It was a strange year

What a year!  Who’d have thought that 2020 would turn out as it has.  Just a few short words sum it up for me

• Lockdown
• Pandemic
• Face masks
• Not enough running

Consistent running hasn’t been easy for me in recent years due to a combination of injury, real world pressures and a good dollop of laziness.  However, early Lockdown did reignite a love for walking but the 

travel restrictions meant that I was initially confined to 2km from home which was a bit limiting..  my world really expanded when this was later relaxed to 5km. 🤣 I think I’ve now walked all the possible streets within this zone!  

As summer came lockdown lifted and the endless zoom table quiz circuit faded.  So too did my desire for a daily walk and laziness took over once more 😉

Although I was being lazy, I did try to go for the odd run to slow the middle age spread.  I have a local 4.5mile route which has a bit of variety and, for now, that distance seems to be my limit.  So I’m trying to get into a routine of running (slowly) that loop a couple of times a week, generally over the weekend.  I can’t say my fitness is improving yet but I haven’t been getting injured which is a plus!

Over the next few weeks, in preparation for the next lockdown, my plan is to try to introduce some more runs during the week and hopefully redevelop a healthy running habit.

I also discovered that my Garmin can give a nice overview of how bad my running is at the moment.  Green is bad btw!   

‘till next time.  Stay safe ...

2014 - the year that never was!

So 2014 is nearly over and, as John Walshe reminded me today, it's about time that I updated this blog.  As the chart below indicates this year was a bit of a nonstarter from a running perspective with monthly mileage that would look average on a weekly mileage log. In summary I suffer from being 'ill' in 2014 - Injury, Life & Laziness.

• Injury was in the form of my own persistent calf weakness and old age, my children's broken bones and my wife's broken bones.....
• Life was life - work, family, children, work, friends, socialising, work, children .....
• Laziness from general life fatigue and low motivation - a flaw of my human condition

Suffice it to say that all my running goals were put on hold.  But now was 2014 is drawing to a close a sense of Zen is returning to my world and running is coming back on the agenda.  I even ran my first race in over 18months (first solo race in over 2 years) earlier today and there don't appear to be any ill effects.

 

It's great to see that other bloggers/friends have not suffered from the same ills and many bloggers, both here and on Dailymile, have achieved/exceeded their targets and excelled at their preferred distances.  Well done.

 

Roll on 2015 and keep the dreaded ills away from me too!!



 

 

 

Belgooly AC 4 mile - St Stephen's Day 2014

 

Although I have been aware of this traditional race since I first began running in the early 1980's, today was my first time running this event.  The race is organised by my children's athletic club (Belgooly AC) and being the season of goodwill 50% of the €10 entry fee is donated to a local bowel cancer charity.  This charity has particular relevance to me as sadly this was the disease that my father died from 9 years ago. 

 

There was also another first today in that I ran this race as a registered member of Belgooly AC. All my running life I have been associated with either Midleton AC or East Cork AC but since my regular contact these days (through my children and where I help out as a part-time coach) is with Belgooly AC I thought that it was only right that changed allegiances and registered with Belgooly.  Belgooly doesn't have a strong adult membership but maybe we can change this over the coming years.

 

As well as running today my wife and I also helped the club with the organisation of the race by digitising the entries - so it was a busy afternoon in front of a computer!!

 

The race itself went reasonably well despite my best efforts and overindulgences yesterday (Christmas Day). I wasn't ideally prepared for a quick run with all my runs over the past year or so being 7:30min/mile or slower.  So I was not hopeful of getting too close to my most recent (5 years ago!) 4 mile PB of 23minutes. However I was hopeful, but not certain, of being able to sustain a sub 7:30 pace and break 30mins for the 4 miles.  At best I thought that I could run sub-28 minutes.

 

Luckily the rain cleared and running conditions were ideal.  Over 650 runners took part, slightly down on last year, but still large enough to ensure that the club can make a donation of over €3000 to charity.

