The breaks even out in the long run

Notwork Error

Sorry B, just seeing this now. Struggling to login for the last week and my accounts was locked for the last 2 days. I hurt my ankle playing soccer so haven't been able to get out much at all over the last 2 weeks which is fairly frustrating but it seems to be on the mend now and I'm on the way out the door for my first long run in God knows how long, fitness has definitely fell off a cliff but hopefully it will come back fairly quickly over the next few weeks.

Notwork Error

Saturday 23rd January- 8 Miles Easy

The plan for today was to do a long run but that changed as I was heading out the door, was talking to one of the lads who was down for 8 today so we decided to meet up for this which was handy as a bit of company wasn't going to go astray getting back into it. Fully expected this to feel like a slog and it absolutely delivered on that promise. We cracked on at about 9 flat pace which felt like I was motoring to be honest, effort level felt really high for that pace and the spare rib I had for lunch wasn't helping my cause either. Managed to pick it up to around 8 minute pace for the last 2 miles which wasn't easy but I survived.

That's the hardest one out of the way in getting back on track hopefully. Long run up tomorrow and I'll do it at 10 minute miles if I have to, just getting out and getting into a rhythm is the most important thing now.

Notwork Error

Sunday 24th January- 14 Miles

Sore in my hips and high up on my quads today on both sides, a bit achey after yesterday so probably need a flatter route for the time being as I think I was taking a lot of punishment on the downhills.

The long run was on the cards for today and I was hoping for at least a small but if improvement on the enjoyment front and It definitely felt a little better, didn't feel half as clammy or strained but I've a lot of work to do to get myself into peak shape. Legs feel weak, not very zippy and just flat out uncoordinated so I think it's time to start hitting the gym a bit more regularly. It's not something something I'm that worried about as I've been in this position a good few times (coming back from a lazy patch) and I know I can whip myself into decent shape fairly quickly but it's a grind to run right now. Thinking of running Munster Intermediate XC in 2 weeks just to see where I am.

Notwork Error

Monday 25th January- 7 Miles Easy w/surges

Legs were crippled again all day and especially achey around the VMO so I put down 20 eyewatering minutes on roller to see if it helped before I headed out on this run, didn't do much and I was still really sore heading out the door. This run felt so much better though, legs got better and better as I went on and was felt good to be out there. Threw in a few surges at 3/5k pace randomly along the way just to see if I could wake up some slumbering speed that may or may not be there and got a decent response so not too bad.

Just one run but maybe I haven't lost as much as I thought and just need a good mental spring clean.

Notwork Error

Tuesday 26th January- 7 Miles Inc. 12x35sec w/35s Rest

Baptism by fire, first tough speed session I've done since early November. The reps were to be run fast and they hurt, a little shock to the system but I got my first marker of the year and something to work off going forward. The first 5 were ok but I could tell pretty early that I was going to slip off the pace in the second half of the workout which I did, quads started to tighten up and tire and I finished out the session about 20 metres shy of where I was on the first 6.


The comparison I can draw from this is that I ran this session hard at a tiny bit slower pace than I was running 10x400's smoothly in peak shape back in October. Not a real shock to be honest, I had a ton of speedwork and racing done back then for XC and obviously lost some fitness as well. Don't know how what that all means yet but should be interesting to find out over the next while.

Notwork Error

Wednesday 27th January- 6 Miles Nice And Easy

Gentle troy out to shake off the aches from last night, Hamstrings were a little bit sore before the run. Couldn't feel a thing during the run as I got battered by sleet and hailstones about a mile in so was completely numb during for the rest of the run. Put that one down to character building.

Had my first proper chat with coach last night about my training. He said missing the last month wasn't ideal but could work out well considering my past in overcooking it and basically told me to shutup about missing training, I am where I am now so I'm going to take that on board and look forward to what I can do instead of what I might've done. He's cutting down on workouts for me so I'll be running only one a week from now on with the focus being on getting volume in as the main goal and that there is no reason why I shouldn't run a big PB in 10 weeks time if I go out conservatively and see what's in the tank, to be honest, I'd take any PB now, it's been a year and half since I ran my last one at any distance. The long-term aim is to build my volume up to what my body can take and work on basic 200/400m speed. So, that's today's random musings, time to shut up and just run from now on if that's possible for me:)

El Caballo

As I'm not fooling anyone:pac:, probably about time to dust this off and get back into running and logging here, letsrun isn't for me:). A quick catchup, haven't done much since my last post here, had a brief spell of two weeks solidish running but it left me tired. Fitness fell of a cliff and coach was concerned that I couldn't run 800m repeats at 7 minute pace so told me to pull the plug and get some blood tests done as I've a history with iron deficiency and I'm showing similar symptoms to when I last had it. Got the blood tests done earlier this week but I won't know the results until Monday week. The plan is just to keep it easy and short until I find out of it's anaemia or just me being a lazy bollix:D. Either way, I've to start rebuilding and getting consistent again.:)

Sunday 13th March- 4 Mile Easy (9:27 146bpm)

Short spin around town.

