iten - high altitude training

in iten, nr Eldoret, at high altitude north of the rift valley in kenya.

training at high altitude is fun i suppose... you reach your lactate limit more quickly, and little hills takes their tole on your lungs very quickly. i've been running here for 8 days and doing mostly doubles.

starting to get more confident and find kenyan fellas to tag along with. going for early run tomorrow followed by my first track workout. eating very well. have far too much spare time on my hands outside of running, and this entire trip only makes sense when i am running. and you can't run all day unfortunately.

there's about 500 (so they tell me - i only see 200 at max out on the dirt red trails and dusty red roads) elite kenyan guys out running every morning just after 6, and a bunch run again at 10 on the trails or the track and some again in the afternoon. and there are no fun runners here. just guys trying to be professional or making a living. long distance runners just out doing their job. and doing it either really slowly first thing in the morning in hats and rain jackets and full tights - when it's warm enough for me to be in shorts and t-shirt - or at the track doing intervals like 10X1000 in 2:51's 2:52's... about 150 of the fastest people i've ever seen all doing intervals at the same time on the same dusty dirt track. tomorrow i'm going to join in.

kenya in 4 days

tue am - 55miles BIKE
tue pm - 4miles RUN
wed am - 6miles RUN ; PT Barb
thu am - 8miles RUN
thu pm - 40mile BIKE
fri am - PT Barb; 4mile RUN
sat am - 11mile RUN
sat pm - 35mile BIKE
sun - OFF

mon am - 10mile RUN

shin still tight and needs taking care of. icing and the like. PT Barb working on it seemed to help, and at least I can run every day on it now, even if I have to hold back my mileage. everything else feels fine, i'm just lacking on any decent level of fitness. leave for kenya in 4 days. a month of running on soft trails and spending as much time resting and swimming and weights work and stretching and running... i should hopefully come back all fit and super healthy... i hope my shin fixes itself completely during the change of scenery.

kenya in 10 days

Fri pm - 30mile BIKE
Sat am - 13mile RUN
Sat pm - 40mile BIKE
Sun noon - 90mile BIKE
Mon am - 6mile RUN / 16mile BIKE

taking it easy now through leaving for kenya so that my shin is properly healed and i can run more when i'm there. shin still doesn't feel 100% good. annoying really. i wish I had a mri machine at home or the ability to do a CT scan once a week to work out what exactly is wrong with it on the inside. seeing PT Barb on wednesday and friday this week to get as much work done before I leave.

kenya back on...

tue pm - 20mile BIKE
wed noon - 6mile RUN
wed pm - 3mile RUN; CORE
thu am - 8mile RUN

kenya is back on. getting immunisations today. need to get visa. shin still a little tight when running and not 100% but not painful... just wierd. may give pt barb a call today for some work.

tired

Mon pm - 20mile BIKE
Tue am - 55mile BIKE (hill repeats Great falls MD)

tired. after a while no amount of food can keep my energy up. i guess i just have to have a day off at some point, or get in a solid 10 hours sleep. feel tired. just like training used to make me feel 5 months ago.

almost back to normal training

Fri pm - 10mile BIKE
Sat am - 18mile RUN
Sun pm - 100mile BIKE
Mon am - 9mile RUN ; 25mile BIKE

feeling pretty damn good. right shin was a little tight (got me very worried) after the 18miles on saturday. needed ice and hurt a bit walking afterwards. felt fine after a good 3 hour sit down. also felt fine during the bike ride sunday. left calf hurt a bit of Sunday’s bike ride, and right knee a little (need to push right heal out a touch so my knee is better aligned- changed the position of the click in clipless pedal attachment on the bottom of my bike shoes as it appeared to have moved completely over to one side). throat hurts - all around the front and tight at the back. i presume from keeping my head up looking out at the road when riding in the drops. hurt when i woke up and it better not be sinus or cold related cause if it is it's gonna be a huge cold cause it's my entire neck (i can feel it pretty bad when i drink water). ho hum.

seem to be dropping weight a little too quickly. i can feel myself getting quite thin again. probably due to no peanut butter in the house. or no wheat thins. or toast. might need to start eating more to compensate.

schedule needs to be created so i'm in shape for new york in 12 weeks time. long bike ride tomorrow, but fast-ish workout wednesday morning, easy run with garth thursday morning, friday off running, saturday long run, sunday 100+miles on bike possibly out along skyline drive up the big hills out there. potentially...

left clavicle fixed

doc report...

left clavicle looked almost perfect in the xrays (if i don't say so myself). all one piece, pretty much nice and fixed.

and the doc said i looks like I've bruised my ulnar nerve - probably around/under the shoulder during the impact. back in 3 weeks to check it again, and ecg if necessary if it's still a problem then. but should fix itself given time.

timeline
Broke Collarbone
+4days - resumed training on indoor trainer
+10days - 70miles outdoors on bike
+18days - total weekly bike mileage outdoors = 181miles
+19days - resumed running 6miles run
+21days - 12mile run

thursday am - 12mile RUN

run.ning.

tue pm - 30mile BIKE
wed am - 6mile RUN
wed noon - 4mile RUN

try for 12 tomorrow am, before doctors to get xray and talk nerves (is the problem with median, radial, or ulnar nerve?)... where the bus stops, nobody knows.

run. yep. 6 mile run. 2weeks5days after breaking my collarbone i can run again. glorius.

Fri am - 50mile BIKE
Fri pm - 30Mile BIKE
Sat am - 105mile BIKE
Sun pm - 10mile BIKE
Mon am - 55mile BIKE
Mon pm - 25mile BIKE + 6mile RUN
Tue am - 45mile BIKE

will keep the running to a 6 to 8 mile distance for the first few days just to get used to it all again. Might try for a swim Friday morning... we'll see.

