The breaks even out in the long run

annapr

career move wrote: »

Haha brilliant

Very funny, so will the two of you be going round calling everyone horse then... ? How will you know it's the right horse? :pac:

El Caballo

annapr wrote: »

Very funny, so will the two of you be going round calling everyone horse then... ? How will you know it's the right horse? :pac:

Ha, I'll be the one who looks like a thoroughbred in the parade ring, not so much during the race:)

Monday 28th March- Boherbue To Kiskeam 4 Mile (27:47)

I wanted an answer and I got it. The plan for today wasn't really about time as I knew I was miles off my best so I just wanted to go out there and inflict a bit of pain on myself and hold on just to get a feel for it again. Finishing would be an improvement on my last outing in Munster Intermediate XC back in February where I dnf'd after 2km.

Arrived in Kiskeam about an hour and half before the gun and had loads of time to relax and get ready. Watched a few of the junior races before heading back the road for a few warm-up miles with D and made our way to the last bus to take us back along the route to the startline 4 Miles down the road in Boherbue. We just arrived with 5 minutes to spare and went straight to the line to get ready. Few strides and we're off.

Mile 1: (6:08)

The first mile is pretty much like a cliff and really fast and with the quality at the front of the field, everyone was getting pulled along at a wicked clip. I tried to hold myself back a little here as I knew there was a few hills coming at the bottom, didn't do a good job on that as I seen 5:45 pace on my watch 600m in but was barely in the top 75 at that. Felt pretty good but I was playing a geussing game with my fitness and how this would affect me later on.

Mile 2:

Right at the start of the second mile, the gradient takes it first look upwards and I got my first feel of just how fit I am. The hills were taking a bite out of me for this early in the race and my breathing was getting heavy only halfway up the first challenge of the route. Was starting to feel the heat as well so I was beaming to see a water station on the side of the road to toss it over my head. The pace slowed a lot here for everybody as it was the hardest mile of the race and my Garmin was low so I've no idea of the splits from here on in but this felt like the slowest mile of the race.

Mile 3

The struggle is real!! Never really recovered after the hills and the thoughts of packing it in for the day were all that I could hear at this point apart from the occasional dig in. The legs just felt dead as I was trying to hold onto the back of a group for dear life and just get to the line as quickly as possible from here. Kinda snapped out of it for a few seconds and made a burst to open up a 5 metre gap but was quickly reeled in again when my energy levels went kaput a few seconds later.

Mile 4

I slotted back into the front of the group this time in the hope of getting pushed along to the finish, it was all downhill from here but two of the lads seemed to quicken up and drop us just after the mile marker leaving just two of us together. Form was completely gone at this stage, my legs were dead and my feet had gone numb so I all I could hear was my feet slapping off the ground. Managed to just it steady for the last 800m and that was enough to hold FD the guy behind.

Thoughts

It's a funny one to think about, it's hard not to be negative about that run today simply because I know I'm much better than that and have run 4 miles and even 30km's at a substantially quicker pace than I ran today and even reading back, that report reeks of negativity but when you cut out all the BS, I ran as good as I could today, it wasn't a bad run, it was exactly what I deserved from the effort I've putting in lately. There's no excuses, it was a fast course with perfect weather and good depth. The only difference between today and my PB is the training and that's what I have to get up off my a$$ and do again.

tang1

As you said, your training is $hite so your race results will be the same. Get back to the training your capable of and the PB's will no doubt start reappearing. Fair play for toughing it out though when the towel could have been thrown in.

Firedance

tang1 wrote: »

As you said, your training is $hite so your race results will be the same. Get back to the training your capable of and the PB's will no doubt start reappearing. Fair play for toughing it out though when the towel could have been thrown in.

Did you get out of bed the wrong side this morning or what :pac:

What tang meant was 'the only way is up' from here so build on today & you'll be back where were in no time

El Caballo

Firedance wrote: »

Did you get out of bed the wrong side this morning or what :pac:

What tang meant was 'the only way is up' from here so build on today & you'll be back where were in no time

Haha, he's right though, it really is as simple as that.:)

ThebitterLemon

Tangs right.

