The second coming of a runner
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16-02-2023 12:58pm#1
After several years of basically 0 exercise, I started a couch to 5k last summer (and I was a true "couch" in this title) and got myself back to 5k. Life kind of got in the way for the few months before Christmas, but I've been determined to get back into since Christmas. And I have been doing some running since.
Last Tuesday I weighed 103.4Kg, this is possibly the highest I've ever weighed myself (I'm 175cm, so I should be 75kg ish) and this has kind of kicked me into gear. When I started getting into running again last year I just wanted to get to 5k and then from there maybe go to a 10k, but to leave it at that. But a friend asked would I be interested in doing a half marathon during the summer, I decided maybe it would be good to have something to really work towards and focus on.
I know you can't run from a bad diet, so a lot of my challenge will be getting the diet right. 20s me lost 2 stone at one point from counting calories and being more active. But 20s me lived on his own mostly and had less external factors that add stresses and temptations, but now that I have kids, time is more constrained and also there will be more temptations with food available at home.
I used to run a bit when I was in my 20s, never too seriously but when I compare me then to me now (mid 30s) I think of 20s me as some athletic God! I was generally active from playing soccer and Tag rugby, and being 20Kg lighter than I am now obviously made the running easier!
Prior PBs
20s Me 5K PB was 25:13
20s Me longest run was the 8k Streets of Galway (don't remember the time)
30s me, who I nearly consider a different person in the context of PBs:
5K: 32:XX
longest distance: 6k (just training)
So the overall goal is to run this half Marathon in Kilkee at the start of July. I have good bit of work to get there, but I'm determined.
I hope to update this weekly to give myself some more public accountability of how I'm doing!
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Week 1: (Feb 6th)
Weight: 103.4Kg
Tuesday: 5k in 34:17 (6:50) - Goal was to push myself to do sub 7min km for this run, was absolutely wrecked after this
Thursday: 4k in 28:31 (7:07) - Legs were still tired after Tuesday so took it a bit easier
Saturday: 6k in 41:44 (6:57) - Longest I've run in 9 years or so! Was with the local run group
Sunday: Participated in my wife's couch to 5k and played tennis afterwards. Felt pretty good til my legs got extremely tired later on in the day!
Ate well this week too, so overall happy with it.
Saturdays are more than likely going to be longer runs so I need manage myself a bit better on midweek runs. Spoiler alert as I've two of them done this week, looking at these times I may have went too far the other direction!
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Good luck with this quest, it's a long road but a satisfying one if you approach it in a sustainable way.
If you don't mind me asking, how are you planning your weekly schedule, if at all? No run at this very early stage of your comeback should leave you feeling 'absolutely wrecked', as you say above. If it's feeling difficult, slow down. It's more about building time on your feet than being concerned about pace. It's good that you're in a running group, but try to make sure to run with people who are running at a pace that's sustainable for YOU. In fact, I think you'd be much better off not thinking about pace at all, more just going out and running for a certain length of time - 30 mins for example (which removes the 'pressure' to hit a pace).
Nice work so far, shout if any questions, plenty of people around here who have done a similar journey.
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If I'm being honest, I kind of ran that Tuesday pissed off with myself for letting myself get up to that weight so I pushed myself harder than I should have. I've ran two 5ks so far this week with a ~7:30 pace and that is a much more comfortable, but maybe even too comfortable! I'm still kind of finding my current pace.
My current plan is to so two runs during the week that I don't push myself too much with and then a longer run at the weekend. I have a friend who is an experienced runner who is going to set out a schedule for me to work towards, but her general advice was the above.
Yeah the group have a good few different levels of people and you can always drop off if you have to. The section of the group I go with seem to run at a 7:00ish pace so a little faster that I did in my solo runs this week, but about the same as I did last week.
Thank you! Will do, much appreciated!
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Your main hurdle is the weight. The running bit is easy. If you focus on your diet the rest will be fine, nothing too drastic but try to stick to a set amount of calories and when you start dropping weight your overall wellbeing will improve. You do however need to have some accountability when your creating a healthy diet, simple methods include apps like Noom or free ones like myfitnesspal to make sure your not over eating. If your loaded you could go to a dietician. You'd be surprised how many calories is in a few biscuits(or a half a pack with a cup of tea).
Getting your diet right is one of the hardest things anyone can do so don't beat yourself up if you find it difficult. Try again, fail, try again but most of all eat healthy and proportional.
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Yeah, my main battle with the fork, not the road!
Not loaded unfortunately , but my sister is a dietician so I do have access to one. I actually do have a fairly decent concept of calories of stuff from the time I lost weight before, but know and doing are two different things. I'm on a good path at the moment with the food, so just need to keep that up!
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Nice one, and good luck with the training
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103kg…. That’s basically me 10 years ago (113kg I had on me). Back then I Made the decision to run a marathon in 12 months time setting out the goal of sub4. Just so I have something that does require some work and is not easily achieved.
did 10 weeks of that Insanity workout whilst following the calorie count that came with those dvds. Weight dropped to 95kg during that time and my fitness improved. Only then I started running but got that part all wrong (weight continued to come down). Thought I do well by going “hard” at most runs and long run - what’s that? 🤣 in the end, I managed to run the marathon but in a less enjoyable way. If only I had the people around back then to give advice that I have now.
what im trying to say is: like the others said, first focus on easy runs. Nothing hard. 3-4 runs per week. Keeping time on feet the focus and not distance or pace. Those will come as soon as yoh have your weight under control. Effort always go by: if you finish the run and need 2-3min to recover (or longer) it was too hard. If you finish and dont even need a shower, it was too easy. long runs - your legs should scream but your upper body should feel almost nothing.
Secondly, focus on weight first. Dont starve yourself to the point of loosing energy. You will need that for your training but do try to use healthy calories instead of unhealthy ones (trust me, im a cake person. I know how hard it is to pass on those devil food choices).
