My Present

Eric is a genius. I only have to mention that I bought myself a birthday present and within a minute he’s guessed it (ok, he got the number wrong. Who cares). After resisting for years, I have finally joined the weenie brigade and bought myself a geek watch. The price had gone down by half recently, and I gave in to temptation. I’ll try and resist cluttering the blog with too many charts – due to the scaling they always look the same anyway, but I guess once I’m allowed to run around Caragh Lake again, I might post something.

Unfortunately the weather has indeed turned nasty again, and so far I have only managed one run outside, yesterday, and that was already asking for trouble because I got caught out by rain with 10 minutes to go. Nevertheless, I managed to establish that my so-far imaginary one mile marker on the Ard-na-Sidhe road was spot on, but that my usual turn-around, according to the new toy, was about 20 meters too late. Actually, I felt quite smug at the accuracy of my distances. I haven’t managed to go out on the Caragh Lake road yet, and I’ll be interested to know how long a loop around the lake really is (within the accuracy of the toy, of course).

Today was a cold morning just above the freezing point (it still was raining rather than snowing, though), but the gale force wind made running outside an unwise choice for a pneumonia victim, so I brought my running gear into work, and went to the gym at lunchtime for 5 miles on the treadmill. This time I managed to bring my HRM, but forgot the mp3 player. I managed to stay on the damn thing for the entire distance, but with a little bit less than a mile to go I increased the pace from 9-minute miles to 8-minute miles, mainly to get it over and done with, boredom was taking over. The heart rate continues to go down, which was pleasing, but is still way above pre-sickness levels. When I switched to 8-minute pace, it went up by about 10 beats, and I used to run those at much lower levels. I don’t know how long it will take to build up my fitness again – a very long time probably as long as I can’t do more than 5 miles in a row, I guess.

The pain in my chest may be getting better, but then again, I used to think I was getting better the day before I get 40 degrees temperature, so that’s no reliable indicator. As long as that pain is still there I have a constant reminder of my sickness and the need to take it easy. I’ll better heed it.

30 Jan

5 miles, 44:30, 8:54 pace, HR 156

31 Jan

5 miles, 43:57, 8:47 pace, HR 149

Monthly mileage: 62.5 *sigh*

38

“Hello Thomas, nice to see you back” “Thanks, it’s good to be back” “How are you?” “I’ve been better, but I’ve been a lot worse” “What was wrong with you?” “I had pneumonia. In fact, I’ve still got it” “Oh my” “But the doctor said it’s ok to go back to work” “Running is out, then, of course” “No, the doctor said I’m allowed to run as long as I take it easy and as long as it’s not raining” (shocked look and lost for words).

That scene played itself out at least a dozen times on Monday and Tuesday in the office, and to be honest I was glad to be out of the house. Those walls had seemed to close in on me after three weeks of confinement. As for the running, we had beautiful weather over the weekend; the kids were out playing in the garden and on the climbing frame, and of course I managed to get a short and very easy run every day. On Monday I did not set the alarm but woke at 6:20, and when I was still wide awake at 6:40 and it wasn’t raining I decided to do 5 miles there and then. The most positive thing about that particular run was the fact that the heart rate was 10 beats lower than on Saturday for virtually the same pace. Of course it is still a lot higher than before I got sick, but at least it’s pointing into the right direction. Unfortunately that was it as far as the good weather was concerned, by Monday lunchtime we had that so familiar depressing rain again. As a result I could not run on Tuesday morning (which might explain why I was in a really foul mood), but Niamh had to go to Killarney in the evening, and I managed to go to the gym after work before she came to collect me. I had planned on 5 miles on the treadmill, but only managed 4.5 when I realised that I was out of time. Still, that was by far the longest I had ever been on one of those things. I had remembered to bring an mp3 player, which helped, but I had forgotten the heart rate monitor, so I can’t tell if that was any harder on me than road running, but I don’t think so, not even with the 1% incline that I put on to compensate for the lack of wind resistance, and the fact that I got the pace setting slightly wrong (should have been 9 minute miles).

Anyway, running feels good and easy, and I really really really hope that I will be allowed to continue. I’m lost without my daily fix, as I could not fail to notice while I was confined to home. I know that the pneumonia has not gone away because I have a constant pain in my left chest, but running does not aggravate it. In fact nothing I do or not do seems to have any effect on it, it’s just always there.

Oh, and I had my 38th birthday on Sunday, which was rather low key with me still being sick and the kids not exactly behaving like angels. We did go out for a Thai meal in Killarney for the evening, which was nice. I bought myself a birthday present. I’ll show you in my next entry.

27 Jan

5 miles, 44:51, 8:58 pace, HR 157

28 Jan

5 miles, 46:47, 9:21 pace, HR 146

29 Jan

4.5 miles, 40:15, 8:56 pace

Baby Steps

I met my doctor again on Friday (we’re on first name terms by now), and she gave me the results from the chest x-ray. Most of the pneumonia is gone, but I’ve still got a 2x3 cm area of residue in my left lung. Nevertheless, she gave me the go-ahead to go running, but I had to promise to take it easy. She said something along the lines, “run a distance that would be ridiculously long for me, but is awfully short for you”. I think I like that doctor, she understands. She actually offered to write me a certificate for yet another week off work, but I asked to be allowed to get back to work. I am bored stiff at home, and she didn’t object. But cycling to work is out of the question, Niamh will have to drive me in her car.

Coinciding with me finally being let off the leash is an improvement in the weather, and after lunch, when I knew Niamh had 40 free minutes before she had to collect the twins from school, I asked for permission to go running right there and then. After some negotiations (“Can’t you just run 1 mile?” “NO!”) I went out for three miles. I felt weird at first, almost light headed, but that went away. However, the heart rate was sky high and I decided to cut it short and turned around after just one mile, to make it a very short 2-mile run. I thought I ran so slowly it felt like standing still, but it was 8:21 pace, which was probably a good bit faster than what the doctor had in mind.

I got another chance Saturday morning, and even though a dark cloud was lurking in the background it never rained, so I got away with that. Somehow I managed to run a whole minute per mile slower than the day before, even though it pretty much felt the same. Again I felt a bit strange over the first mile, but I felt better with each and every step and decided to add a bit to my run. I was tempted to run all the way to Ard-na-Sidhe, which would have made it 5 miles, but decided to err on the side of caution and turned around after 2 miles. I was so happy to be back on the road, I can’t describe that feeling. Something was strange though. You would expect that someone who’s still recovering from pneumonia to feel it in the lungs first, wouldn’t you? Instead my heart rate was again sky high, both calves started to stiffen up towards the end, yet my breathing was so slow, calm and relaxed that you would have thought I was walking along at snails pace.

