Loose, Foot Loose - I've got a Foot Loose!

Just in case you haven't heard, as of Friday night about 8pm, I'm an injured bear - driven into by a bloke in a car whop presumably didn't see me and thought that turning right in front of me was a good thing to do.

I've spent half the weekend chasing round the police, hospital, and bike shop, and not really been concentrating well on anything else - including spending some quality time with M. All in all bliddy annoying. And now I've got to wait to hear whatt he insurance company decides. From my end of things it's an open and shut case, but you never know with these things. I was hit from behind by a lorry years ago and had to fight to get what the car was worth. All hassle I could do without.

Plus St George's turned me down for the physio course, and I got the letter in the middle of last week.

All in all it was a completely shite week!

Still - the physio thing is eminently fixable, and I'm ratehr looking forward to a relatively easy week studying for an access course or similar. Plus as far as the bike goes - it's only an object - at the moment just before the impact, I thought "I've had it", and then when I realised that that hadn't killed me, in the brief instant when I was flying through the air, I thought "I'm going to crash into a siolid metal object, I'm fecked". And yet I've escaped with a jarred neck (which the hozzy have checked) and some rather unpleasant looking bruising but no broken bits as far as they could tell. In many ways I've been lucky :o)

Running Short...

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 54:23
Av mins/mile: 9:04 :os
Shoes: K's with heel raise

Right - big run time. Well - not a big run, but a major step up from the two miles of the other night, but then if I'm going to run 12 at the weekend in the K's, I need to do it! I decided to go for my Northey Avenue route.

Anyhow - I went outdoors, stood still while the 305 located the satellites, and guess what - it worked fine! So off I set. The shoes felt a little loose at first, and I did wonder about stopping to tighten them, but I did keep going for the first mile. This passed without incident, and I reached the end of Mulgrave (confirmed at 0.9 miles this time) in 7:35. I felt like I was going better on the uphills.

The miles passed easily, and before I knew it I was on the downhill towards the Ewell by-pass. I'd thought that this was about 2.95 miles from home, but the Garmin showed it as more like 2.75. Oops - that meant the route was 0.4 miles shorter than I thought! So anyway, I kept going round the corner, and up the road towards NESCOT. If you look at the graph, there's a few stops there when I checked the watch for distance, but now I know which drain cover indicates I've reached three miles!

My quads were feeling a lot fresher than they had been, but my left calf was twanging a bit, which it hasn't done for ages. Maybe it's just a matter of getting used to the Kayanos - they do seem to throw my feet out more. This kicked in more on the way back, although I did feel that my long uphill climb up Howell Hill was the best I've done for ages.

I did slow the last mile and a half, according to the Garmin, although I didn't feel it was as bad as the splits show (I'll add these later). I ended the run with quite a heavy left calf, but this quickly eased when I iced it, and the morning after is pretty much okay. I hope this goes as I get used to the shoes, as overall I think they're a lot better for my quads than the 2100s, even though my right quad did go a bit solid in the last mile. I must remember - my body will need to adapt to the K's, so don't expect a dead comfy ride straight away. There were points however where they did feel very much part of me and very good indeed :oD

Sleeping Satellites...

Distance: 2.4 miles
Time: 19 minutes
Shoes: Kayanos (with heel raise)

My first outdoor run in the new shoes. I went outside to check if I could get my scooter past the car that had inconsoderately parked in my space, and thought that the Garmin should have picked up the satallites by then! It kept doing that trick where it gets up to 99% found and then flips back to 80%. I later found out that you're supposed to stand still while it "tunes in".

Anyhow - I got bored (and cold), and set out without waiting for it to locate the satellites. The run went pretty well - a twinge in the outside of the right knee (are the K's throwing my feet out too far?) but otherwise no real problem, other than my mileage seeming low. I'd intended to run a mile out and a mile back, but at the end of Mulgrave Road (estimated at 0.9 miles) the Garmin said 0.7, so I ran further than intended, until the 305 said 1.00 miles.

I turned round to head back, feeling that the time for one mile was slow (9:34), and the return journey was trouble free. It became pretty apparent as time went by that the return journey (which you'd think would be the same length) was going to be longer. In the end it was 0.2 miles longer according to the Garmin. A quick upload and it became apparent why - it hadn't started recording until 0.2 into the run!!

