Hi Everyone,
Well the City To Surf is over for another year. After an inauspicious start, I managed to finish in a 3rd best time of 97 minutes - I know, I know, your'e saying "but Guy, it's only the third time you've run it!".
True, I have entered 10 times (7 times a walker) but only been a runner the last 3 so 3rd fastest means my slowest run. But I ran most of the race - when I walked, it was during a drink stations and once or twice I walked for maybe 15-20 metres each time. Not bad given my injury riddled preparation!
Best news is that my Achilles tendon pulled up really well. Ironically my right knee was pretty sore, gave me grief at around the 11-12 kilometre mark. But I reckon this was just due to lack of kilometres in the months prior to the race.
So feeling confident I might give the Blackmore's Running Festival, doing the 10K Bridge Run (or if I can remain injury free, maybe the Half Marathon is still a chance? Big thanks to my physiotherapist Felicity Macarthur at Sydney Physio Solutions (http://www.sydneyphysiosolutions.com.au/).
Watch for the next blog - I took this week off running and now I'm galvanized to begin training next week!
Cheers
Guy
Hi All,
Well, since my last post, I have progressed in terms of training.
The painstaking (and on occasion painful) rehab and physio has worked (kind of). I am far from 'cured' but well enough to commence training again. My wonderful physio Felicity has, via painful manipulation, slightly odd feeling 'dry needling' (think acupuncture without the Asian mysticism or incense) and a number of exercises (including The Running Man Glute Exercise - nothing to do with Arnold), she finally allowed me to run again.
This started as a bizarre form of interval training, week 1 (14th June) was 2 minutes walking/1 minute running for maximum of 3 kilometres; in week 2 moved to 2 minutes walking/2 minutes running for 4 kilometres. Week 3 saw me keep interval ratio but increase distance to 5 kilometres - man, do you know how hard it is to NOT run longer, and to keep glancing at my watch to make sure I maintain (as close as possible) the ratios!
Anyway, in week 4 I graduated to 1 minute walk/2 minute running for 6 kilometres. After a follow-up visit to Felicity, I was allowed to go to 1 minute walk and 5 (yes, 5) minute running, and also allowed me to add distance. Whoo Hoo!
So, I completely ignored this and started all run, NO WALK - I mean it was 4 weeks before the City To Surf and I wanted to at least be able to run most of it! So on 13th July I ran 5 kilometres - achilles felt OK!
So I've completed 5 more runs since then - nearly 26 kilometres with average pace varying (which annoys me no end, I like consistent pace) but ankle holding up. So now, the race is in 8 more sleeps!
I am not sure how things will go - I plan to run every alternate day finishing on Friday 12th August (ironically my birthday - turning 55!). I figure if I can get to Rose Bay (about 6-7 kilometres) in reasonable shape, then Heart Break Hill might be do-able although I haven't been allowed to do any real gill training (is apparently very bad for achilles). From South Head Cemetery it's mostly downhill from there.
It won't be a PB, but I am confident of a finish!
I also wrote off my car earlier this week - just to add to my stress levels - my wife (Julie) and I escaped with minor injuries, and the other driver the same.
Another update to follow next week!
Ciao
Guy
