All the rehab...

 ...and my inappropriate reference to Fifty Shades of Grey to my physio

My recovery from foot-gate continues, and, I think, it is finally feeling like it is properly on the mend. However I'm not even contemplating running, or thinking this is over by a long stretch, I'm just enjoying not being in constant pain when I'm sat at my desk all day, or relaxing on the couch at home.

I'm now using, as per the direction of the physio, an exercise resistance band - and a very dashing yellow colour it is too. It is the band that offers the least resistance, and suits my current foot strength, right down to the ground (way to ruin a guy's macho image).

When the physio originally presented the band to me, and then started wrapping it around my foot, I may have said something like 'this is all a bit Fifty Shades of Grey isn't it?!'... I don't think she was too enamoured with my comment, and after back tracking slightly by saying what an inappropriate thought for a Thursday morning (yes, it was a Thursday morning) and that I'd never read the books ('quite rightly too, and neither have I', was the reply) she went on to tell me that in her uni days, on a night out, one of her mates was tied up with an exercise band.

I didn't ask her to elaborate; I'd have been barred from physio forever, and knowing my made of glass body I'm pretty sure I'll be wanting to go back some day after all this is sorted.

So I'm merrily exercise band-ing away to strengthen the suspected ligament causing the issue... Below is a mid action shot of the 'swing' my foot must complete to really strengthen the aforementioned ligament.

Soon I plan to be able to pull a 4x4 car with the swing of my foot, and maybe run a bit too :)

Bye for now !

P.S Still can't do the splits...

P.P.S Does anyone else, when injured, get frustrated / annoyed at family / friends asking them are they running again yet? I've managed to resist retorting sarcastically 'if I was back running I think you'd know about it by now'

Untitled

Well, I'd originally planned that my 'come back' post would be about how I'm all on track with my running, how I was injury free, and how things were looking up.

Heck, I'd even thought about how I would start it off; 'hello you, how was the rest, you made it through, but never the less...' I'd then go on to say can anyone guess the artist or song (it's a song called 'Lights and Sounds' by Yellowcard), and how those opening words perfectly reflected the tone of the post...


Of course, things; lives, jobs, relationships, very rarely go to plan.

I've been wanting to blog for a while but with little running happening, it seemed pointless. Anyway, 'here' I am, and here is an update. Predictably I'm still suffering from the foot injury I've had for many months, though I feel like I'm almost better. Unfortunately, almost better in this instance is being pain free in my day to day life, rather than returning to running.

I'm currently seeing a physio through the NHS every couple of weeks, and tonight I returned to acupuncture in an aid to help things along (needles in foot picture below)

Having such an extended period off running has given me a lot of thinking time; have I missed running? What does it mean to me? Is there another sport or hobby I should take up instead?

I have other hobbies, I do other things; reading, seeing my mates, playing guitar, (when I'm not snapping the strings on it - see below !) to name but a small handful....

...None of these things though, are running.

I read a post from another blogger recently discussing how they had fallen out of love with running, and how they were aiming to get back in to it for 2014... I could never fall out of love with running - for me, the top and the bottom of it is that I love running, and I miss it so much. I don't know about you, but I define myself as a runner, it makes me who and what I am, and to not be able to do something that I define myself by, is horrible.

So, I will carry on doing what my physio says, hoping that acupuncture helps, and looking forward to the day when I can lace up my running shoes and go pound the streets, pain free!

I've not been keeping that up to date with the blogs I follow, simply because I can't bring myself to read how much others are loving their running, (envious, not jealous!) but I'm doing my best to start going through them and catching up on them.

Splitting in two...

... Not literally, but actually, yes, nearly literally.

I saw the picture below a while ago:

I thought "I'll have to do that at some point" but, as with anything, it's difficult to split the time so you can focus on doing it twice a day. (See what i did there? -Ok i'll get my coat!)

I've decided I'll try and do this. In two weeks I'll obviously be super flexible and have the ability to do the splits at the drop of a hat.

I've just done the first set. Guaranteed I'll be walking like I've got a bottle shoved... Yeah you get the picture don't you?!

Feel free to join in and let me know how you get on :)

P.S. Foot still not better, but getting there I think. Seeing GP on Tuesday; going to ask to be referred to a Physio.

Foot fetishes

Just to confirm I do not have a foot fetish -it appears however, that some people do...

Following my slightly moany (ok, very moany) post about my foot injury, everyone's favourite Lucy, IronLucy gave me some advice; "Youtube ballet foot strengthening and exercises" ... "Ballerinas have rock-hard kick-ass feet, toes of steel, man."

So YouTube I did...

If the agonising looking shapes these ballerinas contorted their feet into didn't sit well with me and made me a little queasy, some of the comments along side these videos made me throw up a bit in my mouth...

..People have foot fetishes and aren't afraid to shout about it! Below are a select few comments alongside the videos. (I've obviously taken out the user names, and I've not put in some of the more explicit ones)

Proof is in the 'pudding' (ice cream, pudding, no?)

As well as these exercises I've seen on YouTube, I've also set a reminder on my calendar in work every hour to tell me to go and stretch...



I can spell 'Stretch', I promise!

So every day this week whilst in work, every hour, I've taken 2-3 mins away from my desk to walk up and down 3 flights of stairs, and to stretch out my lower extremities. It feels like it's helping - I just hope that it is...

Do any of you have any weird fetishes unusual likes/guilty pleasures? -Actually, don't tell me, I'm not sure I want to know :p

When your nerves physically stop you...

