Cool runnings

davedanon

Knee still swollen, btw. Trying to be patient with it. Still aches from time to time, but no problems doing the workout.

Murph_D

That’s some workout. May the rehab continue to be positive.

davedanon

Good news. Real running has re-commenced. On Friday and today I did a 45 minute session on the grass. Four minutes jogging, 2 minutes walking. I'm trying to stay up on the midfoot and off the heel. Will build from here. Still maintaining the gym routine.

davedanon

Back in the gym today, but instead of the cooldown 5k on the dread cross-trainer, I went out on the track. The club league currently running its Summer League, and the last race(s) takes place on the track. I'm thinking of a glorious comeback, probably in the 800m (it's a four person team - slowest gets 400m, fastest 1600m). Might even be a single lap. Needed to get an idea of current middle-distance aerobic capacity, so chugged around for a lap, not knowing what my pace was. 2:03.....oh dear. Tried again, at a faster clip, but not flat out, conscious that I might need to have another lap in the lungs. 1:37........not too bad. I won't embarrass myself. 2 more cooldown laps to bring up the mile.

davedanon

Another grassy run today, broiling heat again too. 5 mins jogging against 90 secs walking this time, and I noticed the difference, especially with the heat. I think the cumulative effect of the new schedule was making itself felt as well. Not only am I aerobically deficient, I also have no 'miles in the legs'. That ability to bang out 5 or 6 runs/sessions on consecutive days without accumulating too much fatigue. Little pickup in the pace though, here and there, although I had to drag myself kicking and screaming into the gym for the exercises and weights afterwards.

OOnegative

Rushing it a bit D? Big picture.

What’s the recommended recovery now?

davedanon

If you mean my training schedule, it's these run/walks every other day, with a truncated gym routine, and the full gym routine (which is all about S&C, knee strengthening, and core work) on the alternate days. The idea is to build up to 15 minutes continuous running. Bear in mind that the running is all done with a changed gait - more midfoot, consciously keeping the heels off the ground as much as possible. This is obviously more stressful, particularly on the calves, and I'm really not pushing at all, pacewise. Any improvements are incremental and 'natural'. My max HR is coming down steadily, and I'm content to wait for the fitness improvements as they come.

OOnegative

davedanon wrote: »

If you mean my training schedule, it's these run/walks every other day, with a truncated gym routine, and the full gym routine (which is all about S&C, knee strengthening, and core work) on the alternate days. The idea is to build up to 15 minutes continuous running. Bear in mind that the running is all done with a changed gait - more midfoot, consciously keeping the heels off the ground as much as possible. This is obviously more stressful, particularly on the calves, and I'm really not pushing at all, pacewise. Any improvements are incremental and 'natural'. My max HR is coming down steadily, and I'm content to wait for the fitness improvements as they come.

Just take it handy, we all want to see you at a race soon.

Great to see a successful comeback.

davedanon

Thanks. It's funny, only a few months ago I was fretting about my form and my age, wondering how on earth I could possibly manage to eke out another pb, at any distance bar one I hadn't yet tried. Now I feel as though I have all the time in the world.

davedanon

Weeek beginning 1st July
4/5th busy with anniversary-related stuff. Saturday did a gym strength session, sans hopping, then my 5mins on/90 secs off routine on the track. Aerobic capacity still hugely impaired, but the pace is coming down, or up, nicely. Hitting 8.30 pace at times. Easier on the track of course.

Week beginning 8th
Monday 5/90 again, then a full gym session on Tuesday. Been having enormous trouble sleeping lately - it's like I've forgotten how - and felt the effects on Tuesday in the gym.

TRR_the_turd

Gym w****r

davedanon

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

Gym w****r

Takes one to know one.

TRR_the_turd

davedanon wrote: »

Takes one to know one.

I’m just a w****r. Don’t frequent the gym!

davedanon

TRR_the_turd wrote: »

I’m just a w****r. Don’t frequent the gym!

