Attempt to make myself less prone to brokeness

Martynt74

Martynt74

Martynt74

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Joined
20 Feb 2004
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22,449
Location
Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Having been running for a few years, i've spent most of this year beset by niggly annoying injuries, mainly around my lower back, knees and ankles. Also aware that everyone tells me that once you pass 35 everything starts going wrong and recovery takes longer and i made it past that on Sunday.

I feel like i'm getting past the worst of them now and trying to increase my weekly volume and get my running to where i was towards the end of last year.

When i first started running, it coincided with going to the gym fairly often and i had very few injuries in that time. My plan therefore is to build strength throughout my body to have a better base for running and hopefully mean i'm less weak.

I started seeing a PT in January for a single session a week and that was good, i enjoyed it, however i often came out of it having stiff legs which ruined my running for a few days after. When gyms re-opened i told myself i would join the local gym with the aim to go twice a week but try and reduce the workload rather than push myself to exhaustion.

With help in another thread i settled on the following routine

Workout A
Bench Press Barbell - 4x8
Lat Pulldown - 4x12
Squats - 3x6 - (Switched to Goblet squats due to easier use as don't need to find an available rack and not intending to go too heavy)
Leg Curls - 4x10
Shoulder Press - 3x8 (Switched to Arnold Press as my app didn't have regular shoulder press)

Workout B
Incline Bench Press - 4x8
Seated Row - 4x15
Leg Press - 4x15
Romanian Deadlift - 4x10
Lateral Raise - 4x10


I'm also aiming to throw in some non running based cardio to work on fitness but with less stress. I did 15 minutes on the Wattbike last week but yesterday i went with the rower instead. I feel like it's where i'll likely go as it's a better workout.

Onto workouts

07/05/21 - Workout A
Bench Press Barbell - 4x8 35/40/40/40
Lat Pulldown - 4x12 25/30/35/35
Goblet Squat - 3x6 32/32/32/32
Leg Curls - 4x10 40/40/40/40
Arnold Press - 3x8 12/12/12/12

15 minutes on the Wattbike 89rpm/113W avg

10/05/21- Workout B
Incline Bench Press - 4x8 18/18/18/18
Seated Row - 4x15 25/25/25/25
Leg Press - 4x15 70/80/90/100
Romanian Deadlift - 4x10 40/40/50/50
Lateral Raise - 4x10 8/8/8/8

Concept 2 Rower - 1500m in 6 minutes

I'd like to build the rower up to 5000m, so will likely aim for slower and longer on future sessions.

Hoping that by creating this i'm more accountable!
 
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Defy Belief said:
Depending on how much you love running, i'd consider an alternative like riding out on a bike (If you like a wattbike whats not to like about riding outside :) ) to replace running. Swimming could be an option too?

It's a very high impact sport and if you've had injuries/niggles they probably have a high probability of coming back, i'd get some specialist footwear etc which may help if you really do enjoy it.
Click to expand...

I have considered a normal bike, but it just never quite feels the same for me whenever i've been out before. I think my plan would be to keep running until i fully destroy myself and then look at other options! I sprained my ankle around 8 years ago and tore some ligaments. It was odd as when i first started running, even at ~120kg after a few weeks any ankle pain went away as my ankles/calves got stronger. Even when i've been up in the fells and gone over on my ankle last summer it was strong enough for me to just carry on and keep going. Not really sure what's caused it this time around.

I have recently moved back to some more stability based trainers to see if it helps as i'd gradually been moving to more neutral trainers.
 
Just to update this as i've completely given up (yet). Just not been updating the thread.

13/05/21

Back to Workout A
Bench Press Barbell - 4x8 40/45/45/45
Lat Pulldown - 4x12 35/35/35/35
Goblet Squat - 3x6 30/30/35
Leg Curls - 4x10 40/40/40/40
Arnold Press - 3x8 12/12/12

Upped the weight a little on the bench press and the lat pulldown. Which felt better.

Whilst there a PT came over and gave me a few pointers on the lat pulldown. He suggested it was best to stop at chin level rather than coming down to the chest. He also advised i do each rep slower and hold at the bottom to increase time under load.

We then had a chat about what other things i was doing and my goals. Turns out he's a triathlete coach and offered me a taster session to give me some other exercises to include to specifically benefit running. I made it clear i wouldn't be wanting to carry on and pay for anything but he was happy with that and said he didn't mind helping when he had a spare hour.

