Run run run run run run run....

jebuz

Thanks RC. I find reading incredibly boring books works well. Maybe try putting down your fairytales at night and read something like 'the history of wheelbarrows'. I've just finished reading 'why trees are green', slept like a log

On a serious note though, having a wind down routine seems to make a big difference for me. Around 10PM I'll turn off the tv/laptop and start getting ready for the next day, packing gym gear, getting breakfast ready etc. Then into bed for 10:30 and read for a while then by 11pm I'll be tired enough and I'm out for the count in a few minutes. It's not perfect but getting there. There are countless factors that could affect your sleep, it's about making minor changes here and there and seeing if it helps.

Racewise, the ones I'm planning on hitting are:
- This weekend: munster 3k indoor
- 24th Jan: National intermediate XC
- 31st Jan: John Treacy 10 mile
- 14th Feb: Enniscorthy 10k
- 27th Feb: BHAA 5k

Duanington

jebuz wrote: »

Around 10am I'll turn off the tv/laptop and start getting ready for the next day, packing gym gear, getting breakfast ready etc. Then into bed for 10:30 and read for a while then by 11pm I'll be tired enough and I'm out for the count in a few minutes.

Thats some serious reading you're doing there Jebuz :P, a man of many talents !

jebuz

Duanington wrote: »

Thats some serious reading you're doing there Jebuz :P, a man of many talents !

I have no idea what you're talking about and I definitely didn't edit anything :pac:

jebuz

Finally the day of reckoning had come, no hiding from the track anymore. It's been a long time coming and I've been threatening for a while to run a track race so it was time to just dive into the deep end and see what happens.

I arrived in Nenagh with a couple of clubmates around 10:15am. The race was scheduled for 11am so I picked up the number, got my gear on and headed out on the road for a quick warmup. What hit me straight away when I saw the track (apart from the fact it was colder inside the arena than outside) was the sloped bends and all I could think was jesus I hope I don't fall off the track.

When I came back from my warmup I went onto the track and ran a few of the 200m laps to get used to it, really strange feeling running on the slope. It wasn't long before we were called to the line, I would say maybe 12-15 lads there including the U23's and they could probably smell my fear.

I wasn't feeling huge pressure though, was feeling in decent shape from the sessions this week and had taken yesterday off so feeling pretty fresh. Whatever happened it would be the first 3k under the belt and a starting point to work from.

I lined up in the second row knowing I was more or less midpack judging by the lads around me. The gun went and off we went, nowhere to run (except the track) and definitely nowhere to hide. I was feeling pretty comfortable about 7th or 8th and just as we came to the end of the 1st lap I moved out and overtook a group of lads and moved to the front of the group. There's no time to hang around in a 3k so I figured no point sitting, getting into a good position early would give me a better chance. I was now in 5th mid way through the 2nd lap and with an already decent gap ahead of me were 4 lads I knew I wouldn't be beating today.

What followed was more or less a blur, I really can't recall in detail the rest of the race as I basically just focussed on hanging onto that position and shaking the group behind. I knew there were 2 lads in close pursuit as I was getting regular shouts from the sidelines which really helped. About halfway through I was working hard but it was an effort felt I could sustain it until the end, breathing was nice and controlled but I didn't expect it to stay that way. A few laps later and I hear shouts that the 2 lads were fading and I was opening a gap. I was purely concentrated on maintaining this effort until the end and suddenly it was just 1km left as someone shouted 5 laps to go.

I had absolutely no desire to look at the watch during the race, I had no real time to aim at so it didn't really make sense to try pace myself or hitting certain splits. The final few laps just ticked themselves off and I was working really hard but felt strong and I reckon I kept a pretty consistent pace throughout. It was onto the 2nd last lap and I had no idea what I was heading for, just wanted to make sure I kept my position and gave it socks over the last 400. To my horror, some guy breezed past me just as I past the line for my last lap. I then saw him pull over and relief shrouded me as I then realised he was the winner and not the guy behind me after getting a second wind. Phew! One more lap...GO!

Final lap, just 200m and I was comfortably clear out on my own but didn't take my foot off the gas and ran hard all the way to the line. No official results yet but I clocked it at 9:19, 5th place and I was pretty pleased with that as a debut race. Totally different sensation of pain than what I have been used to, was almost coughing up a lung after but I have to say I really enjoyed the experience and the buzz of running on the track. I'm somehow looking forward to more of these.

Hopefully I can just chip away at this time now and hit my goal of an 8:xx for the distance this year but I can't complain about that result today at all, glad to have the first one out of the way.

Got back to Cork in the afternoon and headed out for an easy 5 mile jog while I thought a little bit about the race but mostly what I'd eat for dinner. Pizza won.

Edit: official result 9:20 (drat!)

Weekly milage: 50

frebel

Great stuff jebuz; been really enjoying your training log and even your alter ego's blog as well...
I'm a bit behind you in terms of training (ran 2:47 in spring last year but had bad luck with injuries training for next marathon; ran sub 3 for DCM and just working on the miles now)

getting tendonitus in right achilles now though which usually happens when I increase mileage - resting, cross-training and eccentic heel drops are my goto right now
How did you deal with your achilles issues?

jebuz

frebel wrote: »

Great stuff jebuz; been really enjoying your training log and even your alter ego's blog as well...
I'm a bit behind you in terms of training (ran 2:47 in spring last year but had bad luck with injuries training for next marathon; ran sub 3 for DCM and just working on the miles now)

getting tendonitus in right achilles now though which usually happens when I increase mileage - resting, cross-training and eccentic heel drops are my goto right now
How did you deal with your achilles issues?

