Hey, It’s Been Awhile

Forty days since my last post, I suppose I could call it my blogging and running lent!

I’ve often said that “I run therefore I blog” and my lack of blogs is a testament to my lack of running. I’ve not exercised at all for the past forty days as my left adductors are still sore, although they’re getting better every week. I’d say that I’d be running again by Christmas but I’d preface that by stating the it will only be if I’m totally injury free.

The latest edition of Runners World is still in its wrapper some 2 weeks after delivery; a sure sign that I’m suffering some form of antipathy to my running and injury.

Michelle on the other hand has continued her running and has completed two “Spring into Shape” runs and concludes the tri series next Sunday – that will be one 8k and two 12k runs – oh….the envy and frustration.

Strangely my weight has plummeted to 78kgs in the last 6 weeks from a very ugly 83kg – a more balanced diet but without exercise seems to have done the trick.

 

MM Post Mortem

Melbourne Marathon (half) – the day after.

After an early night – in bed by 9:00pm  – I struggled with tossing and turning as I’m want to do in my sleep. I stopped taking any medication from lunch time yesterday and I was finding out how painful my left adductors really were.

I awoke about 5:30am this morning and couldn’t get out of bed – the pain in my left thigh was excruciating; I couldn’t move it let alone put any pressure on it. Five minutes later I managed to get to the ablutions and my over caring wife asks “Was it worth it?” As if to question my sanity.

So, was it it worth it?

I’ve given it a great deal of thought today and whilst it was probably not the smartest move, it at least tells me that I have the determination to finish what I started, even if it’s borne out of stubbornness. I may be stupid, but I’m no quitter. On a positive note, I haven’t had any cramps or soreness in any of my leg muscles so I must have done something right – right?

The next (training) run I do will be when I’m absolutely injury free, even if that’s a month or two away. I will run my next half, fully fit and under 2 hours and when that happens I will commit to a full marathon.

I can hear Michelle questioning my sanity again and she’s 7k away at the moment.

This was my second Melbourne Marathon – 10k last year – half this and I’d like to add my good and not so goods:

Good:

Nice flat course – only 2 slight hills at start and finish

Plenty of toilets – at the start

Volunteers – couldn’t do without them

Melbourne crowds – I’m no longer surprised – awesome

Weather – perfect for running

Not so:

Pacers – get them out earlier-just so I can be near them at least at the start

Gatorade – blue? taste like @#$%

Race day tracking – didn’t work

Finish area – chaos – Run Melbourne & R4TK does it heaps better

 

 

 

 

 

MM Half Race Report

So, fed, drugged and massaged I headed into the city at 6:40am for an 8:00am start. I felt pretty good although by the time I found a park in East Melbourne and walked down to the start the 42k’ers were just heading off- 7:00am

6:50am - Batman Avenue - MCG left of centre

Had a pee out of boredom- heaps of toilets at the start which is what all of us have been screaming for -finally they listen.

Positioned myself at the “2 Hour” marker and waited for Tony (Tiger Boy) but as we were getting ready to leave he was way behind me and closer to the middle of the road whereas I was close to the pavement near Rod Laver arena.

The drugs were doing what I’d hoped and my leg was feeling great. First k up hill north up Batman Ave and west into Flinders St although not too steep my breathing was heavy which is not unusual – I tend to go out fast on all my runs.

The next 3 or 4 k down Swanson/St Kilda Road and my rhythm was good, my breathing settled and way ahead of goal pace -at the 5k I was nearly 2 minutes ahead of sub 2 hour pace.

Adductors started talking to me around the 8k mark, just as we started the loop around Albert Park Lake (The Australian Grand Prix track) – just after I’d passed the water station. In hindsight I should have taken the two Panadeine Forte earlier, but like most things that are painful, you only seek relief when it is.

There was a small rain shower at the 9k mark but I had to wait until around the 11k mark to take the two tablets, but I think it was probably too late, the damage had probably been done and I had little chance of relief. I soldiered on back up St Kilda Road (Northbound) but started struggling, the pain was very uncomfortable and about half up (16k) I had my first walk break.

