The breaks even out in the long run

El Caballo

Sunday 7th May- 6 Mile Lungbuster

Another revival of sorts after another embarrasing attempt at getting my training going again a couple of months ago. Injuries and a chaotic work schedule played their part but complacency and frustration eventually won out. I'll get it right someday. I'm not even going to bother posting my goals racewise for the next while as tbh, it's a waste of time talking without doing so I'll just keep my mouth shut from writing checks my body can't cash.

Training, Idk what I'm going to do tbh, my main goal for now is to start getting involved in club training again and making time for it even if it does involve traveling early in the morning to make a club long run or midweek session, the possibility of that is still a month away as I am seriously lacking in the time department right now but should finally have some flexibility come the start of June.

As for today's run before I get carried away, my first in over 7 weeks and pretty much went as expected, the pace was quick as I just felt like letting rip, but really not that fast as I'm also seriously unfit right now. First 4 miles felt akin to dragging my head along the ground as my whole body was creaking but the last two weren't too bad tbh, more like what I'd hope to feel like on most runs. Still, I'll take that for a rustbuster as the expectation starting out was it would start bad and only get worse from there.

ThebitterLemon

El Caballo wrote: »

Sunday 7th May- 6 Mile Lungbuster

Another revival of sorts after another embarrasing attempt at getting my training going again a couple of months ago. Injuries and a chaotic work schedule played their part but complacency and frustration eventually won out. I'll get it right someday. I'm not even going to bother posting my goals racewise for the next while as tbh, it's a waste of time talking without doing so I'll just keep my mouth shut from writing checks my body can't cash.

Training, Idk what I'm going to do tbh, my main goal for now is to start getting involved in club training again and making time for it even if it does involve traveling early in the morning to make a club long run or midweek session, the possibility of that is still a month away as I am seriously lacking in the time department right now but should finally have some flexibility come the start of June.

As for today's run before I get carried away, my first in over 7 weeks and pretty much went as expected, the pace was quick as I just felt like letting rip, but really not that fast as I'm also seriously unfit right now. First 4 miles felt akin to dragging my head along the ground as my whole body was creaking but the last two weren't too bad tbh, more like what I'd hope to feel like on most runs. Still, I'll take that for a rustbuster as the expectation starting out was it would start bad and only get worse from there.

You make me look fcukin consistent

Best of luck

TbL

El Caballo

ThebitterLemon wrote: »

You make me look fcukin consistent

Best of luck

TbL

Haha, maybe I'm worshiping at the wrong throne:pac:

El Caballo

Tuesday 9th May- 4 Miles Easy

Thursday 11th May- 4 Miles Easy

Sunday 14th May- 6 Miles Easy

It might not look like much...it really isn't:pac: but it felt like enough for this week. I'm tight, tired and generally just want to sleep so 3 days seems like a good place to start for now. My thinking is that I if I can add a day every week or two and adapt to the runs mentally and physically alongside my lifestyle, I should be in a decent place. Most of the runs are a tale of two halves just like last weekend, starts off with tight calves and dead quads before I finally start to loosen up and feel good.

Plan for now is to gradually build up to 4-5 40 minute runs with a 60-75 minute run on the weekend. That would set me up nicely to make a real attack on training when the time comes.

El Caballo

Tuesday 16th May- 5 Miles Easy

Friday 19th May- 5 Miles Easy

Sunday 21st May- 9 Miles inc. Ballingarry 7k Fun Run (29:17ish)

Only decided this Morning that I'd give this a crack just to get a grasp on where I am right now and hopefully help to get a bit of the racing mojo back. Late enough waking up so morning prep wasn't ideal and I could still feel the effects of a late night on the highstool Friday/Saturday Morning, making excuses already:pac: but it is what it is and the clock doesn't forgive these things.

Arrived at registration, quickly stripped off to my shorts and top and got a few miles in for the warm-up. Surprisingly, felt pretty good even if a little uncoordinated. I knew the route pretty well already and it was going to be testing, no real flat patch to speak of, it's either up or down the whole way. I also knew the field wasn't going to be strong, this was the site of my only senior race win so even with extremely limited training over the last year, I had some expectation of battling it out at the front...