Wild Garlic

Welcome to boards:D

Firedance

we missed ya welcome back.

career move

Nice name Best of luck with the rebuilding

Hannibelle Smeeeth

Hah! Had you sussed from your reply the other day, but was afraid to venture a guess. Absolutely delighted you're back!

hillsiderunner

Will you still do the marathon, NE, or is that off the table now? Good luck with the tests.

Rowdy Roddy

Good to see you back.

El Caballo

hillsiderunner wrote: »

Will you still do the marathon, NE, or is that off the table now? Good luck with the tests.

Thanks, the marathon is definitely is off the cards anyway. Can't justify running it without the training behind me to do well, it would be a complete and utter sufferfest and the reward wouldn't be worth it. Not sure what I'm going to do yet, having a proper crack at the steeplechase at Nationals or Munsters is definitely on my mind at the minute.

El Caballo

Rowdy Roddy wrote: »

Good to see you back.

Cheers Rowdy Roddy, hope to see you around again sometime in the future;) A bit of competition for accounts:)

El Caballo

Monday 14th March- 5 Miles Easy (9:02min/m 130bpm)

Ignore the pace to average HR on this run, I wish:). Headed out and met my sister in law and her friend hopped in with them for a couple of miles at a gentle effort for me before I picked it up when we got to the long dowhill which skewed the numbers even more. Nice to feel a bit of pace at low effort even if it was downhill. Legs felt pretty good.

Wednesday 16th March- 4 Miles Easy (untimed)

Nothing much of note this morning. Legs felt alright, low effort.

El Caballo

Thursday 17th March- 7 Miles Easy

The plan was to head to a race and jog it with one of the lads but a few extra hours in bed won out in the end so I headed off on my own later in the evening which probably was for the best in helping me dodge the bullet of a session with the day that was in it. Went out for a handy 5 mile loop and and decided to keep coining and make it a nice hour in the feet. Real easy but nice and enjoyable.

Saturday 19th March AM- 4 Mile Easy

Short ol trot out.

PM: 54km Cycle

Been an absolute age since I was out cycling and the bike was in need of a good service so I hit the road for a 2 hour spin at a good cadence. Not suprisingly, my bike strength is a bit lacking right now which meant my legs struggled a bit even though my HR was low. Lack of power meant I couldn't get it high which is pretty normal after a long exodus from the saddle. Nice evening out and felt good to get out on the bike.


I'm been itching to get the blood results tomorrow all week, really want to get going and feel properly motivated for the first time in a while but I'm in no man's land until I know what's going on either physically or mentally. pain in the fooking ass!:pac:

El Caballo

Sunday 20th March- Gerry O Connor 10k (48:53)

Couldn't resist, been missing that buzz from races so I decided to have a crack at this today. The plan was to take it handy enough and not kill myself, 45-46 minutes was the goal. Met one of the lads at the startline who had the same plan so we said we would run it together and start slow and see where the body or ego took us after that. Clicked off the first K at around 4:50 pace and one of the girls who was shooting for a sub-50 joined us. We kind of telepathically agreed to throw the original plan out the window and give her hand around the course at that point. Legs felt funky and my arse hadn't got over yesterday's suprise bike spin so the first few I was a little uncomfortable but the lungs felt grand. Started to free out around 4k and get rhythm going at a few clicks above the pace I'm used to as of late. Legs held up pretty well after that sluggish start and we managed a 48:53 finish with M pipping me on the line on a tough course, her first time under the hour for 10k as well. Good day out and great to see some familiar faces and get chatting to people I hadn't met in a while.

El Caballo

Monday 21st March- 4 Miles Easy

Handy trot out although the legs were a little sore around my knees, hip flexors and calves. When I look back to yesterday, my stride did feel sloghtly inefficient, felt like I was putting in a lot of power down for the pace, uncoordinated really probably sums it up so that might have something to do with today's little aches.


Finally got the results back and the conclusion is laziness. Bloods tested perfectly across the board, healthiest person she's ever seen supposedly. Her only comment was on my weight with a BMI of 19.3, I'm just about in the healthy range. Funnily enough, I tend to lose weight when I'm not training much. So no excuses now, got to get cracking and back into good shape. From experience, it usually takes me 3-4 months to go from zero to strong which would line up perfectly with Munster 3000m steeplechase at the end of July so I'm setting that as my goal race of the track season. Going to take a dryrun at Nationals in June as well I'd say, not the best place to have a dry run:pac: but I need more experience racing the steeple and if I have to embarass myself to get it, so be it as it should stand to me.

