Back to the Future

RedRunner

27mins - 2.88miles

Easy run around St annes this evening. No problem with the injury and felt comfortable throughout. Calves were a little sore from the exercises I was doing yesterday but nothing more than a bit of doms. I may even try a park run at the weekend and bring it up to 28/29 mins but I believe St annes is closed so might go elsewhere ,Fr. Collins or Donabate perhaps.

RedRunner

Donabate Park Run

So nice to be able to do one of these.Its been a while. Got out there with a few minutes to spare. Didn't bother too much with elaborate warmups as the plan was to just take it very easy and warm into the run. Saw FBOT01 and MrsMc amongst others there too. The St Annes one was off today as the Rose Festival was on so I guess Malahide,Donabate, Fr Collins etc benefited from that. Conditions were perfect before and got warm towards latter end of run. I took it nice and handy and really enjoyed this. No pressure to do a fast time or beat my last time or get a good session in. It was just an enjoyable run, from start to finish. The normal course was adjusted somewhat with some sections on the grass now. Don't know why or if it is just temporary but it was fine and provided some variety to the run.

Came in at 26:12 placing 51/112 and no ill effects with the leg. Did another 5 mins just to warm down before I headed off but I'm very happy with that.

Also got to road test my new Brooks Adrenaline GTS16s. They passed the test.:)

RedRunner

17/7 - Rest (Oh and went to see the Dubs lift yet another Leinster title, Sorry Tang ! ;-) )

18/7 - 30 mins ,3.36 miles on a baking hot morning. Great timing with the staycation in terms of the weather. Found this run quite tiring but leg held up fine and I think it was just a combination of the heat and a tired body overall.

19/7 - Core & Strengthening

Still feel like I have a long way to go to be where I want to be. One day at a time sweet jebus

Murph_D

Nice parkrun. I bet at least 50 people probably turned up in St. Anne's anyway, scratching their heads.

RedRunner

20/7 - 32 mins , 3.66 miles @ 8:51

Gradually increasing the time on my feet and that seems to be going fine at the moment. This was done in the evening after a long day in Tayto park with the family. So the stomach was full of rubbish including 2 x 99s !:eek:
Think I pulled a muscle in my neck after the Cú Chulainn Rollercoaster!

I'm doing the James Hospital 6km Run tonight with a bunch of people from work. This will be done at easy pace again, just treating as a training run and would be aiming for something similar to last nights run.

Back to physio tomorrow too and i'll take a rest day tomorrow and focus on the strength work.

RedRunner

21/7- liberties 6km - 29:30

A little faster than planned but really enjoyed this. It's a super event and I like to do this every year. In aid of St James Hospital so it's for a great cause too.
Big crew from work doing it too. Great organisation for number collection and registration. They text you with your race number advance which is a new one on me.

So let's cut to the chase. Race start was congested as usual and the first part of it was
Messy as usual but it was all good as I stayed towards the back. Took it out nice and easy and goal was to keep it steady all the way round without pushing it. Was pleasantly surprised that I felt so good apart from a bit of a stitch in the last km. Nice run and felt very positive after it.

22/7 - Return to physio

Timely massage after the run last night. Got a few more exercises to do to strengthen the hamstrings. I have an entry for Final 10k on Sunday so I put it to physio if that would be advisable. Was fully prepared to leave it it that was her advice but she said I could do it as long as I just treated it as a training run. So that is the plan. If anyone sees me there make sure to remind me of that!

Not back to physio now for 3/4 weeks so next week I need to find a plan and start putting some structure on my week if my hopes of DCM are to be realised. I might look at the boards novice plan and see if that one suits

tang1

Do take it handy tomorrow, no loosing the run of yourself like Connolly last Sunday!!!

Kennyg71

Good to hear things in the mens, enjoy tomorrow's training run.:)

RedRunner

23/4- strength work

24/4 - Fingal 10k - 51:45 and no injury flare up. I'll do a proper report later but in summary, kept the pace pretty steady all the way round, didn't push it too hard at any point, stopped at both water stations and took my water on while walking and happy to finish a little tired but not exhausted.

annapr

Great restraint there, R . You really are back in action, great to see that.

tang1

Great to see R, easy does it this week. You'll get there, you deserve to.

