Wednesday 2015/04/29. Taiji class. Did the long form and the sabre form. Not much to say about it really.
Thursday 2015/04/30. Did my 'loop' run from home and back via the Wykebeck Valley Trail. After about a mile or so I realised that my legs were still recovering from Tuesday's hill climbs! So I gave up hope of doing the route quicker than the previous time, and so was very pleasantly surprised when it turned out that I had in fact done it very slightly quicker. Distance: 6.3 miles (despite running the same route as last time when the GPS calculated it at 6.0!) Time taken; 57:44 Average speed: 9:03 mpm.
Sunday 2015/05/10. Leeds Half Marathon. I've had flu/cold for over a week now, and haven't run at all during that time. Hoped that I would at least be well rested though! Made the mistake of not doing enough stretching while I wasn't running, and not hydrating enough to counter the effects of the cold. Felt really eager to get running again, and felt pretty good before the start. I was hoping for a time close to 1h50m, but in the circumstances I should have scaled down my expectations. Something like 1h55m would still have been a good PB. Within a minute of starting running I suddenly felt very thirsty, which was a bad sign! And the sun kept coming out and making things hot, which was not ideal. Like a fool I went off too quickly, thinking that I would get ahead of my target pace and then drop down once we hit the first big hilll climb. But I was starting to feel tired and my hamstrings were getting a bit tight even before the start of the hill, so I knew then that I was in for a long tough run. To cut a long story short, my plan of really enjoying this event didn't come to fruition. I just suffered all the way. In the later stages I tried walking a few times, trying to get my thighs to loosen up a bit, which I've never had to do before. And it was the nearest I've ever come to actually quitting. I'm glad I didn't quit though, because to my amazement I did actually do a PB. Only by a minute or so, rather than the ten minutes or more which I'd hoped for, but at least it was one crumb of comfort from a complete disaster of a run. Need to get myself right now. I've had no colds worth the name for about five or six years, and now two absolute stinkers within the last three months. More fresh fruit and more sleep seem to be the most obvious areas to tackle.
Saturday 2015-05-16. Did Woodhouse Moor parkrun VERY slowly, but still felt rather stiff, especially in my ever-tight right hamstring. Had a bit of a stretch afterwards and then went for a shortish run afterwards. Ended up making it even shorter than I had planned it, but my shortcut added in a couple of steep climbs, so I'm not sure if it was really such a good idea! My legs felt pretty tired again afterwards, but it was nice to get running again.
Hats off on your half-marathon. The last one I did was...probably over 14 or 15 years ago and I remember I did not enjoy it one bit - course I was smoking like a chimney at the time and hadn't really trained proper for that last one. Any road ... The hamstring - I never had problems on long-distance runs or jogs but a year and one-half ago or something I was out with the kids at a park one evening mixing up walks, runs and high speed sprints and mine snapped - out of the blue, like. Terrible. Felt like I'd been stabbed in the back of the thigh. We were a couple of kilometres from the car parking area and it was still winter and we were still living in the Midwest at the time. One of the longest miles I've ever hobbled, lol. If you're succeptible to it, try not to run in the chill - even if you've to wrap heating blankets around your legs before you head out.
Tuesday 2015/05/19. Running club. Dropped down to group 4 to try to ease myself back in gently. (Thought about group 3, but decided in the end to just drop down one group rather than two.) Did 6.2 miles at a very consistant pace of around 8:45 mpm, with a couple of the hillier miles edging closer to 9 mpm. My right hamstring is still feeling tight, but not painfully so, so plenty of stretching should get it back to where it was fairly soon I hope. It's disappointing how quickly it has tightened up in just a fortnight of not running much, but at least I know that it's a situation that I can manage and improve. The main things are (1) not to overdo it, as per Belltoller's account of his hamstring snapping - the thought of that is frankly scary; and (2) to try to avoid having to take any further breaks from training which will set me right back again.
I wouldna fret over it too much, Johnno. When I was doing lots of 10ks and the occasional half, I never had a hamstring issue - despite never stretching before or after a run (yeah, I know) It was only while doing Fartlek type stuff that it happened and then it occurred while going from a simple walk to a high speed sprint. I thought I'd warmed up enough as I'd done a simple jog for a couple of kilometres, then a sprint, then a walk and from there into the sprint - right away into the takeoff -SNAP. The fact that your body is giving you advanced notice via tightness in the area is a good sign, I would think. I had no such indication beforehand. I also had the situation of being, what's the term? Quad-dominant? From constant lunges of all manner and squats. I warn't balanced to begin with and neglecting the effects of the Midwest chill.
Thursday 2015/05/21. Thought about doing hill sprints, but decided that doing my familiar local 'loop' run would give me a better yardstick by which to judge where state my 'recovery' is in. And the prognosis wasn't good! I've lost so much ground in three weeks that it's frankly depressing. --------- Did no running at the weekend, because I went with a bunch of mates for a couple of days up in the Dales. Had a great time, and did plenty of hiking, so I hope that will make up a bit for not running! --------- Tuesday 2015/05/26. Running club. Went with group 4 again, and we did just over 6.5 miles at round about 8:45/9.00 mpm pace. Towards the end I was itching to run a bit quicker, so that was encouraging. We've got our monthly hill sprint session next Tuesday, so I'll move back up to group 5 the week after that.
