Turning a 1974 Lada Into a 2015 Lamborghini

beertons

Monte Carlow. Brilliant.

Laois_Man

Saturday April 18th

(Almost) 8 miles at 8:45 pace

Was going to go a bit longer but cut it shorter as the foot has me cautious and feeling a bit out of form and sluggish.

Also, time to bin the runners I think. Will give them one last run out in the Wexford HM if I decide to sign up over the next couple of days (unlikely). But gonna buy a new pair today anyway.

Laois_Man

Sunday April 19th

2 miles at 9:21 pace

Yeah, a measly 2 miles. I had a headache and it got worse as I ran so I stopped. But this run was a good chance to try out my lovely shiney new pair of New Balance Runners.


Monday April 20th

5 miles at 9:08 pace

A bit of a late run this. Tomorrow is the closing date for signing up for the Wexford HM and I went out thinking I probably wouldn't be signing up for that tomorrow and after this run, no I won't be. I am feeling 3 niggles and I am afraid a race of that distance (or any distance actually) would go against me and I do want to be in good shape for running when I am in the US (if I can get the time). Not disappointed at all. Seen a physio too. It won't take long for me to come right again.

Laois_Man

Saturday April 25th

8 Miles at 9:16 pace

I was running a good clip, quicker than 8:30 minute miles for the 4 miles of this and then seemed to run out of steam. It was very hot starting off - and very wet finishing. I feel I have gone backwards this month but it shouldn't take long to get the fitness back as long as I get the time to do a good bit of running in the US. I leave next Saturday and I am actually spending the entire month of May in the US between Florida and Tennessee. So a good opportunity to get in some warm weather and high humidity training - if I can get in a lot of running!

After the few days rest, the foot feels better than it did but still a little bit of discomfort.

A friend of mine had a heart attack playing soccer on Wednesday night at Carlow IT and I am really shook by it. He was literally gone only for a girl from the college arrived with a defibrillator and brought him back. I wasn't even there and I'm still traumatized by the things the others have told me and I've suddenly turned into a hypochondriac when running now and I think is a lot of the reason why the last 4 miles were quite slow today.

Laois_Man

Sunday April 26th

Castledermot 5K - DNF

Only heard about this race yesterday and only decided to race it this morning

Pulled up after 1.1 miles when I felt a pull in my groin after running up and down a steep hill.. Stopped straight away. The left groin this time. My first ever DNF but I did the right thing.

I reckon I was definitely on course for a 21:xx finish too. So in a weird way it' has given me a bit of confidence - as long as the groin isn't too bad.

Must research warm up stretches that specifically target the groin.

Pacing Mule

Sorry to hear that but a wise move for sure.

echancrure

Laois_Man wrote: »

A friend of mine had a heart attack playing soccer on Wednesday night at Carlow IT and I am really shook by it. He was literally gone only for a girl from the college arrived with a defibrillator and brought him back.

Neighbour of mine. Very scary stuff indeed. One life saved.

Take care Laois_Man

hillsiderunner

Sorry to hear about the DNF but well done for stopping. Hope it's not going to need to much time off.

Laois_Man

echancrure wrote: »

Neighbour of mine. Very scary stuff indeed. One life saved.

Take care Laois_Man

He's such a nice fella too....but thankfully he's on the mend and he'll be OK in time

Thanks a million to everyone down there for what ye did for him!

Laois_Man

Sunday May 3rd

5 miles at 9:48 pace


My first run on my American trip and boy way it tough. 28 degrees heat in Orlando and the stuffing was knocked out of me after 2 miles and it didn't help that I had to carry a gallon of water. But I think this run probably did more for me than a 15 mile run at home. I sweated more than I probably have in the last 100 miles of running at home. Plus, the ol diet hasn't been great since I landed yesterday evening which didn't help either.

I had to stop a couple of times to get more cold water, coz I ran into places I shouldn't have ran into and coz I just had to coz I'm a whimp!

I am hoping by the end of the month, these temps will be grand for me and will bring me on a lot.

But, I am here for work most of the time and I am really unsure how much running I will get in - and as well as work, I think there willl be a lot more bad dieting too. So I could come out worse! The company are paying for all kinds of really really bad stuff like bold food and alcohol - But it'd be rude not to!

Also, the pain in the right foot seems to have gone completely but still a twinge in the left groin. I'm a crock. But not enough to stop me running (hoping neither issue flare up)

Just to show how much the heat destroyed me, my splits were;

Mile 1: 9:25 (enjoyable warm up)
Mile 2: 8:24 (Got too ambitious here)
Mile 3: 10:15 (starting to pay now)
Mile 4: 10:50 (ohhh 4vck)
Mile 5: 10:06 (Tried to finish with a bit of respectability)


I'm not trying to make no-one jealous or nothin but it was an extremely picturesque run - a couple of laps around Disneyworld Boardwalk and the outskirts...

