The road to recovery!

It is happening! Slowly but surely I'm starting to run. Twice this week, making a total run time of 10 mins this week :-) It's a darn sight better than it has been. Baby steps, nothing stupid and just easing into it. Today is a lot better than earlier in the week. The pain hasn't come back the same way, and what pain did come back has subsided really quickly.
In a few weeks we move to our new home! The commute to work is about 13kms. My plan is to be running that a few times a week in a couple of months. like I said, baby steps, but the will is there and I know I'll get there. I just need to be smart about it!

Waiting!

As I stand on my lonesome by a pedestrian crossing in the evening I start wondering what all the passers by think I'm doing.

I create different scenarios that they could be imagining!

Obviously in the coolest one I'm waiting to go for a run :-)

List!

This week I had a list! On that list were 3 things to do! Of the things on the list I've only done one of them, two days in the week left.

I think i should be able to get it done :-)

Update: Done two of them :-)

The train station

Commuting on public transport the first time in a year and a half! It does bring back memories of the Skytrain in Canada, although far less convenient :-)

It's interesting though that taking the train does offer a bit more chill time, and although I miss the bike commute, the time spent wandering to and from the train is relaxing!

The commute offers interesting opportunities for people watching! For example, four rows ahead of me, facing me is a dude with an epic mustache! I don't know him, but well done sir! I just noted i am one of the plebs that can't put their iPhone down! As I look around everyone is tweaking with their phone. Its such a different image to what would have been even only 10years ago.

I gaze aimlessly down the aisle, contemplating. I see all the other commuters. I wonder whats going on in their lives, what they do, what hardship or joys they are experiencing. Ahh, Waterpolo SA, i can tell that's what that dude by the ticket machine does. How? Its written up his trouser leg! I guess though to an alien, thy may see 'Nike' written up a trouser leg and make the assumption that they do 'Nike' :-)!

It's June 5th, I'm commuting to work and this is my random train of thought! Have a good day, the train has almost arrived!

Reflection

Writing is enjoyable, I find it helps pass time and allows me to vent thoughts, let a stream of random thought pass out of my mind into the written word. I'm not sure why I like it, it seems therapeutic for some reason.

Its funny how in our already nuts busy lives, finding a past time that helps kill time is enjoyable. But I guess it helps kill time because it is enjoyable! You are not required to do it; you don't have deadlines to meet. You just write to write.

Writing seems to especially interest me at times that require reflection, introspection, self analysis. If you hadn't guessed I'm at one of those stages now. Injury bites and is always a moment for me to get all moody like this. I think about why injury makes me feel so bleak. I'm sure all athletes go through this many times in a career, and at least mine is very minor and I also don't rely on my sport for my income. All things I tell myself to make myself feel better, but they never do!

I heard an interesting interview on a podcast the other day, ultra runner podcast I think, in which the interviewee recalled a time that one of his athletes won a 100 miler, and her reaction was totally negative, a view point of the glass being half empty. You just won a 100 miler with a course record, you should be over the moon! But I think it definitely is a trait of people that like endurance events, is that element of being super critical and wanting to push the hardest out of yourself, and therefore you're always looking to get more out of yourself.

This trait must be one of the reasons we deal so poorly with injury. We feel like we've failed, or that the setback will cause us to fail or not achieve what we aimed to achieve. Needless to say it probably happened because we needed to rest the body, as a result of being to stubborn to take proper rest days during training, thinking that the more we train the better we'll be! Wrong! This time I'll try to be good!

Injury strikes again.

I knew that things were going too well. I got through Iron Man training injury free, and have been pushing it a fair bit since. Not to mention a year straight of training before Iron Man almost injury free and not really giving the time to rest my body properly

My training of recent has been ramping up distance wise with about 50kms of running a week. Throughout this training  over the past few weeks some groin area tightness was building up. I ignored this as it felt no more than fatigue and the kind of muscle fatigue you would expect from a lot of running.

This is where I broke a key rule. Listen to your body. On Saturday I did 22kms through Belair on trails, and then although the muscle pulled up fairly sore I went for a 60km bike ride on Sunday. Damage done! Now I'm looking at weeks of rest and no riding for 6 weeks.

When will I learn!