Thanks Frebel. Good to hear you're back at it and I hope you can get a good run at it this year, you're obviously not far off the 2:40 mark so best of luck with it.

You've pretty much answered your own question there regarding the achilles. It hit me about 3 times last year and as frustrating as it is the only thing you can do is rest it. It's tempting in the early stages to just run away as normal through it hoping it will sort itself out, especially if you're training well mid marathon cycle. I have never taken that risk and particularly now having seen a guy in my club who was out for 6 months last year because he tried to train through it.

The tendon doesn't heal as fast as other parts of the body so it really just needs time and training hard through it will just damage it further. If it's a very mild or slightly dull pain I find I can manage very light jogging but I absolutely wouldn't consider a session until I'm running 100% pain free. That's a call you need to make yourself but you've got to be very honest with yourself. I don't think cross training actually offers much in terms of injury rehab but if anything it settles the restless exercise hungry mind.

The eccentric heel drops are proven to help recovery but what I would say is if achilles is a regular problem you should be doing these year round as a preventative measure. Since Frankfurt I've been doing them at least 3 times a week (3 sets of 10 drops on each leg) and so far haven't had any trouble despite cranking the milage back up.

The other thing I changed recently was a decision to wear a more cushioned shoe for the majority of my runs. Previously I had been wearing a lighter minimalist shoe for all my training and this was just adding extra unnecessary stress especially for my easy runs. There's not much of a trade-off here as wearing heavier shoes for easy/recovery runs doesn't have a particular impact I find. If anything when I do wear my spikes or light shoes for a session I feel so much lighter on my feet so I think it's working better for me.

A particular common cause of achilles tendonitis is tight calf muscles again potentially caused by light footwear. Regular rubdowns on the calf or foam rolling after a tough workout can help here. I know from personal experience that a lot of achilles injuries I picked were usually closely preceded by a particularly hard tempo or week of high milage resulting in tight calves and subsequently the achilles injury.

Take a look at the attached PDF and there is some good info on the achilles and prevention techniques there.

pconn062

frebel wrote: »

Great stuff jebuz; been really enjoying your training log and even your alter ego's blog as well...
I'm a bit behind you in terms of training (ran 2:47 in spring last year but had bad luck with injuries training for next marathon; ran sub 3 for DCM and just working on the miles now)

getting tendonitus in right achilles now though which usually happens when I increase mileage - resting, cross-training and eccentic heel drops are my goto right now
How did you deal with your achilles issues?

Hope you (and jebuz) don't mind me inputting here a little. I am very recently getting over (hopefully!) a case of achilles tendinopathy.

Here is a really good article I would recommend reading: http://www.running-physio.com/tendinopathy1/

I would agree with everything jebuz says, you have to rest and let it settle down and then if you are going to cross train, you need to make sure it is not aggravating the tendon. Personally I couldn't use a cross train machine as it hurt too much, so the bike was the only option for me.

While eccentric heel drops seem to be the go to treatment for this, the latest research (as shown in the paper above) suggests that Heavy Slow Resistance Training as a successful way of treating it as well. The main advantage of this over eccentric heel drops is that you only need to do 2-4 sets, 3 times a week as opposed to 3x15 reps/twice a day with the Alfredson Protocol.

The exercise I do are calf raises using a Smith machine in the gym. I do 3 sets of ten double leg calf raises with pretty heavy weight (55-70kg), then 1x10 single leg raises with less weight (40kg). I also stand on a low box and drop my heels a little below the edge of the box and you do in eccentric heel drops.

They look something like this: http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/exerciseImages/sequences/1841/Male/l/1841_2.jpg

It's also really important to try and "stiffen" the tendon to make it more durable, and less likely to break down. Plyometrics exercises will help make the tendon stiffer and improve ground response time.

Shoes/nutrition are also other important factors. Remember as well the importance of stride rate/force during the running gait. The key is to try and minimize ground contact time to shorten the amount of time the achilles is elongated. Specific running drills and plyo's will help with this.

Apologies for this wall of text, but I've read a lot about achilles over the last three months! Good luck, it's a bastard of a an injury.

jebuz

Absolutely no problem P, it's one of the most common running injuries (particularly males) so its great to get more input from someone who's been there. What do you suspect caused your injury to be particularly lengthy this time?

There is some great info there and I think the calf raises could be a useful addition to my gym workout.

jebuz

*double post*

pconn062

jebuz wrote: »

Absolutely no problem P, it's one of the most common running injuries (particularly males) so its great to get more input from someone who's been there. What do you suspect caused your injury to be particularly lengthy this time?

There is some great info there and I think the calf raises could be a useful addition to my gym workout.

