the time the last couple came around.

Good turnover session all the same, paces were all sub 5k pace

Easy miles either side to warm up\down

Sunday

A few easy miles around St Anne's


Monday

A new week begins and instructions for this week were to shorten the length slightly on the easy runs and up the pace slightly, while things are definitely starting to feel a bit less strenuous, 9 min miles are a slog....8.30 is a slog and 9.30 is a slog......time to attempt a bit of a reset and see where I land.

Out Southside for this one, pretty bumpy route, looked at the watch for a mile or two then just ran....7.54 min\miles for 5 miles and it felt good. Strange


Tuesday

80 minutes running on the cards tonight, off out after work, straight into the stride and back towards Clontarf, dropped off my back and ran around one of the more bumpy routes in the area. Had a bit of company towards the end which brought the pace up a little but still, a pretty enjoyable 10 miles @ 7.49 min\miles

Wednesday

Runmute home - 5 miles, no watch but around 8 min\miles


Thursday

Session day today, on paper it looked like a shorter version of one that I struggled with before I knew about my iron woes

2x(4,3,2,1 minutes) 75 seconds recovery and 5 minutes easy between sets

Instructions were to run reps at around 6.15-6.30 pace , after a very short warm up I got going, again around the grass pitches in St Anne's

I like running these types of sessions on grass but I also find the watch useless with all the tree cover around the edges of the field so I tried to focus on effort for almost all of this one.....the problem here is that I don't actually know the effort right now, 7 min pace felt like 6 min pace a few weeks ago so how was I going to judge this ( mistake)

Anyway, got through the first set fine and found the second set a bit of a shock to the system but settled well after the 4 minute section....3 minutes done, 2 minutes done, 1 minutes done......wow, a half decent session done !

A short warm down and back to work.

Checking afterwards, the effort was generally too high for this, especially given it was on grass - which is silly but understandable really, I've zero confidence with any running at pace at the moment and while I can feel strength and fitness returning ( no doubt as the iron levels are rising), I have felt so bad for so long that I find it tough to judge the effort. A few more of these and I should get a better feel for it.

Reps
4,3,2,1 - 6.16, 6.09, 5.56, 5.52
4,3,2,1 - 6.12, 6.18, 6.02, 5.39

OOnegative

Some solid improvement already D, great to see.

Duanington

OOnegative wrote: »

Some solid improvement already D, great to see.

Thanks B - I'm not getting carried away, I've a long way to go yet but yep, there are small signs there for sure

Duanington

05.11.2017

Friday - standard Runmute home from work, slightly slower pace than normal ( following orders) but still enjoyable, lovely evening for it

5.2 miles@8.30

Saturday


Session planned for today was another fartlek style one:

10x60 seconds on, 2 minutes easy between

Got up earlyish and headed out on to the coast road to get this one done, a shorter than usual warmup done ( again, following orders), I started on the faster section

Really enjoyed the first 4\5 and didn't really push too hard until maybe the 6th\7th rep ( when I turned into the wind!) - even then I tried to focus on turnover and form, trying to move fast but hold form.

Tired at the end but recovered very quickly to get the easy mile or so to home started.

Paces were in the 5.10-5.30 range for the lot

Good session, legs had recovered well from Thursday which is a postive sign.


Sunday

Out onto the moonlit coast for this one tonight, perfect, perfect running weather, did a nice loop around Fairview park before heading back towards home along the coast.

6 miles @7.55 pace


Just shy of 45 miles for the week with some quality that didn't feel life threatening for once !

Most promising week in a long time but there's a long road ahead

Duanington

10.11.2017


Monday

Easy run home from work, 6.2 miles @8.15 pace...

Tuesday

Long(ish) run night, instructions were to keep it to 90 minutes or less while aiming to keep the pace at around 8 min\mile.

Got going straight after work with the backpack and had arranged to meet FBOT on DNS just before dropping the bag off at home, picked a bumpy enough route for the rest of the run, enjoying the pace and finding a nice rhythm along the way. Always good to have company on these, FBOT is already looking sharp after his latest marathon pacing gig and would probably have enjoyed a couple of more miles. Gotta stick to the plan though!

Just over 11 miles @ 7.55 min\miles

Wednesday

Runmute home, 6.2 miles @ 8ish


Thursday

Session day today, plan was for :

4x ( 3,2,1 minutes at 6.15 - 6.30 pace) 75 seconds easy between reps and 4 minutes easy between each set.

Arranged to meet FBOT in St Anne's for this one and run it between the grass\tarmac around the pitches there.

Really wanted to get a bit more control into this session compared to last week, I was also mindful of the fact that the last time I ran a session like this with FBOT, he almost literally dragged me around while I spluttered and gasped, barely clinging onto MP ( July sometime I think) so today should provide some further indication on how things were progressing.

