Sunday, October 29, 2006

The ongoing drama continues...

quad and itb are behaving themselves so far.
went for a double cootha trail run (21km) on wednesday and felt good.
a mate was up from melbourne and played some golf with him the following day.
was bending down to t-up the ball when i felt a sudden pain in my 'bad' knee ?from the meniscus.
limped through the rest of the round.
the thing i hate about injuries is it really stuffs up your planning.
i can't really plan for gnw despite the fact i need to enter, arrange plane tickets, accomodation etc...
it really mucks your head up too - i had a saying a while back about ultra runners... walks with a limp but runs 50km.
(or is that TRIES to run 50km?)
you become somewhat unrealistic about what u should and can be doing.
having said this tho if we were realistic we probably wouldnt be running half the stuff we do.
will make a decision about gnw on wednesday.
have made arrangements for kepler - bloody hell plane faires to queenstown are expensive!

monday - nothing
tuesday - 30min stat bike
wednesday - 21km hilly and physio
thursday - a very bad round of golf
friday - massage
saturday - nothing
sunday - 30min stat bike

Monday, October 23, 2006

Decisions Decisions...

the quad is settling.
the itb has settled (touch wood again!).
pulled up well from 2 x 14km flat runs on the weekend.
nothing speedy but felt like i had at least 5-6 mins up my sleave on saturday.
have permission from GNW race director to enter a week late which suits me just fine because if i'm not right by november 3rd then i shouldn't even think about running.
will book accomodation for kepler this week.
have been accepted into cradle.
will need to try some longer runs this week 20-25km+.
and MUST hop back on the bike.
giddyup.

monday - 14km flat (72.00)
tuesday - nothing
wednesday - 10km hilly and physio
thursday - nothing
friday - nothing
saturday - massage and 14km flat (17.00, 18.30, 18.00, 17.30 = 71.00)
sunday - 14km flat (slow!)

Monday, October 16, 2006

It's better to live on your knees...

well so far so good.
2 test runs so far: 7km and 14km (today) with no problems.
the offending quad feels good to me (much better than 2 weeks ago!) but the massage dude is not happy - theres a large hard knot/band on the outside edge and he's worried that its started to calcify.
seeing the physio wednesday and no doubt will get some needles in there.
the itb itself which i guess was a secondary issue seems to have settled (touch wood!!!!!!)
will hop on the bike this week and if/when the quad settles ramp up the run mileage.
trying not to think about gnw at the moment.
i really think i should focus on getting ready for the alpine 'treble': kepler, b2h and cradle.
went map shopping last week (what trail ultrarunners do when theyre sad).
refuse to say what map i bought! ;)

the big news for the week is my resignation from qld health.
for those who dont know i worked for 2.5 years at caboolture emergency department.
work was in the papers a lot last year - especially after a (fatal) car crash outside the hospital entrance the 1st day of its closure due to lack of staff (only to be reopened later with senior staffing provided by a private company).
will now work only in the private system (have been there part time for a while).
its a lot less frustrating.
patients need things and we can get it for them.
they're happy, i'm happy. and thats important.

Friday, October 06, 2006

itb update numero uno

well unfortunately it comes to this.
blogging not about adventures but injury progress......

saw the physio wednesday and massage dude today and i guess the news is predictable.
which is there wont really be any 'return to running predictions' until i go for a few short 'test runs' in a week or so.
the itb insertion point itself feels good and was only sore for 2 days so its not as bad as previous bouts when i've been out for several months.
the quads (and to a lesser extent hamies) are shot tho - really tight and knotted.
which is obviously what caused all the patellar pain at bribie and also led to the itb hurting.
i think i'll blame that on the lack of mileage (and therefore muscle tone) between gh100 and bbb, the 'hard' surface and the camber.
am quite confident of getting the quads sorted out within the week and then i'll just have to see how the itb goes when i run again.
ironically i had my 'cradle mountain' interview this week: the organisers ring to check you are worthy of entry.
http://www.coolrunning.com.au/ultra/cradle/index.shtml
guess it wont hurt now to announce i have already enetered kepler as well! http://www.keplerchallenge.co.nz/
trying not to think about GNW (november 11th) - will have to wave this one away i'm afraid!

glad to have a great team supporting me: the guys from qsmc (qld sports med), team mellum and of course the CR bloggers.
best of luck to all injured bloggers: jen_runs, ironpete and the recovering horrie.

Monday, October 02, 2006

The camber that killed me

Bribie Beach Bash 1.10.06

46km 5.14 (splits 2.17 2.57) - 13th ultra!

went into this one a little 'underdone' i had ran about 40km in the 4 weeks between GH100km and this event. a mixture of travel and a lingering cold conspiring to prevent more mileage.

i do like this run because its a typical low-key ultra.
geoff williams organises it with the proceeds going to the endeavour foundation.
it has a very friendly 'community' atmosphere.
unfortunately i dont really like running along the beach - the view doesnt change much!, its flat, its crap when the tide starts coming in, its hot/unshaded and the camber is a killer.

ran the 1st half with CRs kato and repete.
felt it was a little fast but didnt feel like i was struggling until about 30km (7km after the turn).
was keeping pretty well on 6min/km until now and was starting to feel it especially with the headwind.
felt tired and like i had no power in the legs - especially the left quad.
soon after the left knee started to hurt - behind the kneecap (think i had a tight quad).
this settled a little with stretching and some panadeine (the 1st time i've ever taken painkillers in a run) but soon the itb felt 'funny'.
wasnt sure if it was just the skins making them feel tight or not.
but after some more shuffling and some walk breaks eventually the pain returned in the knee cap and then at the knee where the itb inserts.
said a few swear words and stopped immediately.
had a good stretch and decided to walk it home from there (3-4km to go).
have never had an itb blowup during a race before and to be honest was pretty bloody upset at the finishline - at the prospect of several months of rehab which i had had several times before for the same fking thing.
sorry if i ignored anyone/everyone at the finish.
was keen to find kato and his trusty ice-pack and just have a little cry by myself.
some comforting looks from AB and a few others softened the blow.

its still sore today but i am comforted by the fact that it doesnt look swollen, it blew up at the 42km mark of a hard, cambered run and the knee passed the 'bin night' test - putting the bins out going down the steep driveway.

will take things day by day at this stage and not make any predictions.
sensei whippet thinks i'll be fine but i'm mindful that previous itb problems have seen me out for 4-6 months.
if so the first person on the kepler waiting list is looking pretty good!

thanks again for the previous comments - especially r2b! :)