The Dirty Dozen

That’s my last 12 days. Very little exercise and horrendous over consumption.

On the afternoon of the 20th August I was able to look back on a pretty solid couple of weeks in terms of weight loss and exercise, and my mirror image and feeling of energy confirmed the good news the scales were telling me. So where did it go wrong?

I suppose it started that evening with a trip to an Indian buffet and an unsurprisingly large and difficult to calorie count meal but the problem really set in on the Saturday morning following a short run with Beth. I’d felt a slight twinge in my back the previous day while doing a side plank exercise. The pain was to the right of my spine, very low down where back blends to buttock and an hour or two after the run it was considerably worse with bending or twisting very difficult.

I have no idea how I did it but the cramp like pain was unpleasant and pretty soon the whole area tightened up so that any sort of movement was as painful as it was difficult. That ruled out the planned trip to the gym on Saturday afternoon as well as Sunday’s run, so I found solace, as ever, in eating.

By Monday it had eased a fair bit – still there but far from debilitating - so I ventured another short run with Bethan and if anything it helped loosen things up. That should have been the end of that but maybe because the core exercises had ceased as soon as the back went my groin now started to give a few twinges of pain and tightness. I continued to seek comfort in food.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were similar. I didn’t feel I should try anything at the gym or do core exercises until the back was completely pain free and didn’t feel I could run until I could do the core exercises to ease the groin...so all I managed was another short jog with Beth.

I was frustrated and continued to eat with a vengeance but added excessive amounts of chocolate to the daily shopping list.

I think Saturday was then the worst day when I managed a large Dairy Milk, a large Milky Bar, a small Milky Bar and a bag of jelly beans AFTER a Chinese takeaway. Some going huh?

Saturday had been especially difficult as we had been due to go camping for the weekend but by Friday evening my back seized up again and there was no way I could pack the car let alone put a tent up. Saturday morning felt similar but after a hot shower, then a hot bath and 400mg of Ibuprofen I was able to keep my back moving and it seemed to respond well to that and eased off hugely.

Trouble was I’d had the expectancy of meals out on Saturday, Sunday and Monday which not only made it feel difficult to think anything other than ‘Oh sod it’ during the week but also meant we felt we needed to go out at the weekend in the absence of camping- particularly as it was Sue’s birthday weekend. Result being that Sunday meant a trip to a pub for a huge gammon and chips followed by sticky toffee pud and Charlotte’s leftover chocolate fudge cake (with a box of Milk Tray – of all things – consumed when I got in...), and then Sunday was another trip to the Indian buffet for an enormous meal.

At least on Sunday I did manage to fit in a fairly gentle 4/5 miles walk on the moors and showed marginally more restraint before and after the evening meal than I had in the previous days.

Seven

It seems that both Kat and Alison have 'nominated' me in some sort of blogging award thing (whose name escapes me) so thanks to both.

As part of the acceptance process I'm due to recommend 15 other blogs and give seven facts about me.

It looks like all the blogs I subscribe to have been nominated already so I'll skip that but please do look at the blogs I follow they're all well worth a read.

Now for the seven facts:

1. I first flew on an aeroplane in February 1980 but only flew once more until the autumn of 2003.
2. I've been on TV several times, mainly on sports programmes as a face in the crowd but I have been referred to on Match of the Day (as an example of a 'poor' fan), interviewed for the BBC's Superleague show and had my shirt commented on during a Sky rugby league broadcast.
3. Sticking with the media theme I once did the commentary on a Leeds Rhinos match against Warrington for the official club DVD.
4. (Apologies to vegetarians...) I grew up in a mining town in the 1970s and as a treat me and my brothers would be given pieces of raw bacon rind to chew the fat from - one of the many reasons my partner thinks I was brought up in the 1930s.
5. When I was six, and learning to swim, I got into difficulties out of my depth and was petrified of water until I finally learned to swim 8 years ago. I'm now happy to swim on or under open water.
6. Despite being a mere 40 years old both of my grandfathers fought in world war one - one being one of the first volunteers in August 1914.
7. Although I've never taught I'm qualified as a teacher.