This is actually the first time I ever had issues with achilles. I think it was caused by running a few XC races in close proximity in spikes and a few too many hard track sessions. I think it lingered so long as in the first few weeks while I did rest, I kept going out for short tester jogs every 3-4 days which was a bad idea. If it came back I would rest completely for a week or two and let it settle. Also I was possibly a little over aggressive in the beginning with the rehab, jumping straight into 100+ heel drops a day while the tendon was still in the reactive stage, looking back this was also a bad idea. Also, towards the end I got rather complacent and lazy and could have actually started back jogging a little sooner but with Xmas and all that I gave it a week-10 days longer than it probably needed, but that's no harm as well.

jebuz

Monday: 5 miles am & 5.5 miles pm
Tuesday: 5 miles am, lunch gym session & track session pm. 2 x 1km, 3 x 800m (400m rec). 3:07, 3:08, 2:27, 2:26, 2:23
Wednesday: 5 miles am & 5.5 miles pm
Thursday: 5 miles am, lunch gym session & light session pm. 10 mins hills & 4 x 300m (100m rec). 49, 49, 48, 50
Friday: 5 miles am
Saturday: 30 mins am & light gym session.

Tomorrow it's back to the mud for national intermediates in Dundalk. I'm feeling in better shape than the novice so just going to give it a good lash.

frebel

Thanks a lot jebuz and pconn...

I've a lot in common with yer own injuries - minimalist shoes (only had nike frees while travelling for 2 months over the Summer and ran a lot on hard roads), building miles in base phase this winter and then a little bit over zealous with the rehab as well à la pconn...

Looking forward to running a bit on The farm (grass) again just to give joints a bit of a break...

think you're right jebuz about tight calves as well; I foam roll a lot but I know my ankle dorsiflexion isn't great in squat positions and when I do downward dog type stretch my heels are a bit off ground. Always looking to improve d'ol mobility

Good luck in Dundalk jebuz

jebuz

Time for more mud and pain, Dundalk style. This was to be my first appearance in a Cork singlet (don't tell my family). While it was really nice to be selected and I see it as a privilege, it was disappointing to find out that we didn't have enough to field to a county team. Even more disappointing was that only 2 seniors from my club were representing (and 3 on the masters) so I was essentially running for individual placing today. I think the major put-off for a lot of runners was the long journey to Dundalk but what can you do, it's frustrating but you can't force people to go.

The course was not in great nick by the time the senior race came around at 3pm. A warmup around the outskirts confirmed it was going to be a tricky, sticky slog with very little section of decent running. But we were all in the same boat so I lined up in the field of 85 and off we went on the first of 5 laps.

I didn't really have a plan but stuck close to my clubmate for the first lap as I settled into it. I felt relatively ok and started passing a few people and moving up the field but by the end of that lap I was starting to struggle already, too early to be feeling like this.

Onto the second lap and I was battling with a few guys around me who were slowing getting away and I was starting to find myself in no-mans land as I heard a shout that there wasn't anyone close behind me.

Onto the 3rd lap, I was sitting in 22nd and just plodding along, really starting to feel the energy being sapped out out of my legs. Maybe it was me but the conditions seemed to be getting worse as the muddy underfoot seemed to absorbing my feet deeper each step. I was getting a little careless too and picking the wrong routes as I started to ache for the finish line. It didn't help the fact I had little to fight for as I had no club or county team mates around me.

On the 4th lap I could hear runners closing in on me from behind. I was slowing and I couldn't do anything about it. I got passed by 2 guys around the start of the last lap and I recognised one of them being our own KielyUnusual who was looking really strong. I had no response, I was just trying my best to minimise the damage and stay close to them. It was a bit of a blur the last lap, I was seriously questioning what I was doing out there and the head was just in a bad place. Finally the last climb before the finish and another guy passed me just after the hill while another was just on my shoulder. We turned for the finish straight and I found a bit of energy to fend off the guy behind me to finish in 25th. I was just so relieved to have it over. I gathered myself for a few minutes (i.e wiped the dribble off my face) and had a chat with KU before heading off for a nice cooldown with my clubmate. After snorting a chicken wrap and grabbing a shower we then headed off on the long journey back to Cork. Job done.

Not a fantastic race but I'm definitely glad of the experience and glad to have travelled. As runners we generally have a lot more failures than successes so this as I see it is just another leg of a long journey ahead of me. I could go on and complain about my performance and that my head was not in the game and I should have placed better etc but sometimes you have to step back and just be grateful for the fact you are even out there, healthy, injury free and competing at a decent standard. I'm lucky to be in a position where I'm still improving as a runner and running regular PBs (and I hope to be for a few more years) so the way I see it, I'll look back someday as a washed up old crank and yearn for the days when I was running like I am now. The last thing I want to be doing is complaining about this privilege when I have it so when I have days like that I think the best thing to do is take it on the chin and move on, plenty more to come.

Summary: 25th/85

Weekly milage: 66

annapr

Really enjoying your musings here, Jebuz. And hey, 25th in a national championship race on a middling day for you... Not bad at all.

jebuz

why is everything double posting :mad:

jebuz

Been having a bit of calf trouble this week which ironically flared up after a day off - and there I was trying to be sensible. This put a bit of a dent in the week but nothing major though it was still bothering me on my long run yesterday. I've been having a pretty good run of training up until now so I'm not too worried about it. It wasn't a huge surprise anyway with all the track work and wearing spikes, apparently the left calf is more susceptible to injury as it takes the bulk of the force when turning around track. If anything it's a gentle reminder to focus more on stretching, foam rolling and regular rubs.

