First rule of running club fails… and a new ailment

A particularly bad run this morning where for the first time ever, the First Rule of Running Club failed.

For those of you who have missed any related posts, the First Rule of Running Club was devised by my pal David. The First Rule of Running Club dictates that you must got for a number two before going on a run… the theory is that if you don’t, you’ll want to half way through the run.

Well I followed the first rule and I still wanted to go half way through the run – which made for a particularly uncomfortable second half of the run.

The strange pain in the bottom of my left foot was also playing on my mind. With every step, I get a small stabbing pain coming up in the area just before my toes… it’s not unbearable but not pleasant either.

So this evening, I decided to venture back to my running heroine, Lillian, the sports maseuse at the Virgin Active gym in Streatham. She gave me a good going over, releasing some of the pressure on my aching muscles and in particular the adductors (the ones on the inside of your thigh). But she also found what is wrong with my foot – apparently, I’ve a little bit of tendonitis and I could feel it clicking as she tried to massage it away.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a map and details of the run

Miles today: 5
Target: 972
Miles to date: 1,330.75

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Run rabbits, run

We had to be up early this morning to get an early start on driving back to London and so I was out at just after 6am… gorgeous weather for a run, not too hot, not too cold and I took to the bridle paths around Eric’s house with relish…

At one point, I came across a car parked in a remote bit of woods with someone obviously asleep on the front seat, entirely covered by an animal print blanket… I have to say, I was kind of glad the whole Raoul Moat story is over, because I would have been bricking it that I’d found him!

The rest of the run was spent warning the little bunny rabbits in the area to hide. There’s a bit of an infestation in the area and so they were set for a bit of a cull today, so I stamped around as loud as possible and made as much noise as I could whenever I saw one, in a vain attempt to alert there instincts as to what might be about to come.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a map and details of the run

Miles today: 5
Target: 906
Miles to date: 1,214.63

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

The penultimate Brighton Marathon run

So the penultimate run before Sunday’s Brighton Marathon went well this morning. I didn’t really push it and also didn’t look at the Garmin again as I was running to check my speed and still did under 9mins 30secs a mile.

I also went to my last sports massage before the face. Lillian at the Virgin Active where I’m a member said my legs seem to be in good shape and she gave me a big thumbs up saying my calves are probably the most supple of all the runners she is treating – and this at the height of marathon season, which I was pretty chuffed about.

She also gave me a little present for post the race – a bottle of body soak Radox to relax the muscles.

Diet wise, Im at the heart of carb loading now. I’ve eaten enough brown rice and spaghetti this week to feed half of China and all of Italy – I’ve got a spag bol on the cooker as I type! The idea is to have a decent amount in your body so you don’t run out of fuel in the race itself…

Got to admit, I’m also feeling pretty nervous about it all so I’m trying a few breathing and visualisation techniques. Just closing my eyes, lots of deep breaths til Im relaxed and then seeing the finish in my mind’s eye…

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 627
Miles to date: 818.09

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

Things will only never get better

After this morning’s run I had my weekly sports massage at Virgin Active with Lillian and told her about my visit to the physio.

While she agreed with what the physio had said, Lillian was quite forthright in her general assesment of my condition. “James, the only way you will totally get rid of shin splints is to rest – there’s no other way out of it,” she said before going on to do a massage that went a long way to relieving some of the pain.

I later went into London and popped into a shop called Runners Need – as I said earlier this week, I was keen to have my gait looked at again. While new trainers ahead of the Brighton Marathon would never be worn in and would lead to blisters, I thought it was worth taking a look at.

I started this quest running in Asics GT 2140 stabilising shoes that worked pretty well for a good 500 miles but when I tried to get a new pair, they were no more and had been replaced with the upgraded GT2150s.

When I entered the shop, I told the shop assistant this and he said a few other people had had trouble with the change. He said the new shoe was not as stable as its predecessor and that they were now recommended only for people with mild to moderate overpronation (foot rolling inwards as you run).

We checked them out on the treadmill using a video camera to record my stride and you could see they are correcting my gait but maybe not enough, I’m still pronating quite a bit.

He also asked me if I had any other problems… I said blisters on the arches and he confirmed this is another complaint people had with the 2150s.

He suggested I try on a pair of Brookes Adrenalins instead and when we checked them on the video again, they looked like they did a better job than the Asics so I bought a pair.

It’s highly doubtful I will run Brighton in them but I was going to change the 2150s after next Sunday’s marathon anyway… I’ll probably just try and break the Brookes in a little early.

Click here to see a link to Garmin Connect and see a map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 606
Miles to date: 796.09

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

Missing out on day 200

So in the midst of telling you about the day before yesterday’s physio session, I completely missed noticing I’ve now passed 200 days of straight running on the streak – only another 165 days to go.

I noticed this morning that while running my legs felt heavier than an elephants and I am now stressing that the cause of the injury are my running shoes.

I wear stability trainers which are meant to stop your feet from rolling when you run. I’d had my gait analysed about 18months ago and these were the ones suggested to me but stability trainers should really not be allowing me to get shin splints. What if the guy who tested me got it wrong? Depending on whether your feet role out or in when you run you are either pronating or suppinating. I always get mixed up which is which, what if they guy who tested me did too? The trainers you need for each condition are very different and would exacerbate problems….

