Positive Vibes. Negative Splits.

Swashbuckler wrote: »

That's a super weeks running lad. Two big sessions there.

Its good to see more logs active again! So inspired by all of you I've resurrected my log. I had been considering starting a new log but for continuity I think its better to keep this one going. So what's been happening since I last logged here? From a running point of view my last post has a hint to what happened. Too fast, too hilly, and too much of an increase in load on that 20km run. The following week I had a very sore left achillies. I've had previous history with achillies issues, during the build up to DCM '16 I had quite a severe achillies injury. 18 months struggling with more downs than ups. That time I ended up getting ESWT because I wasn't responding to the rehab. I actually thought this time around initially it was just as bad. But thankfully it seems not to be the case.

For April, May and June I was still running two steps forward then one back. I was cycling on an old mountain bike too but I hated it. It actually helped things so I guess not all bad. It also have me an opportunity to explore the mountains more too which I really enjoyed. Normally running takes up most my free time. During this time as well as the achillies issue, the problem with flare ups in the soles of my feet was happening now and again. That was the injury that first happened in the summer of 2020. It flare ups time to time every since. Particularly if I'm doing sessions in carbon plated shoes.

July was actually a good month, just over 300km of running only. So no more cycling. All easy miles. But I never seem to learn from my mistakes. I was down with the inlaws in Achill for the August Bank Holiday weekend and went for a long, hilly, and too fast run. I ended up having another set back with my achillies. I couldn't face going back cycling but continued the rehab and racked up 160km for August. September things started to improve towards the end of the month I started doing very light progression runs. I managed just over 190km for the month. October saw me reintroduce sessions again once a week and 240km for the month.

November my life changed forever with me becoming a father for the first time. From a running point of view it was a great month too. Almost 285km and consistency with sessions too. I've been keeping all my running very local and mainly on very flat and light gravel trail so I think that helps the body. I do miss heading out on the hilly roads it has to be said... December so far has been much of the same but I'm back at work so trying to find the balance with everything has been much harder. I said to myself if I can get 50km a week with one session and one 10 mile run until things settle then it's a good week.

So what's the plan? Well covid and injuries aside I've registered for a local 10km in mid February. It won't be pretty but that's the short term goal. It will probably be a rank day on open and hilly course so I'm not setting the bar too high. After that I want to target longer races. I'd also like to do a 5km time trial in January to get a better picture of where I am fitness wise. So that's basically what I've been up too since I last posted here. I should also add I'm not been coached at the moment. Because I can't commit to a plan or to group training at the moment is the main reason. 

Its a shock to the system for some one who was used to 8 to 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep 🤣 Thanks for the offer but I'll probably keep all races local in spring

This week

Monday: Easy 50 minutes

I had the morning of work but still short enough on time I had planned 60 minutes 10.56km @4:48/km or 7:40ish/mile

Tuesday: 3x1km, 4x400, 3x1km with 1 minute rest on everything

Warm up 3km I hadn't much time for drills and activations.

3x1km tempo - thresy 3:48, 3:46, 3:46

4x400 76, 73, 73, 73

3x1km progression thresy - 10k 3:44, 3:38, 3:36

Nice evening for a session. I completely overshot the 400s I was aiming for 77s but I really enjoyed running that fast if I'm honest. That was my first time running fast in a long time with the exception of max 30 seconds hills or strides. I could feel those 400s in the the last 3x1km. Around 2km cool down

Wednesday: Easy/Recovery 50 minutes

Heavy legs after yesterday's 400s. 9.52km @ 5:19/km or 8:32/mile 50 minutes is probably 10 minutes too long for a recovery run.

Thursday: Easy 50 minutes with 4x20 strides included.

I was called into work the night before this run as if I don't have enough sleepless nights so I did this in the morning before I went into work again. I was quite tired to be fair. I still had those 400s in my legs but the strides helped alot. I was feeling really good on the last mile home after the strides. 10.29km @4:55/km or 7:52/mile

Friday: 8km Tempo

3km warm up again not much time for drills and activations. 8km in 30:38 or an average pace of around 3:49/km or close to 6:08/mile. I was feeling quite good during this session. Working but not very hard if I'm honest. A few drags up and down on the route so it's quite a honest route for tempo. No wind at all so that always makes it easier. 2km cool down.

Saturday: Rest day

But not really.

Sunday: Easy 10 miles

16.13km @4:50/km or 7:44/mile. I could have gone longer today and my long run will be my weak point for the next while but this week I got out 6 days instead of the usual 5 which I've been doing the past month. So I didn't want to bump the weekly mileage too much.

