NEEDLES AND PINS

I think I am on the road to recovery now, I didn't do any running last week, shame on me, but I'd been working long hours, or should I say waiting long hours, sat in the cab of my truck for 6 hours hoping the crane driver and the concrete workers would get a shift on, sadly they didn't. It appears somebody took notice as the crane driver had been relieved of his duties. Anyway, as well as having little time after work my Achilles had been sore too, not sure why, maybe over stretched or maybe I'm just a wuss. 

On Saturday, I went to Charnock Richard, famous for it's services on the M6, I picked up my new Mountain Bike, it doesn't have a famous name on it but the frame is copied from a specialized bike which means it is cheaper and therefore the gears, pedals and brakes can be upgraded to better ones and the price can still beat the named bike. Cheap enough for me to say to the man in the shop improve the saddle and the grips and add some lights for me too. So when I got home I just had to try it out, so I got changed, donned my helmet and set off towards the Whitegate Way, 13.1 miles later I was sweating profusely but thoroughly impressed with my new purchase. 

STOPPED FOR A DRINK AND A KIT-KAT HALF WAY ROUND

My average speed was 12.3mph, not far off an average for my road cycling of around 14mph, what impressed me most was the speed I could get up to on it, the 29 inch wheels really made a difference, I got up to 25mph at one point, when I'm going my fastest on my road bike my legs are going as fast as they can but on this I couldn't get to that stage, my cadence was still slowish so I reckon I could go a bit faster than 25mph if there were thinner tyres on the wheels. 
The following Monday, I went out again, this time with the intention of getting to the end of the Whitegate Way before turning round and heading back, we have very few hills around where I live, this route is just a steady climb of 66 meters, hardly even a bump compared to some places. I didn't manage as fast a pace as last time maybe due to having to stop and slow down to get passed lots of dog walkers, some willing to move out of the way and some just plain ignorant. When I returned home I had a quick stretch and a glass of water and did something I have never done before, I went straight out for a run and managed 1.61 miles in 18 minutes. I felt good afterwards, showered and then went to physiotherapy. There I had more ultrasound on my Achilles, and yet another deep, pain filled massage on my right calf. The calf doesn't bother me these days but there is still a knot in it which the physio seems to find easily, I think she also enjoys inflicting the pain, sometimes it feels like this cyclist must have felt.

cyclist fell in velodrome and got a splinter

After the massage I had more acupuncture, more needles in my now aching calf, surprisingly they don't hurt going in, only when they are tweaked after a few minutes, the needles stay in for about 20 minutes so I just lie there motionless, I made the mistake the first time of moving my toes, this made me feel every needle and it wasn't pleasant, had to have a drink of water and a sit down afterwards....back to wuss in boots again. 

PHYSIO PROGRESS

Since running my two half marathons and a 10k last October I have been struggling with my Achilles. I decided that I needed to see a physio to get some proper treatment and advice in order to get things back on the mend. At first I chose a physio not far from where I work, nice bloke, seemed to know what he was doing and treatment commenced. Initially I thought it was going well, I held off running until he said I could, after a few sessions he gave me the go ahead to try and run, so a few days later when I had the free time I set off, wasn't long before it started hurting and I came to a stop. His answer was to try and reduce the swelling with heat packs and very gentle massage, I trusted him but in the back of my mind having listened to a running friend who had a similar injury, I was thinking "surely this should be hurting me when he's massaging the injury", it didn't and it didn't improve so after a bit of thinking I stopped going and gave up thinking about running again. I had signed up to do a Marathon after feeling so good after the Great North Run so that dream had gone as well, it's in my head to try and complete one before I'm 50 so still plenty of time left yet!!! 
Then one day, sat on my backside browsing the Internet and reading drivel on facebook an advert popped up, 

Physiotherapy Clinics Cheshire Ltd 

based in Winsford and well reviewed, so I thought a while and then said "let's do this" so i sent a message and Jillian responded quickly and I booked an initial appointment and a few days later I went to see her.

me in red looking very unhappy while everyone else smiles

I was expecting a quick assessment of around 30 minutes and maybe a few pointers towards what stretches to do, I was pleasantly surprised, after a quick chat and some form filling I was told to get onto the table face down, now thinking back to my previous physio and my thoughts about how he should be hurting me, I did wonder what was going to happen, within seconds I was almost crying like a World Cup footballer who had been gently touched by the opposition. It felt like she was standing on my calf, like my leg was going to be pushed through the table, the pain was immense and was right on a huge knot in my muscle, probably the one caused when I carried on running for 2 hours after pulling my calf in the Malta half marathon back in 2010, must have been all the uphill sections!!

 I was regretting thinking I should be in pain but grimaced and didn't scream too much. The massage continued for quite a while, the pain I endured became easier to deal with and I relaxed......then!!! acupuncture too!! which to be truthful isn't painful at all unless you wiggle the needles about too much.

not an official photo, I do not look like that!

