4 days of no running. Counting by the hour, actually - 59 at the time of writing.
I went to see a physio in Tralee today. Derek is a very good runner himself (one of the top dogs in the local scene), which did give me a lot of confidence in him and he was recommended by a friend.
He isolated the hip flexor as the root of the problem, not the adductor. He thinks the hill drills were the main reason for my injury; the parkrun might just have been the last straw that broke the camel's back.
After not running for more than 4 day the pain has actually gotten a lot worse. Rest is overrated, I'm telling you. I was hoping he would tell me to run at least 10 miles a day to use the magic powers of running to heal my injury but that hope, always rather small, was dashed. There is to be no running for at least another few days. He gave me a few exercises to try out and I am to do a brisk walk of 3-4 miles to see how that feels.
I really hope I can get back to running sooner rather than later. Not because I would be worried about the Spartathlon; that's still 3 months away. It's because I'm quickly becoming impossible to live and work with when I can't go running.
Showing posts with label Hill drills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hill drills. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
Sunday, July 05, 2015
On The Scrapheap
I remembered that one thing I usually do whenever I get a niggle is to throw out my old pair of runners. This time, this was a memorable occasion. A few years ago I heard that the manufacturing of my favourite running shoes, Brooks Green Silence, had been discontinued and I proceed to buy a big stash of them, not particularly caring about the hideous colour scheme of the last 2 pairs (though I still wonder who thought such an ugly shoe would sell well). Anyway, yesterday I kissed my very last pair of that stash goodbye; as ever, the rewards for over 1000 miles of faithful service was a 1-way ticket into the bin. And before you get smart and say that of course I'll get injured if I wear shoes for more than 1000 miles, I have been doing that for years and my injury rate is still exceptionally good compared to every other runner I know.
As for the adductor/groin/hip problem, on Wednesday I was about to concede defeat, admit that I was genuinely injured and take a few rest days. I was in real pain on 1 or 2 occasions, enough for my colleague to notice as I gingerly made my way down the office corridor. However, it was definitely better on Thursday, so I decided to keep training regardless. I'm not sure if it was pure bone-headedness that kept me going or if running is such a strong addiction that it's better to work through the discomfort. The affected area feels really tight rather than painful, which makes it hard to gauge if there is progress being made or not.
Despite some reservations I did another set of hill drills on Friday morning. The HR graph of that session is quite telling and describes the entire workout in one neat graph:
Obviously pace means nothing on a workout like that. I work my way up the hill and recovery is a walk.very slow jog down. The one thing bothering me the most are the flies. It's very humid at the moment and I'm completely drenched in sweat when working hard and when walking back down the hill the flies are just swarming around me.
Anyway, on Saturday morning I did not feel great and finally decided to take a few rest days. I'm actually not sure if that is the right action to take because it always feels the worst right after getting up from sitting. After walking around for a minute I feel mostly fine. Same with getting up in the morning, as soon as I get moving I start to feel better. Running itself does not cause any extra discomfort.
However, this was certainly caused by running, so it is a running injury. I'm sure it happened when I ran an unaccustomed pace in the parkrun last Saturday, though it did take several hours for the first sign of discomfort to appear. I did not run yesterday but did some work in the garden, which felt fine. I'll probably go to a physio early next week, for the first time since 2008!
As for the adductor/groin/hip problem, on Wednesday I was about to concede defeat, admit that I was genuinely injured and take a few rest days. I was in real pain on 1 or 2 occasions, enough for my colleague to notice as I gingerly made my way down the office corridor. However, it was definitely better on Thursday, so I decided to keep training regardless. I'm not sure if it was pure bone-headedness that kept me going or if running is such a strong addiction that it's better to work through the discomfort. The affected area feels really tight rather than painful, which makes it hard to gauge if there is progress being made or not.
Despite some reservations I did another set of hill drills on Friday morning. The HR graph of that session is quite telling and describes the entire workout in one neat graph:
Obviously pace means nothing on a workout like that. I work my way up the hill and recovery is a walk.very slow jog down. The one thing bothering me the most are the flies. It's very humid at the moment and I'm completely drenched in sweat when working hard and when walking back down the hill the flies are just swarming around me.
Anyway, on Saturday morning I did not feel great and finally decided to take a few rest days. I'm actually not sure if that is the right action to take because it always feels the worst right after getting up from sitting. After walking around for a minute I feel mostly fine. Same with getting up in the morning, as soon as I get moving I start to feel better. Running itself does not cause any extra discomfort.
However, this was certainly caused by running, so it is a running injury. I'm sure it happened when I ran an unaccustomed pace in the parkrun last Saturday, though it did take several hours for the first sign of discomfort to appear. I did not run yesterday but did some work in the garden, which felt fine. I'll probably go to a physio early next week, for the first time since 2008!
