The Four Year Plan

ariana`

Congrats on the shiny new PB, really well done

Younganne

well done on the PB, especially with feeling so lacking in energy. More to come off that when you're in full health.:D

spaceylou

ariana` wrote: »

Congrats on the shiny new PB, really well done

Younganne wrote: »

well done on the PB, especially with feeling so lacking in energy. More to come off that when you're in full health.:D

Thanks you guys! Anne, I wouldn't say I was in bad health just not 100 per cent right in myself. Auntie Flo arrived yesterday so wonder if that had anything to do with it.

spaceylou

Monday 5 December
Squeezed in 15 min recovery while dinner was cooking - 2.57k @ 6:39/km. Wished I had longer as it was a perfect evening for running, wonderful fresh and still night, came home buzzing.

Tuesday 6 December
Up early this morning and out for 45 min very very easy at 6:15am. Tried to remind myself of last night's buzz as I left himself still tucked up in bed still snoozing! Enjoyable and nice even pace throughout, think I am getting the hang of this running slowly business AT LAST!! 6.71km @ 6:48/km

WTD - 9.28km
MTD - 25.86km
YTD - 958.08km
Running Streak: 9/9

jake1970

Well done L and congrats on the PB.

spaceylou

jake1970 wrote: »

Well done L and congrats on the PB.

Thanks, hope your running going well

Bungy Girl

Nicely done on the PB . Sounds like you could have done with a bit more breakfast all right, the tummy rumbles are a dead giveaway :pac::pac:.

It's something I find hard to get right, the balance between eating enough and being too full. Trial and error really to see what suits you.

jake1970

spaceylou wrote: »

Thanks, hope your running going well

I am running.....reluctantly

Maximus Alexander

Well done on the PB at the weekend! I also get headaches sometimes after races, never figured out what the cause is but my best guess is dehydration; I sweat a lot when racing!

spaceylou

Ahem...just dust off this log...not that there has been a whole lot going on!

Sadly the running streak in December did not last, it was great for my head but not so much for my body. Aches and pains continued to grow so a few weeks in, I just wasn't able for it. To be honest, I still am not right after the fall I took in November but more of that anon.

The Good
In no particular order:

• I ran more than I have ever run before in a year.
• I completed Dublin City Marathon.
• PBs at 1 mile*; 5 k (twice); 10 k; 10 mile*; marathon*.
• Running was more social, joining some Boards folk for a run along the canal and heading to a few parkruns

*Not hard, had never raised these distances before

The Bad

• I did not train like I should have for DCM
• My report card shall forever read 'issues with consistency'
• Neglected ancillary stuff that is needed to keep me in one piece for running

The Ugly

• Me after I fell down the stairs in the week after DCM...my ass has not been right since :eek:
• For any OCD readers - the numbers in my totals table

|2015|2016
Jan|?|52.32
Feb|?|93.96
Mar|13.65|67.25
Apr|70.77|33.25
May|27.41|69.52
Jun|123.11|17.99
Jul|52.36|180.73
Aug|20.24|90.37
Sep|17.53|136.01
Oct|21.75|138.64
Nov|11.03|52.51
Dec|12.29|39.52
Total|370.14|972.07

Will be back with belated plans for 2017

Bungy Girl

Welcome back, Spacey Lou! Sorry to hear you're still suffering the effects of that fall, have you seen anyone about it ? Hope all well now in any case and look forward to following your comeback.

spaceylou

January
The whole month was spent travelling in Australia. Runners came with me but I only got out once. Found that dodgy beds left me too stiff to run early in the morning, later in the day was too hot and I was a bit nervous about running in the dark on my own in places I didn't know. And to be honest, for a lot of the trip my gluts, hip and tail bone were pretty sore and stiff.

February
A mixture of no motivation, life and stiff gluts, hip, tail bone etc has meant I really have hardly laced up my runners at all. Really starting to feel it now - I am eating crap as well and generally bluh!! Enough!

March
The focus for March is going to be building back up slowly time on feet, going back to pilates (signed up for 8 week term starting 8 March); and investing some time and money in physio visit(s) to sort out the gluts, hip, tail bone thingy. Saturday mornings are currently being spent viewing houses but if I ever get a Saturday morning to myself again, I will go to my new local parkrun at Bushy Park.

April - mid-June
These two and half months are the only section of the year where I am likely to have an opportunity to train consistently and hopefully (if March goes according to plan) injury free. Given the short time frame I think I'll try and find a 5k and/or 10 start of June (not mini-marathon) that I can target for a new PB.

