Bedtime Reading

Since I've started blogging about my running I find I'm reading books less at night.  The reason being is the time I would normally spend reading books I now find myself reading running blogs.  There are some great blogs out their full of information, tips and real motivation.

The last book I read was on my holidays at Christmas and is the reason I developed an injury.  It wasn't my fault running through a searing pain while my knee screamed no more, oh no I'm not to blame it was the book I read. The book was "Once a Runner" by John L. Parker Jr.

 (Image from amazon.co.uk)

This book was such an easy read, I flew through it cover to cover.  It helped me reengage with my running that had stopped after the half-marathon in September.  I had been so happy when I finished the half-marathon that I just stopped running for a few months.  I read the book and felt, once again the need to run.  In my wisdom I decided I was still as fit as I was three months earlier and felt I could push myself hard to make up for lost time.  Unfortunately it doesn't work that way.  Three hard runs in three days saw me do damage, which now seems to be on the mend.  As it is on the mend I can look on the bright side, which is the valuable lesson that I learned and I hope I remember.  Listen to my body when I run.  If it is fine and feeling good an extra kilometre or two is nice.  If it is tired and sore be careful and if there is pain that doesn't feel right slow down and stop if necessary, there is no point in injuring yourself because a good day will be just around the corner.

January Round Up

January is nearly over, my first full month on this blog and the first month of my year goal.  I set myself the goal of running 1,500km in 2011.  This is 125km per month.  So how am I doing?

Negative: I got injured on the first day of my goal with the IT band giving me grief resulting in me not being able to reach 3km in my initial runs.
Positive: A foam roller, an IT band strap and a stretching routine later the runs progressively got longer and the last two runs I've been pain free.

Negative: I only managed 40.58km out of the 125km per month I should be doing to reach my goal.
Positive: I ran 12 times this month.  I never ran more than 8 times in a month last year so this is a personal best for me.

In the last three months of 2010 I ran very little.  I'm starting to realise how much I missed it.  I'm not at the level I was in September 2010 but I'm feeling good again and the stress is reducing.  Got to love running.

Joy, Joy and More Joy

I guess the Lisbon Half Marathon is more than a race to me.  About two years ago I, on a night out and half joking, said to my friends I'm going to run the Dublin Marathon and what followed was laughter.  The next day while sober I though maybe it is a big ask but a half marathon is not out of the question.  So I tried to get a few friends interested in the Lisbon half as I thought it would also make a good holiday.  I began running properly in January last year and now there are three of us scheduled to run the Lisbon half.

But during the first run of 2001 I got injured I have not managed to run more than 3.8km without my knee saying "stop, no more, I quit".  With the Lisbon half marathon only 7 weeks away I've begun to get more disillusioned and began thinking that it was just a dream that I would not be able to run across the bridge in Lisbon, until today.

Today I got up asking myself am I wearing the IT Band strap correctly.  I checked out the image on the box and it seemed that maybe I've had it slightly out of position (upside down).  I drove to the Éire Óg clubhouse, which is a Gaelic Football ground with a 1km floodlight track and ran there.

I adjusted the strap to the correct position and began running at a steady pace.  After 1km I stopped and stretched out my now warmed up legs and then I ran some more.  In my head the goal was to reach 4km and hope my knee would be quiet.  When I reached 4km pain free and surprised I kept going.  5km still pain free the legs kept going. Once I hit 6km I stopped but still I was pain free.  I stretched out and drove home for the first time this year happy with my run and feeling that Lisbon is a distinct possibility.

A Little Longer

The goal for today was 4km and to run slower than Tuesday so as not to put too much pressure on the knee.  I hoped that this would get me the extra distance.  The place I normally run was locked up so I parked up the car and ran to the nearest green area.

I ran at a nice easy pace and I kept going until the knee started to ache.  I've learned to stop when that happens (you would think it was something that I should know and not have to learn).  At the end of the run I didn't hit the goal of 4km but i had run 25 minutes, 5 minutes more than the last run which is a big positive.

I used the foam roller today for the first time.  I really hope it it works because it hurts like hell.  The half marathon is now only 52 days away.  The recovery rolls on.