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/764202193

OK...yeah I am trying to make ye jealous, alright. :P

adrian522

Good work knocking out the miles in that heat. Stay Hydrated, if you can...

Laois_Man

Tuesday May 5th

6 Miles at 9:01 pace

So much easier than Sunday. It actually rained a bit this morning and the temps are only (!!!) 25 degrees today - but a good strong fresh breeze made it much easier.

Diet though....atrocious!

Laois_Man

Friday May 8th

4 miles at 9:25

First run since Tuesday - very hectic week.

Decided to try do it after dark this time. Temp was still about 25°C but it was easier. Some parts of the route were not very well lit up but I was careful to stay in busy places.

A bit disappointed with the mileage done since I got here. 15 miles in 6 days. But there was a good realistic chance I was gonna get nothing done so I suppose it's not that bad.

hillsiderunner

Laois_Man wrote: »

Friday May 8th
A bit disappointed with the mileage done since I got here. 15 miles in 6 days. But there was a good realistic chance I was gonna get nothing done so I suppose it's not that bad.

Just keep it up as much as you can, fit them in when you can and the next week may well be better! I think running after dark is a great idea as long as you have safe routes, I do a fair bit of that when I have busy periods at work ... and it will be cooler for you.

Laois_Man

Sunday May 10th

2 Miles at 9:13 pace

No, there's not a '1' missing i front of that "2 Miles"....I wish.
I'm feckin cursed. After the last run on Friday night, I felt some left glute pain every time I got up off a chair or anything the next day. But today (Sunday) it was OK. So I went out for a late run again but stopped after 2 miles just for a few seconds to drink (the heat really is a killer - even starting a run at 9:20pm) and when I went to take off again, there it was again. So I stopped, walked back to my hotel and stretched the ****e outa it (wish I had something to act as a decent rope to help me so some AIS).

I'll see how it goes over the next few days.

On the plus side, I must have walked AT LEAST 12 miles around Disneyworld parks today. So that's good. It's all training....right?

Looks like I'll be flying home next Saturday - plans have changed...again. But unfortunately I'll be on a plane back to the US again on May 26th for another 8 or 9 days stay - which means I am missing ANOTHER Bank Holiday weekend at home. This time I'm gonna be in Tennessee (you would think it's a bit cooler there than Florida, but I've been watching it and this week anyway it has been pretty much the same).

But at least I'll get to do some normal temperature running for a few days....I HOPE!

Laois_Man

Friday May 15th

5 Miles at 9:10 pace

A terrible week of (not) running. And after the frustration of my last run, and very noticeable pain in the days that followed, this one felt a hell of a lot better. I'd like to have gone on for another 3 or 4 miles and I really feel I could have but I'm being ultra cautious given how things have been. I consciously slowed down for the last couple of miles also - I didn't really have to, I am just cautious right now! Lots of niggles messing with my head.

I really feel like I am handling the Florida temperatures a lot better too - although it is slightly cooler. My run started at 9:33pm and according to a giant digital thermometer outside one of the hotels on my route, it was 75°F (24°C) out there but it really felt very enjoyable heat wise all of a sudden.

I'm on a plane tomorrow evening, flying through the night tomorrow night and landing Sunday morning. So it'll probably be Monday now before I get to run again and then I have to try get a really good week of training in before I get back on a plane and come back to the US again after their Public Holiday on the 25th. So I'm under a lot of pressure to knock out a really really good week next week. After a good first 3 months of the year, the last 7 weeks have been one thing after another after another.....

I just need a lucky break now!

Laois_Man

Tuesday May 19th

8 Miles at 8:45 pace

Jeez, it feels so cold....I love it
Wrecked the last couple of days with Jet Lag....cannot sleep on a plane!
Back at it and really enjoyed this run - although could feel the left groin/glute a little. Not too worried at the mo, but we'll see in the morning. Gonna swerve the club speed session tomorrow as I don't feel it's the right time for me to do pace work. Just gonna concentrate on getting decent mileage under my belt over the next 6 days before I head back to the US again.

Spotted two 5K races on May 30th near where I'll be. I might do one of them!

Laois_Man

Friday May 22nd

10 Miles at 9:13 pace

Feeling things still so feeling cautious.
Took this a bit slower than I would have liked but have to be cautious.
No long run with the club tomorrow.

Laois_Man

Wednesday May 27

4 miles at 10:03 pace

My first run since arriving in Tennessee. After having acclimatised well by the time I had been leaving Florida, I was back to struggling in the heat. This run was done in 28 degrees celsius. I had intended to run further but struggled a lot after about 2½ miles - I think I was a bit too fast at the start - thinking the acclimatising from the heat training in Florida wouldn't have been lost already. I'm not getting much time to run at all tho.


