“Struggling and suffering are the essence of a life worth living. If you’re not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you’re not demanding more from yourself – expanding and learning as you go – you’re choosing a numb existence. You’re denying yourself an extraordinary trip.”
286 days till the #VMLM2016 😜
Its been a while since I last blogged, well 7 weeks. The last time was 27th April 2015 and I was digressing on running the 2015 Virgin Money London Marathon the previous day and how I had decided to give marathon running and in particular Sub 3hr one more attempt. Things were looking positive and I said how I was aiming to get up to and faster than 2014 standards and times. Concentrating on 5k & 10k shooting for quick times. Well I still am, it’s just not going as well as I thought it might. I’ve tried hard to get back to fitness increasing my training pace, tried losing weight using myfitnesspal and started racing again.
I actually did seem to be beginning to get somewhere with a 18:28 Hillsborough parkrun but poor runs at Owston Ferry 10k which was hampered by a pee stop, a dam flask leg 1min slower than last year but partly due to the heat wave we experienced, a hilly & windy Stocksbridge chase 10k affected by a knee problem in a similar time to the same race 4yrs ago and todays Abysmal time at We love Manchester 10k hampered by a knee problem. But more on these in a bit.
There always seems to be an excuse I have been able to quote as why I haven’t run the desired times.
For example:
Owston Ferry – windy, hot and the pee stop resulted in 38:44 (coarse PB 37:13 2013) but i wasn’t alone in a supposed under performance that day. didn’t put effort in over last 2miles
Dam Flask relay – made mistake by cycling the shorter way there with two monster climbs, bloody boiling hot and no air. nothing left in legs and i couldn’t push in the final mile. 21.45 (PB 20.54 2014)
2 days after Dam Flask i did a track session and must have tweaked something in my left knee.
last Wednesday was the Stocksbridge Chase was hilly, windy but the knee played up on the 2nd big lap. this time despite that i feel i ran ok. 42.43 (42.44 2011)
Saturday I paced the sub 20min hillsborough parkrun train. 19.45. nothing too strenuous but was this too much. ive done similar before and its helped the race the day after.
Todays We love Manchester started ok with a 5:39 1st mile (too fast? shouldnt be) but a few miles in the knee tightened followed by the hamstring. I couldnt have put any more in but I struggled as the pace dropped. a shockingly abysmal 39.11
like I said excuses, excuses but i don’t buy into this. the truth is I havent put the work in this year. By far not enough Tempo runs, not enough speed endurance sessions and not enough long runs. you get back, what you put in. Ive slipped back into eating far too much carbohydrates when i’ve proved my body likes to burn fat for fuel. ive possibly been my worst enemy since last october time. my runbritain handicap has risen and things need to change. just not right away
i’ve also seen Clubmates improve while ive stagnated and one determined individual improve miraculously to the point hes running at the moment times I would love to run. this has hit my confidence more than anything resulting in a pretty bad attack of Depression.
so, ive decided to adapt Dave Oldfields marathon plan he designed for Blackpool 2014 but for shorter distances. starting a week tomorrow i will be including 3 quality speed based runs, more 10mile runs and long runs between 10-15miles. working on a 3week hard, 1 week easy, 5week hard, 1week easy cycle till the marathon starts again in January 2016. Races will be off the menu unless i feel i can do myself justice till the Autumn. i will also be going back to a mainly Fat & protein based way of eating to try to get back to spring 2014 weight levels
i realise this has been a negative post and i apologise but its the way i feel about my running at the present moment.
Anyway, Bye For Now
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
― Winston Churchill
“You never know what’s around the corner. It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.” – Tom Hiddleston
Runningowl's trials & tribulations of life & running 