I would be careful with the “im that size so i should be that light” part. Im 184cm and in theory I should be around 68kg as the ideal race weight. I tried to get there but “only” managed to get to 70.3kg in 2019. That however had cost me roughly 2-3min in the marathon as I lacked a lot of energy (doesnt sound like much but the difference is a 2:36 or 2:39 marathon). Im now remaining at around 72-74kg when it comes to race day and 75-77kg during training as it gives me a lot more energy to cope with the training.
if you need input on training or get a second and third opinion, happy to be of assistance! I am one of those who will never say what you want to hear but what I think you need to hear if you get me 🤣. Made plenty of mistakes and learned from them and always glad if others dont repeat my mistakes
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Thanks for the encouragement and advice!
I really like how you put the too hard/too easy, very useful
Yeah I don't really have an ideal goal for weight in mind, I'm not the tallest but I'm quite broad and have big legs, so I'm probably on the higher end of the range for what is the right weight for my height. I just know for sure its significantly less than what I weigh now so that's the goal!
Yes on @marathon2022 's advice I have actually been plaguing my dietician sister on whats app. I'm generally quite happy with how the food is going. Yesterday, my "long" run day, I was doing some physical work later in the day and after that I was feeling the effects of it, so I don't think I got the food balance right yesterday, but I'll adjust for that next week. Other than that I feel good and I'm losing weight
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Week 2 - Feb 13th
Weight: On Tuesday I was 101.9kg, Saturday after my run I was 100.3 kg (It's tough to gauge this exactly as it fluctuates, but im not fixated about what it says on the scales, I know I had a good/health week with the food, the scales will say what it says after that!)
Tuesday: 5k @ 7.32. First time running in the dark actually, Went out at 7 and it was bright by the time I got back, it was actually nice! My wife got me a "Night Runner LED Belt" by Bodylite and its quite good. A much more leisurely pace than the runs last week, I think maybe a little bit slow but it felt good though.
Thursday: 5k @ 7.35. Almost identical to Tuesday. Felt good
Saturday: 7k @ 7.02. New longest distance ran by 30s me. Out with the local run group again. When we reached 6k I was happy to keep going. The last 1k contained a bit of a hill that It was bit of struggle, but once we got to the top of that I was fine again. Felt good after it.
Sunday: Played tennis for a couple of hours. Also went to my wife's Cto5K, but unfortantely she has been having some issues with her knees so after attempting it and not feeling it, she decided to give it a rest. That will be the end of her Cto5k for this time around. Hopefully she can get the knee issues resolved and she can give it a go again. The group cto5k is great because there is set times you need to be there, and there is a group of you doing it together etc, but if you get any sickness or niggle it does really kind of rule you out of the rest of it. When I did mine via an app, I got Covid during it, so I obviously missed a couple of weeks but I was able to repeat the previous week and just pick it back up
Another good week. Really enjoyed the running. I'm really determined at the moment and I wish I could bottle this feeling for when it drops off. I do have two weekends away in a row in March that, while im looking forward to them, I am conscious about their impact on my progress. I'll see if I can bring my gear with me and sneak a run in.
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Quick question for folks, at this stage I'm slowly increasing the KMs I'm doing on the days I run, but am I better off to start increasing the number of days I run instead (or as well)?
I ran 6k Tuesday and Thursday. Today is an off day, but I feel like I could run. But I know its a marathon (well a half marathon) and not a sprint so I don't want to over do anything either!
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If you feel you can run a bit more, you probably can. A rule of thumb you sometimes see is to increase mileage no more than 10 percent per week, and it's not a bad one to think about especially as you are getting into the running and your body is still getting used to this new activity. Bearing that in mind, it doesn't really matter how many days per week you spread that out over, as long as you are taking a rest day after any strenuous activity.
It's wise to be conservative as you build up the mileage, especially with the bit of extra weight on, which increases the forces on your muscles and joints and puts you a little more at risk of injury than otherwise.
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Week 3 - Feb 20th
Weight: Saturday after my run I was 99.7 kg (and that was after having food). Pretty decent food wise again this week. Maybe a small bit too big of portions of some things (My wife's brown bread!). On my Sister's advice I've also started eating yogurt in the morning, with a protein enriched one after runs. Didn't have any issues this week with feeling like I didn't eat enough like I did last Saturday.
Tuesday: 6k @ 7.30. A very inconsistent run, typically I keep a pretty steady pace, but my 1st split was 7:56 (I think I was struggling to get my phone into the bodylite pocket! While the last split was 7:06. Even with the increased distance I felt good after, could maybe have done more.
Thursday: 6k @ 7.28. Much more consistent. It was a cold one, but was pretty pleasant once I warmed up. Same feeling as Tuesday, could probably do more. I run from my house to a point and turn back. There is a pretty big hill just past 3km, so lets see how I feel after that next week :D
Saturday: 9k @ 7.11. New longest distance ran by any age me (take that 20s me). Out with the local run group again. Goal was 8k but when we reached it, we were down to a group of just me and one other and both of us were happy to keep going. We pushed a small bit for the last few hundred meters (very small bit, but it was our fastest split). Was tired after it, but not completely gassed or anything. Felt good. I felt better after this 9k than I did with 6k only two weeks ago.
Sunday: Will play tennis later this morning (I'm just updating now as I have some time!)
Another good week. I'm really happy with being able to increase the distance without any major issues. I'm proud of it to be honest!
I'm in a dangerous place with my determination at the moment cause I'll probably say "yes" to anything someone puts in front of me once I have the realistic time to build up to it!
- Half Marathon in July? Sure
- (new this week) To Hell and Back (8km) in June? My initial reaction is that looks absolutely awful and I would not be comfortable at all doing it, so that seems like a good reason to do it! I'm bit of a overthinker so If I don't push myself to do things I wouldn't do anything!
