Return to running (take two)

And so begins my next attempt to return from injury.
It's quite tricky just keeping to a schedule of no more than twenty minutes. I want to run more but know that I shouldn't. Experience has told me not to do too much too soon otherwise I'll be sidelined again. Same old, same old. We'll see.
To offset this I've been working on my core strength. All the running textbooks say that a strong core helps prevent injury and can improve running form and efficiency. So now I'm doing core training two times a week. There's an iphone app called ParaFitness that prescribes exercises and a schedule to follow to build up the core.
I've also been massaging my calf as many times in the day as I can as well as strengthening it by performing heel lifts every day.
My original sixteen week marthon training was due to start in June but because I won't have the miles in my legs by then I've found a twelve week plan that will start in mid-July. This gives me three months to get back into fitness as well as increase my mileage to be able to start marathon training. This should still allow me to aim for a sub 3 hour 30 minute marathon although it does feel a bit like the last chance saloon.
Here's my run from Monday, it's a small loop around the streets where I live. I won't be going much further for the next four to six weeks.

A rethink

I have come to the conclusion that I need to alter my running goals for this year. Every time I go for a run my right calf flares up and although I can finish my run the pain the following day means I sometimes have to miss my next run. If I continue doing this then there’s only one way this can end and that is in injury.

I am warming up correctly, massaging and stretching but nothing seems to prevent the calf from reacting at some point during my runs, usually half way through.

So, action must be taken! I’m going to a) rest the calf until there’s no pain, b) massage and stretch it to death and c) return to running using a different plan.

The plan I’m going to follow is the Return to Running plan by PhysioAdvisor.com:

http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/7676250/return-to-running-physioadvisor.htm

This suggests running and walking up until a maximum time of twenty minutes. The running sections will increase but if any pain is felt then I drop back to the previous session and continue until no pain is felt.

My marathon training plan was due to start at the end of June but at the moment I’m not sure I will be fit enough and have enough miles under my belt to follow it. I may have to reduce my expectations from getting a sub 3:30 marathon to 4 hours or even just finishing would be an achievement at the moment!

I’ve also bought my third instrument of torture, a foam roller. This will work in a similar way as the Stick. I used one when I was at the physio earlier this year and found it helped enormously. Just like the other instruments of torture it causes large amounts of pain.

More pain

I’ve mentioned it before but four months of not running has meant I’ve put on about 5kg. I topped the scales at 86kg and am now being much more cautious with what I eat as I hope to get down to 80kg within the next couple of months. At the moment I am 84.5kg so it’s going in the right direction! Two things have helped. The first is my weighing scales. They are fancy scales that calculate your BMI and body fat content among other things. It uploads this onto a private website that only I can look at. Here’s a screenshot:

Secondly, I am calorie counting like nobody’s business. I’ve tried this before but found it tedious to work out how many calories each meal consists of. Then I discovered myfitnesspal.com which is brilliant. There’s a website and an iphone app that is ridiculously easy to use. It has a massive database that appears to have pretty much all the food in the major supermarkets and knows their calories, serving sizes and loads of other nutrition information. The upshot of this is that I’ve now become something of a calorie nazi. But if I can keep on top of what I’m eating then all the better.

Here’s my run from Monday, this will be my longest run for quite some time since my new running plan insists on much shorter distances.

Former Crim runner Ed Whitlock sets 80-and-over world marathon record | MLive.com

Former Crim runner Ed Whitlock sets 80-and-over world marathon record | MLive.com

This man is twenty minutes faster than my marathon PB and he's twice my age!!

Putting the Vibrams away, for now

What a difference a week makes. I have decided to shelve my plan to run using the Vibram Five Fingers since it is putting far too much pressure on my calf. It would only be a matter of time before I caused myself a major injury and do not fancy resting for another four months while I lose more and more fitness, saying goodbye to any marathon I want to run this year. This decision came after I had to abandon my run on Friday morning because the strain on my right calf became too much.

My new plan is to carry on running in my normal running shoes (at the moment these are Brooks GTS10 and Asics GT 2150) and to continue following the run/walk plan until I’m back to full fitness.

This morning my run was 65 minutes at 3 mins run/2 mins walk. This covered just over 10k and although I could feel my calf fatiguing towards the end of the run it managed to survive. I’ll stretch it out and use my massage stick to keep it from stiffening up.

I’m writing this on the day after the Brighton marathon. A whole year has gone by since I ran last year’s race and it will be another six months until I run my next marathon in October. I’m hoping to beat my time of 3:44:46 (to be honest I’m hoping to beat 3:30) but that all depends on my calf.

