3K Time Trial

With just one speed session under my belt in 3 months I knew this morning's time trial wasn't going to be flash. Thinking about it I can't recall ever being so calm about the TT, there wasn't a hint of any nervousness at all. So maybe getting injured does have some advantages :-) I did have a goal though. In the back of my mind was sub 13:14, the result of my first ever Pat TT back in November 2003. Still, I really thought I'd be closer to 14 minutes.

What a surprise to see Mark (aka ChillyPants, GPS Boy, Iliketoast) in the crowd waiting to get going. Welcome to the group Toasty - don't go getting too fast now!

I ran the warmup mostly with Ally, hearing about some of her travel tales. She was pretty much in the same boat, not a lot of running lately and I thought that maybe we'd be aiming for a similar time.

There was quite a crowd, and lining up to start somebody commented it felt the start of a fun run! "Can You Feel It" was playing loudly on the ghetto blaster as we took off.

I got to halfway in around 6m28s so was confident of going under 14 mins. Ally was just meters in front for most of the way and from a couple hundred meters out I finally managed to catch up to her and we sprinted in together. I'm sure I would have been a couple of seconds slower if she wasn't there - thanks mate! Time - 13:06. Its quite a ways off my PB from Feb last year (11:53) but it is better than I hoped for.

Chatting to Clairie afterwards we made a pact that it was time to get serious again - can't wait!

Happy as Larry!!!

Drowning My Sorrows

Clairie asked: Are you still seeing the physio and massuse?
Haven't been for a few weeks. I've started doing the physio exercises again (the doc suggested I stop until we saw the results of the MRI). But franky it was all starting to become rather expensive so I'm gonna try and get by without it for a few weeks.

Blkbox asked: Are you still planning on making it to C2S this year?
Somebody stop me!!!

Steve L asked: Was it just coincidence that the pain started after the stretching?
I'm going to experiment with a longer non-stop run soon and see what happens.

Several people asked: Who's Fat Craig Mottram?
Well, he's not really fat but the name sounds good :-) He's not quite as fast as the skinny one, but a damn good runner nonetheless.

*****

After a not so good result from my Saturday morning run I attempted to recover and heal by wallowing in self pity. Strange, it didn't help. I hit the gym mid morning Sunday and confirmed one thing I had been suspicious of, the lunges the physio is getting me to do is aggravating the ITB, I can feel it immediately. So I'm putting a 'no smoking' sticker on those for a while.

Late in the afternoon I hit the bike path for 6k. Still feeling sorry for myself I'd loaded the iPod with songs about drinking :-) I managed to get through the lot without any drama. Just before my last km a guy joined the path about 20 meters in front and was running the same pace. He looked fit, like an ironman, and as tempting as it was just to stick behind him I cranked it up and passed him and kept the speed going right until the end. That made me feel better to push things a bit.

I felt even better knowing I got through the 6k pain free. But wait, there's more. When I got home I found one of my favourite running socks that had been missing in action for a couple of weeks. Woohoo!

Morning After Pill

Its been a while since I've gone straight to a run from night shift so I was extra careful when packing everything Friday night. I might have had two sets of running clothes just in case (of what, I'm not sure) but forgot one vital thing, my anti-inflams. I ended up having time to duck into home before meeting the others at the Regatta at 6am, and was tempted to have it then but didn't as they should be taken with food, so had it with my post run brekky.

I was hoping to do around 14 or 15k and ended up running alongside Fat Craig Mottram for quite a while. For me this meant going a little faster than I would have otherwise but it didn't seem to be doing any harm ITB wise, my knee was fine. At about 6k I thought I should stop and stretch and let him go on. After this the pain slowly started to come on. Damn! I got another 1 1/2k, did some more stretching, then turned for home. At around the 12k mark the pain was bad enough to force me to walk a little.

I'm wondering if I didn't have that first stop and the subsequent stops if things would have been different. And missing the Friday night anti-inflam might have attributed to the pain, not sure.

