Rehabilitation

Returning home after last Tuesday's hill reps I felt a slight twinge in my left calf, a bit like cramp was about to grip my muscles, but it didn't. That evening I had a good session with the foam roller, was well hydrated and had a good nights sleep.

Wednesday morning takes us on our weekly 6am Dawn Patrol run. Again, a slight twinge was felt in the first kilometre but nothing really. We always warm up slowly and I had no reason to worry...until about 15mins into the run when cramp struck! Ouch and double ouch. I do occasionally get cramp so knew to stretch, walk it out and perhaps try running again. I did try, but no way was my calf having it. I was reduced to a limp and hobble back home. Luckily we weren't too far away.

So what happened?
Well, the cramp was so severe that it actually damaged the muscle. Through testing I know which muscle (soleus if you're interested) so know what actions to avoid (plantarflexion, like when you press on the accelerator pedal in your car). So here's what my rehab has been like for the last week:

Wednesday - acute stage of injury - applying the RICE principle, avoiding all movements that induced pain.

Thursday - still acute, applying ice, resting as much as possible. I did have to go to the shops and while walking very cautiously and slowly I felt the same area twinge quite significantly. It again reduced me to a hobble.

Friday - ice + full rest. As much sitting down as possible plus rolling a ball under my feet - to loosen any tight tissues in the fascial line. Gentle massage from Tim, away from the area, helped to reduce any unnecessary tension building up in any muscles that may have been used to compensate from the injury.

Saturday - as Friday, plus a short 500m very slow and gentle walk on flat ground. In addition to using the ball under my feet I also had a session with the foam roller - but, and this is important, I kept well clear of where the damaged tissues were. If I were to use the foam roller right over the damaged area I would risk re-injury through mechanical pressure pulling the tissues apart.

Sunday - As Saturday. Additionally I could now do full ankle circles with no pain, and very gentle heel drops and raises (3 sets of 10 on each) to keep some movement happening, but not too much. I went for a 500m walk in the morning - no pain, no after effects, so in the evening we walked to a nearby pub for dinner. It was a slow, cautious walk as I could still feel tightness around the healing area, but no pain felt so all good.

Monday - As Sunday - no pub visit but I did go for a gentle stroll. I continued with gentle stretching, rollering and also jumped (cautiously) onto the bike (on the turbo) to test whether cycling induced any pain. It didn't. So, on very easy resistance I span the pedals for 20mins. Another sports massage as before.

There you have it. My rehab so far. Sadly I had to cancel my Running Delights session today, but better to err on the side of caution, even though it feels much better. I shall be going for a longer stroll tonight (or bike ride if the rain doesn't clear up) and then the same tomorrow.

When walking on the flat, and going up and down stairs, I have been doing so very slowly and deliberately. There can be a tendency to keep moving at the same pace as pre-injury, limping along. But, if I had done that then my gait would have changed. Initially I was limping (for about 24hrs), but to avoid significant change to my gait and the potential for muscular imbalances to start I kept walking slowly and in my natural gait.

I have not real idea when I will do a short walk/run to test my leg. It will depend on how the next few days go. Missing a few runs for 1-2 weeks isn't going to affect me too much, but if I return to running too soon I could end up being out for much much longer.

Skinny

Almost a year ago I wrote about my red dress and the illusions I held about my weight. Another item of clothing I have owned for a few years now are a pair of skinny jeans. Since moving north they've been a bit of a benchmark for where my weight is - if easy to put on I'm happy, a struggle means I need to work harder in my training. I bought them in the last year I lived in London, so they're maybe 3 years old now. I hardly wore them. Mostly because they really were a tight fit - and as skinny jeans should be, I suppose.

Well no more.

Here's the result of a couple of years of training sessions plus recovery practices (sports massage, soft tissue therapy, foam rollering, stretching, hydration and better nutrition).

