Happy Mothers Day!

Every weekend seems to be some special date at the moment, this time we were combining Mothers Day and clocks-going-forward day, which definitely had the potential of messing things up, though with the advent of mobile phones who automatically adjust their clocks it's much less of an issue than it used to be. Showing my age here, I know.

The other thing that shows up my years is the slow pace I'm plodding at most of the times, but I've done more than enough moaning about that particular subject already, so I'll spare you this time. I actually managed a run under 8-minute pace this week, though it mostly just triggered a raised eyebrow or two when I looked at the watch afterwards and noticed it.

With my weeks being really busy at work (if I'm not actively working on customer-related things I'm always studying for yet anther exam), and me being increasingly reluctant to get up before 6 o'clock to run before work, I have two choices for a run during the week: either to/from work, or run at lunchtime. The run-to-work things works very well but it's over 10 miles and with me still coming back from a fairly long lay-off, I can't do that too often yet. And lunchtime runs are always somewhat hurried affairs, with no more than 40 minutes running time, and even that is pushing things. Last week I checked the watch after coming out of the shower and it was 12:57 - and I had a customer call at 13:00! That explains the faster pace and the elevated HR on some days.

The one time I changed things this week was Thursday when I knew in advance that I would not have time for a run, so I indeed got my body out of bed at early o'clock and plodded a few miles. It wasn't a great experience, to be honest - it just felt too early and all I could do was plod along at snails pace, though at least it was good to see the HR in the 130s again.

I know I could run in the evenings, which is what most people seem to do, but it just doesn't suit. I'm home from work late enough as it is, and I'm not particularly inclined to run for an hour or so when I'm starving for dinner already.

Connemara is just 2 weeks away, and normally I would be tapering now, but I haven't done any training that would require tapering from, so I'll just keep going for another week and take it easier next week, that's all. The "race" itself will be interesting. I think I'll be able to get to 20 miles still in one piece, but the second half will be interesting. By the time I reach the "Stop and Pray" church, stopping and praying might seem like as good an idea as any other.

25 Mar

4.8 miles, 40:06, 8:20 pace, HR 147

26 Mar

4.96 miles, 40:06, 8:03 pace, HR 152

27 Mar

10.2 miles, 1:31:46, 8:58 pace, HR 143

28 Mar

6.3 miles, 56:30, 8:57 pace, HR 137

29 Mar

4.84 miles, 38:14, 7:54 pace, HR 151

30 Mar

10 miles, 1:25:36, 8:34 pace, HR 145

31 Mar

14.5 miles, 2:06:26, 8:43 pace, HR 147

Fingers Crossed

The last few months have been very frustrating, running wise. After that silly accident in January I sure did not expect to be sidelined for so long (in fact, at first I didn't expect to be sidelined at all!), and it has been a very slow process.

However, finally it seems to be behind me. Last week I was still not quite right as I noticed after having a reaction to running the 10 miles to work but I repeated the same workout this week and suffered no further setbacks.

I ran 6 days this week, and the one break came on Friday, not because I felt I needed a break but because I just could not manage to get away at work, and then decided to take that as a hint and didn't try to squeeze in an evening run either.

I actually had another fall, after encountering one particularly stupid dog in the park. As we approached each other I veered towards my left, he veered towards my right, so all seemed fine, only for that damn mut to suddenly take a turn right into me and he got to my leg just at the split second of toe-off and I took yet another tumble. The lady was very apologetic, not that I could really blame her, apart from the fact that she had picked a particularly stupid dog for pet, but thankfully no damage was done.

Anyway, I turned the screw another notch on the weekend, first with an 8+ miles run on Saturday which went really well and I finished with plenty left in the tank, and had me wondering if all the cycling I had done over the last few months had kept my fitness at a surprisingly good level. However, the legs were definitely not sprightly on Sunday, so some damaged was done after all. I did a "long" run on Sunday, doing laps in Shanganagh Park so I would be able to gauge every 2k how I was feeling, giving me the chance to bail out early at regular intervals. I just ran slowly, at a very easy effort, and the legs seemed to be able to handle it. After about 5 laps I figured that another lap plus the run back home would take me right to the 2-hour mark, so that was that. I was reasonably tired afterwards, so how the hell I am going to fare in Connemara I don't even want to think about.

Oh, and I decided not to run a long ultra this year, for the first time since 2011. I hope my body will thank me for it by not falling apart any further. I had my eyes on the Donadea running festival in June, but eventually decided to skip it and just do ... actually, I don't know yet what I'll do instead. I'll play it by ear.