Just Like Starting Over

After being given the go-ahead by the doc early in the week, and with the muscles recovered from Warwick, this morning it was back to Pat's. Checking back through my blog the last real speed session I did was Feb 28th!

On the pgm for today was 1 x 2k, 1 x 1k, 1 x 500m and 1 x 1k (or 2k for the fasties). I'm glad I didn't know this beforehand as its not exactly my favourite and I may have delayed my comeback until next week, especially considering the forecast was for 7 degrees overnight!

Knowing they'd be slow in comparison I wasn't going to time the reps but decided to at the last minute so I would have a benchmark for improvement. They went like this -

2k - 9m02s
1k - 4m20s
500m - 2m08s
1k - 4m49s

They're all a fair way off where I was, especially at this time last year. Still, I'm pretty happy, especially with that first 1k and the 500m. Though if it weren't for Chelle dragging me along with her there's no way I could've done the times I did in those. Just wish I could've kept within cooee of her on that last one.

With the warmup and warmdown it made for 10k all up. In two months I haven't got further than 8k without the ITB giving me grief but this morning it niggled a little but didn't really hurt :-) Three cheers for Celebrex!!!!

Warwick - A Musical Journey

Half Marathon
I had a big mix with 2 1/2 hrs of music planned just in case. I only got to hear 1h55m worth - whew!

In Front Of Me - TZU
E'pro - Beck
Cabron - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
The Rain -The Subdudes
Dancing With Joey Ramone - Amy Rigby
Another Sunny Day - Belle And Sebastian
Handle With Care - Jenny Lewis
I Fell Just Like A Child - Devendra Banhart
Ciaro - Amazulu
Linda California - Los Gavilanes
Dropkick Me Jesus - Bobby Bare
The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side - The Magnetic Fields
Speedy Gonzales - Pat Boone
Jive Talkin' (aka Ode To 2P) - The Bee Gees
Take It Easy (Love Nothing) - Bright Eyes
Three Is A Magic Number - Blind Melons
Under The Milky Way - The Church
Diamonds In The Mine - The Broken Family Band
Never On Sunday - Connie Francis
My Favourite Town Is Osaka - Shonen Knife ????
5 O'Clock World - Dave Clark Five
Macarthur Park - Donna Summer
Stars Of Track And Field - Belle And Sebastian
Let It Out - The Hombres
$1000 Wedding - Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield
Grow Old With Me - Mason Jennings
Portions Of Foxes - Rilo Kiley
She Don't Use Jelly - The Flaming Lips
Fall Of Rome - James Reyne
Black Cab - Jens Lekman
Heartbeats - Jose Gonzales

*****

4.6k X-Country
For this one what else could I choose but some cool country music :-)

Thinking About Drinking - The Meat Purveyors
I Spent My Last $10 On Birth Control And Beer - Two Nice Girls
Stay A Little Longer - Bob Boyd & Neko Case
What's So Good About A Country Man - Sara Storer
Singing The Blues - Marty Robbins
Worried Man - Willie Nelson & Toots Hibbert
San Antonio Rose - Dwight Yoakum
In Spite Of Ourselves - John Prine & Iris Dement

*****

5k Road Run
It was only 3pm but after such a big day it seemed late so it had to be a dance/techo mix.

Con Te Parturi (Techno Remix) - Andrea Bocelli
I'm Blue (Techno Remix) - Eiffel 65
Forever Young (Rave Mix) - Kylie Minogue & Alphaville
Lion King (Dance Remix) - Disney Techno
Chicken Dance (Techno Version) - ?
Shot You Down (Radio Edit) - Audio Bulls Ft. Nancy Sinatra
Time After Time (Techno Remix) - Cindy Lauper
Yeah Toxic (Blades Blend Remix) - Britney Spears Ft Usher

*****

10k Killarney Ascent
For this one I chose cover versions of songs for no other reason than I have so many of them.