The Race:

Off we go and the usual gaggle of fun run kids take off lifting down the lightning quick start which we'd have to anxiously face the way around later on. I settled in as the first adult pretty quickly and was moving at a good clip through the first km. Feeling pretty good that all my speed hadn't deserted me yet. Passing through the marker, I took a glance over my shoulder to see a good group following pretty closely behind, I wasn't going to have it all my own way today.

About halfway through the second Km, one of that group had closed up to my shoulder but we were still comfortably ahead of the group behind. He seemed content to stay right behind me which was fine with at this stage to be honest as I could still dictate the pace and effort up the hills. I was breathing a little heavier than I would normally like this early but he was in the same boat so all was alright I thought. The effort in my legs seemed pretty good.

He stayed tucked in until about 3k when he then decided to make a move, I caught a glance at him as he passed and he looked fairly comfortable, more than I was starting to feel anyway:pac:. Still keeping a good pace but this was where the lack of training and stamina was starting to tell a little which was expected to be honest, you can't outrun poor endurance.

Hit the turnaround point, grabbed a bottle of water to cool myself and had a good view to see how far behind everyone else was, not far enough:pac: at about 50 metres but I was telling myself that if I could survive the next lumpy 2.5k to the downhill stretch, I might be ok. The guy in front was gone so survival was where it was at now. I did manage to hold on for a while but not long enough to make it to the downhill setion at 6k. Around 5k, I got passed by two more runners and eventually a clubmate half a kilometre later.

Took a look over my shoulder as I started the downhill section to see the last person I wanted, my brother:pac:. He was lifting the pace and I was fading at this point but I was still far enough ahead that I thought I might just hold out as we hit the final hill 400m out, that hill happens to be something comparable to Patrick's hill in Cork, an absolute monster! I survived ahead to the crest where it slightly flattens out but he gained enough that I was never going to beat a guy who used to be called "speedy" back in his younger days. Passed me with about 10 metres to go and hasn't shut up about it since:pac:

Thoughts:

I went out fast, a lot faster than I should have but sometimes, you got to take those risks to find out your current limit. I did pay for it on the way back but overall, I'm pretty happy with how much fitness I've maintained over the last year without any real training and on a hilly and windy course, I'll take that. It's a pretty good starting point for me to go forward from here.

Training went alright this week and I managed to get in a few runs despite having worked 81 hours in total which has me fried both mentally and physically, not long to go now though, thank fook for that!:)

El Caballo

Monday 22nd May- 5 Miles Easy

Had a bit of flexibility today so managed to get out for few miles in the sun, cracking day and definitely felt a little of the mojo coming back to me. Legs were on the wooden side but nothing really major, definitely reaped the benefits of a long enough cooldown yesterday. All good!

Wottle

Doesn't it just feel super when you get your mojo back, keeping hold of it, is the real issue :-)
Good to see you back

El Caballo

Wottle wrote: »

Doesn't it just feel super when you get your mojo back, keeping hold of it, is the real issue :-)
Good to see you back

Thanks Wottle, likewise. Hopefully we can both get a good run of it, you seem to be flying over the last while:)

Wednesday 24th May- 5 Miles Easy

Friday 26th May- 5 Miles Easy

Saturday 27th May- 11 Mile LR

Better week, 4 runs in total which isn't too bad so progress is being made. Didn't intend to run 11 today but was out and feeling good after the usual 3 miles of slogging to start a run so decided to change route and go down a country lane I'd never being before and see where it led. Turns out it looped around and joined back up with the road I started on. Threw in a few bursts on some of the uphills to remind my body that I could still chuck out a bit of power. Amazingly and terrifyingly enough at the same time:D, today was the farthest I've run in a year and a half which is a bit eye opening tbh but no use looking back now.

Pretty happy with the week overall, probably the best I've felt in a while.

