Getting keen for more

Things seem to have been progressing quite well over the last month. With each run I'm getting a lot of motivation and the enthusiasm I had when I first started this blog.

My last Long run was a whisker over 15km last Sunday. The best thing about the increase in distance is that it has come with absolutely no pain or niggles at all even in the hrs after my running.

The plan at this stage is to increase from 3 to 4 days a week, and continue to bump up the long runs. This Sunday I'll be looking to do 17km so I'd say after maybe four more weeks I'll be back to where I was earlier this year.

No goal races at this stage, but I definitely have the drive to do next yrs perth marathon.

I just ordered two pairs of the new 2130's from roadrunnersports which I'm pretty excited about trying out. It will be a 'downgrade' so to speak from my Kayano's but my podiatrist said with the custom orthotics they will provide enough stability that I need.

Two months of down time.

Sorry for the lack of updates of recent times. It's been a frustrating 8 weeks with a few highs & many lows. The good news is that for the umpteenth time this yr I am up and running again, albeit at a much much more conservative level. I haven't really been in touch with forums I used to read/blogs etc but I still will every now and then. I have started getting back into tennis of recent times and aren't sure if I'll ever get back 100% into running.. .time will tell.

Following my sore knee I got hit with the flu just around the time I wanted to start running again. This was no ordinary flu as it knocked me out for a good three weeks or so. At its worse I still only took say 2 days off work, but it just lingered around forever and left me with little energy.

At the outset of that I did start running again but after a week got some nasty shin splints following an 18 km'er. It was around this time that I started to think it was worth just giving it all away. Each time I have come back I thought I hadn't taken it too fast/ too long / too soon but perhaps so.

Where to from here?

Well I've decided to take it much much easier with running at the moment by thinking of what would be reasonable, and doing only a third of that... such as last week I only did 2 x 4km runs. I'm going to leave quite large gaps between runs and increase ever so marginally. As part of this new plan, I haven't set any target races so far. I'm sure it won't be long however before I attend say a 10km somewhere... and it would be good to even train say once a week or so with some of you once I get fitter again.

I'll probably still post say once a week or two, to fill in the gaps.

Slow Return to running / Thoughts on IAAF

Good news to report this time around as I did manage to run 32km last week, 2x10, and a 12km for my own private city 2 surf. I have noticed that my fitness has unfortunately dropped off as the comfortable pace is quite a lot slower that before, though as I am back cycling again to work (so happy it's spring!) hopefully I will get back to where I was soon.

All in all my right knee still is not 100% and I know for next time not to run through any pain as it's just not worth it. My plan is to ever so slightly increase the km's this week and am hoping that I get in a +20km run again within a month.

Well the world championship's have come and gone and as an aussie have mixed feelings about how we performed. It sure was great to see live both Jana win the 400m Hurdles, and Deakes win the 50km walk.

Not much needs to be said about Craig Mottram's run really... except that I had been waiting since the start of the year when I got into running and followed his great performances over the months so was really looking forward to see him realise his dream... only to inexplicably run out of juice towards the end of the race. Perhaps he just peaked a month or two too early, similar in some ways I guess to Alan Webb.

All in all I really enjoyed watching the athletics all week... it was handy having our time zone so close to Osaka that there weren't any late nights or early mornings required. Bring on the olympics I want more!

To C2S or not to C2S?

It's been a while since I have last posted, which as you may have guessed means that I havent been able to go running. The ever so slight twinge under my right knee cap has finally, 'I think', gone away which is great news.

I have actually gone out for what were going to be 10km or light runs but after just 1/2 a km felt a very slight 'this isn't right' feeling. I think I might just leave it for another few days to make sure.

The downside of all of this is that it means I'm really not in a good position for the Perth City to Surf this sunday. It would have been my 1st one which I have been looking forward to for sometime. The way I am feeling at present I know I can easily run the race, however do I want to risk:
- reinjuring the knee by doing too much too hard too soon?
- putting in a below avg time (not really that concerned about this one)
- substantially reduce chances of the Perth 1/2 the week after (at present I think I have realised that this is probably out of reach too)

Hmm, a bit to ponder this week, perhaps I'll go out for a 12km on say Wednesday night and if all things feel great may increase the chances of going in the race. At the moment I'm probably < 50%.