In between I overheard a conversation between two ladies who were no doubt faster than me as they kept overtaking me, but then stop as one of them was injured or had a problem. At the 10k marker they’d stopped again for the umpteenth time and I heard the “unfit” one (as in injured!) say to the other “I can’t breathe”

The fit one replied ” Ok, but apart from that you feel ok?”

It was just prior to this that the realisation hit that I was not going to break 2 hours – I had just over 5k to go and less than 25 minutes to do it. Tiger Boy must have passed me some time ago, but I was preoccupied with my discomfort and far less cared.

I’ll now take you back 12 weeks to the “Run Melbourne” half – yep I struggled there too but that was due to no preparation – and as I hobbled south on Batman Ave 20 odd k in I espied a lady who had striking blond hair and a T shirt about human rights – I commented that if she truly cared about my rights then she’d stop me running. We chatted briefly and she was from the midlands in the UK.

There would have been 6000 people on the “Run Melbourne” half  and 9000 on the MM half today – and who would you think I’d run into at the 16k mark? Yep, same lady! We chatted again and like so many others commented on the lack of KM markers. Having the Garmin negates this issue for me but I can see how frustrating it must be for others.

I crawled the last 4k and in the end was just happy to finish – A PB by 10 minutes, but I’m not happy -this is a flat run and the weather was perfect, but yet again I had an injury.

Collected my medal, goodie bag, chatted with Tiger Boy and left to head to the Transport hotel -walked 5 metres and bumped into Andrew – we had a couple of beers in an empty hotel and headed home.

Bath, beer, red (Leasingham shiraz 2006 – superb) and a quiet and early night for me.

If you ran today -well done, if you didn’t, there’s always tomorrow.

 

MM Pre Race

It’s 6:10am and I’ve been up for 40 minutes and I’ve had a terrible nights sleep  – surely can’t be nerves, I feel rather calm. It’s cold and it’s wet but I think the rain has stopped -I’m only 10 minutes from the city so I’m confident that the weather gods are on our side this morning – fingers crossed.

Race is at 8:00am so I’ll leave in about 30 minutes and I’m hoping that my adductors see me through. I’ve taken the Forte, I’ve had a heat pack on them and I’ve massaged them, I don’t think I can be any more prepared.

Breakfast is coffee, banana and jelly beans.

See you later!

Melbourne Marathon eve

Finally the training’s done and all that’s left is a sleep and the 21.1k tomorrow. Twelve weeks have expired since the “Run Melbourne” half and I’ve had 9 great weeks of running and two weeks of discomfort – unfortunately they’re the last two weeks.

In eleven weeks of training I’ve racked up 287.6K at an average pace of 5:38minute/k and chewed up 24962 calories.

Will the Panadeine Forte see me through the proposed two hours? only time will tell. What I have learned from my run this morning is that the Panadeine takes a couple of hours to kick in, so I’ll be up early tomorrow to ensure I run relatively pain free.

I noticed on the Cool Running website that the sub 2 hour bus is being paced by Tiger Boy who I met at this event last year – think I’ll tag along and see if I can keep up!

Good luck to all and I’ll see you in the Transport from about 10:30.

Safety in pairs

My gentle 3.2k run this morning was so uncomfortable that I decided to ring my doctor to get some serious pain killers for Sunday’s half.

Safety #1- I told him the symptoms and assured him I also had the cure (RICE) but for now all I needed was for something to kill the pain for 2 hours (here’s hoping) on Sunday.

Panadeine Forte.

Safety # 2- Armed with my new panacea I headed off to the Osteo for a 40 minute session on my thigh that was so painful I actually let out the “F” bomb. Apparently I’m all out of whack not just mentally but physically and I need to realign my pelvis to compensate for the over pronation in my right foot.

I’m now really looking forward to Sunday and will be pleased to break 2 hours, but first I’ll test the “forte” out with my last run of 20 minutes on Saturday.

Running out of excuses

In truth I only really have one reason not to run the half on Sunday – that’s because I have an adductor injury. It’s uncomfortable even with medication, so I really shouldn’t run, but I’ve come this far and rest can wait, can’t it?

I’ve covered 240k+ in eleven weeks and done it with relative ease, surely I deserve to go into a race without any break in training and feeling good.