17/05/21

This was the session with the PT, we mainly focussed on the Wattbike as a warm up and he gave me pointers to make sure it was set up properly for me. Then showed me some exercises for running. Mainly bodyweight or with an 8kg kettlebell. Stuff like lunges driving into a high knee and some core based stuff.

At the end i thanked him and decided i would continue with the routine above, but look to add some of those in on top. Especially since i can do them at home. Also acknowledged i didn't have anything specifically targeting the core (although i know other exercises still work it)


20/05/21
Workout B
Incline Bench Press - 4x8 18/18/18/18
Seated Row - 4x15 25/30/35/35 (Used the row based resistance machine for this as the cable machine was taken. I made sure to remove the chest plate though to ensure i worked the core/back rather than just performing the rowing motion)
Leg Press - 4x15 70/80/90/100
Romanian Deadlift - 4x10 40/40/50/40
Lateral Raise - 4x10 8/8/8/8
Russian Twist - 4x10 8kg medicine ball


I felt quite a bit weaker this session for some reason. I dropped some weight from the deadlift on the last set. I'd also considered swapping to a single leg deadlift, but my balance was fully shot and so i went back to the Russian deadlift. I also added a Russian twist at the end. Not sure whether to load in another core workout or just add one to the end of workout A.
 
Well as the large gap between this post and the previous post suggests. I have done sweet FA for just over a month.

I had my Covid jab around the 25th May and it messed my arm up for around a week and then i just completely got out of the routine. I then focused a little more on running than the gym as had a marathon in the Lake District on Sunday so needed to try and prepare for that as best i could (albeit with a 10 day gap in anything due to a stag do and the associated recovery from it :p)

Given i've also tipped the wrong side of 100kg again recently, i need to really sort myself out. I've posted this sentence a lot recently and never really manage to last, i'm not sure what's up with me mentally on that side. However to add to some shame i'm going to add some pics in here. As can be seen, i generally store fat around the love handles and moob areas. This generally makes me fairly self conscious as my belly isn't too bad. I'd probably prefer a bigger belly and flatter chest but sadly nature doesn't work that way!

As i've mentioned previously, i've been around 94kg in the past but with more muscle and generally that look was much better, i've never been skinny or athletic and have no intention of having a 6 pack or anything, but at least back then i was less wobbly.
I'm heading to Spain in 2 months so my goal is to try and look less like a beached whale at that point!


Also i don't know why, but recently whenever i take a picture, one eye always looks about an inch higher than the other, it doesn't look like that in reality!





Also just tagging @randomshenans so i can get payback to giving him an early morning fright.
 
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Got to the gym for the first time in around 6 weeks today. Only took it fairly easily as i felt quite weak. Not helped by not having eaten up until that point (~12:30)

Did the Workout A above, but swapped the Arnold Press for some leg extensions to work the quads.

Bench Press Barbell - 4x8 35/40/35/35 (Dropped back down as felt a twinge in my left elbow)
Lat Pulldown - 4x12 35/35/35/35
Goblet Squat - 3x6 30/30/30
Leg Curls - 4x10 40/40/40/40
Leg Extension - 4x10 30/30/30


Downside is that losing my health insurance with Vitality due to a job change means the gym discount goes and i can't justify £55 for it so that'll be going.

I have just started a training plan to build up to a 50 mile run which incorporates some strength work so might just see how that goes. Alternatively there's a steel gym near my house which allows you to pay per session, although is missing some equipment i'd like (lat pulldown/leg extension/cables etc)
 
MrRockliffe said:
If you struggle with pain in your knees, avoid leg extensions - they can be horrendous.

An alternative could be using an exercise band between your leg and a pole/frame, such that your leg is under tension when upright, then do a split squat.

It’ll achieve similar tension in your quad while being better for your knees.



Also, for goblet squat, if your flexibility isn’t great, elevate your heels to give you a better range of movement and improve your time under tension.
Click to expand...

Cheers. It was the first time trying them today for a long time. Will avoid them in future in that case.


I feel my form is actually fairly reasonable for a goblet squat. I know in a normal squat i tend to come forward on my forefoot a little more, however i noticed today i seemed to be driving with my heels more which i was happy about.
 
I try and stick to lowish weights to ensure decent form so i think i'm ok there. I've never been someone who racks up loads of weight and then twists their whole body trying to do the rep!

Note to self, don't leave it so long between gym sessions. Even though i only did lowish weights, my legs and chest feel shot today. Not helped by the fact my 50 mile training plan has me doing hill reps at dinner time :(
 
As an update and i'm sure everyones been eagerly waiting! As i mentioned earlier in the thread, i've said certain things before (see May post), and then failed. Well this is another repeat of that post where i decide to sort things out.