I Will Survive - Cake
Baker Street - Foo Fighters
All I Have To Do Is Dream - Christine Lavin
El Lado Mas Bestia De La Vida (Walk On The Wild Side) - Albert Pla
Staying Alive - Coolio
Don't Stop - Darren Hanlon
Woodstock - Richard Thompson
Bolero - Pink Martini
I'm On Fire - Johnny Cash
After Hours - Rilo Kiley
Flame Trees - Sarah Blasko

I had stacks to go but ended up catching up with training buddy Tara around the 7k mark so switched off the iPod and we chatted the rest of the way.

*****

1500m Criterium
I knew I'd be hurting by this stage and may well be walking so had this song repeated four times on the iPod.

Can You Feel It - The Jackson Five

Thankfully I only got to listen to it twice.

To My Fellow Bloggers Who Did Warwick

Jen - Thank you so much for coming up and for talking the others into it as well. I'm sure it was your enthusiasm that got them to Warwick. You got through the weekend seemingly effortlessly you will have no choice but to do 'the lot' next time!

Owly - I think you should be called The Fox. Why? Because I think you've been foxing us about your level of fitness. That Sunday morning mountain climb is one of the toughest and you did it with ease. I was barely over the line myself and I turned around to see you and the others there. We are on to you!

Miners - Congrats on five really great runs. I was a bit worried when you joined the NSW team, I figured any QLD team was gone for sure. It was such a long drive for you, I hope you didn't regret for one minute making the journey. I'm glad we got to see your pretty red bike :-) And to see you run in the big girls blouse.

Cirque and the C's (Owen and Jorden). You guys made the weekend so much fun. Cirque, it was truly a special moment watching you cross the line in the 5k to reach your goal after the 'Coach To Warwick' pgm. Congrats! C1 and C2 certainly gave not just Miners but many others a bit of a shake up in the races. I laugh every time I think about the new "Owweennnn" warcry a la Throw Momma From The Train :-)

Clairie and her Clan - Clairie you ran brilliantly after a less than perfect build up. Big thanks to Al for waiting for me on the road during the half because he knew I needed my numbing spray when really I'm sure he would've much rather been at the 'action' area of the race watching you battling it out. As much as it was great to see young Matt get podium finishes in each of his races I'm afraid we'll have to work out some way of slowing him down, he's getting too fast for my liking. And Clairie, you stopping and making sure Toasty was okay in the 5k and then running with him was probably what pushed you out of the top 5 ladies. But I know if you had your time again you wouldn't do it any differently.

Chelle - you champion! What a collection of bling. Girl, you are on fire. The GC is going to be sooooo good for you. I can't wait to see what you come up with there. My only disappointment was the most important bling was left at home :-)

Hannah - woohoo! I can't say enough good things about you. You never cease to amaze me with your progress. When you flew past me in the 1500m there was no way I was going to catch you. I'm just glad you are a spring chicken and not in my category! GC will be very good for you too.

Shane - another return from injury legend. Congrats for collecting bling in every race. And thank you so much for bringing little Samuel out with you for all we girls to oooh and aaaah over. He's even cuter in person. I'm sure he gave me a wave as I trotted past him in the x-country :-) Another couple of years and he'll be zipping down the main drag of Warwick in the 1500m.

Tank Girl - unbelievable. Did Boony piggyback you around the 80k at Glasshouse last week? It baffles me how you can back up after that and run so well race after race. And take out second place in the open in each race. Thanks for bringing little Charlie along for us all to witness his debut on the running scene.

Iliketoast - the trip out there with you, Glenno and Lizzle was so much fun and the return to Brissie was even funner (is that a word???)! I am soooooo glad we talked you into this one, you were wavering for a while. Just a pity your toast hating wife couldn't make it as well. Congrats on some great results. Pity about the heart attack mid competition, your total time may have been a minute or two less if you didn't have to stop to be revived.