That's what I meant.

davedanon

Bit of a speedbump. Setting off from the back of the club, and somehow before the end of the first mile, which is as far at least as I had intended to run, I had managed to pick up an ache in my achilles tendon. No word of a lie, I've never had an achilles problem before, so I, perhaps foolishly, persisted, hoping it would just go away. But it didn't go away, and after a mile, then half, then another mile, with short breaks, I had to throw in the towel and limp a couple of miles back to base. I only hope I haven't done any serious damage. After all, I've been hopping up and down and running on the balls of my feet for months now, so I imagine it's just a tweak. Maybe it was a combination of the little slope at the back of the club and a cold, unstretched tendon that are to blame. I did stay on the tarmac the whole way too. Either way a visit to the physio beckons.

davedanon

Confined to quarters (club gym) since. Staying off the injured leg when necessary, but I can use the cross-trainer, which is good, although I'm seriously cheesed off with it in general. I did break 20 mins for 5k on it twice over the weekend, though. Seeing the physio tomorrow, and hopefully will be back to proper running soon, although the surprise track comeback on Friday will probably not happen now.

Murph_D

20-mins 5k on a cross trainer? How reliable is that? If you're talking about one of those elliptical yokes, I'm very impressed.

Keep the faith.

davedanon

Elliptical? Dunno, you mean one where your feet sort of go up and down? Big wide handles you hold with your hands, although I've stopped using them because it's not like actual running. It's an ancient yoke, too.

davedanon

Good news on the injury front - it's not too bad, as I had hoped. Had some ultrasound treatment on it yesterday, and was given the all-clear to run again, so I did a total of 3 miles today, with short breaks. Still aching a bit, so took it easy.

davedanon

Made a comeback of sorts at the final club summer league race last Friday evening. Finished a distant last in the 800m, gasping my way over the line in 3.13! Achilles quite sore too; this was probably a mistake, but I really wanted to pull on the club vest in anger again.

On Monday I went out on the track again, but decided to call it after 2x1mile at 8:00 pace. I don't think I should run on it any more, until this thing has cleared up. Two gym sessions since then, including a new cross-trainer 5k pb of 18:53 today.

davedanon

Not much to report. One attempt at real running, but sore after 1 mile, so jacked it in. Close to full recovery now, though, and risked a cooldown track mile instead of the cross-trainer yesterday. No issues.

The 5k pb (cross-trainer version, not like running) is down to 16.20 meanwhile.

davedanon

"The 5k pb (cross-trainer version, not like running) is down to 16.20 meanwhile."

Actually, 15.26 as of today.

davedanon

Right, time to start setting some goals, I think. A few short runs here and there since the last entry, nothing much to speak of. Achilles permitting, I'll aim for a modest target of 15 miles this week.

davedanon

Gym session today and yesterday, followed by 5k on the road. A bit slower today, feeling creaky after yesterday. HR much the same though, despite the heat today. Boringly I've decided to run the same route all this week, in the hope of seeing my average HR come down a bit by Friday.

davedanon

So, target attained. 3.5 miles today brought up 15 for the week. 5 runs in total, with a gym session before or after as well. No issues with the creaking body.

davedanon

23-29th September

5 runs, 5 gym sessions. 18 miles in total.

davedanon

30TH SEP-6TH OCT

Between work and a stag weekend, only 2 runs with accompanying gym sessions. Up to 5 miles now though, dipping under 9 min mile pace and starting, just, to feel the green shoots of aerobic recovery. 10 miles in total.

davedanon

7th-13th October

5 runs for 24 miles. Including a sub 25 minute 5k run today.

davedanon

14th-20th October

5 runs for 21 miles, including my return to competitive running (sort-of) with an appearance at Tymon parkrun. Sub-24 was the target, and 23.34 was a pleasing result. 4 gym sessions as well.

davedanon

21st-27th October

5 runs/5 gym sessions for 28 miles, including a 23.13 effort at Tymon parkrun. Dry-retching on the grass in front of all and sundry at the finish. Stay classy, Dave. Stewarding at DCM on Sunday, and it's just not fair how the body wears out and says 'no mas' when it comes to marathons. Gloom abounds.

davedanon

28th Oct-3rd Nov

Only a couple of runs this week, for 10 miles. Various things getting in the way - work, and a climbing trip to Kerry. And the yellow weather warning led to an abort on the climb after about 90 minutes. Started a S&C class on the Wednesday evening. Was just a recce to improve my own efforts, but it was really good, and I think I'll stick with it.

Matthew Gleeson

New here. 13 miles yesterday. Going for 10 today. Running since 2011 but never done a marathon. 2020 will be the year!

davedanon

Matthew Gleeson wrote: »

New here. 13 miles yesterday. Going for 10 today. Running since 2011 but never done a marathon. 2020 will be the year!

