running towards

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Like many people, I've been running a hell of a lot more in the past few weeks than I have in a few years and I think starting a log here will help maintain my momentum to work towards some goals I have in mind to reach over the next year or two.

I'm hoping the process of logging and interacting with the other runners here will help with maintaining motivation and give a little extra accountability in the medium to long term.

Seeing as I mentioned goals, I might as well state them for the record:

1. sub 18min 5km
2. sub 5min mile
3. sub 2min 800m

I'm hoping the first one will be possible to do in a TT inside the next couple of months. The second I'm not sure about as I don't know how far I am away at the moment. The third is much more difficult and is for the long term but it's also the one I care most about.

I've been getting a real buzz out of running over the past month or so, it's been a great release and distraction from the madness that has been 2020.

Let' see where the journey goes from here!

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March 23-29: 38.1 km w/ 1x workout

March 30 - 5 April: 29.3 km w/ 1x workout

April 6-12: 33.6 km w/ 1x workout

April 13-19: 58.1 km w/ 2x workouts [yes I know this was a bad idea]

April 20-26: 58.1km w/ 1x workouts [legs were destroyed but no injury thankfully]

April 27 - May 3: 52.6 km w/ 1x workout [handled volume much better]

The last 3 Sundays I've completed long runs of 70mins, 80mins, and 80mins over hilly ground and I've definitely noticed the most recent one was much easier. In general I've been varying wildly day to day between feeling great and feeling crap. My legs seem to be getting used to the extra work I'm putting them through which is nice to see. On easy days I'm doing my best to stay on grass and trails where possible. I've taken 1 day off in the past 3 weeks when I felt I genuinely needed a rest, other than that it's been every day.

Yesterday I did 8 x 60s on / 60s off and felt like I had an extra couple in me at the end.
Plan for the rest of the week (subject to amendment based on how I feel):
W - v easy (<30mins)
T - moderate ( 40-50mins)
F - hills
S - easy (40mins)
S - long and slow (85 mins)

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Wednesday: 4.2 km @ 7:28/km. Did this with OH.

Thursday: 8.3 km @ 4:54/km. One of those runs where you have to drag yourself out the door but you feel great once you get going. Had to hold myself back from going too fast.

Friday: 2x(3x2 min hills) off jog-back (3-3:30) & 5mins active rest + 20 mins easy after. Total 11.5 km.

This was tough. I wanted 3 sets of 3 hills but I was struggling after the 4th rep. I'm trying to avoid going past 8/10 effort in any of my sessions at the moment as I build the mileage up so I left it at 6 reps for my first hills session in a long time.

Saturday: 6.2 km @ 5:46/km

Sunday: 16.2 km (82mins) @ 5:04/km. This one was mentally very tough to get through. The route I wanted to run was flooded so I just did laps of my local park. The wind was high and it was blowing dust all over the place which was quite annoying. I will be returning to the route I did my previous 3 long runs on next Sunday.

62.4 km weekly total is my highest ever. My legs are feeling sore in the heavy, weary sort of way that I know means they're adjusting to being asked to do things they haven't before. I'll aim to hit 70 km this week, and 75 km the following week before cutting back for the week of the boards Mile TT. I'll do this by bringing the long runs up to 90 mins+ and going a little longer on my easy days.

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Monday 11th: - off. Didn't feel like running. I did do a bit of stretching, foam-rolling, and some push-ups and pull-ups.

Tuesday 12th May: 6 x 1 km off 90s

20mins warm-up
a few stretches and a couple of short strides
6 x 1km off 90s walk recovery
3:22
3:22
3:22
3:22
3:19
3:17
10 mins very easy once I got my breath back.

---

This went MUCH better than I expected. I was amazed to be so consistent across the session. I did a comparable workout of 4 x 1km off 2mins on the 14th April using the same circuit in a local park and was more than 10s slower per rep. I remember it also being quite difficult from the second rep on.

Caveats are that I think the distance may be slightly under-estimated (max 30m) but it's an imperfect grass surface and on some of the reps I was dodging around trees and people.