Next week the plan was to be either 4-5 x1mile close to 10km pace or possibly 6-8 x1km I was thinking the ks. Both are big sessions but the mileage should be down next week a good bit. Then I see I can go to a walk in Vaccine centre so I might try that which will mean no session or maybe some turnover stuff later in the week. On St Stephens there's a untimed 5km fun run here on a pig of a route which I hope to run hard but not 5k hard effort more like a bit harder than thresy effort. Saying that it might be recovery pace. Also mile paces I post here are guesstimates so not as accurate as pace per k

Happy Christmas.

Thanks A. I appreciate it. This week my plan to go to walk in vaccine centre fell through. So business as normal Monday and Tuesday.

Monday

Easy 50' minutes with 4x 12 seconds hills included. 10.2km @4:56/km or 7:56/mi

I was quite tried before this run. My legs were fine but energy levels low. Towards the end I was feeling better and then the hills seemed to give me a good lift.

Tuesday

8x3 minutes with 90 seconds shuffle recovery.

I had said last week maybe 6-8×1km or 4-5 x1mile at 10km pace but after feeling tired yesterday I thought it would be too taxing even though I was feeling good today. So I decided for shorter reps and more recoveries but still getting good distance and keep the quality up. Warm up 3km with some activations and drills.Then into 8x3 minutes averaging 3:34.5/km or 5:45/mile. The first one was the slowest at 3:37/km and the fastest 3:33/km but they were all pretty smooth. It was calm enough evening during the warm up but a cold Eastern breeze picked up as the session went on so I kept on my long sleeves and gloves. After 1 minute shuffle recovery on each rep I was feeling like I was good to go again but I kept the recovery at 90 seconds. In and out route on a fairly flat strech but running into that cold headwind particularly on rep 5 and 7 was noticeable. Again like last weeks tempo I was feeling quite good and more so as the session went on. 3km cool down afterwards with just over 14km in total

I think doing sessions in time rather than distance is probably better road runners but prefer distance, it probably comes from doing group sessions on the track. I was considering doing 8x800 but with the 3 minutes distance it worked about at around 830-840 metres. Looking at a DTC insta video of the whole crew doing their drills together has me missing the track and the crew. I always feel like a eegit doing the drills and activations on the side of the road.

Wednesday

I had today scheduled as a rest day as I had too much on in the evening. TBH I was glad I did because I didn't get much sleep last night. 

Thursday

Easy 60 minutes 12km @ 5:01/km or 8:04/mile

This run was after dinner so I was feeling sluggish and full. But I think not having a recovery run yesterday didn't help either. I normally find a doing 30-40 minutes recovery run the day after a hard session helps the legs for the rest of the week.

Friday - Christmas eve

Easy 60 minutes again 12.8km @ 4:47/km or 7:42/mi

Got out later than planned so headlight on for a wet run in the forest. I was feeling much better today.

Saturday - Christmas day

Rest day

Sunday - St. Stephens Day

5km Fun Run

Perfect conditions during the warm up of around 4km on my own but it started lashing before the run. Thankfully the wind wasn't too bad. Good to catch up with club mates and the whipper snappers from the track too. It's a non timed run with donations to the cancer section in our hospital. The aim was to average around 3:40/km or 5:54/mi for the run which I'm hoping will be close to my 10km pace in a few months. The 1st km is a quick down hill followed by 2km climbing. It's probably too steep of a climb if you were racing for time but not if you're racing for a place then it's a good hard one. The 4th km is flat but you're only coming around after the 2km up hill. The last km is down hill again with some sharpe bends near the finish to stop you sprinting. I actually never use this route for sessions even though it goes by my house. Most the young crew were running it as a tempo so I was happy to hold on with them. It was a quick but controlled 1st and last km but the other 3km were dialled back alot. My time was 18:19 with a 3:39km average or 5:52/mi and 5th overall. The top two men were 16:10 and 16:20. It was a very good session and a nice confidence booster as I wasn't beat up after it and particularly this evening which is often the case after a solid session. I wore my next % so that helps the recovery too. I did another 5km cool down catching up with everyone.

64km or 39.7miles in total this week down 9.5km on last week. But last week was up on previous weeks average. I'm not sure what's the story with next week. Lots of people isolating at work so it will probably be a busy one. Enjoy the Christmas those of you who get a break.

Thanks TBL. Just a mid week update.

Monday

Easy 60' minutes 

12.8km @4:45/km or 7:39/mi

No issues in with the legs after yesterday's run. Actually a bit of a spring in my step if I'm honest. I was thinking during this run. Even though the past 18 months were rough enough from a running point of view. Running a 18:19 5km on a hard course without racing it is pretty decent. Coincidentally my first race report on this log was a 18:20 on a good course. I know I'm always overly optimistic but if I actually trained for a 5k I think I'd knock over a minute of that time in 8-10 weeks no problem. I said in another post here I hope to run a 5k TT in January to see where I am. Ideally it would be on a parkrun but I can't see that happening. I'm going to set a target of 17:35 for that now training of 10k stuff.

