Back on the Road…Again.
Yes, again.
3 months ago I wrote a self motivating post, one that outlined my return to running after a 3 month break… cue orchestra and stage lights.
Didn’t work out.
So lets start over. It’s been 6 months now since my wonderful wife gave birth to our very active and amazing boy. He’s in his own room now, so we feel like we’re actually getting some sleep and I’m distraught by how unfit I’ve become in such a short time frame.
Goals
I won’t ask much of myself in 2012. Despite only running in the first half of 2011 and getting my first DNF (Did Not Finish) at the Lochaber Marathon I achieve not one, but two personal bests – one for 10K and one for Half Marathon distance. So it wasn’t too bad. You can see highlights of my 2011 stats here.
This year I’ll keep it simple. No PBs and very rough and low mileage guidelines (rather than targets). I do however, intend to race at least one 5K, one 10K and one Half Marathon. Just something to aim for in training really. To keep the motivation there.
Getting back into the swing of things
My intentions in the last Back on the Road post still stand. I’ll take it easy, building up mileage slowly. I doubt my long run will regularly get past 10K, except during Half Marathon training, but we’ll see how it goes.
As always, I post my workouts on Dailymile. If you’re on there too, say hello!
Happy running folks!
Back on the Road
It’s been 12 weeks and 3 days since my amazing wee boy was born. 2 days before that was my last proper run. Sure, I got out for one run around a month ago, but it doesn’t count.
Now that Ross is becoming more settled, my belly is getting bigger and my sanity is crumbling away, i’ve decided it’s probably as good a time as any to get back on the road running.
The Last Three Months
People take time out from running all the time. It may be self imposed, it may be through injury or it may be because of a life event. Either way, i’m not the first and i won’t be the last person that comes back to running after time off.
For me, this has been my longest break from running for years. And because I don’t have an injury, I think that’s making me all the more eager to get back out there.
I haven’t sat on the couch the whole time though.
I’ve been making an effort to get out as often as possible. I take Ross walks up the trail I frequented (it gives me running pangs if there is such a thing) or just out round the corner and back at any opportunity. I got out for 1 run on the 12th of August with a friend. 5 miles. 10 minute miles but I felt really good during and after. I also started the 100pushups program through the Strength Challenge Facebook Group. I should note I’ve had to repeat a few weeks because of one thing or another. Furthest I’ve got is halfway through week five. I just demoted myself to week 4 again though – it seems it’s easier to get out running than find time for pushups!
Health Impact
I knew 3 months off would affect my health but I underestimated it a bit. I definitely feel unhealthy. And I feel slow. As an experiment, I used the Instant Heart Rate Android app to measure my heart rate (BMP) – once on my last run, then 3 times over the last 3 months.
As you can see I had a pretty healthy resting heart rate of 49 BPM on 4 July. Only 2 weeks later that jumped to 58 BPM (18 July). 2 months later I was really feeling it when i measured at 78 BPM (26 Sept). Today, my BPM has dipped to 72 (4 Oct). Hopefully that drop is down to an increase in walking activity in the last couple of weeks. I’m pretty shocked to see how much my resting BPM has increased. It’ll be interesting to see how it responds running again.
The Master Plan
First thing is first, I can’t rush back into running. For a start, I think my Achilles tendons have shrunk or at least they’ve lost their vavavoom. They might not forgive me for jumping into the Vivobarefoot Neo’s after so long.
Stage One
So, for just over a week I’ll be doing some Pose Drills, such as:
Not only will the drills help provide some strength and stability training, it’ll be a good refresher course in getting my technique right as soon as I start.
Stage Two
Let’s not set our expectations too high. Just a few miles on the first run then I’ll cap my runs at 4 miles for a few weeks after and no more than 3 runs per week. I reckon that’s all I’ll have time for to be honest. We’ll see though.
That’s It
Yup, that’s my master plan. Quite a departure from past days of methodically scheduling a training plan. No colour coded spreadsheets, no mileage projection graphs. Just past experience to guide me.
I know as long as I take it easy though, I’ll be just fine.
Forgiveness
Forgive me fellow runners, for I have sinned. It has been over 5 weeks since my last run.
I’m feeling the lack of exercise and it’s not good. Tonight though I’ll be breaking the exercise fast and running a 5 miler with a friend. Here’s hoping I make it round the route!
Caught Short
Oh dear, it seems that it’s only 17 weeks (16 weeks and 4 days to be precise) until the Lochaber Marathon. I wouldn’t have realised if I hadn’t seen @runningfairy commenting to @runningmeschee that it’s only 17 weeks till the Brighton Marathon (same day). So much has been happening lately that I clean forgot about it.
The problem – I have no training plan. Realistically I should start training next week! Well, I may have a quick solution. Last February I wrote a Marathon Training Plan post in preparation for the Edinburgh Marathon. It was a sub 4 hour plan. At the time it was a very adventurous plan and, as my ITB kindly let me know, it was a bit much at times.
A lot has changed in the second half of the year though. My fitness levels are at the highest they’ve ever been and I’ve come a long way in improving my running form. I think the once adventurous plan is now very achievable.
