End in sight???????????

Here are a couple of photos from last weeks run in Runcorn. The top one is of the start with the Runcorn Bridge in the background, the 2nd one below is one of me near the finish, I look fat, slow, bald and knackered. If it had been a close up you'd have seen me hot and sweaty too, I must learn to dress for the weather conditions.

 

Having visited the physio on Saturday I have been doing my exercise and stretch whilst out at work driving the truck. When I have to stop to load or unload I now have to look round for a curb or an empty pallet to use as a step, I stand on the ball of my foot on the pallet/curb and then lower my ankle down as far as I can and hold for 20 seconds. I then do the same but raise my heel to a neutral position and then drop down again, I have to do this 15 times for 3 reps, 3 times a day. I have done them for 2 days now and I can feel an improvement already, fingers magically crossed that there is an end in sight to this injury, here's hoping.

I haven't given up just yet.......

7 days ago I did the "RUN THE BRIDGE" race which was in Runcorn, the start was on the Runcorn side of the Bridge over the murky Mersey. I had not trained one single step for this race as I had been nursing my Achilles from the 10k race I did in Delamere Forest a few weeks ago.
It was a 5 mile race starting by the station and finishing in some park errr 5 miles away. I had  good warm up jogging around the car park for half an hour, doing some stretches mainly for my ankles and calf's, the start filled up quite quickly and I think there must have been about 700 doing the race, 455 men not sure about the women but there were plenty of them, club runners, plodders like me and one bloke dressed as flash

 

The whistle went and the timer on the land rover started, i saw it get to 3 seconds and that as the last i saw of it as the leaders set off so fast. A slight incline to the Bridge and before I knew it we were over the Mersey, I settled into a comfortable pace, I'd forgotten to charge my Garmin so used my phone to record my route and pace etc, as I'd started Nike+ on my iphone my embarrassing music kicked in and I couldn't turn it off, other runners avoided me as sixties music and classical stuff belted out a slow rhythm not conducive with a faster pace, anyway it kept me going and before I knew it the first mile marker was in sight, we had already passed Eddie Stobart's depot at Widnes and gone through a dismal industrial estate, the route was very flat with no ups or downs apart from the Bridge itself. The scenery was quite boring, a few houses but mainly industrial areas, as we approached the 2 mile marker I started to feel my Achilles getting stiffer, I'm always stiff, I didn't feel I was running fast but slowed down slightly to see if it eased a little, it didn't, so I just carried on and the pain got worse, a lot worse. At mile 3 I'd say I was almost in agony and by mile 4 all I could think was just get to the finish line, we hit the countryside briefly and I tried to look round at something nice to see but failed, the Runcorn area seems more devoid of interest than Northwich does. People I had overtaken started to overtake me back, I kept going, kept leaning forward and gritting my teeth, in other runs I had taken part in I always had a sprint finish, this one was different, the pain was bad in my Achilles and I just couldn't sprint, I did put maximum effort in, maybe it was lack of training and not the pain but I got to the line and breathed a huge sigh of relief but the pain didn't stop, I just wanted to get on the bus to get back to my van and put some freeze gel on the Achilles, I was handed a bottle of water, looked around but couldn't see anyone wearing a medal, what a let down, all that pain for nothing.

 

I got on the bus and sat waiting in the heat, my face was burning, eventually the bus headed back to the start, I got out of my seat and could hardly walk, I managed to get back to my van and was in so much pain I forgot to put anything on my Achilles. I just drank more water and set off back home where I iced it.

 

I had finished the race in a time I am more than happy with 46 Min's and 1 second, a pace of 9.13 a mile, considering I was in so much pain I think I did very well and deserved a medal

 

So seeing as I was in so much pain I decided to see a sports injury specialist or just a physio with big prices as they should be known. Anyway she said I had been doing the worst thing possible, resting my ankle, so she has prescribed me 1 exercise and 1 stretch for me to do for the next few weeks. She also told me what I had also been fearing and that is me having to lose money by cancelling 2 runs Ive already booked in to do, the Lymm 10k and the Chester half marathon.

So no running for the foreseeable future, just walking uphill which is supposed to be best for me and plenty of stretching and exercising the Achilles 3 times a day, I can do that and hopefully strengthen it enough to be able to run the BUPA Manchester 10k on May 26th.

