So this week was to be an attempt at getting back to full training, following Gary's plan as best I could and not falling apart in the process. Here's how it went:
Monday 5th May
4.68 miles @ 9:46 pace
Just a nice leisurely few miles to keep the legs ticking over and freshen them up for Tuesday's speed session. Had no strength & conditioning class with the bank holiday.
Tuesday 6th May
2 miles warm up
5 x 1K w/90 sec recovery
.6 mile cool down
Second week back at speed training and with my usual pacing partners not there, coupled with a stiff wind this was going to be a toughie. This distance was approx 1K with Gary moving the finish after the first one. The Garmin showed the distance approx 950 metres for the first one and 1050 for the rest. The paces for the 5 reps was (6:38, 6:38, 6:42, 6:44, 6:42). This was a toughie as there was nobody really to pace off and required a lot of digging in at times to try and hold it together. Got through it in the end and pace wise held it together pretty good.
Wednesday 7th May
30 mins strength & conditioning. As with everything else I'm getting back into this gradually as well. It certainly gives you a shock to the system and by the time it's finished I feel like crawling home. No DOM's as such to speak of this week :-)
Thursday 8th May
5.44 miles @ 8:50 pace
Again just an easy paced run with Rosemary over the Silverstream loop which contains a couple of hills that you only want to be running easy anyway. Lovely to have the option of different routes again with the bright evenings.
Friday 9th May
1 mile warm up
6 mile tempo (7:51, 7:16, 7:57, 7:18, 7:51, 7:27)
1 mile cool down
The dreaded tempo. Spent most of Friday afternoon thinking about this having forgotten how tough they were. This one looked horrible on paper alternating between just faster than marathon pace and 10K pace every second mile.
The trusty tempo crew (Rosemary & Susan) were in tow for this one. The first mile was fine and the pick up in pace for the first mile wasn't too bad. During the 3rd mile it got tough as the legs felt like they were easing up but the head knew what was coming next. I felt like stopping on jogging back to where we started but I hung onto the coat tails of the others convincing myself I'd stop after 4 miles. Legs were in a mess at this stage but hung on again for the 5th mile. The last mile was a toughie and I lost track a bit when I got a fly in the eye but got back going quickly trying to not let the gap increase any further. It did by a few seconds as I finished with nothing left. A great session to get out of the way and one I would never have gotten near finishing without company.
Saturday 10th May
4.6 miles @ 9:26 pace
Legs were pretty wrecked after the previous day so just ticked off a few miles on grass around Gormanston College and the pitches across the road.
Sunday 11th May
60 minutes easy + 25 mins @ MP
6.68 miles @ 8:59
3.16 miles @ 7:55
1 mile cool down
This was a long run with a bit of a change up at the end. Headed from Stamullen towards Balbriggan where some of the group turned back after 4 miles. I headed into Balbriggan and back the old N1 with Rosemary & Colin. We hit the 60 minute mark close to the Delvin bridge and after a quick reset of the watches we set off on the 25 minutes at marathon pace back towards Stamullen. This was testing as it was mainly into a pretty stiff breeze the whole way back to Stamullen and it felt like we were working a bit harder. Still the miles were clocked off and luckily enough we finished pretty close to the cars after negotiating that last hill up to the school. We all agreed the legs would benefit from a bit of a cool down so we did a slow 1/2 mile up the road and back.
Summary: So there you have it, I only realised writing the above that I ran 6 days out of 7. Maybe not recommended just yet but a couple of the days were very easy running. Just under 40 miles for the week as well including 2 tough sessions and a pick up at the end of the long run. Happy with that. A few more weeks like that and I might have a bit of fitness back.
Monday 12 May 2014
Wednesday 7 May 2014
A Quick Update
Having not given an update recently I suppose now is as good a time as any. As most of you know I pulled out of the marathon with just over a week to go. While it was a difficult decision is was definitely the right decision. Given how I felt around that time I might have gotten round the course somehow but it would most likely have been a horrific experience.
I looked on with a bit of envy at the race and couldn't help feeling a bit down in the dumps about the whole thing. It was like a sense of failure and letting various people down. I came round to myself pretty quickly though and realised how lucky I was that I was able to run and train like this and that this should be treated like what it was, just a small speed bump in the greater scheme of things. My problem was not a real problem in the greater scheme of things.
The week after the marathon I did 3 shortish runs but there was still a nagging pain there and a bit of soreness afterwards. The following week I got 4 runs in including two hilly runs. These were a big improvement but I did feel a bit of soreness after the last run. It was great however to be back out running with friends and enjoying it again.
Last week was just 3 runs again but this included a club session which I managed to get through unscathed. I also took in Ardgillan Parkrun for the fun of it as well. There is nothing fun though about that last mile. My time was 23:49. Slow for a 5K but I'm not sure how much that course is slower than a normal 5K. I also started back doing a couple of strength & conditioning classes last week and they brought the expected DOM's with them. Will keep them going as I felt great benefit to them before Christmas.
I almost forgot to mention the last week was completed without any pain from the injury. It has been a longer road than expected. I'll take another couple of weeks to decide race wise what I want to target over the summer months. Slowly but surely I'll get there. In the meantime I'll start posting weekly updates again now that I'm doing something meaningful again.
I looked on with a bit of envy at the race and couldn't help feeling a bit down in the dumps about the whole thing. It was like a sense of failure and letting various people down. I came round to myself pretty quickly though and realised how lucky I was that I was able to run and train like this and that this should be treated like what it was, just a small speed bump in the greater scheme of things. My problem was not a real problem in the greater scheme of things.
The week after the marathon I did 3 shortish runs but there was still a nagging pain there and a bit of soreness afterwards. The following week I got 4 runs in including two hilly runs. These were a big improvement but I did feel a bit of soreness after the last run. It was great however to be back out running with friends and enjoying it again.
Last week was just 3 runs again but this included a club session which I managed to get through unscathed. I also took in Ardgillan Parkrun for the fun of it as well. There is nothing fun though about that last mile. My time was 23:49. Slow for a 5K but I'm not sure how much that course is slower than a normal 5K. I also started back doing a couple of strength & conditioning classes last week and they brought the expected DOM's with them. Will keep them going as I felt great benefit to them before Christmas.
I almost forgot to mention the last week was completed without any pain from the injury. It has been a longer road than expected. I'll take another couple of weeks to decide race wise what I want to target over the summer months. Slowly but surely I'll get there. In the meantime I'll start posting weekly updates again now that I'm doing something meaningful again.
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