I have no idea how easy I’m supposed to take it, but taking it easy is what’s on the cards. I didn’t feel any ill effects from either run, and if the weather is fine tomorrow (apparently it will be), I’ll be out on the road towards Ard-na-Sidhe again, and I’ll see how I feel. In a few days I’ll have a much better idea how it’s going. I expect the heart rate to drop quickly, and if it doesn’t then I have to rethink things again. I’m still signed up for the Connemara ultra in April, but if I will be able to do it is rather questionable at this moment in time.

25 Jan

2 miles, 16:42, 8:21 pace, HR 162

26 Jan

4 miles, 37:18, 9:19 pace, HR 156

Maia's First Video

Since I'm still not running and I haven't got anything better to do, I might as well post the video Niamh made the other night when Maia simply refused to fall asleep. I know, I know, it's just a baby doing what a baby does, but she's my baby, and I've got the right to be as besotted as I want to be.



The weather out there is simply appalling. I really don't know how I will be able to do some training when I'm not allowed to run in the rain. This could become a real problem.

Recuperating

I went to the doctor again on Friday, and the results were quite promising. Both of my lungs seem to be clear now, but I’ll have another chest x-ray on Monday to confirm that. I’ve stopped coughing, but I still have a pain in my left chest, especially early in the morning. The doc doesn’t know what it is, but she said we must not ignore it.

She’s told me to stay off work for another week; to be honest, I’m not particularly pleased about that. I’m bored stiff being stuck at home, there is only so much reading you can do before you get cabin fever (at least I do). On the other hand, she told me I could maybe run 2 or 3 miles at the end of the week as long as I’m pain free and as long as it’s not raining. That’s much earlier than I thought I would be allowed to run; on the other hand, it has been raining here almost non-stop for the last two weeks, so at the moment saying that I can only run if it’s not raining is almost the same as being told to stay at home, full stop. Then again, the atrocious weather made staying at home easier. It’s not overly tempting to go out for a run when your driveway is completely flooded and you can see the trees being bent over in the gale.

Niamh has already announced she will kill me if I have a relapse, and I don’t think she’s joking. I still don’t know if I will be able to train again anytime soon (I really don’t regard 2 or 3 miles as training). On the other hand I think I’ve learned my lesson, painful as it was.

Sickbay Update

It feels good the be able to breathe again without pain, but I'm definitely still sick. My course of antibiotics is running out today, but the doctor has already prescribed another dose. I'm still coughing, and that's when it hurts most, but not nearly as often as a few days ago. The medicine is definitely working, but it will be yet some time until I can call myself recovered.

I read Dick Beardsley's autobiography a few days ago, and it was weird to read about someone's addiction to pain killers, while at the same time counting down the minutes until I could pop the next little pill myself for an hour or two of relief. It certainly made me understand the book a lot better. Since then I've weaned myself off the pain killers. Apart from when I'm coughing the feeling is down to mere discomfort, and I can take that without aid.

Of the resolutions I had for 2008, reaching 4000 miles is of course already out of question, but the other one, about dropping my weight down to 63.5 kg/140 pounds, well, I'm already there. I've lost 7 pounds in the last 10 days, even though I ate as much as I felt I could swallow. My appetite is slowly returning, but my weight is still going downwards. When I wrote that weight goal I envisaged reaching it towards the end of a year, not within a fortnight, and certainly not the way it happened. Be careful what you wish for. Of course, the pounds may yet return as I get closer to recovery.

I was quite worried about passing my germs on the the kids, especially Maia, but the doctors have reassured us. They have never come across two cases of pneumonia at the same time in the same family. While the bacteria are indeed able to cause sickness in others, it wouldn't be pneumonia, just a normal cold. Just as to prove that theory, Cian got a temperature on Monday, recovered within a day, and is back to pre-school today, Wednesday.

I'm going to see the doctor again on Friday, and I'll have another chest x-ray next week, and then we can say with more certainty how the recovery is going. She's already written another medical certificate for next week, and I guess I might be back at work on the 28th, the day after my birthday. As for when I can go running again, that's still written in the stars.

Pneumonia

Definitely not what I wanted to hear, but that’s the final diagnosis. I took a turn for the worse on Wednesday. I rang my doctor for the fourth time in five days, and once again she fobbed me off, assuring me that I was getting better, and that she really didn’t need to see me. By that time I had totally lost what little confidence I had in her and on Thursday morning I rang another doctor’s surgery. Within 90 minutes I was in the doctor’s office, what a difference! I spent 25 minutes in there with two major results, firstly she prescribed me another dose of antibiotics because my left lung was definitely not clear, and then she told me to have a chest x-ray as soon as possible. We drove to Tralee on Friday morning, and by the evening I had the results. Pneumonia. Not very severe, but pneumonia all the same.

I am an adult, and there is no doubt that the main responsibility lies with me alone. Each run that I have undertaken since the middle of December I did in the full knowledge that I was not entirely healthy. I also ignored the advice I frequently give out to others, namely to run if the symptoms are above the neck and to stay at home if they are below. My initial cough was so mild that I dismissed it. Of course, in hindsight, a few days of rest back then might have sorted out the problem there and then. However, my old doctor must definitely shoulder some part of the fault. With her constant refusal to see me my treatment got delayed by 6 days, and since I had originally asked for an appointment 4 days before my first turn for the worse, I think that full-blown pneumonia could have been prevented. Her diagnosis over the telephone of a viral infection, finally, must go down as the least professional behaviour by a doctor that I have personally have come across.

But enough of the whining. By trial and error I have developed some survival techniques for the violent cough attacks that come with pneumonia. Lie on your side, with the elbow underneath your chest (the last bit is important, as I found out in one of the error stages of practical research). Coughing is also the second most painful thing you do with pneumonia. Having hiccups is the most painful one (“huckouuuuwwwww!!!”). The third most painful thing is laughing, as I found out when I followed this link from Ewen’s site. Follow it if you want to see it, but don’t if you’ve got pneumonia. Plus, I’ve always fancied Natalie Imbruglia.

