I didn't get this far to get this far.

Bluesquare

Monday: Rest 

Tuesday :Plan: 10k with w/p 4*1k HMP/LT with 2 mins jog recovery

Actual workout: 

W/u: 2k@6:47,6:31, HMP/LT pace Kms: 5:09, 5:05,5:00,4:58 (jog pace in-between reps average 6:50) c/d 3k@ 6:07,6;22, 6:20

This session was grand and pace felt comfortably hard – windy in one direction and cold – I was running loops so impact was minimalised . The pace is definitely not HMP – current ten k pace and that’s being optimistic.

 Wednesday: Plan: 5k easy*

Actual work out: 5K@7:00 min km 

A horrible run – legs grew increasingly heavy as distance grew and my head fuzzy – completely convinced I was coming down with something.

Thursday: Plan: 10k easy – strong on hills

Actual workout: 10k easy strong on hills (over all pace circa 6:10).

 Was panicking a little before the run as wasn’t sure how it would go after Wednesdays treacle run. I ran up about 5 long/medium hills – practising form – no idea what pace but steady enough. This run made up for Wednesdays blip – no issue with pace and all non hill bits were nice an chatty. (Not to myself on this occasion)

Friday: Rest

Saturday : Plan and Actual : 10 mile easy (pace 6:14 min km)

First time running ten mile in about 8 months. Pace felt grand even with the chatting . It did seem long though – never ending . Maybe need to work on conversational topics. I did feel the distance later when trying to stay awake to finish my wine !

Sunday : Plan : 6-8k recovery pace

Actual: progression 5k with the youngfella.                        (6:20,5:28,5:25,5:10;4:49)

 I knew starting out that this wouldn’t be a recovery run so was prepared to be made work. Its difficult to get him out the door to do any type of exercise so when the opportunity arises you have to go with it. I threw on my Endorphin pros for the second time to get a feel for them . My legs must have been super tired – the last two laps I felt like I was really pushing it – expected a pleasant surprise on the watch but it wasn’t to be. Next time ill try them when I have fresher legs. Maybe a park run.

 Over all distance of 46.2 k/28.7 miles . Nice steady progression . I plan to do circa 50k next week. The week after is Trim – which I don’t really have a plan on how to race - well except to rock up an see what happens. I think my stamina is low at the moment and I have no wild expectations of pbs etc. 

 I normally walk between 15-20 miles a week as well – but dog walking and not heart pounding exercise – not sure if this impacts fitness at all but just thought I would throw it in here. Im hoping to add some S&C this week as well.

Bluesquare

Alrighty then - I’m hoping this time I’m really back !

After the last post I did Trim 10 Mike and could barely walk it let alone run it . Thought it was a blip but no my running got worse and worse . Got bloods done as thought it may be iron or thyroid but no . Tweaked hrt but no real improvements. Around the same time I suffered with really bad bloating - it was so bad that I was barely leaving the house and I had to wear my husbands running tops . I keep running though 2-4 times a week , slowly and as a social outlet .

In July I went on holidays , And bizarrely noted no bloating even though drinking /eating like a king . Long story short I think I maybe intolerant to casein protein - I had been eating a lot of quark yogurts (obviously I didn’t on holidays ) . Cut these out of diet completely but also slightly adjusted HRT again . Bloating gone completely now . Haven’t eaten quark since and not chancing it .

Anyways I stumbled upon a macros group on fb and started dieting using this method . I had put in over a stone since 2019 and couldn’t shift an ounce when I had the bloating . I also started a strength routine which I had never done previously .

Around the same I saw on Strava that Kellygirl has just gone and gotten herself a massive pb in a half marathon so I came on here to read the race report and read on her log about macros . K gave me some great advice which has worked for me - I am down a stone and feeling strong . I’m hopeful that I’m ready to get back into running properly - signed up for DCM 2023 ( after the buzz) and have half committed to a spring half .

I have been running 4 times a week but low mileage whilst dieting and also doing 4*30 strength sessions a week. ( circa 15 miles)

My plan is to ramp up mileage and try to get up to 25-28 miles my Christmas whilst keeping strength going ( may have to go to 3) . I have about 3/4 pounds to loose to be at weight from 2019 but I think I’m in better shape now due to the weights .

I plan to add one “ session” to my weekly miles - some MP tempos , some fartlek , a few hills etc and a long run.

Really need an excuse to wear the super shoe collection that’s building in my wardrobe .

I will probably do a local 5k in December to gauge progress .