I'm just worried someone will ask me to run through a wall in August, cause I'll probably say yes!
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I'm not an expert but I think if you can get to 4 days that would be brilliant, or even alternate 4 days & 3 days for a few weeks as a stepping stone to doing 4 days every week, you could just say 20-25mins as your 4th run to start with. Once you are doing 4 regularly for a while then you can look at increasing the distance/time (i think running by time is great at your stage).
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To add to murphs comment, I would suggest to reduce those two days to 4.5k each and add another 4k day. Slowly build those back up to 6-7k each (2-3 weeks build up should do) and then repeat. Drop each to 5 (or 6 if you brought them to 7) and add another day with low mileage and then build up again. I know some like those rest days, I personally would advice towards “run every day but keep most runs easy”.
at some point you will notice that a slow 20min run will help you a lot more to recover than a full rest day as it keeps the blood flowing and supports the body in healing! but all nice and easy and give it time! Keep some rest days for now but look ahead, somewhat plan ahead and you may be able to run 2-4 weeks in a row soon without a single rest day (do rest after a race though 🤣).
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Week 4 - Feb 27th
Weight: Saturday morning I was 98.4 kg. Pretty decent food wise again this week. Only issue I potentially had was as i start increasing distance I may need to eat something before runs. I normally get a stitch if I do, but maybe not even a proper meal, just a bit of fuel!
Tuesday: 7k @ 7.15. between 3KM and 4KM there is a quite a large hill so good to incorporate that into it. Felt pretty good after.
Wednesday: 6K walk, not even sure if its worth mentioning :)
Thursday: 7k @ 7.24. Same as Tuesday but a little slower. I ran exactly what I planned to do at the pace I planned, but for the first morning since this journey started I wasn't fully feeling it, Literally the first day where staying in bed seemed appealing. Wasn't particularly cold or wet, so not sure what it was. felt ok after.
Saturday: 9.99k @ 7.11. New longest distance ran. Out with the local run group again. Strava did me dirty with this, I definitely ran til it said 10k!
Goal was 10k and it was a struggle. This is the hardest run I've had for sure. Was feeling it right from the start. Looking back at the stats now. We did the first couple of KM a bit faster than we normally would (6:45 and 6:55 when usually we would be doing 7). We settled into a more typical pace after that but by 7K I was really feeling it. The last 3K was a slog. No joint pain, muscles felt ok, not particularly out of breath, just a slog. Walked maybe 50m around the 8.5KM mark, first time walking since the logs started.
This was the first run since the first logged 5k where I felt I probably over did it. A little frustrating as it wasn't even like the issue was 10K, I felt better after 9k last week than I did after the 7k point of this run! But I'm sure there will be days like this.
I'll be honest, was very tired after it. Like even 2 hours later I was still feeling the effects of it. Not out of breath, but I could just feel like I had been through something. As I'm writting this on Sunday, my shoulders are sore (I have **** shoulders!) but my legs feel fine.
Sunday: Will maybe play tennis later, not sure yet!
A good week KM wise, but I don't want to be doing runs like Saturday too often! So I think I'll stop the KM increase during the week next week as I guess I've reached my current limit. I am happy to be still losing weight too. My current diet seems pretty sustainable which I'm happy with.
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Week 5 - Mar 6th
Weight: Today after breakfast I was same as last week 98.4KG. Didn't stray too much from the diet exactly, but I ate too much at times. Something I need to get back on top of
Tuesday: 7k @ 7:20. A bit of a regression from the same route as previous week. Despite it being cold I was sweating more than usual, at least I know I was trying.
Thursday: 7k @ 7:29. First time running in the snow, was relatively miserable morning for a run, but I got up and did it, so that's good! Maybe too much info but first time suffering from nipple chafing, will not be without vaseline the next time!
Saturday: 5k @ 6:37. Out with the local run group, but it was miserable wet morning so numbers were down, and the closest group to me ability wise were doing 5K so I did that. Faster than I usually do, and I felt I had more in the tank. Improvement on how I felt after the run the week before!
Sunday: 7k @ 6:38 Knew I wouldn't be playing tennis, and after feeling like I had more to give, I decided to go for an extra run. Felt good, first run in a while where I felt like I could see my improvements. Splits were:
1. 6:58
2. 6:50
3. 6:57
4. 6:45
5. 6:38
6. 6:20
7. 6:00
I was pushing a little, especially for the last couple of KM. Very happy to finish with a 6:00KM, If I can do one of them for my 7th KM, surely I can do 5 of them from the start!
I felt good after the run, even with the increased pace. Ended up being a really nice morning for a run too.
Summary: Really happy I went out Sunday, I kind of felt like I was regressing a small bit earlier in the week, but I was really happy with how the sunday run went. Food wise I need to do a bit better. I did attend a kids party today and avoided the cake and sweets, so that was good!
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Only catching up on this now. Re last week I wouldn’t worry too much about the “slog”. Sometimes fatigue kicks in and it just isn’t there. That’s a normal progress and as long as you don’t force it, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
also re fueling before a run, think there is a massive debate on this 😁. I’m pro “not fueling” for a (long)run, workout and sometimes (if i don’t care about times or results) before a race. As long as you know how to read your body it doesn’t really make a difference if you fuel or not. The benefit from fueling is (at least that’s my understanding and I might be wrong here) that you can go faster and longer and need a bit less recovery afterwards. Same time, and that’s my believe and so far works for me, you won’t feel a massive benefit or positive performance surprise when it comes to race day and your body is properly fueled. I usually go by “if I can hit that pace and do that session on empty, I won’t have any issue going longer at that pace in a race". and if i struggle it is "no worries. to be expected and on race day i will be fueled!".
but what happens if you have an off day? as in you fuel for a run and still suffer? that will knock down your (or at least mine) confidence!!
so in short, my advice is run on empty as often as you can. it will be a struggle at first but after a few runs it will feel normal. the body will get used to it!
