Once in a Lifetime....for now

skyblue46 · 13-01-2022 9:18pm

Thanks for all the sympathy ☺

An update...I went to the osteopath today and predictably enough there is a lot to be done with my lower back with an eye to eliminating the risk of succumbing to the types of injuries I have been getting. Perhaps equally predictable is the fact that until the tendinopathy heals there is very little that can be done. He has asked me to stay away from all exercise for another month whilst going for a couple of deep soft tissue massage and acupuncture sessions. That's sooo not my thing but it's worth a go and I have an appointment booked for Saturday.

Overall a bit disappointing but not to worry, I'll be back 😁 I'll use the month ahead to top up my already substantial fat reserves with an eye to then getting the chance to try out the new Craft CTM Ultras I bought last night. Yes, I was feeling optimistic 🤣🤣

Murph_D · 13-01-2022 10:35pm

Ah no, sorry to see this. Hope you can get to the bottom of it. You’ve been very unlucky, especially considering the informed approach you’ve always taken to training.

skyblue46 · 13-01-2022 11:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118470603#Comment_118470603

Thanks D. Ah I will get to the bottom of it I'm sure. To be honest it's the performances of yourself/ TbL/ AMK and your pal C which help me not to give up. All of ye have been putting in performances which put most others to shame and serve as proper motivation.

skyblue46 · 23-01-2022 5:53pm

Nothing much to report but in the interests of my efforts to keep the log going I will log about nothing much!

As I mentioned in my last log entry I was a little bit disappointed to be told not to run for another month. I had felt that while I was still a million miles from being able to run regularly that there might have been enough improvement to allow some small return to running. I went for acupuncture and a very fookin deep massage on my lower back and the belly of the hamstring. As the week went on I began to doubt more and more that the month off is absolutely necessary. By Thursday I was at breaking point and made a call to my regular physio (never a good thing to have a regular physio 😆) begging for an appointment. I'm not sure if it was the sound of my sobbing down the line but she agreed to fit me in the following day. So to cut a long story short I went, she agrees that I have made progress but cautioned that the progress was made by resting and that I had seen progress slow at different times when I ran and when I increased the rehabilitation exercises. At the end she agreed to a very cautious return to some running but with an emphasis on rest. I can start running but only every 4th day. The pattern is run/walk, rest day, exercises and walk, rest day. If ever there were baby steps.....🤣

Today I jogged/walked. 15*90 secs on/off. There were a few paranoid moments early on but it went OK. The plan as such is to keep the total duration to 30 mins while gradually working towards jogging for the whole 30 mins. Rome wasn't built in a day but I'd say it was built quicker than it will take me to get back to racing 🙈

skyblue46 · 25-02-2022 7:12pm

Time to update the record. 🙈

So I lasted 3 short runs pain free before the knee became too sore to run on within a few metres of starting my 4th day 🤣 I made yet another visit to the physio who was fairly sure that a tight and underused quad was the issue. After a very deep massage of the tight spot and a few exercises to do I was given the go ahead to try a few runs increasing from 10 to 20 mins over a few runs. All went well pain wise. The plan was to then do a run every second day of 20 mins and a 'long' run of 40 mins. I was to increase the short runs by 5 mins every week and the long by 10. This week I have done my couple of 25 min runs and hope to do a 50 tomorrow.

The positives so far? I have run 8 times without any issues during the run. If all I can ever do is run every couple of days I will be happy with at least being able to do this. I miss running when I'm out of action.

The negatives? 6 months of relative inaction has my fitness at the lowest point ever. My first 20 minute run nearly killed me. Hardly surprising when I realised I was running at somewhere between my 5 and 10k heart rate at what I would have considered an easy pace 😂😂 Cue my runs now having large portions at over 10 min/mile pace to try to keep some control of HR. The return to running has also reminded me that the tendinopathy is not healed. Its just there in the background but is a reminder not to get carried away with pace until it is gone. There's also the small issue of 6kg to sort out...👀🍺🍺

skyblue46 · 14-08-2022 9:09pm

Hmmm....nearly 6 months. Unsurprisingly there was another setback but for the last 3 months the injuries have pretty much settled. I wouldn't be trying any hard efforts as the glute can still send me little reminders.

The positives....a 200 mile month, 6 weeks hovering around 50 miles and a 14 mile run today, my longest in almost 15 months.

