The breaks even out in the long run

Wild Garlic

El Caballo wrote: »

Mon 12th Sept- 4 Miles

Wed 14th Sept- 4 Miles

Fri 16th Sept- 5 Miles

Sun 17th Sept- 5 Miles

Tue 20th Sept- 4 Miles

Wed 21st Sept- 6m Inc. 20min Tempo Run

A bit better, my rhythm is coming back to me slowly but surely and I feel some well needed extra pep in the step to get out the door in the evening and that's sweet so not too shabby at all.

Fired in a short tempo run this evening as I'd a half day today and felt the need for some intensity to get a grasp on some minor discomfort and mental question marks that may have built up during my time off ahead of Sunday and my first race in a while. Yep, got caught for the XC season Kickstarter, County Novice(actually love XC but in a subjective way, that subjective love removes around how fit I am or not in this case:)). Got a shout from the club coach yesterday that we are struggling to make up numbers for a team and would I throw my hat in the ring? We always seem to struggle with novice numbers because most of our guys who like XC are Senior but anyway, I couldn't say no even though I know the race will fit neatly into the definition of HELL ON EARTH!!! and getting destroyed by a lot of people who I usually beat but I guess the only cure for that is to not let the fitness slip in the first place.

Anyway enough of that, I am where I am now so all I can do is plan with that in my mind and go from there. The biggest thing I'll have to be wary about is my start. Endurance is going to be lacking for obvious reasons so while what may seem like a very comfortable pace for the first lap or 2 may quickly lead to a complete blowup so the plan is to go out way below the effort level I feel I could maintain for the whole race and pick off as many who will inevitably blowup from the hot early pace as I can. Not expecting much but to get around and hopefully contribute as much as I can on the day:)

Ah yes, I'm sure the old XC will get your juices flowing again. Enjoy!

El Caballo

Wild Garlic wrote: »

Ah yes, I'm sure the old XC will get your juices flowing again. Enjoy!

Sound chief! I'm the proverbial and literal mile behind in everything so a bit late but sorry to see about the injury. I suppose one of the good things about running is that 99.9% of the time, you have the chance to come back stronger and faster if you choose to, The DCM isn't going anywhere in the near future so there's always another chance and with at least a year to the next one if you don't have one already planned in the meantime, that's a hell of a lot of time to get back on the horse, get back your fitness that the marathon block has given you, get even stronger and set the bar even higher. Citius, Altius, Fortius.

As for myself, I think the juices are already flowing, just need a bit of direction.

El Caballo

Sunday 25th Sept- County Novice XC 6k

This makes no sense at all but came home as 4th man from the club and ran faster than I did last year when I was ready for it. Started out conservatively and kept picking up places and pace as the laps went on. By lap 3, I was fairly shifting to the point where positions 3-6 weren't even even opening a gap on me as I kept meeting them at the same point in the course and the gap remained the same the whole way to the finish with them as I picked off more and more people as the laps ticked by. Not sure where it came out of but think I finished just outside the top 10, maybe 12th or 13th and was on the tail of my clubmate coming up the finishing chute who recently ran a 1:26 half, WTF!? Time was in the 23 minute range I think which is way faster than last year and I haven't done a tap in 3 months, had to leave early but we picked up either a silver or bronze in the team event, not sure which one yet. Absolutely beaming with that, had no expectations heading into to this and blew it out of the water all things considered. Not sure where that fitness came from.

Got roped into running County senior next week by coach who said to just treat it like a training run and don't worry about how well I run, 10k of XC is a different ball game so even though I ran well today, I don't really have any expectations as I'm not sure my endurance is near up to scratch for that distance. All said and done, happy out!:)