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Week 6 - Mar 13th
Weight: Haven't actually weighed myself since earlier in the week when I was 97.1KG, but I know I had a good week with the food. Also avoided lots of "temptations" like cake and apple tart this week, but to be honest It really didn't bother me.
Tuesday: 7k @ 6:25. Pushed a little harder at the start. Trying to increase what is my comfortable pace. Felt pretty good after it.
Wednesday: 4k @ 6:42. Felt pretty decent so I said I'd take the opportunity to just increase the amount of days I was running. Didn't want to over do it and I left it pretty late, so I decided to only do the 4 even before I went out.
Thursday: 10.14k @ 7:15. Not letting Strava take my double digit KM away from me this time! New route, kind of. There is a 4.5K loop about 2K from my house, so when I did that and back, I was at 8.5K so I decided to keep going to make up 9, but I was feeling ok so I just kept going til 10. Was tired at the end of it, but nothing like the previous 10k
Saturday: 10.74k @ 6:58. Out with the local run group, went out to do 10K, but one of the people I was finishing with just had another small bit to make a round number so that explains the extra bit. Felt great after this run, could definitely went on further. Ate a spoonful of peanut butter about an hour before the run, superstitious me will probably do that for any longer run now :D
I do think increasing the pace of my solo runs is helping with the run group, where around 7 is the typical pace, so If I can make that a more relaxed pace for me, it should make those sessions easier
Summary: 32K for the week. Felt good this week, nice to see progress again! Also had a decent food week, so happy with the progress. I'm doing a bit of traveling next week, so it will be a disrupted one, but I'll do what I can, don't want to lose progress!
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Week 7 - Mar 19th
Weight: 96.3KG this mornings, so going well
Monday: 7k @ 7:16. First what I would describe as a failed run. I very stupidly was too lazy to cook dinner on Sunday and didnt really eat anything, and I forgot about that fact til I went out! Ran for 3K, was not feeling great (kind of dizzy), walked the next K and then did a slow enough 3k to get myself home! Lesson learnt
Tuesday: 5.5k @ 6:49. Couldn't do my morning run for family responsibility reasons! So I when I was running in the evening anyways, I decided to meet up with the run groups session, Went fine
Thursday: 12k @ 7:20. (nearly an hour and half!) This was my last change to get out for a run this week so I decided I'd try go for 12K. New loop for me, it was a really nice day for a run. Felt pretty good after doing it, although my legs were pretty tired!
Summary: ~24K for the week. Early update but I'm travelling over the weekend so kind of a reduced week to try fit everything in! I also have a fairly hectic week next week, so it will be a bit of a challenge, but I'm determined to get out at least 3 times a week unless I'm injured!
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Week 8 - Mar 27th
Weight: 96.1KG during the week, post all my travels so I'm happy with that. Obviously didn't eat great, but doing the dog on it while traveling for me is probably now like eating normally for people :)
Tuesday: 5k @ 7:00 Ran in Dublin city, down by the North Wall Quay, down to ringsend (I think) and then back down Pearces street. Much busier both with people and traffic lights than I am used to out the sticks! Was fine though, got up a bit late to do anymore.
Thursday: 5k @ 6:23. Back at home for this one, again was pretty short for time so only did 5K. Was a lovely morning for a run, sun was shining, was maybe even a little too warm!
Saturday: 6k @ 6:52. Back with the run group, but the group were only doing 6k so that's all I ended up doing. I definitely could have done more, but thought I might make it up on Sunday.
Sunday: Thought I might get out for a run, but I was absolutely stuck to the bed in the morning! Played tennis for a couple of hours, but although I enjoyed the tennis, i really didn't get the post exercise buzz from it. Was considering going out for a run after, but decided to give it a rest in favour of spending time with the family
Summary: 16K for the week. Was a crazy busy week! Was in Germany til Sunday night, stayed in Dublin for work on Sunday and Monday, was home late Tuesday. Wife was away Wednesday and Thursday, so I was chief child minder. I also don't feel 100% with a cold or something, but it doesn't seem to be impacting my running. I haven't got my sleep rhythm back yet either, but since the kids aren't going to school, I don't need to run as early as before. Need to crank up the KM again this week!
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Week 9 - April 3rd
Weight: 94.5 KG after my run on Saturday. A little bit cheating to weigh my self after a long run :) I had had breakfast and more than a litre of liquid at that stage so it wasn't completely cheating!
Monday: 5k @ 6:04 After a relatively easy weekend I decided I'd try a race pace 5k. Felt it a little bit at the end of uphill first half but was able to pick it up for the finish again. Nice to be somewhat close to the a sub 30 5k
Tuesday: Garmin Coach - run hard for 5mins (5 mins at @ 5:19 pace) Realised that I'm really not that far away from the half marathon in July, so I should probably start a training plan rather than just vibing like I have currently been doing. First thing it wanted me to do was a benchmarking session which was Run "Hard" for 5 mins. I don't normally only run for 5 mins, so its kind of hard to judge how hard is "hard"! I'm sure I can run faster than that, but can I do 5 minutes of it, I don't know!
Tuesday part 2: 5k @ 6:43. I mean i'm up early, I'm warmed up, I'm sweaty, it feels like a serious waste to go back home after exercising for 5 mins! So I went for an easy 5k after the benchmark.
Wednesday: 2 x 10 minute skipping sessions. I thought it might be a good idea to vary up what I'm doing a bit so I decided skipping might be a good way to work out my calves. Skipping is hard! I did 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening.
Thursday: Garmin Coach - Stride intervals . The local run group does track sessions on a Thursday so decided it would be a good idea to do the stride intervals at the same time as them.