El Caballo

Sunday 28th May- 30 Minutes Rec

Hadn't planned to do this originally but the legs were stiff this morning and I felt that a good shakeout would benefit them a lot more than a straight up rest day, especially tomorrow when DOMS were looking inevitable if I didn't. Took it very handy just to get the blood flowing again. Right calf and left hip on the tight side but they feel much better now. Really need to get back on the stretching and drills train as my ROM is causing me a lot more grief than my lungs.

El Caballo

Just a quick update for the week.

Monday- 5 Miles Easy

Wednesday- 5 Miles Easy

Friday- 5 Miles Easy

Saturday- 10 Miles LR

Just kept it to the same mileage as last week again to hopefully not rock the boat. Legs felt so much better on Monday thanks to Sunday's little shakeout. I'm still struggling a bit with my calves but I've a new vibrating foam roller on the way, costs a fortune but I'd give anything to have a pair of loose calves at this stage so we'll see how that works out. Going to Cork to watch the marathon tomorrow so might just sneak in a few more miles in the spirit of it all. Going to have a crack off an 800m race next weekend as well at Munster Champs just for the craic and hopefully tick off one of the 10 round numbers but I wouldn't bet on it.

El Caballo

Monday 5th May- 6 Miles Easy w/strides

Nice ol jaunt around a new loop I tried this evening. It's slightly more lenient on my calves as the only big hill to navigate is outside my doorstep and the calves get a nice downhill break after that to settle in and it definitely felt much better that way. Quads were tired and I have a lot of kinks to work out yet, mainly my tight hip flexors and staying off hills for a while my calf flexibility improves but I felt pretty good today. Any day my calves aren't piping up is a good day in my book so I'll take that.

I suppose it's time to talk about goals and what I'm doing for the year. I've being chatting with the old club coach for the last week and he's agreed to take me on again. I've run well under him every time I've got a program and my head is wrecked from overthinking training so it's a win-win. The big goal for this year is the DCM, a decision many will disagree with due to my sketchy past with marathon training. All I'll say on this is that this time is different, I can feel it and I'm commited. In other words, I want it and that's all I need. I might be struggling at the minute and finding running hard but that is just a hump I'll get over with some preservance.

The Goal:

Well, that's a closely guarded secret:pac: and not something I want to get into broadcasting right now, the race is still over 20 weeks away so a lot can happen. I've spoken with coach about and we shared our ideas on what each of us thought was possible in this time frame and I'm pretty happy with that. It's not set in stone as everything rarely goes right in marathon training so I'm being flexible on that.

Races

Waterford Viking Half- 24th June
Dundrum 10k- 5th July
Curraghchase 10k- August 20th
Charleville Half- 17th September

I might do an XC race or two as they get closer and the date is set but these are the ones I will be running for definite. It's not a huge amount of races but I feel good quality long runs will be of much more importance for my actual goal race.

Nothing more to do now than get cracking I suppose:)

El Caballo

Wednesday 7th June- 6 Miles Easy

Jaunt around town, alright.

Thursday 8th June- 6 Miles inc. 2m Tempo (7.04min/mile)

A gentle introduction to workouts this week just to test the water. A little and often being the motto for my training right now so this wasn't going to kill me but I found the re-introduction to faster running outside of a race or group run a little tough to get up to. It didn't hurt but just felt odd to kick up the pace midrun. Mission accomplished anyhow as I ticked off the miles just outside a 7 minute average which I'll happily take for now.

Saturday 9th June- 12 Miles LR

Finished early today so got out for this run before dinner. I found the conditions tough enough for the first 6, really clamy and I was sweating buckets early on. Got a little windy after that which I was glad of to be honest as the breeze was cooling and I felt a lot better for it. Calves seem to be on the mend now too which is nothing short of a godsend. I've being rolling the sh*te out of them since the roller arrived on Tuesday and instead of my whole upper calf feeling like it's having a heart attack, it's now feeling like just a few tight spots spread around.

The long runs are going to absolutely crucial for me over the next while, not for the obvious reason of I'm doing a marathon, dah!:pac: but because they are my weak point mentally and are most likely to break any consistency. Give me 16x400 no problem, see 14 miles Easy and I turn into a big wuss. I have to make sure and get out and get them done, no excuses!