You probably think I should be in bed rather than on the computer, and you’re probably right, but my back is so painful from all those hours in bed that I needed to get out of there for a few minutes. Anyway, don’t expect to see me back on the roads for a while. At the moment I’m so miserable that I don’t even care about that.

Downfall

I tell you what happened. I was being sensible and didn’t run in Mallow. Instead I did 10 miles along Caragh Lake, and only two of them at tempo pace, rather than 3 as originally planned. Then I took the Niamh and the kids to Killarney to go ice-skating. They loved it, and I felt good about not driving to Mallow. It's good to be sensible.

I got up at 5:30 Monday morning, feeling pretty good. I had planned another 10 miler, but at slower pace than the day before. I want to build up my mileage, so I didn’t back off, and 10 miles was basically the shortest I used to run when doing high mileage. The weather was quite bad, strong winds rather than the predicted gale force, and no rain originally. High wind always means a trip to Ard-na-Sidhe for a number of 5-mile loops, 2 in that case. I felt good after the first, but then the heavens opened. I hate the combination of wind and rain, and high winds with strong are the bane of my life. I decided to only do 8 miles, because someone who’s still recovering from a chest infection is probably ill advised running in the freezing rain. I was marvelling how sensible I have become recently, though there was that little voice in my head ”if you really want to get top 10 in Connemara you have to stop being sensible at some stage and work you butt off”. Anyway, the rain stopped well before I reached the turnaround point, and I ended up doing 10 miles after all.

6 Jan

10 miles, 1:16:00, 7:36 pace, HR 162
two miles in 6:57. 7:00

7 Jan

10 miles, 1:19:54, 7:59 pace, HR 147

ever since

0

I felt perfectly fine as I came back home. I had my shower and some breakfast, which I had to force down, very unusual. Then I started shivering. Well, it was a cold day, and I turned up the heating. I felt colder. Niamh and the kids got up, had their breakfast and got ready, and by now I was dreading cycling into work, so I asked Niamh for a lift (besides, the weather was turning nasty). At work I immediately knew that I had made a mistake, and after an hour I phoned Niamh to get me back home. By now I was shivering uncontrollably, and when Niamh checked my temperature it was 40C/104F!!! Add to that a splitting headache, pain all over the body, shoulders, chest, legs, they all hurt. During the next few hours the fever sank but I had alternating episodes of being incredibly cold and incredibly hot. During the cold spells I was shivering uncontrollably, during the hot spells I was literally soaking the entire bed with sweat (Niamh slept in the guest room at night, understandably). Taking painkillers gave 2 or 3 hours of relief before the whole thing started again, and I had one of the worst nights of my life. The pattern repeated itself the next day, and only today, Wednesday, I feel some improvement, but I still feel totally crap. Added to all the fun is a cough, and coughing is so painful it makes me want to cry out loud. I surely hope I haven’t cracked a rib or something similar.

The doctor didn’t even want to see me, she immediately recognised the symptoms, apparently there’s a particularly nasty virus doing the rounds presently, and she told us to keep doing what we were doing already, i.e. take some painkillers as often as they allow you on the package, and toughen it out in-between. Our neighbour is a nurse, and when Niamh bumped into her she confirmed that something nasty was indeed doing the rounds, her husband had gotten it over Christmas.

Originally I thought I had been at fault for returning to running too quickly after my chest infection, but hearing all those virus stories makes me think that I would have gotten it regardless, and the timing (coinciding with me running again) might be just coincidence. Nevertheless, I am definitely out of the game for the moment. Yesterday I could hardly turn around in bed because that used up too much energy, and even thinking about running is too strenuous. By now I can feel Connemara slipping away from me. The race is still three months away, but I was supposed to do high mileage around now, not lie in bed moaning in pain. After the “recovery time” over Christmas I have lost two weeks, and I guess there might be two more weeks of that to come. I’m thinking about starting a long build-up to Dublin in October and treat any race in the meantime, including Connemara, as a training run, but we’ll see. At the moment, typing a sorry blog is just about at the edge of what I can do, anything more physically demanding is out of question. And I can feel the next cough coming along. That’s gonna hurt again. Ow! And the painkillers are wearing off again. I hate this.

You Knew This Was Coming

Let’s get the less important things out of the way first, I’ve returned to the world of running, albeit tentatively. I snuck out yesterday morning for an easy 5 mile run, and it would have been slower than 9:00 pace had it not started raining with about three quarters of a mile to go, and I put in an extra gear to avoid to worst of the weather. Today, Saturday, I went out for a bit more, 7 miles, and a bit faster, but again the weather turned, and it started raining just as I was passing the same point as yesterday – spooky. It even started hail stoning, but luckily the beans were small and didn’t hurt, and once again it made me accelerate over the last stretch. Mother Nature seems to want to make sure that I’ll end my runs strongly.

The heart rate was elevated for both runs. In fact, today it was so high that I doubt the accuracy of my HRM. Nevertheless I have decided to forego tomorrow’s race in Mallow. I’m not 100% healthy yet, and I doubt I would be at my best, therefore I don’t see the point in driving 90 minutes each way for a 10-mile run. We’ve got a few things to do with the kids anyway, and Niamh would definitely not be happy if I took the car to go to a race that I’m not really prepared for. I didn’t even argue, I informed her that I wasn’t going, and from her reaction I gather that she wouldn’t have let me go anyway.

4 Jan

5 miles, 44:45, 8:57 pace, HR 147

5 Jan

7 miles, 53:58, 7:42 pace, HR 162(?)

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, Maia Bubendorfer in all her gorgeousness. The 4 pictures are: Maia and her Aunty Cliona, Maia proves once and for all that she's better looking than her daddy, Maia (in white) and her cousin Lilly (who is four weeks older), Maia having a grand old chat with big brother Shea.

Dreaming of a Comeback

I rang my doctor this morning to set up an appointment. The Dublin doctor had told me to do so after a week if I’m not totally clear, and I dutifully flowed her instructions. However, during our short phone conversation today, she told me that she thinks another appointment would be unnecessary. Of course I see that as permission to take up running again. I didn’t actually ask if I could go running again; she might have said no (I’ve learned from past mistakes). The current idea is to run 5 easy miles tomorrow morning, and judge how that goes. It means there’s still an outside chance of me making it to Mallow on Sunday. I guess persuading Niamh will be the biggest obstacle along the way.

