Running away

July 17th - 23rd

Monday: An am run again, enjoy getting out before work now.

6 * 4' EIM reps @ 4:57, 4:47, 5:05, 4:53, 5:06, 5:10 - I use HR for these, happy with them, felt strong.

Tuesyday: Rest

Wed: 15 * 200s ranging between 50 & 53 seconds. I don't remember much about this.

Thurs: My only PM run this week. Drove a bit further to do my run away from the local park/river walk, I don't like running here in the evening during the Summer because of all the teenagers hanging out, I like it less now because I know all the teenagers and feel a bit uncomfortable, probably silly really. The route was a loop with quite a steep hill so I expected the reps to be pretty inconsistent but they weren't really, they just got progressively slower. I'd eaten too close to this - I do my morning runs on empty so felt very strange & quite uncomfortable running on a full stomach.

4 * 1k EIM reps @ 4:56, 5:07, 5:09, 5:10

Friday: Car service time so a different location again which was nice. P*ssing rain and legs a little tired so really tried to keep this proper easy using HR as a guide without being a slave to it.

12 * 1k easy, 50sec surge - 15.4KM @ 5:59min/km avg, 143bpm avg HR.

Sat: 30mins very easy incl 5 * 100m strides, 4.55km @ 6:36min/m avg, 137bpm avg HR. Before a lovely night away catching up with school friends, and consistently referring to things that happened 30 odd yrs ago as 20 yrs ago in our reminiscing... don't know where the years went.

Sun: Rest and a dip to clear the head! Very proud of myself for getting in in skins, water was actually lovely but getting in was mad, my heart was really thumping, had to really focus on the breathing to calm myself, the waves were quite big too which added to the fear a bit. Such respect for regular sea swimmers but also can really feel how therpeutic it is.

Week: 49km/31 miles for the week.

Happy with the week and building a nice bit of consistency albeit at low enough volume.

July 24th - 30th

Monday: EIM 10 * 400 or 1:45 in this case. Thought I had set this to 400m but clearly I hadn't, don't remember much about this, the route has some rolling hills which I blame for the inconsistent paces 😉

Paces were 4:42, :39, :39, :49, :39, :38, :41, :38, :37, :50

Tuesday: Very easy 55mins @ 6:26min/km

Wed: Nothing - migraine for most of the day 😥

Thurs: Planned to do EIM 1K reps but was feeling the hangover from the migraine so kept this very easy 65mins @ 6:31

Fri: EIM 5 * 1k reps @ 5:08, 4:55, 4:58, 5:01, 5:06

Sat: Tempo parkrun, 5k @ 4:59min/k

Sun: Mostly just sat in front of the TV watching the Nats.

Week: 30miles/48km

August 7th - 13th

Monday: Started this week with a lovely bank holiday monday run in the PP with the company of a very good friend and former fellow DCM novice. We did a 10k lap of the park and followed it up with a very long lingering breakfast sitting outside. Lovely morning passed. 10k easy @ 6min/k

Tuesday: Home again and back to the morning runs, 10 * 400m EIM. 400s were a bit all over the shop as usual with the rolling route, averaged 1:50.

Wednesday: 5 * 1k EIM @ 5:10, 5:06, 5:00, 5:05, 5:08

Thurs: Off

Friday: Easy with 5 * 100m strides, 6.6k @ 6min/m

Saturday: I was contemplating doing a hard parkrun as a bit of a fitness test but decided I'd see what time I woke up at as sleep has been very poor lately. I was awake at 6:30 so decided to get it done rather than waiting for parkrun. Wanted to 'test' the fitness a little bit so after some humming and hawing I settled on 10k at about HM effort... This was a sh*t show really, pace for the 10k was very dissappointing for the effort. Felt very disillusioned heading home and this was backed up by the metrics after the run synced up, the RE for a similar pace on the same route has climbed fairly dramatically since January. Spent the morning feeling sorry for myself with thoughts of why am I bothering to run at all... Distracted myself later in the day watching my son play his favourite sport. His lost by 1pt after coming back from being down by 2 05 in the first half. He played a blinder though, in a position he's not used too due to an injured player in the midfield, and along with his team never gave up. It is hard witnessing your kids' dissapointment but that is sport and life and I know he won't give up and I dare say neither shall I. 10miles with 10k @ 5:07min/k avg.