Now, just to the little matter of an 800m race tomorrow on legs that aren't used to running 12 miles yet, this should be good!:pac:

Chivito550

How'd the 800 go?

El Caballo

Chivito550 wrote: »

How'd the 800 go?

David Rudisha can sleep in peace tonight:) as I was a DNS. My lift dropped out last minute and I couldn't organise anything in time. I'll have a shot at it again sometime in the near future. The 800 and the high hurdles are the only events I haven't tried since I started back again so I'll get around at some stage this year. Probably better off missing out today as my legs were like lead anyway.

El Caballo

Monday 12th June- 7 Miles Easy

This was probably the best run I've had at this stage since I started back again. The legs were heavy on Sunday but by the time this rolled around, I felt light and zippy so it was an absolute pleasure.

Wednesday 14th June- 6.5 Miles Easy

Felt pretty decent again

Thursday 15th June- 7 Miles w/ 3 Mile Tempo

Again, felt really zippy starting out and got stronger as the run went on. I was a little anxious coming up to the tempo section as getting going was a problem last week but it was no issue this time around, coach set a target of 21 minutes for the tempo section but my garmin was dead (thank f**k for that anyway). In reality, I was probably faster than that but it felt right and almost effortless at times. Quick cooldown and back to the foam roller for a dose of real pain.


This week sums up exactly what I've being hoping for over the last few weeks. Starting to feel some strength creep back into my running, I'm recovering faster which is possibly because of my gain in fitness but also because I've been paying much more attention to my post run recovery than I ever had and am also religously doing a proper warmup. The main is the main thing though and that is that I actually really started to enjoy it again this week. I also haven't touched a drop of booze now in 4 weeks and don't intend to until after the DCM which might not seem like a big deal but that's a major leap forward for me.

El Caballo

Saturday 17th June- 12 Miles Long Run(8:23 avg)

Damn, it was hot when I headed out for this! My quads were feeling it as well going out the door as they were slightly numb and dead but on the flipside, there was zero sore points when I rolled my calves pre-run which is a first. The route was on the hilly side for the first few miles so they still felt strained at times but the pain was manageable. Probably the fastest long run I've allowed myself to do in a couple of years (not that I couldn't have run this pace at other times) but the road was lively despite the hills and the pace felt natural. Mentally, I felt a lot better than I have over the last few weekend runs too so I'm happy with today and feeling that I'm starting to adapt to the distances.

Next up is the half in Waterford next Saturday, I'm not sure yet whether Coach wants me to train through it or taper, the former is probably the most likely sceanario. Either way, I don't mind as I really just want to get a sense of how my endurance is right now from it anyway. The goal? Tbh, I haven't a clue and anyone's guess is as good as mine when it comes to what kind of racing shape I'm in right now but I guess I'll find out for sure soon enough.

OOnegative

Best of luck tomorrow dude. Give it socks!!

Wottle

OOnegative wrote: »

Best of luck tomorrow dude. Give it socks!!

ditto

OOnegative

Nice run well done. Enjoy the pints.

El Caballo

OOnegative wrote: »

Nice run well done. Enjoy the pints.

Cheers B! I'm happy enough with it. Was still on sub 1.30 pace hitting the 10 Mile marker but grinded to a halt over the last 5k. Tbh, I was under pressure from the get go and was dropped from the pace group a couple of times but managed to get back on with the help of one of the pacers constantly dropping back to pull me along. There was a lot positives in it though. The course was challenging and I managed to hold a similar pace that I did for 7k a couple of weeks ago, 10 Miles at close to 6:50 pace too so that's a solid progression in a short time off of just easy mileage. No boozing for me though, I got bigger fish to fry down the road

OOnegative

El Caballo wrote: »

Cheers B! I'm happy enough with it. Was still on sub 1.30 pace hitting the 10 Mile marker but grinded to a halt over the last 5k. Tbh, I was under pressure from the get go and was dropped from the pace group a couple of times but managed to get back on with the help of one of the pacers constantly dropping back to pull me along. There was a lot positives in it though. The course was challenging and I managed to hold a similar pace that I did for 7k a couple of weeks ago, 10 Miles at close to 6:50 pace too so that's a solid progression in a short time off of just easy mileage. No boozing for me though, I got bigger fish to fry down the road

10 miles @6.50 pace is great training stimulus for you. No pints, shocked!!!