Got through the first set fine, we found a nice rhythm and stuck to it for each rep, second was much the same, effort levels rose a bit for the 3rd and then for the last it very much felt like working but holding back just a bit to avoid overcooking things

Enjoyed this one, haven't walked away feeling that good about a session in a long time.

Set 1(3,2,1): 6.11, 6.10, 6.05
Set 2(3,2,1): 6.06, 6.07, 6.02
Set 3(3,2,1): 6.07, 6.02, 5.55
Set 4( 3,2,1): 6.02, 5.54, 5.52

Obviously the paces look too hot on a lot of these but I'm not convinced the watch is 100% accurate and once there was a good bit of control in there ( which there was) then its job done


Easy miles either side of this one and then some core work at various stages throughout the week so far.

AuldManKing

Duanington wrote: »

Thursday

Session day today, plan was for :

4x ( 3,2,1 minutes at 6.15 - 6.30 pace) 75 seconds easy between reps and 4 minutes easy between each set.

I'm interested in the 'make up / benefit' of this session.

The pace indicates that its a tempo (unless you've regressed a tad with the iron situation??) - why the break down to 3/2/1 mins at a Tempo pace as opposed to 4x6 mins or 4x (3,3) mins.

I suppose I'm questioning the benefits of shorter reps done at tempo pace??

Possibly a question for your coach...........

Testosterscone

AuldManKing wrote: »

I'm interested in the 'make up / benefit' of this session.

The pace indicates that its a tempo (unless you've regressed a tad with the iron situation??) - why the break down to 3/2/1 mins at a Tempo pace as opposed to 4x6 mins or 4x (3,3) mins.

I suppose I'm questioning the benefits of shorter reps done at tempo pace??

Possibly a question for your coach...........

Haha look at you trying to peak behind the curtain :P

If you look at the last few weeks there has been a progression in the sessions;

5x4 min @ 6.30-6.40 w/2 min
2 (4,3,2,1 @ 6.15-6.30 w/ 75) 5 min break
4 (3,2,1 @ 6.15-6.30 w/75) 4 min break

D is still recovering from low iron issues so were are avoiding doing to much at a sustained effort but we still want to stress this system so the last two weeks we have increased the pace to slightly quicker (he would st ill be a bit off this being tempo pace at the moment) . This can be a decent trick with those who are struggling with issues or indeed are injury prone but you want them to work for a sustained amount of time without fatigue compromising form (as can happen with people struggling in the last mile or two of a tempo and where overuse injuries can kick in)

So suddenly he is progressing from 20 min of work at 6.30 to 6.40 pace to 24 min @6.15-6.30 min working (4x8 min with elevated HR including short recoveries) in or around the same effort. Over time this will progress but for now he is getting the right stress at without overdoing it given his recent iron issues while also spending a good bit of time with faster turnover work. Similar to why people would break a 24 min tempo into 3x8 min only we are taking it another step on.

AuldManKing

Testosterscone wrote: »

Haha look at you trying to peak behind the curtain :P

If you look at the last few weeks there has been a progression in the sessions;

5x4 min @ 6.30-6.40 w/2 min
2 (4,3,2,1 @ 6.15-6.30 w/ 75) 5 min break
4 (3,2,1 @ 6.15-6.30 w/75) 4 min break

D is still recovering from low iron issues so were are avoiding doing to much at a sustained effort but we still want to stress this system so the last two weeks we have increased the pace to slightly quicker (he would st ill be a bit off this being tempo pace at the moment) . This can be a decent trick with those who are struggling with issues or indeed are injury prone but you want them to work for a sustained amount of time without fatigue compromising form (as can happen with people struggling in the last mile or two of a tempo and where overuse injuries can kick in)

So suddenly he is progressing from 20 min of work at 6.30 to 6.40 pace to 24 min @6.15-6.30 min working (4x8 min with elevated HR including short recoveries) in or around the same effort. Over time this will progress but for now he is getting the right stress at without overdoing it given his recent iron issues while also spending a good bit of time with faster turnover work. Similar to why people would break a 24 min tempo into 3x8 min only we are taking it another step on.

Makes perfect sense now - the benefits of having a coach to tailor a plan specifically to the individual - I like it.

Duanington

My answer would have been..."coz I'm still sick, leave me alone" ....but I'll go with

Yep, what L says ^^^:pac:

ThebitterLemon

"Obviously the paces look too hot on a lot of these but I'm not convinced the watch is 100% accurate and once there was a good bit of control in there ( which there was) then its job done"

You nicking my excuses for not doing what you're told, ffs!

Coming nicely back into it Double D.

Can't wait to see what excuses Ronseal comes up with when he doesn't do what he's told, I'm gonna have quite the chuckle

TbL

Annie get your Run

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Can't wait to see what excuses Ronseal comes up with when he doesn't do what he's told, I'm gonna have quite the chuckle

TbL

Jaysuz, the stable is filling up, I hope there's still room for a bionic woman in the new year :eek:

DD nice to see the paces coming back for you, how are you feeling now after a few weeks on the iron?