Double Injured With Days To Go!

I know I said that was my last post before the run but, unbelievably after all this prep', I am injured only days from the run.

Injury #1
My wife and I took the tent for it's first outing to Snowdonia at weekend and in the middle of the night I was trying to get my sleeping bag zip from underneath me arching my legs and felt a 'ping' in my leg at the back above the knee.  It still hurt a little during the day though not badly.

On return home a little research said hamstring (yes, I have got this far in life and not been certain what  'hamstring' injuries were even though I now realise I've had several; all minor).

Injury #2
On Monday morning I considered the hamstring was OK to run and headed off for a 6km. As it was one week now to the run and I was going to use a route with hills and go a little faster than for the run then ease off for the week with a gentle treadmill & swim planned for Wednesday pm.
This route and speed turned out to be a very bad decision. The training run seemed to go comfortably with an 11.3kpm average speed but after I stopped I realised that the old achilles problem had returned and the hamstring was pulling and a couple of hours later I knew I was in trouble. In restrospect, unconciously protecting one may have exacerbated the other.

Panick Stations
Sick with regard to my state with less that a week to recover I went full on for RICE. Monday and Tuesday I moved very little, applied frequent Cold pads and Ibuprofen gel to supress inflamation and wore gentle elastic bandages whilst resting my leg up on the settee whenever able. Tuesday pm I started to carefully stretch the limbs to assist correct fibre healing and took a gentle walk.

I'm now at that point where if I could forget about it I would walk without any limp but I keep over compensating. Stretching is more comfortable and there is very little pain in either injury points more a feeling of stiffness. Carrying on with home treatment, stopped the cold now and moving toward massage and heat.

59:59

Hopefully, with care and gentle work I'll be ok for Sunday but I have abandoned my evolving hope of sub 55 and will just be happy if I can acheive my primary target of sub 60.  59:59 will do just fine!


  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

Over 60

60 years was reached last Saturday; now for the 60 minutes.

Up An Age Group

Sat 4th May was my last parkrun in the 55-59 age group, I hope the 60-65's take it easy on me. I was aiming at keeping to 30 min but ended with a 28:18 as my phone App packed in so I was guessing pace. Pleased anyway.

I Am Ready?
I'm feeling in a good place and am even thinking I may not just achieve the 60 mins but beat it. My last couple of longer road runs have gone very well. I completed an 8km (5ml) run on Monday at a pace that would come over a 10km line at 55 minutes.

Hot & Sunny
The previous Tuesday was hot and sunny (yes, this year!) and was my first run in those conditions. It certainly takes it out of you but my pace was still good for 10km in 59.58, a bit too close to my target 60 though.
I hope it is nice for all the supporters that turn out but I'd prefer the temperature not be too high on the day.

Training Continues
Still mixing road runs with Treadmill sessions of around 40 mins followed by 20 lengths of the pool and everything is feeling good.  My heart rates which have consistently concerned me also seem to be dropping.

One Week To Go
It's only a week and 2 days now to the Great Manchester Run and I am looking forward to it with optimism that I will achieve my goal.

I am getting a few more sponsors in now but just a reminder that I am supporting St Ann's Hospices and this is you final call to add your support.

  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.

Less Than 1 Month To Go!

No. 19044 Blue Wave
It's suddenly here; less than one month to go to the 2013 Great Manchester Run on Sun 26th May and my number and timing chip have arrived in the post.

Training Update
Last week I took on a current comfortable road distance but added a little pace to test myself out. The result of this was 6km in 33m which is a good sub 60min pace at 11kph.
I again used the heart rate monitor to avoid overstretching but took less notice of it only pulling back when over 170bpm.
I felt really good after this run although the old left achilles was making itself known the following days. This led me to give Bramhall parkrun a miss at weekend and delay my next planned road run with a few days rest.  I had intended a gentle gym session but I'd run out of payasUgym passes and by the time I had processed Tesco vouchers to buy them it was too late. I went for a 3km walk instead.

10k Achieved
On Tuesday I felt ready to go for 10km distance which I had wanted to achieve about 4 weeks before the run. My intention was to keep the pace a very easy jog going purely for distance and hoping not to have any walk breaks. I felt good on a gorgeous bright but cool morning and I jogged steadily throughout and was delighted to pass the 10km mark at 1:04:22. This means I only have to trim four and a half minutes which I'm sure I can do.

10km seemed a long way but only in time, I wasn't physically struggling so much as in danger of becoming bored. I guess that will be different on the day as running in a group is so much different.

I am very lucky where I live and parts of my routes extend into countryside. At one point I was running toward a gorgeous backdrop of the green hills of the Western Pennines as I passed fields of horses. There is also a lot of urban road and housing estates but this adds variety which is great.

After Effects
At the end of the 10km and that evening I felt like my legs had had a good workout and I was weary but generally in good condition. I could feel some tenderness around my left calf muscle to achilles tendon so iced that.
The following morning my ankles felt a bit 'clicky' and my leg muscles felt stretched but otherwise not bad. 48hrs later, my calf is a little sore reminding me that I have to be careful after injuring myself a year ago but it feels like a few days' rest is all that is required.

Cadence & Playlist
I have been running with my phone music library on random so have had no pace assist from the beat.
My next project is to select a playlist for the big day so I'll be measuring the BPM of various tracks and testing out what keeps me steady. Prepare for some dodgy tracks!
I found this free program very good for calculating BPM of tracks in my Windows library Abyssmedia BPM Counter.


DON'T FORGET TO.....
  
Running for St. Ann's Hospice in memory of Margaret Donovan (Mum) and Sheila Waddington.