- 2 Jul
- am: 8 miles, 1:04:34, 8:05 pace, HR 141
- pm: 5 miles, 38:01, 7:36 pace, HR 146
- 3 jul
- 9 miles, 1:29:36, 9:56 pace, HR 136
- 5x30 sec sprints; high knees; thigh drive; hill sprints
Wednesday, July 01, 2015
Misery
According to the weather website it was 26 degrees in Dublin today and all over the east coast, there are high temperatures predicted for the North in a few days and basically for the rest of the country as well, except for one corner, tugged away to the south-west. I know I would not want to have the 40 degrees they are experiencing in some parts of Europe right now, but come on. A little bit of sunshine would have been nice! All afternoon it was raining steadily. What the fuck ever convinced me to settle in this miserable wet spot of all the places I could have gone to!
Anyway, as promised, I kept ignoring the discomfort emerging from my right hip/groin area and kept training all week. I found an old entry in my blog that seemed to describe something very similar happening almost 3 years ago and was pleased to read that the problem had gone away after 5 days. Obviously I was hoping for the same outcome again but by now it's been 5 days already and if anything this has gotten worse (it's hard to tell). At some stage I may have to conclude that I have finally succumbed to a running injury, for the first time in what, eight years? I'm not ready for that yet and will keep running and hoping that it clears up. Stupid? Maybe. But it has worked for every niggle I've had for the last 8 years.
A bit of research brought me to the pectineus muscle, though I am not really sure. The area of concern tends to get painful every time I get up from a sitting position; the pain more or less goes away after half a minute of walking around. Running feels very awkward for the first quarter of a mile before it all settles down. I try not to change my running form as that would only invite a secondary issue springing up elsewhere. Because running as such doesn't really hurt I'm still living in hope that at least I'm not aggravating things further by running.
I ran very, very slowly on Monday morning, much slower than expected. It was more due to the humidity than the problem with my hip (which tends to become more or less unnoticeable after a couple of miles anyway) but still. I missed the evening run that day due to real world issues, which also cost me a few hours of sleep as I found it very hard to fall asleep. These things happen from time to time, nothing you can do about it.
I was back doing hill drills on Tuesday morning. I started with high knees as I was unsure if thigh drive was a good idea with my dodgy leg but did those as my second set anyway. I find them really hard. I usually do them 3 times in a row with a slow walk down the hill as recovery. The idea was to do 3 x 90 seconds but it was more like 90/75/60 seconds, and then I was panting, hands on knees, trying to suck some air into hurting lungs, which at least made the pain in the leg muscles go unnoticed.
I more or less repeated the effort on Wednesday, except that I reversed the order of the drills. The thigh drive was still as hard as ever but the high knees are starting to feel doable. I managed 4 minutes in one go, which is more or less the goal. At least I can see some progress being made, though the goal is to become good at running, not good at doing hill drills.
Anyway, as promised, I kept ignoring the discomfort emerging from my right hip/groin area and kept training all week. I found an old entry in my blog that seemed to describe something very similar happening almost 3 years ago and was pleased to read that the problem had gone away after 5 days. Obviously I was hoping for the same outcome again but by now it's been 5 days already and if anything this has gotten worse (it's hard to tell). At some stage I may have to conclude that I have finally succumbed to a running injury, for the first time in what, eight years? I'm not ready for that yet and will keep running and hoping that it clears up. Stupid? Maybe. But it has worked for every niggle I've had for the last 8 years.
A bit of research brought me to the pectineus muscle, though I am not really sure. The area of concern tends to get painful every time I get up from a sitting position; the pain more or less goes away after half a minute of walking around. Running feels very awkward for the first quarter of a mile before it all settles down. I try not to change my running form as that would only invite a secondary issue springing up elsewhere. Because running as such doesn't really hurt I'm still living in hope that at least I'm not aggravating things further by running.
I ran very, very slowly on Monday morning, much slower than expected. It was more due to the humidity than the problem with my hip (which tends to become more or less unnoticeable after a couple of miles anyway) but still. I missed the evening run that day due to real world issues, which also cost me a few hours of sleep as I found it very hard to fall asleep. These things happen from time to time, nothing you can do about it.
I was back doing hill drills on Tuesday morning. I started with high knees as I was unsure if thigh drive was a good idea with my dodgy leg but did those as my second set anyway. I find them really hard. I usually do them 3 times in a row with a slow walk down the hill as recovery. The idea was to do 3 x 90 seconds but it was more like 90/75/60 seconds, and then I was panting, hands on knees, trying to suck some air into hurting lungs, which at least made the pain in the leg muscles go unnoticed.
I more or less repeated the effort on Wednesday, except that I reversed the order of the drills. The thigh drive was still as hard as ever but the high knees are starting to feel doable. I managed 4 minutes in one go, which is more or less the goal. At least I can see some progress being made, though the goal is to become good at running, not good at doing hill drills.