- 15 min easy run,
- 8no 20 second hard, 45s easy
- 15 min easy run.
Was good, quite tough but it was nice to change it up.
I also went for a 3k walk with my daughter in the morning which was another nice benefit of moving to the evening session. I do prefer to run in the morning though as I find it a bit easier managing food etc.
Friday: 2.5 hours of tennis (doubles). Was a lovely evening for tennis so I played with the local tennis group for longer than I expected! Doubles isn't too taxing but I guess 2.5 hours of anything is a bit. I also ate dinner before tennis which might have been a bit of a mistake cause I didn't eat much after it.
Saturday: Garmin Coach - Run easy for 40 mins (40mins @ 6:36 pace) Extended to a 10k run. Oh boy did I manage this one badly! The 2.5 hours of tennis in between the last time I had a significant amount of food in hindsight was not a good idea! Mr Garmin was a suggesting a 40 minutes run, with an optional extra 10 minutes, add the 5 min warm up and warm downs, I reckoned that would be just shy of a 10K run, so thats what I set out to do with the group.
After the first couple of KM I ended up kind of in between groups, my usual group were probably going a little slow for what the watch wanted me to do, so I decided to keep up with the next group up. I kept up with them for about 6-7k but my legs were really feeling it, not sore or anything, just void of energy and I had to slow down significantly. I then had to even go down walk for a bit. A different group caught up with me and tried to get me going again, but after 100m I knew I just wasn't going to be to, so I let them off. I got jogging again but now at a much slower pace and ran the last 2.5k at that.
Overall pace for the 10K was 6:59, which isn't terrible for me, but this certainly wasn't the "easy" run I set out to do! I really must have looked shook going in for coffee with the group afterwards as they were offering to get my tea for me etc! Hopefully I've learnt some lessons from this!
Sunday: Rest day, other the business of it being an Easter Sunday and entertaining visitors!
Summary: 27.5K for the week. Other than the poor management of Saturday, I felt good to get back into it. I'm still determined. Being down 9KG is a nice boost too.
After a bit of a miscommunication with Mr Garmin, where I originally told it I don't have a finishing time for the half in mind and the training plan it was giving me was a big step down to what I was currently doing.
Setting a finishing time of 2:00:00 has brought it back in line where I feel like I currently am. Since I haven't even ran 5k at a pace that would lead me to do 21K at 2:00:00 I'm not so sure that is what I'm going to do, but maybe with the increased training load and hopefully another good few KG shifted, who knows! I don't care about a time, I just want to have tried hard.
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Week 10 - April 10th
Weight: 94.7 KG later in the evening on Saturday. Not worried about it, had a decent enough week food wise and did plenty of exercise, so I probably just weighed myself at a bad time. Loads of people are telling me I've lost weight (not that you can always trust them!) and my wife thinks im shrinking so I im heading in the right direction still.
Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) Easy 30min @ 6:38 Went running with the friend who convinced me to do the half, so this is all her fault! Was good though
Tuesday: G.C - Easy 20 mins, (30 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:40 Was good
Wednesday: G.C - Easy 30 mins, extended to 10k @ 6:38 It rained fairly heavy the night before so I decided last second to no run my usual route and go the opposite way from my house because the normally way sometimes floods a bit. Was running it and feeling good so I kept going. I was happy to do the run I should have done Saturday too.
Thursday: G.C. - Easy 20mins, extended to 7k @ 6:30 . Again, felt good so I extended on this run.
Friday: 1.5 hours of tennis (doubles). Was more tactical with the tennis this time, didnt play as long, ate afterwards. My legs were definitely feeling the last 4 days of running so was happy enough to have the rest day.
Saturday: G.C. - Run easy for 70 mins, 12K in total with warmup and cool down @ 6:50 . Better managed than last week in some ways at least! My usual run group crew were either not there or nor up for the 12k, which I kind of predicted so I assumed I'd be on my own. There was a group running a longer loop that had the same start so I decided to tag along with them.
This was a bit of a mistake as I did kind of miss judge how long I'd be with them. I ended up running the first 4K at a sub 6 pace, which is definitely too fast for me when there is 8k left after it! The next 4k were also the hilliest, so a bad combination. I walked a couple of times during that section, but I wasn't anywhere near as bad as the week before, a much hillier route too. There is one hill in particularly which is the worst I've ran on it!
After the worst of the hills I got back into swing of it and ran the last 4k or so at a fairly steady 6:45 kind of pace.
I felt tired after it but ok. Some chaffing in new places for me. I may need to re-evaluate my shorts strategy going forward. I need under shorts for my inner thighs, but all my shorts have lining, hasn't been an issue so far, but was on Saturday! Might have to perform surgery or pick up some new pairs.
Sunday: Tennis again today, maybe played 2 hours ish, was a tournament thing so hard to tell exactly. Got burnt stupidly! Was a little bit sore before the tennis after a hard week (I was also very busy in work), but loosened up ok.
Summary: 39K for the week. A good week stats wise, and I enjoyed the running, but this was the first week in a while where I felt a bit achey, so I'm going to dial it back a little for next week and just listen to Garmin and not extend at least the midweek runs to give my legs a bit of a break.
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Week 11 - April 17th
Weight: 94.4 KG after the run on Saturday. Wasn't the best week for me food wise, I'm a bit under the weather and thats when I struggle the most with food. Also had a few family activities and parties, it wasn't awful but I need to get back to it.
Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) - Easy 20 mins, (30 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:38 Was still a bit tired and achey from a tough week the week before. This was fine, but I was happy to have an easy easy run.
Tuesday: G.C - Easy 20 mins, (30 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:30 Was feeling better than Monday, not quite 100% but good.
Wednesday: G.C - Easy 20 mins, (30 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:21 Was feeling back to normal again now. All good.