I decided against doing the Dungarvan 10 this week, not because of the calf (which would have ruled me out anyway) but it just doesn't fit with the racing schedule and regardless, that distance is not the focus right now. After a quick chat with the coach earlier in the week he agreed and said to just get a good 2 weeks build up to the AAI games 3k in Athlone this coming weekend.

Monday: am 5 miles @ 7:50m/m. pm 4 miles @ 8:50m/m.
Tuesday am 5 miles @ 7:02 m/m. pm 2 x 1km, 3 x 800m - 3:07, 3:07, 2:27, 2:26, 2:24 (400m rec)
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: am 5 miles @ 7:15 m/m. pm 4 miles @ 8:03 (warm up for abandoned session - calf sore)
Friday: am 5 miles @ 7:34 m/m.
Saturday: 4 x 3 mins (2 min recovery). Paces for reps (2 min rec): 5:13 m/m, 5:05m/m, 4:59 m/m, 5:01 m/m.
Sunday: 70 mins @ 7:24 m/m.

Weekly milage: 54.5

_Tombstone_

jebuz wrote: »

why is everything double posting :mad:

It's a site bug since the DDoS and Boards signing up with Cloudflare, they working on it, till then stop using Quick Reply which is where the bug is.

RuMan

Great log.
Just been reading your old postings the last few days. I ran 2:55 last year in Rotterdam so very interesting seeing the progress you've made during each marathon cycle to date and the work you put in.

jebuz

Double post. oh ya Tombstone said DON'T use quick reply :o

jebuz

Little or no training to report on right now. The calf injury is a bit more serious than anticipated, it's not healing as quickly as I expected it would so slightly worried on that front. Even today I feel slight pain every now and then throughout the day so it's still not right.

3 runs in total for the week, all just testers and all involved me arriving back with a humbling thumbs down. My last run was 30 mins on Friday morning and that wasn't great so I took the whole weekend off. I've been getting some good gym work done though and got a swim in this evening so keeping busy. I also find buying presents for myself when injured really helps.

Injuries are all part of what we signed up for, inevitable for most of us but I think the hardest part is knowing when to back off and just let the body heal. Enniscorthy 10k is next weekend and I'd love to do it but the priority is getting this 100% again.

jebuz

A week which began with a lot of uncertainly has finished on a much more optimistic note. I'm just back from a very enjoyable run and the calf is feeling fine, no pain at all. For some reason early on in the week I still held ambitions of running the Enniscorthy 10k today but deep down I knew it was never happening, this week was all about getting the calf right again. I built it back up slowly through the week always monitoring, being very careful not to push it and though tempted try a session, I'm glad I didn't.

I have to admit last week and earlier this week I was not feeling the love for running at all, with the frustration of the calf injury and then after hearing I'd be working on a fairly intense project over the next few months with most likely a good bit of travel. Today though I picked up the effort close to marathon pace for the last few miles and I just felt fantastic and could have kept going all day, but I saw sense and stopped eventually. It's amazing how in 15 minutes the hunger came flooding back and I reminded myself that injuries and work circumstances just happen and you always have a choice how you deal with it, it's a lot of mind over matter. I've aways managed to find the time to get the training done around work before and there's no reason why I can't manage it again. Uh where was I...ok the week looked like something like this...

Monday: 25 mins treadmill, just a tester. still slightly uncomfortable.
Tuesday: 35 min run, no watch. No pain but still niggly.
Wednesday: 35 mins @ 7:39 m/m. Much better, no pain during.
Thursday: 8 miles @ 8:13 m/m. Nice handy pace, hilly route. No pain.
Friday: 30 mins @ 7:03. Pushed pace a little and felt good. Feeling back to normal.
Saturday: 8 miles @ 7:05 m/m. No problems.
Sunday: 80 mins @ 7:07 m/m. Felt good, picked up to 6:20 m/m last few miles. No issues.

Weekly milage: 44

jebuz

Good weeks running, even with a trip to Germany thrown into the mix. Still not back doing sessions as I'm only about 93% happy with the calf but I did get some quicker running thrown in without any major problems. While I'm running pain free now there is just an underlying sense of 'weakness' for want of a better word. It's hard to describe but I have a slight paranoid feeling that if I tried to run very fast, it may end up setting me back even further. The plan is to try a session this Tuesday and if I get through that unscathed I'll think about a 5k next weekend.

Monday 15/02 - 10 miles
Lunchtime: 5 miles @ 7:32 m/m
With the land covered in ice this morning I decided to bypass the morning run and waited until lunchtime to get out for a few fresh miles. Felt good in terms of effort, nice run.

PM: 5 miles @ 7:27 m/m
Split into 2 runs sandwiched around an hour of pilates (I think it's now socially acceptable for lads to admit this). This was my 2nd week going and hard to say if it's helping yet but I'll keep going, it's sore so that means it must be good. Runs felt good.

Tuesday 16/02 - 9 miles (with 2 x 1km @ 3:40)
Headed down to the track this evening to attempt some form of quicker running and to stretch out the legs a bit. Having not done a session in over 2 weeks I stepped onto the track in trepidation. The boss told me to jump back a few groups which was always my plan. I fell in with a group doing 1km reps in 3:40 and while the effort felt very comfortable I was fully focussed on how the calf felt and glad to report there was no pain or discomfort. Not wanting to push my luck I finished up after 2 reps and headed back up the hill pretty satisfied with that.

