Want the good news or the bad news ?

Well, the good news is that my leg feels like it's ever so slowly improving. Today's effort after two days of rest was a bit quicker 4:31 and a bit less uncomfortable (although the HR was up a bit too much), and I only took one VR25. The bad news is that Sas's knee has not improved as much as we were hoping and she is off running and cycling for a bit, while she gets a scan done. Hopefully this is just a temporary hiatus borne more of caution than necessity.

Today's physio session was bad, I don't think I've ever been in so much pain on the table ! If pain is indeed 'weakness leaving the body', a lot of weakness left my body today.

A glimmer of hope

Took a couple of voltaren rapid 25's today about half an hour before the 7.5 run and for the first time in ages set ofF relatively pain free. We ran from Zamia cafe up and around the park - 7.3km. The twinges in the glutes and groin built over the run and I was mincing a bit coming back down the hill and started feeling it towards the end but the anti-inflams definitely took the edge off. I was actually running like a normal person for a bit- it felt great. Sas wasn't so lucky and is still being bothered by the inside knee pain which is, like my injury, a bit of a mystery.

Update: Feeling a bit twingey this afternoon in the usual spots. Not a bad thing, hopefully this is providing the stimulus the body needs to fix itself...

Feeling flat

Today's intended long ride turned out to be more of an adventure than predicted. Mistake #1 was that I only wore a single layer long sleeve top - the wind and air temperature conspired to make me bloody cold the whole time the sun wasn't shining. We made our way up the freeway, along South Perth (pausing for shelter at Mends St.) across to east perth and over the hill because of flooded paths. From there we went up to Garret Rd bridge where disaster #1 struck. Sas got a flat (mistake #2 - no bike pump on board), so we headed up to the BP on GE highway to change the tube. Turns out you need an adapter to inflate tyres from garage air hose - and they had no knowledge of any nearby bike shops. Fortunately I got a text from Kim saying she was having coffee at Trish's after her morning long run ; it was about a 1.5km walk to there but she did have a bike pump (and coffee!).

The tyre was duly changed and after a bit of a break we headed off again. We had barely been going for 10 minutes when disaster #2 struck - another flat ! Either we hadn't got all the glass out from puncture #1 or more was picked up on the footpath. There was a bit around... unfortunately we were now too far from trish so we put in a SOS call to Mr Sas, who duly arrived an (cold and windy) hour later with a rescue package - new tire, inner tube and pump.

We set off again and got to Cobalt for much needed sustenance - a muffin and large hot coffee. Unfortunately it was getting late so we had to cut our losses and head home from there - 45km in about 6 hours... lessons learned.

Blowin' in the wind

Went for a 32k bike ride this morning. I have to say it was pretty invigorating being out exposed to the elements like that. In retrospect, probably should have taken the mountain bike - there were a lot of sand/rocks/branches all over the place. With a 60-70kph gusty crosswind at times it was difficult staying upright especially on the sandy bits. The path was flooded about 40cm in East Perth and in various other places (Causeway, Canning Bridge). We got showered with (salty, thankfully) water spray when returning down the freeway path near the scout hut, and the path was starting to flood. Saw Biscuitman out for a run in S.Perth, looked like he was enjoying himself.

Booked a deep tissue massage on Monday with KD. Hopefully it will help... nothing else seems to be.

150 days to go...

.. and a month since Boston. Went for a 7.3 km run in King's park following a similar route to Monday. Can't say it went any better (see pic. on right). Definitely still landing almost on tip-toe on the left side. I can feel when going uphill that there is no real power in the left leg at all which is obviously a bit of a problem. Still, we averaged 4:38 pace while not really trying to go any faster - Sas' HR is coming down nicely, I'm still winning (higher) by 10 beats. I'm not really surprised - I really scraped the barrel in the marathon - I don't think I've ever been that depleted in my life ; I must have been out of my mind.

Next run (Sunday?) I'll try taking an anti-inflammatory to see if it makes any difference. Being saintly pharmaceutical-wise isn't really getting me anywhere and it could help.

Another day, another hobble...

Went for a 7.5 km run in King's Park today with Sas. Both of us were struggling a bit, but I would say that, for me anyway, today's was marginally better than the run 5 days ago. The pace was slower - just over 5 min pace, but the average HR was 154 - at least getting close to the right zone. The pain was still there( although today it seems more concentrated in the left glutes and not so much in the adductors ) and I'm still struggling to plant the left foot properly, so I'm still mincing a bit. However I'd have to say it was an improvement and gives me some hope that things are at last getting better, and I may yet be able to do the relay on Perth marathon day. I had planned to do the 10k in Elleker, but I think that's a non-starter at this point, which is disappointing.

I am enjoying the bike though and managed about 170k in the 4 days from Thursday to Sunday. I will take it down south over the Elleker weekend though and get some decent riding in...

Go the bike..

A few decent rides (seems the title of this blog has been prophetic) in the last few days - 30k on Thursday with a circuit of King's Park, a good, hard 25 km on Friday and a 3:45 long ride on Saturday. Not terribly fast but did over 90k - from home to the garret rd bridge to east perth, and then up to Trigg via Perry Lakes, and then back home. Legs felt tired after that one, a bit like after a long run, but it was good to feel like that again (there was a coffee stop and breakfast in the middle too).

Boston photos

Thanks to Biscuitman who found a couple of photos on a public site:

Mile1:
30km:

It ain't getting any easier....

Went for a 6.06 hobble with Sas this morning. Groin and glute pain the whole way, but it didn't get worse by the end so that's good. A good clue to what's going on was that the right foot was planting on the outside forefoot rther than heel striking, and the foot was turned so the toes were pointing 10 degrees to the left rather than straight ahead. HR was horrific (169) for 4:45 pace. Had physio later in the morning including needles and elbows in the adductors and glutes.  Ouch...

Baby steps

Run went a little better this morning ; pain wasn't quite as severe - more concentrated in the inner thigh and less in the glutes - and I managed to complete a 4.3km loop at about 4:45 pace without feeling the need to stop. HR was almost in the tempo zone but I suppose that's to be expected. Turned around when I saw Sas out for her morning hobble and we compared notes for about 8 minutes before I headed home up the hill. Have to say it was great to have the mind taken off the legs for a while - made it seem easier - even enjoyable....

First run

Wow. Horrible.  Sore left inner groin and left glute from the start - I made it to 3.5k before it started getting painful in the left inner quad when I decided to stop flogging the dead horse. 4:50 pace, average HR 155. Walked about 10 minutes and then trudged the last 700m up the hill back home at my new marathon pace ;-)  Didn't expect much I suppose so I shouldn't be too despondent. I'll try again in a few days - hopefully this will have kickstarted something. It can only get better....

Bicycle, Bicycle...

Went for a nice long (1:45) bike ride this afternoon following up from the hour or so on Friday. Feels good to get back to doing some exercise - it makes the legs and the head feel a lot better. I still can't run due to the left leg injury but am hopeful that this will change towards the end of the week. Hard bike ride (30k in 1 hr) to KP and back on Monday, and similar distance slightly slower on Tuesday. 32 minutes on Wednesday (16k) and 1:45 on Thursday (including 2 coffee breaks....). I must be getting desperate, I'm including the bike distance in my weekly total.... 

I have the all-clear from J at Ascend Physios to try a gentle run up to 5k on Friday.