It was very hard going out this morning - but I’m very glad I did.

The alarm was set for 5.50am - but in my normal way I woke up at about 5.15 and then couldn’t get back to sleep until about 5.49.

It had been raining all night but it was only a light drizzle when I went out at about 6.15am. So, the rain wasn’t too bad (quite nice in fact), but it was absolutely freezing… and I forgot my gloves too.

The run was really quite hard. Although I’m still at a very low base level as I come back from my stress fracture, breathing was quite tricky. This could have been due to the cold weather though.

The ankle didn’t feel too bad - but the achilles tendons were quite tight again.

The main reason I was happy that I went out though was as it was the first time I had been out for a run before needing to get the early train to work at 7.15am. I’ve also used that as an excuse not to bother… so at least that’s one bad a bit now broken!

Vanilla posted an interesting article over at Half-Fast today about the fact she always gets the urge to shout encouragement at other runners when she’s in her car.

I must admit, I also get the urge to shout at people from cars… but 9 times out of ten it’s to point out their general bad road manners!

With regards to acknowledging other runners when out training, I always make every effort to say hello or if that’s not possible (due to the need to use what little air I can inhale at the time for breathing), then I’ll always raise my hand in that hello-but-not-a-wave type way. It really annoys me when I don’t get the same response…. although I have to admit, the majority of the time the acknowledgment is reciprocated.

The whole thing is a tad more uneasy when you are actually overtaking someone though. I mean, it’s a bit easy to be taken the wrong way when you speed past someone and just say “hello”. It could almost be sarcastic!

When I was cycling and not running I found it was much more accepted to acknowledge other cyclists. But not having the best riding technique did lead to a lot of tricky hello’s as I’d lift my hand from the bars and wobble into the pothole that I was previously trying to avoid.

I think cyclists are a different bread though… almost like motorcyclists. A cult almost. A tribe. A kind of us-against-them mentality. Which I guess is emphasized by the fact they have to share the road with the ‘them’ in their ‘them and us’ relationship… i.e. the cars! I think there’s a ‘let’s stick together’ mentality with cyclists, whereas a lot of runners are more of the attitude that they’re getting away from things and are in the ‘zone’… and don’t see themselves as being part of a larger ‘club’.

Or maybe it’s just that I don’t look that friendly when I’m puffing away and trying to mumble a ‘morning’ or a ‘hello’?

Right, note to self…. ensure a smile is attached to any passing acknowledgment!

Getting up this morning was very difficult. It’s the first time since I’ve started training again since my stress fracture that I’ve set the alarm to get up before going to work.

So, when the alarm went off at 5.55am it was very difficult not to turn it off and go back to sleep. It didn’t help that I’d already woken up at 5.40am and only just got back to sleep.

I eventually dragged myself out of bed and got out at about 6.20am. It was absolutely freezing and very foggy. I have to admit though it was a very good run. I felt strong, the breathing was good… and I don’t want to tempt fate, but the achilles tendons felt the best they’ve felt for a long time too.

But not due to a run… or even because of my workout in the gym this morning.

I ache all over simply because of a childish session in the swimming pool where I challenged my wife to a race over 2 lengths doing breaststroke (50m in total). Now, she’s been swimming for about 30 years, and I’ve only been swimming since last October when I started swimming when forced out of running because of my stress fracture.

So anyway, the wife went first and managed 1 minute 7 seconds.

Off I went… too fast… forgetting to breath properly… and inhaling half the pool. I couldn’t quit though… and… came in with exactly the same time.

So, a rematch was in order. This time we were both quicker.. but again hit the same time. 1 minute 3 seconds. I have to admit I was very happy! Wendy wasn’t though as I swam 4 strokes under water to start with - which apparently is breaking the rules! Oh well!

So, I now ache all over. Swimming flat out for 50 metres kind of feels like a sprint at the end of a 10K road race!

It was pretty cold this morning when I went out for my run at about 8:15. My achilles tendons were pretty tight when I woke up - but it’s been strange… the last couple of days they’ve felt different. Almost a pain that feels good - like they’re getting stronger or something.

Anyway, the run didn’t feel too bad - although looking at the stats afterwards it looks like my heart rate was a bit high.

I stopped as normal after a mile to do some calf and achilles tendon stretches, and after that I felt a lot looser.

Well, as you can probably see from the above mileage and pace I’m still very much taking things easy. My achilles tendons have felt better over the past couple of days so I thought i could go out for a short gentle run when I got home from work tonight.

My right orthotic still doesn’t feel perfect but it certainly feels better than it did. My right calf felt a bit tight to start with and I also had a slight ache at one point by where I had my stress fracture in my left fibula. My feet also felt quite stiff - but that may have been because I was consciously trying to land on my midfoot each stride - as on my podiatrist’s advice this is certainly the way I should be running.