Since writing the first few paragraphs of this post, I have been back to the physio to discover that it is not an adductor strain, but tendonosis of the adductor origin tendon. Not good as it is a very difficult place to treat and to minimise use, as you use it a bit every time you walk.

I can however continue swimming, so the next few weeks of recovery is going to mix swimming and some vital core and functional strength work. Hopefully with being smart I can still get back on track for the Yurebilla trail 56km, but unfortunately Adelaide Marathon will be off again :-(

For more info:http://physioworks.com.au/injuries-conditions-1/adductor-tendinopathy

Jantastic

After getting off to an amazing start to 2014 for my running, I pushed it a little hard last week and ended up with a slightly aggravated quadriceps tendon. This put a halt to all running until it settled down, and thus I thought I'd miss all of my week 2 Jantastic runs. Thankfully I caught this injury early on and listened to my body straight away. I rested from Monday to Thursday and by Saturday was able to attempt a small 30 min run/walk session with no pain.
The tendon pulled up fine after this so I did another 30 min run/walk session on Sunday, and then followed with another one on Monday morning. I was pretty excited to get my three runs for the Jantastic week in eventually, and it really showed the importance of resting an overuse injury immediately.
So as to not overdo it again, the first few days of this week will be run free, just swimming and yoga, and I will hit up another run by Wednesday or Thursday I think.
Kate has been banging out some great runs this year regardless of some niggling knee issues, and is still holding an amazing pace! All in all we're off to a good year of running, fingers crossed, touch wood etc.

Jantastic

Well, we are at the end of Jantastic week 1. So far Kate and I are on track with our goal of 3 runs each per week. As a result of being in Whitefish for most of week 1, I went for an early morning run up at the ski resort. I really enjoy running at new places, and based on my New Years day run at Sun Peaks I had high hopes for Whitefish.
Well I was relatively disappointed. The run itself was beautiful, but there is a major lack of sidewalks at Whitefish Mountain Resort, and as a result I didn't get to run everywhere I hoped. Oh well, I still managed a good 1hr run around the resort. I also hit up a second run at Whitefish, which was believe it or not, my first ever treadmill run. I obviously like running outdoors a lot more, but it wasn't all bad. I just zoned to some tunes and ran. I found it great for focusing on form and the mirrors in the fitness center really helped with that too.
The best run of the week however was on Sunday morning. Kate and I had stopped over in Seattle en route to Whitefish. We decided to go for a run along the foreshore trail at downtown Seattle. It was super cold with a lot of frost and ice, but was a beautiful run none-the-less. We ran a good 11km, the sun was rising, clear skies and just good fun running with Kate and chatting the whole way. It makes the run go by quickly when running with good company. As this was our last time in Seattle, it was a really nice way to see the city one last time, and there is nothing like running through a big downtown early in the morning. It feels cool being immersed within a large downtown core while the city is still sleeping.
After returning from Whitefish I decided to sneak in a 4th run. I felt like I needed to stretch the legs after a day of traveling. Unfortunately I flared up something I have never felt before in the top of my right knee. Hoping a few days rest will fix this so I can get back onto meeting this weeks Jantastic quota.

Christmas Eve Emergency Room

In a funny twist of events Christmas Eve went from packing and getting ready for our roadtrip, to heading up to the Vancouver Hospital Emergency Room. For some reason I thought it would be a rad idea to service my bike at about 6pm on Christmas Eve. As I was taking my pedals off I slipped and stabbed my hand on my cogs, the wound was relatively a deep puncture wound, not deep enough for stitches, but definately requiting a tetanus shot. At this point I realise that there are no walk in clinics left open, so the only option is to head to the ER.
I walk into ER to check in, stating that I felt like a bot of an idiot coming to ER for such a minor issue, but that I needed a tetanus shot and no where else was open. To my luck, the ER was empty, the staff were rad and they got me in and out in about 20 mins. They knew I was a total wuss with needles so they took great care, until the doc got the nurse to scrub the wound...ouch!
After all that I walk back home much to the amazement of Kate who could not believe that I had got in and out so quick, leaving plenty of time for packing :-)