The best thing about the enforced rest was definitely catching up on sleep. I managed to sleep between 8 and 9 hours each night, and I feel like I’ve finally caught up on my sleep deficit. The worst thing was reading Running with the Buffaloes, itching on nearly every page to go out running myself and not being able to do so.

Last night Niamh and me had a chat about what times I should run in the morning once I get the green light. We agreed that I should be aiming to come back home around 7 o’clock in the morning, which is when Shea has tended to arise in the last few weeks. It means an extra half an hour of sleep compared to what I used to get in the weeks before Christmas, apart from those 20 milers, which would still require me to rise at 4 o’clock.

I missed a few rainy mornings this week, which is why I wasn’t too downhearted about being grounded, and today is what they call a cold snap in Ireland. The temperature at 9 o’clock was 3C/37F, which probably sounds like a heat wave to some guys out there. Of course, the winds chill makes conditions a lot worse than it sounds, and those very same temperatures are responsible for the fact that I come home drenched to the bones after the majority of my winter workouts, and rain paired with strong wind isn’t the most pleasant of combinations, either. I guess we’ve all got our own justified moans about the weather.

Niamh has got some incredibly cute photos of Maia in her camera, but since it’s a stone-age design (i.e. non-digital) I’ll have to fire up my scanner before I can show them off. I’ll do so for the next post. This should be enough incentive for my readers to return, I guess.

Nice timing

For once, December 31 is falling nicely into the week where I have no running news, so I can use that space for the obligatory end-of-year post.

Looking back at it, I had a spectacular year of running. One year ago I had gone to bed thinking how nice it would be to break 20 minutes for 5k, but realistically I would have to wait until 2008 for my running to reach that level. Little did I know that it would take me just 12 hours to reach that level when I ran 19:52 in the New Year’s race in Phoenix park, and within half a year I had taken another 36 seconds off that time, which was mind boggling. Even better was my time in Adare in March, when I broke sub-40 in my still only-ever 10k race. That was even more unexpected, and something to celebrate, particularly so because this was merely a preparation race for the Connemara ultra, and even then it was just a mere consolation for missing out on Ballycotton. My first ever ultra went extremely well, and even though now I look at the time and am not overly impressed, back then I was in high heaven just for finishing the race. I’d love to run a longer ultra (I think I’ve already mentioned that, uh, about a dozen times this year), but Connemara is the only ultra on the entire island (not counting that silly orienteering thingy they do in the Wicklow mountains), and those ultras in the UK keep messing up the rest of my schedule, so I’ve yet to commit to any of those. Lastly, I ran 3:12 in my only 2007 marathon, which was fast enough to qualify for Boston, a goal that had looked further away than the stars only one year ago. One glance at my sideboard confirms that I had a good 2007, every single PR is from this year. I wonder if there will ever be a year again when I can say that?

There are no miracles in running, all those race times came as a direct result of my training, and the whole idea of that was basically to run as many miles as I could. The final counter stopped at 3704, which is about as many miles for one single year as I had done in all my running time together before that, not I have been running for very long. Health permitting, I’m confident I’ll surpass that mileage again in 2008, but we’ll see, especially so as I’m still grounded.

As far as my “quite severe” chest infection goes, I’m definitely getting better, but I’m still coughing a lot. It took a day for the antibiotics to kick in, but at least by now I don’t feel like I’m about to cough up half of my lungs each time. However, my breathing is still rasping at times, and I’m already halfway through my medication. My participation in Sunday’s race is rather doubtful at that point, and a second visit to the doctor towards the end of the week is more likely than a trip to Mallow. Niamh wouldn’t let me take the car anyway if she were in any doubt about my health, and who can blame her? Even though Mallow is one of the closest races to me, I’ve never made it there yet.

Thanks for reading my blog, it’s been a great 2007, and Happy New Year to everyone out there. Have a good 2008.

Grounded!

After two weeks of coughing my way through each workout, I finally gave in and went to see the doctor. I continually had tried to convince myself that I was getting better, but I finally had to accept that I was not, and a chest infection was the most likely source of my discomfort. Friday's workout was the last straw; while I had a decent enough run, the heart rate was way too high, and even if I hadn't started coughing up half my lungs afterwards, I would have known that something was not right.

At least I didn't have to wait for an appointment, the doctor saw me straight away. I think I spent less than 5 minutes in her surgery, but she confirmed that it was a “quite severe chest infection” (her words), and gave me a prescription for antibiotics. Then came the hammer blow: no running for at least one week! In fact, if I don't feel 100% recovered after a week I am to see my doctor in Kerry, and maybe have a chest x-ray. To be honest, I wasn't entirely convinced by her. She's a very conservative medic of the “pump them full of drugs” variety, in other words the kind of doctor I'm generally suspicious of, but I will heed her advice for this week, take my drugs and abstain from running. When I told her that I was still running every day, she seemed rather shocked. Anyway, immediately after the appointment, still in shock, my first words to Niamh were “no running for a week!” and her first reaction was “oh no!”.

The worst case scenario is that I'll get cabin fever, go completely nuts, Niamh files for divorce before changing her mind and strangling me instead. The best case scenario would be to give my body a week's rest to fully absorb the training I've done already and be rested and fresh for the weeks ahead when I get ready for the Connemara ultra. That race is still 14 weeks away and there is no reason to panic.

My 10 miler on Sunday week, on the other hand, is definitely in jeopardy, but I will assess the situation a day or two before that race. It's obviously not my target race, and missing it would not really be a problem, even though I'd definitely like to run. If I do end up running, at least I will be well rested, something that's definitely not always the case for a practice race like that.

This is a bit of a downer at the end of a very successful year, but not the end of the world. I had a great year, from a running, professional and family point of view, and who could ask for more? All in all I'm still a very lucky guy.

28 Dec

9 miles, 1:09:53, 7:45 pace, HR 159

29 Dec

0

Cough Cough

I've had that cough for longer than I can remember now, and each time I think I'm getting better I get another coughing fit. I haven't seen a doctor yet because I generally fight those kind of things with the likes of Vitamin C, but I have to say, my patience is wearing a bit thin by now. Niamh keeps asking me to stop running, but so far I can still convince myself that the whole thing is not running related, even if I can't do the same for her. Whenever I come home from a run I give a very convincing display of a chain smoking asthmatic on his last legs for the next 30 minutes, but that's because of the deep breathing associated with running rather than running causing the actual damage itself. But, as I said, my patience is starting to wear thin, and while Niamh and Shea and the rest of the family (apart from Maia) are coughing as well, I'm doing as much as the rest of them combined.