- 29 Jun
- 8 miles, 1:08:03, 8:30 pace, HR 135
- 30 Jun
- am:9+ miles, 1:31:04, 10:04 pace, HR 140
- Hill drills: 4x30 sec sprints; high knees; thigh drive; hill sprints
- pm:5 miles, 38:11, 7:38 pace, HR 145
- 1 Jul
- am:9.5 miles, 1:34:45, 9:58 pace, HR 141
- Hill drills: 5x30 sec sprints; thigh drive; high knees; hill sprints
- pm:5 miles, 39:40, 7:56 pace, HR 138
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Change Of Plan
The original plan for this week, at least for the first few days, was to take it very easy and make sure I recover from a rather tough extended weekend. I did follow that plan initially and ran eight very slow, easy miles on Monday but then decided to do something else entirely.
For the last few years, ever since training for the Vienna marathon 4 years ago, I always did a hill phase with plenty of drills and such. I usually started hating the drills after a week but I was able to see their benefits. I'm not quite sure why I didn't do that phase for Turin, I think I basically just never made it out of base training.
I decided to bring that phase back, and straight away. I am worried that I have done too many slow and nowhere near enough fast miles for about a year and a hills phase would be the tried and tested approach to phase that in. I also reckon that hill drills are by definition there to stimulate different muscles to the "normal" running once, hence the usual running muscles are getting an easy ride for a bit, almost acting like a recovery - that theory may be up to debate, though.
I have experimented with different lengths, 4 weeks seemed a bit long and I wasn't sure if the last week brought any real benefits. I've usually done 2 weeks, which suited me better, but since I haven't done that phase for a while I think 3 weeks would probably be more appropriate.
On Tuesday I did high knees, which I found okay, and thigh drive, which I found very, very tough, so on Thursday I swapped them around to be able to do the thigh drive on fresh legs. It still was tough and I basically can't do them for more than one minute at a time while I can last twice as long with the high knees. I also did a few hill sprints on both days, though in Thursday I did them on the road on the way home and found that this particular hill wasn't really steep enough.
Oh, and I started running twice a day now. I usually find that running more than 80 weekly miles on single runs leaves me rather tired most of the time, and if I want to add more miles it's better to do so by adding a second run of the day while slightly shortening the morning run (which has the additional benefit of getting slightly more sleep). Those evening runs are meant to be easy recovery runs and I have to be careful not to run fast - something I find can happen very easily if I'm not paying attention; evening runs just feel differently to mornings.
It's 92 days to the Spartathlon. Even though I hadn't been planning things in advance in detail, 3 months to go before the goal race seems a good time to start "real" training.
For the last few years, ever since training for the Vienna marathon 4 years ago, I always did a hill phase with plenty of drills and such. I usually started hating the drills after a week but I was able to see their benefits. I'm not quite sure why I didn't do that phase for Turin, I think I basically just never made it out of base training.
I decided to bring that phase back, and straight away. I am worried that I have done too many slow and nowhere near enough fast miles for about a year and a hills phase would be the tried and tested approach to phase that in. I also reckon that hill drills are by definition there to stimulate different muscles to the "normal" running once, hence the usual running muscles are getting an easy ride for a bit, almost acting like a recovery - that theory may be up to debate, though.
I have experimented with different lengths, 4 weeks seemed a bit long and I wasn't sure if the last week brought any real benefits. I've usually done 2 weeks, which suited me better, but since I haven't done that phase for a while I think 3 weeks would probably be more appropriate.
On Tuesday I did high knees, which I found okay, and thigh drive, which I found very, very tough, so on Thursday I swapped them around to be able to do the thigh drive on fresh legs. It still was tough and I basically can't do them for more than one minute at a time while I can last twice as long with the high knees. I also did a few hill sprints on both days, though in Thursday I did them on the road on the way home and found that this particular hill wasn't really steep enough.
Oh, and I started running twice a day now. I usually find that running more than 80 weekly miles on single runs leaves me rather tired most of the time, and if I want to add more miles it's better to do so by adding a second run of the day while slightly shortening the morning run (which has the additional benefit of getting slightly more sleep). Those evening runs are meant to be easy recovery runs and I have to be careful not to run fast - something I find can happen very easily if I'm not paying attention; evening runs just feel differently to mornings.
It's 92 days to the Spartathlon. Even though I hadn't been planning things in advance in detail, 3 months to go before the goal race seems a good time to start "real" training.