Early Morning Snow Run

I woke up this morning, looked out the window and saw shitloads of snow. My first thought was no way am I running this morning. Too slippery, back to bed you go, whilst I'm pulling on my running tights! I decide against it and jump back into warm bed. I lay in bed for a few minutes with that early morning want to keep sleeping battling my obsessive nature that wanted to go running. Finally I think, this is probably the last time you will get to run in the snow in Vancouver, don't be a wuss, get out there!
Back out of bed! Gear on! Out the door. Five mins of warm up on Pendrell St the off I go. I headed down Pendrell towards Stanley Park, left at the Sylvia, then right onto Beach along the Southern Sidewalk. Here I keep running into Stanley Park and to Second Beach Pool.
I was the first person to run many of these trails. A few inches of pristine snow covered everything. The city was still sleeping, and the Park had that beautiful muffled sound you get when it snows. It was so beautiful and peaceful. From Second Beach I headed North to Lost Lagoon then around the Lagoon trail. The snow here was deep, a few inches at least. No one else was around, it was so peaceful.
After my loop of the Lagoon I was heading South again, back to Second Beach Pool and onto the seawall, to head East back to the West End. The sea wall had a good inch or two of snow covering it, and all the rocks in the water were covered in snow, making for beautiful abstract art with with white mushrooms dotting the inky black water; it was still dark at about 7:20am. I continue my run along the sea wall, hook a left up to Bidwell St, Right onto Harwood, left onto Cardero, across Davie and back down Pendrell. Home.
The run was one of the nicest runs I have ever done. It was a moment to be calm and to think. To immerse myself within such a beautiful environment. It was a similar experience to my early morning run at Cape Disappointment, Washington. These are the experiences that I will carry with me forever and I am really trying to make the most of while I am in Vancouver.

Running - On the road back from injury

Today was a big day! My first run since the Victoria Marathon. I have had the last 5 weeks off repairing an injury and focusing on functional strength building. Finally my leg was feeling strong enough for a test run. Unlike my usual self I am going to take it very easy and build up to training, hence this mornings run was only 10mins. I figured just go for a tiny run and make sure that there are no unforeseen niggling pains during the run, or afterwards. The verdict, the leg still doesn't feel 100%, but it is the best it has felt for a long time, so my goal is to run twice a week, slowly ramping up intensity and distance with the goal of a marathon mid next year and iron man in Feb 2015.

The 2013 Summer Race Season.

This summer was a pretty momentous race season. I accomplished a lot and had a shitload of fun while I was at it. My first triathlons and two marathons, I can't wait for next year and training up for my first Iron Man.
-Vancouver Sun Run 10km - 38 mins
-BMO Marathon - 3hrs 6mins
-Vancouver International Triathlon (Olympic Distance) - 2hrs 24mins 11sec
-Vancouver Triathlon Stanley Park (Olympic Distance) - 2hrs 22mins 16sec
-Victoria Marathon - 3hrs 5mins

Marathon Season Complete...For this year.