Week: 53k/33miles

Aug 21st-27th

Mon: bog standard 5 * 1k eim reps @ 5:05, 5:01, 5:01, 5:03, 5:05. Not sure why but i felt really good on these and was pleasantly surprised by even splits for a change - though my range for these is quite wide anyhow. 

Tues: Nothing. Long day in work and a trek to Galway in the evening to watch my son play in Pearse Stadium. I am normally the first to give out about the GAA but they do a good job of running all these underage cups and leagues giving every kid a chance to play with all the different divisions. This time he was playing u15 in a cup final, 48hours aftering winning an u13 shield final. Watching him play, 13 aside full pitch in a big stadium, covering all that ground, brought vividly to mind the Physio telling me when he was just 5 years old that he would have given up all sport by the age of 9 due to not being able to compete with his peers... Every year is a blessing because he loves it so much and puts his heart into it, and getting to lift a cup even once ("to win just once, that might be enough"), is just a massive bonus and a proud mum moment. On another level entirely I got home at about 11pm and sat and watched Ciara McGeean's final in Budapest and listened to all her post race interviews, she brought tears to my eyes, what a run she had, bittersweet I know but she did us so proud. What an inspiration and role model for all young sports people.

Wed: EIM 200m reps - woke up very tired and didn't feel like running at all but as usual ended up having a grand run, some sunshine too - win win.

Thurs: 5 * 1k eim reps @ 5:06, 5:01, 4:59, 4:57, 5:02 - again felt good, nice and light on my feet for these reps, again wearing the Gliderides, my favourite shoe for these 1k reps.

Fri: Nothing. Doing some fun stuff with the kids for the day instead.

Saturday: Another 5 * 1k reps but this time I jogged all the recoveries instead of the usual short walks breaks prescribed, so this was a bit nippier overall. Reps were @ 5:06, 4:55, 5:01, 4:54, 4:55.

Sunday: Easy with 5 * 100m thrown in to keep me awake - on a day that should have been my auld fella's 80th birthday, hard to imagine when someone is so long gone, much more than half my life now (27+ years), what it would be like if they were still around, what would they make of all the shenanigans since then?! There wasn't even mobile phones then, much to my kids shock! I remember clear as day driving around in a neighbours car trying to locate my siblings on that fateful Saturday night, the only one of us who wasn't out socialising. "It's just mad Ted."

Week: 50km/31.1miles

A race next week all going well. No clue really what I expect but at least test the (base) fitness, hopefully it will carry me through and it won't be a miserable experience.

August 28th - Sept 3rd

Monday/Tuesday: I was away for a short break, no running kit but lots of walking

Wednesday: Another year older and feeling every day of it lately! Flew in at 8:10am and back at the desk by 8:50am. Tired and a long day catching up after being off for a lovely few days. A very easy 5k with some friends in the evening before a busy night with kids sports.

Thursday: Back to school madness. Thought I'd run in the evening but working late and then young lad had a match and then it was too dark - need to dig out the Winter running kit again 😕

Friday: Again no run. A very long day in work, very stressful there at the moment and for the last while.

Saturday: 5miles easy with a few surges, enjoyed this, just being out on a quiet morning, country roads.

Sunday: 10m race.