RedRunner

Fingal 10k - The Road to DCM Part 1 - RaceTraining Run Report

Current 10k PB 43:50 (Same course 2014)

Today's run: 51:45

After getting the go ahead from the physio on Friday I was quite looking forward to this. No pressure to run a PB, or run a fast time. It was quite liberating actually. We do put ourselves under a lot of pressure on here to put big performances in each time we race. I had in my head before that something in the region of 52-54 would be a good day's work based on recent 5k and 6k times of 26 and 29 mins respectively. It would be a good marker for me fitness wise also as I haven't run that far in at least a couple of months.

Although I wouldn't be racing this I tried to prepare as if I was so I had the usual night before routine, a nice hot bath to relax the leg muscles, plenty of water, half a bottle of wine , good night's sleep. On the morning I was up at 8 and had a nice bowl of porridge with some raisins thrown in for a bit of sweetness. The stomach was behaving like it was raceday so after two trips to the toilet i was on the road and heading for swords.

Got to pavilions shopping centre to be met with a bit of a queue to get into the car park but had the guts of an hour to start of race so no need to panic.
Got a spot in the car park and then started to prepare. Few sips of water , half a banana and I was set in terms of nutrition. I then had to prepare the rest of the body. The back was giving me a little bit of an ache so I applied some biofreeze to lower back which usually works a treat. Unfortunately I made the cardinal error of applying it before I took my last toilet break!:eek: Brrrrr! Thankfully the effects didnt last too long

Off to the start line then and did a small warmup before bumping into some of my Raheny clubmate and got chatting to them before heading up into the main corral. I purpose hung back a bit and stayed on my own until the race started. Spotted Murph_D climbing the barrrier about 10 rows ahead and tried to catch his attention to no avail. The crowds were getting thicker as the time came closer to start time and after a few announcements wishing clubmate Mick Clohisey all the best for Rio, we were off. The congestion suited me big time as it kept my pace to something sensible and allowed me to set myself a nice rhythm. The intention was to try and maintain a steady pace and keep it as even as possible for the duration.

The faster section along the dual carriageway saw me hovering around the 8min/mile mark which was faster that I really wanted tobe but given the downhill and the fact that the effort was ok I just kept an eye on it to ensure I didnt slip under the 8 min. I knew there were a few drags ahead and with the humidity that it would all even itself out anyway. Got a nice shout from a family friend as he sped by me on this section. The same family friend that I went head to head with on the last straight of the BHAA 4 miler in April. For a brief moment I felt sorry for myself that I should be in his position, but it was short lived and I got on with the job at hand.I am where I am.

Got to the first water station and decided I would take on the water properly and walk especially since it was in cups. I was in no hurry so it made sense to me. Enjoyed running along the country back roads and by the time I got to the next water station I was really sweating pretty hard and adopted the same water strategy again. In between the water stations I was trying to keep a similar pace . At this stage I was passing people and people were passing me so the faster people were pushing on and the ones who went off too quick were starting to fade.

Miles 1-4 splits were : 8:17, 8:07, 8:22,8:18

Heading back in towards swords the fire brigade supplied shower was very welcome. I was beginning to get into territory that I have been in a a while certainly not at this pace so i was very conscious of listening to the body and reacting accordingly at this point. For the most part I was trying to let momentum do most of the work. The legs felt pretty ok so as long as the breathing was controlled too it would be a comfortable finish and that was the goal at this stage.No need for any heroics like trying to go sub 50. Yes, it did go through my mind at one point but I quickly dismissed it as there was no benefit to be had from trying to do that. It would be totally counter productive, I told myself.