Thursday: G.C. - Easy 20 mins, (30 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:22 . Similar to Wednesday, all good. Had a family trip today, so did lots of walking later in the evening aswell
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: G.C. - Run easy for 40 mins, 8K in total with warmup and cool down @ 6:17 . Out with the run group again, sort of! It was the groups weekend away so a lot of people were away, and a miserable morning which would have reduced numbers even further.
I knew I had to do about 8Km for G.C. so I tagged along with 2 people doing 10K for 2KM at their sub 6 pace and then let them off and ran the last 6Km on my own.
Despite the weather, it was a nice run. Felt good after it.
Sunday: Did 45mins walk on the treadmill at a pretty slow pace (3KM I think). I was just messing around on my phone and thought it would be a better use of my time then just sitting there!
Summary: ~26K for the week. A step down in KM this week but I just did exactly what Garmin Coach said to do. I was happy to kind of run myself right at the start of the week, obviously they weren't exactly hard runs, but the fact I was recovering while still getting out was good.
Decent step up from G.C for this week, 30 easy, 40 easy, 45 easy, stride repeats and then finishing with a 90 easy on Saturday.
This also marks about the half way point in my journey to the half marathon , 11 weeks done, 11 weeks to go
5 -
Week 12 - April 24th
Weight: 92.9Kg after the run on Saturday. Decent food week this week.
Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) - Easy 20 mins, (30 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:23 Do not remember a single thing from this run, so it must have been fine!
Tuesday: G.C - Easy 30 mins, (40 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:25 I had to get up earlier to do it because I was back to the office this week. I did find myself having to pull myself back a bit when I got into the rhythm of things, which I guess isnt a bad complaint (my watch lets me know when I'm going too fast)
Wednesday: G.C - Easy 35 mins, (45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:25 Included a pretty decent hill in this run and was happy enough to be able to keep the pace fairly consistent
Thursday: G.C. - Stride Intervals (15 min warm up, 8no. 20 second fast followed by 45 second easy, 15 min cool down) was pretty good. My legs were a little tired before hand and were certainly tired after it!
Friday: Doubles tennis for a little bit.
Saturday: G.C. - Run easy for 80 mins, (90 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:37 . Even more out on my own with the run group this time! No one was doing over 10K and I knew a 90 min run would bring me between 13-14k so I just did my own thing.
My legs were a little tired and sore, and this didn't fill me with confidence for doing my longest run yet!
Once I got started though, the run went pretty well. It was a pretty hilly route and after about 12K my calves were really tired and were starting to tighten up a bit.
Once I ran the required 80 mins, I mostly walked the 5 min cool down as my calves were pretty tight and my car was up hill. Didn't think there would be much point risking an injury. Might need to incorporate some lower body workouts into my schedule to work on this!
I ran 13.3K including the cool down (just under 13K without) so it was my longest run yet, I also apparently PB my 10K with a 1:05:58
I felt pretty ok energy wise afterwards, but my legs and feet were pretty sore, probably the worst they've been after running. I took an ice bath to try aid them in recovery. I felt find for the rest of the day, but I didn't do a whole lot.
Sunday: Nothing today so far, maybe I might go for a walk later to stretch the legs
Summary: 38K for the week. A step back up again, pretty much all just want GC said to do.
A more challenging week this week as I was back in the office. I also have had a blocked ear for the last week, which isn't overly pleasant, I'll have to go doctor for this at this stage. Hopefully its nothing more than just waxy ears!
Some new training on the cards this week with speed repeats and a progression run. Also 100 Mins easy on Saturday, so hopefully another longest distance
12 weeks done, 10 weeks to go
2 -
Week 13 - May 1st
Feeling unwell this week so I think this week has come to an end already. Wasn't feeling great last weekend, but other than my ear being blocked and a runny nose, and being really tired, I couldn't really put my finger on it. Didn't seem to have a temperature and nothing particularly bad. But i've gotten worse as the week went on so I'm going to give it a break til I feel better.
Weight: Haven't weighed myself this week
Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) - Easy 35mins, (45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:38 Feeling very tired, normally I'm up at about 6:30 to get my run in, but took advantage of the bank holiday and slept in. Went out around mid day and it was quite warm. Took it a little easier cause i wasn't feeling great. Was much tougher than the same run last week. Even though I ran at a 15 second slower pace, my average heart rate was 10bpm higher
Tuesday: G.C - Speed repeats Still not feeling great, but mainly just tired. Measured my temp and I was normal so I said I'd give it a go. It was ok, was able to do the speed parts but I did take some walking breaks during the cool down portions towards the end. First time doing these so I don't have anything to compare to. My wife was gone early in the morning so I had to stay with the kids in the morning, so did this in the evening (which I wasn't complaining about the extra time in bed!)
Wednesday: G.C - Easy 35 mins, (45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:34 Checked my temp again in the morning, still ok Evening run again cause mornings are hard! Went out and did this and it was even harder than Monday. After my shower I checked my temperature with a different thermometer and there was a 1c difference between them, with the second one showing I had a 38.2, so a bit high.
Thursday: Meant to have a progression run, but I'm leaving it off. Still have the temp (with the second thermometer, the other one needs to go in the bin!) and I actually have a bit of a chesty cough now. Definitely time to give it a rest for a few days. I am frustrated to miss out on the training, first one to miss, but what can I do!
Meant to do an Easy 90 min on Saturday, but unless I feel much better than Wednesday, thats not happening, so we'll see how long im out for.
2 -
Week 14 - May 8th
Weight: 93Kg after the run on Saturday. Decent food week this week, not the best last week (when I was sick)
Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) - Easy 35 mins, ( 45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:29 I had lost the lethargy from the previous week, got up early in the morning and went for a walk with my daughter so I said I would give the run a go in the evening. Went fine. Walked some of the cool-down, probably didn't need to but I was being cautious
Tuesday: G.C - Goal pace run 20 mins, (+ 15 mins warm up & 15 cool down) @ 5:36 Still feeling ok, I said I'd give this a go too. Did it in the evening to allow extra recovery time. Went pretty well. Was able to stick to the required pace for the 20 mins so was happy with that. Again I did walk some of the cool down, again if I really pushed myself I probably could have avoided it, but I decided to be cautious again. Hard to imagine I need to run 6 of these in a row to meet my goal....
