Training Log Archive: philm64

STeady run roads & park & some hills - felt very tired still... really trashed myself on tues eve, maybe too old for this.

soaked on last mile - very heavy downpour.

now off for 2 weeks to Canada, so it's bye bye for a while.

Still very stiff & sore - rest day

Getting ready for Canada.

5pm: serious DOMS! ouch.

Owain Jones won the Clevedon 10k in 2013 by 2 minutes - TWO MINUTES - in 31:51. #legend

Let's get my result into perspective, eh.....

.....and someone teach Owain how to navigate (and teach me whilst they're at it please!!!)

http://www.clevedonac.co.uk/old-site/images/result...

BOK Urban Keynsham, Blue 6.1km

Barely able to run at the start , and legs never felt right: very very stiff from last nite.... calves / hamstrings. Back acceptable - seems I'm over that. I got into my stride later but only at 75% at best - just legs almost akimbo with battering from sub-37 10km last night..

But I enjoyed it a lot, after so much pressure on me to perform at O events recently - lovely to run & not care, easy nav except in the short lived complex areas,

Almost no mistakes, but not botherered either way. Only 9th; again, no worries.

http://www.bristolorienteering.org.uk/sites/defaul...

Garmin: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1214671...

Gentle jog to see if back / hip etc were acceptable for later.

Back was acceptable. Game on.

Best untick the "Injury" box ;)

Woke up this morning & back seemed miles better - 1st day with no painkillers since 2 weeks ago. Still had to do stretches etc in the day.

Clevedon 10k, Midsommer, fast fast course, slight breeze but not much, country roads, mild dry evening - perfect. Stripped down to lightweight road racers, racing club vest & shorts, felt utterly bionic & featherlight.

Felt good and set off at sensible pace - yet 3:37 at 1km. Felt fine tho. slowly worked my way thru the field, catching & passing groups economically, no sudden surges or idiot burnups. Kms seemed to be passing around 3:40 - 3:49. Which was fine.

Felt quite fast and got into a good, strong group at 4km, and at 5km, I was moving to the front of the group. Slight alarm when the guy reading times at 5km said "18.22" - yikes! oh shit, is this a disaster again? Blown it?

But felt even better, strong, and kicked off at 6km, dropping the group, then kicked off again at 7km, started passing MORE runners! 8km was a pb my fastest since I was under 30 (29:44). I won't lie - the last 2km hurt, and I was outkicked properly but I'd done enough by then. 36:44, age pb, fastest 10km since I did 35.30 in 1993 age 29.

3rd V50, delighted!

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1212875...

Results: Category: http://techtrons.neptron.se/#/clevedonac10k2016/?s...

Overall: (25th) http://techtrons.neptron.se/#/clevedonac10k2016/?s...

Splits: 3:37 - melee at start.
3:42
3:37 (surprising)
3:40
3:42 (18:19 or 18:22 at 5km)
3:49 (sat in group - feeling better and better)
3:40 (kicked off front of group)
3:45 (hurting - 8km / 5 miles in 29:33 / 29:44, depending on my garmin vs KM markers)
3:41 (losing a place to a clubmate)
3:32 (trying to sprint, but lost another place to another clubmate) (Garmin says 9.96km, so short too). I'm taking the 10km time tho ;)

RH Achilles a bit sore today - I've ignored my rehab due to back & back means less mobility around hips, so no surprise there.

Back pretty bad, but compared to a week ago, or even yesterday, not a disaster. Still on painkillers / creams.

Plenty of walking today. http://www.mapometer.com/walking/route_4340713.htm...

- 12.6km ! Blimey. was quite weary by the end. Into town twice.

Need to make a decision on flat fast pre-entered 10k road race tomorrow nite. Hmmm. Heart vs. head. nb. off to Canada on Saturday for 2 weeks so a huge break in all this beleaguered running / O nonsense.

British Middle champs,. Leith hill. 100% fail.

Bad start to day (camping) as rain and bending over led to back getting very sore again. Then Paul & I had to put up club tent in mud & rain - no one helped for a while. By the end of this, I was in big trouble (back pain).

Tried to warm up, but it was bad bad bad. maxed out on painkillers - again, this is hardly a good omen.

Rain, mud, dark woods, undergrowth, nasty 1:7500 map. Hopelessly out of my depth, from the off.

Like Brown clee (heel/Achilles), trying to race the best when you're troubled with a bodily fail, is not a good idea. I was optimistic. I was mistaken.

Hated every minute of this (as did many) - some legs, no 1!!! - had you go thru dark green within minutes. this is horrid. Horrid. No. thanks.

Got lost on way to no 3 - no idea why? on rough bearing east out of no 2, and .... what's going on? Not a clue.

won no 7 with careful path route choice. says splits.

tried the same on no 9 - and was lost 20 seconds after knowing exactly where I was! Utter bafflement.

no 11 - missed it by a few metres, lost 2-3 minutes going round in confused circles. Ready to quit now.