Anyhow - that makes the route I did 2.4 miles, so a pretty nice run to break the shoes in. A bit worried that the inside of my left knee is still sore though - that was one think I hoped the K's would cure. Less bad than it had been though, so that's a good thing.

So what exactly is a Kayano??

Shopping

Right - time to spend the shoe voucher - and off to Sweat Shop in Teddington with Vrap in tow. What a wonderful load of wares to investigate! We decided to pop into a nearby coffee shop first, and sat next to a woman who had presumably just visited the above sales emporium, and was reading an FLM mag excitedly, and her bored hubby/partner, who was doing a crossword. He seemed unimpressed by her constant questions.

Woman: I wonder if I'll be on the elite start with Paula?

Man: Only if they've made an administrative error. Now help me with 13 across.

Anyhow - coffee finished, we headed for Sweat Shop.

They got me doing a variety of squats, balances etc, and agreed that my pre-ordered selection of 2110s and Kayanos were a good starting point, although did question whether the Kayanos were unnecessarily strong (motion control). I did a run in the 2110s, and the girl seemed to approve, but got her (more experienced) colleague to have a look, who said I was rolling in with a strange "flick" on my left foot. So it was onto the Kayanos, which worked a treat. Once again, they were like wearing slippers! I did also try the Kenseis, but didn't really like them - not sure that UV-proof uppers will really prevent overheated feet!

So - with the voucher, £30 for the Kayanos, and questions about how I knew Annajo! I replied that it was via the RW forums, and wondered whether to vconfess to my alter-ego of XFR Bear. I decided against it - even though the fantasty of half the shop nodding in recognition was rather tempting!

The Trial Run

Trial run at the gym - five minutes on the tready - and all seemed okay, although I did get a bit of a knee twinge and ache at the front of the foot - although then again that's been happening even before the injury/niggle I've had for the last year. I also didn't stick the heel raise in, which perhaps was an issue.

I guess tonight I do a longer run - tempting to do fifteen mins on the tready, but then again I hate tready running - it does seem to stress my feet a lot more. The only thing stopping me going for an outdoor run is the thought that if the shoes aren't right then I can't take them back. Then again, I'm fairly confident that they are. Hard to tell - I may still have leg problems that won't be corrected by any shoes - who knows!

Ironman is looking very unlikely now - time to pull out officially I think

Ta-Dah!!

Doh! Blogger's still being funny about me adding pics to the last post, so here they are in a separate one!

First of all, the route as generated on SportsTrack:

And now, the route on Google Earth. If you hit the zoom button, it zooms right in on my new gym!!

And finally - the graph. Elevation is shown in green, mins/mile in blue. I'm not sure why it goes down to negative mins/mile!! Even Paula isn't that fast. There are some stops - at lights, busy roads, the toilet break, and so on. There's also a real slow down (short walk break) about eight miles in which was on a nasty hill when my legs were pooped. For those that know the area, that was in Northey Avenue.

Bananas Splits!

Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:28:32
Av mins/mile: 8:53
Shoes: Old 2100s

My first run with the Garmin. It did take a while to pick out the satellites. I'm writing this from work, so I'll add all the whizzy techie graphs and map stuff later!

The run started out feeling tough, and I really felt my breathing was heavy. Possibly the results of the anti-biotics and the ear infection. I looked at the Garmin to check my pace and it said around 9:30 - which was odd - as although I felt slow, I thought I was better than that! This seemed to be a bit of a recurring theme - even on the big downhill the fastest pace I noticed was 8:02 moin/mile, and the graph when I got home showed me hitting close to seven minute miles. Odd!

In many ways this is disappointing - getting an accurate pace was one of the reasons for buying the Garmin. Maybe there's some options I can play with to improve it.

The run was toguh from fairly early on. The knee twinged at first, and the left quad started to "concrete" fairly early on. I don't think that nearly two miles of steady climbing at the start helped! Having said that, it did mean I had a good chunk of downhill to come :oD

The last few miles were particularly tough, and I realised that my supposed ten mile route was going to be about half a mile short. In the end it turned out to be 0.6 miles short. The last mile of that I was really sore in the quads, and really glad to finish, especially as I had to do a lap and a bit extra round the local block!

Then the fun started - getting the graphs and stuff out of the Garmin! Uploading proved really easy, and the graph was interesting viewing. Sadly, although the graph clearly contained the relevant info, it wasn't possible to get mile splits (I needed to set the automatic lap recorder for every mile). I'd forgotten to stick my Heart Rate Monitor on as well.

