In-Between

This is one short post-marathon recovery I'm going through at the moment, because Cork is on this weekend and I agreed to pace it. At least I wasn't stupid enough to go for my "usual" 3:15 slot and told them straight away it would have to be 3:30 or slower - and 3:30 it was. I'm really looking forward to it, Cork always look after the pacers very well, and now my job is to make sure I don't mess it up.

Recovery was kind of curious this week. There had been no muscle soreness, nada, zilch, nichts, despite the hilly nature of the Clare Burren Challenge, and despite the fact that I ran two of the downhill segments fairly hard, which really should have destroyed my quads but they managed to completely withstand it. That's good. My muscles have definitely become very resilient, which will hopefully mean there won't be a repeat of last year's fiasco in Belfast when the legs were just gone after 12 hours, irretrievably. However, the runs over the last couple of days have felt quite tough, despite the fact that I tried to take it as easy as possible, and the slow pace shows it.

I don't think I'm overtrained, and there are two possible explanations. First, the toughest runs were the ones in the morning, after just half a day break after running home from work the night before. Secondly, and I think that is the real, major reason, it has become very humid here, and the temperatures have been a good bit higher than what we're accustomed here in Ireland. Those are tough conditions for a run and always make it feel harder.

The main worry is that the conditions tomorrow in Cork might well be more of the same, which will make it a tough day for everyone. I have paced marathons in warm, humid conditions before, with Dublin 2014 particularly sticking in my mind, and it was always hard work, feeling more like a race effort than a reasonably easy training run. We'll see. I have been worried about messing up the pacing before but I have paced 14 marathons so far and never missed the target.

If you're there tomorrow, say hello.

27 May

6.9 miles, 58:25, 8:27, HR 133

   Actually 2 runs - my youngest daughter wanted some company when going for a cycle

28 May

am:2.7 miles, 22:39, 8:23, HR 138

pm:6.3 miles, 49:52, 7:54

29 May

10.25 miles, 1:21:18, 7:55, HR 141

30 May

10.25 miles, 1:30:25, 8:49, HR 136, gasp

31 May

10.25 miles, 1:24:05, 8:12, HR 139

1 Jun

10.25 miles, 1:28:25, 8:37, HR 143, gasp

100 Times Recovery

Photo by Valerie O’Sullivan

I've gone through post-marathon recovery often enough by now to know what I can expect. Not that it is always the same - a goal race will take a very different toll on the body than a training run of the same distance. But I know the patterns very well.

I was really pleased by how the legs felt. They just took it as yet another training run. Even teh day after the marathon there was no soreness whatsoever, which was good as I had to return the rental car, which happened to be about 7.5 miles away from home, and running home afterwards was far more enjoyable than public transport would have been.

However, upper respiratory tract infections are very common, and once more I got hit. On Monday morning I has a slightly sore throat, which gradually developed into a very sore throat by Monday evening. On Tuesday morning the throat was fine but replaced with a splitting headache. On Wednesday morning the headache was still there, but much reduced. By Thursday it had moved into my chest, and by Saturday, give or take a day, it will be all gone. I know the pattern exceptionally well, I've gone through it so often.

Photo by Valerie O’Sullivan

My HRV readings were deep red the days immediately after the marathon but have already returned to green by now. My morning HR, on the other hand, is still elevated (around 48-50 rather than 40-42), which is rather interesting. The HR for my run was really low earlier this week, which really surprised me initially, until I realised that all my recovery runs had been on rather flat courses, as opposed to the very hilly commute I had been doing prior. I guess I'm starting to see just how much those hills are adding to the HR; maybe I haven't gone backwards in training after Rathdrum after all, the numbers just reflected the types of courses I have run on.

Due to that head cold, which was made a bit more complicated by the fact that it coincided with the first of my two annual hayfever bouts, I took to easier than usual in my post-recovery week, so no big mileage at the moment, far from it. I'm hoping to get back to that next week, and then it's getting close to taper time already. As long as the training cycle has been, now it feels too short already and I wish I could have a few more weeks. Same story as always.

13 May

7.6 miles, 1:04:58, 8:32 pace, HR 134

14 May

4+ miles, 32:51, 8:06 pace, HR 130

15 May

4.5 miles, 36:26, 8:05 pace, HR 134

16 May

4.8 miles, 37:58, 7:54 pace, HR 139

17 May

6.5+ miles, 52:31, 8:00 pace, HR 140

Recovery

Well, no shit Sherlock, after a big race comes a big recovery. If you have been reading this blog before you know my standard recovery protocol by now. It works very well, so why change it. It's based on the theory that active recovery is better than full rest. Actually, it's not really based on any theory, I just stumbled my way through trial and error a few years ago as I experimented a bit and this particular practise emerged as a clear winner. It wasn't until later that I found out about coaches or scientists who talked about active recovery and it perfectly matched what I was doing already.

Anyway, it means no matter how tired and achy your legs are the day after a race, you go out and run, at a very very easy effort for 30, 40, maybe 45 minutes. The day after a long race this is well and truly going to suck, certainly at the beginning, but after 2, 3, maybe 4 miles you can feel your legs loosening up and getting better. The next day will suck a bit less and after a while you start to to feel reasonably good again and can pick up training once more.