Matty - what a shame you were crook and couldn't run. Then again, every time I saw you watching on I corrected my running form because I knew you'd go mad at me if I was overcompensating for my dodgey knee. So for me you being out wasn't a bad thing. I'm looking forward to another great read in R4YL when you write this one up.


So much fun to be had, so little time. I just wish there was more of it on the weekend to spend with everyone. To the southerners who made the journey up here thank you so much for believing us about what a ball the Pentath-Run is and making the effort to get here from so far away. Here's hoping more will follow in your footsteps.

To any others reading this that weren't there, we'll see ya in Warwick in 2007 :-)

Warwick Pentath-Run 2006

There was no way I was going to miss this event, I didn't care how long it took me. And to be honest I didn't care if it set my recovery back a couple of months. I was going to finish it even if I had to crawl! Though saying that I did kinda have a goal :-) Sub 4 hours would be fantastic though likely unachievable so I set my sights on sub 4h19m (ie just one hour slower than last years total).

****

Breakdown of each race ...

Warwick to Yangan 1/2 Marathon
The plan was to walk every time I hit a water station, or sooner if my knee hurt. I stuck to this and even stopped at one stage and stretched. Both times I saw Al (Mr Clairie) parked I grabbed my magic numbing stuff from the car and sprayed my knee. Leading up to the run down to the finish I'm told I had a police car with its flashing lights behind me and several cars were behind it. I had no idea! With about 100m to go Glenno was just in front of me so all our training buddies let him know and he stopped and waited for me to catch up so we could cross the line together.
Time 1h55m05s

X-Country 4.6k
This has always rated as my least favourite run of the weekend and this year was no different. The course this time was harder with more difficult jumps. The only high point was spotting a girl from my category early in the piece and getting in front of her and staying there. I thought she was about to pass me with 50 meters to go as I heard these really heavy footsteps behind me. The pic below shows it was somebody just a little younger :-)
Time 24m25s



5k Road Race
I usually love this one but the knee was starting to hurt. But that wasn't the worst thing. What really got me down is I realised how much fitness I've lost. I just did the best I could and hoped I'd run under 5 1/2 min pace which thankfully I managed.
Time 26m19s

10k Killarney Ascent
This was Sunday morning and basically from the first step my knee hurt. It wasn't really bad though and I got myself to the first water stop around the 4k mark before my first walk. From then on it was probably 5 mins running, 2 mins walking. Around 7km I caught up with Tara who was having a problem with her knee so we walked most of the remainder of the way, running occasionally but not too far. With about 500m to go the boys came out and cheered us on and ran in with us. For a laugh we crossed the line running backwards.
Time 1h11m17s

1500m Criterium
Tara and I decided we'd cruise this one together. Being a straight out and back it was a ball cheering people flying back in the opposite direction. We weren't worried about our time or trying to run fast .... until I spotted that same lady from my category so we picked up the pace a bit and made sure we passed her and stayed in front.
Time 7m45s

These were my watch times so could be a second or two out. But with my bad adding up that comes to 4h4m51s.

****

So I made it, and only a little worse for wear. I've now done all five races at all four Pentath-Runs. Its an achievement I share with my training buddy Glenno (who is battling gladular fever), CR Fat Bloke and just three or four other guys.

Its almost impossible to sum up the Warwick Pentath-Run in one blog entry. I really want to make special mention of all my fellow bloggers but will do so seperately, this is long enough already. Its just such a fantastic weekend. So much happens, not just the running but the socialising.

It may be a long way to travel to get there, and a long way to run, but its all over way too quickly.