Wednesday: G.C - Easy 35 mins, (45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:24 First day I'm feeling fully back to myself. Legs are kind of tired from yesterday, but im ok. Even time run again for the additional recovery. Pissed rain at the end of the run so no walking this time!
Thursday: G.C. - Stride Intervals (10 min warm up, 10no. 20 second fast followed by 45 second easy, 10 min cool down) was pretty good. My legs were a little tired before hand and were certainly tired after it!
Garmin coach lost this activity somehow though. my phones bluetooth was off and I noticed in the morning, synced it up then. Garmin connect has it, but Garmin coach doesn't recognize it.
Friday: Despite being a glorious evening for tennis, I avoided it to rest up for my long run.
Saturday: G.C. - Run easy for 95 mins, (105 mins inc warm up & down) - I ran 95 mins total @ 6:47 . Clerical reasons meant I only ran 95 mins, wasnt a physical reason! Several mistakes were made!
I tried a different approach to be more social with running with the run group. I went to the meeting point early and do a run before everyone else shows up, so that would leave me with a more appropriate amount of distance for the people I usually run with. (There is probably people who were running enough distance for me, but they run too fast)
Mistake 1: I was a little late in how early I arrived, I had planned to do 30 mins and I only managed to do 23 mins
So I set out with someone I usually run with to do a 10K with them, which at this slow pace would be just over an hour. I said I'd add on whatever the watch told me I needed to at the end of it.
Mistake 2: I pushed the lap button on my watch at one point to wake it up, this is something that is fine to do when not in an activity, but it basically ended the long portion of my run. You can continue on an activity when its finished manually so this is what I was going to do
Mistake 3: I expertly deduced while running that 105 mins is 1:35, (spoiler, its 1:45), so 1:35 was now my target.
My run buddy got their 10km done and I still had a few minutes to reach my now incorrect target time of 1:35 so I ran on a head. Feeling very proud of myself when I finished. Mainly happy that I was definitely over whatever stopped the running the week before.
I ran 14K, which is the longest I've ever ran, but it did sow some doubts in my mind, because two weeks ago I ran 90 mins and I ran 13K, I just assumed I ran at a slower pace (which I did intentionally try to do)
About 2 hours after the run I was at home sitting down and it just dawned on me, 105mins = 1:45! I actually felt pretty good after the run, could have easily done the additional 10 minutes. My feeling of pride legit turned a bit sour despite being my longest run for making such a simple mistake. GARRRGGHH!
Next Saturday is a shorter progression run so I can't even make amends for it!
Sunday: Nothing today so far, might play tennis later
Summary: 41.3K for the week. Happy to be back at it again, new longest run and the most distance I've ever ran in a week. That 14K is 2/3 of my half marathon, so slowly getting up there.
Moved to new runners, Asics Novablast 2 and I am noticing a difference in them. They are way more cushioned to what I was used to. They came at an awkward time to really tell the difference as I got them when I was feeling sick so I didn't have a great day to day comparison with them. I feel way better today than I did after my 13k run two weeks ago, my legs and feet were pretty sore after that, im not sure if thats all the shoes or the fact it was a hillier route, or maybe that I was already starting to feel sick.
14 weeks done, 8 weeks to go, getting real now...
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Week 15 - May 15th
Weight: 92.5Kg after the run on Saturday. Decent food week this week, since I started running 5 times a week I'm finding it a little harder to get the balance of how much to eat!
Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) - Easy 35 mins, ( 45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:24 Don't really remember this run, seems fast though!
Tuesday: G.C - Speed Repeats - Went ok, find the faster tempo fairly hard but was able to do them, but I took a couple of walk breaks at the slower parts. First 3 were 5 minutes long, then the last 5 or 6 were at a faster pace , but only were 30 seconds or something, found these kind of hard to judge what speed I should be going.
Played tennis in the evening, was good for the first hour but I really hit the wall after that.
Wednesday: G.C - Easy 35 mins, (45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:32 Don't really remember this run either
Thursday: G.C. - Progression Run - This was scheduled for Saturday, but it doesn't really gel well with going out with the run group on Saturday so I just swapped them around. Again, faster pace a little bit of a struggle was meant to run 10mins @ 5:00/km ish, I could only do 9 mins though.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: G.C. - Run easy for 35 mins, (45 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:18 . Was meant to do 45 mins but there was a person doing 5 miles so I decided to join in with them which ended up being a 50 min run. We did the first 4k at easier pace but picked it up a bit on the way back. I felt good doing it though.
Sunday: Jobs around the house, so kind of rest.
Summary: 37.6K for the week. Decent week. Am a little bit curious/wondering if my 2:00 goal is achievable. I dont think I'll have any issues with the distance, but i do find the faster pace stuff hard, and its hard to image running the distance at a decent bit faster than my easy pace. Still a bit of time left so I won't throw in the towel on the goal yet, but im not sure if its realistic
1 -
Week 15 - May 15th
Weight: 92.7Kg earlier in the week, didn't weigh myself yesterday. Food was pretty average this week. Was back in the office this week so it makes things more challenging
Monday: Garmin Coach (G.C.) - Easy 40 mins, ( 50 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:34 All good
Tuesday: G.C - Progression Run - Easy 30 with 10 mins fast- A repeat of Thursday's run from last week that, got it done this time though. 10 mins of 5:06 pace
Wednesday: G.C - Easy 40 mins, (50 mins inc warm up & down) @ 6:29 - 50 minute runs are the new 45 I guess! I really don't remember these "short" runs anymore (wouldn't have said they were short before I started this log!)