"What are you going to do on Monday?" asked Niamh before the 100k. "Probably lie on the bed and feel sorry for myself". Actually, it turned out I felt reasonably good. The run that morning sucked but afterwards I was fine, able to do a big weekly shop and do the dishes and wash some clothes and go out for a walk and a few other things that I expected I'd forgo for a day of pain and misery. I didn't even realise it at first but I habitually walked down the 3 flights of stairs from the apartment instead of taking the lift and my quads didn't even hurt a bit - that came as a major surprise, once I realised what I was doing.

I might have gotten slower with old age but it looks like I have become more resilient in the process. That's not a bad thing.

Having said that, while the legs were not as damaged as expected, recovery was still slow. Every day was a little bit better than the one before but all week the hamstrings kept feeling heavy and stiff, so I kept my little recovery runs going for longer than usual. It's only now, a week later, that I'm finally starting to feel like a runner again and ready to do a bit more.

3 Apr

4.15 miles, 42:46, 10:18 pace, HR 117 (!!)

4 Apr

4.5 miles, 39:37, 8:48 pace, HR 123

5 Apr

am: 4.6 miles, 37:58, 8:15 pace, HR 135

pm: 2.15 miles, 16:24, 7:37 pace, HR 128 (downhill)

6 Apr

4.5 miles, 38:05, 8:27 pace, HR 127

7 Apr

4.5 miles, 36:22, 8:04 pace, HR 131

After The Races

Donadea was marathon/ultra number 96, so you could say I’ve been there before. My recovery protocol is pretty much the same every time, it has been thoroughly tried and tested, works very well and gets me back into shape in good time.

I don’t know when I first noticed that a few miles of very easy running leads to a faster recovery than full rest. It might be counter-intuitive and most running publications would have you believe differently but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever that my method works better. I do at least 3 days of 5 miles each morning, very very easy. The day immediately after the race it is always a struggle to get yourself out of the door and there is always that little devil on your shoulder that will whisper into your ear to go home, you deserve a rest, but just ignore it. After a mile or two you will feel so much better and each subsequent step will show further improvement. The following days will feel easier already and will most likely be a little bit faster, though you should pay no attention to pace whatsoever, just jog at whatever effort feels really comfortable.

After 3 days you assess; if the legs are still tired you keep doing 5 mile runs, otherwise you can increase the mileage. I find that usually I can crank up the mileage without much issue, but keep the effort easy at all times. There should be no workouts in the week after the race and no races / hard workouts for at least another week. That’s it. You will soon feel recovered, and most likely in better shape than before the race.

On a side note, assuming the HRM was working correctly my HR for Monday was my lowest ever on record at 121. I know the pace was very easy, but still. However, I have noticed that a low HR / high VDOT not necessarily translates into being in race shape. My cardio-vascular system is in damn good conditions but my legs aren’t quite playing ball.

My weight also follows a set pattern. Again it might be counter-intuitive but I always put on about 3 pounds when I run a marathon or ultra. I’m think it’s fluid that was leaking from damaged muscle fibres and ends up pooling in your leg muscles, though I am no expert in physiology. That additional weight stays with me for a few days and then goes away just like that. I have just seen the exact same  pattern once more, my weight went up from 143lbs/65kg before Donadea to about 146lbs/66+kg, and on Wednesday it suddenly was back to just over 143.

I tend to eat healthily most of the time but have an undeniable sweet tooth. I guess clean eating would improve recovery but there comes the point where self-denial reaches its limits. I still eat healthily with plenty of fruits and vegetables; salads for lunch work very well in that regard. But I certainly don’t deny myself a bit of chocolate or sweet, especially since this week coincided with pancake Tuesday (always a big thing in our house) and Valentine’s Day.

Anyway, it’s now been 5 days since Donadea. I can definitely still feel the race in my legs but overall I’m happy with how recovery is going. I’ll still take it easy for a few more days and see how it goes.

Btw, it was snowing this morning during my run as well as during the cycle commute. Winter is definitely holding on for longer than usual this year.

12 Feb

5 miles, 44:32; 8:54 pace, HR 121

13 Feb

5 miles, 42:47; 8:33 pace, HR 127

14 Feb

6.3 miles, 53:01; 8:24 pace, HR 134

15 Feb

10.3 miles, 1:23:03; 8:03 pace, HR 137

Happy Solstice

From tomorrow morning on it will get brighter again. Good thing too. As much as I like Winter (it's an Austrian thing), the lack of daylight does make things tricky, from SAD to the fact that running in the dark through Dublin City isn't entirely without risks. At the moment it's invariably pitch dark every time I run and cycling home from work can be a bit scary at times as well, mostly due to the appalling state of the cycle paths, especially around UCD.

Anyway, my running is entirely focused on recovery this week. For once this is going really well. It is quite astounding that running two exceptionally hilly marathons in around 3:40 is so much easier on the body than one single flattish marathon in 3:10; at least I find it rather surprising.

I never had any muscle pain, walking down the 3 flights in our apartment was never an issue (I didn't even remember that I was supposed to be sore) and running 5 miles a day, as I always do immediately after a marathon/short ultra, felt actually a bit too short. By Tuesday I was already tempted to run a bit more but didn't. Instead, I re-started my cycle commute (me being redundant sure didn't last long!), and the 20 miles of cycling seemed to tire the legs more than the back-to-back marathons had done.