- 22 Jun
- 8 miles, 1:05:29, 8:11 pace, HR 137
- 23 Jun
- am:9.6 miles, 1:28:12, 9:11 pace, HR 141
- Hill drills: 4x30 sec sprints; high knees; thigh drive; hill sprints
- pm:5 miles, 39:28, 7:54 pace, HR 142
- 24 Jun
- am:8 miles, 1:03:46, 7:58 pace, HR 143
- pm:5 miles, 38:10, 7:38 pace, HR 144
- 25 Jun
- am:8.7 miles, 1:26:36, 9:57 pace, HR 141
- Hill drills: 4x30 sec sprints; thigh drive; high knees; hill sprints
- pm:5 miles, 39:36, 7:55 pace, HR 144
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Hurricane and Tornado
As all runners know only too well, we are quite susceptible to injury. Every runner has plenty of stories to tell. I have been lucky enough to avoid any injury that would require one or more off days for several years now. But marathon or ultra training is always a fine line, you're trying to train hard enough to be at your best but stay on the right side of recovery and hopefully injury won't strike.
I might be teetering right at the brink. About 3 weeks ago I started getting some slight pain at the top of my right hip. It started out very lightly but gradually got a little bit more noticeable. It's still very much manageable, about 3 out of 10, and certainly won't stop me as long as it doesn't get any worse, but it's a bit of a worry.
I got another twinge on Monday. I had followed up Sunday's long hilly run with a set of hill drills on Monday. I came home feeling tired but fine, but as the day wore on I started to notice some twinge in my right hamstring. Two days later this is still with me. Again, it's not too bad at the moment and as long as it doesn't get any worse it's perfectly manageable but like the hip pain, it's a bit of a worry.
I did a second set of hill drills on Tuesday, though I did the thigh drive in a more measured way to protect my hamstring. It might have worked in as much as it didn't get any worse.
Wednesday was an interesting one. I had followed the weather forecast with some interest and figured I could squeeze in my run before the storm was about to strike, so I did 10 miles in heavy wind and rain, but I certainly felt the conditions were just about okay. Niamh seems to have disagreed, her only comment on my return was “are you nuts?”, and we left it at that. The most noteworthy thing from my point of view was the low HR – 10 beats lower than the same pace would have yielded only a few weeks ago. The effect of just over one week of hill work are absolutely flabbergasting!
Running sure would not have been possible three hours later later when the storm hit Kerry with up-to-then unheard-of ferocity. Our road was blocked by several fallen trees and worse, our neighbour's house was hit by a fallen tree with some serious amount of damage. There is debris everywhere and the power in Caragh Lake was out for almost 8 hours – it only just came back close to bedtime. We still don’t have internet or telly. And we’re one of the lucky ones - there is no damage to our house, Killorglin was still without power in the morning and some people in the country will be without power for several days!
It was almost eerily calm on Thursday morning. The trees had been moved off the road but there was an almost Christmassy smell of fresh wood in the air. I had to find a new hill for my repeats as the road in the Coillte land was completely blocked by several fallen trees (I wasn't surprised), and the road was slippery from hail/sleet/ground frost. I managed just fine but didn't go all-out as I'm supposed to have a race on Saturday.
The weather forecast for Saturday is not too bad, though the race director made same dark, cryptic comments about hoping we're able to swim. The course is in a forest park that is susceptible to mud; let's wait and see how that will go. I don't feel anywhere near race ready, but since this is only a training run I should be okay.
I might be teetering right at the brink. About 3 weeks ago I started getting some slight pain at the top of my right hip. It started out very lightly but gradually got a little bit more noticeable. It's still very much manageable, about 3 out of 10, and certainly won't stop me as long as it doesn't get any worse, but it's a bit of a worry.
I got another twinge on Monday. I had followed up Sunday's long hilly run with a set of hill drills on Monday. I came home feeling tired but fine, but as the day wore on I started to notice some twinge in my right hamstring. Two days later this is still with me. Again, it's not too bad at the moment and as long as it doesn't get any worse it's perfectly manageable but like the hip pain, it's a bit of a worry.
I did a second set of hill drills on Tuesday, though I did the thigh drive in a more measured way to protect my hamstring. It might have worked in as much as it didn't get any worse.
Wednesday was an interesting one. I had followed the weather forecast with some interest and figured I could squeeze in my run before the storm was about to strike, so I did 10 miles in heavy wind and rain, but I certainly felt the conditions were just about okay. Niamh seems to have disagreed, her only comment on my return was “are you nuts?”, and we left it at that. The most noteworthy thing from my point of view was the low HR – 10 beats lower than the same pace would have yielded only a few weeks ago. The effect of just over one week of hill work are absolutely flabbergasting!
Running sure would not have been possible three hours later later when the storm hit Kerry with up-to-then unheard-of ferocity. Our road was blocked by several fallen trees and worse, our neighbour's house was hit by a fallen tree with some serious amount of damage. There is debris everywhere and the power in Caragh Lake was out for almost 8 hours – it only just came back close to bedtime. We still don’t have internet or telly. And we’re one of the lucky ones - there is no damage to our house, Killorglin was still without power in the morning and some people in the country will be without power for several days!