I think the session shows I've come on a fair bit in a month so I have to be pleased with that. I do need to keep an eye on the condition of my legs as I was feeling a bit creaky during my warm-up.

I'll be looking to take down my 5km PB (parkrun) of 19:03 the same week as the Mile TT.

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Wed - 10.1 km @ 4:41/km (47:42)
Thurs - 6.7 km @ 5:08/km (34:37)
Fri - 12.7 km @ 4:28/km (57:11) - Felt great on this one, cruising in the evening sunshine.
Sat - 7.5 km @ 5:07/km
Sun - 18.6 km w/ 15 mins tempo from 30-45mins. 4:53/km avg (90 mins) Hilly route in Richmond park, enjoyed the glorious evening sunshine again. Longest ever run.

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Overview - Total 66.5 km in 5hrs 23mins
Another solid week, highest ever volume despite a rest day, and faster average pace than previous weeks. Kept it to one workout plus a long run instead of two to hopefully stay on the good side of over-training. I was feeling fairly drained yesterday energy-wise but still got out for a handy 30 mins. My legs seem to be adapting to all these kms. Appetite has gone through the roof, I'm having a great time stuffing my face.

I think for this week I'll aim to hit 70 km with one workout and a long run. Next week will be lower volume and at least 1 time trial, hopefully a 5km as well as the mile.

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Mon - 5.4 km @ 5:25/km easy in 30mins - legs in bits
Tues - OFF
Wed - 10.02 km @ 4:48/km in 48mins - easy effort
Thurs - 6 x 350m off 60s (7.5km total with warm-up/cool-down)
Messed this one up by going too fast. I didn't want to go too deep in the well so I stopped at 6 but I probably could have gone to 8 if I really really pushed it. Consistent 62s per rep. Next time I will aim for 65s and try to get 8-10 reps.
Friday - OFF
Saturday - Mile TT reconnaissance mission to Battersea Park. I wanted to scope out my route for the TT. Ran there and back. Total 15.9km at easy effort, 5:00/km
Sunday - OFF

Not a great week. Weather was very hot which was uncomfortable to run in in the early evening I had been doing the previous few weeks.

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[This is copy & pasted from the Mile TT Thread]

I wasn't sure what to target for this as I've only ever raced 2 miles before, one of which was a beer mile, and even at that it was a good few years ago.

I had done a 2 x 350m off 10s rest (turn-around) yesterday at target race pace, but I completely messed it up by going off way too hard and was struggling badly the last 50m. So confidence was not too high going in.

The venue was Battersea Park, London, which offers a dead flat and wide tarmac path, but it is lined on both sides by trees which is not great for GPS. I had done a reconnaissance mission last Saturday to measure out the course and eye up some landmarks, and I was pleasantly surprised by the GPS tracking so I decided that would do.

I don't have a GPS watch so was running with my (fairly hefty) phone strapped to my arm. Manually started Strava as I started running and had run announcements tell me at halfway and when I had completed the mile.

To the TT:
Started off smoothly, definitely easier effort than my botched trial-run yesterday and was feeling good. Checked my watch roughly 400m in and was in or around 5min pace so happy with that. Started feeling tougher to keep the pace in the second 400m, I lost confidence and definitely slowed here.

At halfway Strava told me I was on for 5:20 which I was happy with and I found some extra energy to pick up the pace and was feeling good. I had landmarks to look out for and roughly 300m from the end I really pushed the pace out and surprised myself that I had that much left, however when I got to the point that Strava had told me was 1 mile on my warm-up, the finish announcement never came... I kept going. 10m... 20m... still nothing and I was completely knackered and demoralised to the point I considered quitting but I managed to keep moving although I slowed to crawl. Eventually about 50m after the point I was expecting to finish the announcement came through saying 5:20. I stopped moving - which wasn't difficult as I was barely jogging - and pretty much collapsed in a heap.

All in all I'll take the 5:21. Definitely more there with better pacing and a track so I don't get duped by the GPS again. It turned out the GPS tracking was much better on my TT effort than either of the warm-up runs so that explained why I was fooled. Also, I really should invest in a Garmin...

