Confessions of a never has been.....

Testosterscone

Annie get your Run wrote: »

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

Jaysus , no stables here. Closest this band of misfits and renegades would get to a stable is the glue factory 😋

Always an open invitation to her ladyship

Annie get your Run

Testosterscone wrote: »

Jaysus , no stables here. Closest this band of misfits and renegades would get to a stable is the glue factory ��

Always an open invitation to her ladyship

:D:D just spit my tea out laughing at that.

I"m working my way towards the minimum standard required i.e. more than 12 miles a week - at least then I'll be on par with TBL :pac:

Duanington

Annie get your Run wrote: »

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?

Surely the bionic woman will be front and centre come the new year?!

Well, I'm not getting carried away yet AM, there are definitely postive changes, sleep is good again ( it was one of the first things I noticed went haywire late spring\early summer), general energy levels are improving, concentration levels are improving....all of the basic things are starting to return to normal really.

With regards to running, whereas I was genuinely struggling to run at 9+ min miles and hated almost every minute of it at the same time, I am starting to look forward to and enjoy runs again. The body is recovering from sessions too, no heavy legs, no all around fatique...and no feeling of dread for the next one.

Its hard to explain really but every few days I seem to be noticing something else that feels a little bit more comfortable than before - the session yesterday being a good example.

There is still a good bit to go on restoring Iron levels to a full tank ( curently 29 days into 90+ days) but I'm staying patient ( under L's strict guidance) and looking forward to getting back to feeling strong again. Its been a good week so far but I've been warned that there could well be days when I feel like crap again along the way.

It's a journey though, an interesting one !

Duanington

Testosterscone wrote: »

Jaysus , no stables here. Closest this band of misfits and renegades would get to a stable is the glue factory ��

Always an open invitation to her ladyship

Best damn glue ever made though

ThebitterLemon

Duanington wrote: »

Best damn glue ever made though

If I was turned into glue that's one glue you wouldn't want to be sniffin

TbL

Duanington

12.11.2017

Friday

Run home from work - 5.2 miles, nice and easy


Saturday

Up and out before 9 to get this in, today's prescription read:

10x45seconds hillsprints

I haven't done these in a while but when I see hills come along in the plan, a couple of things go through my mind;

1 - things are taking a step up

2 - I always feel huge benefits after a sustained block with hills thrown in there, strength, turnover speed, confidence...everything seems to go up a level after hills...bring it on

3 - b*llox, hills

Anyway, 45 seconds is on the shorter end of the hill scale that I normally operate from, so I decided on Watermill Road at the back of St Anne's for this one. I'm sure I'll be heading for Howth to get the longer reps in as things progress.

After a couple of easy miles around St Anne's, stopping briefly to say hello to boards\parkrun royalty, I got started on the good stuff.

As always, focus was on form, turnover and really holding pace as things started to bite.

Found myself blowing hard after the first couple, reminded myself how that was the idea and pushed on with the session. Can't say this was the strongest hill session I've ever run but despite being pretty wobbly at the end, the last couple of reps were quick and were never in doubt.

Another easy mile or two to finish off a very good session

Sunday

A later than usual night out last night, an early start today and an afternoon of treking up and down the length of Dollymount beach with some little people\dogs conspired to leave me a little tired heading out this evening for an easy run. Legs were a little sleepy too which I suppose is to be expected after a good week's work ( relative)
Settled into this run though, lovely chilly night for it but very few people out and about ....the short shorts felt very short tonight :eek:

6.2 miles @ 7.57


Another week down, another couple of sessions down, some good core stuff done and most importantly, energy levels are still on the rise.

Duanington

19.11.2017

Monday

A very easy run from work down through Ringsend\Sandymount and back. We had visitors to the office this week and I knew it was going to be a struggle to get every run in, felt a little jaded on this one.

5 miles @ 8.23 pace


Tuesday

Back out for a long run tonight but the energy levels were noticeably lower than the previous week so I promised myself I'd play it safe if they didn't improve during the run. Met FBOT after 4 miles or so and we headed off to take in the same route as last week ( with the few ups\downs), felt tired at mile 7 so decided to call it at 9 miles and get an early night.