It was almost eerily calm on Thursday morning. The trees had been moved off the road but there was an almost Christmassy smell of fresh wood in the air. I had to find a new hill for my repeats as the road in the Coillte land was completely blocked by several fallen trees (I wasn't surprised), and the road was slippery from hail/sleet/ground frost. I managed just fine but didn't go all-out as I'm supposed to have a race on Saturday.
The weather forecast for Saturday is not too bad, though the race director made same dark, cryptic comments about hoping we're able to swim. The course is in a forest park that is susceptible to mud; let's wait and see how that will go. I don't feel anywhere near race ready, but since this is only a training run I should be okay.
- 10 Feb
- 10+ miles, 1:40:53, HR 137
Hill Drills: strides, thigh drive, high knees, ankle drive - 11 Feb
- 10+ miles, 1:39:19, HR 137
Hill Drills: strides, thigh drive, downhill strides, high knees - 12 Feb
- 10 miles, 1:14:40, 7:28 pace, HR 138
- 13 Feb
- 10 miles, 1:33:40, HR 141
Hill Drills: strides, thigh drive, high knees, downhill strides
Sunday, February 09, 2014
Lucky Me
I guess I managed to carry a bit of luck from last week over to this one. I was cycling past the primary school just as at least a dozen parents dropped off their kids. It's a narrow road, there are no less than five roads converging and you've got kids running from all directions, so it's all rather chaotic at the best of times. I was passing a car and right at that moment the driver opened his door without looking. I'm not sure who got more of a fright, him or me, as he missed me by probably less than an inch. As it was I was just able to continue on, but just one split second made all the difference and I could have taken a very, very nasty spill.
Running this week was different to usual due to all those hill drills I am doing. I did drills three times this week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with 10 easy miles the other days, and I have noticed how my HR has dropped significantly all of a sudden. I didn't think my usual fast run on Saturday would be a good idea as my legs were feeling the effects of all those hills, so I settled into a reasonably comfortable pace, roughly the effort I'm hoping to do in Connemara in 2 months. That felt very much sustainable, though in Connemara I will have to do it 4 times longer, which is a completely different ask altogether.
After quite some deliberating I decided not to join the club run on Sunday but do a much hillier circuit instead. I ran up the Devil's Elbow climb and dropped down the other side of the hill and continued to loop around it, which is an elevation gain of about 500 feet, with one mile being particularly steep. I did that 3 times and was pleasantly surprised how well the legs were able to take it. In fact, the first loop had been the worst, the legs had felt distinctly heavy and took about 6 or 7 miles to get going properly. I even met the guys from the club run, though I felt a bit guilty about not joining them. The run was a bit longer than expected, I had planned to keep it closer to 18 miles but by the time I got home I had accumulated 20 miles once more.
The mileage this week is a bit higher than expected but I'm feeling pretty good. I'll keep going as is for a few more days and will decide later on if I'll train through teh week before the 50k in Donadea or if I should take a few easy days.
Running this week was different to usual due to all those hill drills I am doing. I did drills three times this week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with 10 easy miles the other days, and I have noticed how my HR has dropped significantly all of a sudden. I didn't think my usual fast run on Saturday would be a good idea as my legs were feeling the effects of all those hills, so I settled into a reasonably comfortable pace, roughly the effort I'm hoping to do in Connemara in 2 months. That felt very much sustainable, though in Connemara I will have to do it 4 times longer, which is a completely different ask altogether.
After quite some deliberating I decided not to join the club run on Sunday but do a much hillier circuit instead. I ran up the Devil's Elbow climb and dropped down the other side of the hill and continued to loop around it, which is an elevation gain of about 500 feet, with one mile being particularly steep. I did that 3 times and was pleasantly surprised how well the legs were able to take it. In fact, the first loop had been the worst, the legs had felt distinctly heavy and took about 6 or 7 miles to get going properly. I even met the guys from the club run, though I felt a bit guilty about not joining them. The run was a bit longer than expected, I had planned to keep it closer to 18 miles but by the time I got home I had accumulated 20 miles once more.
The mileage this week is a bit higher than expected but I'm feeling pretty good. I'll keep going as is for a few more days and will decide later on if I'll train through teh week before the 50k in Donadea or if I should take a few easy days.
- 6 Feb
- 10 miles, 1:19:23, 7:56 pace, HR 133
- 7 Feb
- 10+ miles, 1:38:51, HR 136
Hill Drills: strides, thigh drive, ankle drive, high knees - 8 Feb
- 10+ miles, 1:13:55, 7:19 pace, HR 150
- 9 Feb
- 20 miles, 2:37:30, 7:53 pace, HR 143
Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Here Comes The Rain Again
I’m starting to think Eurhythmics songs just be banned in Ireland.
Too depressing.