2006 - year of injury

turned out i took wed and thur off training too and ended up eating too much and getting a bit depressed about not being about to exercise properly. tried to run on wedneday night but barely made it through a 2 mile run. just hurts to much to run (shoulder/collarbone). but i guess it's only been 2 weeks so it might be a bit soon.

nice long ride this morning (52miles) with hill repeats out by great falls md. 5X the hill but was probably not pushing myself hard enough because i found it a bit too easy. once done out there came back into dc, crossed into virginia on chain bridge, then went north on georgetown pike and into work on spring hill rd. need to find better ways to get to work without hitting lots of traffic.

i wish i could be running right now... sucks not to be able to. boo to injuries.

day off

tuesday pm - 20mile BIKE

biked home in the hot hot weather. left hand still feels a little strange (lost a bit of strength in the fingers and hand). still a bit sore from being in the saddle for 70miles sat 80miles sun 60miles mon 50miles tue... slept in this morning and taking an entire day off today.

wish i could be out running. although, even after not running for over two weeks, my shin still feels a little wierd. stupid shin.

more of the same

monday pm - 40mile BIKE
tuesday am - 30mile BIKE

left arm feels better. loads of movement and hardly any pain... although strangeness in the left hand this morning. lacking a bit of strength in left hands fingers. hopefully it's related to just a lot of riding and the elbow pain and not related to problems or complications around the shoulder. it would suck to have problems with my left hand, being left handed and all. oh, and 100 degrees today. there's never enough water. and the ike weighs so much more with two full water bottles.

a complete and utter lack of patience

saturday am - 10mile BIKE
saturday pm - 60mile BIKE
sunday - 80mile BIKE
monday am - 17mile BIKE

out on my own on Macarthur and river rd, looped up to Poolesville through the peach orchards. temperature in the mid to high 90's so it felt pretty damn hot. went through a lot of liquid. found out that i like eating cliff bars on the bike and not so much with the power bars.

tried to run sunday night but didn't make it more than 2 blocks. the weight of the arm and the thumping motion of running (even when running reasonably smoothly) is obviously a bit much for it now. might give it another go towards the end of the week.

i feel so much better for having gone out and just risked it and gotten in some solid exercise.

urg

depression from lack of exercise kicked in about two days ago and i'm losing my patience with it. but, according to some site on tinternet... this is how my bone is healing in picture form...

Activity, movement, and use: In contrast to the early stages, in the later stages of healing patients' activity is necessary and decisive. Bone fractures are again a good example. Movement, use, and putting weight on the bone stimulate the reconstruction of bone and the realignment of bone layers parallel to the lines of force, ensuring optimal adaptation to the mechanical loads to which it is normally exposed.

unless something significantly chances between now and later this afternoon, i'm going to go for a ride outside. damn the consequences. sitting inside being glum doesn't heal broken bones.

like a small child then

didn't do indoor trainer last night. went to bed, brushed teeth under the covers, at 7:30pm. Didn't wake up until past 8am. Twelve and a half hours of uninterrupted sleep. I think my body is trying to get me to rest. All this sleep better be making my collar bone heal faster. In two weeks and one day I get he second set of x-rays and I've decided I want the doctor to use the word Miraculous when he describes my recovery. "Miraculous".

oh, and floyd? say it isn't true. please. test sample b better come back negative otherwise this 29-and-a-small-bit-year-olds dreams have just been shattered.

training on indoor trainer

watched the entire Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom while doing the following cycling workout last night. Shoulder and collarbone felt fine. Hurts more to take a t-shirt off than it does to do 2 solid hours on an indoor trainer. Broke the collarbone exactly 7 days ago.

30min	warm up
hard	easy
5	5
4	4
3	3
2	2
1	1
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
4	4
3	3
2	2
1	1
12min	cooldown
120min	total

not pretty

okay, so my hairy chestiness aside (sorry - just look away - it's probably best), at least here's a journal type entry showing the haematoma washing through my left shoulder.

According to Wikipedia (if it's on tinternet = FACT - big F big A big C big T capital FACT)

from Bone Healing

"After a fracture, the first thing that forms is a haematoma, similar to that seen elsewhere in the body. This is a clot of blood originating from the lacerated blood vessels in the bone and the periosteum.

Necrotic bone is then resorbed by osteoclasts, and the haematoma by macrophages. As the haematoma is resorbed, granulation tissue develops from the periosteum and endosteum. When this has completed, pluripotent cells migrate into the granulation tissue. These cells become chondrocytes and later osteocytes, that produce cartilage and bone respectively. The structure surrounding the fracture site is now slightly harder, this is a provisional callus. The area can be called a proper callus as time goes on, and more and more woven bone is made by the osteoblasts. This woven bone is initially remodelled into lamellar bone. With time, the bone is remodelled over the next few months, and the callus becomes smaller, as the trabeculae are formed along lines of stress."

Two days after - swelling on shoulder almost hides entire distal third and ac joint on my left.

6 days after - swelling still present but haematoma on and below damaged area

it's not smart, clever, or pretty.

good news...

from cyclingnews.com - after a collarbone break, when the bone has healed, "...your left shoulder will be a little narrower than your right for the rest of your life. This is actually good for bike racers provided that you regain full mobility. A narrower profile reduces wind resistance. "

paha. good news then. maybe i should break the right one to make me even more aerodynamic.

back in training

wednesday am - broken collarbone
sunday am - 60min BIKE
sunday pm - 60min BIKE
Monday pm - 90min BIKE

managed to get in a very solid workout on the bike last night. Breaking it up into little sections really helps. watched the second half of raiders of the lost ark and then a documentary made in 1999 about the badwater 135mile run.. cause i have that on dvd, and cause they started this years race yesterday.

Bike workout was
30min warm up
5min hard; 5min easy
4min hard; 4min easy
3min hard; 3min easy
2min hard; 2min easy
1min hard; 1min easy
2min hard; 2min easy
3min hard; 3min easy
4min hard; 4min easy
5min hard; 5min easy
10minute or so cooldown

there's probably a really easy way to describe that workout (some sort of ladder) without writing it all out.

arm and collarbone feels fine on the trainer. it's very quickly very sweaty indoors on the bike with now air flow around me. but thats good i suppose. don't know how long it'll be before i run, but it's my body and i am an experiment of one... so i'll do it when it feels right.

the arm can move around quite a bit now. no problem putting on shirts or showering. able to lift arm up to shoulder height but fully extending it is a bit of a pain. the left elbow hurts just from not extending it at all during the day (stuck in the sling). body still wants a lot of sleep - just shy of 12 hours last night. woke up once in the middle of the night when i moved it enough to jolt me awake. no problem holding or lifting things with the left arm. situps are pain free, but i'm more than hesitant at even trying a press up, and you can eff off if you want me to try a pull up. two and a half weeks until i get the second round of xrays... until then maybe it's best i stick to working my tits off on the indoor trainer and icing the shoulder/collarbone as often as possible.

imagine if i went out on the bike tonight, and crashed, and therefore deliberately favoured my right arm, and broke the right collarbone... i'd be, well, buggered. wouldn't be able to do pretty much anything.

got to admit it's getting better

Shoulder and collarbone gets better everyday. Significantly better. Pain has subsided significantly, and there’s some decent colour coming out of the shoulder all down the top left hand side of my torso. Swelling seems to be going down quickly too, although there’s still enough swelling that the top part of the collarbone isn’t that well defined yet (when compared to the good collarbone on the right). drinking a lot of water. Not much appetite now. Sleeping a lot… body seems to want about 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon and can sleep for 10hours every night. But it’s healing itself really quickly. Makes me more pissed that it couldn’t work so damn fast on my shin.

