wannabe ultra runner?

nice pic Tim

Good to hear your ankle is cautiously recovering Debra. Am not quite sure if mine is or not!!! I have not run on it for a week, just been biking. Have been massaging, icing etc and think I may start adding in some exercises. Did three miles this morning on the treadmill, it felt way better but not quite there so bit more biking I think! Grrrrrrr. Not sure where this puts my races tbh.  Fling at end of April is feeling a bit close with a long run to date of 18 miles ...

Great picture Tim! 

The Yorkshire ultra looked entertaining this year - so glad I didn't try and make the trip South for that this time - don't think i'd have made the start line at all this time!

Cragchick, thanks, and sympathies. It's going to be interesting to see how it does/does not hold up to TT50, given the likely wet & slippery conditions. I'm trying to work out a bandaging pattern which will give it some support during the run - I can tape it, but my feet are likely to be soaked for most of the run so I don't think tape will necessarily stay on, while cohesive bandage should do...

I've found cohesive bandage to be quite effective in past so fingers crossed for you.  You posted a link a few pages back with some stuff about strengthening exercises and analysis of problems etc, are you able to repost it?  The mud around the area of the TT is pretty horendous if my memory serves me well (done a lot of fast hiking on the Ridgeway and surrounding area) so good luck with that!!

I probably gave the link to Athletes Treating Athletes - http://www.athletestreatingathletes.com/ - site run by an American physiotherapist who is also a triathlete, so she knows the running mentality!

As for mud, yes, anyone who's run part of the route in recent weeks (including me) has been posting reports, and it's looking to be awful footing - ankle-deep water in some areas and slippery claggy mud in others. I'd originally hoped for a decent time, but with the combination of the underfoot conditions and my ankle (which is not going to appreciate the extra strains associated with sliding in the mud) now I'm just hoping to finish within the time limit...

Thanks Debra, that's exactly what I was looking for, and we like that kind of mentality .

More risk of blistering is the other thing I find with that claggy mud - as it sucks and pulls on your shoes, more friction is created!! When is it again ... perhaps we'll have a freak heatwave and it'll all dry up by then ... well, we are having strange weather at the moment!

cragchick: You're welcome.

TT50 is this Saturday.... no way it's going to dry up in time! I didn't blister while running the second half in the mud a few weeks go, so hopefully that won't be too much of a problem - but I'm taking blister plasters with me, of course.

Lirish: just a bit of posterior tibial tendon strain. Wish I was a masochist, that way I'd know Saturday would be fun!

Thanks. So do I. Hopefully I won't re-strain it too much on Saturday, and it will settle properly with a couple of weeks rest after that before I build again for SDW50. And I'm very glad I kept my fitness up after NWD50 so the reduced mileage during December hasn't got me too far behind where I should be.

That's my problem Debra, I was just picking back up on decent mileage after the various school holidays, just starting to come together and now it's falling apart a bit before I'd got anything decent in the bag. Hey ho!  If I have to bail on current entered events, I have no doubt there will be others later in the year ... plus I have my own challenge I want to do come the Autumn ...

Anyway, fingers crossed for Saturday then.

Rest well Debra,

Try Rocktape, I had it on my last year's triathlon, did back to back on Saturday Sunday, Injured on Saturday and with the aid of rock tape complete my second day without much problem.

Why did you think it worked Eldred?

GOOD LUCK WiB FOR Rocky Racoon !!

sorry i forgot to wake you at 4am

Well, we won't be wading (or swimming) the TT50 - they're diverting us off the (flooded, impassible) Thames Path onto roads and lanes instead. Won't be quite the same. May be better for my ankle, or maybe not, with camber. Bet I'll be footsore by the end.

Eldred, you're the third person to suggest Rock Tape for me - I'll buy that next.

I was having pain when I am doing inversion motion on my feet, the rock tape sort of restrict that direction of movement, applied by one of my friend who is a doctor. Kinesio tape works the same but she says it comes out when you swim and they cost almost the same. She say their clinic abandoned kinesio tape altogether and opt for Rock Tape instead.

It has other usage as well, tape your blister prone area. Although it's going to be pricey. hmm promotion too much of a product.. I am usually quite sceptical about products I am about to use

Think I'll be another one for the rock tape too then.  Inversion of the ankles on boulder strewn coastal paths is what set off my ankle problems me thinks.  And then today, just to finish me off properly, was out on MBK - trying clip-in pedals for the first time this week ... well yes, you've guessed it - managed to stack it as failed to get feet out of clips in time ... and the upper bit of my sternum crashed onto the end of the handlebar - do NOT recommend this.  So have nice bruise coming out from that. On the plus side, ankle randomly feeling way better this evening. Of course, have booked osteo appt for it, but may need that for fallout from bike stack!!

Is WIB Rocky Racooning at the mo? Ooops, missed that ... GOOD LUCK!

and for you too Debra if I don't get on here again. Hope the tape stays in place, the ankle holds together and the road sections provide much benefit

and on Saturday we have the Scottish Masters XC champs being hosted by our club. I am meant to be running but unsure re ankle although seriously tempted to tape it up and go for it. Have the likes of Angela Mudge (something of a female superhero in my book) and Kate Jenkins competing so even if I don't run I'll definitely be spectating. Not a hardcore XC course, but nice running none-the-less.