I've posted in a few threads that i sprained my ankle fairly badly at the beginning of September. The road to recovery is taking some time, but yesterday i managed my first 5k run (albeit slowly) and so the plan is to keep things easy and max an hour for running.

Since i started the thread i also bought a bike in August, i've been enjoying that for a bit of variety. Again not really having any goals to do super long rides, but i've been enjoying doing a 10-15 mile ride twice a week and by trying to dig in on hills etc i'm hoping it helps build my quads and provide some balance for running. It's also been good to be able to do some cardio whilst i can't run much.

I'm going to sign up for the 50 mile version of this event https://www.mychip.es/en/evento/perimetral-a-benissa-21 which is in March. I'm hoping that once i've paid for that on Monday my motivation will be focused because it's known to be a bloody hard run with a lot of ascent and technical routes. Ironically it was on a run on holiday in the similar area that i sprained my ankle so this feels like some kind of payback!

From now then my goals are

- Obviously build up to a 50 mile run. I'm hindered slightly by my ankle, so need to be sensible and not overdo anything but with some focus and structure i'm confident i can do this. Main difficulty will be the heat/terrain of the race.
- Lose weight. I'm currently ~99kg, if i could get down to 85kg i'd be really happy as it would benefit me a lot on hills. Need to consider how i would look though with losing 15kg, it's a lot to lose and i don't want to look too skinny/lanky.
- Get in the gym again. I'm going to join the steel style gym round the corner and just ignore any initial self consciousness. It's a 2 minute walk and the guy will offer a key for 24/7 access which suits me. My wifes been going to bed earlier than usual recently so i find i'm bored at 9pm and this is an ideal time to go.


The owner of the local gym does a lot of PT/Rehab work. I'm going to give him a shout to devise a plan and do my best to stick to it. In the meantime i'm generally just doing single legged balance stuff to build strength up. There is still quite a bit of swelling in the ankle which sometimes makes it feel stiff, i'm working on the assumption though that as long as it doesn't hurt i'm fine. Funnily enough the only thing i've found which causes me pain in it is doing that twisting motion when trying to put a pair of trainers on when you're too lazy to unlace them!
 
Run booked. 12th March which follows a fairly brutal elevation profile on some fairly difficult trails.

Spoke to the guy at the local gym and going to head in tomorrow for a better chat. He's happy giving me some advice without any charge which is good of him. Based on the terrain of the above run having additional strength in my calves/shins etc will be crucial to avoid too many ankle injuries.

Also debating whether to try and get some poles to practice with to see if it's something i would benefit from.
 
Recovering from this ankle is going well. It was 2 months ago yesterday that it happened and whilst i still have some swelling/discomfort, it's largely ok. Running has mostly been ok, however i was at a gig on Monday night and standing still for ~3hrs really caused some pain. I guess it's just a lot of weight with no movement to stretch it out. I did shuffle a bit but the last hour was fairly uncomfortable. Seemed fine once i got out though and walked back to the car.

Last week was a small milestone in that it was the first time i hit 20 miles in a week for quite some time which was positive. I had hoped to do a 10k at the weekend too but messed up my distances and only realised i was short when i looked at my watch after i'd stopped at 5.6miles. No big deal though.

I've also signed up with a remote running coach. Not sure how beneficial it'll be in reality, but the thought of someone holding me to account for various sessions feels like it'd be good. Also having him assign me specific difficult sessions will mean i'm forced to push myself and do things i'm usually pretty rubbish at motivating myself to do.

Today was some hill repeats. Not the biggest of hills, but it starts around 9% and then moves to around a 6%

It's a 4 week plan initially as i should have an idea as to how beneficial i find it, he does also do longer plans with less interaction for slightly cheaper so i might switch to that to try and have the most efficient build up to the race in March.

It uses a platform called Xhale which seems pretty good for planning training. I might try and continue using that long term as some of the info/graphs are a little better than Strava.
 
Also update on weight, i'm now 98.8kg (as of this morning)

This hasn't been dropping as i'd hoped. I've had certain days where i've been a fair bit over my MFP calorie goal, but it's only set to 1500 calories, so i had hoped that weight would've still been dropping even if i was over on a few days as i've mostly stuck to it.
Now that running has resumed properly, i'm hoping to make a proper dent into this. 5 runs a week should see it drop a decent amount as long as i can be good with junk food. This (and booze) seems to be where i'm likely to struggle, in the next few weeks due to Christmas get togethers etc.
 