Was able to do an hour Sunday morning and an hour Sunday night on the indoor trainer that Tri-athlete Erika lent me before slr.

Trying to take loads of calcium and drink lots of milk and eat just good food to provide my body with all the minerals and nutrients and all the good stuff so it can fix itself as quickly as possible. I have a follow up x-ray in just less than 3 weeks and I’d like the doctor to tell me it’s fixed by then. Also avoiding caffeine which might (according to what you read) hinder the body’s ability to absorb calcium and vit d.

Picture of me at the washington nationals cubs game on Friday night. Cause if you can’t go out running or cycling you might as well be social, right?

fixing

saw orthopaedic surgeon this morning. took 2 new xrays. as per the doctor,
the bone has realigned itself perfectly
no should dislocation
should be fixed fairly quickly cause i'm young and healthy

booya.

xrays again in 3 weeks just to confirm everything is fixing itself correctly.

ice ice ice
watch diet cause i'll have to lose any weightgain later
borrowing indoor bike trainer and will see how painful (if at all) it is to ride on the bike indoors with just my right arm. probably not bad at all.

my broken collarbone

my expert analysis:

this is effing rubbish if you ask me

collarbone broken clean in two. one broken end of it (seemingly) pulled out of the shoulder joint. jagged edges of bone pushing against muscle and broken nerve endings. any left arm movement really hurts the left arm and shoulder muscle.

i can't swim, i can't run and i can't bike. i wish i could get back on my bike or at least go out and run a cheeky 4 or 6 mile run just to be out there doing something. i think i'm going to set my bike up on an indoor trainer and bike arms free to keep fit. this isn't the best start to my ironman training. somebody has offered to lend me her indoor trainer and could bring it around my place this saturday so i can start some training in a couple of days.

appointment with orthopaedic surgeon tomorrow morning to see how it should be realigned and whether or not it'll need surgery to pin it back together. managed to sleep for 9 hours last night without waking up once. that was probably the vicodin that i was prescribed.

i think I'm going to have to scratch the kenya trip cause i won't be able to run there, and i won't be much able to carry 80lbs in a backpack around on my shoulder.

there's the tiniest bit of anger left in me about the guy who pulled out in front of me on the bike trail without looking. i sort of wish i'd just let him know how much this was his fault and how much a broken collar bone has buggered up my life. when you rely on getting 4 or more hours of exercise a day, a broken collarbone pretty much buggers you every which way possible. i did the entire - "don't worry about it", "stuff happens", "it's alright, how are you?", "spilt milk", etc.. - after my initial reaction as i laid down after the crash and ask him "what the eff was that?" - about a minute afterwards he asked if i was alright and i told him "got a puncture on my front tire, couple of scratches, and think i've broken my left collarbone" so at least there's a chance he understands how much damage he did. and then he went off one way and me the other.

oh well. i'll bounce back from this like everything else. i wish i could be outside running or biking now. maybe i should practice my one armed press-ups or pull ups? yep, cause i have any upper body strength.

My body seems to be controlling the pain very well. I hope realigning it doesn’t take too much manipulation cause I don’t want to endure too much more of the acute pain I felt yesterday when it happened. About 15minutes after it happened, when the adrenaline had all but gone, it really was a bit of a bother.

bugger it all

1. got up at 5am
2. made small cup of coffee
3. opened presents from m&d and sister
   
4. rode bike to pool
5. swam over 1 mile freestyle for the first time
6. rode bike home
7. changed into bike shorts
8. rode bike to(wards) work
9. idiot on mountain bike pulled out infront of me without looking
10. I t-boned him liek nothing else at about 20mph
11. punctured front tire but otherwise my bike was fine (his wheel was very buckled)
12. something with left should was very bad. pain started to kick in pretty quickly and quite badly... pain went like this:
    
1. something weird is clicking in the left should that doesn't in the right
2. i'll fix my puncture and just go home - thats a shorter bike journey
   
3. left arm movement is really quite painful - best i hold it as if it's in a sling
4. can't pick up stuff with lefthand
5. there's no way i can fix this puncture with one arm
6. left arm really hurts now (after about 10minutes) - starting to feel very sorry for myself
7. biting my right arm/wrist in order to avoid crying. failing. crying a bit.
   
8. lots of short breaths and controlling pain and needing to just get home and just get to the doctors and just go that next little bit of where i'm going. back to what i did today...
   
13. 411 and got taxi company number - got taxi home and dropped off bike
14. drove myself to georgetown hospital
15. got seen to and x-rayed
16. Fractured Collarbone and dislocated/effed up shoulder
17. the collarbone broke in two and one end looks to have come out of the shoulder joint, so the doctor told me...

happy effing birthday hugh. happy effing birthday.

swim.ming.

been a week and a half trying to swim properly now, and it's starting to get easier everyday. I hope the decent swimmers don't much care when i look at their strokes intently in order to work out what on earth they are doing that makes them glide through the water so easily.

monday noon - 4mile BIKE
monday pm - 40mile BIKE (4x hill repeats - macarthur up to Great Falls MD hill)
tuesday am - 60minute SWIM + 25mile BIKE

shin still tweaking a little bit so giving it lots of time off. planning a cheeky 6miles through town tonight after i get home from my 20mile bike ride home. planning on swimming a mile non-stop in the pool tomorrow morning - all freestyle. i make that 64 laps as the olympic pool is cut width ways. might do 70 just to make sure.

i wish i could run 29miles tomorrow morning, but i don't think my shin would hold up to it, which is a shame.

century

thursday am - 10mile BIKE + 60min SWIM
friday am - 30min SWIM + 10mile RUN
friday pm - 30mile BIKE
saturday - 102mile BIKE
sunday - 5mile RUN

cramp in calves while swimming, humid conditions in dc

tuesday am - 60min SWIM + 30mile BIKE
tuesday pm - 40mile BIKE + 6mile RUN
wednesday am - 30min SWIM + 25mile BIKE

cut swimming short this morning due to cramping in my calves. I think the large amount of exercise and heat yesterday resulted in me being a little dehydrated and not getting enough electrolytes straight after the 40mile bike ride and 6 mile run last night. got to bed quite late cause the biking and running took quite a bit of time.

my new bike pedals and shoes are pretty damn great. it makes everything so much easier from trucking along to hills to cheeky little sprints... everything is faster and easier and i'm well chuffed with them.