So overall for the first treatment I had, intense massage on my calf and Achilles, some acupuncture, and endured a lot of pain. We also talked about my feet, despite the sports shop in Northwich telling me I had neutral feet I actually have slightly fallen arches, Jillian suggested maybe some more supportive insoles so I trawled the Internet and found some,.

having now used these for a few weeks I feel more support underfoot.

I have now been out running several times, very slowly and I am now up to 18 minutes in duration, I still feel slight discomfort in the area of the Achilles and lower calf but it does wear off after a while. I am continuing with the physio treatment, stretching when I can and I now have a strengthening exercise to do, I just need to work less hours so I can fit them all in.

I'll drink to that!!!

Finally PART DEUX

It's not taken me long but I'm going to have a go at updating this blog!!
So you're tuning in for this instalment which includes The Great North Run and the Cheshire 10k at Arley.

15th September 2013, a cold and rainy start to the day with a blustery wind blowing was not the ideal weather to begin the day, especially when the day was the day of The Great North Run, the 2nd biggest half marathon in the World!!!

After a pre race evening meal of pasta the night before, I woke up nice and early to walk across the city centre of Newcastle, crossing the River Tyne over the Millennium bridge and up the hill to meet friends and then head to the start. It was my first GNR(runners speak for Great North Run) and I didn't really know what to expect having only seen the race on the TV before, friends who had done it had said once I had done it I would want to do it again. 
Having run so well in the English half marathon the week before I was a bit upset as I think that had taken it out of me, I'd been for a short run midweek and my Achilles was again sore, it was painful the night before walking to meet the other runners and was sore again in the morning, but I hadn't come all the way from Cheshire to not take part. I decided to start near the back, with a few friends and take things steadily and see how it went. There was a huge amount of people in the pens ready to start, so we joined them and joined in with the warm up exercises being led by some Lycra clad fitness bloke on a podium near the start, relayed to huge screens so we could see. 

The time came and those at the front began their runs and slowly we catterpillared forward towards the start, it took around 20 minutes to get to the start and then we were off, the rain started to come down but it couldn't dampen the spirit of all those around us, fancy dress costumes a plenty, the famous Tony the Fridge was passed, he's carried a fridge in many half marathons, some achievement!! people were being pushed in wheelchairs and the man on the tannoy shouted "wheels of steel" every time one went past him referring to the wheelchair, something I later joined in with as I tried to encourage others on my way round. The route went under flyovers, round many roundabouts and was very crowded, I felt OK, my Achilles was not too sore but I still took my time anyway, the small group I started with became smaller and I found myself wanting to speed up a little but stayed with the others until the crowded streets meant we lost touch, I think this was a few miles from the finish. I took a bottle of water from the final water station and carried on, the crowds on either side of the roads were still cheering and clapping, then, out of nowhere there was a roar ahead, a roar from the engines of the Red Arrows display team up ahead, I suddenly became emotional, I realised I couldn't be far from the left turn down on the sea front I'd seen on the TV many times, I kicked on and eventually I went down a short hill and there was the left turn, I wasn't sure how far it was to the finish from there but I'm sure it was over a mile, I kept my pace up and dodged through as many people as I could, the crowds were amazing, cheering everyone on, you couldn't help but put in all your efforts to get over the finish line which I finally did in 2 hrs 24 Min's and 3 seconds, a lot slower than the week before but I think after my injuries and the previous few weeks of trying to cram in training I think I did OK.
My friends were right though, after experiencing the Greatest of half marathons I want to do another one and fortunately, I managed to get a place for this years GNR through the ballot system, so hopefully by then I will be further along with my fitness and pain free.

Two weeks later, I had the Cheshire 10k run to do at Arley Hall, my Achilles was a lot worse by this time and I did not feel to well either, sensible option would be to have just pulled out but I've never been one for the sensible option so I turned up bright and early and began to warm up as best I could. The race started and I crossed the start line in a little bit of pain, I quite like 10k's and this was a very flat one compared to the others I have done although none of those were particularly undulating but I was struggling from the off, I had a headache and no I had not been drinking the night before, I also felt sick, when I did get to half way I had to stop and was almost sick then, a quick breather and away I went, by about 8k I was running with a hobble and just gritted my teeth and my only thought was to get round, get in the car and go home. I know the area around Arley quite well so knew roughly where I was, I turned the final corner and mustered my best sprint finish which felt like I was running backwards, I ran the last 50m over the rough ground and finally the race was run. I think the winner broke the course record that day, I was just pleased to get round. I was very sore now, my Achilles was really hurting, I hobbled back to my car, put my key in the ignition and pressed the start button, the car must have felt like me as it didn't start, I asked around and nobody had any jump leads, luckily the race organiser had some and he said he would come and jump start me, again I hobbled back to my car, watching everyone leave, about 2 hours later the guy turned up and we managed to get the car going, I went straight to kwik fit as the battery was dead, £70 later and a new battery and I'm back on the road so all in all not the best race day experience but that was nothing to do with the course, maybe I will try it again this year.

