Athletes foot: Itching to get running again

 



If you've had athletes foot before you will know what I'm going through....if not watch this short video below:

 



 

Yep, that's what it feels like....It is burning, burning, burning!!!

I've had athletes foot before, but not like at the moment as it has become infected so I am on antibiotics, and using a cream and a powder.

I'm going through hell so I'd thought I'd share a few tips on prevention.

Do not itch, I repeat DO NOT ITCH, and believe me, you will want to itch! By itching too much I damaged the skin which became infected. Athletes foot itches like mad and having a good old itch will temporarily relieve the annoyance...but be warned.

Athletes foot is a fungal infection. It loves warm moist places, it loves athletes! With running especially in wet conditions, make sure after your run, that your feet are dry. I would suggest that you use an everyday talc on your feet. Keep it in your kit bag and use after each run or after you shower.

So how does it start? Usually between the little toe and the one next to it. If not treated, a rash can form on the bottom, sides and top of your feet.

For treatment I've been using a cream and a powder. As well as clearing up the condition they also give great relief to the itching. I am using Canesten dual action cream and Scholl foot talc twice a day. This should be effective in the treatment of athletes foot especially if you start using on the first signs of the infection. If like me you leave it and ignore it you will pay the price, become infected and it will stop you from running. It can also spread to other parts of the body, including the palms of the hands which I have suffered from too.








I haven't been able to run for near on a week now due to my foot swelling and being incredibly sore to walk on.

So that's two weeks of low mileage now, and I've generally been feeling sorry for myself, eating more than usual and eating all the wrong things. It's amazing how I've taken running for granted. I've only missed a week of running but it feels like an eternity. I feel lethargic, bloated and ITCHY and it's been horrible. I just cant imagine a life without running now, it's just something I do, and with less than five weeks till my hilly 21 mile race, I need to get back to doing!

Moving on 2013

So 2012 is well and truly behind us, a year with so many sporting memories. Personally it's going to be a hard year to top, I mean how do you follow running the London marathon......You go to a different country and run a marathon there!

When I say another country I'm only hopping over the border to our lovely neighbours in Scotland and to the Loch Ness marathon. Actually it's a bit more than a hop, it's 600 miles so flying will be the means of travel.

The Loch Ness  marathon

This will be my third marathon and I can't wait, but it's a while away yet and not until September, but it's been on my 'to do' list for a while.

Before all this happens and a bit nearer in the future (about 6 weeks away to be precise!) I have the Grindleford gallop to run in. This is a race I know very little about, alot of Twitter folk are doing it so I thought I'd join in.

I know that Grindleford is a Derbyshire village, and that the race is a 21 mile trail race with 3000ft ascent....and that's about it. I've paid my money and entered so now it's a case of ramping up the miles in training till then.

...something else I found out about Grindleford!

I've been good with my hill training lately which will put me in good stead for this race but I need to get some longer runs in. My weekly longest run is currently 13 miles, but I need to get this up to 15 or 16 miles in the next couple of weeks before trying to get a couple of 18 mile runs in before the race.

I'm doing both these races with my running buddy Brian which will be good. We've been running together for about 9 years now and have come along way since we started running a 3 mile loop twice a week!

I had a low key running week last week but apart from that I've been running regularly around 30 miles a week and have been really motivated in my running of late. I think that's been down to the variety of running I've been doing.

Once a week for a while now I've been running over the Ash ranges in the evening with Tim (@jedirider) Brian (@bsmithy100) and last week Susie (@starterfour10) from Twitter joined us.

It's been brilliant trail running with headtorches chatting away to like minded friends on a 10 mile loop exchanging stories about...erm...running! (Run nerds!) I really look forward to this run every week.

Tonight it was just Brian and myself out on the run, and it was a brilliant run. The trail route we take is rarely used so the snow was still fresh as we made our way around the route. It was tough as the snow made more work of it than usual but a great experience. The snow covered ground was so white that we didn't use our headtorches once.

Usually we don't see a soul on this run but in the blizzard tonight we actually saw another runner! Crazy fool, who would be out running in the pitch black in weather like this!!!

Brian on the snow run

Zondo Run and Endure T shirt

My first product review of the year is for the Run and Endure T Shirt sent to me by the good people at Zondo.

Zondo are a brand new sportswear company, with products designed by athletes for athletes. Currently on their website they stock running shorts, compression leg wear and running t shirts like the one I'm reviewing today. As well as running shirts they also produce a cycling t shirt.



Run and endure aqua blue t shirt

The fitted design is one of the stand out properties of the shirt. It hangs perfectly and when running is extremely comfortable and moves with the body well. There are breathable mesh panels under the arms and on the back of the neck. I warm up and sweat quickly on the run so the panelling worked really well in cooling me down and the moisture wicking kept me mostly dry.

Along with the great fit, the t shirt is very light, again this was noticeable on the run. The shirts come in a variety of colours and are currently being sold for £10 on the website. The original price of £29.99 would seem pricey for this item but for the current price, it's an absolute bargain, and I would certainly consider adding more Zondo products to my running kit collection.



Flat seams for more comfort

Trail Running VLOG #1

My first attempt at a VLOG post! An insight into my trail running over the Ash Ranges. Apologies for some bad camera work and quality (and presenting) as I was using my phone to record this.

What a year!

2012 for me has to go down as my best year for sport ever. Personally I competed in the London marathon in Olympic year. I met one of my sporting hero's and like many was totally blown away by the Olympics. To actually be there at two major events and to be in the stadium for the Paralympics will be memories that last with me forever. Below is my sporting year in pictures, some of inspiration some of self achievement.

