Back to the Future

RedRunner

MonsterCookie wrote: »

How have you been since Robbie. Assume you're resting as much as possible now?

Went back to physio yesterday. Based on the tests he did he was actually quite positive. He really went to work on my leg and it is a bit sore today as result. Back on the bike again and resumed strength exercises. Another appointment with physio on Friday night and potentially a short test run at weekend.

annapr wrote: »

Bummer to hear this Robbie!!

+1 to DD's comments above... although I would say do the base building before even thinking of a marathon... hopefully the hamstring will be ok soon.

Yes, that might be the sensible thing to do. I feel like I'm stuck in constant base building mode though!

If there is any possibility of making DCM it will purely be a "fun" run for me.

RedRunner

Time for a bit of an update.

At my last physio session on Friday night I passed all his tests pretty well and long story short he felt that I had a healthy hamstring in his view.

We agreed I would try a run at the weekend, maybe 10k. I decided to give it another day and do it on Sunday rather than saturday and opted for 4 miles only instead.

It was a real nervous run, you know those ones where you are almost expecting something to go wrong or some part of your leg to go pop! However it went well and apart from a very little twinge at the end i was pretty happy about it.

Plan then was to give it a day's rest and try again. This time on Tuesday just gone i ran home from work. nervously again, expecting something to go awry but i got through it unscathed. It was a very slow one, going over 10 mins miles at one stage but I was taking no chances. Quads were a bit stiff/tight after so foam rolled those but again overall i'm please I got through it.

With each run I'm getting more confidence with the hamstring so I just plan to keep going with runs every other day and try a longish one at the weekend to see how I fare. It's almost like a reverse taper!

i won't make a call on DCM yet but I'm beginning to be a bit more upbeat about it and even considering strategies for the day if I do run. I won't make a call on it until next week when i have a few more runs under the belt.

If I make it, it will be like running my first one again, just want to go out and enjoy it and make the distance. I'm sure it will be a bit of a slogfest past 21/22 miles but I'll gladly take that right now. I just want to be part of it again . I'm tired of looking on from the sidelines.

RedRunner

18/10 - 10k Cycle commute home

19/10 - Cycle commute both ways with lunchtime run sandwiched in between.

4.3miles @9:24. No issues with hamstring. Good to have another run under the belt

20/10 - Rest

21/10 - St Annes parkrun, nice and easy 27:24 with 2.2 miles beforeand 1.5 after bring total to 6.7miles

22/10 - The deal breaker as I have been calling it. Long run this morning was taking in 10 miles of the DCM course. There was a big group from club going along so this was perfect.I wanted to try 12 miles to test the hamstring. It was do it or bust .If the hamstring didn't behave then DCM was off , if it did then it was back on.

Glad to report that everything went well and i'm going to give it a shot next weekend. Won't be going out after a time but just looking forward to the DCM experience again. It's been a rocky road again. Training hasn't been ideal but I'm happy that I've done enough to get around the course so that will do me just fine.

Will have a light week this week and fingers crossed the body will hold up on Sunday.

Wubble Wubble

RedRunner wrote: »

18/10 - 10k Cycle commute home

19/10 - Cycle commute both ways with lunchtime run sandwiched in between.

4.3miles @9:24. No issues with hamstring. Good to have another run under the belt

20/10 - Rest

21/10 - St Annes parkrun, nice and easy 27:24 with 2.2 miles beforeand 1.5 after bring total to 6.7miles

22/10 - The deal breaker as I have been calling it. Long run this morning was taking in 10 miles of the DCM course. There was a big group from club going along so this was perfect.I wanted to try 12 miles to test the hamstring. It was do it or bust .If the hamstring didn't behave then DCM was off , if it did then it was back on.

Glad to report that everything went well and i'm going to give it a shot next weekend. Won't be going out after a time but just looking forward to the DCM experience again. It's been a rocky road again. Training hasn't been ideal but I'm happy that I've done enough to get around the course so that will do me just fine.

Will have a light week this week and fingers crossed the body will hold up on Sunday.

Excellent news R. Best of luck and sure I might see you in McGrattans if you're around afterwards.

RedRunner

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Excellent news R. Best of luck and sure I might see you in McGrattans if you're around afterwards.

Thanks J. There aren't many certainties around next Sunday....except...that I will be in McGrattans at some point in proceedings! ;-)

RedRunner

Can't believe it but it looks like it is actually going to happen this year!

Really looking forward to the whole experience on Sunday. It really feels like I'm doing my first one again. Just hope it isn't as slow as that one!

23/10 - Rested

24/10 - Back with physio and he was very happy with the condition of my troublesome hamstring. No knots or anything and happy with the strength. Got my quads, calves and hamstrings massaged. Quads a bit tight but nothing to be concerned about.

Went out in the evening for slow run. Legs felt a bit heavy and the pace seemed faster than it actually was. 3.4miles @9:45


I've set a target of 4:15 on the DCM thread , just to put something in the table. It's a very flexible target and not that bothered if I hit it tbh but it'll be interesting to see if I can get close.