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Monday - 10.46 km @ 4:28 / km (45 mins) - I was feeling good on this one
Tuesday - 6.15 km @ 5:13 / km (32 mins)
Wednesday - OFF (legs destroyed)
Thursday - 5.15 km @ 5:12 / km (26mins) - Legs still fairly sore. Was getting worried about the TT at this point.
Friday - 6.47 km @ 4:49 / km (31 mins) - Did some dynamic stretching and strides. Legs still not 100% but better than the previous few days.
Saturday - 1 Mile TT in 5:21 plus 3.2km warmup, total 5km
Sunday - 19.5 km @4:33 / km (88 mins) - Felt great on this one after about 3-4 kms

Overall: 52.7 km - not a bad week despite the tapering for the TT, although I need to keep an eye on keeping my legs healthy. Yesterday's run was my longest ever, and it felt pretty good overall despite it being 22 C out there. I was very dehydrated by the end.

In general I think I need to do more foam rolling and stretching to keep my legs loose, and I should probably be going slower on my easy days. Target for this week is 65 km with 1 Tempo and 1 Hills session, plus usual Sunday Long run.

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Update

So it turned out I was running with shin splints for the last couple of weeks leading up to the mile TT (medial tibial syndrome). From reading up on it, it's very common for people who do what I did, i.e. a massive, sustained ramp up in mileage without enough rest.

I had experienced shin pain before but this was different and came on fairly mildly so I didn't recognise it until too late. I initially took 2 weeks off and tried building back up slowly but it flared up again last week.

Am giving it a complete rest from impact for the next couple weeks and will try go again. In the meantime I've been working more on flexibility, foam rolling and circuit type exercises. Also doing some foot and Achilles strengthening work to try and be best prepared for when I can get back running.

Unfortunately my road bike was stolen a few months ago so I have no real option for aerobic training other than walking at the moment.

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This morning I did my first run of week 3 since beginning to run again.

Week 1, 20-26 July: 2 runs, 70 mins total

Week 2, 27 July - 02 August: 3 runs, 121 mins

Today, 03 August 30 mins with 5 mins dynamic stretching after 7 or 8 mins. Will aim for 4 runs this week, 150-180 mins.

Will keep building gradually for the time being. Unsurprisingly, I lost a lot of fitness after 6 weeks of pretty much no running. I will try out easing into some strides this week, leading into speed-work before the summer is gone. The shin splints are completely cleared now.

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I want to start getting into a habit of updating this more. Since my last post I dealt with a niggly achilles issue that I'm fairly certain began when I was developing the shin splints in my other leg. I was favouring my right side and as I'm a forefoot striker this put a lot of pressure on my right achilles. Silly looking back at it but hindsight is great.

So I had to carefully manage my running until the achilles settled fully about 3 weeks ago. I'm still doing the rehab exercises, I think they're gonna be a constant going forward.

My preferred running time is in the morning but I found the achilles was always worst at that time so I had been avoiding that. Delighted that I can now get back into that habit.

Anyway...

The last few runs my easy pace has been down around the 5min/km mark which feels comfortable. I find if I'm going slower than 5:30/km I feel like my form is affected to the point its annoying. Having said that I'm really trying to be restrained on my easy runs as I know that was one of the things that led to my injuries early in the summer.

Anyone interested in following me on Strava just send me a DM. My goal remains to PB in the 5k, mile, and 800m between here and the end of the indoor season next spring. Immediate focus is to up the volume over the next few weeks until I'm back to about 50-60kms.

MY BAD

In terms of goals and achilles issues you probably are where I was in 2017. Consistency is the key. Enjoy the process

Murph_D

Interesting log and goals. I’d say you’re right that the shin injury derived from doing too much too soon. The achilles also followed a similarly rapid planned ramp up from nothing to 180 mins in a few weeks.

What will be different this time?

Are you self coached, by the way? Where are you getting the sessions and structure from? What’s your running background and PBs to date?

Best of luck with this phase. Keep posting!

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Murph_D wrote: »

Interesting log and goals. I’d say you’re right that the shin injury derived from doing too much too soon. The achilles also followed a similarly rapid planned ramp up from nothing to 180 mins in a few weeks.