Wednesday was the one day where the legs felt a bit heavy during the first mile, which I attribute entirely to the cycling, but even then they started to feel better very quickly and by the end of the run I felt so good I was sorry to be done.

My HR values have been staggeringly low. It's been a while since I last saw values in the 120s. The HRV measurements are giving me very good readings as well, the last few days have always shown a solid green light, indicating excellent recovery (still not 100% sure about the validity of the those numbers, though).

I'll take a bit of break from marathon-length training runs now, hoping to focus a little bit more on running faster rather than going through an endless cycle of marathon/recovery/marathon. I already started that the week before Howth with a set of hill sprints and one evaluation workout, as a kind of transition. However, I'll wait for at least one week after Howth before even thinking about another fast run. That phase will last until Donadea in February, at least if things go to plan, and I hope that a slightly different stimulus will help to push things up a bit more.

18 Dec

5+ miles, 43:16, 8:29 pace, HR 125

19 Dec

5+ miles, 42:01, 8:19 pace, HR 128

20 Dec

8+ miles, 1:05:03, 7:59 pace, HR 136

21 Dec

9.7 miles, 1:16:03, 7:50 pace, HR 138

... And Back To Recovery

The main training strategy for this cycle so far has been to run one big, long training session per month, which means either a marathon, a short ultra or back-to-back marathons. I have seen a spectacular improvement, especially after the back-back, but it absolutely requires to recover from that big session, otherwise I will dig myself into that big hole again.

You learn from your mistakes. Dublin was a bit too fast, and the subsequent recovery just a bit too fast as well. There are fine margins. I ran Dublin at below-than-race effort, just not below enough. And the recovery runs were all at a genuinely easy effort, just not easy enough. Had I run Dublin a bit slower, say in 3:20, I think the effort level of the recovery runs would have been just fine but as it was I was always just over that line that I shouldn't have crossed.

Anyway, things aren't too bad, at least not yet, and can be rectified. It doesn't help that I lost my HRM (my guess is that it fell out of my bag in the train or train station) but I have finally received my replacement. I initially toyed with the idea of an optical HRM but the higher price paired with the lower accuracy drove me back to a chest strap, even though I have regular chafing issues with that.

This morning I remembered that several months ago I started looking into HRV (heart rate variability) measurement but didn't have the right equipment at the time and, being a cheap skate, decided against the purchase of yet another toy. However, my new HRM pod just happens to be one of the devices that supports those measurements, so from now on I will start using that. The idea is to measure my HRV values every morning and over time this should provide a good feedback with regards to recovery and overtraining status. We shall see.

Training has been low key this week, obviously. I followed the same recovery plan as always, a set of  daily 5 mile runs until the legs felt better and 8 miles a day thereafter, with a gentle increase to follow. Going forward, in an attempt to learn from my mistakes I will refrain from any future 3:10 training marathons (3:15 is fine if I am in good shape, as I know from experience), which should hopefully avoid mistakes like the one last month as I am trying to regain the kind of form that got me into the National team setup and into European and World championships.

The goal is setting a big number in a 24 hours race next summer. I haven't decided which race I am going to target but just yesterday I saw the announcement that the Irish championships will be held in Victoria Park again. Despite the fact that I usually break those kind of promises to myself, for once I intent to keep the promise never to run in Victoria Park again, the memories from that place are just too painful. That means I have to look for alternatives abroad. The Austrian championships are the most obvious target race; not only would a good performance in front of the the team management do my chances of selection no harm, it is also the venue of the 2019 World championships and being familiar with the place in advance would definitely be a bonus. Having said that, I haven't decided yet and would consider any alternatives.

20 Nov

4 miles, 35:18, 8:49 pace

21 Nov

5 miles, 44:19, 8:51 pace

22 Nov

5 miles, 42:44, 8:32 pace

23 Nov

5 miles, 41:20, 8:16 pace

24 Nov

8+ miles, 1:08:59, 8:15 pace, HR 138

25 Nov

8 miles, 1:04:05, 8:01 pace, HR 138

Recovery Lessons

One thing I learned the last 2 weeks is that recovery from a 3:10 marathon is a completely different animal compared to recovery from a 3:30 marathon, even back-to-back 3:30 marathons. A few days after Monaghan I was fully back in the saddle, knowing that the adaptations had been absorbed. It is taking a lot longer now, almost 2 weeks after Dublin the legs are still missing their spring and I have already dialled back the mileage on a couple of occasions in order to give them more to time to recover.

The reason this surprised me is that I definitely did not run Dublin at race effort. While I kept a decent enough effort it was well short of an all-out race effort, so I expected the damage to be a lot less. I guess those last 2-3 miles of fun at the end caused some damage I could have done without but what's done is done and there aren't any regrets.

All the while now I'm keeping the effort at an easy level, though it is noticeable that the pace is picking up again and getting closer to what it was like before DCM, without any change to subjective effort. That's good, because I have another race next week, in Sixmilebridge. I have very fond memories of that race ever since it had been the scene of a very rare all-out victory, and not even the painful finish the following year could tamper that. I'm not planning on racing it but a nice, decent long run should be fun - as long as the legs have sufficiently recovered from Dublin, of course.

