Just a very quick blog post today as I'm rushing to go out.
Pleased to say I ran an easy three miles with Ruby without any pain from my suspected sports hernia. It isn't fixed yet, as it still hurts a bit when I do sit ups but running-wise I think I'll be OK if I take it easy.
Hopefully I'll be fine for my adventure in the Lakes with Ed and John on Wednesday.
Total distance - 3 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/165886293
Monday, 14 July 2014
Wednesday, 9 July 2014
Sports Hernia (?)
I forgot to write my blog for yesterday's run as I was so busy.
Duncan dropped me off on his way to work in the morning and I did my favourite easy run again though to Higher Hempshaws, into Lead Mines Clough, along Yarrow, into Rivington and then home.
During the run I was very aware of the pain I've been ignoring for a few months. I have been getting a sharp pain every time I do sit ups or sneeze. It's not excruciating, but it's not pleasant either. On my long run on Saturday I noticed the pain when I was running for the first time but I just ignored it because it was only a dull pain and didn't really bother me too much. Today it felt a bit worse and, even though it still wasn't debilitating, I decided it would probably be wise to book in at the doctors.
After an examination the doctor said that it could well be a sports hernia, which is different to a normal hernia as there is no lump. He didn't seem to know much about it though and has just prescribed anti-inflammatories, ice and rest for a week and then see what's what after that.
A week off running? What am I going to do? I'll get fat for a start!
I have an outing planned next Wednesday in the Lakes so it had better be better by then! I'll take doctor's orders and have a try next Tuesday evening to see how it is. I'm climbing the walls already though!
Duncan dropped me off on his way to work in the morning and I did my favourite easy run again though to Higher Hempshaws, into Lead Mines Clough, along Yarrow, into Rivington and then home.
During the run I was very aware of the pain I've been ignoring for a few months. I have been getting a sharp pain every time I do sit ups or sneeze. It's not excruciating, but it's not pleasant either. On my long run on Saturday I noticed the pain when I was running for the first time but I just ignored it because it was only a dull pain and didn't really bother me too much. Today it felt a bit worse and, even though it still wasn't debilitating, I decided it would probably be wise to book in at the doctors.
After an examination the doctor said that it could well be a sports hernia, which is different to a normal hernia as there is no lump. He didn't seem to know much about it though and has just prescribed anti-inflammatories, ice and rest for a week and then see what's what after that.
A week off running? What am I going to do? I'll get fat for a start!
I have an outing planned next Wednesday in the Lakes so it had better be better by then! I'll take doctor's orders and have a try next Tuesday evening to see how it is. I'm climbing the walls already though!
Saturday, 5 July 2014
Lead Legs
I met up with the usual gang this morning in the UT at the UP. There was a merry little group of us this morning, consisting of myself, Ed and John Swift, Gordon, Pauline and Kev. There wasn't really a set route in mind so we just made it up as we went along and started by going up to the Pike.
When we first set off along to top barn, I always feel heavy legged but it usually passes after maybe a mile but today that didn't happen. I practically walked all the way up to George's Lane. My legs were just so heavy. They have been all week. I had an excellent run last Sunday but every run since then has been awful and I have no idea why.
I had made a promise to myself over a year ago that I would never walk up to the Pike and would always run it but today I felt like I was going to break that promise. I'm pleased to say I didn't though and, though it was incredibly hard work, I made it to the top without walking.
Next on the agenda was Two Lads. Ed and Kev went cross country, with the rest of us heading down to George's Lane and ascending at the side of the dog hotel. Still my lead legs hadn't recovered and I pretty much walked all the way from the dog hotel to Two Lads. This really wasn't going well. My breathing was absolutely fine and I wasn't at all out of breath but my legs just had nothing.
I persevered though and struggled through. I think Ed and John were both struggling a bit too today so we just struggled along together. Gordon, on the other hand, was full of beans and running back and forth like a man possessed. He must have done twice the mileage of anyone else.
From Two Lads, we went cross country to the trig point and from there, ran down the diagonal onto Belmont Road. Even running downhill was hard work. When we got to Belmont Road, we went left and headed for the stile which takes you down to the bridge at dangerous corner. We then went up onto the road, along a bit and then through the gate on the right, heading for Higher Hempshaws. We ran up to Spitlers Edge, which is where Ed, John and I decided to head back to the cars, leaving the rest to continue on to Great Hill.