What have I been doing since my 46th birthday?? PART 1

It has been a very long time since I blogged properly, my 46th birthday to be precise, what have I done since then fitness wise, well I cycled to work and back a few times, just over 8 miles each way took me about 33 mins, much nicer at 4:30am than at 4:30pm when the traffic is awful. 

I kept that up for a week and then I started back running again once the Achilles had eased a little, this was in effect the start of half marathon training. I haven't done a half marathon for around 25 years, that was when I was a soldier, that run was in Ripon and I would say I was a lot fitter than I am today, I finished that in 1 hour 40 mins, wish i could do that now!!! 
The target half marathon was the English half marathon at close by Warrington, quite a flat course and a good downhill section to speed up and improve time, I had to cram in the training, I did a 6 mile and then a 7 mile run a few days later, I then ran my furthest run since I did the Ripon run all those years ago, I managed 11.5 miles but i'd say the last mile or so I was crawling, my legs had gone, my feet were in pain but I made it home and got in a cold bath to try and recover. This run did nothing for my confidence, i'd struggled to say the least, 10 days later I was to do the half marathon and I was very nervous. 
I rested during the week before and managed a quick 3 mile run to keep my legs going, on the day I turned up early, stretched, watched the parachutists fly in and then headed to the start.
Being fully aware of my injuries in the past few months I set off quite slowly, I knew there was an uphill section towards the cantilever bridge but it wasn't too long before I was at the top of the bridge and a gentle downhill bit got me into my stride, still aware of my Achilles I didn't push myself, after all this was to be my longest run for 20 odd years but I was feeling quite good, any slight stiffness in the Achilles wore off after about 1.5 miles, i'd settled into a rhythm and was keeping up with most people and overtaking a few, the only people to overtake me were the parachutists who started after us, I thought about tagging onto one of them but it was only a fleeting thought.
After about 5 miles there was water and I took some on board, the course was now in its flat stage, the route took us past where I drive my truck towards the M6, a few more miles and we hit the village of Stretton, here we turned right and went down a narrow track towards a housing estate and a good downhill section. I did my best to open my legs and ease down the hill, I wasn't aware of time, I just wanted to keep going, the course came back on itself and again we were heading towards the cantilever bridge, once over that it was flat all the way to the finish, I could hear the finish, people were walking and i'd have to dodge them to get passed, I eventually hit the edge of the park and began to see if i had anything left in my legs, I felt surprisingly good, I stretched my legs and thought the finish would come quickly, it didn't but I kept going, sprinting near the finish and I was home and dry.
I looked at my Garmin watch and was very surprised to see 2 hours and 5 minutes, I was very pleased with that, I'm classing that as my PB!! 

A muddled medal table meant we had to wait before receiving our medal as they were putting them on everyone, very slow process but worth it, then on to the goody bag stall and away I went. 

Tune in again for the next installment including GREAT NORTH RUN, Cheshire 10k and more injury woe.

I'M BACK

I have found my blog again, not blogged since my birthday in 2013 so 8 months has passed since then, a few changes to life and guess what, I'm still struggling with injuries

I have been injured since Philippides was a lad

BORING BLOG

I'm still injured, I still can't run, I have done a little bit of cycling to work but getting up at dark o'clock isn't conducive to driving a large truck all day, I'm finding it very tiring at times.

I found an article last week about Achilles pain and solutions to it, I have been doing stretches for 30 seconds, what the article suggested was stretching for 3 minutes, The other day I tried this and something felt better, I don't know whether it was coincidence or not, I've done a 3 min stretch every day since, I'm not sure it's helping but I don't think it is making it worse. After the first day the tenderness in the Achilles had almost gone, the next day it was back, I walked quite a bit this weekend,

Blackpool Beach.

Barnacles

Tower and beach

I walked a few miles on the beach at Blackpool on Sunday morning and today I have walked over 6 miles today along the Whitegate way which is an old disused railway line near here, I'd never walked there before, a slight rise up to Whitegate station, would like to cycle it as the dogs were knackered and there is no café or water for them apart from cupping my hands in the gents toilets, not ideal, maybe take bottles of water next time or a bowl.

BUPA Great Manchester 10k

Well yesterday was the day of my first BUPA Manchester 10k race, 40000 people took part ranging from Olympic champions to wheelchair bound heroes, I wasn't one of the Olympic champions!!
I drove to Altrincham and took the tram into Manchester town centre and then walked through the streets of runners and supporters to my baggage area where i could leave my belongings, once I'd dropped that off and been stamped with my baggage bus number, I headed towards the start. I was quite early so I could take in the atmosphere which was by now beginning to get louder.