12cm less than I used to measure judging by this belt

I have a few people to thank for helping me achieve the baggy skinny jeans look. First up is Tim, my partner. He's a rock. Too many reasons to list why he's top of the list. The guys down at S&P gym in Stockport, without the training programme written for me there my strength and conditioning sessions would be adhoc and inefficient to say the least. Nik Cook, for planning the running programme I do. I'm sure I'm not his easiest customer with my random and competing goals, but the hard work is paying off. Without the running programme I just would not get half as much running done. I'm motivated to get out there, but I'm also really good at finding reasons not to. What I have discovered over the past year or so is that I am very good at complying with what people tell me to do. I'd also say thank you to all the folk in Glossopdale Harriers - a great bunch who have definitely motivated me to get out there on good and rubbish weather days over the past year. So, thank you guys and galls. Couldn't have done it without you all.

ps. the title of this blog has nothing to do with me believing I'm skinny....just the name sewn into the back of the jeans. With 25% body fat I've a way to go before I count myself as skinny. I am however very happy with my weight :)

Beast Mode Engaged

That's right folks. I have a new running programme and a new strength & conditioning programme so beast mode is engaged. After successfully conquering and completing my handstands last month I'm more motivated than ever to keep up the hard work. If I can do something that for years gripped me with fear then I can lift a few weights and push myself up a few hills. For the first time my running programme includes me building up some serious hill fitness - so lots of hill reps and some tabata work. I asked for it...let's hope the lungs and legs behave themselves.

Here's the strength work I'll be doing over the next month, three sessions per week:

Did the first session yesterday, managed 3/3/2/2/2 on the chins so room for improvement over the coming month

B2 looks...interesting....building on my handstand work. I may need help to start with.

I'll be doing this session at home, either on Fridays or Saturdays

Working on form with RDL's

In with the weekly training schedule I'll be doing plenty of recovery work too, including daily sessions with the foam roller, having plenty of sports massage, staying hydrated and ensuring I get quality sleep. I've been fairly disciplined this year in going to bed at 10.30pm and getting up at 6.30am. So far, with the exception of about 3 days, I've managed to stick to that schedule and it is certainly helping me feel more alert.

Gosh!

Where has time gone to this past month or so?! There's not much to report really. Here's some stats from past month or so:

1-7 Oct - ran 37.70km, 1 turbo session, 2 strength sessions

8-14 Oct - ran 65.83km, 1 turbo session,  1 walk. Saturday run was long at 25km and I felt some knee pain.

15-21 Oct - ran 36.09km, 1 turbo session. Knee pain gradually worsened over the week. Possible ITB inflammation?

22-28 Oct - ran 15.89km, 1 strength session. Easy week with just 3 short runs. Lots of foam rollering, soft tissue therapy, stretching and icing knee.

29 Oct-4 Nov  last few days/Nov - ran 15.28km very easy, 1 strength session. Knee pain kicks in at 20 minutes. It's not acute pain, just a noticeable pain that tells me to stop. So I stop.

5-11 Nov - full week of rest from running as knee hasn't improved over the last week. Did 3x 40min turbo sessions focusing on strength.

I'm just about to head out for a short run to see how the knee is, nice and easy. I feel like I've lost all my fitness over the past 3 weeks. I also feel like I've lost my motivation. Having an injury brings up lots of emotions and while I know what I'm to do and how I need to feel it is hard. I miss being able to run easily. I've done plenty of foam rollering, stretching, received loads of soft tissue therapy and followed the advice I give my clients - if there's pain it's there telling you to stop - lets see if it's all paid off.

A photo to inspire me...taken by Tim on our run from Glossop to Chinley for the beer festival. That was a good day, I ran strong and kept up with the boys relaxed pace.

Halfway

It's a little over halfway through 2012 and a good time to review my 2012 Aspirations. Am I on track to reach my goals this year?

#1 - 24 GDH runs
I ran five times with the club in Jan/Feb/Mar. In April I did three races and no club runs. During May I ran once with the club - a great run up from Crowden and in June I joined the summer solstice run up on a very very wet Kinder. That totals 7 club runs in 6 months. Although I'm not on target at this rate to make 24 club runs this year I'm not bothered. My training has shifted focus with the new programme and the past month has meant no running above a certain heart rate - essentially lots of very steady paced running. I am going to renew my club runs in the post-Olympic months.

Typical Summer Solstice weather for the club run!!

#2 - run 3 fell races - achieved.
28th January - 28 Kinder Trial
18th March - Dark&White Mini MM in Macclesfield Forest
15th April - Dark & White Mini MM in the Hope Valley (3hr score event fell race) - here's the blog
18th April - Herod Farm Fell Race - here's the blog
22nd April - Kinder Downfall Fell Race - race route recce'd & blog posted here and the race report is here.
13th May - Dark & White Mini MM around Dovedale/White Peak -  here's the blog

Kinder Trial fell race

#3 - cover 25km in one go - achieved. On Sunday 10th June I ran from Glossop to Hope - here's a write up of the run which was delightful. I'll repeat the route later in the year and see if I can beat the time - under 3.30 should be very achievable, closer to 3hrs would be amazing. I also want to repeat my Circumnavigation route with less stopping, running round Kinder edge is lovely and I'm curious to see how I get on with trying to do it as fast as possible.