The leg had caused me no problems at all as we went through 8k and 9k and that pleased me no end. I was beginning to tire a little at this stage but as we got back into the village I knew the finish line wasnt far away and a few shout outs from supporting clubmates ( I'm surprised they still recognised me , its been so long since I was down at the club )helped me over the last couple of hundred metres. Crossed the line comfortably tired just as the men's prizegiving was happening on the podium. Collected my goodie bag and gambled on the Large t-shirt rather than the XL ( which based on my recent diet is probably more appropriate!) . Its not too tight as it happens !:)

After a quick chat with Murph_D I headed back to car. Was distracted along the way by more people that I knew and by the time I got back to car park and got to my car I realiused that I had left the lights on in my car! Noooooooo! I quickly unlocked the car and tried the ignition. After an initial stutter the car the eventually started. Phew...thank God for that! Thought I'd have to get the jump leads out.

So the run went to plan and I got through it in one piece. Just have to be careful with work load this week and then need to have some proper structure from then on. I'll work on finding a plan over next few days. Cant do any interval stuff for another couple of weeks so it will have to be all easy runs for another while yet. It was a good boost yesterday but I am realistic. There is still a lot of work to do yet but there is a lot to be positive about at the moment so just looking forward now to building on that.

In other news, I got a letter in the post this morning from the cardiac Prof and the news is good. He has reviewed the report and is happy. Advises another echo in two years time which is great because he had advised an annual one before now.

Onwards and upwards.

Bungy Girl

All very positive news RR! Great to hear, particularly on the cardiac front .

RedRunner

25/7 - Complete rest ( apart from 30mins trampolining with the kids!)

26/7 - 4 miles @8:37 - Short local loop from house to Raheny village and back home via the coast. Stopped dead on the 4 miles and walked back rest of way to house. It was a nice run. All indicators are the the body is still in working order and no fallout from Sunday.

27/7 - Core & Strength Work

RedRunner

28/7 - 5 miles @ 9:03. Easy run again. Keeping it one day on one day off in running terms for this week again but I think I'll need to increase the number of days running next week if I'm to get the necessary miles in. Still need to pick a plan to jump in on and I'm struggling with that to be honest.

29/7 - Core & Strength work. Not as much as I would have liked but keeping the habit up at least.

30/7 - Long Run - 10 miles incorporating;

2.2miles steady warm up.- Totally unintentional. I was just behind schedule and wanted to get to Park Run in time for start . 8:08,8:18

St Annes park Run 3.05miles (5km) in 25:53. Took it handy enough. I had more miles planned so no time for foolishness.

4.75 miles easy to bring me home. Ran up the avenue and down back towards coast to take me in the direction of home.Felt tired enough to be honest and eased the pace back down to the 9:20s. It was all about getting soem double digit distance into the legs. Stopped it dead on 10 and walked the remaining distance back to house. Was pretty tired at the end of this but it's good progress. No trouble from the injury either which is great.

RedRunner

31/7 - Rest

1/8 - 4.85m @9:00. Enjoyable run along a different route to the usual so the change of scenery was good.Over to Baldoyle, Sutton and back up the coast.

2/8- Had planned to do 3 or 4 miles but was feeling a niggle in right calf/achilles which came out of nowhere so erred on the side of caution and did some stretching, strength and core work with icing in between. Hopefully that will knock that one on the head and it'll be fine again in the morning. Back on the bike tomorrow and now following a stricter diet regime. Putting it plainly I need to lose at least a stone in weight.

I've decide on Hal Higdon Inter 2 plan to try and get me to DCM. I'll tweak it here and there though. There are no real sessions just pace runs so will replace some of them perhaps with a park run speed session and keep it easy enough the rest of the week.

RedRunner

3/8 - Cycle commute to and from work. About 13 miles total. Got home and had a quick bite and rested up for an hour before heading out for run. Plan looked for 7 miles but was pretty tired so I was thinking 5 or 6. Headed out towards Sutton along coast. There was a gale blowing in my favour but unfortunately this meant I'd have to face it on the way back. IT was tough to be sure but got through it in the end. No niggles. The icing and stretching seemed to have done the trick.

5.8 miles @9:19

4/8 - Cycle commute to/from work. Got home and felt really fatigued to be honest so reconsidered the 3 mile run in the plan and decided rest was best. Will try get out for a few miles tomorrow instead.

Going to have to reconsider this cycling both ways and running on same day. Don't think the body can handle that much workload.

Ososlo

You are being very sensible theses days R! Keep it up and good luck with the revised HH plan! Fingers crossed for you that you get there in one healthy piece!

