Archives for Injuries category
Posted on Apr 22, 2012 under 10-15k, Injuries, Long Runs, Milestones, Season's Best |
Having not run much this week I was puzzled by some calf tenderness on walking, which was more irksome than painful, but on palpating the calf there was quite a bit of pain, which made me hesitate about setting off. I massage it well to warm it up and figured I would just set off slow and see how I fared, and stop right away if it gave me any trouble.
Oddly, the first couple of steps I felt it, but then it totally disappeared, and I ended up running my longest run in some time with no problems. Well, no problems with running that is! I was getting warmed up by about 4k, and felt into my running by then and so gained the confidence to go on a wide looping route, that might involve a bus ride home if I got stuck (as always had be trusty bus pass!). Went up Windmill Lane and into Reddish, then turned down what I thought was the road towards Levenshulme but didn’ get it quite right, and ended up getting totally lost in a warren of council estates, roads just kept leading to more same-ish looking houses with not a sign of a main road in sight. I followed a set of bus stops which led me to a cul-de-sac, and by now I was cursng when I saw that a potential exit was somebody’s dead end drive way. I asked a woman with a child and she directed me to a little slope which led to the arse end of the world, a nasty little park with some ten year old kids “playing.” Their game was jumping out of the little hut at passers-by, troll-like, and yelling at them. I couldn’t resist a parting shot of “knob!” over my shoulder, which result in a tirade of expletives and that most cardinal of insults, “Are you walking or jogging you F&*cking wanker?!” to which I made some nice hand gestures over my shoulder before jogging along my way.
Eventually I found a road I recognised after wondering if I was going to wander through Limbo for all eternity, and the Garmin said I should get close to home by the time I reached my target of around 8 miles. At 13.1KM I decided I had just about done enough and was feeling really tired (my previous longest run was 10k this year, so didn’t want to pile on too much mileage!). I had my emergency cash with me so stopped near a shop, stopped the Garmin, and got myself some refreshments to stuff my face with on the walk home.
All in all a very good run, which actually seemed to alleviate the tenderness in my leg, so not really sure what that’s about. 13.1KM was a good marker, and if I can get a few more long runs in, together with some tempo runs, it bodes well for Manchester, and at least I know I can cover the distance, so whatever time I do is a bonus and I hope to just enjoy it without niggles or troll-like feral kids leaping out from bus shelters along the route, ha ha!!!!
Posted on Apr 05, 2012 under 5 miles, Hill Work, Injuries, Regular Runs |
Am starting to hope my calf injury might be a thing of the past!
Was out early today socialising, so was looking forward to an early evening run. Although it was cold early on, and there is still snow on yonder Pennines (Snake Pass closed!), the sun came out and although chilly, was bright. Put on shorts and set off, felt really cold, but Garmin found a signal quite quickly so could get going and warm up a bit.
Took in an incline that sometimes leaves me gasping at about 1.5k and felt fine, then headed down the long hill into the woods, and negotiated the loop by the river. At one point a little dog’s owner started calling it, and then it popped out of the undergrowth and started barking and snapping at me, running alongside me. The owner was very apologetic but I waved it off quite nonchalantly, funny little pooch!
Headed through the woods and experienced some kind of pain around my left chest, which disappeared when I stopped briefly, so figured it was some kind of stitch, and I felt fine so carried on and it went away. Saw some well behaved dogs, and reached 5k just as I got to the bottom of Stockport Road, a big hill which has defeated me on recent outings.
I took it slow and steady, keeping the legs turning over, and got up the really steep bit on one piece, then carried on, noting that the next km turned over in 6:36, exactly the same as the last 2, so I had managed to maintain my pace up the hill! That seemed to be a springboard for the last stage of the run, and although I was careful not to lengthen my stride (and therefore stretch the calf muscles) too much, I did get them turning over quicker, and did the penultimate KM in 5:51 and the last one in 5:45, the fastest couple since the calf went twang.
Had hoped to come in under 51 mins but it didn’t really matter to go a few seconds over, another 5 miler in the bag, 10 miles for the week, and might even add a few more on Sunday. Still need to get my confidence back in terms of running at pace and really pushing it, will just keep up with regular runs and perhaps run a little quicker for a few KMs in the middle stages.
So far so good!