Wednesday 17/02 - Rest
Travelling to Munich via London which involved leaving my house at 10am and arriving in my hotel at 8pm. I saw no added value in pushing myself out for a run when tired and particularly after the effort last night I figured no harm giving the calf an extra day to recover.

Thursday 18/02 - 10.5 miles @ 6:59m/m
Got out nice and early for this one around 4:30pm and having scoured a map I decided to venture for the English Garden, a vast stretch of 900+ acres with plenty of great running. It was extremely nippy but I warmed up after about 9 miles. This was a good run, mixed it up in terms of surfaces, clay trails, path and grass. After 6 miles I decided to push the pace for the next 15 minutes or so, working down to 6 min pace which is basically marathon pace. Effort was fine, felt comfortable as I would expect so I really don't think the fitness has taken much of a hit, the calf was ok too, no pain but just still a feeling that if I pushed any harder there might be pain. Enjoyable overall. Afterwards I tucked into half a roast duck and a dark weiss beer...when in Deutschland....

Friday 19/02 - 10 miles
AM: 5 miles @ 7:28 m/m (122 bpm)
Still in Munich. Headed out for a quickie before breakfast, had no idea where I was going but enjoyable and effort felt nice and easy. For some reason a lot of my easy runs have gotten a lot quicker recently, possibly a symptom of doing no sessions which is the only theory I have. Out of curiosity I brought the HR monitor today to get a gauge for the fitness and happy to see it nice and low for this effort.

PM: 5 miles @ 7:23 m/m (119 bpm)
Back nice and early again today so headed out at 5:30pm. Took the same route as this morning and most likely passed the same folk who trudged to work only 8 hours earlier. Interestingly the HR was even lower for this one despite being faster, I don't have a theory for this but I think it may be something to do with the recent detection of gravitational waves. Went out to explore Munich in the evening and devoured a delicious Tikka Masala curry - a local favourite.

Saturday 20/02 - 10 miles @ 7:09 m/m
I took the direct flight home to Cork this morning, worth waiting for rather than going through London again. I arrived around lunchtime and I rang the boss almost pleading to do a session but he was having none of it and said to just run 10 miles, another 10 tomorrow and we'd try a session Tuesday. I was eager to get a session in but I rarely question what he says mainly because of where he's gotten to me to today and I trust him. He knows better and has the track record to prove it so I was ok with that. So off I headed into the windy abyss for 10 lonely miles but they felt fine overall. Coming back in the straight road at mile 7 I had a very strong gust behind me and found myself hitting 6:30 pace and HR at 135 bpm, a bit misleading when you factor the wind but I felt really good so kept going. Headed into the gym for a bit of stretching and then got a haircut.

Sunday 21/02 - 10 miles @ 7:07 m/m
Met up with another broken clubmate at 9am and this was a very enjoyable run out to Ballincollig and back. Effort felt good despite being very windy again and regarding the calf, well I'm sick of talking about it at this stage but it was fine, not sore but not perfectly fine. Still think I'll see a physio this week and get it checked out.

Weekly milage: 59.5

dna_leri

jebuz wrote: »

Thursday 18/02 - 10.5 miles @ 6:59m/m
Got out nice and early for this one around 4:30pm and having scoured a map I decided to venture for the English Garden, a vast stretch of 900+ acres with plenty of great running. It was extremely nippy but I warmed up after about 9 miles. This was a good run, mixed it up in terms of surfaces, clay trails, path and grass. After 6 miles I decided to push the pace for the next 15 minutes or so, working down to 6 min pace which is basically marathon pace. Effort was fine, felt comfortable as I would expect so I really don't think the fitness has taken much of a hit, the calf was ok too, no pain but just still a feeling that if I pushed any harder there might be pain. Enjoyable overall. Afterwards I tucked into half a roast duck and a dark weiss beer...when in Deutschland....

[/U]

Am occasionally over in Munchen too. Must try and visit the English Gardens next time. Sounds like a good spot for a run. Usually stay out near the airport.

jebuz

Still in rehab mode but having visited a physio during the week he confirmed it was a calf tear but not out of the woods yet. He reckoned one more week of taking it (relatively) easy should have me back to normal. That did rule out any racing or quick sessions this weekend meaning I missed todays planned 5k but I'm ok with that, priority has always been getting back to full fitness - plenty more races in the sea.

Monday 22/02 - 6 miles
Very easy ~8 min miles with a few clubmates on some grass pitches. 35 mins before pilates and then another 10 mins run home.

Tuesday 23/02 - 8 miles with 20 min track tempo @ 5:25 m/m
Time to really test out the calf today having felt pretty much back to normal. Most of the club were doing short (600m-1km) reps but I opted to jump in with a couple of lads doing a tempo and I said I'd try 20 mins. Pace was pretty hot but manageable and the calf seemed to be fine during. Only when I was on my cooldown did I feel a slight pain and I was pretty worried about it. I cried myself to sleep that night.

Wednesday 24/02 - 35 mins easy
Didn't want to push the calf today after the tempo so I just headed up to GAA pitches with a clubmate after work for 35 mins very easy. Was just hoping to feel no pain and was happy enough to get through it without any issues. I think my clubmate knew I had been crying all night.

