Knees diagnosed? But fuck it. I'm running

Ok, so it's runner's knee that I have, completely fits with the symptoms on tinterweb - worse running downhill, severe pain in the first few minutes, it fits with the type of pain and areas affected, and with it appearing as I ramped up to high mileage and ran on tired legs.

Good news - well, I know what it is.

Bad news - no quick cure for it.

Solution - well, it doesn't seem horrifically bad in the long term and I've already done 32 km, so I'm just going for it, taking it slow for sure but running at least the first half before I pussy out. Venga!

Five days no training....knees still hurt. Must....get....better.....POWER POWER!!

Noooo.....

SHIT SHIT shit shit shit....after 1.5 km my knee felt terrible, worse than last wednesday despite all the rest and the ice packs, so bad I had to stop, with all my thoughts shouting "It's over, no marathon." I was really devestated, I called Daniele to see if I should keep going or stop and he told me go home, but I couldn't just give up - I started again and the pain seemed less, but after turning downhill towards the Sagrada Familia it came back, band enough to stop me again.

I walked a bit, with my thoughts a black storm, but then told myself to shut up and run after the next lights - by pushing the pace up nearly to a sprint the knee felt fine, and I did another 4 km home feeling much more positive...

But, as soon as I stopped, disaster again, really strong pain, and just 7 km on the run - I don't know if the biking hurt or helped, I did 26 km each of the past two days, and now I don't know whether to keep using the bike or rest completely. I've got the ice packs back on, and I'm just trying to keep positive till tomorrow. I don't want to believe three months of (admittedly shitty) preparation are down the drain.

But all in all, what a pile of shit.

here is the route

working through my injuries....

The last week has been a bit of a blur, so here's an update: 20 km run at 12km/hr on wednesday morning with daniele, on the beach, complete with severe pain in my knee, the same area as during the 32k in Heidleberg. Really bad news after 10 days of no training at all. Besides the knees, my legs were tired as fuck by the end of it, I think the result of my shitty training in Germany, 42 km at that speed will not be an option. I've downgraded my goal to finishing under four hours now (or at all ha ha)

So, I'm on a major regime of icing my knee, and I'm totally off running, just cycling, 26 km each of the past two days. I think I'll head out for a run tomorrow and test the knee, but that'll depend on how it feels the first 5 km!

Also, I'm completely knackered - possibly since the sleep deprivation last weekend?? Struggling through the days at work. Anyway, at least the cycling is going well, first trip with my clip-in pedals on today, and I didn't fall off :)

Bad....

Was meant to be 25 km run but i only managed to do 23km... shit how will I do another 19km on top of this?

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2530948

I did just do 2 full days of snowboarding but i do not think this is a good excuse... i just hope my "altitude" training at 500m will make up the additional 19km... yeah right.

Scared...

I am rubbish

So, long time no posting from me, also long time no running. I'm stuck in Heidleberg and realising just how hard it must be for Charlie to train at all - by the time I'm finished work it's a) dark as hell and b) completely freezing. Also, I've been finishing any time between 10 pm and 1 am hence very little running is happening.

I managed to get in two hours running last weekend, up the mountain we live on and back - I think it was only about 16 km as it was up a hella-steep hill.

Today I did 30 km, should have been 32 but I got lost. It was damn hard, and took 3 hr 15 min which is too damn slow - having said that my pacing was really off, first 10 km at 8km/hr, next 15 at 11 km/hr and then the final stretch at a pathetic shuffle due to the horrific pain in my knees. Not feeling good about adding ANOTHER 12 km onto the end - I'll put this one down to a new route, cold weather and lack of running over the past while, and see what happens next weekend when I'm back in Barca.

What I should have done http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2530317

Weekend training

Friday 23rd, went for a solid 10km run, went well but i lost the time.. pressed the wrong button when i got back Doh!

Sunday 25th, nice 15.87km run weather.. -1°C with freezing fog.. compacted snow/ice on half the route.. which made things precarious but! 1h 28min result that is nearly 4 mins of my last time on this route and the conditions were better last time!

Shit 94kg... not good

Thoughts:
-Will training at 500m about sea level help my marathon time??
-How will I cope without listening to heavy metal when running, the music noticeably effects my speed and energy, especially towards the end?

Gym

1hr on cycling machine.. was hard, 870kcal which is good.
Sweat.. approx 1,000,000 litres.

Weight... 94.0kg not including the lost sweat..