The plan starts at 23 miles per week – my now usual weekly mileage – and calls for 5 days running per week. I don’t think I’m quite ready for 5 days. Although I often wish I could run everyday, I’ve been comfortable with a 4 day running week for a while now and I don’t want to change that. It just means I’ll have to be a little smarter in the way I train. I’ll post the revised plan once I’ve figured out what that smarter training is.
That’s it then. The training starts on Monday.
Free Running Log 2011
***UPDATED with NEW Spreadsheet 2 Jan 2011***
I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a slave to running stats. I’m no elite athlete but there’s just something great about seeing your numbers build up, pace trends go down and see how far from or how much you’ve beat your target by. Since starting to run I’ve used mobile apps to track runs but the trouble with that is your data is scattered and easily lost. What happens when you try a new app, change your phone, etc. It’s much easier and a little more reliable to keep your log in one place. Some people use a paper log book, which I do too – it’s a back up! But my main log is in the form of a spreadsheet. I keep the spreadsheet in Google Docs in order that I can access and update it from anywhere.
If you’re looking for a new spreadsheet to log your running in 2011, feel free to download the .xls spreadsheet here (225kb) >>> Running Log 2011 Revised
I’ll briefly run through each sheet. The main things to remember though are:
- Grey cells are editable, i.e. the bits you fill in
- Green cells contain formulae, i.e. the bits that do the work for you
- Little marks on a cell corner means I’ve left a nice comment about a cell or data area that might be useful
Dashboard
The Dashboard is a summary page for all of your runs. It provides a quarterly and total view on your mileage, time, pace and climb (ascent in ft). If you use a web app like mapometer.com to measure distances it will also show you the total ascent from A-B, which you can use as data. There is also a space labelled Temp. This can be easily changed to average Heart Rate, where you can insert bpm data. I use temp because a) I don’t use a HR monitor and b) I like the thought of being able to correlate outside temperature with running performance.
The grey rows are editable and contain fields for quarterly and annual targets, examples of which are shown in the document.
Weekly
This sheet does not require any editing. It packages up the data from the Daily Sheet into, you guessed it, weekly chunks. useful for keeping tabs on your weekly mileage. All of the data here feeds into the Charts sheet at the end of the document.
Daily (The sheet you input all your workout data)
This sheet is the guts of the log. This is where you’ll input all of your data: Time, Distance, Average Pace, Climb, Temp (or HR if you decide to change it), Shoe mileage, etc.
Every day of the year is represented the sheet. Each group you see represent a week going from Monday – Sunday. In the first group you’ll notice only two dates are shown. This is because the 1st & 2nd of January are a Saturday and Sunday, respectively. You get where it’s going from there.
Time is entered in an “hours” format. I log distance in miles (to 2 decimal places, e.g. 6.21) but you can log it in Kilometres if you want – as long as it’s consistent throughout the log. You’ll need to change some titles in the charts but that’s no hassle. Average Pace in column D is a simple calculation, so no need to touch that. Just remember to copy it down to your next workout entry.
As I mentioned before, you can change Temp to Ave HR if required.
To the right of the group data you’ll also see columns where you can input your shoe mileage. Just type in the mileage you ran in the shoes in the same row as the workout. Change the titles to the shoe name as appropriate.
Last in line you’ll see columns entitled “Dark” and “Light”. There’s a method to the madness here. if you ran your workout in daylight, put a 1 into the Daylight cell in line with your work out. Same goes if you ran in the dark. You’ll see a pie chart in the chart sheet that shows a split between light and dark runs. I included this because I do a lot of my running early in the morning before work so i thought it would be fun to see how much running I do in the dark over the course of the year.
I’ve left in example workouts to show how cells are filled in. Have a look and play around with them.
Comments
It’s good to note how you felt during and after a run. In that respect, this page is pretty self explanatory.
Shoes
Shoes links back to Daily Sheet and totals the mileage you’ve ramped up on each pair of your running friends. There’s also an editable field to note mileage already on your shoes if you had them the previous year. Data from this sheet and the Weekly sheet are shown graphically in the Charts sheet.
Races
This is just a place for you to note your races and times. It doesn’t link to anything, it’s just there for posterity.
Stats For Charts
Unless you’re adding data fields, you shouldn’t need to tough this sheet. It pulls data from all of the previous sheets into nice chunks, which are used in the next sheet to visualise your training. Again, this is a hangover from Google Docs awkwardness in selecting data ranges.
Charts
This is the fun bit I guess. As simple as it goes too, it shows all of your training results in various tables. Feel free to add tables to splice and dice your data.
So there you have it. It’s easier to use than it’s made out above to be honest. There is some awkwardness, which is from Google Docs and it may make you wonder why I don’t just use Excel. Well, for me, the pro of being able to access and edit the doc from anywhere outweighs the con of low functionality. As i mentioned, I’ve left in example workouts to show the sheet in action. If you have any queries or suggestions about using/improving the spreadsheet, please leave a comment!
Again, you can download the .xls document here >>> Running Log 2011 Revised
Enjoy!!