Cool. Good luck with it. There are marathon threads on here specifically for newbies, with training plans, advice, etc. They can be a great help.

davedanon

Nov 4th-10th

Three runs for 13 miles. Gym sessions. parkrun aborted after getting a little too close to the moshpit at Machine Head on Friday night. Ow.

davedanon

Nov 11th-17th

Only two runs for 12 miles. Ribs still quite sore. It's right where I bruised it when I fell heavily trail running a few years back, so maybe that explains it a bit. Got the S&C in, though with difficulty.

davedanon

Nov 18th-24th

Just the 2 runs again this week, for 10 miles. A combination of work and c*******s season, also resulting in missing the S&C. Must do better.

davedanon

25th-1st Dec

Deja vu all over again! Monday to Wednesday 2 runs (11 miles) and S&C session. Thursday-Sunday nada. Work/parties. Will do better this week.

davedanon

2nd-8th December

Three runs/gym and S&C session. One of which was Tymon parkrun. Didn't expect to get anywhere near the last effort, but in the event I was only 10 seconds off, which was pretty good because I haven't been training as hard. It was also a much more controlled effort. No undignified finish line dry-heaving this time out. I ran within myself and never got near the red line until I hit the 3 mile mark. 16 miles for the week.

PS: I spent some time last night reading back my old posts on here since the knee problems manifested themselves. An instructive exercise, as it made me realise how far I have come since posting that my running 'career' was finito.

davedanon

9th-29th December

Very little done. 5 runs in 3 weeks for 26 miles.

298 miles in all during 2019.

davedanon

Dec 30th-Jan 5th
Started the new year as I mean to go on. Three runs for 15 miles. One of which was Tymon parkrun, and while I was expecting/hoping for an improvement, my last crack at it was on Dec 7th, so any gain at all on the 23.23 recorded that day would have been welcome.

In the event, I was pleasantly surprised. It was another smooth, controlled run, but my first mile was 15-20 seconds quicker, and I lost none of that time and even clawed a few more seconds over miles 2 & 3. Approaching the last bend though, it was too close to call, so I was forced to hit 6 min mile pace so I could cross the line in 22-something. 22.57 officially, in fact, and that's a course record for me. Very happy with that.

PS: And just a brief finish line pause, while my breakfast decided whether to stay in my stomach or not 😀

davedanon

Jan 6-12th

Three runs for 15 miles, and a S&C session. Pace settling down to a nice range between 8.30 and about 8.50 for the most part. The odd thing is that, relatively speaking, I'm feeling more comfortable at parkrun pace (about 7.00-7.30) than 'Easy'. Funny that.

davedanon

Jan 13-19th

5 runs, S&C. 22 miles in total. Dragged myself out of bed for parkrun on a bitterly cold Saturday morning. Was going quite well, managed a sub-7 min mile, then made the mistake of taking the 22 minute pacer at his word that he was on pace. Approached the last corner and checked the watch, to discover that I had 11 seconds to cover about 70 metres. And this with the pacer about 15 metres back! Finished hard but to no avail. Even so, a new course PB of 22.11 officially was more than welcome. A sub-22 next, hopefully, followed by a sub-7 min pace run. And after that, there are a couple of scalps on my hitlist.

davedanon

Jan 20th-Feb 4th

11 runs for 52 miles. Since Feb 4th I have been unable to run at all. The knee has swollen up pretty badly. No idea why, apart from the fact that I was running at all. Also I completed a fairly strenuous climb of Lugnaquilla. Apart from that, I can't pin it down to any specific incident. Will have to wait and see if it subsides, with anti-inflammatories and RICE.

davedanon

Feb 5th-Mar 7th

For the past month I have been gradually re-establishing some routine. No running, the knee is still swollen, but I can get around at least. This week I managed 4 gym sessions: mostly upper-body stuff, weights, leg lifts, crunches. I also realised the leg will take a bit of work on the cross-trainer, so yesterday I did 10k, and today 8 more.

davedanon

Mar 8th-14th

Only because I will forget, and there's no Garmin data, because I'm on a darn cross-trainer....Sunday 10k & gym, Tuesday 8k & gym, Wednesday 10k & gym, Thursday 3k (hard) & gym.

Edit: Snuck down to the club gym (officially CLOSED) and did 10k on the CT plus gymmage.

davedanon

1st April-present

Decided, since I cannot run, to treat walking the way I used to run. So 7 miles a day for the last couple of months; 200+ since the beginning of April, and well on course for the same this month. I'm even throwing in a 'long walk' at the weekends. It keeps some of the weight off, at least.