El Caballo

Jesus, it's been a while since I done a proper one of these, don't know where to start:pac:

Waterford Viking Half Marathon(1:33.01)

The week in the build-up to this was fairly handy, just ran 15 miles midweek and while not a taper, it didn't feel all that much. Tbh, I was even a little nervous going into today because although it was a no-lose situation, I had a real sense of the unknown as to the whereabouts of my fitness and a half is a long way to go for me in recent times. I knew my fitness had progressed a lot since my last race over a month ago so I decided the night before to have a pop at a sub-90 but I was not convinced that I could run that fast yet but as a runner, we all know the power of the illusive round numbers and that gently tugged on the back of my mind and I simply couldn't resist. It really is difficult when you have run much faster over a distance to comprehend running a lot slower even if you know you're not in shape to do it, for me personally anyway as Pb's are the standards I hold myself to.

But enough about that and onto the race itself. I had an early rise this morning having to peel myself from the bed sheets at 4.45 and make the 2.5 hour trip to Waterford. We arrived down at about 7.45, quickly stopped off at my aunt's house to pick up my bib and racepack before making tracks to the Mall and the start line for the race. Got changed and dropped off my bag before beginning my warm-up routine with a half hour to go. I actually felt quite good on the warm-up for once, seriously suprised:pac: and wasn't sure if that was a good omen or not. By the time I'd lined up, the heat was starting to creep up so much that I was sweating just waiting for the gun.

The Race:

This is the part that's hard to remember:pac:. I set off just ahead of the pacers to have some breathing room from the crowds that were packed in behind and also in good company with Pauline Curley side by side for the first mile which is about as far as I could keep up with Her before she kicked on into the distance:pac:. The pace was already coming as a shock this early and the prevailing thought was "wtf are you Doing!?!? You're going to blow up by the time we hit 4 miles". The legs and especially my calves felt flat and like they were lacking any sort of sharpness. As we hit Mile 2 leaving the city over the main bridge, I was back in the 1.30/3 hour group before they quickly started to pull away from me on the first of many long drags we'd face today.

That gap quickly opened up to 25....50...75... and eventually reaching about 100m by the 3 mile mark and thoughts had shifted to this be a long day which my frame of mind I couldn't let myself slip into like I have on so many other occasions so I had to have a chat with myself fairly lively. That went something to tune of "I've already commuted to the pace, start dropping back now and I could be doomed to never stopping the rot or try and reel back in the pace group up the road again and see how far I can make it". I just realised how illogical that decision was writing that sentence:pac:(you're struggling so run faster:D) but it worked for me as I was maintaining the gap through the 4th Mile and actually started to reel it back with the help of a st. Finbarrs runner as we approached the suspension bridge before eventually getting back into the pack as we shot up and down the springy off ramp onto the greenway around mile 5.

I sat in right at the back to get as much shade and recover as much as I could as it took a fairly big effort to get back on but the longer I stayed there, the better I started to feel and by 6.5 Miles, I was actually starting to get the itch to try and push off the front but rather luckily as I didn't know what was to come just up the road, I didn't. We rounded the corner off the greenway onto the toughest section of the course of a long steep climb up a country lane and any thoughts of pushing on were vanquished and replaced with"Jesus, I'm not going to hold on here" and started losing a few strides on the group again. Thankfully, one of the pacers and a guy doing a training run dropped back and ran alongside me and pulled me up with them within a reasonable distance of the main group up the road which he assured me had 30+ seconds in the bank. The gap stayed the same over the next mile or two before I started to catch my third wind and reel the group back over the next mile getting as close as a few metres as we hit the top of the hill near Wit at 10 Miles but that was as far as I could go with the downhill stretch into Lismore Park finishing off my quads abruptly and the pace falling off a cliff as I started to roll and rig up pretty badly.

