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.

CALF MONSTER STRIKES AGAIN

Here we go again, painful calf strikes again, 2 weeks after it went last time it has gone again, maybe i should stop running on Thursday's!

I have decided maybe the best strategy is 2 full weeks rest from running but still continuing with my stretches. Ive heard a lot of people mentioning foam rollers, these seem to be a solid foam tube with which you massage your body parts, no not those body parts you rude person, but aching and injured muscles, well my frugal mind got to thinking...foam roller.....old decorating tools..... bingo, use a small roller with a foam sleeve on it and massage my calf. I've tried it and i think it does an OK job. i do look a but daft doing it but nobody can see me in Treasure towers so I'm safe. the picture above is an artists impression of me resting my leg in Treasure towers on my chaise longue.

So i haven't run since last Thursday, 5 days, pain isn't there now but it wasn't when i ran either till it went, it appears to be a weak spot so ill have to look for some strengthening exercises too in one of the few books i have on fitness.

Ive not felt as though i am pushing myself, I've been going quite slow on my runs and distances not that long as I've done those distances before, maybe shorter and slower for the first few weeks back would be a good idea. I wouldn't know when its safe to go faster or longer though, how do you know? the leg feels fine so add a bit of distance or what? I'm really not an expert at this am I? I have races to do in March so better get it sorted by then, don't know what I'm going to do if it keeps going.

anyway, apart from not running the only other thing I've been doing is driving my big truck, been down to Gatwick, Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Manchester, Oldham and Luton. Ive now been promoted to a newer truck so Ill be posting a pic of that next time, its nice to have a big one.

IF YOU SEE ME DRIVING THIS TOWARDS YOU...............................MOVE!!!!!!!

I FEEL GOOD

Well I think the antibiotics are starting to work, feeling better today, had a good nights sleep and was up and out running before 9am, I managed 3.3 miles, all running, no walking today, only stopped to take a photo of the lovely start to the day, shame I got in the way of the view.

considering I've had a stop start relationship with running since October, I am quite pleased to get to that distance with a pace of 9.3 minutes a mile, its not fast but I still class myself as overweight and unfit so maybe when i get a bit fitter through my running that pace may come down a bit. 

I've done 9.9 miles this week in 3 runs and I have reached my first weekly target for Jantastic which is good considering I was so low after doing my calf again last week. I'm on my first full week of my new job this week so I'm expecting to have less time to run, but who knows I may get an early finish like Friday and be able to do a good run then. I've also got to think and take one step at a time, going too far too soon wont be a good thing to do in the long run, ha long run, get it? 

The view over the flashes towards Northwich, a light frost on the bench it really was a lovely morning, I doubt we will get any snow so that's about as wintry as it gets here.

Told you i got in the way and spoilt the picture, another demonic face pulled by Mr T.

UNDER THE WEATHER

I have felt better in my life, I have an infected cyst on my shoulder, it was just irritating to start with, obviously i cant see it properly where it is although i did attempt some iphone pictures to see what it was like, seeing it on there convinced me to get down to the doctors and get something done. It had swelled up and was making my neck ache, the doctor lanced it and he had the delight of squeezing out all the smelly puss, it is still weeping out but not as much now. I'm on antibiotics but they seem to be making slow progress as i feel drained and not 100%.

My little Truck

I finished early from work on Friday, oh by the way I have a new job, driving articulated trucks up and down the country, I've only been there 3 days but have already been to Gatwick, long way when your shoulder and neck is painful but I really enjoyed it, it feels sop much more relaxed driving now there isn't an examiner or instructor in the cab with me, music on, singing along and seeing the countryside from high up is another plus. so on Friday afternoon I got home and felt crap but suddenly had a second wind and managed to do the pile of washing up that had built up due to my long days behind the wheel. I then sat down and had a slump, with getting back late on Thursday I missed my planned run and wondered if id have the energy to go out and do one, after an hour or so i just got my kit on and went, managed 3.3 miles of running including the walk to the park and back, I felt good, my calf was good, my new supporting insoles felt good and I felt positive about the run and was then looking forward to my next one which will be Sunday.

I'm getting there slowly

I'm going to sound like a grumpy old sod for once but I want to be running 10 miles in 50 Min's NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




I should be happy, today I have been out again and did a gentle walk around Carey park, I say gentle, I walked to the park and then started to run slowly, i was very nervy because of my calf, if you read this blog regularly and there must be one of you out there in Internet land, you'll be fed up of hearing about my calf, well hopefully you wont be hearing too much about it in the future. out of the 3.3miles i did this evening 2.7 of it was running, i did try my hardest to run slowly but maybe there is something wrong with my garmin as I had speeds close to what i normally do. The most important thing was my calf, OK i wont mention it again, i didn't get any sharp pains, didn't feel any cramping and I think that is a good result, I've been stretching daily, twice or 3 times in fact seeing as I'm not working at the minute, so I am hopeful keeping the stretching going by the time i run again on Thursday, I can relax a bit more and hopefully run non stop for a couple of miles.

JANTASTIC

January is also Jantastic, this is a motivational thing I happen to be involved with, I'm in a facebook group who also happen to be the biggest group to be taking part, we are called Run for Fun, coz running is fun, you should try it!!!! anyway, for the first 4 weeks we have to set a total number of runs we will be doing individually, I've plumped for 3 runs a week, today counts as my 1st, i have to do at least a mile, so Thursday I'll do another run and then hopefully on Sunday I can go a little bit further and that will be my 3 runs for the week, its good motivation and I'm enjoying the challenge as I have never considered myself a runner, now I'm a funner runner .

SLOW PROGRESS

Today i have been on a 3.3 mile walk to see how my calf is getting on, before going on the walk I warmed up using my cycle turbo trainer, 20 minutes to get the blood flowing and the muscles warmed up. I watched the DVD which came with the trainer, I was excited to see id be cycling through Italy, i have a soft spot for Italy as my great grandad came from there and one of my dreams is to drive in a comper van from the top to toe of Italy.                                                                    

Anyway, back to the walk, I set off at a quick walk and headed to my usual route towards Carey Park, the weather was not too cool, dry and breeze free. there were lots of people about so i picked my moments to do a few gentle jogs to see how the calf fared. the first jog was about 100 yards, I felt the calf beginning to tighten, I had stretched before I had started my cycling so I stopped the jog and stretched again, I carried on slightly disappointed as I thought that was it, but after a good walk again I tried again, 50 yards and the calf was OK, i walked again for a good while and then about 200 yards from the edge of the park I ran again, this time I tried to relax my leg, I have the feeling I'm subconsciously protecting it and stiffening it making it harder for the muscle, so I ran relaxed, slowly and the leg felt good all the way to the edge of the park, I didn't go any further and walked from the park to my flat. I stretched again once back in the flat and put a cool pack on my calf, no freezer so cant put ice on it.

so my hope now is that a little bit more rest and more stretching will mean I can begin 10k training as soon as possible, my first one of the year is in 56 days.