out last night, ran the hill climb again..  and just kept going. absolutely heaving by the top, but... 3.5km of pretty constant uphill plugging on. 

had to stop once for a car coming down, and the 10sec gave enough of a refresh to get back up to speed for the last bit of road section. then said right im too close to not finish this and hopped the stile and pressed on to the top.

 

 

even better was discovering last night that i actually tagged the 9th fastest time on the off road bit, and id gone a slightly longer way than the segment route.

 

reckon i could get to top 5 just by going the shorter route!

 

nice  view  from the top in the dark too, with the whole town lit up (it was about 2115hrs when i git there)

managed to get a terrible little video of the final approach

well the last few weeks have been a bit odd. 

too late at to get out for q run or the weathers been ****e.

then a week and a half of night shifts.

 

but, i did get my first proper 2 plus hrs cycle last thursday completely guilt free

 

legs were a bit jellied after that.

 

but kharma being what it is... spud sr picked up a stomach bug that caused to destroy his bed on friday evening, so that wrote off the night...

 

so, i got out last night at 9pm (still a bit of light) and set off up the hill on foot.

twas rough given it had been a good 2 weeks since i was out last. 

but, i made it to the cross, then on to the top of the hill behind it - my second phase target achievement point when i started the rough cycling last summer.

then descended a slightly longer way to stretch it out and my phone battery died before i was finished!

luckily strava recovered most of it when i turned it back on, so it wasnt all lost. 

might get lucky later on and get another hoofer done. earlier though, 9pm is too feckin late to be going on an hour plus run..

also started looking at trail running shoes last week. 

had narrowed it down to 2 pairs, so stopped into sports direct in cork on my lunch break today.

Salomon speedcross vario 2

 

and 

asics trail scout 2

 

i went with -

trail scouts. 

the salomons were lovely, snug fit, look brilliant. but....

the flap of material that the bottom lace loop is on came up over my big toe in just the wrong place and when i started walking around it was a bit sore. 

 

i dunno if anyone saw me jumping around the shop testing the heel strike cushioning..

imo a good idea they should bring into shoe shops is a treadmill so you could jump on see how they feel when moving properly. esp for sports runners..

I give the shop staff my mobile phone as surety so I can run outside the shop.

 

Probably why my family refuse to be associated with me when I shop for shoes  

 

Edited 26 April, 20224 yr by Gerrycan

Hi @mac11irl, no post from you lately, are things ok?

Hi @Gerrycan

all is okay, life is just being a bit of a dose the last couple of weeks, with spud jr waking during the night -makes getting up early for a run a non- runner (pun intended.)

and evenings. . for some reason its getting later when the 2 spuds are in beds and i mught get out, but its then getting too late - near 9pm starting a run up a big hill... its not ideal. 

 

but i have been out -

did a new route the other night that i did something odd on - i drove to a start point.

its a route i spotted while looking at the strava maps through a forest block on a mountain side up to a small lake.

irs lovely up there, so lovely i left my head phones out on the way back down and just listened to nature. being fully off road it feels more natural and calm up there. 

and a decent climb the whole way up too...

 

isolated, eerie, calm, half waiting for the lady of the water to come back and tempt into the water

(bit of irish folklore on that )

 

That is just a  beautiful run.

I was a bit worried you might have been suffering long covid.

 

When I used to travel extensively around Australia for work I really used to enjoy the route variation it offered.

Highlights were running around the extinct volcano rims of Mt. Gambier, desert regions out of Alice Springs and the parklands of the major capitals Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and especially Sydney.

9 days later... 

i got out again on the Wednesday night of that last update, went to same spot, and ran the same route to the lake. sun was shining so i ran to the ridge side of the lake and climbed the rocks for some photos. 

then the phone battery died on the way back down somehow so the strava recording got all messed up. 

 

was out monday night this week, got to the lake, but used a short cut up the woodland, so i had enough left the tank ( i thought ) to make it to the peak of the ridge line behind the lake. well, it turned out to be a lot steeper, and a lot farther than i thought from the lake.. but i made it, in the wind and clouds...

quads and calves were crying up there, but i made it home. tuesday was uncomfortable though!

 

 

 

 

 

weather was shockin wednesday, so i got out but didnt go to the lake. instead i did a lap of the woods where we bring the boys walking. and... strava annoyed me by not syarting the recording when i started running, instead a popup info thing was there when i got to the top of the first hill and was crossing the road the first time... anyway, strava said i did 6, but i really did 7km. 

 

 

extra - i just had a look at the mountain lake route, and the steep bit behind the lake hits a 39% gradient for part of it. 