El C you're up and down more than a cheap hookers panties and this'll sound rich coming from me but in my opinion you need to work on your consistency. You seem to go through some really impressive patches with solid training and some excellent racing, instead of then pushing on to the next level somehow you get distracted/waylaid and knock yourself back.

I've noticed it a couple of times, you're young, healthy and have a bit of running ability but I think you are self sabotaging (I've experience here myself!).

Have you a proper running plan in place with some targets in place? Are you putting too much pressure on yourself by calling out ambitious targets? (sub 3 has melted me)

I've followed your log (under all your usernames ) and there's no reason why you shouldn't be smashing your pb's.

If you look at some of the other loggers improvements, like Double D, B in B, and even scaldy Tang himself, they seem to be consistently improving by being consistent with no massive ups and downs.

I reckon if you could put in a consistent block of planned structured training you'd really reap the benefits.

Please take this as my non expert subjective opinion that's meant with positive intent.

TbL

El Caballo

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

Tangs right.

El C you're up and down more than a cheap hookers panties and this'll sound rich coming from me but in my opinion you need to work on your consistency. You seem to go through some really impressive patches with solid training and some excellent racing, instead of then pushing on to the next level somehow you get distracted/waylaid and knock yourself back.

I've noticed it a couple of times, you're young, healthy and have a bit of running ability but I think you are self sabotaging (I've experience here myself!).

Have you a proper running plan in place with some targets in place? Are you putting too much pressure on yourself by calling out ambitious targets? (sub 3 has melted me)

I've followed your log (under all your usernames ) and there's no reason why you shouldn't be smashing your pb's.

If you look at some of the other loggers improvements, like Double D, B in B, and even scaldy Tang himself, they seem to be consistently improving by being consistent with no massive ups and downs.

I reckon if you could put in a consistent block of planned structured training you'd really reap the benefits.

Please take this as my non expert subjective opinion that's meant with positive intent.

TbL

Expert or not, I think you hit the nail on the head TbL and anything that can help my running is appreciated. I've a bit experience with preaching consistency because I know it's the key but I'm as flakey as fook when it comes to praticing what I preach and you're completely right, my old coach always says that if I could just get focused, we haven't scratched the surface of my ability yet. It's always 4-5 months of being on and then followed by months of been off like a lightswitch. Like you said, every time I make progress, the foot goes off the gas and I'm back to square one all over again and find it difficult to get motivated when I try again and so goes the circle. Looking back, my longest spell of consistent running was 10 months straight in my first year of running and all my PB's came from them, the way I was training was an absolute crock but I was consistent and my race results showed it, 35 PB's in 36 races in 2013(yeah, I was an addict:)), they were noob gains but the fact that I have only toppled one of those PB's in 2 and half to 3 years says it all really. My 5 mile PB will be 3 years old in two months and I was only running 5 months at the time:eek:. I don't know what it is but I never felt like the same runner after the DCM 13, It took something out of me that I never felt I got back again, some sort of mental block. Not that it was a Herculean show of strength or anything:D but I suffered big time out there. To be honest, I know you said this back a few pages and ultrapercy hinted at it but I think that fear of the marathon is the reason for my sh*tty training as of late, I was probably looking for a copout in there somewhere to not put my body through it. All of my crap spells of running have come either during marathon training or right after it. I tend to mentally and physically burnout.

I'm not sure to be honest on ambitious targets, I don't know but I've always been a bit of a dreamer and the targets in my head are far more ridiculous than the one's I tell anyone:D but maybe that's why I faired out so well in XC last year, no times but just racing for position. On training, coach is gone away until tomorrow and was waiting to hear back on the blood tests and didn't want me doing anything much until then but now that it's all sorted, we can get cracking on a plan to get me back in action.Everything since January has been pretty aimless though. The goal is to run the steeplechase in the Munster Champs and then hopefully hit the ground running for XC in the winter but we I won't have a solid structure of all the minigoals in between until we smash out the details together. I'm pretty certain he'll be looking to build-up my strength as the first goal of training as he says I'm just an empty sack right now:pac: That's what I want as well, the man's got one hell of a running background and the patience of a saint:) so I really want to see what he's got in store for me.