RedRunner

Ososlo wrote: »

You are being very sensible theses days R! Keep it up and good luck with the revised HH plan! Fingers crossed for you that you get there in one healthy piece!

Thanks A. The last few months have given me a fresh perspective on running and I have been influenced by your own exploits too. I'm less obsessed now about continuously hitting PBs and trying to run better than those around me and more focused on getting out there consistently and enjoying being healthy enough to run. I think if I can do that and focus on that alone, the rest (PBs etc) will follow.

RedRunner

5/8 - Brought the gear into work with the intention of doing 3 or 4 miles at lunchtime but when I went to get changed realised I had no socks. Wasn't going to chance running without socks and maybe getting a blister even though itd be a short one. Said I'd do it when I got home but the motivation was gone at that point and decided on another days rest. Sure what harm, probably needed anyway.

6/8 - Ran from house up to St Annes to do the park run. 2.38 miles @9:08. Nice warm up and just had a cahnce to say hello to a few people I knew and headed off to start line when FBOT01 was finished get to know his left from his right. Found out there that it was MrsMc's birthday too. The plan was to run this in a similar fashion to last weeks, just a steady pace, enough to feel ike I had everything under control without exerting myself too much. Went pretty much to plan an what was a really warm morning.Had enough enrgy at end to give a little burst and squeeze in under the 25 min mark for 24:57. Mile splits were 8:13,8:25,8:06, (5:31).
After chatting with a few people headed off for cool down around St Annes ,0.82 @9:10 and afterwards headed over to Cafe with KennyG where I met multiple other boardsies including AQuinn,Firedance, Laura_AC3, FBOT01, MrsMc. I thin Denis B was there too but didnt get a chance to chat. Helped a little with the token sorting , ate a nice big chunk of lemon drizzle cake,accompanied by a cup of tea and then left for easy run home . 2.5miles @9:37

Total for day: 8.74 miles

7/8 - Long Run - 12 miles in 1:58:50

Plan called for 14 miles but heading out I decided I'd play it by ear if all was feeling good after 10/11 i might give it a go otherwise I'd be happy with 12. With KennyG's sage advice ringing in my ears from yesterday I purposely tried to keep the run nice and slow. This was easy enough as I headed up coast towards town and was running into a very stiff breeze so keep the pace down around the 9:30s to 9:40s was easy even going at 10 min/mile pace at times. After 4 miles I got a bit of a sharp pain in my left knee, enough to make me jump. Thought I might have to stop altogether but after slowing down to near walking pace it went away almost as quick as it happened but it was worrying at the time. This was to happen another two times during the run. This knee has been very crunch lately, evn mentioned it to physio last time but since I had no pain she didnt really dwell on it. I think the tracking on my knee cap may be a little off, possibly due to some tightness in quad so will give that some attention with the foam roller ovr next few days. will have to keep a close eye on that.

Apart from that I was getting pretty tired coming up to 11 mile mark , even after taking a gel at 9.5 miles so decided that 12 would be plenty and aimed to get to twelve and walk the remainder home which turned out to be a mile. Felt grand after the walk and had stopped to stretch aswell. It was nice to get the run in but the lack of endurance is pretty clear at the moment.Still I'll not complain too much.

Pressed the lap button in error so my walk was included so not sure of proper avg pace but the splits were as follows;

9:47,9:42,9:28,10:11,10:39,9:52,9:41:9:47,9:43,9:54,10:15,9:51

Terrain was mixture of tarmac, concrete, grass and sand (Dollymount beach)

So that gives me a total of just over 31 miles for the week. Next week will be a bit of a step back week as I'll have a stag at the weekend so will try get out tues,wed,thurs,Fri as running on Sat/Sun is very unlikely.

All in all not a bad week but need to be careful I don't fall into trap of doing too much to keep up with plan and need to watch the knee closely.

denis b

Will say hello next time. Only realised you were there when we headed out for Mrs Mc's run. Look after you knee...picturing your physio reading this and wincing at the description of a "Crunchy knee" :eek: .

