2007 in Review

We've had a relatively quiet Christmas this year, with the only family around being my Dad and Michelle's Nana. The rest of our immediate family are wide spread with M's parents in San Francisco at present, my Sister in England (expecting their second child any day now) and my Mum and M's Sister in Nelson.

Still we had a cool Christmas, just at home with my Dad and M's Nana coming over for Christmas lunch. They boys had a great day and were very grateful for all the presents they received. Favourites for Sam were a Star Wars Light saber and a Cricket set while Jack's favourite was a new battery operated train set. They each also got a new scooter each which are getting a great amount of use.



I had Thursday and Friday off work and they have been mainly spent relaxing at home though he weather has been good enough to get us all down to the beach on both days for a quick cool off in the water.

As we come to the end of 2007 I thought we would have a look back at year by delving into some interesting numbers summing up the past year;

319 - Miles run
39 - Hours run
421000 - Number of steps run ( based on 180 per minute)
1500 - Ice cubes melted icing shins
40000 - Meters swam
4 - Months I had off running
85 - Litres of Powerade drunk
100 - Hours of stretching (excludes any pre or post run stretching)
80 - Number of posts to the blog
85 - Weight at start of the year (kg's)
89 - Weight at end of the year (I put the increase down to less running in the second half!)
23 - Finish time in my first ever 5 K race back in April.

The Shin Report

The shin actually feels like its taken a bit of a backward step this week. I'm starting to notice it more in my last two or three runs. I had a check up with the physio on Thursday and she has given me some more exercises to strengthen abs, quads and glutes. Calf exercises and stretching continues. We are suspected possible weaknesses in those areas might also be a factor. I've had to basically write a training plan mixing all the exercises up over two days otherwise I would be at it for up to an hour a night.

Training this week has been as follows;

Sunday - Run 65 minutes (a very slow 10K had the boys tagging along on bikes for the first half).
Monday - Swim 30 Minutes
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Run 30 Minutes
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Run 35 Minutes

That's all folks, hope you all have a great New Year.


Technorati Tags
Running

 Subscribe in a reader

Never to busy to Run

December is always a busy month isn't it with Christmas shopping to get done, Christmas parties and work functions to attend. It hardly leaves any time for training (or blogging). I think I may have just transitioned to a true running fanatic though as this week I have twice got up at 5 in the morning in order to get my training in.

I never thought I would be one that could rise so early just to go running. I have always loved my sleep too much for one and I also just felt the body would never be as 'loose' and warmed up first thing in the morning as it is later in the day. Now I've been converted and I admit to being a bit of a fan of my early morning runs. It can be a great way of starting the day and the temperatures are way cooler than the when running under the mid day sun also.

This week I had a session with a sports massage therapist at the Millennium Institute of Sport. It's the same place where I've been seeing a Physiotherapist about my shins. She had suggested a massage to try and loosen up my calfs some more and also a general all over leg massage. It was great to get some thoughts from another health professional about my 'weaknesses'. She picked up a weakness in one of my quad muscles (same leg as the bad shin) which is possible having some flow on effect on the shin and lower leg. I therefore now need to work on strengthening this area with some leg extension exercises. After massaging my calfs she also did not feel that I was suffering from any Compartment Syndrome, which is great news.

Here a wrap of my training for the last week;

- Wednesday - Run 35 minutes
- Thursday - Bikram Yoga
- Friday - Rest
- Saturday - Run 45 minutes
- Sunday - Rest, well played golf actually, shot 88 which is a continuation of my recent good form.
- Monday - Rest
- Tuesday - Run 35 Minutes
- Wednesday - Rest
- Thursday - Run 40 Minutes


I'm still taking some walking breaks, at the moment walking a minute after every 12 of running.

Since I've been back running I've stayed away from hills so as to not aggravate the shin splints. This week I felt it was time to take on a hill again (Bush Road hill in Albany for those that know it) and I'm please to say that I charged up it with no trouble at all. It was very encouraging. I was a bit worried that having done no hill work at all I would be a little bit under done to take on this relatively short (300 meters) but sharp hill.

The last couple of runs I've been really happy with my running technique also , its just felt smooth and natural. I think given the injuries I've had and with the reading I've been doing you can some times end up with just too much going on in your head, when all you really need to do is just go out there, relax and just run. This is how I've approached the last few runs and they've felt great.

I'm not totally out of the woods with my shin. It does flare up and feels quite tender at times but as lots of you will know there are always niggles and I just have to learn put up with this. It's not disrupting my running yet , so with careful management of it lets hope it stays that way.

Have a happy and safe Christmas everyone.



Technorati Tags
Running

 Subscribe in a reader

Am I Ready to Race?