18 Mar

7.26 miles, 1:01:03, 8:24 pace, HR 153

19 Mar

4.39 miles, 36:32, 8:19 pace, HR 158

20 Mar

10.2 miles, 1:28:50, 8:42 pace, HR 148

21 Mar

4.5 miles, 36:43, 8:09 pace, HR 151

23 Mar

8.35 miles, 1:10:17, 8:25 pace, HR 139

24 Mar

13.73 miles, 2:03:43, 9:00 pace, HR 143

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh

Much of what I do in life, whether running or otherwise, is based on trial and error and some things just don't change. The hip had been feeling pretty good for at least a week, so when I felt it was time to try running the 10 miles to work again last Wednesday, it seemed a perfectly reasonable idea.

It fit well within my real-life schedule as I had to take public transport home that evening anyway, and running to work meant I didn't have to leave the bike in overnight. To be honest, I was far more apprehensive about how the legs would cope than the hip. The fact that it was a very windy day and I had to battle a fairly brutal headwind for the entire stretch - at times I wondered if I would ever get there - made it only tougher, so I was actually pleasantly surprised by the fact that I still had plenty of energy left when I got there. Alas, the hip didn't like it at all. In fact, I had felt it even before the run but wondered if that was purely psychological, caused by being a bit anxious about the run. But no, for the rest of the day, actually the rest of the week, I felt it again, and that was a real setback.

It's difficult to describe what it actually feels like. It doesn't hurt as such. It's not even a real discomfort. It just feels - weird. A very dull ache, not really how I would expect an injury to feel like. When I start running my hip feels a bit stiff, though not exactly what actual stiffness feels like ... I told you it's hard to describe.

So I had to take a step back again. I didn't run on Thursday, and only for a few miles on Friday. On Saturday morning I had to head down towards town where Niamh had left the car on her night out, and retrieve it before she got a parking ticket. I took the scenic route for about 4.5 miles, and by some miracle when I was done the hip suddenly felt perfectly fine again. Something very similar had happened a week or two earlier, I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but as far as I can tell a short run is better than complete rest, and a longer run is bad. I just have to figure out where the limit between the short and the long run lies - and of course that is a moving target.

Apart from all that, my hip wasn't actually the worst thing happening to my body this week. I don't know what caused it but I had a pretty bad allergic reaction to something. I had reactions all over my skin, including some brutal looking bright red stripes on my stomach, and my entire body was incredibly itchy, it was really rough for a couple of days. An antihistamine tablet eventually got me over the worst and eventually the big angry stripes started to fade - though I can still see them. It might have been the washing powder (for some inexplicable reason Niamh bought a different one to the usual one) but that's just a guess. I had a very similar episode a few years ago when staying on Valentia Island, and I don't know what the cause was back then either.

But hey, let's move on. Slowly, as is my wont these days.

12 Mar

4.5 miles, 38:34, 8:33 pace, HR 150

13 Mar

10.2 miles, 1:33:53, 9:12 pace, HR 149

15 Mar

4+ miles, 36:14, 8:54 pace, HR 147

16 Mar

4.45 miles, 39:20, 8:50 pace, HR 142

17 Mar

6.3 miles, 54:55, 8:43 pace, HR 146

The Three Stages Of A Runner

You start out as a newbie, eager to learn and looking admiringly and completely in awe at those incredible feats of human endurance that some of the other runners can do. Sub-3 marathon runners are demi-Gods, to be admired from afar but their running is so far removed from what you can do, it's barely the same sport.

Eventually you learn a few things, usually from your own mistakes but if you're lucky from others' as well, and if you keep training consistently for a few years you move into the competitive stage. This is a great place where you are running better than you ever dared to dream. You might run a sub-3 marathon, and some lucky gits run even faster, and you might bring home a few prizes, and if you're old enough then the age group trophies will start to stack up. This is all great, but at the same time you always feel some pressure whenever you're running a race, always need to push on, and the nature of running means that from time to time you will fail. Initially you're almost guaranteed a PB whenever you pin a number onto your chest, but eventual you will have to start working really hard for the occasional good race.

And then, finally, you move into the third phase. Your body isn't capable of producing new PBs any more, you have to strain to stay within a minute per mile slower than you used to run on your easy days and the prizes are being taken home by new faces, often runners you saw starting out years ago, when they couldn't even dare to keep up with you and thought of yourself as one of those demi-Gods mentioned earlier. Now it's time to forget about time, just enjoy the running and keep going.