The humidity in dc is very high this morning (and was fairly high last night) so i sweated buckets on last nights run and ride and absolutely loads this morning. i'm going to have to pay closer attention to fluid replacement during and after exercise, especially with the biking and swimming because it just means i'm out there sweating for many hours more...

But that stuff is so much more expensive than water. Then again, cramping up and having to cut short my swimming by 30mintues isn't the best option either.

resting heart rate was up this morning to 54 which shows i'm pushing myself a little hard. i tend to only get worried when it sky rockets somewhere over 60. Usually, after a two nights full sleep (8-10 hours) and a full complete day off any exercises, it settles to about 44-48, so 54 is a little high.

shin was a little sore every now and again in the pool at the trouble spot, and felt a little funny a couple of times this morning when i'd just gotten out of bed. reacting to yesterdays run i guess. i went through town on the concrete cause i'd been out on the bike for a good while and i wanted to run while looking at people to entertain me a little.

i heart my bike.

speedplay pedals look fast

so much learning going on...

biked to swimming pool this morning. the swimming pool at takoma community center is still one of the greatest things ever. watched a few basic Total Immersion online snapshots from their videos (2minute advertisements really but including some drills and advice). did the drills and took the advice this morning and the swimming already feels easier. i need to get very good at this swimming thing.

bought new bike pedals to replace my old school cages that came with the bike...

also bought new bike shoes so i stop biking all these miles in old worn out racing flats...














bikes are just toys for grown-ups. going on a long bike ride this evening... planning on 40-45... or until it gets dark. i need lights too as the back light feel off about a week ago and as were are past june 21st it does get a little darker a little earlier every night. shame really. biking to swimming and swimming and biking home again tomorrow. might then drive to work and run during lunchtime... see what i feel like in the morning...

haven't fallen off my bike at the traffic lights cause i can't get out of my pedals... yet. but everybody says it happens when you get used to clipless pedals. oh, and the guys who helped me at performance bikes were so much help it was great. Significantly better than the grumpy mechanics i've run into at spokesetc. so i guess performance will have my money from now on out.

yay cycling. yay swimming. yay running (soon).

all so very different now

thursday pm - 60minute SWIM
friday am - 30mile BIKE
friday pm - 40mile BIKE
saturday am - 8mile RUN
saturday pm - 30mile BIKE
sunday am - 74 mile BIKE
monday am - 50minute SWIM
monday noon - 4mile RUN
monday noon - 20min CORE

just gentle exercise bike and reading to flush out the legs tonight... swim tomorrow and bike to work followed by long bike ride (40+miles) home.

swim 2.4 miles bike 112 miles run 26.2 miles

Not too sure of the exact order of events, but it’s something like this:

1. Get injured 5 weeks before london marathon
2. Over the course of more than a quarter of a year – continue to be injured, or get re-injured.
3. Not be able to do all the running I want to do
4. Buy a bike. (I heart my bike.)
5. Still not be able to do the running I want.
6. Hang out with running and biking and triathlete types
7. Running buddy signs up for ironman. Sends email. Search and find site.
8. Sign up for Ironman Triathlon on June 24^th 2007 – in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

I don’t have the discipline to come back from this right shin injury and not run too much. I tore the right shin muscle (same old injury) again for, I think, the 5^th time on my run on Tuesday morning. Again, all my fault, too much too soon. So now I’m going to expand as much of my energy as possible biking and swimming and then I’ll have less energy and time left and will only be able to run about 50miles a week… and my body should be able to handle 50miles running a week without breaking down.

I still think I’m a runner, but I’m practicing to be a triathlete. And as of the end of June 24^th next year I’ll be able to say I’ve done an ironman… The next 11 months are going to be fun in training. Swimming Biking and running lots. I’ll probably end up more healthy from not pushing myself through 130mile running weeks… and I might even develop some upper body strength (I’ll be buggered if I don’t – so I’ll have to).

Swam for an hour last night. Biked 30 miles this morning. Going to bike another 30miles on the way home this evening.

80 miles last week

Banana Pepper plant with peppers growing on it… woo hoo… I might actually have to eat one of them soon… maybe make some salsa or just have it in tomato pasta type dish. Bell peppers/ tomatoes/ jalipino peppers are all close behind… little bits of fruit on all of them, but nothing of significant size as of yet. I should also eat some of my arugula ‘cause it needs trimming back.

Anyway… full week of training last week and all in all I think I just has the best weekend of exercise I’ve had in maybe 4 months. Glorious summer weather with 95F type days with quite low humidity. Great stuff.

Right shin has continued to be a little weird through the training week.. not painful, but I’m constantly aware that I just feels a little off. I think that might just be normal – I’m getting used to using it all again, and the muscle is getting used to me demanding lots out of it. I’ve been icing it twice a day anyway, and see PT Barb again on Thursday for more work. The ankles both feel weak first thin gin the morning (just like the good old days through last summer and autumn and winter when the training was everything). The right shin (and left too really) both feel tight and a bit over stressed when stretching into the front of the shin by bending the knee with my body weight directly over the bent knee – i.e. up against a wall stretching the shin by bending the knee into the wall and stressing the ankle/bottom of the shin/anterior of the shin. But complete day off today – no cycling no running no weights no nuffin. Turned off the alarm clock and radio alarm and just let myself sleep in as long as my body needed. Turns out it needed about 10 hours before It wanted to get up and turn the kettle on for a cup of coffee.

Mileage last week = 80 miles
Planned Mileage this week = 104 miles

reasons i've come up with for why i'm so slow

1. I'm coming back from injury
2. I'm carrying too much body fat and my legs aren’t used to the extra 5-8lbs
3. I've put on some muscle mass on my legs which makes them heavier each step
4. I've not adjusted to the heat increase that is summer in dc
5. I've not adjusted to the humidity increase that is summer in dc
6. The cycling is taking a lot more out of me than I realise or will admit to
7. The mileage I'm running is taking a lot more out of me than it would have done pre-injury
8. After cycling around loads running just feels slower
9. I've lost all efficiency in my stride and form
10. My body has lost the ability to recover quickly from workouts so I'm still not recovered from last nights 6mile run or this mornings 4mile run

there might be more... or some above might be rubbish (the first one doesn't really make sense as the rest all all products of the first point... stupid hugh)

Fact and science? Stuff made up in my head? Just ran 10mile outside at noon in 85F and it just felt much tougher than it should. I can only hope that i get some speed back in my legs and long runs in the next three weeks (the amount of time I've scheduled ahead and given myself to get in shape before I start hitting the track and doing quality workouts again and using a stopwatch properly again).

plod plod plod

6 last night with also-coming-back-from-injury-Mike... we went for a 6mile run around arlington bike paths and streets and avoided the washington-lee track. The track last night was packed with people, and the school reconstruction - whatever that is - has taken over four of the outside lanes of one bend of the track and it makes for a horrible mess of a people/runner/jogger traffic jam. Almost to the point where I'm not keen at working out there unless it's first thing in the morning. I think I need to find another track until that mess is cleared up.