Thanks again TbL!:)

El Caballo

Monday 28th March-PM: 4 Miles Recovery

Decided, It was for the best to get out and shake the legs out so I'd feel better tomorrow. They felt pretty good and I had a slight but of tightness in my lungs, they were probably in need of a good blowout. Done a short loop around town twice in the dark to cap off 12 Miles for the day in total.

Tuesday 29th March- 6 Miles Easy

Legs were still in recovery mode, a slight burning sensation in my upper hamstrings and glutes when I woke up this morning and I felt a little groggy from yesterday's effort. The run went well, about as sloggy and stiff as I would expect, pace was pretty handy in terms of speed and my only real issue was a slight niggle on the lateral side of my ankle which disappeared as I loosened out but was a little bit uncomfortable starting out. This is a pretty common niggle for me, usually comes on when my mileage and intensity is high but my foot going numb during the race probably played it's part in it cropping up today. Really need to bin the adios boosts now, the medial support is completely gone. Decent run all things considered, crappy weather though.

Chivito550

El Caballo wrote: »

Expert or not, I think you hit the nail on the head TbL and anything that can help my running is appreciated. I've a bit experience with preaching consistency because I know it's the key but I'm as flakey as fook when it comes to praticing what I preach and you're completely right, my old coach always says that if I could just get focused, we haven't scratched the surface of my ability yet. It's always 4-5 months of being on and then followed by months of been off like a lightswitch. Like you said, every time I make progress, the foot goes off the gas and I'm back to square one all over again and find it difficult to get motivated when I try again and so goes the circle. Looking back, my longest spell of consistent running was 10 months straight in my first year of running and all my PB's came from them, the way I was training was an absolute crock but I was consistent and my race results showed it, 35 PB's in 36 races in 2013(yeah, I was an addict:)), they were noob gains but the fact that I have only toppled one of those PB's in 2 and half to 3 years says it all really. My 5 mile PB will be 3 years old in two months and I was only running 5 months at the time:eek:. I don't know what it is but I never felt like the same runner after the DCM 13, It took something out of me that I never felt I got back again, some sort of mental block. Not that it was a Herculean show of strength or anything:D but I suffered big time out there. To be honest, I know you said this back a few pages and ultrapercy hinted at it but I think that fear of the marathon is the reason for my sh*tty training as of late, I was probably looking for a copout in there somewhere to not put my body through it. All of my crap spells of running have come either during marathon training or right after it. I tend to mentally and physically burnout.

I'm not sure to be honest on ambitious targets, I don't know but I've always been a bit of a dreamer and the targets in my head are far more ridiculous than the one's I tell anyone:D but maybe that's why I faired out so well in XC last year, no times but just racing for position. On training, coach is gone away until tomorrow and was waiting to hear back on the blood tests and didn't want me doing anything much until then but now that it's all sorted, we can get cracking on a plan to get me back in action.Everything since January has been pretty aimless though. The goal is to run the steeplechase in the Munster Champs and then hopefully hit the ground running for XC in the winter but we I won't have a solid structure of all the minigoals in between until we smash out the details together. I'm pretty certain he'll be looking to build-up my strength as the first goal of training as he says I'm just an empty sack right now:pac: That's what I want as well, the man's got one hell of a running background and the patience of a saint:) so I really want to see what he's got in store for me.

Thanks again TbL!:)

I'd agree with what others are saying. There's just no consistency at all. Chopping and changing of targets, periods of good training and lots of ambition, then a disappearance, followed by new targets unrelated to the previous ones. At the same time, it is good that you acknowledge these shortcomings in your running as that is half the battle.

Regarding the steeplechase, if you are going to target it, then do it properly, not half arsed. Don't do what you did last year and run a target race off no specific work (from what I recall, correct me if I'm wrong). Also, why just run Munsters. Run as a guest in both rounds of the league and run the Nationals too. That will give you 4 Steeple races this summer. If you are serious about this event then you must race it frequently (maybe you have planned to do this), rather than run it once and hope things come together. If you want to peak for Munsters end of July that's great, but race the other meets to build into it.

