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I thought tonight’s run would be hard work, but it turned out to be pretty good.
I’ve been away all weekend as it was my 36th birthday last Friday and my present from my 6 year old son was a weekend away with just him! I’d been trying to take him camping last year but due to the amount of rain we had there was never a time that was guaranteed to be dry… so he’d said to my wife that he wanted to take me away for my birthday.
So, it was a pretty busy weekend… and on top of that the clocks went forward last night. In effect I was up at about 5 o’clock this morning.
A Sunday evening run therefore didn’t fill me with much excitement. But once I got started I realised I felt good and strong. I had a lot of breath overall the run felt really easy. Footstrike also seems to be getting closer and closer to my centre of gravity.
I don’t think I’ve ever been as hungry on a run as I was tonight…
After about 2 miles I was absolutely starving and thinking of every food under the sun. It didn’t help that at this point I passed a fish and chip shop!
I really had no energy whatsoever, but I didn’t let myself stop running. I was no way going to admit defeat and walk.
I don’t know why I was so hungry… I had a good lunch and also had a banana about an hour before going out. It could be that I’ve got the start of a cold - which I guess could just be sapping my energy.
The shins didn’t feel too bad today, but what with the hunger it was hard to concentrate to much on my form. I think I did a pretty good job of midfoot landing though.
I think an early night is in order!
I’ve been concerned all day today about a dull pain I’ve had just above where I had my stress fracture last year.
I haven’t got any pains elsewhere, and it doesn’t seem to be worse when I’m walking. It just feels like someone has kicked me in the ankle. I’m hoping that it’s just the tendons around the area, rather than an inflammation of anything else. I’ll ice it for a bit in a minute, and hope that it clears up by the morning.
I’m due for a 3.5 mile run tomorrow evening, but I’ll have to see how I go.
I’ve been suffering the last couple of days with shin splints. I thought Sunday’s run wasn’t too bad, but I must have been really heel striking.
One of the main reasons I didn’t buy a GPS for running when I first bought a heart rate monitor with pace monitoring functionality was because most of the reviews I read at the time were talking about poor satellite reception in built up areas or areas with a lot of cloud cover.
However, this was a good 3 years ago now, so having read more reviews recently about the Garmin Forerunner 305 and how Garmin had improved the chip that locates the satellites, I didn’t have an excuse not to buy one anymore!
Another run today starting at my gym.
The actual run was OK… so much so I decided to add a mile on at the end (I was only going to do 2 and a half miles originally).
The bad news is that just as I started this extra mile a massive hailstorm set in. I was soaked and absolutely freezing. It took about half hour to feel my arms again once I’d finished!
If, like me you want to move from having a heel strike to a midfoot footstrike when running, then you may also find it hard like me to gain the right feeling of landing with the midfoot.
Every explanation I’ve ever read about midfoot landing never really hits the mark with me. Most descriptions say you land just behind the ball of the foot, but not flatfooted. I found this really hard to get my head round what this should feel like. That is until I was at the swimming pool last night…
Well, after last night’s training run I was really worried that my achilles tendons would be unbearable this morning. Due to the fact I was almost landing toe-heel rather than midfoot on the run my right calf was really quite tight afterwards.
However, when I woke up this morning both achilles tendons probably felt the best they’ve felt for months. So, so far, so good!
I started to re-read my Chi Running book last night, as well as doing some of the exercises in there. But that’s a-whole-nother post!
I hadn’t been out for a run since last week (due to a little bit of a hangover at the weekend!), but tonight was surprisingly good.
I concentrated on footstrike again, and at times, if anything, I was landing toe-heel. It was unbelievable how it suddenly clicked in to place. As soon as my feet were landing below my centre of gravity the footstrike just felt ‘right’.
My achilles and calves are a bit tight though now… although other than that it doesn’t even feel like I’ve been out for a run. I hope the achilles pain isn’t really bad in the morning… I’ll let you know!
This isn’t really one tip… but more like two for the price of one.
Both of these tips were featured in the April edition of RunnersWorld (the UK edition) - but I’ve found that they work really well together.
Today’s run was one of those runs that I’m not really sure went well, but at the same time I’m not to sure if it went badly!
