Twitter

I must have too much time on my hands.....

To date the whole Twitter thing has passed me by so yesterday, as I had nothing better to do, I decided to check it out for the first time. To be honest I was beginning to feel like at tech dinosaur listening to people talking about 'tweets', 're-tweets' etc etc which was worrying as I'm usually fairly tech savvy.

But, the jury is still out in my mind as I'm still not too sure what benefit Twitter is to anyone. Tweets (see I'm even getting into the lingo!!) are limited to 140 characters - so no detailed info can be relayed. Maybe it will help me become more succinct?? Also, my ability to tweet is severely limited as I don't have a mobile phone with twitter capability and twitter is blocked by our firewall at the office so I'll only be able to tweet from home (not a problem for the next while!!!).

Anyway for the time being I'll give it a go. I'm not sure how it will evolve but I've put my Twitter feed on the side bar for anyone that's interested.

2010 and going backwards

Up until last Thursday morning 2010 was going pretty well. I really enjoyed the family time over the holidays and my running was beginning to come together. I'd managed to fit in a few longish runs and some solid steady runs. On Wednesday I went for an 8 mile steady run which included 3 x 1000m @ sub-6:20 pace. Things were looking up for the Mallow-10 which was due to be held last Sunday (subsequently cancelled due to ice).

Then came Thursday....the first day back at school / work etc. It was cold outside - very cold (by Irish Standards!!). At 8:30 I was happily walking my son up to his childminder (who lives 4 doors up from ours). One minute Joe was in my arms and the next I was picking both him and me up off the footpath. The dreaded ice!!!

When I was falling a heard a 'click' in my right ankle. When I stood up I heard another - not a good sign but at least I was able to stand. Planning to continue on my journey I then turned around to pick up Joe's bag. Suddenly I was doing a classic cartoon banana skin fall - both legs up in the air. Joe and I were back down on the ground. Once again I picked Joe up but I was winded so I didn't get up as quickly this time. Neighbours who saw the falls were running (carefully) towards us - by their reactions it must have looked bad!! I gave Joe to Pamela and she tried to console him. I then picked myself up and hobbled my way the 20 yards back home. Joe, while distressed seemed OK and all this time I was thinking to myself - "yes, I must go to the hospital but at least I can walk so maybe it's just a sprain"....

Off we go to the hospital. Although worried, the girls were delighted that they'll get another day off school!! Joe was checked out and we were relieved to hear that despite the bruise on his cheek (sustained when he hit my face) he was going to be OK. Then I got the news about myself....

I had broken my ankle in three places and the joint was also dislocated. The worst of the fractures was a spiral fracture of the fibula at the level of the ankle joint. Surgery would be required.

I was scheduled to have the surgery on Friday but because I didn't get a bed until late on Friday afternoon the surgery (involving plates screws etc) was pushed to Saturday morning. So it only took 48 hours for me to be fixed up!! Great.

I wasn't alone. The hospital was full of similar victims. Apparently there were four orthopaedic operating theatres in use - normally there would only be one.

I was eventually discharged on Tuesday afternoon. It's good to be home... but it's hard. Even getting around the house is difficult.

So what's the prognosis.... no weight to be put through the joint for at least 6 weeks then lots of physio and I should be able to walk normally again. As for running..... I should be able to run again but due to the restricted joint movement I'll probably not be able to run to the same standard. But it will be at least 3 or 4 months before I'll be at that stage. For now it's a matter of keeping my leg elevated, not stressing the joint and not doing anything that will prolong this condition.

To be honest while it will be hard for me the next six weeks are going to be hardest for my family and I can't do anything about it!! AHHHHHHHHH.

I'll post an update periodically to record how I'm doing but I can't promise on it being very exciting..

Be careful out there and I look forward to living my running through reading of your achievements.......

Back from the cold

Well, hello again.

Firstly, profound apologies to the limited number of running Websters who may be following my blog. I've been on a bit of an unplanned break from blogging and the same has been true of my running. Looking back over my diary since my last post I've been averaging a 'massive' 1 or 2 runs per fortnight which really was nothing to write home about. It has also caused my to rethink my short term goals...

The reason... real world demands which I won't detail here but I'm sure you can guess... work, family, fatigue and the well 'documented' Irish weather.

The result... I haven't raced recently and my fitness level has dropped significantly (the Christmas over indulgences haven't helped either!!)

The future... as of this week I'm back. You could call it an early New Year's resolution but really I realised that unless I get some running in I won't be able to 'complete' never mind run a semi-respectable time in Mallow on the 10th January!! And since I found out today that my entry into the Ballycotton 10 has been successful I really do need to get my arse in gear!!

So I started my comeback on Sunday with a 'traditional' long run. Given my current fitness I could have legitimately claimed anything longer than 3 miles as a 'long' run. But I wanted to test the boundaries and I went for 8 miles at an average of 7:29. It felt surprising good but the heart was beating a bit fast (avg 165bpm) and from 6 miles onwards I really wished I'd set the bar a bit lower!! To compound my misery, when I arrived at my sister-in-laws house (where we were headed for brunch) my clothes etc were still enroute (Pamela was bring them by car) and I decided to tag on a 2 mile warm down.

As I mentioned I felt surprisingly good until 8am on Monday when I went for a 6.5 mile recovery. I could blame the slippy roads but to be honest even if the conditions were perfect I couldn't have gone any quicker than the 7:50 pace that I averaged.

Today I went for a 5.5mile steady/tempo pace run. Overall I averaged 7:07 pace with mile splits being in the range of 6:40 to 6:55. Hopefully I won't be too stiff tomorrow!!

