Week 20 - Perspective

On Wednesday night this week I took up my position of time keeper for the Horwich RMI Harriers Jubilee Race and Junior Street Races. 

 

Watching all the runners coming over the finish line made me feel a bit down about my own running at the minute.  I know I’ve been getting out much more these last few weeks but I am still getting foot pain.  It’s not enough to cause a problem running but I’m aware it’s there and it’s causing me to worry about the future and whether continuing to run is going to result in real issues with my feet in later years.  There’s nothing I can actually do about it either other than ease it by wearing decent footwear like Hokas. 

 

I keep looking into other activities which are kinder to feet but nothing floats my boat the same way as running.  Running is just so simple!  I don’t mean that it’s easy, it’s really hard work, I mean that it is something you can do whenever and wherever.  As long as you have a pair of running shoes you can be on your way.

 

Swimming just bores me.  I’d probably quite like it if I was fortunate enough to have my own pool in my back garden but the idea of going down to the leisure centre trying to dodge round all the other people there just isn’t appealing.  Plus the scenery never changes.  ‘Wild’ swimming is much more appealing but it’s not something you can do all the time like running is. 

 

Cycling is OK but it’s just not as convenient as running.  For a start, I won’t road ride except for on VERY quiet roads which there aren’t many of by me.  Sheephouse Lane just seems like pure hell, not because of the climb but because of the amount of cars speeding along it.  Off-road riding is good fun but it’s hard to find a decent bridleway network by me and I find myself doing the same route again and again which gets a bit tedious.  As for travelling further afield, I’m not confident on anything too technical so I have to find routes which aren’t too rocky.  Most of the blue routes at trail centres are pretty short but I want to get decent distance in as I’m all about endurance.  There are a few long routes I’d like to do, for example the Kielder loop, but they involve travelling a good distance and overnight stops so they’re not something you can do as simply and easily as putting your shoes on and going for a run.

 

Lastly, I’m still toying with buying a kayak/canoe.  I’ve really enjoyed doing this in the past but, again, how often would I actually go out on it if I bought one?  It would probably just end up turning green on top of my garage roof.

 

I know this sounds like a bunch of excuses but the truth is, running is the only form of hobby/exercise I’ve ever stuck at.  To lose it would be a big disappointment to me as it’s my life now and has been for the past 13 years. 

 

All of this was, however, put into perspective on Thursday evening when I bumped into a friend who, about eight months ago, suffered a major stroke at the young age of 46.  He's now getting around in a wheelchair, having been pretty active before the stroke.  My complaining about running suddenly felt pretty petty.  I guess we should be grateful for what we have as you never know what's around the corner.  Obviously I'm still sad about my own problems, that's not just going to go away, but I should be grateful that I'm still physically able to do all the activities I have made excuses for above.

 

 

Tuesday, 15 May

 

I had a coached strength and conditioning session this morning, having decided that my muscles are turning to mush because I haven’t done any S&C for eight weeks now due to my pulled muscle and/or cracked rib.  It STILL hasn’t healed, which is possibly my own fault because I haven’t stopped exercising. 

 

Usually when I have coached sessions, Dave has already written out my training plan and then goes through the exercises with me, however today he just came out with a blank piece of paper as he wanted to try out various exercises to see which didn’t cause ne any chest pain. 

 

We started with some work on the hoops, doing double leg and single leg squats. 

 

Next I did face pulls and an exercise (which I’m sure has a proper name but right now it escapes me) which involves being in a squat position, with a forward lean and pulling down a bar on a cord – I really haven’t explained that very well! 

 

After that we moved on to my favourite – the slide board.  I did backward lunge slides and a super set of inner thigh slides (again probably has a more technical name than that). 

 

Then it was onto the barbell.  I did barbell step ups with a superset of single leg dead lifts. 

 

The penultimate exercise was the low row (at least I think that’s what it’s called).

 

Finally, it was the reverse leg press. 

 

It felt really good to get back into it but I wish this chest pain would go away so I can get back to my actual workout, which is much harder but much more rewarding. 




Friday, 18 May


Another coached S&C session today with Dave, again starting out with a blank sheet of paper.  Today's session comprised of:


Y's, W's and T's on the hoops - that probably doesn't mean much to you but they are all exercises which use a good deal of core strength.


Leg press followed by glute raises. 


'Landmine' side to side rotations with a superset of 'landmine' squats.


Barbell overhead push ups with swinging weights, followed by single arm rotations. 


Single leg sit to stand (very tough!!!).




Saturday, 19 May


We had an impromptu camping trip last night, staying at a campsite in Tosside with a view to going on an early bike ride this morning at Gisburn Forest.  The plan was to get there really early so that I could do the blue trail before it got to busy (as I was worried about having a queue of people trying to get past me whilst I clamped my brakes on riding downhill) and then Duncan would ride the red route after I had finished so that one of us was always with Ruby. 


The first mile of the trail was like hell on earth!  It was just full of tight (to me anyway) switchback berms and I was terrified that I wouldn't get round them and would end up sailing over the top.  I really was pathetic and nearly spat my dummy out and went back down.  I didn't though and continued which was the best decision as the rest of the route was really nice and enjoyable. 

Total distance - 6.5 miles




Other than that, I haven't done a right lot this week. No running at all.  I did spent a lot of time on my feet on Sunday though, marshalling the Manchester 10k.  It was a long day as we did the half marathon too so were out in the blazing sunshine from 7.30am to 4pm.  Great day though, I'd much rather be marshalling it than running it!