4 miles this morning just to wake up along the rock creek park north of home. It's in a bit of a mess... couple of trees across the trail, really muddy sections, really eroded sections where there's just loads of big stones and rivets big enough for your foot to get trapped or ankle get sprained.

Right knee hurt this morning, but not last night. can't work that one out. hopefully it'll pass in a week or so’s time.

And... exhausted. Forgot how much running once or twice a day - plus cycling to work, can tire me out. Need to get more sleep and i can see the cycling to work getting curtailed. Might even go to my car for lunchtime naps to get some mid-afternoon sleep in. Tired. Yawning. 10 this lunchtime and then very easy day tomorrow (4am).

ship shape

biked home last night along the closed off rock creek park - if only rock creek could be completely closed off to cars everyday. gorgeous running along it this morning, and pretty damn great biking along it last night and this morning. The entire park just full of people running and jogging along the road. Pretty damn great. Felt wierd... felt like saying something to every runner i passed just to highlight that we were out there sharing something different from normal. Running down the middle of a road does feel a little powerful when there's traffic about, but it feels strange when there's no traffic whatsoever... I suppose it's like a race when the road has been closed off.

Anyway... 10 this morning. Again - slow. Again - sluggish. Again - a little depressing... but great to be able to put in a couple days of running without any reaction in the shin area. Both ankles feel a little creaky but thats probably the fat ass they have impacting down on them on every stride. Will stick to the dirt trails for the rest of the week. Right knee hurt a bit last night going up hill when I went out to do some hill work so I cut my losses and just rested for the evening. I think the right knee might be related to the cycling… feels like an old school runners knee type thing – something I’ve not had or felt for at least 2 or 3 years… like a bolt being hammered into the bottom left corner of the knee up through the joint. However, it’s something I can run or stretch through and the pain goes away after a couple of miles or if I’m not going up hill. It’s one of those things that’ll pass. Right achilles was also a little sore this morning… too much rock creek tarmac, not enough rock creek trails – cause the trails are all covered in water after the heavy rain and storms that’s why. I wonder how damaged the trails are north of pierce mill? Will find out tomorrow morning as I have a gentle 6 followed by strides pencilled in the plan. 6 with strides tonight after biking from work to track, and then biking home after track. I’m enjoying the ability to focus on training again. Friday (4miles easy am) is a rest day not far away so I’m looking forward to putting in solid runs tonight (6), tomorrow am (6) and pm (10) before earning the Friday rest.

slow and heavy but ran 12ish and felt alright

12miles this am - fairly slow and easy - felt heavy and sluggish
biked the 20miles to work

weights tonight... 10 tomorrow morning and then 6 in the evening with strides... i have a nice three week schedule worked out and i feel confident as of today that i can stick to it and get the miles in and run some quality as of next week and stick to the easy days being very easy and the days off being days off. mileage starts to creep up slowly but if I can get good food in me, and lose a bit of weight, and get good rest night after night and naps on the weekend, and ice anything that hurts, i'll get through this three weeks through to sunday 16th july and be in decent shape. right? right.

discipline / commitment / determination / sacrifice.

it's all beginning to start again after this strange 3 months away.

things feel like they are on the up (again)

thursday
- off
friday
- off (physical therapy)
saturday
- 10m (hilly trails in rock creek park)
- 35mile bike (with hill repeats)
sunday
- 12m (rock creek south and gtown and north up through glover)
- 35mile bike

lots of rain and thunderstorms and it's just great to be outside when the world and the weather is that active all around you. oh, and COME ON ENGLAND. tactically i thought they played well on sunday against Ecuador, but will need to go through a couple of extra gears against Portugal to win... a couple of gears they definitely have because they haven't played anywhere near their potential yet.

Writing down the next 20 weeks of training today. There are some tender bits around the right shin where PT Barb has worked on my leg, and i think I might start using a masseuse she recommended once my mileage gets over 100 miles again. Took this morning off, and will put in a gentle 4 miles tonight of jogging just to warm up for some stretching and the like. Weights and cycling at the gym as well. 12 tomorrow morning. Looking forward to it. Things are coming back together. Slowly. If I can run well this week, will take friday completely off and run the club slr this saturday morning. Ice ice ice. Also try to get as much sleep as possible this week. Got 10 hours last night. Motivation starting to creep up too - i feel ready to start working hard at the running again and the discipline and put in a shed load of hard work...

what is wrong with my right leg?

this morning - ran 6 miles. biked 20miles. will go out for 10mile bike ride to bike shop at lunchtime (once the mexico game is done). 30mile bike ride long way home tonight.

my right leg continues to be a problem... right knee now hurts going up hill... but only going up hill. everything else just feels off. there is some specific localised pain that feels like bruising on top of the shin at the very bottom of the right leg (where the tear was previously), pain on the outside of the leg around from the tear spot just mentioned. tightness becoming pain in the ankle toward the inside back of the ankle joint. knot in the right calf. i wonder if i ahve some sort of vain ro artery blockage which is cutting off the supply of red blood cells and thus causing all these problems. it's really taking far too long. everything else in/on my body just heals really quickly. why is this so much different?

thunderstorm! crash! bang! wallop! 10miles this am.

had a whole day off running yesterday. rode bike home the long way... rain was so hard i could feel it pelting against my bike helmet. the creek overflowed alongside the bike path and i saw it too late (or was going too fast) and spun out; landed on my ipod...screen busted completely through the protective case i bought, both hands torn up (no bike gloves on), left elbow torn up, left knee torn up... blood dripping down left arm and left shin. soaked completely through and cycled the remaining 8 miles home. Rear gears had some problems after the crash but i think that was just the dirt (at least i hope).

ran 10 miles this morning. felt slow and shin felt a bit tight at times but no pain. stomach wasn't happy at all. running hasn't gotten back to feeling good yet. need to lose 5lbs quickly to help it along. right shin does feel strange at times, but not painful. I'm overly concerned about it, and hopefully I'll get through training this week and next and will stop thinking about it. I was a little tight this morning all over but that might be because of falling off my bike. i think i'm too old to be falling off my bike and scrapping my knees and needing plasters. and they don't sell smarties over here to make it all better. damn them.
england sweeden this afternoon. COME ON ENGLAND.