DNR – Did Not Run
No run this morning. Firstly, I could. not. sleep. When my alarm went off at 5:10am i was numb. But, I got up anyway and stumbled through to the living room to get changed without waking up my wife. I put my shorts on, but something wasn’t quite right.
I’m sure I picked up a slight niggle in my left foot two days ago on my long run (Sunday). I didn’t feel anything during the run, it came on Sunday evening and yesterday through the day. I felt it again this morning. I did some Pose drills just to check and it wasn’t bad. I could feel it, but it wasn’t uncomfortable to hold pose. But, i couldn’t say for certain how it would feel after 3000 foot strikes (give or take a few hundred) on my planned 4 mile run. So, I’ve played it safe.
Sunday was the first time in a week and only the third time in two weeks I had run wearing trainers. Since changing my running style, the last two months have been my most consistent period of running this year. However, it seems that my Asics 2150′s aren’t playing ball and are affecting my footstrike in an adverse manner following all the barefoot training i’ve been doing. And, to be honest, it did feel weird running in them on Sunday. While i really enjoyed the run, something just wasn’t quite right. So, I’ve stopped using them. They are officially retired.
I still plan on wearing training shoes once a week for the next few weeks at least, so in the interim I bought a pair of low-end Gola’s. I reckon they’re in the minimal category. Little support and small heal : toe drop. They’ll do as a second shoe (Huaraches being the first).
If they’re decent enough they might warrant a review, but we’ll see.
So, no running till Thursday. Let’s hope the niggle decides to clear off by then.
November Challenge – 30 Days of Running
I know, it’s still September. But I’m pretty excited, if not a little scared about the prospect of this challenge. It’s by no means going to be easy. I’ve seen other 30 days challenges on Daily Mile and the comments definitely make it obvious that challenge is the right word.
Why, why… and why?!
The challenge came about from a conversation between @runningfairy & I a couple of months back. I think it pretty much stemmed from doing something help motivate us to run (challenging each other) and generally having fun by running every day. And, credit to Runningfairy, she’s been the driving force behind following it through (I’d wimp out otherwise).
Approach
At the moment, my running routine has me out on the road 4 days per week. I’m thinking my approach will be to stick to my normal routine but on current rest days do a 1 or 2 mile run. Mileage isn’t a target here, it’s just getting out EVERY DAY during November that’s the main aim. I’m also thinking that I should step up to 5 days a week during october just to ease my body into it.
You can join the challenge too
The challenge has been set up on DailyMile.com. It’s open, so anyone can take the challenge (plus it’s free to join!).
Click here to join the challenge.
Happy running and if you join the challenge, good luck!!
*BTW, if you do decide to take on the challenge, you do so at your own risk!!*
Transition to the Darkside – A Change of Plan
Plans are there to be changed if required.
A couple of months ago I set a mileage plan for transitioning over to barefoot / minimal running. The plan was very prudent, building up mileage slowly. However, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to how quickly my body is adapting. As such I’ve been able to increase my miles a little more than first anticipated.
Below – the original plan on the left, new plan on the right:
In the original plan I should be doing 3 miles a week barefoot. At the moment, I can run 4 miles in one outing and I’m confident I can now run 2 barefoot workouts of 4 miles each for the next 2 weeks. After that I’ll move onto 3 workouts of 4 miles each per week. (I should note I’m still running with regular shoes on my other workouts too)
I think the hardest part for me (mentally anyway) will be increasing the single run mileage, e.g. from 4 to 6 miles. It’s a silly thing to think, I know. I think the fear is that if I do that little bit too much I’ll get hurt. But, as you’re probably shouting at the computer right now, it’s completely contradictory to my confidence at the start of the post. That said, even though I feel 4 is my safe limit at the moment, in a few weeks I’ll feel a whole lot different I’m sure. Well, it doesn’t hurt to still be a little cautious, eh?!
I don’t think my weekly mileage will increase above 24 – 26 miles for a while, next year at the earliest, so it’s safe to assume from the revised plan that I could potentially be fully barefoot / minimal by mid November, early December.
Have I gone from one extreme to the other and is my plan now too drastic? I hope not. As I said, my body has adapted a lot better than I previously thought. My feet and lower leg muscles are way stronger than they were back in June. And, something which I think is pretty key, my technique has improved considerably since it was analysed back at the end of July.
So, I’m another step closer to completing the transition and running has never felt better. Let’s hope the new plan works. If not, I’ll just change it again.
Running Technique – Under the Spotlight
- [starting with] Landing
- Weight bearing
- Later weight bearing
- Intended Pose
- Pose
- Entering flight phase
- Flight phase 2
- Landing again
Getting the Miles in
Just noticed I’ve clocked up 376 miles this year so far.
My target for 2010 is 700 miles.
Hmm, maybe I underestimated things a tad. Don’t think I’ll change it though, there are still 7 months left in the year!
DailyMile updates
- Paul posted a workout May 14, 2012
- Paul posted a workout April 28, 2012
- Paul posted a workout April 6, 2012
- Paul posted a workout April 4, 2012
- Paul posted a workout March 28, 2012