Back hurting. on the way to no 13 - Clive lost 10 minutes+ here, so did James Logue - I could not cope with the complexity of the paths and got lost AGAIN - found myself stuck in undergrowth - tried to react, found wrong control - and stopped. Like the Bristol 10k, I was hating every second of this, and I wasn't going to make that mistake again (carrying on with a race I hate). Retired. jogged up to Leith hill Tower & tried to recall happier times in the 1980s, but failed.

Back horribly sore after, & during.

pleased fro Chas. Clive was a disaster too, as were a lot of fancied runner . Even Geoff E came unstuck.

Long-O, anyone? Urban? Capricorn? OMM lite? Trail race?

http://www.cix.co.uk/~neper/bmdc16/m50.htm

Garmin: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1210679...

Season , thankfully, can now end on this 100% unsuccessful and not enjoyable w/e. PLease, back stop hurting, tho, as my life isn't any good anywhere with this (especially music). (and climbing).

British Sprint urban champs heats - Heat 1.

Started between two good runners, Simon (EPOCSPOOKSTER) & Nigel Bunn.

COurse extremely easy - none of us made any impression on each other & we all finished within 5 seconds of each other ( or as we started) - a minute apart.

Nice to run freely & happily on dry, warm , sunny conditions in vest & shorts! I heard complaints that it was too easy, & yes it was, but I like easy.(this was a bit silly tho!)

DQ-ed later for going through a tiny flowerbed, which the course was planned to tempt you through, on a 1:4000 map it was well under a millimetre. I consider this to be wank planning.

50-60 people DQed for basically the same reason. After a near-riot in the download area, we were allowed - despite our "guilt" - to start in the C finals.

See my facebook for my rant that day. At least one british Long elite champion enjoyed that!

http://www.cix.co.uk/~neper/bsdc16h/m50a.htm

British Sprint Urban final - C class, M50, due to shameful DQ in heat.

Bucketed with rain, so got soaked to the bone.

Road racing shoes now NOT a good idea. Course much more technical with real confusing route choice & steps / uncrossable stuff to consider. Came a cropper twice - once losing ~2 minutes?

Freezing & soaked. Minute man was Jeff Butt (also DQed from my heat - the shame). Ran him down. then we both cocked up. I was cocking up at a much faster running pace than him, tho .

Very slippery grassy descents x 2, so took them very slow (walking pace) then sprinted in for a silly, wet, fun C final, which I won, but....

but ....

it means diddly squat. No shits were given.

Torrential rain for the next 2 hours - may upload my video clip to YOuTube later. (tomorrow). what a shame. not since Tarn Hows has the expectation of a race been so wildly wrong.

http://www.cix.co.uk/~neper/bsdc16/m50c.htm

Garmin - my one and only run in Olympic park / stadium area! worth it for that..... for sure. https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1210679...

Slept on thermarests in spare room on floor last nite.

It was OK, but at 5:15 am I staggered back into my bed.

However, back significantly better this morning - only mild pain. Best day since Tamar day 2 ( ie. best day since this annoyance happened).

So hopefully, that's that then.

(I pulled out of band practice last nite due to my bad back)

Plenty of walking still.

C • Yay 1

Walk to & from town to hospital.

I'm doing a lot of walking.

it's good for my back

It stops my back hurting in that time I'm walking.

I can't cycle - it's too painful with bad back.

Win-lose-win-lose.

Heel/Achilles scan (Ultrasound) today.

At Bristol BRI. Walked there, as could not cycle due to bad back (day 11 of pain). (bought new, extra painkillers & cream for that...)

The doctor said there is no sign of any damage or injury in the tendon, nor on the bone. He is going to recommend an MRI scan next. Great!

So there's no physical damage to my tendon, which is good news, but I still get pain - less good. Generally tho, this has eased off somewhat, with my other "issues" taking over, so I feel I'm going to win this one now. And if I feel pain, I'm not so worried about it.

But if an MRI scan on the NHS appears, I'll take it :)

Ran Ben Mitchell's Blue Sprint Urban at University halls, had meant to do this on numerous occasions.

3.6km 90m, 27 controls - a LOT!

Back hurts less when running than when doing "real life". Just as well.

Good course - messed up approach to no 12 as needed to read which side of the wall it was on , & I'd assumed wrongly.

Ran hard & was certainly nearly caught out a few times; good to practice traffic lights - standing still for 10 seconds to work out best route etc. Perfect last minute prep for Olympic park on Saturday.

Surprisingly crap time - 27:55 - so would only have been 12th in the event. Not sure if it's slower when its not a real race? I wasn't wearing racing shoes, but even so. Or maybe my back is really slowing me down? Who knows. How did Nick Gracie do 44 seconds to no 4? Urm..... http://www.bristolorienteering.org.uk/sites/defaul...

plus 5 mins up & 5 mins down.

Back on far LHS sore & woke me in early hours a few times; really fed up. Other areas less sore, though. So is this progress? Dare I hope?