running again. no pain so far and feel fairly good about the shin (finally)

running, since starting up again last wednesday, has been going well so far. shin feels strong and put in some strides after my run on sunday. also went out and went for long 30 - 35mile bike rides on thursday and saturday and sunday to add to the amount of training I'm doing. shin feels slightly bruised when i rest the left leg (ankle bone) on the shin area that previously hurt - ice ice ice today... but no pain when i run or manipulate the muscle myself.

wed pm - 4m run
thu am - 8m run
thu pm - 30m bike
fri am - 6m run
sat am - 11m run
sat pm - 37m bike
sun am - 8m run + 6X80yrd strides
sun pm - 35m bike

bought loads of salad from farmers market in mt. pleasant - while eating it last night picked a big green caterpillar off my fork - noticed it at the last moment. put him on a leaf and let him go outside. i wonder if I ate any others that I just didn't notice?

biked to work this morning. taking a full day off running. will do a bunch of callisthenics this evening after biking home the long way to get some extra mileage in.

bike ride from home or big big ride over in MD on the eastern shore?

decisions decisions. do I

a) get up at 5am sunday morning and cycle for about 4 hours and try and cover 70miles or so on my bike... but leave from my house and cycle around northern MD and then get back home around 9am and be able to watch the footy all day sunday. and sleep and make breakfast at home. and it would cost me nothing but the food i eat while I'm out there. and better for the environment cause it doesn't involve 5 hours or so of driving.

or

b) get up at 4am and drive two and a half hours to Betterton, MD to ride 104miles in the Bay to Bay ride which starts at 7am and costs about $30 (plus petrol costs getting to and from Betterton) and will rule me out of watching most of the footy on sunday (including Brazil Australia, Japan Croatia, and France South Korea). World cup only happens once every four years... this option costs more money... but there is support in food stops and people to help if I have bike issues and the like... hmmm. and a century bike ride would be a nice thing to have done of a morning and early afternoon.


I'm leaning towards a right now just cause i get an extra hour in bed and it would be cheaper.

fat and heavy and slow but running

felt terribly out of shape running this morning, but put in 4 miles last night and then 8 this morning on the trails. Need to focus now on all the extras - stretching; cross training; sleep; diet; weights; plyometics; calisthenics

need to drop the extra fat I've put on quickly so my joints don't have to put up with the extra impact, and then will be able to put in more miles without the stress of carrying around my fat arse.

might even try a golds gym yoga class, or core exercise class (like pilates or something like that)... but then again i might just do a bunch of exercises while watching the first half of one footy game, and then do stretching for the second 45minutes.

Still thinking of doing the 104 mile bike ride on sunday just to get outside exercising for 6 hours or so... it'll make me not run, but then again, if I could run I'd probably prefer to be doing that... but 6 hours will kick in some serious long distance endurance advantages.

and COME ON ENGLAND

carragher should start as Neville is out.


stevie g is a legend.

just saw this:

Today independent medical experts gave their evaluation on the fitness of Wayne Rooney.

Joint Statement From Professor Angus Wallace and Professor Chris Moran

[...] We have carried out a full risk assessment related to returning him to play at this stage and that assessment has indicated that he is at no more risk than any other player who has recovered from an injury and is returning to competitive sport.

It is our professional medical opinion that Wayne Rooney is now available to play in the World Cup.

[...]

EFFING AND GEOFFING GENIUS.

GENIUS.

he might play for man u, but when he's got an england shirt on, I'll excuse him that mistake.

red red red red red GREEN

as murray walker would say - and they're off - i'm given the go ahead to start running again... after 8 days off. Leg feels fine. will give it a little go on the treadmill this evening, and have a gander at the trails tomorrow morning. I can't wait.

I expect the next weeo or two of running to feel fat and heavy and slow, and so might just leave the watch at home and go out on routes i know and love. then another couple of weeks of building up to normal training, and should be clicking along, any further injury mishap withstanding, in a months time... perfect.

I can't wait until my alarm clock goes off tomorrow morning at 5am and I get to get up and see sunrise while plodding along the trails of rock creek park. it's like a birthday. i'm gonna sleep in my running shorts, thats what i'm gonna do.

72 miles on bike yesterday - running by end of week? no pain in shin at all, but waiting for PT Barb's permission to start up running again

72 miles on bike yesterday. one puncture caused by brake pad rubbing on tire wall... changed the tire in under 10minutes (lots of practice on tire changes now) and used a GU wrapper as a tire wall; rode the rest of the way using brake and left shoe for braking. i heart my bike. biked to work this morning in the rain. got soaked. loved it.


and the world cup looks better when you watch it on this. oh yes.


and listened to through this

right shin actually feels fine now, and going to continuing icing and biking (loads) through this week and maybe get permsision from PT Barb to run towards the end of the week. Cycling is giving me a great workout so I don't feel so bad missing out on the running, and maybe everything'll be fixed once I've given it this extra time off. I'm looking forward to be running again, but I wonder whether I'll be able to run my age in mileage on my birthday this year. Thats a really long run in only about 5 weeks time. Maybe.

Might do a 106mile bike race/ride on the weekend as a bit of a challenge just to keep the system ticking over so I don't get too fat and slothlike.

picture crazy

not only am i biking to work instead of driving (healthy running lifestyle change) i'm growing veg and herbs in my small dc garden (healthy running lifestyle change).

no great running news - i heart my bike

PT still wants no running from me so I'm almost at the point of quiting the kenya trip cause it wouldn't make much sense if I wasn't in good shape. why push for that 3% improvement when you could improve 15% just by running regularly at home?