Mid-June - December
Fieldwork for PhD will have me in South Africa and other countries in the region so I am not sure how much running I will get in. The hope and plan is that I find somewhere safe to run, ideally with company and I run regularly but more as a means to clear my head than to focus on training plans etc. Luckily it would seem that parkrun has made its way to South Africa so that will be a place to start.

I guess the focus for the year will be on enjoying running and having a relaxed attitude to targeting any PBs, instead concentrating on staying fit and healthy.

spaceylou

Bungy Girl wrote: »

Welcome back, Spacey Lou! Sorry to hear you're still suffering the effects of that fall, have you seen anyone about it ? Hope all well now in any case and look forward to following your comeback.

Thanks G - I haven't seen anyone about issues after fall - kept putting it off before Christmas, then I was away and since I got back thought I was getting better until another flare up end of last week. Phoning physio tomorrow to make an appointment - must stop procrastinating :rolleyes:

Hope your over your cold and relaxed after weekend away.

Younganne

Welcome back Spaceylou. Definitely get to the "bottom " of your troubles. Maybe a trip or 2 will have you sorted.

Irish runner 5m in the park on 17th June could be a good target or Dunshaughlin 10k is a great one following weekend on Saturday evening. Think it's 24/25 this year.

spaceylou

Younganne wrote: »

Welcome back Spaceylou. Definitely get to the "bottom " of your troubles. Maybe a trip or 2 will have you sorted.

Irish runner 5m in the park on 17th June could be a good target or Dunshaughlin 10k is a great one following weekend on Saturday evening. Think it's 24/25 this year.

Thanks for the suggestions Anne, am likely to be gone by then so might look for earlier in June or late May, maybe Terenure 5 mile, must double check the date.

spaceylou

So the start of March went well, I signed up to a new Pilates class, I went for a few runs, generally easy but it was great to be out especially as we had some nice weather around then. Also had a day hill walking with a bunch of students in the Comeraghs which was fabulous. I felt like I was getting strong and it would only be a short time before I was fit again - go me! :cool:

Sadly all that was followed by a relapse of my bum/hip issue brought on by practically nothing which left me in agony with restricted movement. No more putting off going to physio!

Over the last number of weeks I've had 3 visits to physio, probably would have been more except that I was in Boston for a conference (and feeling jealous of all the people running on the common), acute pain has been dealt with and am now back to a state of not really any pain but also knowing that the slightest thing could cause a relapse again so we are working on addressing that issue. Basically my gluts are the weakest gluts on the planet, they just don't fire even when I'm doing something that should be working them, its the other muscles around that end up kicking in to try and help.

So in a bid to find the 'on switch' for these excuses for muscles, I have daily home exercises and stretches to do, all of which look deceptively simple but I'm finding quite tough. I can go back to pilates class, am to try find a pool for swimming (darn Maynooth Uni doesn't have one anymore) and can walk (building up slowly) but no running for at least another two weeks :(

I am going to try and log that stuff for motivation so it'll be pretty boring round these parts for the next few weeks.

spaceylou

**dusts off log**

Well that was a while ago - oops.  April - July were fairly inconsistent, injury kept flaring up and I was all over the place with my PhD (quite literally) so didn't really have a chance to do anything about it.  August/September saw me staying in the one spot for 7 weeks (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) which meant being able to find a physio.  There was several sessions, most including dry needling and it seems to have mostly worked.  By the time I was leaving I had started a couch to 5k plan; was hitting the local ParkRun most Saturdays (tacking on extra run/walk segments after my C25K plan to finish the 5k distance) and had my stretching and strengthening routine down.

September, a two week trip home to move house and guess what - lifting heavy boxes, climbing up and down ladders, twisting and turning trying to reach odd corners with paint and only having camping chairs to sit on is not great for my back!  Happily, once it got a chance to rest it was fairly okay.  I've been back in Pietermartizburg since the start of October and have only needed to go to the physio once, more preventive than curative.  C25K continues, last Saturday saw me run 22min continuously - a far cry from a year ago at DCM.  In hindsight, I did not recover properly after DCM and then when I fell it just further fecked me up, not a mistake I will make again.  I've missed being able to run consistently so much this year, and sadly so has my waistline!