Also walked at lunch time (not sure the distance, but a decent enough walk) and played tennis in the evening.
Thursday: G.C. - Speed Repeats - 6 x 1min @ 4:50 pace, 6x 30 sec @ 4:10 - Quickly becoming my least favorite type of run! I find it difficult to find the correct pace and by the time I do, the repeat is over (especially the very fast 30 second ones). I'm sure I'll get more used to, but it I'm relying on the watch and it just feels like its a constant bounce between "too fast", "too slow". The run went ok, needed to walk some of the in between intervals.
Friday: Rest, except I'm helping my wife build a hen house so it wasn't very restful!
Saturday: G.C. - Run easy for 95 mins, (105 mins inc warm up & down) - 16Km @ 6:39 . Was happy to have chance to make up for my mistake a couple of weeks ago!
Ran 6k before the run group showed up. Did about 4K with some people and then did the last 6K on my own again. It was fairly warm, but a lovely day for a run.
16K is a new record distance for me but still felt like I could have done another 5K if I had to, which gives me confidence for the half. Although when I did stop my legs felt a little bit like jelly, but they felt fine when I was running.
My reward for all this effort, more hen house :D
Sunday: Plan is more hen house, followed by a bit of tennis (its an open day, so I can't imagine I'll be actually playing much)
Summary: 47.2K for the week. New record for distance in a week. I definitely prefer the longer slow runs over the speed sessions, but I did enjoy the progression run on Tuesday. Next saturday is a progression run after 1 hour of running so we'll see what thats like. Still very unsure about the pace. I feel like I can do the 21K at the easy pace ok, but the thought of doing that for 1 minute faster per km just seems too far
One thing I don't like about the Garmin plans is I can't see more than a week out. Like in two weeks I have hell and back on the Saturday, but I won't know what I'm missing til next week.
It's only 6 weeks til the race now, so 5 Saturdays left between now and then, two of which I'm at races, when I lay it out like this, it seems very close!
- 3rd of June - 85 min progression run
- 10th of June - Hell and back
- 17th of June - Athlone 10 mile race
- 24th of June
- 1st July
- 8th July - Kilkee
5 -
Week 17 - May 28th (looks like I forgot to update these last week!)
Unfortunately nothing for running as I am/was injured, kind of.
I actually forgot about it when I was writing the log for last week, but when I was running on the Saturday, I could feel a bit of a dull pain at the bottom of my left calf, didn't really feel like a muscle strain, but more like something digging into me. I was only doing a 6k loop to start with so I said I'd see how it felt, and after 3k or so, the issue was completely gone
After my log, I went to that tennis open day and even just walking around I could feel it a bit again.
Monday: I was feeling ok, got up, did my stretches, went out and as soon as I started running I could feel it again, so I just went back home without doing anything. Not a strong pain at all, but I just didn't want to make anything worse.
Tuesday: did a few KM of walking, could feel it a little still
Wednesday: Feeling fine in the morning, went to go out again and similar to monday, could feel it almost immediately so I gave up on the run and just walked 4k instead.
Rang the Physio and got an appointment for Saturday.
At this point I've self diagnosed myself as having an achillies tendon issue. The risk factors of it read like a biography of my life and the symptoms match up
Thursday: I'm not even going to chance running til I see the physio. 4k walk, don't remember how I felt
Friday: Feeling fine again. Walk for 4k, but the feeling comes back about 2k in. It's not sore to walk through or anything
Saturday: Go to the physio and after some checking he confirms my Dr google diagnosis that it achillies tendonitis, but it seems to be pretty mild. He got me to do some activities and motions to strain it, like jumping and heel raises, but I didn't feel any issues with it. He then did some stretches on my ankle and I couldn't feel anything either, but when he did a pinch type thing on my heel I could feel it was a lot worse on my left than my right.
I actually forgot to ask am I ok to go running again now (Such an obvious question to ask, but I just didn't think of it!) , but I mentioned that I had a few races coming up, including hell and back next weekend and he said he didn't think there would be any issue doing it. I was kind of feering the worst of being out for weeks, so it caught me by surprise.
I even mentioned that I wouldn't be super disappointed if I had to miss the next two weekends, that my main goal was the half marathon and he still said I should be fine. He said it's a chronic thing that probably building up for a while so I just need to do some specific excercises to build up the tendon.
So my homework is:
- 4 sets of 12 eccentric heel drops per day
- As many calf stretches as I can fit into a day (I think was his basic gist of that quantity!)
Weight: 92Kg earlier in the week. Since I wasn't fueling for anything or eating for recovery, I decided I could be a bit more aggressive with my food intake. I also felt like if I was going to be injured for a while (which thankfully it doesn't seem to be the case), the best way I can help myself with the half is loose more weight
Summary: 0K for the week. My first week since the start of February where I didn't run at least 3 times, kind of sad to lose this streak, but I wanted to err on the side of caution.
At this point, I'm not sure what to do with my Garmin training plan. I'm after missing a full week of training and I'm not sure speed sessions are a good idea at the moment. I also really don't care about my time in the half marathon. Would sub 2 be nice?, sure, but it's just an arbitrary number, I have no PBs to beat. Just doing it is my main goal
My plan for next week is to start small and slow and build back into it. Hell and back is pretty stop and starty waiting for obstacles so I don't think it will be too much issue from a run point of view so we'll see how it goes. I can see how I'm feeling after that
- 10th of June - Hell and back
- 17th of June - Athlone 10 mile race
- 24th of June
- 1st July
- 8th July - Kilkee
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Hopefully nothing will come of the achilles pain. Have you a foam roller? Foam rolling my calf helps my achilles. I’d say do a couple of easy runs and see how you are after them for a start anyway.
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