We followed the wall back down towards Horden Stoops and then stopped for a couple of minutes to chat to some cyclists once we got to the road. At this point, I must have stopped my Garmin and I forgot to start it again until much further along the road. At a minimum I lost 1/4 of a mile but it might have been a bit more. We got back to dangerous corner and then just headed back to the cars from there. My legs still hadn't woken up, even though we had been running downhill for a good while now.
I'm going out tonight for a burlesque themed hen party but, even if I'm not hungover tomorrow, I'm going to have a day off from running because I think it's clear that I need a rest, although my mileage has been pretty low this week really.
Total distance - approx 10.4 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/161909505
When we first set off along to top barn, I always feel heavy legged but it usually passes after maybe a mile but today that didn't happen. I practically walked all the way up to George's Lane. My legs were just so heavy. They have been all week. I had an excellent run last Sunday but every run since then has been awful and I have no idea why.
I had made a promise to myself over a year ago that I would never walk up to the Pike and would always run it but today I felt like I was going to break that promise. I'm pleased to say I didn't though and, though it was incredibly hard work, I made it to the top without walking.
Next on the agenda was Two Lads. Ed and Kev went cross country, with the rest of us heading down to George's Lane and ascending at the side of the dog hotel. Still my lead legs hadn't recovered and I pretty much walked all the way from the dog hotel to Two Lads. This really wasn't going well. My breathing was absolutely fine and I wasn't at all out of breath but my legs just had nothing.
I persevered though and struggled through. I think Ed and John were both struggling a bit too today so we just struggled along together. Gordon, on the other hand, was full of beans and running back and forth like a man possessed. He must have done twice the mileage of anyone else.
From Two Lads, we went cross country to the trig point and from there, ran down the diagonal onto Belmont Road. Even running downhill was hard work. When we got to Belmont Road, we went left and headed for the stile which takes you down to the bridge at dangerous corner. We then went up onto the road, along a bit and then through the gate on the right, heading for Higher Hempshaws. We ran up to Spitlers Edge, which is where Ed, John and I decided to head back to the cars, leaving the rest to continue on to Great Hill.
We followed the wall back down towards Horden Stoops and then stopped for a couple of minutes to chat to some cyclists once we got to the road. At this point, I must have stopped my Garmin and I forgot to start it again until much further along the road. At a minimum I lost 1/4 of a mile but it might have been a bit more. We got back to dangerous corner and then just headed back to the cars from there. My legs still hadn't woken up, even though we had been running downhill for a good while now.
I'm going out tonight for a burlesque themed hen party but, even if I'm not hungover tomorrow, I'm going to have a day off from running because I think it's clear that I need a rest, although my mileage has been pretty low this week really.
Total distance - approx 10.4 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/161909505
Friday, 4 July 2014
Canal Run
Working from home today so I went down to Asda at about 6.45 this morning before it got busy. I needed to go for a recovery run and thought I might try a road run for a change and pondered whether to just do a few laps of the Middlebrook whilst I was down there.
Deciding this was far too boring to bear, I drove over to Suzannas in Blackrod and parked up for a run down to the canal.
Once I got to the canal, I turned right along it and headed to Adlington. My legs, as they have been all week, were really heavy and, even though all the start of the run was downhill and then flat, I was struggling a bit and had to stop a few times to stretch out.
Once I got to Adlington, I just ran back along the road and up the dreaded Dark Lane back towards Suzannas.
Not sure what's wrong with my legs this week but they just feel like lead weights. I'm off for some physio in a few hours so that should hopefully sort them out a bit.
Total Distance - 4.7 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/161523658
Deciding this was far too boring to bear, I drove over to Suzannas in Blackrod and parked up for a run down to the canal.
Once I got to the canal, I turned right along it and headed to Adlington. My legs, as they have been all week, were really heavy and, even though all the start of the run was downhill and then flat, I was struggling a bit and had to stop a few times to stretch out.
Once I got to Adlington, I just ran back along the road and up the dreaded Dark Lane back towards Suzannas.
Not sure what's wrong with my legs this week but they just feel like lead weights. I'm off for some physio in a few hours so that should hopefully sort them out a bit.
Total Distance - 4.7 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/161523658
Thursday, 3 July 2014
Tough Hill Session
I had to really force myself out for the hill session tonight because I didn't want to leave Ruby alone. I had only been home from work for an hour and a half and Duncan was going out for a drink after work so wouldn't be home until later on and I had to leave Ruby alone again. She had already been left for eight hours. For anyone who doesn't know, Ruby suffers terribly from separation anxiety. If you have a dog, you'll probably understand but if you're not a dog person, you'll think I'm being overly sensitive about leaving her.
