Another week without running

I saw the Sports Doctor today. He has made a clinical diagnosis that went completely over my head, but he contends that my ITB might be the origins of the problem, but it is not the source anymore (a relief given the stretching three times a day for the last two months.

He has got me on a treatment program that he is confident will have me running in a week. He is happy for me to swim and cycle to my hearts content in the meantime, which I will attack with gusto.

I went for my standard 18K bike ride this morning, but I went out a bit hard, so I was a bit stuffed for the rest of the day and didn't get to the pool, so I had a couple of beers with another neighbour called Craig (not my ex-coach).

A little sloth

So now I have had my first rest day since starting my blog.

On Saturday I went to my cousin Luke's wedding. Had a great day catching up with relatives and generally celebrating but did no training whatsoever.

The wedding was in Nowra, 3 hours away, so we stayed at a motel with a pool. When I checked to pool out I decided it was good enough to not bother finding the local public pool, and I had a sort-of inteval training session by doing 10 slow laps to warm up and then doing a series of faster blocks of 2 and 4 laps, followed by a 12 lap warm down. It was a soft session, but I have a bigger day planned for tomorrow. I'm thinking about doing an hour on the bike in the morning and a swimming squad training session in the afternoon.

My nutrition has been woeful all weekend. I have to improve this during next week.

Knee Improvement!!!

The big news for today is the improvement in my knee. Generally it has been really painful at some stage every day, especially after a bike ride, but I did a 18K - 55 minute bike ride this morning before it got too hot and it pulled up OK.

The difference being today that I didn't stretch until about an hour after the ride. There has to be a couple of things wrong with this knee - it seems that stretching is aggravating one of them.

Tomorrow is a rest day, and Sunday I'll go for a swim, so that should be a good opportunity for the knee to recuperate. I'm hanging out for Monday when I see the Sports Doctor. Kevin Boundy - I've seen him before, and I was very impressed with him then.

The Grown Ups Pool

Up until now I have done my swimming exclusively in the 25m indoor pool. In years gone by I have tried swimming laps of a 50m pool and found it too hard.

This morning I decided this must change. I had planned a soft session of around 500-1000m, and when I got to the pool I went to the deserted 50m pool.

Well, these days I am fitter and lighter than I was in the past, so after some initial discomfort in the early laps I managed to do 20 laps (at a very slow place) without any resting. I felt pretty good throughout.

Knee report: Good in the morning, got through a 45 minute walk with the dogs, but started feeling pretty crappy after that. I think stretching makes it worse.

On yer bike

I am starting to come to terms with not being able to run. Don't get me wrong, there is not much I would rather do than get out and run for 10K right now, but I am learning to deal with it.

Today it was dealt with via an 18K bike ride in the morning. I have used this course before for running. It is usually a good 2 hour run which takes in the lovely fragrant turf farms of the Hawkesbury and comes up into Richmond via Bensons Lane, where I used to play Aussie Rules once a year as a junior Pennant Hills Demon against the Hawkesbury Saints. I played football like I run: wholeheartedly, but not very well.

The ride was good, but there is one pretty sharp hill involved, and I think I am lucky that the bike needed some running repairs at the top of it because that got my heartrate back down, and if I hadn't done that I might have really stuffed myself up (like I did last Friday on my first bike ride). All in all, an enjoyable workout.

The knee has felt pretty awful all day, and I can't wait to get in and see the sports doctor next Monday.

After the ride I went out to Bondi to see my sister and my two week old niece. Very exciting for a first time uncle.

Still not much on the job front.

Pool tomorrow.

Soft physio, a 1.5K swim and no coach

Had a physio appt this morning. My regular physio, Stephen "The Torturer" Cunningham is on holidays, so I was attended by a lady named Linda. Linda was nowhere near as heavy with the ITB massage as Stephen, so although it is nice not to have to go through the pain, I left feeling as though it might not have been as beneficial as my regular torture session. I probably won't even bruise, and the bruises from last weeks session with Stephen are still well and truly visible.

This afternoon I went for a long swim in the 25m pool. I wanted to do a long slow 1.5K. Halfway through a faster guy joined the lane, so I started having to take breaks every 4 laps to let him through. So I upped the speed a bit, and let him through every 5 laps, using the break to catch my breath a bit. This got pretty tiring towards the end, but all in all a good workout.

But the shock of the day was in my Inbox. For the last year I have been using the manager of my gym as a running coach. He has coached me to my first marathon and has been a great source of advice and encouragement. He lives around the corner and doesn't mind if I drop in on him at home for advice. He even minds my dogs occasionally, and last night he took them in when they escaped. Craig is a top bloke

Well, Craig has resigned from the gym effective immediately. I'll see him tonight and get the full story, but I'll miss him. This probably means that I will be coached by www.coolrunning.com.au from now on.

Unemployed & Injured

I've started a blog in an attempt to give myself an outlet to describe my training and racing without boring the people with whom I physically interact.

The opportunity to set this up has occurred because I am, to use a euphamism, between jobs. I've been working for my own company for the last eighteen months, and this may continue, but presently I will take what I can get. If any reader is at all interested in what I do in a working sense, go to www.amigo.com.au

The other reason I have the time to set up a blog is that I'm not training today. My left knee is a mess. I haven't been for a real run for nine days. I have a tight ITB, giving me patella femeral pain and my physio also suspects tendonitis and some cartilage damage. I see the physio tomorrow and a sports doctor next Monday.

So for the last week I have been swimming and bike riding on alternate days to keep my fitness up. Today I tried to run on my treadmill and got severe pain within two minutes. It hasn't gone away. I'd like to go for a swim, but I think with the knee the way it is I'll just hit the Seek website for the rest of the day.