It was quite a nice evening tonight, but pretty cold. Just how I like spring evenings. It took a while to warm up - my legs and feet felt really heavy to start with.
I’ve still got a starnge tight pain in the left hand edge of my right calf muscle, which after about 10 mins starts to loosen up. And as for my feet, they just feel strange at the moment. My achilles tendons were their normal selves (tight, then loose, then slightly tight again!), but I just didn’t seem to get comfortable with my footstrike. i think the proble is I’m still trying to land mid-foot, but as I’m running so slowly this just doesn’t feel natural.
At one point I thought I’d just run without thinking of foot-strike, and felt myself landing more on the heel - although I’m pretty sure it was the base of the heel rather than the back of the heel - so maybe my efforts are starting to pay off.
Saying that, I have had mild pains every now and again in the base of my heels over the last couple of days, so that may also be indicative of a more forefoot landing.
I guess it’s still early days with my orthotics too. I’ve walked for 35 years without them, so to get completely used to them within 3 months does seem a bit unrealistic!
I’ve also had mild knee pain the last couple of days in my left knee. It hurts the most when I straighten my leg fully - right in the middle of the knee cap. And whilst running tonight I was certainly aware of my knee. When I got home the knee was mildly painful for about 10 mins. I think I’ll just have to keep an eye on that one.
This is another exercise that was given to me by my physiotherapist when I first saw her complaining of achilles tendon pain.
An eccentric exercise is an exercise that stretches the muscle whilst the muscle is under strain. So, in the case of this exercise, the calf is lengthening, but at the same time it’s working against gravity to control the ankle.
After a pretty restless sleep last night I didn’t exactly feel like going for a run this morning. But as we were all going to the gym anyway, I thought I may as well.
I’ve felt pretty good after my run-fit class on Friday evening, so I decided to extend the route to about 3.5miles.
The first mile or so was very difficult. I felt really breathless for some reason. It was still hard running to a 9.50min/mile pace though. My natural easy run pace seems to be at the 9min/mile pace at the moment.
By the end of the run I was feeling OK - and a gentle swim, sauna and time in the spa certainly helped too. As did the burger and chips for lunch!
I was really in two minds as to whether or not I should go out tonight. I’d had a twingy pain in my left heel all day, and was concerned I may have overstrieched my achilles tendons last night.
After much consideration though I decided to go out. I’m kind of coming to the conclusion now that it’s OK to have some discomfort as I get back to my pre-injury mileage.
I also felt it was time to start putting in more mileage. So, instead of my normal 2.25 mile route I did 3.5 miles (still at very slow base building pace).
I have to admit I felt really good. I didn’t feel breathless and the legs felt strong. I concentrated hard on landing midfoot - although I still have no real idea if I am successfully landing midfoot or not. I really must video my running soon to get a good idea of my form.
My achilles tendons also felt OK, but they are a bit tight now, so I’ve just spent half an hour with an ice bag on them. The real test will be when I get up in the morning… that’s obviously when they get their tightest.
Since writing abut how the Garmin Forerunner 305 is charged I’ve been concerned about the battery life of the wrist unit.
On a couple of occasions I’ve put the wrist unit on to start a run just to be greeted with the ‘Battery level low’ warning sign!
There are three main ways to gauge effort when training - heart rate, pace, and perceived effort.
I think each of these can play their part in training, but right now, as I come back from a long lay-off due to a stress fracture and achilles tendinitis, I think ‘perceived effort’ is the right way forward.
Why the question marks you ask? I’ll tell you… I step outside to go for my run this morning and the first thing my Garmin Forerunner 305 tells me is that it’s batteries are low. I could have sworn I’d fully charged them after using them last time.
Anyway, it was a gentle run yet again today. I went out last night and for the first time in about 6 weeks I had a few drinks. So I wasn’t expecting much this morning.
I felt pretty good though, and if anything it was even harder to run slowly at base pace than it has been over the last couple of months.
I think it’s time to start increasing my mileage this week. I’ve still been going to the gym at least twice a week, as well as going to my Pilates class… so I feel stronger than ever.
My achilles tendon pain has even got better in the mornings, which I think is down to the strengthening exercises I the gym, the foam roller exercises and a slow increase in road mileage.
So, things are looking up!