El Caballo

sually start reports for these kind of big races with a review of my build-up in training and about the hype to be racing it but both of those aspects have being notable absences this time. Training has being very slim over the last two weeks with the exception of a good run in Novice XC last weekend and the hype of a race is really the byproduct of seeing myself improve week on week during training in the leadup to a big race and starting to wonder about the possibilities, that's what I've missed the most over the last few months and something I really want to get back into again but for today, they were MIA as I hadn't even planned to run XC this year and only decided to race this last Sunday so the opportunity was lost.As a team, We were the weakest we've been in years due to top runners being injured and already committed to a fall marathon and two of our stronger runners who did line up today were only just back training so we were underpowered and were fighting an uphill battle to be in any sort of contention with LAC who despite being the weakest they've being at the very front of the race for years, were stacked for individual top-10/15 runners so we were never going to upset them on their hometurf unless something completely off the wall happened and we also had stiff competition for a medal spot.Had a chat with coach before the race who said to go out conservatively and pick em off as the race goes on as even though I had no chance of scoring today, every point would count and any damage I could do to other teams would help. I had the same plan in my head going in more out of a lack of belief that I would survive a slog through 10k of mud than a racing tactic but tomato...tomatoe so I just nodded my head and headed off for a solid 30 minute warm-up

The Race:

Lined up right at the back of the field and let everyone sprint off before I settled into 3rd from last behind two teamates who I wouldn't be used to running with. The temptation was already great to push on as a large group containing some runners I'd normally be mixing it up with had already opened up a 30 plus metre gap as we hit the first turn but I had to have a little chat with myself to remind me that blowup could be close over a sloppy slog of 10k XC and to just wait and see how the legs react down the line so just take it easy for now.

A lap in and I started to pull away from my two teamates and pass a few people who had settled down after the quick start and I was on my way. Up ahead in the distance was a bilboa runner who I developed a bit of a rivalry with earlier in the year, I managed to reel him in fairly quickly and put in a spurt as I passed him just to make sure he didn't get any ideas about tagging on to the back of me and making the early stages harder than they should have being.

At this stage I was starting to feel a bit more confident about about being somewhat competitive as the body was in check and I could see the large group that pulled away at the start had broken up so I turned my attention to working up to the back of a teamate just up ahead and picked up the effort slightly and managed to pass an LAC runner with 4 laps to go and caught up to my clubmate down to big long muddy straight 200m later. Offered him a quick word of encouragement before he told me to"dig in" before I focused my attention on two LAC and a Dooneen runners who had opened up a 100m gap on me at this stage. I knew by now that I was no danger from anyone behind as I was the most comfortable and had no option but to let loose and see if the gap up ahead could be closed so I started to pick it up.

With 3 laps to go, I'd closed it to around 60m but I had a big problem, My two big toes were rubbing on the inside of my spikes and I could feel them swelling and a hell of a lot of pressure starting to build up which was getting exponentially more excruciatingly painful with every stride. This would usually be a perfect opportunity to copout for me with no danger from behind and no expectation to catch the guys in front but funnily enough today, that thought didn't even enter my head and as I headed down the back of the course, I could see the group splinter and one of the LAC guys falling off the back which gave me a big kick. With just over a lap and 3/4's to go, I pulled up on his shoulder but it took a big effort so I sat in behind him for 300m just to catch a breath to make sure I had the energy to make the move decisive when I decided to surge, the last thing I wanted at this stage was a side by side battle for nearly a mile and a half. Made an attack off the tight turn on the outside and managed to gap him fairly quickly by 20-30 metres but my legs were shot by now so it stayed at that as we passed the line and headed out on the last loop of the race just about getting lapped by the winner on the way home to gold.

My lack of conditioning and the mud were making it presence known as any slight stumbles in the mud and I was feeling twinges of cramp which wasn't really that helpful when trying to hold out for a lap. In the end, the gap stayed the same until the finish where I was only too glad to take a lie down in the mud as 5th man home for the club and in the low-mid 20's overall.

Cost: two big nails

Reward: Team bronze, my best ever finish in County Senior and club finish as 5th man home to boot.


Thoughts:

I'll take that:D.

On the toes, I still can't walk properly or wear shoes at all. Got two subungal hematomas in my both my big toes which are extremely painful and the doctor can't release the pressure because I have thickened nails from running, says he'd need a black and decker to get through them:pac: so I've another appointment tomorrow to see if they need to be removed so no running this week and don't know when I will be able to again yet.

On the running, probably time to start deciding on a goal.

Dubgal72

Well done Hoss! Have you been doing much cycling in your three months skiving off?

