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Turning a 1974 Lada Into a 2015 Lamborghini
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01-01-2015 10:21pm#1I'm Back!
New Year - New Log
I was here before with a previous log and I decided months ago to ditch it. It was full of problems and even the name "Staying Motivated With Slow Progress & Injury Worries" was negative. New year, new start and a log which will hopefully be more positive.
Now I very much doubt that anyone is gonna learn too much from me. But I want to use this log to keep me honest and motivated. I doubt I'll update it after every run. But maybe a couple of times a week. I'll try to be better than I was at updating the other log anyhow.
So, a brief history. started running in June 2012 as a way to put a stop to the weight creep. Weight went up to 14st 6lbs I think (and looked worse) and I wanted to put a stop to it. Plus I had DCM in my bucket list since I was a teenager and wanted to complete one before turning 40. So I went out with the aim of 2013 Dublin City Marathon in mind, giving myself 16 months to build up to it. Injuries were a problem at the start as I tried to build too quickly and my training was unstructured and not very bright in many ways looking back. As it happened, I didn't make it to DCM 2013. In fact, I got injured one week before the 18 week plan was due to start and was out for the following 10 weeks. So DCM13 was knocked on the head.
Once I got back, I continued to do the odd 10K, 5K and whatever race with a new goal of DCM 2014. But training was still regularly stop-start with injuries. But this time I made it to DCM, albeit with many injury problems along the way. The second half of the 18 week plan was a struggle with a list of issues as long as your arm. I had to revise my initial target of sub 4 hours way down but I was totally determined to do it and trained on thru the pain with reasons that had become much more personal and important than what the original reasons were. I never missed an LSR (bar one) but I did miss a fair few midweek runs. Did three 20+ mile LSRs on the build up and gotta tell ya, my body was objecting strongly to it, some of my runs were a real sufferfest and I was falling very much OUT of love with running and would have given up except those new personal reasons wouldn't let me.
After DCM, I was just happy to have done it although not particularly proud of my time. But it was the best to be expected of myself given how the previous 10 or 11 weeks had gone. One it was all over, I knew I had to take a complete break for November and give my body a chance to recover. That included a break from this Boards Athletics forum to give myself a mental break too and to avoid torment and being tempted to try too much too quickly. After 5 weeks off, I did 7.5K and while I felt a lot better, it styill wasn't right and I knew I needed more time. 10 days later I did a sort of an unofficial run when I had to leg it for about a mile to catch a train and I was still feeling it after that short run. Next run was 4 miles on Christmas eve, felt a tiny twinge and said I'd call it a year, come back and start 2015 on New Years' Day, completely niggle free hopefully.
The weight got down to 12st 1Ib at around the time of DCM. Since then, it's probably crept up again - but only by about 4Ibs or 5Ibs I'd say, which is not too bad considering there's been so little running done in the last 2 months and the excesses of the last 2 weeks.
PBs:
Distance|Date|Time
5K|Dec 2013|23:03
10K|Mar 2014|49:40
10M|Aug 2014|1:24:56
HM|June 2013|2:06:13*
Mar|Oct 2014|4:57:41
*Struggled through the last 2½ miles or so of this one with an injury, had been on course for a sub 2hr comfortably.
My 2014 running year didn't start til second week of February and ended at DCM and also had load of problems in between. So it was effectively a year of about 7 months for me. So I only managed just under 820 miles all year. Not happy with that at all and seeking a huge improvement in 2015
Goals for 2015
Sub 22 minute 5K
Sub 48 minute 10K (really hoping to go a good bit lower than that)
Sub 1:50 HM
Sub 4 hour DCM (if I do it at all - undecided - may realistically take longer to get there, depends how training goes next time)
Well over 1,000 miles ran.
Do a lot more races, I really haven't done enough
Join a club (I am already in touch with one but haven't attended a session yet)
Get better at cross training - hoping the club will help here
Immediate goals are to get thru January in good shape and the start hitting the Kilkenny Parkrun in February and run other races with the first big goal race of 2015 probably being the Wexford HM on April 26th
Constructive criticism of my log is encouraged and will be extremely welcome
Happy running year everyone
16
Comments
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Thursday: Jan 1st
7 miles @ 9:40 pace
Went out in the strong wind without any notions about how far I would go or pace. Just wanted to get thru a run comfortably, without any sign of issues whatsoever. And I think I did...so far.
I brought the watch but ignored it and just ran by fair effort, if you will. Kinda pleasantly surprised how fast "fair effort" was considering I'm a bit out of shape at the moment with the long break, and considering the excesses of Jack Daniels last night.....the bad Jack Daniels....not the good one! Pleasantly surprised too that I went for 7 miles. Was expecting 4 or 5 - but was enjoying it so much, didn't wanna stop.
I even got my first heckle of the year.....some things never change. Despite the wind, it was actually a lovely evening for a run. My wonderful heckler didn't seem to think so though! I said to him, shuddup ya ****in eejit, you're out in it too
Gonna get arranging my first session with the SLOT club very soon. Wanna make sure I'm OK first - so another run or two has to go well before I go there.