Kennyg71

Get stuck into foam roller on quads and muscle on side of shin, as they get
tight can pull on knee. Well done on LR plenty time still to build miles.

RedRunner

8/8 - Cycle commute to/from work. Lots of foam rolling of the glutes and quads and some ITB. Ouch!

9/8 - AM - Cycled into work PM - 4.2 miles @9:18

Bought myself a knee strap to try combat the knee pain. Seems to have worked or at least might be working in conjunction with foam rolling. After setting out nervously and keeping it easy all the way round I was happy to get through the run pain free. Did more foam rolling tonight though.

Tomorrow I have 8 miles planned so that will certainly test the knee. I'll be keeping it easy needless to say. Fingers crossed all is ok. Big of a niggle today on sole of my right foot. Jebus its never ending! Hopefully not PF on the way but I know how to deal with it if it does. Might just be my landing is compensating for the left knee due to lost confidence in that and that it will sort itself out. Wasnt bothering me while running , just afterwards while walking around the house.

Kennyg71

Remember being advised not to foam roll IT band as is not a muscle,
there are stretches for it, I used to do full set of static stretches from
Irish runner from article by Gerard Hartman found very good for keeping
things loose.

RedRunner

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Remember being advised not to foam roll IT band as is not a muscle,
there are stretches for it, I used to do full set of static stretches from
Irish runner from article by Gerard Hartman found very good for keeping
things loose.

Cheers G. Yes I've heard and read conflicting advice on that " to roll the ITB or not" I generally tend to roll the muscles all around it most of the time but that may be because I just cant tolerate the pain that much! for example I'm concentrating on the glutes, hamstrings and quads rather than the ITB itself.

Firedance

RedRunner wrote: »

Cheers G. Yes I've heard and read conflicting advice on that " to roll the ITB or not" I generally tend to roll the muscles all around it most of the time but that may be because I just cant tolerate the pain that much! for example I'm concentrating on the glutes, hamstrings and quads rather than the ITB itself.

Roll your TFL instead of the ITB - google it but it's basically at the very top of your leg / hip - it hurts too but apparently much better than rolling the ITB directly - nice to see you on Saturday

RedRunner

Firedance wrote: »

Roll your TFL instead of the ITB - google it but it's basically at the very top of your leg / hip - it hurts too but apparently much better than rolling the ITB directly - nice to see you on Saturday

Thanks FD. I gave the TFL a good work out . Yes, good to see you too. Will make a trip southside one of these days to sample your Cabinteely PR.:)

RedRunner

10/8 - Easy Runmute from work with a little extra. 7.75 miles @10:03

Everything going well till just after 4 mile mark when the knee started playing up again. Had to stop and stretch the quad out and tightened the knee strap a little. It improved but after another mile or so if played up again, not sever but enough for me to slow it right down as I just lost confidence in it. Pain returned a few times again but got through the run.
( Long Sigh !)

Feels like everything is going against me at the moment. Will persevere with the rolling and will review again after tomorrow's run. 4 miles in the plan. Due back to physio on 19th but may be forced to bring that forward.

The good news is that my hamstring problem has gone away! Thank God for small mercies!:rolleyes:

RedRunner

11/8 - 3.26 miles @8:54. Few laps of local park while young lad played a match. No issues with the knee

12/8 - Runmute into work. 7.14 miles @9:37. Feeling tired overall. Had a niggle in the knee just after four miles but passed very quickly and made it the rest of the way with no major difficulty but no real confidence in the knee so have to keep it slow. I'm ok with that right now though.

Brings weekly total to 22.36 miles. No more miles this week due to Stag weekend in Donegal.

13/8- Rest (Hmmm...not sure I'd call it that!)

14/8 - Recovery

15/8 - More recovery....Hmmm:o

16/8- Cycle into work. Run home . 6.91miles @ 9:22

Nice and handy pace.Warm evening and quite blustery along coast out towards Howth. Got a little twinge in the knee after three and five miles each was fleeting but got through run fine otherwise. If I can continue running but keep it at this pace I'll be happy for now but looking forward to getting physios view on Friday.

tang1

Best of luck tomorrow R, will hopefully see you out there. Run well(and sensibly).