Monday 16th April 2007

A long time since I posted as last week was hell due to work after a week away.

A well done to DD for the weekend's efforts and glad to hear that nobody was ill/injured at Rotterdam.

BR - really keeping my fingers crossed for you on Sunday.

From my own experience of having run Rotterdam and watched Mary run there, I have always been extremely impressed about the organisation etc. Mary had major problems last year collapsing at the end and needing to go on a drip and she was handled perfectly. The lady who treated her did say that a few years ago in hot weather they had been mobbed. I guess if they arrive at the situation where the emergency services on hand are simply overrun and no longer able to deal with people collapsing left right and centre and one risks a number of deaths and the longer the run goes on the more chance there is that the situation exacerbates itself, then that is something that presumably is addressed by their contingency plans and however difficult it is, it is a call that they as professionals need to make. But agree, I would be spitting blood if stopped just short of the finish line!!

Training wise, I still feel as though I am treading water at moment although at least got 50 miles in for last week. I still have though constant niggle/pain along adductor ad above knee and in groin. Am working on core stability and taking anti-inflamms but simply can not shift it and am fed up to back teeth.

Last week was:

Monday 12km in ca hour
Tue 11.5 km in ca 55 mins
Wed am phsyio - lunch 13km in just over an hour - felt better
Thu - 12km in hour (not great - perhaps price for pushing a tiny bit on Wed)
Fri am physio then 9 km in ca 40 mins
Sat 12 km in under hour
Sun 14.5 km in ca 68 mins

Week total: 84 km


Will try for basically same thing again this week i.e. an hour so relatively gentle not worrying too much about pace and/or pushing mileage up. Hoping by end of this week, will have finally shifted this mess which as now been going on for close to 6 weeks.

Simon

Evening all

Minks - great to hear from you and to see you running too! Great pic, he is so sweet. :0)

Thanks for update on DF hipps. So sorry. Hope he is ok as so unfair that he is still having trouble.

DD - fantastic pics - thank you.

What: 2k and point something swim
Why: checking out a 33m pool swim as Stratford is 33m and - well I just sort of kept going really
Last Hard: swimming beside a walrus who was in the same lane today and surviving the tidal waves
Last Rest: Friday

So 61 lengths with leaking goggles, a steamed up contact lense, blurry vision, and a broken watch, well it was my sons watch that I adopted when he was 10. He's 20 this year! So can't complain about that! Oh and a walrus.

But on the plus side I really enjoyed the swim, the grannies had all gone home and I now know I like a longer length pool. So happy with this.

There has been a university shooting here - not at my uni but another one in Virginia. 22 students dead and 27 injured. One gunman dead and they don't know if there is another one. It's so shocking.

Good grief IMel, what is the world coming too. Where abouts are you these days?

I'm in central Virginia, in a town called Farmville. The shooting was in Blacksburg, to the west of here, at a school called Virginia Tech.

IMel - that's awful, must be really unsettling when it happens relatively close to home.

Well, saw big consultant this afternoon - almost - actually saw one of his minions, who luckily runs and cycles and at one stage had to run off and consult his boss about what to do with me.

Anyway, the upshot is that I've ruptured one ligament and another one is super-stretched - so nothing that physio can't cure. what they are concerned about though is the crepitis, the inflamation after exercise, the pain and the impaired mobility - none of which are due to the ligament damage. The doc's view is that the problem is either a lesion on the talus(?) and/or lots of scar tissue and other debris floating around. Whilst they don't operate on minor scar tissue, there comes a tipping point where they do. So I'm now booked in for an MRI scan and when they see what the problem is, they'll decide what to do - but they are confident that I can be cured, they just have to find out exactly what the problem is. In the meantime I have been ordered to spend lots of time on the wobble board!

Then did 29.5 miles - hilly - on the bike. While I didn't see a walrus I saw lambs, inc. some Jacob sheep lambs - cute! - two yellowhammers, two baby bunnies (living out their last days by the A60), and a dead rat on the university campus. Stuggled a bit to maintain pace at the end - think yesterday's battering is still in my legs!