Hump day

I heard today that hump day will be officially entered into the dictionary... getting your mind out of the gutter, it simply is referring to Wednesday where the slope of the working week is on its way down.

I wish that my running came to some sort of a peak today but since last week I only have had one outing last sunday as I ventured out on what I was hoping for an easy 12km. After the first two km that nasty nasty feeling I had in my right knee emerged and I thought it would be best to turn back home so I only got a measly 4km all up for last week.

Walking around the last few days at work I am thankfully not in any pain but I feel like someone has placed a 5c coin under my right knee cap!? The sensation today is quite mild really though I believe another few days rest is unfortunately in order.

I am planning this Sunday to bust up another long run to hopefully get myself back to square one for the um third time in so many months. Someone from work commiserated at what seems like I every second week am having another draw back and indicated that I will probably give this whole thing up...

No way!! It's been a difficult learning curve but I am still highly motivated to push myself to run over long distances, and most importantly, doing it injury free.

As I have been warming the bench & not out there as much as I would have like to, I have taken the time to listen to quite a few podcasts from http://www.mysteriousuniverse.org It contains some pretty out there stuff aka ufo's, conspiracy theories etc but leaves me at night with something interesting to imagine as I drift off to sleep. Happy running, & I hope to be back out there soon!

Overtraining

With the orthotics I've been raving about over the last two weeks I felt invincible and made a bit of a mistake last week. Particularly since I was just coming back off an injury and am in relative terms reasonably new to the whole long distance running thing & got a bit carried away, yet again.

Upon doing a 21km saturday week ago I was thinking to myself last wednesday after already running a 10 and 12km on mon/tue that 'hey, i did 21 comfortably enough on the weekend, I think I'll do another one'... which I did on the wednesday.

Feeling a little achey after the 21km that I did a little slower I thought all was going well if I gave myself the rest of the week to recover and to get out yet again on Saturday for another long run.... which I did, 22km's this time with the last 1km however in pain. Runner's knee on my right knee. I guess that the ideology of ONE long run a week is there for a reason. Since the last four days I have been in major ice / anti-inflam mode to try and reduce the pain.

Two weeks ago I ran 45km, last week 65km. "What a mistaka to maka" I think that I will be sidelined until this weekend at the least and once again have to bounce back from injury. Being enthusiastic is one thing, but not listening to sound advice from others and overtraining is another.

It's a lesson commonly learnt the hard way by those starting out and I'm kicking myself for being so stupid. On a side note though I am pretty happy with the distance I covered :)

Nice day for a half marathon.

Things appear to be falling into place as my training starts notching up again. Yesterday was perfect conditions to get out running in Perth with no winds, the sun out but far from scorching for this time of year.

My long run was supposed to be on Sunday but I couldn't wait till then! I worked out a course that I can run from home and into the city, around the bridges via east Perth and home again.... All up it was 21km and took 2:17:52 including drink breaks which I'm happy enough with as it was supposed to be slow.

Since there are so many bubblers to get a drink from on the way I didn't take any fluids along with me for the run. I stopped probably three times to catch a quick drink and at around the 18km mark took a Gu Vanilla Bean gel (that I carried in one of the pockets in my race ready shorts www.raceready.com )and washed it down. I've got no doubt that this helped in the last few km's giving my that extra edge. I hadn't had the vanilla before and didn't mind the taste or texture at all.

My muscles were pretty sore afterwards, and indeed in the last 2 km but later in the evening hardly felt anything lingering. Today I was itching to go out for another run and probably could have done just a recovery run but thought it best to give the joints a breather after such a long run on sat.

Over the course of the coming months I'll be increasing my distance for the long runs, with next week going for a 23km... after yesterday, I'm really looking forward to it!