Close Your Eyes And Think Of England

** Boring knee report. Warwick report next post. **

6pm Thursday I went in for the MRI and sitting in the waiting room was surprised to see Aaron from Pat's wander in. He asked what I was there for and I said "a thingy on my knee". I asked him what he was there for and he said "I'm gonna do the thingy" :-)

I didn't have to go all the way into the chamber thank goodness, my head was sticking out. And I was given earphones to block the noise. Funny, I had no idea there would be any noise. Anyway, all I had to do was lie perfectly still for 20 minutes so I used the time to plan my races and training for the rest of the year and I wasn't even through October when the time was up.

Aaron was able to show me the results and his interpretation, a couple of spots of fluid (inflammation) but said the doc may be able to tell me more.

****

This morning I saw the doc and he basically told me the same thing - there was a little bit of fluid on the ITB and what looks like a tiny bit of patella tendonitis. He couldn't see any cartilage wear or damage. In fact he said I've got good looking knees :-)

The plan of attack is start on the Celebrax anti-inflams again as they really did ease the pain, taking one at night before the next morning's run. If after a couple of months its no better it might have to be a cortisone shot. But he was very reluctant to go down that path right now as it would mean a couple of weeks of doing nothing and then it would only mask the pain.

The bad news is he thinks I need to cut back the training, no more six or seven days a week of running. And he says to cut back the mileage :-( Though I did say maybe I should just do three long races a year (and by long he knows I mean marathon or ultra) and he said that was okay.

The good news is he said I can get right back into the speedwork so will probably be back at Pat's later in the week - woohoo!

No Better, No Worse

Set out yesterday for the usual Wednesday morning Regatta run. I was running on my own because I missed the 5.30am start, it was 8.25am when I got out. The dirty rotten low lives didn't wait for me. Whatever happened to the 2hr 55min rule.

With thoughts of Warwick in my head (the Pentath-run, not Capper) I thought I'd try to go a little further than Monday and so ran into and around the Gardens. I wanted to throw in some smallish hills and running on the grass just to see the impact on my knee. Neither seemed to do any harm.

Heading for home I got to just past the 8k point (like Monday) and the pain started. So from then on it was a matter of running for while, then stopping and stretching and then running until it hurt again, stopping and stretching etc all the way back. Did a total of 12k, which actually brings up 983k for the year.

My MRI is 6 o'clock tonight. The doc doesn't work Fridays so means he can't check the results and tell me not to run at Warwick. How unfortunate ;-)

Today was brought to you by the letter G and the number 10

After Saturday's 8k rather than another run I just hit the gym yesterday. I've been a bit slack on that front lately, having not been since before going to Sydney the previous weekend. And as girly as the weights I do are my muscles sure complained about the break. Late in the afternoon I realised I was clean out of quaffing wine so went 'the long way' to the local bottlo, turning it into a good 5k walk.

Today I headed out around 11am for a run, hoping to do at least 8k again. I loaded the iPod with songs by artists starting with the letter 'G' including The Go-Betweens, The Grates, Greg Brown, The Greenhornes and Grandaddy. Small things amuse small minds :-)

The leg was feeling good, my knee was niggly but not painful. Rather than turning around at the 4k mark I continued on into the Gardens. I stopped there for a 'systems check'. I was easily able to bend my leg to stretch my quad - yay! As tempting as it was to continue on I thought I'd better not push my luck and turned for home, all the while waiting for the pain to hit. It did, but not until the 8 1/2k mark. I stopped briefly at a tap and then ran the 1 1/2k to home.

So all up 10k, the most I've done in over 5 weeks and 8 1/2k is the furthest I've gone without pain in that time too. In the words of the Gorillaz ....

I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine, in a bag
I'm useless, but not for long
The future is coming on

And the winner is ....

Cirque!!! Yep, my goal race is
Southern Highland's Pub To Pub 50k. I was contemplating the Sydney Marathon, but this sounds like way more fun.

Meanwhile you guys (er, except for Robert Song and his nudey run suggestion) have given me some great ideas. I think some of we Brissos should put our heads together and talk about what Superflake said How about Milton to Beenleigh. Start with a beer and finish with a rum!

