Cross Training

That’s my New years resolution (although I did start it before Xmas)

What’s he talking about?

Over the past two years I have been struggling with numerous injuries, including acute tendonitis in my left achillies, and I have basically pushed myself too much on each of my come backs and aggravated the injuries, I took a couple of months off to totally rest my body, I have used this time to think about why I keep on failing at comeback into running and came to the conclusion that constant pounding would expose the weaknesses in my ankle. So I looked into different forms of cross training and there are numerous areas of cross training that can compliment a runners training schedule. But for me its all about fitting in another activity into my already hectic day to day life. SO for Xmas my wife didn’t know what to get me so I suggest she bought me a bike. That’s exactly what she did. I used to race road and mountain bikes so getting back in the saddle was not an issue although I did forget about the joys of breaking in a new saddle!!!

I have done a few weeks of just cycling in and out of work, mainly to get used to it again, now that I am content that my fitness has gone up a couple of extra notches last week I decided to add in my lunch running sessions.

Monday - I drove to work but this enabled me to just go for a run and test my running, and managed a sub 20 min 5k.

Tuesday - I cycled in, then joined Phil Parry for a speed session (2 x 6 mins, 2 x 4 mins and finally 2 x 2 mins with 2 mins recovery between each effort) then a cycle home.

Wednesday - was a cycle in, 3 mile run and cycle home.

Thursday - was a cycle in and out no running

Friday - was a day of rest

Although they say it takes time to feel the benefits but I already feel so much fitter, and best of all no twinges in my ankle. So now for the push towards the Bristol 10k in May and some other races in between!!!

Its been a long time

It must be at least 3 months since my last blog, where have I been? what have I been doing?

I haven’t been anywhere apart from my usual haunts of Bristol and Portsmouth, but in terms of running I have been doing absolutely nothing, since my last blog my life has been cold, injury followed by another cold followed by another injury, the last was a suspected stress fracture, but turned out to be ligament damage. In 3 months I think I have got to about 20 miles of running in.

I decided to lay off running for at least a month to let my body catch up, inujries heel and my immune system build back up. As frustrating as it was I feel far better for it.

So what next, well I have just bought a bike and I am now commuting in and out of work (100 miles a week) in an attempt to build up my fitness levels and take the pressure off my feet and ankles. Over the festive period I plan to start running again and then in January I plan to run on a lunch time but use the fact that I am cycling and do more specific running not just clocking up the miles. I have until May to get back up to speed as I have entered the Bristol 10k

Let's get physical (therapy)!

My ankle (hereafter known as The Ankle of Terror) has been giving a lot of pain over the last few weeks so I’ve hung up my trainers for the week and decided to book in for a sports massage today.  I wasn’t sure what to expect as I entered The Medical at the bottom of Christmas Steps.  I was however happy to find out it wasn’t a ‘specialist massage parlour’ which adorn the streets of Bristol.

After filling in the medical form (which I managed to do completely incorrectly) I was offered a cuppa and my therapist arrived.  We had a chat about my lifestyle (hardly a champagne lifestyle), my goals and my current activity before having my legs assessed. 

Essentially my two calves are like ROCKS.  The therapist massaged the tightest parts of my legs releasing the tension and freeing up my legs.  To sum up the feeling it felt like he was intentionally giving me cramp, it was painful, and it got so intense at one point that it felt my leg would snap in two.  Clearly it didn’t, but as I hobbled back to the car the ankle of terror felt better, it still needs rest, but it does feel better.

If after the 10k you’ve been in pain, pain isn’t normal and all it might take is a massage, my experience has been of a highly positive and professional staff.  Just don’t try and book into one called Blondies, I don’t think they offer those sorts of ‘services’.

The loneliness of the non distance runner

My running shoes are looking unusually clean and there are frozen peas scattered across my living room floor. This can only mean one thing - I’m injured.

It’s quite ironic to be writing my first post while I’m unable to run, but I guess most runners - particularly beginners like me - struggle with injuries at some point.  I recently discovered the constant ache around my ankles is actually shin splints, probably caused by upping my mileage and swapping grassy tracks for hard pavements during my training for the Bristol 10k.  

So as well as taking a break from running, wearing soft soled shoes and submerging my ankle between bags of various frozen veg every night, this week is all about cross-training.  And judging by the weather forecast I’ve picked a good week for it! I hiked up Snowdon yesterday, tomorrow I’ll be swimming and this weekend I’m even going to get on my bike and start cycling.  Which is a big challenge to a road-hogging driver like me.

I’ve donated my place in the Bristol Race for Life 10k on Saturday to a friend so I’ll be cheering her and all the others taking part from the sidelines and looking forward to when I can get back out running with them. 

Up and Running again

I can finally start running again. THAT IS REALLY GOOD NEWS!

I seem to have made a miraculous recovery and there was not even a slight twinge in my achilles during my 4 1/2 mile tester run on Sunday. Perhaps this was because of the fab sauna I had at the Canons gym where we made use of a very nice free weekend offer.

The bad news is that I’ll have to make that sweet potato cake again…it’s not quite right and certainly not good enough to post on the blog. I’ll try it again today with some more sugar - that should do the trick.

Now that my training is going to start again I need to get myself a new pair of running shoes as there is no way I can run a marathon in the current ones … they’ve just done too many miles. I certainly do NOT want to impede my running with a pair of unsuitable shoes, so I am going to make a trip to my local Up and Running shop.If you are not sure what kit to use, these guys at Up and Running really know what they are talking about (well, the place is run by Bristol’s very own Nick Rose, holder of the British Half Marathon record).

They also have a free video/treadmill gait analysis which means that they can give you a pretty good idea of the sort of shoes you should be wearing … they can analyse how your foot hits the ground, discuss with you the type of running you do and pick the right pair of shoes accordingly … quite reassuring when we are bombarded with the jargon of biomechanics, cushioning, midsole cushioning, heel padding etc, not to mention the hundreds of different brands and qualities of shoe on the market now.

Let’s face it, running is a pretty cheap sport…what better justification to spend a bit of cash on some gear once in a while!