I’ve a sports massage tomorrow but after, I am going to go and have them looked at again… just in case.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 603
Miles to date: 793.09

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

Stress dreams and medial stress syndrome

So the amount of running I’m doing, or rather the amount of thinking about the amount of running I’m doing is obviously getting to me. Last night I had my first running stress dream.

I was headed to the start of a marathon in a wheelchair and was about to ‘run’ the race in the chair when someone came up to me and urged me to get out of the chair and try running. When I did so, I set off injury free and at a really good pace, convinced I was going to run in less than 2hrs 30mins (hey, it was a dream).

It all probably stemmed from yesterday’s visit to the physio department at the National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace. Like my sports masseuse at Virgin Active, Caroline, the physio who saw me spent a lot of time just saying: ‘why?’ before getting down to business. Luckily, like most people who deal with runners, she recognises the obsessive streak.

Anyway, after much prodding and poking and pulling about, she said everything was in good working order apart from the lower part of my legs where I am suffering from Tibial Medial Stress Syndrome. If you Google it, you’ll find ‘shin splints’ coming up a lot. So tell us something we don’t know right? I was told I had shin splints weeks ago by Lillian.

Well, apparently, its not that simple. Shin splints is a bit of a generic catch-all term for any lower leg pain around the shins but there are several different conditions that can cause it – and as such, medical professionals are loath to use it to describe one injury. According to Caroline, the traditional ‘shin splint’ pain should be right on the front of the bone with the very thin layer of muscle in front of the bone gets tight, whereas I am suffering from an inflammation of the soft tissue that links the muscle to the bone on the inside of the shin.

Caroline said: ‘The main cure is rest but I know you are not going to do that so let’s see if we can nurse you through the marathon and then take another look when your mileage drops back to three miles a day.

And so as a first attempt, after massaging the affected areas, she has strapped the front of my shins with tape in an attempt to take some of the pressure. I need to see her again on Friday to see how it’s all going. We’re also going to have another look at my gait – how I run – and see if that affects anything and if I need a different kind of trainer rather than the support ones I currently use.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 600
Miles to date: 790.09

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

And a little bit of good news…

A big thank you to everyone who has emailed over the last couple of days with encouraging messages over the shin splints issue and especially to Maxine Sheppard of  Virgin’s travel inspirations site V:travelled (check them out) who’s put me onto the Bowen Technique – I’ll sign up for a session or two and see if it helps.

I had another sports massage session with Lillian last night and she said, aside from the shin splints, my legs are doing fine. In fact she said IT band, calves, quads and hamstrings were in amazing condition all things considered, so it’s just a case of getting the shins to calm down a bit and I should be okay.

This morning’s run saw loads of drizzle… it’s the kind of weather I like running in, for some reason it makes you feel as though you are doing more than just running and allows you to grit your teeth and plough on, shin splints or not!

Click here for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 576
Miles to date: 753.07

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

Now with added shin splints

So I feared the worst when I went to see Lillian, the sports masseuse at Virgin Active in Streatham yesterday and she confirmed it within seconds of touching my legs. ‘You’re starting to get shin splints.’

It’s the two words most runners dread and, having suffered before, I knew the telltale signs were there all week: a slight burning soreness  on the inside of my calves and aching shins, to the point where I’ve done most of the week’s runs at snail pace and, at times, even hobbled.

She went to work on them for 45 minutes, pummeling and rubbing away, stretching my legs one way and then the other… but I still went home slightly dejected. It’s a feeling that was compounded this morning when I woke up and could still feel the pain… Anyone who has read about Lillian before will know that she’s performed magic when I thought my streak might come to an end, but even her expert help had not done its job.

As I hobbled down London Road and back this morning, I made a decision on the Brighton Marathon. I have three weeks and four long runs to go according to my programme, but I am going to forsake tomorrow’s long run that was to be a 22 miler. I will then just do gentle three milers all week and monitor the progress. I’m hoping the ‘rest’ from the long run may help things calm down a little.

Miles today: 3
Target: 567
Miles to date: 744.07

Click here for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

Reaching the 700mile mark

Another day, another landmark and just before making it home this morning, I clocked up my 700th mile since I started this challenge towards the end of September last year.

Once again, the second day after the long run was the most painful… the legs frightfully stiff and me limping around Streatham on one of my least strenuous routes.

Luckily, I had half an hour booked in with Lillian the sports massage therapist at the Virgin Active in Streatham who gave my legs another good going over. She warned I’d be stiffer this evening – and I am – but I’m hoping that will have gone by the morning.

Click here for a Google Map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 534
Miles to date: 700.56

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Back to the gym and more massage

Not much to report today really…

At around 10 this morning I went to my local gym, the Virgin Active in Streatham and had a sports massage with Lillian before a rather boring treadmill run followed by a weights sessions.

The legs are feeling less tight than at any time over the last two weeks… a good sign I hope.

Click here for details of the run

Miles today: 3.14
Target: 522
Miles to date: 672.36

Want to dedicate a run to someone or have one dedicated to you? Click here