 

I positioned myself mid field and ran at a reasonably steady/even pace.  I was a bit surprised by the hilly nature of the course and from the end of the first mile I could feel the lactic burn, heavy breathing and an overwhelming urge to stop or at least slow down!  I also ran in racing flats (Asics DS racers) for the first time since 2012 and the lack of cushioning combined with my added weight/fat had a noticeable 'impact' in my legs.  I kept going...

 

The 2 mile marker came a bit early though - either that or I ran that mile split in 5:34 !! :) but the downhill finish was more than welcome!

 

My official time was 27:00 (slightly quicker than my watch time!) and I finished within the top 100 (15%).  Well down on past performances but well ahead of my target/goal for today.  Onwards and upwards I say....

 

Also, I must say well done to the other Belgooly AC (junior and senior) runners who took part including, Robert, Gavin, Frank, Sarah, Marc, Alex to name but a few who achieved their own goals today. 

 

Happy New Year, roll on 2015 and may all your dreams come through.

 

Near the top of the first hill...   





 

400m to go....



2013 - so far

Well, at least the overall trend is up for 2013!  .... And all going well July 2013 may even be the best month of the last 12.... fingers crossed!

At the moment I'm just focusing on base and routine and trying to stay injury free.  I'm becoming increasingly jealous of all those other bloggers and dailymilers who've been completing their target events, running longer and running faster than ever before!!  I sense that it's almost time for me to decide on some targets of my own and put a plan together.....

2012 - a year of two halves...

Dailymile sent me an email yesterday that summed up my running in 2012, literally!

It was definitely a year of two halves. It started with some promise and progress (the first real progress since breaking my ankle in January 2010) and a 40 day streak into my 40th birthday. Things were looking on schedule for a respectable marathon debut but then the wheels (legs actually) came off. The marathon in June turned out to be a learning experience and I still hoped for a late summer or autumn rematch with the historic distance but since then things have gone steadily downhill.

July saw a back (disc) injury and since September I've been struggling with a "right calf issue" that now prevents me from running more than 2 miles every 2 weeks (or so).  I stubbornly decided not to seek professional advice in the hope that things would come right in the end.  It didn't!

So last week I finally coughed up some money and went to a physio.  Apparently my calf issue is a hangover from my broken ankle (something that I thought was long in the past!).  A biomechanical imbalance.  In truth and I've had an ongoing series of lower body issues since my initial recovery from my broken my ankle in late 2010/2011.  So this was probably something waiting to happen.  It's time for some massage, dry needling, joint manipulation, calf strengthening exercises and flexibility work.  I last tried to run on the 28th December and it'll probably be a couple more weeks before I'm able to start back.  Hopefully this time things will work out!

In the meantime I'm going to try some aerobic exercise and eat less in an attempt to shift the many pounds added to my person since last June!  Hopefully Spring 2013 will be the time of new beginnings.  I dare to hope that I'll be back to complete some unfinished business in Cork this year but......

Another year another run

As predicted I followed up the high mileage week over Christmas with a not-so-high mileage week last week. I only managed 3 runs in total but at least they were on the last 2 days of 2008 and the first day of 2009. Hence I ended 2008 on a high note and I started 2009 on a the right foot. It's a pity that the second, third and fourth days of 2009 weren't as successful!!

Last Tuesday it was a 6 mile progression / tempo run which started at 7:31 pace and progressed to 6:47 pace over miles 1 to 5 in approx 10 sec per mile jumps. Mile 6 was an uphill 'recovery' at 7:41 pace. Nice session.

Wednesday was a long run 11.5miles at 7:26 pace and Thursday was an easy 5 miles at 7:34 pace.

Tuesday (30/12/08) - 6.26 miles - 45:22 - 7:15 avg pace - no HRM
Wednesday (31/12/08) - 11.58 miles - 1:26:03 - 7:26 avg pace - no HRM
Thursday (01/01/09) - 5.48 miles - 41:27 - 7:34 avg pace - no HRM

Week Total (29/12/2008 to 04/01/2009) - 3 sessions
23.32 miles - 2:52:52 - 7:34min/mile

So on to a summary of 2008....