What will be different this time?

Are you self coached, by the way? Where are you getting the sessions and structure from? What’s your running background and PBs to date?

Best of luck with this phase. Keep posting!

Thanks, appreciate the support and it's good to know that I'm not just posting into the void!

I am self coached, yes. For the time being at least.

I'm new to competitive distance running but have a decent amount of experience with athletics since I was a kid. In summer 2016 I was hitting 52s consistently in the 400m and felt I could go quicker the following season but I badly injured my ankle playing football and the season was gone. Then I moved to the UK in 2017 and wasn't doing any focused training apart from playing a bit of low level GAA last summer. Lockdown this year gave me an opportunity to get back into running, and having new goals has been fairly motivating. I'll be 31 before the year is out so I'm conscious that time is ticking...

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Mon 21st Sept - 6.1km in 30 mins
Tues 22nd Sept - 6.1km in 30 mins


Getting back into the groove of early morning running is great. Still have a few weeks of doing these in sunshine to ingrain the habit before it's all "hello darkness my old friend". I'm lucky to live near the Thames and the trail that runs along the banks is a fantastic running route. This morning the river was at full tide and I had a few rowers alongside me. 5 min k's feeling fairly easy. Will walk tomorrow am before going again Thurs and Friday.

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Weds 23/09 - Bodyweight exercises - pull-ups, push-ups, single leg squats, glute bridges

Thurs 24/09 - 6.2 km in 30-ish mins 5:05 /km

Colder this morning but thankfully the heavy overnight rain stopped about half an hour before my run. Taking a day off was a good idea, the lower legs were feeling refreshed, but my hips and glutes were a bit heavy after the exercises yesterday.

Same again tomorrow morning, then will hit the track Saturday or Sunday depending on how fresh I feel, to give the legs a little whirl with some 200s at 30-35s pace. I'm primarily building my aerobic engine but I think it's a good idea to keep in touch with the sharper stuff.

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Friday 25/09 - 6.2 km in roughly 31 mins - 5:07/km
Sat 26/09 - OFF
Sun 27/09 - Track: 8x200m off 200m jog
34, 34, 34, 34, 33, 33, 34, 31 (jog rest around 2mins)

Weekly total: 31.1km, with 5 x runs, made of 1 x track session, 4 x easy runs. 1 x home bodyweight workout.

Happy enough with that workout yesterday. Consistency was good, and while the speed isn't there yet, it'll come back if I keep at it. Overall, not a bad week. Legs are feeling a bit beat up this morning. Will go for a very easy run and stretch after work to loosen out. I managed to give my toe a nasty bash getting out of the shower yesterday, it's cut up and a little bruised but thankfully nothing more. I can run on it.

This week, more of the same. Will keep the morning runs the same, move the track session to Saturday morning, and run slowly for an hour on Sunday.

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Mon 28/09 - pm 25 mins @5:39/km
Tues 29/09 - am 30 mins @5:30/km


Heavy legs at the moment, and getting out of bed for my run was tough this morning. I've been eating and sleeping more since upping my training. Averaged just over 8hrs last week, hope to keep that going.

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Wed 30th September, pm9.9km at 5:15/km avg, 51mins moving time
15 mins w/u
stretches, strides
4 x 4 mins @4:00-4:15/km off 2mins active recovery (very slow running)
slow run home


This wasn't easy but I got through it and I felt like the 4th rep was the fastest despite Strava telling me I was doing 6mins/km halfway through. I was running in a flat, straight trail but there was tree-cover I guess. Will hope to build on this type of session, the pace and volume will increase as I build through the weeks.

Annoyingly, since coming home and cooling off my left ankle has been stiff and sore. I didn't notice anything on the run but it feels like I've tweaked a tendon in there. So no morning run today. There's no swelling, and seems to benefit from moving around so hopefully some gentle rehab and a day off will sort it out.