Anyway, I did manage to get out and went along to meet the others at Sheephouse Lane car park. When I arrived there were a few there already, along with two lads on crossers and their mate on a scooter! Steve took the decision not to do reps up and down to the pigoen tower, because of the idiots on bikes and so instead we ran over towards Dangerous Corner. By now there was quite a big group of us.
We ran along to the wooden bridge at the bottom of dangerous corner and then the session was up through the plantation to the stile onto George's Lane, straight across to the other stile then up to Noon Hill.
When I stated the climb up to George's Lane I was feeling quite good and even overtook a few people and it wasn't until half way up noon hill that I started to get some pain in my right calf. I could tell that I was struggling as I got overtaken by a couple of girls on the descent back to George's Lane and I don't usually get overtaken on descents. Once onto George's Lane I had to stop to stretch out my calf.
I got back down to the bridge and started my second climb but half way up to George's Lane I had to stop again because I felt like my calf was going to explode. Steve was coming down the hill so he stopped and had a chat to me about trying to improve my running style and he said that a week on Tuesday at the track he would take his iPad along and film me and we'd work on things I could try to improve but that it would take a good few weeks to start seeing any results.
Due to my calf pain, Steve got me doing a shorter session and once I was onto George's Lane again, he told me to run along to a stile a bit further down and then do reps up and down to Noon Hill. He said to do three reps and then go back down to the bridge. I ended up doing four reps instead and probably had time for a fifth in hindsight but I was getting slower and slower each rep. My calf did start to ease off a little but it was still quite tight. Luckily I've booked in for physio tomorrow so hopefully that will sort it out.
We regrouped back at the bridge and then had a lovely run back to the car park, where I looked down at my leg and a big fly (horsefly?) was on it and I could see something sticking into my leg. I pulled it off and it drew blood. Yet another bite to add to the collection!
Needless to say, I came home to a puddle of wee on the kitchen floor and poor Ruby cowering in the corner. There's no point in getting angry with her, as that won't help the anxiety at all and it's definitely not a house training issue.
When I uploaded my run to Strava I found that, rather ridiculously, I managed to get a course record on 'Dangerous Corner - Belmont Road Climb'. When I looked into this, only one other girl has recorded a time here so I'm first out of two, however it turns out I'm 9th out of 24 overall, so I'm quite pleased with that although I'm pretty sure the others mustn't have been trying very hard because I really struggled tonight.
Total distance - 4 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/161330092/overview
Anyway, I did manage to get out and went along to meet the others at Sheephouse Lane car park. When I arrived there were a few there already, along with two lads on crossers and their mate on a scooter! Steve took the decision not to do reps up and down to the pigoen tower, because of the idiots on bikes and so instead we ran over towards Dangerous Corner. By now there was quite a big group of us.
We ran along to the wooden bridge at the bottom of dangerous corner and then the session was up through the plantation to the stile onto George's Lane, straight across to the other stile then up to Noon Hill.
When I stated the climb up to George's Lane I was feeling quite good and even overtook a few people and it wasn't until half way up noon hill that I started to get some pain in my right calf. I could tell that I was struggling as I got overtaken by a couple of girls on the descent back to George's Lane and I don't usually get overtaken on descents. Once onto George's Lane I had to stop to stretch out my calf.
I got back down to the bridge and started my second climb but half way up to George's Lane I had to stop again because I felt like my calf was going to explode. Steve was coming down the hill so he stopped and had a chat to me about trying to improve my running style and he said that a week on Tuesday at the track he would take his iPad along and film me and we'd work on things I could try to improve but that it would take a good few weeks to start seeing any results.
Due to my calf pain, Steve got me doing a shorter session and once I was onto George's Lane again, he told me to run along to a stile a bit further down and then do reps up and down to Noon Hill. He said to do three reps and then go back down to the bridge. I ended up doing four reps instead and probably had time for a fifth in hindsight but I was getting slower and slower each rep. My calf did start to ease off a little but it was still quite tight. Luckily I've booked in for physio tomorrow so hopefully that will sort it out.
We regrouped back at the bridge and then had a lovely run back to the car park, where I looked down at my leg and a big fly (horsefly?) was on it and I could see something sticking into my leg. I pulled it off and it drew blood. Yet another bite to add to the collection!
Needless to say, I came home to a puddle of wee on the kitchen floor and poor Ruby cowering in the corner. There's no point in getting angry with her, as that won't help the anxiety at all and it's definitely not a house training issue.