Testing times

I didn't plan to take risks with yesterday's run. It just happened that way.

The two 'proper' runs I've done in the last 3 weeks (as opposed to the jogs with Bethan) both proved to be really tough but a rest day on Monday, cutting back on the cardio intensity at the gym and a few days off from running seemed to have left my legs feeling fresher and the sustained core stability work seems to be pushing the groin pain away.

So when I set off with the notion of doing a normal or easy run of six to seven miles yesterday I felt pretty good but didn't intend to push myself: it would be a test in itself - especially for the groin.

As I headed out along the canal side I felt pretty good and when I glanced at my watch after a couple of minutes I was surprised that I was running just below eight minute mile pace. Somehow my gait felt easy and the effort less than that pace would imply (the opposite of the last two runs) so I decided to carry on like this for as long as it felt good.

By halfway I had slight soreness in the right calf but that wore off soon after and I was able to keep the core muscles engaged pretty much throughout. In the last mile or two it felt harder work and I was having to give occasional reminders to myself about maintaining cadence but the run had become the sort of test I really wanted but hadn't dared to set out for - something close to a tempo run.

Mile splits were fairly even at:

7:51
7:55
7:41
7:39
7:40
7:41
7:24

Slight uphill at the start, up a 2 rise set of locks on the way out (the ones above - the very same), down them on the way back and downhill for last 20 metres or so. Beyond that pretty much flat if occasionally uneven.

Minor stiffness in the calves yesterday evening and this morning but nothing major - I just need to get a massage at some point to loosen them up properly - and most importantly at all no groin pain.

This leaves me thinking I could run a PB at Birchwood on Sunday but having made the decision not to race I'm actually reassured that I've had a moderately tough run this week and done OK. I'll still limit the long run on Sunday to 8-10 miles as distance wise I've no longer races for nearly 8 weeks and can afford that additional caution. Then next week it'll be more back to normal in terms of running.

Most importantly of all I'll keep up with the core stability exercises!

Oi! Weights! Who's the daddy?

See what I did there? I uploaded an image of Ray Winstone to link in with the thread title (i.e. the film 'Scum'). Not bad for an old technophobe like me. Obviously the effect is now spoiled by my lack of nonchalance but, you know, small steps.

Back to weights. Yesterday I planned to do lower body weights - effectively the other half of the full programme that I'd postponed the day before - but felt good while there and ended up doing the whole programme even upping the weights on several exercises. Net result? No DOMS. Maybe there's an argument that on a couple of exercises I could push more but on some - chest press, Pallof press, face press and bicep curl for example - it was a struggle to eek out the last rep.

I'm pretty pleased with that and whilst the calves are maybe still a little knotted they certainly seem better, perhaps aided by the cardio work at the gym being done at a very steady level rather than pushing hard for any 'challenges'.

I'll do an exploratory 6/7 miles along the canal later today to give them a test.

My other reason for feeling a little smug is that I've stuck well to the core stability exercises. Result there is that the core feels more stable and strong already, as if the muscles have been energised (or maybe just re-awakened?). No groin pain and generally no 'odd' feeling at all.

Definitely not racing on Sunday though. Discretion is the better part of valour. Isn't it?

Too quick to point the finger?

After the first of the new weights sessions last week I was undeniably sore for 48 hrs, so, when I did the session for the second time and had soreness in the legs the following day I assumed the cause was the same.

I'm not so sure now.

First time round it was the hammies and lats that complained the most but after Saturday's second time it was the quads and calves with nowhere else giving more than a very slight feeling of fatigue. Maybe that should have raised a question, but after running Sunday and resting Monday I went to the gym yesterday and only did upper body weights along with 10 minutes each of very gentle exercise on the rower and cross trainer. When I got back I took Bethan for a run. Ouch.