I managed to kind of tag on with two other guys who were fading quickly through Mile 12 but that last mile was truly torture as my legs, shoulders, neck and back seized. The lads dropped me with about 800 to go and a stream of 5 or 6 people passed me like I was standing still over the last 500m. In that 800m stretch, I lost over a minute on the two boys who just eeked under 1:32.

Time:1:33.01 Official

Thoughts:

I know people will look at that and go that sounds like a terrible race! I suffered, that's for sure but I have the comfort of knowing why I did which is all I need. The time is actually a huge positive for me and shows a lot of progression over the last few weeks. Of course I'm going to suffer over the half distance, it's a long way and I'm only back training a wet week with pretty much all of it being easy mileage. The pace early on felt insane and was a real shock to the system but that's kind of par for the course when most of your runs are close to 9 min/miles and there is no real intensity to training. Racing shape is a different beast altogether and takes a long time to build up, easy miles alone will not give you that edge but they are exactly what I need to do right now as I want to be in racing shape in September/October and not June. The progress is there, I feel stronger with every week that passes. I just need to be patient right now and today was a good starting point considering where I'm coming from and what I've done so far so I'll gladly take it. I would've bitten someone's hand off for that time just a couple of weeks ago:)

For now, I'm in serious need of some sleep as I'm completely buckled:pac:

El Caballo

Sunday 25th June- 30 Minutes Rec

Sore, very very stiff and this run was a slog from start to finish with the pace probably never faster than 10min/mile. Quads, shoulders and calves being the biggest offenders.

31 miles for the week so not so bad all things told.

Wottle

Great result and I can feel your happiness and enthusiasm throughout the race report. It'll give you great motivation and super marker to kick on from. Patience is key though.

El Caballo

Monday 26th June- 6 Miles Easy

Let's just say I got wet. The rain was torrential for this tonight, had to splash through some puddles and traverse lakes at times but it was refreshing to say the least and definitely made me feel a sense of recovery in the legs. I actually felt alright heading out which was a pleasant surprise as well as I expected it to be much more challenging to get going. Decent run around the new 3/3.sumtin loop close to home.

I guess the good news for my running anyway was the official last day of the project that has pretty much consumed every waking moment, some sleepy ones too and even the odd run for the last year or so. That doesn't quite signal the end of the long hours for me yet though as there is still a lot of touching up to do, what it does signal is that the stress is off which is welcome although in a Stockholm syndromesque way, I'll kind of miss it as it was a once in lifetime project in my line of work. This is what I've being helping build, a little slice of paradise;)

OOnegative

Hands down best golf course I've played in this country, from the first time you step foot in the place till you leave the staff and people working in the place cannot do enough for you, must have been some experience to work on the redevelopment of the whole thing.

Annie get your Run

I know nothing about golf, or what you do, but those are my kinda photos #breathtaking

Well done on the race too

El Caballo

OOnegative wrote: »

Hands down best golf course I've played in this country, from the first time you step foot in the place till you leave the staff and people working in the place cannot do enough for you, must have been some experience to work on the redevelopment of the whole thing.

Agreed;) twas some experience alright and nothing will probably ever top it in that regard. If you thought it was good before, it's on a completely different level now and give it a few years and a Ryder cup, it'll be one the top courses on the planet.

Annie get your Run wrote: »

I know nothing about golf, or what you do, but those are my kinda photos #breathtaking

Well done on the race too

Cheers AM! I can't take credit for the photos as my stubby fingers wouldn't do the place justice. Golf could be your game yet:p

hillsiderunner

It's *beautiful*.

Hope the next project will have shorter working days, there've been times on this log where I thought your employer must be breaking EU rules.... had wondered more than once what the job could be.

Annie get your Run

El Caballo wrote: »

Golf could be your game yet:p

Oh my god that's just MEAN :pac: not even when I'm old & grey!! (Tang, don't even think about it)