we go running again..

just 4mo since we last ran, me and my colleague from work ran again this lunchtime. we did a very easy going 4mi up to the bridge across the Serpentine in Hyde Park. it was great to get out and especially so as we'd been looking forward to it for quite some time. his knee's been bad and my Achilles needs no further explanation. it seems to have stood up to the challenge. I'll probably have to wait till tomorrow morning to really fond out but seems ok now. will ice it well in a few minutes.

I think we've both realised that you can't just knock out the runs now. this break has been very frustrating so I've got to do everything supportive to the running - the stretching, icing, swimming.. - to keep me out on the roads.

with the results of the London ballot out next week I'll see who'll be running with me in Apr 2011, and thus who'll be training with me too..

another step in the right direction...

this time it was actually a real step.. in fact, quite a few. simply round the parks again for a slow 2.5m jog, but it was pain and ache free.. and i can't tell you how happy that made me. i stretched-out both Achilles at 10:30 this morning, then ran at 12:30.. stretched again directly after, then showered and iced (as best I could with the ice-pack i'd brought from home this morning) it for a good 20min. stretched again this afternoon, and it's feeling ok. there's a slight twinge down the Achilles itself, but it's not painful in the pinch test, so i'm guessing there's definite movement towards recovery.

what these couple of runs have taught me is how unfit and unbalanced i've got. totally lost my running form and felt quite stiff in my running style throughout. seemingly a large amount of work to get back to full fitness.

but i guess that's what training for a sub-3hr marathon teaches you.. just how fit and fine you can get - then just how bad and poor you feel when you lose it. and i do mean poor - it's a definite loss to find yourself breathing heavily at a mile in.. at a point where you'd just be waking up previously. however, the silver lining is knowing that feeling is there to attain.. and the fun you can have getting back to it..

calcaneal bursa..

i've got this feeling that, as the physio was kinda bemused about this being your regular Achilles problem, his other suggestion could be the one: calcaneal bursitis. my feeling is that this fits as well as anything else and kinda points to the longevity of this damn thing. same treatment - rest, ice, Achilles stretching - but a slightly different explanation. don't know what good it does me knowing this - or, at least, suspecting this..

oddly, pinching my Achilles last night i could feel nothing.. which was almost unbelievable. it's back a little this morning, but i suspected it wasn't gone gone. i guess it's just an indication that it's in decline. which is alright by me.

i'll go ahead and try another short jog tomorrow, then hopefully another swim on Wednesday, if possible. maybe some weights tonight too.

have the highlights to the Great North Run taped, so going to check that out this evening. apparently it was quite an odd race with Gharib tearing off early before the great man - Haile Gebrselassie - pulled back the lead to then leave them all between six and seven miles. Magnificent time too.. 59:33.. wow!

how does it stand..

so it definitely feels better. but still hurts and is stiff. but better. don't really know how to describe it - but there's an improvement. the run on Friday didn't lead to extra pain on Saturday morning, but it does still ache and definitely painful when you pinch the Achilles itself.

swam 1km this morning, and it felt great..

probably going to end up phoning the physio back and getting the doctor's number mind..

think i'm back at it..

saw the physio last night, had some massage and acupuncture again and i'm going to try out three running styles: exaggerated heel-to-toe landing, on grass and uphill. if any of these work to not produce extra ache in the Achilles the next day there's an indication of how to proceed. if i try all of these and nothing's doing i call him back in two weeks and get referred to a sports doctor who may well end up injecting cortisone - or something lovely like that.

so i ran today. did the heel-to-toe around St James and Green parks. and i seem to be ok. we'll see about extra ache tomorrow morning, but as for now, there's very little discomfort. have to say that at the start of the run i was feeling the base of the heel quite badly, but that wore off after about five minutes.

a little excited that this means i can build back up to full fitness, so i'm going to need to restrain myself from going out for any 40min 10ks too soon.. which was bread-and-butter just two months back.. all the same, if i can combine a few short runs with some swimming and other stuff for a few weeks and see where that puts me, maybe, just maybe, i'll be back in happy valley.

weight, by the way, now 11st5lbs. coming down nicely. [eternally hungry.]

tentative today..

i've got the physio appointment later this afternoon, and it's always the case that i'm a little itchy before going. on the one hand, i'm happy because there's a chance he can finally get me back out the door again, but on the other i have the opposite fear.. not that it's a persistent injury that will never go away, but that this time will be like the others - that there won't be a solution on the horizon, or that his prescription for fitness won't work out. my hope is that it will be some ultrasound. we'll see..

