The Qwer Old Fella's Marathon Method

April 25, 2024

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Location:

Tralee,Ireland

Member Since:

Oct 01, 2011

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

I've never worn compression socks.

Short-Term Running Goals:

To do a race.

Long-Term Running Goals:

1. Break the world record for the marathon in the 50+ age group, when I'm 50 in 2015.

2. Never wear compression socks.

Personal:

Married with two girls (6 and 10).

The Qwer Old Fella's Marathon Method is a four year experiment.

The first year (2012) was about getting back into running, staying off the smokes and booze, while sticking to a healthy eating plan and shedding mountains of lard. All boxes ticked.

Year two (2013 - age: 48) Injured Jan through March. Build back up and work on my 5k speed. Goal 15:45.

Year three (2014) will be about doing my first marathon in the spring. (Just for the experience and on a tough course - maybe Tralee; goal time, 2:30ish.) Then begins the prep work for Berlin 2015

Year four (2015) is all about breaking the world record for the marathon in the 50+ age group - it's only 2:19 :).

The above might sound nuts; it is, but then I'm nuts. Please do not copy any of the training I do: if you do, you are likely to end up running like me - not a good idea.

The idea is to have a laugh along the way. If I fail, I don't know what I'll do - my whole belief system will crumble and I suspect that this little rock might just stop spinning for a couple of seconds. Jakers, I better not fail for all our sakes. That's some burden, even for SuperBam.

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00

Fri, Feb 01, 2013

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
3.50	0.00	0.00	0.00	3.50

a.m. AIS followed by 3.5 miles easy and another blast of AIS.

Things are looking good. All the hip and butt stuff have completely cleared. I have noticed a slight twinge in the distal mtj of my right biceps femoris and I suspect that that might be the cheeky little blighter that was responsible for my woes. The right achilles was a tad tender too, but nothing too troublesome.

Anyway, now that the boring stuff's out of the way, let's get ready to rumble...

What a week! Some may feel exhausted from the cross training debate but I feel as though we're just warming up. But, as the week draws to a close, I'll leave it for another time. That said, I want to sum up my thoughts on the initial forays into the murky world of cross training...

Earlier in the week, Andrea asked the question about my thoughts on cross training or if I remember correctly, what cross training I do/did. Before I answered I thought carefully - I knew my answer might incite responses that would differ from my views. Not one to sit on the fence, I answered with candour. I don't cross train. I gave some very general reasons that lacked substance but they were ok on a general level. Then we had some great opinions and views - JG's thoughts were really thought provoking and forced me to think hard about my opinions on cross training.

Anyway, I'm sure most of us will think about what we do or do not do when we're injured in future and that has to be a good thing. It's got to be a good thing to think carefully about what we're doing when we're injured. Is it better to cross train and maintain fitness even though it may prolong the injury or is it better to rest and lose fitness but get over the injury quickly? I'm still not sure and, for me, that's one of the many reasons why we're just lifting the lid on this can of clichés:)

So, I had an idea... I think I'll pick a topic each week and post my thoughts on the weekly topic. The reasons for this are many, but mainly because it might be a laugh:). Yes, I will be provocative - that should ensure good debate:)

Hold your breath, this is a good one... Next week's topic - Coaching. Some initial things to consider: are coaches and parents living vicariously through their athletes/children? Do coaches push kids too hard so that the coach receives the kudos while the child/athlete ultimately ends up disillusioned/injured. What motivates a coach to leave the family environment and coach other parents' kids? Do parents make bad coaches? I'll leave you with this gem - a proposition propagated by some senior British coaches - teachers make the worst coaches, discuss.

Laters.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 0.00	Weight: 0.00

Comments

From SlowJoe on Fri, Feb 01, 2013 at 07:32:04 from 155.219.241.10

I had to go back and read the comments on cross training. Lots of good stuff. I like running so I do it; I hate crosstraining so I don't do it. That makes the debate somewhat moot for me, which is great!

Anyway, glad to you are still improving, this is great news. Look forward to reading some interesting discussions here in the future.

From Jake K on Fri, Feb 01, 2013 at 08:37:33 from 155.100.226.191

Good "closing thoughts" on XT. The most important thing that comes out of these discussions is THINKING and hearing alternate views. There's rarely ever going to be a correct answer to any of these types of questions, but some critical thinking is good for everyone.

I'll kick off the coaching debate for next week by saying those crazy Brits who think teacher don't make good coaches have never met some of the guys on this blog (Rob, Holt, etc!) :-)

From Andrea on Fri, Feb 01, 2013 at 08:47:20 from 72.37.171.52

1) I'm glad you are feeling better. Since you think the distal biceps femoris is the source, how are you correcting this so it doesn't happen again?

2) I liked the discussion about cross training. There's not a one size fits all by any means. The importance of the conversation is that it made people THINK about what they are doing and evaluate whether it is beneficial or not. What is the goal of doing XT? What type is the best? Is there a purpose? Is it really preventing injuries? Is it delaying injuries from healing? Good stuff.

2) I'll have to think about the coaching thing...that's a tough one.

From Bam on Fri, Feb 01, 2013 at 08:57:35 from 89.126.28.24

Jake - I think it'll surprise you when I disclose the coaches who wrote that comment...

Andrea - There's a small strain in the mtj and it needs some cross frictions. That's going to really hurt. I only notice it on palpation, so I think it's pretty much 'heeled'.

I'll follow that up with a classic hamstring fixer - sitting on a tray and using my heels, I'll pull my butt to my feet. It's something I've employed on others with great success. Once things settle down properly, I'll probably look at the Hadley drills you posted and do some of them.

In future, I'll refrain from doing strides with a storm force wind behind me:) I'm not Mr Bolt. More like Mr Bean.

From Rachelle on Fri, Feb 01, 2013 at 10:40:37 from 159.212.71.69

Glad to hear you are feeling better and It looks as though I better go back and read the discussion on cross-training. In my opinion everyone is just so different and it is a matter of finding what works best for you. Nothing wrong with cross-training at all, I just don't like it and would rather run easy. I also feel that for me cross-training is not always the best option because I have a tendency to push way too hard and end up making matters worse instead of better.

Definitely openning up a can of worms with the coaching debate as I would say about 90% of HS coaches (in utah at least) are also teachers. I'll surely have plenty of opinions as my Dad is a teacher & a coach and coached his own children at the HS level.

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