Tuesday 25 May 2010

Enjoying the rest

The end of the first meso-cycle brought a welcome reduction in mileage last week. Unfortunately it also coincided with an increase in discomfort from my left knee again so the miles were reduced even more than originally planned as I felt that resting my knee would bring me greater long-term benefits at this stage of the training than an extra 8 mile run.

I’m off to the hospital next week to see about the results of my MRI scan on the knee which hopefully will determine whether there’s a real problem, and more importantly how best to deal with it. For the time being though, I’ve been enjoying the rest and the improvements in the weather.

Tired

Week three of the programme brought greater distances totalling 33 this week, with 12 miles being the longest. That was run with my pack on the way to work on Thursday giving me a feeling for what lies ahead as those runs get inexorably longer.

I had a sports massage on my legs this week too which was good and seemingly needed as it hurt. A lot. There were many knots in my quads and calf muscles, though my hamstrings and Achilles’ were remarkably fine. I think this is as a result of all the hill climbing. Post massage the 12 miler to work and subsequently the 10 mile early morning jolly round Derwent & Howden Reservoirs were far more tolerable so I think I’ll be signing up for more rub downs in the future, however painful they are at the time.

Biggest downside to this week was my knee starting to feel sore again. Not sure if this is down to new shoes, tired legs, increasing mileage or recurrence of the original injury from February.

Monday 10 May 2010

So far, so good

Well, all appears to be going well. I've increased the mileage to 31 this week, included a hill training session and the long run is up to 10 miles. The knee is not protesting too much either which is good.

My birthday this week resulted in a shiny new pair of trainers, a new backpack (a popular model amongst MdS veterans) and some funky Injinji socks which fit your feet like gloves with little toe pockets. The claim is that they reduce blisters by stopping your toes rubbing together. Two 10 mile runs in them (and the new trainers) have resulted in no blisters, so maybe there's something in it.

Was also up in Edinburgh overnight at the weekend for a friend's 40th so I had to do some shuffling of the training programme to ensure I wasn't trying to run 10 miles with a potentially large hangover. Fortunately, I was able to run on Saturday morning before we left Sheffield, and even better luck; the hangover never materialised. All in all, a good week.

Sunday 2 May 2010

It's the final countdown. Well, nearly.

99 weeks to go and the end of the first full week of "proper" training.

The half marathon was, as expected, hard work. I managed the race rather badly and went off too fast trying to keep up with my wife Angie, but conceded defeat at 10 miles and limped home in 1 hour 56 mins. Still it was under 2 hours which was the target so I can't really complain I guess.

This week has been the first week of properly following a programme of sorts. Cobbled together over a curry and a pint with Richard, we've got ourselves a plan - it's fairly flexible and may change as we progress, but we have something to work to. And so far so good. The week culminated in a fantastic 10 miler round the Derwent Reservoir feeling good and enjoying being out in the early morning fresh air.

No knee problems to report, one or two blisters which are a hangover from the half marathon and legs that are a bit shocked by the distances increasing a little, but all good so far. Let's hope it lasts another 99 weeks.