I got another taste of living in Dublin last night at the Alice Cooper concert in the Olympia theatre. That's a rather unusual venue for a rock concert but that didn't do the atmosphere any harm, and the man sure knows who to put on a good show. Ever since I moved to Dublin the bands I used to listen to half a lifetime ago are coming here to play, so far I've had Green Day, Iron Maiden, GnR, and now the man himself. It's still waiting on Metallica and AC/DC but surely they are just patiently waiting for their turn at that stage.

5 Nov

8 miles, 1:04:13, 8:01 pace, HR 138

6 Nov

9.25 miles, 1:12:24, 7:49 pace, HR 138

7 Nov

9.6 miles, 1:14:40, 7:46 pace, HR 142

8 Nov

9.15 miles, 1:13:28, 8:01 pace, HR 143

9 Nov

6.25 miles, 50:07, 8:01 pace, HR 140

10 Nov

6.25 miles, 48:57, 7:49 pace, HR 142

Recovery

When you run a race, it is all about that one race, nothing else matters. But when you do a training run, the magic actually happens off-screen: the recovery afterwards, with the adaptation that follows.

I ran Dublin as a training run and as much as I enjoyed the raceday atmosphere, it wasn't why I was running that day. Now I need to ensure I recover well, otherwise I won't get the benefits of the adaptation. And I sure don't want to dig myself back into that deep dark hole that is overtraining; I have only just managed to climb out of it.

Over the years I have found a post-race recovery program that works exceptionally well for me. After the race I run for 5 miles a day, slowly, until the legs feel better again, then I add a few miles and after a surprisingly short amount of time I'm back in the groove.

This time round it worked very well initially. I did 3 5-mile runs, feeling better and getting a little bit each day. In fact, on the third such run I really had to hold myself back; the legs kept pushing on and time and time again I reigned them back in. So, on the Thursday I ran a little bit longer and this time just let the legs go as they pleased, which seemed like the right thing to do. I didn't push the effort and the HR of 136 supports this. However, the legs felt a lot more sluggish again on Friday, and it probably didn't help that I ran back home from work. That's just over 9 miles, a little bit longer than would have been ideal in my post-marathon recovery program, but you can't stop halfway in the middle of nowhere. On Saturday morning the legs definitely didn't feel great so I stepped right back and did 5 miles at a very slow pace, just like I did the day after the marathon. I'll take it by ear now. I'll decide pace and distance depending on how I feel each morning, until I feel recovered again.

1 Nov

5 miles, 41:18, 8:15 pace, HR 134

2 Nov

6.35 miles, 50:25, 7:56 pace, HR 136

3 Nov

9.2 miles, 1:14:47, 8:07 pace, HR 138

4 Nov

5 miles, 43:41, 8:44 pace, HR 129

Recovery

I haven't got all that much to say right now, except that recovery from Dingle is going really well, much better than anticipated.

How you recover from a workout tells you more about your conditioning than how the workout itself went, and as pleased as I was with the run in Dingle, this is even better news.

I was a bit sore on Sunday, no surprise here. I did the usual 5-mile recovery run to Ar-na-Sidhe, which is what I always do after a marathon. On Monday I was back in Dublin and since traffic has gotten exponentially worse since schools started again I swapped my routine of running at home and then driving to work around by first driving to work and then run a few miles near my work place. Thankfully they have showers at work! Even so, the commute took me twice as long as it should have, even at 7 o'clock in the morning.

There are actually plenty of running options in and around Ringsend; I chose to run towards Poolbeg, turning round after 2.5 miles. I did more of the same on Tuesday, except that I left home 15 minutes earlier, which took 10 minutes off the commute, which I used to run towards Poolbeg again but this time all the way out to the lighthouse. It was actually further than I thought it would be (that sea wall really is long!) and I ended up with 8 miles on the day. By now the legs felt much better, there was just a trace of soreness left in the right quads, and that was barely noticeable. Still, just to be sure I'm not overdoing it I stepped back to 5 miles on Wednesday morning, this time heading up the Dodder towards Herbert Park.

By now the legs feel fully recovered and the HR this morning was significantly better, the best numbers in this cycle so far, which was really good to see.

I'll re-start my running commute tomorrow morning. That will be a relieve. I hate being stuck in traffic!

Oh, and Dingle Marathon have replaced their Facebook cover photo with the one of the 3:30 group I used in my race report. Very nice!

4 Sep

5 miles, 41:39, 8:20 pace, HR 142

5 Sep

8.15 miles, 1:07:21, 8:16 pace, HR 143

6 Sep

5.5 miles, 44:09, 8:02 pace, HR 141

Idleness

What does a runner do when he's not running? Mostly thinking about running, I suppose. Usually I'd start training again when I get as itchy as I am now but since I'm about to go away on holidays I'll add another week of full rest.

I noticed that some of my clothes are starting to fit me again. I haven't stepped on a weighing scale recently but the fact that I no longer require a belt to stop my trousers from falling down indicates that I have put on a few pounds - no bad thing, really.

