It has been a couple of weeks since I last updated my blog. I have been fairly active in the last two weeks but without doing any running until today. The first week after Bluewater I rested until Wednesday when I finally made it to the new gym, where id did a very painful 20 minutes on the x-trainer. You would not have thought I ran (ok trot and walk) for an hour just a few days before.
The next day I was back again and got in a good 30 minutes on the bike and about 2 on the x-trainer. But this time I had a problem, I had started to watch night rider on my iPhone and these last 42 minutes so this is how long I need to exercise for and became my goal for Friday. However, on Friday morning my legs were feeling the last couple of days and spent most of the time easily peddling in the reclining bike. But I had made it through 3 days fo actually doing something and could feel a benefit already.
After a weekend of rest I was back on Monday and this time feeling much fitter and became the start of a good week, I could now exercise for the 40 minutes required either on a bike or x-trainer and 4 visits later on Friday morning I completed a 50 minute x-train. One other addition to my routines is I have finally learnt the importance of stretching after all my injuries and spend a good 10-15 minutes stretching and cooling down at the end of each session.
So far so good, until today, it is Tuesday ad 3 days since I last exercised as today is day 1 of Great north Run training, and it starts with a 30 minute run. Feeling good after last week and starting to feel fit again I step onto the treadmill for what was not an uncomfortable 30 minutes, not at lightning speed (about 4.5km in the time) I even consider doing more than the 30 but think – no I have a plan for a reason. This turned out to be a smart decision as the second I step of the treadmill I feel so sick I have to go sit in the corner for 5 minutes before doing some half hearted stretches. I have no idea how I am meant to do double this in just 10 days for the London 10k! oh well, looking on the positive I could do 30 minutes which is actually some kind of record for me on the treadmill so the last few week must have helped and most importantly I had no problems from hip or knee.
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
First day in a new gym
This morning I made my first visit to my new gym. I arrived at work around 7:15 and walked completed the walk in about 2 minutes, so much better than the 15 it took to get to David Lloyd. When I got inside and finally found my way to the changing room it was empty so I took the opportunity to have a look around. First impression was quite smart but no sink and mirror combination to shave in.
I got changed and using my new padlock (which is a better option than trying to look after a key) to secure my belongings I went into the gym, again I managed to take one wrong turn. The gym itself is about 1/3 the size of David Lloyd and with only one water machine hidden behind some weights.
The cardio section is 4 long rows (1 for x-trainer, 1 for running machine and 1x for the two kinds of bike you get). When I arrived there were about 4 people in the place so picked my x-trainer and then had to spend 3 minutes untangling my earphones. By the time I managed to do this I was joined by another user of the x-trainers who picked the machine next to me with a choice of about 15 machines.
I planned to do 40 minutes, but after 20 I started to realise how little exercise I had done in last 7 weeks since I hurt my hip and had to admit defeat and spend 10 minutes doing my stretches.
The showers were very nice and with much better temperature control, I then stopped in the toilet to have a shave in the sink and left wondering if I need to buy an electric razor for future sessions.
It was hard but I really enjoyed exercising again and bet I will be back tomorrow.
I got changed and using my new padlock (which is a better option than trying to look after a key) to secure my belongings I went into the gym, again I managed to take one wrong turn. The gym itself is about 1/3 the size of David Lloyd and with only one water machine hidden behind some weights.
The cardio section is 4 long rows (1 for x-trainer, 1 for running machine and 1x for the two kinds of bike you get). When I arrived there were about 4 people in the place so picked my x-trainer and then had to spend 3 minutes untangling my earphones. By the time I managed to do this I was joined by another user of the x-trainers who picked the machine next to me with a choice of about 15 machines.
I planned to do 40 minutes, but after 20 I started to realise how little exercise I had done in last 7 weeks since I hurt my hip and had to admit defeat and spend 10 minutes doing my stretches.
The showers were very nice and with much better temperature control, I then stopped in the toilet to have a shave in the sink and left wondering if I need to buy an electric razor for future sessions.
It was hard but I really enjoyed exercising again and bet I will be back tomorrow.
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
New Shoes
After getting very sore feet on Sunday and suffering from pins and needles a lot of research suggests my shoes may be too small, coupling that with experimenting with me insoles, I decided to get some advice on new trainers.
I got a recommendation for a shop called Apex about 15 minutes from work. After work tonight I went to visit the very knowledgeable staff who fitted me out with a pair of Asics 2140 trainers. I am now looking forward to giving them a try at the gym tomorrow. This will also be my first visit to the new gym by the office.
