The Fling is Flung

It's a week before the Fling and its now official. I have pulled out. My shin splints have eased but I now have tendinitis in my Achilles. That with the fact I haven't run over 10 miles in three weeks is an enforced taper I wasn't wanting. Running the Fling would be far too risky a strategy for the WHW now. With such an elite field the chances are that I would get pulled along at too fast a pace, end up broken or worse injured more and then spend even longer with little training and really struggle for my main race.

This week started so well. After last week easing myself back into training I felt ready for a bit of speed on Monday and I was flying. Feeling good and reckoning my Fling chances were good. On Tuesday I went out for an easy 8 mile run. After 6 miles I felt pain in my Achilles that would go away on hills but hurt on the flat. I think it was caused by all the calf stretching I had been doing recently to combat my shin issue.

So no running on Wednesday and Thursday and by Friday I was ready to run again. But to be on the safe side I decided to do an aqua session with Graeme at the Sports Science Centre. Into the pool and luckily for me there was Frank the Physio there too. He took a look at my ankle and straight away said 10 days no running. So that was that. No more pressure or decisions. I trust Graeme and the guys at Hampden. It is good having them look at things away from any emotional attachment etc. If this had happened when I didn't have their support I would have run the Fling. And most likely struggled, got a disappointed time or worse injured.
So on with the Aqua session and Graeme didn't take it easy on my injured body. I was knackered at the end but felt good at doing something. We also went through my training plan and adjusted it for not racing the Fling. Afterwards I felt much more positive.

I left Hampden and immediately called Murdo the Fling organiser. Done.

So how do I feel? Actually still okay. I have wanted to see what it would be like to run the WHW without doing the Fling race but I never had the guts to do it. I also think that personally for me any run or more so race over 35 miles are counter productive to my training requiring too much of a taper and too much recovery to be of any real benefit. They do have their place though for a lot of people that like to have done a 50 mile run before the WHW as a confidence booster for it. For me I know I can stagger over a 100 miles so I am happy that my longest run this year before hand will be 35. Kate Jenkins said something similar earlier this year. She does not to badly on that philosophy.
And if I ever worry about my mileage I alway take a look at Gav's blog. He does amazingly well on lower mileage with a sub 20 hour WHW under his belt after having only ran 450 miles that year before it. Well, I am on about 800 so does that mean I can put my feet up until June?

Good luck to everyone running the Fling. It's gonna be some race and I can't wait to watch and cheer you all on.
Enjoy the easy week. I will. :-)

Running Again

Woohoo. After my enforced rest the Physio gave me the go-ahead to start running again on Tuesday. I had actually gone to the Physio in my running gear in the hope that the answer would be yes. To be honest I knew it would be as my leg was much better and after some prodding and manipulation he agreed with me. Shame that I still had 30 minutes of my appointment left and so he massacred my tight calves.
So I left Achilles Heel limping more than I had when I went in but feeling fabulous that at last I could run again. I drove to a field beside my house and then attempted to run. It was pretty horrific and I must have looked hilarious as I tried to run again. Everything was tight and sore but after 5 minutes I was off. This lasted another 5 minutes and then my body decided it liked being a lazy bugger and decided to get slower and slower. Still I was happy to get out and logged 2.5 miles. On Wednesday I logged another 6 miles and then today it was 8. Today felt great and no problems with my shin but I honestly feel like I ran 30 miles. I was just tired, my legs ached and my HR was just way higher than it normally is for an easy run. Hopefully though after another few more runs everything will settle down.

I also spoke to Graeme at Hampden Park and it was this conversation that brought me back to earth a bit.
The Highland Fling race is probably not going to happen for me. It's not that I can't do it. Heck I could run it tomorrow but the problem is that if I get injured or take too long to recover then my WHW is finished and so is my season.
I am not going to make any definite decisions yet though. I am going to wait until the Monday before the race and I am going to train as if I was still doing the race too. I may still do it but the benefits really do have to out weigh the risks and with a race of 53 miles this is hard to justify.

I am not unhappy about this decision at all. Actually I feel quite grown up and I know that the Fling is a B race for me but the WHW is my A race. Last year I actually felt my fittest in the Fling. Fitter than the WHW and so this enforced rest may be a way to try something new. Richie didn't finish the Fling last year and he did pretty good at the WHW. So everything happens for a reason.

So at the moment I am 50/50 for doing it. I will see how the next week or so goes and make a decision then.