Another week has passed and here's this weeks numbers;

Monday - Run 25 minutes
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Run 30 minutes
Thursday - Swim 1000 m (30 minutes)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Run 35 minutes
Sunday - Rest

Am I having too many rest days? I should really try and do at least one more day of cross training of either biking or weights. I have both an exercycle and some weights at home but neither have been getting much use of late. The difficulty is fitting in one of these workouts into the weekly schedule. They would involve an early start to get the workout done before work as evenings are pretty much taken up by getting home from work in time to spend usually not much more than an hour with the boys before they are in bed then relaxing with M and then maybe some computer time before I hit the sack.

While I can handle rising early if it that's what needs to be done to get a run in, I'm not so keen when it comes to other forms of training for some reason. I guess the other reason is that other than aiming to get back to a reasonable state of "running" fitness, I have no other goal at present to aim for and thus motivate me to make time for an extra weekly workout.

One thing I have been contemplating is the Rotorua Half Marathon on March 16 next year. This is about thirteen weeks away and if I'm going to give it a shot I really need to start a build up for this now. Am I ready?

I've been back running now for two months and (touch wood) the shin splints have not got any worse. I still have some minor soreness but nothing so bad that it hinders my running and so far I have been able to control it with icing.

So with two months successfully behind me, what I have got to lose by aiming for March 16 as my comeback race? I have dug around online and found a twelve week half marathon programme which I will use as a guide. The programme does call for back to back runs on two days a week, something which I have not normally done due to my shin problems.

Maybe with the race in mind I will have the motivation to substitute one of those runs for some cross training?

Have a good week.





Technorati Tags
Running

 Subscribe in a reader

Heading to America.

I've been a bit slack lately updating the blog and getting around to all yours. The reason for the slackness is that much of my computer time lately has been taken up by surfing the travel pages and hotel guides planning for our family holiday to the States and Canada which is happening next April.

This will be the first major trip my wife Michelle and I have done overseas, apart from crossing the Tasman to Aussie or up to Fiji. It's also of course the first major trip for the boys. All up we will be away for a month so it will be pretty big for us.

Part of the trip is to visit Michelle's parents who are in the States currently travelling in their RV. They left six weeks ago will be away for about 16 months all up. We will be meeting them in Vancouver at the start of the trip and spending five days with them there, before Michelle and I head down to the Las Vegas region for five days on our own. From there is back up to Vancouver for a few more days before saying farewell to M's parents and heading across to the Rocky Mountains and down to Calgary. We then jump on a flight to San Francisco for three days and then head down to LA via Yosemite. It's a pretty jam packed itinerary and only hope we can hack the pace. Here's my Yahoo Travel Planner if you're interested in the detail.

We've have got all the major stuff sorted like airfares and accommodation in the major cities. A few weeks ago I booked us a rim side cabin at the Grand Canyon but what was harder still was trying to find some accommodation at Yosemite National Park, and we're not even travelling in peak season. Finally we have decided on a motel about an hour out of the park in Oakhurst. It will make for a long day travelling from SF that morning but at least we will already be out of the National Park and ready for the next leg of the trip the next morning.

Recently I thought I would look into what the April temperatures are in places like the Grand Canyon and Utah. I was thinking like yeah it's spring time it should be quite mild. Then I find out the lows are still in the minuses (C) at that time of the year! I'll be making sure we pack heaps of warm cloths thats for sure.

Next on the list of things to organise are some B&B's in places like Jasper and Banff. We're not sure about booking anywhere in Utah and California and may just wing it and see what we find depending on where we end up.

How's the running going?

I had my check up with the physio last week after successfully completing my scheduled 50 minute run. She's happy with the progress and as said to keep slowly building up and to maintain my strengthening and stretching. She's got me doing these calf raises on the edge of a step, one legged. I have hold a weight (7kg) in one hand, rise quickly onto ball of my foot and then drop slowly and controlled to a count of ten. I do two sets to failure. As a variation of the stretching she also said to stretch on the step again by standing on the edge one foot at a time lowering my heel both with a straight leg and then bent.

I raised the numb foot/pins & needles thing and she thought this could be a case of Compartment Syndrome. On the 50 minute run I somehow managed to stave off the numbness for 40-45 minutes before stopping to stretch. I was taking smaller strides so I will work on that and hopefully that will help. Will just have to keep an eye on tha one. With the continued strengthening and stretching hopefully this will pass. I've also booked a sports massage with a massage therapist at the Millennium Sports Institute to work on loosening up the calfs /legs some more. I've never had a deep tissue massage before so this should be an experience!

Last weeks numbers;

Monday - 44 minutes
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - 50 Minutes
Thursday - Bikram Yoga
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - 35 Minutes

This week is a cut back with three runs of 25, 30 and 35 minutes planned. Still taking walking break for one minute after every ten of running this week.

I know I've still got a long way to go but I have already had a look at a race calender and can see a Half Marathon in Auckland on March 2 and the Rotorua Half on March 16. Rotorua would fit perfectly before we head off for our trip wouldn't it?

Have a great week.



Technorati Tags
Running

 Subscribe in a reader