Not really sure how much I want to dwell on this, certainly not my finest innings but to be honest I went into it with a fairly negative mindset. I haven't been in great form recently, lots of anxiety, insomnia, headaches, migraines... A combination of life busyness and the joys of midlife hormones (or lack of hormones) perhaps. Trying to get on top of it but for now it is still getting on top of me. So those are the excuses! I set off good and early.Travelling on my own for a change but was glad to be able belt out a few tunes in the car. Parked up, picked up my number, used the facilities, sat in the car for 20mins, did a nice 3k warm up, used the facilities again, changed my runners (wore the endorphin pro 2 for the race), did some dynamic stretches and headed to the start line - got chatting to a lovely bubbly girl who was worried about being last and before we knew it we were off. I ran just under 80mins here previously and for some reason assumed I could/would do the same again, or similar enough - so set off about that pace, well a tad faster actually 🙄 First 2 km were grand (4:47, 4:57), 3-4k (4:51, 4:50) started to wonder if i could hold the pace, 5-6k (4:48, 5:02) kind of knew I couldn't hold the pace but clung on, 7th k (5:15) dropped off the pace, 8th k (5:03) clawed the pace back, 9-10k (5:29, 5:20) gave up the ghost, 11-16.1k (5:18, 5:13, 5:18, 5:13, 5:13) just tried to stay running and not give in to the desire to stop & walk. I was fairly isolated from about 8k-14k and then suddenly out of nowhere there were loads of runners around me again and strangely I was passing them out - I don't know where they came from but I eventually copped that they would have been the 60+ minute 10k runners so it made sense that even @ 5:15 pace I was passing them but it gave me a little lift all the same to have some life around me again and I tried to encourage anyone I passed which distracted me from my own torment. I had a lovely friend at about 15.5km and also got a call out from the annoucer and from @ReeReeG at the finish line so that all helped me over the line. I squeezed in just under 83 mins - 1:22:58, exactly 3mins slower than previously. After I finished I chatted briefly to a couple of people at the finish line and then headed back to the 15.5k to see my friend who was waiting for her Mum to come in, she's done every iteration of the race and she had a pile of grandchildren waiting to run with her to big applause, so that was lovely and really nice reminder of what it's all about - especially for those of us who won't ever be at the pointy end and whose PB days may just be behind us.

Overall a little dissapointed in how I ran this. If I had set out to run 83 mins I'm sure it would have been a lot more enjoyable but I didn't really know where my fitness is at. Of course training should tell me where my fitness is at but i think with the EIM i don't feel I get the same feedback as doing proper sessions. EIM encourages you to race regularly and I've been neglecting that aspect so maybe that's what I need. That and some tweaks to training too. It was an enjoyable morning all the same, felt fairly social by my introverted standards! Nothing like the sunshine to put everyone in a good mood. Onward.

20miles/33km for the week.

Funnily enough A I've been thinking of @Swashbuckler recently and the penny really has dropped with me, I always thought i 'got' it but I think now I'm living it it's different. Even though the circumstances are different, my kids are older etc, but everything has just ramped up in the last while, even OH's job has become more demanding which has a knock on effect too, talk about timing! I'm hoping work will get easier but in the meantime I might start doing the lotto 🤞

And yes it was hot - thanks for the reminder!

Thanks A. I think you're right about the negative mindset, funnily I've a framed poster in my office with the quote "A mind free of negatives produces positives" - it's hanging there but i haven't looked at it in a while! I only listened to the Pod on Friday I think it was, chuffed alright that my new BFF gave me a mention! She visited my local parkrun a few years back, before the Pod, and she was obviously quite shy but she still stood for all the photos and chatted etc... She's just class ☺️

Thanks E. Glad you are feeling better. I'll get there too. I'm doing workshop tonight actually with Irene Clarke I just signed up for it a few days ago, it was apt timing when I spotted it. It's over 2 Monday nights. Hopefully get some insights and tips for training 🤞

Thank you 😊

Ah, good to hear from you P. I hope all well with you and your gang ☺️

Hello log, the last month flew by!

Life's been as busy as ever. Running's definitely taken a backseat, quick summary:

Sept 11-17th

Some easy runs varying in length, some strides during the week and one set of short hill blasts which left my legs in bits for about 3 days after.

Long run of 10miles, first 6miles easy with surges, finished off with parkrun at threshold (24:47 for parkrun) and a cool down.

26.3miles total.

Sept 18th-24th

More easy runs, a fartlek (mona) and threw in a bit of light progression easy to MP on effort another day.

No long run as such it seems.

29.7m for the week

Sept 25th-Oct 1st

Easy runs, strides.

