It has been so long since I have done anything energetic I was starting to wonder if I had permanently slipped back to a sedentary lifestyle. What with the doctor telling me I can’t run at the moment, the weather having a turn for the colder and no tangible goal to train for I have completely lacked motivation to get out of the house to do something.

After some persuasion though I was talked into going swimming at the local baths on Saturday morning. Nice and early at 8am we were there and it was filled with people who actually wanted to swim.

I did all of my swimming training for the Great North Swim in the pool at the Whitehouse, which although very nice was quite short at 15 metres iirc, and I seemed to be forever turning round and not able to swim at full power for very long. Shrewsbury pool on the other hand is 33 metres long, and with the diving boards it is very deep too. 45 minutes swimming and we packed it in. as far as pushing the boundaries of physical exertions go, this wasn’t a big effort but it was an important start again and I think this will become a regular Saturday morning thing.

Sunday saw me get the boat back out again. I can’t remember the last time I got the kayak out. It has got to be a good few months though and it told when I forgot my spraydeck. It wasn’t until I got into the boat on the launch and my hands tried to lock the deck into place with muscle memory, that I finally realised that I had forgotten something. I didn’t much matter though I wasn’t doing anything more exciting than taking in the sights of the Shrewsbury loop, and it was only when I paddled backwards that I took on some water slopping over my stern.

While out in the boat I had some serious thinking about my options for the Devizes to Westminster race next year. After all this is what I am ultimately planning for and this is one of the reasons why I update this blog every week… I still have over six months to get boat fit with a crewmate so it could be possible to be ready for the race but it would be hard work, and I always intended to do the initial boat work with a crew in the summer because the inevitable capsizes would be more bearable when the water is warm. The winter was then supposed to be about improving skill and honing race craft. But here I am looking at the winter season without having spent any time in a boat with another person. I blame myself for concentrating on other events and didn’t focus on this canoe race but it doesn’t change the fact that it will take an enormous effort to be ready now for 2010. My dad did mention on the weekend that Easter 2011 is as late as it can be and obviously a race later in the year will have more potential for being warmer.

So what’s this? Am I deferring the preparations for the Kayak race for a year?.. I don’t know. I think as far as the two man race is concerned though I probably have come to that decision even if I am finding it hard to admit it to myself.
But there are ways I can get into the DW race in stages. I could take part in the one man race which is staged over the Easter weekend with a stop every night. Or I could just do the build up races which take place through February and March to get an idea of sections of the course without going for the full blown race. The trouble with doing one man races, is finding a suitable boat (a fast and stable one man kayak). My current quest is to find somewhere that I can get a boat like my personal favourite Piranha Speeder either cheep enough that I can justify buying it, or maybe even find somewhere that hires them.

Whatever I plan on doing, I need to have a definite plan in place soon. Without a fixed goal to train for I am drifting in that fitness limbo where I don’t know what I should do and don’t have a motivation to do it.

Natural born sprinter

It’s been quiet here for the last few days. I have had a lot of things I have needed to do in the evenings, and following last Sunday’s big run, I have had my leg pain back. Nothing serious but the ongoing pain in my legs and the fact that I think my left shin bone is swelling noticeably more than the right shin finally convinced me to go to see my GP.

The last time I went to my doctor I got the distinct impression he thought I was having a bit of a time waste so I have been quite reluctant to go back, this time though I was pleasantly surprised to find him sympathetic to my running troubles (I suspect he is a runner himself).

We had a long talk through the bio-mechanics going on with legs and running and it seems that with my toe running I am a born sprinter, not a long distance runner. This is a shame as I quite enjoy long distance running finding it quite cathartic after a long day at work, and I don’t have the discipline to be a successful sprinter. But anyway, toe running is protecting my joints from the pounding heel runners can inflict on themselves as the foot, ankle, Achilles, etc. acts as a great shock absorber for each foot strike. Where I am saving myself from one set of injuries, it seems I am causing others.

There is a part of the leg on the outside of the shin called the anterior muscle compartment, this is an area where muscle is wedged in between the tibia and a strip of tough gristle. When this muscle is worked hard it can’t expand and becomes painful and this muscle is worked hard by toe runners. This is a likely reason for my shin splints pain as opposed to all of the other things I have considered with self diagnosis on the internet. Pushing through the pain barrier with compartment syndrome can lead to gangrene however, so I can’t just ignore this one.

He isn’t wholly convinced that I have any additional bone growth on my left leg despite having a good prod about on my shin. If there is any change in bone density it might mean that I have caused a stress fracture and if that is the case running isn’t for me, I’m not a big guy and shouldn’t be stressing my bones to that extent. I am off to have a few X-Rays just in case.

As predicted my doctor has put a ban on running until I next see him (after the X-Rays have been done) and as long as nothing is thrown up with these X-Rays he is going to talk me through warming up and down exercises that can help, and he even mentioned the physio word. I am allowed, nay encouraged, to get out on the bike though so Sunday Big Run will now be replaced by Sunday Big Ride until I am given the all clear by the Doc.

I am now trying to instigate the Sunday Big Run. I plan on running the big distances every Sunday, being driven to locations at increasingly longer distances from home, and then I run back. (I say plan but I already have other plans for this coming Sunday.)

This weekend saw me start the Sunday Big Run ball rolling with a 10 miler. I got there at about 8:30 in the morning, partly because the F1 was on early and partly because a large bulk of the route was along a pathless B road, so I didn’t what to have to dodge a lot of traffic.

All told I got home in 1 hour and 38 minutes which was about what I expected to complete based on the half marathon time. I have a couple of massive blisters in the arch of my foot have appeared again. I wonder why that part of my foot has suddenly started rubbing? And my shins are a bit achy again.

One concern on the shin front is the bone in my left shin. My left leg is the more troublesome, with more sever shin splint pain and more sever muscle aches. I have noticed over the last couple of weeks that the middle of the shin bone is getting denser than its opposite number on the right. I’m contemplating going off to see the doc but I fear he will 1/ call me a big girls blouse and 2/ will tell me to stop running on it.

when running goes bad

I have been reading on peoples twitters and blogs about having a “bad” run. I’ve not had a bad run yet, I’ve had hard runs, and painful runs, and enjoyable runs. Last night I think I had a bad run.

I chose to do my preferred 4.2mile route around the back lanes I also decided to run with wrist weights on to work my upper body a little bit harder. It took me 45 minutes and was gruelling.

The wrist weights were a surprise load on my CV system and I found it a bit tougher, especially up hill but that wasn’t what made it a bad run. My legs felt like lead, muscle cramps and general all over pain made running a bit grim.

Getting back I found it difficult to warm down, and sleeping was made uncomfortable as I had terrible aches in the back of my legs and today I have very tight leg muscles.

I don’t know why the run went bad. Maybe it’s the weather as it has gone cooler over the last few days. Or maybe it is this trace of a cold that I have, or maybe it was the wrist weights adding to the load on my pegs, or maybe it is just one of those things that runners have to put up with from time to time.