Kellygirl

Ooh I enjoyed reading that. Delighted to see the progress. At this point I wouldn’t be worrying too much anymore about the scales and focus on measurements instead … even just your waist. With the strength work you’ll be changing your body composition anyway so the scale’s isn’t particularly relevant. You are in a great place to keep on building now and start 2023 really well. Good for you!

Annie get your Run

Best of luck with the comeback! I'm about 6 months behind you and also taking advice from K! Will be following with interest ☺️.

ariana`

Brilliant to see this log going again. Delighted to hear you're making progress with strength work and macro focussed woe etc... Best of luck with the comeback. I'm looking forward to following along and hopefully the shoe collection will get plenty of outings in 2023!

Bluesquare

Thanks ladies for the support !

So prior to last week I was running 15 to 17 miles a week . Random runs - mostly short 5k-6.4k with the odd 5 mile thrown in . I had ran probably 2 tenks in 3 months. One recently enough though . Mostly “ easy” runs with the odd random 5k burst here and there But zero running with intent .

Last week the goal was to up the weekly staples to 5 milers and do a long run ( 12k) .

Still no running with any pace plan in mind . ( yet)

Monday: 20 min leg strength

Tuesday : 5 mile - going to call it progression as that what happened unplanned . ( 6:33- 5:43)

Wednesday: 20 mins full body weights .

Thursday: Ate drank and was merry

Friday : With a slight hangover decided to try out the adizero adios pro. Oh my what a ride !! My plan was warm up - try MP for 2/3k then if feeling ok try LT for same . Bearing in mind these are paces from 2019 lol. Anyways the weather was bananas - hot but really windy . So the warm up was faster than normal with same effort , only warmed up for 1k which is less than I need as a general rule . Second k up an incline into the wind - cruising baby . (5:30) . Third 5:18 despite numerous attempts to pull back pace to MP. Fourth 5:29 - more incline and wind but still feeling good . Turned around and let the wind and shoes take over - next 3k were 4:46,5:05 ( with a nasty hill) and 4:49. Then cooled down at 5:55 which felt like a crawl . So fastest 5k here for me in a long time . So the shoes get thumbs up !

Saturday : 12k @ 6:20 plus 30 mins full body strength

Sunday : 5 k @ 6:27 plus 20 mins arm work .

So a grand total of 33k for the week !

Trying to write a schedule for the Bohermeen half . My running buddy from dcm 2019 is back on board . Now the issue with her is she does the exact training I do , I can be even stronger in training but she always reaches her goals no matter what . Obviously a few things going on here - her goals may not be lofty enough , she has full believe she is 100% in control of the outcome and you just have to believe in yourself blah blah .She also thinks she the only person who pushes through pain in a race and the rest of us are just weaklings ! Now I’m running a lot longer and have a lot of bad experiences weighing down my belief lol . Anyways I’ve been reading up on some sports phycology and I think fundamentally I don’t trust the training (Ignoring all the other personality and outside influences ) So I think I need to change up my training in order to convince my brain I can do it . I think my issue is on the endurance side - most of my plans have race pace intervals with jog rests . I think mentally I’m happy in training as I know rest coming and then when I race my body is not used to the continuous effort required . So my theory is I need to extend time spent at LT in training and also change up longer runs. So I have made myself a Pfitzinger light schedule . Light in that mileage way too high for me . I want to incorporate the LT and v02 max sessions and add endurance long runs and long runs with LT. Anyways not sure my running buddy will like as the other type plan works for her . Meeting to discuss at weekend over coffee.

Anyways thanks for reading - not sure it makes sense !

Kellygirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119872423#Comment_119872423

Hmmmmm, do a little less listening to your buddy I think. Would you consider the coaching route to build you back up? Just wondering would it help you trust in the training a bit more … especially if the coach is explaining why you do certain runs or sessions etc. the other thing is if you do follow the plan you’ve thought about just make sure you don’t add to much distance and speed too quickly … like I did on repeat last year and kept injuring myself. That was my ultimate reason for going back to my coach last January …. To build me up nice and strong and allow for consistent training without injuring myself.

Bluesquare

Logically a coach would make sense but that would involve me being a super independent runner which I’m totally not . I like training with groups and enjoy the social side - I can do a few runs a week alone but definitely prefer company on harder bits . Probably not enough “ want “ on my side . In saying that if I’m consistent until June and do take on DCM I might have to suck it up and go down coaching route . It’s not that I don’t trust the training logically it’s sound it’s that it hasn’t convinced the central governor lol - reading Lore of running at the moment and some really excellent psychology stuff in there .