So, anyway, on the whole it was a good run. Heat rate was very good (avg 133bpm) and I had a lot of breath. Was a nice evening for running too - slightly damp in the air but not too cold. I’m looking forward to lighter evening’s though, as there’s nothing quite as bad as running in near pitch dark and not seeing the drop in height of the pavement when you get to someone’s driveway!

As soon as I woke up today my right achilles tendon started to tingle. It’s pretty much been doing it all day now. I’ve even been a bot wary of doing any stretches. As I type this I’ve got an ice pack under it. I’ll give it 10 or so minutes and then do some gentle calf and achilles stretches - as well as the exercise to help with shin splints that I posted the other day.

I’m getting worried that it’s my new work shoes that are playing u so badly with my achilles tendons. They just feel so much worse after work. I’ll get a good indication of that tomorrow as I’ll be walking a good couple of miles in London between meetings.

Because I’m going to London tomorrow I wouldn’t have time for an early morning run either - which is kind of good news, because yet again I think I could do with a rest day.

I was in two minds as to whether or not I should go for a run this morning. My right achilles tendon still had ons and needles last night, but this morning it did feel better - so I thought it would be OK if I took it real slow.

I also decided to try a new route - went behind my house where there is a path along a small river, and followed this path for about a mile. This also meant I could run on a grass verge (well, mud verge!) and hopefully reduce the impact on the feet. This was certainly a good idea for the feet - but not so for my new shoes!

Anyway, I felt really breathless for most of the run - but looking at the stats afterwards it wasn’t that bad. My average pace was 3 secs quicker than target for a base run.

I went to the gym afterwards with the intention of taking it easy - but in the end did pretty much my whole routine (without the speed ladder) and plenty of core work. I then had about a 45 minute swim.

So, after all than (and a burger and chips for lunch), I’m shattered!

You may have read in my last few posts that I’ve started to get pain in my shins which could be shin splints. Now this may be down to a few things…

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Just got back from the podiatrist. I can now truly see the worth in getting custom made running orthotics.

It turns out that the orthotics were too wide for my new New Balance trainers and the new work shoes I bought before Christmas.

So, they were getting squeezed at the back (about half way down the heel) - which obviously meant they weren’t lying correctly in the shoes. This just goes to show that one size really can’t fit all. My podiatrist simply peeled off the protective layer and sanded down the outside edge of each orthotic. They now fit snugly into both the New balance trainers and the work shoes.

She said to give it 3 weeks before calling her if there are still problems.

They just don’t feel right.

I’ve hardly run at all this week and my achilles tendons are tighter than ever, I’ve had a few pains where my stress fracture was, and I’m starting to get pains in my shins and calves.

Will go and see her tomorrow to see if the orthotics need changing.

This is really starting to annoy me now! It seems that every time my achilles pain gets better ti then gets worse again.

I woke up this morning and the pain was probably worse than it’s been for a couple of weeks. I made sure I did a few achilles tendon stretches before leaving for work and this certainly helped, but now I feel like I’ve got a minor shooting pain every now and again in each of the tendons.

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I woke up before the alarm at 5.45 this morning and really was in two minds as to whether or not I should go to the gym or not. My stress fracture certainly felt a lot better, and at the same time I still had a mild amount of achilles tendon pain. However, I hate breaking a routine so felt I should really make the effort to go to the gym. After all, I think I’m really benefiting from the injury prevention strengthening exercises I’m currently doing.

In the end I decided against going to the gym as it really would have only been worthwhile if I’d wanted to use the treadmill before working out. As it is, most of my current routine can be carried out at home, so I decided to give it a miss and therefore gain the extra rest to allow the stress fracture to heal even more than it hopefully already has.

Instead, I’ve just got home from work and I’m going to spend half an hour stretching and doing some press-ups and core strength work.

I woke up this morning with a pain right where my stress fracture was. It’s not an intense pain, just a kind of dull pain when I move my foot in a certain direction or when I put weight on my toes. It doesn’t feel like a muscular pain, and if I press against the bone it does hurt.

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I’ve always been a Polar heart rate monitor user before but having not been best pleased that the strap broke on my RS400sd after less than a year, I decided to buy a Garmin Forerunner 305.

I carried out a lot of research online before buying my Polar RS400sd last year - and on the whole every comparison I saw was Polar vs Garmin. And it boiled down to one thing - footpod technology vs GPS technology.

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At last… after 3 attempts at a delivery I’ve just received my new Garmin Foreunner 305.

Once I’ve unpacked it all I’ll post a review!