Went out for an early morning 2hr hilly bike ride before the england game.


come on england... got the result but terrible performance by the boys. we always start tournaments slow anyway.

rest day today

right foot and ankle and shin starting to complain after 10 days without a single day off running. shin starting to tighten up again under, and ankle not feeling great. hopefully PT today will help it, in addition to taking the day off running. Did 45minutes exercise bike followed by half an hour of weights and 15minutes stretching this morning. gym again this evening... planning 60minutes exercise bike followed by 30minutes of core/stability work. right ankle feels tight and hurts when I get up from sitting. Right shin feels tight when pushing out on the right leg while stretching my left groin. running doesn't hurt but i can feel the tightness building across the bottom of the right shin. The achilles is still a little sore/enflamed but the ankle pain hits in the left handside of the ankle and across the top of the ankle as well... ice and rest today then (if cycling is causing this i'll be more than a little miffed).

i miss 20mile days. i miss 12 mile runs through the trails before breakfast.

doubles both sat and sun and a high amount of confidence

managed doubles both sat and sun, but right ankle still feels like it's very weak. shin a little weird when running... tight... achilles still sore. 64 mile bike ride on sunday. good to get out and exercise for hours rather than just an hour.

bought new shoes too - wilson fitted me... great to catch up with him. got Asics Landreth II... lightweight with no motion control/stability but lots of cushioning. trying to stick to trails too for the next couple of weeks. and getting back close to a weight I can run with. Right now I feel like I'm carrying a tire on my back whenever I try to run intervals. need to lose about 10-12lbs in the next month so I don't have to think about weight anymore. nice and slim before I get fit and fast and healthy to go to kenya and make the most of that month's training.

going to disappear to a coffee shop tonight with a training book and pages of a diary and work out a training schedule for the next 4 months through to New York... If I can see it all on paper then I'll be more disciplined about the rest days and down weeks.

glad to have got in 60miles plus last week. looking forward to more of the same this week. taking tomorrow morning off. going to gym to exercise bike and seeing the PT lady in the afternoon to hopefully work her magic on my right ankle/achilles/shin.

according to this personality test, I have a high amount of confidence.

Respectful Architect

out of shape... focus on training from now through middle of July.

track last night... i'm terribly out of shape. weigh too much, too slow, too tight and my lungs and heart and all that just aren't close to what I thought was half-decent 3 months ago. I have no innate talent whatsoever, and therefore any fitness i had developed was hard won through hard work (130+ mile weeks, doubles everyday, disciplined diet and rest, etc.) and now I've got to go through it all again to get fit again. Running some terrible interval times and then my shin got a bit tight after only 3X500's so slowed up and just did easy jogging.

But, on the upside, I heart my bike.


Biked to track last night. Biked home. Biked to work this morning after my 6 mile easy morning run. It feels great to get up out of the saddle and really push the pace up hills or sprint along a straight in a fast gear... and if I can sort out my life enough to do this everyday, I think it'll really help my running - the added workouts that don't cause impact injuries. It amazes me how good the bike feels... the ease of going up hills - the transfer of power... just all so much damn fun.

Might try tomorrow to see if I can listen to my mp3 player while biking to work... cause then I could download my Swahili lessons to my nano and learn Swahili while biking to work... right now it might be better me having my ears free to listen out for things that might cause me to crash off my bike. Oh, and biking compared to running is damn expensive... costs keep adding up... i think i might need bike gloves... and biking in running shorts is a little more painful than I'd like, so I might need a couple of bike shorts to rotate every so often.

My right shin doesn't feel too bad (a bit bruised where the PT lady worked on the muscle - as she said it would be) but the ankle feels very weak and the achilles continues to be sore. I might try and get some quality time at a running store for somebody who knows what they are looking out for to check me in a bunch of different shoes. The PT lady told me that I probably need a shoe with slightly less motion control for pronators, and slightly more support through the entire shoe... I saw a couple of pairs of Brooks that I like.

And... more spending of money potentially... i think I'm using my phone enough now to justify a phone plan rather than a pay by the minute thing... and if I do get a phone plan then that means a new phone and I'd like to get one which takes good pictures. Then I'd be able to carry it around with me in the small bag under the bike seat and take pictures of the world as I travel through it. Then I could keep track of pictures which come out alright and have a record of what my world looks like - and i'd come back to those images in 40 years time and drown in nostalgia.

pt seems to be helping.

right.. gently does it, plus lots of biking, plus lots of icing and physical therapy. my leg does feel better and the physical therapy will hopefully help it recover without breaking down again. I'm stick to short runs for the next week and a half at least (more than 8 or maybe 10 miles).

Sat 27 - 7 easy
Sun 28 - 3 easy (plus 30mile bike ride)
Mon 29 - 7 easy (plus 60mile bike ride)
Tue 30 - 6 easy (plus 60min exercise bike in gym and 30mins core)
Wed 31 - 8 easy (plus 20min exercise bike in gym and 20minutes upper body weights)

track tonight... just going to do some easy mileage and maybe 8 X 100 strides.
Bike has punctures already so will fix them this evening and bike to and from work (16miles) tomorrow.

it's been long enough now that I'm starting to get a desire back again to work my tits off in the gym and on the bike and out running. I'm going to buckle down and focus on a solid 5 weeks of training before taking a weekend off in the middle of july (trip to outer banks - which will probably be loads of running anyway.. but plus loads of drinking and food too).

Getting back into things.

getting me some PT

off to see physcial therapist this morning. everything I'm doing is obviously enough because i keep making the same mistakes. need to get somebody to help me understand what the problem is and fix this, rather than keeping on breaking down - icing and the strength work i'm doing and rest obviously isn't fixing the source of the problem.

so a physical therapist will hopefully help me... hopefully.

shin still not happy, neither am I, and getting a bike to reduce time spent in sitting in my car - going to bike to work

Track last night. Shin reacted a little, but enough to really annoy me. This injury just doesn’t seem to want to heal. And I felt so terribly out of shape on the 3 intervals of 1000 I did/ Lungs were tight and I felt heavy and it was really a struggle. It’s depressing how quickly you lose fitness once you stop training properly. I need to just stop doing any fast runs and build up to a point where I can go out and run on the trails for 90minutes without being concerned about re-injuring myself. Getting a bicycle this Friday… plan on commuting to work two to three times a week at first and then, if I can sort it all out with running training as well, try and commute to work everyday and use my car less… Need to burn off all of the energy I wake up with every morning. Also need to find a way to keep me sane when I’m not able to run as much as I’d like to.

Looking forward to biking all memorial day weekend to get out and see the world and also test the routes to work from home. On days when I’m only doing 6 or 8 in the morning I’ll bike to work, and if my run is 12 or 15 miles then I’ll probably drive in. Don’t know how it’ll work out with carrying lunch and how hot it’ll be in the summer and carrying clothes or storing clothes at work and storing lunch at work etc. etc. but that’s all part of the fun of it I suppose… working all of those things out. I can get to work pretty much all on bike paths – down rock creek – over that route 66 bridge – along W&OD railroad and then up to Tyson’s. This works out at about 16 miles I think. The route to work is less than 12 if I go on the roads and go directly west from my house across town and take the chain bridge and then just cycle along chain bridge road. It’ll be fun trying out both routes this weekend.