When I first started my new job and saw that they get a delivery of fresh fruit twice a week I thought the quality of my diet would take a step up. I didn't account for the fact that there is also a culture of having a constant supply of biscuits and chocolate at the ready, plus there is a baking roster every Friday, so with my notorious sweet tooth my sugar intake has probably spiked - not good, and something I will need to get on top of. But the month after a big race is not the time to return to an ascetic existence just yet.

I do have a problem with one of the muscles in my left thigh. I think it's the sartorius muscle, though I could be off by one muscle in that group. I start feeling a burning sensation after prolonged sitting, which can become seriously uncomfortable (and I like to think my pain threshold is rather high). It all started last autumn but eventually went away earlier this year, only to come back recently. The pain disappears almost immediately when I get up and walk around but if I'm stuck in a meeting that's not always possible. Sitting in the car for 4 hours when driving from or to Kerry isn't ideal either. In fact, I strongly suspect that the long hours of driving have something to do with this re-occurring. I haven't managed to convince the missus that she should come up to visit  me on weekends rather than the other way round, though.

But first I'm off to Vienna for a week. Prost!

Happy Solstice

APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170621.html

For once, solstice actually seems to coincide with some proper summer weather here in Ireland, if you ignore the rain this morning, that is. We're getting some actual heat training done here, with the temperatures predicted to hit 28 degrees in Dublin today (20 in Kerry - ah well, I've left that behind), though when I was running home from work at 6 pm it definitely wasn't quite as got as that. The humidity made up for any shortfall, though. However, that's apparently the last of it, from tomorrow it's back to the usual grey skies. Sneaking a quick preview at the forecast for race day, in full knowledge that they haven't got a clue what the weather really will be like in 10 days' time, it will still be back to normal, clouds with the occasional rain shower. Actually, that would do me just fine.

Following last week's late hard push, this week is all about recovery, and a full one at that. The coach took one look at my recovery and cancelled any further workouts, including the taper workout for next week. I think that suits me fine because I messed up that very workout when I did it as a test before Cork, and I'd rather not go into Belfast with already fatigued legs. Since Albi I know what's it like to start a 24 hours run on already tired legs and I'd rather not repeat that experience.

So, it's all short and it's all easy running, a fairly radical taper. I haven't gone completely mad yet due to lack of exercise and endorphin withdrawal; at least I haven't noticed it yet.

19 Jun

7 miles, 56:26, 8:03 pace, HR 139

20 Jun

7 miles, 57:14, 8:10 pace, HR 135

21 Jun

7 miles, 56:56, 8:06 pace, HR 144

Marathon Recovery

After having a few days to think about it I have concluded that I had messed up last week. I did a taper workout 4 days before the marathon, which included 3 half mile repeats. I ran them too hard, at least the final 2. I was pretty much wiped out afterwards, much in contrast to the pickup workout the previous weekend when I easily could have done more. The legs felt pretty bad the next few days, not when running but when sitting! It made the drive to Kerry on Friday evening seriously uncomfortable. I'm absolutely sure those hills in Cork would have been much less of an issue had I run those repeats just 5 or 10 seconds slower.

Obviously, I have been taking it easy the last few days since the marathon, running-wise that is (work-wise is very very busy, but I love it).

The day after the marathon I was in Castlecove, surrounded by a lot of very hungover friends and family, the look of whom made me glad that I don't drink any more. However, I had one problem: there were no obvious running routes, at least not for road running. The options were 1) the main Ring of Kerry road, 2) some minor local cul-de-sacs, most of them short and all of them very hilly. I really did not fancy the main road and anyway, it wasn't exactly flat either, so a minor local road it would be. One of them happened to go to Staigue Fort, an ancient ring fort, so I decided to combine running and sight seeing. The fort is high up the hills, so it wasn't the most obvious choice for a recovery run the day after a marathon but the location is truly spectacular. I didn't hang around for too long, however, as it started to rain and I was getting cold quickly.

I was pleased how well the legs felt. They were a little bit stiff but the marathon did not seem to have left much of an impression. However, I still made sure to take it exceptionally easy every time I ran.

Funnily enough, the legs felt reasonably ok on the drive to Dublin on Monday evening. That means I had fresher legs the day after a marathon than before - now that's a first!

The running on the following days was just commuting, first alternating running and cycling and then just running on Thursday. The legs felt close to recovered on Wednesday but to my dismay were worse again on Thursday morning (no idea why!). Then again, all it took was 10 hours in the office and they were much better on the evening run back home

All in all I seem to have recovered very, very well. Since the coach states that the way you recover from a workout says more about your conditioning than how the workout itself went, I take this as a very good sign.

5 Jun

5.8 miles, 55:29, 9:33 pace, HR 132

6 Jun

5.35 miles, 44:58, 8:24 pace, HR 135

7 Jun

5.5 miles, 46:00, 8:21 pace, HR 136

8 Jun

am: 5.5 miles, 45:51, 8:20 pace, HR 134

pm: 5.5 miles, 45:13, 8:13 pace, HR 137

After The Marathon

Recovery from Saturday’s marathon has gone pretty well. Initially I thought I had aggravated my leg injury; Niamh noticed me limping on Sunday and a work colleague did the same on Monday, though I had been aware of it on neither occasion. However, it then improved remarkably quickly, by Tuesday it was much better already, as good as it had had been at any time the days before the marathon, and by Thursday morning everything is down to “barely noticeable”,  around 1/10 or 2/10. I’ll take that.