Easy short run planned for later and then I might do a couple of miles on Saturday and that'll be it.

My main goals for Sunday though are the following:

Gold : Finish it!

Silver : Negative/Even split.

Bronze : No walking


Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

HelenAnne

Good luck, Robbie! I'll be cheering you on!

Wubble Wubble

Go Robbie Go Robbie Go! :pac:

Younganne

Have a great run and you'll enjoy it all the more with no time pressure and I bet you'll come in faster than the 4.15.:D

Murph_D

Good luck Robbie - have a good one and see you afterwards hopefully!

RedRunner

HelenAnne wrote: »

Good luck, Robbie! I'll be cheering you on!

Thanks Helen. Hope your own recovery is going well.

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Go Robbie Go Robbie Go! :pac:

Thanks J. Good luck with your own target and well done with the Novice thread!

Younganne wrote: »

Have a great run and you'll enjoy it all the more with no time pressure and I bet you'll come in faster than the 4.15.:D

Thanks A. Appreciate it. Well done on your recent Pb and good luck with the pacing duty. Maybe we'll finally get to meet in McGrattans on Sunday after all these years!

Murph_D wrote: »

Good luck Robbie - have a good one and see you afterwards hopefully!

Cheers Murph. I see you are on parkrun duty Saturday so will see you then too.

OOnegative

All the best R, hope the hammer holds up for you. Christ you deserve it, run well.

RedRunner

OOnegative wrote: »

All the best R, hope the hammer holds up for you. Christ you deserve it, run well.

Thanks B. It's in the lap of the running Gods now but I'm looking forward to it.

Kennyg71

Have a good race R, delighted for you.

RedRunner

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Have a good race R, delighted for you.

Thanks G. Appreciate it.

adrian522

Enjoy the race tomorrow R, youve worked incredibly hard to make the start line, so here's hoping you have a great race!

MonsterCookie

go for it Bob. See you for a good stretch beforehand!

Younganne

Best of Luck tomorrow, great that you are getting to line up. Have a great run. Lovely to meet you yesterday, thanks for introducing yourself.

RedRunner

4:13:05

Mission accomplished! :-):-):-)

Annie get your Run

Well done Robbie, I have to admit I thought you were mad trying this after all you've been through but I"m delighted you finished and no ill affects either congrats!

career move

Annie get your Run wrote: »

Well done Robbie, I have to admit I thought you were mad trying this after all you've been through but I"m delighted you finished and no ill affects either congrats!

Ditto

hillsiderunner

I saw your plan to race and deliberately didn't wish you luck the danger of jinx was so strong.

Well done. It was the right year to try it it seems! Good luck (and "careful now") going forward.

Younganne

Well done R delighted for you.

RedRunner

Before I do my race report for DCM , I've been reflecting over the last year and a bit and looking back over my log to see how well/not so well prepared I really was for Sunday.

The Background picture first:

Since my first marathon in 2011 which was Dublin, I fell in love with the event. I hadn't trained particularly well. I was new to distance running since late 2010 so I hadn't really got a clue what I was doing. But I had found a new sporting challenge that I wanted to try again. I did 4:45:xx that year.

And then I found Boards and started to learn how to train a bit better and managed to go again in 2012, this time running 4:27:xx. Training was bit better structure but light enough on mileage.

2013 I trained reasonably well but ran into injury problems and had to pull out late because of knee trouble if I recall correctly. I had a 2014 London entry so that softened the blow that year. Building ono the training I had done I followed the now famed Meno Plan and with the support from the man himself I had a great training block. Just missed one week due to sickness, sub 1:40 HM in Bohermeen and then 3:52:30 in London. Although I was targeting 3:45 it was a big PB and I had had hamstring cramps at 19 miles and fatigued badly at 23.

I had a second HM pb( by mere 7 secs) later that year in rock n roll despite hamstring trouble at 9 miles and then things went from bad to worse.

The remainder of 2014 was a write off really and I've been struggling pretty much ever since to get a full year's training injury free.

Despite best efforts I failed to make the start line at DCM 2014,2015 and 2016 also.

Late 2016, it was Achilles and back trouble that kept my progress at bay and in early 2017 I tried to concentrate on getting 5k time down with hopes of sub 20. Marathon was in back of mind though as ultimate goal for 2017.

Jan 2017 was all about recovery and using park runs to recover fitness and gauge progress.

Feb-March , was trying to get some consistency back into training and ran the K cub 10k as my first race of the year in a solid 46:02 ( my pB is 43:50)

I strained my hamstring though with this effort so that set me backa gain and spent remainder of march and beginning of April trying to get over that.

April - By late April I was back running regularly and started doing club sessions too.

In May I had some hamstring niggles and in late may I hurt my hamstring(right) during a club session.

June/July - back running regularly again and did Docklands 5k (22:30) and Liberties Run without killing myself but happy fitness was returning.

I was basing this success on a more conservative running plan of 4 days per week and mixing up the cycle commuting into the week..