9 miles @ 8.11

Wednesday

Felt much better on this one, this was a good day - one of those when it felt like I could run on and on. So I did, allll the way to 5.6 miles ( 7.55 pace)

Thursday

Session day today and the plan was for :

3x8 minutes @ 6.30-6.40, 2-3 minutes easy between.


Ran down to Sean O'Moore park in Ringsend for this on my lunch, decided to run it on grass to avoid the busy footpaths.

Rep 1 - Got through it ok, blowing a bit at times into the wind but relaxed around this for the most part
6.34

Rep 2 - Wind bit me a little harder this time and I was working harder than I'd have liked to hold form\rhythm\pace.
6.32

Rep 3 - Same as rep 2 really, working hard at times but never flat out, surprised myself each time I glanced at the watch. Mentally tough to see this one out.
6.30

Tired enough at the end but very happy to get it done, enjoyed the warmdown which tells its own tale.


Friday

5.5 miles runmute home, nice run, enjoyed this


Saturday

Session day again:

Fartlek - 90 seconds on, 90 seconds off ( grass)

Took a lie in after a much longer than normal sleep ( new iron tablets, more on that later) and got out around lunch to do this. I was actually debating whether or not to put this off but decided to seize the chance when it came along.

Packed the spikes into my backpack and headed down to St Anne's, running to the field by Watermill road to get this done.

I knew this was going to be tough because a) I was feeling like crap, b) the ground was very soft and c) I'm lacking in strength at the moment and this stuff saps the legs. Nonetheless, I just focused on completing the session, the paces would be the paces, so long as the effort was there it would be a good day.

Each 90 second section was as tough as the last, each 90 second recovery felt like 9 seconds and at times, I felt like I was trudging in slow motion through the mud at the corners of the field. Stuck it out, got the head down and ran hard for each section, proper tired at the end but proper satisfied.

For what its worth, paces were surprisingly quick in general.

Sunday

OUt on a perfect night for running, fairvew loop - 6.2 miles@8.01 min\miles

Legs were sluggish on this, not surprising though in fairness given yesterday's session but I grew into the run as it went on.

A bit of a mixed week, felt sluggish at the start of the week and had to shorten the long run but then I ran both sessions very well.
Changed Iron tablets late on in the week on the advice of the more experienced lady in the chemist I go to ( apparently the ones i was taking were nowhere near strong enough given how low the iron count was), the new tablets are a lot stronger but have side effects that are almost hangover like. These shouldn't last forever though, the hope is that the body will adapt to the stronger dose and the side effects will ease over the next week or so.

Here's hoping !

Duanington

26.11.2017

Monday

Easy stuff - 6.5 miles, run home from work + a little bit extra, all around 8 min\miles

Tuesday

Long run night, met FBOT after a few miles and got into a good rhythm, pace crept up a tad but with the up and down route it probably evened out in terms of effort.

11.1 miles @ 7.52

Wednesday

Easy stuff again, run home from work, very relaxed effort and enjoyed it.

( mindful of Thursday's sessions getting a little sessionier)

5.6 miles easy

Thursday

Session day today, plan was for:

3x(4,3,2,1 minutes @ 6.20-6.30)

Had arranged to meet FBOT for this in St Anne's and after a pretty brief warmup, we got started on the faster sections around a loop that takes in some of the parkrun route. Great to have company on this, I tend to overcook sessions when there is a bit of wind or rain at play at we had both for this session, found myself working too hard into the wind while FBOT calmly held the correct pace and I meeked my way back to him a couple of times.

Very good session felt strong on all sections and despite running the 1 minute sections too quick ( a common theme), every thing else was in and around target pace.

10 miles for the lot

Friday

Easy run home from work, 6.2 miles @ 8.15 ish

Saturday

Due to run hills today but the hill of choice was too frosty\slippery to try sprinting up so I swapped things around and gave myself an extra recovery day.
6 miles @ 8.10 min\miles

Sunday

Up to Howth this evening in the wind and rain for 10x60 second hill sprints ( 2.30 easy recovery)

Had little or no motivation to get out for this but knew I'd be grand once I actually got out. So it proved, warmup done, I got starterd on the sprints, using the long incline past the graveyard on the way up to Howth Summit.

Surprised myself a few times with how much I was able to push on towards the end of reps, focused on form and turnover but then kicked on as the gradient steepened over the last 20 seconds or so of each rep.