Posted on Mar 29, 2012 under 5-10k, Injuries, Jogs |
Another evening run, just as the sun was going down and it was starting to cool for the day. Set off and felt good, had visited my sister’s so decided on a long rambling route back to my house via various main roads. Had to do my best to not speed up as I felt really good, and could have run at that pace all night, was breathing very easily, not taxed at all. But the target was to run 6k, not bugger my calf up again trying to run before I can, erm, jog the distance comfortably.
Thought I felt an occasional twinge in the problem calf, but if could be imagination, was fine on stretching and walking afterwards, could be hypersensitive and hypervigilant for any pains in that area, but feels good. Does feel great to be out running in the spring weather and working up a bit of a sweat, long may it continue!
Think the plan is now a couple of days off then run 7 or 8 km on Sunday.
Posted on Mar 27, 2012 under 5k, Injuries, Jogs |
Had a longish day and had lots of notes to write up, so thought a run as the sun was setting would be a good way to unwind! Not much time to warm up, so set off at a very sedate pace, and did the first km in 6:49.
Felt myself getting quicker as the run went on, and when I got to about 3k was going pretty well, noticed the Garmin dipping under 6 mins per km at times and felt that was a bit too quick at this stage, so slowed, but then my body quickened itself up again. Almost felt a twinge of some kind in right calf, could have been an insect bite it was that small, but it really made me slow right down again, until I got to the last KM where I sped up and was determined to get inside 32 minutes but somehow the quicker I got the less distance ticked over!
Finished in 32:18 with a 6:15 last km and no tenderness when stretching the calves afterwards. Am beginning to think I may be on the road to recover, and am quite enjoying this leisurely, pressure free running!
Posted on Mar 25, 2012 under 5k, Injuries, Jogs |
My other calf twanged while going up a step last night, so that was a cause for some concern, and before this run I stretched a little to discover some serious tightness in both calves 
With it being a lovely sunny day though, I really wanted to try a run, so I warmed up with some stretching and massaging of the calves, and set off quite tentatively, prepared for an immediate return to base… 100m and was fine, then made 1km, noticed I did it in well under 7 minutes this time so a bit of pace had imperceptibly come back, and I had to make sure not to get cocky and start going too fast. Slowed down a bit and monitored the calves, which were pain free, and the heat that was building up helped to keep me at a reasonable pace. Was hitting the kms in around 6:30 on average which wasn’t bad after the 7 minutes plus efforts of the last run.
Even managed a little uphill stretch, and had to force myself not to try sprinting the last 2 or 3 hundred yards, though I felt good, if sweaty. Hit the 5k mark in 32:42 so a big improvement on the last run without trying too hard, and no pain in the calves while running.
So far so good, just need to make sure I don’t get over confident and start doing intervals and sprints just yet, but if I can work up to a jogged 10k it will at least give me some confidence I can get round the Great Manchester Run, and as for a time, well as long as I can run, I will settle for around the hour mark I think!
Posted on Mar 23, 2012 under 5k, Injuries, Jogs |
Lovely sunny day. Had some pains in my calf at rest today, while meditating, so not sure what that was about. Was a bit scared of setting off running but managed 1k, stopped for a bit of a calf massage, then continued at a slow sedate pace. Saw another chap a couple of times and we had a laugh about our paths crossing.
Felt the occasional pain in the calf but it seemed more like the resting pain – possibly something to do with my varicose veins in that leg which may need looking at. No explosion though and the calf was pain free on stretching.
Resisted the tempation to speed up too much, bit did run the last km at sub 70 minute 10k pace, lol – now there’s a speedster in the making!
Posted on Mar 18, 2012 under Injuries, Jogs |
Just a very light comeback run, started off with some brisk walking then set the Garmin off and just ran in increments – 100m ran, 100m walked, then 200m, then 300m, gradually shortening the run/walk ratio so that I first ran 500m, then the last km all ran.
No pain in the calf, but didn’t want to push things too far too soon as we know where that leads, so was happy to do a run walked 2.5km and stop the run another day.
Think I will build back up very slowly and still include some weights and swimming, one thing I need to get back is the confidence as the sudden explosion of pain was still very much in my mind, and was half expecting it at every step, so will have to take it gently and build up slowly and let my confidence in my calf build up as well as my fitness, hopefully will not have lost much, my heart and lungs were very ready today and could have run a lot more!
Posted on Oct 30, 2011 under Easy Runs, Health, Injuries, Jogs, Milestones, News |
Well, British Summer Time officially ended at 2am, so thought it was high time I kick started my running and blog again!