El Caballo

Chivito550 wrote: »

I'd agree with what others are saying. There's just no consistency at all. Chopping and changing of targets, periods of good training and lots of ambition, then a disappearance, followed by new targets unrelated to the previous ones. At the same time, it is good that you acknowledge these shortcomings in your running as that is half the battle.

Regarding the steeplechase, if you are going to target it, then do it properly, not half arsed. Don't do what you did last year and run a target race off no specific work (from what I recall, correct me if I'm wrong). Also, why just run Munsters. Run as a guest in both rounds of the league and run the Nationals too. That will give you 4 Steeple races this summer. If you are serious about this event then you must race it frequently (maybe you have planned to do this), rather than run it once and hope things come together. If you want to peak for Munsters end of July that's great, but race the other meets to build into it.

I agree with you, I didn't know my arse from elbow last year when it comes to training for the steeplechase. I had one build-up steeple scheduled before Munster last year and it was called off due to too little entries. My focus was really on just having good 1500m and 3000m speed with a lot of huddling drills and I done only one real specific hurdling session. It was nowhere enough, I ran pretty well and enjoyed but I felt there was huge scope for improvement after, I think it's one of those races where experience and practice is crucial and it's difficult to recreate that feeling of jumping on jelly legs and the strength it takes. I had good speed last year but was lacking in specific endurance as you said. I've already penciled down nationals as it all falls perfectly for build up races this year with the Olympics and I'm just waiting for the Cork graded fixtures to come out to put the details together but I hope to have a good few races under my belt by the time Munsters roll around

Younganne

[QUOTE=El Caballo;99209548......

I don't know what it is but I never felt like the same runner after the DCM 13, It took something out of me that I never felt I got back again, some sort of mental block. Not that it was a Herculean show of strength or anything:D but I suffered big time out there. . . .

This is exactly what happened me in London 2013 and its taken me over 2 years to get back to consistent training with the help of Coach (Myles)

Rotterdam next weekend :eek:is where I've to get this monkey off my back but its consistency that has gotten me back to marathon readiness. Don't know if I'm capable of a PB but i will do my best to have a better run than London 2013, i want a repeat of Dublin 2012 where i got my PB but more importantly a lovely experience but i'm terrified.:o

IMO, Get your consistency back, become answerable to your coach and more importantly yourself and it will all come together for you.

El Caballo

Younganne wrote: »

[QUOTE=El Caballo;99209548......

This is exactly what happened me in London 2013 and its taken me over 2 years to get back to consistent training with the help of Coach (Myles)

Rotterdam next weekend :eek:is where I've to get this monkey off my back but its consistency that has gotten me back to marathon readiness. Don't know if I'm capable of a PB but i will do my best to have a better run than London 2013, i want a repeat of Dublin 2012 where i got my PB but more importantly a lovely experience but i'm terrified.:o

IMO, Get your consistency back, become answerable to your coach and more importantly yourself and it will all come together for you.

Thanks Younganne, I wish I could give you some sage advice to calm your nerves but ^^^^:D As you said, you've put yourself in a position to take it on again which is the main thing. Best of luck with it and it should be a great weekend away as well, enjoy!:)



Just want to clarify on the race thoughts and to TbL's comment as reading it back, It probably comes across as more than frustrated. I'm not really annoyed at the result, more just a little disappointed at how much I've let my training slip over the last few months and questioning if I've turned a little soft or got too comfortable when it comes to pushing myself whether that means pushing myself out the door or sticking out it on a run where I'm struggling. I had a pretty good idea going into the race yesterday that I would struggle and that was my motive for doing it in the first place, I wanted a good kick in the arse as that's what I felt needed and for me, there's usually nothing better than a poor result to get me going. My motivation to get out running has been getting better over the last few weeks, the running part has been a struggle but getting out has been getting easier and easier and I felt I needed that last boost that I only get from a poor result to really get me kicking again. I think it done the trick in achieving what I wanted but I was still a little disappointed. It's not the end of the world though, I know I will get back. That sums up my thoughts better, I think.