Sunday May 31

7 Miles at 10:00 pace

This was a much more enjoyable run. Very scenic too, over and back across 3 quite long foot bridges and normal bridges across the Tennessee river. Some of it was done in town and I found myself suddenly in undesirable areas. How do you know when you're in an undesirable area? When you're running in broad daylight and the person in front of you, when they hear you running behind them, starts running too (This happened!!!)

The run itself as I say was much better even if the pace was a little slow but the heat is still a struggle....combined with some very steep hills around here, but it’s all good.


Tuesday June 2nd

6 miles at 9:23 pace

This will be my last run in the USA for a good while at least. Again, ran across those bridges - and nearly got flattened for the umpteenth time for forgetting that traffic is going to be coming from the LEFT and not right over here when you step off a footpath. Managed to get a good pace going here anyway, getting acclimatised now - but I am going home again

The last few weeks haven't been great considering I have spent almost 4 of the last 5 weeks in the US and been very busy at work - even on the few days I went home for. I haven't even had time to be updating this log.

Looking forward to getting back into it with the club now – they haven’t seen me in weeks (since April 25th)! An all night flight on Wednesday night is next - so that'll knock the stuffing outa me for a day or two and then hopefully I'll get back into it.

Laois_Man

Saturday June 6th

10 Miles at 8:24 pace

Back in Ireland for the foreseeable future and back to my Saturday morning running with the club. I enjoyed this 10 miles overall although I struggled a bit in the middle third - I think I ate breakfast too close to the run. I also still have the familiar and unpleasant twinge on the outside of my left knee. Brings back memories of last September/October. Finished very strong with a couple of 8 minute miles at the end. The warm weather running of May makes running here feel a lot easier - even on a windy day like today.....if only that would last.

Laois_Man

Monday June 8th

6 miles at 9:01 pace

Had the day off today when I got the bank holiday that I missed last Monday, and it was a nice novelty to get out to do a run in the early afternoon of a Monday.

Ignored the watch and just ran by feel at what felt easy. Stepped it up a bit on mile 5 (8:27). Was surprised afterwards to see that the "easy" pace was in the low 9's.

Feeling the outside of the left knee a bit still. I know darn well it's something that IS going to get worse. Gonna do some research right now on how to handle it.

Laois_Man

Wednesday June 10th

3 Miles at 9:11 pace.

Only a short run this evening. I've been doing some research on injury prevention and I am going to have a go at changing my running style and other aspects of my training - starting with my cadence tonight, which I think is way too low at 162-164 on average. On this run, I measured my cadence while running in my normal way a few times and also what it felt like to increase it (and that was weird). The formula of simply counting steps for 60 seconds seems way too simplistic because it doesn't account for pace or terrain which will affect cadence. And the Garmin does give stats on cadence but I can't figure out how since I don't use a foot pod or anything. But I'll have a go at it for a few runs but it does feel weird and like your expending more energy while running.

I have found some other things I want to try change also. Coming soon.

Laois_Man

Saturday June 13th

11 Miles at 8:44 pace


An LSR with the club. Suffered a bit on this one. Started off, chatting away about the upcoming soccer match against Scotland and was so distracted that before I knew it I had knocked out three 8 minute miles and I had a bit of a struggling period on miles 6, 7 and 8 as a result. It was a horrible muggy morning too. I didn't think this run was a good time to test out the higher cadence again so I left it til the next run. Got thru it anyway.


Monday June 15th

5 miles at 9:22 pace

This was a run at a higher cadence from start to finish. I have to say, it's hard work....I have to concentrate on it all the time coz if my mind wonders at all, I find myself slipping back into my normal stride. It was hard to get it right too coz at times I think my stride was a tiny bit too short. Athough I can see how it lessens risk of injury and takes stress off the hips/glutes/knees/lower back and probably makes my over pronation less of an issue (while maybe putting a bit more stress on the lower legs). But the main thing is, it's much harder work and the two 9 minute miles I did here, on miles 2 and 4, felt like all-out sprinting. I dunno how I would ever manage to run a sub 7 minute mile on this sort of cadence. 5 miles at 9:22 would normally feel very easy...this wasn't. But I'm gonna persist with it for a while and see how it progresses coz I feel it's worth it.

This evening was also day 1 of a new cross-training routine, specifically targeting recovery from and prevention of ITBS. I'm still feeling the outside of the left knee (which is part of the whole reason why I am trying out higher cadence running) and I am reluctant to do any pace work as a result - haven't done pace work in forever now, which together with my fecked up month of May work-wise, is really hampering my progress.