What a season it has been. I have completed a lot of goals this year, pushed myself and this has unfortunately led to my first real sporting injuries. Both injuries occurred in the later stages of marathon training and I believe had a significant impact on my race day performance.
Injury one was Achilles tendonitis in my right Achilles. This happened 3 weeks out from the Vancouver BMO Marathon. I believe it happened because I did a 35km training run at fairly high pace on the Saturday, and then I had a 10km race on the Sunday (Vancouver's Sun Run). This race involved standing around getting cold for about a half hour before the race, then trying to blast a PB 10km. I think it was this going from cold to pushing it that caused the injury.
Three weeks later, and almost no running I fronted up to the BMO Marathon to run a 3hr 6min marathon. This was followed by two months of recovery, no running, but swimming and I ramped up the cycling towards the end of the time off.
At the end of this two months I started training for the Victoria Marathon, an intense 5 month training schedule. Amongst this training I was also swimming and cycling, aiming at doing my first triathlons.
Fast forward four months and some knee/hamstring/calf pain took me to the physio which led to a wild goose chase to find the problem, messed with my running stride and generally left me in a bad place. I think the problem was caused by an imbalance in the muscular strength of my left leg, and that mixed with overuse led to this problem. Really all I needed was rest, but instead I figured getting a physio to stick needles in it would be the best option. Always looking for the quick fix rather than listening to my body and resting almost screwed me big time.
Anyways, I ended up having a good part of a month of no running before the Victoria Marathon, and missed my really long important runs. I definitely felt this on race day. My first run was a day before the race, and I was pleased to find that I could run with only a bit of pain (a week before hand I could barely take two strides). By this point I was just stoked to be lining up at the start line to try and race. There is a lot of energy at the beginning of a Marathon, I was so pumped to be at that line. Five months of training is a long time, and when you're there standing there waiting for the start gun, you think about those five months of training and all the hard work you've done! You realise that with a marathon, a lot of it isn't the race itself, but the hard training and all the fitness you build getting there.
After all that, and such a shitty lead up to the race, somehow I managed to pull a 3hr 5min personal best, not the sub 3hr that I wanted, but I am blaming that on bad training. I will have to wait until next time. The race itself was difficult. The first 25 kms was relatively easy to stick to my 4min 10sec pace, but from that point on, the wheels fell off, and I rapidly lost pace. Marathons are funny how the mind knows what the legs need to do, but the pain and fatigue just builds up and makes it ridiculously hard to press on. It becomes a mental game of convincing yourself that there isn't that far to go, or breaking it up into "manageable" chunks. In the end all I wanted to do was run the whole race, and not stop to walk, which I managed. The human body is amazing at persevering once you get going, but once it stops, it says that enough is enough. I managed to pick the pace up to a 4min 30sec pace for the last KM, but the second I crossed that line, my body just gave up. I must have looked thrashed when I crossed the line because the medics came rushing at me. I was fine, but so sore I could barely walk.
Now it is time to take a small break from running, let my legs totally repair themselves then start up again with some fundamental strength work, and then ramp up for Marathon season again next year, with the goal of running that sub 3hr race. While the weather is nice I will focus on some bike riding, and while the legs are still recovering keep the swimming up. They are the easy ones to let slide over winter anyways.

Victoria Marathon

What a success! After fighting injury for the last 4 weeks and missing some really important training runs, I made it to the start line after some short test runs on Saturday and some strides on Sunday Morning. It was such a beautiful weekend weather wise, and for the race it could not have been better. A crisp 10 Degrees to start, warming to mid to high teens for the majority of the race, no wind, and sun. Perfect race conditions.
I was pumped at the start line, so amped to go, I love the feeling before a race. Kate was feeling a bit nervous, but I knew that with her water tight 5 month training regime, that she had nothing to worry about.
The first 21kms went exactly as planned, I hit it in an average of 4mins8sec per km. Then the next 4 kms also went to plan, with my goal being to sit at 4min10sec for the whole race. At about 27kms the wheels began to fall off! The lack of long distance training and some of my key training weeks that I missed really showed. I started slowing down big time and was losing seconds per km. I had a blister on my right foot from about 11km which was causing grief, and now another blister was forming on my left foot. So before I had some relief on my left foot strike, now each foot strike hurt.
By about 35kms I was in damage control mode. The goal was to pace myself so I didn't have to run at all - I wanted to run the whole race. It's funny the mind games you play with yourself to convince you that there isn't far to go. Whatever it takes to get you through really. The last 2km was brutal, and the last km, with a burst of pure determination to set a PB i gritted my teeth and squeezed out a 4min 30sec km. A bit of talking to myself occurred here.

                                    
                                    

Marathon Training

Well it's that time again. The last few weeks of a five month marathon training schedule, and as seems to be the trend these days, the wheels are falling off at the last minute. An instability in my left leg has led me and the physio on a wild goose chase around my leg of fixing one problem, and then causing another one. I found that I had a very weak left glute, so I worked on this for a few weeks and have totally strengthened it up. It's amazing really how fast it gained strength. However in activating the glute more, my whole stride has been adjusted ever so slightly, and I am now getting a much better foot strike as in I am using more of my forefoot when I land, other than just landing on the outside of my foot. This however has caused the outside of my foot to activate different muscles, and bang, really sore upper foot / outer ankle. So from one injury that was preventing me training at capacity to another. At the moment it looks like I may just avoid running for the next few weeks until the marathon and hope all goes well on race day. Needless to say my goal of a sub 3hr marathon is starting to look much less likely. I just have to put faith in a year of good training and overall fitness pulling me across the line. Fingers Crossed.