Thursday 25/02 - 1 hr easy
A well overdue visit to the physio and in hindsight I was a moron for not doing this sooner - I was living in denial. He basically confirmed to me it was a tear but it's about a week away from being right. I was glad to hear it wasn't too serious and my tempo on Tuesday hadn't set me back further. He did a little dry needling and told me to leave off any hard sessions until next week so I didn't even mention I was thinking about racing. Very easy 60 mins in the evening, didn't care about pace.

Friday 26/02 - 5 miles @ 7:10 m/m
Coldest run of my whole life, ever. Headed out mid afternoon and started immediately getting battered with rain and a sort of icy cold rain - hail. I couldn't feel my fingers and seriously considered turning around after 1 mile but that would have haunted me for life. Naturally the pace picked up to just get this one done. When I got in the shower my hands were so cold that they burned when I put them under hot water. I really think I could have died.

Saturday 27/02 - 11 miles @ 6:46m/m
With no Saturday session planned, met up with a clubmate nice and early and we said we'd pick it up for the last few miles. Felt really good for this, legs fresh and no calf trouble. Miles 7-10 were 5:59, 5:51, 5:53.

Sunday 28/02 - 12.5 miles @ 7:28m/m (120bpm)
Beautiful morning in Cork - blue skies, calm and dry - what? Headed off solo around 9:30am. I took it nice and easy after yesterdays effort and wanted to just get at least 90 mins on my feet. Really enjoyed this one and nice finish to the week.

Weekly milage: 55

jebuz

Very happy with this week, feels like I've finally gotten back into the swing of things and in terms of fitness, I don't think I'm a million miles away from where I was before the tear 5 weeks ago. Particularly happy with the weekend combo of the Saturday session followed by a decent long run.

Monday 29/02 - 9 miles @ 7:38 m/m
I'm still on the pilates bandwagon so as usual I sandwich a couple of runs around it. Think it was around 6 miles before and 3 miles after back home. Pretty boring runs if I recall correctly.

Tuesday 01/03 - 10 miles @ 7:27 m/m
Hello March how are you. Tempted to do a club track session tonight but I heeded the warning of my physio to hold off on any 'quicker than tempo' running for this week. I was running pain free now but taking no chances as it was most likely the quicker track sessions that got me into this situation. Headed off after work on a nice 10 miler with a clubmate into the city and back up the hill. Felt good.

Wednesday 02/03 - 5 miles @ 7:46 m/m
Decided to give the legs a breather and took it very easy in terms of running today knowing that I had a tempo the next day. Got a nice handy 5 miles in before work then headed for a relaxing swim after work. I also sat in a room called a 'sauna'. It was very hot so I told the supervisor that someone must have left the radiator on in there.

Thursday 03/03 - 10.5 miles with 5 miles @ 5:30 m/m
Really positive session tonight. Last week I tried a similar session and felt pain on the cooldown. Today I just wanted to be completely pain free from warmup to the cooldown and my wish was granted. Numbers were low tonight with Ballycotton coming up but I was glad to have another clubmate with me for this. The plan was 25 mins @ 5:30 and we just jumped in and started ticking off the laps. The effort felt tough at times but my breathing was nice and controlled and we kept the pace nice and steady hitting 82 second laps. My clubmate pulled up with knee trouble after 20 mins and I thought I was on my own but then another clubmate doing mile repeats jumped in for the last mile and a bit. I got to 25 minutes and was feeling good so I said I'd keep going a bit more hitting lap 20 and 5 miles (well, 8k) in 27:28 and very happy with that effort. Cool-down back up the hill to home and no trouble at all with the calf so was feeling pretty satisfied with myself after this. I had a massive bowl of porridge for dinner just because I wanted to and nobody could stop me.

Friday 04/04 - 7 miles @ 7:30 m/m
Was planning to get out at lunchtime but a clubmate convinced me to wait until around 4pm and we got in a nice handy 7 miles to the city and back. Felt a little tired at times but was happy to see the calf behaving especially after the tempo last night.

Saturday 05/03 - 13 miles with 4 x 10 mins @ ~5:35
This was the real test for me today. Having gotten through the tempo unscathed I was hoping to get another quality session under the belt without any trouble. The coach had told me after Thursday night to do a 4 x 10 min session on Saturday which was a little surprising but probably made more sense than doing faster shorter reps. These are key sessions for marathon training and the strength you gain from them is invaluable but my god they're bloody hard. To add fuel to the fire, we're still not back on the grass at the farm yet so our 10 minute circuit is on the road with one serious climb.

No hanging around after the warmup and we were straight into the session. There was a good bunch at the start which gradually stretched out until we had 4 or 5 grouped. I felt pretty good and pushed my way to the front of the group pushing the pace a bit. This was my first time running this route so when I hit the hill for the first time I just attacked it and then I thought feck how am I gonna do this another 3 times. The first 10 seemed to go pretty quick and soon we were into the 2nd. I was pulling away from the group again but happy to see another clubmate come with me and it was pretty much the 2 of us running the rest of the session together. I was glad to have someone to work with particularly for the climbs which were getting more painful each rep. The reps just seemed to fly by though it's a long session - 8 miles we clocked it in the end. We ended up keeping the 10 min efforts pretty steady and was really happy to see out the last one knowing I'd worked really hard. Looking forward to more of these...kinda.