I leave again at the end of this week and will be on the move until mid-December.  I have two weeks left on the C25K so hope to be able to get these runs in but a lot will depend on where I am and how safe it is to be wandering about.  Once I have finished C25K, am going to slowly build up the time on feet and the number of days running so that I start looking around for a base plan of some kind in the new year, when I am home for three months :D

Oh and when did the site change, it's horrible looking :O

annapr

Welcome home!!!! And bon voyage!!! Hope the PhD is going as well as possible... and good luck with building back up slowly. You know you can log from other countries too....

Wubble Wubble

Welcome back! Moving house isn't easy, even when everything is working as it should

Best of luck with C25k, and of course your PhD!

spaceylou

annapr wrote: »

Welcome home!!!!   And bon voyage!!!  Hope the PhD is going as well as possible...  and good luck with building back up slowly.  You know you can log from other countries too....

Yes, I know...I am currently logging from South Africa :P There just hasn't been much to say, at least not about running!

spaceylou

Last night was a wonderful run in the local park - not sure of distances as my watch got stolen a while back but 5 min swift walk warm up; 25 min super easy run; 5 min swift walk cool down - one of those its great to be alive evenings! :D

Younganne

Great to see you got the injury sorted and are back logging & running. Busy woman but enjoy running in all those lovely locations..

You'll have to post like Thebitterlemon a travel/run log, with all the travelling you're doing!!

spaceylou

Younganne wrote: »

Great to see you got the injury sorted and are back logging & running.  Busy woman but enjoy running in all those lovely locations..

You'll have to post like Thebitterlemon a travel/run log, with all the travelling you're doing!!

Yeah I dunno about that, but I can definitely recommend Dusi Parkrun if anyone finds themselves in South Africa.  Hope to try out some of the ones in Jo'Burg in December so shall report back!

spaceylou

Week Beginning 6 November

Monday: rest (planned)

Tuesday: rest (unplanned) I was absolutely mentally and physically exhausted, and sure no wonder, realised I have not had a day off in weeks. Decided to have a lie in, and barely put in appearance in office before coming home to power out. Thank goodness for gas cooking. No lights, so early night.

Wednesday: rest (planned)

Thursday: Evening run for a change, was great, really enjoyable. 25min easy with 5min swift walk w/u & c/d.

Friday: rest (planned)

Saturday: No time for parkrun, just went to local park for some laps. Same plan as Saturday, 25 min easy with 5 min w/u & c/d but did not feel as good. Very warm, muggy morning even before 8am and could really feel it. No clue of pace but I definitely didn't cover same distance as Thursday. Rest of day, collect OH from airport, woohoo!

Sunday: rest (planned) with lots of tourist walking in Durban.

All days (except Tuesday): Physio recommended stretch and strengthening routine.

spaceylou

Weeks Beginning 13 November and 20 November

O/H came to visit so was on hols for this two weeks, not sure exactly what I did but think I covered

• 2 easy runs,
• 1 10k hike,
• stretching and strengthening exercises most days, and
• lots of sight-seeing and eating

Week Beginning 27 November
Nada, barely had time to sleep at one of those conference where they like to schedule stuff for about 25 hours a day and keep you at the conference centre away from your hotel. Ended the week with a shocker of a fall in the shower, luckily didn't do any lasting damage but my right arm and shoulder looked like I had gone ten rounds with Katie Taylor :eek:

Weeks Beginning 4 December and 11 December

Not much running here either but at least I had time to stretch and do strengthening exercises most days.

Thursday 14 December - Arrived Home :D:D:D

Week Beginning 18 December

Its been so long since I ran and my back is still not 100 per cent especially after recent falls, dodgy hotel beds and long flights so plan for the rest of the year (and probably first few months of 2018) is to slowly increase time on feet and frequency running.

Monday: 20 min easy plus 5 min walk wu/cd and usual stretch and strengthen stuff.
Tuesday: Rest - had hoped to go to pilates but class is not on; stretch and strengthen stuff.

Plan for rest of week
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 25 min easy
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Easy Parkrun
Sunday: Rest.

spaceylou

Wednesday 20 Dec
Rest - planned

Thursday 21 Dec
Rest - unplanned but life and Christmas week happened

Friday 22 Dec
Rest - planned

Saturday 23 Dec
Marley Parkrun and the first outing of my new Garmin Forerunner 235. Started at the back with 5 min walk to warm up followed by some super slow easy running. Not sure the hill at the start felt easy but the rest was okay, but geez I am not used to this running in the cold business, and Saturday was mild!

Anyway fastest parkrun of the year 34:23 and very festive. Cool down walk back to car afterwards.