At least Maia is in good form, and when I held her yesterday morning she kept producing a series of one gorgeous smile after the other, which eventually made me find my camera and take a photo with one hand while holding her in the other. It was slightly awkward, but the result is cute enough.

Oh, yes, running. I did 8 miles yesterday, slowly and relaxed, to get the heavy feeling from that one fast mile out of my legs. I had planned a longer run for today; first I intended to head over to Cabinteely Park and do a few laps in there (a lap is a bit over a mile), but realised that it would not be open yet by the time I got there, and decided to head towards Killiney instead. However, after 3 or so miles I started to feel really crap. I suspected a bit of illness manifesting itself and thought about turning around, but kept going for another mile. That's where the dirt track is located, and I opted to do a few laps around there. At the start of the second loop I decided to do a few laps of straights and curves (sprint the straights, jog the curves), and time passed so quickly while doing those that I has managed 2 miles like that before I knew it, and that's when I decided to be cautious and head back home. The next 4 miles were challenging again because of an increasingly strong headwind that drove the rain right into my face, but once I reached the driveway I felt a lot better and went out for a mile out-and-back towards Sandyford, which gave me 13 miles for the entire run. Not exactly a long run, but I'm still in my recovery week, and with me not being healthy I felt it was enough (I know, I know, plenty of you will be thinking 13 miles were mad anyway). I could have gone on for longer, in fact I tended to feel better the longer the run went on, but where do you draw the line? In any case, my cough is still there, and if it doesn't get better soon I'll run to the doctor and beg him or her for some antibiotic or similar poison.

26 Dec

8 miles, 1:07:50, 8:28 pace, HR 143

27 Dec

13 miles, 1:47:38, 8:16 pace, HR 147
including 16x100 strides (straights and curves)

Ho Ho Ho

Niamh and me had those two slightly contrasting conversations recently:

Scene 1: In the car, somewhere around Limerick, on the way to Dublin:
Niamh: (sounding slightly alarmed) Did you pack you runners?
Thomas: Of course I did
Niamh: Oh, thank God. It's my worst nightmare that we arrive in Dublin and you've forgotten your gear.
Thomas: YOUR worst nightmare?
Niamh: Yes, apart from the one where you get injured and can't run for weeks.

----

Scene 2: In Dublin, in our room
Niamh: (shaking her head disapprovingly) Did you really HAVE to bring 3 pairs of runners?
Thomas: (innocently) Two pairs for alternating days, and one for speed training.
Niamh: (shaking head in a resigned manner)
Thomas: Hey, I though I was being restrained for leaving the fourth pair at home.
Niamh: (shaking head even more)

----



I'll keep the running details to a minimum today. I did a bit over 8 very relaxed miles in Cabinteely Park, not far from here on Monday. The weather had been atrocious all night, but the rain had turned into a mere drizzle by 8 o'clock, and I headed out for a run after initially being resigned to a rest day. Today, in contrast, is a splendid day with hardly a cloud in the sky, and perfect for putting everyone into the right Christmas spirit. I went out for a run after the kids had unpacked their presents (at the second attempt. They originally tried at 1:46 am, but I sent them back to bed). I ran to a dirt track in Ballybrack, and ran one mile (4 laps plus 9 meters). I've never run a mile on a track, and this run was the reason I had brought my speed trainers. I haven't got access to a track in Kerry, and simply could not miss the opportunity, even though it neither fits into my base training phase nor into my recovery week program. I was hoping for sub-6:00, and the first lap saw me going through in 1:28, good. Lap 2, 3:00, exactly on time but slowing down, not so good. Lap 3, 4:30, still just on time. Lap 4, the legs are full of lactic acid and my throat not able to pass through sufficient amounts of oxygen, but remembering to concentrate on form and pushing hard, 5:58. Success, and I punched the air in mock triumph.

The kids are playing with their toys (I told you I got a bit carried away), they'll have new stuff lasting for the entire week, and are blissfully happy. I used to hate Christmas, with its emphasis on consumerism and pretend happiness, but the four little children in the house have enough excitement to spill over and reach even the cynical old adult in the corner.

Happy Christmas!

24 Dec

8.2 miles, 1:06:30, 8:06 pace, HR 146

25 Dec

12 miles, 1:31:44, 7:38 pace, HR 149
including 1 mile in 5:58

Looking Back and Ahead

Christmas is approaching at increasing speed, and I've got to hurry a bit. The most important news from a running point of view is that over the last three days my running has steadily improved with each day, and I'm feeling a lot better, too. I've still got a cough, but I think my energy levels are returning to their old level, and things are definitely on the up again.

Since I decided for this to be a recovery period, I cut Friday's long run down to 15 miles, which is even shorter than the death march I suffered through last Monday. I still gave myself the option of bailing out at any moment by running three out-and-back loops to Ard-na-Sidhe rather than looping around the entire lake. That precaution turned out to be unnecessary, I felt good all the way through, and I was heartened by the fact that each loop was faster than the previous one, without me pushing any harder. I still felt perfectly fine at the end, and I knew I could have run both faster and further, but was contend with the way it had been going.

Friday evening was my company's Christmas party, where I had a great time, despite virtually abstaining from alcohol, a very un-Irish concept. I left rather early though, around half past ten, which was already an hour past my usual bed time these days. As a result, I was well able to get in a quick run in the morning before we headed off for Dublin. Niamh was rather surprised when I told her I had only done 8 miles; she's quite aware that that's less than my usual mileage. It was also the first run this week under 8:00 pace, but I hadn't unduly pushed the pace. That's just the pace that came out of the effort, which was still reasonably easy. I added a few strides to the second half, but was quite surprised when that half was faster than the first one.

We managed the long drive to Dublin without any incident, which was helped by the fact that Maia slept for basically the entire journey – things could have been a lot worse otherwise. However, we all arrived in good spirits, and the kids are full of excitement at Santa's impending arrival.

It was still surprisingly dark at half past seven this morning, when I set off for my run. Shea had already been awake for a while, but by that time I had finally settled him back into his bed, reading a magazine, and with a breakfast in his belly. I headed off into a freezing cold Dublin morning. The sidewalks were covered with an icy sprinkling of frost, and you had to be very careful with your footing, but I felt just great. I ran on a bicycle path Nana had pointed out to me about two years ago, and which has since become my usual Dublin running route. It leads all the way to Ballybrack, and after 4.3 miles there is a dirt track to the right, and I figured one lap around the track together with the out-and-back journey should add up to exactly 9 miles. There were only a handful of people braving the temperatures, and again I had a very good run, and could feel that zap in the legs that has sorely been missing over the last few days.