 

any wonder me quads were roaring at me!

i drawed a whale last night in the forest

 

not a bad overall pace, for the length and mix of climbs and descents

 

the last km, from the right hand tip of the whales tail back up to the road gate is what strava missed on Wednesday.

 

edit:

screenshot taken out, it was the wrong one... tha ks for the like Ryan, clicking the notification drewmy attention to the error

 

 

Edited 22 May, 20224 yr by mac11irl

well, i have been running as often as i can manage, including tonight when i did the whale run again. i also ran laughtnafrankee from the sth side of the powers the pot link road a couple of weeks ago. its just uphill and back down. not fun as the geound is very boggy in spots, and the trail has a lot of big loose rock and stone on it. makes its slippier on the way up and tougher to pick out good foot fall points on the descent. probably wont do it on its own again tbh, as the reward vs effort equation is unbalanced, but i had it picked as a target and got it done. 

 

fun fact, strava now has Trail Run as an activity option 

 

spent last week on the bike 

sunday, tue, friday, up my favourite woodland mon areas. nothing blistering pace wise as its been a few weeks since i was on the bike, but they were fun evening ride outs.

 

ive also started an extra little tactic to regain muscle condition.

incidental exercises during the day.

everytime i have a minute or 2 during the day im yrying to do something quick, like -

waiting for the kettle to finish boiling or while waiting a for a phonecall to get answered - do 20 squats and 20 lunges 

or 2 sets of 15 press ups against the kitchen counter and 20 calf lifts. 

just a simple little muscle workout, but several times a day adds up to a decent number of reps without costing time out of other things 

2 weeks of trail running as much as possible...

ive been sticking to the tickincor area, nice long climbs and fire break/ deer path cuts in the trees. and trying out a few different routes.

i really dont know why, but i find it so much easier to keep pushing myself to keep a pace whole on these harsher, rougher steeper trails than when i was running on the flat around the town. its just better, even when im completely shagged at the end after 8 or 9k half of which is uphill, it feels better than the shagged i was after 10k on the flat.

 

antway, some routes and times..

tonights trot..

that local legend was after my second run up a new bit of hill.  

 

monday - same route other than one bit i did differently down into the trees, tomights was a tad longer because of it.

 

its a tough route, but i think the whale shape route is a bit tougher as theres a really dirty climb in that for the last 2km back to the start.

 

 

Edited 29 June, 20223 yr by mac11irl

so, i havnt done anything for 3 weeks now...

from Sat 2nd July to Wed 6th i was on early morning kick offs on a work project.

on Wed i had a pretty serious accident at work, and ive been on leave since. 

currently coming to the end of a course of Ibuprofen and Codipar (Codeine and Paracetamol) for the rib cage damage. waiting on an xray result at the minute from Tuesday to see if i did actually crack any of them. im confident i did. 2 days after the accident i couldnt steer my car comfortably or lift my 2 1/2yr old.

 

Got out for a walk last night, a gentle 5k that took an hour...

i really really really want to go for a trail run... or a big long dirty mountainy cycle 😞

but i need more time on that i think.

the condition loss is gonna be horrendous but equally me head is gonna start gettin irritated too...

Yes the loss of VMA is startling but you recover it very quick, I had a month out when hospitalised with Sepsis.

 

A 3 month break takes a lot longer to regain lost ground & when you get to my age it generally wont be recovered as the VMA is falling anyway.

 

I have not run for 2 years due to the confinement and i have put on 10kg in that time, my biggest challenge to restarting is the mental one, I have moved regions so it will be a new start with a new running club, due to the temperatures here in the South it wont be till September but I am doing manual work every day which feels great and can't actually spare the time at present even if it were cooler which is a good thing.

 

I hope your recovery goes well.

18 hours ago, mac11irl said:

so, i havnt done anything for 3 weeks now...

from Sat 2nd July to Wed 6th i was on early morning kick offs on a work project.

on Wed i had a pretty serious accident at work, and ive been on leave since. 

currently coming to the end of a course of Ibuprofen and Codipar (Codeine and Paracetamol) for the rib cage damage. waiting on an xray result at the minute from Tuesday to see if i did actually crack any of them. im confident i did. 2 days after the accident i couldnt steer my car comfortably or lift my 2 1/2yr old.

 

Got out for a walk last night, a gentle 5k that took an hour...

i really really really want to go for a trail run... or a big long dirty mountainy cycle 😞

but i need more time on that i think.

the condition loss is gonna be horrendous but equally me head is gonna start gettin irritated too...