I'm nominating these two babies for the Longest Sentences Award at the end of year btw; one for the ultra category, one for marathon

Training has being very slim over the last two weeks with the exception of a good run in Novice XC last weekend and the hype of a race is really the byproduct of seeing myself improve week on week during training in the leadup to a big race and starting to wonder about the possibilities, that's what I've missed the most over the last few months and something I really want to get back into again but for today, they were MIA as I hadn't even planned to run XC this year and only decided to race this last Sunday so the opportunity was lost.

As a team, We were the weakest we've been in years due to top runners being injured and already committed to a fall marathon and two of our stronger runners who did line up today were only just back training so we were underpowered and were fighting an uphill battle to be in any sort of contention with LAC who despite being the weakest they've being at the very front of the race for years, were stacked for individual top-10/15 runners so we were never going to upset them on their hometurf unless something completely off the wall happened and we also had stiff competition for a medal spot.

El Caballo

Dubgal72 wrote: »

Well done Hoss! Have you been doing much cycling in your three months skiving off?

I'm nominating these two babies for the Longest Sentences Award at the end of year btw; one for the ultra category, one for marathon

Haha, I'll take any award I can get. Coq au vin seems to be always one step ahead in the race for most reregs so I geuss I'll have to settle for those instead.

Done a good bit of cycling for the first few weeks alright but the work took a toll on that with a few weeks in a row with no day off and racking up 85-90 hours everyweek of hard physical work so I could hardly keep my eyes open and was physically shattered by the end of the day nevermind cycle home and there was no time for skiving off either...much:p. I think the type of work probably helped more in keeping a decent baseline level of fitness, I'm physically stronger than I have ever being more than anything else even if my aerobic fitness took a hit although the month of cycling 35-40k a day probably limited some of those losses too. Not getting it twisted, I'm nowhere near as fit as I was this time last year, feel like I could probably manage a mid-19 to 20 minute 5k judging by the results of the XC races which is a brilliant starting back point for me as I usually feel like a sack of spuds after time off so through a convoluted mix of all those things, I'm in a decent enough place.

Any form of activity will help while your out, strength and any aerobic work will both help in limiting the damage in my opinion . The old dominant Finnish athletes used to take long walks during the base phase to get extra training in without adding to the fatigue or injury cost. The training may not be running specific with cycling, walking and strength training but that doesn't mean that it won't help with so there's hope for you yet:) Best of luck with the rehab and not all is lost.

El Caballo

Thursday 20th October- 5 Miles Easy

Back in action minus the two nails which were removed and a pair of €130 spikes that were worn once. Had a week of housebound pain after the XC and they've finally healed up to the point where I can comfortably enough. I'm finally going to be in a position to start proper training again when the clocks go back as I'm back to a running friendly 8-5 shift which will give me much more time and energy to get stuck in.

I'm really thinking about switching my training up this time around for winter and going with a Lydiard base phase as it's something I've always wanted to try, the real apple of my eye would be the 100mpw of highend aerobic mileage but that's the dream for obvious reasons so I'll happily settle on something similar to a time based approach and that'll add up to however many miles it does at the end of the week. The goal is to be decided as of yet but I've a good bit of time to scratch out the details on that one. We'll see what happens

El Caballo

Lydiard training it is or at least my interpretation of it. Contrary to a lot of belief, this is far from slow running. Hell, I'd even say it's intimidating coming from the approach of my training for the last while of taking it real easy although there's still a place for that when it's called for of course and I'll be using a HR monitor just to keep tabs on myself as I know what I can be like at times:pac:

The general jist of the base phase will be two 60 minute runs a week at steady effort and 3-4 longer runs at a good aerobic pace with a midweek fartlek to cap it off. There's nothing fancy here, just a lot of volume at a strong aerobic pace. The first step is to simply build up to the peak mileage which may take me a little while as I'm not coming from a base of training recently so will have to start a few steps down the ladder from where I would otherwise and could jump up in mileage quickly. This phase is called ascent to peak mileage which will be mostly easy running and will be completed when I hopefully reach a place where I'm comfortable that I can start the base phase. Nearly settled on a goal now as well which is down to a toss up between two at the minute.

Mon 31st October- 30 Minutes Easy

Quick Jaunt around town this morning.

