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

Progress Is Good

I think I've been on a bit of a high this weeks because after months and months of rather limited progress my fitness finally seems to be taking off. Not only did I post some impressive improvements in Thursday's evaluation, every run now is faster than a week or two ago with a lower HR and also a slightly lower effort.

The Oscar for cutest kitten goes to ...

I'll try and not get carried away just yet. I still haven't run double digits miles and just this morning (Sunday) I ran a bit faster than I should have. The fresh legs as well as the wind and rain made me do it (ok, that really is a lousy excuse). I got a bit of a reminder yesterday that recovery still isn't back to where it used to be when for the first 20 minutes of my run I kept wondering why there was no zip in the legs, until I remembered that evaluation on Thursday and this was obviously payback time. Having said that, it was a lot better than the week before and the legs came round during the run.

Maia is just about recovered from a cold. She had a temperature and missed three days of school. The impact on me was that she insisted on sleeping in mommy's bed, which meant I was exiled to the sofa. What I did not expect was sleeping incredibly well on that sofa, so much so that I would almost be tempted to make it my regular sleeping habit - alas, that wouldn't go down well with Niamh, so better not. Then Lola invited an entire pack of friends for a sleepover, and all the good sleep was wiped out in one go. Seven teenagers in one spot really do make a lot of noise until very, very late. Ah, the joys of parenting.

You know what? I can't wait until my next run. This stuff is great!

17 Feb

7 miles, 55:30, 7:55 pace, HR 143

18 Feb

7 miles, 54:43, 7:49 pace, HR 146

19 Feb

9 miles, 1:09:21, 7:42 pace, HR 151

Evaluating Progress

Usually I would be doing an evaluation every fortnight but for now we decided to go for a weekly session. The purpose is not so much to evaluate my form more often but to provide a moderate stimulus after all the easy running I've been doing, while still keeping an eye on my recovery and capacity for recovery.

Last week I did have some sore legs after the evaluation, so there is a definite need to be careful. On the other hand I managed to bounce back very well, so thing s are definitely improving. For the first few days of the week I seem to have settled into a slightly lower effort level with the HR distinctly lower than previously but somehow I'm still running 8-minute miles. Keep in mind that I'm not using my watch to guide the effort - I always run at whatever level comes naturally and only ever check the watch after arriving back home.

I had considered moving the evaluation to Wednesday but had my usual post-yoga legs on Tuesday and first wanted to make sure I had recovered and left it for Thursday.

Again, I used my old Garmin 310 for the evaluation. The Suunto seems to have issues with recognising u-turns and tends to cut off a few seconds each time. That's not a problem when running 7 miles with one u-turn in the middle but when you're doing an evaluation that consists of running half a mile each way four times then 2 u-turns per mile do add up and the Suunto data just doesn't seem to be very accurate in that respect.

Anyway, the Garmin's numbers came up as:

       
        Mile 1    7:03   HR 162
        Mile 2    7:13   HR 162
        Mile 3    7:10   HR 162
        Mile 4    7:11   HR 162
        Recovery to HR 130: 39 seconds

I had to promise not to focus too much on the numbers but they did make me happy nevertheless as they are so much better than last week it's hard to believe that there are only 7 days between the 2 workouts - faster, much more even and with a significantly faster recovery time. Now, if I had learned to run by just 1 single heart beat per minute less it would have been almost perfect.

13 Feb

7 miles, 56:44, 8:06 pace, HR 144

14 Feb

7 miles, 56:21, 8:03 pace, HR 145

15 Feb

7 miles, 55:58, 7:59 pace, HR 144

16 Feb

8 miles, 1:00:58, 7:37 pace, HR 156

   incl. 4 mile eval: 7:03, 7:13, 7:10, 7:11; 39 sec recovery

Slowly, Slowly

Having come back slowly from my overtraining, I had forgotten what it feels like to run on sore legs. I did get a reminder after Thursday's workout, moderate as it had been. Friday was still okay, just a little bit of heaviness in the legs but that's okay.

I made the error on Saturday of starting too fast. Granted, a 7:35 mile isn't exactly devastating pace but I always use the first mile as my warm up and it tends to be the slowest mile of the day, but for some reason my effort gauge was off that day. That's alway a potential problem when you run by feel without consulting the watch, I guess. By mile 2 I already started to feel the effort and dialled it back a bit but by the time I hit the turnaround point and now felt the icy northeasterly wind in my face I wished I had taken it a bit easier to start with.

