Tuesday 29 March 2011

Recovery Run

I had to, I just had to!

Decided to follow the week 2 intervals using them as a recovery run. Amazing how quickly my fitness deserted me! I felt quite puffed after the first 2-3 90 second runs and appreciated the full 2 minute rest periods. As for my legs, well they felt better running than they had for a long time, but I am not confident that the pain will not reoccur. My feet hurt a fair amount this time out also, perhaps due to my change of footwear back to the Lunarglide +2's.

I DID however manage to get round and actually ran about the same distance as previous Week 2 distances. I felt like I could have ran a bit further at the end but decided not to change my arm (or legs I guess!). The competitiveness was still definitely there. You can see that after the first 2k's I felt my pace was slow and pushed myself just a bit harder to lower the average




-------> 2nd km - Time to push!



Overall I was pleased with the run and I am anxious to see how I am doing this time next week with hopefully no repeat of the crippling leg issues.

I also appeared to have continued the weight and more importantly fat loss which is really wierd because I haven't been going out of my way to reduce these?!

My Stats:
2.88 km @7:19/km

My Vitals:
168.8lbs (-3.5lbs), Body Fat 23.4% -0.8%), BMI: 24.2 (NORMAL -0.7).

Monday 28 March 2011

Dare I?

There has been some significant improvement in my calves over the past couple of days. We had a long walk around London with the kids and I felt no pain in the legs at all. I'm (very) tempted to have a go at a recovery jog/walk - probably rehashing C25k week 2.

I am really considering going back to the Nike Lunerglides as I really am not confident on the advice given to me by the running shop in Watford. I really do think that my feet slightly supinate. My reasons for this are 1. The wet test 2. My shoes are all worn on the outside, not the inside 3. The anterior pain in my leg would suggest supination.

Of course I don't want to rush things, but I'd like to test the water at least!

Tuesday 22 March 2011

2 weeks on, no improvement

I've lost a lot of hope now. There is ZERO improvement in the pain. I haven't been stretching every day, that's true but then I have read that you shouldn't stretch cold muscles anyway. I cant run to warm them up so vicious circle.

Internet advice is completely conflicting. Run through it / Don't run through it. Put Ice on it / Put Heat on it. Do Walking / Rest it.

My GP doesn't know his arse from his elbow so little point in seeing him.

I can't swim more that about 1 length, and I can't afford swimming so that's out. Besides, I hate swimming. I could stretch to a bike and it's slightly appealing but at the end of the day, running is not just about running for fitness for me, that's only part of it. I want to constantly challenge and improve myself, perhaps run in some races. With long working hours, a long commute and two young kids, my time for exercise is short. When running at the moment, I can be fully knackered within 20-30 minutes. With a bike, that time would represent a warmup period only. I'm not going to compete in bikes races either.

What to do now!

Wednesday 16 March 2011

A week since my last run

I last ran, in pain, this time last week. My legs are really no better at all. My calves are still all tight, the anterior part of my calves still very painful when adding pressure. I still feel some pain when I walk.

My hopes of this being a 7-14 day recovery have gone completely. I feel very much like this will never recover until the point I can run again, or even if it does, that it will simply flair up again when I start running.

Watching all those other runners whilst driving that previously I wouldn't have noticed is like a dagger to the heart. How comes all these other people can run without problems yet I cannot?

Staying positive in all this is becoming a stretch and I have genuine anger and frustration over the whole thing. I want to run, I enjoy running, running is imporving my fitness, so let me run!

Sunday 13 March 2011

Injury Update

In two words - NO BETTER
Really frustrating to not be able to run this weekend. Stopped tracking my eats on livestrong as well because i have no motivation. I always genuinely looked forward to the runs. The chance to beat previous times and progress through the course. Now, i am just laying here again, back on the couch, back to eating crap, just this time my legs hurt as well. I'd gained a bit of confidence and pride in the runs I was doing and would always go out with my head high and chest out, but I have lost it for who knows how long?
I should be doing weights tonight, but have no will to do so.

Probably my mood is not helped, this being a Sunday night and another shitty week at work to look forward to. Really life is a bit of a pile of crap right now all round.


Thursday 10 March 2011

C25k Week 3 Day 2 - Completed, but defeated

I feel like a man who won the battle and lost the war. I got round and completed the run but with increasing pain and so I have reached the inevitable point where I cannot go on running with my legs in this condition. I've tried to take every precaution, but perhaps the damage was done on my "pre c25k" short jogs I did in my trainers.

I've seen great gains in fitness and have found Week 3 easy going on my cardio. I am deeply upset that I will (at best) face a lengthy period on the sidelines and then go back to zero point again. Perhaps I will never be able to become a runner.

My plan now is to rest my legs as much as possible and see how they fair in the next couple of weeks. I have to try to find some way of keeping my cardio going. Having spent £140 on running shoes, I can't afford a bike or a gym membership, nor can I afford or have time to swim 3 times a week (besides which I hate swimming). I have free weights at home so maybe I can find a cardio routine that works with them - it's just that weights are SO BORING!!

I passed 4 runners on my way in to work this morning and it put a lump in my throat for sure.

I've got stats from yesterday, but I just can't be bothered to put them up as at the end of the day I feel like a complete failure now.

I'll try to keep posting if anything for getting out my thoughts on how I progress.


Monday 7 March 2011

C25k Week 3 Day 1

C25k Week 3 Day 1

Route changed, pace dropped, EASY (yes, EASY) run!! Ok, so my legs did hurt like buggers, but with my cardio, I never felt as though I would not make it round. During the last minute of the last interval, I got a second wind and felt like I could have run for another couple of minutes - that was one of the best feelings I have had since starting this program. I really feel like I am making progress and just wish I could get rid of the leg pain as I would be enjoying this so much more.

I have to say that the intervals did fall VERY nicely again and the 3 minute walk period covered pretty much all of the Webb Rise hill.


My Stats:
2.2 km @7:32/km

My Vitals:
173.2lbs (+2.2lbs), Body Fat 24.2% -1%), BMI: 24.9 (NORMAL +0.7).

Saturday 5 March 2011

C25k Week 3 Day 1 (FAIL)

Well, that sucked.

I'm happy at the moment to blame my failure on the change of route. It was a straight line route, but the problem is that outbound half was all downhill and that left a horrible return leg. The intervals are 90/90 180/180 x2 I did it all up to the last 3 minute interval where I packed up halfway up the hill short 90 seconds. This time was mainly my lungs, but my legs also reached breaking point. They are really hurting tonight I can assure you!

I REALLY don't want to go back to week 2. I'm going to change back to my original route and try the new intervals and then we'll know!

My Stats:
2.12 km @6:43/km

My Vitals:
171.0lbs (-1.2lbs), Body Fat 25.2% -0.5%), BMI: 24.2 (NORMAL -0.2).

Friday 4 March 2011

Charting Progress February




I thought it might be useful to keep a record to my progress and produce some graphs on a monthly basis. Using the excellent SportTrack software by Zone Five, I can log all my activities, maps, equipment (that's shoes to you and me) and then have it provide some nice graphs for later review.I started using the software on the 14th Feb so my progress is from there.

These figures below should be going DOWN (well for now at least). Weight and Body Fat %



These figures should be going UP (until I reach a brick wall). Distance and Avg Speed



So I guess I am pleased with that so far!