New scales means it reported 101kg this morning vs the old scales saying 98.9kg, so not worrying too much on the increase.

Made it out for 2 trail runs over the weekend. My first time off road for months and the weather couldn't have been much better. Being up on the top of the moors with a clear blue sky with the sun shining on Saturday was absolutely superb. Ankle feels a little tender this morning. The running plan calls for a rest day today so no running. Not sure whether to go to the gym for some upper body stuff or maybe get on the bike later tonight.

One thing that i'm struggling with is trying to stick with an 80/20 methodology. Not sure if it's purely lost fitness, but i simply can't run in Zone 2, even zone 3 is hard to stay in when i'm out for an hour. My resting HR is around 45 which is fairly low by all accounts, however even the slowest of slow paces sends it up to 155-160 and that's currently around 11 minute miles.

My HR seems to sit in the following zones

Resting ~45
Stood up/pottering around the house ~80-90
Walking ~110
Running Starts around 140 and then creeps up to 160 whilst maintaining easy conversational pace. Spikes up to 170 when i go up any kind of incline, but then my all out sprinting HR tops out around 185. So i seem to have a really narrow window between easy level and the top.

I've been running around 5 years now, so even accounting for some lost fitness i would expect a much better base level of CV fitness, but this pattern has been largely true all the way through my running life. I don't really know what i could do to improve it. To stay in zone 2, i'd be stopped every minute or so to walk and recover.
 
Well i went to the gym for what is probably the first time in 3 months and despite not doing much, i can feel achiness in my arms.

I now just need to get my head around the equipment a bit better, because it's all pretty old school, it's less obvious (to me) what each thing is for or how i even load weights onto it, so i stuck with just using free weight, which in itself is fine i imagine, but for some things i think other methods are better.

Also got to try a forearm builder thing where a weight is attached by rope to a round bar, i enjoyed that immensely as it's something i've looked into making for a while at home.
 
Well this was a fairly brutal week of activity. Today is a well deserved rest day i think.

Tuesday - 1hr easy run
Wednesday - 1hr easy run on hilly terrain
Thursday - 20 mins of hill reps, with easy recovery and a race pace up the hills. Then drove down to Surrey later that night
Friday - 32mile bike ride around Surrey including a few big (for me) hills
Saturday - Drove home from Surrey then did a 30 min easy run, finished with some sprints
Sunday - Headed to Pendle hill to get some decent ascent in and practice "fast hiking". Mainly aimed for a fast walk (4mph) across some rocky/boggy terrain and then in the last few miles i switched to an easy run. Ended up with 2200ft of ascent over 9.5 miles. First time using poles, and they really do help on hills. I saw some people quite a way up the hill as i started the 800ft climb, and tried to catch them up, which i succeeded with a decent amount of the climb left. Overall a good session as it was 2.5hrs up on my feet on difficult terrain.

Went over on my ankle twice yesterday which caused fairly short sharp pains but was fine to carry on. Last night it felt a little achey. It's a weird one as it never gets any worse to the point i don't feel i can do anything, but then it also doesn't seem to be getting any better past that!


Overall feel like it's been a good week. Got around 9 hours of exercise in, with a good mix of short/long, easy/tough sessions.

What's annoying is i now need new pairs of trainers for both trail and road. My road shoes have held up brilliantly at 350 miles and still feeling good (i usually feel i need new ones at 250 as the cushioning goes due to my weight), however i'm conscious they might not last much longer. I have some Asics in a cupboard i didn't quite gel with. Might try them again for a few runs.

I hadn't realised but my Trail shoes (Saucony Peregrine 10's) have covered 300 miles. I thought it was much less than that, but they're got a few holes in and i suppose whilst i don't wear them often, they've got me round a few >20 runs which add up quickly.

Hoping for some decent black Friday deals!
 
Legs still feeling a bit heavy from the weekend, but today was an "easy" hilly 45 minute run. Always tricky finding a decent route that qualifies has hilly without it just being a case of a big hill that you run up and then back down again. Especially on shorter runs like today. Only got 400ft of ascent over the run so not sure it really counts but it's better than driving miles!

Swapped trainers to some Asics Novablast that i'd bought at the start of the year and then stopped using. Will see if i'm more suited to them this time around as i had some weird rubbing last time i think.

I'm also slowly getting to grips with training at low effort levels. It's caused me to run unbelievably slowly at ~10:30 pace, but i'm hopeful that improvements will kick in eventually. Today caused my VO2 max to increase from 45 to 46. Still lower than my peak at 51, but at least it's moving up. I'm not overly convinced it's accurate as it's just the garmin reading, but it's a gauge at least.
 