DD...great run...hat off to you!

What: 6.5 easy
Why: FLM taper

Last Hard:10 days
Last Rest: Saturday...went for a great 9 mile walk in the Peak Park.

Mel- that is terrible news:-(

DD- It will come right

Simon_It will come right and 50 miles is not to be sneezed at..take care

Lyrics were as lots had guessed Handbags and Gladrags by Sterophonics...i did chose an easy one as rushed for time and a favorite of mine:-)

Ooh the post went wrong

DD- I did say well done on your epic race a great race report.

Greetings all,

Quick dive in and out, apologies have not read back.

Got in at 7:30 after being on course all day...

1m warm up, 2m fast, 1m warm down, (On course all day couldnt / didnt have the concertration for 8 x 400m so did the 2m fast instead)

Now to go off and doo course work ready for tomorrow....

Take care

Nice to read posts from returning forumites. You wait for ages and just like buses, three turn up at once. ;-)

Scoobs: Glad to have you back. Good job you were all in group and could provide aid to your friend. I haven't forgotten the email I owe you. You should read clink's and MikeS' race reports in the meantime.

Clink: Well done on yesterday's run. I like the way that you outperformed your rival downhill by running relaxed.

MikeS: dealt with the downhills by just letting myself fall down them more or less - surprising how much ground you make up on others in this way - and it didn't stress the calves And to think that most people would consider running downhill as very heavy on the calfs due to eccentric usage. You know why you achieved this. Well done, mate!

DD: Well done on Two Oceans. Those pictures are fab and make me very inspired.

Minks (Bus No. 25) : Good to hear from you. Kit looks like a very cute. He must be quite active given that there is a big hand holding him down ;-)))

Sportaloo (Bus No. 123): Hope you get yourself sorted soon. Good luck with the comeback.

Imski: How about a sports massage on calf?

SiT (Bus No 366): Chin up mate, you're running more then me! Just go with the flow. You can't place deadlines on injury recovery or comeback.

IronMel: How very tragic and sad.

Rotterdam: I've only done three maras FLM05, Cardiff and Rotterdam. I would rate Rotterdam easily the best overall - easy to get to (from LCY), great hotels near the start/finish, fantastic organisation for the entire few days, space to run, chip-timing, excellent atmosphere for the entire route, very flat ie the biggest hill is up and down Erasmus Bridge (ie 20metres). Downside is that the route is not scenic at all. Given the exceptional circumstances yesterday, if I were struggling then in hindsight I would be glad they stopped it rather then allow my own self-determination to put me into an unpleasant situation.

What: 30mins easy
Why: Recovery

Clink.. well done, an excellent result for you.

DD.. fab report and a great achievement. Roll on Comrades.

Minks.. nice to hear you are back running. Just be patient and the speed will come back. It took my clubmate a few months to get back to her old weight/shape after the birth. Oh, and from memory doing FLM from this thread.. BR, Scobos, Podro, TMR, AF, Tigerrunner, Blisters, Desert Man, MTB, Hipps, Wabo, Gobi, Rundown, Vrap & my good self. Sorry if I have missed anyone!

Sportaloo.. so sorry to hear about your injury woes, a swift recovery to you.

Lizzie.. well raced yesterday, gutsy stuff. Not sure if your analysis is good news or bad news but at least you are getting to the bottom of it, good luck.

SIT.. no wonder you are brassed off, I hope things improve for you.

Today's taper.. 10+15m on the bike. Fancied doing something to raise the HR a bit without impacting the old legs.

Mel, that's dreadful. I hope everything's OK where you are.

SiT, sorry to hear the injury woes continue. It must be so frustrating. I know how stir-crazy I've been through being unable to run properly these past several months - but at least I had something positive to look forward to at the end of it.

NRG-B - the big hand is supporting his head so he doesn't drown in his bath ;-) He IS extremely cute. Strangers keep stopping me in the street and supermarket and remarking on what a gorgeous baby he is. Am still slightly in shock that he was so big at birth though - which completely blows out of the water the theory that women who insist on exercising at a high level during pregnancy have low-birthweight babies!