I was only 3.5 miles from home so obviously I made it back without any real problems, but it did serve as a reminder of what the legs can feel like when you're in training.

By Sunday all was fine again and I did extend the run by another mile to 9. Woohoo. I battled the same conditions as on Saturday with an icy cold wind from Scandinavia making things a bit more interesting but as long as it remains dry it can stay like that as far as I'm concerned. Extending the run also gave me an extra decent sized hill, which is definitely a good thing.

Slowly, slowly, we're turning up the training load. It's 4 and a half months until Belfast, still plenty of time to get some endurance back into the old body.

10 Feb

7 miles, 56:23, 8:03 pace, HR 146

11 Feb

7 miles, 54:33, 7:47 pace, HR 151

12 Feb

9 miles, 1:11:51, 7:59 pace, HR 148

Analyse This

I don't think anyone can accuse me of being impatient during the present training cycle. After taking a month off late in October I started back on 19 November and for almost 3 months I have done nothing but easy running, the lactate test with the team being the one exception, and I wouldn't have done that one if left to my own devices.

This morning, after almost 3 months of jogging it felt pretty good to do a workout for once. A modest one of course. The evaluation workout is MC's preferred method to test training progress, and apart from providing a baseline of my present state of fitness it also should have provided me with a modest stimulus that will hopefully be felt in the near future.

The last month had been going very well and the numbers had finally shown signs of going noticeably upwards, despite me being hampered by a succession of mild colds. It therefore seemed safe enough to crank up the dial, if only very slightly.

The evaluation workout consists of a warm up and then 4 miles of holding the heart rate as steady as possible at 161 (that's for me, with a max HR of about 190). Then you come to a complete stop and measure how long it takes for the HR to recover to 130.

Because my Suunto Ambit 2, while being a very fine running watch in almost every other aspect, isn't particularly good with workouts, I dug out my battered old Garmin 310 for the morning (in fact, I wore both). I had two sources of slight stress: one, to remember to press the correct buttons on the Garmin at the appropriate times, which I just about managed with a few minor hickups along the way, and two, not to go into complete meltdown when analysing the numbers and comparing them to what they used to be like when I was in good shape (and younger).

Well, it ended up as follows:

       
        Mile 1    7:06   HR 161
        Mile 2    7:16   HR 162
        Mile 3    7:18   HR 162
        Mile 4    7:28   HR 162
        Recovery to HR 130: 53 seconds

Actually, considering the last few months that could have been worse. It was not the slowest evaluation I have ever done (close), it wasn't the biggest difference between the first and the last mile (close), but it was indeed the longest recovery time since records began (close). The idea now is to repeat the process and see the numbers improve as training progresses. If they don't then I'll have to change things, obviously. That's why you evaluate stuff, for objective feedback. It's preferable to guessing.

One quirky note: my fastest mile of the day was actually the second "warm up" mile because I had to work to get my HR up to 161. Usually I would have done 4 miles of warming up to enable me to gradually increase the HR but that would have resulted in too long a run. I'll have to tweak that format.

6 Feb

7 miles, 55:32, 7:55 pace, HR 151

   Super Bowl induced sleep deprivation

7 Feb

7 miles, 58:59, 8:25 pace, HR 144

   Feeling a bit under the weather

8 Feb

7 miles, 55:24, 7:54 pace, HR 147

9 Feb

7 miles, 53:52, 7:38 pace, HR 156

   incl. 4 mile eval: 7:06, 7:16, 7:18, 7:28; 53 sec recovery

Some People

World Record holder

Did you know there are world records for running long distances in full fireman gear? I happen to know the guy who owns the world record for running a marathon in full gear. Incidentally, I was running the same marathon at the time and remember passing him at mile 17. Even more incidentally, I also know the guy who held the record before Alex broke it.

And if that's not mad enough, as of yesterday I also know the guy who has the world record for running 100k in full fireman gear, which now stands at 15:10. If you think that's a bit slow, he took over 7 hours off the previous record. And if you think those are meaningless gimmicks, well, I know where you're coming from but I can assure you that both world record holders are serious runners at international level. Anyway, Congratulations, Andi!