Nevertheless, I’ve started a new training phase. I did
deliberate if I should do a hills phase (or transition, as MC used to call it)
at all but eventually remembered that on at least one occasion I went into the hills
phase feeling so-so and came out feeling great, so at least it was worth a
shot, especially as I was generally feeling so-so during training.
I required a search through my old training logs to remember
how those hill sessions are supposed to work, but eventually caught up again
and on Monday morning the alarm went off bit earlier than usual and I was up
and ready.
I did wonder if it was a wise move to start hills the day
after a 20 mile run, but told myself that Lydiard had his runners do 6 hill
workouts a week with a 22 mile run on the seventh, so in comparison I was still
taking it rather easy. However, I followed MC’s protocol for hills rather than
Lydiard’s, as described in that little doclet here.
On Sunday evening I had been wondering if it would be
possible to run at all but luckily the storm abated by 5 am and the rain had
mostly stopped by 6 and the conditions were almost pleasant. However, the roads
were completely waterlogged on several points and I ran through ankle-deep
sections more often that I could count, and I ended up running through several
of them several times.
So, on that Monday after the compulsory initial 4 x 30
second sprints I did 3 x 2 min of high knees (tough), then 3 x 1 min thigh
drive (absolutely brutal, and I didn’t manage the entire 60 seconds on the last
one) and finally a minute session of ankle drive (easy), all drills separated
by 15 minutes of easy running (ok, so I cheated and did about 12) before splashing
my way home again. The hill had resembled a river bed more than a road and the
water had been so cold that my feet, and even more so my toes, were completely
numb and the pins and needles in the shower just rounded up a "fun" workout.
I had sore calves on Tuesday. Actually, I welcomed that. I
haven’t had any sore muscles in this training cycle at all until now and
finally I can tell myself that I really am pushing my body. However, I didn’t
feel the sore legs when running 10 easy miles.
Wednesday called for hill drills once more, though I did it
on a different hill as the Caragh Lake Coillte road that I had used on Monday is completely unsuitable for downhill strides. The downside of the other hill
is that the steep section is very short and not as well suited for all the other
drills, so it is always a trade-off. Anyway, it was a similar workout again,
after the sprints and the downhill strides I did the thigh drive (ugh) and the high
knees again.
It might just be in my head, but I’m starting to feel good
again. Maybe it’s the sore calf muscles’ soothing call.
- 3 Feb
- 10+ miles, 1:39:22, HR 132
Hill Drills: strides, high knees, thigh drive, ankle drive - 4 Feb
- 10 miles, 1:18:06, HR 140
- 5 Feb
- 10+ miles, 1:34:14, HR 135
Hill Drills: strides, downhill strides,thigh drive, high knees
Friday, January 04, 2013
Comparisons
For some reason I remember last year's hill sessions as a period of unbridled joy where I felt better and better with each day and which built the springboard for the great 2012 I've had. That's why I added a hill phase into this year's training as well; if something works so well, it's clearly worth doing again.
However, this time round I could not by any means stretch of the imagination call those hill drills anything resembling joy, so I eventually checked my log for last year and discovered that my memory was clearly playing tricks on me (must be yet another sign of old age). I hated the drills just as much as I do right now. Actually, that's good news. Last year went very well, so if this particular phase right now feels the same, I might be on my way towards another great year, who knows.
Obviously, the race on New Year's Day shows that I am in much better shape than at the same time last year. A year ago I ran the same race and was quote pleased with my time; this time I ran a whopping 27 seconds faster! The one worry I have is that this is all too good too soon, but the exact same danger applied to last year; I even have an email from MC for proof. I had already seen plenty of signs during training that I was running about 8 or 9 seconds per mile faster than last year and funnily enough that race fell into exactly those parameters.
By the way, I checked my mile splits from that race, which turned out to be a bit tricky on Garmin connect, and I took 1.02 "Garmin miles" as one mile in reality. That gave me splits of 5:34, 5:52 and 5:52, which is actually much more even that I usually run 5ks; I usually start at more suicidal pace and hang on for dear life at the end. Even so, that first mile might still be the fastest one I've ever run on even ground (I have run faster miles downhill), but compared to previous races I was able to hold the pace much better towards the end.
I have been asked this a few times by now and yes, I do want to run under 2:55 in Tralee. In fact, I am hoping to run a little bit faster than that. Obviously, there are parameters I won't be able to control like the weather on race day, but that's beside the point. I will do my best to be at the start line in my best possible shape.
I took it exceptionally easy the day after the race and only ran 6 miles, just to be doubly sure that I wouldn't be overdoing things when I should be recovering. The journey back home to Kerry was uneventful and on Thursday morning I was back on my usual hill doing drills once more. I did notice that the high knees drill is feeling significantly easier already; the one I am still struggling with is "driving with the thighs". On the plus side, there won't be many more of these drills; I am already transitioning into the next phase. Until last week running long repeats at 6:15 pace would have sounded like torture and bordering on the impossible. After those two races over the holiday period I am looking forward to those kind of workouts with a much more relaxed attitude. At the very least my confidence levels have risen substantially and that's never a bad thing.
