Injury

Another wet week here in the UK, which wasn’t made any easier by my legs aching like hell. When I first started my new running regime, I was running about two and a half miles 5 times a week (Mon-Fri) but as I am now running for longer distances, I have learned my lesson the hard way that I need to think about running for only 3 days a week and make sure my body gets time to recover.

Although notching up over 20 miles this week, my legs have been feeling the strain, this made a few of the runs very hard and sluggish, which required me to dig deep to finish. There was also an incident that had me enjoying a lunch which involved enough spaghetti and meatballs to slow down an elephant which is probably explains my slowest ever run.

I developed a nasty pain between my calf and ankle that left me walking like John Wayne, so I persuaded Kerry to bring out the healing Mr. Miyagi hands one more time and although I squealed like a Ned Beatty in Deliverance, to my amazement it made a massive difference so think I might have to marry that girl.

To avoid getting bored, I often just pick a direction and start running and on two occasions this week I got lost again, but its all part of the adventure and appeal of running. The first incident involved a 5 mile run along the canal only for it two fork off into two separate directions, I took a punt and panicked after about 20 minutes when I found myself in the middle of nowhere, but luckily a quick look on Google maps informed me that I was heading in the right way after all.

On Friday, I was heading down my usual route and saw a gap in a fence so decided to explore but I ended up on a dual carriageway, luckily curiosity didn’t kill the cat on this occasion but drivers must have thought who is this nutter running through the pouring rain in a t-shirt trying to cross a very busy road.

On a brighter note, maybe all this madness is worthwhile because for the first time in five years, I am saying goodbye to a 36 inch waist and a welcome return to my old friend the 34 inch waist which may have something to do with me running down the mysterious Slim Avenue every night. All this makes my aching legs worth while, but there is still much work to do to remove this beer belly, before I can join the hipsters in skinny jeans and no socks.

Wolverhampton is this way…

Another lesson learned this week was the power of music and especially the fact that tunes you would never usually listen to given the choice, will suddenly inspire you to keep running for one more song. This can especially be said of songs by people such as Pitbull and FloRida which would never normally frequent my play list but suddenly make me want to run a little faster.

However nothing beats the power of a movie montage and there was a moment when I was going to stop and walk for a minute when Rocky Balboa said “But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” followed by Gonna Fly Now and for a brief moment I had my own montage. The funny thing is later on my play list, “You’re The Best” from the Karate Kid made an appearance too which made me feel invincible. Unfortunately though, “Montage” from the Team America soundtrack failed to appear.

Throw a little Bombay Bicycle Club, Black Keys, Maccabees and Arcade Fire and my mind is tricked into thinking I could run forever. The fact my body shuts down and I can be seen walking like an 80 year old man a few hours later though is another story.

Good tunes, a little urban exploration whilst taking some photos along the way is ensuring that this running malarkey is actually really enjoyable.

As my time with the Couch Potato to 5k “Get Running” app has now come to an end, I found myself at a bit of a loss as to how I can build up to my next goal of running for 10k. Do I need another app? Should I look for a guide on the internet were the first thoughts to cross my mind but I got a gentle nudge in the right direction from fate, which made me realise sometimes you really don’t need a guide.

On the Bank Holiday Monday, I went out for a run on a different route and ended up getting a little lost. Suddenly I found myself in an industrial estate with nothing but a dual-carriageway for company but rather than panic, it was time to put into action, lessons learned by Bear Grylls and Andy McNab by looking for the canal and then followed it home, in what turned out to be an adventure rather than a run.

When I finally made it home my Run Keeper app, told me I had actually run for 6.2 miles or should I say 10K! No guides, no tips, I simply ended up running 10k by accident and it was much easier than I expected in a respectable 1 hour 6 minutes. Dare I say it actually felt pretty good too, especially considering 10 weeks ago running for a minute had me panting like an over excited dog so maybe I can call myself a runner now after all.

My small victory was short lived because when I awoke on Tuesday there was a sharp pain between my ankle and calf on my left leg when I walked, which left me thinking maybe I had overdone things and ended up pulling something. The pain continued for the rest of the week and with a combination of wet weather, working late, wedding plans, a trip to the pub along with many other excuses that my body was happy to accept and use as a reason to grab a few days rest.

So after Mondays 10K run, I now found myself doing nothing for the next four days and although a rest was needed, I was beating myself up over not doing enough but Saturday morning it was time to “pay it back” so off I went on a gentle run and promised myself that I would take it easy.

After a 4 day rest, I found that everything felt so much easier and even the twinge in my left leg went away allowing me to thoroughly enjoy the run with some good tunes and a top up of Vitamin D, thanks to the return of the sunshine. In fact, I enjoyed myself so much that I ended up running another 10k in 1 hour and 2 minutes making me very happy.

Since my first run on March 12^th, I have now notched up 108 miles in total distance whilst burning 17,309 calories along the way which proves that replacing a few bad habits with some good ones, makes anything possible.

Just like in Mork & Mindy, what lessons have I learned this week?

There have been a few occasions where I have been desperate to stop and a have a slow walk for a quick rest during a run, but if I see someone walking towards me, I make sure that I run past and don’t stop until they are in the distance. Your mind is the most powerful weapon of all, and if you convince yourself you can so something, you really will carry it through and accomplish what you aim for, no matter how tired you are.

My final lesson is to always listen to your body, if it is telling you to have a few rest days, then make sure you listen because a lengthy injury could stop you running for weeks or even months. With a little patience you will be back on the road in no time and you will feel fitter, faster, stronger and smarter.