Muscle soreness was never a factor, from that point of view it seems to have gone particularly well. Taking it very easy this week sure helped, no doubles or anything longer than one commute at a time. On Wednesday morning I played around with the pace a little bit, going up to marathon effort once I hit the seafront (probably a bit too fast) and another pickup through one of the parks towards the end of the commute. On both occasions I felt really good, though the HR spiked much higher than I would have liked.

One thing I have noticed since moving to Dublin is that I find it very hard to relax while on the run. The leg definitely had a major impact on that, it’s hard to run relaxed when one leg keeps sending signals that something is wrong. Running in unfamiliar surroundings hasn’t helped, and running with a backpack definitely has not helped. However, on Wednesday, especially during the pickups, I finally managed to get into a groove and relax a lot more than at any other time since moving here. Maybe things are finally settling down.

I'm also trying to get as organised as possible, bringing several days' worth of clothing into the office at a time so I can run unencumbered on the other days.

Anyway, the legs felt a bit lethargic again on Thursday, with the triple-whammy of marathon, backpack and faster miles the day before clearly not helping. I’ll be taking it easy for a bit longer, I guess.

15 May

3 miles, 25:35, 8:31 pace, HR 139

16 May

5.5 miles, 45:54, 8:20 pace, HR 145

17 May

5.55 miles, 42:55, 7:43 pace, HR 149

18 May

5.5 miles, 44:56, 8:10 pace, HR 147

Lessons In Recovery

It's one of MC's favourite sayings, that how you recover from a workout says more about your conditioning than how the workout went.

My workout was the Longford ultra. It had gone very well, much better than expected. Now I had to recover from it.

Cute!

I launched into my standard tried and tested recovery protocol. The day after the ultra I hobbled through 4 uncomfortable miles when I would have preferred to wrap myself in cotton wool, but that's the tried and tested part of the recovery program. Gentle exercise significantly speeds up recovery compared to total rest, as counter-intuitive as it may sound at first.

I kept taking it very easy for several more days, which of course included skipping the weekly mountain run. The legs felt better with each day but I could still sense some fatigue in the quads, which is a bit strange because during the ultra itself it was primarily the hamstrings that were aching. On Friday I felt sufficiently brave to launch into another workout, the usual Fast Friday 7 miles with the HR close to 155, though I was prepared to pull the plug any time, depending how the legs felt.

Well, as it turns out, the legs felt much better than anticipated. I have never managed to surprise the coach with a workout, until now that is. Even he did not expect me to cruise through those mile the way I did, though in all honesty I was even more surprised to post better numbers than 2 and 3 weeks ago.

Turns out, though, it wasn't all as rosy as it looked at first. Saturday was the second part of the back-to-back workout. Nine easy miles followed by 6 at 7:15 pace, or a little bit faster if I felt like it. It looked easy enough, that's slower and for a shorter distance than Friday's fast part, but once I started the workout I could immediately sense that the legs were compromised. If you've heard about the central governor theory, I felt it today as the CG left me with a very limited number of muscle fibres to work with. As hard as I tried, 7:21 pace was as good as it got and I only managed to elevate my HR to 160 on uphill sections, otherwise the legs just would not respond no matter how hard I tried. That's the thing with those back-to-back workouts, they mercilessly show up deficient recovery, so it's back to another week of easy running.

24 Apr

5 miles, 42:35, 8:31 pace, HR 136

25 Apr

5 miles, 42:20, 8:28 pace, HR 133

26 Apr

7 miles, 56:51, 8:07 pace, HR 136

27 Apr

7 miles, 54:53, 7:50 pace, HR 144

28 Apr

10 miles, 1:13:07, 7:18 pace, HR 150

   incl.7 @ 7:04 (HR 153)

29 Apr

15 miles, 1:55:38, 7:42 pace, HR 147

   incl.6 @ 7:21 (HR 156)

30 Apr

7 miles, 58:28, 8:21 pace, HR 136

Up

Ah well, I guess the form curve can't always point steeply upwards when you're in training ...

Actually, scratch that. Looks like it can.

Cian playing at a concert last Sunday

Alright, I've had a few days of rather heavy legs after the weekend but by now they have bounced back and the numbers are getting higher once again and so far there seems to be no ceiling in sight, unless I just jinxed myself with that last sentence.

It got a little bit better with every passing day, and after three easy days I felt sufficiently recovered to head back up Windy Gap once more this morning, this time carrying on over the pass itself and dropping down towards Glenbeigh before turning around for a second climb. It certainly lived up to its name today; the ascent from the Caragh lake side was one of my slowest and the one from Glenbeigh close to my personal best without even trying, but that one felt assisted by a magic hand relentlessly pushing me up. A little bit of wind is part of all the fun of course but I appreciated it being a dry morning. I bought new trail running shoes after my old ones had more or less fallen apart in Aherlow last September, a pair of Asics Tambora, the main draw being that they seem to be okay for both road and trail, but which probably comes with the drawback that they won't excel in slippery wet conditions. I guess I'll find out eventually.

