So I did. I had a lovely day doing the Boundary Run round Cambridge on the 4th. Went with Sue (excellent company) and it rained on us the whole way, turning to snow in the last mile or so. Wished I'd worn more than just shorts and a T shirt - brrrr!
The following week I did one day along the canal to Grantham (one of Rory's ULTRArace events). Ran with Travis and we chatted away merrily with the time slipping by quickly (and actually jogged the first 11 miles or so, before putting in more and more walking in the second half of the 29 miler).
Then came the Brighton trail last weekend. 27 miles over the hilly South Downs on a glorious sunny but cool day, providing stunning views from the hilltops. And there was a nice glass as the race memento.
And finally it was a the Charnwood marathon in Leicestershire yesterday. This was my first ever LDWA event 3 years ago. A great course and after the misty start (making instructions like "cross field to kissing gate" (which is written of course as "X field to KG") hard to follow, as the other side of the field was just a foggy blur) it turned into a beautiful sunny day. I even found the TARDIS!
So it's great to be getting back out there and seeing my running mates, even if I am spending more time walking than actually running. Average marathon time this month has been well over 5 hours! My feet are intermittently sore. And my lungs are still not right, but hopefully the respiratory specialist might help with that in a couple of weeks...
I saw that self same Tardis yesterday.
ReplyDeleteFirst time I've done the Charnwood event, and wasn't it a lovely day ?
As a walker I enjoyed hours of glorious sunshine .... that I'm paying for now, but still loved it.
I am sure you have tried everything for your plantar, I had it, it went away and then it started coming back - along with a very sore Achilles . The guy who I get my sports massage told me to do this for my Achilles - which worked - but it also sent my plantar packing as well. I just finished the Votwo Oner without problems having started to suffer ony about 4 weeks beforehand.
ReplyDeleteThe Alfredson 180 calf raises
The specific eccentric training regime often recommended for Achilles pathologies is the Alfredson ‘180 repetition’ calf raise programme. The regime is named after the researcher Hakan Alfredson, who stumbled upon this treatment while he was trying to rupture his own degenerative Achilles tendon with repeated bouts of high volume exercising through pain. Instead of rupturing, his Achilles improved. He went on to pilot research studies that demonstrated the benefits of high volume eccentric exercise in tendon management
The athlete stands on the bottom step of a staircase, facing inwards, hands lightly supporting at either side. The forefoot of the affected leg is placed on the edge of the step. The athlete lowers their body down by dropping the heel of the affected leg over the edge, with control; then places the foot of the non-affected leg on the step to raise the body back up to the starting point. If this proves too difficult, or if both Achilles are affected, it is possible to raise back up on two legs (thereby sharing the concentric load) and coming down on a single leg (this is the “2 up, 1 down” concept).
Perform 3 x 15 eccentric heel drops with the knee straight and 3 x 15 repetitions with the knee bent, repeated twice daily.