El Caballo

Much like Wild Garlic, I think I'll move back to the cosy comfort of home, it's easier than hassling RQ for a log title change as I don't want to look at Rotterdam marathon 2017 anymore:pac: and this log is a huge part of my running history for better or for worse. It also started out very similar to where I am now in attacking a track season that turned out to be one of the best years I put down in years after a spell of inconsistent running.

My plan for this year is to target the 1500m and maybe run a steeplechase or two if the opportunity presents itself. I've enlisted the help of a coach who I've got a ton of respect for and who also is fairly familar with my all or nothing tendencies to help me out as I frankly know nothing about 1500m training and need someone to protect me from myself and get some consistency going. Obviously the burden to get out and doing that is going to fall on me but having a guy with that knowledge is a huge bonus so hopefully I can get it together and shove on from here.

Goals:

Quit smoking. I'm probably at the worst I've ever being now at about 30 a day and don't make as many attempts to quit as I used to. This is my number one goal as it's impact is much greater than just running fast.

Goal races are going to be Munster and National 1500m T+F championships. I fully expect to get absolutely slaughtered by everyone at these races and every other track race this year but I got to start to somewhere and that's going to be the bottom.

PB's at 1500m and 3000m Steeple. I've only ran each of these races once so this may or may not be challenging.

1500m: 5:01(2015)
3000m S/C: 12:38(2015)

Train consistently


Training

The next 2 months is going to be all about building a base and running regularly.


Monday- 40 Minutes Easy(Untimed)

Wednesday- 45 Minutes Easy(9:06)

Thursday- 45 Minutes Easy w/8x15s strides(8:48)

Friday- 30 Minutes Easy(9:02)

Saturday- 40 Minutes Steady(8:14)

Sunday- 70 Minutes Easy w/ last 5 min @ Tempo(8:54)

6 days running this week which is the most I've run in an age so I'm happy with that and hopefully is the starting point of a good year for me. Bring it on...

RayCun

Allen Carr's book on quitting is good

Really much more important than any training you could do in the next few weeks is to quit once and for all

Annie get your Run

RayCun wrote: »

Allen Carr's book on quitting is good

Really much more important than any training you could do in the next few weeks is to quit once and for all

+ 1 to this, I tried and failed many times over the years till I read this book. Off then now about 6 yesrs and would never go back. Best of luck with it, their poison.

Working class heroes

Correct me if I'm wrong but, you seemed to really enjoy that SC you did(Munster championships?) so........

Also if you don't give up the smokes you will die quicker than you have too. Not from any particular ailment. No, I shall pop down and slaughter you in your sleep:)
Personally I only smoke after sex, down to 15 a day now.

tang1

Your at nothing E trying to improve your running while smoking, you have clear talent give the smokes the elbow and that will only improve. All up to you how much you want it of course, comments such as mine are only lip service from randomers on Boards, ultimate decision is your own.

tang1

Working class heroes wrote: »

Personally I only smoke after sex, down to 15 a day now.

Always knew you were a gigolo!!!!

Murph_D

Whether it's a book, method, cold turkey, zyban, patch, I think it only works if you're ready, as quitting is probably the mentally toughest thing you ever have to do. But bizarrely it's easy enough when the time is right. Good luck with it.

JohnDozer

As a very recent convert, I agree with the above. Heavy smoking and running in particular just do not go hand in hand.

I've been through the various products, and Allen Carr is the one that I think works when you do know for sure you want to give up, not when you think you might want to give up but aren't sure. That's what the patches etc are for! So if you know you do want to make a real decent effort this time, get your hands on the book, read it through, take your time, and do exactly as he says. Presuming you haven't already tried that one...

Best of luck! You'll go well in Adare next week maybe?

El Caballo

Cheers folks, appreciate all the advice and tips on the smoking. Heard a lot about Allen Carr's book before but haven't read it. Will pick it up and see how it goes.

Working class heroes wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but, you seemed to really enjoy that SC you did(Munster championships?) so........

Also if you don't give up the smokes you will die quicker than you have too. Not from any particular ailment. No, I shall pop down and slaughter you in your sleep:)
Personally I only smoke after sex, down to 15 a day now.