Good luck to Athole, Euan C, Euan G, Russ and everyone else that is doing the London Marathon this weekend.

D Day

First of all, I just want to say thank you to everyone that has been asking after me over the last week or so. Most people have said that the problems I am having are shin splints and that has helped me in looking at ways to speed up my recovery. It certainly has helped me.

So I haven't ran since Saturday 2nd April now. The longest time without running since the West Highland Way race last year and even then I still did some sort of exercise in the way of Aqua jogging and walking. In the last week I have done next to nothing. I did one session of Aqua jogging on Saturday and it was okay but hurt a bit when I started. My legs felt tired and there was nothing in them.
But I am still optimistic. The last few days have seen an improvement in the pain on my shin and certainly since I started stretching my calf muscles. Tomorrow is the day though that the Physio will reassess me and I will find out if I can run. I feel ready for running again although I do feel wee twinges every now and then. If the Physio does give the okay I have decided to take my time coming back. Maybe I am just getting lazy.

Another reason in posting today is that I am trying some new blogging software that I can use from my iPad. I have had an iPad for a year now and this is the first time that I have found some half decent software to blog with. The iPad is perfect for doing quick blogs with and so hopefully this will help too.
The app is called Blogsy. So far it seems to have some better features than many of the Blogging apps for PCs and Macs.

I'll see what it is really like over the next few posts.

Injured

I am injured.

After my 40 mile run on Saturday my lower left leg swelled up, got very tight and made even walking painfully sore.  I now have to cross roads at traffic lights, use banisters going up and down stairs and get overtaken when walking outside by the young, old and physically challenge.  Although I did have one win the other day when I overtook a very fat middle aged woman.  Her benefit fuelled fags slowing her down to a crawl.

So what happened to me?  I have gone from being the fittest ever to a hobbling mess.

The first signs were just after the D33.  My calfs during the race had felt like they were going to cramp and then afterwards had felt tight.  During the two weeks that followed they didn't cause me any concern but were still tight.  Also though the front of my left shin was now tight too.  I had rubbed it, massaged it and stretched it but still it wouldn't loosen.  But there was no cause for concern when I met Lucy for a 40 miler from Drymen to Tyndrum as I had had 2 weeks of good training.

After about 20 miles though I could feel the shin a bit.  Still nothing too bad and nothing to raise to much concern but by Beinglas and 30 miles I could feel it a lot more.  The frustrating thing was my legs felt fantastic.  Loads of energy and no tiredness at all.  Just the sore shin.

We stopped at Beinglas for a beer (as you do on long training runs) and really on hindsight I should have just called it a day there.  Running to Crianlarich was fine and after leaving Lucy there I continued towards Tyndrum when it started to actually get painful.  The constant ups and downs of that section was what got me and by the wigwams I decided to just walk, run to the finish.  Still my legs apart from my shin felt great.  Thomas caught up with me then looking really fresh after his 100k race and I decided since this part was a bit flatter that I could run in with him.

I had no problems at all running again and finished in good spirit thinking that after a day or two's rest it would be fine.

That night I even did some ceiledh dancing too.

The next morning though I woke up to my lower left leg badly swollen and looking a bit bruised too.  I knew straight away that this wasn't going to be a couple of days fix.

So I haven't ran since Saturday now.  The swelling hasn't gone yet but I did go to the physio yesterday and it certainly looks like the tightness in the muscles of my lower leg and foot is what is causing the issue.  The physio (Andy from Achilles Heel) tore into the leg and although painful I was pleased because he wouldn't do that if there was any damage.

This morning my leg is starting to feel much better and I even managed to run about 3 meters (yes meters) in the office when someone was looking for me.  There was no pain and I was pleased that things are getting there.

The physio has asked to see me again and has said no running until at least Tuesday when he will reassess me.

So am I worried about this or driving everyone nuts with temper tantrums?  No actually I am fairly fine about it.  It may even suit me as my body will be fully recovered and repaired for the high mileage next month for the WHW or if I make it the Fling.  Yes the Fling, it isn't a definite anymore as I will need to see what happens but I am at my fittest ever at the moment and I don't think that a couple of weeks off will affect that at all.  Certainly not my endurance although I may slow down a bit which isn't a worry when your key race is run at 10+ minute miles.

I certainly would rather have a few weeks out at this stage and get it sorted than trying to keep training and mess up the WHW completely.

So now I just need to fill up a full weekend running free.  What do normal people do nowadays?  I cant remember.