No Pain - Time to Regain

After injuring my calf I rested up for a few days - with a bit of gentle walking.
Tried running again too soon - short gentle run around the block repeating my first run - left me in pain again.

Ten days lost due to injury - less than 6 weeks to go. Bit like riding after falling off - get back on.

Romeo - “Courage, man! the hurt cannot be much.”
Mercutio - “No, ‘t is not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but ‘t is enough,‘t will serve.”

Recent Run Reports
Ten days on - restarted gentle running. Progress in past week:-

• 68th Run - First run for nearly a week. Short Slow Run to test out LH calf. No pain on this run. Sunny but cold day - wore top, over-trousers and gloves. Did not get too hot!  After midday but still some ice about. Steady gentle pace with no speeding.
• 69th run. Cool and damp - full warm gear on including gloves. 4.37 miles in just over 40 min.Followed route taken on day when injured. Legs felt OK - no aches or pains.Did not push the pace - just kept going steady. 
• 70th run. 6.28 miles in 1 hour and 1 minute.  Afternoon run rather than morning one. Dull overcast and a bit cool - westerly wind. Wore full warm gear including gloves and cycling bottoms over shorts to keep hands and legs warm.  Ran as far as 2nd river crossing - aiming at an hours run. Comfortable run - felt good - though not as good as previous longish runs before hurt leg. No aches and pains in calves - so reassured.
• 71st run. 4.49 miles in 42min 42sec. The Answer to Life The Universe And Everything?

Rest days between. Calf feels a bit tight after run today but not painful.

Lessons Learnt
These are five things that I should avoid:-

1. Extending distance by a too great an amount in one go
2. Not resting sufficiently between long runs
3. Inadequate fluid and mineral intake for exercise regime
4. Running hard on too-cold muscles on a cold day
5. Ignoring pain and carrying on.

And when running on a recycling day - watch out for trip hazards - bin tops left off and lying on the path.

Hungry Horse in 4 letters - MTGG

“I would not have the horse I drive
So fast that folks must stop and stare
An easy gait - two, forty five - suits me; I do not care;
Perhaps, for just a single spurt,
Some seconds less would do no hurt.” - Holmes, Contentment.

“Give me another horse!  Bind up my wounds!” - Richard III

“A horse!  a horse!  my kingdom for a horse!” - Ibid

“He doth nothing but talk of his horse.” - Merchant of Venice.

Injury

“Ouch!” - ET

It has happened - my first injury.

Has rather made a mockery of my new training plan published at the weekend.

Last week I did my first run more than 13.2 miles / 21.2 Km. Completed in under 2 ½ hours. Hence my confidence in my ability to complete the Bath Half Marathon in March.

Not so sure now.

Monday morning went for a shorter-faster run. Was to have been Figure 8 route 4.7 miles in about 42 minutes. On a straight slightly downhill bit where I was pushing the pace I got a sudden muscle spasm in my left calf. Thought it was "just" cramp so stopped and massaged it for awhile before continuing at a more circumspect speed. But then got more a severe pain at the farthest point from home. Stopped running at 2.44 miles / 3.93Km and walked home.

Had my phone with me so could have rung for a taxi.

Reading the Family Medical Encyclopaedia the symptoms suggest it could be:-

• Cramp - caused by a temporary lack of blood flow associated with severe exertion
• Peripheral vascular disease - in which blood vessels in the legs are narrowed
• Compartment Syndrome - pressure that limits blood supply.

The third of these occurs most often in athletes who have well -developed muscles. So it won’t be that. The second is a bit worrying as it could be associated with high cholesterol levels and narrowing arteries. Warm baths, deep heat and resting already seem to have reduced the pain to dull ache so maybe it is just the first of these three.

Time for Rest and Recuperation (R&R). Re-assess and revise plans - be realistic.
And maybe some therapy? Better ask Sam on the Runners Forum.

Good timing - it has been sheeting down with rain ever since.

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs Ch 16 v18.

 R&R - head down and hard at it. 

Pommies Paddled in Perth

Today is Antagonise an Aussie Day.
When you meet an Aussie shout “By an innings and…”

Make the most of it. It won’t happen again in my lifetime.

Tell an Aussie that the design is by Sir Ralph Freeman

There are some events so rare and significant that you remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard about them.

My childhood heroes include Peter Twiss, Peter Collins and Peter May. Most of you will have to google these names to find out who they were. Ba-bang, brrm-bbrm, thwack as it would say in the comics.

My knowledge of cricket is tiny and my cricketing ability at school was nil. They placed me in the field where I could do least harm and I never got to bowl and rarely to bat. My then undiagnosed short sight was a reason for my lack of proficiency.

It was only this week that I learnt why it is not a good idea to try and hit every ball and also the difference between “retaining” and “winning”.

In Sydney ask "Are You Being Served?"

Why are we drifting so far off topic? Motivation-motivation-motivation.

There is a lot of bull along the lines of “You can do anything you want to - you only have to try”.

No you can’t - ask Ikarus, or Captain Scott.

But you can improve. Planned, applied, timely and relevant training makes a difference.

Call his Ute a "Dinky truck"

There is no way that I am going to win the Bath Half Marathon - a winning time is just over an hour. For me it would be stretching it to complete the course in double the winner’s time. But I know I can complete the course in less than 3 hours.

Call his house a "bungalow"

As the weather improves - such an optimist - and Spring approaches my weekly training plan is:

• One longish slow run
• A couple of shorter faster runs
• An as the mood takes me run
• Three rest days in between

Eight weeks to go. Geronimo!

Chat Up his Sheila on Bondi Beach

More is Less

Another threshold crossed - a new distance achieved - more than ten miles.
To be precise 10.6 miles in 106 minutes. At my usual pedestrian pace of 10 minute miles.

Red Berries - White Snow

After an enforced layoff of nearly 2 weeks due to snow and icy conditions my fitness levels do not appear to have dropped as much as I feared. Yes, it has been difficult to get back into the swing of things and it has felt hard work at times. Restarted with a couple of short loops of 3+ miles, extended this to over 5 and then decided to double it.

Now that I have done 80% of the distance I am confident I can complete the Half Marathon in March.

Inevitably the shorter runs are faster on average - there is a distinct drop-off in my pace in the last part of a run - more markedly in the longer runs. Ideally I would like to increase my average on the longer runs to be closer to that on the shorter ones.

To do this I need to concentrate on the efficiency of my running. A more “falling forward” stance, better control over arms and legs, and controlled deep breathing rather than gasping, will all create more speed for less effort. I need to recreate the discipline I held to during my 10Km race - when my average speed was above my usual but my max speed was less than usual.

I ache therefore I am.

Rest day today.

In running, every pace
Is but between two legs a race,
In which both do their uttermost
To get before, and win the post;

Yet when they’re at their races' ends,
They’re still as kind and constant friends,
And, to relieve their weariness,
By turns give one another ease.

Butler.

Kind and constant friends - Saxons at Dyrham Park NT