OH and by the way I beat The Flash so that makes me superhuman !!!!



 

I GIVE UP

Well I'm blogging again today, I was going to stop as I just didn't feel in the right mood to carry on, does anybody ever read the stuff I write??? Maybe it's not about other people reading and more about me keeping a diary of my efforts or lack of them that is the key to carrying on.

I'm still flaming injured, sore Achilles, its rested, its stretched and it's not being put under the stress of running at the moment. I haven't run for 2 weeks, this is a regular thing at the moment, I've got a 5 mile run next Sunday, Easter Sunday across Runcorn Bridge, this is also Run for Fun's 1st anniversary run so I can't back out of that. It's so annoying and soul destroying that I cannot get into a regular 2 or 3 runs a week without feeling there is going to be pain at some point, perhaps I'm not meant to be the runner I want to be, maybe just a mid life crisis dream that I should just give up on and ride a bike instead.

Trying to get into my doctors surgery seems to be a hard thing at the minute, the Doctor who was recommended for sports injuries only works in the mornings so i can't see him, if I'm driving at 830am I miss out on the appointments so it's all about timing I think. Will keep trying next week before all the Doctors go on their Easter holidays, must be great to have all these holidays, still I'm lucky to be working so will have to wait for my turn, maybe taking up the offer of a trip to Morocco to do a half marathon there should be in my sights, bit of sun would be nice.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

Last Sunday I took part in  10k run in Delamere Park, Cheshire. I had only done a couple of runs before hand since my latest injury, so I was determined to go slowly and make sure I got round in one piece. I arrived early to a slightly snowy Delamere, it didnt last long it soon turned to cold rain, there was also an icy wind blowing so I stayed wrapped up in my thick fleece, Ron Hill running pants, tracksuit, hat and gloves and made my way to the registration tent, signed in and got straight back in my van and put the heating back on.
Slowly but surely the place started filling up, athlete after athlete turned up, looking like Mo Farah and Paula Radcliffe and I felt quite unfit, I am so that wasnt a problem. 30 mins from the start I made my way downt to the start area, I'd text my running friend for last minute advice on energy gels and dextrose tablets and ended up just having an energy drink. It was bitterly cold so I ended up warming up, I dont normally warm up very much but i had a good 20-30 minute warm up running slowly up and down a small grass bank, stretching and keeping as warm as I could. It was lmost time and the 2 warm up girls decided to get everyone moving, I already was so I didnt get involved in the dancing and waving and just wanted the raace to start, I was ready, I was eager, start the flipping race!!!!!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

and we were off, very slowly, too many people in too small a space and there was only 500 of us. The course was a loop through the forest, around a large mere and a lap was 5k, some people had decided on 5k but I had signed up for 10k so had to do 2 laps, the course was reasonably flat but quite muddy and slippy in places, plenty of people were avoiding the puddles, in my eyes they were losing time going around them instead of through them, its this winning attitude that makes me so fast , yeah right.

first lap, once we got going seemed to go quite quickly but I was puffing a bit and wondered should I only do 5k instead of 10, but there was a nagging voice in my head, "DONT GIVE IN", so I kept going past the 5k finish line and there was no going back. I took a bottle of water from the drinks station, bit of a waste of time as the water went more down my top than my throat so I only had a few sips and then threw it by the marshalls post not like the inconsiderate people throwing them wildly into the forest. There were signs at every kilometer and at the 7km marker my achilles was beginning to suffer a little, I wanted to ease off a bit but I also wanted to finish as strong as I could too, so I just plodded on, kept leaning forward and picked a target in front of me, which happened to be a blonde girl about 100 metres in front of me. I got to the 9k marker and tried to speed up a touch, there was the sound of the tannoy at the finish line in the distance and it was getting louder, the blonde was getting closer too, as we took the final bend I made my final push, breathing hrd I overtook the blonde and sort of sprinted as fast as I could for the last 50 yards, i'd made it, I was pooped, I grabbed a medal nd a bottle of water and snuck off back to my van to have a breather and a protein bar. I had finished the run and checked my time, i had done the 5.97 miles in 58 minutes and 34 seconds, I was very pleased with that and a bit surprised it was so fast.

