Getting back after 4.5 months off After 4.5 months, I’m finally able to get back to running and cycling. I’ve missed them both! I won’t go into the whole “non-injury foot issue” now, you can check my older posts for that. All I will say is I’m 100% better.
Of course with that large a break in my training I’ll have to build it back up slowly. This is my third (fourth?) week back and I’m hoping to run four times this week, which is a step up. Previously I had been doing a run and when my legs felt like they had recovered I’d go for another run. So it started with 2 runs a week and then 3 and now 4. Last Wednesday I did a 10k easy run, the furthest since November, and I’m hoping to do the same on Saturday.
One thing I hadn’t done for a while was to set running/racing goals for the year. So I’ve decided that I won’t be running any marathons this year, but I do have two half marathons already booked (the Gold Coast HM and the Dublin Rock n Roll HM). After that I am really looking forward to the Killarney Adventure Race in October. I did it with two friends as a team last year and we’ll either do it as a team again or I’ll do it solo.
On all of my runs so far, I’ve been mainly concerned about form and building up my aerobic base. The speed work started last night and I can still feel it in my legs today!
I definitely feel that keeping up the stretching, strength and mobility work while off running has really helped and I’m pleasantly surprised that I was able to run a 10k so soon and not have any ill effects.
Other than that I’ve been putting a lot of work into my nutrition and have been low carb now for over 100 days. In theory, if my body is adapted to use fat as a fuel source instead of carbs, then I won’t "crash" or "hit the wall" after I run out of glycogen. I’ll be testing it on longer runs and cycles and will post the results. So far all is good, but as far as training goes, it’s still early days!
This year’s races I’m planning so far (but may or may not do…I’m weird like that):
Dunshaughlin 10k – June
Gold Coast HM (start of July)
Frank Duffy 16k – possibly, not definite
Rock n Roll Dublin HM – August BH
Ratoath 5k – September
Killarney AR – October
I’m not expecting any PBs for the next few months at least, possibly for the rest of the season, but it won’t stop me from aiming for them.
Keep running,
Eoin
Of course with that large a break in my training I’ll have to build it back up slowly. This is my third (fourth?) week back and I’m hoping to run four times this week, which is a step up. Previously I had been doing a run and when my legs felt like they had recovered I’d go for another run. So it started with 2 runs a week and then 3 and now 4. Last Wednesday I did a 10k easy run, the furthest since November, and I’m hoping to do the same on Saturday.
One thing I hadn’t done for a while was to set running/racing goals for the year. So I’ve decided that I won’t be running any marathons this year, but I do have two half marathons already booked (the Gold Coast HM and the Dublin Rock n Roll HM). After that I am really looking forward to the Killarney Adventure Race in October. I did it with two friends as a team last year and we’ll either do it as a team again or I’ll do it solo.
On all of my runs so far, I’ve been mainly concerned about form and building up my aerobic base. The speed work started last night and I can still feel it in my legs today!
I definitely feel that keeping up the stretching, strength and mobility work while off running has really helped and I’m pleasantly surprised that I was able to run a 10k so soon and not have any ill effects.
Other than that I’ve been putting a lot of work into my nutrition and have been low carb now for over 100 days. In theory, if my body is adapted to use fat as a fuel source instead of carbs, then I won’t "crash" or "hit the wall" after I run out of glycogen. I’ll be testing it on longer runs and cycles and will post the results. So far all is good, but as far as training goes, it’s still early days!
This year’s races I’m planning so far (but may or may not do…I’m weird like that):
Dunshaughlin 10k – June
Gold Coast HM (start of July)
Frank Duffy 16k – possibly, not definite
Rock n Roll Dublin HM – August BH
Ratoath 5k – September
Killarney AR – October
I’m not expecting any PBs for the next few months at least, possibly for the rest of the season, but it won’t stop me from aiming for them.
Keep running,
Eoin