For the next 2/3 weeks I’m gradually taking the mileage up to 25 miles a week including a ten mile long run . All runs I plan to run easy but with one run a week with a few 1kms@LT to get me back into it . Then I’m hoping to do a 5k around 19th of December and a second on 2nd of January . At beginning of December will ramp the one hard day up slightly . Then in January hoping to be able to start HM training with a base of 25-30 miles .

So my schedule kind of starts beginning of December but real HM training starts January .

Bluesquare

I do tend to over complicate things for the record .

Bluesquare

Better update before I never do:

Monday : Rest

Tuesday: 9k with 7*2 min @ CV ( aka 5:00 min k), two min jog recovery . Ran them between 4:55 and 5:00. Felt fine and pace felt ok but when I looked at heart rate after my recovery rate in between wasn’t the best .

Wednesday: Rest as had to do the commute thing . Tried to do a lower body workout but after the second squat I had to stop as right quad was hurting in a not just a sore muscle way . Eek

Thursday : Again with the commute ( lots of walking on these days ) so complete rest today as knew I had a few heavy days coming up .

Friday : 5 mile easy .(6:21 min k) Quad still sore sitting down but no issue at all running . Took it handy as didn’t want to do any more damage. Did an upper body workout for thirty mins .

Saturday: 9 Mile super easy . ( 6:30 mink) Really enjoyed this run , barely noticed the miles cruising along chatting . Longest run in well over a year

Sunday: 6k recovery . ( 6:27 mink) it was freezing - found it hard to keep pace down .

Big 23 mile week!

Was due to do an arm workout - did 1 tricep dip and managed to pull a muscle in my shoulder/Lats. An official wreck . I did a tummy workout instead .

I think my niggles are down to squashing mileage into three days *2. Last week I had a bit of wine over 3/4 days due to birthday celebrations so I really think I’m just not able to have a few glasses and run next day .

Back to spacing the runs properly this week and niggles seem to have cleared up so back to the weights .

Bluesquare

Right just to keep the logging up

Monday: rest

Tuesday : 6*3 mins CV with 2 min rec ( 10.5k)

This session was all over the place . First of all I wore my endorphin pros so was flying along . Second of all the person I was running with was a bit all over the place - getting stitches , tripping etc so the breaks were more half walk / half jog than slow jog . So I was totally fresh starting each new repeat . I tried to keep at 5:00 min km but the shoes were having none of it . Repeats done at (4:58,4:55,4:49,4:40,4:42,4:42). Shoes made a big difference as the effort was at CV level .

Wed: rest

Thursday: 5 mile with 6k @ Mp . Can’t remember my shoes for this but may have worn speeds . Very blustery day and I really struggle trying to pace this pace - I’m either too fast or too slow . Mostly I end up doing the last 100m at a crawl to get the MP for each Km. Even at that I struggled and average MP Km was circa 5:25 ( should kgs r been 5:35)

Friday : 30 mins strength ( lower body )

Saturday : in a lot of pain from Friday and was scared about Sunday ! Did an achey easy 6k@6:30 mink

Sunday : DOMS bad . Dragged my self out for a solo 9 mile . Just ran to an easy feel so laps all over place depending on terrain. Last mile decided to go for a fast finish as knew the hm plan is full of that hard stuff . So a 5:35 km finished off with a 5:00 min 500m kick . Happy with that. Also did 20 min upper body workout .

So 24 miles done this week . Happy with that .

Signed on the dotted line for Bohermeen half in March . I may do a 5k in two weeks locally . Not sure what to do on the shoe front . Tried the addidas pro ones - loved them . Still haven’t tried the Vaporflys and now have alphas as well lol . Thankfully they came yesterday when I was alone in house ! I was thinking of trying out Vapor’s in next weeks session then if happy going with them . Half hoping they will give me an edge to do a decent time . I guess I could do sub 25 in regular shoes maybe a bit faster so I was considering going for sub 24 in the fast shoes and sure if it doesn’t work out I’ll just suffer ! Not sure I have enough miles under my belt to go under 24 but in another 2/3 weeks maybe 🤔. ( race on the 18th of Dec)

Kellygirl

What a choice of shoes! I thought I was bad but you have beaten me. I have the Speed 2’s, Vaporfly and Alphaflies. I wore the alphas for the 5Km and would wear them again. They are horrendous for standing around and any easy running or warm ups so worth wearing I think only if you can change into them just before the race. I wore the Vaporflies for the Waterford Half and they were fine to warm up in. I’d imagine the Endorphin Pros are great. Might get them next year when I have worn the others enough to justify something new!

Bluesquare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119935333#Comment_119935333

Endorphin pros are nice but I’ve only worn mine about ten times tops and my toes have already burst through the top ! I don’t remember if version 1 or two as I bought last year at some stage in a sale. I hope the nikes fare better !

ariana`

You have some shoe collection; it sounds like you could toss a coin for the 5k!!

