Daz Does Tri

Bit the bullet and checked in to see Eric at Bodybalance. The location gave him some concern but he didn't think it was a stressy, most likely to be combination of bone density, calf strength and (lack of) ankle flexibility putting too much load on tibia and winding up with a break down somewhere. Must admit that really made sense as the issues came mainly after rolling my ankle 3 times (it's still slightly swollen). Result was get an MRI booked in, rule out stress / bone issues and move forward from there. No cycling or running until we were sure what the issues was.

Rehab now is based around a possible stress fracture so after a solid week of with zero done today the leg felt marginally better. If it's muscular it'll take a while anyway to clear. Clam and single leg thrusts for strengthening followed by a 55 min turbo. The leg feels marginally worse i.e. not much in it afterwards but not anywhere near painful.

After last Saturdays run wasn't 100% decided to total rest for a week to see how the shin reacted. Result is that it's not much better. Timing worked quite well, a busy few days of boozing (trip to Barcelona and a work lunch) followed by a sore throat so total rest isn't the worst scenario right now!

Frostbite league today. Sawyer signed up for Hunts AC so he could do the junior race with Jake. I marshalled as my leg is still fucked. Decent return from the boys. 9th place for Jake and first time he's scored for the juniors (Hunts won) and Sawyer was a very disappointed 165th. Think it was a big step up for him but he starts with a new group and racing kids up to 16 when you're 11 is no mean feat.

Today's plan - 10 steady, 30 tempo 160-165 bpm, 10 easy. The first part of the warm up was bang on, 7:03 pace for 145 bpm feeling easy. Then the HR started to climb until the last few seconds of the 10 mins were at 153 bpm and pace dropped to 7:13. Was practically walking.

Wow, back to back training days already !! Decided today to do the same 10k test I did about 2 1/2 weeks ago when the issue first became a problem.  Around 2.75 miles easy, 10 mins fairly hard and 1.5 miles steady back. The easy start came in at 7.22 pace which was much better than I expected but a pretty good wind coming from behind. HR was already getting way up to 155/156 bpm so was concerned the harder 10 mins would be a bit messy. Picked up for 10 mins and came in at 6.26/mm which into a solid headwind I was very happy with. HR was lunar - think it was 163 avg and towards 170 at the end but happy to run a half decent pace off limited training recently. The easy part back was quick too - 7.08/mm for an overall 6.34 miles @ 7.04/mm - considerably faster than last time. The leg was pretty shit to start with, it settled a bit but wasn't happy at all. On the faster section I started to drive the quad / knee a bit more with a more deliberate pick up and the ache all but disa

There's mambo number 5 and test number 1. Long story short they are both irritating and a bit meh! So 5km easy tonight with the boy. Flat at 8/mm. Forgot my heart rate monitor so no idea on HR data to see what damage has been done. Felt easy however it also felt like 6/mm would be in another stratosphere.

4 days off exercise completely and the result is - not a dicky. Shin feels exactly as it did after Fridays run. Lot of research done and it 100% feels like shin splints not a stress problem. Deeper massage shows deep muscle next to shin bone is very painful. Yesterday I decided to take action against it. Looking at some threads it's possible to run through but it requires huge amount of rehab before and after. I've been doing this anyway so it doesn't seem a problem!

Easy 7 - 8 slow and easy miles with the bear yesterday. Leg was a bit grumpy but not painful.  Hamstring is very tight at the minute, aiming to trigger that off and see if that helps. Certainly believe that the issue is some hip tightness / alignment / pinching that's causing everything.

Windy as hell today, swerved the early run after pilates as it looked mental out there. Treadmill turned up just after lunch. Fuck that was heavy. Set it up by around 3pm and working by 4pm. Looks ok. Massive compared to how I thought it would be but all in all looks solid.

Decent run in the end yesterday, 6.2 miles @ 6:39/mm although HR was a bit high for steady! Took normal trail up to the lake then past bears to the old A428 gypo site. 5k uphill @ 6:50/mm avge. HR was massive by then and keeping it around 155 bpm was not happening. Turned and came straight back down the road and looped around the village. Downhill so pace lifted but effort remained same. 6:25/mm for the second half for an overall 6:39/mm @ 157 bpm.

Decent week last week in the end.  Only 4 days of running every other day but the quality was pretty good and I got a bike session in on the off days. Sunday was a longish 10 @ 6:52/mm which was pretty strong and didn't take too much out of me. Back on the rolling and stretching today. I am pretty sure the problems come from issues in the hip (piriformis/glutes/sciatica) so I have focused on releasing those off.  Shin was painful today but the rehab seems to work.

For a change! Yes, today's tempo I have binned in exchange for a bike session to give the shin more time to heal. It's not 100% today but I could certainly do it. I actually feel really good too. So I'll switch the run to tomorrow as I have a forced rest day Saturday (Ange is away). The main problem being I really need to do a longer run tomorrow rather than the planned tempo (I can switch it to Sunday evening).

Out with junior tonight. Aim was the usual 5 mile HR test. Pretty soon realised the boy was not up for it. So after 3 miles I hit a hard mile at way over tempo effort to stretch the legs and see what was under the bonnet.

Yesterdays 2nd test seems to have passed fine. 6.3 miles at 7.23 pace as an easy start, 10 mins @ 6.43 pace, 10 mins at 7.30 pace to ease back. Calf / shin wasn't 100% on the run but certainly eased over the day to where today it doesn't feel any pain at all. Surprisingly hamstrings were ruined from Sundays 4 miles!  Lots and LOTS of stretching and rolling yesterday (and this morning) and it seems to check out OK.

After Tuesday's session, the shin was sore (see last post) so I did the adult thing and rested. Along with a LOT of stretching and rolling (I also did 45 mins turbo every day to stay on top). It's frustrating to have a set back at this stage but I know I realistically don't have any more chances to make a run back. Another long lay off and I'll be forced to hang up the shoes for good. It's been since mid 2014 that I had a any kind of run form and late 2013 since I last had any half decent results.  I simply do not have the heart to comeback from zero again. I know deep down it's tight muscle and patience (and pain - i.e foam rolling) will get me through it but it's still very annoying.  I'm closing in on that sub 18 gateway that opens the door to much faster runs.

It's been a few years since I've suffered but it seems to be back with a vengence ! Last week or two my left shin has had an annoying niggle. It settles down when I'm running but after a hard run it is a bitch !

So, been a while eh !! Finally time to update my legacy... Long story short, I am back into running...well, trying to get back into running !! After a(nother) couple of aborted attempts earlier in the year due to injuries, after a family holiday in Mauritius I came back with a short 6 weeks till Loch Ness Marathon build up (I'd entered but assumed I'd get injured and miss)!