my achilles was sore afterwards and still is today almost a week later and I am planning to run slowly tomorrow morning. my next race isnt until the end of March, 5 miles over the Runcorn Bridge

Am I back?

well since i last blogged which is too long to make this an interesting read, probably why nobody reads it or comments, I have had some physio done on my Achilles and calf of my left leg. the physio Ed, is the witton albion football team masseur, he has given me a lot of pain but I think hes done a good job so far. He has found an indentation in my left calf, which he says indicates  bad tear of the calf muscle. the muscles surrounding this have tightened up and that's what he has worked on. when i originally went to him it was my Achilles that was painful, once he had massaged a few muscles the pain in the Achilles went, but it hasn't gone completely.
So since then I have tried a slow run of 2.8 miles, I walked a lot of this as I didn't want to do too much and set me back again, then today I did the same run but this time I ran slowly again but I did 2 miles non stop then I stopped to stretch for a short while and then ran the rest of the .8 miles home, all with no pain. As on the first run I think I'm just so conscious of the injuries that I'm not relaxing enough and tentative that I will hurt myself again.
So far so good, I've taken it easy, ran slowly and now I have another test, this Sunday I am running at Delamere forest in aid of the Stroke association, 10k so fingers crossed I can make it round in one piece if I m sensible.
DELAMERE FOREST 10K CLICK THIS LINK FOR MORE DETAILS

I MISS YOU

Yes, I really do, hard to believe but I miss running.
Hopefully my visit to the physio last night turns out to be positive, he caused me a great deal of pain and I'm still feeling it today but that's only because her massaged me so hard. He did his analysis and then began to manipulate my achilles, pain was about 7/10 when he pressed the inside of it, when he pressed the outside there was no pain. he then began to prod and poke my calves, up the outside and inside, a lot of pain was felt there and it was down to tight, knotty calves, they still hurt now but that's probably from where he has pressed, here's the thing, at the end of the massage there was no pain in the achilles, yippee. hes told me to continue the stretches I've been doing and he gave me one more to do. my programme to get back to running is starting with a walk, if there's no pain then i can try a gentle jog, now he showed me a gentle jog, my gentle jog looks like a sprint compared to his, if the gentle jog is ok then I can start to run very short distances and build it up. I'm going to see him again next week and have both calves massaged and hopefully that will be all that i need and ill be back running, good job really as I have a 10k in 12 days which I might not make as I'm also supposed to be working. oh well a little bit of positivity to smile about

WHERE HAVE I BEEN????

Well its been a long time, 3 weeks to be precise, i think my running makes me blog and seeing as i have only had one run which resulted in yet another injury I haven't had anything to blog about.

so where am I up to now then? the calf i have been troubled with stood up to the 2.8 mile run i did but on that run i developed a sore Achilles on my other leg, i don't know if this was because I've been over compensating for my calf or that I'm just useless and destined never to run. I am planning to have my gait analysed today to see if there is anything there that could be causing the problem. I have also read on the Internet that issues involving the calf could be caused by tighter muscles higher up the leg, who knew it was all connected, think i could write a song about that, the thigh muscle is connected to the calf muscle, calf muscle is connected to the Achilles etc etc.

Once the gait is analysed I'm sure i will be pressured into parting with cash, something I will resist with a passion.

I will then be ready to start gently getting back into it hopefully, the Achilles isn't half as sore as it was last week. Ive been advised to begin the slow process of getting back to running by walking a minute and running a minute and walking a minute and running a minute etc etc and also continuing with my stretches which being a lazy sod isn't as easy as it sounds.
Because of the Achilles i couldn't take part in the Mad Dog 10k at Southport last Sunday, shame as I was looking forward to that and obviously id paid for the privilege, will seem a bit of a fraud wearing the t-shirt they are sending.

Anyway, as for work I am enjoying my new job, I have been put on nights for a week a least so tonight and the rest of the week I will be driving up the M6 and M74 to Airdrie, roads will be quiet at least, shame the beautiful Cumbrian scenery will be in darkness, last week when i drove passed Kendal I looked to my left and the sunrise was catching the top of the snow topped Scafell Pike, its a shame I couldn't just stop and take a picture. such a beautiful place, maybe I should make an effort and walk there this year, would be great to see the scenery again.