Maybe a higher force is telling me I’m not a runner, but I’m trying to ignore it – running is what I enjoy, for no other reason than it allows me to completely distance myself from the reality of day-to-day life. It’s like an awake dream for me and I can’t not run. I hear my breath and it’s like music – 3 strides, one breath- the rhythm is hypnotic and allows me to go to that other place.

Take away the adductor pain and I’d feel great, the breathing is brilliant and I my calves and hammies feel great – I’m in peak condition! When I zone out on my runs and forget the discomfort I’m in a great place; sometimes it feels so right, so easy, yet I have this nagging  pain in my left thigh.

Today’s run was hard and full of discomfort, I even thought of curtailing it before I’d covered 200m but I relented and eased into it and by the 3rd K it was “comfortable”.

Two more runs to the MM – 3.2k tomorrow and 20 minutes on Saturday which should equate to about 3.5k.

Lastly – If I had a house that did not have a fence that backed onto a train line I would not let my children play in the back yard – RIP little one – you were let down.

 

1K Over

I had my doubts this morning whether I was going to be able to complete 6.5k, so last night I popped another fenac before bed and “voila” the leg felt ok – still a mild discomfort but not enough to stop me running.

Mapped out a 6.5 k route and took a wrong turn 3.5k in and ended up doing 7.5k. I managed to forget about the discomfort a few times and even enjoyed the run, especially as I felt I could have held a conversation the whole way. If it wasn’t for the adductor it would have been a great run.

Once home I jumped into a cold bath – I haven’t qualified for the “ice” bit yet – and vegged out for 20 minutes, hoping that it’s doing me some good. Right now it feels sore and a 30 minute run beckons tomorrow morning, so we’ll see how well I pull up.

 

I want my knee injury back…

..because this adductor injury is doing my head in. Fenac, panadol and massages do not seem to quell the discomfort.

My last road run was last Wednesday and come Saturday I was trying to convince myself to go for a run. I got changed three times before heading to……… the gym! I did two fitness tests up and down the drive way after medication and even mapped out an 8k route on Mapmyrun. I piked out of the run in case I broke down 4/5k from home.

The treadmill it was – 4.8k of mind numbing boredom, sweating buckets and in a little bit of discomfort – 33 minutes including a couple of walk breaks and eight days (at the time) to go before the half, I was a broken man. I couldn’t run 21.1k in this state of pain – I’d run 9 weeks of conservative running – 240k and even missed a run every second week, how could this be?

Today is 6 days to go and I’m still unsure if I’m running it or not. I’m desperate to run it but only if I can do it without pain. My blind positiveness is highlighted by the fact that I bought a top at Kmart yesterday to keep me warm before the race and one I can discard as I start to run. $5 (down from $19.95) but I’m getting quite attached to it  – it fits well, keeps me warm and is great for wearing around the house – shame to throw it out!

We had the AFL grand final here at the weekend and the Geelong cats got up by over 6 goals – Andrew is a crazy cats fan – pity his other side can’t replicate this achievement in the English Npower league. It was a great contest, one of the best I’ve seen, although I was quietly cheering for the Magpies.

Due for 6.5k run tomorrow although in my present state of mind and pain, it seems doubtful – must remain positive.

Whilst I was still relatively uncomfortable with my adductors, I was determined to run after a week of slouch.

I had a 45 minute window to get up (5:00am) get ready and get running. Out the door in 15 minutes is a new world record for me. Wow what a warm morning – and how windy; 29 minutes at my long run pace was neither easy or tough but I was grateful for the run. The first 3k were uphill and into a stiff breeze.

As I was limited by time I ditched the plan and ran for close to 30 minutes so that I’d be home before Chelle left for the gym – mission accomplished although my adductors are still sore.

Home this evening is a candle lit affair but no hint of romance! Michelle and the boys are out for dinner at their parents/grandparents (I abstain due to the red meat)

We’ve had some terrific storms here in Melbourne today and we’ve been hit with a blackout. Luckily we have a couple of laptops to keep me connected via the iphone and some candles to help me see my way.

Eleven days to MM and as per norm I feel under prepared but this time I feel as though I've done enough- still looking for a sub 2 hour half.