The Mam Tor-Lose Hill ridge - on the final section of my Glossop to Hope run

#4 - 10 body weight chin ups - I'm up to 7. My current strength & conditioning work has me doing 5 sets of 4 on a Monday and I'm getting these each week. It's tempting to see if I could do 10 right now but I'm holding back just a little longer.

Practicing....with a chain!

Any revisions to my goals at the halfway point? Nope. The club runs will happen as they happen so my only real aim now is to do 10 chin ups. I'm happy with my running and overall progress this year. The training is all enhanced by regular sports massages,  foam rollering, stretching and the odd bit of dry needling by Tim. I've also been doing some mobilisation exercises before heading out for a run, and have found that it really helps me feel warmed up and ready to go. The final bit of recovery that I've been doing is cold showers...just on the legs, but its definitely helping to keep my legs in good shape.

Early worms

"The early bird catches the worm"

Meaning: Success comes to those who prepare well and put in effort. 

I set some Aspirations for 2012 and here's how I'm getting on so far, 18 days into January:

#1 - 24 GDH runs
2 complete; on target if I keep up the same attendance rate.

#2 - run 3 fell races
0.

#3 - cover 25km in one go
Max distance run to date in one go = 12km. 25km seems more feasible now I've broken the 10km point on 5 occasions since Boxing Day. I'm formulating a route for my 25km run - more to follow on that soon.

#4 - 10 body weight chin ups
Can do 2. Feel confident I could do 3 but training currently has me doing 4x2 body weight chins on Mondays and 4x8 assisted chins on Thursdays (assisted being with the help of a giant elastic band). Gradual progress is key.

In addition to my training and running I'm developing a morning routine to take me through foam rollering, stretches and mobility exercises. These are usually done prior to training at the gym, but I want to get them done every day to increase mobility, flexibility and strength.

Here's what I did today:

• Foam rollering - quads, hamstrings, adductors, ITB, calves, achilles. I'm paying particular attention to troublesome and therefore painful areas...left ITB close to the knee, left achilles (I have a niggle on my lateral ankle)

• Stretching - calves doing both bent and straight leg so I work the achilles properly. I'm focusing just on these lower leg muscles to assist the ankle niggle rehab. Main thing is I'm listening to my body and just holding the stretch, breathing deeply and feeling it until there is some sort of relaxing or ease evident before moving on.

• Ankle raises & drops - on a step, hinging from my toes, doing them slowly to feel where there are areas of tension. Rotating feet a little to gain more stretch laterally then medially.

• Mobility:

squats x10
hip rotations x5 each direction on each leg
mountain climbs x10
forward lunge x10
single leg RDL x5 each leg
pull-aparts with band - arms
arm dislocates with band - arms

• Balance on hedgehog - 1min each leg 

• Plank x30secs

• Wall squats x10

All those take about 30 minutes. I feel the benefits immediately - I'm more awake and my body feels more supple and warm. A great way to start the day, and prepare my body for whatever is coming later on.

Saturday run

Eventually got myself into the right frame of mind to go running tonight. The weekends are long runs, so focus on keeping going for longer run sections and shorter walk breaks. I was aiming for about 8km, with some of the route off-road to get my legs/ankles back into fell running. The route took me past Mossy Lea farm...up to this point my garmin was telling me I was running at 2:06/km - just not possible so I hoped it would calm down so I could have stats of my run later on (it did thankfully).

Turning right after the farm I head up hill. To this point I'd stuck to 1 min walk, 3-3.5mins running and I felt good. This is where my lungs start to complain about going up. I just don't seem to be able to use the air that I get inside me. Air is going in, but I don't feel like the oxygen is getting around my body. I push on, trying to keep to 1 min run, 1 min walk and do this up to turning left rather than continuing down Doctor's Gate. Now the hill is going up more and I aim to walk to the left turn in the track then run/walk as far as possible. Between the farm building and Spring Cabin I manage a couple of 30 second bursts running but I'm immediately gasping for air and unable to recover at all...not even after walking for 3-4 minutes. I try to keep my walking pace under 12min/km but as I head up through the gap in Shelf Benches I just get slower. Somewhere along the way I take yet another puff on my inhaler, in the hope that it will relax my lungs but it doesn't appear to have any effect at all.

