running home by Alaistair

Walked into a telling off this morning from my Physio, should’ve seen it coming but in a momentary lapse of concentration let my guard down and blurted out I’d run the York Park Run on Saturday. I know shouldn’t be running, well not just yet but figured a gentle jog wouldn’t hurt. Think he’s forgiven me, especially when he seemed pleased with the progress I’ve made in the last three weeks…at the end of the appointment he almost relented with the running ban but stopped short at permitting the introduction of a very gentle jogging for the next couple of weeks. I can live with that?

Anyway, the Park Run, my daughter has claimed her second victory smoking me over the final 50 yards. Can honestly admit that couldn’t have kept up if I tried…get this injury sorted and my time will come hee hee hee! Her recorded finish time for 5K was 27:31…how cool is that at her second attempt. My intention is to hold back her effort until her fitness improves as she seems to struggle mentally over the second mile. Just can’t hold back her enthusiasm though, not that I would want to, just gotta keep it fun.

Sunday reported for Marshalling duty at the York Brass Monkey Half. Conditions were dreadful, about 8 degrees but incredibly windy and as the route offers little cover the runners had a right battering. Nice to see a couple of Real Buzzers at the race, Dizzie1981 & RuddysMarathonEffort both finishing very respectably easily under 2 hrs. Figure the grimace on Denise’s face at the finish summed up her enjoyment levels…roll on spring or what!

Hit the gym again today and plan to be in there every day mon-fri for as long as it takes. My sessions have been put together under the guidance of the Physio and am working with a rehabilitation trainer, so they have to date been pretty full on. This weekend my legs were racked with DOMS which just goes to show how much I’ve been neglecting vital areas. Stretching helped ease the aches and they had all but faded ready for todays effort. Most of the program I’m following is fairly straight forward but what’s killing me in the middle of each session are the:

15x3 Squats

15x3 Lunges-on the Spot

10x3 3 Stage Squats

1 min Walking Lunges

finishing with

15x3 Sumo Squats

Clearly need to do much more of this as by the end of all these sets my legs are like jelly. Hoping for no more DOMS this week and will include this aspect in every session.

Certainly feeling much more positive going into this week, I’ve been buoyed hugely by a couple of really inspirational interviews on the Marathon Talk Podcasts. I’ve been aware of the site for best part of a year but never bothered to listen to the Podcasts. Currently whilst I listen to each weeks new offering have also dipped into the archive to discover some real gems. Favourite so far is the interview with Welsh running legend Steve Jones…didn’t realise but he holds the British Marathon record 2:07:13 set in Chicago in 1985! Have had a snippet of the Ron Hill interview and am so looking forward to dusting that off…

Two Physio appointments and two unforgettable acupuncture sessions later have resigned myself to the fact that this may take awhile. If I was to be totally honest with myself then would also admit that have never really properly dealt with some old injuries; was just in to much a hurry to get back running. Figure will now have to follow this process through to its conclusion regardless of how long it takes (physio is talking Mar/Apr at best). Think at the moment would be happy just to get the constant pain under control.

On the home front the upside of little or no running is lots of long standing DIY tasks are getting done around the house. In the past couple of months have made more progress than the last couple of years…do hope this progress has gone unnoticed…gulp!

Saturday saw the arrival of Park Run to York. Am a huge fan of the Park Runs but to date although having registered have never managed to attend any of the venues. York’s venue is the Knavesmire, literally 1.5 miles from my house. Its not the most exiting of routes, 1.5 laps of the service road that runs around the inner rail of the Knavesmire Racecourse, but its flat so ideal for anyone looking to improve their 5K times. Had for a long time intended to run this first event but in my current poor physique didn’t look to do any more than simply bimble round.

Mentioned the Park Run to Julie but she initially dismissed the idea, largely due to her fear of dogs and the fact that the Knavesmire is doggy heaven. When I mentioned the event to my daughter figuring she wouldn’t be interested was met with huge excitement. So agreed to run the Park Run with her on the understanding she would go easy on me!

Come Saturday morning Julie relented and braved the cold conditions, the Knavesmire was covered in freezing fog, -2 at best. The event was brilliant… 216 runners took part which for a first fixture was amazing. We started right at the back and did no more than jog the first mile…picked up the pace slightly but generally kept it real comfortable until the finish came into sight…my daughter then left me for dust!

She finished a few seconds ahead of me in 30:09; for a first effort am really pleased and will enjoy seeing her keep this going every Saturday morning. Give her a couple of months and if I can get back running properly then this could see her awaken the running potential that I just know she has?