That takes absolutely nothing away from the points made about my consistency, It is awful and there is huge scope for improvement to be made there, it's by far the biggest and most important area where I could make improvents to my running and I need to put effort into to reflect that. Impressive training blocks and races don't mean anything if I can't string them together, it's like p*ssin into the wind for lack of better metaphor. Looking back to even yesterday's posts, I think I've been guilty of making excuses rather than trying to change it. It's my hobby so I enjoy it but I'm competitive so there will be days where I hate it which is probably something I need to come terms with and get through those rough patches. Knowing that and putting it into to practice are two different things but hopefully a bit of reflection will help the next time I start getting distracted. Apologies for the long post but I'd half hour to spare in the bath and this was what was in my head:) plus, I think it could be useful to come back to down the line. Just got to get myself focused on getting back on track now.

Thanks for the posts folks.

Myles Splitz

My 2c

You look like I did for the last 7 or 8 years. Always had the ability to train hard when needed to and string together a few good months of training before something would crop up and knock me back (lads holidays, broken collarbone, over racing).
The best thing I ever did was not try to knock training out of the park or set really aggressive goals but just to the little things right. Half the reason for me scaling back mileage and easy pace this year was to make sure that those days where I was feeling crap I got out without too much dread.
The result meant I have probably ran about same mileage this year as others to date but it has been consistently 50-60 rather than previously 70-80-30 etc.

The kick up the backsides used to be great for getting motivation to train hard for a few months (I remember coming back from a wedding abroad after spending most of the summer d!cking about and barely breaking 20) to end up PB'ing in the half a few months later but are not sustainable especially in your early to mid twenties when things haven't fully settled down (college/career/relationships) so its best to just see it as part of day to day life rather than a huge expenditure of mental effort and you may surprise yourself. Going from low fitness to PB shape is tough enough that the aim should be to avoid doing it too often (probably one of the biggest things I felt was holding me back for a long while in my training)

El Caballo

Cheers Myles, I hear you. That's something I'm working on for the last few years to try and find that sweetspot but haven't quite found it yet, last year was definetely an improvement for me but I still slightly overcooked in the end. I done a lot of racing through the XC season and had hard sessions mixed in with it while I was chasing miles and a peak as well and it definetely caught up with me by the end of it all. I ran some good races but having to train through almost weekly races in tough conditions ain't easy on the body. I had a high peak but it was on the sharp side of things when I look back. It's difficult to turn down going out for championship races but I seemed to be the only guy who ran them all so I think I'll have to be more selective of what races I'm doing this year and take the foot off the gas a bit more when I am racing. It's a hell of a long and condensed season to try and blow through and I was putting a lot on my plate.

Wednesday 30th March- 6 Mile Run To The Barn Progression

Hit the road for this run this evening, the plan was 6 Miles easy but that kind of changes on the fly as the run was a tale of two halves. Was really struggling early on, my calves felt like they were going to explode for the first two and a bit miles even though I was going slow so I decided to pull up and give them a good stretch. my god, they were tight and stretching them was seriously painful. Just held onto the stretch until I could feel them release and felt much better for it although my right side didn't free up as much. Second half felt way better, much more loose and powerful and the pace naturally progressed until I was moving a decent clip for the last mile. Nothing stupidly fast or for long but I just felt like letting it rip to a certain extent, just felt right. Rest day tomorrow and I'll be taking it easy until Sunday and Munster roads. Hopefully, then I can get cracking into a plan.

Body needs some fine tuning on the flexibility side of things as well especially the calves anyway.

El Caballo

Thursday 31st March- 5 Mile Easy w/5x150m Accels

Had planned this as a rest day but switched it up and decided to go out this evening and take tomorrow off instead just so I'd have one days less stiffness in the legs come Sunday. The calves were fairly stiff again starting out and I could feel every pull from the camber of the road. Didn't really supple out at any stage so this was tough enough going.

Saturday 2nd April- 4 Mile Easy w/5x80m Strides

Faired much better today, nowhere near as stiff and there felt like there was some zip in my stride. Two gentle loops around town capped off with a few strides to get the legs up to pace.

tang1

Best of luck tomorrow E.