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Thurs - Off
Fri - Off
Sat - Off
Sun - Bodyweight Exercises
Mon 05/10 - pm - 9.3 km @ 4:58/km 46 mins
Tues 06/10 - am 5.4 km @ 5:24/km 29 mins

4 days off running with that ankle niggle. It was noticeable enough walking around on Thursday but cleared up over the next few days. I've been rolling and stretching and doing calf raises and whatnot but was fairly pissed off the second half of last week with crap weather and the extent of my banjaxed leg unknown to me. As it turned out, it wasn't too bad at all, and it really felt good to be running again yesterday evening. Morning runs are just hitting dawn at the moment, I think next week I'll have the headlamp on.

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Wed 07/10 - pm: 48 mins @5:10/km (9.3km)

Thurs 08/10 - pm: 50 mins @4:57/km (10.1km)

I haven't been as successful in getting up early this week, but have enjoyed my runs. Wednesday my legs were feeling stiff and beat up, but yesterday everything was flowing and I had to remind myself this was just an easy run. First time in a while I've gone over 10km, so that's a nice little box ticked as I keep building.

Today will be very very easy, tomorrow morning a track session. Will probably take Sunday off.

Dubh Geannain

Only finding the log now. Very interesting goals and identical to what mine were for 2020 re the mile and 5k. Sorry to hear about your injury troubles. That 6 x 1k workout where you were running low 3:20s suggests to me you probably could have run very close to 18 mins if not sub 18 minutes around that time.

Getting the consistent mileage in has been and still is my biggest problem to date. I only hit 30 MPW (48 km) 3 or 4 times earlier in the year but thankfully it was enough to get me over the line.

You mentioned you care more about the 800. What's your PB?

I'm actually hoping to maybe start an 800 m plan in the next month or so if my other commitments allow it. No target time yet as I want to do a TT first to see where I'm at with it. I hope I'm at around maybe 2:15 and then would be targeting something like a sub 2:10 at the end of a focussed training block.

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Dubh Geannain wrote: »

Only finding the log now. Very interesting goals and identical to what mine were for 2020 re the mile and 5k. Sorry to hear about your injury troubles. That 6 x 1k workout where you were running low 3:20s suggests to me you probably could have run very close to 18 mins if not sub 18 minutes around that time.

Getting the consistent mileage in has been and still is my biggest problem to date. I only hit 30 MPW (48 km) 3 or 4 times earlier in the year but thankfully it was enough to get me over the line.

You mentioned you care more about the 800. What's your PB?

I'm actually hoping to maybe start an 800 m plan in the next month or so if my other commitments allow it. No target time yet as I want to do a TT first to see where I'm at with it. I hope I'm at around maybe 2:15 and then would be targeting something like a sub 2:10 at the end of a focussed training block.

Thanks for showing interest!

Yes, the injuries have been annoying but hopefully I've gotten them out of my system. It was my own fault really for pushing too hard too soon. I'll be be in the 40-50km range by the end of this week so I'll keep at that level for a couple weeks to allow the body to adjust.

About the 800, I reckon my window of opportunity to PB is less than for the longer distances. I've run 2:03 in my late teens off 400m training but am nowhere near that shape right now.

Right now the plan is just to get back into the swing of injury-free training, enjoy my running, and gradually build the volume while keeping in touch with a bit of track work.

I think you're right that I would have been near enough sub-18 shape around that time but if I stay sensible this time around I'll hopefully be able to reach that level without falling apart at the seams!

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Friday 09/10 - Easy Day - 3.2 km @ roughly 7:00/km (run/walk)

Saturday 10/10 - Track: 2x2x300m off 100 jog, 5mins, then 3x200m off 200 jog

Sunday 11/10 - Rest - went for an hour-long walk in the afternoon but no training. Lovely clear autumn day.

Weekly total: 42km

My partner is doing C25k so on Friday I jumped in with her for Day 2 on fairly tired legs. Was good to get the blood flowing, we were doing about 5:30/km when running, but it was more or less half in half running and walking.

I have to be happy with Saturday's track session. I was in a bit of a rush to get it done early as I had some plans, so I cut my warm-up short a bit and didn't do a cool-down. But it worked out OK, and I felt pretty good. The plan was to aim for 3 sets of 2x300m but on the 4th rep I started going lactic so switched back to 200m after that set. I was happy to keep the same pace I was hitting for 200m reps in my last session over the 300m distance, so I know I'm heading in the right direction. Overall, delighted with the week. Starting to feel somewhat like an athlete again.

