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.