By August I was gradually increasing mileage and managed 1 x 12mi, 1 x 13mi and 1 x 16mi. Frank Duffy came around and took 5mins off what was a soft enough older PB.

In September did 1 x 18mi , GT5K and 1x 21mi LSR. Things were looking up for DCM17.

On 16/9 things started to go wrong. I did a parkrun and finished with a long sprint and damaged the hammer. I did a 16mile LSR the following day which clearly was a mistake now looking back. That week I had some tightness again and the following weekend was the HM where I had to pull out after 4 miles when the hamstring failed me.

After that it was see if I could recover in time for DCM. Had an initial setback and then things started coming together again for me culminating in a 12 mi run week before DCM to decide if I would attempt it or not.

I couldn't not do it then. I wasn't going to be anywhere near my best but felt with adjusted targets that I could get through it. I know others probably thought I was mad, in fact some told me to my face, which is absolutely fine. If I was giving someone else advice with similar training history, I be saying don't do it.
This was a personal challenge though and I felt after the rehearsal run which took in last ten miles of course that the body was ok and that it was worth a go. I'm so glad I did now.

A revised target of 4:15 seemed sensible and I nailed those colours to the DCM thread table "mast" event though I probably didn't need to or should have done.

I made the decision late on to go out with 4:10 pacers as it was similar to my training pace on LSRs and sure if I could stay with them most of the way , I might sneak in under 4:15 anyway.

As it turned out, that is exactly what happened.

So on reflection, good decision to run, this time. Delighted to be back in the DCM fold and experience that buzz again.

Race report and learnings and future plans to follow soon..

HelenAnne

Well done, Robbie! Delighted for you! There's a nice photo of you over on the club Facebook page, in the marathon photos folder.

RedRunner

HelenAnne wrote: »

Well done, Robbie! Delighted for you! There's a nice photo of you over on the club Facebook page, in the marathon photos folder.

Thanks Helen. Saw that photo alright. I look a lot fresher than I actually felt!

I'm assuming that is the handy work of eoinín ? I got a very enthustiastic shout out and we high-fived along that stretch . :):)

aquinn

This won't come as a big shock but I thought you were absolutely mad making the start-line and then when I heard with the 4:10's absolutely nuts but in fairness to you Robbie well done and I'm delighted for you. A great result after a few months of worry and trouble. Congratulations.

RedRunner

aquinn wrote: »

This won't come as a big shock but I thought you were absolutely mad making the start-line and then when I heard with the 4:10's absolutely nuts but in fairness to you Robbie well done and I'm delighted for you. A great result after a few months of worry and trouble. Congratulations.

:eek: I'm so surprised A.:p

In fairness if you had come on here and told me I was bonkers I'd have respected that. From the outside looking in , it must not have looked great in terms of preparation and looking back, no it really wasn't all that great. But I truly felt I could do it if I got my strategy right and I'm so please it worked out. I kind of feel I've got a monkey off my back and I can be a bit more relaxed about my running from here on. There is no panic now about doing a spring marathon or anything like that. I'm considering what to do now for next 6 months but I don't think a marathon will be in the plans.

I implore you to continue to keep me in check though in the months to come. It's an important part of being in this online community of ours.
Look forward to catching up soon.

RedRunner

So ....what have I been up to since DCM.


Week 1 : Was probably Thursday before the body started feeling normal again, then on Friday I flew off to Poznan for a weekend away with some friends. Got my first post marathon run in at parkrun in Poznan.

A hungover run with my mate who also ran DCM in the beautiful Cytadel park in Poznan. it was just a 15 mins walk from Hotel so it was ideally located for us. Had a chat with Run Director afterwards and got a photo for St Annes pr tourism album. 24.22 for 8:04 avg pace.

Week 2:

8/11 - cycle commute both ways

9/11- cycle commute am; Lunch run 3.6mi @8:15/mi

10/11 - cycle commute pm

11/11 - 1.3 mi w/up, parkrun 22:51 @7:31/mi..4.4mi total

12/11 - LSR 7 miles @9:07/mi

Total for week : 15 miles


13/11 - cycle commute both ways

14/11 - cycle commute am; runmute pm 6.2miles @9:15/mi

15/11 - lunch run...3.6 miles @8:35/mi

16/11 - Lunch run ...3.6 miles @9:27/mi

17/11 - Cycle commute pm

18/11 - 2.1 miles warmup (run to parkrun), parkrun in 23:33 @7:44avg followed by 2.3mil warmdown.

19/11 - 10.3 miles @8:42 long run. Very satisfying run if a little at the faster end of range.

Total mileage for week : 31.2 miles

I've an enforced step back week next weekmbecause of business travel but it is no harm.

Registered for Fat Turkey Run on December 27th and considering other options for January including Trim 10 miles and further down the line, Brian Boru 10miles and Balbriggan Half Marathon as well as a tilt at sub 22 5k

I've almost written the DCM report so that's coming soon but I warn you it is not exactly a thrilling read or anything.

Wubble Wubble

Well done on the 98th a chara. Surely you didn't know you were in prime position for an aul St Annes PR prize...or did you?