My own running isn't quite at record level right now but it is clearly improving, despite being slightly hampered by yet another annoying cold. Niamh had it a few days ago and now it's my turn. I had a sore throat during the week which was barely noticeable but now I can feel a slight restriction in my chest and my energy levels aren't quite there, though my resting HR is fine and my running HR is actually improving, so it can't be that bad.

The temperatures have dropped towards zero again but I can handle that pretty well (better than my car by the looks of it). It's only when it's mixed with icy cold rain and wind that I don't like it, not that it stops me from running.

My sleep pattern has slipped again; after being quite disciplined at going to bed early for a few weeks my resolve has started to slide again and I can feel the difference straight away. That needs to be sorted out asap, the effect of too little sleep is real and it's not small either. You can forget about marginal gains when you're still yet to get the basics right,

2 Feb

8 miles, 1:03:42, 7:57 pace, HR 153

3 Feb

7 miles, 56:52, 8:07 pace, HR 146

4 Feb

7 miles, 54:15, 7:45 pace, HR 150

5 Feb

8 miles, 1:01:58, 7:44 pace, HR 149

Consistency

On Monday morning, my legs felt heavy.

Last year that would not have been unusual. My legs felt heavy basically all the way from July to September (not that I admitted it, even to myself at the time).

But this year has been different. Apart from a few post-yoga Tuesdays I have felt pretty good on most of my runs, so this was notable. I presume it had something to do with running 8 miles instead of 7 twice that week but that was such a small increase in load that I would not have expected a noticeable impact. I sure never felt tired after any run and an 8 mile run felt exactly the same as a 7 mile run.

Things were still a little bit off on Tuesday, though this could have been the yoga again. But it was enough to keep the mileage at 7 on Wednesday instead of the 8 I had originally planned.

Crikey, is one single extra mile really worth all that naval gazing? Probably not, so let's move on quickly.

I'm not entirely sure if my throat is slightly sore or if I'm merely imagining it. Either case it's unlikely to be serious and I guess I'll know in a couple of days. The numbers have dipped again, though that's perfectly in line with the usual up-and-down pattern.

Just carry on as usual. That's what makes a runner. Consistency. It's not flashy. But it works.

30 Jan

7 miles, 57:25, 8:12 pace, HR 144

31 Jan

7 miles, 57:17, 8:11 pace, HR 148

1 Feb

7 miles, 56:41, 8:05 pace, HR 149

47!

Once again I got reminded that I am getting dangerously close to being an old man, though the way I prefer to see it is that I celebrated my 25th birthday for the 23rd time. As Niamh keeps pointing out, that would still be way ahead of my mental age anyway,

That's a much better picture than one of me another year older

Old age didn't come as much of a shock, after all I had a year to prepare for it, What did shock me was the weighing scales the following day. Yes, I had 2 birthday cakes, one in the office (thanks Jacqo!) and one at home (thanks Niamh!) and I tucked in heartily at dinner at the restaurant, but come on, 5 extra pounds? It took me all of January to shed 2 pounds (I'm not dieting, they just happened to come off) and that may have been the heaviest since I started running many, many years ago. Thankfully most if it was already gone another day later. Phew!

The numbers are trending up again, following the usual pattern of plenty of ups and downs but gradually pointing upwards. The weather has been character building at times, though I have run through much worse and this winter has been one of the more benign ones.

I think I'm in a pretty good place right now. Obviously I'm not in race shape, having not run more than 8 miles in months, but I can feel things getting better and better. The best training often happens at times when it doesn't even feel like training.

27 Jan

7 miles, 55:20, 7:54, HR 151

28 Jan

7 miles, 55:51, 7:59, HR 147

29 Jan

8 miles, 1:02:42, 7:49, HR 151

Don't Panic

Niamh and Shea have recovered from their respective bouts of flu, feeling fully recovered by now. I guess I have indeed managed to dodge that bullet, which can only be a good thing.

On the other hand, I obviously jinxed myself in my last post when stating that the figures had improved because as soon as I had typed it they had started to tank again. Typical. I do have an alternative explanation for the raised HR on most runs (I kept think of an incident that made me angry on Tuesday, it was windy on Wednesday, it was very windy on Thursday) but, well, yes that's just a bunch of excuses.