El Caballo

Sunday 3rd April- Munster 4 Mile Championship(26:59)

Happy out, a 48 second improvement on 6 days ago on a harder course which is solid progress in the right direction. Felt a lot better today than I did Monday with a decent enough spring in the step. Calves held up and the only real issue was a slight dead feeling in my quads which was manageable enough compared to feeling dead and sore everywhere in Boherbue. Got a nice post-race Buzz as well which was I was after. Will do a report when I get chance but I'm glad to have stopped the rot and make some forward progress again.:)

career move

Well done yesterday. I think I may have seen you crossing the finish line but I didn't say anything cause I didn't want to appear like a stalker

annapr

career move wrote: »

Well done yesterday. I think I may have seen you crossing the finish line but I didn't say anything cause I didn't want to appear like a stalker

What about the secret horse greeting?

Well done, El C!

career move

annapr wrote: »

What about the secret horse greeting?

Well done, El C!

Haha in the cold light of day, it just didn't seem like a good idea

El Caballo

Munster 4 Mile Road Championship

Right....better get cracking on this before it hits the bottom of my to do list and I've forgotten everything that happened, don't remember much as it is:pac:.

Really, the plan for today was just to go out and run hard and hopefully see some improvement on last week's run, had no idea what of a time in my head. I never planned to even do this race until last week when one of the lads said we might be short for a team so I said I'd hop in, racing is probably the last thing I should be doing now but hey, it's hard to resist at times as well.

Pre-Race

Sleep wasn't the best the night before, Paid for the nap I took Saturday evening so I was stuck to the bed when I woke up but I'd plenty of time to come around with a long enough trip to Kilnabhoy. Quick breakfast, out the door to meet up with the lads and off we headed. Arrived with about an hour to spare and get stuck into the usual pre-race chat with the usual sandbaggers.Wanted to get a few miles in before the race so I left the lads at it and headed off on my own for a three to four mile warm-up knowing the men's race would be a bit later than advertised. Few drills and rigourous stretch and I was good to go.

Race

Lined up right near the back of the field as experience has taught me that these championship races go off like the clapped and the last thing I wanted was to be pushed and pulled along by the pace. Settled in to a nice little group of about 6 early on as the huge group ahead tapped fairly quickly so there was no temptation to bridge over to the back of it. About 400m in, I stood on a half eaten chicken roll which stuck into the bottom of my shoe:pac: and I couldn't shake off the tinfoil so I'd pull over a knock it off. Quick stop but enough for the lads to open up a bit of a gap but nothing major this early.

First mile and a half was a gradual uphill and the legs were feeling a little zippy but I was tight enough in the chest, even though I held myself back somewhat, I kind of realised the pace was a little on the hot side this early but I'd already commited and back in the group, felt I had to go with it as I was in no danger from behind and the only way I could gain places was by toughing it out in the group and hoping some of them cracked before me.

As we rounded the corner at 1.7ish miles, I was confronted by my old nemesis, fookin hills :pac: on an old heavily cambered and winding road with what felt like little mountains to climb every time we switched sides. I tucked myself into the gully as much as possible just to try and protect my calves and quads as much as possible for the inevitable downhill that was to come and half the group split and moved up the road leaving four of us together which was quickly wiggled down to three as a Bilboa runner moved ahead at around 2.4 miles.

The route started to flatten out here and me and another Bilboa runner managed to gap the Finbarrs runner behind even though both of were starting to come under real pressure and it was getting hot. I was pretty happy here still though as I thought I'd have him on speed for the downhill. When we finally did reach it, I did manage to gap him but couldn't snap the tether as my quads were starting to go flat so we were yoyoing back and forth for nearly a mile with me opening it up and him closing it back down before he finally managed to put 10m on me with 400 to go and I could hear the Finbarrs guy coming fast from behind. Caught sight of the school and managed to summon up some kind of revival which was enough to hold off behind but the line came just to early to pickup another place. Finish in 26:59, the lads said it was 27 flat on the clock so we'll call it 26:59.5 guntime:D

Thoughts:

It's progress which is good, Today's improvements were more down to having a race in the legs from Monday more than anything else and I coped better out their mentally today, was able to get deeper into the pain and still cope. The legs did feel much better with the only issue being the dead quads which usually mean I need a rest or I'm lacking in the long runs. I think it's a bit of both right now as I'm not race ready so they're taking some punishment and I'm obviously going to be lacking in endurance that the long runs build so I'm going to step back from racing for a while and build my foundation for track and XC season and start hitting the gym a few times a week. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the run, I made some good progress in a few days and the body is kind of getting back into the swing of things as well. Still a lot of running to be done but it's encouraging.:)

El Caballo

career move wrote: »

Well done yesterday. I think I may have seen you crossing the finish line but I didn't say anything cause I didn't want to appear like a stalker

Ha, no worries! Should of came over though, I won't bite:) next time.