Who is doing FLM on Sunday? It sounds as though BR is - good luck and hope it's a good race for you. Is Hilly doing it too?

AF, I haven't deferred to 2008 - I didn't enter for this year's FLM. My Good for Age from 2006 should allow me to enter for 2008 - then if I'm not at the required level by then I can presumably defer to 2009.

Good to see you back Minks - neat pic - think healthy Mums have healthy babies. Enjoy your time out running.

Sporta - what about cycling - Fell Liker seems to be enjoying it - it could help with your frustation and give your legs time to get really healed - you could keep your wife company on her Comrades training.

IMelissa - awful news.

Lizzy - big decisions to make.

TMR - thanks - I did find the web-site but couldn't see this year's results. My friend dropped out - was very sick and I'm sure the heat didn't help.

Been up and down all night, checking Boston results as had a couple of friends running that too.

Evening,

DD: Great report, fantastic run and a good result.

Clink: great report - a well deserved result. 2nd interview is this Thursday.

MikeS: Well run for the team.

Managed 1.5 hours steady plodding tonight.
Rested yesterday and will probably rest tomorow.

All you FLMer's take extra care - only 6 days to go.

Clink, Lizzy, DD and MikeS - well raced all of you - super efforts in different ways.

SiT - thanks. I hope your patience is equally rewarded.

Minks - no hilly has missed too much training since January and is targeting the White Peak Marathon instead.

AF / Rundown / nrg-b / anyone else - did we have a meeting time for Thursday? Was it 11am by the Pasta stand (I refuse to call it a pasta party as you don't get a paper hat and a goody bag for your £5!!)

Minks - lovely baby pic
Lizzy - not sure if that sounds good or bad either, if they clear out the debris will they do anything for the ligaments? Hope they can sort it all out but I know you are the sort that wont let it stop you anyway.
Rotterdam - I suppose they did what they had to do, I'd be very frustrated but there probably does come a time when you have to put safety first. I remember a few years back there was a spring half in the UK (think it's a very popular one somewhere near Manchester) and lots of people collapsed - it wasn't all that hot but it was such a change in conditions from the preceding months that the effect was all the more.

What - Waiting for my partner to return from pilates so I can go out for a spin on the bike - quads seem very sore, been getting this of late, not sure why but maybe I should get them massaged.

Evening everyone, the thread's looking as healthy as that fine baby in the pics (if I wasn't such a big, tough bloke, I'd be getting clucky)! Good to see so many old forunites (sic) back!

I ran again tonight after my staggering mileage last week of 12.5M! Honestly, after the 31M on the bike yesterday and possibly getting dehydrated, coupled with the new start back at work this morning, I felt like I'd never run before!

It's been a long time since I felt like turning round and going home when running but tonight I could cheerfully have stopped. I felt like I'd got a suit of armour and was averaging about 9min miling (3.6M in 32mins). My legs were protesting but again, interestingly, my CV fitness was quite good.

I'm still finding it hard to get my head around running again and can't seem to get past the feeling that I should run when the world looks more interesting when I'm speeding along on a bike. I'm intending to go to running club tomorrow as maybe this will be the push I need to get me back into the running game again.

Sportaloo and Minks, I totally empathise with you! I don't think I'm totally injury-free, but if this latest return doesn't turn me around thenI might do what Martin/Stifler did and turn my attentions to biking more seriously and/or jazz!

Minks: I loved bathtimes when my kids where babies. Loads of fun :-)

BR: I don't think I'll be able to come to the expo due to work :-(

Hilly: If you're not running then will you be doing the FLM Supporters' Fun Run - like the one BR did last year? :)

Fell Biker - what kind of bike are you using, mountain bike or have you got a road bike too ? You should try one of these sportive rides - I think you'd enjoy it.

I didn't know Stifler had got into cycling - does he race at all - be interesting to see how his talent transferred if he is.