I started introducing the occasional 8-mile run, so it's possible that the added load has something to do with it, though I'm inclined to dismiss that explanation as the additional distance is so small and I don't feel any different after one single extra mile. Anyway, I'll keep an eye on it. Today's numbers were a bit better again despite running through a yellow weather warning, so it may well have been just a temporary blip.

The weather had one side effect, namely that it knocked out our power. My habit of waking up early before the alarm clock goes off came in handy as my radio alarm wouldn't have been much use today. Getting ready with the help of a headlamp was a new experience as well. They took their time restoring power as well - it took until 4 o;clock in the evening!

I keep getting sporadic updates from my team mates about their preparations for the World Championships. They seem to fall into two very distinctive categories - either they're doing tons of miles and all is going well or they've been doing next to nothing for weeks or even months due to injury or illness and are slowly starting to panic. I'm definitely in the second group, except that I'm not panicking, at least not just yet.

23 Jan

7 miles, 57:50, 8:15 pace, HR 147

24 Jan

7 miles, 56:52, 8:07 pace, HR 150

25 Jan

8 miles, 1:03:46, 7:58 pace, HR 152

26 Jan

7 miles, 56:37, 8:05 pace, HR 148

Baby Steps To Continuous Improvement

That's a term I've come across at work, though it fits very well into my running life.

I've complained on many occasions that the numbers at the end of each run just did not look very good and that there was very little progress to be seen for quite some time. While the stated goal of the last few weeks was recovery from overtraining rather than building up new fitness, I found it a bit disheartening at times that the numbers were consistently poor and, more importantly, not showing much inclination to change.

I was in a much happier place the last few days and it looks like patience and determination are finally starting to reap some rewards, All of a sudden the line in my graph has started to turn upwards, and not just for the odd run only to drop back down again. Finally I can actually look at the number and see them going somewhere.

There's no need to get carried away just yet. They are still poor, and in fact they are still worse than during the autumn, so there is still a long, long way to go. But seeing the heart rate elevation in single digits for a change is definitely progress. Now don't mess it up (again)!

Shea is just getting over a flu that had him off school for much of last week and Niamh is just over the worst herself. I have been on tenterhooks for a while; sharing a bedroom with someone who keeps coughing all night does leave you exposed and the badly interrupted sleep doesn't help either. I did feel slightly off on a couple of mornings but so far so good. maybe I managed to dodge that one. That would be a good sign, if my immune system is good enough to fight off an infection that is doing the rounds amongst the family then at least something is working again - at the end of last year I could feel that something wasn't quite right in that regards either.

The pace seems to have shifted into sub-8 territory, for the same easy effort as before, though the heart rate is still a bit higher than I would like to see after a reasonably easy run. But recovery from day to day does soom to work just fine, which is the main concern right now.

20 Jan

7 miles, 55:20, 7:54, HR 149

21 Jan

6 miles, 47:38, 7:56, HR 149

22 Jan

8 miles, 1:02:23, 7:47 pace, HR 152

Take Heart

Usually whenever I mention heart rate someone states their surprise that I even have a heart. Even my HRM seems to agree with that at times but a battery change (for the HRM, not my heart!) generally takes care of that attitude. So let's get this out of the way first - apparently I am not quite as heartless as some might think.

Anyway, since acquiring my new toy a couple of weeks ago I have been measuring my resting HR much more frequently than before. It did throw up a few unexpected results. First of all, resting HR dropped very quickly once I had recovered from my cold and went from about 50 all the way down to 43 a few days ago. I always associated such a low resting HR with being very fit, which clearly is not the case at the moment. My best guess is that my cardiovascular system is getting into pretty good shape already but my leg muscles and especially my endocrine system are lagging behind.

The other unexpected discovery was that there seems to be surprisingly little correlation between my resting HR when waking up and the HR at the subsequent run less than half an hour later. That day I measured 43? I ended up running slower than usual without a corresponding dip in HR. This morning, on the other hand, I awoke with a (very slight) headache and the resting HR was raised by a couple of beats yet the numbers during the run were the best yet since I started running again.