Update

Holy moly, Snowboarding on Sunday was wicked! One of the guys who came with us was a really good snowboarder who knew the resort well, therefore! it was awesome. At one point I ended up going down a tight gully off-piste and nearly came off a 30 foot drop into a blue frozen waterfall.
Luckily my bad foot did not complain too much and only slight knee pain at the end of the day. I'm now ready for my race on Thursday night.. exciting.

Monday night gym, 1 hr of cycling. Not bad i was sweating buckets but did 1 hour at level 14 (of 20), and burnt 760kcal.. still lots of energy so not sure if i need to push myself harder.

Foot still achey so need to see.. i want to do a long run this weekend.. hope it goes ok!

94.9kg... still too heavy

This weeks training

So mainly gym this week, i did one hour on the cycling machine on Monday night, which was good but I think i could have done a higher level, only burnt 650 kcal.

Wednesday 40 mins hill training on the cross trainer 650 cals followed by 20 mins on the running machine at 14km/h which was super-hard, total 1100kcal in one night. Not bad.

Anyway Thursday morning, woke up and had pain in my left foot, Friday it has gotten steadily worse.. especially when walking and putting pressure on it... I'm visibly limping now.

Internet says i have strained the tendon running from my ankle to the outside of the foot, which stabilises things... Rest, ice and anti-inflammatories only solution...

Bike ride time

drinking till 3:30 am, then 26 km on the bike this morning - really pleased as it eased off some of the pain in my knees! It's really starting to become annoying now, I have tight sore knees for a few days after long runs, or forever if I keep training when they're sore.

short run

6 km at lunchtime, along the beach in beautiful sunshine :)

no fainting ha ha.

Run till you drop (literally)

Did I do my 28 km?

No. Damn.

I started off well, got through the first 15 km great and then had to battle some hills which left me a bit knackered. About km 20 I stopped for a drink for a minute or so and comptemplated taking a shortcut home (about 3 km at that point). But, first long run so I decided to push on through....bad move!! By km 22 I had to walk a little, feeling very weak, sweaty, and a bit dizzy. I got running again and hit about 23.5 km before my eyes ceased to focus and I had to sit down!! I swear I thought I was going to faint, which at the time even seemed funny to me. Unfortunately I had no money and couldn't sneak onto a metro so I had to walk home, another 6 km (I only found a ~30 km route). Tried running for the last 2k but had to sit down very soon after.

Well, the moral of the story I think is don't go for an uber run at 8 pm if you only had a sandwich, croissant and two coffees all day!! My symptoms match well with hypoglycemia, looks like I used all the reserves - I did 22 km before without this problem so i don't think it's a big deal.

Anyway, good news is I can still walk fine today and my legs were a lot less painful than usual!! I'll go for it again next week, and hopefully nail it this time! P.s the route is here, it was 3.5 km, then the first 20 km of the marathon. I'll put my thoughts about the route up later

not motivated....

Ok, for all of us who are feeling slightly less positive about the marathon read this - it cheered me up a lot :)

Charlie I love the gear, I must remember to take some pictures of myself in my fetching training clothes haha. Right now it is 7pm in Barcelona, probably about 5-6 deg so not too cold. I'm meant to run 28 (!!!!!!) km today. Will it happen? Who knows....waiting till the sandwich I just had settles, but enthusiasm is low.

here is my training guide by the way: runners world

Good run today

15.87km run, on a fine Sunday afternoon, the sun kept the temperature acceptable

No bad pains and I made it with some gas left in the tank, 1h 32mins. Now if only the real thing was not so long....

Yesterdays hell

Well 4.73km run last night in Innsbruck, i could not be bothered to go to the gym so i decided on a quick run.... a mistake..

The clothing on display in the pictures consists of
A headband
Vest
Tee-shirt
Jumper
Kagool
Running bottoms
Thick sports socks
Skiing socks
Gloves and it looked like this!



Well the good news, no pain in my limbs or joints.

Bad news
23:45min time... crap!
Inability to breath because of cold... then spent rest of night wheezing, coughing.
Toes went to sleep immediatley.. felt HORRIBLE
Thighs chaffed, especially where my goosebumps were.. red raw next day
Totally disheartening... must train more... too cold...

Snowboarding for 6hrs does that count as training?

OK final day in France and I did six hours of pretty intensive snowboarding. I think that it was great for strengthening my knees as it really works them.

Back to Innsbruck tomorrow so can restart the training proper... i hope it is not too cold.