Oh My God Why Didnt I Get This Earlier!

The SAN Run For Life Report

What a fantastic morning for the 10km Sydney Adventist Hospital Run For Life....11C and no clouds...perfect running weather...twenty or more Warriors were present, some to run and others to walk around with their little kids...

At the start of the race we stood way too close to the elite-looking runners for my comfort and when we took off the bulk of the Warriors went out like the clappers....I took my time due to my ankle but remember last year knackering myself before the steep hill of the Glade...I was running 5 min pace at the 2 km mark and the others were nowhere is sight....I just kept to my new injury-prevention robot form, stretching out on the flat and running slowly up the hills and gingerly down...at the 5km mark my pace was still 5.3 which i was really happy with, a pace i kept to religiously from that point on...

I have to say that I felt really relaxed with my new posture..so much less stressful than my swinging stooped lurch and death face from before!!...things just seemed to feel calmer, even though I really tried to do a few surges on 2 occasions.....I saw our lead runner at the 6km mark on the way back....he was placed in the top thirty or so and killing it with his 4.3mins/k pace...

Sprinted the last 500 metres and crossed the line very happily with 53.37....last year my time was 58 but i was around 12KG's heavier back then...

All up a thoroughly enjoyable run and a good omen for my future after a pretty tough month on the injury front....I notice from the results that my age group (41-50) actually had the fastest average time of all runners at 54.09, faster than the 18 year olds (55) or the 18-25's (58)...

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE RUNS OF ALL TIME ?

Last night was one of my favourite runs off all time, mostly because it was back to pace and longish (over 11.3kms) for the first time in four weeks, the longest break Ive had since I started 18 months ago.

It started at 7pm with a complete downpour with very heavy rain, which combined with Public Enemy on the ipod and no pain in my ankle or knee was a pretty irriesistable combination...plus the fact that most of the superfast runners in our group didnt show so me and one other runner had the rare pleasure of taking the lead...kept a pace of 5.4 for about 10kms, very hilly, then slowed down in the last km after a very slight twinge in my ankle from a steep downhill....

....other favourite runs ?

1. 10kms in the Blue Mountains Three Sisters to Leura Cascades
2. 15kms Avalon to Palm Beach and back
3. A bush bashing run out the back of Pennant Hills with my butcher-friend
4. 12km beach run at Manyana South Coast

What about you ?

Why Do Injuries Improve When You Run ? Any ideas ?

The body is a strange and unpredictable thing. Im trying to work out some strange happenings with mine ?

Why does my sore ankle get better when I run ?

How much of pain is real vs psychological ?

Is there a link between worrying your injured and being hypervigilant and careful leading to more injury ?

I hurt my ankle again slightly today running hills and tried an experiment. Later in the day I stopped off at an oval on my way to pick up the kids and ran round it once...hey presto..no more pain...what the ?...how come..am I stretching it....are the remnants of an injury tightness ?

Any thoughts?

Finally Back to Running

After nearly three weeks off due to ankle and knee problems im finally back having run two ten km runs in Melbourne around the Tan track...the interesting thing was that it actually took running to complete the recovery as the pain only finally went away when I got fed up waiting and just got out there courtesy of strapping and a light knee brace...after a few kms all niggles went away and havent really come back...why is this ? I was in danger of thinking it would never heal but was lucky enough to have a running friend tell me her similar story...anyway what a bloody relief after lots of angst...three weeks off, however, can really take fitness away, ive been aching like crazy even after a ten km run.....the kind of pain Im loving!

Slow Return

Its been 2 weeks since I ran and if you add the Half marathon taper a long time since i did any decent running...the good news is my ankle and knee are totally on the mend, Im back to cross training and cycling for this week then ill gradually increase over the following 2 weeks until im back to where i started...god its good to have a physio who tells me not to run and to come back slowly....he has explained how ankle injuries relapse if you dont wait long enough and it makes total sense...

For the time being Ive lost another kg, probably because ive been overly concerned about putting weight on without running...plus ive been fair to my upper body which has missed out on an equal share of exercise time over the past year...

Looking forward to the gradual return.....now off to Melbourne for a week...

Listen to Your Body? I'm Having a Spiritual Moment

Corny as it may seem if there's anything I have learned from the last few weeks of injury it's this: "Listen to your body"....in a way this is the lesson i have been learning for the last 18 months, to tune in a hear what it's saying to me...

...it screamed "DONT SMOKE YOU FUCKING IDIOT" for decades and I didnt listen, "YOUR TOO FAT" and most importantly "DO YOU HAVE TO WORK SO BLOODY MUCH"

...but lately Im finally learning to tune in to a quieter more subtle voice...one that says "push it hard, youve got alot left" or " woah on the food, your overdoing it", "take a rest and go slow", " have a sleep", " dont go out again, its too much" etc.......

....to many this would seem obvious, but its quite a revelation to me at the moment, the fact that listening in this way can be a kind of spiritual experience..a reconciliation with a friend you've had for a long time but have ignored

.......too corny and melodramatic ? Maybe.... but Mind/Body/Spirit or (Father/Son/Holy Ghost if your that way inclined) seems to make up a threesome that eventually need reconciliation....out of every challenging time comes something good and as i rest my weary body Im getting mine...

..to celebrate Im listening to one of Van the Man's ultimate spiritual songs

Resting

Not Much Progress

Its been 10 days now since i last run and getting frustrated....my physio said to cycle and use the gym cross trainer but this seems to be aggravating my knee......so all I'm left with is upper body weights and swimming in the hope that this will settle everything down.......my ankle 50% better but i can still feel its potential to come undone again......this is a very irritating process although I know i need to learn its all a part of being a runner......physio Friday where Im pretty sure he'll prescribe more rest.......feel like I have ADHD at the moment.

Breaks Are Good!!

After some days of grief given my injured ankle and knee things have changed quite abit. Firstly, I definitely on the mend and should be right for a test run in 7 days. Secondly, to my surprise, Im really enjoying having a break. Im hopping on my bike more, cycling to the pool or the gym and generally feeling like it's a well earned change of scene.

Its funny how obsessed you have to get while training for the Half, but now I plan to come back slowly over the next two weeks, get my new robot style running down and drift gently into full marathon training which should start mid November.....if the physio is right I should eventually come back more efficient and a little bit faster so theres nothing to stress about....