A Great Weekend

My return to training over the last week, and particularly over the weekend is certainly giving me a great deal of confidence. On Saturday I wanted to get back to where I was prior to my knee injury and set out for a 15km from home around the bridges and back again. I didn't feel puffed at any stage and not really any soreness either as I finished at an avg 6.20 pace.

With a bit of icing, compression in the skins and elevation, I hardly would have known that I'd just gone the distance feeling no niggles whatsoever.

Initially I had planned on resting today but after catching the last few runners in the Perth marathon and feeling so good I set out for a 12km run. About half of this run in the afternoon was along some of the marathon course as I saw the markers still there by the side of the track, and a good 20 or so Gu wrappers too.

The weather wasn't very good, but as I indicated in my last post, the rain is actually pretty grounding and didn't annoy me in the slightest. I was keen to extend it out to another 15km but thought it probably wasn't the best idea for my body.

Avg'd 6.05 pace for this run and sitting here after a tasty sunday night roast am very pleased that again I feel no soreness anywhere. For me at least it really does appear that the orthotics are what I needed all along and have no regrets spending the $$ on them now.

As much as I want to do some running tomorrow I think with the km's I have done over the last few days my body really does need a rest and will resume on Tuesday night, with some cross training, ie cycling to work to even things out.

Congrats to all that went in the marathon today! I hope to join you next yr.

On the road again

Last night it was time to put my recovery to the test so I set out to do the bridge to bridge 10km in sth Perth. Wearing my new orthotics, my knee still freshly taped from Monday's visit to the pysio I took off...

For the first few km's it felt like I was flying, it was quite different to my w'end run as everything seemed to be flowing so smoothly. I started to think to myself about the orthotics and indeed I could feel quite a bit of pressure on my arches as I pounded down each foot.

After a while my mind wandered to other things and to tell you the truth I hardly noticed them at all. It was a dark and stormy night with the wind howling, and the rain coming down almost horizontally with the wind trying to get under my cap. I was pleasantly surprised to see probably 10 runners all up on the run, kind of a reaffirmation that I wasn't going crazy doing this sort of thing.

Having said that, it was really quite invigorating being at one with the elements and made me feel alive again after being stuck behind a computer all day. I lifted the tempo a little over the last 1km and was really happy that my body carried me the distance without much of a problem.

Sitting here 24 hrs later I have hardly any soreness at all to report except for probably just a 1-2% dull ache in the knee which seems to be getting better every day.

It is early days so far, but I am really really happy with how the orthotics have helped align my body and somewhat correct the biomechanics. It will probably take a long run on the weekend and a few more weeks to truly ascertain the effectiveness of them, but at the moment I couldn't be happier! It really did feel like I was running the way I was meant to be. I guess everyone has different shaped feet and the way they supinate, over pronate, or just go neutral doesn't necessarily mean they are the answer... for me however on just a couple of runs, they are (...i think :)

In hindsight I probably could have gone for an off the shelf inner sole approaching the $100 mark to try first, but I was stubborn in a way and thought that I may as well go for the custom ones and fork out the $$$ in hope they would work. The good news is that I really do think they are. I have been wearing them around the house over the last two weeks and after my run have no blisters, admittedly though there is a slight discomfort on my arches which my podiatrist said will go away and I won't notice them at all. Oh yeah and about the squeakiness, talcum powder works a treat!

I'll keep you posted in the coming weeks with a bit more of a conclusive analysis, but at the moment it's so great to be on the road again!

...and I'm back.

It's been an agonizing fortnight as a combination of my sore knee and a cold put things on hold. I never would have thought that not being able to run for two weeks would put such a dampener on things as I felt somewhat like the Perth weather of recent times.

The sun however has come out and after two weeks of physiotherapy, icing, stretching and just rest I managed to get out for a little 5 km'er yesterday. I definitely could have gone further but thought it would be best to start small again.