However, this time round I could not by any means stretch of the imagination call those hill drills anything resembling joy, so I eventually checked my log for last year and discovered that my memory was clearly playing tricks on me (must be yet another sign of old age). I hated the drills just as much as I do right now. Actually, that's good news. Last year went very well, so if this particular phase right now feels the same, I might be on my way towards another great year, who knows.
Obviously, the race on New Year's Day shows that I am in much better shape than at the same time last year. A year ago I ran the same race and was quote pleased with my time; this time I ran a whopping 27 seconds faster! The one worry I have is that this is all too good too soon, but the exact same danger applied to last year; I even have an email from MC for proof. I had already seen plenty of signs during training that I was running about 8 or 9 seconds per mile faster than last year and funnily enough that race fell into exactly those parameters.
By the way, I checked my mile splits from that race, which turned out to be a bit tricky on Garmin connect, and I took 1.02 "Garmin miles" as one mile in reality. That gave me splits of 5:34, 5:52 and 5:52, which is actually much more even that I usually run 5ks; I usually start at more suicidal pace and hang on for dear life at the end. Even so, that first mile might still be the fastest one I've ever run on even ground (I have run faster miles downhill), but compared to previous races I was able to hold the pace much better towards the end.
I have been asked this a few times by now and yes, I do want to run under 2:55 in Tralee. In fact, I am hoping to run a little bit faster than that. Obviously, there are parameters I won't be able to control like the weather on race day, but that's beside the point. I will do my best to be at the start line in my best possible shape.
I took it exceptionally easy the day after the race and only ran 6 miles, just to be doubly sure that I wouldn't be overdoing things when I should be recovering. The journey back home to Kerry was uneventful and on Thursday morning I was back on my usual hill doing drills once more. I did notice that the high knees drill is feeling significantly easier already; the one I am still struggling with is "driving with the thighs". On the plus side, there won't be many more of these drills; I am already transitioning into the next phase. Until last week running long repeats at 6:15 pace would have sounded like torture and bordering on the impossible. After those two races over the holiday period I am looking forward to those kind of workouts with a much more relaxed attitude. At the very least my confidence levels have risen substantially and that's never a bad thing.
- 2 Jan
- 6 miles, 46:18, 7:42 pace, HR 140
- 3 Jan
- 10.2 miles, 1:32:17, 9:02 pace, HR 139
Hill Drills: strides, high knees, ankles, thigh drive - 4 Jan
- 8 miles, 1:01:01, 7:37 pace, HR 139
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Farranfore St.Stephen's Day Race
I had more or less taken a year absence from the local road racing scene. A low-key 10k in Tralee in June was the only local short road race I had done all year, so this was a comeback of some sort. I saw plenty of very familiar faces that I hadn't seen in a while.
The kids were all happy with their heaps of new Christmas presents and I was able to leave for a couple of hours without feeling guilty.
Yesterday my left hamstring had started hurting on the last mile and as soon as I started my warm-up I could feel it again. Running a race with a dodgy hamstring is unlikely to be a good idea; if I got hurt now it would destroy my chances of a good Tralee marathon, which would be devastating after the excellent base training I had managed in the last few months. However, I decided to go ahead anyway. What can I say, I'm the guy who thought running for 24 hours straight was a great idea; idiocy comes easy to me.
This was the 51st annual Farranfore road race, very much a credit to the local running club for keeping it going for such an amazingly long time. It's an old-school race as far as the odd distance is concerned, about 4 miles and a quarter. Back then they didn't care much for PBs over certain distances, it was all about racing each other, and that's exactly what I had in mind today.
The race course is tough, you start by going up a hill right from the off, then a slightly undulating straight road to Firies is followed by a small loop and then the same road back, which means that for the finish you have to cross that same hill again, which has seemingly doubled in size since 20 minutes ago.
The front row was pretty much packed with the usual fast guys. Two guys shot off from the start and would contest the eventual winner between themselves, but the pack right behind them contained all the familiar faces, including John, Simon, Cian, Arthur, Ed, Rob and ... me??? I was wondering what was going on, I am used to being a slow climber but reasonably fast descender, so to hang on to the back of these guys despite going uphill and not even working too hard was odd. When we reached the top of the hill I was still right there but then it felt like they all accelerated in unison and left me behind, struggling on my own against the fierce headwind. On the following downhill section I was caught by about 5 runners, including the first 2 ladies. This was the complete opposite of what I'm used to, usually I lose a few places on the climbs and gain them back afterwards. I'm not sure how that happened, but I must have become much stronger since last year but at the same time can't seem to spin my legs fast enough on the descent.