also burning the candle at both ends at the moment and not getting enough sleep. from every pro-runner's blog or interview you can see that rest and sleep are a huge part of their life - as much as the exercise. that goes for everyone i guess.. but channel-hopping late into the night then expecting to jump out of bed sparky early the next morning can't go on too long before it has a detrimental effect. and i love going to be early. what's wrong with me!?

holding out a little hope..

managed to get a good swim in on Sunday morning. only 0.5k but was the first serious exercise in a while and felt great. will probably try and get to the local baths for an early-morning or late-evening session in the week too. planning a weights session tonight given time. and the long-awaited physio appointment looms - Thursday evening. i do hope he can implement something that is practical. even the smallest of jogs - down the road after Joe on the way back from nursery pick-up - has caused it to inflame. seems like a devil to get rid of. even getting the idea that it might be chronic, but drawn back from that idea by the physio's last summary of it as just 'mild' - and that it really does hurt very little (just persistent).

otherwise, on a trip to the park and a walk past the running track i saw that it's getting resurfaced - and maybe refurbished, which is great. their website says it will reopen sometime in October. maybe it's just due a refurb or perhaps there's something connected to London 2012 - a training facility, perhaps?

why do we do it?

i'm probably not entirely clear to myself what i'm attempting to do by blogging my (non-)running and even with the running itself. does it get like that for everyone? you start into something, it turns out to be really good fun, you get more and more enthusiastic about it, turns into a hobby, turns into a sort of obsession, you suffer a few set-backs, you hit a few highs, you settle back in to it being part of 'what you do', you maybe become a little disillusioned (see here), you look for a way to reinvigorate yourself.. well maybe that's it, eh? you have to keep things fresh, make some changes..

i've got a physio appointment booked next week (no chance to get in there sooner, which is a shame..). i think i should look at that as part of a turning point. i can't take this injury as a the big downer that sinks the ship (i'm getting some of those vibes from myself lately).. i should think of it as the reason to try some different things, to go at the training in a different way. it could be that i look at London next year as my last competitive outing and just relax into doing a few runs for fun. [don't really think i can let myself do that, but i should consider it..]

i'm certainly going to investigate the local running club. i've talked about it enough. i'm also going to look into different forms of running: trail running (should be easy to access and so is a fairly likely candidate - as well as getting me out into the countryside), fell running (much less likely, but we've talked about going camping in the Lake District next year, and i'd love to coincide our trip with the chance to see one of the big races) or ultra running (even less likely, but never say never - i've got that kind of obsessive personality and enough sheer obstinance that could make it a good fit). overall, i just need to get back running - and soon..

hunger strikes and getting going..

i'm on a diet. i think i've lost a single pound (already!). i'm really hungry most of the time. this could easily make me very easy to annoy and send into a bad mood. but i'm doing ok. don't know how long i can take this constant hunger, but we'll let it ride for now and see what good i can do. i'm guessing that as my stomach sinks back to a reasonable size (after the gluttony of recent weeks) i'm going to be happier with the smaller, more infrequent portions getting served up. we're actually doing ok. Polly made a fantastic spiced chicken dish with chickpeas and last night we had smoked haddock with asparagus, spinach and a poached egg. heaven!

will be calling the physio later to book an appointment for (hopefully) tomorrow night - and (hopefully again) i can persuade him to do some ultrasound to the Achilles. if i could only get back running, the weight loss would be easier and i would be a whole lot better person. this is the lightest but worst injury i've ever had. i can't help feeling i'm making a meal of it too.

getting back to training is a hard thing. it should be easy. in fact it would be easy if i could run. i'd be out there in a shot. but training on my rowing machine or doing weights or bodywork is a different matter. there's a hurdle i need to get over before i feel enthusiastic enough to do it. i also need to find the time on the week days. looks like it's going to have to be an early morning workout and evening stretching. with a schedule i should be able to make myself do the necessary. i know i'll feel better for it..

back from holiday, not back from injury..

i can hardly believe it, but this tendonitis is still holding on. my only thought now is to book myself in for some ultrasound and see if it will dissipate from that kind of treatment. definitely now missing the half later this month, which doubly annoys me because i bought the t-shirt too. only bedwear from now i guess..

back from holiday and very overweight and underfit. the diet started yesterday, and so the exercise regime needs focus. again, oppositely, i can't really believe it that i've let myself slip to such levels of sloth, but i can feel those love-handles weighing me down .. it's not good. will work out an exercise plan tonight. might even post photos of my progress to incentivize my diet, as i find it so hard to leave lovely food alone.

current weight: 11st 8lbs (162lbs). target weight (for now): 11st (154lbs).