Many Runners

I was away in Galway for the weekend at a stag.  One of my friends is getting married in February so we were out to celebrate with him.  As part of the weekend we went to a place called Pure Skill, which was great craic.  10 different sports that you have to try and succeed at.  You get one point per successful shot in each activity activity you do up to a possible 100.  For example one of the activities was baseball.  The ball was hurled at you at 50mph 12 time and each one you hit and managed to move in a forward direction was worth one point.  The other sports included golf chipping, golf putting, soccer, gaelic, rugby, basketball, tennis, cricket and hurling.  I got 26 points, which surprisingly was not last place but I can cheer myself up knowing that the most anyone has got is 68 points, believe me it is not easy.

So after that nice weekend without much exercise, except the weight lifting of a pint glass or two and the odd attempt to hit something in Pure Skill  it was back to the track today to see if the rest did the legs some good and the alcohol didn't do to much damage.  At the track there was a group of about 40 people running as part of a fit for life group.  I've noticed a lot of runners lately, January is a good month to get back into things.

This is how my recovery is going.   I ran 20 minutes again and got a little bit further.  On Thursday I hope to reduce the pace but run for longer.  We'll soon see if I mange that.

Running in the Fog

The idea of running on the track is that it is supposed to be soft and a better surface for me to run on with an injured knee.  At -2ºC, with freezing fog, the ground was like a rock so I might as well have been out on the road.

Today was another good run, two in a row.  I found it a little difficult to break until I warmed up due to the cold.  Maybe I should have worm more layers but hindsight is a great thing.  There were three others running on the track tonight but with the fog I hardly saw them at all. I'm happy with 3.5km in 20 minutes but I need to take it a bit easier and slow down over the next few runs while trying to run longer.

The fog began to clear around the track as I was finishing the run.  It seemed to be the only place it cleared because it was a pretty dangerous drive home where I could only see 50 metres in front of me. I'm going to give myself a few days off to rest up and should be out for my next run on Tuesday. 

Cold Again

Lovely spring day in Carlow today.  The car was covered in a powdery frost this morning.  As the day wore on the temperatures rose to a nice spring temperature and we had the first beautiful day of 2011, blue sky and sun.  However I was working all day so it was night before I could go for my run and the temperatures had dropped back to -0.5ºC.  Even though it is not that cold it is still a negative figure so cool enough to run in.

Today I got a new piece of equipment that I hoped would aid in my recovery.   Here it is

With this in hand, or on leg, I went out for my run.  My aim was to run 20 minutes and see how I got on.  Previously I'd manage 18 minutes but had to pull up short with my right knee giving me a lot of trouble and pain.  I was wary at first wondering how tight I needed to have the strap and if it was on correctly but as I ran I felt good.  At 2km I still felt good, the first time this year.  I managed to make it to 20 minutes, continued for an extra 22 second to round up the distance to 3.5km and then stopped.  This was the first time this year that I stopped by choice as opposed to my knee stopping me.  It feels great to have a bit of control back. 

I've learned my lesson, I hope and it is this.  Firstly start back slowly and don't push yourself too hard, listen to your body and secondly don't take such a long break from running in the future as you will lose a lot of the fitness you gained.

I now feel that this is going to be a good year.  I know I've not found a miracle cure but an aid in my recovery.  I need to continue to take things slowly and stretch and strenthen the knee area.  Heres to 2011.

Short Run

A short run today but a bit faster than yesterdays. For the first time this year I'm out for a run two days in a row.  Still running on the track and I'm beginning to start missing running on the road but until I build up my core fitness I'm going to continue on the track.  Another two weeks should hopefully do it.

Signs of Improvement

My knee is still causing me problems.  It gets really sore during a run and forces me to end my run early.  However I've noticed that I'm running a little longer each time I go out before I have to stop so to me that is a sign of improvement.

Three runs ago I managed 12mins 10sec, two runs ago 14mins 39sec, one run ago 16mins 31sec and today's run was 17mins 44sec, an extra five minutes running over four runs.  It may not seem much but it is a comfort to know that me knee is getting better and not worse.