Sunday 24 Dec
Rest - planned

Week total
Runs x 2
Stretches & Strengthening x 6
Parkrun x 1

Murph_D

Ouch. Look after yourself. Unlucky!

spaceylou

Week Beginning 25 December

Monday 25
Rest - planned

Tuesday 26
25 min very easy with 5 min warm up/cool down. Should have gone out early but got lazy so was raining by the time I got out the door. Cold and wet but invigorating.

Wednesday 27
Rest - planned

Thursday 28
25 min very easy with 5min warm up/cool down. Really felt great to be out.

Friday 29
Rest - planned

Saturday 30
Parkrun Kilkenny. Have done this once before about a year ago and quite enjoy the course. Two large loops followed by a final shorter loop, each containing a tough auld hill near the eventual finish. Walked to the start from in-laws (about a km) and lined up. Plan was to run the entire thing which would make it the longest run in months and I did it. 34:18, fastest parkrun this year and despite being so slow I felt fantastic after this. In love with running again, so pleased that my body keeping up with what I wanna do and just great to be out moving

Sunday 31
Cross-training: Lovely cross-country walk/hike to finish the year. 8.5km with lots of ups and downs and mud, so much mud. Great way to end the year.

Totals
Runs x 3
Parkrun x 1
Stretching and strengthening x 4 (must do better)
Cross-training x 1

spaceylou

2017 Review

It has been a fantastic year with so much happening. January was spent on holidays with my wonderful OH, we bought a house this year which we are slowly making into a home, I had something published in a journal, presented a well received paper at a big international geography conference, and I did a big chunk (6 months) of phd fieldwork. We also managed to squeeze in another road trip in South Africa. With so much going on something was bound to give, and it was running. The start of the year saw me plagued with injury which I am really only starting to get over in the last couple of months and I have lost all of my endurance and speed (for what they were worth). On the plus side I did a fair few parkruns while in South Africa.

2018 Plans

I wanted to say keep running and loose weight (not walking about for security coupled with feck all running and lots of eating out makes my jeans a bit too snug, my doctor frown, and my back complain) but they are not very S.M.A.R.T. goals so here goes something a bit more measurable and hopefully realistic:

1. Increase (slowly) the time and distance Is can run for so that in December I can complete the Waterford half marathon in and around the same time as my previous PB (2:10:xx)
2. Increase (slowly) the speed at which I can run so that I hit my Jingle Bells PB on a non Jingle Bells course. Haven't a race in mind but thinking sometime in the summer/autumn.
3. Do a pilates class every week I am in Ireland - starting next week when the studio reopens.
4. Run at least 30 parkruns, ideally covering a good few Dublin ones, as well as maybe some further afield.
5. Loose 15 kg (slowly and consistently)
6. Make the time and effort to do my home stretching and strengthening exercises from physio at least 5/7 days a week.
7. Try different stuff for cross training that is fun (although obviously nothing is as fun as running).

spaceylou

Week Beginning 1January

Monday 1
Started the year with a rest day

Tuesday 2
Set out early morning for 30 minutes easy running with 3min walk w/u and 2min walk c/d. Felt great to be out, 4.9km covered including walking sections at avg 7:16/km. New watch records heart rate but as I haven't done a max hr test not sure what it's telling me really. Avg HR 150.

Wednesday 3
Another rest day

Thursday 4
Super sleepy morning so was evening before I made it out. I can confirm the runners of churchtown are very friendly with hellos. Plan was same as Tuesday, 30 minutes running with 3/2 walking wu/cd. Covered 5km at 7:01/km; avg HR 156.

Friday 5
Another rest day.

Saturday 6
Parkrun this morning, big crowd and quite a few newcomers. Finished pr in 34:06, fastest time since getting back into running. After the scanning of barcodes set off to do another 11min to bring total time running up to 45mins. Longest run since I started back and I know it's not quite the same when you have a break but happy nonetheless. In fact, I've apparently come home with a massive smile on my face after every run this week, really loving being able to run again Total 6.47km at avg 6:59/km avg HR 162.

Sunday 7
Cross-training: cliff walk Bray to Greystones and back (with mandatory cake and coffee in Greystones).
13.16km total. Much fun.

Week Totals :
16.4 km
Run x 3 (incl 1 parkrun)
Stretching and strengthening 6/7
Long walk x 1

Next week, more of the same with an extra five minutes to one of the midweek runs and the Saturday long run. Also hopefully a pilates class.