The good news is that I pulled up with no niggles at all, and the remaining 2% or so soreness in my knee didn't flare up. I will probably resume running every second day gradually increasing back to what I was doing pre injury and fingers crossed I do hope to start getting along to the runs in the hills pretty soon. I'm thinking as you said Jon, towards the end of the month. Around that time I also would like to regularly join the wed night wamc runs too.

Oh yes...my orthotics which I finally picked up were part of my comeback run yesterday. I'll give an update on how I think they are going after wednesdays run.

... it's so good to be back, fingers crossed I don't go back to the injury basket any time soon.

Longest run to date

Hopefully the title of this post will be a regular feature here in the coming weeks as I work my way up.

I went out for my longest run so far 15.2km which I ended up doing in 1:36 on Sunday afternoon.... and now, I'm paying the price!

To my delight the left achilles which has really been bothering me over the last few weeks came out feeling fine, the pain however decided to relocate two feet up my left leg to my knee. Ouch! I am still able to ride to work as I just use my right leg to turn the wheels over but the motion still causes some pain.

I'll probably take most of this week off running hoping that the rest will be good enough and I can avoid getting it checked out at a doctor... friday aka 'orthotic pick up day' can't come soon enough.

Orthotics are a go!

After a visit with my podiatrist this afternoon I was recommended and accepted the option of getting some custom fit orthotics. I initially have mixed feelings about this, somewhat the money aspect, ie $595!!!!! that includes the few visits to my pod as well, but also as a few people I have seen around the traps mentioning that they get your body totally reliant on them which may prove a problem in the future.

However, on a positive note, it appears to be that approximately %70 of those that have subscribed to such measures have reported a substantial decrease in injury with their running. It's with this confidence that I am actually looking forward to getting my hands on them so I can start kicking out the km's I've been wanting to over the last month.

Next Friday I will get the chance to pick them up and have them fitted to my Kayanos, though he did say I can move down to the 2120's which will make my bank account a lot healthier with the next pair of shoes that I need to buy. I always envisioned that getting my cast done would involve putting my feet into some massive white boxes 30cm x 30cm for some reason, but it turned out to be nothing more than a little dip in the water of some fabric with the cast that he moulded by hand around each foot.

Taking my pod's advice I'll drop my km's over the next week both in length and intensity which is quite the opposite of what I really want to do but I'm sure it'll be better in the long run. I'm itching to get my hands on these plasticy/rubbery things that'll hopefully correct my bio-mechanical probs and let me get back to what I really love doing the most.

Recovery week and....Joggling

After the big race on Sunday I substantially dropped the amount of running this week. With only one midweek run of 5kms, and this morning I went out for a 12km. In coming posts I'll put up my regular running routes.

The other reason for dropping off the amount of running is because of an injury I've sustained over the last two weeks and saw a podiatrist about. That being achilles tendonitis which flares up on anything over 10km, though luckily went away completely in two days off. I've had it flare up twice now and the running over the next few days will probably determine whether or not orthotics are on the cards.

I have another appointment with my podiatrist next Wednesday afternoon which will probably leave me $500 or even more worse off depending on his recommendation!! Here's hoping it was just part of my body getting used to the longer distances.

Now what's this all got to do with Joggling? Actually what the heck is joggling? That's exactly what I was thinking when I went to watch this video from last week. No hints from me, you will have to watch it yourself :) Joggling

My First Race

The alarm rang and got me out of bed at 6:30 am this morning and it didn't take too much to launch me up to get ready for my very first race. As I put my race gear on and ventured outside to the balcony I did have a minutes hesitation as the chilly wind went right through me. This feeling soon disappeared as I started to think about getting out there for the very first time!

On the drive to the race I noticed a building sign indicating 19 degrees C, and the rain that had been coming down on Saturday luckily had subsided.

Upon arriving at Challenge Stadium there was a buzz of activity with the main car park already full so I ventured to the adjacent fields. I strolled over to the main starting area (via a quick loo break) and was impressed by what I saw in front of me. Several people running around an oval warming up, the mc keeping us all up to date on the starting time announcing sponsors etc, and a throng of runners and their devoted families and supporters.