I'm not expecting to be logging much of interest to many for the foreseeable as I have no intention to race until 2023 but I kinda feel I should be posting in order to earn the right to comment on other logs 🤣

There's a few pairs of runners that I intend to get over the coming weeks so I suppose I could do some shoe reviews for the few not entralled to Nike. The Saucony Tempus, Puma Deviate Nitro 2 and the Asics Magic Speed 2 are all of interest to me....the latter two because I really like version 1 and the new ones are meant to be serious upgrades. The Tempus is of interest because I would like to get a non plated shoe for long runs and the concept of performance foams with an eye towards stability is catching my eye.

Training for the next while will be a mix of vanilla easy days, EIM and some fairly bog standard speed endurance sessions. The plan is to slowly replace vanilla with EIM. Paces where needed are based on a fairly randomly picked idea that I could run 43.30 for 10k right now 😂🫣

Kellygirl · 14-08-2022 9:31pm

I was delighted to see that 14 miler on Strava. Hope you stay injury free now. Enjoy the runner trials.

skyblue46 · 21-08-2022 9:19pm

This is the first update on actual running in a hell of a long time! 🙈

Monday 15th: 4.4 miles @ 9:34. Monday is shuffle day. Down and around DCU

Tuesday 16th: EIM mixed run. 5*400, 5*200 and 5*30 Hill strides. Nice comfortable paces and huge walk/jog recoveries as is the EIM way.

Wednesday 17th: EIM 6*1k. A hugely confidence building run. Paces have really improved on these recently. It's a good barometer as they are done at a sub threshold HR. The route around DCU did me a few favours but an average of 4:12 per km at that heart rate left me buoyed up.

Thursday 18th: 7.7 miles @ 8:39. I obviously enjoy these cooler conditions as the HR on this was in the recovery range 🤔

Friday 19th: 3.3 miles recovery around the fields in ALSAA

Saturday 20th: My plan had me doing 3*10 mins at HMP (a notional 7:22) but I knew D and E were doing the FD10 so decided on a change. New plan was to hang with them at 7:06 pace for a while or until I died. I jumped out of the bushes a half mile into the race and ran with them until the 5 mile mark before turning off to head back to the car for a dry shirt. Ran it at 7:04 and didn't feel bad at all. Warmup, run and c/d brought it to 10 miles. D seems to be very strong right now, a very good omen for his transatlantic trip. E is training really well right now and her run will bring her on big time.

Sunday 21st: 13.1 miles @ 8:38. I was up at 4am to do a bit of overtime this morning. Finished at 10, changed in work and hit the roads. The sun came out and I got to try a new route which was very enjoyable. I only kept HR on the watch screen to make sure it was a genuinely easy run. The only downside was that for the second time my Craft CTM shoes got very uncomfortable after 8 miles. I'm really looking forward to trying the Saucony Tempus which are currently in my local DPD depot 😁

Laineyfrecks · 21-08-2022 9:34pm

Nice week S, you are doing really well with your training which is great to see. Thanks a mill for continuing to mentor me when many a person would have given up😂

Murph_D · 21-08-2022 9:45pm

Great to see you moving so well yesterday!

MisterJinx · 22-08-2022 9:39am

Well one S, great to see that the approach is still working and that it's all falling back into place for you. Patience really won the race

ariana` · 22-08-2022 10:16am

Great to see you getting a consistent run at it again Sean and nothing shabby about the comeback paces either, delighted for you! Good luck with the Tempus. I for one will be looking forward to reading your shoe reviews - I'd say Nike have some serious competition going by the number of Asics, in particular, and other brands, on show at the start of the Men's and Women's marathons at the Euros.

Swashbuckler · 22-08-2022 10:59am

Great stuff S. Good to see the consistency back again. Only a matter of time bfore we see you prancing around Dublin in bright orange Alphafly.

Mr. Guappa · 22-08-2022 12:35pm

Great to see that things are pointed in a positive direction for you S. Repeated setbacks are so frustrating (to put it mildly) but they do lead to a greater appreciation for those moments when the going is good.

skyblue46 · 24-08-2022 2:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504168#Comment_119504168

I can't say that patience was a thing at any point. There just wasn't the option of trying to push things too fast. To be honest I'm still not comfortable with the idea of pushing the boat out 🤣

skyblue46 · 24-08-2022 2:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504285#Comment_119504285