Anyway, I managed to notch up a huge 8k this morning, with only a few hundred meters of walking in there. My knee still hurt, fortunately no more than Thursday's run but unfortunately no less. One thing I did find was going slower on purpose wasn't good for it, a 'natural' pace felt better.

There was quite a turn up at The Regatta this morning, seems everyone is easing themselves back into it after the Canberra and Brisbane events. And there was lots of talk about Warwick next weekend. Even though its going to hurt and I'll do a massive PW, I'm excited!

Mix a pancake, stir a pancake, pop it in the pan ....

Re my new goal race ... its this year and its not Toowoomba Marathon, or something at Glasshouse, or Sydney Marathon, or Brindabella, or Bribie, or the 50k at Kurrawa, or C2K. Though you guys sure have give me some good ideas :-)

Its something a little obsure really. I didn't even know it existed until seeing a thread on the CR message board recently.

****

When the alarm went at 5:10am I came terribly close to SMS'ing Clairie with some feeble excuse about a dodgey knee rather than getting out of bed. But I'm glad I didn't.

It wasn't my real return to Pat's this morning, I was just there for a short run/walk. And the pancake brekky :-) Wandering towards The Ship Inn was kind of daunting, I could see a bit of a crowd and hear lots of chitter chatter. I've heard there are quite a few newbies in the group and I was worried I wouldn't know anyone. How good was it to see Clairie's yellow and blue CR cap amongst the throng!

We set out at a pretty easy pace, and by the time we hit the Riverside Centre I could feel some pain coming on as the others ran on I stopped there for a bit of a stretch. After that I basically ran and walked for the next half hour or so before rejoining the group in The Gardens for the start of the 1k no watch run.

For the 1k I'd nominated 6m30s to allow for walking, but fell in with Scotty and got chatting away. I had no knee pain at all so didn't see any reason in slowing down. We crossed the line in 5m22s. The run over the bridge didn't hurt either.

After today I've pretty much figured out when to stop and walk before the knee plays up too much so I'm feeling more confident about Warwick now. And excited. I won't do a good time but I plan to have a good time :-)

Finally got the doc's office to do my MRI referral, however I can't get in until next Thursday evening. A bit annoying that I have to wait so long. But at least that gives me an entire week to overcome my fear of enclosed spaces, which I didn't think I had until the doc asked me if I did.

Not Out Of The Woods Yet

By Sunday (after three days of the anti-inflams) the pain in my knee was gone - yay! Still I thought I'd wait two more days before giving it a test run.

Set out yesterday afternoon and started with five minutes running, one minute walking. Got to the 3k mark and stopped to do some stretches, and was pretty happy that, unlike a week ago, I could bend my leg to do a quad stretch. Turned for home doing the run/walk thing but by about 4k my knee was starting to hurt so from then on it was mostly walking.

The pain was nothing like last week and after I stopped it disappeared altogether. I was thinking of seeing how things were after another five days of anti-inflams but decided to book in for an MRI just in case so rang the doc's office. They're calling back this morning with the details. I'm sure something's not right and I want to get this sorted so at least I can have a good second half of the year.

And speaking of the latter part of 2006 I have found a new goal race. I'm gonna do a 'Jen' and see if anyone can guess what it is :-)

Meanwhile I'll have another short run/walk tomorrow morn. I might even get out of bed really really early and go to Pat's and just start out and finish with them. It would be so good to catch up with Clairie and the gang there. And there's a special pancake brekky afterwards :-)

Hmmm, wonder if my alarm clock still works ....

Sports Doctor Report

Chelle - thanks for the offer of the thick rubber band thingy for resistance work, I've been using the one I had for my previous injury.

2P - I don't believe you watch Dancing With The Stars! How can you watch crap like that ... especially when really good stuff like Big Brother is on another channel ;-)

Ewen - I've been watching a bit of the Pilates class at my gym. Does that count ;-) Might be time to actually join in I think, if I can find a hiding spot down the back of the room.