Sorry to hear about your injury, unfortunately there is not much that can be done about a rib break.

I did one ice skating and as I was a very poor skater it was an easy thing to give up but I could not do anything active for a month or so. A chest ligament tear from coughing  was actually the more painful if anything, so it will be interesting to see what your x-rays reveal.

If you can do a gentle walk then that is good, just do what is comfortable and you might have to adjust your diet for your lower energy consumption.

yeah, in the grand scheme of things the injuries werent massively serious, and i know theres not much can be done about them other than time and rest. but i want to know for myself how much time thats gonna be and how bad the injury actually was.

 

ive done a chest ligament coughing myself too  ended up missing a close work colleagues stag because of it.. 

On 21/07/2022 at 09:23, mac11irl said:

... but equally me head is gonna start gettin irritated too...

 

I take this as a good sign, in that an impatient patient is one who's less focussed on the injuries and more on next steps.  And I think you've the right attitude and outlook to know what you can do, and when.  All good wishes for your ongoing recovery Mac 

 

Gaz

 

 

thanks @Gaz

i suppose its worth saying the ru ning and cycling is as much for mental condition as the physical. 

over the initial lockdowns it was mentioned to me that i get pent up and frustrated and difficult to live with as i become a ratty bollix if i dont have a physical outlet on the go.

been doing alot of work on that over the last 2 yrs, so being laid up now is gonna wreck some of that progress aswell...

but being aware of it at least i should be better able to myself managed.

i just went back and checked...

sunday 19th July 2020 i did my first 5k attempt.

 

so im 2 yrs and 3 days into this journey.. i had set myself a target for the end of this summer to make an attempt at running up Slievenamon, starting at the Church we got married in at Kilcash. it would be roughly 550m meters of uphill trail, so tough, and more than my average gain since starting the hill/trail running a few months ago, but if its not tough it doesnt work for me. i need there to be a target to build to, and a challenge at the end or ill get bored and give up trying to improve without noticing it. and now im realistically a good 6 weeks behind on that challenge. so when i do get back its gonna be mentally tough for me knowing that im behind where i want to be. 

 

but im alive and have everything attached to let me keep pursuing the goal so i have to keep that going too...

I can relate to what you said regarding exercise and mental health. It certainly helped me through a really protracted phase where I was unemployed and the difficulty I experienced of getting any employment was a real shock.

 

Life happens and there are setbacks, but you have a good conditioning base that is going to help you to heal faster and I expect you to come out the other side with a reasonable level of fitness. You will be able to increase the levels of exercise as you heal. Do not underestimate the benefits of a good walk, physically and psychologically.

 

To quote my wife's physio when she had debilitating  and painful lower back issues from a sudden disk prolapse a couple of months ago. "You're in good health and physical condition and I'm optimistic we can resolve your issues without major interventions. Of course if you were carrying a 20 kg stomach then this would be an entirely different conversation".

He was right by the way and she improved rapidly  

14 minutes ago, Gerrycan said:

I can relate to what you said regarding exercise and mental health....

 

Yup, me too GC  

 

My happy place is out on a bike down quiet country lanes.  I had an off in July 2017, and was quite cranky after a while of not being able to get out for a ride, so I think most of us can empathise.

 

Gaz

 

so i got out for my first post incident run last Wednesday, it was as described- horrible 

 

but all things considered not bad i suppose.

 

got out again Monday night, accidentally did a 10k by reversing the route and tagging on the high ground loop.. "last" 4.5k were downhill but in darkness.. thank god id stuck a torch in my pocket.. it was hard, but didnt feel as nasty as the previous one.

 

no long evenings left though... sample of the view below, though i promise i could see more than the video would have you thinking, its a great demo of how crap the light sensor on phone camera actually is..

How about that @mac11irl you got back into running before I did. 

Saw your comparisons between the family walk and run in "Chuckles" and had a laugh myself but at the least the walk does give you time to 'smell the roses' along the way.

 

Believe me the years fly by when all of a sudden you are the one that cannot keep up with your kids on a run. Which is how it should be of course.

 

Coming over to the UK in a few days time and have a couple of pairs of running things packed for resumption of running.

well, this hasnt been updated for a while....

i kept running, as often as i could, up to November. 

then a horrible week or 2 of work very far away etc followed by a few weeks of manky weather and spuds being unwell, and holiday planning and prep and then catching up on the work outside of the project id been on meant ive not done a tap since the end of October.

 

 

going circuit training at 10am today though! first sesh since 2019... ill either puke or die.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

maybe both!