Shin reacted on Saturday long run…

Shin reacted on Saturday long run…

Probably pushing myself a bit too much too soon… my shin sort of reacted badly on my Saturday run. Same problem as normal… I wasn’t going too fast, but it just seems that after about an hour on my feet it started to get a little tight; asking for attention. Then it started to pull a bit and hurt more and more and as this is a tear, and as I tried running through it before, I know that once it starts to hurt it just keeps hurting more and more and I do more damage. The greater the amount of damage the longer it takes not running afterwards before I can run again. I pulled out of the run after about 12 miles (I’d done a stealth 8 before the slr 12 – I’m stupid and stubborn and under estimate how much damage I must’ve done to my shin). Getting back to my car was a long 3 or 4 miles of walking interspersed with very light jogging… took off my shoes and jogged barefoot through some sections of grass which seemed to hurt less… but then I was moving very slowly. Once injured, that pretty much blew the rest of my weekend. Overate, Sunday didn’t exercise at all. Thought a lot about extreme measures and reactions to the situation – purchase a bike and cycle the 15 miles to work everyday to try and keep my bodyweight down (stopping the overeating might do the trip methinks) – seeing a doctor – seeing a physical therapist… whereas I know the right plan of action and just need to hit myself over the head for being an undisciplined plonker for not doing the right things – cross train twice a day; eat healthy and a few calories less than a need everyday, but not seriously under or seriously over and not bad comfort fatty foods – lots of icing – lots of stretching – weight work – core work – and then when I can run I need to run singles and not doubles – run on trails and not on concrete – run maybe 40 or 50 miles a week at first and take one or two days off running a week and then, when I’ve gotten myself a base, I can start increasing the amount of running I do. Too much too soon is my problem and my fault right now.

If this thing doesn’t sort itself out soon I’ll probably have to have an MRI to work out exactly what I dealing with. Oh, and lost of rest.. I need tog et myself to bed early and sleep lots and just get this fixed cause, really, it’s been far too long. I need to be able to see an end to it… I’ve been injured for months now.

coming to end of week 1 - building back up to normal training

slowly getting used to training again. my right leg seems to have a number of different little things going on with it that I presume is compensation type knock on effects from the original right shin injury. the achilles is a little sore but nothing serious. the ankle feels weak as well. Ran a very slow 6 this morning... painfully slow really... it's tough running that slow on your own - i might need to start meeting up with people to run on my easy days just to chat and pass the time and take my mind off the slow mileage pace.

SLR tomorrow is Pentagon - Army Navy Dr. (12 miles). All concrete, but it'll be fun to run with a group of guys and go over 10miles for the first time since London. I'll probably do my standard 12mile loop down rock creek and up through glover archibald on sunday morning. I do like that loop and it was my daily morning run through so much of fall and winter. It'll be nice to do it again for the first time in about two and a half months. I'll probably arrive really early and put in a couple of miles warm up and do about 30minutes worth of stretching and warm up type things.

Planning races for the summer.. bunch of 10ks, an 8k, a couple of half marathons. It's fun planning. Still icing my right shin (and achilles) for the time being. New rule... the easy days have to be very easy... and this weekend - need to go through and plan everything to the day from now until Kenya...

all training from Injury through to London Marathon and injury recovery post London to to basic training up to this last sunday.

Run Date	Effort Level	Miles	Comments
Thu, Mar 23 pm	Easy	4	lower right shin. AGONY.
Fri, Mar 24 pm	Easy	5	right shin. AGONY. had to walk last mile.
		9
Wed, Mar 29 am	Easy	1
Wed, Mar 29 pm	Easy	1	one mile very easy on the treadmill.
Thu, Mar 30 am	Easy	3
Thu, Mar 30 pm	Easy	1
Fri, Mar 31 am	Easy	7	right shin tight. stopped to stretch it a bunch. bumped into Scott on the trail - great to chat to a runner and feel like I've never been gone. Lungs felt huge. SHin only thing stopping from going really fast.
Sat, Apr 1 pm	Easy	2	right shin.
Sun, Apr 2 am	Easy	3	right shin.
		18
Tue, Apr 4 am	Easy	1
Tue, Apr 4 pm	Easy	1
Sun, Apr 9 am	Easy	4	treadmill. right shin recovery.
		6
Mon, Apr 10 am	Easy	6	right shin recovery
Wed, Apr 12 am	Easy	6	right shin recovery. tightness but no pain. track... ran two sets of 5min tempo at solid pace (not fast but controlled pace)
Thu, Apr 13 am	Easy	8	trail... getting better. woo hoo. right shin tight but no pain.
Fri, Apr 14 am	Easy	6	getting used to running again. stride still feels funny but not as bad as the day before.
Sat, Apr 15 pm	Easy	4	right shin a little off after the morning's run. iced it afterwards and it was fine.
Sat, Apr 15 am	Hard	13	long warm up, then 12 slr with joe and joe and kevin
Sun, Apr 16 pm	Easy	4
Sun, Apr 16 am	Easy	14	long slow distance just tog et time on my feet. felt fine. C&O out and back and then added on rooservelt island and up past arlington cem.
		61
Mon, Apr 17 am	Easy	6
Tue, Apr 18 pm	Easy	7	meant to meet Andrew at fleet feet but he didn't show.
Tue, Apr 18 am	Steady State	8	fast-ish 8 miles. just checking the legs still work good and proper. felt refreshing.
Wed, Apr 19 am	Easy	6	very easy. very sluggish. didn't time it. thighs sore.
Thu, Apr 20 pm	Easy	3	pre-London
Fri, Apr 21 am	Easy	3	pre-London
Sat, Apr 22 am	Easy	4	pre-London
Sun, Apr 23 am	Easy	2	early morning warmup pre-london
Sun, Apr 23 pm	Hard	26.2	London Marathon - 181st - 2:38:43 - not shabby considering injury for the last 5 weeks. reopened tear in the last 5-6 miles. pr.
		65.2
		0	no running at all this week
		0
Wed, May 3 am	Easy	4	back in the build up for normal training. felt fine. no reaction in right shin.
Wed, May 3 pm	Easy	4
Wed, May 3 pm	Steady State	7	right shin went while doing workout on bike path. too much too soon. (3min on 2min off). silly hugh
		15
Wed, May 10 am	Easy	3.5
Wed, May 10 pm	Easy	4
Thu, May 11 am	Easy	4	treadmill
Thu, May 11 pm	Easy	4	threat of reaction from right shin. might have to take tomorrow off and stick to exercise bike just to give it a day of recovery.
Fri, May 12 am	Easy	6	need to slow down easy runs. right shin a little reaction, but not much.
Sat, May 13 pm	Easy	7
Sun, May 14 am	Easy	7
		35.5