Getting the right pair of shoes for trail running seems to be much trickier than for road running. I have worn dozens of different shoes from all kinds of brands on the road and was comfortable with almost all of them but neither of the 2 off-road shoes I've used so far (Inov-8 Talon and Inov-8 Terrafly) have been quite what I have been looking for. Let's see how the new ones work out, so far so good.

10 Apr

7 miles, 57:05, 8:09 pace, HR 135

11 Apr

7 miles, 55:34, 7:56 pace, HR 136

12 Apr

12+ miles, 1:50:07, 9:08 pace, HR 145

   Windy Gap

Rest And Recovery

Maybe it’s crazy, or maybe it’s just a sign how old and boring I have become the last few years, but I was actually much more excited by seeing my HR/pace data on Monday’s recovery run than I was about anything related to Sunday’s race.

TRAPPIST-1 according to Lola

Still, running almost a minute a mile faster for the same HR than I did last October, when I should have been in top form before the European champs, was quite something. Also, remember how I mentioned my VDOT increase in February and how that would make me world class in a few months if it kept climbing at the same rate? Of course I was kidding but the steep rate of improvement actually kept going all the way through March, which puts me into a very nice position with 3 months still to go until Belfast.

I know I have yet to add some long runs, so obviously the hard work still remains to be done but right now things are better than I could have hoped. Late last year I had some serious doubts if I’d ever get back into some decent sort of shape, and now I have started believing again. I’m actually really looking forward to Belfast instead of being worried.

By Wednesday I felt pretty much fully recovered from the race so I went back to 7 miles on Thursday morning. Training has taken a backseat this week, being trumped by recovery, and all workouts have been put on ice until next week, so my return to the Windy Gap has had to wait – not that the weather would have made that run particularly inviting. The joke around here is that we’ve had a lovely summer, hope you enjoyed it. Let’s see how long the rainy season lasts – hopefully not until September again!

27 Mar

5+ miles, 42:01, 8:19 pace, HR 136

28 Mar

5+ miles, 41:08, 8:09 pace, HR 140

29 Mar

5+ miles, 39:17, 7:47 pace, HR 142

30 Mar

7 miles, 55:09, 7:53 pace, HR 141

Doris And Ewen

Even though I'm running the risk of jinxing myself here, I have to say that February has been a great month. After months of rather limited progress the numbers are pointing upwards in a much steeper curve; my VDOT numbers went up by almost 3 points (I'd be world class by autumn if that kept going) and I'm generally feeling a lot better. While I had at least one family member feeling sick at any one time, my own immune system seems to have reached the stage where it can fight off those kind of infections without me even noticing.

"No more animals" I said. "No more stupid names" I said.
"Welcome Noodle" they said.

The evaluation on Wednesday wasn't great; how much of that was down to the wind and the slightly undulating road is open to question but I could tell straight away that the legs weren't quite right, so it definitely wasn't just down to external circumstances. On the plus side, and that's a big plus, this time there did not seem to be any soreness after that workout. I know the evaluation is a rather moderate workout (in fact, that's the very reason why I'm doing it weekly - I could not cope with strenuous workouts yet) but the previous 2 weeks I could definitely feel it in the legs subsequently. Not so this time, which I take as another great sign - my recovery is definitely improving.

On Saturday I ran the fastest "easy" run in a very long time. Thing is, I could have sworn I ran about 8-minute pace. Last Sunday I had run a bit fast but kind of knew that I was putting in a tad too much effort at times. Not so yesterday - this was a genuine easy effort all the way,

Ireland was visited by storm Doris on Thursday (the very reason why I had moved the evaluation to Wednesday), but that had mostly by-passed Kerry and what was visiting us was mostly gone already by the time I got up. It was a bit different on Sunday when storm Ewen made its way across the island, and this time I took the "gone old and soft" option and ran 9 miles on the treadmill instead. I think that was my longest treadmill run ever, though I can't be bothered to check back. And I managed to catch up on my downloaded episodes at the same time,

Anyway, the legs are definitely feeling good.

23 Feb

7 miles, 56:02, 8:00 pace, HR 147

24 Feb

8 miles, 1;03:46, 7:58 pace, HR 145

25 Feb

7 miles, 53:28, 7:38 pace, HR 151

26 Feb

9 miles, 1:12:30, 8:03 pace, HR 145

   treadmill

Aguero Scores Again

As soon as I finished Sunday's run and saw the pace on the watch I knew there would have to be some payback. As much as I wish for it, my recovery still isn't anywhere near where it used to be and, sadly, 9 miles at 7:42 pace isn't something I just recover from overnight yet.

Monday was still somewhat ok but I could definitely feel the effects on Tuesday. Mind, it wasn't only Sunday's run, I also had Tuesday's customary post-yoga legs, and the fact that I was fighting gale force winds didn't exactly help.

In light of that it probably wasn't the best week to move the evaluation to Wednesday but there is a storm warning for Thursday, and one of the lessons from the past I actually remember is that there is no point to an evaluation when you're almost blown off the road with each step.

I knew straight away that the legs weren't at their best and it didn't come as a surprise that the numbers were a bit worse than last week. It wasn't exactly the calm before the storm either; in fact it was windy enough to make me move the evaluation to a different section of road. It was a bit more sheltered there and the wind came mostly from the side but it wasn't as flat as I would have liked. Ah well, running is an outdoors sport and dealing with the weather conditions is part of the game.