Ran the last one pretty flat out and left myself wobbly at the end for a few seconds but this was a good session, a promising one too. There was strength there at the end of each rep which I haven't felt for a long time.


COre work and weights stepped up a little this week too, a little over 52 miles for the week, making it a promising one. Back to the doc for bloods this coming week to monitor the iron levels, hopefully the numbers reflect how I'm feeling....starting to move in the right direction

Annie get your Run

Duanington wrote: »

.starting to move in the right direction

Brilliant good luck with the results.

Super weeks work D.

annapr

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Brilliant good luck with the results.

Super weeks work D.

+1 glad things are looking up...

'sessionier'... is that a new technical term?

Duanington

annapr wrote: »

+1 glad things are looking up...

'sessionier'... is that a new technical term?

Just looked it up there A:

Sessionier: Where a regular workout changes in nature from one of sympathy and empathy to one of a more genuine nature. :pac:

Duanington

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Brilliant good luck with the results.

Super weeks work D.

Thanks AM

Duanington

28.11.2017

Monday - run home from work, nice and handy for the most part, strong wind behind me for most of this one though

6.5 miles@8 min\miles

core work later


Tuesday


Plan was for 7 miles @ 7.30, got going straight after work and while I had planned to do an easy mile before starting out on the 7 @7.30, I found myself just clipping along nicely so stayed with it. Met FBOT for the second half of this and the last few miles ticked by nicely.

Checked the watch a couple of times but to be honest, this was just one of those enjoyable runs so just focused on keeping the effort steady, which it was.

8 miles@7.13

1.9 easy miles to finish up

Few light weights and stretching after

Duanington

Wednesday

6.5 easy miles after work, nice run, along the coast towards home + a little extra


Thursday

Mini session on the cards today:

6x 60 seconds with recovery " by feel"

Made my way down to St Anne's for this and used the loop near the playground. I used this one quite a bit last winter and hope to do so again this winter.
Nothing major to report on this one, kept it all controlled for the first few then pushed a bit harder on the last 2

Paces were in and around 5.20 with the last 2 dipping into the 4s

Recoveries were all around 90 seconds with one 2 minute recovery

Easy stuff to finish


Friday

Run home from work, can't remember this ...Strava says 6.2 miles easy

Saturday

Almost zero time to run today, had a work Christmas party for the nippers which was great craic, then an afternoon of shopping which wasn't.

Eventually got out enar enough to 9 pm, toyed with the idea of doing my weekend session but decided just to go easy and push back a day.

5.1 easy miles

Sunday

Weekend session was 14x300s this week, in around 62\63 seconds - off 60 second recovery

I couldn't manage 8 x 60 seconds at a slower pace a couple of months back so part of me was dreading the session and another part knew I was going to fly through it.

Got out after dark and made my way down to the coast to do these, short enough warmup then straight into it.

The first 5\6 were strange, I felt pretty controlled and comfortable and probably ran too fast for most of them. The 60 second recovery didn't feel half as bad as I had feared but to be fair, the evening was nice for running - although the wind was a bit of a factor over the last few.

7,8,9 went by..10...think I messed up a couple of recoveries by 3\4 seconds so I said I'd run 15 instead of 14...

Ran the last one pretty quick , too quick but I knew it was and didn't care...this was progress!

Finished up feeling tired but confident enough that I'd grind out another couple if I had to, haven't felt that way after a session like that in a while.

Paces were all around 5.20-5.30 pace, some were a little too quick but not by much ( a second or two), last one was much closer to 5 minute pace and a good few seconds too quick but no harm done.

Good session and a good week. Plenty of core\weights in there too.

Duanington

05.12.2017


Monday

Easy run after work, lovely night for it. 6.7 miles all easy


Tuesday

90 minutes easy tonight with some of the boards DNS crew, ran home from work, dropped off the backpack and carried on along as bumpy a route as you can find around Raheny\Clontarf really. Legs felt good but more importantly, I felt great aerobically.