El Caballo

Monday 4th April- 4 Mile Easy

Absolutely plastered to the bed this morning:pac: felt right groggy and a little stiff, had a few pints Sunday evening after the race so I was probably a little dehydrated. Took a handy spin around the Rotterdam loop(I'm going to have to rename that:)) for 3 miles and tacked on an extra one with a trip to the shop. Slight bit of pressure on my peroneus towards the end but everything else was ok.

Tuesday 5th April- 7 Miles Easy (9:23)

Wanted to keep the pressure off my calves as best I could will I work on my flexibility so I headed out to do the old local 10k race loop from about 15 years ago which is relatively flat once you get out of the valley of the first mile and half. Little bit of early struggling with the burning feeling in my calves which I was expecting so I pulled in at the top of the hill to give the body a good ol stretch and done a few warm-up drills. Felt pretty good from here with only a slight bit of tightening which while uncomfortable, was manageable.

Wednesday 6th April- 45 Min Inc.15mins of Diagonals

This was tough, not because of the run but the weather was hellish!:pac:. Stayed around town to drop my spikes off in the stand and take atleast some shelter where I could but it still felt like I was barely moving at times before heading onto the soccer field for the Diagonals. Looking back, I'm not sure I got any benefit from this session and may have been for the best if I left it. Couldn't hold form in the wind...I'm built like a kite:) and my legs were ice cold from the rain. Felt good after it but probably wasn't the best time to be doing form work.

Thursday 7th April- 5 Miles Easy

Glad I left this until this evening, weather was absolutely perfect. Probably the first run in months were my calves didn't feel like they were going to explode at some stage during it by cutting of blood to my legs, right leg was on it's best behavior and although my my left one was tight, it wasn't the same sensation as I've been having for the last while, felt like it was working better and not as debilitating. Small pickup for the last mile as I seen a rare runner out in the sticks and couldn't resist:eek::pac:. After been away from it for a while, you kind of forget how good running makes you feel in general. Happy out!:)

Back in Black

Only catching up properly here now. Well done on the race - nice running. Nice to see a bit of consistency back in your training and more importantly it's paying off for you.

El Caballo

Back in Black wrote: »

Only catching up properly here now. Well done on the race - nice running. Nice to see a bit of consistency back in your training and more importantly it's paying off for you.

Cheers man! Yeah, I've got my foot back in the door mentally now I think. Every run is starting to feel easier and easier and I'm not having to push myself the door as much, getting back in the habit.

Friday 8th April- 7 Miles w/30 Min Unstructured Fartlek

On the plan for today was just to get in a few miles with a bit of mixed pace Fartlek running. Calves felt better again on the warm-up, no real pressure feeling high up as it seems to have moved down to a little tight feeling on my soleus which doesn't burn or hurt. Felt a bit leggy kicking off the speedplay but soon settled in and started to feel really powerful. Body just felt connected and flowy and the effort levels felt really low going at a strong pace. Have no idea where that came from but the body feels great now, warm and loose.

El Caballo

Saturday 9th April- 4 Mile Shakeout w/strides

Body felt decent, a little pop in my stride. I may have made a stupid commitment to race tomorrow but I couldn't resist it and got the all clear to go ahead with once I focus on building the miles and long runs when it's over this time. Hopefully, I'll see some improvement again and if yesterday's run was anything to go by, I should if I've recovered enough.

El Caballo

Sunday 10th April- County 4 Mile (27:43)

It could be Rotterdam or anywhere yet here I am in Bruff in the pissing ice cold rain in gale force winds during a status Orange weather warning, no one said this was going to be a glamorous lifestyle I suppose:pac:. I woke up this morning and took a peek out the curtains and honestly questioned my sanity, don't mind the rain but the wind was howling and my first thought was go back to bed but I'd commited and had one of the lads singlets so I had to go and I'd thought on the off chance of a miracle run happening, it would be worth it.