I'm quite happy with the way this has been turning out. I'll keep my promise and will do reduced mileage this week, and then I'm hopefully ready to resume high mileage training again, but I'll make sure I'll slow down at least twice a week this time.

We're returning back to Kerry on the weekend, which is why I'll miss the New Year's 5k at Phoenix Park for the first time in three years. I like this race, it was always great to start the year with a new PR on the very first occasion. I'll get compensation on the 6th of January, when there is a 10 mile race in Mallow, County Cork. I'm assured of a PR of some kind, because for some bizarre reason I have never run a race over that distance before. I'd love to break 65 minutes over that distance this year. My last half marathon saw me going through 10 miles in about 67:30, and 65 minutes is a bit ambitious, but I'd like to think I have a chance. I'll have a second chance in March in Ballycotton, because while I haven't heard anything official yet, I have noticed that they have cashed my cheque, which I take as a sign that my entry has been accepted this year. My only other race before Connemara will probably be a 10k in Adare, which last year was one week after Ballycotton, and where I broke 40 minutes last year, something I'd love to repeat.

21 Dec

15 miles, 2:05:16, 8:21 pace, HR 139

22 Dec

8 miles, 1:03:11, 7:53 pace, HR 145

23 Dec

9 miles, 1:09:38, 7:44 pace, HR 147

Weekly Mileage: 81.25

As Slow As You Like

Every time I run I bring along a watch and my HRM, but usually I rarely check them. One exception is generally after the first mile when I have a peek to check my pace, which gives me a pretty good indication how the rest of the run will go. On Wednesday it read 8:35, which is the slowest opening mile for a very long time. Initially I started accelerating because I didn’t want to end up with such a slow average pace, but after a minute I finally came to the conclusion that I should start my recovery week right there and then, because I was really running myself into the ground, and over the last few days I had gotten slower each time. I’m still adamant that I never reached my tipping point, and I haven’t overtrained. Fact is, I have caught a cold, and while I don’t feel any effects while sitting in my office chair, or even while cycling to and from work, it does have an effect on my running. It’s a bit strange though, because the heart rate doesn’t seem to be affected, it’s just my legs that refuse to go any faster. For the rest of the run I was content with jogging along at snail’s pace, and even though I had the chance to go home after 5 miles I felt perfectly fine to continue with a second loop. The result of it all was the slowest run in ages, with my lowest heart rate ever.

With us being in Dublin next week, the recovery period will actually be in excess of 10 days rather than one week, but I’ve come to the conclusion that that will probably help me with the training rather than hinder. The race is still over 15 weeks away, and there will be more than enough time for some serious training, and by the looks of it I won’t need to drop my mileage by too much as long as I’m happy to just plod along. Andrew is barely moving on his easy days, and his race times are considerably better than mine, so what’s good enough for him should be good enough for me.

With that newly found peace I set off for a loop of the Kerry Way trail, the only real off-road alternative I’ve got without having to drive. I never run there when it has been raining because the surface tends to get rather treacherous, but a dry week has opened this possibility again, and I was looking forward to it. The climb up to the highest point is relentless, but I felt good, and since I wasn’t pushing the pace I managed it easily. I happily jogged my way along the side of the mountain, and came back on the Caragh Lake road, my usual haunt. A fairly strong headwind made the last few miles a bit more challenging than expected (usually the wind is on my back on that stretch), but again, with the slow pace I could handle it easily.

I finished yesterday and today both knowing that I could easily have run faster and further, but felt fine with my decision to scale back. I’ve still got that cold in my system, because there’s that very annoying cough from deep inside my lungs about once an hour, but as long as I’m no exerting myself unduly, I’m fine with it. By the time we’re back home from Dublin I expect to be healthy again, and ready to go.

19 Dec

10 miles, 1:31:27, 9:08 pace, HR 126

20 Dec

12.25 miles, 1:48:56, 8:53 pace, HR 137

The Dark Side

I wasn’t sure if I should write an entry today or wait until tomorrow, but I’ve got more than enough material, so I guess I’d better write it all off my chest. As I mentioned on Sunday, I didn’t feel too well, and wasn’t sure if I would go running on Monday. I still hadn’t made up my mind by bedtime, but when I woke at 3:30 I felt perfectly fine, and at 4 am I decided to go running just as normal. It was quite cold and windy outside, so I wore two layers on top (for the first time this year) as well as tights instead of shorts (again, for the first time this year).

The run started slowly with an 8:20 mile, but that’s not particularly out of the ordinary. I put in some surges over the next 2 miles, which is what I usually do to wake up the legs, but raised my eyebrows in puzzlement when 25 minutes had passed for the first 3 miles, which was the first faint sign of things going awry. That point marks the start of a series of climbs, and they happened to be all against an increasingly strong headwind, but it was always manageable. I reached the top of the last climb, and the highest point of the loop in 54 minutes, when my normal time is about 50 minutes. Then the road drops all the way down again, and when I crossed the Caragh River at Blackstones Bridge, about 9 miles into the run, I really started dragging. I was already on my slowest run in ages, and I was distinctly feeling out of energy. Things went downhill rapidly from here, apart from the road which was climbing again. By mile 12 I was feeling so sick and tired that I felt a huge urge to just curl up by the side of the road and fall asleep. Death by hypothermia isn’t a nice option, so I continued on, as bad as I felt. Even though I tried my best to put in some decent pace over the last few miles, I never got quicker than 8:00 pace, though the effort I had to put into those miles was huge. When I finally, finally reached our drive way I almost had to crawl, and I hardly had the energy to cook my breakfast afterwards, or eat it. When Niamh got up at 8 o’clock (4 hours after me) she took one look at me and sent me straight to bed, though with Shea in particular running riot, I didn’t really get any more sleep. Somehow I managed to cycle into work, but I don’t know how.

I freely admit it, I fucked up royally. I should not have been running that day, and definitely not 17 miles. I knew that I had been feeling low the day before, and should have opted for a series of smaller loops that would have given me the option of bailing out. I don’t think I did any damage to myself. The heart rate was quite low, as low as I would normally expect it to be for such a pace, but the gains from such a run were in no relation to the pain and effort I had to put in just to drag my sorry self safely back home.