Not everyone goes through all stages. Some aren't interested in training hard enough to start competing for prizes. And that's fine. Others stop running when they're no longer competitive, which is their own choice but one I hate to see, to be honest.

As I'm moving into phase three myself I can see that my body moved here a couple of years before my spirit. It's not an easy transition. I can't help but compare my times with the ones I used to produce, and the fact that my races are now slower than my training runs used to be is a bit hard to take at times. I still have a notion of having to achieve a certain time, and when I think of the Connemara Ultra and can't see myself running under 6 hours when I once ran 4:49, that can be a bitter pill to swallow at time.

It's hard to let go!

Why do I keep going? Because I love running just as much as I used to! I was never motivated by the idea of winning prizes or the occasional race, though those were very nice bonuses. But it's not what I craved. Just give me a pair of shoes and a road, and I'm happy out.

With that in mind it's a very good thing that the hip is definitely starting to cooperate. I ran every second day this week and both days of the weekend. I can still feel the hip but it's no longer bothering me. I did 2 runs on my treadmill and I can see from my reflection that I'm moving just fine, not lopsided, and I'm no longer subconsciously trying to protect my hip. The main problem now is no longer the injury but the loss of fitness over the last 8-or-so weeks. That will take a while.

5 Mar

4.02 miles, 36:08, 8:59 pace, HR 145

7 Mar

3(-ish) miles, 30:19, 10:09 pace, HR 135, treadmill

9 Mar

4.04 miles, 35:14, 8:43 pace, HR 149

10 Mar

6.33 miles, 1:00:00, 9:28 pace, treadmill

Baby Steps

After tentatively putting my toe back into the water, figuratively speaking, this week has been all about finding my feet again, trying to get into something of a working rhythm.

Damage done to the right side of the soles when
I was hobbling along at the start of the injury. I had to chuck them out.

It started very gently with a couple of very short runs over the weekend, the shortest block in the neighbourhood, not even 2 miles. I most likely would have kept that going but on Tuesday I went for a lunchtime run with some work colleagues and I knew it would be a bit longer. It started out very slowly, which suited me perfectly fine, but somehow the pace kept decreasing and before I knew it we ran the last bit at sub-8 pace, which I didn't think I'd be able to do. However, what really pleased me was the fact that there was no reaction from the hip, so all was good.

Since then I have been slightly increasing the mileage, but with a couple of off days, usually when it would have been awkward to fit in a run into a very busy work schedule, bit a good thing anyway in my present state.

The biggest limiting factor right now is actually not the hip but the loss of fitness over the last few weeks. I did a fair amount of cycling (the commute adds up to almost 100 miles a week if I cycle every day) but that's simply not the same and I require some much more specific training to keep the legs going.

Of course it all was dead slow at the start, barely faster than 10-minute miles, but that has improved considerably already. Saturday was the run where I really noticed the difference. Up to then I had felt awkward and somewhat uncoordinated but the the muscle memory seems to have kicked in again and it felt much more natural.

I still need to be careful, I can feel the hip again now (Sunday). It doesn't hurt, and it's quite different to how it felt a few weeks ago, but it's a warning sign nevertheless.

When I go injured initially, I could not really stand on my right leg, I was completely unstable. I did notice that when trying to put on my socks and trousers while standing up. After a while things improved a bit and I managed as long as I had something to lean against in case of emergency. A few weeks later still I was fine balancing, as long as I managed to steady myself just before shifting the weight onto my right leg. By now that has cleared up, my balance is back to normal and my right leg can take the weight and be completely stable, no m
atter what. That's how I can tell that the injury is just about to clear up.

The last time I had a very similar injury, in 2015, it followed a very similar pattern. And weirdly enough, my first "race" back was a 39 mile ultra, which wasn't the most fun I've ever had in a race, especially over the last third, but I got it done and then I knew I would be fine. This time, my first scheduled race is again a 39 mile ultra, and while I'm a bit apprehensive about it, and I know full well that it's going to be hard work and not all fun and games, I'm nevertheless looking forward to it.

24 Feb

1.75 miles, 16:18, 9:18 pace, HR 140

26 Feb

3.95 miles, 34:53, 8:49 pace, HR 153

28 Feb

4.07 miles, 38:26, 9:26 pace, HR 144

1 Mar

4.05 miles, 37:15, 9:11 pace, HR 143

2 Mar

5.16 miles, 43:41, 8:27 pace, HR 148

3 Mar

3.6 miles, 31:06, 8:36 pace, HR 146

   treadmill