Running, Swimming and Riding

The training is going full on at the moment, with my running pretty much back at full capacity. There are still some minor gripes in my right ankle, but I think it's just me being paranoid due to the recent Achilles injury. Last week was my most full on week of training yet with 13.5hrs of training, with 72kms of running being part of that total time. There was also two fastlane swimming sessions at kits pool, an open water swim at Jericho beach, a hill climb on the bike up Cypress Mountain and a few loops of Stanley Park to round the week up.
This week is a ramping up week with some intense interval training for my running, with a 2hr long slow run at the end of the week, but thankfully this ramps up leading into a "rest" week next week, that comprises of some less intense intervals as well as "shorter" long slow runs.
This morning (July 24th) we had a beautiful open water swim with a bunch of people I swim with every Wednesday. We swam from Kits Beach to Jericho Beach. It was a total of 3km in 1hr. The water was warm, sun was shining and it was as still as can be with the water reflecting like a mirror. It could not have been a better start to the day :-)

Vancouver International Triathlon

So I finally competed in my first Triathlon. It was awesome for many reasons. Firstly it was my first Triathlon - enough said. Secondly, it was my first race back from my Achilles injury, and everything went well. Thirdly, although I took it easy and had so much energy left at the end, enough that I knew I could have raced the whole race over again, I still got a respectable time. So now I will be signing up for my next triathlon with the aim of pushing myself, tightening up my transitions and hopefully shaving a good 15 mins off my time of 2hrs24mins.
The Vancouver International Triathlon is such an amazing triathlon. It is held just near Jericho Beach, with the swim in the ocean, the ride up and around UBC, giving it a nice little hill climb, and the run along the beach and through the forest at Jericho beach. It was such a picturesque race full of so many competitors that were just stoked to be out in the sun being active. Vancouver couldn't have put on better weather either, with crystal clear skies, no wind and a balmy mid 20's. Needless to say, I'm totally hooked on triathlon now.

Running Training

So I am finally back onto running training. I have been ramping up for two weeks now, steadily increasing pace and length of sessions. So far so good with the achilles. I am stoked to say the least, but still being ultra cautious. The timing has fallen just perfectly for me to sign up for the Vancouver International Triathlon, which is on Sunday the 14th. I wont be pushing it too hard as it will be an experience just racing a triathlon for the first time, but it will be good to see how the Achilles handles the training leading up to the race as well as the race itself.
I have been doing a mix of long runs, and intervals to build up pace. But generally it is just fun being out running again. The swimming has made a huge difference to my heart rate which is nice as I feel the time off running hasn't affected my pace. I had my last physio appointment and have the all clear from him to only see him again if I feel I need to. So fingers crossed the recovery continues in a positive way.

Physio

So I got back to the physio again to see where my Achilles recovery was at. Overall it is looking good. I got given the go ahead to start running some longer runs, of which I wussed out on my first run and only went half way, but it pulled up fine so I'll now head out for the full length today. This run comprises of 5min slow warm up, 3x(10min run at moderate pace (130 - 140bpm), 2min walk/slow run recovery), 1x5min recovery, 3x(10min run at moderate pace (130 - 140bpm). This should end up at about total 10km. So I'll see how this goes and then step up to marathon training again in the next week or so.
So while at the physio, amongst all of the exercises and recovery stuff we went through, I had acupuncture on my calf muscles as they were ridiculously tight from all of the eccentric heel dips that I have been doing. The other reason they have got so tight is that I have a nerve issue in my heel which makes stretching my calves really difficult (which is a result of the inflamed Achilles). So I didn't cope so well with the acupuncture cos I hate needles, but it did make a huge difference, immediately releasing a lot of pressure on my Achilles and ankle, and I could really feel that my calves weren't as tight. A pain that had started occurring in the front of my ankle disappeared, it was amazing. Anyways, I'm still on with the same old exercises, but hopefully full time running is a lot closer now.

Achilles Recovery

My next day of training has come and gone, uneventfully. I incremented my walk/run repeats by one and have now given it at least 36 hrs and all is good. So it looks like I am good to continue with riding and incrementing my Achilles recovery by one walk/run set every two days. Hopefully I will also start increasing pace as I increase these sets and start feeling more confident.