There will be other 5ks anyways so unless it's a target race that you have trained very specifically for then I wouldn't sweat the small stuff.

Will you follow a plan for the half?

Bluesquare

Just a local 5k do every year no matter what fitness levels .

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119935907#Comment_119935907

Some shoe buying addiction issue lol ! Moving onto shorts now . I have made my own plan - which is a mixture of an old club plan with some Pfitzinger stuff added in . Basically I think my issue normally is endurance so adding endurance and progressive long runs into the easy pace ones . Club mileage one was too low and Pfitzinger one too high - so it’s a combo . Mostly has - Hmp Tuesday sessions , the odd V02 max session , and the endurance/ progression long runs . The HMP can be replaced with LT as fitness increases . Peaks at 35 miles week - which isn’t massive In these parts . I’ve added strength into my routine as well so hoping this will help the running . I’ll see how I feel as weeks go by and may add to mileage but very weary of energy levels bring inconsistent etc .

Looking forward to training properly again and am excited to do first proper hard session later today !

Bluesquare

Don’t know if anybody else follows Caroline Gervin .? I’m doing her advent calender for December so excited about that

ariana`

Good luck with the new plan, it always helps to have a focus and a HM is a great distance! I'm sure you've checked B Vits and Vit D already for the energy levels, but if not it's worth a try. There's no blood test that accounts for all the rushing, racing and juggling we do! Mind yourself.

Bluesquare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119936999#Comment_119936999

Thanks . At the moment I’m feeling great - so long may it last - just a bit nervous something will change given my last two years. I take heavy duty iron every day ( ferritin C just to keep levels normal ) I think thyroid and iron are related so prone to low iron if don’t take supplements . Also take vit D and magnesium , Vit B I don’t take as levels always always look good on bloods . My bloods are looking good as of two weeks ago . So no excuses for the moment!

Bluesquare

Week beginning 28/11

Monday : Strength - arms and abs

Tuesday: 10k with 5*1k CV with 2 min jog recovery . Wore the speeds for this session . Really enjoyed and hit the pace easily - was a little concerned I’d struggle with last few but I was grand . ( 4:53,4:54,4:57,4:58,4:56)

Wednesday : Strength - Full Body . Mostly legs and oh lord.

Thursday: Had a notion to try out the alpha flys even though legs not the freshest - but I was like a kid at Xmas I couldn’t not try them.

So I warmed up for 5k in my regular old pegs , came into house and changed into alphas and went back out . Initially I was shocked at the noise of the yokes - I sounded like an elephant. i was a little embarrassed (I won’t lie ) wearing super shoes “jogging “around the neighbourhood . It’s not like I was blending into environment - I was so loud clobbering down the road .

They force you to run fast ( faster then easy pace anyway) . I was full sure after my session Tuesday and after hitting lovely paces in the adidas pro that I would be cruising around 4:45. Sadly It was not to be . 3k complete in 14:41 ( 4:55,4:55,4:48). I’m awfully sad as I thought they would be my ticket to a 5k pb in a few weeks ( sigh). Now it looks like I might actually have to work for it .

Finished Thursday by torturing myself with a glute session .

Friday : rest

Saturday : first ten mile ran in a really long time . Easy pace circa 6:20

Sunday : 4 Mile recovery @ 6:30 .

Weekly total : 25 miles . Happy with that .

Bluesquare

Week beginning 5/12

Monday : Strength - upper body

Tuesday: 10.5k with 2*2k CV and 1k CV with 3 min jog recovery . ( 5:01,4:55,4:57,4:56, 4:52) Wore the Adidas pro for this session as I’ve been eyeing them for the 5k race coming up . The paces were ok , felt harder than previous week - but I know the shoes were giving me an edge as I was faster than my buddy who is fitter and I had to pull back to hit the right pace from time to time . I suspect it may have taken me the same effort to go a little faster .

Wednesday : Rest as up in the big smoke

Thursday: Despite already deciding on the pros for the 5k I decided to try the Vaporflys which I have had for over a year and never have even tried on !

They seemed a little snugger than the alphas but looked more like a normal shoe ( one made from butterfly wings ) . They also were a lot less noisy - thankfully . I left the house with no real plan of what I was going to do - maybe a few 400s🤣 as Tuesdays session had been tough enough

5 mile later - wow. Easy pace came in about 10/15 secs faster than normal for same effort . I warmed up for 2.5 then gave it socks for 1k ( 4:35) then 1k easy then a second fast k ( 4:39) then ten mins easy and a final k at 4:25!! So I’ll call it a V02 max session . Fairly impressed with the shoes I tell ya . Fastest k since 2019.