I tried to hang on to the backs of the runners who had just caught me, but with limited success. All I could do was try and keep the gap reasonably small. Just as we got into Firies George overtook me. I'm used to him disappearing into the distance right from the start, so I figured I must be running well even if I was unable to match his pace from here on.
Positions and gaps were maintained through Firies and on the way back home I noticed I was gaining on the runner ahead of me. He held me off when I drew level and together we closed the gap to the runner ahead until the three of us were running level. That's when the final climb started, gently at first but getting steeper with each step. Again, in highly unusual fashion, I was strangely strong here and not only gapped the two guys but caught the next runner in front of me as well. Then we reached the top and from here on I tried to spin the legs as fast as possible until the finish so as not to lose those places I had worked so hard for, which was successful, happy days!
I finished in 17th position, 3rd M40 (George overtaking me was the decisive move as far as finishing in the prize money was concerned), in 24:30, official results are here. That's 5:52 pace over a hilly course in very windy conditions, much better than I would have thought possible! Funnily enough, I had been talking to John O'Regan beforehand and somehow I had been running the race he had hoped for himself while he ran the race I had predicted for myself.
The hamstring did not hamper me at all, after a mile or two I did not even notice it any more. I knew I was in good shape, but had no idea I was in SUCH good shape. Happy Days!
The kids were all happy with their heaps of new Christmas presents and I was able to leave for a couple of hours without feeling guilty.
Yesterday my left hamstring had started hurting on the last mile and as soon as I started my warm-up I could feel it again. Running a race with a dodgy hamstring is unlikely to be a good idea; if I got hurt now it would destroy my chances of a good Tralee marathon, which would be devastating after the excellent base training I had managed in the last few months. However, I decided to go ahead anyway. What can I say, I'm the guy who thought running for 24 hours straight was a great idea; idiocy comes easy to me.
This was the 51st annual Farranfore road race, very much a credit to the local running club for keeping it going for such an amazingly long time. It's an old-school race as far as the odd distance is concerned, about 4 miles and a quarter. Back then they didn't care much for PBs over certain distances, it was all about racing each other, and that's exactly what I had in mind today.
The race course is tough, you start by going up a hill right from the off, then a slightly undulating straight road to Firies is followed by a small loop and then the same road back, which means that for the finish you have to cross that same hill again, which has seemingly doubled in size since 20 minutes ago.
The front row was pretty much packed with the usual fast guys. Two guys shot off from the start and would contest the eventual winner between themselves, but the pack right behind them contained all the familiar faces, including John, Simon, Cian, Arthur, Ed, Rob and ... me??? I was wondering what was going on, I am used to being a slow climber but reasonably fast descender, so to hang on to the back of these guys despite going uphill and not even working too hard was odd. When we reached the top of the hill I was still right there but then it felt like they all accelerated in unison and left me behind, struggling on my own against the fierce headwind. On the following downhill section I was caught by about 5 runners, including the first 2 ladies. This was the complete opposite of what I'm used to, usually I lose a few places on the climbs and gain them back afterwards. I'm not sure how that happened, but I must have become much stronger since last year but at the same time can't seem to spin my legs fast enough on the descent.
I tried to hang on to the backs of the runners who had just caught me, but with limited success. All I could do was try and keep the gap reasonably small. Just as we got into Firies George overtook me. I'm used to him disappearing into the distance right from the start, so I figured I must be running well even if I was unable to match his pace from here on.
Positions and gaps were maintained through Firies and on the way back home I noticed I was gaining on the runner ahead of me. He held me off when I drew level and together we closed the gap to the runner ahead until the three of us were running level. That's when the final climb started, gently at first but getting steeper with each step. Again, in highly unusual fashion, I was strangely strong here and not only gapped the two guys but caught the next runner in front of me as well. Then we reached the top and from here on I tried to spin the legs as fast as possible until the finish so as not to lose those places I had worked so hard for, which was successful, happy days!
I finished in 17th position, 3rd M40 (George overtaking me was the decisive move as far as finishing in the prize money was concerned), in 24:30, official results are here. That's 5:52 pace over a hilly course in very windy conditions, much better than I would have thought possible! Funnily enough, I had been talking to John O'Regan beforehand and somehow I had been running the race he had hoped for himself while he ran the race I had predicted for myself.
The hamstring did not hamper me at all, after a mile or two I did not even notice it any more. I knew I was in good shape, but had no idea I was in SUCH good shape. Happy Days!
- 24 Dec
- 8.5+ miles, 1:15:08, 8:46 pace, HR 138
Hill Drills: strides, high knees, thigh drive - 25 Dec
- 8 miles, 57:58, 7:14 pace, HR 149
- 26 Dec
- 8 miles, including:
Farranfore 4.2 mile race, 24:33, 5:52 pace, avg. HR 178, max HR 185, 17th place, 3rd M40
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