Looking back, regardless of how I feel today...has been a good year for sure. I will draw heavily on that sentiment in the coming weeks to help get me back on my legs and get this run going again. In 2011 I managed to run 1420 miles, 47 of which were barefoot (wished I could’ve done more). Races run totalled 24. Managed to set 5 new PB’s:

Third Marathon  -  1:00:45

10 Mile  -  1:08:25

Half Marathon  -  1:33:34

20 Mile  -  2:31:45

Marathon  -  3:26:59

The sadly 2011 came to a slow end covering only 31 miles in the month of December. The race planned on the 27 Dec actually did happen although looking back not sure how sensible that was?

It was a must run race, the last on my running Club Championship Calender for 2011 and going into the race was on level points with my racing nemesis David. The event was billed as Multi Terrain but to be fair was mostly off road with little sign of road or a non grass running surface. The venue was Ripon and the area around Studley Royal Deer Park on the outskirts of the town. The race started up on Hell Wath Nature Reserve and was almost autumnal; not the usual ice & snow for this time of year.

Elected to run in Inov-8 fell shoes and was warm enough for just shorts & vest. Arrived extremely early allowing lots of time to try and get the legs moving freely, try as I might just couldn’t settle enough to give the race a real good go (lots of aches). Decided to run it conservatively and do just enough to stay ahead of David. Before the race he’d claimed to be lacking form and would not be competitive but have heard him say this before so was prepared to try and stay with him for as long as possible.

The race started well but from the very start found running on grass and rough terrain hard going; worked as hard as dared but my left hamstring grumbled and warned against pushing to hard. The threat from David just never came and after 3 miles running and a steady climb with an elevation gain of 380 feet the second half of the race was relatively easy going; was a gradual decent back to Ripon with an elevation loss of 371 feet. With still with no sign of David backed right off the effort over the last mile.

Sun 27 Dec,  Ripon Jolly Holly Jog 10K,  47:47

Posn: 115/414,  M50 21

Pace Splits:  7:13, 8:36, 8:22, 7:30, 7:20, 7:56, 7:22

As I managed to finish first M50 of my running club runners it’s enabled me to retain the award for another year. Have to say that the issues I’ve been having with Metatarsalgia did not surface during or after the race. Yes my foot aches and has continued to ache but figure it is slowly improving. Post race my real injury issues were at first with my Left Hamstring, hurt so much kept me awake that night; following day the pain moved to my lower back then hip & ITB. In the days that followed improvements have be slow and nothing seems to make a difference.

Running has just not happened, tried a gentle jog on a treadmill but pulled up with pain. Yesterday managed 2 very slow miles but to be fair have probably made whatever the problem is worse. Have seen the doctor in the hope of getting some funky pills to take the edge off but she’s simply referred me back to a physio. So this week will make a return to the physio and am hopeful he can get me back on track to get to grips with whatever needs to be done…great start to the year or what!

Had thought long and hard about posting this but figure must be balanced in what I write showing both the highs & lows. Well the current position is a low but do not under any circumstances feel sorry in any way as this is entirely of my own making…figure the crime is abuse of a pair of worn out running shoes, in hindsight should’ve thrown them away at 400-500 miles, ran them totally beyond bald and am now paying the price.

My running log makes very poor reading indeed…today is Dec 21 and this month have only managed 3 runs giving me a grand total of 17 miles! Last run was 9 days ago! Have filled my none running time doing absolutely no exercise, more by design to be honest as figured if I allowed myself anywhere near a gym then the treadmill would’ve been just been so tempting. My Physio confirmed my belief that the current injury is indeed metatarsal related…he used the term Metatarsalgia – thanks Malcolm.

Although I left the Physio feeling positive and hoped the situation would improve steadily the reality is actually something else entirely. Improvement just is not happening and every day that drags by feels like another training opportunity missed. Really not sure how to deal with this as currently just walking is aggravating it; the temptation is to try and run but to date every attempt seems to set me back further and the pain is worse every time.

I carry my bag of running kit everywhere but have so far resisted the daily temptation to run; my next must do race is 27 Dec at Ripon so perhaps will do nothing till then? Made the matter so much worse this week by ignoring an irritation on my left heal, could see it was dry but did nothing about it; paid the price with my procrastination early in the week when my heal split in the cold! So with painful Metatarsalgia in one foot and a split heal on the other am a right crippled old git!

Reckon the split heal was a blessing in disguise as was close to running that particular day…Will try to find some positive in all of this as perhaps the legs were trying to tell me something…