Friday : strength

Saturday : Ten solo miles in circles @ 6:14 mink . A test of self reliance more than anything .

Sunday : 6k recovery @ 6:30 . A struggle to get out the door after the previous nights festivities .

Weekly total : 25 miles . .

My legs are feeling a bit bet up ( boozy Saturday doesn’t help ) and I didn’t get to do more than 2 strength sessions . This week I’m taking it handy - might be forced into non running anyway . Race scheduled for Sunday - hopefully it will go ahead especially as I bought a Santa teeshirt especially ! My plan is to wear Vaporflys and do first Km in 4:50 and then see what happens . I’m torn between thinking “yeah I could smash it “ an “I’m delusional for thinking I can run sub 24 after only a months “ real” running .

Kellygirl

I’m enjoying your shoe reviews! Give it socks next Sunday and best of luck.

Wottle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119937087#Comment_119937087

Hi Blue Square, what iron supplement do you take?

Bluesquare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119986975#Comment_119986975

Cheers my dear !

Bluesquare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119987116#Comment_119987116

Hi Wottle,

I take Ferrograd C . They are fairly hardcore but the vitamin C makes them easy on the stomach . Any of the less potent ones just don’t seem to keep my levels at where the should be . If I don’t run though I have no problems with iron at all!

Mr. Guappa

Just catching back up here - best of luck with the comeback.

Like @Kellygirl mentioned, I'd be wary of ramping up both the mileage and hard sessions too quickly. May as well offer my own recent experience as I see you mentioned Pfitzinger - I followed the 10-week Base Plan for Charleville Half back in September, plenty easy miles, an occassional LT session scattered in, and most of the long runs are Endurance runs (love those). It's nothing too exciting, and I get the temptation to race through the gears, but putting in a nice base now will pay off later in the year.

Bluesquare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119987640#Comment_119987640

Thanks - I have ramped up the miles a little over the last month . I just wanted to get a few ten miles in before the Christmas ramp down and to make sure I could to the sessions on the plan . I did get a bit carried away testing the runners in random tough sessions - but that’s all my messing out of the way. I’m basically using the first half marathon schedule in the book but have scaled back on the mileage and some of the speed work . LT will be the main staple weekly “ session” . The second session will really be the long run - as they are mostly endurance or progression . I need to work on my mental “ endurance “ and I think this is probably the best way to do it . The LT sessions go up to tenk without a break . It’s fairly hardcore but I think my brain needs a lot of convincing . I have always did well in training but race day not so good . So I needed to change my strategy a little. I have made the mistake previously of racing in training and ended up sick and injured . So I am I am hoping I will know if it’s too much.

skyblue46

Personally I think 10k of what I consider to be threshold running to be too much in one go...As for LT being the most used session, have you considered CV sessions? Big gains to be made from them in my opinion.

Bluesquare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119993630#Comment_119993630

Your message made me recheck the book versus the schedule I made . So thanks for taking the time to read . I think I might have messed up from a logic perspective .

So my training partner is a bit ott with the way she likes things done . It needs to be km. Hence I converted the time on feet into km - so say where there was 14 min LT I converted that to 3k - my logic being at the time that the book was written for faster folk . So his highest LT session is 38 mins which I had converted to 9k ( not 10k as I had typed above ) . So now I’m thinking maybe I have to either go back and convince her that we are using time on feet or drop a km from each session .

I have done CV sessions before and I really like them . The problem I have is that I always do long intervals for example 3*2k CV or when marathon training say 5 mile *2 MP with jog breaks. I always nail the workouts and hit the paces and feel great doing them. Then when it comes to races I think I panic when no break and my body not used to continual push . I have looked at heart rate making sure it doesn’t drop too much during jog rests . I just never seem to be able to convert fitness into good races - and people are forever telling me it’s in my head . Now I don’t fully agree with that but there Is something there .

skyblue46

I read your log all the time. As regards CV I wouldn't see the need to take it beyond 1 mile reps and even that would be extreme. Even accounting for miscalculation I still would not be going for long continuous sessions unless they are replacing a race in a plan

Kellygirl

I went back through my marathon training plan and a did a few LT sessions. Early in the plan it was 6x4 min @ LT and then became 4x6mins and in my 3rd last week I did 2x1mile @ LT after 6 miles at MP with surges to LT at the end of each. There was some AP and CV stuff in the first 4 weeks but it was mainly MP miles or slightly slower depending on the length of the run in my various sessions and long runs or hill repeats. Those LT sessions you are talking about are huge.