I got a recommendation for a shop called Apex about 15 minutes from work. After work tonight I went to visit the very knowledgeable staff who fitted me out with a pair of Asics 2140 trainers. I am now looking forward to giving them a try at the gym tomorrow. This will also be my first visit to the new gym by the office.
Monday, 15 June 2009
The Results Are In
The official results for the Bluewater 10k are now in and I am glad to see I did not come last, actually I managed 1919 out of 2115 with an official time of 1:14:21 and a chip time of 1:13:12. This was only 6 minutes slower than the best 10k I had managed in training for the event 1 year earlier.
The winner completed the course in 30:55 and the last person coming in at 1:49:02. All in all quite pleased with that considering I had almost no training leadin up to the event and was nursing a bad hip on what was the most hilly run I have ever completed (and one toilet break).
The winner completed the course in 30:55 and the last person coming in at 1:49:02. All in all quite pleased with that considering I had almost no training leadin up to the event and was nursing a bad hip on what was the most hilly run I have ever completed (and one toilet break).
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Bluewater 10k 2009
Race weekend finally arrived after about 8 weeks of dodgy hip and therefore little training it was now time to decide if i was going to enter the race or miss it for the second year running due to injury. Well if Bee with her poorly ankle could do it so could I as I convinced myself if I could at least do some of the run and some walking that would be better than nothing.
Saturday morning we drive to Essex where we plan to meet up with Lin who is also joining us and half way home Bee remembers she would need trainers to run in and what is the one thing she forgot (well actually 2, but the reason we never went to the sari shop today is another story). We spned the afternoon shopping in lakeside and a nice family dinner and soon it was bed time for our early start the next day.
6am rolls around and it is time to get up and get ready for the 45 minute drive to Bluewater and the literature says we have to be there for 7:30. We arrive almost on time and realize we are actually quite early. We have a little walk around the village and get some free Lucozade and sit in the sun as it was already very hot this early in the day. We also played the fun game of trying to spot other adults other than Bee and Lin who are doing the fun run without children - it was a tough game.
Just after 8 I leave the others and walk to the start making sure I am not too close to the front as I had no intention of keeping up with anybody vaguely fit. i finally position myself behind the 70 minute pace runner. Before long the gym instructors start the warm up. The way the race was organized is that the women start one side and the men the other, and this was most evident during the warm-up as all the women do the work out in perfect synchronisation with almost 100% participation, a quick glance over to the men side see 100s of people just standing still and looking blank at the instructors.
The race starts and within the first few hundred meters and before the men and women merge there is a long line of men in the bushes creating a temporary toilet, and I was nicely pacing myself behind the 70 min pace runner until i also stopped to use the amenities.
Once back on the road and settled into my stride i keep up a good pace of 6:30 - 7:15 per km, and all is going good for the first 5km and then I see the first big hill, which i just about drag myself up and feeling proud (and worn out) I turned the corner to see the road going up even more. At this point my legs just stopped running and I walked to the summit. I then started running again (now with first ache of the day in hip). This running did not last long because for the next few km for every welcome down hill was followed by a corresponding up hill. This lead to a series of walk and run sessions, as once you stop running for the first time it is almost impossible to run again for any length of time, couple this with the really bad pins and needles and loss of feeling I was experiencing in my right foot.
Eventually I find myself with 1km to go and forcing myself up the slip road towards home, finally cheered on by a very very small crowd and the sight of Bee and Lin and the finish allowed me to do a sprint finish, I also wanted to make sure i finished ahead of some people I had been following most of the run.
I collect medal and my welcome Mars bar and headed for home to see some people still running, it is now a few hours later and my right foot is still very sore and feels bruised, but no problems in any of my troubled joints but they are still not healed as I did get twinges all run and had to slow down to make them go away, but now i can focus on small runs over the coming months to build up my joints, and it could have been worse as I see one person being taken away in an ambulance, I would imagine the heat did not help anybody.
Saturday morning we drive to Essex where we plan to meet up with Lin who is also joining us and half way home Bee remembers she would need trainers to run in and what is the one thing she forgot (well actually 2, but the reason we never went to the sari shop today is another story). We spned the afternoon shopping in lakeside and a nice family dinner and soon it was bed time for our early start the next day.