I got my booster after this run today. Hopefully I don't get any bad reaction to it.

Tuesday

50 minutes easy plus 4x 10 seconds hills

11.23km @4:56/km or 7:56/mi

If I didn't get my booster yesterday today was to be a broken tempo of 6×1km with 45 seconds jog recovery. I was feeling fine after the booster but I gave it 24 hours before running.

Wednesday

Broken tempo 6x1km with 60 seconds jog recovery plus 6x20 seconds with 40 seconds off recovery

Very mild this evening short sleeves, no gloves, slight breeze. Perfect for a session. Warm up 3km plus the activations and drills. 1st rep good 3:48 and a nice chilled 1 minute recovery jog back at near 6:00/km into the 2nd rep. Going good until 500mts and I feel the tendon from my big toe on my left foot tightening up a few meters further a sharpe pain in the centreof of sole. Same **** again. I hobbled another few meters curling my toes back and stopped. I did some stretches on it and then continued on before stopping again at the end of the rep with some discomfort. More stretches then a 2km jog home where it was okay again.

When I got home I was fairly down about it. Its such a frustrating injury. Stretching it and so on I may have aggravated more unfortunately because going to bed I was aware of it with a dull pain. I think I ate my weight in Heroes sweets this evening feeling sorry for myself. Ahhhhhh shite just when things started looking good again. I'll take a few days off and continue with the rehab on it. I can't blame the carbon plated shoes I was wearing the fuelcell rebel v2. I wish I took today off and waited until Thursday or Friday after that 5km

2768km for 2021, my lowest in some years. The past 3 months things were looking good. 2022 is looking similar to the past 18 months

After the previous weeks downer things were looking up this week...

Monday

Rest day

No issues today. Feeling good.

Tuesday

40 minutes easy 

8.45km @ 4:48/km or 7:43/mile

No problems on this run. 40 minutes was the maximum I was planning today. Loops in the forest with no headlight. I hadn't planned on going into forest but it was pelting hailstones for the most part of this run so trying to get some shelter. First time wearing tights this winter! I ran a bit faster than I'd like but I was trying to stay warm.

Wednesday

50 minutes easy

10.32km @ 4:53/km or 7:52/mile

Again no problems on this run. 50 minutes was the maximum planned today. Back to the shorts again!

Thursday

45 minutes easy

9.5km @ 4:48/km or 7:43/mile

I originally had today as a rest day but I had other commitments on Friday so I swapped days. It would have been better to take today off but I was confident after the previous two days. Again 50 minutes was the maximum. At the 9km mark I noticed my foot getting sore so I left it at 45 minutes. It was fairly mild flare up but better safe than sorry for the sake of 5 minutes. No pain after the run.

Friday

Rest day.

No problems today. Feeling good.

Saturday

70 minutes easy

15km @ 4:41/km or 7:32/mile

I was going to run loops of the forest again but after one loop I went out on the road. A few hills on this route compared to the flat forest trail. I had 70 minutes maximum planned for this run but I probably could have went further today without any issues. All good.

Sunday

Easy 50 minutes

10.47km @ 4:50/km or 7:47/mile

I didn't get out until evening. Around town with a few hills on the route. No problems again.

Weekly distance 53.7km (4 hours 17 minutes)

After last week's pessimism I'm delighted how that week went. I'm pretty confident it's a flare up of my old injury not PF. There is no stiffness in the morning and it's responding well to doing the old rehab routine. Running in firmer runners help too. If this week goes good I hope to add 6-8x800 or 6-8x3 minutes tempo with 1 minute recovery later in the week. If it flares up again I'll be keeping it easy or rest depending.

2022 Goals

I never wrote down my goals for 2022. I've only ran one 10 miles race in my life. I've a soft PB of 64:04 in 2016, can you call it a PB after one race? Anyway I want to target that distance. Hopefully I'll get to race it a few times and get a sub 60 PB. Maybe target Roscomon in the summer if it goes ahead or another Midland s10 miler. I definitely want to target more 10km races too. I've a PB of 35:56 in 10km races but I've never really targeted that distance in the past 5 years. Again I'll be aiming to PB in a 10km too. Although I admit I've a long way to go there. I had alluded to a desire to race a half and push on for a full marathon, but I've had a rough 18 months with injuries so my annual mileage has been down the past 2 years. So with that in mind I'm mindful of pushing on with the mileage for big distance races like a half or full marathon. I think I'd like to have 2000 miles in the legs fairly consistently so I can truly target those distances with confidence. Parenthood brings new challenges to balance running and everything else to that also plays a factor into goals but I'm hoping to change my job this year too where I won't be working 60 hour weeks. So that should help the balance.

So in short my running goals/targets for 2022

10mile race(s) and a sub 60 PB

10km races targeting sub 36

Run 3200+km