The map was a bit crude on the software provided, so I went to SportsTrack and downloaded that - which gave a Gmap pedometer style map - much better! However - the piece de resistance was motion Based - which plotted the route on Google Earth. It was way cool watching it zoom in from outer space to my route (made it look very ickle!!). I zoomed in further, and followed my route. There were a few minor wobbles, and apparently I went through a couple of front gardens, but on the whole it was extremely accurate. It even detected when I (with the watch stopped) went behind a bus shelter for a pee!!

Legs are really sore the next day - off to the chiro this evening to try to sort out why. That's my second ten miler, and both have left me pretty sore. the last one took about five days to recover from - let's hope this one isn't as bad. I want to run a six either tomorrow or Wednesday, and try the other pair of 2100s (new). I have a left achilles niggle as well as the quad/ITB aches, and I'm wondering if the shoes are a bit pooped! I also have to decide whether to spend the £80 Sweatshop voucher I got with the 305 on Kayanos or on 2110s :oD

This Garmin Man

Discipline: Shopping
Distance: on way home so about 20 yards into the shop

For some reason I felt the urge to buy a new toy. Maybe it's the hype on the forums, maybe not, but I've been looking jealously at Leon's graphs for some months now. Still - it was a lot of money to pay, and the Garmins weren't that accurate, were they?

Still - there's a new one out now - the 305, so with a little assistance from the fabulous Annajo, I headed down to Wandsworth Sweaty Shop. Now - not a lot of people know this, but there is a Sweat Shop in Wandsworth, but it's well hidden.

Anyhow - I did go in intending to be hyper critical, and not buy it unless I was absolutely convinced. But hey - who can resist the chance to trace their route in 3D on Google Earth. It's an essential part of every runner's vital kit innit? Perhaps if Paula Radcliffe had had a Garmin 305, she would have been aware of the rock she injured her foot on recently, thus not necessitating pulling out of the Commonwealth Games. Her titanium necklace didn't save her from that, did it eh?

Anyhow - I've got it now, and just have to spend the £80 shoe voucher that goes with it. It needs charging up too, then lets see what it can do :oD

Parp!

Went out for a gawjus curry with the RW lot last night :oD

Just one question - yesterday morning I weighed in at 100.1kgs, this morning it's 102.6kgs. Can't believe I ate enough to put on five pounds, or even have that much excess food in me. I can only conclude it must be water retention or something - any ideas?

I've been parping for Britain since last night!!

I'm...Spinning Around

Discipline: Gym
Time: 90 minutes

Apols to my regular readers for not posting for a while, but I've kinda not been focused on IM training. In short, I've been getting peed off - all the niggles, being cautious with training to avoid making them worse, solitary training. All in all not good fun and I'm not enjoying it. Plus I've rediscovered the fun of going to the gym. I joined LA Fitness, and although it was all a bit new at first, they seem a very friendly bunch and I like it there. Plus they've got a pool :o)

The pool is apparently 20m, although I managed to do five lengths in 1:31, which is fourteen seconds inside my PB for 100m, so I do wonder if it really is 20m and not 18m or similar. Even so - it's a nice pool for drills, and I'll be going to the Rainbow for Ztri (the tri club) so I can time lengths there.

Anyway - on to last night's sesh! I decided to start with an abs and core conditioning class, which as it turned out was with Mel, who'd done the Body Pump class Sunday (and that I still ached from). We did some fab exercises on Swiss balls that I'd not seen before, and I had a very good upper body workout, as well as doing stuff on the legs. It turned out to be an all over workout and not just the abs, although they played a part in all of the exercises.

Then onto spinning! I'd only done this once before and it had hurt, so in a way I was both dreading and looking forward to this! It was a popular class in a small, dedicated room that had air conditioning, although we soon managed to steam up the mirrors and overpower the aircon!!

This class (again with Mel) was a lot better than the David Lloyd version (although that had been good) with several twists thrown in to make it harder. I cramped in my right calf (nasty at about 120rpm) and on the next track my other calf went! Not sure if it was a lack of electrolytes as I hadn't eaten mor than a piece of toast before or what! Anyhow - I reached the end, exhausted, but happy, and headed for the pool.

I only did a few lengths, but something happened that tweaked my eye that I had problems with a couple of years ago. I've used lubricants on it all night and it does seem to calm down - but now I'm back to being nervous in case it flares up again. Rather a sad end to a fab evening.