I went to see a physio today about my foot injury... Whilst talking through the injury and how it has developed, it made me realise I've had the problem for over 10 weeks.

10 weeks man!

That's a long time...

Turns out it's a nerve issue; something* is causing / putting pressure on the nerve in the top of my foot, giving me the numb style pain I'm getting.

At a bit of a loss as to what to do, she ultra sound-ed the foot, then went even more high tech and used interferential therapy - it's basically a small scale slendertone system (you know, the electrical pulse belt that gives you rock hard abs?!) and can be applied to any area of the body (careful !).

Then ensued the thumbs, which didn't hurt too much compared to my previous dealings with elbows and IT bands...

So, I'm not to run whilst I still have this issue, and I'm to do foot stretching and strengthening exercises.

I'm pretty gutted - I was feeling positive going to the physio thinking lets get an action plan for getting back to running, but right now, I don't ever see a time when I'll be able to run pain free, or not be in pain because I've run.

So for now, running will need to take a back seat, maybe I'll just get a load of cats and be a crazy cat guy.

"Down, Down, but definitely not out" - You Me At Six

Disclaimer: There is nothing wrong with cats, or people who have them.

*but the physio doesn't know what, how it would be best treated, or had treated a condition like this before, yaaayyy!

What makes a good blog?

I feel like all I've done for the last month is write race reports, and lets face it, there's only so many ways you can say 'I ran this bit quickly', 'this bit slowly', and 'I finished the race in this time'.

-My posts feel a little monotonous of late, but then, it's a running blog, so race reports are bound to feature heavily, right?

Anyway, this got me thinking; what makes a good blog? Well, I probably like blogs which are similar to mine - or what I try to deliver with mine:

Those that don't always take themselves too seriously, focus on running but throw in other subjects, as well as having a bit of witty humour to boot (ok, so maybe mine doesn't have all that much of the latter category !)

I sometimes think I post too much, but then, I really like IronLucy's blog by Lucy Nickells, and she blogs everyday... (Of course Lucy does wear superhero underwear, something my under garment collection sadly lacks)

Blogging about running and chucking other bits of life in mixes things up nicely, and Goldilocks Running's blog by Sarah Marsden does this excellently; check out her thigh gap post here. (Somehow I don't think I'd have thought to write about this subject)

Finally, getting quite technical about their running as well as humour-filled is something the Dreaming of Footpaths blog by Sarah Fry has got down to a T, shes also a little bit famous due to her escapades as part of Asics Target 26.2 (not jealous, honest)

So, with those 3 blogs in mind what makes a good/interesting blog for you, and whose do you enjoy?

Race Review: Active Knowsley 5k

The Active Knowsley 5k takes place in the grounds of Knowsley Hall – a magnificent state home with plenty of surrounding land to boot. A great tranquil setting for a 5k race!

Knowsley Hall: Not too shabby huh?!

Having run this last year and knowing the course I was really looking forward to it. It’s a fairly up and down course at times but enjoyable none the less.

After Sunday Morning’s Mersey Tunnel 10k I really wanted to try for sub 20 minutes to test out my fitness.

7.15pm sharp the race started and off I popped – the only competitor wearing my club’s racing colours, despite there being 3 club mates there. I was however, joined by plenty of Knowsley Harriers in contrasting red and white horizontal striped vests; I can only presume this was a club championship race for them.

I completed the first km in a speedy 3:51 through winding landscape, but on a tarmac-ed path which was best of both worlds! I slowed down for the next couple of kilometres to bring my 3km split to 12:04, so still on track.

Rain had started to pour down, that fine stuff that gets you really wet y’know? (Not the purple stuff – thanks Peter Kay) This was nice and cooling, but there was to follow a 20m elevation climb in kilometre four. Not a particularly daunting prospect but given my lack of speed and hill work something I struggled with.

Due to this I had to pretty much kiss goodbye to my sub-20 hopes as I clocked the penultimate kilometre at 4:18 (dang).

I was a bit annoyed with myself at this point for going out ‘too quickly’ as I was feeling the pace… Then came along a runner who decided to over-take me, so I thought I’d use him as a pacer – he was going pretty fast and was a fairly tall bloke, so I got in right behind him and tried to get into his slipstream (don’t I sound technical… I probably wasn’t in his slipstream or anything but I’ll take anything that makes me think I can run faster).

With 300 yards to go I was setting a pace to complete what would be a quick kilometre time; was I on for my sub 20 after all? Pacer guy and I (kind of rhymes) stepped it up a notch before turning a corner to the final straight and for the last 200 yards I absolutely killed myself in the sprint finish – my watch was counting to 20 minutes; 5 seconds to go 4 seconds to go…

I crossed the finish line…

I looked down at my watch….

20:05… DAMN!!!!

5 seconds quicker and I would’ve been sub 20 again!

Final Race stats

Time: 20:05 (The last kilometre, though a fast 3:43 wasn’t enough to offset kilometre four’s so arsed-ness)

Garmin here

A great race, nice and relaxed atmosphere with a small number of runners making quite an intimate, but competitive race.

Race bling:
 

Final notes

I’m not disappointed with my time. It would have been really nice to get sub 20, but my fitness is where it’s at, and I need to get back running like I was this time last year to get anywhere near my PB’s.

I’ll be taking a rest now and give the foot/lower shin problem I’ve had for the last month a chance to recover – it, and I, needs it!