If you haven’t done so already you will definitely give up hope for my sanity if I tell you that despite yesterday’s misery I went out again this morning. I guess it’s all relative. When I got up at 5 am, Niamh woke and her first thought was “oh good, for once he’s getting up at a reasonable hour”; it only dawned on her afterwards that it just seems reasonable compared to the time I had gotten up the day before (or 3 times the week before that, and the week before, and …). I had learned a bit of a lesson though; I ran three little loops, I ran a lot less and I would have gone back home early had I started to feel even remotely as bad as the day before. In fact I felt fine, but I was still slow. The heart rate again perfectly reflects the pace, but it had felt faster while on the run. I want those legs back that I used to have until last Thursday! One thought crossed my mind, namely that I might have been overdressed, with two layers on top again, but it’s still very windy outside, and at 5:30 am it just feels cold!

Will I run again tomorrow? Yes, but I’ll cap it at 10 miles. Will I run longer later in the week? I might, but even if I do I will definitely forego the Caragh Lake loop and run smaller segments, and if there’s trouble I’ll head back home.

Why?

I guess it’s what I do. I run for fun, and while the last two workouts weren’t exactly filled with joy, running stops me from indulging in other, potentially more destructive habits. I don’t want to stop running, because I don’t want to find out what I pick up instead.

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Update: Wednesday morning, 12 hours later. I have belatedly decided to stop being so stupid, and to stop trying to force the issue. I'm starting the cut-back week right now, and I'll run as little as I want, even *gasp* single-digit mileage, and I'll run as slowly as I feel like, without pressure from the watch.
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17 Dec

17 miles, 2:20:14, 8:14 pace, HR 139
death march. horrible.

18 Dec

10 miles, 1:21:39, 8:09 pace, HR 139
including 12x100 strides

Tipping Point

Are you searching to find your tipping point or are you simply addicted to running?

Mike left that comment to my last entry. I can’t even pretend he’s exaggerating. 18 months ago, when I started training for the 2006 Dublin marathon, I consciously made the decision to ramp up my training, up to 70 miles per week, which back then sounded like an enormous amount of running. I was worried if that kind of volume would leave me injured, but as it turned out, I did just fine. I have since increased my mileage further with every training cycle, and my racing times have steadily improved at all distances, while the number of injuries has actually gone down. I’m sure there is a plateau somewhere, but I don’t think I’ve reached it yet. What the last two years have taught me is that the human body can take much more stress than we think. As for being addicted to running, I guess I can’t really deny that; on the other hand, neither can a lot of you.

Having said all that, I’m actually feeling like complete crap at the moment, but I think that’s a temporary setback and unrelated to running. Niamh had felt awful on Thursday, and now it’s my turn. She had originally suspected it to be mastitis, but I think we can rule out that possibility for me. It didn’t help that the kids, especially the twins, are an absolute nightmare today, so much so that I suggested to Niamh to drop them at the side of the road and start again, but she refused. I don’t know why, she must have been tempted too.

After that sandwich, a recovery run was all I had in mind for Saturday. Just as expected, the legs felt awkward and sluggish early on, and I feared this would be an embarrassingly slow run. Imagine my surprise when I checked my watch at the first mile, and read 7:30! Any fears of a slow run evaporated, but of course this wasn’t recovery pace by any stretch of imagination. However, I just started to feel good. I’ve once read a quote by someone “I’ll start running as soon as I see a runner smiling”. Had that person been around Caragh Lake yesterday he or she would have had to tie up the laces, because I just couldn’t help but smile and enjoy the run. As a result, I ran way too fast, and I knew it, even at the time, but I simply felt too good to slow down.

Sunday is my day for a tempo effort, but with the sandwich still in my legs and the nonexistent recovery I wasn’t sure what I would be able to achieve. I started out reasonably fast with a 7:13 mile, and the first loop went by quickly enough at 7:07 pace, but I could not quite keep up that effort, and the second loop was about half a minute slower. I could either blame the sandwich, yesterday’s faster run or whatever bug is messing up my body right now, but taking all those factors into account I think it was a reasonable effort. I’ll have to decide tomorrow morning if I’m up for a run. Niamh only felt affected for one day, and there’s still hope that the same might be true for me.

15 Dec

10 miles, 1:14:48, 7:28 pace, HR 147
including 12x100 strides

16 Dec

10 miles, 1:11:44. 7:10 pace, HR 154

Weekly mileage: 94

Make Mine a Sandwich

Just in case you’re wondering if the two easy days on Tuesday and Wednesday is a sign that I’ve become sensible, it’s not. I just wanted to make sure I would be somewhat fresh for the double-header I was planning for Thursday and Friday. When training for last year’s Connemara Ultra, I incorporated 3 weeks of 2 20 milers on consecutive days, and I think they did a great job boosting my endurance, which enabled me to have a great experience on my first, and so far only, ultra outing. I therefore decided to bring them back.

Amongst ultra runners, this kind of double workout is apparently called a sandwich, though it’s not one of the most palatable variety. I decided to ease into it by running only 17 miles on Thursday. Unfortunately, the wind has picked up again considerably, and while it was nowhere near as bad as last week, it was enough to send me back to the Devil’s Elbow loop with its vicious climb. I managed 2 loops well enough, but the driver who passed me shortly after the start, at around 4:30 am, probably thought he was hallucinating when the lonely figure of a runner in the dark came into view. As I’ve mentioned, the distance on that route is probably slightly longer than 17 miles, but again, it doesn’t matter; 17 miles is what I’m putting into the log. With an eye on the following day’s workout I wasn’t sure if I should run the last miles faster again, but decided to do it anyway, and ran the last 3 miles in 21:10 (7:03 pace), not my best, but not too bad either.