The sun was beating down and it was only 10am, I wasn't due to assemble with my green wave until 1135 so I had an energy gel and decided to watch the other waves starting off, I had friends in different waves so frantically tried to see them and offer up some support but couldn't see them apart from my old friend Kay who in last years race tore muscles, I waved her off and then it was my turn, I was quite near the front of our wave which meant I had to turn round to see the warm up platform which was where I was stood to support the others, it was about 500m from the start so with my eyes i couldn't see that far so just did a few dance moves trying to copy the others. once that wa done it was time to wait for the gun, it didn't take long, a huge roar went up and the gun fired, off i set, over the timing mat and I started my garmin to see what my time might be. I thought i would set off quite steadily, at the start it seems to be a free for all, jostling for position and trying to get a clear run ahead, I managed this quite easily and I was away, the streets were lined with loads of people cheering their charity runners and friends, buses from Christies, McMillan's lined the route supporting their runners too, horns, whistles and those inflated things they bang together created a tremendous atmosphere to run along to. My garmin beeped and I looked down at the watch, it said I had done the first mile in 8:41 which surprised me a little, when the second beep went off I looked down again and saw 8:38, I thought my watch was playing games with me as I didn't feel I was running that fast.  The sun was by now belting down, I began to get quite hot as we got close to Old Trafford my face was burning,

I was longing for a water stop as I was also dehydrating I think, thankfully just around the corner form the football ground there was a sign saying water stop ahead, great, so I headed to that, grabbed a bottle, took a quick drink and squirted some at the girls handing out the bottles, I'm sure they appreciated the cool water on such a hot day.
As I ran slower I couldn't help but think that I had helped to build the course, the bumpy pot holed roads on the outskirts of Trafford Park are where I drive my 44tonne truck so I did my little bit to help.
As we turned the corner and headed back towards the centre of Manchester and the finish line I began to get more weary, my Achilles was now quite sore and I was boiling, we approached a shower tent and I thought shall I or shan't I? would it soak me and make it uncomfortable to run after it or would it cool me down, I made the decision to go through it as I'd paid my money I wanted my value for money lol, it was actually very refreshing and cool but it didn't last very long as the sun was making up for being in hiding for the last  years and directing all it's stored energy straight at my head. I didn't want to but i succumbed and walked for a hundred yards, not a bimble more of a forced march, it was probably as quick as my running at that stage but I soon started running again as I wanted to get a good time, Bridgewater Way turned into Chester Road and the

BUPA BOOST zone came into sight, from my memory of cycling to Paris jelly babies were the thing for a boost, so I took a handful and put them in my mouth, I did not have the will to chew them, I tried but ended up spitting them out errrr, that was a first for me, wasting food but I had to carry on as the finish was almost upon me, I walked another 50-100 yards to try and give me some energy to make a push for the line, the 800m sign came and went but I think it took another 1000m before the 400m sign came along, the crowds were by this point getting bigger and louder, a few children were holding their hands out wanting a high 5 and nobody was obliging them so I strayed from the middle of the road and went across and high fived them. on the race number we wore on the front our names are printed, only 1 man said " well done Geoff, nearly there" I thought he knew me until I realised he'd read my name, I was now in the last 100m and even though it was very hard, I managed a sprint to the end, grimacing in pain and effort I headed to the finish line and over the timing mat, I slumped with my hands on my knees for a second or two, took deep breaths and headed for the goody bag stand to get my goody bag. I didn't want to look at my time, i just wanted a drink and to find some shade, bottles of water were handed out and there was a powerade drink in the goody bag so they soon disappeared. I checked my phone to see where I was meeting up with Kay and Steve and slowly hobbled towards there. I then checked my garmin to see what time I had done, 58 Min's and 12 seconds, I was disappointed with that especially after seeing I'd done the first 2 miles so quickly. Anyway, I met up with Kay and Steve and we had a nice chat and a couple of cold drinks, I headed to the tram stop and I headed back home a bit down after the time I had achieved.
I woke up this morning and I couldn't put my heel down on the floor my Achilles was that stiff. I have now looked at my garmin dashboard on the laptop and it is telling me the time I ran yesterday was the fastest pace I'd ever run for any distance since I started running again last year, so taking into account the persistent injuries and subsequent lack of proper training I need to be happy with my efforts, I'm not up to other people's standards, those who have trained, those who have natural fitness or have been exercising for years, I am me, I am still a very long way from where I want to be fitness wise, I have decided to take a 1 month break from all running in the hope of easing off the Achilles issues, in the meantime it's stretching and cycling for me and probably a lot of walking once the pain and stiffness dies down.
My next run is in July at the Olympic stadium in London.