November 4th – November 10th
Mon: 35 min.
Complete. 7.73km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12821784514
Tue: off.
Gym + elliptical
Wed: 5 min easy, 20 min steady, 5 min easy.
Complete. 3:50 average. 9.23km total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12836508865
Thur: 40 min.
Complete on Friday. 8.83km.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12853212116
Fri: off
Sat: 10 min easy, 25 min steady, 10 min easy.
Complete at the track. Steady average 3:47. Hard at the end. 11.80km total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12858042052
Sun: 70 min easy.
Rawdogged. Ran 80 mins with Barry – cut down every 20 mins from 4:52 – 3:58. 18.19km total.
https://www.strava.com/activities/12865779874
Starting to train again after a marathon reminds me of when lockdowns were being lifted and there were tentative “return to office” protocols put in place. For me, that meant having to attend the office whenever you felt comfortable and then, after a time, for a set number of days per week. In terms of my training, I am basically doing one half day in the office per week.
It’s two weeks post Dublin Marathon and the body is coming around but there is still a way to go. I maxed out at 55.8km this week, which feels like I basically haven’t run at all, such is the effect of a consistent summer of training and an autumn marathon block has on the brain. I was in the gym twice using the elliptical and also doing some calf, glutes and quad exercises; thankfully no issues with any of those muscles. I feel confident saying that I have come off of Dublin Marathon without any injuries. The two weeks of very reduced running has also settled the pain I was having in my big toe, diagnosed by the lovely folk in the Laya Healthcare Centre in Cherrywood as arthritis. It will be interesting to see if it flares up once training steps back up again in the new year.
The final medical update is that I am visiting a podiatrist on Friday to give my feet a good seeing to. I’ve a couple of gnarly callouses that I’ve been nursing for the last few months and finally getting them seen to. I’ll be happy to see the back of them and the regular pumice stone sessions watching the news.
The sessions this week were simple. 20 minutes steady running on Wednesday around Stephen’s Green and 25 minutes steady running on Saturday at the track. Both days were harder than I would like but I am still getting over the latent fatigue of the marathon effort. Particularly Saturday, when the last 2.5 laps of the track were a little bit torturous. The effort was in the breathing but thankfully the legs were fine. There is a lovely group of sprinters who use the track on Saturday mornings and are always very accommodating when I use it for a session, even though it is technically their slot to use. The good vibes make the work that much easier.
The last run of the week was 80 minutes on Sunday with Barry, split into 4 x 20 minute progressions, working down to 4 minute pace. Again, the legs felt fine but the heart rate was pretty high by the end and I was thresholding pretty good. Seán had scheduled 70 minutes easy for Sunday but by the time I had seen the updated training plan, I had already agreed to meet Barry and was pretty happy with the 80 minute run. We had planned a pretty favourable route to reduce any climbs but found ourselves moving things around due to a race in the Phoenix Park and an ill timed train at Ashtown Station, meaning my heart rate spiked to 174 climbing a stupid bridge. Thankfully I survived.
Next week is another step in returning to more normal training with some quicker stuff included, ahead of the Jingle Bells 5K on December 7th. If things align correctly, I’ll also jump into a couple of indoor track races but that will be slightly dependant on some long over due socialising from the marathon block. Anything less than 10 pints of Guinness and a 12am Supermacs, though, and I’ll be fine.
Buckets of Rain 