"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt



Saturday 16 February 2013

1 step forward, 2 steps back

The last time I blogged I had been for a run on two consecutive days...

...I shouldn't have done that.

Towards the end of the second run I felt my knee take on that familiar uncomfrotable ache that has seen me want to rip my leg off. The day after in work was an uncomfortable one. Sitting at a desk all day never ever helps any injury.

I had the physio the day after my uncomfortable run and I told him about it. He said if it hurts to run more than 3 miles, only run 2, if it hurts to run 2 miles, only run 1.

The problem is it's generally not the run when I feel the pain; it's the day after.


Chop the one on the right off above the knee, and replace it with a bionic one, please!


Anyway, the physio then proceeded to hammer me (yes I know, fnarr fnarr!) with exercises after getting me warmed up on the bike which I found very difficult - my quads and hamstrings needed a serious stretch out afterwards!

I've continued to do them and my stretches consistently since, with one run in between. -Same achey pain the day after, so I've not run since. The stretches and strengthening exercises don't cause pain the day after, hence I've just stuck to them. I may go out for a very short, and very slow plod tomorrow or Monday to see where I'm at.

So unfortunately it seems like I've gone forward 1 step and back 2, hopefully it's not too bad, but I'm not feeling optimistic.

Physio this Thursday anyway so hopefully I can get back on track! (Here's to a slightly more positive blog next time)

"If you have a setback, and you're not doing well and then you overcome it somehow, it always sticks with you. You know it could happen again." -Sam Donaldson

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Running - the greatest head clearer

I wasn't planning on running today - I'd been for a plod yesterday and was going to have today as a rest day as I'm still feeling my way back into running consistently.

However, it's been a busy week in work, and there have been a few things on my mind, so I decided to lace up and go pound the streets. Whenever I get out my head always clears and my problems drift away....

....They are of course replaced by the most brilliant day dreams (I know I'm not the only one who does this!). It's normally something like winning the club's cross country (especially if I'm running in the rain) or winning gold at the olympics. It was a slightly different one tonight, but I'm not going to let you in on this one (just yet - though I hope everyone is enjoying their own running day dreams!!).

In terms of my return from injury I am just trying to get my legs used to the mileage again - cardiovascular-wise my fitness returns pretty quickly, it's just making sure the musculoskeletal system keeps up!

The foam roller and I best buddies; I've been rollering my IT bands so much there is a dent in the foam roller:





Ok, so maybe I left it infront of the fire and it melted a bit, but it has had extensive use over the last couple of weeks. I'm back at the physio tomorrow, just for a check up, hopefully he'll have noticed a difference and tell me to continue with my running.