Everyone else - thanks for the good wishes. I reckon they're working.

*****

Saw the sports doc this morning. He was so thorough, I must've been in there for half an hour. He did a fair bit of prodding and bent my leg every which way but loose. He didn't seem to think there was any fluid floating around in there or any bad tears so I guess that's a good thing. But he was certain there was more than just ITB problems, if fact the ITB was pretty loose.

He showed me this really cool plastic model of a knee and explained all the workings and why different injuries cause pain in certain places and showed me a couple of things that could be my problem. He politely added that it may well be age related breakdown of something in there :-)

He gave me some free samples of Celebrex, enough for five days on, two days off, then another five days on and two days off. If they don't bring any relief then its an MRI. I'm even allowed to have a test run in a few days if the pain disappears :-)

I told him about my goal of completing Warwick and he didn't bat an eyelid. He looks after the Broncos, I guess he's used to crazy sports people who don't want to miss out on anything. In fact with Warwick so close he said that if nothing changes pain-wise I can even book in for the MRI before the second lot of Celebrax.

Meanwhile he said to hold off on the strengthening exercises for the time being - bummer ;-) But walking should be okay - yay, some cardio at last!

I'm feeling confident. No Leonard Cohen songs today ;-)

Its All Good

Well, its not really. But that's what they say on Big Brother and shows like that when they get kicked out and lose their chance of winning big bucks.

This morning was my first run in three weeks and two days, not that I've been counting. I was pretty excited about the prospect and so was up about an hour before heading down the bikeway at 6.15am.

The first km there was a definite niggle in my knee, but after that it all but disappeared and the second km I felt good. Soon after however my knee started hurting again, and within seconds it was more than just a niggle. It was pain. The worse thing was the pain wasn't just my ITB but my entire knee. I stopped to do some stretches - I couldn't even bend my leg enough to do a standing quad stretch.

After a while the pain subsided so I tried a run/walk thing home. The first run was 3 minutes before the pain kicked in and from then on the run bits got shorter and shorter. In the end I wasn't even able to manage a minute before I was forced to walk. A few hundred meters from home I recalled what Tuggeranong Don had mentioned about changing his gait by opening his stance and gave that a go, it seemed to help for a while but the pain soon came back.

I was so depressed when I got home I downloaded about 10 Leonard Cohen songs.

The 12 step plan obviously wasn't enough. I need to up the anti. Next stop is a sports doctor on Thursday morning.

Watch This Space

Since my last posting I've pretty well stuck to the 12 step plan. Well, 13 if you include the red wine :-) It sure has helped keep me a little sane, its good have some sort of a 'program' to follow and I'm hoping its not my imagination that I'm feeling stronger for it all, especially the abs.

I saw Adam the physio on Friday afternoon. He said the leg muscles had really loosened up but the glutes were still tight. Must remember to try and stretch them more.

Next up we went through the exercises. I shouldn't have improved so much cos now he's given me harder ones. I'm still doing squats where I move from one side to the other. And there's now one legged forward step downs, lunges putting the forward leg on the round bit of the bosu, and squats on the flat bit of the bosu (those things are sooooo hard to balance on). After all that I got zapped for 10 minutes and then he started manipulating the head of my fibular, pushing it out a bit. Its something he said to continue doing myself to stop it from leaning in a bit as it tends to do. Gosh being injured is fun.

Anyway, after all this I was expecting some good news on the return to running front .... and I got it! Knowing what I had in store for the weekend (helping out with the Brisbane Marathon) he said I could start again early this week. Just 4 or 5km the first day. Then running every second day and increasing it by about 1 or 2k each time. And doing lots of icing afterwards.

Tomorrow will be the day. Today was never a chance unless I was to get up at 4.30am as I'm working 6am to 7.15pm. Some public holiday, maybe that's why its called Labour Day. At least it gives me a chance to put my feet up :-)