ian's phab blog

2009-02-04T21:38:00.003Z

Forgot to add that I'm in one piece despite falling on black ice 'arse over tit' today in the car park at work...Hopefully the skiing will be an injury free experience too!!!

It's getting better

2009-02-04T21:24:00.003Z

I must have passed some unknown stage in the training schedule which allows you to run pain free for a while ---my legs seem to have adapted and I've had not nearly as much calf soreness despite running faster and longer and more frequently. It's great. Not particularly enjoying running in sub zero temperatures or watching carefully so that I don't slip on ice and break my leg - but I'm loving the increasing level of fitness and the feeling of achievement after each long run - the last one was 9 miles, 9 MILES!

It's a funny old business this running malarky. The pains come and go. Just when you think you've got a serious tear, the pain evaporates into thin air. Then you can have a great run when you feel like you've mastered something, you're on top of the world. Then suddenly you're running for 10 minutes and you feel like stopping cos you've got a stitch and it's painful and you're just not feeling it. So it's hard to get any consistency.

I've also starting to realise how much comittment it involves. There's no messing with the schedule. Woe betide you if you miss a long run....all the pressure of the race, the charity you're running for, the expectations of friends and family, the pride...makes you just get out there and do it. I've run in snow, heavy icy winds, rain...all for the cause ;-)

I'm off to Lille this weekend for a 40th birthday party (not mine yet!) and I'm thinking of when will be the best time to fit in my long run - it affects everything you do. Prospect of running in Lille is a good one though - change of scenery will stop the boredom that creeps in occassionally when running my 10 k Grove Park/Bromley/Catford circuit.

Two things I must be careful of: too much rich French food, and too much wine...
I'm constantly hungry and feeling justified in eating huge amounts of pasta and anything else which takes my fancy. I'm beginning to think that I'll end up putting weight on rather than trimming down on the tummy flab. We'll see.

Tights! Not American Tan though ;-)

2009-01-06T22:18:00.003Z

Well it has been a while due mainly to:

lack of motivation
injury
demoralisation
festivities
indulgences
complacency

but I'm BACK!....Was having niggles late November. First it was my knees - changed my shoes, problem got sorted. No more knee niggles at all. However right calf niggles have replaced the knee niggles. I think that late November I think I did myself an injury by upping my training too much. So I rested for two weeks and then just took it really really slowly. For the three weeks over the xmas period I just contented myself with doing my long Sunday run. So far, this has equated to 10km in about 1 hour, which I'm happy with.

This evening went for a 4 mile run in sub zero temperatures. I was tempted to go to the gym however the arrival on my new New Balance running tights and jacket spurred me on to give them the cold test. Result? I was fecking freezing, the running tights seemed to have no effet whatsoever on the cold...hardly worked up a sweat which was weird. But I enjoyed the run and found it very easy. I guess the challenge for me now is to build up slowly.

Went to see a physio this evening to get my calf muscle checked out. Thankfully there doesn't seem to be any worrying underlying problem. He explained that the injury I did late November may have healed and left scar tissue that is now becoming painful. So I had it massaged and fingers crossed all is OK!

The challenge really is on now...there's no going back and my charity party in Wales in booked for the 7th of March. Cousins in Scotland have even booked flights! Scary!

Rest

2008-11-25T14:47:00.002Z

I've been resting my poor legs for the last week....and as a consequence reverted to bad eating and drinking habits :-( Reason? Had quite sore shins after my last long run and a stabbing sharp pain in my right calf muscle. I think I upped the mileage and the intensity of my running too quickly AND I ran a lot on pavement. So that was a good lesson to me.

My right calf muscle is still twitching slightly but I've discovered the stairs calf stretch which is working wonders for me...

Today went for 5.5km run at a slow speed (8.5km/hr) and felt fine. I'm relieved that I didn't get any stabbing pains and my shins are no longer sore.

All I have to do now is manage to up the intensity very slowly so that I don't do this all over again.

And I must start drinking more water and less tea AND cut out the sweet stuff and the alcohol. I was doing sooo well too.

Ah well, all part of life's rich tapestry I guess ;-)

50 minutes - Ouch!

2008-11-09T13:16:00.002Z

Decided to do a longer run today at a slower pace as advised by all the marathon training programmes. I find it really hard to run slowly. (well slowly at my level - obviously it's all relative!) Went to the local park again and did about 6 circuits then back to the house. Didn't feel too bad. I've been stretching like mad all the time as my hamstring and calf muscles are tight. Towards the end of this run my left knee was feeling niggly and my calf muscles felt as though they were on the verge of cramping but everything else was fine - I felt strong from a cardio vascular perspective - which is heartening ;-)

Got home, stretched for 15 minutes and will stretch again later. Have uploaded my trusty Garmin stats to Training Centre : 50 min - 8.04KM - average speed 9.6KM and average HR 144 bpm (166 is my max). Would have liked my heart rate to be less, but pleased on the whole with the run. It's going to be interesting to see how my legs fair over the next few days.

All this and had 5 guests for dinner last night which I cooked I might add ( main course AND dessert)...I was very good though and didn't drink very much at all. Did treat myself to my own Tiramisu which is excellent (I can't lie).

