Don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

A week ago I really hurt my achilles tendon. So I haven’t been able to run since then. I have seen  a physio locally and he reckons I will be able to run again. He massaged the tendon an show me some eccentric heel raises and heel drop exercises to do.

The achilles is definately settling down. I spent 8hours on it in the field today. It was a little sore at times but not too bad. I can use the exercise bike until my heart’s content.

Unfortunately it looks as if I will miss two funs. The temptation is there to run the fun run on Sunday. My physio reckons it is too early, but I am tempted to give it a go. Take some anti inflammatories and see what happens.

I think I will get a green light for a test run tomorrow.

A couple of times lately I though I was really beating the knee problem. Last Friday night I went spotligthing and the quads and glutes were really gripping. I am using a combination of the McConnell taping and an ITB strap. The ITB strap seems to dampen the VLAT muscle. My ankle is also strapped.

Time Trial

I’m not sure I like time trials.

25:19 (12:34; 12:45) was the time for the 5.8km Coffs Creek circuit. It’s hard to push flat out without the conditions of a race. Still this was my best my 8 seconds. I would really like to be under 25 minutes for that distance.

My achilles tendon has been twinging on my last three runs after about 3-4 kilomtres. So I better watch out. My knee has been feeling extra good the last couple of days. I don’t want an achilles injury to stop my resurgent running career.

I really enjoy the moderate intensity work outs, where I push a little bit harder if I’m feeling fresh, but not flat out.

The weekend that broke the maltracking patella’s back

My knee seemed to improve a lot this weeknd.

I did a 8km run on Saturday 8km in 38:43 (19:30; 19:13). I was cruising at moderate effort. I seem looser through the hips. I feel like I am runner again, bumped into several runners doing the Coffs trail, and said hello. When I wasn’t able to run, I used to look at other runners and feel jealous. Now I feel as if I belong back in the running fraternity.

Sundays ten kilometre run was even better. It was meant to be an easy run. I felt really fresh and was doing 4:48km without much trouble at all. I did the first 5km in 24:00, and was feeling strong. I slowed down a little but finished the second 5km in 24:25. My achilles tendon felt a little bit tender towards the end.

10km (48:25 24:00; 24:25). Not bad for a moderate effort.

I’m really starting to feel positive about what might be possible if I can keep running. A sub 20 minute 5km or a sub 40 10km minute is not out of the question, maybe next year.

I still have 2 and a half months until the Sawtell fun run, and I reckon I can go alright in it. The possibilities of what my running holds has opened up my life in a whole new positive direction.

Tonight after reading some of the inspiring stories of Melbourne Marathon finishers, I have thoughts of doing one a marathon before I am 50.

My mood has really picked up and I think more about runnning than some of the things that drag me down in my life.

One of those races

I have mixed feelings about the race yesterday afternoon. A 5km on a grass athletics track. Honestly, I couldn’t sleep last night, on the one hand I was so excited, and on other I was kicking myself.

I’m happy, nervous, anxious, paranoid all at once. I’m worried that people at the running will think I was cranky. That they all know me, because what one of them was told about me from someone at work and won’t like me.

And above it all I can still run. I can still run. This is not dream. Then I think hell I am 46 and my best is well behind me. Why did I have to lose 20 years of running due to inury?

The bad news first: I ran 5.41km in 22:38. Why is that bad news? Because the race was supposed to be 5km and I ran an extra lap. This is not four months since I started running.

I feel the same way about this race as I did in the race where I missed the turn twice and lost nearly forty seconds.

Happy, sad. Frustrated that a perfect run was spoilt by a mixed up lap count.

Fight hard enough and dreams become reality

I wrote on this blog in March this year.

“I often have running dreams. Of competing in the City to Surf fun run. I wake up and it is only a dream! I do miss running.”

Look how far I come towards my dream. One running dream the Bridge Run come true.

I WILL run in the City to Surf again. And I will not wake up to find it was a dream.

You’re a fighter Quinkin. All the hard work, all the pain, all the frustration, you deserve this as your reward.

Go hard, never give up. I’m going to send this nightmare of knee pain to hell where it belongs.

Race report

Last Saturday I went in another 5km race. The Woolgoolga Charity Fun Run.

It was a warm afternoon and I felt quite hot before the start. I bought a bottle of water before the race. There was about fifty to sixty people in the 5km, several of these people also ran in the cross country season.

The race started up a hill and onto a grass verge. The leader took a wrong turn and had to double back. The race went around a footpath and then around the back streets of a caravan park. The leaders were already getting away well away from me. A couple of runners went roaring past, probably triathletes I thought. One was a fit fellow who looked in his early fifties, and a speedy looking lady, and a younger bloke wearing a Sharks singlet.

I did the first km in 4:06, and it stung my lungs a bit. Then the course went down a side street for a turn around point. One of the runners cut the corner. The pace was hard but I was catching a young runner that usually beats me by two or three minutes. 

The second km was 4:07. The race opened up onto a bitumen road. I tried to stride out relaxed but I was slowing down a bit. Then a guy who I knew from work went past and said “Go Quinkin.” I said “Go mate.” The last race I was in this guy beat me by three and a half minutes. I stayed in touch until the end of the bitumen road and then through a picnic area,  I lost ground in a patch of mown grass. Found it really hard to lift my feet. Three km was 12:48. I was blowing hard and my lungs were sort of wheezing. Then the course went along a bush path alongside the lake. The bloke from work was just disappearing out of sight.

The course came out on the road and I was able to stride out more comfortably on the easier surface. A lady runner went past, looking relaxed, I think she is a good triathlete and was probably using the fun run as a training run. At this point I was looking forward to the finish. The early pace and the heat had taken its toll.

The young runner went past near the end of the stretch of bitumen road. I asked him if he had a second wind. He said yes. I managed to not lose too much touch with this runner until the end of the race.

When I got to the turn around point, I could see other runners behind me. A young lady runner who I had never beaten before was about thirty seconds behind. I had a look at my stop watch and realised I wasn’t going to finish under 22:00 minutes.

I crossed the line only about five seconds behind the young male runner. Last time I raced against him he beat me by nearly three minutes. I checked the Garmin and noticed that the time was 22:16 for 5.1km. That equates to a five km time of 21:49.

So all in all, I was not too unhappy. I’d slowed a lot in the last three km of the race, but I had improved considerably against all the runners that I had raced previously. My knee did not hurt at all during the run or afterwards.

Every runner got a medal, but no placings or times were recorded. I think I finished about 12th in the race.

My endurance is not good over the back half of a race. Hopefully this will come good if my injury will let me maintain consistent training. This last week I have run thirty two kilometres. I have run two 10km long runs (50:37; 50:54) and several 8km  runs (37:29 to 40:15). I have been able to average under 5 minute kms for the first half of these 10ks, but in the second half I really slow down. I simply don’t have the mileage base to cover me in the back end of races.