Monday 15 September 2014

How much longer?

Another week and no running and the saying "You don't know what you've got till its gone" rings so true. All those times when I've been out in the dark and the cold, in the rain, in the snow, cursing, wondering why I run; well I'd happily run in all those elements put together now, just to be out there running.


In my last post I wrote about a trial run and how well it went. It was only 2 miles but the next morning I did feel a slight discomfort in my Achilles so I knew straight away I was not ready yet for a return to running.

I had a good swim session last week, I swam a mile..1600m, I was well chuffed, I swam breaststroke the whole way which is my strongest and preferred stroke. Its the furthest I've ever swam in my life I reckon.

Another bonus was I got out on my bike. Now for those who know me or follow my ramblings, you will know I'm not a huge fan of cycling. I cycled 13 miles to work, a route I would normally run but haven't for a long time, so it was nice to be back albeit on two wheels. I got a lift back home but this week I'll probably attempt to cycle there and back a couple of times.

Cycling will at least strengthen my quads, something my physio told me would help my running mechanics.

What I'm really struggling with is my stretching exercises and particularly my eccentric calf stretches which would help hugely with my comeback to running. I'm not struggling to perform them, what I am struggling to do is actually get around to do them!

Just 10 minutes a few times a day....so why cant I motivate myself to do them????

I can motivate myself to get up at 6am to swim a mile, to cycle 13 miles but 10 minutes of stretching....no way! 

Does anyone else struggle with stretching? Maybe it's the boredom factor? I don't know but I really need to get myself back on track.

It's difficult keeping a running blog up when you're not....er...running, but hopefully it may help with people going through the frustration of injury. If you are, I feel your pain and good luck with your recovery.

Friday 5 September 2014

Maybe...just maybe


So my last official 'proper' run was 13th July, and all the runs previous to that going back to the new year were not really enjoyable due to my Achilles problems......Well today I ventured out.....I only went for 2 miles, nice and flat, nice and slow and things went well. I felt no pain on or after the run, tomorrow morning will be a good test because that has been the worse time for the pain. But I'm happy that this was the first pain free run this year!

I thought it was a good time to get some good habits back in my running and in particular my form. I always run with my shoulders high so I concentrated on relaxing them. It feels like starting out all over again. It was an incredibly slow run but I was just happy to be out again.

I was planning not to try to run again for another week but I missed my swim this morning (of which I've been doing twice a week) so I decided to bring the test run a week forward. I felt confident to try today as the last week I've had no pain walking or waking in the morning.

I put this big improvement down to using my running orthotics in my everyday shoes again, and just plain and simple REST! No icing, no stretching, no anti inflammatory tablets, just rest, and maybe, just maybe it could have paid off.

So for the immediate future, I will keep up the swimming twice a week and maybe run two 3 mile runs next week. I'm not bothered about building up distance as my new goal is the sub 20 minute 5K. 

It will take time but like having a marathon PB starting with a '3' it would be nice to have a 5K PB starting with a '1'.

Have I comeback too early? Only time will tell.