Chomped down a few weetibix and headed back to leave to catch the Early part of the marathon before timidly making tracks out the door towards Bruff at 10 o clock. Arrived at number collection with an hour to spare with everyone crammed in the hall looking out the door, ain't nobody outside doing any sort of warm-up so just caught up with a few people. Decided it was probably for the best to get some sort of a warm-up in 15 minutes before the guntime and make tracks towards the startline which was a mile away from the hall. It was Baltic and we all took cover behind someone's front wall before stripping off and being called to the start to go. Not to be, the starter was late and everyone was fookin and blinding and just saying to go. 5 minutes later we finally got the nod and off we go.

Race-

Quickly settled into a group as we headed up the hill for the first mile and I tried to gain as much cover as I could in the gully but was still getting pulled across the road and was just saying to myself to take it easy, there's a lot of running left yet. A quick glance around at the faces and I realised I'd probably made an early mistake and should've went with the next group up the road as I was cruising and there was some early heavy breathing going on in the group, they weren't going to last and sure enough as we reached the first mile marker, I was isolated and fighting the wind by myself. Mile 1: 7:03

Hit the bend shortly after that and was welcomed by a constant headwind with some really strong gusts and flooded roads, Started making some progress up the field here still though as guys were tailing off from going out too fast but no one who could hold on to work with. Still feeling good and relaxed through this mile and I had managed to hold the gap to the group up the road and occasionally making small inroads with little surges, not a great way to try and close a gap but the sensation was that there was speed in the legs but It felt like I was stuck between gears Mile 2: 7:20

Nice little downhill section here which was a nice relief even with the wind straight in my face. The group ahead had split with one guy starting to trail off the back which made a nice target up the road and with 2000m to go we took the last turn for home and refuge from the wind, I started to get moving and gradually eat into the gap Mile 3: 6:49

With 1200 left, I'd closed to about 20m but he was still holding on ahead, heard a quick shout of "c'mon to fook" from behind and took a quick glance behind to see one of the lads another 20m behind me. I still wasn't under much pressure but I just couldn't turnover the legs quick enough to close that gap which increased as we created the last hill and caught sight of the finish area. I could see S coming quick from behind and thought the finishline might come in time but I had to lift it for the last 200m to hold onto the place Mile 4: 6:31 Finish: 27:43

Thoughts-

Pretty even keel about today, definetely should've being more aggressive at the start so I think I left some out there. The huge negative split points towards that even if the course and conditions influenced that. I'd say it was a slight improvement on last week's run but the sensations were completely different, last week felt like a flat to the mat effort whereas I don't feel today's run was anything like that, I never felt under any pressure today bar the sprint to the finishline, Not that I wasn't trying but it felt like there was more in the tank that I couldn't get out if that makes any sense. Anyway, it's good and with no races to distract me for the next while, I can get down to the important thing that is training.

Dubgal72

Well done. Now back to building

El Caballo

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Well done. Now back to building

Thanks A! Will do, you're the boss:)

Monday 11th April- 8 Miles Easy

Was talking to D at lunchtime who said he was down for 6-8 Easy today depending on how he felt so seemeing as I had something similar, we said we'd meet up for this hilly enough run. He's miles ahead of me right now but we said we'd just run at whatever was comfortable so I lead it out. Quads were fairly tired so it was a slow opening mile at 9 minute pace but without realising it, we clocked 7:17 on the second mile:eek: which to be fair, was completely my fault. Dialled it back from here and averaged just a little over 8 minute miles all the way home to top off a solid 8 Miles. Felt decent enough to be honest, about as good as you can expect the day after a race. While I wouldn't call the effort easy as such, the company blunted the effort levels a little and it was worth the trade off. Happy out, just got to meet up with coach tomorrow and get everything sorted for the next few weeks now to get organised and have something structured in front of me.

A pic from the race yesterday. No wonder I felt like I couldn't turnover, I've gone pure stiff.

ThebitterLemon

Looks like you need a good meal, a shave and tie your feckin laces

TbL