I’ve also been thinking about other challenges. This came about after watching the James Cracknell trilogy on the Discovery channel. He ran the 150 mile Marathon Des Sables and finished twelfth which is the highest placing ever for a Brit. He then followed this up by attempting to run and cycle the entire way across America. Unfortunately he was knocked off his bike five days in to the attempt. He narrowly avoided death and was laid up in a hospital for a month while his brain and body recovered. After this, and still with some frontal lobe brain damage he entered and completed the 430 mile Yukon Arctic Ultra cycle race which is run in insanely cold weather. If you want to understand the limits of what the human body can do I seriously suggest watching this series of programmes.

Anyway, with this in mind I’ve been thinking about what challenges I would like to do. Not necessarily in the next year or two but as a bucket list of challenges I would like to do before I get too old to do any of them. Off the top of my head I came up with this list:

• London Marathon
• Boston Marathon (via qualification, not charity or a sports tour package)
• Cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats via the most southerly, easterly, westerly and northerly mainland points of Britain.
• Compete in an ultra (maybe Comrades in South Africa or even the MDS!)
• Compete in an ironman (not really looking for a finishing time, just to be able to finish)
• New York Marathon
• Marathon du Medoc (where the water stations have wine! What’s not to like)

Runner’s World has an article on its website called “20 Races to do before you die”.  There’s a number in there that I wouldn’t mind doing such as the Ethiopian 10k.

Here’s the link, I think it’s accessible to non-subscribers:

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/racing/20-races-to-do-before-you-die/3594.html

Anyway, here’s my run from this morning.

BBC News - Could a marathon ever be run in under two hours?

BBC News - Could a marathon ever be run in under two hours?

Calf pain, the good kind!

One week on and my calf is still holding out! Although I think I have found the tipping point that causes my calves to burn. After two sessions last week where I was running two minutes and walking three minutes my calves were in absolute agony the day after both sessions and for a few days after that too! This is the good type of pain where you know that the muscle that has been underused in everyday shoes and trainers is suddenly asked to do a lot more work. Technically it's known as delayed onset muscle soreness (or DOMS for short). It's just like the sort of pain you get when you decide to lift weights after years of never having lifted so much as a bag of sugar. The muscle is adapting and getting stronger so this initial pain should "hopefully" be the worst of it.
My Stick massage roller has certainly come in handy over the last few days.
This week my sessions increase to two and a half minutes running and two and a half minutes walking. It's feeling easier than before and I don't think I'll get the same level of soreness. I did feel a twinge in my calf muscle this morning but nothing too serious and I was able to continue. To be on the safe side I think I'll run in my normal running shoes on Wednesday just to give it a break. I don't want to tempt fate just yet.
Today was also the first day this year that I was able to wear a short-sleeved running top. It really feels like spring is here when that happens. I always wear shorts, never leggings, even during winter but am not hardy enough to wear the short-sleeved top all year round.
My run was also improved by being able to listen to the podcast of the return of Adam and Joe on 6 Music. They've been away for 15 long months and help make long runs feel much shorter. I only ever listen to podcasts rather than music when I run. I find that the beat of music can interfere with my pace and I end up going faster than I should which completely messes up the training session. By listening to podcasts you get none of this sort of thing but also I find that they can take your mind off the run (in a good way, not a daydreaming-not-paying-attention kind of way). I've also found that I would look forward to the run just because I knew what podcast I would be listening to. So if the training session is going to be the dreaded speed work it would be alleviated by the fact that I knew I would be able to listen to Frank Skinner (for example). Here's a list of my favourite podcasts to listen to whilst running:

• Adam and Joe
• Answer Me This
• Collings and Herrin
• The Danny Baker Show (get well soon Danny)
• Dave Gorman
• Fighting Talk
• Frank Skinner
• Friday Night Comedy on Radio 4
• Iain Lee
• 7 Day Sunday

There's plenty of others but those are the main ones. There's also several great podcasts about running that I listen to in order to get inspiration and some tips:

• Marathon Talk - this is a great podcast for marathon runners (natch) that has interviews with famous runners from around the world such as Paula Radcliffe, highly recommended
• Phedippidations - this is a long running (excuse the pun) podcast by a guy in Boston who talks about everything that occurs to him as he runs. Not that informative but it's worth a listen to hear a normal middle-aged runner being so enthusiastic about running.
• Run Yank Run - I've only just started to listen to this one. It's about an American guy living in London and his thoughts about life and running.
• Running From The Reaper - this one has stopped due to his work commitments but you get the odd sporadic podcast from a guy called Nigel living in Staffordshire running along canals. If you are running a marathon there are a series that he did in the build up to the London marathon a year or two ago that are interesting to listen to as he tries to fit in the training sessions around his work and family life.
• 4 Feet Running - this has also stopped but you get the odd podcast or even vidcast from a married couple in the states. The wife is a marathon runner and her husband is very much a back-of-the-pack non-marathon runner. The dynamic is nice and they seem like a friendly couple.

Anyway, that's enough for now. This is a big post! Here's my run from earlier today. I'll update with another post hopefully during the week or early next week, I'll see how it goes.