Splits (2 min recovery)
1. 1.7 miles @ 5:37 m/m
2. 1.8 miles @ 5:32 m/m
3. 1.7 miles @ 5:35 m/m
4. 1.7 miles @ 5:36 m/m

Sunday 06/03 - 14 miles @ 6:50 m/m
Down home in Wexford for the old mans 60th Birthday. Got out around 9am and as if the hills weren't enough yesterday I had to go and pick one of the bumpiest routes around town but what a beautiful morning for a run, really enjoyed this one. Effort felt good for most of this though I did feel the legs tire on some climbs. Really happy to get a decent length long run in without any pain and this wrapped up the week very nicely. Headed off for a nice family meal then where I duly gorged my way through the afternoon.

Weekly milage: 69 (hehe)

jebuz

Monday 07/03 - 10 miles
AM: 5 miles @ 7:32 m/m feeling pretty much back to normal now so decided to reintroduce some early morning runs
PM: 5 miles @ 7:33 m/m Freezing cold run after work, 5 handy miles with clubmate before pilates.

Tuesday 08/03 - 14.5 miles
AM: 5 miles @ 7:30 m/m nippy but beautiful morning for a run
PM: 9.5 miles @ 7:20 m/m still a bit apprehensive (scared) to run a track session so decided to run long with a clubmate this evening. Felt slightly niggly in both calves and at one point felt a minor but noticeable sharp pain in the right calf. First thoughts are christ not the other one...eased off a bit and finished the run with no pain but was slightly concerned about it so decided I'd take the next day off.

Wednesday 09/03 - Rest
Rest day which I was probably due but mainly taken in paranoia over the right calf after last nights run. Went for a swim in the evening.

Thursday 10/03 - 11.5 miles with 35 min tempo @ ~5:45 m/m
Was in two minds about this one but I said I'd run down to the track and see how the right calf felt and if all ok I'd run the session but slightly easier than last week. Thankfully I felt fine so went ahead with the tempo planning on 30 mins. I was in with a good group and after a slow start we soon tuned into a steady pace around 5:45 m/m. Effort felt a lot easier than last week but it was the right session. I hit 30 mins feeling good so I said I'd keep going until 35 with the rest of the group. Delighted to have this one done with no issues.

Friday 11/03 - 5 miles @ 7:36 m/m
Nice handy lunch time run. Slightly tired today but legs felt good today and niggles finally sorting themselves out.

Saturday 12/03 - 13 miles with 4 x 10 mins
Another good Saturday session ticked off. At least I knew what was coming this week having being reintroduced to this session last week. Pace slightly picked up this week and was happy to keep the effort pretty steady though was working pretty hard at times, especially that blasted hill half way through the rep. Again the benefits of having a solid group made this session so much more manageable.

Splits (2 min recovery)
1. 1.8 miles @ 5:30 m/m
2. 1.8 miles @ 5:30 m/m
3. 1.8 miles @ 5:33 m/m
4. 1.8 miles @ 5:32 m/m

Sunday 13/03 - 17.5 miles (2 hrs) @ 7:02 (126bpm)
Headed down to the marina for the first time in yonks - not worth the trip for me if I'm not doing at least 15 miles Met up at 8am with a good group from the club and was a really enjoyable run on a cracking morning. Effort felt very comfortable, wasn't too fecked from yesterday and was happy to see the HR so low for this. I signed up for the Cardiff half a few months back and I was unsure if I'd run it with the calf injury but I'm feeling I'm back in good shape now so going to make the trip over and give it a crack. I wanted to get a decent run in today as part of preparation for that and 2 hours did the job nicely. Wrapped up another good week for me so to celebrate this I just had banana pancakes.

Weekly milage: 71

jebuz

Monday 14/03 - 5.5 miles @ 8:11 m/m
A bit tired today from the long run the previous day so just a very handy 45 mins on the pitches with a clubmate before pilates. Still can't touch my toes

Tuesday 15/03 - 13 miles
AM: 5 miles @ 7:36 m/m. Nice run before work - windy!
PM: 8 mile @ 7:48 m/m with 6 x 200m on track). Planning on running my first race in a while on Paddy's day so just did a few 200m efforts on the track (35/36 sec).

Wednesday 16/03 - 6 miles @ 7:28 m/m
Easy run before work and that was it for the day. Felt pretty tired but nothing else planned for the day.

Thursday 17/03 - County Novice 4 mile (2nd in 21:15)
Decided 2 weeks ago I'd run this feeling I was pretty much recovered from the calf injury. I wasn't sure what to expect having not done any track work in almost 2 months but I had a few good tempo sessions under my belt so was feeling in decent shape. I was pretty happy overall with the race, can never complain with individual silver, a team gold and a PB but there were unsatisfactory undertones lingering afterwards, maybe that's a good thing though, I don't want to be over the moon with 2nd place, I want to be winning things. I want I want I want

The race was held in the sleepy village of Castlelyons, novice and masters mixed into one race and probably close to 100 club runners in all. The morning was perfect, slight breeze and a relatively flat course so was feeling up for a good race though. There was a big Leevale contingent in both categories and I knew we' be competing for medals. Looking around at the start too in terms of novice runners I knew I'd be in the running for an individual medal today.

