Pushing my boundaries and making my physio rich...

Thanks a million for all the messages..

@Micilin Muc - I got the run walk thing from the excellent Marathon talk podcast, and they got it from some American guy who has written a lot of books about it. It really does make sense if you are not an "excellent" runner IMHO - the longer your going to be on the course, having a few walking breaks does not make you less of a person, it gives your body a chance to catch up and relax for a few seconds

@Emmanu - Yea I have always been very goal orientated. I need something to look forward to, and in this sense train for. So Connemara is my first goal this year, and the Dublin Marathon is the main goal for the year - and its all about those two, with random races scattered in between. It was also the same on my path to loose weight, I had realistic short and long term weight loss goals, and allowed myself a treat when I hit them [and importantly, did not beat myself up if I missed them, just made more of an effort to hit them next time].

I entered the Clontarf Half [also called MultiMarathon?] in early July last night. I have 5 weddings and related weekends away in June, July and August - so going to start DCM training a bit early, to have a base there, so missing the odd long run on those weekends wont be an issue and I'm just using that specific race as an excuse to have to be in good shape at that point, and will treat that race as a regular training run somewhere in Dublin I have not run before

My left knee was still sore yesterday morning, sore if I really pressed into it on the side of knee. A tiny bit sore going up or down stairs. Classic definition of IT Band issues.

My physio is away on vacation. So I did the sensible thing and just rested it [iced it in evenings]. I rested up most of day at work [on top of computer tower under my desk] - also rested and iced last night and went early to bed - to further rest it.

I am not exaggerating when I say Im sh1tting myself - that I have done serious damage. Serious enough to mess up my plans for next few weeks anyway.

Its not so bad today, so I had planned to go to the gym to do upper body stuff anyway. As I was there I did 15 minutes on treadmill [after huge stretching warmup] and it was perfect at slow pace, for [literally] last 2 or 3 of minutes I upped speed to see, and I could feel it a *small* bit again. As soon as I stopped, it was perfect.

Im babysitting tonight, so its resting again. Im also going to IKEA Saturday, so would not be long running until Sunday anyway. At that, the long run would be shorter and much slower than normal, due to conn being so close, so maybe 12-15k at 10 to 11 min mile pace?

I will make a call on doing a long run or not at the weekend when at the weekend?

Ahhhh thats better..

Was thinking I should be sensible and not run tonight, giving myself an extra day of rest. But could not help myself, and went out with intention of doing a few miles, to see how the knee was...

So did just over 4 miles in 40 minutes, and felt top class - really had to hold myself back from going faster and indeed staying out and running longer.

No problems at all right now, which is great. So Im now in an exceptional mood...

IKEA tomorrow morning, fun fun fun

9.5 Miles in around 90 minutes...

Another crazy busy Saturday, up early again and I did a couple of hours walking around IKEA, which is harder than any long run, let me tell you!!!

So with other stuff going on, I literally only had 90 minutes to run - so that fit right in with the tapering concept, it being two weeks from Connemara [EEEK!]. So I was doing just faster than 10 minute miles, and did 9.5 miles odd.

One or two tiny aches and pains in the legs, nothing serious. Im sure everyone at the tail end of a long training program is having the same issues, which is why you taper off and recharge batteries before a serious/goal run.

Knee not in great shape still can feel the pain in it if Im honest - Im doing R.I.C.E. [clearly not always possible to do all parts of it!] and also various ITB stretches and exercises twice a day...

But realistically participation in Conn must have a question mark over it? I dont want to make sh1te of my ITB/Knees and be out for 3 or 4 months.

Alas the earliest I will get to see my physio is Monday morning.

What is odd is that it was terrible last week, and I was able to run a couple of days later, and did 10 miles at the weekend with no bother? Then it breaks down again on Tuesday? I dont get that?

Went for a Swim, with some relaxation time in sauna and steam room afterwards.

I did literally a few minutes of water running, as I have not done it before and just wanted to see. Besides feeling like a plonker, I can see how it would be a good idea. I may give it a lash for a longer time tomorrow?

A tiny pain in side of both knes - which normally I would be basically ignoring as your usual post hard exercise pains, but Im hyper sensitive to it now with the place Im at...

Thanks a million for the kind words Maria

Im off soon to make mothers day dinner for the first time, so all 6's and 7's here at my place [chunky Indian style veg soup to start, roast beef and all trimmings for main]. I had never cooked more than pasta in my life before I started loosing weight last year, now as part of the weight loss process I realised I had to learn to cook if I was to eat healthy at home! Thus far I have only cooked for myself or at most one or two other people. So now I have to cook for 5 other members of my family, starter and main course. EEEEK! The nerves for this puts any pre-race nerves in the shade

But that being said, I may go for a short tester run in the fields near where I grew up as I am up there, as I have never run up there before. It should be a good sign if I am indeed messed up or if there is night at end of tunnel, before going to see physio in the morning? I have not run a step since Tuesday, so doing 3 miles or so will give me a good sign where Im at.

@Ray - Absolfrigginlutely! I just wanted to put it under a small bit of stress, even for 80 meters odd, to have some context. I guess from the course profile for next week, there wont be many flat out sprints

@G-Money - Its funny who a gigantic amount of people I know running big April races are suddenly injured! I read somewhere that a gigantic percentage of people who train for a marathon get injured in last 6 weeks...