Anyway, as long as I can avoid getting sick again (my eldest son is off school with a flu right now and Niamh has started coughing again), things are definitely progressing, albeit slowly. I suppose running just under 50 easy miles a week doesn't fully build up my fitness, but the hope is that it will fully build up my recovery capacity, which had been completely wiped out by my overtraining last year and is the main focus right now.

The temperatures dropped again last night, which caught me by surprise (a long sleeved top would have been the better choice!), but as long as the roads remain ice free I love it just like that!

16 Jan

7 miles, 57:01, 8:08 pace, HR 148

17 Jan

7 miles, 57:07, 8:09 pace, HR 149

18 Jan

7 miles, 56:48, 8:06 pace, HR 149

19 Jan

7 miles, 55:54, 7:59 pace, HR 149

Early Zen

When I woke on Friday, for the third time this week my first thought was "at least it's Friday". On the plus side I was right for a change; on the minus side, it was 5:30 in the morning, I'm not sure why Lola's school left so early for Dublin but one thing was clear from the start: it was my job to get up and drive her to school. Niamh just doesn't do 5:30 and since I used to get up at that hour dozens of times voluntarily just to go running I'm not in a strong negotiation position to argue otherwise.

Actually, the timing worked out pretty well in as much as it was just time to go for my usual 7 mile run when I got back home. The roads were clear of ice, which was another plus, so all in all I can't complain too much.

As a matter of fact I had a really nice run. For the first time since I started running again I averaged just below 8-minute miles. It might be an arbitrary number but I was happy nevertheless. Saturday was a little bit different. Unfortunately, nobody had told our dog that it was the weekend and she was up at the usual time of 6:30, looking for breakfast. After that there was no more sleep to be had.

In numbers, Saturday's run was very similar to the day before, even if the HR was a smidgen higher. But in actual fact the legs didn't feel anywhere near as sprightly and I was really surprised when I saw afterwards that I had run virtually the same pace as the day before.

Sunday was almost groundhog day, this time it was the cat that demanded early breakfast. I used to think that I might get a lie-in once in a while when the kids were past a certain age but then made the crucial mistake of not vetoing an ever increasing number of animals (not that I would have stood a chance anyway) and guess who's the only one feeding them early morning. Anyway, the subsequent run was very similar to Saturday as the legs didn't show much love but the pace was still very similar. One thing I noticed was that miles 3-6 basically passed while my consciousness was somewhere in cloud cuckoo land, Being able to completely tune out and reach a Zen state of mind is a very good sign. The rest will follow.

13 Jan

7 miles, 55:36, 7:56 pace, HR 151

14 Jan

7 miles, 55:37, 7:56 pace, HR 153

15 Jan

7 miles, 56:11, 8:01 pace, HR 153

Snow News

I woke up the other day and the very first thought that went through my head was "at least it's Friday", the second one being "oh no, it's Tuesday" (expletives deleted). I woke up the following day and the very first thought that went through my head was "at least it's Friday", the second one being "oh no, it's Wednesday" (expletives deleted). Twice in a row, that's a new one.

The other thing both mornings had in common was that the legs felt a bit achy, though I attribute that more to Monday night's yoga class rather than running, especially so as this had been the first yoga class after a month-long Christmas break and we had been doing a lot of leg work in that class.

I took it very easy on Tuesday and ran a tad faster on Wednesday but the numbers didn't look great on either occasion. Wednesday especially wasn't helped by some very windy conditions; running being an outdoors sport, that comes as part of the parcel.

Thursday morning I felt so much better! I had a spring in my step that had been missing for a long while. In addition to that, the morning resting heart rate had come in at 45, a good improvement, so combine the two factors and I really expected a good run. Well, the run was good, I felt good all the way, but when I looked at the cold, subjective numbers afterwards I was a bit disappointed. You could not have told it had been a good run from that (though, admittedly, they were better than the previous couple of days). Ah well. I take feeling good over producing good numbers any time.

It's been snowing today! I'm sure the kids are delighted (at least the younger ones). Me, I'm merely hoping the roads won't be icy.

9 Jan

7 miles, 57:46, 8:15 pace, HR 150

10 Jan

7 miles, 1:01:15, 8:45 pace, HR 144

11 Jan

7 miles, 57:45, 8:15 pace, HR 154

12 Jan

7 miles, 57:12, 8:10 pace, HR 151

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

Happy New Year!

