You got to dig a little deeper

[avondale]

That's what the period means? The post has been removed? I was wondering what was going on, as well...

 

[col1]

Hi, @LSUlakes @Herding_Cats @avondale thanks for asking after me.

I am ok. I was reading back through my 5 years of entries and it became apparent in 5 years of the Training Log it was testament to me having achieved not very much of anything I had set out to do running wise over the years with familiar patterns of big plans derailed by little follow through.

I have struggled a bit over the past year or so with the loss of my career and what that has done in regards to low mood and reading back through that led me to decide to delete it.

I am still reading the boards and commenting here and there and I very much appreciate you checking in with me it means a lot

 

[GollyGadget]

I'm sorry that you are feeling this way. A lot of the reason that I document my training is to share that progress isn't always linear and things happen. You are not alone. Ultimately I run because I enjoy it. Not because I expect to see big performance gains.

Keep doing whatever it is that brings you joy.

 

[The Expert]

SO true @GollyGadget I keep this little meme handy to remind myself of that.

 

[col1]

I'm sorry that you are feeling this way. A lot of the reason that I document my training is to share that progress isn't always linear and things happen. You are not alone. Ultimately I run because I enjoy it. Not because I expect to see big performance gains.

Keep doing whatever it is that brings you joy.

Thank you I think at the moment I don’t know what brings me joy, I have a void at the moment I need to fill, not necessarily another job but I have no clue.

I have always been task oriented and checking items of makes me less hard on myself and running makes me feel good when I get it done.

I thought when I got this extra time I could really focus on it and maximise the potential I never could before due to work, kids etc.

The other day I just kind of chose a bad day to read back through it when not in good mindset. I am okay and I just need to find my new thing, passions or purpose…..

Thanks for taking the time to respond it’s much appreciated

 

[col1]

SO true @GollyGadget I keep this little meme handy to remind myself of that.

View attachment 995430

@The Expert thank you I am definitely in squiggly line phase at the moment hoping for some straight line soon

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I understand how you're feeling. I haven't ran much at all in the past two years due to a combination of work, stress, and knee pain. My daughter is running cross country this year and while I'm being supportive of her, it's also a little discouraging to know how much progress/fitness I've lost. Cheers from somewhere in that squiggly line.

 

[col1]

I understand how you're feeling. I haven't ran much at all in the past two years due to a combination of work, stress, and knee pain. My daughter is running cross country this year and while I'm being supportive of her, it's also a little discouraging to know how much progress/fitness I've lost. Cheers from somewhere in that squiggly line.

Thanks, hopefully we will get off the squiggly line and onto the straight soon

 

[col1]

A little bit running related. Decided to create a little bit of fan art. Looking forward to running round the decks in 20 days.

 

[avondale]

A little bit running related. Decided to create a little bit of fan art. Looking forward to running round the decks in 20 days.

Would love to see that GPS track! LOL

 

[col1]

Bit of an update from me. I saw a clip on the internet of Tom Hanks saying words to the effect of , this too shall pass, time is your ally and if nothing else just wait it out.

And over the past couple of months things have turned a corner. In running and in life in general.

In running I signed up for a 10k 10 weeks ago and started a 10k Garmin plan. I selected a plan with a time goal of Sub 1hr, however I recognised then as I do now I won’t get close to that but I wanted the plan to be challenging to where I was at that point. Over the course of the 10 weeks I completed 36 of the scheduled 45 runs. The missed runs were due to 6 days where I was unwell and missing 3 whilst on vacation so an 80% completion rate. I was happy with that as I really wanted to stick to the plan and see it through and I feel I have mostly done that.

I have really liked the Garmin Coach plan as it has a lot of different workouts and every week has a couple of different sessions and the beauty of it is the watch has it all set up and I just look every time it beeps and do what it tells me at that pace for that distance and it even beeps to keep me in that range.

Also for whatever reason I have felt more compelled to complete the plan than I ever did when I used to follow a written one

That plan led me to complete my first 100 mile month in 14 years and my Vo2 max has increased by 2 points (one more to go until I am out of fair and back into good) and fitness age from 54 to 48. (I’m 55 )

The race predictor on Garmin currently shows 1.00.29 for a 10k however it also shows 27.29 for 5k, see picture below to see how accurate that is

I did a 10k run last week at more or less full effort albeit on tired legs and was 1.05 dead on, so I’ll aim for just below that if I can get 1.04.xx I would be happy with that.

The main goal is to complete the race and earn my medal, which I failed to do back in April.

Last week it was Pacer week at my local park run and they had a confirmed 30 minute pacer, I decided to attend and see if I could get below 30 for the first time since early 2023.


It was challenging as when I lined up I was about 10 feet behind the pacer but lots of people filled the gap so when we took of that gap widened and the first half a mile is very narrow and it was a bit muddy so a lot of people jumping around to try and avoid it.

Also annoyingly a runner with a dog was allowing the dog to dodge from one side to the other making getting past difficult.

I sped up a few times to get past but they kept passing me back so I had to put
In a big effort to eventually get clear.

I concentrated then on catching up to the pacer which I did around 2 mile mark. I hung on for dear life and at around 0.4 kilometres to go with some encouragement from the pacer I went for it.

Just on the approach to the finish a young runner about 8 or 9 years old who had been run walking with their Dad was on my shoulder desperately trying to pass me so slowed down bit to let them go with a few words of encouragement. I felt really happy

In non running related news the extended family issues that were causing me stress have improved greatly so that is great

And also rather scarily I am as of tomorrow returning to the workforce !!!

Having been out of things since July 2024 when I was served my notice I was approached by an agency for a 6 month contract. It is back in my industry but a different company. It is on site only 5 days a week but to be honest we had nothing major planned over the winter months and I feel this would allow me to kind of finish my working life on my terms and on a positive note.

Challenges are there are a lot of issues to fix and a a 2hr 40 min commute each way !! The commute is a pain but I’m only doing it as it’s for a short defined period of time. I may stay over in a hotel once or twice a week. I have to say I am feeling somewhat nervous

The money will be used toward Vacations in the coming years, and a potential trip to WDW marathon Weekend in 2027 or 2028

What I need to figure out is what running will look like over that 6 month period. There is a half marathon I was keen to do locally on the 1st of March and I had planned to just start a Half plan on Garmin once the 10k was done however it may be a challenge to fit it all in, I would drop down to a 4 day a week plan I think and just do the best I can. I have not yet seen the new workplace to see if I have any options there ?

Any away sorry for the huge ramble and if you made it this far thanks for reading