The day after the City of Salford 10k, I woke up hardly able to walk. There was no sign the previous day, apart from a twinge half way through the race – nothing afterwards, no sign. And then I was suddenly hobbling around wincing as pain shot up from my left lower leg/shin.
This lasted a good while, in the meantime I took up swimming, which was a nice change and a way of keeping up some fitness. After a few weeks the pain subsided, but I was very wary of running again, and wanted to make sure the running injury was fully healed, being unable to afford physiotherapy for running injuries at the moment! Before I knew it, 2 months had passed and the clocks were going back, so seeing as it was a nice day, quite bright, and not too cold, and I got up too late to go to the pool anyway, I thought I would try a run!
Didn’t feel like almost November, so put shorts on and my long sleeve thin top, and went out to let the Garmin wake up from its 2 month doze, which took a while. Set off and within 200 metres a little dog tried to savage my legs and trip me up with its lead, which was quite funny, and then I settled into a slow pace and just felt curious about how I would feel.
At 2k I felt confident of being able to run 5k, and perhaps even in under 30 minutes. By 2.5k I had to stop and walk, and then kind of stop started for the next 1.5k until I ran the last 500 metres until staggering to a stop, gasping for air and with my legs feeling like jelly!
Gosh it took a while to recover from this comeback! 4k in 27:19, with walks. At least I felt the swimming had maintained some fitness, but even thought I’ve been swimming up to 70 lengths and doing multiple front crawl lengths, nothing seems as pulse-raising and generally knackering as running! Hopefully I will get back into the swing of it, but will continue to mix in the swimming for now.
Meanwhile I had a blood test a few weeks ago, and the results were that my cholesterol is fine, my liver is fine, my kidneys are fine, my blood pressure is fine, and I have a less than 2% chance of dying from heart disease in the next 10 years… At the same time, I have put weight on since I stopped drinking and started running 4 years ago, but think this may be down to consuming entire packets of custard creams after runs – I thought the running would allow me to get way with this, alas not, so I will be paying a little more attention to my diet in future, and the running and swimming will be part of a whole holistic health package.
Meanwhile, my counselling course is going fantastically well and I can’t wait to qualify and maybe even earn some cash, which is in short supply!
Happy Running!
Posted on Apr 29, 2011 under 10-15k, Injuries, Long Runs, Milestones, Slow Runs |
Lovely late afternoon sunshine was the setting for a planned 7 mile long run to get some distance in my legs, though I was a bit concerned as I had been experiencing shooting pains at rest in my left knee, which was odd as there was no pain running. As my mum always used to say, probably a bit of arthritis or something…
In any case I set off at a sedate pace and straight away started to wonder if I would be able to last for 7 miles, but kept the pace slow and steady. At about 2k I got the pain in my knee again and slowed, almost calling the run off, but just decided to keep going slowly. Ran all the way out to Debdale Park, then through the park and up past the reservoirs, before turning back and going back through the park again. I was feeling strong in a cardiovascualar sense, but as I left the park and started to think I might reach 7 miles after all, the knee started to complain and I still had a way to get home. It was either carry on or abort and get the bus. I slowed considerably, and started to flag in every way, but set myself a target of 5 miles, and when I crossed that set 10k, and finally, as I was really flagging and my knee was really protesting, I just did another half a k for good measure, and ended up at home feeling very tired and depleted, and needed to eat half a packet of biscuits to replenish energy…
Update: thankfully over the weekend there was no comeback knee-wise from the run, so it may just be the joint working to strengthen itself as i increase the mileage, but am not going to go too hard on it with the first race in a year only 2 weeks away…
Posted on Nov 02, 2010 under 5-10k, Injuries, Milestones, Season's Best |
Had a bit of an enforced break from running after my lower back twinged a few Mondays ago – decided to rest up till it went away entirely, then had a few easy runs to ease back into it, and fortunately no further back pain (or a repeat of the leg injury I had the last time my back twinged like that!)
So on Sunday I did a 5k and managed sub 30, and today wanted to run a sub 37 6k, which I just about managed in 36:50. The route has a couple of tough hills which slowed a few k, especially the penultimate one, otherwise I could have got nearer 36, at least I managed to run the last k fastest despite feeling tired – good for mental toughtness, feel confident the times will start getting quicker week by week now. I hope1