Since I started running again at Christmas, every day my chest felt a little bit better than the day before, though my breathing was always a bit laboured. However, I could feel it gradually, if very slowly, clearing up. Eventually the cold symptoms became almost unnoticeable during normal life but running was still affected, the most obvious effect being a sky-high HR. However, that came down gradually as well, which was reassuring, even if the number were still pretty bad; they were still over 10 beats higher than what I regards as my baseline when fit, though since that had come down from 20 beats it was actually decent progress. However, the most important feedback was always how I felt during and straight after a run, which was always pretty good. The deep fatigue that had been sitting in my legs for months seems to finally have lifted.

Yesterday, Tuesday, I awoke with a slightly sore throat, a slight headache and a stuffy nose. It feels different to the cold I had been nursing for the last 2 weeks, so I think I acquired a new cold on top of the already existing one. That sucks, but at the same time my chest seems to have fully cleared up the very same morning, which may be coincidence or it may not.

Since Christmas I had slowly upped the daily mileage, from 4 to 5 to 6 miles, and maybe this morning wasn't the best to up it again to 7 miles with that annoying head cold but what's done is done.

For easy recovery runs, there is one very simple rule. Every time you finish the run, if somebody told you to go out and do it again, you have to be in a position to do so without problems. I can honestly say that this has been the case for every single run recently - and that's why I don't think running through a head cold is a problem, not even when recovering from overtraining / overracing.

Oh, and Happy New Year! Thankfully the road isn't as busy as the gym right now.

1 Jan

5 miles, 40:13, 8:02 pace, HR 155

2 Jan

6 miles, 48:43, 8:07 pace, HR 154

3 Jan

6 miles, 50:17, 8:22 pace, HR 148

4 Jan

7 miles, 59:06, 8:26 pace, HR 151

All That's Left

This is the time when people usually look back at the year that was. As much as I'm usually  a non-conformist, this time round my view seems to be in tune with the general vibe - 2016 was one shite year!

That's certainly true as far as running is concerned; I had 3 targets for the year and missed them all. The one I got closest to was the sub-3 marathon in Manchester but I missed that by a minute. I'm pretty sure I would have gotten it had I not run the Tralee marathon a month before, but then again that would have meant not getting an age group win in my local marathon, which almost made up for it.

My main target was the 24 hours, however, and my 2 races were disappointing (Belfast) and abysmal (Albi). There's just no other way of looking at it. Right now that has me at 186th in the world rankings (with possibly one or two more results to be added, so that could drop further), which is my lowest ranking in a while.

The third goal was the Spartathlon, which I ended up not even doing because of Albi,

Good riddance, 2016. Seriously,

I'd love to say good riddance to that cold I've been nursing as well, though that might take a bit longer. I've reached the state where I don't feel it at all any more in normal circumstances but it's still noticeable when I'm running, mostly because it's causing my HR to go sky high. I started to ignore the HRM completely - it shows in the data! But my legs are perfectly fine and I have no issues recovering from those runs. I do wish I could go out and start proper training but right now I'm grateful I'm able to run at all - the rest will follow, eventually.

29 Dec

4 miles, 33:29, 8:22 pace, HR 158

30 Dec

5+ miles, 41:38, 8:14 pace, HR 155

31 Dec

5+ miles, 41:21, 8:11 pace, HR 156

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

Vienna Calling

 As you might know, I'm running international championships for Austria, the reason being that they're the ones who issued my passport. However, I've been living in Ireland for longer than I can remember and the other thing you might know is that Ireland is quite a way away from Austria. The long distance between myself and the rest of the team isn't exactly ideal. Outside of races I have very little contact with the other runners or the team manager, so I do try to make it to the occasional team meeting. One such meeting was on this weekend, and consequently I made my way across the continent (getting dead cheap flight tickets helped).

I arrived there on Friday afternoon and on Saturday morning made my way across town to the meeting. The first item on the agenda was a lactate test. I wasn't sure if there was much point in doing one, seeing as I was still in my regeneration phase rather than in training, but the team physio disagreed. The next worry was that running faster than 8-minute miles would be challenging. I would then have to speed up even more for the last lap, but that fear proved to be groundless. The test had us run 2 laps around the park for just over one mile, then have our ears pricked, and then run again but faster, for a total of 5 goes. The last mile was at sub-7 pace, which I thought would be really hard but in actual fact felt really good - I was tempted to add a sixth lap just for the hell of it but thought the better of it, and the physio agreed.