12 miles @ 7.47 min\miles

Core work\stretching after


Blood results came back yesterday and the news is good, iron levels way up on where they were 6 weeks ago, haemoglobin(s?) being formed to beat the band and are approaching normal levels now. Another 10 days or so of manky iron supplement and then its done, got the green light to ramp things up and get back to training hard - bring it on :cool:

ThebitterLemon

Duanington wrote: »

05.12.2017


Monday

Easy run after work, lovely night for it. 6.7 miles all easy


Tuesday

90 minutes easy tonight with some of the boards DNS crew, ran home from work, dropped off the backpack and carried on along as bumpy a route as you can find around Raheny\Clontarf really. Legs felt good but more importantly, I felt great aerobically.

12 miles @ 7.47 min\miles

Core work\stretching after


Blood results came back yesterday and the news is good, iron levels way up on where they were 6 weeks ago, haemoglobin(s?) being formed to beat the band and are approaching normal levels now. Another 10 days or so of manky iron supplement and then its done, got the green light to ramp things up and get back to training hard - bring it on :cool:

Goodman, great news

Double D Ironman

TbL

OOnegative

Great news D, delighted for you.

Annie get your Run

Brilliant!! excellent news indeed

Duanington

10.12.2017

Wednesday

Off work so back to a lunchtime run around St Anne's as opposed to the usual run home. NIce run, started off tired and sluggish and felt a lotbetter by the end

6.3 miles @ 8.23 pace


Thursday

Session day - 3x8 minutes ( targetting around 6.20 pace), 3 minutes recovery between sets

Met FBOT for this one in St Anne's and after a brief warmup, we decided to run this around the parkrun course again, with a little extra loop thrown in.

Section 1 - 6.20 avg
Section 2 - 6.19 avg
Section 2 - 6.20 avg

Very happy with this one as I seemed to relax and get more comfortable with the pace as the session went on, was a tad apprehensive beforehand because I knew it was the first real sustained tempo pace session for quite a while. Always easier with the company of course. Worked hard without stretching too far really, good session

8.2 for the lot

Friday

Run home from work - 6.2 miles all easy

Saturday


2nd session day of the week and I decided to see how I got on with going back to running sessions early on Saturday mornings again.

Plan was for :

5x3 mins off 90 seconds ( close to 6 min pace)
5x1 min\1min off
5x30 seconds on\30 seconds off

Instructions were to run faster as the rep time shortened.

Hoped to get this done on the grass in St Anne's so I tried the first 3 minute section on a usually good loop but without spikes it was a disaster in spots so I reverted back to the tarmac for the rest.

3 minute sections were all tough enough, especially over the closing stages. Tried not to bother with the watch too much as its always misleading with tree cover etc anyway.

4 minute easy then into the 1minute sections. These were obviously quicker and the shorter recoveries meant they started to pinch towards the last couple. Ran these around the rose garden for a change of scenery

3 minutes easy then into the 30 second on\off. Ran these around a loop at the end of the avenue and was feeling tired by the last one. 30 seconds recovery is just cruel, no other word for it - legs were feeling heavy at this stage

3 minute paces:
5.47
6.00
5.57
5.54
5.52

1 minute paces:
5.30
5.24
5.20
5.09
5.05

30 sec paces
4.59
5.09
5.12
5.05
5.13


9.1 miles all in and another good session down


Sunday

Out this evening in the cold night for some easy miles, legs feeling the effects of a good week and some good core\glute work after the session yesterday but feeling a lot fresher by the end

6.5 easy miles

Best week in a while this week, its the first time in a while where I've felt I've put a proper, productive week's training together

AuldManKing

Great to see the progress this week.
Paces coming down and your starting to look really strong again.

Swashbuckler

Great week of running. Nice one.

Duanington

AuldManKing wrote: »

Great to see the progress this week.
Paces coming down and your starting to look really strong again.

Thanks A - its gonna take a while to be honest but its great to be able to work at it again and get things moving in the right direction

Duanington

Swashbuckler wrote: »

Great week of running. Nice one.

Cheers P - here's to many more !