Hahaha, craic of the day.:)

I did like the steeple and will hopefully get to run at least one this year, The problem with it is that it's really hard to build a season around given that it's just not an event that's run very often. The graded meets down here used to reguraly have 30 in the 3000 and 40 in the 1500 but could never get the numbers to run the steeple, they won't run the race unless 3 people register for it and they never do, the last time I tried, only 2 of us registered and I don't think they've got 3 in years. Even the Munster Champs that year only had 3 run on the day, the 5k racewalk had more entrants. The 1500 training should stand to me if I do run a steeple this year which I hopefully do but I can't really focus fully on a race that I might only have one opportunity to run in the whole year. 3000's are tough enough that I'm not sure many people like the idea of having to run that distance while having 30 odd opportunities to faceplant along with it every race so it's just not a popular event.

JohnDozer wrote: »

As a very recent convert, I agree with the above. Heavy smoking and running in particular just do not go hand in hand.

I've been through the various products, and Allen Carr is the one that I think works when you do know for sure you want to give up, not when you think you might want to give up but aren't sure. That's what the patches etc are for! So if you know you do want to make a real decent effort this time, get your hands on the book, read it through, take your time, and do exactly as he says. Presuming you haven't already tried that one...

Best of luck! You'll go well in Adare next week maybe?

Cheers JD! AC is probably one of the only ways I haven't tried yet so hopefully it will bring some success. Fairplay on packing them in yourself! I'll be in Adare alright next week but won't be racing flat out, going to be doing it as a training run of a 4 mile tempo with the last 2 at 10k pace. Bit early in the process yet for me when I've bigger fish to fry down the road. You doing it?

JohnDozer

El Caballo wrote: »

Cheers JD! AC is probably one of the only ways I haven't tried yet so hopefully it will bring some success. Fairplay on packing them in yourself! I'll be in Adare alright next week but won't be racing flat out, going to be doing it as a training run of a 4 mile tempo with the last 2 at 10k pace. Bit early in the process yet for me when I've bigger fish to fry down the road. You doing it?

One last bit of advice re Allen Carr, I left a good bit of time between reading the main part of the book and the very last chapter. I think you have to do that, slow down the whole process. If you speed through it from first page to last I don't think it will have the desired impact. Could be wrong, so I'll leave you alone. I think we would all like to see you do it, as we can all see the possibilities that exist for you if/ when you do... but not before then :-(

I'll do Adare I'd say. No clue where I'm at really, just after putting three consecutive weeks of decent mileage together after a year plus of very sporadic training, similar to your own week of training above actually (the decent mileage part, not the sporadic part! :-)) Very little speed work as I'm working on a strained quad issue at the moment. So yeah, the way things are, I'd happily take a 44:xx and crack on from there towards Limerick Half. The motivation is back and I'm enjoying it again... 4 weeks today! Anyway, your log, not mine. I better go look for my own I guess :-D

tang1

All the best Sunday E, hope it goes well for you.

hot buttered scones

I hope this doesn't sound too preachy - but it's going to come to stage where you'll have to choose between running and smoking. I have no idea how you manage both - I got breathless climbing the stairs when I smoked. Sometimes we need a kick up the hole to push us to give them up - with me it was seeing the effects of smoking on a couple of family members, and then looking at my kids and realising I didn't ever want them to see me like that. I never ran or trained like you do when I smoked and made several failed attempts to give them up, but I did finally. I took up running and never looked back. Giving up smoking was the best thing I ever did for myself - better than loosing weight, getting fit, or getting an education. I hope you finally knock them on the head - you'll reap the rewards in both your running and your pocket. Best of luck with it.

El Caballo

Don't have much time so a quick rundown of the week

Tuesday- 45 Min easy w/ 8x15s strides(8:47)

Wednesday- 40 Min steady(8:24)

Thursday- 45 Min Easy w/8x15s strides(8:58)

Saturday- 30 Min Shakeout(9:23)

Sunday- Adare 10k w/ 4 Mile Tempo & 2 miles hard(42:51)

Big negative split in today's race. Garmin was dead this morning but was on 44:xx pace through 7k and obliterated the last 3k to finish in the 42:50's. downhill finish helped but I was in a completely different gear to everyone around me. May have being a bit guilty of pushing it too hard over the last 2 miles as my brother was up the road and I had to catch him. Got a few cramp twinges in my calf over the last K and passed my brother with 70m to go before he blew past me as we crossed the line. Good run although not feeling great especially when trying to up the pace from tempo to hard over the last two miles. I felt ok running the first 4, no breathing difficulties or strain but running faster felt like a challenge which is probably to be expected given my training over the last year.

