Rolling, Rolling, Rolling!!!

First, A massive Congratulations to Mo Farah and Chris Thompson on their fabulous achievements in Barcelona this evening. Mo won the Gold in the 10000m race with Chris taking an impressive Silver. This takes Team GB straight to the top of the medals table after the 1st days events in the European Championships.

From a personal point of view, I have made good progress in recovering from my Achillies injury. Not so much in the healing process but the learning process.

After a couple of months of easing back on the running, self medicating and reading just about everything on the Internet that there is about Achillies injuries, I came to the conclusion that.....None of this works! The bottom line is, get help. As great as the Internet is, there is so much contradictory information out there, you just don't know what is correct and none of it is specific to you.

So I went for proffesional help. I had heard from an Episode of Marathon Talk about a place down in Hove near Brighton called Stride UK. There is also a Sports Therapists Clinic that works along side them called Studio 57 . I was so impressed and glad I booked an appointment with them, what I got out of being there an hour and a half was much more than I got from trawling through the internet for a couple of months.

Lily looked after me, and after explaining my injury to her and my background in running it appeared obvious that I basically wasn't looking after myself properly, ie. Not stretching,Foam rolling etc.

Most my problems lie in the fact that my muscles especially my calf's are extremeley tense and tight which is not allowing the mechanism of my lower legs to work properly putting strain on the Achillies and thus causing injury.( I think that's basically it, although we went into alot more depth of the muscle make up etc. That of which i'll leave to the experts to explain).

After a deep massage of the calf muscle and ultra sound on the Achillies injury I was given a demonstration into Foam Rolling. I have a list of other techniques to use with the roller but the one I'm going to share here is specific for my injury.

Sitting on the floor with the lower legs on the roller near the ankle. You cross one leg over the other, lift yourself off the floor and gently roll the calf over the roller. To get to the whole muscle it is important to get to the outside and inside of the muscle also, which can be achieved by turning your feet outwards and in.







**Please note you should get proffesional advice
 before performing these exercises, I'm no therapist and like I said the Internet's full of advice but not all specific to ourselves**

So it's two more weeks rest and foam rolling before introducing some stretching for the calfs and Achillies before getting back into some light training again.

I'm missing the running and at times you get so frustrated in being injured you start thinking what's the point. But I have proper guidance in getting better now, and also who can't be inspired by that great Team GB performance tonight in Barcelona.

Target...Windsor

After a frustrating couple of months with my achillies injury, I now have a new focus and goal; The Windsor half Marathon http://www.runwindsor.com/

74 days and counting. The time period is no problem and I'm back up to running 10 miles (12 this coming Friday). It's just my nagging achillies that are my only worry at present. But I'm putting in plenty of rest days in between runs, Icing, Wearing heel supports in my trainers and my everyday shoes, and my new secret weapon......Glucosamine and Chondroitin!

Someone swore by it on the Internet, and I have to admit I've noticed a difference.

I've also been trying out some pace training that I learnt from Episode 25 of the Podcast Marathon Talk http://www.marathontalk.com/archive/2010/6/29/episode-25-liz-yelling.html You basically benchmark your fitness by running one mile easy, one mile steady and one mile hard. My results came out like this:

Mile 1 - 9:36

Mile 2 - 8:12
Mile 3 - 7:05
 
Great fun (Well maybe not the last mile!) and gives you some good feedback.
 
I don't if it's the summer months, barbecues and the World Cup, but my search for a six pack is becoming a bit desperate at the moment. I've had some fleeting visits with the Swimming Pool, The Wii Fit and the bike for some cross training but the battle with the wrong foods goes on (although I do eat a lot of good as well). But I'm determined to get back on top of this.....Just not sure when?
 

 
That's life in my running world at the moment. A big thanks to everyone who stops by and takes a look at my blog. I know some of you from the Daily Mile and to The followers over there on the right of the Blog. Thanks again. You can also find me most days on the brilliant dailymile http://www.dailymile.com/people/ean371#ref=tophd

Bye for Now...Ian.