A light session - 800m @ Tempo (5:18), 800m @ Threshold (5:11), 800m @ CV (4:55), 800m Threshold (5:09), 800m Tempo (5:18)

Longest run was 8miles, made up of 5k tempo @ 5:11min/km + 6 * 1'/1' off

31.1m for the week

Oct 2nd-8th

Easy mid week runs, strides.

Last minute half marathon at the weekend

No right really doing this but I went along to support some friends doing the 3/4. Really enjoyed the day. Weather was glorious and met loads of friends before and after. Kept the pace comfortable from the off as knew I didn't have the fitness. The first 7km were lovely, very flat, the day was beautiful, not too warm yet

KM 1-7: 5:08, 5:08, 5:08, 5:08, 5:08, 5:10, 5:13

The 8th & 9th km were just a very long gradual drag, I didn't feel too bad on this but didn't push too hard as was well aware I still had a long way to go. I passed a couple of lads along here and was gaining ground on others but at this stage we had merged with the 3/4 marathon and I didn't know who was who

KM 8-9: 5:19, 5:15

After this we hit the main road and the most fabulous long downhill section, gentle enough to really benefit from, definitely the highlight of the running part of the day!

KM 10 - 4:51

And of course what goes down must go up and back up it did, about 10.2 k was the start of the worst hill of the day and definitely the running lowlight of the day!

KM 11 - 5:39

I was hoping for a nice downhill after getting to the top of that hill but unfortunately had to settle for flat! Managed a nice relatively nice few ks in here before the tiredness really kicked in, definitely wasn't feeling quite as good as the first 7 km but was somewhat comfortable still

KM 12 - 16: 5:08, 4:56, 5:05, 5:06, 5:13

10 miles is as long as I've run recently and even that's been sporadic enough, it had to catch up with me, fairly wrecked now and just wanted to be finished, the sun was really beating down now too and I was begining to need a toilet...

KM 17 - 19: 5:19, 5:16, 5:24

I can't remember if it was stewards or a water table but I remember a few men saying only 2k to go and it gave me a nice lift and I managed to finish out reasonably well, passed another few along this last 2km, 4 I think. I wasn't passed by anyone the entire run and I managed to continually pass the odd one throughout which was a nice feeling - althought a lot of them could have been doing the 3/4 at a nice easy pace as opposed to my hard enough effort so I'm under no illusions of the reality of the situation.

KM 20-21+: 5:11, 4:53 and 4:32 (for the last bit)

Finished in 1:49:33 (21.17 @ 5:10min/k) - my 3rd fastest official half, fastest being 1:45:xx and second fastest being 1:48:xx. Relieved to finish under 1:50. I hadn't a plan going into this but in hindsight I think I would have been dissappointed not to finish under 1:50, a guess that's where the bar is set now. It was a decent effort and well paced run, bled a small bit of time from km 17-19 but otherwise I held it together reasonably well considering the lack of training, a lot happier than i was with my 10m last month even though the end result wasn't much different (I ran 10m @ 5:07 pace that day).

30.1m total for the week

Thinking of doing the grads 6 week base plan next for a bit of structure.

Thanks for the nice comments @Lazare and @AuldManKing ☺️

Well, I've just had 3 weeks off after DCM (is it even relevant that I didn't do DCM?)

The good news is I can still run for an hour, the bad news is that I can just about still run for an hour 🙄 Feeling about as unfit as I ever have really, like I've just undone about 5 yrs of good running over the space of 5 months of poor running. Not sure where to turn, try to get consistent again in a sensible way, I guess. Weekly goal is 4 runs, 2 strength sessions, runs mostly easy, a set of strides and a bit of steady-threshold. If I can keep at that for a few weeks and then maybe a 10k/HM block. I've been here before with good intentions so 🤞 it sticks this time.

Limerick is one I look at every year and yet I've never done it! It'd be a good timing alright. I take your point about the base and I'd say the same to anyone in my position but we're always so much harder on ourselves aren't we.

I did my 4 runs this week anyhow though only 1 strength session. Threw in a little bit of EIM today, though it took me most of the run to get the feel of it again. I was enjoying that during the Summer though I never felt any great gains after 4 months of it but maybe because I never added any specificity on top, I'll throw in a couple of runs a week again, break up some easy runs.