Mile 1 - 5:17
Quick start and was straight into the red zone, felt really tough and I thought it was too early to be feeling like this. The field settled out and 5 lads broke away in a group. 2 Togher lads, 2 Leevale and 1 finbarrs runner. I knew 3 of those were novice but I didn't feel strong enough to go with them and I kept my effort steady. Was this a mistake? I don't know, should I have gone with them? maybe. A 2nd group of 5/6 quickly formed with myself and another clubmate and some Finbarrs runners. There was a bit of back and forth with surges thrown in and we hit the first mile in 5:17 - working hard already.

Mile 2 - 5:32
Effort particularly increased on this mile though looking back there was a fair drag in it and the wind was hitting us head on. I had a glance at the watch here and saw 5:3x and thought feck this is not far off the pace I'm planning for the half next week, I'm quitting running. Not the ideal thought process in a championship race. I stopped being concerned about pace and just focussed on racing and that was a wise decision. We were still grouped tightly and at the halfway point I was getting a bit tired of leading and dropped to the back of the pack for a little breather, more mentally than anything. It was around the end of the 2nd mile we passed the 2 Togher lads and I did expect them to drop back eventually as they're primarily middle distance runners. It was now our group chasing the 3 ahead of us who had a decent gap. All 3 were masters but 1 of them, a clubmate was also in the novice race. I knew at this point that a medal was there for the taking. As I said they had quite a gap on us now and I didn't think I'd be catching them so I was fully focussed on shaking the group and taking the silver. My legs had other ideas however, I was really starting to feel the burn and then were telling me to just stop running.

Mile 3 - 5:15
I felt pace was picking up now and I was feeling stronger. I had confidence in my ability to shake this group but they were going nowhere. I moved back to the front and my clubmate matched me and we created a small gap on the group behind. Pretty uneventful mile other than that, just stayed purely focussed on the road ahead knowing I'd need a quick final mile. Side by side with my clubmate as we approached the 3 mile mark, time to crank it up a little.

Mile 4 - 5:06
Just as we hit the 3 mile mark there was a slight drag and I used this to push the pace on the uphill and I started gradually pulling away from my clubmate. I know he's a quick guy from running session with him so I wasn't banking on a sprint finish and wanted to create a gap. I just pushed and pushed and probably got about 5/6 seconds on him and holy crap I was puffing in the red zone. 800 to go and I am in the bad place, not even tempted to look behind me as I can just feel a presence. I get to the final straight down the main street and I see the 3 lads ahead of me crossing the line. This is where you can get complacent and lose places so absolutely no loss of focus and a hard effort all the way to the line. I cross in 21:15, silver secured and respectively 2 and 3 seconds behind me were 2 lads from the original group charging through in a very strong finish. That's how close I was to losing a medal if I had have lost concentration. The clubmate I managed to pull away from took 5th and boards own skeleton_boy came home in a superb 7th place in his first outing for Leevale, meaning we took team gold. The rate of improvement from skeleton guy since he joined us is really worrying me! Masters also won team gold so great day for the club.

I was walking along after the race and felt a short sharp pain in the left calf...nooooooo! It was a very familiar pain and I really feared the worst that it was bad. Not a nice way to finish to what should have been a very positive return to racing. Anyway I did 15/20 mins of very light cooldown on the grass, still very concerned about the calf and after munching on some sambos and cake, it was back to Cork to get the legs up for the day.

Friday 18/03 - Rest
The calf felt slightly stiff on getting up that morning but my one legged hops didn't yield any pain so I started thinking maybe it's not that bad. I managed to get an appointment with my physio that evening and thankfully he said it wasn't too serious, a primary indicator being the pain presented itself after the race rather than during. Got some dry needling and a rub and he said I should be good to return to easy running Saturday but to be mindful. Cardiff still on the plan thankfully.

Saturday 19/03 - 10 miles @ 6:56 m/m
Met up with clubmate at 8:30am and was delighted to get through this without any pain and actually felt really good. I really love finishing a run and not being injured, it's the little things.

Sunday 20/03 - 13 miles @ 6:39 m/m (133bpm)
Very happy with this effort and felt really good this morning. Took the HR out again today and it's looking good for that effort. Didn't plan on running it that quick but was feeling very comfortable and just went with that pace. I was told by the boss to only do 10 miles but I accidentally on purpose miscalculated the route and added a few more mile. Ran into my clubmate (who I battled with on Thursday) and ran the last few miles with him, luckily it didn't turn into a race.

Well that was a bit of a roller-coaster of a week from the high of winning a medal straight to a low of thinking I'm back at square one with another calf injury back to finishing on a high of not being injured...wonder what my next low is. I really shouldn't say anything else...time to go.

Weekly milage: 57

AuldManKing

Some great training going on here.
To save me reading back , what's the short term goal?

viperlogic

savage time in Cardif. Looking forward to that report

jebuz

AuldManKing wrote: »

Some great training going on here.
To save me reading back , what's the short term goal?

Thanks auld man

Immediate short term? just about to have a cup of coffee. Medium short term? Getting a good block of training in and running a 10k race end of may.

After that it's time to start ramping up the volume for Berlin in September but priority is keeping injury free and staying consistent.