Laois_Man

Wednesday June 17th

4 Miles at 9:56 pace

Again. tried higher cadence all the way but kept it slow this time. Just concentrating on getting my stride right


Saturday June 20th

10 Mile club LSR at 9:26 pace

Again, intentionally kept it slow. This was hard though even though it was slow. 19 degrees out there.
I can feel myself losing motivation a bit the last few days.
I think I need to get back to the pace work
The ITB routine I am doing seems to be helping, although there is still a twinge there.
But I made great progress due to pace work earlier in the year and I really want to get back at it....so gonna work hard on my routine between now and Wednesday and try be right for it....and maybe forget about cadence for the session.

I'm not overly happy with the club.....should be A LOT more structured and should involve a lot more feedback....but not exactly spoiled for choices around here.

Laois_Man

Monday June 22nd

6 easy Miles at 9:43

All at high cadence and slower pace. Trying to learn to stay relaxed with this style of running - so no counting of steps, I find I have been a bit tensed up running like this!

I think I need to pick a race in July to focus on! Will do so over the coming days!

Laois_Man

Wednesday June 24th

5x500m hill repeats with jog back recovery

Back to speed work...actually my first speed session since April 15th :eek: ....although not sure if it's a good idea to do so yet....I just had to coz I'd become utterly bored lately with what I was doing.

Everyone found this tough. It was a big hill and the weather was hot hot hot.

Splits
1. 2:26 (7:51 per mile pace),
2. 2:27 (7:54),
3. 2:35 (8:20),
4. 2:39 (8:33),
5. 2:41 (8:39)

Average 8:15 minutes per mile

Gradually ran out of steam as anyone can see

I feel like I am back to square one with this but hoping I'll make big strides in the next month - if I can stay injury free. One particular club mate who I used to be well faster than on sessions is now way ahead of me which is both frustrating and encouraging in equal measure.

I'm not sure what to do with cadence in these kind of sessions - so I just ran normally (or as normally as I can when doing hill sprints)

Total including warm up, recoveries and cool down: 5 Miles

Laois_Man

Saturday June 27th

10 Mile LSR at 8:35 pace

The thing that struck me about this run was how I struggled quite a bit when I was running a section of it between groups my own - and then when one group caught up on me and I ran with them, it felt so much easier.....it's not rocket science. But in future I am gonna try not run between groups.

The club 15 week plan for DCM starts in 2 weeks. Dunno what's in it, dunno if I have any intention of doing DCM or not. But I'll have a look at it and maybe start it anyway.

Tomorrow is the 3-year anniversary of my first run. No way on June 28th 2012 would I have believed for a second that I'd be still at it 3-years later. Didn't even think I'd last 3-weeks!

Laois_Man

Saturday July 25th

12 Mile LSR at 8:46 pace

It's ages since I updated this log. I just haven't had the time. But running has been continuing - I just can't be bothered backdating it all for the last 4 weeks!

So, today; I did the majority of this run with an Ethiopian club mate believe it or not. Enjoyed it but was struggling in the last mile - while he just took off.

Still feeling the left knee a bit. Concerned about it.

Eyes firmly fixed on the Frank Duffy now!

Laois_Man

Monday July 27th

3 miles at 9:02 pace

Very short run. Stuck for time (as usual) but also a bit concerned about the left knee


Wednesday July 29th

6x540m repeats with 90 second recovery

Done on grass, splits, in terms of per mile pace, were 6:55, 6:37, 6:55, 7:01, 7:07, 6:55 = 6:55 average pace.

Total: 3.3 miles

There's a 5K being run by the club on Friday evening. I don't feel I can do myself justice at the moment, but I think I'll give it a go.

Laois_Man

Friday July 31st

SLOT Carlow 5K - 21:32 (PB!!)

DELIGHTED with this. I set off aiming for a sub 22 minute, not really believing it was achievable considering I'm not fully fit at the moment and I don't do a lot of speedwork because it doesn't agree with me and my injury prone feckin crock of a body. So I am delighted, and I find myself wondering how fast I could go of I could actually get myself right.

Official time was 21:32 but I honestly think I did 21:29

Mile splits:

Mile 1: 6:50
- Very congested at the start. I know I can do a mile faster than this - especially in a mile as flat as this one was, but it's probably no harm that I didn't. Really in big oxygen debt at the end of this mile.

Mile 2: 7:01
- Congested in parts here also because the running path got narrow in a couple of spots. The end of this mile was the start of a bit of a hill. Not a lot of a hill....but enough to make a difference given how tough it was feeling at this stage.

Mile 3: 7:23
- Really starting to struggle even though a good section of this mile was on a downhill slope, but not too severe. Struggling to keep it going here. Dunno how I would have got through it if I had known there was another 5K left

Mile 3-3.1 Gave it a good hard push when I got onto the track and nearly died at the end...but was delighted!

Total for the day including warm up, strides, race and warm down run home: 7 Miles