I've been feeling really good since Tuesday night's run. Started feeling like like a runner again! Thursday 2015/05/28. Did my local 'loop' run, and for a bit of variety I did it 'anti-clockwise'. Took it very steady and wasn't as whacked in the later stages as I was last week, although my thighs still felt pretty tired on the last big climb. It's taking time, but I'm gradually getting back to where I was before. And this flipping cold is finally easing. I've only had it for four weeks now! :bang:
Saturday 2015/05/30. Did a nice gentle parkrun (3 miles) as a warm-up, then set off on a slightly longer run as the 'main course'. Hadn't measured the distance of the second bit beforehand, but I reckoned it would be about 3.5 miles, and it turned out to be 3.8. Felt a bit sluggish during the parkrun, but was still running well 'within myself'. Managed to get the Strava app to work for the first time ever for me at a parkrun, and was pleased to note that each of my three miles was within a couple of seconds of each other. It's almost like I've learned how to pace myself! The longer run I took very steadily until the last half mile or so, which is mostly slightly downhill, so I upped the pace. I always feel better for having at least part of a run where I can lengthen my stride a bit and really 'flow'. I don't understand why but it always makes my hamstrings feel better for it, and it seems to warm them up for a really good stretch afterwards. After Satyrdays runs, I really feel like I'm making progress now, and getting my routine back together.
Tuesday 2015/06/02. Running club: hill sprints. Started steadily, to ease myself into it. But it took me about half of them before I really started to get the old 'zip' back. (Anyone who has met me might find it hard to believe that I actually possess such a thing as 'zip', so you'll just have to take my word for it that for a rather heavy bloke I can really shift uphill when I'm on form.) The really exciting thing was that when I had a stretch afterwards I touched my toes for the first time that I can remember! I actually stood with my legs straight and bent forwards and touched my toes!!!! Then I touched the ground, just for good measure! That's something I've never even got close to being able to do before. So I'm really chuffed. Edit: just after switching the computer off last night I tried touching my toes again, and couldn't get within six inches of them! Bah!!!
Wednesday 2015/06/03 Taiji class. Long form and sabre form. ------------------- Thursday 2015/06/04. Did my local 'loop' run, and this week it came to 6.3 miles. Did it pretty gently, as I was sore in numerous places! Had intended to set off at nine, but the battery of my phone was practically empty, so I did some work while it charged up and set off at ten. In the intervening hour, we seemed to have experienced the start of a bloody heatwave! Still, might as well get used to it, because summer might actually start some month soon. Tried to touch my toes again during my post-run stretches. Managed it - but only just!
Saturday 2015/06/06. Usual routine: did parkrun as a gentle warmup, then did a longer run, adding a mile to the previous week. So this time it was three miles then five miles. After twelve months of giving me no bother at all, I'm getting knee problems again. Last year it was the right one, but right now it's the left. It was sore at the start of Tuesday's session, but was okay by the time we started on the hills. I've been rubbing it with Ibuprofen gel, but on Saturday the pain kept coming and going all the way round the longer run. I really hope it passes soon, because I'm getting back into the swing of things pretty nicely now, and if I had to take a break to rest my knee then it would mess up my marathon training schedule completely.
Tuesday 2015/06/09. Running club, moved back up to group 5. Plan was to do about 6.5 miles at about 8.5 mpm pace. For some reason the Strava app on my phone didn't bother to record the first mile or so, so I don't know exactly how far we actually did. I'd estimate a fractin under 6.5 miles. Funnily enough, we largely replicated the route that I had run on Saturday morning. The difference being that on Saturday I was on my own, and last night I was chatting all the way round! Despite that, I was still pretty comfortable with the pace. And the best thing was that my knee felt fine for most of the run, only starting to hurt a bit for the last mile.
Wednesday 2015/06/10. No Taiji class again, this time because the hall was needed for the church's annual something-or-other. ------------ Thursday 2015/06/11. Didn't run because I had too much work to do. Hoped that the rest would do me some good though! ----------- Saturday 2015/06/13. No parkrun, because our club was hosting it, so I got to stand around in the rain for ages, writing things down on a very wet clipboard! ----------- Sunday 2015/06/14. My schedule would have been for a nine mile run this weekend, but since I didn't have the three mile parkrun 'warm-up', I decided to do a 'straight eight' rather than nine, and do 3+6 next Saturday. That's the luxury of being two weeks ahead of schedule! The bad news was that my knee was really rather painful for practically the whole run. The good news was that apart from the knee, I felt really strong. It feels like I'm getting right back where I want to be in terms of training, I just need to sort my pesky knee out. From on it's going to be anti-inflammatory gel on it every night whether it's been hurting me or not. No ifs, no buts!
Tuesday 2015/06/16. Running club, group 5. plan was to do 7 miles at 8.5 mpm. We did 7.2 miles at 8.27 mpm, so I'd call that a successful session! The best part of it for me was that my troublesome knee barely hurt at all at all, and what discomfort I did have only kicked in after about four miles or so, when we were coming back towards the city centre along the canal. We were going at a fair old pace at that stage, about 7.45 mpm, and with the heat and the humidity I was starting to feel very tired. But I got a second wind, and my knee stopped hurting too, so I finished quite strongly - but all the same I was quite happy to reach the end!
Your knee from wear 'n tear or something else? Tried speciality shoes? I've known of improper shoes to be the origins of all manner of ails - back, legs...knees even.
I originally damaged my knee or knees playing rugby at school. They've never been quite right since. When I got my first pair of running shoes just over a year ago, I got my gait analysed, and they found that I didn't over or under pronate, so I just wear neutral shoes. I suspect that the reason that the problems have reappeared after a year of not bothering me may be down to simply not doing enough warming up. I think that I was getting a casual in that respect, and when I basically missed two weeks training and then got going again, that's when I really needed to be doing a good warm-up more than ever. I certainly didn't skimp it last night, and that may be why the knee bothered me less. Hopefully a combination of warming up well and lots of anti-inflammatory gel afterwards will eliminate the pain altogether. Then I've just got to keep things that way and never take my knees for granted!