Compared to what I’ve been through recently, today’s weather was positively benign. Sure, the wind was still rather strong, but there was not a cloud in the sky as I left home, and only a handful would pass my way over the next hours, thus breaking the sequence of runs in the rain after 11 days. With the wind making the loop around Caragh Lake distinctly unappealing, I decided on 3 loops around the Devil’s Elbow, but running only the actual loop part, leaving out the out-and-back section to our house. One loop is slightly over 5.5 miles with a net elevation gain and subsequent drop of slightly less than 500 feet (I think), but with a few ups and downs to add to the fun. Running it that way meant encountering the climb every 5.5 miles rather than every 8.5 miles, which would add to the challenge. I usually try and run faster than 8 minutes per mile pace, but today’s objective was merely to survive the distance, and pace would be secondary. I therefore started rather slowly, as I wasn’t sure how the legs would hold up. I’m quite pleased about the fact that each loop ended up being faster than the previous one. The first climb was ok, but at the beginning of the second one my quads felt like they were about to lock up, but luckily that went away as I pushed on. I was a bit worried about the third loop, because that was the fifth time I had to climb up the side of that mounting in 24 hours (ok, 26), but surprised myself by managing alright. I just concentrated on the bit of road immediately in front of me and tried not to look up too far ahead, and eventually I reached the top, and the worst was behind me. I tried to run a bit faster on the final 3 miles, but the legs wouldn’t give me more than 7:43 pace. However, considering that this was my first double of that kind in almost a year, I was quite pleased. I checked last year’s log, and the pace for the second run was generally around 8:45. To manage this run 30 seconds per mile faster is a good sign. I don’t feel wiped out from the effort, but a certain amount of fatigue cannot be denied, and I took it rather easy on the cycle commute to work.

I’ve completely forgot to mention, I’ve signed up for two races last week. One is the Ballycotton 10 miler, which is one of the biggest annual running events in the Irish calendar, despite the fact the nobody outside Ireland has ever heard of it. Each year they have to cap the numbers of participants, and I didn’t get in last year. I’m hoping for better luck this time round. The second race, and the one I’m actually training for, is the Connemara Ultra. I decided against the Highway Fling (sorry, John), because not only is a weekend in Connemara much easier to sell to the family than one in Glasgow, I also don’t need a support crew in Connemara, and since I haven’t got one it makes things considerably easier. Besides, last year’s Connemara Ultra has been my favourite race of all times (at least so far), and I can’t wait to get back there. I thought I did pretty well last year, finishing 20th in 5:40, but I’ll try to better that by quite some margin. I think I should definitely be able to run the race at 8:00 pace average, and that’s my target: 5:15. Last year, that would have been 10th place (not that you get anything for finishing 10th).

13 Dec

17 miles, 2:12:30, 7:48 pace, HR 145
loop1 1:06:35, loop2 1:05:49, last 3 in 21:10 @ 7:03

14 Dec

20 miles, 2:44:22, 8:13 pace, HR 140
loop1 47:23, loop2 47:07, loop3 45:58, last 3 in 23:10 @ 7:43

Tempted by the Snooze Button

I'm not entirely sure, but the lack of sleep might be catching up with me. I could have been more intelligent over the last few days, because both on Monday and Tuesday I went to bed well after 10 pm. I deliberately stayed off the computer yesterday (hence no update) and was in bed shortly after 9 o'clock, but despite getting about 7-and-a-half hours of sleep I actually feel more tired today. What's disconcerting is the fact that since I just had two easy days in a row, I would expect to feel better, not worse. I also noticed that I'm losing patience quickly, both at home and at work. As a result I decided to take an easy week over the Christmas holidays. Running over 90 miles during that week would have been quite a challenge anyway, and I'll just have to try and hang on until then.

The week started very well with a big improvement in the weather. The high winds finally stopped Sunday evening, and when I left the house early Monday morning I was glad to be back on the Caragh Lake loop. I even managed to run it faster than before the enforced weather break, but looking at time and effort I put into it I think the supposed 17 miles around Caragh Lake are a bit shorter than the supposed 17 miles of 2 Devil's Elbow loops. Google maps seems to think that the Caragh Lake loop is indeed a bit shy of 17 miles while the Devil's Elbow loop is a tad longer, but when comparing the "map" view with the actual road you can see that it doesn't follow the real road exactly - accurate maps would be nice, you know. I decided not to worry about it. I recorded 17 miles at 7:35 pace into the log. If the loop is only 16.8 miles, the real pace would be 7:41. It doesn't really matter, the effect that it has on my body is what counts, not the numbers I put down in the log, and if some of the runs are slightly shorter, it won't have a major effect, I'm sure. Besides, any of you Garmin junkies should be aware that your toys usually slightly overstate the distance. If you don't believe me, check out any running forum after a certified marathon, and you invariably see dozens of Garmin weenies** whining that the race was too long. Anyway, I ran the last 5 miles at a higher pace, and I ran the last mile rather strongly, in 6:52. That happens to be the pace required for a sub-3 marathon, and it was quite sobering - I really can't imagine holding that effort for 26 miles.

I took 2 easy days for Tuesday and Wednesday, along Caragh Lake yesterday, and on the Ard-na-Sidhe road today, because unfortunately the wind has picked up again. Actually there was plenty of wind on Tuesday, and normally I would have mentioned something like "a fairly strong headwind on the way out", but compared what I have been through the previous week it was nothing, so I decided to simply ignore it. One baffling thing about the two easy runs was the difference in heart rate. How two runs of basically equal distance at virtually the same pace and effort can differ by 6 bpm is beyond me, especially considering the fact that I should have been well rested today after the easy run on Tuesday and the decent amount of sleep. The weather was more challenging today, but not by that much. I wore the basic shoes on Tuesday and cushioning trainers today, but again, the HR difference is startling, and besides, the basic shoes weigh nearly as much. I'm puzzled.

I had a great end-of-year meeting with my manager the other day. The company had its best year ever, and as a result not only do I get a decent pay rise, but also a bonus that's big enough to pay off my credit card bill. Woohoo! Plus, the fact that I got rid of my car has already made a noticeable difference in my monthly outgoings, and with Niamh's car loan being almost paid off, all of a sudden our financial situation seems to have gone from calamitous to comfortable, despite the fact that there's an extra mouth to feed. Somehow it makes for a more relaxed Christmas, even though I got slightly carried away when buying presents for the kids. Maybe they'll be good enough over the next fortnight to justify the outlay, but somehow I doubt it.

10 Dec

17 miles, 2:08:57, 7:35 pace, HR 147
last 5 in 36:19 @ 7:15, last @ 6:52

11 Dec

10 miles, 1:19:13, 7:55 pace, HR 139
including 12x100 strides

12 Dec

10 miles, 1:19:17, 7:56 pace, HR 145

Consecutive Days of Running in Rain: 10

** only the ones who whine are weenies, not all Garmin wearers. No need to send hate mail.