Being scared… And looking like Edward Cullen*

*but not looking like Edward Cullen because of being tall / handsome / mysterious / pale… Well, maybe pale…

My running has been going pretty well lately, I wouldn’t say my legs are completely back to normal; I’m still susceptible to a tight IT band in my right leg. For anyone who has ever had IT band problems, then you’ll know how mind numbingly infuriating the pain that goes along with it is…

This has meant that whilst I’m increasing the number of times I’m running each week, I’ve been stuck on 4 miles… I’d set myself a target that by the end of January I would be running 10km again. I’m in danger of making the completion of this distance more of a mental thing than a physical thing. However, having struggled for so long to return to running pain free I’m bound to be a bit scared of breaking down again.

Anyway, it’s been pretty cold these last few weeks when I’ve been heading out, so, earlier in the week I dug out my running tights from the bottom of my draws and ‘suited’ up… Problem is, anything tight around my right knee causes IT band unhappiness, bummer dude!

However, I had a cunning plan; Vaseline! If it can protect my lips in these cold temperatures then it should help protect my legs from the chilly winds.

So on I smothered it, feeling very pleased with myself (not because it felt good to rub on, but because I was just a few wax on, wax off motions away from potentially being freeze proof).

Feeling satisfied that I could just as easily slide along the pavements as run, out the door I headed… I have a look down at my legs mid-flow and as the lamp posts emanate their luminous yellow-ness I’m glowing like a vampire from a teen movie! Granted, this could be a combination of the sweat and Vaseline, which we won’t dwell on for too long, but glow I did.

The good news is that Vaseline can officially be used to stop your thighs being turned into a white wind chilled set of ice blocks, and with that success under my belt, fingers crossed I’ll soon be glowing from having completed a 10km run before the month is out.

The NHS and what us runners cost

I work, for the NHS, I've never hidden away from that and I'm proud to say I'm employed by what I think is a fantastic establishment. I'm not clinical, so I wouldn't be able to tell you symptoms, tests, or treatments to diagnose any weird or unheard of diseases (except for feed a cold, starve a fever maybe !). However, being a finance and performance employee I can tell you things that not many people know, as well as knowing things which everyone should know, but probably don't...

You'll all be aware of the A & E 4 hour wait time, and that hospitals must deliver this for 95% of their patients? That's a pretty standard one which is currently getting a lot of media coverage. Read headlines such as patients rocking up at A&E who don’t need to be there/should be going to their GP or Walk in Centre instead…

How about the 18 weeks referral to treatment rule? This one doesn't get the coverage I think it deserves... Every patient across the country has a statutory right under NHS guidelines to receive the start of their treatment within 18 weeks of their initial referral to be treated.

But what does that even mean?! Well, it means that if you go to your GP and they send you on to hospital, you must receive the treatment to whatever your ailment is within 18 weeks. Note the word TREATMENT here, tests & diagnostics do not constitute treatment.

So, if you end up being referred to hospital and require an operation, if your operation is not within 18 weeks from your initial referral to hospital, then the hospital has an obligation to move your operation date forward at their expense (this includes having your operation at another hospital if needs be in order to meet the 18 weeks target).

I find this extremely interesting and probably take waaaaay too much pride out of telling everyone I know about it. I get the same reaction every time though, glossed over eyes because they’re so busy concentrating on listening to what I've got to say J

The way the cost of your stay at hospital is calculated is equally as interesting; it’s unsurprisingly, based on your diagnoses and any procedures you have, as well as whether you attended A & E, you were admitted (be that in an emergency, or if it was planned), or if you 'simply' turned up for an appointment for a diagnostic test / examination from a doctor or consultant.

The combination of this ‘care setting’ you are treated under, and what your diagnoses / procedures are get mashed together into a magical algorithm to determine what your hospital stay costs.

So, what do runners cost? I’m just providing some generic, run of the mill costs which will likely be the pathway a runner would follow.

David goes to his GP with a hurty knee and is referred to hospital, where he is seen by a consultant. This will cost £119. If the consultant decides that David needs a scan, (likely a MRI scan), this will cost between £138 and £188 dependent on the number of areas scanned.

Following a scan, David goes to get his results, this will cost £70, as will every subsequent attendance with the consultant whether a scan has occurred or not.

If David is then sent for physiotherapy, this is where it gets a bit complicated; it doesn't cost the same at every hospital. Hospitals are generally paid a ‘block contract’ for physiotherapy, that is, they will employ a certain number of physiotherapists and be expected to treat all patients sent to them. These physiotherapists will often be expected to complete a patient's course of treatment within 4 – 6 visits. This will cost in the range of £25 - £65, but is different at each hospital, and should be used as a guideline only.

If, as I’m often reminded, that running ‘ruins your knees’ and a knee replacement is required, you’re looking at £9,000.

 

Now you have an idea of what runners cost, it realistically, is not huge sums of money, and will be little in comparison to other ‘self induced’ medical conditions…

One final note, none of the information I've posted, particularly around the costs above are a secret or confidential; they are free to view by anyone and everyone. Yu could just Google (other search engines available) PbR (Payment by Results) National Tariff and find the information.

Running in to the new year - Part 2

Happy New Year! We've finally entered 2015 and with it will mark my 30th year on this planet... Every time I think of turning 30 I'm always reminded of this:

Source Joey: Why God?!! Why?!! We had a deal!! Let the others grow old! Not me!!

Mr Joey Tribbiani had it right!!