After lunch we sat down for a talk about training for the world championships in Belfast, which I partook in a slightly detached mode as I really don't think I'll be able to start "proper" training in a week. We never really talked about the disappointing performance in Albi, where only one of us had a decent race; I guess we all knew it wasn't good enough.

Then we headed out for an evening run, When the question came up if we should go for a 10 or 12k loop I immediately went for 10 because of coach's orders, though since this was the second run of the day I knew I was taking liberties as it was. Ah well. At least I felt really good during the run.

Sunday was another team run, and while everyone joined up for a 2-2,5 hours jog I announced that I was going to turn around after 5k because my coach had forbidden me from running more than 10. I deflected the question why I was so worried to defy an absent coach with the observation that there are 2 people in my life I have learned never to contradict, and MC was the other one. Simple fact is, every time I thought I knew better I learned sooner or later that I don't, and overstepping the mark 2 days in a row was unlikely to be a good idea.

I was actually surprised by how easy that rather talented group of runners took it during those runs. I have run with some of them before, and on that occasion supposed 8:30 pace had quickly turned into 7:30, but not so this time.

However, despite the (relative) restraint I awoke in the middle of the following night with a splitting headache, a sore throat and a stuffed nose, and sleep for the rest of the night was fitful. I felt a little better the next morning, which was good because I had the long journey back home on the program. I managed that reasonably well but once I was home I had spent all my energy and more or less collapsed on the bed, feeling absolutely rotten.

Maybe it was indeed the extra run, maybe it was the fact that I could not get changed after Sunday's run for half an hour in the freezing cold, maybe I had already brought a cold with me, maybe it was the shock of significantly lower temperatures in Vienna, or maybe it was a combination of all that. Anyway, I'm actually better already, just one day later, so this is going to pass quickly. I'll start running again whenever it feels right. Not tomorrow, though.

14 Dec

6 miles, 53:38, 8:54 pace, HR 140

15 Dec

5 miles, 40:03, 8:01 pace, HR 153

17 Dec

am: 5+ miles, 43:59, 8:07 pace, HR 150, lactate test

pm: 6+ miles, 57:32, 8:35 pace, HR 145

18 Dec

6+ miles, 56:28, 9:10 pace, HR 148

Up And Down

Our Labrador, Millie, wants to be learn all about the others pets in the house

Well, I guess some things are never going to progress in a perfectly smooth line, and training is one of them. The last few days are completely my own fault. Up to last weekend I had been very disciplined about turning off the screens at 10 o'clock and going to bed not much later. Recently I've let things slide and now I'm feeling a bit tired and a lot less recovered all of a sudden. Sleep is so important for an athlete, and while I might have gotten away with things when I was younger that's clearly no longer the case. It does show in the numbers.

On Saturday morning my HRM stopped working after a mile, which is a bit of a shame because I'm pretty sure I would have posted my best numbers since my comeback - not that it matters, the training effect is the only thing that matters, but I'm a numbers geek and a nice figure in my spreadsheets would have been nice.

I felt a bit tired on Sunday (see first paragraph) and made sure to take it very easy, and I kept it to 4 miles. I felt a lot better on Monday morning. In fact, I was marvelling how well and effortlessly I was moving all of a sudden and how well that recovery program is kicking in. I was in high spirits, until I reached the 3 mile mark and turned around and realised that the return journey would be against the wind. Damn! I felt a lot slower on the way home.

Tuesday morning I was tired, again (see first paragraph, again) and once more kept it short and easy. This time I also resolved to get bedtime under control again. I'll need someone to send me to bed, I think. Jesus, I've mentally regressed back to childhood already (that said, Niamh insists I never left that stage in the first place).

10 Dec

6 miles, 50:12, 8:22 pace

11 Dec

4+ miles, 35:18, 8:43 pace, HR 141

12 Dec

6 miles, 50:43, 8:27 pace, HR 150

13 Dec

4 miles, 35:20, 8:50 pace, HR 143