Frustrated

Another run cut short by a niggle in the knee.  This is frustrating but I'm just going to try to get out and do a little.  Today was 2.5km.  not much at all but still better than I've managed since the knee started to trouble me.  It's still troubling me.  Starting to get to me know but I guess I just got to keep plodding away.

Runner's Knee

Today I joined a Fit For Life group for men in Carlow.  The group will meet every Tuesday at 4.30pm at the local athletics club track.  I was speaking to the trainer about my knee and he said it was runner's knee and gave me a few stretches to do to strengthen the knee.  He said that with care I should be back to myself by the end of the month, here's hoping.

Today I walked 2km, which won't be a recorded session as it wasn't a run.  I'm going to get myself a foam roller also to try and iron out a few of the tight areas in my thighs and knees and hopefully this will aid in the recovery.  I'll have to be more careful in future about my training as this is a real pain not being able to run any real distance without pain.  The recovery continues...

Slightly Further

Another run done and me knee is still a problem. I managed to get to 2.4km before it started to twinge this time, 800m further than the last time so there is some improvement. Not sure if I'll be ready for the half but I'm going to try.

I got a new pair of runners yesterday, Christmas present. I went to a shop called Amphibian King where they measure your running gait along a track with a camera and then recommend runners that would be suitable to your running gait. I tried on four different pairs and had these viewed through the camera while I ran in them.  The pair that gave me the best support were the New Balance 1064. 

It seems that I have a neutral running gait and runners designed for that gait suit me best.  I wore the NB 1064 yesterday for the run and they felt great.  Hopefully I get to try them on a longer run at some stage.  My other pair are Asics and I love them putting over 380km on them at this stage.  The new version Asics weren't a good fit for my feet as the sides cut into my ankles, hence the switch to the New Balance brand.

2km and a Slight Twinge

So today I thought I'd try to test the injury.  I had been doing stretches for the last few day and the knee was still feeling a bit on the tender side but it was time to see if it could withstand a light workout.

I went to the track today as it was flat and not as hard as the road and my aim was to do at least 1km and see.  I got to 2km and the knee began to twinge a little so I stopped, no point in overdoing it.  I'm happy that it wasn't too bad and the next test will be Saturday when I hope to run 2km without any ill effects.  From there I'll up my kilometres little by little... I hope.

Soundtrack: None again as I ran with a friend.

First Run of 2011 and Injured

What a great way to start the New Year.  It is my own fault for pushing myself too hard last week.  The knee pain that I had last year and was the reason I dropped out of a half marathon I had registered for in June is back.  I managed to get to a distance of 4km today and the knee gave in.  I had to walk the last kilometre back to the car.  Bad start to the year.  The pain is on the outside of the knee and hits it at some stage in the run.  All is fine and then bang.  When I start to walk all is OK but I can't get to run again.

This has put a real question mark on the Lisbon Half in March.  At least it is over 10 weeks away and last June the pain came two weeks before the race.  The only thing for it is to try and run low distances for a while and to rest.  Next run won-t be until Thursday as I'm going to rest the next two days.  I plan to run 3km on Thursday just to test it and there will be a lot of stretching in between to try and strengthen the problem area.

Here is the details of my run.  Started with a 1km warm up, some stretching then and that was to be followed by 4 more kilometres of which I managed just 3.  No soundtrack to today's run as I ran with a friend.

Goals for 2011

Happy New Year everyone.  It feels like it was just yesterday that I was waiting for the year 2000 to come along and thinking it never would and now it's 2011 already.  Where did all the time go???

As it is a new year I guess I should try to set myself some goals to complete by the end of the year.  So here they are.  I purposely kept them small, at 5 and hope that I'll have achieved all five before 2012 comes rolling around:

1. To run 1,500km in one year.
2. To run my first ever marathon by the end of the year.
3. To run a half marathon in under two hours.
4. To find time to read a bit more, maybe finish a few of the books that I bought that are collecting dust in the house.
5. Lastly to spend more time outdoors this year, whether it is just grabbing my camera and going for a walk or heading off somewhere witht he family.  The idea is to try to spend less time couped up in the house.

It seems simple on paper, who knows it just might work.