I had one more slight handicap. Last night I was watching the Champions League match at the Etihad, which was a good move, really, as it was the most exciting match in the history of the competition, but I paid for it by banging my knee against the coffee table when Aguero scored. I was afraid it would swell up but thankfully that didn't happen. It still felt stiff the next morning (in fact, it still does now) but out on the road I didn't even notice it.

       
        Mile 1    7:04   HR 161
        Mile 2    7:10   HR 162
        Mile 3    7:17   HR 161
        Mile 4    7:21   HR 161
        Recovery to HR 130: 45 seconds

That's worse than last week but, as mentioned, entirely expected. We'll see how it progresses. If I could change one thing about my training last week I'd slow down on Sunday. Overall, though, that's not that big a deal.

20 Feb

7 miles, 56:31, 8:04 pace, HR 142

21 Feb

7 miles, 56:03, 8:00 pace, HR 149

22 Feb

8 miles, 1:01:26, 7:40 pace, HR 154

   incl. 4 mile eval: 7:04, 7:10, 7:17, 7:21; 45 sec recovery

Heart Rate

I have known for a long time that heart rate always lags behind but I always took that to mean that it takes a few seconds for it to pick up when you increase effort. I have never heard of a delay of a whole day!

But that seems to be what was happening during my last cold. I already had a sore throat and a slight headache on the first morning but the HR was still fine for one more day. The same then happened in reverse. On Friday I felt pretty much fully recovered but the HR was still elevated when I was running that morning. It took another full day for the changes to show up on the HR chart on Saturday morning, when I finally posted some decent figures (mind, they're still 10 beat higher then where they should be once I reach proper fitness). There is no need to get carried away, though - the HR was higher again this morning, despite me running the same route in pretty much the same conditions and at the same subjective effort level - sometimes I really don't know how this works on a physiological level.

But the cold (or even colds) is finally behind me and I can breathe easily again, literally. Now I'm looking forward to the numbers to improve, though that will require some patience.

Oh, and I bought a new toy. Measuring resting HR in the morning is something I don't do very often, mostly because putting on the chest strap and then setting up the watch is a bit of a pain first thing in the morning. So I bought a little contraption that can measure HR right at your finger tip. Much easier! I could follow the progress of my recent cold that way, with the resting HR at about 55 when it was at its strongest and now back to 49 on Saturday and 48 on Sunday - the level I would expect when not fully fit. Of course it's not medical grade but it suits my needs and for £12 it was very reasonably I thought.

So, right now I'm running 7 miles each morning, which takes me just under an hour, and I'll probably stay at that for a bit now. It should hopefully be enough to build up my fitness to the next level but there is still a long way to go before I get back to where I used to be,

5 Jan

7 miles, 59:10, 8:27 pace, HR 153

6 Jan

7 miles, 57:37, 8:13 pace, HR 154

7 Jan

7 miles, 56:40, 8:05 pace, HR 149

8 Jan

7 miles, 56:52, 8:07 pace, HR 154

In Sickness And In Health

So, I took 5 days off entirely. The only time I felt rotten was Monday evening, and that was most likely because I was exhausted from the long journey back to Kerry. Following that I felt better with each day but I had a pretty bad cough and there was some pressure in the middle of my chest, so that violated the "neck rule" and I did not run.

I was back on the road on the 24th, but that was just a 2 mile test run to see how that would go. The answer was that the legs and lungs felt perfectly fine but the HR was very high, though then again that would always be high after 5 days of no running. I didn't run on Christmas Day because it was Christmas Day and because the weather was lousy and because you don't have to force yourself outside when the weather is lousy and you are still nursing a cold and you would rather spend some time with your wife and kids.

Thankfully the weather had improved significantly by St. Stephen's Day, though obviously I skipped the race in Farranfore as well as the Goal Mile. Instead I jogged for 4 miles; the legs felt good once more but the HR was alarmingly high, though that was in no way a reflection of the easy effort. I tried the same again on Tuesday, giving myself the option of 5 miles but with the HR again so high I kept it at 4 miles.

It was groundhog day on Wednesday because, you guessed it, the effort was easy but the HR was really high. I decided to completely ignore the HR and just run at whatever effort seemed right and natural.

I have been told by someone who knows this a lot better then than I do that the way you recover from a workout tells you a lot more about your fitness than the workout itself. That's how I look at the last few runs, I have no problems recovering. I don't feel tired at all and the legs don't even notice that I have just been out for a run, and if I had to do the same run again straight away I wouldn't even bat an eyelid at the thought.

The cold is still with me, still getting better a bit every day but still with a cough and with some restriction in my chest, though that isn't really noticeable any more during the day, By this stage is merely an annoyance than a hindrance. Then again, who knows - the fact that it kept me off my feet a bit longer might be a benefit regarding my overtraining.

24 Dec

2 miles, 17:28. 8:39 pace, HR 147

26 Dec

4 miles, 34:50. 8:42 pace, HR 153

27 Dec

4 miles, 34:14. 8:33 pace, HR 156

28 Dec

4 miles, 33:39. 8:22 pace, HR 157