When I uploaded my run to Strava I found that, rather ridiculously, I managed to get a course record on 'Dangerous Corner - Belmont Road Climb'. When I looked into this, only one other girl has recorded a time here so I'm first out of two, however it turns out I'm 9th out of 24 overall, so I'm quite pleased with that although I'm pretty sure the others mustn't have been trying very hard because I really struggled tonight.
Total distance - 4 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/161330092/overview
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
Skinny Hippo
That's how I would describe the way I run. I plod like a hippo but I'm not fat.
On today's easy run with Ruby I made a few attempts to change little things about my running style, for example I tried not to swing my shoulders as much and tried to run a bit taller. I also pretended I was running on hot coals to try to improve my cadence. I only kept these little bits up for a minute or so each time as it's a recipe for disaster trying to change things all at once and for long periods.
I'd just like to be a bit more efficient in my running style. I know that you run how you run but I'm sure there are some small adjustments which can be made, it's just persevering and bringing them in gradually.
Nothing exciting to report from tonight's run really, it was just an easy plod around Rivington on heavy legs. Hopefully I'll have loosened them up in advance of tomorrow's hill session. Bring it on!
Total distance - 5 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/160912147
On today's easy run with Ruby I made a few attempts to change little things about my running style, for example I tried not to swing my shoulders as much and tried to run a bit taller. I also pretended I was running on hot coals to try to improve my cadence. I only kept these little bits up for a minute or so each time as it's a recipe for disaster trying to change things all at once and for long periods.
I'd just like to be a bit more efficient in my running style. I know that you run how you run but I'm sure there are some small adjustments which can be made, it's just persevering and bringing them in gradually.
Nothing exciting to report from tonight's run really, it was just an easy plod around Rivington on heavy legs. Hopefully I'll have loosened them up in advance of tomorrow's hill session. Bring it on!
Total distance - 5 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/160912147
Tuesday, 1 July 2014
Tough Track Session
In my quest to get some more speed into my legs I once again headed down to the track this evening.
The session was a massive 5 x 2000m (5 reps of 5 times round the track for any of my non-running readers)!! Knowing I had no chance of doing the whole session because the fast guys would finish each rep way before me and would be onto their next rep before I had even finished my first, I decided to just do 1200m instead (three times round the track).
There was a girl at the track named Gaynor and I know that she is a faster runner than me so, in order to push myself and keep a steady pace, I decided to use her as a pacer. She wasn't doing the full 2000m reps either.
I felt pretty strong on the first two reps but by the third my shins were starting to get pretty sore so I wimped out and only did 800m then had a good stretch whilst waiting for the others to finish their rep.
Feeling OK again, I did 1200m for the fourth rep, although I had slowed down by about 20 seconds per mile from the first rep.
Finally, the fifth rep came. Just an 800 for me again this time but I'm pleased to say that I did manage to stay with Gaynor for the whole session.
I hate the long sessions like these but they're exactly what I need to improve my running. I can do the speed thing for a short distance, but I'm not good at keeping it up so this kind of session is ideal.
I can't make the track next week because I'm at a Pearl Jam gig in Leeds (cannot wait!!!!) but I'm determined to get down there as often as possible and really get some decent sessions in.
Total distance - 4.4 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/160468634/overview
The session was a massive 5 x 2000m (5 reps of 5 times round the track for any of my non-running readers)!! Knowing I had no chance of doing the whole session because the fast guys would finish each rep way before me and would be onto their next rep before I had even finished my first, I decided to just do 1200m instead (three times round the track).
There was a girl at the track named Gaynor and I know that she is a faster runner than me so, in order to push myself and keep a steady pace, I decided to use her as a pacer. She wasn't doing the full 2000m reps either.
I felt pretty strong on the first two reps but by the third my shins were starting to get pretty sore so I wimped out and only did 800m then had a good stretch whilst waiting for the others to finish their rep.
Feeling OK again, I did 1200m for the fourth rep, although I had slowed down by about 20 seconds per mile from the first rep.
Finally, the fifth rep came. Just an 800 for me again this time but I'm pleased to say that I did manage to stay with Gaynor for the whole session.
I hate the long sessions like these but they're exactly what I need to improve my running. I can do the speed thing for a short distance, but I'm not good at keeping it up so this kind of session is ideal.
I can't make the track next week because I'm at a Pearl Jam gig in Leeds (cannot wait!!!!) but I'm determined to get down there as often as possible and really get some decent sessions in.
Total distance - 4.4 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/160468634/overview
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