A Rocky Road...

Apologies for not writing a Blog for a while; I've recently passed the year milestone since picking up my old knee injury and problems with it still persist.  Not quite to the same severity but it is still ever evident when I start running no matter what exercises/stretches I seem to do or even after a few weeks break!  

I think my next step will be when my current shoes give up the ghost, is to pop along to our local triathlon specialists and treat myself to a Gait Analysis session and then spend the extra to get the best shoes for my gait to see whether that improves things.

Running Selfie Jan 14

My Facebook profile picture was getting on a bit so I took the opportunity to take a running selfie at the end of my run today.  It was my first run in 2014 and 3 weeks as I had a cold that I had to shift and due to rest (inactivity) over the Christmas break.  The run itself considering this break went surprisingly well; a solid, dependable and reasonably comfortable 5km.  The weather was great as well; if I knew it was going to be that warm I wouldn't have bothered with the buff!

Anyway, I hope to step up my running this year after an injury riddled 2013 where I only managed about 50% of my normal distance (approx. 750km).  After completing the C25K in August, I went on and completed the Bupa's 10 mile training programme before returning to Yeovil Town Running Club (YTRC) and since then I've just been maintaining that level of fitness.  Just before Xmas, I managed to push the distance a little and stretch to a 12 mile run walk run.  This run was tough but enjoyable for the most part; as always I began to get bored and sore after the 10 mile mark however it's good to get out and run around the wilderness especially when the sun is shining and its not too hot.  Running is a great way I find to just escape and clear/free the mind, especially after a stressful morning at work.

Today's run was confined to just in and around Yeovil town but I still managed to venture up a new road and see some surprisingly stunning views towards the country park and further afield, just a short distance from town.  I intend to start back at YTRC next week and start taking more photos out and about which hopefully will help me get through the challenging winter months and the pile of Chocolate that is left to eat following Christmas; especially the Hotel Chocolate Rocky Road slab!

Yay, completed C25K again.....

That's right, my final run today saw me complete the 9 week programme....again.  It was quite a difficult run to round of this week as I could still feel the effects of my 18 hole round of golf the day before and it was quite muggy.  I now intend to move on to Bupa's 10km training programme.

However, despite being back running now for 9-10 weeks, my knee is still not 100% right, more like 70% although its bearable when running for now and if I avoid bending it at extreme angles but this is the main reason as to why I've decided to start a 10k programme next as opposed to a 10 mile or half marathon plan.  Hopefully by the time I've finished this 7-8 week plan, my knee will be closer still to a full recovery.  If not, then it might require a return trip to the Doc's.

This plan shouldn't take too long though and I feel like I can miss a few weeks out as somehow the Nike+ GPS running app that I started to try again this week seems to think that I've run 3km more than my other apps.....I've tried to calibrate it today, but if it doesn't work I'm going to ditch it again and return to either Endomondo or Runkeeper which is a shame as their support on Facebook has been brilliant this week.  I've generally always used Endomondo and even bought the pro app but now the company appear to be moving quite a lot of the features behind a more subscription style pay wall hence my reasons for starting to try other apps again.  I used Runkeeper today as well as Nike+ to check the latter apps accuracy or lack of and quite liked it so will trial it out a few more times to see what I prefer moving forward.

I've been wearing a knee strap since starting C25K but truthfully I'm not sure whether it does anything other than get sweaty!  It doesn't hurt with it on so I'll going to keep it on for a while longer.

On the road to recovery?

Well I feel that I’m well on the way to building my fitness back up predominantly through running but there’s still a long way to go. ..

This comes about having just successfully completed week 5 of the Couch 2 5k (C25K) running programme with help from Robert Ullrey’s excellent running Podcasts ending today with a 20 minute non stop run in blistering sunny and warm weather.  This is after my first round of golf in over 8 months yesterday in equally warm weather.

The knee issue still remains but definitely in the last few weeks I feel that it is getting slowly back to normal although my running gait/form seems to be a bit off at the moment.  To help with the fitness recovery, I started the C25K programme right back at Week 1 with the aim of slowing trying to rebuild my fitness and running strength whilst taking it easy on the knee.  

My knee still suffers from the odd twinge and bending it at extreme angles and kneeling is still uncomfortable but its getting there.  Some physio cream and ibuprofen do work wonders when it does start to flare up again but, I might need to get professional help in terms of assessing my running gait to see whether my footwear needs changing to better suit what my support my body/knee needs to avoid further injury. 

Hopefully by the time I’ve finished C25K I should be in a better position fitness and form wise to know which running programme I can pursue next in terms of whether I should continue taking it easy up to 10k or go straight onto a Half Marathon programme (both start at the end of C25K when running 30 minutes 3 times a week), but first things first, I’ll continue to focus and get C25K done and dusted.