Oh I forgot another important goal of 2015 - to get myself a decent feckin username!
Oh and, make my log entries more concise 0 -
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Great to see you back Laois_Man or whatever you're gonna call yourself in the future!
Looking forward to reading about your injury free running exploits this year.
Best of luck with everything!
I also have the Wexford Half in April in my plan!
Thanks
Excellent that you're doing Wexford. Never did it but it seems like a really fast course.
Not that "Fast" is much to me
You on the other hand......I had a brief catch up on the last couple pf pages of your log last night....hitting 6:2x pace now are we....I'm surprised my log is good enough for you to be seen dead in nowadays 0 -
Thanks
Excellent that you're doing Wexford. Never did it but it seems like a really fast course.
Not that "Fast" is much to me
You on the other hand......I had a brief catch up on the last couple pf pages of your log last night....hitting 6:2x pace now are we....I'm surprised my log is good enough for you to be seen dead in nowadays
ha ha very funny. Almost anyone can run at 6:2x pace for 40 seconds;)
Can't wait to do Wexford. I'm much better at the longer slower stuff!
Yes Wexford is a lovely flat course! What plan will you follow or have you thought that far ahead yet?0 -
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hillsiderunner wrote: »Good to hear you are starting back again and that the injuries are on the mend. Will be keeping an eye as I've an identical goal for the 5k and similar for the 10k ... not to mention staying injury-free!
Best of luck with it
Hopefully we can inspire one another 0 -
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Training is a bit same ol' same ol' but that's not the concern at the moment. Still feeling the IT Band intermittently but now also the right instep/tendon area which had been bothering me for about a month before the marathon. Neither are very painful, just slight twinges....but both are making me very cautions and nervous about whether I am doing the right thing by running at all. Considering concentrating on the bike only for a couple of weeks. Not even confident it'll all be grand after a couple of weeks either though - considering I've given it 2 months already.
Maybe you need to just do shorter runs & build up slowly, might be that 7miles is too much for the ITB right now ... (I was a bit jealous to see your two 7mile runs, given that you're coming back from injury
) 0 -
hillsiderunner wrote: »Maybe you need to just do shorter runs & build up slowly, might be that 7miles is too much for the ITB right now ... (I was a bit jealous to see your two 7mile runs, given that you're coming back from injury )
+1000. 7 miles is quite a lot to do when you haven't run in a few days. I'd be aiming for more frequent easy runs of 35 mins or so.0 -
hillsiderunner wrote: »Maybe you need to just do shorter runs & build up slowly, might be that 7miles is too much for the ITB right now+1000. 7 miles is quite a lot to do when you haven't run in a few days couple of months. I'd be aiming for more frequent easy runs of 35 mins or so.
FYP
Yanno what, thanks for the advice ye 2. I think that makes a lot of sense. I guess I am so busy at the moment, I get to run less frequently than I'd like to and I try to compensate for that by running further when I do get a chance to run. Hoping things will calm down in another week or so. But yeah, I'm gonna try to follow that advice and cut it back to about 4 miles for a bit.
I work for an American company and there's one new guy on the US side who is way OTT with his signing off on e-mails. Just got one from him that was signed off exactly like this and which I think I'll redirect to ye.....
"Thanks for all that you do to make us achieve our goals and make this entire World a better place. Infinite Blessings to you!"
Cracks me up that guy! 0 -
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An absolute fecker of a week. I'm talking 2:30am finishing work EVERY day. So no running done all week.
Ah no! My sympathies, I know the feeling well (in my case back in Nov and Dec). Do these places not realise we have running to do
??? Glad you're back at it and keep it gentle... 0 -
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Friday Jan 30th
8 Mile LSR at 9:39 pace
I'm calling this an LSR anyway. Well....have to start somewhere.
Took advantage of a day off work and got this done mid-morning which is a nice novelty. It took a bit longer than usual to get warmed up. That's morning running!
Have a very important 5th birthday being celebrated in my house today (and tomorrow)......an excuse for a little tipple tonight methinks....since I've been very good since new years' eve - well, been good alcohol-wise anyway - it's a pity about everything else tho! 
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Sunday Feb 1st
6 miles @ 9:15 pace
Bit of a heavy weekend. Booze and poor diet - and I felt it on this run. Nearly killed me!
Tuesday Feb 3rd
6 miles @ 8:55 pace
Still feeling a bit lethargic. But in any case, it's definitely time to start putting a bit of variety into the running from now on - before I bore myself to injury. The intention was to get a decent base after 2 months off after the marathon and I've done that now. So now it's time to follow up on my new years resolution and join the club. I went there tonight. There was a couch 2 5K thing going on. I didn't do any training, just had a good chat with the coach. Tomorrow night it starts for me with 45 minutes of speed work. Then a group LSR of 10 miles or so on Saturday morning. Excited (and a little bit apprehensive that I'll be Mr. slow at the speed session tomorrow night )
So I am going to pay session-by-session for this month and then sign up for a full years membership at the end of the month if I am liking it. And the idea of running 20 mile LSRs later in the year as part of a group is bound to be something I'll like more than the thoughts of doing it on my own again.0 -
Wednesday, Feb 4th
0.75 mile warm up
8x550 meter repeats averaging 6:50 pace (per mile) with 60 second recovery
Cool Down
Total 3.9 Miles
Well I took the plunge - my first ever session with a club. It was on a 550 meter grass track with part of it consisting of having to go up a short steep hill and back down again about 100 meters later. I covered the 550m between 2:18 and 2:21 each time.