Steady run with Leith hill 2008 JK map, around the park a few times. 32 mins, and a couple of stops to stretch / read map etc. A course (middle-like) was on the map so I practised "visualisation", using my keys as a "compass" and even looking up for things that were on the map even tho they weren't there (obviously). Quite fun; must do more of this!

Back doesn't really hurt a lot when running, so quite pleasant relief.

Some faster strides. Heel/Achilles hurt on the steepest sections (Scan tomorrow). So don't care if striding out at sub-4 min/km pace wasn't too clever.

Very humid - expect Saturday will be too.

Back pretty bad from over treatment (I suspect) yesterday from osteo.

Really tedious, but went out early-ish to try to walk with a small well-fitting rucsac on my back - Keynsham walk (which confirms I don't really fancy Keynsham....)

2 hours, just over 9km, quite good, nice to be out, walking is good, though rather solitary.

http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4336151.html

Sadly, back deteriorated later as I cycled to town, getting on & off bicycle was not good, I suffered a minor (compared to last Tuesday's crippling) spasm in the far left of my middle back.

Forced to lie down and drink booze (self medication - it works, actually) & OD on more painkillers, giving up the idea of a jog or a climb today.

9 days now. Getting to me. Big time. This, people, is a particularly bad patch in a patchy year.

Back hurting but not too bad. I can now put on shoes & socks, without grimacing. Day 8 now.

Osteopath - Lucy Smith at Well road Osteo's as Lisa Kennard away. She seemed good. http://www.southbristolosteopaths.co.uk/osteopathy...

the good news: No vertebra out of alignment, so no actual proper "injury". (sigh)

the bad news: The spasms I had last week were so severe, they've left my LH back muscles completely knotted. She wasn't surprised I was lying on the floor immobile for 4 hours.

She dug her thumbs in for 20 minutes making me writhe in pain (tho it eased as she went - good stuff); then told to rest today then build up.

Should be OK to run Brit sprints & middles, then.

Game on.

Note: she said she'd had a lot of unhappy campers who'd been out in tents with the recent good weather & basically slept on unfamiliar surfaces. And ended up, like ,, well, me. Christ.

C • Get a campervan 8

Back still much too sore.

Walk 20 mins, & 2 x 15 mins with rucsac on. (last one heavy - ASDA)

Run in evening (30 degrees in sun), felt OK, left calf & right Achilles wooden like last nite, but generally OK apart from that. Felt frisky & fit & strong. Just an issue as back clearly "out" so affecting legs & Achilles. Hmmm.

Osteo in morning so probably rest day tomorrow after that. Hope she can help with the back pain........ :(

Back still FAR too sore this morning. losing will to live.

went for a 2hr 15min walk in countryside south of Bristol with small pack on back - helped a lot - vastly less painful that sitting down.

watched tennis on TV then ventured out for a jog. as noticed it wasn't hurting when quickly jogged earlier.

not too bad, but calf & Achilles grumbly - no rehab whatsoever all week, as can't stretch - need to work on that very quickly now.

Generally, pathetic. What a wreck of a week. will jog tomorrow, too, post Murray. (the other one) (the GOOD one).

Back no better ; in fact, is it worse today? Doesn't feel at all good.

Managaed to load car, get petrol, drive to LIz's to pick her up. My face said it all. Driving was very uncomfortable & the prospect of 3-5 hours in a car today....

W/e canned :(

Osteopath booked for Monday.


Gutted. Gorgeous weather too. No doubt we'll find a w/e to re-schedule N Wales & it will piss down the whole time & we won't go then, either.

My back is on the mend. Still on painkillers, and lay in sun later, which really seemed to help :)

Shame to miss TACH Burrington race tonight - would have had to blag an entry tho.

Also shame missed BOK event last nite - won by Owain Jones in fast time, the boy can run a bit!

Think we'll risk North wales tomorrow after all. Forecast good.

Back pain very much there, and doing anything is wrought with pain.
it's moved to the left side; I suppose my biggest worry is - have i got an actual injury in it, or is it just fallout from the double spasm/seizure's I suffered yesterday morning after 24 hours of non stop pain?

ticking "ill" too as this has made me ill - i'd be off work if I had a job and I am wiped out all the time thru the pain.

all cos I didn't sleep on a hard eough surface on sunday night. week ruined & next w/e probably canned (walking in north wales with Liz - who cannot believe that , after waiting for me to have a free w/e in about 6 weeks, I am suddenly disabled).

Just measured with a ruler (! old school) the 1st 5 controls on the Brown course on Sunday - I made it 1.99 kilometres, say 2km. (1.988km)

I was there in 9:08 so I make that 4:35 per km. That's orienteering, not running.

So that's a record for me, by miles, I think.

For routegadget, see here: http://www.devonoc.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#110&...

Is there a spin-off sport with this sort of race/ course / terrain out there, that I can do more of, please? I like navigation & I like non-mass starts...

:-)

C • fast 1