Anyway, moving away from the inevitable day of when I get old... I did manage to 'run' in to 2015. I set out 11:55pm 31 December 2014 and finished 12:09am 2 January 2015. It wasn't fast, it wasn't long, and it was over quickly (*insert your innuendo-laden joke here*):

 

I'm really glad I laced up and saw out the New Year this way, as it can come off my bucket list, but it wasn't quite what I thought it would be, or built it up to be - I would definitely recommend the getting drunk with family and loved ones. Unless of course your family and loved ones joined you on the run!

So, on to 2015, I don't really make resolutions, but I find that the start of a new year helps to focus my mind and think about what direction I want my life to go in. For me, it's simple, have an injury free year and get back to the level of running I was at a couple of years ago...

...And if possible, not turn 30.

All the best for 2015!

Running in to the new year

For the last couple of years I've really wanted to run in to the new year; that is start a run on 31st December,  and finish it 1st January.

It just sounds so... cool...

Unfortunately, due to some form of injury or another I've never quite managed it, and the romantic notion of it has never slipped my mind or left me (or how back to the future-esque it MUST feel)

Another thing I've been keen on is to run on Christmas day - get up, watch my family open their presents, and then go bounding out the door; rosy red cheeks glowing and white mist drifting upwards with every exhale, and a huge smile planted on my face...

Well, I managed the Christmas day run, and finally, finally, it looks like I'm going to run in to the new year - if I can stay awake!

It probably sounds like such a little thing, but in a year when I've not been able to don my running club's vest to race even once, I've learned to appreciate the little things.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone, I hope you all got exactly what you wished for :)

Put downs to pick you up and other self centred sentiments

I go to the gym, I go and I lift weights, I do it partly as a form of cross training to my running, and partly to try and put a bit of muscle on my waif like body... My gym has instructors who hold the full complement of Les Mills classes, I've done them, and have enjoyed them. They're a great way to workout without the need to think about what you're going to do in your latest workout.

However, a new Les Mills promotional poster has appeared in the gym; it reads: "Alone we're weak, together we're strong"

Photo credit: All the Les Mills

I'm sure this phrase has gone through all the usual marketing channels and was voted as the newest-and-bestest phrase to make you want to participate in a Les Mills class. However, I think it smacks of self righteousness and today's more and more apparent view of needing to put one group/person/thing down in order to make yourself feel superior....

It's like the phrases "real women have curves" and "real men grow beards" - as if being anything different makes you less than everyone else. It (to use a possibly scouse phrase) does my head in; why feel that in order to make yourself feel better you have to put others down? I'm pretty sure Arnold (checks google for correct spelling) Schwarzenegger didn't regularly complete group classes on his way to becoming Mr. Universe at the age of 20, and then Mr. Olympia 7 times, but I'm sure the folks at Les Mills wouldn't call him weak!

Similarly with the whole curves/skinny/beard/clean shaven 'thang, if you're happy with how & who you are, or take satisfaction in doing something which you believes makes you a better you, take your satisfaction from that, not from thinking you're better for doing something someone else hasn't,  because,  there will always, always, be someone who has done something more than what you have done or are doing...

That was the week that was...

Every Monday morning when I was in primary school my classmates and I had to write a short summary of what we did over the last week, it was dubbed that was the week that was (or TW3 as the teacher liked to scrawl on the blackboard). So, for nostalgia's sake I thought I'd give a round up of my last 7 days of  exercise - definitely my most demanding and varied on comeback from injury:

Monday - Suspension rope workout at gym followed by 20 min swim
Tuesday - General gym workout followed by 6km run
Wednesday - 30 min swim
Thursday - General gym workout followed by 4km run,  rock climbing in the evening
Friday - General gym workout followed by 30 min swim
Saturday - Suspension rope workout at gym followed by 6km run
Sunday - Light gym workout, plus 2 hours of gardening (I'm counting this as a workout as I filled my recycling wheelie bin!)

So, quite a packed week, and whilst not running heavy, I'm definitly happy with the miles I covered and the general toil I put my body through. I plan on upping the miles over the next 4-6 weeks as I've got an early 2015 target in mind that I'm aiming for.

End note, I feel I should clarify that when I mention 'when I was in primary school' this wasn't just like last week or anything, it was when my age was in the single figures and I should have been there...

Sometimes finishing last is ok...

I'm panting. 'This is is hard work, I want to stop, I want it to be over... Oh well, at least I'm not last...'

I look over my shoulder; 'oh god, I'm last... But... I wasn't earlier; there were at least 3 behind me before...'

They'd dropped out, quit; why? Because they couldn't carry on, or didn't like where they were in the field?

I wouldn't quit, no, I couldn't quit; my dad was in the crowd, how could I live with myself if I quit in front of him?

I was 15, running for the school in the cross country team - the 'weakest link'. It wasn't always like that, but it seemed in the last 6 months to a year the other boys had all had a growth spurt - I hadn't.

On I plodded, and approached the finish line, a cold, clear last in the pack. My dad decided to run next to me for the last 50 metres or so. 'A sprint finish isn't going to save me this humiliation, or running with my dad next to me' I thought.

I crossed the finish line, I didn't run for the school ever again after that experience... I didn't draw from it the lessons I perhaps should have.

That day will forever be etched in my memory - I should have used it as a confidence boost to will myself to keep with it because I didn't quit; I had the guts to see it through even though I knew I was the 'slowest' and 'worst' runner that day. Instead I walked away from running, and exercise in general until my university days in my twenties, which I'll forever regret.

My school actually finished second that year in the cross country; despite my last place finish, or because I managed to finish and provide a full compliment for team numbers? -I'll never know, but sometimes, finishing last doesn't always make you the worst, sometimes finishing last is ok...