El Caballo

Monday 27th Feb- 40 Minutes Easy

Wednesday 1st Mar- 50 min Steady(8:25)

Thursday 2nd Mar- 45 Min easy w/5x30s strides(8:47)

Friday OFF

Saturday & Sunday- Sick (Stomach Bug)

Not a great week considering I missed the Weekend runs. Feel ok now and good enough to start up again this week. Have Ballycotton on Sunday and although the distance will probably catch up with me, really looking forward to running it as I've never done it before, great history so should be a good weekend no matter what.

Working class heroes

El Caballo wrote: »

Monday 27th Feb- 40 Minutes Easy

Wednesday 1st Mar- 50 min Steady(8:25)

Thursday 2nd Mar- 45 Min easy w/5x30s strides(8:47)

Friday OFF

Saturday & Sunday- Sick (Stomach Bug)

Not a great week considering I missed the Weekend runs. Feel ok now and good enough to start up again this week. Have Ballycotton on Sunday and although the distance will probably catch up with me, really looking forward to running it as I've never done it before, great history so should be a good weekend no matter what.

Bring us back a shirt:p

annapr

Good luck in Ballycotton, I wil be out supporting and would give you a cheer, if only I knew what you looked like... i seem to remember a pic of a skinny runner but that won't help on the day...

Working class heroes

annapr wrote: »

Good luck in Ballycotton, I wil be out supporting and would give you a cheer, if only I knew what you looked like... i seem to remember a pic of a skinny runner but that won't help on the day...

He'll be the only one smoking

El Caballo

annapr wrote: »

Good luck in Ballycotton, I wil be out supporting and would give you a cheer, if only I knew what you looked like... i seem to remember a pic of a skinny runner but that won't help on the day...

Haha, thanks. I'll be the big lanky, scrawny dude in a black singlet and shorts with what all the lads say are pink shoes but they're really candy red, shouldn't be too far behind the 70 minute pacers. If that doesn't help, wch probably hit the nail on the head:pac:

Working class heroes wrote: »

He'll be the only one smoking

hot buttered scones

Good luck tomorrow. Just so you know there's no pacers - not usually anyway and I haven't seen anything to say that's changed for this year.

El Caballo

hot buttered scones wrote: »

Good luck tomorrow. Just so you know there's no pacers - not usually anyway and I haven't seen anything to say that's changed for this year.

Thanks HBS. Can't make it now anyway. Boss wants me to work tomorrow now:( no choice but to miss out again.

annapr

El Caballo wrote: »

Thanks HBS. Can't make it now anyway. Boss wants me to work tomorrow now:( no choice but to miss out again.

Sorry you couldn't make it, probably wouldn't have spotted you anyway!

El Caballo

Tuesday- 45 min easy w/8x15s strides

Wednesday- 50 min steady

Thursday 45 min easy w/5x30s strides

Friday- Rest

Saturday- 20 min shakeout

Sunday- 2 miles easy, 1 Mile Tempo, 1 Mile Easy, 2 Miles @ MP, 1 Miles Easy, 1 mile Tempo, 2 miles Easy

Decent enough week with the exception of missing ballycotton, it was scheduled as a training run anyway so I didn't miss out on anything training wise but would've liked to do it. The running is starting to feel a bit easier now as the rust seems to be blown off so that's a good sign although today's run was fairly challenging, let's just say I decided to drown my sorrows last night after getting the news so the head and legs were rough enough to be honest. Work is starting to get busy again and 70-80 hour weeks look to be just around the corner as the evenings get brighter so I'll have to see how that affects my training this time around. The good news is that it should only be for 12-13 weeks this time so there's an end in sight. Going to try and get back to daily updates as the days kind of blend into each other and I can never remember anything.