6am rolls around and it is time to get up and get ready for the 45 minute drive to Bluewater and the literature says we have to be there for 7:30. We arrive almost on time and realize we are actually quite early. We have a little walk around the village and get some free Lucozade and sit in the sun as it was already very hot this early in the day. We also played the fun game of trying to spot other adults other than Bee and Lin who are doing the fun run without children - it was a tough game.
Just after 8 I leave the others and walk to the start making sure I am not too close to the front as I had no intention of keeping up with anybody vaguely fit. i finally position myself behind the 70 minute pace runner. Before long the gym instructors start the warm up. The way the race was organized is that the women start one side and the men the other, and this was most evident during the warm-up as all the women do the work out in perfect synchronisation with almost 100% participation, a quick glance over to the men side see 100s of people just standing still and looking blank at the instructors.
The race starts and within the first few hundred meters and before the men and women merge there is a long line of men in the bushes creating a temporary toilet, and I was nicely pacing myself behind the 70 min pace runner until i also stopped to use the amenities.
Once back on the road and settled into my stride i keep up a good pace of 6:30 - 7:15 per km, and all is going good for the first 5km and then I see the first big hill, which i just about drag myself up and feeling proud (and worn out) I turned the corner to see the road going up even more. At this point my legs just stopped running and I walked to the summit. I then started running again (now with first ache of the day in hip). This running did not last long because for the next few km for every welcome down hill was followed by a corresponding up hill. This lead to a series of walk and run sessions, as once you stop running for the first time it is almost impossible to run again for any length of time, couple this with the really bad pins and needles and loss of feeling I was experiencing in my right foot.
Eventually I find myself with 1km to go and forcing myself up the slip road towards home, finally cheered on by a very very small crowd and the sight of Bee and Lin and the finish allowed me to do a sprint finish, I also wanted to make sure i finished ahead of some people I had been following most of the run.
I collect medal and my welcome Mars bar and headed for home to see some people still running, it is now a few hours later and my right foot is still very sore and feels bruised, but no problems in any of my troubled joints but they are still not healed as I did get twinges all run and had to slow down to make them go away, but now i can focus on small runs over the coming months to build up my joints, and it could have been worse as I see one person being taken away in an ambulance, I would imagine the heat did not help anybody.
Monday, 8 June 2009
Long Time no Write
it has been a long time since i lat made a blog post. Mainly due to my sore hip and not being able to do regular exercise.
May finished and June started and looking back at the numbers for May I only ran for 22km which is my second lowest month since i started to run again in February.
It is now 1 week before the Bluewater 10k which was the first event I was meant to do last year and missed with a bad knee so I am keen to be fit again for this to be my first ever even this year, so much so I have managed to get Lin and Bee to come too (only for a 2k fun run). Therefore, I am writing off last month and pressing onwards, after spending a good 2 weeks resting with just one small run in the middle I set off on a wet Saturday morning to attempt the Bray loop. I dragged Christelle along with me to keep me company and motivated and also to be able to get the car if I suffer badly from hip and find myself stranded far from home.
Using technology I had my heart rate monitor set to beep when my HR goes over 170, to manage to keep heart at this rate we ran at an average of about 8min/km which is very very slow but I managed the 8.75 km loop which was a massive achievement in its own right even if it did take an age!
Two days on and hip seems to have survived well and feels the best it has in a long time, so another day rest and one more practise run on Wednesday and hopefully i am ready to come last in Bluewater.
May finished and June started and looking back at the numbers for May I only ran for 22km which is my second lowest month since i started to run again in February.
It is now 1 week before the Bluewater 10k which was the first event I was meant to do last year and missed with a bad knee so I am keen to be fit again for this to be my first ever even this year, so much so I have managed to get Lin and Bee to come too (only for a 2k fun run). Therefore, I am writing off last month and pressing onwards, after spending a good 2 weeks resting with just one small run in the middle I set off on a wet Saturday morning to attempt the Bray loop. I dragged Christelle along with me to keep me company and motivated and also to be able to get the car if I suffer badly from hip and find myself stranded far from home.
Using technology I had my heart rate monitor set to beep when my HR goes over 170, to manage to keep heart at this rate we ran at an average of about 8min/km which is very very slow but I managed the 8.75 km loop which was a massive achievement in its own right even if it did take an age!
Two days on and hip seems to have survived well and feels the best it has in a long time, so another day rest and one more practise run on Wednesday and hopefully i am ready to come last in Bluewater.
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