• Started this Blog
• Started year injured but (luckily) no serious injury since February
• New PB's at all distances from 5k to 13.1miles
• 1200 miles over 173 running days
• Average 6.93miles per running day and 3.33 runs & 22.96 miles per week
• All-in-all a good year and a good base for 2009
• Ohh - a new baby too!!!

And here's my graph....

Details.....

Month - Miles - Days
January - 37.85 - 11
February - 61.1 - 8
March - 117.32 - 19
April - 69.22 - 9
May - 119.54 - 18
June - 89.33 - 14
July - 122.36 - 15
August - 164.21 - 21
September - 143.24 - 19
October - 95.73 - 14
November - 59.84 - 9
December - 119.97 - 16

And now for 2009...

Today I decided to make up for missing a few runs last week with a single long run. In all I put in 15.71 miles at 7:33 avg pace (1:58:28). Although it was a nice run to begin with the air temperature dropped towards the end of the run and my calf muscles began to cramp over the last few miles. So the legs are a bit tired now and I think I'll take it easy for the rest of the week with a view to the 10 mile race next Sunday....

Annual Review

About 9 years ago while living in Aberdeen, Scotland I went down to the athletics track for a training session with the local club. The coach on that day said that it would take at least 2 years for me to reach 'race' fitness. With my youthful idealism (ignorance) I didn't really believe him - I thought that 2 to 3 months should be plenty!! On that occasion I didn't keep running long enough to find out who was right. But given my progress over the past 2 years I think that he may have had a point. It's nearly 2 years since I decided to start running regularly again and I'm only now reaching near the level where I want to be...

Since the Great North Run I've been reviewing my training records in the lead up to both the 2007 and 2008 races. Last year was my first year back running so I viewed it primarily as a 'base' year. The focus was just to get out regularly and try to cover the distance comfortably. In all I covered 991miles in 2007. I was injured during the start of that year and this year again I was injured at the start of the year but I had a good base from last year so I tried to introduce some more 'quality' runs into my weekly programme.

This resulted in significant improvements in my times for 5k, 5miles, 10miles and half marathon.

In comparing the 2007 and 2008 training period I've taken a very simplistic approach essentially comparing the number of sessions and weekly mileage. I've plotted the following graphs showing the data for the 39 weeks prior to the GNR i.e January to October. Fairly variable isn't it!!

In 2007 I completed 119 sessions and covered 733 miles in 39 weeks. This year I completed 136 sessions and covered 957 miles during the same period. A 14% increase in the number of sessions but a 30% increase in miles run and almost equal to my total mileage for the entire 2007!!!

Drilling a bit deeper into the data this breaks down as 3.1 runs/week (avg 18.8miles) and 3.5 runs/week (avg 24.5miles/week) for 2007 & 2008 respectively. I was a bit surprised with this stat for 2008 as I had thought that my average mileage would have been in excess of 30miles / week. I was injured at the start of the year so this is probably the reason for the low weekly average.

Now, I don't follow any prescribed programme (maybe I should) but analysing the typical '12-week' period prior to the GNR shows the general trend as I tried to focus on this single event.

Looking at the above numbers it shows that this year I did not get out as much as last year (52 vs 54 sessions) but my mileage was a bit higher (3.4%). The big difference was in the 8 week period before the GNR where my number of sessions, average /and max mileage were certainly better than last year.

I'm not sure what all the above means (probably not too much!!) but I thought I'd record it in my diary anyway. Maybe all I can conclude is that this years training was in general more consistent and more intensive which built on last years solid base. The seemingly random nature of teh data is a bit surprising to me so I think I'll have to be a bit more scientific about my training going forward.

Hopefully that will allow me to continue to build my speed and endurance and take the next steps towards a sub 1:25 (or better) half marathon next autumn. Only time will tell.....