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Monday 12/10 - am: 7.2km in 36mins, 5:01/km

First time leaving the house in darkness in a long while, but the sun started to appear after about 10 mins. There were some lunatic rowers on the river roaring as they went by at speed. They sounded like right hooligans, which isn't a word one would normally associate with rowers, but they provided me something to laugh at I suppose.
Anyway, the legs are feeling really good. I had some nice doms in my glutes and hams yesterday after the track on Saturday but my calves were feeling nice and loose this morning. All set for a good week's training. Hoping I can starting pushing the morning runs towards 40mins now to keep building the volume. Requires willpower to leave my cosy, cosy bed a few minutes earlier, but it's always worth it.

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Tuesday 13/10 - pm: Intervals 5 x 4 mins off 2mins active recovery, 13km total, 65mins
Wed 14/10 - pm: 36 mins easy at 5:16/km
Thurs 15/10 - pm: 41mins easy at 5:02/km

Tuesday's workout went well despite crappy weather. Did this on the riverside trail which is mostly flat but the surface is a bit broken in places. GPS tracking was all over the shop - I really should get a watch instead of relying on my phone - so I can't really say what pace I was hitting for the reps. I did feel stronger than when I did the 4x4mins session a couple of weeks ago. Wed & Thurs were fine, the legs were fairly tired on Wednesday but much improved yesterday. I'll take today off and hit the track tomorrow morning. Motoring along nicely now.

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Friday 16/10 - OFF
Sat 17/10 - 8 x hills, 9 km total
Sun 18/10 - OFF

The gates to the track hadn't opened when I got there so I decided to change the plan and go for some hills in the nearby park instead of waiting around. Did a decent warm-up, stretches before getting into it. The reps were all in the 32-34s range. I ran the first 6 with a slow jog-back, and final 2 walking most of the way down. I would have been digging very deep to get the extra 2 that I wanted to bring me to 10, and that's not the goal at this stage of my training. So 8 reps it was.

Just under 45km for the week with 5 days training including 2 workouts. Plenty of scope to up the volume over the next couple months. This week will be less intense but overall volume may be slightly higher.

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Monday 19/10 - am - 41mins easy, 8.0km 5:07/km


Complete darkness leaving the house. Bright on the return. Legs feeling good.

MY BAD

Are you following a "plan" or are your sessions self prescribed? Or have you a coach/club?

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I'm self-coached for the time being, and not following a prescribed plan. At the moment I'm just working on building my base fitness through easy running while staying in touch with a bit of faster-paced stuff that I will need for 800m or 1500m / mile races. I've been doing either 1 or 2 workouts every second week and building the rest of the volume up through easy-effort running. I looked into joining a local club recently but they're not currently taking new members while Covid is ongoing. I feel comfortable enough to coach myself through the winter, and I'm fairly happy with the progress the last few weeks.

I will look to start incorporating longer runs, tempo runs, and circuit training into the regular schedule but I won't add everything at once.

I think I'll have a crack at a 5km TT in the middle of November. Maybe a mile as well a few weeks later.

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Mon 19/10: am - 41 mins easy @5:07/km (8.0 km)
Tue 20/20: pm - 46 mins easy @5:01/km (9.2 km)
Wed 21/10: pm - 41 mins easy @5:07/km (8.1 km)
Thurs - OFF
Fri - OFF
Sat 24/10: am - 8 x hills (31-34s/hill, 2mins recovery)
Sun 25/10: pm - 70 mins easy @5:02/km (13.9 km)

Weekly total 47.4km


I'm using a pattern of 2 hard weeks, 1 easy as I build up the training, with this being an 'easy'. The long runs will be a weekly staple from here on, Sunday was enjoyable and they should help build up the engine. I'm glad I was able to keep the volume heading in the right direction while keeping things generally pretty controlled on the runs. The hills were an exception - they felt more difficult than the previous week for some reason.