Duanington

17.12.2017

Monday

easy stuff after work -7.2 miles all easy

Tuesday

Canned the scheduled long run, a poorly planned trip to the dentist meant I sat in work in a daze with one less tooth in my head for the afternoon, tempting as it was to run...I knew it was a night for common sense - rest


Wednesday

6.5 miles after work, all easy

Thursday

Session day today and the plan was for :

20 minutes @ 6.50
15 minutes @ 6.40
10 minutes @ 6.30

3 minutes easy between

Ran a warmup down to St Anne's and got started on this one, decided to keep it all on the grass, despite the sloppy looking patches around the park

It took me a while to get into a rhythm on the 6.50 paced stuff but I felt good once I did. Stride felt good, breathing felt good.....I really only looked at the watch to get the pace right for the first few minutes and then forgot about it.....working hard all the time but always in the knowledge that there was a bit more there ( which is such a novelty for me !)

Each section obviously gets quicker but the knowledge that they are getting shorter is reasurring at the same time. The ground was soft and despite the slop in the corners of some of the fields around the park, it made for a decent running surface for the most part.

Watch says this was too quick but its honestly hard to know with the tree cover\my ancient watch.

20 mins: 6.40 pace
15 mins: 6.31 pace
10 mins: 6.21 pace



11 miles in total for the lot

Friday

6.7 miles easy with FBOT



Saturday

Another Saturday, another early session

3x3 minutes ( off 2 minute recoveries) - 10k pace
4x1 minutes ( off 75 second recoveries) - quicker
10 mins @ 6.20 pace ( 2 minute recovery )
4x30 seconds\off 60 second recoveries - quicker




Down to St Anne's again for this to run it on the grass, had running royalty for company for most of the warmup - always full of advice and willing to share his vast knowledge with anyone who will listen which had me ready to get stuck into the session.

Made the decision pretty early on to try to focus on effort again so got started on the 3 minute stuff with a view to avoiding going into what would feel like 5k racing.
Was tiring by the end of the 3rd 3 minute section, found sections of the field I had picked to be very heavy and draining on the legs. Got going on the 1 minute sections, running them a bit harder and relishing the recoveries!

Didn't feel too bad at the end of these so had a bit of enthusiasm going into the 6.20 paced section, which quickly disappeared! Had to dig in quite a bit during this section and was blowing hard by the end.

Was looking forward to the 30 second stuff, I just put the head down and ran them all hard.

Really good session, all on grass and delighted to get through it ok. Paces weren't great on some and were a bit quick on others but that really is the nature of running across the grass sometimes.

3mins - 5.52 pace
3mins - 6.11 pace
3mins - 6.03 pace

1min - 5.19
1min - 5.27
1min - 5.14
1min - ?? don't know, messed the watch up here

10 mins@ 6.08 pace

30secs - 4.51
30secs - 5.14
30secs - 5.00
30secs - 4.42

9.4 for the lot, including the easy stuff



Sunday

Rescheduled long run

Out just after dark to get this done, felt very tired to start with but started to get into it from about 3 miles on. Picked as bumpy a route as you can get around Clontarf, up the Malahide Road for the long drag then and back into Raheny then home

Longest run since July ! :eek:

13.2 miles @ 7.37 min\mile


Took it easy on the core stuff this week to avoid busting anything up in my healing mouth

Another good week down but plenty more required

AuldManKing

Duanington wrote: »

Down to St Anne's again for this to run it on the grass, had running royalty for company for most of the warmup - always full of advice and willing to share his vast knowledge with anyone who will listen which had me ready to get stuck into the session.

Was it HIM ???



Super week BTW - Jealous of that tempo workout you did.

Murph_D

Running royalty - DH? Saw him tipping around during my own warmup yesterday morning.

Some going hitting those paces on wet, soupy grass, D. Great sessions.

Duanington

AuldManKing wrote: »

Was it HIM ???



Super week BTW - Jealous of that tempo workout you did.

Nope, not HIM......the other HIM though !

Cheers A, didn't think it would be a good week when I left the dentists on Tuesday, it was all bad bad bad then !

Duanington

Murph_D wrote: »

Running royalty - DH? Saw him tipping around during my own warmup yesterday morning.

Some going hitting those paces on wet, soupy grass, D. Great sessions.

Indeed it was D

Couldn't hang around after PR to say hello, apologies

Cheers, probably overdid it a bit at times but sure what's new there :rolleyes:

Back in Black

Great work D. Great to see you coming back so strong.

Duanington

Back in Black wrote: »

Great work D. Great to see you coming back so strong.

Thanks J - hope you're getting to the bottom of that knee problem