If this continues December may not become the total wipe out that it could have been!!

When I get some time I'll put together a bit of a review of 2009 which overall was a mixed but good running year.

Happy New Year to all and hopefully 2010 will bring nothing but joy and happiness to you and your families. And....hopefully the economy will recover too!!

Pot luck

That's what it feels like at the moment. If it's not raining when it's time for a run you're extremely lucky.

Nice fartlek on Monday started the week off well. Overall 5.36 miles in 34:13. That's an average of 6:23 for the run including the recoveries at 7:00 to 7:30. It felt comfortable too - that's a good sign - isn't it??

On Tuesday I planned on taking it easy. But the 5.72 miles ended up being at 6:42 min/mile (159bpm) - it didn't feel that quick!

I was brought back to ground when I stumbled across this clip staring David McCarthy at Providence College. It puts my 5 mile tempo runs in perspective - 5:00min/mile - wow - I've still some work to do!!......

Child minding...

I'm playing lone parent this weekend while my wife enjoys a break to Iceland with some girlfriends. So it looks like my running is finished for the week as it would be frowned upon to leave the 3 kids home alone so that I could fit in a run (even a quick one!!) - or would it ?? :)

This week I'll have to be content with a fartlek and a long run as being the quality sessions. Hopefully next week I'll be able to fit in the third quality session.

While the kids were at school / child minder this morning I took the opportunity to go for my long run. Since the Cork to Cobh race my long run have been a maximum of 12 miles. Today I wanted to push it out to 15+ miles.

It went well enough. It was cold - the first time since last winter that I resorted to wearing gloves but it was dry (for a change!!). I wanted to run in the 7:15 to 7:45 pace overall. The first half was typically faster than the second half. Some day I'll manage an even paced run. I think mental fatigue was beginning to creep in today as from 7 miles onwards my mind certainly drifted from the job at hand. Still though I completed the 15.60 miles in 1:55:48. That's an average pace of 7:25 min/mile and 158 bpm. My first half pace was approx. 7:15 min/mile. It was nice to put in a real long run and hopefully some more of these will stand me in good stead later in the year.

Today's run..

On the right track - hopefully!!

My plan over the next few weeks is to make sure that I get in 2 good workouts, e.g. tempo, interval or long progression runs, per week with a steady long (i.e. 10+ miles) run over the weekend with some easier recovery runs also thrown into the mix. I think that this will plan set me up well for the half marathon in early December and give a good base for the new year.

So the quick session this week was a 5+ mile fartlek. I hadn't run one of these in ages and it felt good. No pressure to hit particular mile splits and the freedom to increase/decrease the pace as I saw fit. The quicker bits of the session generally ranged from 5:50 - 6:30 min/mile pace for durations of 1 to 4 minutes. Recoveries were 7:00 to 7:30 pace. Overall, I averaged 6:44min/mile for 5.25miles and it felt easier than some of my progression runs which tend to have a similar overall average pace.

I went for my long run yesterday and I decided to repeat last weeks 11.62 mile run - just a bit quicker. This week I passed through 10 miles in 69:32min with an average of 159bpm and an average cadence of 78.6rpm. I felt pretty good and fresher than last week and I was a minute quicker! From 10 miles onwards I took it a bit easier and overall I completed the run in 1:22 (over 2 minutes quicker than last week). Hopefully that progress will continue!!

Also, recently I've been playing around with some of the "Evolution Running" techniques (thanks to an introduction by Rick) so it was nice to see the cadence during yesterday's run increase without any increased effort - maybe I'm perfecting a 'slightly' more efficient technique!!

Yesterday's run..


An easy 6.25 run today nicely rounded off the week.... 5 weeks to go to Waterford.


Have a good week everyone.

Let's start again

Unintentionally, I've been a bit more stop/start with my running of late which isn't too much of an issue as I'm only just starting a new training phase. My next targeted race will be the half marathon in Waterford on December 12 but really it's the Munster 10 mile series next spring which is the focus.

This week I started back in earnest with some easy runs and 2No. good sessions. On Wednesday I ran a nice steady/tempo progression 5.66mile lunchtime run increasing from 6:52min/mile / 142bpm (mile 1) to 6:28min/mile / 178bpm (mile 5) and 6:09/183 for the last 0.66miles to the end. My heart rate was a bit higher than normal. In fact, it has been that way since last Sunday morning's 12 mile run. Not sure of the reason so I'll have to keep an eye on it.

Today, I decided to skip the local 4-mile race in favour of a long run. I had planned on taking it 'easy', i.e. >7:15 min/mile, but over the first few miles I found my instantaneous pace being consistently less than 7 min/mile. So I revised the plan and aimed for 7:00 min pace for the first 10 miles with a 1.5 mile very easy finish. I passed through 10 miles 70:30 min (163bpm) feeling a bit tired and certainly more tired than I was a couple of weeks ago when I ran 65mins for the first 10 miles of the Cork to Cobh race. How can that be??!! Overall 11.62 miles in 85mins.

I've also developed a few niggles - tenderness at the bottom of both achilles tendons, left hamstring tightness and some lower back pain.... I must be getting old!! I can only imagine how I'd be feeling if I'd run the Dublin Marathon!! Hopefully the niggles will easy over the coming weeks and not develop into something more serious!!

Also I think I'll introduce some core strengthening exercises into the programme. I used do a lot of this type of work but in recent years I've been a bit neglectful and unfortunately I've gone a bit 'soft in the centre' just like an eclair!! :)