Reaching the high point of the run after about 4km I head over to a well worn trod. I could just bash across in a vaguely south direction but that's on tufty grass and my legs aren't ready for off-path terrain just yet. Slowly slowly is my build up to that sort of underfoot ground. Reaching the trod I turn downhill back towards Mossy Lea. I saw a couple of walkers on the track as I was heading up and I wonder if I can pass them or whether they'll be long gone. I'm fairly recovered now from the uphill section and head into the wind, taking care with foot placement but gaining some momentum as I descend. My speed picks up when I hit the grassy hard packed wide path, quickly through the gate and I spot the walkers down by the stream. Determined to keep running and get my average pace up I keep running, but not before a 30 second walk break. They're important to keep legs fresh.

I easily pass the walkers before the first stile on the way towards Old Glossop and keep running until about half way down the track where I take another very short walk break after the metal gate (bottom of Lightside). Onwards...and onwards....the track seems longer than it should. My lungs are into a steady rhythm now but the legs are feeling it a little. I contemplate going through Old Glossop and back along the road but dismiss it - too much road and maybe a bit too much distance today. Nothing for it but left, over the bridge and up over Shire Hill.....wow that steep bit is Steep!! Legs really feeling it at this point I get to the grassy track and am off again running. One panicky moment as a small dog is quite undecided whether it wants to run through me or round me, and on I go back down to tarmac and the final half km or so back home.

I get home and immediately jump on the turbo - I didn't walk at the end to cool down and that's an important part of exercising. I knew if I wandered around outside today to cool down I would have got cold, so the inside turbo option is great.

Writing this later on I feel a slight sense of congestion in my left calf, gratefully Zephr is on hand to massage it and release the toxins back into circulation to be cleaned. I do some foam rollering too as part of the recovery process, noting my left ITB is particularly tight about two thirds the way down. More rollering tomorrow for me. If it hurts it needs more attention!

Total distance: 8.10km
Time: 56:49
Average pace: 7:01 min/km

I'm pleased when I compare this run to a similar one in May. The May run took me down Doctors Gate a little then left up the steep grass - but overall ascent was the same. However, my May run took me 1:07:31 with an average pace of  8:06 min/km. It appears I am faster now. I hope that's down to the training and rehab programme I've been doing. I'm sure it must be.

Testing the knee

Went for a short walk yesterday, only about 30mins out from home to find a geocache. Wasn't taxing in any way but good to stretch the legs, and importantly see how my left knee felt. All was good I'm pleased to report. We then walked into town to meet a friend for coffee, and back again. On the way down I as shown the basic idea of forefront running....not long into that I could feel a slight (very slight) twinge on my knee, right where the pain was on my last walk. hmmm. not encouraging since I only jogged for a few metres. Seems I'm not as mended as I would like.

At home later I got on with some foam rollering of my hamstrings, quads and ITB...oh, and my calves since any tightness there will tranfer up to the knee. Wow, foam rollering is damn painful. Not only where you're rollering, but I find it incredibly difficult to balance my body weight on my arms/shoulders, seeming to only be able to sustain a decent position for a few minutes. I messed about with various positions but to be frank it aint comfortable, more on my upper body than where I'm meant to be working. I will persist and see what positions I can work out which suit me.

Osteopathy

I wrote an entry on the globaltherapies blog about my visit to the osteopath yesterday....click here to read it.
It's been less than 24 hours since the treatment but I can already feel an improvement. The pain on the top of my left fibula (lower leg bone on the outside) has totally gone, and prodding around my ITB on the same side it would appear that the ultra-sensitivity has pretty much eased off too. I shall be indulging in some foam rollering after breakfast to get some fresh blood to the area and loosen off any residual tension. What other differences can I feel...well, I don't feel quite so wonky. And I'm certainly even more conscious than normal to keep my body in good positions, standing on both feet, not slouching or sitting cross legged - such positions if help for hours over long periods can lead to muscular imbalances. What I am noticing is some tension in my upper traps (shoulder/neck area), I wonder if the reluctance to being realigned by my top vertebrae is still holding on up there?