We got the call that the race was due to start within a few minutes and I promptly made my way in the middle of fellow runners. I think that I heard there were 500+ runners that had signed up... it didn't look quite as large but certainly there were a lot of people there. Three minutes prior to the race we stood as the aussie anthem played... people beside me were wondering why they play it apparently all the time at the races, was this the olympic tryouts? One thing it sure did achieve was keep the boisterous noise down a bit, plus give me a chill up my spine... this was it!

The countdown to our race which included both the 3km'ers, and 10km'ers began and then... Bang!

Off I went in a stampede of runners... initially it seemed like I was surrounded by people with no free space ahead of me. The pace was reasonably quick and I noticed quite a few people weaving their way between the gaps... being full of energy and excitement at this stage I followed suit and by the time the first corner hit on a major road the racing pack had gotten to roughly three people wide.

Being caught up in the excitement I went out a lot harder than the pace I had been used to. After passing the main turn off for the 3km runners I was wondering what I had gotten myself into being a bit more short of breathe than I would have like. I was so tempted to hang a quick left and just finish there and then.

Just afterwards was the first drink area at the peak of a hill that I thought I may as well indulge in. During training I never found a need to drink over 10km's but thought that I may as well. Reaching out to the kind volunteer I got my plastic cup of water and within two strides had spilled half of it on the ground. Slowing down a notch I did manage one mouthful before the rest of it went splashing to the ground. Hmm I think I need a bit more practice in this department!

We finally had a few downhill stretches midway through the race as I started to slow down somewhat but maintain a bit more of a constant pace. Around the six to eight km mark there were several runners overtaking me as stayed in my slower groove that I started off with, ie smart runners that didn't go out on all cylinders.

Over the 7th & 8th km I had a welcome little chat with two runners. So a big shoutout to the guy asking about the time, and who was telling me how his ipod got him into the zone over runs like this and half marathons. Another shoutout to the nice lady that had just come back onto the course after attending to 'i think' one of her friends that was hobbling her way back. She assured me that there were only two slight hills to go and I was there.

The hills.. yep they were slight but boy did they start to hurt in those last two km's. Finally the turn off to the stadium approached as people starting to pick up the pace left right and centre. It was a fantastic feeling having people cheering on the runners in the last few stages of the race and gave me that extra boost. I saw the clock ahead of me ticking over 53 minutes and made my final dash to the line. Phew... I did it!

I was subsequently approached by two people carrying oversized table tennis racquets winding up to hit my stomach, before I realised that it must have been the electronic timing mechanism behind my race number they were after. I then got given my finishers certificate and somewhat hobbled over to the table with cups of water as I cooled down.

All in all I far surpassed my initial goal of achieving a sub hr race, finishing 'unofficially' in 53:18 according to my watch...I'll have to wait for the official results to come through to see what I really got as I started timing a little early & finished it after the table tennis holders zapped me.

So...What did I learn from my first race? That it's the best thing since sliced bread, I can't wait to get a chance to do it again. The people associated with running, not only the runners themselves and the camaraderie that I saw, but also the fantastic level of support from the organisers & volunteers was a real eye opener. My next challenge is to get a half marathon under the belt, and who knows from there?

Special Thanks to the volunteers of the day and those two runners I had a bit of idle chat with.

And so it begins....

A few months ago I finally discovered the joy of long distance running. I'd always try and keep reasonably fit by going to the gym, playing indoor soccer, squash, cycling etc. However I'd never really pushed myself to run longer distances before.

The first few runs of 5km weren't too taxing on my body and before I knew it I was pushing 10km & 12km days out. The exhilaration I experienced was unlike anything before... I found a new passion --> Running.

Tomorrow marks an important milestone as my life as a runner, namely my first race! It's a 10km run in surrounding area of Challenge stadium at 8:00 am. Stay tuned for my inaugural race report, that is provided I make it back in one piece.