My 6 races of 2012 that I competed in (from top left to bottom) Surrey Spitfire 20 miles,Denbies Vineyard 10 mile, Dirt Challenge half marathon, (from top right to bottom) London marathon, Love life love running 6 hour endurance, The running show 10k. I managed PB's at the marathon and 10k 

Happy: Me collecting my number from the London marathon expo

Anticipation: Start line of the London marathon

PROOF I ran the marathon!

Done: The other side of the finish line. Happy and relieved faces.

View of the embankment, one of my favorite moments and brilliant crowd support 

West Byfleet: The men's Olympic road-race, blink and you miss them! 

The Women's Olympic marathon. Amazing to be up close to the elites.

The Women's Olympic marathon: The top three finishers.

Inside the Olympic stadium for the Paralympics. One of the best stadium crowd atmospheres I've ever experienced.

Panoramic view of the Olympic stadium

The Olympic park by night.

The amazing Olympic stadium.

The privilege of meeting Paula Radcliffe.

A great year for Trail running.

New Balance 1260 v2

 

Once in a while I'm lucky enough to receive trainers to review. Today I received from New Balance a pair of their latest 1260 model.

I've had New Balance trainers in the past and been happy with them. The only reason I reverted to try something new, was to see if the grass was greener on the other side. I tried the Nike lunar glides, the grass was greener and I've stuck with them ever since.

Other trainers have been tried and reviewed but alas nothing has come close to the Nikes....until now!!!

The 1260 v2 looks stunning and has been put together well. The welded seams mean no stitching to cause rubbing, just one of the many well designed features of this trainer.

Putting the trainer on for the first time, I noticed how comfortable the shoe was. The toe piece is roomy but keeps the forefoot in place, the upper then hugs the foot nicely up to the well padded tongue. The heel is held in place well and felt secure on the run.

One minor comment I do have is that when lacing the trainer the last eye holes are very high up and to the side of the ankle which means when tying the trainers up the laces feel very tight across the top of the foot, and I had to loosen them off.

Once out the Tarmac I was impressed how fast the trainers felt. With new materials being used for the soles of trainers now, trainers are getting much lighter. The 1260 v2 is no exception, and to date are the fastest support trainer I've worn. The low profile of this model was something I was not used to but really liked.

The ventilation mesh on the forefoot was really noticeable. The evening was cold and I could feel the cold air moving through the trainer.

Gone are the days of the prominent medial support posts in heavy stability trainers. The medial support is there but designed perfectly in a very comfortable sole.

The trainers are listed as a stability trainer for mid to moderate overpronators but due to the low profile of the shoe it's hard to believe this is not more of a neutral shoe. That's not to say there is a lack of cushioning but as someone who suffers from tight calfs and Achilles it will be interesting how I get on with the 1260 v2.

Overall a brilliant lightweight fast road trainer for the lighter runner requiring some support.

Cushioning - 8 out of 10, Not as much cushioning expected from a stability shoe
Comfort - 9 out of 10, Very comfortable especially in heel area
Flexibility - 8 out of 10, Good Flexibity.
Responsiveness - 9 out of 10, Very responsive with the low profile

Overall 34 out of 40

Run with Paula Radcliffe

Thanks to the O2 sports priority app and being on the 02 network meant I got to meet one of my sporting heroes this weekend; marathon legend Paula Radcliffe.

Catching the 6:39am train to London on a cold winters morning is not something I am used to, especially after getting up at 5:30 the day before for my Friday run to work. But when meeting sporting legends its a small price to pay.

After reaching Waterloo and the short tube ride to Oxford Circus, I queued along side other like minded runners as we waited to go into Niketown and meet Paula.

 

 

Now I do like my Nike sports apparel, so to be in one of the biggest stores before opening time felt like being a kid in a sweet shop! As we waited for the introduction of Paula we were able to pick up a breakfast bag and mingle and look around the store. I got chatting to another runner who had made his way from Stoke for the event before I met up with fellow `Tweeter ` Simon. It was great to finally meet Simon after following on Twitter and we had a good chat exchanging stories of running.

As we all gathered around Paula was finally introduced to us as we stood and listened to her being interviewed by a Nike representative. Most interesting was listening to Paula describe her comeback from injury that sadly kept her from competing in this years Olympics. But it`s good news and sounds like Paula is not far from getting back to running again in the new year.

Q and A with Paula at Niketown

Sadly due to recovering from her injury, Paula could not run with us today but instead would come down to watch the core workout we had at Regents Park and then meet us back at Niketown for some photo opportunities.

We were all given a Nike white technical T-shirt before we head out along Regent street and to Regents park. We were split into 3 groups with a couple of pacers per group, it was strange to be swapping the quiet trails with running down one of London’s most famous roads, and as you would imagine there was a lot of start stopping to get across some of the roads leading to the Park.

When we reached the park we done some core workouts for about 15 minutes. After this it was a run back to Niketown. Before heading back Simon and myself spotted Paula along with a few others and got the chance to have my picture taken and a very brief chat with Paula. Simon being an ultra runner asked Paula about running ultras and running with Kilian Jornet, I added that Kilian was in fact not human to which Paula agreed!

Can I upgrade my current running partners for this one please?

Once back at Niketown, I quickly changed before joining Simon in the queue for another photo shot with Paula.

I felt a bit guilty as we were at the cut off point in the queue, as Paula had to leave and I was to get my second photo with Paula. The guilt lasted about a second as I grabbed another photo and returned the favour to Simon and got a photo of him and Paula as well.

2nd Photo with Paula back at Niketown

Paula was great in the Q and A session, informative,happy and laid back and so down to earth when chatting to her in the middle of Regents park.

A great day and well done to O2, Nike and of course Paula for making it memorable.