Just like the Yukon

Race Kit 

It's two weeks since my injury and according to my doctor I should be able to run after two weeks but no contact sports for six to eight weeks so I'm back in action.  

The snow has returned and falling heavier than before so rather than have a definite plan I decide to go out and just do what I can staying close to home and running a loop that allowed an escape route if needs be and I could repeat the loop as often as required. 

  

Mile 50 on the Dawson Trail.

The snow was deeper than I thought and took bit more of an effort than expected but when I got going it was just amazing.  Rather than risk a fall I went to a local park and without thinking about where I was going I just ran and let the terrain and visibility decide my route.  Within 20 minutes my mind was wandering and I was back in the Yukon.

When running in cold weather my technique varies slightly and rather than run slowly to gradually warm up I would run faster than usual to warm up and then I slow into my pace.  I dress in layers but would always be slightly cold when starting off and as soon as I feel myself starting to heat up I take off my gloves or hat while slowing into my pace and when I'm in the zone I put them back on.  If I need to take my hat off I'm going too fast!!

In warm weather you ration your water and in cold weather you ration your sweat.

I ran for just under an hour and stopped because I decided to rather than needed to as I think it's important when returning from an injury that you take a step back before going forward and don't try pick up where you left off.  I had done one or two short runs over the last few days before starting back today just to check my recovery and during these runs I avoided hills and made the effort not to over work my lungs by running at a very easy pace and for a very short time.

Forced Rest

(very) Cross Training.

As you will see from the above photo I also train in Martial Arts although not as often as I would like to and last Tuesday during a MA session I broke 2 ribs and that has ended my training for this year with what I call forced rest.  It's unlikely that I'll be doing anything between now and Christmas so this is probably the time to review the year and think about my plans for next year.

I've had very little time off during 2010 having almost gone from race to race with very little rest and since coming back from my most recent race in Gibraltar I was more or less straight back into training and thinking about the next race.  Rather than worry about my ribs I look at this injury as a guilt free reason to do nothing and by finding the positive in a sometimes negative situation you stay mentally strong.  Maybe guilt free is the wrong term to use for taking a break but for me I always like to do what I can do and if  I feel up to training I train as you never know what the next day might bring.  My theory is rest days will happen rather than needing to plan them and I'm really glad I made the effort to run last Monday in the snow.

Lost in the woods.

Peak Week. Day 3.

Distance: 10K in 42min10.
Avg Pace=4:14 per K.

HR avg=150 in zone 146-153bpm.

Something just wasn't right before I started my second run today so I decided to forget about it and just do some stretching.  Nothing serious but when driving to the running track for the usual Wednesday night club session my left knee felt a bit tender when using the clutch and at this stage I can't afford to take a chance.

My earlier run went well and my HR avg was down by 2 beats for the same run only two weeks ago which if nothing else it shows I'm going forward rather than backwards and my recovery strategy must be working.

Tomorrow is yet another split session but I'm thinking that I might forget about the earlier shorter run and just stick with a later 16K which I might extend depending on how I'm feeling.  But then again I could also end up taking a rest day if my knee feels the same.  Train hard but train smart and sometimes it's best to rest.

Proceeding with caution.

Dead Sea Ultra April 2007.

It was inevitable with all the training and high mileage that something would go wrong and during an easy training run last Thursday I felt a niggle in my lower right leg around the ankle area, it was nothing much and there was no pain but I couldn't take a chance.  I stopped what I was doing, went home and immediately started to ice the area.  

Experience has taught me that sometimes it's best to be cautious and sacrificing a few miles could prevent losing days or weeks of training or maybe a lot more so I decided to take the next day off rather than risk it developing into something more serious.

I spent most of Friday evening icing the area and using a foam roller on my calves which made up for not training but it's hard losing days with the race so close and I wasn't happy!  

Assuming I'd be okay I set the alarm for early on Saturday morning and set out as usual hoping I wouldn't be forced into an early turnaround.  Five minutes into my run and I'd forgotten about my niggle but to be on the safe side I didn't run the distance originally planned and continued to ice the area.

There's only 24 days left until the big race and that's close to the same number of days that I had to prepare for my last 24-hr race so my plan is to almost mirror what I've done before.

Too much too soon.

Everest Marathon 2007 and the view from Kala Patar.

Last week I started to increase my mileage thinking that I'd recovered quicker than the time I knew it would take and have started to feel a few niggles.  I'm guessing that this was partly due the feeling of success I had after finishing the 24hr race and that feeling was masking the obvious damage that my body had suffered during the event.  It was my longest ever event and probably my shortest recovery period so it was probably obvious that my legs needed some more time off.

I have since put some effort into sorting the problem areas through self massage using my foam roller, icing the sore area and doing some extra stretching.  This seems to have helped but i'll be extra cautious until the end of this year and won't be doing my usual December races and might even forget about speed work until at least January.  On a positive note I went for an easy run today with Tony driving to his house to cut out some hills and we completed 8 miles at a fairly constant 7:30 min mile.  We agreed not to go faster than 7 min mile with no lower limit and had to hold ourselves back at times without ever having to speed up.  Tomorrow I start at the beginning all over again and prepare to prepare for 2010.

Everest Marathon Race Report.

A new week.

It feels like I've recovered from my calf / shin injury which was basically a tight calf muscle causing the shin pain.  My aim now is to remain injury free for the next few weeks and pay a bit more attention to my stretching.  I ran just short of 26 miles yesterday without any cause for concern and in the 2 previous days I ran a 6 miler at a steady pace on the Track with Tony and an easy 11 miler on Friday.  My injury had me out of action for 3 days and it's hard to believe that I could hardly walk with the pain last Tuesday.  Having had similar problems before I wasn't too worried and rather than panic I spent every free moment massaging the affected area.  If I was on schedule I would have ran 32-35 miles yesterday but the event is too close to take a chance on running that sort of distance just after an injury.  I think it's best to be at the starting line slightly undertrained and injury free than taking a chance by over doing it in training. 

How do I know I ran just short of 26 miles? For my long runs I use a Garmin Forerunner which takes the guess work out of distance and pacing.

Running is hard but not running is harder.

I've 38 days to go until my first attempt at a road 100K which also includes a week of Tapering and I'm injured. There were times when it was an effort to put on my running gear and leave my house for a 1 or 2 hour run on a cold winter's evening and sometimes I convinced myself not to go out. But now that I'm injured and I can't go out I don't have that same lazy feeling and it's killing me not to run now that I don't have a choice. My injury is nothing serious but it's enough to knock me back a small but still significant bit in my schedule. The attached photo was taken after successfully climbing to the highest point in every county in Ireland in a record breaking 96 hrs with a team from Ulster Bank. I injured my knee while descending Carrantouhill the first peak of our challenge and had to improvise a knee support using a pair of boxer shorts and duck tape.