Loving the Garmin

2008-11-03T14:45:00.003Z

Got a Garmin for my birthday so don't yet know how to use it properly but am majorly impressed with it so far. I've done two runs recently with it and when you've finished you can upload your run information into Training Centre (software on your PC) and it shows you all sorts of stats, heart rate, pace, calories - very useful.

I'm finding that the runs I do outside ie not on treadmill, are generally faster. Usually at the gym I only do 9.5km/per hour max. But I'm averaging, 10km when out running in the park with what feels like, no extra effort - strange.

Really enjoying the running, and my knees always feel slighly niggly but not really any pain at all.

Ran for 40 minutes today at what I thought was an easy pace - and I could have continued running quite easily for another 20 minutes I think. Don't want to push it though.

Wasn't going to go out tonight as stuffed from eating like a piggy this weekend with our French guests, but after the run this morning, feeling very energetic and looking forward to a nice meal somewhere....maybe Blackheath.

a longer run

2008-10-29T09:51:00.002Z

Well after not getting around to running in Paris over the weekend (mixture of knees hurting and hangover) I went to the gym yesterday in the new shoes and ran for 45 minutes on the treadmill - that's the longest I've run for a while - around 7km. I felt fine, was just wondering the whole way through the run when my knees were going to give way - but they didn't! And today my knees and legs feel tired but absolutely fine. Maybe it's stopping running that hurts your knees rather than the other way around ;-)
Got my new Garmin now, got my new shoes, no more excuses. Although I still have managed to avoid the early morning runs.

New Shoes = New Knees

2008-10-24T09:23:00.003+01:00

My knee niggles have been getting steadily worse making me wonder if my legs can hack the intense marathon training that I haven't really started yet! So a visit to the London Marathon Shop yesterday was an eye-opener. I had to run on a treadmill while the sales guy recorded my running style....Frank Spencer? Seb Coe?...no, apparently 'neutral with slight tendency to pronate in left foot' - and the left foot is where the knee niggles started. He also told me I was a heel to toe striker and that this style of running was absolutely fine (going against the pose and chi methods then!) providing you where the right shoes. So I tried on a pair of New Balance shoes and it felt like I was running on a trampoline - AND it made me realise how dead my current training shoes are....Such a relief to know that my knees niggles were probably caused by my shoes not cushioning the impact enough.

I've taken a few days off running as I don't want to worsen the knee problem, but I'm hoping that Sunday when I'm in Paris I can go out for a run with the sister in law in my new shoes and enjoy it with no knee pain at all. We'll see. Au revoir et a bientot!

Sunday Run

2008-10-20T08:25:00.002+01:00

Got back from Cardiff yesterday at 8pm. Was planning on running in Cardiff in the morning - the long Sunday run - but a hangover got in my way. It was the first drink I'd had in over 3 weeks and there were family members I hadn't seen in ages so I wasn't too hard on myself. I resigned myself to having to run when we got back to London. So, at 8pm got through the front door, changed into my kit and went out - dreading it.

I really don't like running in the evening. I find the cars and people in the streets too much of a distraction. I would rather have a bit of peace and quiet and brightness when I run. But I went out anyway. I was worrying for my knees as a lot of the training I'm doing is on the treadmill.
I felt fine generally, a few niggles here and there, but surprisingly the longer I ran the more the niggles disappeared. I ran for about 40 minutes. Hoping to get a Garmin for my upcoming birthday so that I can accurately track how far I've run. I felt really strong at the end of the run but thought I'd better not overdo it. I keep thinking that I'll be a goner if my knees give in.

Legs feel fine today. It's weird how those aches and pains just come and go.

2008-10-17T17:47:00.001+01:00

Just finished another 5km. Knees are niggling, especially the left knee, but when I'm running there is no niggle or pain at all. Just occasionally when I'm walking I can feel an ache in my left knee. I've been stretching several times a day and doing my squats and lunges etc as advised on t'internet. Hoping it's just normal. Surely it's too early for ice packs!?
Off to Cardiff now to see my mother - will be doing my Sunday run in and around the Cardiff Bay area - can't wait. And the week after that my Sunday run will be in Paris!....makes running just that bit much enjoyable! A plus! (don't know how to say that in Welsh unfortunately - maybe Wel a chi?)

2008-10-17T15:22:00.000+01:00

I've taken my first baby steps towards the marathon by registering for a place with a charity called PHAB. Urged on by a mate who ran it last year, I just thought to myself, after years of being interested in doing it, it's now or never. I'm flummoxed by the training schedules and the running gear - I've only ever run a 10k before. But I'm taking it slowly. Building up my base level of fitness which at the moment is 3 runs a week, 5km each run on average. I'm trying to focus on increasing the Sunday run - cos apparently that's what you need to do!

A few knee niggles this week made me look into running style and floor exercises to improve knee injuries.

Saw a video on Youtube about the Pose method of running as well as the Chi method! There are some common sense pointers that I'm going to try and take on board, like leaning forward slightly when you run and not taking too big a stride. We'll see. In the meantime I've been trying out squats and lunges to pumps up the muscles and thereby alleviate all pressure / pain from the knees - that's the theory anyway.