I did notice that at the Euros. Sadly it doesn't seem to be reflected on the roads. At the FD10 I didn't see even one pair of Endorphin, Metaspeeds, Adios Pro, RC Elite or any other brand of supershoe as I ran the few miles I managed. Perhaps the new Endorphin Pro 3 will change that as many of the top reviewers have found it to be better than the VF.

skyblue46 · 24-08-2022 2:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504505#Comment_119504505

This will be happening on the very same day as hell is covered in a glimmering sheet of ice 🙄

skyblue46 · 24-08-2022 2:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119504928#Comment_119504928

True A ... I'm sure it will take a while for the feeling that there is impending disaster around the corner to fade away though 🫣

skyblue46 · 06-11-2022 9:02pm

So here we are again! This time I will keep it going. To be honest I felt that continuing the log of someone plodding along with training while everyone else prepared for DCM and other target races was a pretty pointless exercise.

Truth be told I'm at a crossroads right now but there is only one road I will take.

The good....a gradual increase in mileage to a point where I have levelled it off. The long road began with 8 miles in January, 28 in Feb, then 69, 80, 127 and 137 over the next 4 months. July to October have gotten back to where I want to be in terms of miles with all exceeding 200 miles. An improved diet has led to the shedding of some weight too.

The less good...there is a bit of work to be done to ramp things up a bit. My weekly/monthly running tends to average out at about 60-65% of HRR but the paces have stagnated a bit. This is no doubt caused by my fear of taking on tougher sessions which would add some stimulus. I'm now averaging 8:22 pace at 59% HRR but have been stuck there for a couple of months. I'm not too worried about that as it represents the best numbers I have had since starting this running lark a bit over 5 years ago. Pints are still my achilles heel 🤣

So back to the crossroads I mentioned....well I can train away as I am with very little injury risk or I can decide that the M55 me can beat PBs the M50 me set. That decision has been made so I want at least 2 PBs next year 😁

Monday 31st: 5 easy miles with the head still busting from McGrattan excess. Kinda ashamed to say I was still downing pints long after Swashbuckler was back in Limerick and in a very deep sleep. The company (guardianship) of the outgoing novices mentor was much appreciated 🤣

Tuesday 1st: 6.66 miles comprised of 4*EIM 1k with w/u and c/d

Wednesday 2nd: 6.5 miles easy. Decided to bring the phone to get a pic of a very autumnal Griffith Avenue. It got me thinking and I have decided to try to take a pic on every run and put it up on Strava. They may just be landscape but it's already making me think up a different route or two to take.

Thursday 3rd: 7.6 miles. 15 mins tempo, 10 threshold and 5 CV. All good except for a few twinges after the faster paces. Pic of the day: Richard McKee Memorial in Finglas alongside a pic of De Valera unveiling the same monument in 1951.

Friday 4th: 7.5 miles easy. Pics of the day: Graffiti on the walls outside Dalymount Park. I'm still a Bohs fan but not to the extent as I was in the 80's when I rarely missed a home game.

Saturday 5th: 10k progressive steady. Along the canal to Ashtown and back. The eldest messaged me at 1.30 to say he was in the Gravediggers and to ask if I wanted to meet him and a few friends for a pint. I was just back from the physio and hadn't gotten my run done. Quick change, drive to the pub to drop the car, run for 50 mins and then indulge in one creamy pint. Pics of the day: One of Dublin's most iconic pubs and the best pint in Ireland 😋

Sunday 6th: 14 miles easy. Over to the park for this. I did the first 8 miles alone and then picked up a lost waif for the remainder. A cracking if somewhat unnervingly warm morning. I tried out my new Magic Speed 2. They're a tempo shoe but were very comfortable. Unfortunately they were also making a very slappy noisy impact with the ground 😱 I really hope this lessens at faster paces. Pics of the day: the aforementioned shoes and the fantastically tasty breakfast blaa from the visitor centre café. Waif uncharacteristically had no leftovers and even ate cake afterwards. She must be running a calorie deficit since last week.

Swashbuckler · 06-11-2022 10:07pm

So pleased to see this log back.

AuldManKing · 06-11-2022 10:31pm

Not a mention of any crashing trees, lifesaving attempts, countless "thank you's" to lost waifs.....................hhhrrrrmmmppphh - need to up your Log game!

skyblue46 · 06-11-2022 10:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119842861#Comment_119842861

Very imaginative is that girl! Agreed though, an upping of the game is required even if it has no base in reality. 🤥 Anyway my eyes are on Comeback of the Year. I have no time for trivialities like Post of the Year 🤣🤣