This whole year is probably going to be structured the same as last year with me building up to XC after track. Can't argue with how that turned out for me last year as I was in cracking shape at the end of it all and ran some good races. Got a headstart as well now as I actually was anaemic last year and didn't really get going until May. Looking forward to it now:)

Wild Garlic

El Caballo wrote: »

Monday 21st March- 4 Miles Easy

Handy trot out although the legs were a little sore around my knees, hip flexors and calves. When I look back to yesterday, my stride did feel sloghtly inefficient, felt like I was putting in a lot of power down for the pace, uncoordinated really probably sums it up so that might have something to do with today's little aches.


Finally got the results back and the conclusion is laziness. Bloods tested perfectly across the board, healthiest person she's ever seen supposedly. Her only comment was on my weight with a BMI of 19.3, I'm just about in the healthy range. Funnily enough, I tend to lose weight when I'm not training much. So no excuses now, got to get cracking and back into good shape. From experience, it usually takes me 3-4 months to go from zero to strong which would line up perfectly with Munster 3000m steeplechase at the end of July so I'm setting that as my goal race of the track season. Going to take a dryrun at Nationals in June as well I'd say, not the best place to have a dry run:pac: but I need more experience racing the steeple and if I have to embarass myself to get it, so be it as it should stand to me.

This whole year is probably going to be structured the same as last year with me building up to XC after track. Can't argue with how that turned out for me last year as I was in cracking shape at the end of it all and ran some good races. Got a headstart as well now as I actually was anaemic last year and didn't really get going until May. Looking forward to it now:)

Would I be right in saying you ran the Steeple chase last year?
Would love to try one, few and far between however.

El Caballo

Wild Garlic wrote: »

Would I be right in saying you ran the Steeple chase last year?
Would love to try one, few and far between however.

Yep, done at Munster Championships and picked up a bronze for my stellar last place finish:pac:. You should give it a go, always a firm believer in you should try everything at least once especially if you want to give it a crack. If your club are in the national league, they'd probably love to have someone run the steeple. If they're not, you can still run as a guest and there's a few steeple races on over the league during the summer.

El Caballo

Tuesday 24th March- 5 Miles Easy

Slog, not fun at all. Seriously considered pulling the plug after two miles and walking home. I think I'm just stuck in rut, breathing felt fine and under no pressure at all but I could feel every strain and ache in my body and my legs were burning even though the pace was slow like I hadn't recovered from Sunday which makes no sense. A 6 mile run at 7:50 pace shouldn't take much out of me, muscles just seem weak or tight or something and recovery is slower than I'm used to.

Thursday 24th March- 5 Mile Easy

More of the same:( Hopefully, it just gets easier as I get out more.

El Caballo

Saturday 26th March- 5 Mile Easy

Faired a little better this morning but the perceived effort still felt a little high. One of the lads said I should jump in with them for a few runs a a week to break out of running alone all the time. It's a bit of a trip but it might help. It'll stop me from copping out anyway:)

PM: 48km Cycle Inc. 5x2km Hill Repeats

Planned to go for a long ride today but it way too dangerous with the gusting crosswords so I knocked that on head and made tracks to the shelter of the hills. Tough enough going on the repeats as I tried to really push the last 400-500m on each rep with the legs calling out for mercy. Felt good to blowout the lungs.

Few pics from the hill repeats.

El Caballo

Sunday 27th March- 6 Miles Easy

I guess I could call this a long run:) To be honest, I felt pretty good today, better rhythm and nowhere near as sloggy as some of the other runs this week. Changed up my route from the normal as of late and went back to the old countryside loop I used to run regularly last summer. Cracking morning for it as well.

I'm in two minds whether to run a race tomorrow, There's a 4 miler on in Cork that's tempting me as I haven't raced since mid-November. It probably won't be pretty and not expecting anything really but would like to get reacquainted with my friend pain and see just what kind of shape I'm in when pushed. Not sure yet though, I'll see what kind of mood I'm in in the morning but I'm definetely going to take a shot at a race sometime this week.

career move

Are you not doing the Munsters next Sunday in Clare? Like the pics by the way. Is that ballyhoura in the background?

El Caballo

career move wrote: »

Are you not doing the Munsters next Sunday in Clare? Like the pics by the way. Is that ballyhoura in the background?

I'm in for it but I thought it was on in 2 weeks. I was wondering why the captain was panicking on Friday asking me if I'd do it to make up a team:pac:. You doing it?

Ballyhoura is just on the other side of the hill I was on, can just about make them out from the top but couldn't get a shot of it in the woods and with the phone camera, the ones in the photo are Knocfierna and The Black hill and a little bit of Kilmeedy hill where I was doing the repeats.

Firedance

G'wan go for it best of luck!

career move

Cool ya heading down for the novice. Moyne ac if you see us but I'm the only one on boards so don't introduce yourself as el caballo

El Caballo

career move wrote: »

Cool ya heading down for the novice. Moyne ac if you see us but I'm the only one on boards so don't introduce yourself as el caballo

Ha, coolio. We'll keep it country casual and just call each other horse so;)

career move

El Caballo wrote: »

Ha, coolio. We'll keep it country casual and just call each other horse so;)

Haha brilliant