And, I wasn't Mr. slow. Out of 21 runners at the session, there was a small group who looked like they're training for Rio but I held a respectable position in the rest. Happy enough considering I haven't done any speedwork in about 10 months!
Next Club session was due to be a 10 mile LSR on Saturday morning. But I've realized I am on Daddy duty on Saturday morning as Mrs. Laois_Man attends college on a Saturday every few weeks and she's there this Saturday. I'd love to do it. Ahh well....I've waited this long to do a group LSR, might as well wait another week. I'll still do about 9 miles on my own.
Happy out though! 0 -
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Saturday Feb 14th
9 mile LSR at 8:42 pace
First LSR with the club - a bit faster than I do them on my own (last weeks 9 miles was at 10:04 pace, the week before, 8 miles at 9:39 pace). Second last mile at 7:49 pace - Happy to see that pace after 8 miles. Not sure whether its a good thing when it's supposed to be an LSR. But in a group, it doesn't feel as fast or difficult so I suppose it is. Enjoyed it again. Think I'll stick with this club lark. I can really see myself getting much better in the near future coz of it.
Now off out to undo it all with Valentine's night boldness! 0 -
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Wednesday Feb 18th
Club Pace Session
This one was on a standard 400m track.
Warm up
600m
1,000m
600m
1,000m
600m
Cool down
2 mins walking recovery in between
Happy for now with my pace but I hope I can be consistent to the last set with it very soon. I do feel the 2 minutes recovery in between these sets is too long. And I also feel there isn't quiet enough of them. Would anyone else here agree?? But being mister newbie, I don't wanna be mister know-it-all-newbie and tell the coach that's been there for donkeys years how he should improve it.
I run similar repeats with a group sometimes, doing 5x650m and I usually find its enough. They are set-up on a fixed 6min clock (there are five loops of different distances you can choose) so in my case I'm getting about 3 mins of walking round in between... I think they are called repeats when you push harder and have a longer recovery (especially when the recovery is walk or standing). I was planning to move up to the loop around 1k when I get stronger but you've given me an idea for an intermediate option!
Are you all around the same pace in the group? Was wondering how they keep all of synchronised if it's a fixed 2min recovery
You could run them flat out and then you'd need the longer recovery
PS But be careful of the ITB if it ever feels a bit sore, just stop. When I was getting back into running after my ITB problems long ago, I used to always bring bus/taxi fare on the long runs, and I would bail if the ITB started complaining. It was really satisfying to see this backing-off do the trick when the ITB made a re-appearance for a week or so during marathon training last summer. I still bring the money every time I do any mid/long run in the years since. 0 -
hillsiderunner wrote: »I run similar repeats with a group sometimes, doing 5x650m and I usually find its enough. They are set-up on a fixed 6min clock (there are five loops of different distances you can choose) so in my case I'm getting about 3 mins of walking round in between... I think they are called repeats when you push harder and have a longer recovery (especially when the recovery is walk or standing). I was planning to move up to the loop around 1k when I get stronger but you've given me an idea for an intermediate option!
Are you all around the same pace in the group? Was wondering how they keep all of synchronised if it's a fixed 2min recovery
You could run them flat out and then you'd need the longer recovery
PS But be careful of the ITB if it ever feels a bit sore, just stop. When I was getting back into running after my ITB problems long ago, I used to always bring bus/taxi fare on the long runs, and I would bail if the ITB started complaining. It was really satisfying to see this backing-off do the trick when the ITB made a re-appearance for a week or so during marathon training last summer. I still bring the money every time I do any mid/long run in the years since.
I guess the 2 minute recovery starts when the last person finishes, which means a good bit longer than a 2 minute recovery for some people but I am very much in the middle of the pack so it's not a huge difference for me personally.
I do run them flat out but I still find I am out of oxygen debt well before the 2 minutes are up. Having said that, I do get progressively slower. The first 1K, I think I did it in 4:11. The second one was something like 4:25
The ITB is grand at the moment. A tiny little knee twinge at the moment but only now and again and the common advice I see is to run as far as you can run without pain and try get that distance longer gradually. OK so far, touch wood. 0 -
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Wednesday March 11th
7 Miles at 8:53 average pace
I skipped the club session tonight - whatever they did probably wasn't much, if any, harder than what I did myself. But coming up to Saturday's 10K race, I just wanted to be in control of my own run.
I wanted to do miles 2, 4 and 6 at 7:40 pace with the others easy
First attempt was too fast: 7:15
Second attempt was pretty much bang on: 7:41
Third attempt 7:36
I am confident of beating my 49:40 PB on Saturday but I'm really hoping to take a decent chunk off of it. My planned pace may prove slightly ambitious but as long as it doesn't kill me, I suppose I'll learn from it. 0 -
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