Whilst the quads were fine the calves still complained - especially up hills - and just before going to bed I massaged myself with the massage stick http://www.the-stick.co.uk/ they felt sore and knotted.

I suspect that's not down to the weights as down to a combination of weights and, principally, the cross trainer machine.

When I use the latter I'm not good at just doing it, I have to feel that I'm pushing myself and tend to set targets for calories burned within the time. On Saturday after the weights I did the toughest 30 minute session on there to date with the resistance and RPM both high. I did it straight after weights so in order to keep up I noticed that I'd gone up onto my toes alot, presumably to bring the calves into play to support tired muscles elsewhere.

I now wonder if that is what has done for my calves?

Either way I'll keep up the massaging and stretching and see where we get to.

Monday's rest day was a challenge. Not having exercise calories to burn and feeling a little stressed with work had be reaching - or the second night running - for the toast and agave nectar. Eugh.

Better yesterday though. Stuck nicely to target thanks to a combination of gym, short run and banning bread!

Today will most certainly be similar.

I wonder if I'm the only one who has to ban certain foods?

Why only race for PBs?

Two posts down from this Alison asked why I only wanted to race if I felt a PB was on the cards and its easier to explain here than in a comment back, so here goes...

For me there's two types of races: ones that you enter simply because you like the sound of the event, and one's you enter because they have a course that could offer a PB. In either event they have to provide a challenge.

So this year events like Hellrunner and Turbo X are very tough challenges but ones where the time relative to other events is irrelevant. Then there's Birchwood 10k and Wistow 10m with flat PB friendly courses.

Looking long term by the end of November I want to have 10k and 10m PBs from which I can gauge a projected marathon finishing time for April as well as the associated training paces.

Birchwood will/would be an opportunity to set an early PB which in turn provides feedback for target paces for next races hopefully leading to a genuine 'as good as it gets' PB by the end of November.

So...its all about progressive feedback and if I can't run close to a PB there's no point in driving over to Cheshire - I may as well just do a run from home.

That's a very INTP explanation by the way: logical but way longer than was necessary!

On the horns of a dilemma...

...which is an uncomfortable position to be in. It'd play havoc with my hemorrhoids (if I had any...).

Yesterday's weights session was nice and tough but hasn't left the same degree of DOMS which is pleasing so I assume there's been a hint of adaptation by the affected muscle groups. I warmed up with 10 minutes on the rower and finished up with a hugely tough 30 minutes on the cross trainer - high RPM and resistance.

That left me pretty tired today and I felt it in the run. Also, my quads and calves felt sore during and after. I suspect that was down to the extra 10kg I added on to the leg press. Its also the 6th day on the bounce of exercising so there's unsurprisingly some general fatigue ahead of tomorrow's planned rest day.

The run felt hard work. Not as bad as Thursday's by any means but progressively tough, though I was pleased that I was able to test myself with the up hills and came out OK.

Mile splits were:

8:19 (downhill)
8:12 (downhill)
8:21 (half uphill then half downhill)
8:16 (downhill, uphill, downhill)
8:24 (uphill)
8:41 (uphill)
8:34 (uphill)
8:09 (uphill)

Groin feels OK after. Certainly no worse. Didn't feel like I could have ran 80 seconds a mile faster though (even on a flat course) ahead of the scheduled 10k race in Cheshire next week and therein lies the dilemma: do I race or not?

It feels a bit like I have a little devil and angel sat on a shoulder each giving conflicting advice.:

You're just beginning to get over the recurrence of a chronic injury. You're obviously not in great shape. Birchwood was only ever about setting a new PB so why risk hurting yourself further chasing a very unlikely PB? Skip the race and target the PB for Horsforth in 6 weeks...

Stop being defeatist. The injury is being controlled, even the physio said you'd be OK to race. Run at the pace you did at Castle Douglas and there's a dead set PB on the cards. Today was hilly and you're just tired that's all. Lay off the heavy weights for a few days ahead of the race and you'll be reet...

What should I do? I'm not even sure which one is the devil and which the angel...