Yesterday was some hill reps. 20 minute warm up and then 8x1 minute 10k pace up a hill with a walkdown recovery. Legs still felt heavy from previous days, but by the end of the session i actually felt pretty good.

Wednesday night i did some bodyweight squats and lunges. For some reason lunges seem to always give me issues, i've asked physios in the past and they all don't see an issue in form so unsure of the reason!

Today was the first day in the gym. I went back on the above thoughts and re-joined Nuffield Health, it's a 5 minute drive vs the 5 minute walk to the local gym, but for an extra £10 a month i get the option of a pool and the sauna/steam room etc. It's also open from 6 in the morning vs 8 at the local place and closes at 10pm vs 8pm at the local place, so gives me more chance to go as i'd like to go around 8pm some nights and smash the wattbike, then relax in the sauna for a bit. I also have the option of showers!

Due to the above knee issue, i played it safe and used the leg press rather than barbell for squats. This isn't something i intend to do long term.

Leg Press 4x10 reps - 50/60/70/80
Leg Press Calf Raises - 4x10x80kg
Single Legged deadlift with 14kg kettlebell 3x10 per leg - Balance was awful with this, not sure why as i've been doing similar at home with a lighter kettlebell i have. Maybe just due to the above weights.
Step up onto 18" platform using a 30kg barbell 1x10 reps. Form wasn't great on this with some wobble due to lack of strength, so moved on.
Step Up onto an 18" platform, driving the alternate knee up on each ascent 3x20 reps

Then moved onto
Lat Pulldown - 3x10x35kg
Seated Row - 3x8x40kg
Tricep Pushdown (Cables) - 3x10x15kg
Tricep Extension (Cables) - 3x10x12.5kg

In future, i'd like to move to a proper bent over row to work my core better than the seated row machine. Instead of the lat pulldown i might also start using the assisted pullup machine. I tried it today for a few reps on 50kg assist and still struggled, but i figure that engages a lot more of the body vs just sitting down, and ultimately that's what i'm after.

Finished off with a 10 minute walk on the treadmill at 3mph with a 15% incline.

Also did 10 minutes on the treadmill at 3mph with a 15% incline. Figured that would help with the climbs
 
Been a while since i updated here, obviously all my fans will be missing the updates!

Today marks the end of the 4 week block of running training through the plan i had made up. It's difficult to know whether paying for the plan was beneficial as whilst my fitness has improved a lot, it's hard to say if that's just due to a return to running consistency each week or the more structured training routine. I'm going to get him to do another 8 week block with less hands on comments from him which is ultimately a decent chunk cheaper. I think after that i'll know more as to whether it's worth it or not. I imagine for people pushing themselves more then there's more benefits vs me who's very much happy being average.

I didn't make the gym on Friday due to work being busy as hell so went Saturday morning. Went for squats rather than leg press and noticed that i have some kind of hip shift during squats. Not sure if this is linked to lack of ankle mobility or something else, but not sure whether to stick with the leg press for a while until i can sort that out, or whether it's just something that will fix itself through squats. Just something to monitor i guess. I also moved to the assisted pull up machine. I've always liked the lat pulldown option, but think this'll work better.

Then spent 25 minutes in the sauna, i've been reading a lot about the benefits, especially for endurance building of 2x30 minute sessions in the sauna. Will be interesting to see how that goes. Need to not take my watch in with me though as that was roasting by the end of it! Got home and annoyed the wife a little by then going for a 40 minute run.

Then proceeded to spend the day drinking as we put up the Christmas tree.

Yesterday i was scheduled to do a 75 minute run, however with a planned trip to do the Yorkshire 3 peaks in 2 weeks, i wanted a bigger test to check whether that was too much too soon. Went out on the moors for 11 miles and ~2000ft of elevation which is probably half of the 3 peaks run. It cleared the hangover nicely and a different route to normal. It was absolutely superb, apart from a 2 mile section across really muddy boggy fields with very little runnable sections. Give me gravel roads up over the moors and i'm reminded why i love being up there so much.

Not sure i'd be happy doing double that for the 3 peaks, especially as i'm slightly time restricted as it's our anniversary and so we're off out for a meal early evening! So might look to reschedule and aim for a 20 mile run more local, as it's over an hour each way for the 3 peaks.

Today my legs are achey, probably a culmination of legs in the gym, followed by a run, followed by a longer run yesterday.
 
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