Running for my Life

bsloepro

In an attempt to my prevent my self-destruction by alcohol and substance abuse, i have decided to try and put a peg in the ground in the form of a training log. Numerous recovery methods have been tried to date, some with more success than others.............but ultimately things always have ended up in the same way. 10 years is a long time trying to change....desperation is setting in.

I'd a pretty good run of it until almost a week ago. Had been 100% clean for a month. I'd put in a good month training....About four runs a week, had got some swims in, was back doing a little cycling and was feeling a lot better. Face down on the floor 5 days ago, you'd never have believed the shell of a person, absolutely destroyed (and probably not far off dead) through a 2 days solid drinking and a dangerous cocktail of drugs was the same person who'd been training hard - and enjoying it - the week before. I could barely make the short walk back to my house, went to bed and spent 2 days there kicking the sheets..even the thought of training made me sick. I missed two days work because of this, and when i did come to work could barely function. I haven't trained in 6 days. Today is the first day i feel semi-normal.

Today i will run again.

To set a marker where i'm at currently and to try to measure my future progress I will run 8 k on the threadmill today and log my time. I will do this every Friday where possible from here in. I'm going to try and get some sort of structured training log up here ASAP.......but all i can manage to do right now is take care of today.

Netwerk_Errer

Best of luck with the running and the recovery!

Came to running from a similar background to you. I was a heavy everyday user for 6-7 years who had got sick of all the negative effects drugs had on my life. I'd probably be dead by now if It wasn't for running.

It was of incredible benefit to my life in general and recovery, there's nothing quite like creating a habit to break another one especially when one is of huge positive gain and the other is 100% negative. You're on the right track, the trick is keep pushing.

Once I found the strength to get out the door and run when I had to, drugs no longer became relevant and the rest of my life started to come together too. It's pretty amazing how much one change can make to your life. Keep it going!:)

bsloepro

I got to the gym at lunchtime and got an 8 k run in on the threadmill with a 0.5% incline. I came in at 38.40......thats more than 2 min 30 seconds over the 8 k slower than where i was this time last week. Anytime I got up around 13.5 kph i'd last about 0.5 k and then have to whack the speed down to 12 kph for another k and back up again slowly. My heart rate was up 5 - 10 bpm on where it was last week at similar speeds. I ran 12 k on this same threadmill about 3 weeks ago and did the final 10 k of it in 44 mins.

I really struggled to get through the run today and would have probably bailed around the 6 k mark but for wanting to come back here and post.

I've spent years trying to get a 10 k road race time under the 45 minute mark. Always getting close, and always about just as close but never cracking it. This continous 2 steps forward, 1 step back training with intermittent bouts of substance madness is a serious hindrance to progress. All the hard work is getting p1ssed against the wind at some point along the way.

Ed Mc

Maybe pick a race to do, find a plan that suits you and take it one session at a time. Set some short term achieavable goals along the way. For example finishing week one of the plan. Good luck.

bsloepro

Thanks for the positivity and input

I'm down for Connemara HM this year. I had been training for it reasonably regularly until last week. Majority of my training is on the hills around Wicklow.....and my pace for these runs is around the 5/5.10 min/k. If i can get back on track over the next week hopefully i will be able to make a reasonable stab at it...........by that i mean finish in a reasonable time. I've done Connemara twice and a few other hilly HMs in before so not too worried about finishing.

I haven't been following a plan though........and maybe this is where i'm going wrong.

Does anyone with a bit of experience in this reckon its not too late to try and implement some sort of a plan for Connemara? Its about 5 weeks away To date training has been 4 to 5 runs a week shortest being 8 k and longest in the 12/13/14 k range. I'm trying to build this longest run up to about 18 k before Connemara.

SamforMayo

I don't know about a plan for HM but you will get plenty good advice on 10 km plans on here. Sub 45 is a great goal to keep you on track and you will have a decent base built up after the HM. Best of luck with goals. Is the thread mill a temporary measure?

bsloepro

SamforMayo wrote: »

I don't know about a plan for HM but you will get plenty good advice on 10 km plans on here. Sub 45 is a great goal to keep you on track and you will have a decent base built up after the HM. Best of luck with goals. Is the thread mill a temporary measure?

I wouldnt really call it temporary
I'd run prob about one threadmill session a week. Its kinda handy/lazy/convenient. Its close to the office. Fits neatly into lunch and (I find) can work for upping my pace a bit. What I mean by that is I'm comfortable enough running til just before the point of puking, knowing that all you have to do if you push it too hard is hit the stop button, get off and sit down. I can see my progress because that point is increasing on the kph on the clock. I'd probably get the same running 10k outside. I find with that though, with strava, the music, the gloves, the head torch that I always have some sort of equipment malfunction that eats up a few minutes.

Rest of my runs are on the roads around where I live...and some of the parks around Dublin.

bsloepro

Headed to cabinteely park today with the plan to do 10k at a reasonable pace, and with that in mind then do an lsr tomorrow. It didn't quite work out like that.....
I ended up doing 7.7 k....with an average pace of 5.05/k.....around 7 k I started getting a stitch and at the 7.7 k mark, ready to face into another hill, pain and mental weakness got the better of me and I pulled to a halt. I'd ran 10k of this loop two weeks ago at exactly the same pace. Its backwards I'm going!!!!

SamforMayo

There are always days like that, onwards and upwards! Don't bale on your Lsr tomorrow !

career move

Hi and welcome to boards.

Maybe try slowing your runs down. I'd say most of your runs should be between 6 - 6:30 min/km. If you do them a bit slower they'll take less out of you, you'll enjoy them more, you'll improve faster and you'll be more likely to stick with it.

Good luck with everything